Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, or any of the places or characters in this story
After what Windu guessed was half an hour of fighting their way almost silently through the dense jungle, in what felt like a bizarre combination of grace and clumsily applied force, they arrived at what appeared at first glance to be a wall of sheer, unbroken rock. Stretching his consciousness out through the Force, he felt nothing, almost letting his face betray his shock at the complexity of the illusion they were faced with. However, this feeling lasted only a few moments before he detected a small glimmer of a consciousness far within the seemingly solid wall and realised with a growing sense of trepidation that the base wasn't hiding the rest of the sizeable 'rebel force' the unnamed man they had met on the now ransacked base had implied – it was simply almost abandoned.
Instantly wary for a trap, Windu stole closer. Now he was looking for them, signs of conflict were evident, blackened marks along the cliff walls couldn't be mistaken for anything other than blaster fire, and an occasional boot print, blurred around the edges, almost frozen in the clay-like surface, told of many soldiers marching over the same spot – unmistakable for an army. Despite this news, however, Windu felt himself relax. The blackened marks had been deformed from perfect round marks to jagged pockmarks in the cliff surface by months or even years of weathering, and only few preserved footprints remained in more solid surfaces. Windu was familiar with these signs, a troop had been sent here, presumably on an eradication mission if he was to guess, but had left empty-handed, judging by the lack of any signs of resistance or retaliation. They were alone here. Alone, except for whoever had been left to monitor the base, meaning there was still something there…
Making a brief assessment of the known viable entry points, he began to formulate a plan of entry, accounting for where he guessed sensors and traps would have been laid to slow enemy troops. From what he could tell, whoever had been here before them had focussed their assault on the rock wall, which he assumed held some form of concealed entrance, marking it as the obvious entry point. Naturally, he discarded this option with minimal consideration, it seemed to have held off whoever had attacked before them, so was obviously strongly defended, even if manned by a skeleton force at present, and more importantly was where they would be detected fastest. As strongly as Windu wished he was at liberty to reveal himself, the gravity of the situation demanded that the Jedi remained concealed, until they found someone who they could be certain of trusting, stealth remained their greatest ally.
To his satisfaction, his plan was greeted with murmured agreement and satisfaction, taking only a few hours to address the flaws and make as close to perfect as their limited time and resources would allow. When everything had been decided, they retreated to their ships to try and salvage the components they would need to construct a makeshift data logger. As Windu had instructed, Anakin immediately set to work, with Obi-Wan trying his best to assist. Meanwhile, Windu and Yoda retreated into the corner of the clearing to meditate and reflect on their situation. Slowly, Windu let his eyes wander over to Anakin working on the ship, becoming transfixed by the gleaming mass of metal floating in front of him, constantly turning and changing as the Jedi altered its position in the air with the Force, or tried new components salvaged from the ships in different locations, seemingly with varying degrees of success. In his meditative state, Windu began to feel himself admire the young man's skill. His thought process was abruptly cut short by a small chuckle from Yoda, who was perched on an earthen mound to his left. He shot a sideways glance at the Jedi Grandmaster, who pretended to be transfixed by a large butterfly fluttering near the first tree branches nearby. Not needing confirmation to know that he had given himself away, he allowed himself a wry smile – he was warming to Skywalker despite himself – the Jedi had proven he could be trusted, even despite his sometimes-loose interpretation of orders of the Jedi Code, a practice Windu was finding it difficult to accept.
As evening drew near and darkness began to creep around the camp, a murmur of 'got it!' from Anakin alerted them that their plan could begin in earnest. Travelling light, having already disguised their ships again whilst Anakin finalised the device, the four Jedi began to move towards the base, travelling at an angle to the route they had used before, climbing the ground to gain altitude on the base as they approached. As they walked, they became increasingly aware of the ground on either side of them dropping away, leaving a narrow ridge as the only space for them to fight past the seemingly endless thicket of trees that barred their path. For some time, they laboured on in silence, until Windu heard a muffled curse from Anakin, who had coincidentally again ended at the front of the party, and fought his way through the last section of undergrowth, emerging onto a rocky outcrop, which protruded slightly from the cliff face beneath them and ended in thin air. The cliff on the opposite side of the ravine began what he guessed might have been fifteen metres away, very effectively blocking their path.
Calmly, he walked up the lip of the outcrop, turning to face Anakin, who had become noticeably disheartened, and with the nonchalant remark of 'to throw off a trail', by way of explanation, launched himself over the edge. Using the Force to augment his jump, Windu sailed easily over the gap, twisting himself slightly the finish the flip, and landing lightly on the other side of the gorge. Quickly, the other Jedi followed, executing similar flips to his own or propelling themselves through the air with the Force, in the case of Yoda.
Satisfied they were not being followed, Windu led their new course, cutting a hard-fought path through the dense undergrowth with the occasional calculated swing of his lightsabre; suddenly, he froze and dropped into a crouch, slowly creeping towards a metal structure which protruded from the dense jungle canopy what he guessed was a kilometre away. He soon realised there was no need, however, as even as he reached the base, he realised he could feel no life forms nearby – the area was deserted. Approaching the door, he began to inwardly marvel at the complexity of the lock. 'Even the smallest things are more advanced now', he thought to himself, 'but they seem to have almost forgotten that some of us still use the old methods'. Reaching out with the Force, he concentrated hard for a few moments and gave the door a small nonchalant nudge, causing it to swing open seemingly of its own accord. Despite the ease with which he had forced with way through the lock, Windu felt a twinge of unease – as the mechanism swung open to reveal layers of welded reinforced steel, he realised it had been built with the sole purpose of withstanding a ground invasion, there didn't appear to be any direct defence against Force users in the design. If whoever designed the building hadn't even considered the Jedi, then what had happened to them?
Cautiously, he ventured forwards into the darkness, feeling his way in front of him with the Force to check for concealed dangers or attackers, reaching a rusty metal ladder set into the wall before long. Searching the ground below for any sign of life, he stepped forward into the ladder shaft: and dropped into nothing. For a few seconds, he fell through the darkness, before using the Force to slightly slow his descent and alighting softly on the rough stone which formed the base of the corridor which he now found himself in. Silently, he heard the others land behind him and assume an automatic formation to ensure they wouldn't be ambushed – they had suffered too many losses during their years as generals to risk becoming complacent.
As he had hoped, the overhead twisted metal light casings remained inactive, this area had apparently been out of use for many years. The walls were beginning to show signs of age, with small spider-like cracks working their way through the structure and a thick layer of dust, which seemed to cling to everything. They trod lightly, but a faint imprint of their boots was still visible to anyone who knew what to look for. Windu heard a slight disturbance behind him and spun to face whatever had caused it. To his relief, the source revealed itself to be no more than Yoda, who had brought up the rear of the group and was lightly using the Force the create swirls in the dust to mask their tracks. Wordlessly, Windu shot a nod of thanks in the Grandmaster's direction and continued forward. After what he guessed could have been no more than twenty minutes, the party reached a split in the corridor. To their left, the corridor continued, identical to the one behind them; the corridor on the right was very similar but began to pitch slightly downwards – moving whoever took it further into the ground and deeper into what he guessed was the main base, instead of passages connecting defence positions.
He frowned slightly as he registered the new information, realising they were now faced with the choice, search the base as a group, or split up to cover more ground faster. As he began to ponder the dilemma, he heard a voice speak from behind him, "right, will go Kenobi and Skywalker, left, will go Windu and myself". He opened his mouth to counter the idea but was cut off before he started speaking by Yoda, who continued his point, saying, "a traitor in their midst, these people have; discovered, this place will have been". It was a good point, forcing him to cease any objections he still had.
In a few moments, they had decided that he and Yoda would venture further into the base, whilst Anakin and Obi-Wan would skirt it along the left passage and enter later if they found more braches, re-grouping somewhere towards the centre. With that decided, the group finally broke off for the first time, with both pairs melting into the darkness, hoping to find a clue to their current situation, and why it had been thrust upon them.
Sorry for the slow update there, I know this is getting a bit slow, and most of you just want me to hurry up and get to the twins. My plans so far are for one of them to finally appear in the next chapter! This is taking a bit longer than I thought it would to write, as there's a lot of stuff I'm trying to fit into it, so bear with, and have faith that it will pick up again very soon... See you guys in the next chapter - AW117