Turning Point

Chapter Twelve

I continued to deflect the shots aimed at both me and Anakin. I was tiring slightly, I'd spent the whole morning walking around, been in a fight afterwards, nearly been killed by a speeder and now this. It wasn't easy, as she had two blasters, and shooting them in time with each other at both me and Anakin. I was struggling to cover both if us with only one lightsaber.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a speeder drop away from the main stream of traffic and head towards her. They paused beside her, giving the woman enough time to leap in before driving off; below us.

"Master, she's in a speeder, she's below us!" I deactivate my lightsaber and sit back down, peering over the edge to keep track of the criminals whereabouts.

"We'll have to wait. Look, I can't move up or down, left or right. There's too much traffic, so unless you're going to fly, you are not going to-"

"Excuse me, Master," I interrupt, and before he gets a chance to speak, I vault over the side of the speeder and drop.

"Ahsoka!" I barely hear my master's shout as I plummet towards the ground. I land on someone else's speeder, but before they can look around, I've lept to another. This time I can't move as quickly, as the traffic as spread out slightly. Unfortunately, this gives the driver enough time to pull out a pistol and point it at me.

I stared at him. Then I gave him a small wave and flipped backwards, twisting gracefully in the air before landing on a fairly large speeder, which by the looks of it, was very expensive. The driver's companion immediately held up a tazer, with a very severe look on his face.

"Sorry," I mouthed, "Jedi business," I tapped my lightsaber and he immediately lowered his weapon.

Suddenly I heard the familiar sound of gunfire, and I span around to find the criminal only five speeders away. I quickly lept across them towards her, activating my lightsaber as I did so. Somehow all of her shots missed me, and I wondered if she panicked under pressure. I was on the nearest speeder now, having gone across the others like stepping stones. The tip of my blade was pointed toward her, and I balanced carefully on the edge of the speeder. But as I prepared to jump, a lucky shot lept towards me and I didn't move fast enough. With a shriek of pain as it hit my left elbow, I once again fell towards the direction gravity pulled me in. Somehow I grabbed onto the woman's speeder and I hung there, holding on with only one hand, well a few fingers, as I still had my lightsaber.

Fearing for my life, I swung my body upwards and rolled onto the speeder. I came to a halt on my back to find a blaster pointed in my face and I took in a sharp intake of breath. Brilliant.

"Weapon," the woman requested, continuing to let, what I now realised was a droid, drive the speeder. She was twisted in her seat, blaster in one hand, my lightsaber soon to be in the other. I couldn't see if she still had the other lightsaber, as being flat on my back wasn't exactly the best position to see it from. I reluctantly handed over my last lightsaber, realising what Anakin ment about my lightsaber holding onto skills. But I had no time to think about that now.

"Thank you...Jedi," the woman's voice was sour, and she still hadn't removed her helmet. I glared back at her, suddenly aware of how vulnerable I was, not to mention injured. I decided just to be patient for once. My master would rescue me.

After a few minutes of travel, I noticed the woman had put down my lightsaber, and relaxed her grip on the blaster; but she was still watching me. I decided it was now or never.

I sprang to my feet, kicking her blaster away from me and used the force to snatch back my lightsaber, despite the extreme sting coming from my elbow. I ignited my blade, ready to deflect shots coming my way. They never came.

Too my complete surprise, the woman took one look at me, vaulted over the side and jumped onto a landing platform alongside the speeder. After I'd digested this, I quickly followed her. This meant I would have to chase her. I tapped my commlink, and it lit up. Now Anakin could trace me.

I turned and sprinted after the woman, who had jumped over several crates and continued along the platform, occasionally twisting around to shoot at me. I deflected them easily.

What I had at first assumed to be just a landing platform, now was an very long one, obviously being ment for the long row of flats, and the abandoned flat (?) at the end. At least I thought it was a flat. It looked a bit burnt at the top; at least explaining why nobody lived there. The top few floors were burnt completely, the floors collapsed. But the other flats each had balconies the length of the floor. It had seemingly once been quite a nice place to live.

To my displeasure, the Deathwatch armour thief was gradually getting further away. They were surprisingly fast, and a lot taller than I was.

I quickly contacted Anakin as I ran, so I could update him on the situation.

"Master, they've abandoned the speeder...chasing along platform below you...somewhere...but they are...quite fast...can't keep up...oh...and...I...have..an injury..." I panted, quickly loosing my breath now from running almost none stop since I was on the speeders and jumpong.

"Urgh," I added after an afterthought. I was not going to catch them easily.

"I'm coming Snips," my master's voice reassured me. But meanwhile, I had to keep going. By now we'd nearly got to the abandoned block of flats, and I could barely breath. The woman threw herself at a window, causing it to shatter and she threw herself in. I saw her run towards a door on the other side of the room and she soon disappeared through it. I clambered through the window after her, a little more gracefully than she had done. I heard the thundering footsteps down the stairs of someone in a hurry, and to make it worse, were quickly getting fainter. I ran through the door, looking around for a window I could jump through, and save time. The nearest window was at the top of the flight of stairs going up. Predictably, I groaned.

The unused staircase creaked loudly as I made my way closer to the burnt ruins of the flat. I could see tell tale signs of smoke damage on the ceiling and walls, indicating the fire had been on the floor above. It looked just about ready to collapse.

I increased my speed slightly as I hurried up the staircase, reluctant to touch the ashy bannister. I couldn't hear the woman at all now, and I wondered how she could have got down so quickly. I'd reached the top of the stairs now, and the damage was worse than I first thought. Metal beams from the floors and walls above lay scattered around like a man made spider web with no curves or patterns. I'm forced to duck and tentatively climb through the jumble of poles and shattered sheets of sharp, pointed metal. No wonder it was abandoned.

Finally I reach the window. I pull up the catch only to find it won't budge. I shake it hard in frustration and the entire window rattles. I hear a creak upstairs. Whoops. I try the catch again, but I don't want to pull to hard, in case something collapses. I pull out my lightsaber instead. I place it carefully on the pane of glass, and then turn the blade on. The entire window shatters. That was very, very, very weak glass.

I return my weapon to my utility belt and peer through it, wondering if I can be bothered to jump after someone I know I won't catch. I decide against it.

I turn around and find myself face to face with a figure who I saw the other day. The blue cloak that stood out on the platform the other day couldn't be mistaken. But this time, the figure supports a blood red bladed lightsaber in each hand.

"Oh," is all I can say.