The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano, Book Ten

Chapter Eighty: Sacrifice

AHSOKA TANO

Ahsoka was so hyper-aware from the fighting that she picked up on the hum of pure energy being condensed into a laser in a blaster's power pack and the sharp whine of it leaving the nozzle of the gun almost before it happened.

She turned around just as the Inquisitor stabbed Janira through the stomach at the same time as she shot her in the heart at point-blank range. While the Darksider died instantly, her body thrown back by the force of the blast, Jani sank slowly to the ground to curl, shivering, around the gaping wound in her stomach.

A raw, unintelligible shriek tore its way up Ahsoka's throat as she watched her sister by marriage fall. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes as she strained against the saber lock with the Theelin Inquisitor, desperate to get to her.

The Theelin laughed deep in her throat and pressed harder, clearly not about to let her leave so easily as that. Finally, Ahsoka reached deep into herself, bending the Force into a blow that would give her the time she needed to get to Jani.

But what she found at her center scared her: instead of her usual calmness, there was unrelenting anger, threatening to rise to the surface and consume her.

She got only a few steps before the Inquisitor leapt over her head with deadly grace, reaching out to strike at her. "It's too late," she said with a malevolent grin. "You can't save her, Jedi. You're too weak."

You can't save her. You're too weak. You can't save her. You're too weak. You can't save her. You're too weak.

And then, Ahsoka was over the edge, her usually tempered and rational side drunk on the unfathomable power she had suddenly found was at her disposal. She was sick of it all: feeling out of control, not being able to save those she cared about, the pain of knowing how many people she had let down over the years...

She couldn't take it anymore. If there was a chance she could start remedying that by getting to Janira's side before it was too late, then she would take it.

Finally, Ahsoka turned to face her opponent again, her face contorted in fury. Her eyes stung almost to the point of burning, but somehow, she was almost certain it wasn't from the tears.

With a snarl that wasn't quite human, she put all the energy she could muster into breaking the saber lock. She felt rejuvenated; reborn. She had discovered totally avenues of energy to draw from, and her fatigue was completely forgotten.

The Inquisitor buckled under Ahsoka's superior strength and stumbled away, but Ahsoka didn't give her so much as an instant to recover – she surged after her without even stopping to take a breath, her blades clashing against the Inquisitor's again and again without pity or remorse.

The absolute rage pulsing through her veins was giving her the power to push even further, to move too quickly for her opponent to gain any ground. She was on the offensive, and nothing could stop her now.

"I'm getting really damn tired of the Empire kriffing with my family!"

Then, Ahsoka spun on her heel and kicked the Inquisitor into the wall. Then, without so much as pausing to listen to pleas for mercy, Ahsoka twirled her lightsabers in her hands and drew them across the Inquisitor's chest.

Her lifeless body hit the ground with a graceless thud, but Ahsoka didn't linger there long enough to see it. Instead, she turned to gaze across the clearing to where Janira lay.

As she looked upon the fallen form of her sister, the throbbing red flow faded from where it had been lingering in the corners of her eyes, and was soon replaced by the beginnings of tears. She was running towards her before she even realized it.