I'm on a roll! Wow, this is more than I can usually pull off. My normal speed is once a month. I guess descriptive plot lines and a clear vision help after all. Now, here you go my readers!

Clash in the Elemental Countries

Chapter Two

The bed offered little comfort to her. Sleep offered only nightmares. Awake, she was faced with harsh reality. In meditation, she was confronted by the screams of her friends and comrades and their faces as they died. Nothing could comfort her. Sighing, Ahsoka got up from bed, took her cloak, and headed to the bridge. The ship she was on was a small and simple cargo freighter - a YT-1300 they had somehow managed to acquire - that had made a blind jump in a desperate attempt to escape the Imperials.

It had been a year since Order 66, but everything that happened was still brutally fresh in her mind. For the past year, she had been running and hiding, desperate to find her friends, now lost, and struggling to find refuge. Somehow, through some stroke of dumb luck, she found one of her friends alive and well.

"Up already?" a voice, male, sounded from the pilot's seat.

"Couldn't sleep," the togruta answered, sitting beside him. "Why don't you get some rest?"

"I'm not that tired," Lux Bonterri replied, smiling at her. "Besides, someone has to keep an eye on the navicomputer after that blind jump you pulled."

"It was not like I had a choice," she retorted angrily, glowering slightly. "It was either that or get caught in a tractor beam."

Lux shrugged, conceding the point. "At least we're heading for a planet out of Imperial range."

"Good thing. Let's hope it's a place we can actually stay in."

The depression in her voice was not lost on the former separatist. "Let's hope so," he whispered to himself. Looking at the togruta, he saw her looking over at the navicomputer. "We should be there in half a day. Just rest until then." He got a nod and tired sigh in answer as she closed her eyes.

It was a miracle that she managed to run into Lux Bonteri, former Senator of the Separatist Confederacy, and old friend to Ahsoka. It was during an incident on Kashyyk where she had run in with some Imperial slavers that demanded her identification. As she had none on her, she would have been detained and enslaved. And she would have had two things not happened. The first one, majority of the non-humans present, mostly wookiees, began to riot. The resulting chaos distracted the guards long enough for her to make a run for it. However, when she got there, the ships were guarded heavily and she nearly ran into the trap when another trooper had grabbed her from behind and warned her to keep quiet. Practically dragging her to another ship, they managed to bypass the guards and leave the system relatively unscathed. Once in hyperspace, Ahsoka demanded an explanation, threatening to "relieve your shoulders of the need to carry a head." Not wanting to die before explaining himself, the trooper replied. He simply removed his helmet and smiled. It was the last person Ahsoka would have expected to see. Lux Bonteri.

After a lengthy explanation on how he had infiltrated the empire, looking for any refugees, Ahsoka accepted him as a companion and they traveled together, searching for Jedi survivors and refugees from the Empire, bringing them out of Imperial space. With the Jedi, there was little luck, but they had found more than a few refugees. Their business, however, did not go unnoticed by the Empire. There were several ambushes staged by the Imperials that the pair had barely escaped from. It was one of those ambushes that got them in the situation they were in now. Cut off from the refugees and more stormtroopers and Vader closing in, they were forced to leave and abandon the refugees to escape. It was not something either was happy about, but they were left with little choice. Even in space they were ambushed. Fighters and Star Destroyers cut off their escape just before they could dial in coordinates and jump. Making a desperate move, Ahsoka activated the hyperdrive blindly and managed to get them away. They were lucky they were headed for this planet and not a star or anything else even remotely dangerous.

True to earlier Lux's words, they got there in another twelve hours, and they appeared on the night side of the planet. Lux looked over to his friend, who had fallen asleep despite her earlier qualms, and reached over, shaking her shoulder. "Hey. Ahsoka, we're here."

Groaning, Ahsoka opened her eyes and blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust. She looked around, saw Lux shaking her shoulder gently, then out the viewport. Scowling, she gave Lux a rather annoyed look. "The least you could have done was bring us out on the daylit side of the planet. I really don't want a case of jetlag, especially if we get into trouble."

"I thought it best that we appear on the night side. Less noticeable," Lux explained, smiling calmly.

"Well, at least we won't be noticed as we land," Ahsoka said, turning back to the controls. "Let's get down. Activate scanners. I don't want any surprises." Imperials had nearly caught them too many times to be lax and careless.

Lux nodded in reply, activating the scanners and checking the readout. Smiling at what he saw, he said to Ahsoka, "Well, I can guarantee that it is Imperial free. Highest weapon tech would be something like a slug launcher and rather primitive at that. They only have radio signals for communication at best. We're safe here."

Ahsoka let out a small smile of relief. One of the few in a long time. "Safe." It was said softly, but Lux heard the relief in her voice. The ship descended down to the planet. From the scan, they found the planet to be quite biodiverse. Tropical rainforests, wide oceans, ten mile high mountains, island chains, deserts, every single possible planetary biome was present. The planet seemed to resonate with life and the Force. It seemed so... untainted, and pure without all the technology. "It certainly feels safe."

"A Force sense?" the boy asked, looking at her curiously.

"You could say that. It's more a feeling than anything I can be certain of."

As the ship descended, the caught a view of where they would land. It was a clearing in the middle of a great expanse of forest. As they went down, Ahsoka swore she saw a flash of silver that disappeared as quickly as it came.

"We've landed near one of the populated areas," Lux told her. "We should go check it out come morning."

"Well, hopefully, they won't think us mutants or freaks of nature," Ahsoka said. "We don't even know the primary sentient species is on this planet."

"We could always say we're from outer space."

A snort. "Right. If they're as primitive as you say, there is probably no chance of that happening." She wouldn't admit it, but the racist policies of the Empire had gotten to her, and were making her paranoid.

"Who knows? We might be lucky."

"Since when have we ever been lucky? Need I list off?"

"Touché."

"Glad we got that settled. Now why don't you go to sleep, while I keep watch this time."

"You should get some rest too. What could possibly happen to this ship in one night on a primitive planet?"

"Anything, if we know nothing. I'll sleep, but only as long as you leave the shields on." She had a tired look in her features. Her nights were never kind to her.

Lux sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'm not sleeping until I'm sure you are. You need your rest, Ahsoka."

"I'm fine, Lux. You don't need to watch me." In truth, she didn't want him to see her thrash in her sleep. She hadn't told him about her nightmares and wasn't about to any time soon.

Lux gave her what seemed to be a knowing look. "If that's what you're comfortable with... then go ahead. Just promise me you'll get some sleep."

Ahsoka sighed and looked up at him. "Alright, I'll sleep. But don't let me catch you looking into my room, or else."

Lux chuckled, and blushed a bit at the insinuation. "Well, alright. But if you need to talk, don't hesitate to ask me, alright?"

"You'll be the first one I come to," Ahsoka said, heading to her room and closing the door behind her. Now within the safe confines of her room, she tried sorting out her thoughts. It was not that she didn't trust Lux. She just couldn't share her pain with him. Not yet. She was genuinely touched by his offer, and wanted nothing more than to accept, but refused all the same. She had to remain strong. She couldn't show weakness. Not now. Not with so much turmoil going on. "I wish Master Anakin was here," she whispered to herself.

Eventually, despite trying to keep awake, exhaustion overwhelmed her, pulling her into a dreamless sleep.

Not nearly as long as the previous chapter, but I'm just as pleased. At least I didn't need a complete background from scratch. Please review!