Intertwined - Book 3 - Ahsoka Tano

[Chapter 3 - Cold]

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Kie'sha pulled her cloak tighter around her as she trekked across the abandoned battlefield of Christophsis. She'd clearly managed to land on the part of the planet that was currently in the middle of winter. 

She dodged around a rather large piece of scrap, tracing her hand a long the side carefully. She then stopped upon noticing two helmets laid in a pile of crystal rocks. She approached them carefully, as they were far more out in the open than she would've liked. She reached out into the force, and found no life for miles, so she drew closer. 

She inspected the helmets; One painted in 501st blue, the other in 212th yellow. It was then that she noticed that behind these helmets were even more- at least fifty first generation clone trooper helmets. Kie'sha fell to her knees gently, brushing her hand across the ground. Her eyes grew watery as she felt the force signatures of the many men buried beneath her. 

She then searched further into the energy surrounding her, hoping for anything, anything that might aid her in her search. 

She then felt the familiar spark of Ahsoka's presence. She reached out further, but upon doing so realized that it was far too faint. She'd come here for nothing. 

Kie'sha fell back, sitting cross-legged as her head hung down slightly. What would it take for her to finally reach Ahsoka? 

She then had an idea. 

Bolting back to her ship, she tried to boot up the long range communications. They blinked slightly before fizzling out. She huffed impatiently before searching her vicinity. She spotted a sizable tank laying abandoned a few meters away. Perfect. 

She strode over, hopping in and running straight for the dashboard. She popped open the boards on the bottom, and pulled the wires from it. She then dashed back to her ship, pulling out a small multi-tool from her bag in the cockpit. 

She then got to work, soldering together the frayed wires. After what felt like hours of working and then testing, she finally managed to get the communications array to spark to life. 

She jumped up, letting out a hushed cheer of excitement. She quickly typed in the code, hoping that it would still be in use. She spoke for the first time in a few days as the comm channel opened for her.

  "Hello. This is Jedi Padawan Kie'sha Lenn. I don't know if this channel is still active, but I was hoping someone would be able to help me." 

She waited for a response, repeating herself when she received nothing. And then once again. And again. She had to have repeated herself at least twenty times before the other end of the comm crackled to life.

"Kie'sha? Thank the stars you're okay!" Kie'sha heard Lenora's unmistakable voice crackle in. 

"Hey Lena. How are you doing?" Kie'sha greeted with a bigger smile than she'd had in a long time.

"I'm fine! Great actually- apart from- well, it's not important right now. Are you doing all right?"

"I mean yeah, I'm alive. Why?" 

"Kie'sha... you went M.I.A months ago and none of us have seen or heard from you since, you can't really expect us not to be a little curious." 

Kie'sha felt her stomach drop- months? She had no idea- she'd been so blinded in her search that she'd completely forgotten to keep track of how long it had been.

"Lenora- I'm so sorry I- I guess I just got so caught up searching for 'Soka-" 

"It's okay. All that matters is that you're all right."