Chapter Text
Ahsoka wiped the sweat from her brow, hating the way the sticky feeling clung to her skin. The heat was bearable, the humidity less so. It hung over all of her troops, dimming any high spirits and making it easy for fatigue to set in. Luckily, they only had a few more klicks to go until they reached the forest where they would meet up with the rest of the attacking force. Her head had been on a swivel since they’d entered the canyon hours before; with such a narrow path, it would be difficult to defend against an ambush.
This route hadn’t been her first choice, but their planned one had been blocked by a Separatist encampment that hadn’t shown up on their initial intel. All other paths would extend their journey by several days which was time they couldn’t afford to lose.
She was marching near the front of the troops when her master’s voice crackled over her comm unit. “Ahsoka, come in. Ahsoka, do you copy?”
Ahsoka lifted her comm unit to her mouth immediately. “Yes, Master. What is it?”
“You and your men need to hurry up; there are reports of low flying Separatist patrols in the area.” Anakin’s voice was tense. This plan hadn’t been his first choice either, he had even suggested Ahsoka take a longer way around at the expense of delaying the main attack. Obi-Wan and Ahsoka had quickly reminded him that they couldn’t wait that long.
“Understood, Master,” Ahsoka said, her voice coming out more confidently than she felt. “According to our intel, we’re only about three klicks south of you now.”
“Alright, I’ll see you soon then,” he said, still in that worried tone that she knew he had a hard time covering up. “Skywalker out.”
Ahsoka issued the order to double time it, and a new alertness filled the air as the column picked up speed. When the end of the canyon trail came into sight, she dropped back slightly to discuss the last stretch of their journey with the companies’ captains which would be across open ground.
Just when she drew level with them, an explosion shook the ground and walls around them. Pieces of gravel and rock showered down on their heads and Captain Vaughn grabbed Ahsoka, pulling her close to his chest so that he could shield her body with his armored one.
“Move away from the center of the trail!” Ahsoka shouted into her commlink over the clatter of the rocks and the screams of her troops. “Press—”
A second explosion, this one a lot closer, detonated. Captain Blaze was thrown against one side of the canyon walls and Ahsoka and Vaughn hit the other. Vaughn released her with a pained grunt, his arms falling limp around her. Ahsoka sat there for a moment dazed, before stumbling back to her feet. There was more yelling now, too much of it filled with pain. Her heart sank into her stomach as she felt clone life forces flickering out around her. She exchanged a glance with Blaze who was also pulling himself up shakily. Ten meters ahead, where a whole squad of troopers had just been standing, there was nothing but broken bodies. When she reached out tentatively in the Force, she knew that they were gone.
As the aftershocks of the second explosion began to cease, something else in the Force caught her attention. Her eyes widened and she yelled for her remaining troops to get behind her. Distantly she could hear Blaze echoing her orders and see the clones rushing to obey. The next few moments seemed like they happened in slow motion. Ahsoka could feel her heart pounding in her montrals as everything else faded into the background.
The third explosive detonated.
She felt the blast before she saw it, raising her hands in front of her and letting her eyes fall shut. The heat of the explosion was blisteringly hot on her face, and her body shook with effort as she used the Force to redirect the explosion’s path away from her and her men. The seconds seemed to stretch on longer than they should have, and she gritted her teeth against the strain.
When the stifling pressure dwindled and Ahsoka could feel fresh air on her face again, she blinked her eyes back open and lowered her unsteady arms to her sides. Her breaths were quick and heavy, like she couldn’t quite draw in enough air into her lungs. She tried to take a step backward, but her knees gave out beneath her, and she crumpled to the ground.
Blaze caught her a moment before her head hit the ground. If he was saying something, she didn’t hear it, already too far gone. Before she fully slipped into unconsciousness, she murmured, “No…no more explosives.”