The rattle of armored boots across the deck rose to a crescendo – entire groups of glossy white-armored soldiers jogged in orderly formation to their evacuation destinations, and for a moment, it was too easy for Ahsoka to get lost in the memories of the clone wars.
If I closed my eyes, I'd almost swear I was back on the Resolute, Ahsoka thought, pausing to listen for a moment: Almost. Ahsoka repeated disapprovingly – individual footfalls were still easily distinguishable in the relatively sloppy movement of the new imperial soldiers; a platoon of clone troopers were often drilled to the point that they sounded like one big trooper on the move.
Neither these guys or the clones would think twice about blasting me though, Ahsoka thought grimly.
From beside the Togruta, a faint rustle sounded.
"You think they're gone yet?" Gar asked somewhat nervously, unable to cease fidgeting; Ahsoka rolled her eyes, but said nothing for a long moment.
Once uninterrupted silence finally visited the halls, Gar clenched his eyes shut, inhaled, and stepped out from the small utility closet, glancing up and down the deserted halls of the interior of the star destroyer. For a moment, he stood in the emptiness, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did.
"Okay, the skies are clear." He whispered back to Ahsoka, who quietly stalked forth from their hiding spot.
"It looks like they retained most of the old deck layouts for this section of the ship, which means…" Ahsoka hesitated, wracking her brain for a moment, "…The personnel lifts should be… This way. Hurry; you lead, and keep a lookout for trouble!" Ahsoka ordered, prodding Gar along a darkened corridor that wended and worked its way through the belly of the ship.
==================================================[##*#########]o
Job's done, Jephego thought to himself, quietly. Time to break formation – for good! He thought, as he silently crept toward the lifts off the gun deck.
The rogue trooper sidled up behind a bulkhead, and pondered his next move in silence for several moments; the taught and somewhat fearful voices of the other troopers still on security detail cut in and out over his helmet radio – Jeph remained silent, having muted his own ability to communicate.
"Activate the blast shielding!"
"Aye aye, sir – it's up… For all the good it'll do if one of these things really explodes!"
"Stow it trooper! What's the status of the Explosive Ordinance teams!?"
"They're still about 10 minutes out sir – they're being dispatched here directly from the space station's compliment via shuttle."
Jephego stealthily marched along the halls, praying that nobody would see him – alert was high. In the commotion, the regular security detail had lost track of him, but all it would take would be for one of them to spot him, and his escape attempt would be in terrible jeopardy.
All I've got to do is get off this lousy deck, and I'm home free, Jephego though, leaning out and spotting the lift he'd used to get here in the first place – it was roughly only 20 yards away.
The frantic chatter of all the troopers on security detail continued to buzz in Jeph's ears.
o[#########*##]==================================================
As Gar rounded a corner, his cough caught the attention of an Imperial Officer striding down the hall.
"You there!" The Officer called, as he approached – unable to help himself, Gar froze for a moment, going cold inside as the Imperial changed directions and headed straight for him.
"What are––"
Whack!
with his attention focused on Gar, Ahsoka's heel caught the Officer squarely in the chin, turning his head forcefully – the Imperial dropped like a sack of rocks, flecking the freedman's face with a small spatter of blood from the Imperial's split lip.
Ironically, it was the abrupt method in which the Officer was dispatched that startled Gar even more than purposefully drawing attention to himself per Ahsoka's orders – the loud cough had actually signaled danger to the Togruta, who'd been stealthily following him like a shadow some distance behind, and she'd stolen up so quickly and quietly not even Gar had been expecting the blow.
"Too easy." Ahsoka commented to herself quietly – however, the utter lack of concern and the icy pragmatism in her voice sent shivers up Gar's spine; the kick had been delivered with incredible expertise – like the strike of an Akivian Viper.
"Where did you learn to do things like that?" Gar couldn't help but ask; Ahsoka did not answer and stooped over the Imperial, letting her fingers find his uniform pockets.
Ahsoka debated not answering for a moment – again, she felt a slight degree of irritation at being questioned in such desperate circumstances, but again, she forced herself to master her temper… For hers and Graykill's sake.
"You already know the basics – I was a Jedi, I fought in the Clone Wars." Ahsoka responded, as she removed the Imperial's blaster from its holster and hefted it experimentally – she deactivated the safety, checked the power cell, and took the few spare cells the Imperial carried on his belt. Hopefully, she wouldn't need them.
"That's exactly my point." Gar replied, quietly – the human swallowed, gathering his courage enough to speak again; perhaps it was the fact that death loomed so close that emboldened the freed slave to continue speaking.
"Those two statements are supposed to be mutually exclusive, aren't they? Jedi, and fighting?" He asked – down below, Ahsoka's hands stopped as she froze, realizing what Gar meant, and getting speared by the logic. "Out here on the fringe, we never heard much about you Jedi – but we did know you're supposed to be pacifists or some such. How'd you go from a life of non-violence to being some kind of special forces combat operative?" Gar asked.
Ahsoka quietly resumed rifling through the few belongings of the Imperial – a few credits she ignored, and a security clearance card that might be useful.
"If I had a week to explain all the many poor decisions that were made by the Jedi Order to get us mired in the Clone Wars, I still wouldn't have enough time to scratch the paint on the subject." Ahsoka muttered aloud gloomily, trying to put such thoughts and memories behind her in spite of Gar's prodding.
"We don't necessarily have a week, but, we can at least talk and move at the same time, can't we?" Gar suggested, grabbing an arm and helping the Togruta gag, bind, drag, and hide the unconscious Imperial behind a service panel.
"...We could. Or, we could keep our mouths shut and leave this topic for another time when our lives aren't in danger. And when making noise could get us noticed and killed." Ahsoka replied curtly, trying to keep the annoyance from bleeding into her voice.
"Fine." Gar said, in disgust.
==================================================[##*#########]o
Silently in the vacuum of space, the flash of booster engines pulsed.
Along each side of the Star Destroyer, escape pods launched in smooth, orderly fashion – within minutes, the area around the ship was clouded with drifting escape pods.
"This is SpinDrift Harbor control." An Imperial radioed from the military space station where the warship was docked. "Prepare for emergency docking release of the Corruptor; Bridge crew, do you copy?"
"Corruptor: We copy. Proceed with release immediately." The Bridge crew replied.
A moment later, the docking supports were released – however, the star destroyer remained motionless for several moments, only very slowly drifting merely a few inches away on its own.
"Corruptor, standby for tug-ship dispatch as ordered. We are also scrambling all available escape pod retrieval craft."
Several stout ships that boasted numerous sub-light engines and repulsor rams made contact with the Star Destroyer – their propulsion systems flared, beginning the slow and ponderous task of boosting the potentially lethal ship far away from the installation and the helpless crews all within their escape pods.
o[#########*##]==================================================
With no real warning, nearly all of the ship's artificial gravity disappeared as the last of the primary power systems were deactivated – Ahsoka and Gar continued to drift upward for a moment as the lift they rode finally came to a stop.
"That's encouraging." Ahsoka muttered mostly to herself out loud. "At least we aren't far from our target though." Ahsoka announced.
The door slid open, but Gar said nothing as the pair stepped out – with an inward roll of the eyes Ahsoka strode forward, determined not to fall into confrontation with the human.
Mercifully, the halls here remained deserted as well; inwardly, Ahsoka gave thanks that leaders among these new Imperials were far less willing to die for their cause than clones were – evidently, any officers on this deck that weren't already on duty had fled at first sign of trouble. "Watch our backs for a moment." Ahsoka said to Gar.
"What are you going to do?" Gar asked, glancing helplessly around the deserted ship and hoping no threats decided to show themselves.
"I only know my sabers are on this floor, but I need a better idea of where specifically. They could be in any one of these staterooms." She said; the Togruta closed her eyes and hesitated for a moment… She disliked the idea of having to reconnect with the menacing wickedness that was her sabers again.
==================================================[##*#########]o
A sweating Imperial on the planet below where the drama continued to ply out swallowed, wiped his brow, loosened his collar, and strode forward.
"Lord Inquisitor," The Officer said, keying and speaking into a communication panel on the outside of a sealed door, with only a slight quaver in his voice.
However, several moments passed in silence.
"Lord Inquisitor, I must speak with you immediately." The Imperial pressed again; his stomach began working itself into knots – these newfangled Inquisitorius agents of the republic were known to be cruel and somewhat sadistic; their physical appearance was already terrifying, and their reputations as ruthless overlords was already beginning to spread.
"Lord––" The Imperial tried a third time and then whimpered as the door slid open abruptly, revealing the Inquisitor standing behind it, along with his extremely toxic glare.
"…I gave very explicit orders that I was not to be disturbed until I completed my business here," The Inquisitor began, menacingly.
"…Unless an emergency requiring your attention took place!" The Imperial interjected, trying to assert himself; the Inquisitor froze, eyes widening ever so slightly for a moment.
"Out with it then!" The Inquisitor snarled, startling the Imperial, who had fallen into an uneasy but hopeful silence – he only stumbled over his own tongue twice in his haste to speak.
"Two armed and ready-to-detonate anti-ship missiles have been discovered aboard your ship, your Lordship, which is––" The Imperial was startled into silence as the Inquisitor's glare turned into a mask of rage and alarm.
"No!" The Inquisitor snarled, somewhat helplessly, confusing the Imperial. "Sound the shipboard alarm and lock everything down! Not a person is to leave that ship under any circumstances!" The Inquisitor snarled, blowing past the Imperial, forgetting his previous errand altogether.
"We cannot, my Lord! I… Have been trying to reach you since the evacuations began – the ship is dead in space, in the process of being jettisoned away from the Harbor!" The Imperial said, setting off after the Inquisitor. "All of the crews have already boarded escape pods and exited the ship. What's left of the garrison aboard now is only the bare minimum to keep it operational!"
"Fools! The bombs were a diversion and you played right into the trap! Who was posted to watch the prisoners? Get what's left of the crew still aboard that ship, essential or otherwise, to the prison deck immediately and check to see if the prisoners have escaped!" The Inquisitor roared.
o[#########*##]==================================================
Ahsoka shuddered as the heavy weights of the lightsabers settled into her hands again.
So… You have come at last, master.
The noxious resonance of the sabers was even worse physically up close – unlike before, when Ahsoka had merely touched them with her mind, it had been by remote and she had exploited the ability to turn away from them by severing her mental link when she'd located them.
Now, with the things sitting in her hands, they were just as difficult to ignore as a particularly loud and cumbersome distracting noise would be in the same position, and their corrupting influence chewed and frayed the edges of Ahsoka's conscious mind.
I was wrong to do this to you – again. Ahsoka began, apologetically.
Were you? Or are you wrong now, for trying to undo the ruthless perfection you've instilled within us? The crystals retorted, catching Ahsoka momentarily off-guard.
You will have need of us soon; search yourself, search the Force – you know it to be true. And we can only cut down our foes gloriously in the heat of battle most effectively if we think and act together, as one – from the teaching of the Jedi puppets, you know that to be true as well.
The insidious, corruptive logic was beginning to make sense to Ahsoka, in spite of her change of heart in the prison block; Ahsoka paused, deciding to let her mind wander just a bit, and perhaps entertain the crystals' suggest––
"Ahsoka!"
The loud voice was punctuated with a hard shake that shattered Ahsoka's concentration on the crystals within the sabers in her hands, startling her terribly and bringing her crashing back to reality.
"What!?" The Togruta snarled, catching Gar by surprise as she again severed the mental link she'd begun to form with the sabers, and destroying the momentary foothold they'd established within her mind.
"You can't sit there again and take a nap again – not now!" Gar urged; the look of anxiety on his face spurred Ahsoka sluggishly into motion, as she blinked in bewilderment at the sabers in her hands.
"What… What happened?" Ahsoka asked shakily, not necessarily of Gar, as she got to her feet.
"We have to get the hell out of here; I think they're onto us – they figured out we're no longer on the prison deck, and they just ordered what's left of the crew on board this ship to high alert over the communicator; if we don't hurry, we'll never get away!"
==================================================[##*#########]o
"You there!"
Jephego froze, and closed his eyes. He'd been just steps away from making it to the safety of the lift.
"Sir?" He asked, turning to face the leader of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal team.
"You're supposed to be a part of the security detail down here, are you not? Where are you going? Didn't you hear the intruder alert command? …And weren't you the one that discovered the armed missiles?" The lead Imperial demanded, approaching hesitantly; Jephego's heart began to race: the Imperial's tone was not particularly harsh, but something still set off alarm bells in Jeph's head… The leader's movements and body language were too tense and jerky, even for the situation at hand.
Jeph wracked his brain for another quick response and found none.
"…I… Uh wasn't leaving, sir." Jeph replied, lamely.
BLAM!
BLAM!
The dead Imperial toppled to the deck, a smoldering hole in his forehead and the innards of his cranium splashed across the case of a concussion missile. The Imperial's own blaster bolt left a smoldering hole in the wall just hair breadths beside Jeph's helmet – a very near miss, thanks more to luck and Jeph's faster draw than anything else.
However, shouts of alarm began to circulate through the EOD crew, and the remaining security detail, all of them rallying and taking cover behind objects while screaming for him to surrender and lay his blaster down as they took aim at him.
Well… Damn. Jeph though to himself, raising and readying his own blaster too – as he did so, the Imperials all froze, falling immediately and abruptly silent. The rogue trooper felt a shiver run up his spine, but was thankful that much of the tremor remained disguised by his armor.
Jeph took a stride forward, towards the crew – they all twitched and jerked tensely, but held their fire; the rogue trooper cleared his throat, shaking his head to himself as he did so.
"One bolt from this blaster, and we all die." He said, aiming directly at the firing panel of one of the two armed and primed concussion missiles – in their haste to take cover, the Imperials had left it completely exposed and unprotected.
"You wouldn't!" Somebody challenged.
"I would!" Jeph snapped, before the Imperial had finished speaking.
"If we blast it out, I'm probably dead." He said to no one in particular among the group of Imperials. "…If I surrender, I'm still very dead. And, if I shoot this missile first, I'm dead too – but, I'll take you miserable nerf herders all with me, along with possibly half the space station and everybody whose escape pod didn't make it away far enough!" Jeph challenged. This all-or-nothing gambit was not within the original plan Ahsoka had forcibly implanted within Jeph's mind, but, somehow the trooper didn't think she'd mind… Or if she did, she wouldn't have the time to curse him anyway if he failed.
For a long moment, nobody spoke – nobody moved. More than one Imperial's furtive and glance at another set Jeph only slightly at ease; a trooper – likely the next ranking trooper now that the leader as dead – lowered his blaster, only slightly, and spoke up.
"…Take it easy, trooper. I… Look. We can work things out; you don't have to die, and none of us want to die either. There's a lot of good men on this ship and around it right now. I'm one of them, and you're one of them. I promise you won't die if you surrender peacefully, so, let's put that blaster down, huh? And try not do anything we might regret." The new lead Imperial said, probably in his best imitation of a crisis negotiator as possible.
In spite of the wild situation, Jeph let out a tense, amused chuckle. "You're talking to a former Imperial Trooper, idiot. I had the same training as you – I had the same hostage crisis training you did, and I know just the same as you do how 'we' punish treason, so believe me when I say you're full of it, and I've got nothing left to lose!" He shot back.
One of the troopers shifted almost imperceptibly, tightening his grip on the blaster – hyper-alert thanks to the adrenaline from the high-stakes game of nerve, Jeph did not miss it. "Ah!" He shouted, warningly, taking a step toward the missile; the trooper hesitated.
"Do you think that stun bolt can hit me before I get the shot off and fry us all?" Jeph demanded of the trooper, whose thumb probably flicked his blaster's power setting to "stun" – the trooper hesitated.
"Stand down Clarq, damn it!" The ranking Imperial hissed at his subordinate, who only very reluctantly eased his trigger finger.
"Okay, look… Relax. What is it you want us to do?" The Imperial asked hesitantly, realizing nothing more could likely be gained with attempting to talk down Jeph.
"Drop your weapons and move back about 20 feet. That's all I ask." Jeph said, immediately – however, no one moved.
"I said drop your weapons and step back!" Jeph commanded again more harshly.
There was silence – Jeph's heart began to pound in his ears; had they called his bluff? Was he bluffing?
The first of the Imperial grunts to finally lose his nerve and chicken out slowly began to set his rifle down – the others stared for only a moment, glancing at the leader, who hesitated. When he began to set his rifle down too, all the rest reluctantly followed suit.
Inwardly, Jeph was almost thankful that his stupid, restrictive helmet for a change helped keep him out of trouble by hiding the wild grin of relieved disbelief plastered across his features.
"…Okay tough guy, you got what you wanted. Now what?" The lead Imperial spat, resentfully.
"I said move back too!" Jeph said, moving to a panel on a nearby wall and keying it; the blast shielding fields momentarily lowered. The Imperials glanced back, perhaps finally realizing what the rogue trooper meant to do.
"Come on!" Jeph snapped, trying to prod the would-be captives into action – the Imperials finally complied with the order, but only very slowly, evidently deciding to delay the rogue trooper as long as possible.
BLAM!
However, the thunderous report of Jeph's blaster – which zipped harmlessly over their heads and was absorbed by another blast shield – got them all scrambling much faster to carry out his demand. The blast shield raised a moment later, trapping them all between the two of them.
"You aren't going to get away with this!" The lead Imperial jeered loudly at Jeph, who moved up beside the missile, but Jeph ignored him and moved behind one of the armed concussion missiles.
"Hey! What are you doing!?" The Imperial demanded, losing some of his previous nerve again.
"Getting ready to leave behind an insurance policy to make sure nobody tampers with this missile until I'm long gone." Jeph said, kneeling before one of the two armed concussion missiles, and removing his ordinary two spare blaster energy cells and a simple sonic discharger from his belt, then tying them together with some utility line. It was another desperate bluff, but Jeph could only hope it worked as well as it did the first.
To the Imperials trapped a ways back and unable to see what he was doing behind the missile, Jeph hoped he looked like he was wiring another tamper-proofing explosive charge to the missile; when he was done, he rose and ran for the lift.
"What did you do? Hey! HEY!" The trooper called; Jeph only gave him a sarcastic wave goodbye as the doors sealed shut, and the lift began moving.
That ought to delay the disarmament of that bomb for a few more minutes – perhaps a lot longer if that was the only bomb disposal crew they had on hand, because they won't send untrained idiots to come monkey around with a potentially sabotaged missile… Jeph hoped.
The lift doors opened to the escape pod deck, and Jeph froze: it was deserted. All of the pods had already been launched.
…Bantha crap, Jeph thought, steadying himself with a hand against the lift wall.
o[#########*##]==================================================
The Inquisitor strode quickly out onto the landing pad, where his shuttle was preparing to take off; the palms of his hands itched – he grasped his lightsaber reflexively, tightening his grips on the hilt in anticipation of the terrible thrill of battle.
"Get us into orbit. Now!" The Inquisitor commanded to the shuttle flight crew; the ramp lifted a moment later behind him.
No ordinary Jedi should have been able to successfully escape from the combined powers of sedatives, neural restraints, mag-clamps, and ray shields; in fact, it would be an extremely trying feat for even the Sith to accomplish.
Perhaps I'm not dealing with any ordinary Jedi… The thought was both irritating and intriguing at the same time; research into the two Jedi's identities had so far been inconclusive.
However, an ugly thought presented itself to the constantly working mind of the Inquisitor: there was also the possibility that they had all been duped by two ordinary Jedi working in concert with an extremely bold set of 'Bounty Hunters'.
The Inquisitor let out a quiet rumble of murderous rage – after this incident was handled, there would be hell to pay for that band of rogues.
==================================================[##*#########]o
Now that what was left of the ship was alerted to the presence of saboteurs aboard and probably out looking for them, Ahsoka and Gar no longer bothered as much with stealth as they moved through the hall through the ship and regained the lift without incident.
"It's still pretty quiet around here. You think we'll make it?" Gar dared to ask, forgetting his previously sour discussion with Ahsoka as they entered the lift.
"Attention Jedi Scum!" An authoritative voice rang out over the ship's communicator arrays, startling Gar; Ahsoka merely sighed in disgust.
"You just had to open your mouth, didn't you?" Ahsoka muttered in annoyance.
"This is Captain Nolls Elzetta, Executive Officer of the Corruptor. I have been instructed to give you just one chance to surrender peacefully. Turn yourself into the first Imperial Patrol you encounter and lay down your weapons. You will not be harmed." The XO said.
"Failure to comply will result in your suffering a most hideous death – you for both of you, your co-conspirators, and anyone else found to have had a hand in aiding your escape!" Elzetta continued.
Gar, being an ordinary ex-slave, shrank against the wall, glancing around with increasing nervousness. "They're onto us. We should give up – NOW, before they change their minds about hurting us!" He said, hardly able to resist the urge to crawl into a corner of the lift.
Ahsoka rolled her eyes, and merely keyed the lift – the doors shut, and the motor engaged with a hum.
A moment later, the lift abruptly ground to a stop, and went dark inside – deactivated by remote probably, Ahsoka thought with an inward curse.
"Ah ah," Elzetta chided arrogantly over the ship's speakers. "Heading down to the the hangar bay, were we? Tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk!" He demanded, clicking his teeth – Ahsoka's finger joints popped in agitation as they tightened around her saber grips too.
"Ahsoka, the game's up – they've caught us! We're doomed!" Gar couldn't help but protest shrilly; the Togruta merely turned to the slave.
"If there's one thing I've ever learned from my master, it's this: No matter how desperate the odds may seem, nothing's over until it's over – and it's not over yet." Ahsoka said, stubbornly.
Gar shot to his feet, frantic. "We're trapped, don't you get it? We're stuck on an Imperial warship with no help and empty space for miles around!" The freed slave yelled.
"We still have options – at the very least, we can still go down fighting. Even death is better than capture." Ahsoka countered, trying to maintain her composure in spite of Gar's demoralization.
"Go down fighting? Are you nuts? This isn't some crazy Jedi battle!" Gar shot back.
"It's not, but that's no reason to give up. In fact, it's more of a reason not to give up." Ahsoka said pointedly, rolling her eyes. "Back in the clone wars, death and the threat of capture we just another day on the job for me and all the others; do you have any idea how many times I've had to face down a hundred or ore droid blaster rifles, or more? I'm still here, aren't I?" She asked, a little more pointedly than she intended, and nipping at the slave's masculinty.
"You are maybe, but how many of your friends and family aren't? Jedi or otherwise!?" Gar retorted sharply, not seeing Ahsoka recoil as if she'd been physically slapped by the ugly implications of the human's statement.
"There has to be a point where all the battle-lust reaches the point of mental illness, and I think you're dangerously close to passing it." Gar continued, mistakenly believing Ahsoka's silence to be a sign that he was getting through to her.
"Look: I respected Graykill for the things he did to save all the rest of us, even though WE weren't originally the reason he set out to do what he did. He was a good kid, friendly, with good morals and good at heart; I don't know WHAT it is that he ever saw in you, if all you seem to want is fight and kill––" The words caught in Gar's throat.
Ahsoka's only response was to ignite a crimson lightsaber, which startled the human – the crimson light and the guttural rasp of the blade's hum filled the tiny space of the lift, and the human plastered himself against a wall, only now realizing how far he'd overstepped his bounds.
The blood red glow of the saber's light resonated with two other ruby lights – Gar paled. There could be no mistaking the naked fury and murderous intent in the scarlet embers smoldering in Ahsoka's eyes, and belatedly, he realized only then how foolish it was to trap himself in a tiny metal box with a natural disaster given Togruta form, that was still in the process of mourning a fallen loved one.