//------------------------------// // 66: The Trap (V) // Story: Empire and Rebellion // by Snake Staff //------------------------------// The pouring rain felt soothing on Ahsoka’s orange skin, cool and pure, washing away the layer of sweat and easing the sting of her wounded montral. On the artificial planet, it alone seemed natural to her. The wind and the cold did nothing to impede her, if anything they served as a refreshing contrast to the sterile air inside the building’s confines. Here on the prison’s long rooftop, she felt liberated. The Inquisitor was waiting for her. Back turned, water racing down the gaps in her armor plates, she was regarding the empty prison landing platforms curiously. She didn’t move when Ahsoka first stepped from the turbolift shaft, not even an inch. When the wary Togruta took a step forwards, she spoke. “You have come to kill me,” she said, voice barely audible above the thunderstorm. “Why?” “Because you’ll warn Vader I’m still alive if I don’t.” “That is a lie and you know it. Do you suppose that this prison’s security systems do not have redundancies, links to elsewhere? Your image has already been captured on holocams, Lord Vader will know you live before the night is out. The Imperial Security Bureau will see to that, whether I fall here or no. And you are not so foolish as to be unaware of that. So I ask again, why?” “Because you’ve kill innocents, you showed me as much yourself. If I don’t end you here, the body count will only grow. And I won’t let that happen, not if I can do anything to stop it.” “Must you be so dishonest?” The Inquisitor turned to face her, regarding her with one bared yellow eye. “We both know that your endurance is flagging. You have called on the Force and your body to perform much tonight. You are hopelessly surrounded in this district by thousands of Imperial troops, your little display in the hallway changed nothing in that regard. Between that and your dwindling strength, it would have been far more sensible to use this opportunity to flee. Yet you did not.” “No,” said Ahsoka. “I didn’t.” She took a step forward. “You are here to kill me, simply because you hate me. Is that not the case?” “…You’re a perversion.” “Of you,” she finished. “You fear that you would have become me, had you remained by your master’s side. That is why you seek to end me, deluding yourself that it will somehow bring you peace from what you now know.” “You have no idea what you’re talking about, witch.” “Of course,” she continued. “You will not kill me. Not today, not ever.” Another turbolift at the opposite side of the roof opened, and ten more white-armored men marched out into the pouring rain. They leveled their guns. “Stormtroopers? Really?” Under other circumstances, Ahsoka might have found it almost funny. “You know they can’t do anything to stop me. And neither can you.” “Vengeance is a powerful motivator. They have friends and comrades to your hand.” “Because you threw them at me as cannon fodder,” the Togruta turned her gaze briefly to the men, sensing the hate burning in their hearts. “Your cause is hopeless. If you want to live, don’t interfere.” “Such threats are not the Jedi way.” “I told you before,” Ahsoka snarled. “I’m no Jedi!” “Yes, I can see that,” the Inquisitor shrugged. “Since you have already seen that empty façade for what it was, why not join us? Why not tread the road your master treads?” “Because the Force is greater than you, or them,” Ahsoka bared her teeth again, lightsabers flaring to life. “Now are you going to talk or are you going to fight?” The Inquisitor stared for a moment at the pair of shining green blades, steam hissing off of them with every raindrop that fell. Ahsoka stood there, waiting, gathering the Force to her. Her foe was at least a hundred yards out, but if she could just blitz the distance and cut her down in one move before her own stamina gave out… Her enemy reached up with one leg, touching something on the side of her helmet. Sealed unlocked with a mechanical click, and she pulled the mask off. Ahsoka’s opponent had a short but equine-looking face covered with a blue coat, a prominent scar along her cheek, a charred stub on her forehead, and oversized yellow eyes gleaming in the dark night. Her fur and ragged blue hair sagged in the rain. “So be-” Ahsoka launched herself at the Inquisitor. With the power of the Force infusing her tired body, the Togruta moved at the speed of thought, covering ground at speeds considered all but impossible. The world around her became an irrelevant blur, a distraction. Only her enemy was visible, and only she mattered. In the blink of an eye she was all but on top of her, lightsaber poised to strike her head from her neck. Just an instant longer and she’d be in reach… Then there was a blinding flash of blue and white, and the next instant Ahsoka found herself flying backwards. Her every nerve ending was on fire, from the tips of her montrals to the tips of her toes, every part of her cried out with unnatural agony. She didn’t even feel it when she hit the hard metal roof, slick with water, or when she rolled along until slamming into the side of a landing pad. Ahsoka crumpled there for a moment, smoking despite the downpour. Everything hurt, but her muscles especially felt as though they were on fire. Her energy was drained, as though something horrifying had reached out to suck the very essence of life from her. Her already limited stamina teetered on the brink of collapse, and for a moment she felt the sweet temptation of a black oblivion calling to her. But her species was renowned for its resiliency and she had never been one to give up easily. She forced her eyes open, and saw sparks dancing along the length of her arms. She looked up, and saw similar energies crackling about the foe’s forehead, near the charred stump. “Your skills as a swordswoman are impressive,” the Inquisitor said, “but how is your knowledge of the Force?” That was all the warning Ahsoka got before another blazing stream of lightning burst from her opponent’s head. Reflexes honed on countless battlefields brought her lengthy green blade to bear almost before she was even aware that she was moving. The electrical storm grounded itself in blade, creating a dazzling light in the cold darkness. Ahsoka could feel the very air around her picking up charge, crackling pointlessly against her clothing and flesh. Her arm shook with the effort it took to keep the blade raised high, but at the same time conjuring this must be no easy task. The barrage ceased after a handful of seconds, leaving only swirling sparks behind. Ahsoka breathed heavily, staring at the Inquisitor with wide eyes. She’d seen lightning before, but only from the likes of Count Dooku. It wasn’t a low-level power by any stretch of the imagination, and she hadn’t yet seen an Imperial Force-wielder able to use it. She rose to her feet, ignoring the protests from her still-burning muscles. She both lightsabers in a guard position, taking a wary step forwards. “Still not going to try to run?” her opponent flashed a pearly white grin. “You must hate me even more than I imagined. You are not so far off from the dark side, are you?” Ahsoka said nothing, simply taking a few more steps, drawing on the limitless energies of the Force to reinvigorate her body. “If you insist,” four lightsabers activated, dancing elaborately about her head even as they steamed in the rain. “Come and get me, if you dare.” The Togruta inched closer, eyes focused intently on the enemy, mind hard at work. This Inquisitor, Vader’s pet, was stronger in the Force than she’d shown before. Was lightning the only trick she’d been keeping back? How much of it could she use? Just how powerful was she, really? “I sense your doubt, young one,” she said, slowly beginning to move herself. “Your mortal shell cannot much longer meet the demands that you place upon it. Your style drains you quickly. You have perhaps a few minutes before you can no longer raise a hand against me.” “I don’t need a few minutes to kill you,” Ahsoka replied, the two circling one another warily. “Is that so?” “Yes.” Without warning, Ahsoka reached out with the Force, seizing a heavy tool kit beside one of the landing platforms and hurdling it at the foe’s exposed head. Immediately she darted in with both lightsabers at the ready. When the Inquisitor gave the incoming projectile a fraction of her attention, the ex-Jedi unleashed a one-handed Force push. It wasn’t enough to pierce her telekinetic barriers outright, but it did stagger her and throw off her concentration. Two of her lightsabers swung about reflexively, slicing the heavy metal box in two, but that was all the opening that Ahsoka required. Her assault was face-paced and relentless, swinging both of her lightsabers in a blinding flurry of stabs and slashing. She was committed now, it was do or die, so she held nothing back. She parried her foe’s lightsabers as they came in, but never allowed herself to think of them as anything more than something in the way. She slashed at the Inquisitor’s face as she flipped above it, but her strike was shunted to the side by an angle swing of a red blade. She struck out at her right flank, only for the stolen green saber to impale itself into the metal roof directly in the path of her sword. It was rooted firmly enough to deflect her strike, and Ahsoka jumped again to avoid another lightsaber coming in from the side at her head. This wasn’t working. Despite her best efforts the assault was slower than it had been in the hallway. The ground was slippery and smooth, the footing uneven, and she’d been either manifesting Force abilities or in combat for too long now to fight at her absolute peak. It was clear to Ahsoka, as she batted away another counterswing, that there was no way this Inquisitor was going to win purely by lightsaber skills unless she could somehow pin her down and bring all four blades to bear. It was equally apparent she didn’t necessarily need to – all she had to do was hold out long enough for Ahsoka’s fatigue to give her an opening. She had to break the pattern. Reaching out with the Force, the Togruta made to seize one pair of the spinning lightsabers, but the foe’s grip was stronger than she anticipated. Before it could become a true contest of strength, the other two slashed out at her, and she had to abandon the effort to keep moving. Next, she tried slashing at one of the floating hilts with her saber, but they were far more nimble than they had any right to be, and with a far wider range of motion. They could twirl in an instant to put a blade in front of hers, and without the constraints of limbs she didn’t have enough experience with the style to predict exactly how. Ahsoka jumped over the top of the Inquisitor again, swiping at her armored back. Once again, two sabers rushed up to block the noncommittal attack, sparks flying to no real effect. The moment she landed, another saber swung at her. She caught it with a cross of her own, then finally spotted an opportunity. Her black boot lashed out under her enemy’s guard and towards her already-injured wing. It connected with satisfying strength and the audible crunch of snapping bone. The Inquisitor screamed and staggered, concentration flagging. Without hesitation Ahsoka threw off her disoriented lightsaber and stabbed for the woman’s neck. “ENOUGH!” she roared, the Force turning her scream into a blind shockwave of dark side energies that radiated out in all directions, sweeping everything – Ahsoka, her own lightsabers, her men, tool kits and pieces thereof – up in it. Ahsoka alone landed on her feet, reaching up a hand to shield herself from the rain of debris. Little objects, even pieces of a splintered landing platform, clattered like the rain itself against her invisible bubble. A little cylinder fell at her feet – one of the Inquisitor’s own lightsabers. She was vulnerable. The Togruta wasted no time, darting in yet again with lightsabers at the ready. She abrupted halted halfway there, throwing her arms up in front of her head. Despite the forewarning, the invisible shove forced her back a good few feet, black boots sliding easily on the slippery metal. It was followed up by a second, then a third push in quick succession, each failing to break her barrier entirely but still sending her sliding backwards. “I will not die a failure!” the Inquisitor screamed. A fourth push came, and then a fifth without even giving Ahsoka a moment to try and rally herself. Her opponent looked like something out of a nightmare now, perfect teeth ground into a hateful snarl, blood trickling down her limp, broken wing like water, yellow eyes virtually lanterns as her rage and pain amplified her powers. The dark side welled up within her, and her sixth push was so strong that Ahsoka lost her footing altogether, staggering and falling painfully onto the slick metal roof. The Togruta barely had time to try to stand back up before another barrage of lightning arced between them. She caught it with two hurriedly-raised green blades, but the sheer kinetic impact threw off her balance and drove her to one knee. This time the electricity didn’t taper off, if anything it only intensified. The white light of their collision grew almost blinding, the sheer heat of it of almost enough to blister skin by itself. And that was before the unrelenting pressure of it began to push the twin lightsabers back towards her face. Ahsoka gritted her own teeth and drew strength from the Force into her aching arms. Slowly but surely she began to push back, moving the arcing conflagration out and away, focusing all her considerable willpower on containing it until her opponent burned herself out. That’s why she didn’t observe one of the Stormtroopers the Inquisitor’s scream had tossed about beginning to stir. She didn’t notice when the man, laying slumped against the entrance to one of the prison’s elevators, reached slowly for the E-11 lying on the roof near him. She didn’t see him taking careful aim, or hear the sound when he pulled the trigger. She certainly felt it, though. A blaster bolt took Ahsoka Tano in the back, and her defense crumbled. She barely had time to notice the pain of hot plasma burning into her flesh, being immediately preoccupied with the sensation of every nerve ending set alight once more as lightning coursed through her. She screamed in torment, her skeleton rendered momentarily visible amidst the darkness. Seconds passed, though to her abused body it might as well have been an eternity. All at once it ceased, and the Togruta toppled forwards onto the rooftop, sparking and smoking like a freshly-cooked nerf steak. For a moment she just lay there, every bit of her crying out for the mercy of unconsciousness, but her mind refused to allow herself such a luxury. Powered as much by the living Force as any natural process, her spasming muscles pulled her unsteadily back onto her feet. She stretched out one feeble hand, one of her dropped sabers flew back into it. Then came a fresh lance of agony. Ahsoka’s weary blue eyes looked down, her vision just coherent enough to perceive a red lightsaber blade spearing through her lower abdomen. She had perhaps a second to regard it before her tortured flesh at last gave out. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and darkness claimed her.