This chapter took far longer then I hoped, the ending had me stumped for a while.
Obi-Wan sighed as he ducked behind a market stall to avoid another Imperial patrol, "How annoying." He muttered to himself, he was currently still trying to find his way through Sundari. He had managed to get to the market place under Korkie's office, but had got stuck there due to a strangely large number of Imperial patrols. Clicking his tongue in annoyance Obi-Wan pulled out a small holo-projector from a pouch on his belt. Obi-Wan held his hand over the device for a few seconds contemplating contacting Korkie directly, weighing the idea in his head, he decided against it. It would be somewhat disastrous if the Imperials managed to hack the communication frequency he used, however unlikely that was. Obi-Wan stroked his beard contemplatively, going over his options. Sighing Obi-Wan stepped out from his cover, looking around for any possible patrols. Obi-Wan quickly made his way through the market to a seemly random panel in the wall. Waving his hand in front of a small section of wall, it slid back to reveal a control panel. Obi-Wan quickly typed in a code only very few living beings still knew. Once Obi-Wan finished typing in the short code, a hidden panel popped open, revealing a passageway and Obi-Wan slipped through, closing the door behind him. Obi-Wan followed the passageway through to a small antechamber, though it wasn't quite as he remembered it. In the centre of the circular room was a desk that had a pair of data pads and a small monitor built into the desk, behind the desk sat Korkie reading something off a third datapad.
"Hello there." Obi-Wan said calmly placing a hand on Korkie's shoulder. Korkie seemed to panic for a second, spinning and pulling a blaster from under the table. However he recognised Obi-Wan before he fired, luckily he did too. He was far too close for Obi-Wan to have done anything, but get shot in the stomach.
"Obi-Wan!" Korkie exclaimed with a smile, standing up as he did. The two men embraced for a moment, "Are you here to visit Aunt Satine's grave?"
"Originally, yes. However the situation has changed, I'm now here for a rescue mission. I've been told you met Leia earlier today. Do you know what happened to her?" Obi-Wan asked stepping back and folding his arms.
"Yes, I did speak to her and her friends." Korkie answered frowning, "Grand Inquisitor Jerec captured her, as far as I am aware he is currently holding her in the Viceroy's palace."
Obi-Wan frowned, unconsciously stroking his beard, "That isn't good. Was this Inquisitor a Meraluka?" Obi-Wan silently hoped that Korkie would answer negatively.
"I believe he was, though I've never met one before so he could have just been blind." Korkie said raising an eyebrow, "Does it matter?"
"It does if he is who I believe him to be." Obi-Wan said with a grimace, "There was a Jedi Master named Jerec, he was an archaeologist who searched for Sith artefacts from the old Sith Empire."
"He was a Jedi? I thought you were trained to prevent that from ever happening." Korkie said, an alarmed edge entering his voice.
"It didn't always work, Jedi could easily become corrupted if they became too greedy for knowledge or power." Obi-Wan said shaking his head, "Jerec wasn't the most loyal Jedi, if memory serves."
"I have a question for you, do you know what happened to Leia's friends?" Korkie asked, "The Grand Inquisitor never said."
"They survived, they are recovering on my ship as we speak." Obi-Wan answered, "Where is Leia being held within the Viceroy's Palace?"
"Now Obi-Wan that is a ridiculous question, she has had the training of a Jedi so they would hold her in the cell Maul built to hold you during the Clone Wars." Korkie said shaking his head, "Retrieving her will be close to impossible."
Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at Korkie's phrasing, "Close?"
"There is a way, but it won't be easy. Another problem we have comes from news I recently received from one of my agents in the Viceroy's palace, Jerec plans to take Leia to Coruscant, to the Emperor." Korkie said grimly.
Obi-Wan frowned and stroked his beard thoughtfully, "Then we haven't any time to waste."
Within the Viceroy's palace Mara stood at the door to Leia's cell quietly watching her. Leia had suddenly got silent, hanging fairly limply from her bonds. Leia's head slumped forward, Mara raised an eyebrow when she felt Leia's Force presence push through the dampening and finally entered the room. Mara stepped through the door, striding up to Leia and slapping her hard enough to bring her back. Leia's eyes fluttered open and her head snapped up.
"What do you want?" Leia spat at Mara, slightly surprising Mara.
"To see why the Emperor is so interested in you." Mara answered, a strange mix of longing and anger heavily lacing Mara's voice, "I don't see any worthwhile qualities in you, perhaps some raw power."
"It was enough to beat you." Leia said with a smirk.
Mara scowled up at Leia, her right hand forming a fist. Mara took a deep breath trying to calm herself, before she could the voice came back, urging her to give in, let her anger guide her actions. Looking into Leia's brown eyes, Mara's face contorted into an angry scowl and she punch Leia in the stomach as hard as she could, angling the strike to knock all the air from Leia's lungs. Grabbing Leia's hair, Mara pulled her head close, "And yet you're here, as our prisoner."
Leia didn't answer, still gasping for air. Mara's strike had been pinpoint accurate, "So, Skywalker why would my Master want you so badly?"
"I… I haven't a clue why anyone would want me…" Leia said gasping for air. It took her a few seconds to catch her breath. "I'm not a Skywalker." Leia said scowling at Mara.
"That is a lie. You are the sister of the boy we fought on Dantooine." Mara stopped for a moment and ran her right hand through her bright red hair, "What was are your names?"
Leia was caught off guard for a moment, "Le… Screw you! My name is of no use to you anyway!"
"Perhaps, but it will help my Master break you." Mara said coldly. Leia glared at her in response, Mara continued, "I may be wrong about you being a Skywalker, however you are powerful and surprisingly well trained in both lightsaber combat and the Force. Particularly since the Jedi are practically extinct."
"Yet, you're scared of me. You and I both know I'm better and far more powerful then you." Leia taunted Mara. Mara took a deep breath to make sure she didn't attack Leia again, however she did wave her hand to slightly overload the electro cuffs holding Leia in place. Leia cried out in surprise and pain. Though Mara felt nothing, which confused her as a acolyte of the dark. She had been trained to enjoy the pain of others, gain power from it. Mara found no such pleasure or power from causing others pain. She found only satisfaction in a kill when she did it well, and executed with skill. It was more satisfaction in a job well done then the actual kill.
Back on the Twilight II, Luke sat listening to the teachings of an ancient Jedi, at least he was trying to. He forced himself to remain calm, even though every fibre of his being wanted to go help his sister. Luke wanted to call to Leia or search for Obi-Wan through the Force. The Twilight II was far too small for Luke to practice his saber forms, his usual means of calming his anxieties. A habit he had picked up from both his father and brother.
Chewie had fallen asleep, his wounds needing some time to heal. Han paced next to his best friend, though he was more worried about Leia then Chewie at this point. Han gave his friend one last look then walked out the medbay, making his way through the Twilight II looking for Luke. He found Luke in the cockpit, sitting with crossed legs just next to the door. He floated a few centimeters off the floor, his eyes closed as he allowed himself to find comfort in the Force. He was startled out of meditation when Han placed a hand on his shoulder, he jumped slightly.
"Sorry about that kid." Han said puling back.
Luke looked up, "Don't worry too much about it. I was somewhere else."
"Where is the old man?" Han asked spinning one of the seats in the cockpit around before dropping into it.
"I'm not sure, he's somehow cloaking himself. I can usually sense him though the training bond we created." Luke said, unfolding his legs and standing up. As he stood the door to the cockpit opened and Obi-Wan calmly strode through. "Obi-Wan? Did you find Leia?"
Obi-Wan took a seat, "Jerec took her to the Viceroy's palace. She almost certainly in the detention area, during the Purges the Viceroy had a prison built to hold Jedi. Gar Saxon developed a love of hunting us down, he often joined Vader."
"If he hunted with Vader, why would he need a cell for Jedi?" Han asked.
"To torture and extract information from imprisoned Jedi. Personally I believe they were used far more often to torture Jedi purely for the pleasure of causing them pain." Obi-Wan said grimly, "Anakin and I helped a few young Jedi or ex-Jedi escape a few years back."
"You and dad?" Luke asked, his eyes widening.
"Indeed, but that is a story for another time. I doubt we can get in the way we did last time, they would have fixed the weakness's we found. However it has been several years since the last time any Jedi besides myself have come to Mandalore, there is a slight possibility of overconfidence and a belief that our rescue was a once off." Obi-Wan stated.
"Do you have a plan then, Obi-Wan?" Luke asked, hope lighting up in his eyes.
"I have the start of a plan." Obi-Wan said, stroking his beard. A glint in his eye that reminded Luke of his father.
Under his breath Han muttered, "I have a bad feeling about this."
Roughly an hour later, Han found himself in Imperial Super Commando armor. Obi-Wan wore similar armor and walked along side Han, slightly ahead of them walked Luke. Han had been surprised to find that Obi-Wan kept several full sets of stormtrooper armor on the Twilight II. He had been even more surprised to find that the helmet Obi-Wan gave him had been modified, purely internally though. He could clearly see through the visor, it also seemed to have a friend/foe identifier that looked to be linked to the other helmets and equipment stored in the Twilight II. The trio of Luke, Han and Obi-Wan snuck into the palace through the secret passages that ran throughout Sundari.
Han and Obi-Wan were about to be distractions, using the stormtrooper armor to attempt to turn as many troops on each other as possible. The trio stopped at a seemingly random ladder leading up, Obi-Wan tapped in a code quickly before leaping out the opening above them. Han followed him up, though before closing the trapdoor Han stopped and turned back to Luke, "Good luck kid."
"You too Han. See you on the other side." Luke said with a small smirk. Han closed the door behind him and Luke sprinted down the corridor, trusting a gut feeling and the Force. As he moved deeper though the passages, he could feel Leia's presence grow stronger and stronger. As he ran he slipped his lightsaber off his belt, though he didn't activate it. He stopped when he felt Leia's presence on the other side of the wall. Looking around Luke couldn't see any of the control pads that Obi-Wan had described to him. Groaning Luke continued down the corridor, finding a ramp leading up and around. That particular corridor stopped suddenly, stopping at a ventilation shaft. Luke placed his hand on the grating, running his fingers over the edges he found a pair of release triggers. At least that's what he hoped they were, the other possibly was that they were boobytraps.
Taking a step back Luke reached through the Force and activated the triggers. The grate sprang open, swinging towards Luke. He caught it as it did, gently resting it against the wall. Looking at the poorly lit space Luke groaned, "I hate crawling though ventilation."
Crouching Luke slipped through the opening and pulled the grate shut behind him. Standing as tall as he could, Luke found he could just stand if he hunched his back somewhat. He quickly made his way through the ventilation shaft, stopping when he was able to sense Leia directly below him. Flipping his lightsaber in his right hand to point down, Luke activated it. It's bright green blade easily cutting through the stone and steel. As he cut in a circle Luke reached through the Force to hold the material he was cutting away up. As soon as he finished he used the Force to silently lift the material into the shaft next to the hole. Deactivating his lightsaber Luke flipped the grip to his preferred grip and dropped through the hole. He landed directly infant of Leia as she watched the door, somewhat startling her.
"Luke!?" Leia called out in a mixture of confusion and annoyance.
Luke looked around, quickly checking if anyone was coming before activating his lightsaber and slashing each projected quickly. When he reached out to catch Leia she batted him away.
"What took you so damn long?" Leia asked irritably.
"A 'thank you' would be nice Leia." Luke said rolling his eyes.
"I'll do that when and if we get home." Leia said rolling her arms, trying to get the feeling back in her fingers.
"Fine, you may want this back." Luke unclipped the 'saber that Han had recovered from his belt and held it out to Leia.
Leia looked at the weapon before snatching it from Luke, "Let's get the hell off this planet then, what's your plan to get out of here?"
"Right." Luke pulled a com-link from his belt, "Obi-Wan are you two ready?"
"Indeed, I hope you're ready to run." was the swift repose over the com-link.
"Do it!" Luke said calmly, moment's later the cell shook when an explosion went off. The twins strode up to the door and activated their 'saber's simultaneously, green and yellow blade's cutting through the door of the cell. This was followed by both twins gripping the door with the Force and throwing it out into the hallway. The moment the door was gone they deactivated their weapons.
"That was unnecessary." Luke commented looking back at the hole in the ceiling, "We were meant to get out the way I came in."
"I want my other lightsaber back." Leia said simply, striding out into the corridor directly outside the cell she had been held in. Luke followed closely behind her, fortunately it seems whatever distraction Obi-Wan and Han were providing was certainly working rather well. The officer stationed to watch over the cells was alone, as well as strangely unarmored. Leia sprinted up to him and slammed his face into the control panels in the small centre. Luke followed her at an almost leisurely pace. He strode past Leia and the officer and opened the door.
"Leave him Leia. Let's get out of here." Luke said calmly, becking to his sister. Leia nodded and followed her brother out. The twins sprinted through the corridors until they made it to, what appeared to be, a throne room. When they got there, they found Obi-Wan locked in combat with Jerec. His blue blade moving almost impossibly fast, knocking away each of Jerec's thrusts and slashes with apparent ease. Han was nowhere to be seen, at least that Leia could see. It also appeared that the stormtroopers under Jerec had turned on the Mandalorian Imperials. It looked as if most of the Mandalorians were backing Obi-Wan up. Luke and Leia activated their lightsabers, catching the attention of most of the troops in the room. One of whom sprinted up to the twins, pulling his helmet off as he did. Revealing Han, who was still firing on the stormtroopers who looked to be backing up Jerec.
"You took your damn time Luke." Han said ducking under several blaster shots.
"Where is the girl?!" Luke practically shouted at Han. Luke deflected several shot directly back to the troops firing on them.
"The girl with the blind guy?" Han asked, taking semi-careful aim to take out two stormtroopers with quick consecutive shots.
"Yeah." Luke shouted back thrusting out his hand, throwing several stormtroopers into a wall hard enough to leave cracks in the wall. Leia sprinted into the fray, cutting a swath through the troops towards Jerec and Obi-Wan. Luke and Han shared a look before charging after her, both trying to keep up, but slowly starting to lag behind.
"I haven't seen her." Han dived out the way of barrage of blasts. A few moments later he heard the hum of a lightsaber and turned to find a purple swinging towards him. He flung himself backwards, barley managing to dodge, "Found Her Luke!" Han yelled to Luke.
Luke turned to find Mara standing over Han, raising her lightsaber to strike him dead. Han only managed to escape death when she hesitated before bringing her weapon down on the smuggler. However Han kicked her legs hard enough to throw her off balance and away from his body. The moment he did Luke charged her, throwing her back with the Force. When Luke reached Han he helped him up, pulling him mostly to his feet. "Thanks kid."
"No problem." Luke turned to face Mara, "Why did you hesitate?"
"I didn't." Mara snarled, twirling her 'saber into a ready pose above her head.
Luke sighed and slipped into a Soresu stance that was identical to Obi-Wan's, "Your form is oddly sloppy." Luke commented looking down at her feet.
Mara growled at him and charged, blindly hacking at Luke. Luke however kept a calm head, somewhat confused as to why her presence was growing steadily more steeped in the Dark side. Her strikes becoming more and more wild, as if she was looking control. Luke stepped back, deftly avoiding or deflecting each strike Mara threw at him.
Unbeknown to Luke, Mara was slowly loosing control. The Emperor was filling her with rage across his bond with her, fueling her with his power. She was becoming more and more afraid of loosing herself, fueling the Dark side being fed through her. She could hear the Emperor's ancient voice in her head goading her, testing her. "Kill him… Prove your worth to me."
While Luke fought Mara, Leia fought her way to Obi-Wan's side. She was held up when an Imperial agent armed with an electro-staff came out of no-where and swung at her head. Leia barely managed to duck under the electro-staff, not even a second later the other half of the staff flew towards her face. She just managed to deflect the end with her 'saber before twirling around kicking at the agent and was surprised when her foot was pushed to the side, throwing her off balance. However Leia recovered quickly and attacked the agent with a complicated series of attacks, jabbing and slashing. She was surprised to find the agent keeping up with her, twirling the electro-staff with well practiced ease. Groaning in frustration Leia drew the Force into her, as she had practiced hundreds of times with her bothers, in doing so she increased her strength and the speed of her perception of battle. With the boost she was able to find an opening, taking it she slashed up slicing directly through the middle of the agent's electro-staff she followed that up with a kick to the agent's chest.
Leia watched as Obi-Wan fought off Jerec with well practiced ease. To Leia it looked almost completely one-sided, Obi-Wan was baiting Jerec. Leia could just hear his voice, but couldn't make out what he was saying to Jerec. She could tell that whatever it was it was truly getting under his skin. His form grew more and more sloppy with each jab until Jerec appeared to discard Makashi altogether and gripped his 'saber with both hands. As he did so the Dark side started to pour off him in waves, Everyone with the exception of Obi-Wan took a step back, strangely enough Obi-Wan didn't seem to notice at all. Han and Luke recovered from this the quickest, Han using the distraction to pick off another pair of stormtroopers. Luke disarmed Mara, stunning her with a quick strike to her stomach. He managed to also wind Mara and she dropped to her knees gasping for air. Luke held Mara's purple lightsaber in a reverse grip as looked around at the chaos of the throne room turned battlefield. He watched Leia charge Jerec from behind and get thrown back, when Jerec seemingly grabbed her with the Force raising a single hand and thrusting it back.
"Luke we need to get out of here!" Han shouted waving his hand in the direction of Obi-Wan and Leia.
"I'll get them, get to the ships!" Luke yelled back. As he did he drew on the Force and leapt across the battlefield, landing just behind Leia and helping her to her feet, "Leia we need to go, you can't fight him!" Leia glared at him, sending him images of what Jerec had done to her. Every moment of pain, Luke looked at her sending back every happy and joyful moment they had shared.
Behind Leia Obi-Wan had re-engaged Jerec, going on the offensive. He attacked almost exactly as Anakin would have, drawing on the Force heavily to strengthen his strikes knocking Jerec back. Jerec was honestly taken aback by Obi-Wan's sudden ferocity, faltering Jerec barely managed to stop Obi-Wan's assault. At least until he unleashed a barrage of lightning at Obi-Wan, which was caught on Obi-Wan's 'saber. The moment the lightning came into contact with Obi-Wan's 'saber he took several steps back and looked around. Luke and Leia stood a few meters away facing each other, Obi-Wan could feel the lightning pushing against his lightsaber.
"That's quite enough of that." Obi-Wan commented, returning his attention fully to Jerec. He pushed against the current of the lightning and stepped forwards several strides. Using his lightsaber as a lightning rod, Obi-Wan thrust out his hand throwing Jerec back. He turn and ran to Luke and Leia, "Come along you two, let's get out of here before more Inquisitors turn up!"
Luke and Leia blinked and looked at Obi-Wan, they looked confused for a moment before remembering where they were. Han had already vanished, it also looked as if Mara had recovered and run too. Obi-Wan lead the twins out the palace, sprinting through the city as fast as he possibly could. Luke and Leia followed closely on his heels, Following Obi-Wan's lead the twins ran with their 'sabers active discarding all sense of stealth. They cut their way through what felt like hundreds of Stormtroopers. When they reached the Falcon and Twilight II they saw Han firing on them from the ramp of the Falcon. There looked to be several squadrons of troops around the two ships. The three Force users gritted their teeth and charged, breaking through the troops with ease. Leaving a trail of dead stormtroopers, while Obi-Wan and Leia sprinted to the Twilight II, Luke split off and sprinted to the ramp of the Falcon.
"Han get her into the air!" Luke yelled leaping and kicking a stormtrooper in the back of his head. He spun around twirling his lightsaber to deflect several blaster shots, managing to just save Han from several blasts.
"On it!" Han vanished into the Falcon, seconds later the engine's roared into life. Luke backed onto the ramp as Han took off. Shutting down his 'saber Luke stumbled back into the Falcon, as the ramp closed behind him Luke shook his head and ran for the turbo laser, quickly making his way to the cannon mounted below the Falcon. He fired on what remained of the Stormtroopers and watched Jerec storm into the Hanger. Fortunately both the Falcon and Twilight II were already in the air.
Jerec stood impassively as the two ships shot out of the hanger. Then in a fit of rage he unleashed a torrent of lightning at all remaining stormtroopers, killing most of them. He spun on his heel and stalked back to the palace. Deciding he would take his frustrations out on Mara before taking her to the Emperor. As he walked he reached out through the Force, searching for Mara's familiar, somewhat vulnerable, presence. He stopped dead when he couldn't find her, at least not on Mandalore, he found her presence moving away at a rapid pace above him. Letting out a roar of rage Jerec unleashed a torrent of lightning outwards, painfully killing anything within a fifty meter radius.
On the Millennium Falcon Luke climbed out the gun turret into the main corridor, he ran through the Falcon dropping into the co-pilot seat next to Han, "How long until we can make the jump?"
"About a minute, go check on the girl, kid." Han said without looking up from the controls.
"Huh? What girl?" Luke asked in confusion. He frowned and reached through the Force feeling for another living being on the Falcon. He felt a familiar presence behind him in the crew quarters, as he stood up Han pulled on the leavers and the stars in the cockpit window blurred, turning into the blue of hyperspace. As the Falcon launched into hyperspace Luke lost his footing and was thrown forwards, though it just lead to him stumbling forwards. Luke rushed to the Falcon's living quarters, in the small enclave that Han and Chewie used for quick naps and as a med-bay lay the scarlet haired girl, Mara if he remember correctly. It looked like she was asleep, only offset by a darkening mark on her temple. "Han, how hard did you hit her?" Luke called back to Han.
"Hard enough she wont wake up any time soon." Han shouted back.
"We'll need to get her to Lehon for some medical attention. I'm pretty sure you've given her a pretty bad concussion." Luke called to Han.
"From what I saw It's best if she only wakes up where we can restrain her." Han shouted back, Luke shook his head and pulled a pair of Force suppression cuffs that Obi-Wan had given him from a pouch on his belt. He gently cuffed Mara before returning to the cockpit.
"Why did you bring her at all Han?" Luke asked as he slipped into the co-pilot seat.
"I'm not fully sure, I figured you could use her to get some info on the Imperials." Han said with a shrug.
Thank you for all the reviews on the last chapter. I'm glad to see the insight into this timeline's past was interesting enough to catch people's interest.
Please review, I enjoy hearing your thoughts.
Have a great day and may the Force be with you.