Consequences

Chapter 40 - The Battle of Mandalore Begins

"Don't need one," I smirk, saluting. "Race you to the surface." I leap out of the ship, landing atop another one where the Mandalorian soldiers are attacking us. My lightsabers hiss to life in my hands as I charge towards them. I see Anakin landing on another ship nearby, charging the soldiers there.

I slash at the first soldier with my lightsaber, but he quickly fires up his jetpack and blasts away. Leaping past them, I jump down onto the top of another ship, kicking the soldier back and hitting part of his jetpack, making it ignite and he flies out of sight.

I swing over the edge into the ship, grabbing the handle on the gunship while kicking two of them back before I land. In a swift move, I slice their blasters in half and kick one back, while Force-shoving the other aside. As the other Mandalorians in the ship start aiming their blasters at me, I slice them in half and catch onto one of their jetpacks as it fires.

He blasts off into the air, taking me with him. As he flies down towards exactly where I need to be heading, he tries and fails to shake me off his back. As soon as I'm close enough, I leap down onto the ship and bolt across it. I've missed this, the thrill of battle. I really, really have. Working my way from ship to ship, defending the clones. It feels like haven't done it in forever. Which, I suppose, I haven't.

Just then, a burning gunship flies into view, rapidly plummeting towards the ground. And the clone inside has no way of getting out. I jump onto the side of the gunship, avoiding the flames as I slice open part of the ship with my lightsaber. "Thank you, Commander," he calls as he flies out with his jetpack and blasts away.

I look down at my destination as I continue to ride on the burning gunship. Anakin jumps down beside me, landing on the other side of the crashing ship. I'd lost sight of him during the chaos, focusing solely on myself and the clones. Besides, I knew he'd be alright.

The Mandalorian soldiers are gathering around, blasters aimed. I jump off the ship, landing on the ground far below and shifting into my fighting stance. Anakin lands in a crouch beside me, and stands up, swinging his blue lightsaber in front of himself defensively. The ship hits the ground and explodes behind us into a ball of flames.

The soldiers all open fire as we rapidly swing our lightsabers to deflect the steady stream of blaster bolts back at their source. One of the soldiers goes down almost immediately but the others continue shooting. I take a few steps backwards towards the long column of rising smoke, continuing to deflect the blaster bolts. More of the Mandalorians advance, flying forwards with their jetpacks. We're going to need assistance to take them all down, though Anakin has managed to injure a few. There's too many right now, and these are Mandalorian warriors we're talking about, so they are far from easy to defeat.

And then over the edge flies Bo Katan's group. They all open fires on the others. Right on time. I lower my lightsabers as they land in front of me, quickly shooting down our opposition.

"Beat you," I grin as Rex and the other clones begin arriving to help out.

"Some things never change," he chuckles.

"Come on," Anakin calls, heading forwards.

The three of us, along with a group of clones, head straight for the compound we believed Maul was hiding in. Bo-Katan's forces and the rest of the clones are to remain outside, continuing to battle the other Mandalorians supporting the – former? – Sith Lord on the surface.

We silently make our way through one of the seemingly endless dark tunnels of the complex. There are a few scattered dim lights on the ceiling, but for the most part, the only illumination down there is coming from the clones' headlights. I'm in the lead, keeping my lightsabers off so it isn't too obvious that we're coming.

As we arrive at another turn in the tunnel, I reach out with the Force, feeling for direction and any signs of danger. There are people all over in here, that much I can tell, hiding around various corners waiting to ambush us. We'll have to be extremely careful.

I peer into the darkness of the passageway branching off of this one, but don't see anything so we just keep moving past it. But as we keep walking and come to another place where the tunnel branches off, I sense danger.

Whirling around, I spot one of the Mandalorian warriors stepping out from around the corner. She fires a missile straight at us.

"Get down!" shouts Anakin. He throws his hands out, shoving the missile upwards to divert its path barely in the nick of time. It slams into the wall of the compound as everyone ducks out of the way, an explosion shaking the hall.

The force of the blast sends me tumbling to the floor, my lightsabers slipping from my grasp, my head spinning too much to immediately react. Blaster shots ring out over my head as the Mandalorian warrior shoots at us several times and then takes off. The clones leap to their feet and bolt off down the hall in pursuit.

"Wait!" I yell after them, stumbling up and igniting my lightsabers. They could be walking right into a trap. I should be in front, but they're all already gone.

"Come on!" Anakin calls to me, running down the hall after them. Shaking my head, I bolt after. Hopefully, we'll be able to catch up on time. Blaster bolts ring out behind me from another turn in the tunnel and I whirl around to see one of the clones shooting at the rapidly escaping warriors. One of them shoots him down and I spring down the hallway the clone was fighting in.

Another clone falls to the ground, gravely injured or dead, as I reach another split in the tunnel, with several different paths to take. How do they keep track of where they're in here? The sound of another clone calling for me catches my attention. So that's where we need to go. I whirl around and turn left, continuing to follow Anakin and the clone's voice.

Anakin comes to a stop in the doorway at the end of the tunnel, and I skid to a stop behind him. There's a small ledge at the end, dropping down a bit. Looking down in the small, mostly darkened room, my eyes fall on one of the clones. He's lying on the floor, injured and barely alive. A quick glance around ensures we're not about to be ambushed, and I deactivate my lightsabers.

Anakin runs over to the fallen clone, kneeling next to him. I join him on the other side. He weakly holds out a hand, which I take. He's injured to badly to live, that I know. "I'm sorry, General... Commander," he manages before his arm goes limp. I remain motionless for a moment, tightly clasping his hand in my own. Again. Another person died because of the war; the war Sidious started for no reason beyond his own self-gain. Anger swells inside of me as I repeat my silent vow I made even before returning from the future. Sidious will not form his empire, destroy the Jedi, and make Anakin Fall.

"Ahsoka!" Anakin hisses suddenly, jumping up and re-ignited his lightsaber. "Come on. Someone's coming."

Yes. I sense the danger approaching, and a dark presence. Maul's here, a distance away. I can sense his darkness in the Force. He's close. There's a group of Mandalorian warriors approaching the doorway we just came through. I jump up, lightsabers hissing to life. My gaze darts from one doorway to another. The warriors are rapidly filling all of them, surrounding me.

Moving to stand back-to-back, we shift into our fighting stances. I expect a barrage of blaster bolts from both sides to follow, but none of them shoot. It's then that an approaching dark presence strikes me. It's Maul. I know it.

The Mandalorians on one side step back into the darkness as another dark figure comes into view. Maul strides up to the doorway and regards me in silence for a long moment, his yellow eyes glittering dangerously.

Anakin and I turn sideways to face him, still poised for a fight. Any attack now will be from his direction.

Finally, he speaks. "I was hoping for Kenobi. Why are you here?"