Allana
"Wolffe, are they jamming our transmissions?" I asked.
"Not yet ma'am." My Commander answered.
"Then patch me through."
"To who?"
"Anyone." The ship shook. "Someone must be listening." I added as I held my necklace in my fist.
"You're through General." He informed me.
"This is Allana Naberrie can anyone hear me?!" I asked as the Separatists hit the bridge of my ship again. "Mayday, mayday this is Allana Naberrie, please, can anyone-"
"Lana!" Anakin's hologram appeared before me, beside him, Ahsoka, both of their faces reflected worry.
"Ani, it's so good to see you, hey there Snips." I greeted as I heard more crashes everywhere.
"What's going on Master?" Asked Ahsoka.
"We're under attack, and we're heavily outnumbered, they're closing in and I don't know how long are we going to be able to hold un we-" Another crash that made me almost fall down.
"Our shields are gone General." The Lieutenant told me, making me sigh.
"I'm afraid you're our only hope." I told Anakin whose expressive eyes worried even more.
"I'll be there in no time, just hold on a little longer." He said and his blue eyes begged, making me nod in agreement as.
"Just make sure to-" The transmission was lost as we received another impact. "Damn it." I stabilised myself. "Alright men, listen up, Skywalker's fleet will come in any moment, get ready for evacuation at once." I ordered and several members of my crew said yes to the order and began to run in every direction. We received another impact. "Hurry Ani, we're depending on you." I whispered, then, I spot them, super droids. "Wolffe, I need you to get out there and stop these droids." I said pointing out of our window.
"I'm on it." He said and began to run, when my eyesight returned from my Commander's back to the front I saw them and sensed him, I smiled.
"General, Skywalker's here." The Lieutenant informed.
"I know." I whispered to myself. "We're entering the atmosphere."
I said out loud now, then, the fire we were receiving was too strong, in that moment, I spotted a gunship crashing outside, half in, half out. "That's it, everyone, out of here, now!" I said and we all rushed out of the bridge.
I directed myself towards Wolffe to help him out, gladly I found him in one piece. I jumped and cut a droid by the half and proceeded to destroy some more, I was cutting metal heads, arms, hands, legs, everything. We continued to move through the hallways to the closest exit we could find that was not destroyed, blocked or burning and in the middle of a small fight I didn't see the droid coming behind me until I heard a crash. I turned around and Anakin came running towards where I was, smiling at me.
"Nice entrance." I told him as I deflected some blasts and we continued to run to find our way out of here. "I don't have a plan to get out of this mess, so, I hope you do." I cut a droid by the half again.
"Well, I have a ship docking in the lower hangar." He informed, deflecting blasts, he groaned. "As we speak."
We arrived at an entrance that would take us to the hangar, like Ani said, a single droid in front of it. "Ah...hold it?" It said as he pointed his blaster at us and we turned our lightsabers on, but when the doors opened, quite a bit much of droids walked in, firing merciless at us. We deflected the shots as we walked backwards and began to run towards the other side, finding the other door to get the hell out of this ship.
"We made it." Said Ahsoka as we arrived at the door and she clicked the button to get the docking port. The small tunnel connected itself to the ship and opened, we started to walk in and heard a crash behind us, but I didn't want to turn around, I just wanted to get the team to safety and leave.
"It's too late." Anakin said, making me frown.
"What?" I turned around just for him to push me, and the rest using the Force, when our eyes locked an unspoken 'I love you' was said, but it felt as if it was the last one, a thin line of tears appeared on my eyes. "No! Anakin!" I yelped.I didn't even have time to tell him I love you back.
"Master!" Yelped Ahsoka as well when the metallic door closed before us. heard a thud in the door on the other side and I rushed to it. "Don't move the ship." She added into the communicator as I clicked the door's button to open, when it did, it was just a small hole, I was only able to look through it and I spotted him, unconscious on the ground, so, I turned my lightsaber on, and cut a circle on the door, big enough for me to fit in, I walked into the hole when I heard another crash.
"Allana, we have to leave now." The Padawan told me.
"I know." I said pulling Ani's arm into the dock. "If you helped me get him into the ship we may leave faster." I said groaning as I pulled him, she rushed and once we were in the safe spot, Wolffe closed the gate.
"I'm going to turn on the deflector shields." He said as I sat and placed Ani's head on my lap, dirt on his face, eyes closed, my hands on his cheeks. "General, incoming transmission from Skywalker's cruiser." The Commander said but I didn't want to move, or I couldn't, I wasn't sure, the only think I was certain about was not wanting to leave his side as a wave of fear threatened to drown me, there have been so many times when one of us could've died, but right now, he could actually die in my arms and it was because I asked for his help. "Ma'am?" Wolffe called me.
"I-" I whispered, I looked at my husband's features as I took a deep breath, remembering a promise we made to each other on our wedding day, if anything happened, we'd do our duty, and made everything we could to keep it together, I exhaled and gently placed his head on the floor. "Patch me through." I said and he did as I commanded. "Admiral we-"
"You'll never be able to dock with our ship." He said and something inside me stopped. "Not in the middle of this battle."
"We had no choice Admiral." I said. "General Skywalker's condition may be critical, he needs medical attention as soon as possible, we must get him on board The Resolute." I added.
"Are all Jedi so reckless?" Yularen asked and I smiled.
"Just the best of us." I answered. Suddenly, when we had finally arrived at the cruiser's lower hangar, a blaster of a vulture droid hit the side of our ship, making everyone that was on the cabin move drastically to a side, the impact cost us the crew's co-pilot. An alarm went on.
"The hyperdrive's been activated." The pilot said as they were about to connect the duct with our ship.
"Shut it down." I commanded.
"I can't." He said trying to turn it off with no use.
"General Naberrie, what's going on?" Yularen asked.
"We're going into hyperspace." I informed. "Detach, detach!" I said as the cruiser took evasive action to avoid being taken by our ship in the moment the jump to the Force knows where was done.
[...]
Tano was beside her Master in the small Medical Bay. He had his eyes still closed, an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth, helping him breath better. When the door closed behind me her eyes snapped towards me as I placed my hand over her shoulder, I sensed her worry, a fear of loosing one of her closest friends that may be a brother or even a father figure taking over her, I sighed.
"I need you with Wolffe on the cabin right now." I said in a low tone of voice.
"I should stay." She said. "Commander Wolffe doesn't need my help, Anakin does." She said and I understood completely.
"I know, more than you think I do." I told her. "But you can help him by getting this ship to safety." I added. "I'll stay with him while-" I was interrupted when the door opened.
"General, we have a problem." My loyal mate told us.
"What is it Commander?" I asked and he sighed, walking in.
"In our haste to escape the navicomputer's coordinates were inputted incorrectly." He started the explanation as he went to click a button on a screen that showed a screen that must be in the cabin. "And...well, we're headed right for a star." He finished. I looked at Ani and walked out of the room, followed by Wolffe and Snips.
We rushed inside of the cabin and my Commander took the co-pilot seat as I took the pilot's one, Rex and Ahsoka behind us.
I started to click buttons when suddenly Wolffe hit with his fist the board. "It's no use." He said. "The navicomputer's completely fried." I meditated for a second, thinking about my next move, when seconds later, a memory of a mission with my Master came to my head.
"I have an idea but, it may not be the best one given the circumstances." I said.
"What is it?" Ahsoka asked.
"Years ago Master Gallia and I were in a situation quite similar on our way to Ryloth, but it wasn't a star, it was a moon, and she shut down all power circuits to reset the coordinates, we could do it but-"
"That would cut off Anakin's life support." Tano said behind me.
"I know, and I don't like it any more than you do and that is in fact why I said that it wasn't the best idea I've had, but it is a risk we'll have to take."
"If he was in your position do you think he'd do it?"
"Yes." I answered. "When we started working together again we promised that any mission we were in together was first, that it was more important than one of us, than our friendship." I said as a knot began to form in my throat. "He's made of iron Ahsoka, trust me on this one." I said facing the front again. "Take the controls." I added standing up and she took the pilot's seat.
"We're switching off primary power units." Wolffe said after a couple minutes.
"Cutting it awfully close brother." Rex told him.
"Ahsoka, are you ready?" I asked ignoring the Captain's optimism.
"Yes Master." She assured.
"Alright, ready to shut down auxiliary power." I informed breathing in and placing my hand on the leaver. "On three." I added. "One, two, three." I finished and I pulled down the leaver, Rex and I floated as the anti-gravity turned off. We jumped out of hyperspace and I felt as if someone was pulling me with all they strength they had, the star's blinding light made my eyes almost burn.
"We're out of hyperspace, resume all power." Said Wolffe. In that moment, whatever Rex was holding on to in order not to hit the back of the cabin broke, making him do that exactly, he bumped me, our backs colliding against the entrance of the cockpit making me be too far away from the leaver to get the power on again. The ship started to spin, Ahsoka was not being able to control it.
"Switch the power back on." She said. "Master?" Ahsoka added as I made a huge effort to not close my eyes and get to the leaver. "Hurry." She added and when I used the Force to pull it up the buttons and scanners turned on and we were back online, we fell and our bodies hit the ground loudly. Snips pulled the controls to the left and we avoided the star as its heat filled the entire ship, making a thin layer of sweat cover my forehead. When we were a couple meters away the air began to cool, making me sigh in relief as I got up. "Well, the good news is that we're not going to crash into that star." She informed the rest of us.
"The bad one is that we're definitely going to hit that planet." I said when the speed of the ship continued to rise as we entered atmosphere and more heat filled up, this time, the entire ship. Suddenly, we heard an explosion and the ship shook drastically.
"What was that?" Rex asked.
"I don't know, but we definitely lost something." I answered as I frowned. "Prepare for impact." I warned and seconds later, we hit the ground. The glasses broke, and our necks were about to as well. "Another happy crash-landing I guess." I said removing the sweat of my face with my forearm's glove once we had stopped completely. "Ahsoka with me, the rest of you, get out." I ordered and everyone began to move.
Snips and I made our way to the Medical Bay while the troopers got out of the ship. When I opened the door, we were able to see the medical droid on the ground with a piece of metal over him, leaving him useless, and Ani was still on the bed, his arm and leg hanging down, the mask still over his face. Ahsoka rushed towards him and removed the mask, grabbed his left arm and placed it over her shoulders, I took the right one and placed it over my shoulders too, our other arms were around his waist. We began to run out as we heard something beeping, this thing was going to blow up in any second.
We reached the door and when we were barely steps out, the fire of a small explosion almost reached us. I placed my hand over Ani's chest and began to lay him down with 'soka's help. "Well, we made it." I said painting as I sat beside him. "And Anakin is still alive."
"I'm just glad he wasn't awake to see that landing." She told me breathing in and removing the sweat from her face.
"He would've been proud." I told her as we stood up and tried to shake the dirt off our clothes, with not much success.
"I've certainly perfected the art of demolishing ships and almost getting my Master killed." She added and I chuckled.
"As long as you don't actually get your Masters killed in a landing, I have no problem with it." I told her and she smiled, with a light frown, realising how I've said 'Master' in plural. Minutes later, Rex and Wolffe made a small tent, using pieces of metal that were not extremely hot thanks to the fire or too sharpened to hurt someone.
I carried Ani in the same way I did before, placing his arm around my shoulders and mine around his waist, with some struggle as I asked everyone to check the perimeter. I laid his body gently on the ground and sat beside him, holding his hand as my brain made a conversation appear on my head, making me close my eyes to see it more vividly.
Anakin and Allana's apartment, Coruscant
One month ago:
"It's nothing really." I said as I placed my sleeping clothes over my body. The soft feeling of the bluish silk embracing me, making my tensed muscles relax. "She didn't have the time to do anything."
"Anything? Seriously? Lana, she could've made a serious injury there, you could've lost an eye, you could've died." He sighed. "Facing her alone...what were you thinking?" He added taking off his armour and then his blue and dark violet robes as well as his boots.
"I was thinking 'Gunray cannot escape, oh, Dooku's assassin, fight, arrest her, damn it, Ahsoka hasn't lived enough to face her and die in the attempt, I'll do it, I should've listened to her, here she is, great, she saved my life' and blah, blah, blah." He giggled placing his sleeping pants on as I sighed. "Ventress has something for eye scars you know?" I commented making him laugh as I took a comb from my night stand and began to brush my no longer tied up hair with it, walking up to the balcony, my eyes glued to him, giggling after a couple seconds. "Seriously, you, me, who's next? Hopefully not Ahsoka, she's too pretty to have one of these on her face." I pointed at my face walking out as he laughed once more, I smiled as the melodic noise filled the room. I turned around to face the endless night sky and the stars above us as I continued brushing my hair.
"I think you're lucky our Padawan was there to save your skin." He said and I stopped my movements, turning around with a frown, facing him, my smile not fading. He was placing the black robe over his naked torso as he walked up to me, a smile on his features as well.
"Our Padawan?" I asked. "Please don't tell me that you've included her in that 'what's mine's yours' thing." He laughed as I smiled more. He placed his hands on my face, the cold metal of his robotic fingertips gently touched the small scar that is now across my left eyebrow.
"It's not because of that." He said kindly. "You're helping me train her, we've been together in most of her missions so that's why she's our Padawan." He answered as his eyes studied my face. "Have you ever thought how she might see us?" He asked after a couple seconds in silence spent just looking at each other.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked as I turned back around to face the planet of stars, leaving the comb on the edge of the balcony's railing.
"Well, I see Obi-Wan as a father figure and a best friend maybe like a brother but, I don't know...it's a lot, and you see Adi as a sister and best friend as well, so, how do you think Snips sees us?"
"I don't know, maybe like older brothers? Though if she sees a mother and father figure I think is sweet." He chuckled hugging me from behind, his hands were resting on my womb.
"Have you thought about that as well?"
"About how I see her?"
"No." He giggled. "No, about us...as parents." I smiled, my hands found his as he rested his chin above my head.
"Of course I have." I answered after a few seconds, smiling. "I have thought of war being finally over, us being in our early thirties, maybe retired after serving half of our lives, maybe living here-"
"What about living in Naboo?"
"Naboo?" I asked turning around, facing him again, my hands around his waist, his around my lower back, climbing up to the back of my neck. "Not until now."
"Naboo sounds better." He smiled.
"Why's that?"
"Well, like I told you long ago, it's natural, beautiful, the air smells like flowers all the time, and there our children could have a lot of space to run, play, fight." He sighed as I was able to see the dream before his eyes, reflected in the blue waters of his ocean. "We could live in the Lake County, go to the meadows, have picnics, watch them grow as we grow old. We could be a happy family there my love." I stood quiet, his eyes met mine. "Sounds like a dream." He said sighing, as if the dream was just that, an idea that might not come true.
"Well Ani, dreams do come true...most of them, the good ones specially, like this one." I smiled and stood on my tippy toes to kiss him, he kissed me back and we smiled into it. "I love you." I told him when we broke the kiss and his fingers brushed my cheek.
"I know, my angel." He said and hugged me, making me listen to his heartbeat as we looked at the ships that came and went through the clear night sky.
Today:
I opened my eyes slowly as a sigh of sadness left my lips, I looked at him, still unconscious and my heart broke, only the Force knows for how long he was going to be able to make it. I looked outside and made sure no one was watching, then, I leaned over and kissed his forehead. "You'll be okay." I whispered as I placed my hand over his chest, felling his slow but steady heartbeat. "I can feel you." I whispered again. "You'll make it." I added. "You have to." I pulled away from him when I saw Ahsoka coming towards us from the corner of my eye. I stood up and walked out to meet her. "Anakin may not have much time." I said once I had reached her side. "We have to find help tonight." I added.
"Okay, you and Wolffe go south." She said and I frowned. "Rex and I will stay here with Anakin." She added and I shook my head.
"No Snips." I said. "If we want to help him quickly, we have to work together, last time we split up things didn't end up that well." I told her remembering our mission and fight with Ventress.
"I can't leave him." She said. "Master, I know if I was hurt he'd never leave me behind, and surely he wouldn't leave you." She added and my heartbeat raised, she was not wrong.
"I know, and I understand it's hard Ahsoka but Anakin has to stay behind and we have to go now if we want to save his life, otherwise there will be nothing else we could do for him." A thin line of tears appeared in her vibrant blue eyes. "You know we have to do everything we can to get off this planet." I added and placed my hands on her shoulders. "As a Jedi it is your duty to do what is best for the group." She looked at her Master and then walked a few steps away from me, facing the horizon, sighing and taking deep breaths, then, she looked back at me and nodded.
[...]
The sun continued to set, the soft fire looking light of the dusk filled up the area as we got ready, Ahsoka was carrying a backpack when she joined my side.
"General Naberrie." Wolffe called my attention, something in his hands. "Look." He handed the piece of wood over to me. "We're not the only ones here on this planet." I studied the wooden piece and it had carved on it a tree and a small creature in the bottom. I handed it over to the Padawan. "There has to be some kind of...something in here." He added when a low growl or roar echoed in the distance, making us look at the horizon in every direction. The troopers that had lights into their helmets turned them on as I frowned trying to sense the creature that could be nearby, unsuccessfully.
"If you don't mind me asking General." Said Sinker behind me.
"Where exactly are we going?" My frown intensified with determination this time.
"To go find the people who live on this planet." I answered.
"Where are we going to find them?" He asked again. "We have no idea where they are."
"It seems to me that the people we're looking for live in near giant trees." Said Ahsoka making me smile.
"Very perceptive Snips."
"As always Smarty." She said walking up to the entrance of the tent where Anakin was still sleeping, as I'd like to think he was. "Be strong Master, just a little bit longer, Rex will watch over you." She said as if he could hear her through his deep sleep.
"We need to go." I said after a few seconds, interrupting their silent moment.
"Don't worry kid, I'll take good care of him." Rex said to my left as he raised his blaster, letting clear as water that he'd take care of his General and friend with his life, I couldn't be more thankful, then, Ahsoka nodded and stood up.
"Rex, keep your locator on, we should be back by morning with whoever or...whatever lives on this planet." I told the Captain.
"Got it General." He told me as I gathered everyone up.
"Come on guys, let's go." I added and we ran into the tall grass to find the help we needed for the Jedi that was having an inner fight for his life.