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Ahsoka’s sabers moved in a blur in front of her and her men. Blaster fire rained down on them, and she was the only line of defense between her squad and the group of droids that were upon them.
The droids had ambushed them, catching them unawares. The droids outnumbered, and outgunned them, and had succeeded in pushing them to a cliff’s edge. Ahsoka didn’t want to think about how far the drop down was.
A bead of sweat dripped in her eye as she heard another one of her men fall. They were losing. And no help was coming; they hadn’t had time to get a distress signal out, and now they were too busy fighting to send one.
Rex stood to her left, firing his dual pistols with deadly accuracy, and she deflected blots back as perfectly as she could, but it wasn’t enough. The droids were still pushing, and her men were falling every second. A warning from the Force had her lunging in front of Rex, deflecting a blaster bolt that would have hit him right in the heart.
“Thanks, Commander!” he called over the sound of blaster fire. She spared him a quick glance over her shoulder as she moved back to her spot.
“Anytime, Rex.” The momentary distraction was enough to spell disaster. A bolt hit her in the shoulder before she had time to deflect it. She stumbled back one, two, three steps, and fell out over nothingness. She had no time to stop herself before she hit the ground.
Ahsoka woke to sunlight blinding her eyes. What had happened? Then she remembered- the ambush, the droids, the blaster bolt to the shoulder . Once she remembered, she immediately felt the pain in her arm. Using her good arm, she propped herself up. But as soon as she moved, a burning pain raced up her leg. She glanced down, and felt her stomach turn at the sight. Her leg was not supposed to bend like that. Before she could lose her breakfast, Kix appeared out of the jungle and ran over to her.
He took one glance at her leg and his eyes widened. “Sir, do not move.” She let out a laugh that had no real humor in it.
“I don’t think I could even if I wanted to,” she said. “Where are the others?” Kix moved to the ground and began to pull supplies out of his med pack.
“I don’t know exactly, but they should be coming here soon. When you fell, those of us that could grappled down, but the trees made it difficult. We got separated, but comms are still working. The Captain ordered us to meet at your location.” Ahsoka nodded, and lay back down.
Her leg hurt worse than anything she had felt before, and her head swam with the effort of keeping herself awake. “What are you going to do?” she asked Kix, trying to keep her mind off the pain in her leg. Clearly he was doing something, because he hadn’t stopped moving since he reached her.
“I’m going to realign your leg and put it in a splint. It’s not a great solution, but it’s the best we have right now.” He stopped moving for a moment, and looked up at her. “I- I don’t have any painkillers, Commander.” She let her eyes close. This was going to hurt, then. She opened her eyes and gave him a soft smile.
“It’s okay, Kix. Do what you need to do.” He nodded, and resumed his motion. A crashing noise drew her attention to the jungle around them. Rex emerged, and when he saw them he took his helmet off hastily.
“Commander!” he said, relief evident in his tone. But when he saw her leg, his eyes widened, and he paled just a bit. “ Osik, Commander, that’s not good,” he said, relief gone.
“Oh, I didn’t notice,” she responded dryly. Kix spoke before Rex could say anything else.
“Captain, I need you to find me two branches about the length of her leg. We’re going to have to make a splint.” Rex nodded, and disappeared into the trees once more. Kix turned and pulled a rag out of his pack.
“Sir, when I realign the leg, I’m going to need you to bite down on this. We can’t let the droids know our location.” Ahsoka took the rag and felt her shoulder twinge. Her hand fell, and she reached with her good arm instead. She let out a dry laugh.
“This just isn’t my day, is it, Kix?” He looked up from her leg, eyes landing on her injured shoulder.
“No, Commander, no it isn’t,” he replied. Ahsoka let her head flop back down to the ground. Her leg hurt so much. Thinking about it only made it hurt more, but the pain was so present she couldn’t think about anything else. Her fingers began to tap her stomach, a visible sign of her anxiousness. She sat back up. But the sight of her leg made her queasy, so she lay back down again. Kix let out a sigh.
“Commander, you need to stop moving so much. It’s only making things worse.”
“I’m sorry Kix, I’m just trying to keep my mind off of-” she gestured at her leg. “-that.” Kix opened his mouth to respond, but Rex came back before he could. He set down a heaping pile of branches, far more than the two Kix had asked for.
“Do these work?” Rex asked. Kix looked at Rex, then the pile, then back at Rex again.
“Yeah, I think they’ll do,” he said dryly. He picked out two of the branches, then snapped one so that it was just shorter than Ahsoka’s leg. Kix turned and pulled out some rope from his pack, and used it to tie the two branches together. He examined his handiwork, and nodded.
“Okay, it’s ready.” He hesitated, then addressed Rex. “I’m going to need you to help keep her quiet, sir.” Rex nodded, and knelt next to Ahsoka. He offered her his hand, which she took gratefully.
“Thanks, Rexter,” she said, giving it a light squeeze. Kix looked up from his position.
“Alright, Commander, are you ready?” She placed the rag in her mouth, then nodded.
“I’m sorry, sir, this is going to hurt. Here we go,” and he began to move the bone.
Ahsoka let out a grunt, but only managed to keep quiet the first few seconds. Her grip on Rex’s hand tightened. As he continued to move the bone, she whimpered.
“Shh, it’ll be alright, Ahsoka,” Rex said to her. But she could barely hear him over the roaring in her montrals. Kix moved the bone a certain way, and Ahsoka screamed, long and loud. Force, that hurt. She was gasping for breath now, and tears welled up in her eyes. She knew in some part of her brain that she must be crushing Rex’s hand now, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop.
“Just a little further, Commander,” Kix said, but Ahsoka couldn’t really hear him anymore. The blood rushing through her head, the pain in her leg and shoulder, it was too much. Her eyes fluttered shut, and Ahsoka knew no more.