Elayne Starwind - Padawan of Ashoka

Chapter Twenty-Nine

My dazed mind was only able to comprehend the next three things that happened in that moment.

One: The troopers weren't facing me, they were running in the other direction.

Two: One turned around and noticed me without my helment and with a map I wasn't supposed to have.

Three: That one told his friends and they started shooting.

I was snapped back to reality at that third thing. I threw myself behind the corner and clutched the map close to my chest. I chanced a peek around the corner and realized only half of the troopers were shooting me. The other half continued running forward, pursuing something—or someone— I couldn't see.

Red lasers shot past me and I scrambled to my feet to run in the other direction. I didn't know where I was going anymore, only that I was trying to escape getting shot.

With the hand I wasn't using to hold the map, I pulled out my blaster and aimed at the troopers behind me without looking back. Well, "aimed" was probably an overstatement. I just pulled the trigger and hoped I hit someone.

Apparently I did because I heard bodies falling to the ground, but I didn't dare check. I kept on running in random directions to throw off their aim, and it was working. I made random twists and turns until I ended up at an elevator. I nearly faceplanted when I saw who else was being chased by the other half of the stormtroopers.

Kenth.

He seemed just as surprised as I was when I came sprinting around the corner in his direction, followed by at least ten more troopers. But his surprise faded much quicker than mine did and he pulled himself back into the moment, unlike me, who stumbled and lost my balance at the sight of him.

"El— Biala!" How Kenth could correct himself and dodge lasers at the same time amazed me, but I shook it out of my head and continued running toward the elevator.

"Get in, quickly!" Kenth yelled over the commotion and stepped out in front of me, clearing a way straight to the elevator. He held up his blaster and shot with actual accuracy, something neither the stormtroopers nor I had.

However, even though I should've been saving my breath for running, I couldn't help snapping back, "Yeah, what do you think I'm doing?"

That made Kenth shoot one glance back at me, but one glance is deadly in the situation we were in. In the fraction of a second he took to turn around, a trooper shot him right in the shoulder.

"KENTH!" I screamed and lunged forward. I pulled on his arms and dragged him toward the elevator, blasting troopers who got too close. When we made it inside, I dropped him on the floor and pressed the down button continuously until the doors finally slid close.

"Where are you now?" Sabine asked. "Are you close?"

That's when I realized I shouldn't be in the elevator. I was already on the floor I needed to be on. The ship was on Floor 5, and now I was going down to Floor 4.

"Hey, there wouldn't happen to be any docks on Floor 4, would there?" I whispered in case Kenth was listening. Which made me briefly wonder why the stormtroopers were chasing him, but for now I just focused on worrying how to get back to the ship.

A short silence. Then Sabine snapped, "You're lucky there is one. You'd better get there, and get there quickly. We won't have any leisure time to wait."

"Yeah, I get it," I hissed back, then looked back down at Kenth. His shoulder was soaking with dark red blood, something I was all too familiar with.

"Can you walk?" I asked and tried to lean Kenth on me, but he just stumbled and fell back down.

"No, not really," Kenth said and reached his hand to his shoulder. That's when I noticed what was in his hand. Some sort of blue cube that looked like it could light up but was just turned off.

"What's that?" I asked curiously, pointing to the cube in his hand. His eyes darted up to meet mine, then he hid it behind his back.

"Doesn't matter," He said, wincing at every syllable. "Doors are opening. Do you have a helmet?"

"Oh... I left that behind," I mumbled.

Kenth muttered something under his breath as the doors to the elevator slid open. It seemed even though he was the injured one, he was the one dragging me along. I supported him, but it was him who was leading us.

"Do you know where the docks are?" I asked hopefully.

"Where do you think I'm going?" Kenth asked. I noticed he was mimicking what I had said before he got shot.

"Look, I'm sorry about that," I said. "I distracted you and now you're bleeding to death."

I couldn't make out what Kenth was thinking. Whether he was judging me or amused. Whatever it was, he kept it to himself and kept limping along until we found the empty dock.

"We're here before your friends," Kenth said, making my heart stop.

"How did you know about them?" I asked.

"You weren't that quiet in the elevator," Kenth said, wincing even more. "Also, I saw your earpiece before."

"Was I that obvious?"

"For a normal passerby, no," Kenth said and made an attempt at a shrug but just let out a series of grunts instead. "I could tell because of... experience."

Experience? What kind of experience would a kid like Kenth have? I was probably the same age as him and the most experience I had was on Endor, stealing from merchants. Where exactly did this kid grow up?

I decided not to say anything about it and helped Kenth to the middle of the empty space. All that was in there with us were empty ships and a bunch of crates.

I sat Kenth beside one of the crates and searched inside a few for something that I could use to cover up his wound. The best I found were some Imperial uniforms, which would have to work fine. I bundled up the shirt and pressed it against Kenth's wound, making him wince, but he didn't complain. Now all I had to do was wait for Sabine and the others to get back.

A minute passed. Then another. Five minutes. Ten minutes. I sat with Kenth expectingly, but no sign of our ship arrived. I began panicking slightly. Where were they?

"Sabine?" I asked. "Sabine, where are you guys?"

No response.

"Sabine? Ahsoka? Wolffe? Rex? Anyone?"

Kenth's eyes widened, perhaps at something I said, but before he could say whatever was on his mind, our ship flew in, though I became more worried than excited at the sight of it. One of the wings was damaged severely and five fighter jets were close behind, shooting even larger lasers at it.

The last thing I saw of the ship was a wall of fire that enveloped me and Kenth.

A/N

oh lookie, i love it when i stick characters into seemingly impossible to get out of situations

vote, comment, and see ya later!