Mistaken Identity Chapter 86 — Rough Landing

General Grievous stood tall on the bridge of the Malevolence, his cloak brushing the floor as he turned toward the droid manning the sensor station. His voice rasped through his vocabulator as he spoke. "Report.

Did the attack cripple the ship?"

The battle droid jolted upright, its photoreceptors flicking toward the display. Fingers clacked over the console as data streamed in. Red indicators pulsed along the projected line of the target cruiser.

"Uh… yes, General!" the droid stammered. "Ion cannon strike successful! The ship's power is gone. Engines are offline. It's adrift and being pulled into the gravity well of the planet."

Grievous leaned in slightly, eyes narrowing. He stared at the hologram as the cruiser began its slow, inevitable spiral toward the surface.

"Excellent," he hissed. "Their fate is sealed." Grievous laughed, the sound echoing through his metal chest as he paced forward. "Bring back all the fighters. Let the ship burn up in the atmosphere. The Jedi and their senator will trouble us no more."

"Roger roger," the droid said and began issuing orders to the Vulture droids.

Another droid turned from its station. "General. You have a transmission coming from the planet."

Grievous stopped and faced the main holoprojector. "Put it on screen."

The main viewscreen changed. Static rolled across it, then cleared. The hooded form of Count Dooku appeared, his hands folded in front of him. 

"General Grievous," Dooku said. "Have you captured the cruiser?"

Grievous straightened.

"The ship is disabled, my lord," he said. "Our ion cannon destroyed its power grid. It is in the grip of Tatooines gravity well now. It will fall into the atmosphere. It will not survive the crash."

Dooku watched him in silence for a moment. "Your confidence is misplaced, General," he said at last. "You assume too much. You allow victory to dull your senses, such habits lead to inevitable failure."

Grievous drew in a rough breath through his mask. "I do not fail," he snapped, then caught himself. "My lord. Perhaps I spoke too soon. The ship is helpless. But if you wish, I will send vulture droids to finish it. They will strafe the wreck until nothing remains."

Dooku shook his head. "No," he said. "The Malevolence already risks exposure. Your presence in Hutt space has gone on long enough. The longer you linger, the greater the chance that the Republic will learn of the malevolence."

He leaned a little closer to the screen. "You will withdraw, General," Dooku said. "At once. The Republic must not discover the Malevolence yet."

Grievous lowered his head for a moment, then looked back up. "And if they survive the crash?" he asked. "The Jedi. The crew."

Dooku's eyes hardened. "I will deal with them," he said.

The transmission cut. The screen went black, then shifted back to the image of Tatooine and the falling cruiser.

_____________________________________

Ahsoka woke to the blaring alarm of one of the emergency power cells and opened her eyes. Though the moment she opened her eyes she realised something was wrong, and it didn't take too long to figure it out; she was hung upside down in her seat, the harness was cutting into her shoulders, her lekku dangling toward the ceiling that was now the floor. The cockpit was a wreck, consoles cracked and sparking, plasma fires hissing from ruptured lines along the walls, smoke was curling in the air and stinging her nose. She groaned, her head throbbing with a bad sort of dizziness, pain was pulsing behind her eyes as she blinked against her hazy vision, her vision swimming for a moment before focusing on the shattered viewport ahead. She could see nothing but sand outside, and in a moment of lucidity she realised that they must've crashed, but she was having trouble recalling anything before.

She reached up with one hand and fumbled for the harness release, her fingers shaking from the impact, the buckle clicking open and dropping her to the deck below where she landed on her shoulder with a grunt, the jolt sending fresh pain through her skull. She pushed herself up on her elbows, coughing as smoke filled her lungs, and crawled toward the flickering emergency light near the door, her knees scraping over debris scattered across the floor.

Ahsoka blinked hard and tried to regain some lucidity, but her thoughts scattered like sand in a gust, each one slipping away before she could grasp it, her head pounding with a rhythm that matched the alarm's wail and made her stomach turn. She shook her head slowly and felt the world tilt again, the smoke thickening around her and burning her throat as she coughed, the taste of blood and metal filling her mouth. She pushed her palms against the deck and stood on shaky legs, but a shower of sparks ignited from a nearby console and dazed her, bright flashes bursting in her vision that forced her to crouch and cover her eyes, her breath coming in short gasps as the pain behind her temples worsened.

"Master," she called, her voice hoarse and weak, but no answer came, only the crackle of fires and the ship's pressure building up. She tried again, louder this time. "Anakin!"

She crawled forward and saw Anakin strapped upside down in his seat, his head lolled to one side, blood streaking down his face from a massive gash across his forehead that matted his hair and dripped onto the ceiling above. Concern flooded her, and she moved to him quickly, her hands fumbling with his harness release, the buckle sticking for a moment before clicking open and dropping him toward her. She caught him as he fell, his weight pulling her down with him, but she braced her legs and held, struggling slightly due to his bulk, her arms burning as she lowered him to the deck and propped his head on her lap.

"Master," she said, slapping his cheek lightly, then harder when he did not stir, her fingers brushing the gash that oozed steadily, and she saw his left arm bent at a wrong angle, the bone pressing against the skin in a break that made her stomach twist. "Wake up. Come on, Master."

He did not respond, his chest rising and falling in shallow breaths, and she shook his shoulder gently. "Come on, Skyguy, don't give up on me yet."

The fires worsened around them, flames leaping higher from the ruptured lines and licking at panels that popped and hissed, the heat pressing in and making her skin prickle, smoke billowing thicker and forcing coughs from her lungs that racked her body and burned her throat raw. She hooked her arms under his and started dragging him toward the door, his body heavy and limp, her feet sliding on the debris as she pulled, the deck slick with coolant that made her grip slip once and forced her to readjust. She coughed again, the smoke coiling into her nose and eyes, tears streaming down her face as she tugged him inch by inch, his head lolling back, the gash on his forehead leaving a trail of blood on the floor.

"Come on," she muttered between coughs, her ribs aching from the effort, the alarms drilling into her skull as she reached the door and slapped the panel, the hatch grinding open on damaged servos. She dragged him into the corridor, the smoke following like a cloud, and kept pulling, her arms trembling, until she felt fresh air hit her face from a breach ahead.

She collapsed onto the sand outside, her knees sinking into the warm grains as she fell forward, Anakin's head resting on her thigh, her coughs wracking her body while she gasped for clean breaths. The ship groaned behind her, twisted metal hissing steam, but she lay there for a moment, the sun beating down on her back and drying the sweat on her skin. Anakin stirred then, his eyelids fluttering as he groaned, his good hand coming up to touch his head.

"Sand," he muttered, his fingers sifting through the grains beside him. "Always the sand. Gets everywhere."

Ahsoka laughed weakly, relief flooding her as she helped him sit up, his eyes focusing slowly on her face. "You are okay. Stay with me."

Anakin blinked, wincing as he touched the gash, blood smearing his fingers. "Ahsoka... what happened? The ship—"

Though as she sat on the desert dune trying to catch her breath, the fog from her mind started to lift ever so slightly and she remembered everyone else who was still in the ship then, the thought hitting her like cold water, and she struggled to get up, her legs wobbling as she pushed off the sand, pain shooting through her shoulder from the fall. "Jaden. Padmé. Stinky..." She rushed back into the ruined ship, ignoring Anakin's call, and shouted as she moved forward. "Jaden! Padmé! Stinky!"

She coughed as she went, the smoke thicker inside now, curling around her legs and filling her lungs with each step, but she pressed on, her hands bracing against bulkheads that buckled under her touch. The first person she came across was Jaden in the corridor, his body slumped against the wall, his left arm bent at an odd angle with bone pressing against the skin, a massive piece of metal embedded in his stomach from a shattered panel, black blood pooling around his head from a gash on his scalp that matted his hair.

Ahsoka cursed and panic gripped her, her hands hovering over him as she knelt, tears stinging her eyes. "Jaden—no, no, no, no." She tried to remove the metal, gripping the edge and pulling, but it held fast, lodged deep, and blood welled faster with the tug, making her hands slick. She reached out with the Force, trying to lift it free, but her concentration fractured, the pain in her head and the smoke making her mind scatter, the energy slipping from her grasp like water through fingers.

In the end she hooked her arms under his and started dragging him out, his body heavy and unresponsive, her muscles straining as she whispered, "Do not go and die on me, Jaden. Please." She pulled him foot by foot, his heels scraping the deck, blood trailing behind them, her breaths coming in gasps as she coughed again, the smoke thickening and making her vision blur.

It was then she started to hear concerning sounds, the ship creaking, pressure building in the hull, metal groaning as if ready to tear. She continued pulling, her arms burning until she reached the cockpit door. She fell over as she tried to maneuver him through, her knee twisting on a loose grate, but she caught herself and kept dragging. "Come on Ahsoka... you can do it..."

A massive plasma fire erupted from a panel close by as she entered the cockpit, the flames bursting hot and sudden, burning her back and arm as she shielded Jaden with her body, twisting to cover him. She screamed, the skin blistering under the heat, but she held position, the fire licking at her robes and filling the air with the stench of charred fabric. She continued to try and pull him out, her hands slipping on his blood-slicked shirt, but the smoke got thicker and she kept coughing, each one hacking deeper into her lungs until black spots danced in her vision and she fell over, her body collapsing beside him, her fingers still clutching his collar as darkness closed in.

As she reached out to try and pull herself forward she felt a hand grip hers; her eyes open and she saw Anakin inside the ship. He quickly grabbed both of them, even with his broken arm, and dragged them both out just in time, his good arm hooked under Ahsoka's while he pulled Jaden with the other, the ship's hull groaning louder behind him as he rushed out and dropped them both on the stand. After catching his breath he looked down at his two companions; he checked on Ahsoka first, kneeling in the sand and slapping her cheek lightly. "Ahsoka... hey, snips, you okay?"

She stirred, her voice hoarse as she coughed. "Padmé... and Stinky... they are still in there."

"I'll go get them, just stay here," Anakin said as he turned back towards the ship. But as he said it the entire ship exploded, the blast throwing them all back in a wave of heat and debris, sand erupting around them as the fireball rolled outward.

"NO!" Anakin shoute, in horror and disbelief as he watched an explosion that no one could've survived. Ahsoka covered her mouth with her hands, tears streaming down her face as the flames consumed the wreck, the Naboo cruiser reduced to a smoldering husk in the dunes.

"PADME!" He shouted and lunged toward the wreck, his good hand outstretched as flames rolled from the hull, heat blasting his face and singeing his tunic while he pushed forward through the debris, his broken arm mostly useless and pain shooting up his shoulder with each step. Ahsoka grabbed his good arm and yanked him back, her fingers digging into his sleeve as she pulled with all her strength, her own burns throbbing and her legs wobbling from the effort. "Anakin, stop! They are gone. Padmé, Rotta... they are gone. You are going to kill yourself if you go in there. The ship is burning. You need to stop."

"I can't leave her she's my friend!" He twisted against her hold, tears streaming down his soot-streaked face as he strained forward, the fire's roar drowning his sobs, but she wrapped her arm around his waist and hooked her leg behind his knee, forcing him to stumble and fall onto the sand where he landed on his side with a grunt, the grains shifting under him as his strength gave out and he lay there heaving, his body shaking with sobs that racked his frame. 

Ahsoka knelt beside him, her own tears falling onto the sand as she held his shoulder, her voice breaking while she stroked his hair. "I'm so sorry master, I'm sorry. But we cannot go back. She would not want you to die too."

They lay on the sand together, Anakin's head resting near her thigh on the sand, his breaths coming in ragged gasps while the sun beat down on their backs and sapped their strength, the heat seeping into their skin and making sweat mix with blood and tears until their limbs felt heavy and their vision blurred from exhaustion. Ahsoka stared at the wreck, smoke rising in thick columns that blotted the suns, her hand never leaving Anakin's shoulder.

They both opened their eyes however when they felt a warning in the Force, a cold ripple that raised the hairs on their arms and made their stomachs drop. Anakin recognized it straight away and hissed through clenched teeth. "Dooku." The anger and sorrow he felt at one of his oldest and closest friends dying only magnified when he sensed the Sith Lord. 

Ahsoka sat up slowly, her hand going to her saber hilt as she scanned the dunes. "What are we going to do?"

Anakin pushed himself to his knees, and looked at the wreck where Jaden lay half-buried under twisted metal, his chest still rising faintly. "If he's going to kill us then we will make him work for it." He crawled to Jaden and checked his pulse, then dragged the man toward a large piece of wreckage from the hull, a crumpled panel big enough to cover him, and pulled it over Jaden's body, sand shifting to hide the edges. "We hide him and hope they do not find him, best case he will wake up and call for reinforcements, worse case he dies a little later than we do."

Anakin and Ahsoka drew their lightsabers from their belts and gripped the hilts tight, their stances shifting as they faced the dunes, the suns baking the sand around them while they waited for the sound to grow louder. They heard the speeders getting closer, engines whining over the wind, and ignited their lightsabers, the blue and green blades humming to life in their hands as they stood back to back, sweat dripping down their faces from the heat.

Count Dooku arrived first, his speeder skimming over the sand before he jumped and flipped off, landing in a crouch with his cape settling around him, Ventress doing the same from the adjacent vehicle, her dual sabers unclipped but not ignited yet. Joining them from another speeder was a dozen Commando Droids dismounting behind them with rifles raised and photoreceptors glowing red as they fanned out in a semicircle.

Dooku straightened and looked at the smoldering wreck of the Naboo cruiser, then turned his gaze to Anakin and Ahsoka, his expression calm as he smoothed his beard. "I must congratulate you both on surviving that crash. Not many would walk away from such a descent from the upper atmosphere, especially in a ship as damaged as that one."

He glanced back at the twisted metal and added, "It seems not everyone was as lucky as you were."

Anakin's face twisted in anger, his saber hand clenching as he stepped forward, but he ignored it and raised his blade higher. "You did this Dooku. You and your damn droids. Padmé... Jaden... Rotta... it's all because of you."

Dooku raised a hand. "Surrender now, Skywalker, and you and your Padawan will live. You'll see that I can be merciful to those aligned with me, and there are some who think you can be brought to our way of thinking."

"NEVER!" Anakin spat and lunged toward Dooku, his saber swinging in a powerful overhead strike while Ahsoka followed a step behind, her blade thrusting low at Dooku's legs.

Dooku took his lightsaber out from his belt and ignited it with a snap-hiss, the red blade meeting Anakin's strike mid-air and holding it as sparks flew from the clash. "Stay out of this," he told the Commando Droids and Ventress as he pushed Anakin back with a Force shove that sent the Jedi staggering into the sand. "I will fight them alone."

Anakin recovered and charged again, his saber clashing against Dooku's in a series of rapid strikes that Dooku parried with elegant twists, each block forcing Anakin to overextend due to his injuries, his broken arm slowing his guard while Ahsoka circled and slashed at Dooku's flank, her blade whistling close but meeting only air as he sidestepped and countered with a sweep that grazed her shoulder and burned her tube top. She winced and thrust forward, but Dooku batted her saber aside with his own and kicked her knee, buckling it and sending her to one hand in the sand where she rolled away just as his blade came down and scorched the ground beside her.

Anakin roared and swung wide, but Dooku ducked under the strike and thrust at his chest, the red blade forcing Anakin to dodge awkwardly. Ahsoka rose and attacked from the side, her saber aiming for Dooku's wrist, but he twisted and disarmed her with a flick, her blade flying from her grip and deactivating as it spun into the dunes. Anakin pressed harder, his strikes desperate and off-balance, but Dooku slipped inside his guard and slashed across his saber hand, sending Anakin's weapon arcing away before he unleashed Force lightning from his free hand, the blue arcs wrapping around both Jedi and lifting them off the ground as they convulsed, Ahsoka's scream cutting short as darkness claimed her, Anakin's body going limp a moment later.

Dooku cut off the lightning and let them drop to the sand in heaps. "Load them into the speeder." He instructed the Commando droids.

Ventress stepped forward, her frustration plain as she ignited one of her sabers. "Why do not we just kill them?!"

Dooku turned to her and chided her with a stern look. "Do not let anger cloud your mind, Ventress. The dark side should serve you, not the other way around."

Ventress was still angry and couldn't help the hateful glare she aimed towards the Jedi duo, but she still bowed her head. "I am sorry, Master." She apologised.

Dooku nodded and turned back to the wreck. "They will be presented to Jabba as the murderers of his son. He will deal with them."

Dooku then turned towards the droids "Begin a full sweep of the crash site," he ordered. "Search every compartment. Tear apart what's left. I want confirmation of who died in that wreck."

One of the Commando Droids stepped forward. "Priorities, my Lord?"

Dooku narrowed his eyes. "The child. Rotta. I want the body. If he survived, he must be found. If he died, bring me proof."

"Roger roger," the droids replied and headed toward the ship, their rifles slung as they climbed over twisted metal and kicked debris aside.

Dooku walked back to the speeder and climbed on, Ventress following suit while the remaining droids covered the flanks. The engines whined to life, and they sped away over the dunes, leaving the crash site and unknowingly leaving Jaden behind.

_____________________________________

(Before the Crash)

Jaden shouted "Hold on!" and gripped the crash webbing tight as the Naboo cruiser plummeted toward Tatooine's surface, the viewport filled with swirling sand and jagged canyons rushing up to meet them, the hull groaning under the strain of atmospheric entry while heat shields glowed red-hot and buckled from the ion pulse's lingering damage. Anakin wrestled the yoke with his good hand, his face set in grim focus as he slapped overrides on the console, fingers flying over dead panels that sparked and flickered without response, the engines were  silent and lifeless while the ship tumbled end over end, G-forces slamming them against their seats and making Padmé's breath hitch as she braced one hand on the armrest and the other on Ahsoka's shoulder.

"Come on ship give me anything damn it!" Anakin yelled as he tried to do anything, but the ship shuddered and listed further. Jaden twisted in his harness while he jabbed at the engineering subpanel trying to bring any of the auxiliaries online, but the readouts stayed flat, the ssystems were fried beyond salvage, the ion wave having stripped every circuit clean.

'We're doomed,' Jaden realized, the words forming in his mind. With this in mind he turned to Padmé, as one last plan formed in his mind. "Padmé! I have an idea to get the engines back online, but I need your help now."

She nodded without hesitation and unstrapped herself, the harness clicking free as she grabbed the overhead rail for balance, the ship bucking wildly and throwing her against the bulkhead where she caught herself with a grunt, pain flaring in her side from the jolt. Jaden released his own straps and pulled himself forward, the deck tilting as another tremor hit, his feet sliding on scattered debris while he gripped consoles for purchase, Padmé following close behind and clutching his shoulder to steady her steps as they stumbled out of the cockpit and into the corridor, the walls creaking and flexing around them like a beast in its death throes.

They moved hand in hand through the shaking passage, being thrown against each other with every roll, Padmé's free arm wrapping around a support strut to keep them from tumbling while Jaden led the way. To Padmes surprise they didn't go to engineering, but to Rottas room; Jaden burst through the door and grabbed the screaming Huttlet from his cradle, Rotta's pudgy arms flailing as Jaden tucked him under one arm, the infant's slime coating his tunic while Padmé stared in confusion, her hand reaching out as if to take him back.

"What are you doing? Jaden we need to get to engineering!" Padmé said as she steadied herself against the wall, the ship dipping sharply and slamming them both into the tables where tools scattered across the floor.

Jaden did not answer and told her "Come on!" but instead of leading her to the engines he turned toward the lone escape pod on the ship just off the main engineering, and it was them that Padmè realised what the true plan was, her eyes widened as she lunged to grab his arm, her fingers digging in to stop him. "No Jaden, what is this? We are not leaving them!"

He pulled away gently, turning to face her as the ship groaned louder, the hull heating from reentry and making the air shimmer. "We are not surviving this crash, Padmé. But even so someone has to take Rotta to Jabba. The treaty dies if they don't and everything we've done here is pointless. And you're the only one who can make him listen."

Padmé shook her head, tears welling in her eyes as she stepped closer, her hand on his chest to push him back from the pod. "It should be you. Or Anakin. Ahsoka. Anyone but me I am just a senator, Jaden. The republic needs Jedi. I can easily be replaced."

Jaden held her gaze, his voice low and urgent as Rotta squirmed in his grip, the Huttlet's cries muffled against his shoulder. "Padmè no one can replace you... and while Jedi are important, senators who actually care about the people in the galaxy? That is rare, almost unheard of. You see the suffering in the Rim worlds, the starving colonies, the families torn by this war. You fight for them. Do this for the Republic, for all of them."

She cried then, tears streaming down her cheeks as she took Rotta from him, the infant clinging to her tunic with pudgy hands, his wails softening to whimpers against her neck. Padmé cradled him close, her body shaking as she stepped into the pod's cramped space, the harness auto-extending to secure her and the Huttlet. "Jaden... please. Do not do this."

He knelt by the manual eject panel, prying it open with shaking fingers, the controls exposed in a tangle of wires and levers. "It is going to be a rough ride. The ion cannon likely stripped the power from the pod too. I will have to eject it manually, and with no stabilisers... it's not going to be pleasant."

Padmé reached out through the hatch, her hand cupping his cheek, her voice breaking as she leaned forward. "Please do not die. Promise me. Please, Jaden do not die."

He heard that over and over again, her words echoing in his mind like a loop, "Please do not die," as he pulled the lever, the pod hissing free and rocketing away into the atmosphere, Padmé's face the last thing he saw through the viewport, tears on her cheeks and Rotta clutched tight.

"Please do not die..."

"Please do not die..."

"Please do not die..."

"Jaden..?"

"JADEN!"

Gasp

Jaden woke to find himself under a large piece of hull, the metal pressing down on him like a weight he could not shift. Moments after being awake he started to cough and sputter, black blood coming out his mouth in thick spurts that tasted of copper and ash. His vision stayed hazy as he looked around, edges of his eyes blurring as pain radiated from everywhere—his stomach felt like it was on fire, his arm a dull throb, his head pounding with each heartbeat that echoed in his ears. He regained his vision slowly, blinking against the twin suns glaring down through gaps in the wreckage, and looked down to see a large piece of shrapnel embedded into his stomach, the jagged metal sunk deep with dark blood seeping around the edges and soaking his tunic in a spreading stain.

He groaned in pain as he touched it, his fingers brushing the edge and sending a fresh wave of agony lancing through him that made his breath hitch and his body arch. He tried to move, pushing against the hull above, but his whole body felt weak, his muscles were unresponsive and heavy as if filled with sand, and his left arm hung limp, the bone broken and swollen under the skin though he felt as if he could still move it if he tried. Biting his lip he grabbed onto the shard of shrapnel with both hands, ignoring the scream building in his throat, and pulled it out slowly, the metal scraping against flesh as black blood poured from the wound in a hot rush that soaked his pants and pooled beneath him.

He cursed through clenched teeth, the pain blinding for a moment as he dropped the shard with a clatter, and pressed his hand there to stem the flow, but the blood kept coming, pouring out between his fingers. He had to stop the bleeding. He reached for his belt with his good hand and grabbed his lightsaber, and ignited the purple blade with a snap-hiss that cast violet light over the sand around him. He pressed it against his wound, the heat searing flesh and closing the gash with a sizzle that filled the air with the stench of burned meat, and he could barely stop himself from screaming as his skin bubbled and the pain peaked, his vision whiting out for seconds that felt like hours.

He turned off his lightsaber with a flick and dropped it to the sand, panting as he tried to compose himself, his chest heaving and breaths ragged while sweat poured down his face and mixed with the black blood on his chin from where he had bitten down too hard. He closed his eyes and tried to meditate to speed his healing along, drawing the Force inward like a balm to knit muscle and staunch the last trickles of blood. 

Suddenly the hull above him ripped off with a screech of metal, sunlight flooding in, and standing in front of him was a Commando Droid, its skeletal frame gleaming and photoreceptors glowing red as it scanned him. The droid picked Jaden up with one arm, and threw him into the hull of the wrecked ship, the impact slamming his back against twisted panels and making him yell out in pain as fresh agony bloomed in his wounds.

"Enemy located," the Commando Droid echoed, as it drew a large vibro blade from its forearm.

"Kriff..."

(AN: So did anyone think that Padmè and Rotta were really dead? I know I have a bit of a reputation with just killing people but I hope you realise that when I do it, it's mostly for good reasons or at least... reasons. Anyway while I have been covering the clone wars movie I hate rehashing canon so while it's loosely based on the same events I'm going to be changing things up mostly cause I find it more interesting, I mean I'm sure you guys do too right? I mean why would you want to read it if it was just the film with Jaden also there? In that case just watch the movie. Anyway hope you enjoyed.)

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