Chapter Seven
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GOLDIE TOOK IN a sharp breath, and the cold air almost froze her insides while doing so but she didn't care.
'Did you see that?' she asked Anakin next to her, and he nodded.
It snowed outside, colouring the sky in an impenetrable grey and restricting their vision to only a few hundred meters. Still, the vague shade of the ship had been visible for a few seconds before it had disappeared behind the pine trees that grew in large numbers on Ilum.
'A Separatists' ship,' he acknowledged between gritted teeth. Anakin had hoped the battle would stay in space but that hope was obviously in vain.
Goldie ran towards the glass door of the temple and locked it, but she doubted it would be of much use against the enemy. The battle droids could blast through it in an instant.
'Ahsoka,' Anakin addressed his padawan, 'take the younglings and hide in the crystal cave.'
'But, master. . ! We can fight too!'
'No,' he snapped harshly at her, his blue eyes radiating with impatience. 'We need to keep the younglings safe, and you will be their last defense.'
Ahsoka hesitated for a moment but then hung the hilt of her lightsaber back on her belt. 'Fine,' she grumbled. She gestured for the younglings to stay together and follow her as she set course to the caves. It lay deep below the temple and reached all the way to the cliffs, several miles away from here.
Goldie watched them go and turned her attention back on Anakin once they were out of sight. 'Are you sure that's smart?' she asked. 'We could use all the help we can get.'
Anakin smirked, much more relaxed now that the younglings wouldn't be caught in the crossfire immediately. 'We can handle it.'
She observed him, admiring his confidence in their skills, and made a half-shrug. 'If you say so.'
She ran a few places on her spot and reached to the ceiling to warm up and stretch her muscles. They felt stiff, too stiff in her opinion. But the upcoming battle would fix that. Goldie would never admit it out loud but she absolutely preferred this over doing nothing -- even though she was aware of the danger that came with it.
'Are you done?' Anakin asked, raising an eyebrow but Goldie rolled with her neck until her vertebrae stopped cracking.
'Yes, now I am.' She grabbed her lightsaber and sparred with some imaginary enemies before lighting it up.
The pink hue clashed with the natural blue light of the temple, and the extraordinary colour of her saber still gave her chills and butterflies in her stomach. Like before, she wondered what the colour meant but her mind stopped working when she noticed the small Separatists' army coming their way.
The battle droids appeared out of the fog like ghosts and they oddly merged with the winter scenery as the snowflakes that landed upon them, didn't melt away.
However, in front of the droids, walked a lonely figure and her blood red saber hissed while the snow fell upon it. She was almost invisible due to her bone-white skin, and if it weren't for her dark robes and ice blue eyes she could have blended in with her surrounding completely.
'It must be our lucky day,' Goldie said sarcastic. She had met Asajj Ventress one time before, and she had barely made it out alive. The apprentice of Count Dooku was a force to be reckoned with.
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EERIE CLAPPED HER HANDS, suddenly struck with an idea.
The Star Destroyer still shook violently as it was pulled towards the imploding star, and it caused even her jaw to clatter involuntarily.
She ran to a panel full of buttons and practically shoved the clone trooper out of the way before her hands flew over the keyboard.
'What are you doing?' Obi-Wan asked with a loud voice to be audible over the noise, and he looked up from the screens filled with user's guides about the Destroyer.
Verena hadn't contacted him yet, but it could happen any second and he still hadn't found what the manual override of the engines looked like. Let alone how to use it.
'We need a back-up plan,' Eerie answered the Jedi Master, pressing a button and a white light started to blink.
'Eerie, no!' Obi-wan shouted.
'Keep searching for the manual, trooper,' he ordered the pilot behind the panel before he strode to the padawan. He tried to switch off the distress signal but Eerie grabbed his wrist, using all her might to stop him.
'No, Master, please!'
'Think, Eerie; the Separatists can see that signal too. We cannot warn them in any way, they cannot know the Republic is coming.' Obi-Wan reached for the button for a second time but Eerie pushed his hand away once again.
'No, they can't see the signal,' she quickly said. 'I've sent it directly to Master Bluelv's ship. I know its code by heart, I'm Brood's padawan.'
Obi-Wan crossed his arms and waited for her to explain her plan further.
'I was thinking. . . if we can send Brood the exact coordinates of just outside the star's gravity pull, his Star Destroyer can lock onto ours and pull us out of the implosion. His engines won't shut down because the ship will stop exactly where it is meant to stop.'
Obi-Wan stroke his beard, but he had to admit; it was a good plan. 'Very well,' he said, 'Let's give it a try. I hope you did not type a mistake in that code and that Bluelv will notice the hailing.'
He paused for a moment but then turned back to the clone trooper. 'How is going with those manuals, trooper?' One way or another, they needed to get the engines to work again. They needed to be far away from here once the star imploded completely. Not even the shields of the Star Destroyer could deflect that much radiation.
'Trooper?' Obi-Wan asked again when he didn't get an answer.
'I've found it, General!'
'About time.'
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A/N:
it's almost 2.30 AM but here you guys go, another chapter! does it still count as seven in a row? I think it does.
now, if you'll excuse me, it is time for bed, lol.
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