Star Wars One-Shots

Lightspeed

Ahsoka jolts upright with a gasp, already on her feet.

The cell lights blink out entirely, along with the ray shields.

There's a flash and a beep before a red light fills the halls – emergency power.

What just happened?

This cannot be an accident, Ahsoka realizes with growing alarm. She's felt something uneasy since she came, and it's stronger now. The Dark Side, though it's well hidden. The Fallen Jedi is here, trying to cover up their crimes, and likely, they had to destroy the power to get out without being caught. That, or something worse is happening.

Either way, it's sure to cause a prison riot. Any other time, Ahsoka would be out there, helping put it down, but she probably shouldn't go out there right now, should she? Probably not. She's being held here for murder, but Ahsoka has always struggled with sitting still. It's... not easy to ignore when she can feel the chaos beyond. People are dying and...

This isn't happening because of her, but it still feels like it is.

Through the Force, she feels a nudge that is Anakin's presence – of course, he's already on his way here and has been the moment he sensed the commotion, but it'll take time, and there's a Dark Sider on the loose.

It's Ahsoka's duty to stop them.

There's not time to wait until her master finally arrives. It can take quite a while to make it through the Temple, and yes, this is nearby, but she suspects it'll take up to an hour for him to make it here, depending on what he's doing and the traffic.

Oh, actually, how many traffic violations he makes, that is.

Because it rather depends on whether or not he happens to feel like avoiding rule breaking at the moment. Which is rarely. But sometimes. He'll probably make an exception now, per usual. Anakin always does that for her. He does it for those he's close to, anyway, and that's the one thing about him that she's never been able to entirely understand.

No one else does it. It's not the Jedi way, but it's his way.

And he always makes it seem so right.

But now, people are dying. Ahsoka's a Jedi. She doesn't know what's going on, or if she can help, but most of all, she's just worried about how they'll take her being out of prison. She's never been in a situation like this before. It's not like being captured by the Separatists, and that has rarely happened to her. Usually only briefly. But this is the Republic. The Council already knows she's had no involvement. They know better than to suspect her... right?

The Separatists do things like this all the time to lure out Jedi. She's quite used to it. Maul did it with Master Obi-Wan, too. They're probably trying – intentionally – to lure her out. That doesn't mean she's going to ignore what's going on just to protect herself. Never. That's not the Jedi way. And Anakin would be so disappointed with her if she did that.

She would be disappointed with herself.

She can hear something happening nearby. What Letta was accused of was treasonous. People here – if they're guilty – are going to be dangerous people that can't be let loose.

She can only hope this won't go badly as she steps out into the hall, looking both ways. It's not hard to tell where the sounds are coming from. One way is just deeper into the prison, and the other leads out. It's coming from that way, and Ahsoka sprints down the hall, rounding the corner. It's easy for her desire to find the person who dared do this and put them down cloud her vision, but she needs to stay focused and present. She can almost hear Anakin's voice in the back of her mind, reminding her to be patient and find her center.