Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Goodbye
The sound of blasters shooting filled the air as Addison continued to sprint through the ice city. Skidding around a corner, she knew that she didn’t have much time before the sith lord caught up to her, and she was desperate to put as much space between her and her team as possible before then. Her shoulder ached from where a blaster shot she had reacted to half a second too slowly had hit her, distracted by the booming of a voice she had believed to be long dead.
Looking over her shoulder, Addison took off running again. She knew that there wasn’t much chance she’d escape this alive, but the least she could do was draw them away from her crew, and go down fighting.
“Come now, pet. You can’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. I’ll kill you first, and then your little Padwan. She won’t see what’s coming.” The smooth voice sounded like it was bouncing off the walls, clear over the blasting, even over the sound of a distant avalanche. Addison spun around, her orange lightsaber springing to life.
‘Master, where are you?’
Callie’s voice rang in her head as Addison's eyes widened. She slammed the walls down around her mind, knowing there wasn’t much time. Turning the next corner, Addison ducked into a doorway taking a broken breath. There was no other way. She knew there was no way that Callie would leave her behind, but they wouldn’t escape this alive together. Stealing herself, Addison sent out a single thought to her Padwan before reaching deeply into her centre, to the very base of her connection to the force.
Jedi were never told explicitly that it was possible to end their connection with the Force, but there were hushed whispered rumours that passed through every initiate class. A myth, the Jedi Masters would tell the younglings, just a story to tell to scare them.
A single tear slid down Addison’s cheek as she severed her connection. She let out a guttural scream as an unimaginable pain overtook her body, dropping her to her knees. A darkness came over her vision as her hands hit the ground. The last thing she saw was a pair of metal boots landing on the ground in front of her, then everything went dark
“Goodbye Torres.” Addison's voice rang through Callie’s head. A blinding pain took over her body, dropping her to her knees. It felt like someone was slicing through her skull with a lightsaber, coating every neuron in her brain with battery acid. Everything went dark as she fell and her last bit of consciousness slipped away. Callie felt hands grabbing at her, then everything was silent.
“We need to get her back to the ship and we need to go now,” Miranda said hurriedly as she tossed Callie’s dead weight over her shoulder. “Watch my back but don’t slow down, no matter what.”
Andy’s lightsaber was already drawn and she nodded at Miranda as they took off along the icy plain towards the Manhattan Falcon. Andy cast her awareness out behind them, finding nothing living between them and the edge of the city where a squadron of clones was gathering. Something felt very, very wrong.
“What’s wrong with her?! Where is Master Addison?” Andy shouted ahead to Miranda as blaster shots began ringing out behind them. The clones were still too far back for it to be a real threat, but it just made the entire situation even more confusing. Where had the clones come from and what happened to her best friend?
“There’s a large disturbance in the Force, can’t you feel it?” Miranda’s voice echoed in her head. Andy grit her teeth and dug in, sprinting faster along the icy ground. Andy slipped, barely catching herself with a Force blast to keep her on her feet and following Miranda. The sound of blaster fire quieted behind them as the Manhattan Falcon came into view, but neither slowed their sprint. They burst into the storage bay of the ship, and while Miranda stopped to put Callie down on a pile of supply boxes and check her over, Andy raced past her, sprinting through the halls until she got to the cockpit.
“Fly, you giant hairball!” Andy yelled as she dove into the co-pilot's chair. The Wookie let out a long list of growls and moans as he started to flip switches. Andy slid the lever that allowed her to begin initiating her sequence. As she continued to frantically prepare for take off as she felt Miranda’s presence in her mind.
“What do you want us to do, Master?” Andy sent the thought along their connection as she rapidly worked in time with the Wookie to get the ship off the ground.
“Fly over the village. We need to find Addison.” Miranda’s voice was tight, Andy knew something was wrong, but there was no time to examine that feeling.
Pulling up on her yoke, Andy conveyed the order to the Wookie and started them towards the tiny town. They’d come to Lwhekk to seek out a youngling that had been reported. The outer rim planets so often got ignored, leaving children with great potential without proper training or direction. The Council was making an effort to send more Jedi on missions to find the ‘Lost Children’ since the end of the Mandalorian Wars, and this was supposed to be just such a mission. There had been reports of a metaclorian count unheard of since the days of Master Yoda, so it made sense to send two teams to collect the child. This didn’t make sense.
As the ship flew over the town, the clones shot aimlessly into the air. Andy’s eyes were scanning the streets, searching for a familiar head of red hair when her eyes locked on something far worse. A cold shiver went down her spine as she yanked back on the yoke, taking the ship into a direct upwards trajectory. The Wookie let out a long scream but Andy held steady.
“What are you doing!”
Miranda’s voice shouted in her head. Andy projected the image of the E-Web set up in the center of the town, aimed at the sky. Andy let out a frustrated growl as three X-Wings flew through the air towards them. Gritting her teeth, Andy took the ship through a complicated set of flips and barrel rolls, avoiding getting shot out of the sky.
“This entire thing was a trap! We need to get out of here, where is Master Montgomery!” Andy projected frantically to Miranda. As 6 more X-Wings seemed to appear out of thin air, a single word from Miranda pierced her mind.
“Go.”
Andy could feel the conflict in her Master, but she knew that this was their last chance to escape. Looking to her co-pilot, she gave him a tight smile.
“Remember Dagobah?” The Wookie nodded letting out a long growl. “Well then what are you waiting for, you big rug? Let’s get out of here!”