Skywalker's Apprentice

Star Battle

The sun had been setting on the Jedi Temple, bathing the five towers in an fiery glow. Ahsoka looked at the lightsaber in her hand feeling the cool familiar metal beneath her fingers. It was the weapon of a jedi. She handed it with finality to Anakin who tried to give it back. She could feel his fear and desperation through the force and could see it written on his face. He knew this was goodbye but he could not accept it. And that is his problem, thought Ahsoka feeling sorry for him. It was almost enough to make her want to stay but she reminded herself how he had hunted her. How he had not trusted her. Beside she wasn't sure what she was fighting for anymore. The goals of the republic had somehow changed from freedom and democracy and protecting the innocent to goals of political gain. That was not something she believed in and it was not something she was willing to fight for. So doing her best to ignore her master she turned and walked away from everything she had ever known.

Once she was away from the temple she froze. Now what? She could go anywhere in the galaxy and do anything. Fear and tiny bit of excitement ran through her. She had never known a life outside of being a Jedi. Jedi were taken as infants from their families. She could go home. She dismissed the idea a second later. Home is with the people that you love, not just blood or species. Who did she know that was not a jedi? The list was rather short. Many were ruled out by being dead, missing, or out of contact but a name popped to the top of the list. Ahsoka smiled. The person she had in mind was already disillusioned about the leadership of the republic and there was no better way to get under Anakin's skin. The ground shuttered beneath her feet and the building to her right exploded sending a hover-car skidding into the wrong lane of traffic. Ahsoka spun looking up trying to find the source of the attack. She found it all right. The sky over the capital of the Galactic Republic was filled with federation ships. The core was under attack.

The sky was alive with fighters like some great carcass infested with maggots. Ahsoka had stolen a clone B-class fighter from the nearest hanger in the confusion. She had not been challenged. The story of her leaving the jedi must not have spread to the clones who work the hanger. After all she was known by many troopers as a war hero and they had not thought to check her ID. She might even be still in the system for all she knew. Master Skywalker would hold out hope as long as he could. Although she had left the jedi that did not mean she was above fighting to protect the planet. She lifted off. Hearing the roar of the thrusters as she blasted out of the hanger. It was a bold move for the separatist to suddenly attack the capital. It was the home of the senate and heavily defended but the stakes were high. If the core fell that would spell the end of the Republic, the end of the war. As she neared the battle, the blue of the atmosphere turned to blackness of space. Deadly red and green energy danced across the stars.

"Wingleader watch your flank," came static over the comm.

"Yahoo!" crowed a clone "I just snagged one, dumb clanker."

"Cut the chatter green two" snapped a commander. Ahsoka rotated the stick ninety degrees shooting up through a cluster of droid fighter spraying laser fire in short bursts. One bright bolt found its mark turning the advanced craft into nothing but a pile of space junk. Ahsoka pulled back sharply as she nearly was flattened by a republic cruiser.

"Word just in from General Skywalker. This isn't an invasion it is a kidnapping. They have taken the Chancellor." Ahsoka nearly hit a cruiser she was so taken aback by the news. She blasted a nearby droid fighter but its wing mate evaded her lasers.

"Beep buzz be ebe," came the worried noises of her astromech.

"Hold on back there," she snipped while pumping the stick as the lights flashed in the cockpit. Their fighter shook violently and she nearly bashed her head into the display controls. Rolling on her starboard wing and turning a hundred and eighty degrees she locked on her target. Squeezing the trigger she was just about to let loose a fury of lasers when her target exploded, seemingly hit from behind. A familiar yellow triangle shot daringly through the center of the fire ball. Skyguy thought Ahsoka in greeting to the familiar jedi star-fighter before remembering the past few days. She shook her head, head tails flapping, that didn't mean she would let him get shot out of the sky.
She noticed a droid bomber. A ship slightly bigger than your average fighter and fired. It exploded into head sized chucks which sprayed the red Jedi fighter next to Anakin's ship.
"Oops, Master Obi-wan is going to kill me," she said as the buzz droids started to tear apart his ship. Her momentary lapse in concentration nearly proved fatal. She pivoted on her left wing but the shots still managed to clip her engine.
"Warning, ship integrity has been compromised," commented the ship's computer in an infuriatingly calm and pleasant voice.
"I know!" shouted Ahsoka knowing too that there really was no point in yelling at the computer except that it made her feel better.
The thrusters were failing and her shields were gone, like it or not it was time to return to the planet below.