Back in the Game (COMPLETE)

9.9.2

"...you would let them kill me? After all we've been through?"

"After all I've been through???" Ahsoka corrected, shouting. "Because of you? I don't remember you stepping in when it was my life on the line! Why should I do the same?"

"I would never have let them kill you!"

"But you would kill other people, just to push your own agenda on people who didn't ask for it?"

Barriss scoffed. "The Jedi were definitely asking for it, don't even try to pretend they weren't."

"I didn't! I didn't ask for my status to be stripped, or to be arrested! I didn't ask to be blamed for murder!!!" Ahsoka looked up again, finally seeing gunships approaching in the distance. Anakin was in one of them, she felt.

Desperate, Barriss looked around, trying to find another argument. When she couldn't, she looked at Ahsoka again. "I'm not going back to the Republic. I don't want to fight through you, but I will."

Ahsoka looked again at her weak frame and her sinking face. Her strength had been zapped just from running, and despite her skill with lightsabers, the natural advantage was with Ahsoka. "You're going to have to if you want to run."

Both women drew their sabers, and Barriss lowered into her stance. Way back when Barriss mentored Ahsoka, just like she had done with Caleb, Barriss initiated the duels, but Ahsoka didn't wait for her this time. She didn't even drop into stance, she just ran at Barriss, jumping on top of her with her sabers brandished. Barriss barely dodged out of the way in time.

With the training she had been conducting by herself, Ahsoka knew what her strategy was. She was much more in shape than her opponent, and by this point, stronger too. Barriss wouldn't have enough time to attack her if she was tired, so all she had to do was wear her out. She aimed low, forcing her to stay on her toes and moved quickly, staying ahead of her.

It was all Barriss could do to avoid being sliced in half. Ahsoka seemed so much faster, so much more talented than before! Her strokes had been perfected, and there were a few new ones in her style that she had never used as a Padawan.

Out of nowhere, though, she spun and kicked Barriss as hard as she could in the gut, knocking her several meters away and winding her. Ahsoka felt an instinct rise in her to just knock her out on the spot, but the Jedi and the troopers weren't far off, and she didn't want to get roped into any messes, so she let her recover. All she had to do was keep her down. 

When Barris could speak again, she looked up at Ahsoka. "I see you've had a change of heart."

"Haven't we all," snarled Ahsoka, and she rolled her backward another meter. Barriss was expecting it now and managed to land on her feet, if not a bit unstable. Ahsoka ran again to meet her, and they exchanged more strokes. Barriss kept taking steps back, with Ahsoka advancing on her every second. Both of them were aware that time was almost up.

Ahsoka jumped and brought her sabers crashing down on Barriss' head, pinning her down in one spot. The gunships began encircling them, cutting off Barriss' exit. She had nowhere to run now, so if she wanted to escape she was going to have to fight. Not an option, in her current condition. There were six Jedi there to bring her in and over a hundred troopers, plus Ahsoka. Barriss couldn't take them all.

She pressed down harder, and Barriss collapsed onto her knees. Her sabers were inching closer to her own head, and more clones were aiming their blasters at her by the second. From behind her, Mace Windu called out: "Barriss Offee, you are under arrest for evasion of your sentence. Lay your weapons down and surrender now!"

Aware that there was nothing Barriss could do now, Ahsoka deactivated her weapons and stepped back. For a second, she just sat there, lightsabers in hand, frozen, then she burst out in frustration and jumped up. For a few glorious seconds, she was sailing through the air, jumping to freedom, but it only lasted so long. Another Jedi caught her mid-jump and lowered her slowly down to the roof again with the Force. When she turned, she saw who it was that stopped her. 

Luminara.

Of course, she had come to capture her. Barriss felt like she was being mocked. Her ex-master looked at her with sad, almost pleading eyes, but she only returned it with a passive stare. She had come to talk to Ahsoka, but now she was getting a derogatory escort back to the Detention Center. This was not how she wanted today to go.

The troopers cuffed her and carted her off into a transfer shuttle, and Luminara came with to escort her away. Ahsoka just watched, thankful that no one was really paying attention to her. This felt a little too similar to her own arrest to be comfortable.

Master Windu started coordinating the guard to make sure Barriss didn't try to escape again. They had brought starfighters down from orbit just in case, and all guns were trained on the convict. Ahsoka was half surprised that the entire surface hadn't gone into lockdown.

Now that Barriss was back in custody, Ahsoka's panicky feelings were coming back. She tried to slip away without anyone noticing, but Anakin caught her on her way out. "Hey, are you all right? Did you get hurt?"

"No," she answered lowly, looking around at the chaos. "I'm fine."

Anakin glared at her, and Ahsoka sighed and yielded the truth. "I feel like I'm going to throw up. Happy?"

They both turned and watched as Barriss' ship disappeared into the distance. "You might want to get out of here while you still can," Anakin suggested. "I wouldn't be surprised if you get called  in tomorrow, or even sometime later today."

She nodded, crossing her arms and nodding. It took every ounce of willpower not to double over and puke right then and there. "Keep me posted," she said quickly, before darting down to the street level. 

Running as fast as she could muster, she found the nearest bathroom and locked herself in a stall. By the time she felt well enough to come out again, everyone had left.