Chapter Text
Ahsoka ducked as the second barrage of blaster fire rained down, her knees and ribs smacking hard against the concrete streets of Pantora. The Torgruta grimaced, grabbing at the comm at her hip with one hand while deflecting any stray blaster fire with the other. The separatist attack on Pantora was unexpected and extreme, the droid army seemingly appearing from thin air at the skirts of the capital city only a few hours before. The Jedi Council had rallied, quickly deploying its nearest troops to fend off the attackers. Of course, the nearest battalions had to be the 501st and 212th. It was just Ahsoka's luck.
Ahsoka growled in annoyance as the blaster fire thickened, scootching herself toward the nearest cover. Oh, she had so been looking forward to returning to Courisant. She hadn't had a moment's rest from fighting in two months; whenever one battle ended, their troops were immediately called to the front lines of another. Another battle, another planet, another rain of blaster fire.
After what felt like an hour of scooting, Ahsoka finally reached the cover of a half-collapsed wall. She braced herself against it, taking a few moments to catch her breath before activating her comm. “Master! Come in, Master!”
Static sounded for a second, before Anakin's strained voice crackled through the receiver, “Snips, I lost you out there! How's it going on your front?”
Ahsoka scanned her surroundings, taking note of the somehow heavier fire and dwindling clone troops. “Terrible! We’ve been at a stalemate for the past 30 minutes, and I dont have enough men to push forward. Some reinforcements would be nice, if you can spare any!”
Anakin huffed out a laugh, and Ahsoka prickled in annoyance. “Don’t give up on me now, snips. We’ve won with worse odds than this. And it just so happens-” he paused, and Ahsoka heard the buzz of lightsaber against blaster, “-more troops should be here any minute. The council sent another battalion.”
“Thank the force,” Ahsoka mumbled to herself, feeling a heavy weight lift from her shoulders, “Thank you, Master. I'll hold the line until they arrive.”
“Send word if you need anything else, Snips.”
The communicator shut off with a beep. Ahsoka sighed, banging her head lightly against the wall behind her. A moment to spare, that was all Pantora could afford. And so, with a rallying cry, she ignited her sabers and sprang up into battle.
The blaster fire, though still heavy, has alleviated slightly. She sprinted towards the front lines, cutting through the nearest battle droids with ease. Her senses beckoned as a tank locked onto her location, and Ahsoka jumped as high as the force let her, spinning down onto the roof of the vehicle with a quick slash of her Saber to disarm it. From her vantage point, she had a full view of the battle laid out before her.
The droids outnumbered her clones significantly, their battalions covering an entire city block. Behind them, multiple ray-shielded tanks fired at her lines, picking off large numbers of clones with each fire. She could count about… fifty of her men, and a few hundred droids. The numbers left a pit in her stomach.
“Commander!”
Ahsoka whipped her head to the voice. Jesse stood below her, firing dual blasters at the enemy. She hopped down beside him, deflecting any bolts his way as he caught his breath. “Were being destroyed out here,” he panted, exhaustion heavy in his tone, “Ive lost more men than I can count.”
“Dont worry!” Ahsoka yelled over the gunfire, “Master Skywalker said reinforcements should be here soon. An entire battalion!”
“That's the first good news I’ve heard all day,” Jesse said, moving up beside her to fire at the enemy, “I thought we were going to die out here.”
“Like I would let that happen.”
Despite not seeing his face through his helmet, Ahsoka could tell Jesse was smiling, “No, you wou-”
A deafening screech interrupted his words. Ahsoka spun toward the noise, her eyes widening as she faced the sight in front of her. A second tank, hidden by the one she destroyed, was pointed straight toward them. She could feel the machine gearing, see the heat of fire licking at its barrel. It was about to fire, and she hadn't noticed. Jesse swore behind her, and Ahsoka tore her eyes from the gun. Time seemed to slow. With one hand, she grabbed Jesse, using the force to throw him as far back as she could. She only turned back around once he was completely out of harm's way, and was met with a large bomb of fire barreling towards her at light speed. Force, there was no time. The fire was too fast, too unexpected, and all Ahsoka could do was raise her saber and wait for the hit.
And then the ground disappeared beneath her feet, and she was moving. The tank's fire ripped the concrete where she had been standing a moment before, shrapnel exploding into the air. Ahsokas's ears rang, and she could faintly feel her feet touch the ground. She stumbled backwards, and a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders to steady her.
“Shit, did I pull you too hard. My bad, dude.”
Ahsoka turned and came face-to-face with a human male. He looked a year or two her senior, with sandy blonde hair and red eyes. He gave an awkward smile, showing off a set of pointed teeth.
“Yo. I’m uhh, Denji. We were sent to help.”
Ahsoka sprang upward, her energy renewed, “Thank the force, we’re dying out here! I’m Ahsoka, Master Skywalker's padawan.”
The boy, Denji apparently, smiled, his teeth gleaming in the light of blaster fire, “sweet! I’m a padawan too, but my Master's Hayakawa. He’s somewhere around here. I was supposed to follow him, but Powy saw the droids and jumped from the ship.”
“...Powy?”
Before Ahsoka could question anymore, a resounding screech filled the air. Ahsoka turned, lighsabers ready, but was not met with the enemy she was expecting.
Twin red lightsabers stared back at her, cutting through droids faster than Ahsoka could comprehend. A teenage girl held one in each hand, flipping through the air with more ferociousness than grace. The deafening screech was not a droid, but the girl herself, letting out a maniacal, almost evil laugh. She jumped atop a tank, grabbing a scrambling battle droid from the controls and tearing the head from its body. She paused as sparks rained down on her, holding the body triumphantly above her head.
“BEHOLD, MORTALS. THIS IS THE POWER OF DARTH POWER THE POWERFUL.”
Ahsoka blanked, staring at the self-declared Sith lord. The girl began her manic laugh again. Not even the droids seemed to know what to make of her, pausing their fire to stare and mumble amongst themselves.
The girl had long strawberry blonde hair, pushed back behind two red horns protruding from her forehead. She was dressed like a Sith, donning sleeveless, short black robes and black tights. Even her presence in the force seemed dark, a sharp, screaming ball of red. Everything about her screamed Sith. But then why was she destroying the droids? If she were a Sith, wouldn't that mean she was destroying her own army? And certainly she couldn't be Darth Sidious. Force, she had already declared herself as ‘Darth Power.’ That wasn't a Sith Ahsoka had ever heard of.
Ahsoka was thoroughly confused.
“There she is!” Denji exclaimed behind her, cupping his hand around his mouth to scream at the girl, “Powy! Take care of this street!”
The girl whipped her head around to stare at Denji, a crazed grin lining her face, “Denji! Behold, I will destroy these droids and become leader of this planet! HAHAHAHA!” and with another burst of laughter, she hopped from the tank and back into the fray of droids.
Somehow, Ahsoka was even more confused.
“Wait.” The Torgruta turned to face Denji, “Is she with us? Is she a Sith? What's going on?”
“Oh, yeah,” Denji reached around to scratch his head. “That's Power. She's like… kinda a Jedi apprentice? But just ignore everything she says, she's crazy and a pathological liar.”
Ahsoka gaped, utterly confused about what to make of any of this. But as another round of droid fire rang behind her, Ahsoka realized there were a lot more pressing matters than this one.
Signing, she raised her saber to her side, taking a defensive position. Denji grinned. And Ahsoka grinned back.
“Then let's not let her have all the fun.”
The two jumped into the fray. Out of the corner of Ahsoka's eye, she saw him ignite his own saber.
Another red.
Ahsoka sighed.