‘After my epic lightning show, I decided to end today’s meeting, but before I left, I gave the es my holo tact just as they shared their own with me. Now I was sitting in the lower part of my bunk bed. I had to share my rooms with Ahsoka, who immediately decided that she would sleep on the upper part. It was not a problem for me. I didn’t really care where I slept and it was the same bed, basically. She was giving me a nasty lht now. What did I do? Now she is rolling her eyes at me...’
“You!”
“Me?” — ‘I questioned hesitatingly.’
“Argh! How is it that you’ve got ae e team to work with? While I have to share Obi-Wan’s and Skyguy’s team? You basically have a bad-ass team that is entirely under your and!”
“Now, that is not really true. I also report to General Obi-Wan Kenobi as my immediate superior.”
“Yeah! But you only get the missions from him, and you are sent out to solve them alone, with your team! The General never leaves the ship with the special operation teams, everybody knows that!”
‘Wait, is she seriously envious because I will have a much greater ce of being killed or captured and tortured to death by droids? Not even talking about the responsibility...’
“Well, it’s not like I asked to be pced in the special force? You know, it’s a bit easier to die there... I didn’t realize that you hated me so much...” — ‘I pouted, staring at my boots, fidgeting with my right lekku, while altogether making a sad impression. Of course, it art of my master pn to guilt trip her.’
‘This level of destructive bination will utterly destroy Ahsoka, I thought.’
“Cha!” — ‘She spped my forehead with a full palm strike from the top of the bunk bed.’
“Bwaaah!” — ‘I shouted from the surprise and sudden pain, instinctively trying to roll backwards, only to hit my head into the lower part of the upper bed... I felt as a few teardrops appeared in my eyes. This time it was genuine.’
“Ouch... What the hell, Ahsoka, do you want to seriously kill me?” — ‘I whimpered, heartbroken at the utter reje of my attempt to be cutesy.’
“Humph, I won’t be that easily maniputed anymore, like at lunch, when I gave you one of my favorite desserts, just because you asked for it in that devious manner. Shame on you!” — ‘Thaarted giggling, she even turowards the wall, to try to hide the fact that she was ughing her ass off at my demise.’
‘Who is the devious one now? I thought to myself. Ouch, I will have to stop further aggravating Ahsoka, or my forehead will have a palm-sized red mark in the middle of it soon, if it isn’t there already.’
‘I id on my ba my bed while thinking over the situation. Sighing frustratedly…’
“What do you think about this pirate activity so close to Corust? Do they have a death wish or something?” — ‘I asked Ahsoka, trying to raise my mood.’
‘I heard a as she rolled over on the upper part of our bed.’
“Who cares? They just want to steal and they are stupid enough to think they get away with it. Pirates are one of the worst! They have no discipline, no honor, and the only thing they are ied in is credits! Not eveioning their smell, urgh...”
“That is an oversimplification.”
‘Ahsoka was already growling, hearing the beginning of my usual schostiswer. Maybe I will save my forehead from another sp ahat great opportunity for an expnation slip away this time.’
‘A few mier, the atmosphere didn’t ge much. It seemed to be even gloht now?’
‘This situation is seriously bad. Ahsoka is pig at me for no logical reason. Maybe I should just try to sleep for now? I guess that is the best thing to do.’
‘With that thought in mind, I pulled off my boots, then draped the b over me, and proceeded to sleep soundly. It was already nine PM by gactic standards, so there wasn’t much to do, anyway.’
“Good night Soka.” — ‘I said, while Ahsoka only mumbled something, but I didn’t hear it clearly as my sciousness slipped away. I guess I was more tired than I thought.’
‘Sometimes ter, I felt as if a warm smile had formed on my lips as a kind memory resurfaced from the depths of my mind. I saw my master’s warm brown eyes watg over me in my sleep so many years ago, and it only felt like a sed.’
‘It is still better this way. When you don’t realize that time is passing by, you usually spend it well. Now I could also see the memory from my master’s perspective as he watched over me, still holding my hand even when I was already sleeping.’
‘Strangely, I felt as if my hand was really being held by someone. I must be dreaming already...’
‘Great job Tano, you are su outstanding big sister figure... I thought sarcastically, as I watched the small twi’lek girl silently g in her sleep. When I realized how rude I had acted after she came back, I wao apologize, but the words didn’t seem to e out of my throat. What the hell, I could cut down a bunch of droids, but I couldn’t force myself to apologize to my friend.’
‘It wouldn’t be that bad if I had a bunch of friends... But I only got these two. Rika was even youhan Nizzy... e to think of it, I don’t even know how old she is exactly? I watched a few more teardrops slide down her cheeks. She looked so small and i right now, but when she was awake, she acted like a little devil that always gets under my skin. How is it that she knows everything much better than me? I wasn’t the sharpest knife on the shelf, but I wasn’t stupid either. Except I looked like one when she was around.’
‘I carefully climbed down the bed and sat o her. She is still g... This feeling of guilt in my chest. Ugh, if this goes on, I won’t sleep at all tonight. In my slightly raised panic, I decided to grab onto her hand as a desperate attempt to support her.’
‘In my desperation, I pletely fot what happehe st time someo close to her while she slept.’
‘Oh no, she will definitely wake up now, I thought suddenly. Will she jump at me with an activated lightsaber, like with Rika? She warned us multiple times that she was traio be guarded against ambushes... and its dangerous to get close to her while she was asleep…’
Ahsoka was brag for impact, but the only thing that happened was the feeling of the girl’s hand grabbing onto hers with natural ease.
A tent smile appeared on her face, that was quickly reciprocated by the e togruta. What further surprised her was what the sleeping girl said .
“-ster you are back... don’t leave... again...”
Ahsoka blushed furiously, feeling both horrified aed by the prospect of being called a sister. Sihat was what she thought had just happened.
‘I suddenly felt a lump form in my throat. Nizzal’s voice this time sounded so different? Was that her authentic voice? It reminded me of Rika, when she was in the middle of her depression, but irely. Rika’s voice sounded more lonely, while Nizzal’s didn’t, her’s felt, hmm... maybe tired? I never really thought about this from her perspective. She just ged into a gactic civil war out of nowhere and was assigo a e special force as ander... What did the cil even think? Did they lose their minds to act like this? ering a child into a military assig, I mean, she almost cooked that stupid Jedi with that mask, but if he hadn’t attacked at that time, nothing drastic would have happened. Sigh...’
‘She at least stopped g now. I set the b over her than I wao climb bay bed to sleep, only she was still clutg my hand... Ugh... What should I do? I don’t want to wake her up, but I am kind of sleepy now... Uuu... I guess. No other choice then... I slipped under her boo, and soon we were sleeping soundly, side by side. Now this is a much more worthy act from a pr sister, I thought while I slowly entered into the world of dreams.’
‘My eyes suddenly opened wide in the darkness as a force warning screeched in my head. I looked around, my awareness stantly rising. The room was empty, except for Ahsoka? She was sleeping beside me? Why? Ah... Never mind that! Through my force senses, I already realized that the room was safe, so the warning most likely came from outside of the room, or even from the ship. I looked at my still attached wrist unicator. It was currently 3:34 AM. Six and a half hours went by since I went to sleep.’
‘I sat up a a message to Crusher, warning him of potential danger and also telling him to get ready for anything. Stating sharply that it’s not a practice! I felt that necessary since we didn’t know each-other that well just yet, they might think I wao surprise them or something stupid.’
‘Then I proceeded to wake up Ahsoka.’
“Ahsoka, wake up! Hey, wake up Soka!” — ‘I shook her slightly, but she tio sleep like a log with a stupidly blissful and ignorant expression that further annoyed me. I took a deep breath and-’ — “AHSOKA!”
‘Now that did the job, she bolted up, and with that same speed, she head-bumped the upper bed’s bottom part, which was made of metal.’
‘I winced. A ghost of the pain I received when I hit my head simirly pulsed through my scalp. I watched as she instinctively curled into a trembling ball of pain while partially holding back a flow of curses.’
‘I sat there, smiling stupidly, as a sharp sense of guilt coiled in my stomach. I shook my head eventually and said.’
“Ahsoka, you must wake up. We are in danger!” — ‘I said the moment her angry tear-filled eyes turowards me, promising doom if I didn’t have a very, and I mean very-good reason to wake her up like that. I gulped as I saw the quick ge in her features. I just avoided a doom sario... I see...’
‘She me, realizing that I hadn’t just pranked her for fun. Would I do something like that? No way!’
‘She crawled out of bed, looking around carefully. She then began to dress up in her usual gear. I also joined in that process, taking up my armor as fast as possible. Ahsoka even helped me in this. I gave her a warm smile as a reward. We just finished dressing up, when the familiar sound of an ining holocall filled the dim room.’
“It’s yours.” — ‘Said Ahsoka, while pointing at my blinking wrist unicator.’
‘I took up the call. The already armored form of Crusher appeared in a full body hologram.’
“Rep for duty, ander. We got your warning. What are the details?”
“I sensed a powerful premonition of danger in the force just minutes ago, but I have nothing more to go by.”
“Uood. What are your orders?”
“Meet me at the gunship hangar. Be ready for battle against uified enemies.”
“Yes ander, should we warn the Generals?”
“I don’t think that there is a hey must have se, too. Probably, they don’t want to create chaos, or maybe they have some other pns in their pockets.”
”Uood ma’am. We will wait for you at the hangar entrance.”
“Affirmative.” — The call ended.
‘Ahsoka watched our little versation, then asked.’
“So, what should I do?”
“Of course, you should e with me! We may need a proper Jedi if things turn nasty.”
‘She smiled at that, and we ran out of the door. We ehe closest turbolift a down to hangar level.’
‘We were running towards the rendezvous point when suddenly the whole ship began to shake forcefully, as a bunch of different arms started to scream in our ears. I stumbled to the wall as another powerful shock rahe ship’s hull.’
“What the hell is happening?” — Shouted Ahsoka over the screeg sirens.
‘I grabbed hold of her before she actally fell on the floor and told her.’
“We are utack. Do you hear those distinct screaming sounds, appearing periodically? Those are our heavy turbo-ser turrets at work. They are firing at the enemy ship or ships! We had to reach the hangar and wait for further ands. Follow me!”
‘We ran towards the hangar as fast as we could. Ahsoka was running in front of me, since she had no armor to carry, and she khe ship much better than me. I only learhe most crucial areas of it. We finally reached the main hangar entrance, and as we ran in, I immediately saw my squad.’
‘One of them, I think it was Handy, waved towards us, and we ran to their position. They created a small barricade from empty but still heavy steel crates around an LAAT gunship. It robably the one assigo our unit.’
“ander!” — ‘Crusher owards us, with some minor surprise to see another padawan.’
“Report soldier.”
“Yes, we created a small defensive area around our LAAT in case of an enemy b attempt. There are already other e troops arriving at the hangar. The General must have ordered the fighter pilots to join the fray.”
“Ahsoka? What the hell are you doing here?!” — Came a sudden and quite frustrated voice out of nowhere.
‘We turned around, seeing General Skywalker running towards his interceptor, only to freeze when he saw us croug behind the piled up crates with the pany of e andos in battle formation.’
Ahsoka looked at Anakin and stated happily.
“Master? We are defending the hangar in case of a b attempt! Are you going out to fight with the other pilots?”
‘Anakin heavily bli that. He gave me a sidelong gnce, seemingly only realizing that I was there, then turned back to Ahsoka.’
“Well, do your stuff, then. There are three separatist ships attag us right now! They appeared in front of us, straight from hyperspace ready for battle right from the get go. That means this was not an act, but a pnned enter. Someone leaked our exact location.” — ‘His eyes hovered over me for a few seds lohan I would like to… Wait, he ’t be serious? Does this idiot suspect me? He tinued with his words before I could make a pint, however.’ — “This makes me wonder if this whole pirate story was just arap to lure us out…”
‘With that said, he turned around and began to run towards his fighter ship.’
“General Skywalker!” — ‘I shouted after him before he left. He looked back towards me with a questioning expression.’
“What type of ships are attag us?”
“One Munifit-css frigate, and two Ret-css light destroyers... Obi-Wan is trying to position our ship uhe Munifit-css frigate. We ’t hahe bombardment from their heavy forward turbo-ser ons. Defend the hangar! We need every fighter p there!”
“Uood!” — ‘I shouted back, and the es joioo. With that said, he ran away. I saw his Jedi starfighter flying out of the hanger not long after.’
‘I turowards the es and shouted new orders.’
“Gamma Squad, get ready for ining droid forces. We o defend the hangar until new orders arrive!”
“Uood!”
‘I looked around the pce, and there were a bunch of es also taking up defensive formations around the perimeter of the dock. They seemed to follow ood example. I smiled at that, but my smile was short-lived.’
‘There were series of heavy bsts hitting one of the closed hangar doors from the outside. Fshes of red psma crashed against the metal.’
‘I watched as a red bubble made out of melted metal extended inwards. The metal was super-heated and quickly expanding. It didn’t even break away when an already burning droid transport ship rammed through the damaged door. Soon after, it crashed into one of the LAAT gunships parking nearby and immediately turned into a spectacur fireball. I could feel the heat on my cheeks from this distance.’
‘Ahsoka ughed at that.’
“It seems the droids took care of themselves.” — She said jovially.
‘I had no time to ent as awo transport ships flew through the already activated atmospheric shields.’
Dozer aimed his grenade u the closer one and shot without a sed thought.
‘We watched as the gre the side of the ship, dealing heavy damage to it, but it still nded mostly in one piece, sliding on its belly for a while. As it stopped, its reinforced doors immediately opened and a small army of b1-type battle droids marched out of it.’
“Here they e, boys! Lets’ give them a warm wele!” — Shouted Crusher, then added as an afterthought. — “Fire at will!”
‘The others immediately began to bst away the surprised droids. They didn’t expect such a fierce receptiohey seemed to cat soon as they ged their battle program. Immediately dispersing and searg for cover while shooting back at the es.’
‘Now, let’s see what this new war looks like. I thought while aiming and shooting down one of the b1-s that had found no cover yet. Ahsoka gave me a surprised look, then mumbled something unintelligible. I caught a few words of it and could make out the gist of her issue. Which seemed to ter around the fact that I had a bster gun and that I was a dirty cheater.’
