I Choose You ( discontinued )

Chapter 17: The Hawk's Last Cry

Ahsoka kept pacing in front of the gunship, rubbing her knuckles together. Anakin was sitting on the gunship, his head resting on the side, his legs spread out on the ground in front of him. His eyelids flicker every now and then from exhaustion and Ahsoka realized that it was probably late on Coruscant, the planet they had just come from. What the kriff was taking Al so long?

Anakin let out a sigh. "Alright Snips. Look, it's getting late, it's hotter than Tatooine, the humidity is killing me, and I need a drink. Why are we still here?"

"I told you already," Ahsoka snapped, irritated. "Al's going to get the team that was sent to blow up the droid base before they all get themselves killed and if she needs help, she's supposed to call for backup. How can she call for backup if I'm not here to give it to her."

Sighing again, her Master rubbed his forehead. "Why can't we just send a team to destroy the base and get it over with?"

"Because Master Krell will get upset."

"What if he's not here when it happens?"

Ahsoka raised her eyebrows. "How do you expect to get him off the planet without rising suspicion?"

"I have an idea."

"Great."

"Sarcasm is not appreciated by my young apprentice. Trust me, this worked on Obi-Wan a few months before I was knighted, it's sure to work now."

"Was Master Kenobi mad at you?"

"Naturally. He gave me a three-hour lecture about how it was completely ridiculous and I should never have done it."

Ahsoka wrung her hands uneasily. "I don't like this plan."

"You don't even know what it is," Anakin snapped. "Now stay here, I've got to make a few calls."

He left her by the gunship and walked away, catching Rex halfway to one of the tents and pacing the captain next to him. Ahsoka sighed and looked down at the silent comlink. "Where are you Al?"

<~>

Al had absolutely no idea where she was.

She had abandoned her speeder and decided to take the rest of the journey on foot. A horrible decision, she realized, after walking for a few minutes the humidity began to get to her. Sweaty and out of breath, she collapsed at the base of a tree and pulled out her comlink. It was still working, but she couldn't remember Ahsoka's frequency. Sighing, she played around with it, hoping to connect to some Republic channel, maybe even Red Hawk's. After a few minutes of no success, she rested her head on the tree, wiping sweat from her brow and wishing it was raining. Judging by the moon's place in the night sky, it was a little past midnight. She wasn't going to get anywhere tonight, since the only way she could see was by reaching out in the Force and connecting to the life force within the plants. It took incredible amounts of energy to connect with them, but Al had always felt a strong connection with the earth, so this wasn't as big of a problem as another Jedi would think it might be. The tree she was sitting under had a soft sense about it, almost calming. It wasn't hiding anything up (most jungle plants had poisonous flowers that ate you when you weren't paying attention) it was just calm. Sighing constantly, she curled up in its roots and soon fell asleep. When she woke up what felt like seconds later, there was something standing over her, casting a cool shadow. She blinked in the early morning light and let out a little yelp.

Above her stood a large varactyl-like-animal. Except this one had wings and only two legs. Everything else looked the same; the green-blue color, the feathers around the head, the pointy beak. Al had never seen a varactyl seeing as she'd never been to Utapau, but she and Ahsoka had researched them a while ago. She didn't understand why this one was standing over her and she could sense the creature was just as confused as she was.