AN: So...remember how I said this chapter was going to be the end of this section? Right, yeah?

JUST KIDDING!

Got a little carried away here, some important stuff got snuck in, had some frigging awesome ideas that...well, to put them in this chapter, you'd end up with a 30,000 word beast. So I'm splitting it. I know exactly what's happening in the next chapter, which really speeds the writing long, but I'm also about to get really busy. Next chapter...Saturday or Sunday, but if I'm really lucky, or just generally filled with my undying love for you guys, I might have it by Friday.

That's it! Enjoy some brutality, my lovelies! Next chapter's going to be TITS.

Chapter 29: Sovereign

"Alright, listen up," Hera said firmly, the Twi'lek pacing before her crew, slightly bigger today with the additions of Cody and a very jittery, excitable assassin droid that Kenobi had brought from the Umbra before K-2SO brought it in for repairs. "This mission is, quite frankly, absolutely insane, as some of you pointed out to me...Zeb..."

"You're supposed to be the sane one, Hera!" the Lasat sighed, shaking his head. "Kanan is the crazy idea man, you're the sane one, mom."

"Someone needs to stand in for our fearless leader," Hera said with a slight smile on her lips. "You want it to be the Sith Lord?" Zeb looked over at Obi-Wan, the Sith Lord sprawled out on the couch, his feet on the table and his hands behind his head, an eyebrow raised as he awaited the Lasat's answer. His ears pulling flat against his head, he turned back to Hera.

"On second thought, I suppose there are much worse crazy idea makers that could be in charge..."

"I'll remind you, cat, that a great deal of this idea was mine," Obi-Wan said with a shrug, the Lasat growling deeply as his eyes shot back toward the Sith. "I just don't like being the center of attention."

"It's because nobody can stand to look at your ugly mug!" Zeb growled as he reeled on the Sith, Kenobi looking on with amusement from his spot. "When are you going to grow that bead back, it helped to hide your face! And don't call me cat!" he snapped, ignoring the stifled chokes of laughter from Ezra and Sabine. "I have claws, Kenobi, and I will maul you!"

"I would like to take this time to remind you, Garazeb Orrelios, that my pet of choice is a rancor, and he will eat you." Zeb frowned as he stared at the Sith Lord, and slowly leaned over to Ezra.

"You didn't tell him my full name, did you kid?" Ezra closed his eyes and shook his head.

"I don't need to tell him anything, Zeb. He's a mind reader."

"...yeah, I wish I could forget about that," Zeb said as he shivered, his ears lowered as he averted his eyes from the Sith.

"I know this plan is risky," Hera continued. "And dangerous, and it doesn't make much sense for the rebellion, but Kanan is family." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she steeled herself. "And we have all lost enough family to the Empire, so the plan makes sense to me. I...lost my mother when the Empire took Ryloth, and I lost my father when his fight to free our people alienated him from his family."

"...I lost my family when the Empire invaded Lasan and drove my entire race to extinction," Zeb growled softly, his head bowed as he clutched his bo-rifle in his hands.

"I lost my clan, my entire family when I left the Imperial Academy," Sabine said quietly. "They...denounced me for abandoning the Empire. They call me traitor...dar'manda," she whispered. "The worst thing a Mandalorian can be. There is no going back for me, not ever..."

"My parents..." Ezra began, but quickly shut his mouth and shook his head. "No, you all know what happened." The Spectres all turned and looked at the Sith Lord expectantly, and Obi-Wan met their gaze with a sullen frown.

"What is this, some pre-battle heart to heart?" He scoffed and waved his hand dismissively. "Oh please, spare me this sentimental garbage. We aren't going to take part in this-"

"I lost my lover to Darth Vader," Cody quickly cut in, the Sith looking up at him with disgust and betrayal on his face.

"Oh no, Cody, not you too..."

"Our losses aren't the same as yours," the clone calmly explained. "Ours happened long ago, most of it before the Empire rose, but they were executed by those who rule the Empire now. Vader, Maul, Sidious..." The clone shook his head. "There isn't a day we don't mourn the loss of those we love." All eyes turned to Kenobi, and the Sith Lord bit his lip and sat up, his hands steepled before him, his gaze lingering on a spot on the floor.

"Luminara..." he finally said after a long moment of silence. "Killed by the Grand Inquisitor. My...friends, Grievous and Barriss and Asajj and-" He stopped, his voice catching in his throat, and he swallowed hard, his teeth grinding together as his anger grew, his blood running cold as the Dark Side rose to meet him. "And Quinlan Vos, my closest friend since I was a child, killed, slaughtered by Vader! A-and my Satine, beautiful Satine, and my son...executed by Maul." Cody's hand laid on Kenobi's shoulder, and Obi-Wan quickly grasped the clone's hand, his rage focusing into the sharp, honed blade he needed it to be for the mission. "It's too much. No more losses, not like this, and not Kanan." The Spectres all muttered their agreement, drawing slightly closer to the Sith Lord despite the rage that was palpable in the air around him, and the droid looked between the Spectres and the Sith.

"...Declaration," HK said in the moment of silence between them. "The Empire never did anything to me. I just want to murder meatbags for my Master."

"Oh, for the love of...HK, we were having a moment!" Cody snapped, smacking the droid on the back of its head. "This is why nobody likes droids, you clankers ruin everything!"

"Correction: I have yet to ruin anything Master won't let me ruin!" HK chirped gleefully, and Cody leaned in, a vicious, angry look on his face.

"Kenobi likes K2 better than you," the clone hissed. "That's why he gave him the Umbra to command. That's why Kenobi lets him be intimate with his ship..." HK gasped and turned his visual sensor on the Sith.

"Quarry: Master! Is this true?!"

"Alright, children, that's enough," Hera said, trying to look stern, but she couldn't keep a soft smile off her face as she watched the clone cross his arms and grumble to himself while the droid frantically clung to the Sith's robes, desperate for approval. "For better or for worse, this is it. We rescue Kanan, or we die trying. Obi-Wan." The Sith Lord looked up from attempting to pry his droid off of him. "This is part of your crazy plan. Want to give your team the mission briefing?"

"My team?" the Sith asked, an eyebrow arched as he looked the woman over. "Your team."

"Our team," the pilot said, stepping to the side and gesturing for the Sith to take the floor, and after a moment, Kenobi slowly nodded and stood, his long stride carrying him to stand beside the Twi'lek at the head of the group.

"Alright, listen up, team," Obi-Wan said firmly, his hand pointing toward the docking port. "Our ticket in to the Star Destroyer is right out there, and I have all the Imperial call signs and codes to get us docked. Which is the easy part. Now," he lazily drawled, clapping his hands and rubbing them together, "there are a lot of us, and there isn't a lot of room inside that TIE, so its going to be a tight fit. Get really familiar with your neighbor, kids, because we're going to be rubbing up against each other. Except for me," he said, his chest puffing proudly. "I'm going to be flying the damn thing."

"Excuse me, you?" Hera asked, a questioning look on her face. "I'm flying, Kenobi. That isn't an option." Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I'll sit in the pilot's seat, and Hera can sit on my lap so she can drive."

"...I'm sorry, what?" The Sith flashed the horrified Twi'lek a wicked grin.

"Space is tight, sweetheart. You can drive all you like, but we need all the room we can get. You're going to be sitting on someone's lap..." He shrugged and winked at her. "May as well be me. I'm the one with the codes, after all."

"Kenobi, can the Twi'lek ride on me next?" Cody asked.

"Yes," the Sith Lord immediately responded.

"No!" Hera cried, completely aghast, her face flushed and her lekku twisting in her discomfort as she quickly shook her head. "We need to get Kanan back so we can reestablish order, that Sith is out of control without a Jedi around."

"Damn right I am..." Kenobi muttered, looking Hera over appreciatively before turning his attention back to the others. "Getting on the Sovereign isn't going to be a problem. Things are going to get difficult the moment we're inside. First thing we need to do is take the hangar bay."

"Right, how?" Sabine asked. "The hangar bay is one of the most heavily defended positions on the entire ship."

"I've got a plan for that one..." Obi-Wan said, a chilling smirk on his lips. "You just leave that to me. There's something I've been studying that I've been wanting to try out, and I think I'm angry enough to do it."

"The modifications to the TIE you requested are complete, sir," Cody said, a small, pleased smirk on his face. "You'll have to thank your Chiss later, she was instrumental in getting it done right."

"...wait, really?" Kenobi asked, and the clone closed his eyes and nodded sagely. "Well I'll be damned..." The Sith quickly cleared his throat, refocusing his attention back on the task at hand. He could think of how to reward his slave later. "After we have taken the hanger, we find Kanan. We're taking a page out of Tarkin's book for this one, and we're going to keep together. Splitting up compromises our group integrity and gives us half the number and twice the potential for something to go wrong. We stay together, at least until we've found Kanan. After that..." Obi-Wan's eyes flashed dangerously, the sinister glow intensifying, and Ezra could feel the Force chill, the energy resonating with the Sith and turning black and poisonous at his coaxing. "I have business with some people on that ship, and as I said before, I'm going to rip the Sovereign out of the sky..."

"I almost feel bad for Tarkin," Ezra said, a broad grin on his face. "He must have known what a bad idea it was to mess with you."

"He knows..."Obi-Wan said absently. "But it's been many years. He needs a reminder..." He shook his head, his focus returning as he looked at the crew. "If that ship makes it to hyperspace, it's over. I don't know what's waiting on Mustafar, but whatever it is, it isn't good. We lose if it comes to that. We can't waste any more time. Let's go."


"Why does this ship look so much bigger than other Star Destroyers?" Ezra asked quietly, his face pressed up against the TIE fighter's round viewport and the hard, uncomfortable metal of HK-47's blood red plating flush against his back in the very cramped space of the starship's cockpit. It could have been worse. At least there was no awkwardness with being in intimate proximity with a droid like there would have been with literally anyone else, though Ezra was quietly impressed that despite being seated rather comfortable on a Sith Lord's lap, Hera didn't seem bothered at all. At least the invader of his personal space wasn't Cody, who was going out of his way to make things as uncomfortable as possible for Zeb. Then again,,,it could have been better, He could have been pressed up against Sabine like Zeb was, his reward for having to put up with the clone. And the Lasat didn't even appreciate how lucky he was. Life was, in short, unfair.

"It's no bigger than the others, fear has a strange way of altering your perception..." Obi-Wan muttered, leaning around Hera to let his fingers drift over the command console, a faint smirk on his lips when the monitors beeped with the arrival of their docking authorization codes.

"I-I'm not afraid," Ezra stammered in protest, the Sith scoffing and rolling his eyes and making the teen feel like an idiot. "I'm just-"

"You are afraid, boy, don't tried to hide your feelings from me. You can't. And for the record, you are all afraid." He paused, his eyes drifting up to the droid at his side. "Except for HK because droids can't actually feel emotion." Obi-Wan pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. "And Cody. He just literally doesn't give a shit."

"Oh, is that how we describe unquestionable faith these days?" the clone asked as he punched the Sith's armored shoulder, the occupants of the cockpit collectively gasping in fear and wriggling as far away from the clone as possible, bracing themselves for the inevitable retribution. It came in the form of amused, friendly laughter, the fear fading quickly into confusion. "I liked you better when you had a beard. The beard made you sensible."

"Fear is good, apprentice, hold on to it," Obi-Was said, watching as the shadow of the Sovereign fell over the TIE. "Fear will keep you alive. Fear will make you strong, and you will need all the strength you can get."

"But you aren't afraid," Ezra said, pulling his cheek away from the viewport to look at the man. "You're never afraid."

"Of course not, I'm Sith. A true Sith doesn't feel fear." He looked up at the boy out of the corner of his eye, felt the teen's rapidly beating heart, the fear that set his nerves on edge, the tense pull of the Force within him that bled black with the threat of darkness. "I'm not asking you to be Sith, Ezra, I will never ask that of you. But for you, right now, the quickest path to power is through fear, and we're going to use it."

"...u-use the Dark Side?" the boy squeaked, and Obi-Wan nodded, his attention drifting back toward the Star Destroyer above them as they approached the landing bay.

"It's a tool like any other, apprentice. Don't worry. You won't lose yourself with me to guide you." He reached under his seat and pulled out his horned helmet and placed it on his head, breathing deeply and opening himself to the Dark Side, his blood, his lungs, every fiber of his being filling with the cold fury of the Force. Nudging Hera off his lap, he stood and pressed back with the others, the clone grabbing his hip and muttering something in Mando'a that could only be described as flirtatious, and Sabine snorted as she attempted to choke back laughter.

"Karabast, this is a mess..." Zeb said as he scratched his head. "We don't have an exit strategy, and there are four more Star Destroyers out there. Even if we somehow don't die in there, how are we supposed to get out?"

"The same way we always do," Sabine said, her hand pressed against the viewport as she leaned to look up at the Destroyer above them. "Steal a ship and run."

"Run from four Star Destroyers?" Zeb said in a flat tone.

"I admit, it's going to be tricky..." Hera said quietly. "But we have Chopper standing by to back us up in the Ghost. It might be enough."

"Might?!" Zeb asked, his eyes widening as he shook his head in disbelief. "How do we even know Kanan's on this ship!"

"He is," Obi-Wan and Ezra said in perfect unison, the people in the cockpit turning their heads to stare at the Force sensitive pair. "We can sense him, he's on there," Obi-Wan said, breathing deep as he touched the Force to confirm it and felt Kanan's faint, pained pull. "However, Tarkin isn't," he snarled. "Sound strategy. He knows I'm coming, don't put everything important on one ship, lest he lose it all. I'm known for messing with ships, so of course he'd keep himself away from the bait..." Obi-Wan growled, the sound reverberating in the vocal modulator of his helmet. "This will make our escape considerably more difficult. I confess, I do enjoy an intelligent adversary, but his timing is simply awful."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Is everyone ready?" Hera asked as she slid back in the pilot's seat, the starfighter slowing as docking control overrode the pilot's inputs to bring the ship safely into the hangar.

"Wait for my signal to exit the TIE," Obi-Wan commanded. "And hope that Cody's modifications worked, otherwise, you're all probably going to die."

"...wait, what?!" Hera gasped, quickly turning to look in disbelief at the Sith Lord.

"Alright, alright!" Obi-Wan said, his hands raised to placate her. "HK will probably survive. Probably." He didn't wait to hear the response as he thrust his hand up, using the Force to push open the hatch, and Obi-Wan jumped out of the ship, landing on the rounded top and jumping off again to land in the center of the hangar, a loud, metallic ring piercing the air when his armored boots struck the durasteel ground. As soon as the Sith was out, Cody quickly leaned over and slammed his hand on the hatch controls, the round hole above them quickly sealing shut.

"Cody..." Hera said tightly. "Are we all going to die here?"

"Probably not, the Chiss and I were very thorough when we insulated the cockpit..." the clone said as he leaned forward, his arms resting on the back of the chair as he watched stormtroopers fill the hangar, their weapons drawn and aimed at the Sith Lord on the ground.

"Insulated?" Sabine asked. "Insulated against what?"

"Shh..." Cody said, holding up his hand for silence and then pointing out the viewport. "Watch, this should be kriffing ridiculous."

Obi-Wan could hear the shouts of the stormtroopers, the whine of blasters as they were primed, the heavy grinding of turret weapons and At-ST walkers as they were activated, but it was all so...distant. So small, like the helpless squeak of a single rat caught in the coils of a snake, useless and insignificant and so, so close to the end of its life. He could see them all rushing into formation, the chaos of fear and panic as they realized what had landed on their deck, their white armor shining and pristine and utterly, utterly useless. They were corpses, ghosts, dead men walking, each and every one of them, the journey of their lives approaching a swift and sudden end.

He could see them, he could hear them, but most of all, he could feel them, shining points of life within the Force, flames flickering in the presence of the sudden gusts from the storm. They burned bright with fear, with terror, resolve and bravery, some with ambition and hopes for glory, many with anger and hate, but through them all was the pervasive current of horror, and Obi-Wan drank deep of it. The Dark Side summoned to him, pulsing within him, tearing at the very air around him, the fear of his enemies turned Obi-Wan's hatred into cruelty, his anger into savage delight as the draconic beast dormant in the depths of the Force awoke. It rose to the surface, it's massive, serpentine body breaking through the thick ice of the Dark Side's waters, rending the frozen calm and leaving it shattered, stormy and disturbed as it drew itself to the Sith Lord's side, heeding the call of the Master, and silently demanding blood for being disturbed, life in exchange for power.

Lumis reached out, laid his hand on the leviathan's black scaled head, the red and gold eye watching him, seeing him, not his slave or his servant, but his partner. He could feel the will of the creature mesh with his own, the full power of the Dark Side becoming one with him, and with a silent command, the leviathan roared, a piercing shriek that reverberated through the air and sent the stormtroopers crashing to their knees, their weapons discarded and forgotten as they gripped their heads, screaming under the pressure in their ears.

All that was left in the Force was fear and pain, strong enough to fuel the savage, raging beast as it tore through the Dark Side, and Obi-Wan closed his eyes, felt the agony around him sharpen his senses and delved deep inside himself to grasp his own pain, already at the forefront of his mind, dragged up by the shared pain of the Spectres they bonded over earlier. Satine and his son, Barris and Grievous, dear Luminara, poor, lost Asajj and reckless, lively Quinlan. His hands tightened at his sides, his muscles tensing and his heart racing as he felt the hole within him tear open, the scar tissue surrounding the wound ripped apart under the fury of grief that would never end. Dooku, killed by his own insanity, and sweet Padmé, who he had sacrificed to save Luke and Leia from the watchful eyes of Sidious.

He could feel the burning touch of Force lightning crackling and dancing around his fist, up his arm, arching down the length of his body, surrounding in a glowing blue shield of jagged, sparking electricity. Through it all, past the pain of the soldiers, past even his own pain, Obi-Wan could feel Kanan, the last Padawan, his Jedi student, his ally and friend, in severe pain, suffering as he had never had, right now, at this very moment, and it was too much. His heart pulsing in unison with the Dark Side, ancient draconic beast he summoned, the hissing whispers of the Sith before him echoing in his mind, Obi-Wan raised his hand up, drew the Force to him, and violently pushed outwards, a vortex of wind and energy and blue Force lightning swirling around the Sith Lord and branching out to encompass the entire hangar.

The screams of the stormtroopers lasted only a moment as blue lightning arched over their bodies and through them, the powerful current quickly ending their lives. The lightning touched everything, the metal of the ships, the walls, the ceiling, the ground superconducting the energy storm and short-circuiting control panels and electronics, the powerful surge of the current running through the power lined of the ship, and within moments, the lights cut out as the entire Star Destroyer lost power, the ship falling dark and silent in space. And still, the Force storm raged, the vortex of lightning sending arcs of electricity running across every surface, through every ship, over ever one of the hundreds dead upon the floor, the dark hangar cast in eerie, flickering blue light. From the safety of their insulated ship, the Spectres watched on in awe as their Sith companion summoned a natural disaster out of thin air.

Obi-Wan could hear them in the tides of the Force. The Sith Masters that had come before him, their knowledge recorded on ancient holocrons, so many of them lost to time, so many destroyed by the Jedi, but still he had managed to learn from them. His own power wasn't even comparable to theirs, not yet, but one day, they would be. He could hear the whispers of the Sith Emperor Valkorion, the same voice that had taught him how to harness Force lightning into a storm as he had now, could feel the power surging through him as he sank deeper into the depths of the Dark Side. He saw visions, fast and relentless, ones he had seen many times before and others he had never seen. The field of the dead, Tarkin with the dust of a planet in his hands, the burning, furious face of Anakin Skywalker. He saw himself, flanked by three people on each side of him, two being Luke and Leia, but the other four were lost to him when the vision swiftly shifted. He could see the Grand Inquisitor, could feel his anger, his frustration, and when the Pau'an's eyes met his, the anger faded into terror, the yellow eyes widening as he backed away, the man disappearing when a cruel, hungry look shone in the Sith's eyes.

And then Obi-Wan saw him. Flanked by the flickering shadows of Maul and Vader, Darth Sidious stood, calm and comfortable in the sinister red glow of the dark room, the defeated, empty Lumis at his feet, the very vision that Ezra once had, the same one that Obi-Wan had studied many times after that, but had always failed to perfectly recreate. But now, within the powerful surge of the Force, a summoning of the Dark Side by another Master, Obi-Wan had drawn attention to himself, had set the tides of the Force surging with his presence, and Sidious' cold, yellow stare saw him. He could feel his former Master's burning gaze, filled with disgust and accusation, not the terrible triumph that he had seen before. Sidious was...offended, enraged that Lumis had dared to tread upon the domain he claimed as his, his own expertise and mastery in the art of Force lightning to be shared by nobody.

Except for Lumis, the knowledge learned from a holocron the rogue Sith had stolen from him years ago.

Sidious didn't move, didn't say a word, only stared at the other Sith, hatred and malice burning behind his yellow eyes as Obi-Wan met his gaze, the unusual way the Force swirled around Sidious exactly the way Kenobi remembered it. Slowly, a wide, sinister grin spread across Sidious' face, a thin, sinister cackle carrying through the air, and Obi-Wan felt the Force run cold. He had been there too long, had been actually seen, the powerful pull he exerted upon the Dark Side drawing his old Master's actual attention. On the edges of his consciousness, he could feel others, could hear the hard clang of cybernetic legs, the deep, monotonous sound of breathing through a respirator, and slowly, golden eyes glowed in the shadowy figures of Maul and Vader.

They could all see him.

With a shuddering breath, Obi-Wan let go of the Force, and the images shattered, and all there was after was the rush of the wind as he fell into the black of the endless abyss.

When the wind ceased and the arching lightning finally fizzled to nothing, the Sith Lord dropped to his knees, and before the dazed, drained man could fall, the Spectres had jumped out of the TIE and raced across the hangar, cast in the dim, red glow of emergency lighting, and Cody skidded beside Obi-Wan to catch him.

"I-is he alright?" Ezra said frantically when he caught up. "Is he dead? Oh, he's dead, isn't he?!"

"He's not dead, you idiot!" Cody snapped, draping Obi-Wan's arm around his shoulder and supporting his body weight as he stood with a firm grip on his hip. "You really think he'd do something that would kill him?"

"W-well..."

"I'm fine..." Obi-Wan whispered, grimacing when he felt how dry his throat felt, his hand grasping Cody tighter as he stood on his own, his eyes drifting around the hangar bay and finally landing on HK-47 as it sidled up to him.

"Admiration: Master, your talent for murder never ceases to amaze me!" the droid cooed, and Kenobi's response was lost in a sudden fit of gasping coughs.

"You alright, brother?" Cody asked, the concern coming clear through his helmet's modulator, the clone slowly backing away from the Sith so he could stand on his own. Obi-Was slowly nodded, his breathing deep and even as he centered himself, the waters of the Force calming as the wrath of the Dark Side vanished into the depths. Kenobi found himself lurching and stumbling forward when Cody's heavy hand slammed on his back. "That was awesome! Kenobi, you have no idea how incredible that was! I've never seen anything like it! If you could use that against the Empire-"

"I can't, not yet..." Obi-Wan muttered. "There were some...unforseen complications with delving the deep into the Dark Side. And the whole weakness after it's over..." He scoffed and flicked his hand dismissively in the air. "The Sith Lords of old could use such a thing in the heat of combat and continue fighting. I cannot, I need more training, or new knowledge, or..." He shook his head. "After Kanan's safe, we need to discuss finding new holocrons to expand my expertise."

"Hey, I hate to break up this little post-lightning storm analysis, but we have a Jedi to save," Hera said forcefully, the two men nodding and quickly drawing and readying their weapons. "Sabine, what can you tell us about the ship's power?"

"I can't say for sure..." the Mandalorian said, the girl pulling down her helmet's scanner and looking through the small device. "The circuitry is completely fried because of the power surge. It doesn't seem like any of the systems are damaged. The engines and the hyperdrive are all still running, but the ship's ability to communicate with those systems has been completely disrupted." She flipped the scanner back up. "The problem is actually a lot more complicated than it looks. I don't think they're going to have an easy time fixing it. The power cells that run the emergency systems aren't going to last forever so..." She shrugged. "You're probably looking at a few hours tops before they need to evacuate."

"Which means no jump to lightspeed and no Mustafar," Obi-Wan said with a sigh of relief.

"How are we supposed to find him?" Zeb asked. "We have no power, which means no access to terminals, so we can't check for his location, and the doors are sealed. This ship is huge, we can't just wander aimlessly."

"That won't be a problem," Obi-Wan said, clearing his throat and extending his hand, his fingers wiggling. "Ezra and I will be able to sense his location," he drawled, his hand flexing and his lightsaber flying to his hand, the red blade igniting the moment it touched his palm. "And there's no such thing as a closed path if you have a lightsaber." He deactivated his saber and returned it to his belt and drew the other two, tossing one each to Hera and Sabine. "In the event that we get separated, I don't want to say we lost someone because they were backed into a corner. Take five minutes to familiarize yourselves with the weapon, girls, Cody will walk you through it."

"Hey, why don't I get one?!" Zeb growled, and the Sith Lord simply shrugged.

"An elegant weapon for an elegant hand, cat, and, well, you're a brute." The Sith took a step back when the Lasat snarled and cracked the knuckles of his clawed fingers. "Also, I don't have another spare, and I figured that in a pinch, you'd be able to muscle the doors open, and I'd rather take care of the ladies first." Zeb growled deeply and looked away.

"...fine. So long as the girls are safe..." Obi-Wan patted the Lasat on his muscular arm as he observed Hera, her face serious, her focus intense, the area around her lit bu the glowing blue lightsaber, and Sabine, staring awestruck at the darksaber she so reverently held, almost as if she were too afraid to even move it, the weight of the significance of the blade to her people not lost on her.

"Come, Ezra," the Sith said, the teen jumping slightly when he was spoken to, his already frayed nerves made worse by the chill in the are caused by the death that surrounded them. "I need to meditate, and it would do you well to focus yourself as well. We will be unable to find Kanan if you are not one with the Force."

"H-how can I be one with the Force when it's so...disturbed?" the boy asked, his teeth chattering against the cold as he rubbed his arms, but he followed anyway when the Sith looked back in his direction.

"Oh, you'll see soon enough..." Obi-Wan led them a short ways from the group, the flashing sabers illuminating their position and making them a good deal more visible, save for HK-47, the droid's coloring allowing it to blend in nearly perfectly with the red emergency lighting. "A Force storm..." Obi-Wan whispered to himself, taking his helmet off as he knelt, the teenager following suit just across from him.

"Is that what it was called?" Ezra asked, the question immediately wiping away Obi-Wan's sinister, satisfied smirk. "That electric thing?"

"Yes..." Kenobi drawled, sighing as he looked down at the helmet in his hands. So many Lords of the Sith were remembered by the masks they wore, and he wondered if this would be his. "You cannot understand the significance of such a thing. The power required to wield it, the skill to not succumb under the onslaught...Ancient Sith Lords practiced the technique long ago, but the knowledge was lost long ago when the Jedi shattered our order and drove us to near extinction." He took a deep, calming breath, felt the Dark Side soothe and caress him, fill him with pleasure and pride for his accomplishment, a parent pleased with a favored child. "And now I possess the skill."

"I guess even a Master can still learn something, huh?" Ezra asked, and the Sith Lord nodded.

"There is always something to learn, my apprentice. The moment you believe you have learned everything, you become complacent, lazy, stagnant. That is the path to weakness." The teen nodded, attentively listening to the Sith.

"Can you teach me how to do that?"

"...no." Ezra frowned, clearly displeased with the decision. "The power required to command such a thing is beyond you, Ezra. Reach beyond your limits, and the Force will make you pay for that power, and you do not get to choose in what way that payment is collected."

"I-I don't understand..." A small, sad smile flickered across Obi-Wan's face, so quick that Ezra almost missed it, and he would have thought he were imagining it if he didn't feel it. The deep, dull ache of sadness and loss and regret, a heavy thing that sat black within the Sith Lord, but despite the powerful darkness the wound inspired, Ezra felt the soft touch of warmth deep within it.

"Perhaps someday, I will explain it to you," Obi-Wan whispered. "When we have time. For now, we need to focus on saving Kanan, which means grasping for power you can reach. Close your eyes." Ezra nodded swiftly and did as he was told. "Reach for your Master, Ezra, connect with him, and tell me what you feel."

"Right." Breathing deeply, Ezra reached out to the Force, felt for the familiar comfort that Kanan's presence always provided, and gasped, his eyes flying wide open with panic, his heart jumping in his throat. He tried to leap to his feet, desperate to run and help the man, but his body didn't respond, his frantic gaze moving to meet the cold, golden eyes of the Sith Lord. "Kenobi, let me go! Kanan needs help! We have to go now!"

"What do you feel?" Obi-Wan asked calmly, and Ezra didn't understand how he could be so calm when he knew the Sith felt Kanan was suffering.

"He's in pain! They're torturing him, Kenobi!"

"You fear for him."

"Of course I fear for him!" Ezra shouted, straining against the hold of the Force to no avail. "He's going to die if we don't help him, of course I'm afraid!"

"Good," Obi-Wan hissed. "Your fear is a weakness, Ezra, a debilitating weapon your enemy uses against you." The Sith Lord leaned in, the glow of those golden eyes intensifying. "All your fears are caused by the Empire." Obi-Wan smirked softly when the pupils in Ezra's eyes shrunk to pinpoints, his scattered thoughts suddenly redirected and focused not on the pain of his Master, but on his hatred of the Empire. "They did this..." Obi-Wan continued, his voice low and smooth and easily penetrating the boy's thoughts. "All the pain Kanan feels, all the torture he was subjected to, all because of Imperial cruelty, all because they want to see Jedi suffer and die."

"I won't allow it!" Ezra snarled, his eyes narrowing in his anger, the teen's body beginning to shiver with the cold, and Kenobi sighed in satisfaction when he felt Ezra pull on the Force for strength, his rage staining the clear, warm waters black.

"There it is, apprentice, hold that anger, hold that hatred and let it fuel you. The Jedi say that emotions cloud your judgement, but when your goal is very clear, when what is right cannot possibly be more simple, your emotions give you strength and focus." Obi-Wan released his hold on the Force, and Ezra lurched forward, his hands on the ground to steady himself, his breathing quick and ragged as power rushed through him, drawn from the fear for Kanan's safety, a tributary off the mighty river of the Dark Side, small enough to not drown the boy in the flood.

"That's it..." Obi-Wan soothed. "Stay connected to your Master, make his pain yours, let it feed your anger. The Force is turbulent and disturbed, there is no balance, no focus to be had there, but the waters of the Dark Side are still and calm because it is frozen. Reach out to the cold in the Force, let it ground you, apprentice. There is balance to be had in the Dark Side, focus in the task set before you." Ezra's shoulders shook, a small whimper torn from his throat as he shivered, the chill in the Force cutting bone deep, his muscles slowly beginning to relax as his body grew numb. "...do you know what you must do, apprentice?"

With a deep, calming breath, Ezra looked up at the Sith Lord, his eyes a bright, pale blue that glowed faintly in the dim lighting of the hangar, the cold fury of the Dark Side burning behind them. "Save Kanan..." the teen whispered. "No matter what, save him."

"That's my boy," Obi-Wan drawled, standing quickly as he put the helmet back on his head and helped Ezra to his feet. "Come now. We've got a Jedi to save." They walked together toward the rest of the group, Ezra moving quick to keep up with Kenobi's long stride, the boy tall and calm and seething with cold anger kept in check by the powerful bond between the teen and the Sith Master. Obi-Wan had been left alone to fall, had struggled to come to terms with the new powers he was discovering, but Ezra would have no such difficulty. The pool he waded in now was shallow by design, and were the child to wander off, swim toward the deep, Obi-Wan would simply pull him back.

"Are you familiar with the weapons, ladies?" Obi-Wan asked when he and Ezra rejoined the group.

"It's heavier than I thought..." Sabine said, gently swinging the darksaber in the air. "You guys always make the movements seem so...effortless, I thought they'd be lighter."

"They become lighter as you become one with the weapon," Kenobi explained. "All that can wait. All you need them for is to cut yourself through walls, if need be." He nudged Ezra. "Where are we going?"

"Three decks up and twelve blocks back toward the rear of the ship," Ezra said, his voice calm and even and strained with anger, the other Spectres looking at him with confusion and concern. "We need to hurry."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Obi-Wan quietly agreed, taking his lightsaber in his hand and igniting it. "Is everyone ready?" After the swift chorus of affirmations, the group was off, Ezra and Kenobi at the front of the group, working in tandem to cut a hole in the massive blast door. Using the Force to push away the cut out hunk of metal, the group entered the long hallway and began running, the droid and the clone flanking them and shooting down any stormtroopers they saw in the branching hallways. After irritation with slowing down to deal with cutting through the third blast door hit a boiling point with the two Dark Side fueled Force sensitives, they added Sabine and Hera to the cutting crew, halving the time it took them to get through to just over ten seconds.

The hallway ended at a long will lined with elevators, a company of ten stormtroopers guarding a maintenance crew working at one of the panels, and without pause, Obi-Wan and Ezra rushed forward, lightsabers swinging effortlessly before them as they deflected the rapid fire. New to lightsaber combat, Ezra's imperfect technique allowed bolts to get past his guard, most flying past him, but one bolt struck him on the shoulder, hard enough to knock him off balance, but the boy quickly spun into the turn, his forward path righted nearly immediately after, the pain from his injury only fueling his anger.

Behind them, Cody quickly barked commands to the group that were immediately acknowledged by HK-47 and quickly translated by Sabine into terms that the non-military Spectres understood, and within seconds, they stood in close, angled pairs, the Mandalorians in front to absorb any shots that got past the lightsabers, while the other took cover behind them to carefully aim at their targets.

The moment Obi-Wan and Ezra were in range, their lightsabers were brought down upon the soldiers, the plasma blades effortlessly cutting through armor and muscle and bone, the troopers screaming as merciless sabers cut them down in broad, sweeping arcs. When Obi-Wan felt the Dark Side pulse, a sudden surge like a sudden gust of wind, he turned on the teenager beside him, sweeping up with his red blade to meet the swiftly descending green in a hissing cascade of sparks, the teenager's eyes widening with momentary shock before filling with bitter, uncontrolled rage. A swift flick of his wrist sent the red saber tightly circling around the green, wrenching the blade from Ezra's hand and sending it into the air and quickly called to the Sith's outstretched fingers.

Ezra gasped as the air was ripped out of his lungs and he was forced to his knees, unable to stand, unable to breathe while Kenobi called in the droid to swiftly execute the unarmed engineers, the injured and the slowly dying. Obi-Wan crouched before the kneeling, gasping boy, quietly observing his struggle, feeling the Dark Side roar and thrash within him, an untamed beast writhing against the chains the Master calmly put around it, and very quickly, in the presence of the apex predator, the creature submitted, rolled over and calmed itself, in tune to the breath of the Sith Lord.

"Cody, cut open one of the elevator shafts, we're going up from here," Obi-Wan commanded, his gaze never leaving the struggling boy before him, and the clone and Sabine quickly set to the task together, Zeb and Hera standing as close as they dared to the Sith and their teammate. "Breathe, apprentice..."

"I-I can't," Ezra said through wheezing gasps. "I-"

"You can, and you will," Obi-Wan said calmly. "What you feel is the Dark Side's attempt to take you over, control you, consume you." The boy's eyes widened in fear, his chest erratically rising and falling with the spasming of his lungs, and Kenobi quickly reached out and laid a finger upon the boy's forehead. "Hush. If you fear the Dark Side, it will consume you, but it is up to you to allow it. The very nature of the Dark Side makes it reach for beyond what you would allow it to take, and it succeeds by plying you with power or pleasure. This is how people are lost."

"H-how do I stop it?" Ezra whimpered.

"By breathing, Ezra," Obi-Wan drawled. "Breathe." Nodding, the boy did as he was told, struggling at first, but slowly, he felt his lungs open up, the tense ball of rage within him settling back into the cold, wrathful focus he had before. "Your job, as a practitioner of the Dark Side," Obi-Wan said as he stood, "is to tempt the Dark Side into giving you power, not allow it to tempt you. Take what it offers you, but only when you want it. You are to be the seducer, not the seduced. It's a delicate balance, but if you can achieve it..." He splayed his hands out before him. "Infinite power."

"How?" Ezra asked, rising to his feet. "How do I do that?"

"Another lesson for another time, I'm afraid," the Sith grumbled as he stuck hos head into the hole made in the elevator door. "Are you kidding me?" he asked, turning his attention to Cody. "This is the shit I have to deal with today?"

"The power's out, what do you suspect?" the clone drawled. "It had to stop somewhere."

"Would it have been too much to ask for one of them to be stopped beneath us?!"

"...yes," Cody said after a slight pause. "Yes, that is far too much to ask. Otherwise, something would have gone right."

"And we can't have that..." Obi-Wan grumbled as he turned to the Spectres, his hand extended palm up. "My saber, if you will, Hera." The Twi'lek quickly handed the blade over and quickly gave the man space when he bowed his head in concentration, his fingers splayed before him as a loud, groaning creak echoed through the elevator shaft.

"You know, despite the inconvenience, we're lucky the power's out," Sabine said as she stepped beside the Twi'lek. "Communications are down, which is keeping them from coordinating a good effort to find us, and I bet a lot of their troops are trapped or pinned down."

"Let's just hope it's benefitting Kanan in the same way," Hera muttered.

"Ah, they've probably forgotten all about him," Zeb said confidently. "These bucketheads can't tell their head from their ass in a crisis. Who's going to think about a prisoner when they have us running around?"

"Don't get cocky," Cody said as he holstered his blaster. "We've still got a ways to go. Lots can go wrong. Kanan is a valuable prisoner, but he's no good to them if he escapes. They'll kill him if they think that's a possibility."

"Well you're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you..." Zeb growled, glaring at the clone as he passed.

"Someone needs to be," Cody quipped as he drew the rifle from his back. "All of you are so serious." A sharp, ringing twang, like the sound of blades clashing, echoed through the air, followed by the screeching grate of metal sliding fast along metal, the elevator rapidly dropping when the cable snapped under the pressure of the Force that the Sith was exerting upon it. The hollow, echoing crash of the elevator striking the bottom of the shaft reverberated through the air long after the dust had settled, and the Sith leaned his head into the hole in the door to look up at what he had to work with.

"Oh, diable zhol visa, sis valia buti'zo xela..." Kenobi muttered, taking both lightsaber in his hand and activating them, turning them around in his palm to hold them backhanded."Would it have been too much to ask that I at least have the cable to work with...HK, Cody, defend the others. I'll be back for you shortly. Ezra, take Cody's lightsaber and come with me." The teen quickly obeyed, taking the offered lightsaber and moving to stand beside Kenobi, and Ezra leaned over to look down into the elevator shaft.

"That's a really long way down..." the teen said, his voice echoing indistinguishably in the depths, his eyes shut tightly when he felt the Force pull within him, the pulse of darkness within him straining against the ties that bound it, but they held firm. He was in control. "We're getting closer, Kenobi, I can feel Kanan, but it's..." He shook his head. "Something's wrong..."

"Which means we need to hurry. Watch what I do and follow my lead." Lightsabers in hand, Obi-Wan jumped through the opening and into the elevator shaft, his sabers stabbing into the opposite wall and burning molten trails in the metal as he slowly slid down. Planting his feet against the wall, he repelled off the side, jumping up and backwards and flipping at the apex of his jump, his sabers digging high above in the opposite wall. Ezra looked on with amazement as the Sith Lord repeated the process, swiftly ascending the elevator shaft by jumping off the sides, his lightsabers aiding his climb. He finally landed on a ledge high above them, his lightsabers cutting a circle into the wall, and with an echoing crash, red emergency lighting filtered into the shaft from the corridor on the next floor up.

"Alright, Ezra, up you go," Obi-Wan called from above, and the teenager looked up at the Sith Lord, then back down toward the seemingly bottomless pit, the objection dying in his throat when the Dark Side pulsed with power, his doubts and fears cleared away by a surge of confidence and anger. This was the only way, the fastest way to Kanan. Powering on the two lightsabers in his hand, Ezra jumped into the elevator shaft, higher than he had ever jumped in his life, and using the burning, molten trails as a guide, Ezra agilely climbed up the walls to where Obi-Wan stood waiting. He felt...stronger. Faster, more lithe and agile than he ever had, the pulse of the Dark Side pushing his body to the very edge of his limitations, far past the point that any normal person could ever hope to achieve., and in no time at all, he was standing beside the Sith Lord in the corridor beyond.

"I...can't believe I did that..." Ezra said, looking down the shaft at the glowing lines in the walls. "And it was easy."

"Like I said, apprentice..." the Sith drawled. "Infinite power. Nothing is impossible with the power of the Force. Nothing is out of reach if you put aside your fear and take it. Cody!" The clone's black and red helmet could be seen below them as the man leaned out to answer the Sith. "Bring the others here, we're going to bring them up!" Cody disappeared, and a moment later, Sabine and Zeb appeared, the two looking expectantly up at them. "Alright, apprentice, reach out with the Force, grab hold, and bring them to us."

"Right..." Ezra muttered, closing his eyes and reaching, feeling for the presence of the Mandalorian girl he knew so well, and grabbed hold of her. With Kanan, he had trained to move things with the Force, but he had been struggling with it, had never lifted anything so large as a person before, and certainly not in such a dangerous situation. Were he to fail, Sabine would fall, and she would die, and it would be his fault. A sudden swell of fear rushed through him, fear of failure, fear of losing another person, and he grabbed hold of the feeling, focused on it, felt his power swell with his anger, and he effortlessly lifted the Mandalorian.

With a gasp, Sabine was carried through the darkness of the elevator shaft next to a Zeb who was flailing in the air beside her for something he could grab on to, the unsettling feeling rankling the Lasat, and shortly after, they were set down in the corridor, Zeb gasping for breath as his feet clawed at the ground. Ezra brought Hera up next, the Sith beside him simultaneously lifting both Cody and HK, and with their entire team gathered in the corridor, the Sith Lord looked them over, his hands rubbing together.

"We doing alright?" Kenobi asked, and after the chorus of affirmations, the Sith took his lightsabers in hand once again. "Excellent! Only two more floors to go."

The next time went faster, the time after that even faster than that as Ezra and Obi-Wan feel into sync with each other, swift and efficient as the teenager quickly grew accustomed to the chill of the Dark Side and gradually reached for more power, more speed, more focus as they repeated the process of climbing up the walls. When they reached the target floor, the Sith allowed the group a moment to regroup while HK ran ahead to investigate the area, the sounds of blaster fire, screams, and mechanical chortling echoing through the dimly lit corridors as the droid cleared away any opposition they would have faced.

"We're close..." Ezra said as he paced restlessly. "We're so close. He's in so much pain, Kenobi!" Obi-Wan looked over at Hera, the Twi'lek gripping her arms as she shivered her lip caught between her teeth in her obvious distress, her presence in the Force bright and strong with fear and love and concern.

"Patience, Ezra," Obi-Wan said quietly. "I feel it too, but it is not nearly so bad as you believe. Your own emotions are amplifying it to fuel your strength. Focus, feel what's before you." Nodding, Ezra breathed deep and closed his eyes, his hands tightening around his blades when he felt the disturbance, a strong pulse of the Dark Side, all fear and hate and rage and desperation.

"The Inquisitor..." the teenager growled. "He's here. He's close."

"And he's a dead man walking..." Obi-Wan snarled, his gaze drifting to HK-47 as the droid returned. "Shall we proceed? I'm eager to meet the Grand Inquisitor again, we have so much to talk about..."

With their goal in sight, the group made their way quickly down the halls, the Sith and his apprentice leading the charge as they cut through blast doors within seconds and mercilessly cut down any soldiers they came across, the burning wound in Ezra's arm aching and sending pain coursing through him, which only added fuel to his fury, an injury that would have made another slower, weaker, more awkward, but the Dark Side transformed pain into power and turned weakness into strength.

Green and blue and red sabers tore through the next sealed door, the Sith and the apprentice pressing through with a blade in each hand, their eyes blazing with cold fury as glowing molten metal fell in thick drops to a puddle at their feet. When the large hole had been cut, they took a step back and together pushed out with the Force, the disc flying from the wall into the room beyond, the heavy crash accompanied by screams, and they found themselves staring through the hole they had cut into a large control room that was filled with stormtroopers and Imperial officers.

"Oh, karabast," Zeb growled as he primed his bo-rifle, the arms extending and bursting with a crackling spark as purple electrisity charged at the ends of the staff. "This day couldn't get any worse, could it?"

"Don't say that, Zeb, that's always when things get worse!" Hera said as she dove behind cover, rolling as she hit the ground and drawing her own blaster. She looked over to the other side of the door where Sabine and Zeb sat in cover, the Mandalorian quickly preparing and charging an explosive as she crouched down low. Between them standing in the opening they had created, was Obi-Wan and Ezra, the dual wielding Force sensitives weaving a shield of light in the air before them that no blaster fire could penetrate. Entrenched in the chill of the Dark Side, the two effortlessly beat back bolt after bolt, unpracticed Ezra merely redirecting the shots away to strike the ceiling and the walls, but Obi-Wan angled his deflections with deadly accuracy and precision, each plasma bolt finding its way to pierce through the troopers' white armor.

Kneeling at each side of the pair was Cody and HK-47, the droid and the clone barking quick commands to the Sith and his apprentice, the pair obeying the orders when they lifted their sabers momentarily, their deflections angling higher as Cody and HK were given an opening to fire into the room. When the rapid fire volley was over, the lightsabers would lower again, covering the opening until they called for the next one. When Sabine's explosive was ready, she called for the pair to duck, and Obi-Wan and Ezra swiftly obeyed, their sabers continuing to move through the air as they knelt, and the Mandalorian lobbed the device over their heads, the four in the opening waiting until the last moment before the sabers deactivated and the four dove behind the cover of the door.

There was a blinding flash of light, followed by the sharp pulse of a concentrated explosion, the blast deafening save for the high pitch ringing in their ears that cleared a moment later, their vision returning just in time to see the disbursing energy, in the typical fashion of the artist that built them, flash with blue and green and purple light, an explosion of concussive force and brilliant colors. As soon as the thrumming of energy stopped reverberating in their chests, the lightsabers powered on with a snapping hiss, the Sith and the apprentice rushing in and closely followed by the rest, weapons raised and shooting at the soldiers that had been flushed out of their cover.

There were far more soldiers in the room then they had initially believed, the explosive blast destroying most of the afforded cover and hiding places and forcing those left to scramble for what little safety they could find. The explosion had killed some, injured many more, and still recovering from the force of the blast, the remaining soldiers stood little chance. The quickest were able to take cover behind an overturned table as Obi-Wan and Ezra rushed in, followed closely by Zeb, the fully-extended bo-rifle in hand as he growled, swinging the electrified staff with crushing force that caused blood to rush from underneath the troopers' helmets when their heads were hit, the strikes strong enough to split skulls even through the protection of their helmets.

When Sabine threw a second, smaller grenade, the table the troops had been using for cover had flipped over, exposing the scattered soldiers behind it, and HK-47 and Cody moved in, the two counting their kills as they executed the dazed and the injured upon the ground and the few who managed to scurry away from the grenade before it exploded in a shower of reds and yellows. While the front line soldiers swept the room, Hera kept close to the walls, ducking into small, tucked away spaces and shooting cleverly hidden officers who were waiting for openings to peek out of cover and fire on them. One had managed to fire a quick burst of five shots at Sabine, three of them striking the girl before Hera managed to kill him. The expertly crafted Mandalorian armor protected her well, reducing fatal shots to mere impact damage, but one bolt skimmed her exposed forearm, leaving a deep, burning trail on the top and rendering that hand temporarily useless for shooting.

When the soldiers lay dead, Cody and HK led a sweep of the area to check for any hidden Imperials while the two Force sensitives carved out a new hole in the next sealed door and stepped into the dark room beyond, deactivating their sabers as they let the stillness weigh heavy upon them. The room was dark, the red emergency lights within either broken or malfunctioning, but the moment Ezra and Kenobi stepped inside, they breathed deeply, the Force seeming to fill their lungs and flow through their blood, and despite the dark, they could see, perfectly. It was a smaller room than the surveillance and security room they had just come from, a long, thin hallway flanked by counters on either side and thick transparisteel guarding the office areas beyond. And behind the desks on both sides, guarded by the thick glass, were nearly twenty Imperial officers.

They stood still, unmoving, hardly breathing, blasters in hand and aimed at the transparent wall with shaking, unsteady hands. Obi-Wan and Ezra stayed just as still, their eyes slowly roving over the occupants of the room, taking in every detail of their surroundings, the Sith's sharp eyes picking up the slats in the transparisteel and the line of spherical droids upon a back shelf, the all too familiar, sinister form of the IT-O Interrogation Units. This was a processing room for prisoners as they were filtered through, which meant the cells were just beyond. Kanan was very close.

"Apprentice," Obi-Wan said in a smooth, gentle voice, his mask's modulator and the silence in the room making the sound seem louder than it was, and Ezra could see the Imperials tense, some shrinking away, some ducking down to hide behind desks and chairs, the braver of the bunch, inching closer to bring the ends of their blasters closer to the open slats of the transparisteel so they could shoot at the intruders. "Can you feel them?"

"Yes..." the teenager whispered. "They're afraid. They know we killed the garrison."

"More than that, student, they know they are dead themselves. These aren't just officers, there are ISB agents among them. Interrogators. And they brought their IT-O Units with them. Torture droids." Obi-Wan could feel Ezra tense beside him, the beast within him howling in rage and thirsting for blood. On the other side of the glass, he could see the officers creeping closer, low to the ground in cover and slowly putting their blasters to the small openings. "Did you hear me, scum?" Obi-Wan growled, the people behind the glass quickly ducking down for cover. "You are already dead. Corpses, the lot of you, and you know it. I can taste your fear."

"...they can see us, Kenobi," Ezra said, slowly beginning to back up when the Imperials grew bolder and made for the glass, but stopped when he saw the Sith remained unmoving.

"Of course they can see us, our eyes glow in the dark, they have a target." Obi-Wan laughed, a deep, sinister thing that made one of the men behind the glass accidentally fire his blaster, the sudden noise causing several others to jump and begin firing as well, the blind panic seeing that no shots got through the thin slats, and commanding officers on both sides began shouting to cease fire, attempting to bring order to the chaos and reclaim the control they had lost. The commotion had caught the attention of the others, and Cody quickly ran to the door, stopping when Obi-Wan held up his hand, and the clone held back, keeping the others from entering.

"These people tortured Kanan..." Ezra growled, and Obi-Wan nodded.

"They did. They stand between us and him, so they need to die, but given their...special relationship with Kanan, I think we owe them something of a more personal treatment."

"You have a plan?" Obi-Wan laughed deeply, his heard pounding with anticipation when the commanders regained control, when he heard the blasters prime, when he heard the clack of the barrels as they slid into the slats.

"It's dark, they are protected, and in a second, their random firing will turn this corridor into a death trap." The Sith looked down at Ezra, his eyes golden lights in the visor of his helmet. "Let's give them a bigger target, shall we?" Four sharp, hissing thrums began in succession as the lightsabers were activated just as the Imperials began firing, the hallway filled with the red glow of blaster fire as it was shot in a deadly crossfire, the blades tearing through the air at such speeds they left blazing trails of light behind them, not a single shot getting past Kenobi's perfect defense as he stood guard over the teen beside him.

There was a brief moment, a quick stop to the suppressing volley fired against them as new charges were primed, as new men moved forward to take the place of others, a moment when the riptide of plasma became a small stream, and that moment was enough. Reaching out his hands to both transparisteel walls, Obi-Wan brought the pressure of the Force down upon them, the officers' safety compromised as cracks began to spread through the thick glass, the integrity of the wall at risk with each fracture. The Sith's hands, loose around the hilts of his lightsabers turned palm upwards as he grabbed the nearest soldiers on each side, the officers rising into the air, their weapons dropped as they clutched at their throats, their legs kicking and flailing as the sound of their choked cries echoed through the corridor, the terror spiking as some ran, and some renewed their firing in their fear.

The Sith's hands suddenly tightened hard around his sabers and he pulled swiftly toward him, the floating officers slamming into the cracking transparent wall with such force their bodies splattered against the glass, blood and fragmented bone and wads of organs and muscles showering the walls, the floor and their nearby comrades as the impact shattered the protective wall.

Ezra moved without delay, his sabers swinging as he jumped over the counter and quickly began cutting down the horrified Imperials, the men and women agents, soldiers and officers stationed there specifically for the torture of prisoners, people that may have been rebels like him, rebels like Kanan, though he knew that Kanan's status as a Jedi would make his treatment worse than others. Fueled by rage and the knowledge that these people stood between him and Kanan, Ezra moved quickly, cold hatred fueling his every strike as his blades moved quickly around him. The others moved in quickly, supporting Obi-Wan and Ezra with fatally accurate shots, the terrified screams and the opposing fire becoming silence as the entire force lay dead, the only sound the soft thrum of the lightsabers and the heavy breathing of Ezra Bridger as he felt the Dark Side sigh in satisfaction, the beast within him laying down after gorging on blood and life and the heavy smell of death.

"The prison cells are just beyond this door," Obi-Wan said, thrusting his lightsabers into the thick steel, the glowing molten metal dripping from the contact points with the plasma blade as he drew a trail through it. "We're nearly there, Spectres."

"Don't worry, Kanan..." Ezra whispered, thrusting his own blades into the door to speed up their progress, the feeling of his Master tense and tight and painful within him, his chest aching with the Dark Side, heavy and oppressive around him. "We're coming for you."