Chapter 25: The Escape
"Where to now, Master?" Ahsoka asked casually. "Do you want me to bring you back to your ship before I continue to Coruscant?"
Obi-Wan had been quiet when they proceeded into orbit after takeoff from Ryloth. He seemed to be in deep thoughts, almost a meditative state.
"Huh? Sorry Ahsoka, can you please repeat what you just said?"
Ahsoka repeated her question, with an uncharacteristic patience.
"Yes. No. I mean, I'm not sure…"
Ahsoka narrowed her eyes: "What exactly does that mean? Don't tell me you are having one of these 'bad feelings' of yours again? I need to enter some coordinates here and it would be good to know where we're supposed to drop out of hyperspace."
"Actually I do," Obi-Wan confirmed sheepishly. "I have a bad feeling…"
"Oh, no! Not again. You're too often right for my likings," Ahsoka sighed, "do you have any idea what it's about?"
"No, not really, but I sense…danger. The Force is warning me of something."
Ahsoka frowned: "When were we not in danger, Master?"
"Good point. Set the coordinates to Coruscant at The Works where Calrissian picked up us, with arrival one hour past midnight as we agreed with Master Windu. We will have to do the pick-up quickly as a ship coming from orbit without known identification will attract some attention. It will take them some time to realize that our identification signal isn't valid anymore, but we will have to work quickly. "
Ahsoka keyed in the specified coordinates, then she stretched her back and yawned: "Let's get some rest when we're in hyperspace, shall we? I can take the first watch. I guess we shouldn't entirely trust the autopilot even though it worked well on the leg to Ryloth?"
"You go to sleep," Obi-Wan retorted, "after all you were the one who just yawned. I will wake you up 6 hours from now, unless something happens where both of us will be needed."
…..
The journey was uneventful. Ahsoka had chosen a zig-zag route, changing coordinates for the hyperspace travel every sixth hour so when they entered Coruscant orbit they came from a totally different direction than Ryloth's.
The ship's comm system crackled to live.
"Unidentified Sentinel Class ship entering orbit, this is Coruscant Space Control - please identify yourself and your destination."
Ahsoka drew a deep breath and activated the comm unit for outgoing messages: "Sentinel 47-136 destined for Coruscant Space Port docking area with agriculture goods. Please advice landing dock."
"Identification not known by system. Please repeat."
"Sentinel 47-136 destined for Coruscant Space Port with agricultural goods. Don't tell me that the agent have forgotten to send you the files again?" Ahsoka put a reasonable amount of annoyance in her voice.
"No pre-landing information on this ship has been received by Coruscant Space Control. Please leave Coruscant Orbit at once."
"Stubborn bantha," Ahsoka muttered between clenched teeth, "I assume you cannot use mind tricks from a distance, Master?"
Obi-Wan shook his head slightly amused.
"Thought so," then she clicked the comm into 'send' again, "Space Control, this is Sentinel 47-136 requesting landing access to docking area for agriculture shipments. I don't know how our agent has managed to mess up this, but I'm sure the Emperor will not be happy when he doesn't get fresh Balmorran beans for the next two weeks or so."
The comm silenced for a moment.
"Sentinel 47-136 is cleared for landing in Coruscant Space Port, sector 24, dock 1024. Please ready ship for inspection upon arrival."
"Roger," Ahsoka confirmed, "ship will dock in sector 24, docking 1024. Will be ready for inspection."
The comm went silent.
"Balmorran beans?" Obi-Wan raised an incredulous eyebrow, "How did you come up with that one?"
"Easy, I was making attention to the 'Galaxy Characteristica' lessons in the Temple," Ahsoka grinned, "Balmorra has vaste agricultural areas and the Sith were located on the planet for centuries. The beans were my invention though."
"We will have to get them on board swiftly. The Space Control will see we're deviating from the given course when we turn towards The Works. They will immediately realize that something is wrong," Obi-Wan instructed.
"Sure thing, Master. I will set shields to maximum power in case we're attacked from the air. If they send only ground forces we'll have to fight them off, I'm afraid and that may mean use of lightsabers…"
"That is a problem," Obi-Wan agreed, "since only Jedi, and Sith, use lightsabers we will have to ensure that no-one leave to tell about the encounter, if we are met by less friendly 'hosts'. Even though we're leaving, such an observation will lead to an intensified hunt for living Jedi throughout the galaxy. That is something that should be avoided if we can. We should have bought some blasters from Hondo as well, but again, they're not suited for deflecting bolts from the enemy's blasters."
Coruscant Space Port was approaching in view and Ahsoka corrected the course towards the assigned sector 24 and reduced the speed of the craft as if she were going to dock in a few minutes. The slight tension in the cockpit increased.
"Now!" Ahsoka and Obi-Wan exclaimed in unison and with a determined movement of the ship's controls Ahsoka turned right and set off towards The Works.
"Sentinel 47-136, you are deviating from the assigned course, please respond," the comm squealed.
"This is Sentinel 47-136, controls failed, I repeat, controls failed. Going down." Ahsoka screamed, and then shut off the comm.
"Now, hopefully they will have to rethink that one for some seconds before they realize what's going on and send out a search party."
The ship screeched to a halt with a less than velvet smooth landing.
"Ouch," Obi-Wan sighed when his teeth were abruptly clenched together as the ship made impact with the ground.
Ahsoka ignored him and opened the hatch. "Now, let's hope they're where they should be."
"I'll go out and get an overview," Obi-Wan said, "you stay here and get ready for a very swift takeoff. I have a strong feeling that it will be necessary."
As Obi-Wan's feet touched the ground he could see a group of one large and five smaller silhouettes running towards the ship, and he recognized one of the more elderly masters as the large one. He and two of the older initiates were carrying rather large satchels on their backs, -probably the values they had 'extracted' from the vault. Even the smaller initiates carried an Iridium bar or two with them.
The small group was quickly ushered into the ship. Another one turned up from another direction. Obviously they had split up and taken different directions from the Temple exit to avoid drawing unnecessary attention to themselves. Smaller groups were easier to hide in the lower levels of Coruscant.
The groups were coming in various combinations. Some were consisting of a couple of master and two or three initiates. Other were mainly consisting of older initiates or a mixture of older and younger initiates. Good. Several equally formed groups would have seemed more suspicious to any prying eyes.
"Fortyfour…fortyfive…fortysix…fortyseven initiates - and 10 masters on board," Obi-Wan counted in the arriving groups. "Two groups more, it seems. But where are they?"
Then a group of younglings appeared, sprinting towards the ship, and right behind them two speeder bikes screeched to a halt. Two dark intimidating figures jumped off the speeders and set towards the younglings.
"Halt! You scum. Identify yourselves!" One of the persecutors shouted.
"Hurry! Get inside," Obi-Wan shouted as he saw one of the younglings was slowing down a bit, as it to follow the request from the dark figure.
"Who are you, and what is going on?" The other figure demanded to know.
"We are transporting people away," Obi-Wan explained politely. "The Works is not a good place to stay for younglings in the middle of the night. There may be unpleasant individuals around."
"What is it to you?"
"Let's just say I'm working in the humanitarian sector."
Stretching out with the Force Obi-Wan could sense the suspicion and…darkness emanating from the two individuals. Not good. Darkness could only mean two things, either the two were Sith or they were a couple of the unknown 'Inquisitors'. Not good indeed. As neither of them could be recognized as Darth Sidious himself, the latter was more plausible.
The two gave each other a glance and without warning they both ignited something that looked like double bladed lightsabers, no, it actually was double bladed lightsabers, and sprinted towards Obi-Wan in unison.
"Now, this is going to be interesting," was his last conscious thought before he dived into the Force to find his way to fight the two opponents.
He drew his own 'saber and met them half way. At any cost he wanted to keep them away from the ship's hatch. Firstly, he really didn't want them to enter, secondly, he wanted to keep them away so the last group of younglings and Mace could get on board if they emerged from the shadows. This would certainly be a busy match.
Elegantly he sidestepped the attack from the tallest opponent while his own lightsaber clashed against the other's in a classic parry. Quick as a lightening he dashed out for the first attacker as soon as his own blade was free from the parry movement. The battle became a fireworks of red and blue crisscrossing the air as parries and attacks moved back and forth. Obi-Wan delved even deeper into the Force, determined to fight the two opponents with all he had in him. Using his well known Soresu skills he managed to parry both attackers with a firm efficiency and for some minutes he kept them at bay waiting for an opening to attack himself. He really needed to even out the battle somewhat. To fight two opponents was doable. As a skilled Jedi Master he could handle that, but their double blades made it more of a challenge as he needed to keep track of both ends of their 'sabers. Then he suddenly realized - he had two 'sabers as well. In-between the parries and blocks that seemed to annoy the two Inquisitors immensely, he managed to detach his other lightsaber, the one he had kept from Ventress' funeral pyre, from his utility belt. With a soft hiss it sprang to live.
The smallest one of the couple gave a little yelp of surprise when the red blade ignited in Obi-Wan's left hand. Seeing one person fight with both a blue and a red lightsaber was not a common view to any 'saber wielder.
"Who is he? What is he?"
The question was left hanging in the air as the battle intensified. With two 'sabers Obi-Wan changed from the defense focused Soresu style to the more defense/attack centered Djem So, alternating between parrying and attacking. He could briefly feel the attacker's annoyance swirl and flutter in the Force. Then he heard swift steps coming down the ramp from the ship and he saw a white lightening flash to his left side.
"Leave this one to me!"
Without any doubts he sidestepped lightly and focused on the remaining opponent, knowing fully well that Ahsoka most likely could handle the other. A former Padawan of Anakins would handle anything that involved a lightsaber. With a quick downward movement he slashed his opponent's saber in to. One half of the 'saber fell to the ground while sparks flew out of it's handle. The other half was still functioning and it's owner tried desperately to defend himself towards the red and blue blur formed by Obi-Wan's lightsabers, but the efforts were in vain. As one of the Order's best 'saber wielders through known history Obi-Wan easily deflected a downward slashing from the Inquisitor by letting his saber slide down the side of his own blue saber and in an instant his red saber blade found the attacker's chest.
The inquisitor fell to the ground, his dark eyes scrutinizing Obi-Wan for a moment before they closed.
"Ken…obi, I…should…have known. Alive…."
Then he silenced for ever.
"I'm sorry," Obi-Wan sighed, "this was not the jedi way. I had defeated you and still I had no choice but to kill you."
Then he turned towards Ahsoka and her opponent just in time to see the other Inquisitor fall, decapitated by one of Ahsoka's white lightsabers.
Silently they shut down their 'sabers just in time to see a group of small initiates sprint towards the hatch with Mace Windu right behind them. Simultaneously two V-19 Torrent Starfighters appeared in the direction of Coruscant Space Port.
"What took you so long?" Obi-Wan muttered, and then to Ahsoka "we've got everyone on board. Run. We need to take off immediately before those two birds get reinforcements."
Ahsoka was already half way up the ramp heading for the pilot seat of the craft.
"Give me the controls," she shouted and one of the elderly masters who had kept the engines running while she jumped out to help Obi-Wan sprang out of the seat in a speed much higher than should have been possible in his highly advanced age. Mace Windu was already buckled in in the co-pilot's seat.
"Get down and strap yourselves in with whatever you can find," Obi-Wan shouted to the frightened initiates, "this will be a rough take off."
"Deflectors are up on maximum power," Mace Windu commented calmly from his position as the engines roared to life and the ship rose from the ground.
"Set coordinates towards Dantooine," Ahsoka ordered, while the ship shivered and shuddered in the veritable hailstorm of energy bolts shot from the attacking star fighters.
The deflector shields held and the Sentinel Class ship entered orbit without any damage.
…..
A tall dark clad figure emerged from the shadows his black robe waving behind him as he strode forward and gazed down at the two fallen Inquisitors.
"Lightsaber wounds," he breathed, and gave the head of the fallen inquisitor an irritated kick, "I should have sensed there still were Jedi on planet. My Master is not going to like this..