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“I never want to do that again” Ahsoka remarked as she slid into the copilot seat of the Twilight.
“I agree, young one.” Obi-Wan said as he steered the ship out towards the stars. They were quiet. Ahsoka bit her lip, but Obi-Wan said nothing as she gave into her nervous habit. She couldn’t help it. After they pulled Anakin from the rubble, all she wanted to do was get back to the temple as soon as possible so that Anakin could see a healer. And so, she could catch up on her homework. She took a quick glance towards Obi-Wan. He was silent, but it told her all she needed to know.
“R2, set the coordinates for Coruscant.” Ahsoka said into the silence. The astromech beeped a few times before rolling over to the navigational computer.
“I’m going to check on Master Skywalker.” Ahsoka said as she stood up from her seat. Obi-Wan was still quiet, and Ahsoka noticed that he was gripping the yoke with a lot more strength than usual. Ahsoka walked away.
The door slid open towards the medical bay- or the excuse for a medical bay that this ship had. Anakin laid on the cot closest to the door, the medical droid hovering over his body. The droid turned to face Ahsoka as she entered the room.
“He has sustained severe injuries. Several of his ribs are broken and there may be internal bleeding. He has a concussion, and several burns as well.” Ahsoka held up her hand and the droid stopped speaking. She was sure that the list of his injuries went on, but she didn’t want to hear it. Ahsoka’s shoulders dropped as she got a closer look at his face. It was pale, except for the dark circles underneath his eyes. His hair was matted with dried blood and dirt. The oxygen mask covered his mouth and nose, and his chest rose and fell steadily. Ahsoka watched her master breathe with the help of the oxygen mask when suddenly the power cut out.
Ahsoka looked around, fear beginning to grip her heart. The medical room was dark. The droid’s lights turned on, but it was frozen in one spot.
“He has sustained sever injuries. He has sustained severe injuries.” The droid kept repeating. Ahsoka used the force and shut it down, and stared at in horror. She could feel her heartbeat echo in her montrails, and looked over at Anakin, who was still motionless on the bed.
“Ahsoka!” Obi-Wan said as he appeared in the doorway. “We’ve been caught in a solar storm.” Ahsoka frowned.
“Is that why there’s no more power? Did you shut everything off in time?” She asked.
“Yes, and yes. Fortunately, R2 was able to alert me early enough that I was able to shut down all power except for the life support.” Obi-Wan answered, looking over at Anakin’s body. “What about the medical droid?” He asked.
“He started to glitch, I shut him off.” Ahsoka replied, while staring at Anakin as well. She looked back at Obi-Wan.
“Master, the droid said that Skyguy has got some serious injuries.” Obi-Wan frowned and got close to his former apprentice, examining him from his bedside. He cupped his hand to Anakin’s cheek, and then checked his neck for his pulse.
“Anakin doesn’t have much time.” He said in a soft voice. “But we cannot go anywhere until this storm has passed.”
“What about calling for help?” Ahsoka suggested.
“All of our communication equipment is useless.” Obi-Wan responded while straightening back up. She could hear that he was trying to keep a neutral tone. Years of jedi training had taught him how to school his face into one of perfect neutrality. But she could feel his worry, his fear, through the force.
“And so is that medical droid.” Ahsoka muttered. “I don’t suppose you know that much about force healing, Master?”
“Unfortunately,” Obi-Wan began, not taking his eyes off of Anakin. “I do not.”
“So now what?” Ahsoka asked while crossing her arms.
“We wait.” Obi-Wan responded. “There’s no point in turning on the power while the storm is still raging. We have to wait until it’s over and then hoped the navigational computer is still working.”
“And if it’s not?” Ahsoka pressed.
“Then we call for help.” Obi-Wan said. “Thankfully, this isn’t a large star, so the flare won’t last more than 12 hours. Most storms with yellow stars are under an hour.”
“Master, I don’t think Anakin can wait 12 more hours, or even one more hour” Ahsoka said while looking at Anakin’s body. She could feel her master’s presence in the force, but as they sat in the intergalactic medium, waiting for the storm to pass, she could feel his presence growing weaker. She shivered- not only at the thought of what was happening to her master, but at the dropping temperature of the ship as it lost its heat to the vacuum of space.
“I know. We have no choice but to wait Ahsoka. If we turn the power back on now, we will fry all the ship’s circuity, and that will leave us stranded.” Obi-Wan said firmly.
“Yes, Master.” Ahsoka muttered. Obi-Wan walked over towards the medical kit and grabbed some bacta patches.
“We will do what we can until the storm passes.” He said as he grabbed some cleaning wipes and began to wipe the blood out of Anakin’s hair. “Ahsoka, pass me more wipes. There’s a lot of blood here.” Obi-Wan remarked. Ahsoka silently handed him more disinfectant wipes, and a small pile of blood covered ones was growing by Anakin’s bedside. She began to bite her lip again in worry as she looked at the amount of blood that the cloths were absorbing.
“There.” Obi-Wan said as he laid the bacta patch on Anakin’s head wound. Obi-Wan frowned.
“He should have woken up by now.” He remarked. “What other injuries did the medical droid mention?” He asked Ahsoka.
“Well… it did mention possible internal bleeding.” Ahsoka said quietly. Obi-Wan quickly spun around and looked at her.
“What?” He exclaimed. Ahsoka shrugged. “The power was shut off before we could get any further.” Obi-Wan pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Anakin.” He muttered while shaking his head. Usually Ahsoka found it funny when Obi-Wan got annoyed with her master, but now, it wasn’t. It was worrisome. He has sensed the bomb before either of them had, and in true Skywalker fashion, had pushed them out of the way of the blast. When they found him in the rubble of the explosion, he was hardly responsive, and by the time they had made it to the ship, he had stopped responding completely.
Ahsoka shivered again and wrapped her arms along her torso.
“Master,” She whispered, watching her breath form into a little could in the air.
“Yes, Ahsoka?”
“How are we gonna get out of this one?” She asked him. Obi-Wan opened up his mouth to respond but was interrupted by several beeps coming from R2 as he appeared in the doorway.
“The storm has passed!” Ahsoka shouted as she ran out of the med bay and towards the cockpit. Obi-Wan quickly followed her.
“We need to turn auxiliary and primary power back on.” Obi-Wan said. “R2, make sure the navigational computer and communication systems are still working.” The droid beeped in response.
“Turning on Auxiliary power.” Ahsoka said as she gripped the handle.
“Turning on primary power.” Obi-Wan said as his hand hovered over the switch. They nodded and turned on the power at the same time. The ship hummed to life, and Ahsoka felt the tension in her stomach release just slightly.
“What do you mean communications are still down?” Obi-Wan said as he looked at R2. The droid beeped several more times before trying something else.
“If R2 isn’t able to reset the navigational computer, then what?” Ahsoka asked as she turned to face Obi-Wan.
“We send out a distress signal and hope that the republic finds us first.” Obi-Wan said, looking straight ahead into the light of the star that had caused them all of this trouble. It was silent again in the cockpit.
R2 beeped several times and Ahsoka spun around quickly, a smile spreading on her features.
“I knew you could do it, R2!” She exclaimed. “Now let’s go home.” The droid beeped several more times, and Obi-Wan steered the ship away from the star and out towards the vastness of space.
“Jumping to hyperspace.” Ahsoka said as she pulled down on a lever. The stars around them blurred together into blue and white streaks and they flew off into the galaxy.