Give Me Love

chapter thirty one

"We'll say we snuck onboard," you promised, finally prying Padmé off of your arm and onto a seat. She looked more green than pale now, clutching at the armrests of the chair.

You strapped her in with the belts, and then took your own seat and did the same to yourself. Ahsoka spit some orders into her com, and then the ship was lifting into the air and taking off.

Your head flung back against the chair, the gravity leaving your body as Ahsoka manned the ship into a steep nosedive to avoid the battle ahead. No one shot at you, and no droids targeted you. The cloaking device truly was a magnificent technology-- they couldn't even detect you.

You scanned the battle from below for any sign of a yellow starfighter among the flinging shrapnel and constant explosions. Anakin was one of the best pilots in the galaxy, and you trusted him to not die during a pirate invasion. It still didn't stop you from worrying.

"It's Obi-Wan," you pointed out a red starfighter zipping by, chasing after someone.

And there he was.

Anakin swung in and out of a line of droids effortlessly, spinning and twirling through the air like a bullet. His yellow starfighter was like a beacon of destruction, blasting everything in its path as Artoo screamed on the hull and Obi-Wan followed in his wake. He was gone from your line of sight in the blink of an eye, charging headfirst into the remnants of a ship he just blew up, swallowed by the flames.

Ahsoka's face was drawn down in concentration, manning the ship with her hands on the controls and her tongue sticking out a little bit. She successfully piloted it across the battle zone, now behind enemy lines as she got closer to the biggest ship.

Peering into the viewing window, she expected to see someone of importance giving off orders, but instead only saw a bunch of droids running around, clueless as always.

She flew to another ship, and found the same.

"Something's not right," Ahsoka flew to another ship. The chaos inside was the same. "Look at the way they're scrambling in there. It's like they're..."

"Trying to get away from something," you finished. You could see it, too-- the way the battle droids furiously typed into the computers on the command center, ushering the others to get to work, running into each other and falling over. They were in a complete panic.

"Turn the ship around," you told Ahsoka, needing to see the battle again. If no one was commanding these Separatist ships, and the only ones really fighting were the pirates...

"Ahsoka, update on your position."

Even his voice through the com gave you goosebumps.

"Behind the third frigate on the right," Ahsoka answered. "But Anakin--"

"Get out of there! Now!"

It seemed to happen in slow motion. One minute, there was a full blown battle going on. The next, the whole world erupted into blinding red and white, the heat from the flames tangible even from behind the plasma window.

Padmé screamed as the rolling waves of fire raced toward you, Ahsoka locking eyes with you.

Guilt.

Droids and assault ships were blown back, racing away or burned to a crisp as the fire swallowed them. But from out of the pinnacle of the explosion, racing toward you with smoke billowing up from the wings, was a yellow starfighter.

"Anakin, you idiot!" Ahsoka hissed, urged into motion again and punching in orders on the control panel. Something was interfering with the controls, and she couldn't move it. You kicked the dash a couple times, remembering how Anakin once said that sometimes the engines just need a couple smacks, but still nothing.