When She Was Gone

Chapter 18

Anakin was looking at her, but couldn't believe she was actually there. Ahsoka had been Makari for years now. Sure, her form had been present, but her conscious was a whole different matter.

As a matter of fact, she seemed rather confused. She was leaning heavily on the backpack he had given her, but then again, her ribs were broken. She kept looking at Barriss, looking at the grenades, the blaster bolts flying through the air, then looking at the ground and shaking her head. She was talking to herself.

Luke's voice sputtered through his wristcomm, just as another wave of Stormtroopers came around the corner. "Dad! I got the ship disconnected! We need to go now!"

Anakin opened his mouth to yell to Ahsoka, but stopped. Would she be able to throw the grenades?

He had to trust that she would.

"Ahsoka, now!"

A look of pure anguish on her face, she grabbed the detonator, lifted the pack with the Force and threw it behind her at the lines of troopers. She closed her eyes, winced, and pressed the button.

The following explosion didn't take out all of the Stormtroopers, but it took out enough and sent out a big enough shockwave to allow Anakin to jump forward, grab his Padawan, and run for the shuttle behind Barriss and Rex.

"Go!" He screamed as soon as they put boot on ramp.

~~

Leia sat on her cushion, fingering the patterns in her mug. The chief had offered both her and Obi-Wan cups of the regenerative drink, but his was on the table. He hadn't touched it. In fact, he was on the other side of the room, talking in hushed whispers to Sain.

She took a nervous sip of the sweet tea and looked at her wristcomm, for probably the fortieth time. Padme was on her way, but it was hard to wait, especially when one could be of use. She stood and stretched. Obi-Wan glanced at her, then resumed his conversation. Leia sighed and ducked out through the low doorway of the guest house.

The sun was blinding, but even though it was the middle of summer on Mirial, there was still a damp chill in the air. She wondered how cold it got in winter.

A tugging at her pant leg made her look down. A tiny girl, who couldn't have been more than four, took a step back and looked up at Leia bashfully through long, oxford-blue eyelashes. She crouched down to be at eye level with the child.

"Mella, welcome." She smiled. Leia returned it. "Lai-lai. Re mina Lai." Leia cocked her head. The girl pointed to herself. "Lai."

Leia put a finger to her chest. "Leia." Then she pointed at the girl. "Lai?" She nodded enthusiastically. "What do you know about all of this?"

"Sain brother. Sain sadari dolokuu." She gestured to her face, then pointed to the elder's tent.

"He looks old?" She nodded, then held up ten and five. Leia held up ten and one. Lai pointed to herself, then held up three.

"Cackaco Rebel."

"Your mother is a Rebel?"

Lai shook her head sadly, then imitated a ship crashing. "Cackaco...was Rebel."

"I see." Leia paused. "Your mother knew my father. That's why we're here. And soon, you'll get to see my mother."

~~

Ahsoka woke on something hard. Again she found she couldn't move her arms. She had a vague memory of a shockwave; perhaps that was why she had been out.

She pried her eyes open, and Rex--Rex?--was sitting across her, cleaning a blaster. She turned her still-throbbing head to see the familiar surroundings of Kaivo's shuttle.

And outside the window, the Destroyer was in ruins, still being bombarded with skilled attacks from a small group of fighters. Her eyes widened. Again she tried to get up, and again looked at what was restraining her.

This time, she wasn't pinned by rubble. She was strapped into a restraining chair, cuffs around her wrists. Anger rose up inside her, and she could feel Makari rising to the surface as Anakin stepped into the hold.

"Let me go, now," Makari hissed at him, stopping abruptly. Why could she speak? Her voice alterer was broken. Rex's head snapped up. Skywalker sat down heavily next to him, not breaking eye contact with the Togruta.

"Sir, her eyes," Rex said quietly. Skywalker nodded. This only enraged her further.

"I said let. Me. Go."

Skywalker made no move to get up.

She strained, channeled Force energy into her arms--

And wrenched one of the cuffs off the seat.

Rex jumped up in alarm, and Skywalker quickly followed suit. Just as she was about to break the second cuff, he pounced on her and pushed her arm away.

"Rex! Sedative!" He yelled, putting all of his strength into pinning her to the chair. Makari brought her head down quickly, stabbing a montral into his neck. He yelled in pain and Forced her head back up, with great difficulty; she had gotten strong. She opened her mouth to bite him with her sharp Togrutan teeth--

And a stabbing sensation in her neck stopped her.

Somehow, that idiot clone had managed to stick a needle in her. Her head leaned from side to side, and the Force energy previously saturating her dried up. Her vision went fuzzy, and the last thing she knew was that Skywalker crouched down before her, pure sorrow on his face as he removed the sedative needle from her neck.