We're back :D

A little late, but we're back nonetheless.

3 more days 'till Christmas!

[ O N E N D O R , L O C A L T I M E 2 5 0 ]

    "Haha, that's cute," Ahsoka sniggered. After both hers and Luke's entrance through the vents, they had decided that placing a metal sheet over the hole would be sufficient enough to keep the Jedi out.

    With a flick of her wrist, the snow-white blade of her right saber was ignited, allowing her to swoop down and slice the metal in a circle. However, as the sizzling-hot surface of the weapon came in contact with the material, it was blocked.

    "But... how.... what?" She stammered, pulling up her lightsaber before striking again.

    Rex held up a hand for her to stop, then leaned over and wrapped his fingers across the surface. He marveled at his discovery before turning around to Ahsoka with wide eyes. "It's beskar."

    "Beskar?" Ahsoka echoed. "How is that possible?"

    "Pirates steal the ore from Mandalore from time to time," Rex sighed. "They must've gotten their hands on some. It's an extreme dishonor to our people; beskar must remain in the hands of the Mandalorians."

    "What do we do now?" Ahsoka sighed, retracting her lightsaber and returning it to its hilt.

    Both Rex and Ahsoka sat in silence as they pondered other possibilities, but Barriss simply stared at them in shock and disgust. "You guys... really? C'mon, I thought you all were supposed to be some of the sensible people in the galaxy!"

    "What do you mean?" Rex shot back, then awkwardly rubbed his arm as he realized that he had just snapped at a superior.

    "Sure, that's beskar," Barriss rolled her eyes, pointing at the metal circle. She then moved her index finger slightly to the right. "But that is still your every day, useless metal."

    "Oh."

    With a sheepish smile, Ahsoka nodded and carved out a circle around the Beskar. When it was freed, she caught it with the Force and hovered it towards Rex.

    "I believe this is yours," she grinned, giving the captain a wink. However, as she shifted it to the captain's possession, he groaned and dropped to the ground. "Oh, right, that's probably really heavy. Here, we'll come back for that later."

    With a relieved grunt, he slid the Beskar to the side and joined the Force-sensitives.

    Ahsoka chuckled in disbelief at what she was witnessing. She had sworn to herself that she wouldn't attempt to sneak as she did before, but here she was, retracing the exact same steps. Force, this was going to be embarrassing if Luke had to return again to rescue her sorry arse.

    "After you," Barriss enthused, gesturing between the hole and Ahsoka.

    "Gee, thanks," the Togruta rolled her eyes, returning her weapon to her belt and crouching beside the opening. Finally, with a grind of her teeth and a sigh, she pushed herself over the edge.

    Sailing through the pitch-black air was an experience she wished she wouldn't have to encounter a third time. A cold, musty gust of air assaulted her nostrils and her stomach felt as though it was non-existent. More or less, it was just miserable.

    Of course, she could be biased...

    Nah, she totally wasn't making a huge deal out of everything just because she was a hellish mix of petrified and exasperated.

    A handful of seconds into gliding through the chute, another signature jumped off the edge and joined her. Due to the weak connection to the Force and the panic that was laced into its presence, she assumed Rex had been reluctant and Barriss had pushed him. Then, not too far behind him, Barriss joined.

    "Well, there's no going back now," Ahsoka muttered to herself, closing her eyes and anticipating the bottom of the vent. Seconds passed by like hollow ticks of a clock. Anxiety traced across her soul as Ahsoka began to ponder all the possible outcomes of what they were about to take apart of.

    When the ground was about twenty meters away, she flexed her fingers out and caught hold of her body. Then, using her self-manipulation strategy, she slowed her fall and gracefully landed on the cool metal of the chute. Then, as soon as she got herself situated, she turned and caught her friends with the Force and allowed them a soft landing.

    "Follow my lead. When we get to a certain hall, we'll split up and conduct a thorough search. Stay away from all surveillance cameras; we can't risk being spotted. Is that clear?"

    "Yes sir."

    "You've got it."

    The Togruta couldn't help but raise her brow-like marking at Rex's formality, but she eventually just shrugged it off as an act of habit. She didn't have time to correct him at the moment.

    Using the same method as before, Ahsoka slipped in via the air vent, followed by her gesturing the others to do the same. The trio's footsteps were silent and poised as they stalked throughout the halls, avoiding as much camera coverage as they could. Finally, about four turns later, the Gray Jedi stopped in her tracks and pivoted to where she was facing them. Raising a hand, she pointed at Rex and then slid her hand over to the left. His gaze followed, landing upon an empty corridor with many doors. Ahsoka turned her attention back to Barriss, making eye-contact and tilting her head to the right. The Mirialan nodded and jogged down the appointed passageway.

    Ahsoka, on the other hand, didn't stay on the main level. There was something intoxicatingly strong that was tugging at her senses, screaming at her to come closer. Normally she would blindly listen to it and heed its wishes, but her new wary nature resulted in her slowly proceeding. While this very easily could be the Force trying to guide her, it could also be a trap that the enemies had laid out for her.

    The Togruta was forced to remain guessing as she hijacked an elevator and rode down to the deepest level of the base. Much to her annoyance, a faint trace of classical elevator music reverberated throughout her montrals. She groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. How was something so widely-despised still permitted to exist?

    A chime interrupted to music, which was greatly to her relief, signifying that she had arrived at the requested level. Both of her lightsabers remained drawn and activated as the metal doors let out a hiss and slid open, but she was only greeted with eery silence.

    Her eyes apprehensively darted back and forth, scanning for any and all hints of danger,  though she was met with none. Everything appeared to be fine. Too fine.

    The heels of her boots clicked softly against the floor as she stalked down the hallway. The compelling pull was growing even stronger now, clouding her senses and judgment heavier than she would've liked to admit possible.

    It finally reached its peak as she passed by the 12th door on her right, as did her nerves. Sheathing her right lightsaber, the Togruta used her free hand to open the door and quietly slide inside. She was, once again, met with darkness and silence. The only source of light was her lightsaber, which was only enough to illuminate a small circle around the Gray Jedi.

    Luckily for her, she couldn't feel any signatures present. The whole ordeal struck her as odd, but she pushed back the gnawing feeling of anxiety and walked forward. After studying the room for several minutes, she stumbled across a holoprojector with a flash drive already inserted.

    "What is this?" She mumbled to herself, leaning forward and flipping the energy switch. However, instead of presenting whatever was on the drive, an 'access denied' message was displayed instead.

    "Kriff," she cursed, withdrawing the flash drive and pulling it closer to her lightsaber so she could study it. "It's encrypted."

    "The data on that drive is classified... as is your identity, so it seems," the voice paused, maliciously contemplating its next gravelly words. Ahsoka froze in her place in fright, then forced herself to chuck the item into a pocket of her robes and whip out her other lightsaber. In her state of distraction at her findings, she had completely lost track of her surroundings.

    "That flash drive isn't what's about to get decrypted, darling. You are."

It's short, but that's just because I wanted to go ahead and get another chapter out quickly and end on a cliffie.