Star Wars Rebels - Lost

Chapter Nine: A Ghost from the Past

           

The battle droids formed a huge mass of metal that creaked and whirred with every small movement, and Sabine could see why they had earned the nickname 'clankers' in the Clone Wars.  They seemed to show no emotion as they surrounded the pair, and Sabine knew that they would show no second thought or regret about shooting her on the spot, there and then.  It had always baffled her how some droids, such as her old friend Chopper, could show such intense emotions and yet others, like these pale killing machines, failed to do so.  None of that mattered now though, as Sabine's back moved up against Ahsoka's and they prepared to face down an army.  It would only be another moment now before the fighting took place, and Sabine started down the robots in front of her, fingers grasped tightly around triggers of her Westar blasters.  The officer, who was facing Ahsoka, spoke one last time.
"This is your final chance, surrender, or you will die for the glory of the Separatist Alliance" it warned, raising its SR combat pistol to reinforce its threat.  But the droids were not the first ones to fire, and neither were Ahsoka or Sabine as it turned out.  Instead, a bright blue laser bolt seemed to zoom past out of nowhere and accurately burn straight through the officer's head.  A terrible whirring sound emanated from the remnants of its skull before it collapsed to the ground.  The remainder of the droid force seemed to glance with uncertainty at one another before aiming their weapons back up at Ahsoka and Sabine.  The fight was on.

Sabine immediately dove to the floor as the droids fired, spinning on one foot and firing at the legs of three of the nearest droids.  By staying low, she caught them off guard initially, causing them to spark and die.  A fourth droid stepped forwards and attempted to knock her out with the butt of its blaster, but she span around and delivered a kick to its knee that caused it to topple over.  A single blaster bolt delivered to its head afterwards eliminated it, and Sabine attempted to reach for her helmet nearby.  But before her hand could grasp it, a red laser bolt hit the helmet, causing it to roll away and leaving an ugly burn mark on the paint.  Sabine glanced back at the droid who had fired and glared, unleashing a volley from her blasters that made sure it was well and truly dead.  She entered a trance-like state as she continued to fight, spinning and diving out of the way of incoming shots, all the while letting loose hell on her enemies.  It was almost a dance, her colourful hair swaying in the breeze of her fluent movements, the beautiful danger of a Mandalorian.  Ahsoka, meanwhile, was beginning to remember all of the moves that she had used against these bone-headed droids back in the Clone Wars.  She sliced the weapons of nearby enemies in half, before leaping upwards and stabbing down on them with her lightsabers.  A satisfying hiss would emanate from each droid's corpse as her blades sliced through them, and she too entered a series of fluent movements.  As she defeated her next opponent with ease, a large group of droids stood several metres ahead of her, seconds away from disintegrating her.  But ancient blades were not Ahsoka's only weapons.  The togruta quickly held out her hands and suddenly a force tore the weapons away from the droid's clutches and sent them flying away.  The droids seemed to pull nervous expressions behind their emotionless faces as Ahsoka grinned cockily.  She then casually threw one of her blades towards them, slicing them in two with ease before using the force to call the lightsaber back to her grasp.  She turned to see Sabine expertly engaged in melee combat with a group of droids, leaping up and delivering several harsh kicks at them while also firing at them with her blasters between attacks.  She glanced to her right quickly and retrieved a thermal detonator from her belt, tossing it at another trio of approaching battle droids.  The droids blew up in a fiery blaze and with a dramatic turn, Sabine delivered a devastating roundhouse kick to her final opponent, causing its ageing metal joints to split apart. 

For several seconds, the Mandalorian knelt there, breathing heavily thanks to the stress of the previous fight.  Slowly, she stood up and wiped the hair from her sweating brow with a grin.  She smiled towards Ahsoka, but her friend seemed to have a panicked look on her face.
"Look out!" Ahsoka called out, causing Sabine to turn just in time to see one final battle droid with its blaster raised right up to her head.  She closed her eyes, and the searing sound of a laser bolt filled the air.  Nearby birds flew up into the air from their treetop perches, disappearing off into the distance.  Hesitantly, Sabine opened a single eye to see the battle droid in front of her collapse to the ground, a scorch mark in its head.  Relief flooded over her as she realised that the sound of the blaster had not been the one aimed at her.  But her relief was quickly replaced with confusion as she wondered, who had fired the shot?