The Varactyl Squadron Commander (A Star Wars: The Clone Wars Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Fifty-Four

The woman and the monster fell into the grotto with an enormous splash that sent water in very direction but down and a weight the equivalent of a bantha came crashing on top of her. The Tokep screamed and flailed once submerged, sending bubbles every which way, but the heavy creature couldn't float and pinned Molindi to the bottom of the pond with its massive, gargantuan form.

It both surprised and terrified the woman when she realized the pond may have been standard in size, but the center dove between fifteen to twenty feet, far enough down to where she couldn't make out the tree above anymore.

She struggled to push the writhing Tokep off as the only oxygen she had was compressed out by the weight of the monster, but to no avail. Her lungs were on fire and the corners of her vision were going dark. Though the exposure to the water seemed to be having the desired affect, looking as if to melt the slimy skin and flesh from its bones, what remained of the Tokep had laid across her chest like a log. Immovable.

Bits and pieces of the monster's body had detached and were floating around her head like little water fairies when two more pale bodies taller than a gunship slammed into the water above her. They'd barely touched the surface when the flailing and screaming started up again, the sound so high and massive in volume that she felt her eardrums would burst. But losing her hearing wouldn't matter if she didn't survive.

She tried with everything she had, putting forth all of her effort and adrenaline into performing one last incredible feat to save herself from a watery grave, but it was all in vain. The pressure simultaneously suffocating and crushing her was too much to bare.

It was a strange thing to think- that out of all the times she could've died, out of all the ways Molindi could have met her end, drowning had never crossed her mind. She wasn't complaining; there were worse ways to go and she knew that for a fact. And as the rest of her vision finally began to fade into darkness, Molindi was happy that she'd watched Rex, Axel, and General Skywalker run ahead. At least she knew that the people she cared about would be safe.

Her only regret was that she hadn't started something with the other commander. She could feel her heart being pulled towards him ever since their first conversation, and she let her past get in the way of a potential future with someone she genuinely liked. Even if it led to nowhere, even if their romance was destined to be short-lived, at least she would've tried. And Bren would've been proud of her for that.

Then her eyes closed and her pulse faded before disappearing into the abyss with her.

***

Rex had never ran so hard in his life. Whatever fatigue he'd felt before was gone and his legs were numb to any pain as he sprinted back down the path they'd come. He wasn't sure if he was going the right way, considering all the different twists and turns the jungle could've tricked him into taking, but there was no turning back now.

It still took him at least ten minutes before the clone heard the frantic sound of a baby Eletai calling for help and followed it back to the pond.

On the shallow bank of the grotto stood the Eletai child, its trunk waving rapidly back and forth to get the clone's attention, then began to blow its trunk at the center of the pond. The clear liquid had turned as white as a ghost, the same shade as the slimy Tokep, with bits and pieces of white matter bobbing up and down on the surface. Before the puzzle even fully came together, he knew Molindi was under it all and the clone dove into the murky depths below.

The three Tokep had almost fully fallen apart, leaving behind nothing but bones and piles of white flesh that gathered on the pond's floor. At first glance, he almost thought that Molindi wasn't there, that maybe the Eletai was just acting weird and he'd jumped into a pit of decomposing flesh for nothing. But then his eye caught the sight of a tan hand poking out from the beneath the destruction and he swam down to dig her out.