Mutual Feelings

The Battle of Coruscant - Part III

Both of the Jedi had planned their landings, more or less. There had been a basic assumption in pre-mission planning, between all of the other important matters, that the best landing they could hope for aboard Invisible Hand was going to be a crash landing. As such, both Jedi aimed their starfighters into the largest concentrations of battledroids, mowing down a fair number of the security units before the starfighters came to a halt.

Ahsoka was first to disembark, ejecting R7, before flipping lithely out of her cockpit, and landing in the middle of a unit of battledroids, her green lightsabers thrumming with energy as they sliced apart the droids and a coruscating blur, parrying shots and downing droids in the same motion, as they scattered components and bisected droids all over the deck plating surrounding the young Jedi, while R7 did his own thing, duelling battledroids with his blaster turret, scoring carefully aimed hits on the various droid units he targeted, incapaciting them with precision shots targeting datacentres and optical sensors.

Anakin, who hadn't removed his restraint belts in preparation for bailing out, was a few seconds behind his Padawan, making sure he ejected Artoo before clambering out of his starfighter, and dropping to the deck. His blue saber flashed a counterpoint to Ahsoka's pair, with a deeper hum reflecting the increased diameter of the hilt to fit his hand, and was no less effective, as he scythed down the droids surrounding his starfighter, utilising the longer, less rapid strokes of Shien, as opposed to Ahoka's preferred Ataru form, with its quicker, more rapid strokes, her two weapons often working together in harmony .

It wasn't long before the two were guarding each other's backs, as the last handful of b1 units collapsed to the deck, shattered either by lightsaber strokes or their own reflected blaster fire. Twisting around, Anakin determined, from the lack of incoming fire or visible droid units, that they were temporarily safe, and powered down his lightsaber, Ahsoka following suit after her own brief scan, he was pleased to see, rather than blindly trusting her master.

Then they came together, exhilarated by the brief combat, and the adrenaline fuelled flight that had preceded it. It wasn't hard to excuse it, and Ahsoka wasted no time jumping onto her master, wrapping her arms around his neck, and kissing him enthusiastically. Anakin responded with equal enthusiasm, hooking an arm beneath his Padawan, and supporting her as they kissed, for a few long moments, before they broke apart.

"I love you." He repeated, once again using the mantra he found allowed him to crystallise his feelings for the small Togruta. She grinned, dancing in close on her light feet, and dabbing a kiss onto his cheek, before darting backwards as Artoo finally started trilling.

"That's right, Artoo. Locate the chancellor." Anakin said. The droid was almost a member of the family, where he was concerned, and so got quite a few words of encouragement. After a few moments, Artoo tapped into the nearest datajack point, and pulled up a schematic diagram of Invisible Hand. Anakin waited for the droid to locate the most powerful man in the galactic republic, before swearing, quietly.

"Kriff it." He muttered. "It looks like the chancellor's signal is coming from the observation platform at the top of the main spire. And, even better, I sense Count Dooku as well."

"Our day gets better and better." Ahsoka replied. "We don't just get to rescue the chancellor, but also to bring down Count Dooku himself."

"I admire your enthusiasm, Padawan." Anakin replied, with a slight smile. "He shouldn't be too much for the pair of us."

"Anything else, Master?" Ahsoka asked, bouncing again in a most distracting way, even inside her Jedi robes.

"No. Let's get going. We've got a politician to save, after all."

The two Jedi set off, towards the observation tower, presumably containing both Dooku and the Supreme Chancellor. Artoo and R7 made moves to follow them.