Chapter 10

General Grievous had long pulled out of hyperspace, watching Coruscant slowly expanding as he grew closer and closer to the planet. His golden reptilian eyes narrowed in irritation. What was it about the girl that drew him to her? She was a human, certainly not attractive even if he was capable of judging such.

He steered his sleek, black stealth-fighter into orbit, resting and waiting until the right moment to strike.

Contemplating more about the girl, Grievous hacked into Demon's circuitry, dodged a few firewalls, and downloaded the known layout of the Jedi Temple. Unfortunately this was only a sneak and rescue mission, not a run-and-gun one. He had to keep it quiet, as Dooku had not ordered him on this task.

Lately Grievous had been dreaming of a female. Of whose name escaped his memory, her exact facial features a blurred image, little recollection beyond the basic event and feeling that emanated this obviously important and powerful memory.

Somehow, Ella was linked to the solution of the mystery the memory presented. So that's why he needed her around. That's why he was orbiting Coruscant in a small stealth-fighter, ominously above the Jedi Temple.

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"Master Yoda!" A young padawan burst into the Grand Master's room, interrupting the small green alien from his always intense meditation. "Master Yoda!"

Yoda had long sensed the uncomfortable stir of confusion and fear within the force, and had been prepared for the interruption long before it occurred.

"Far too excited you are young one," the Master reprimanded, his eyes still closed, a frown pronounceable on his wrinkly face.

"I'm sorry, Master," The youngling looked down at his feet.

"What is so important, hmm?"

"Master Yoda, Master Shaak Ti sent me to tell you that the Droid we have been studying got hacked by an outside source and that the outside source is untraceable but according to the droid's circuitry it is a known software so she thinks that it's the separatists," the padawan spewed out in one breath.

Yoda opened his eyes and looked out the transpara-steel window in a grave manner, making his over 600 year old face look somewhat older.

He had been tracking something odd in the force for the past couple weeks since Ella's recapture. The most accurate description of the growth of the said oddity was a candle's flame, short sparks eventually birthing an unsteady, flame which steadily grew brighter, more controlled. Yoda had reason to believe that someone was teaching Ella Nox how to use the force, and had even more reason to believe that Zu Katsuo was that said someone teaching her against direct council orders.

Now it seemed the separatists were rescuing her.

A child destined for the dark side of the force. The thought made Yoda concerned.

It was bad enough Katsuo was already on the edge of the Dark Side, and the fact that he was teaching someone against council orders gave him enough reason to remove the man from the council.

Yet Master Yoda hesitated. He hesitated because Master Mace Windu, too, had played on the thin edge between the Light and Dark sides of the force. He hesitated because Anikan Skywalker had been secretly trained by the late Master Qui-Gon Gin, and both scenarios proved the council wrong in its initial decision.

He would let the events unfold before making his decision to discuss with the rest of the council what he alone could sense so clearly.

"Job for you, I have, young Sti-Chi," Yoda addressed the child. "Get every one of the younglings and padawans in their dorms quickly, you should. Handle it, can you?"

"Yes, Master." Sti-Chi's big brown eyes lit up proudly as he walked importantly off, unaware of the danger they would be in.

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Ella brushed her now short blonde hair out of her face, her face pulled into a concentrated expression. She envisioned the glass before her, focusing on the object that was across the room and feeling it as if she were holding it. Then with a lift of her hand, she used the force to lift the glass up.

"Good job, Ella." Katsuo nodded towards her as she set it back down. "You have improved a good deal. It takes you less time to lift the object, and this time you didn't spill the water everywhere."

Ella grinned immediately, soaking in the praise from the Jedi Master. They had only recently started on lifting objects and already she had caught on. Katsuo was truly impressed, as what a youngling takes years to learn Ella had only taken weeks.

"Then again," Katsuo thought, looking at the young adult female. "She does have more patience gifted with age than a youngling would have."

Still, despite how fast she was learning, it would still be at least a couple months before she mastered her abilities enough to create her own lightsaber.

Zu Katsuo looked out through the viewports, calmly though he had sensed something alarming.

There had been a ripple in the force which suggested danger was coming. Ella had vaguely sensed it as well, though she wasn't aware of what it was or what it came from. To her, Katsuo guessed that the feeling would be more like an odd feeling of what was to come, causing her to become visibly nervous whether she was aware of the anxiety and its cause or not.

The Jedi Master stood frozen, trying to figure out what caused the ripple, focusing.

"Now my turn." Ella took out Demon's blue prints. "Teach me how to build a lightsaber, and focus its crystal, and these are yours."

Through he had been teaching her the ways of the force in exchange for information on Grievous and the Separatists, he had not at all been forwarding the information on to the council.

Katsuo shook his head. He was too concerned with the ripple to be distracted.

A tremor shook the ceiling overhead, Ella's head snapping upward in shock and sudden fear. Then Demon crashed through, the AI landing heavily on the floor near Ella's bed, its tail whipping from side to side as it prepared to attack the Jedi Master.

"Demon!" Ella was truly shocked, Zu could hear it in her voice to know it was the truth. She did not know what was happening any more than he did. "Stop!"

"Error Code 1890. Error Code 1890. System did not recognize command code. Repeat?" the droid's voice was more mechanical and neutrally flat. Ella realized in horror that the AI's core processing unit had been hacked and mutilated, setting Demon from highly advanced AI to a normal VI droid unit.

Luckily, Ella had programmed the AI completely and knew how to handle the seemingly rogue robot.

"Master Code EN-111001198Z," Ella said aloud, shouting above the noise of the now swarming Jedi and lightsaber vs. droid battle commencing.

"Master Code EN-111001198Z acknowledged. Force System Reboot and Manuel System Restore in progress," the mechanical voice stated, then the droid dropped to the floor, still and unmoving, completely silent.

"Who turned that thing on?" demanded Shaak Ti as she straightened her robe out.

"No one was near that thing," stated a Jedi Knight Ella didn't recognize. "It just turned on its own and smashed through everything."

Ella looked uneasily at Katsuo, who in turn was looking at her in concern.

If she didn't turn it on, someone else from the outside must have.

The other Jedi looked suspiciously at Ella as they dragged the limp, heavy and blinking droid away, Katsuo following.

Ella felt someone was looking at her. Uneasily she looked up, and had to suppress a scream. Looking down at her from the Demon sized hole in the ceiling was a pair of golden reptilian eyes belonging to a cyborg general.