From Flames, I Soar

by Kurenaino

With the Empire at the height of its power and the shadow of a greater threat hanging above all those who would oppose Palpatine, the Specters, led by former Jedi Padawan Kanan Jarrus, are forced to contend with the Sith Lord that set the galaxy ablaze. Sequel to In Chaos, I Thrive.

44. The Muunilinst Heist

AN: Guys, I didn't MEEEEEEAAAAN for this chapter to get so long! I'm sorry!

But I'm not sorry.

If you haven't noticed, we've entered the part of Rebels Season 2 I like to call "The Episodes That Happen Between The Stuff We Care About." AKA, the Filler Episodes. Some great character development, but not much in terms of plot. So this week, we're tackling the episode Blood Sisters, a good episode for Sabine, a bad episode for the plot, and quite frankly, there's no way that Kenobi be putting up with that shit. He's got bigger things to worry about. Like Empire Day.

Happy reading, my lovelies! Don't forget to let me know what you think, I sink a lot of time into this shit, and the chapters just seem to get longer. Sent love to your faithful writer, and go read my new thing, The Road Not Taken if you haven't already. I'm only two chapters in, but I'm really proud of what I've got so far, and others seem to really enjoy it.

Chapter 44: The Muunilinst Heist

"The one time I actually want to be in the Senate!" Leia bemoaned, pacing back and forth before the couch where her brother and her father sat, the two men gleefully taking notes over a hologram of the Shadow of all the modifications they were going to make to the transport during their weekend together. The seat on the other side of Obi-Wan was still warm, the cushions and pillows still bearing the imprint of Leia's body from where she had been sitting only moments before. "I usually can't wait to get out of here!" Leia continued. "And the moment I leave, what happens?" She gestured to the projection of the holonet news upon the wall, as they always had playing on Empire Day. "Bodies on Palpatine's throne in the Senate Building!"

"They are just bodies, sweetheart," Obi-Wan drawled drolly as he leaned back in the couch, his eyes flicking between the broadcast and his son as he excitedly took over the planning process. "If you want to see bodies, we'll go out and kill some fools after dinner tonight."

"It isn't the same!" Leia cried in exasperation, flicking her braid over her shoulder and standing with her arms crossed and her hip cocked, the posture she always assumed when she felt like conveying that she had an attitude, and she didn't care who knew. "Nothing happens in that puppet government! I was supposed to be there with Bail today for the aid proposal. I could have been there! Inquisitors! In pieces! The only exciting thing to ever happen in the Galactic Senate!"

"Oh, I don't know about that..." Obi-Wan drawled, his finger lazily writing beside one of Luke's notes, not a correction, but an addition that the boy quickly began to incorporate into the rest of the design. "I never saw anything exciting during my time observing the Senate, but I bet it was exhilarating to be there the night the Republic died."

"Well I wasn't there, father," Leia said with a roll of her eyes, her foot tapping rapidly on the ground. "All I get is a bunch of vapid idiots fighting over their place in line to have a chance to suck on the Emperor's...Sith Hells, are they interviewing Bail?!"

All three stopped what they were doing to look at the projection, the Prince of Alderaan explaining in horrified, disgusted tones to the reporter the scene that had greeted the Senators when they arrived at the building during the Empire Day festivities to begin the long parade of speeches from the members of the delegation. How the Emperor himself had been with them, had looked upon the scene shocked - shocked! - at what was before him, his face expressionless, the man mute as he simply stared, then turned and quietly walked away. He had yet to be made available for further comment, but Bail had assured the reporter that the Emperor was grieving the loss of such fine Imperial agents.

"Bail Organa does some fine work, I will give him that..." Obi-Wan muttered when the cameras cut away from him and back to the reporter, leaning back in the couch and yawning. "I wonder if dear old Sidious ever regrets crawling out of bed on Empire Day. I bet he does."

"And I could have been there!" Leia bemoaned once again. "You knew, Father, you could have picked me up late!"

"And have me miss my daughter's birthday?!" Obi-Wan asked with mock offense. "I think not! Besides, Luke would be lonely."

"I would," the boy quietly agreed, a small smile on his face as his restless sister's irritation only grew.

"You aren't being helpful, Luke!" Leia snapped, her hands planted firmly on her hips as she glared at her brother, who was very pointedly not looking at her. "We talked about this! You're bored too, you want to help with the rebellion!"

"We've discussed this, Leia..." Obi-Wan said softly, his voice low and dangerous, but Leia ignored the warning in her father's voice and pushed forward.

"Why even give us ships if you didn't want us fighting!? Father, instead of just picking me up, you could have brought Luke and I with you to kill those Inquisitors and leave the bodies!" Leia cried, pleading and almost desperate as she stepped closer to the Sith Lord. Kenobi looked unimpressed.

"You wanted me to bring you and your brother into the heart of the Empire, right under Sidious' nose so you could leave body parts for him to find?" The Sith scoffed and sent the girl a disparaging glare that withered the teenager. "You and your brother are the galaxy's greatest secret and I am not going to risk your discovery to indulge your need for pointless danger." Obi-Wan scoffed softly, his hands resting behind his head as he leaned back against the sofa, keenly aware that Luke's eyes were on him as well, though the boy was trying hard to make sure that his father didn't notice.

"We are old enough to fight!" Leia said and Obi-Wan groaned and slowly rose to his feet. It was an argument they had before, and one that was becoming more frequent as they grew older. "Father, even Luke is getting bored out in that stupid desert!" The teenager in question quickly looked up, his eyes wide and nervously glancing between his sister and his father, and he hunched down over his work, trying to make himself as small as possible as he thought of a way to please them both.

"Father said we will fight when we're ready," Luke ventured timidly, wincing when Leia scoffed and glared at him. "Don't get me wrong, I do want to fight. And we will. When the time is right."

"And when is that?!" the girl snapped, reeling on her father and storming up to him, her fury only growing when she looked up into his cold, composed face. "We are seventeen, Father! At our age, you were fighting a war on Mandalore!"

"A war where I spent most of my time running and hiding, as my Master commanded," Obi-Wan said, his voice even and emotionless, almost flat as he spoke, and Luke shrank back when he felt the Force snap cold, his eyes quickly drifting to his sister who didn't seem to care.

"Well we are ready," Leia snarled. "I am ready! Maybe Luke doesn't have the balls to disobey you, but I will fight you for it!" She drew her lightsaber, the blue blade thrumming in the air as she took a step away from the Sith, her muscles tense with nerves and excitement and impatience.

"You don't have the right to draw your blade against me, girl," the Sith Lord hissed, low and dangerous, and the boldness left Leia like a punch in the gut when she realized that she was no longer dealing with her father, but with Darth Lumis. Pushing the man to get what she wanted was a balancing act, one she usually did quite well, but today, she had pressed the man too far. "Only when you are Sith will I ever accept that you raise your saber against me, and only then, it had better be with the intention of slaying me."

"Father, I-"

"Do you fancy yourself ready to be Sith, Leia?" Obi-Wan whispered, but for how the girl started trembling, he may as well have shouted. "You think you are ready to be my apprentice? Good. Come then, girl, it is the duty of every Sith Apprentice to kill their Master, so do it," he snarled, taking a step closer, the tip of the blue blade in the girl's grasp floating mere inches above the Sith's heart. "Kill me, Leia. Steel your heart and do it."

For a long moment, neither of them moved, the blade in her hand wavering as she shook, drawing so close to the Sith's chest that a thin tendril of smoke rose as the plasma singed the Sith's robes. Even Luke remained still, his eyes locked on the two Dark Siders and too afraid to move, lest the slightest shift in the Force, the smallest movement might make the jumpy girl accidentally slay their father. It was Leia who moved first, the girl taking a swift, shuddering gasp of breath as the saber hissed, the weapon switching off, and she let go of it like it was burning, the elegant hilt dropping to the ground and the trembling girl taking a step backwards, her eyes wide and wet with tears.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered, holding herself together only until Obi-Wan wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, and she came undone, grasping tightly to the Sith's black robes and sobbing against his chest. "I'm so sorry, Father..."

"You are passionate, eager and powerful," Obi-Wan whispered. "Like your mother." He tilted the girl's chin up, his golden eyes squinting as he looked her over. "...like Skywalker once was." Both twins froze, their breaths held as they focused on the Sith Lord. He rarely spoke about their biological father as anything other than the monster he had become. There was evil in the galaxy, real and tangible in the form of the Emperor and his enforcers, and while they knew this to be true, they also knew that sometimes, the predators and the beasts that the Dark Side created were once men. It was just difficult to imagine that Darth Vader had once been Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight and a good man.

"I-I don't want to be like him..." Leia whispered, and with a small, sad smile, Obi-Wan gently kissed the girl's cheek.

"You wish to be Sith, Leia. He is Sith."

"You are Sith!" she snapped. "I want to be like you, not him!"

"I understand that, but you cannot deny the truth that is your family," Obi-Wan growled softly. "You walk a fine line, my daughter. I know what it is to embrace the Dark Side, I know how it is to fall, and I am trying to help you. Reaching too far too fast can destroy you, as it destroyed Anakin Skywalker, and you and I have this argument more and more frequently. It is impulsive, and it is reckless, which is exactly how it was that Skywalker came to lose to me on Mustafar. It's how he came to lose everything, including his wife and his children." He sighed heavily, his hand running through his hair as he looked at the crestfallen girl. "Leia..." he said, much more gently than before, "I know I cannot hold you back forever. Just...a little while longer. Please..."

"Father..." Luke said, gently inserting himself into the conversation, the quiet, reserved boy projecting what calm he could. "We're not saying we want to fight on our own. We want to fight with you. Like you said we could."

"I haven't forgotten..." Obi-Wan, said, swiftly pulling on Leia's braid. "As I promised you last time, every time I have you, we will be doing work against the Empire, but your dear sister lacks patience."

"You are a fine one to be lecturing me about patience, Father!" the girl snapped, but Luke swiftly clapped his hand over her mouth and held the squirming girl tightly against him.

"Are we going today, Father?!" Luke asked excitedly. "Are we going to be working with Phoenix Squadron? The Spectres?! Your Jedi friend?!"

"I'm afraid not," Obi-Wan drawled, smirking when Leia finally wrestled herself away from her brother and kicked him in the shin in retaliation. "The Spectres are on another mission for Ahsoka. Delivering a courier with secret information to one of their bases. Or something."

"Can't we help with that?" Luke asked, smiling brightly at the Sith when the golden eyes regarded him skeptically. "Father, Kanan Jarrus is a Jedi! I want to get to know him, he could teach me so much!"

"You already have the best teachers available to you, Luke," Obi-Wan said with a roll of his eyes. "You have me, for starters, and you have been under the instruction of Ahsoka, a Jedi Grandmaster, and a Force spirit since you were old enough to know what the Force was. You cannot have better instruction than that."

"...but Kanan-"

"Kanan Jarrus," Obi-Wan stressed, "was a Padawan. A student. He was younger than you when the Jedi were slaughtered, and he has only recently recommitted himself to his training. With me, by the way."

"I just...I feel I have so much I can learn from him," Luke said softly. "Like...like he's going to be a vital part of what the Jedi will be in the future."

"...you aren't wrong about that," Obi-Wan said with a sigh. "I'd love for us all to fight together, but now...isn't a good time for it. Too many people are watching the Spectres. The Inquisitors, Sidious, Thrawn...when I deal with them, when that Chiss isn't hunting me any longer, we'll see."

"...alright." Luke said with a smile, the boy clasping his hands and rocking back on his heels. "So if we aren't helping the Spectres, what are we doing? Hunting Inquisitors? Looking for Jedi and Sith artifacts?"

"Speaking of..." Leia said, a sly smirk on her face as she looked at the Sith. "That thing you found..."

"It's a mission for the rebellion, actually," Obi-Wan said quickly, ignoring the now indignant Leia, a swift wave of his hand shutting off the holonews broadcast. "Rebellions are expensive. We're in need of credits. I'm the best one for the job."

"...we're going to do mercenary work?" Leia asked in a bored, disaffected drawl, and the Sith rolled his eyes.

"No, don't be daft. We're going to rob a bank." Both twins stood up straight, their eyes wide and their breath held with excitement, scarcely able to believe what they just heard.

"Now that is more like it!" Leia finally said, all her previous anger gone, the mysterious Sith artifact her father had mentioned in passing to her days before completely forgotten. Luke was more uncertain.

"Father, I don't know if being part of a heist is the best way to stay hidden..." the boy mumbled. "That's going to attract an awful lot of attention, isn't it?"

"On any day but today," Obi-Wan said, a sly, devious smirk on his lips. "You will stay by me, follow my every instruction, and we will pass unnoticed through the Empire Day festivities."

"...the bodies of the Inquisitors wasn't the only thing you had planned for Empire Day, was it?" Leia asked, and Obi-Wan flashed the pair a bright smile.

"My children, it's your birthday. You should be a part of the festivities."

---

"Come on, Kenobi!" Sabine said over the com, the Mandalorian clearly unhappy with the Sith's stubborn refusal to give her what she wanted. Obi-Wan had been arguing with a teenage girl for the majority of the day. He wasn't about to take shit from the Wren. He never took shit from the Wrens. "She's an old friend, I was a bounty hunter with her before I joined the Ghost!"

"And if she was worth my time, she would have joined the rebellion with you," Obi-Wan said with a roll of his eyes.

"It wasn't that simple, Kenobi, she left me for dead."

"Then she's really not worth my time," Obi-Wan growled, glaring at the image of Sabine while Luke and Leia laughed in the background, fully armored and ready for the mission. "Honestly, I don't understand why you didn't kill her on sight if you left on those terms. What is wrong with you Mandalorians..."

"Uh, what's wrong with us?! You're our King!" Sabine sighed, turning her helmet over in her hands. "Come on, Kenobi, she ran from the Empire with me when I left Mandalore. She wants to meet you, she doesn't believe me when I say the Shadow King exists. How can you expect your Mandalorians to rally behind you if they don't believe you're real?"

"Everyone knows I'm real, she's an idiot if she thinks otherwise," Obi-Wan mumbled. "How did you even run into this...thing."

"Ketsu Onyo," Sabine said with a roll of her eyes, her hand running through her blue dyed hair as she bit her lower lip. "She...intercepted our mission, actually. Black Sun sent her to-"

"Black Sun?!" Obi-Wan shouted, his hands tightly clenched into fists and the twins dropping to their knees behind him, too afraid to even breathe as arching blue electricity surrounded his arms and licked at the black and gold armor he wore, the simpler set he used when he needed to go unnoticed, when he wasn't the Shadow King. The touch of blood red sank into the brightly glowing gold of his eyes, and with a bitter, angry sneer, the Sith Lord spit on the ground. "That creature is not Mandalorian if she is with Black Sun! Black Sun helped destroy Mandalore, they aided in burning my Satine's Empire to the ground! Without them, my Duchess and my son would still be alive!"

"...I-I'm sorry..." Sabine whispered, her eyes wide and suddenly aware of her mistake as pieces she was missing were found and fell into place. She knew Mandalore burned, or course, she knew it was at the behest of the man called Maul and his Shadow Collective. Beyond that...it was all stories and rumors, none of with she had dared discuss with the Sith before. Black Sun was involved in the fall of Mandalore, but it seemed irrelevant when their own Mand'alor served the Empire that repressed her people. "I mean, I heard that Black Sun was involved, but-"

"I wonder what possessed those idiots to be foolish enough to start up again..." the Sith Lord mused. "It would seem that my extermination of their filthy organization was not complete. I shall have to correct that mistake..." His eyes shot up to Sabine, the girl refusing to meet the furious gaze. "Sabine Wren, that creature you call friend is dar'manda. As a true Mandalorian, it is your duty to execute this stain upon the galaxy. Your King commands it."

"Obi-Wan, please," Sabine said desperately. "We were alone in the galaxy, we were running from the Empire! You know what that's like! And for two girls on our own...we couldn't make it, nowhere was safe! The only way for us to survive was to try and join one of the crime families. If Ketsu hadn't gotten greedy and left me for dead, we'd both be Black Sun!"

"Then that was the best thing she ever did for you..." Obi-Was said brightly, his tone light and friendly, but the grin on his face and the fire in his eyes screamed of cruelty. "For breaking away with you, for driving you away from Black Sun scum, for sending you into the arms of the Spectres and by extension, to me, she has my sincerest gratitude." The smile dropped off his face, his expression blank and so cold it sent a shiver up Sabine's spine. "Kill her, Sabine. If you don't, I will. A swift death is the greatest kindness I can extend to dar'manda filth."

"I won't kill her, Obi-Wan," Sabine snapped, her tone disrespectful and leaving no room for argument. "You can't make me do it, and I won't allow you to either! I've never taken orders from anyone, and you're no different, not when the thing you ask me to do it wrong."

"The fact the Black Sun was reformed without my knowledge shows how distracted I've been," Obi-Wan growled. "Between Thrawn, the Empire, the Visions, the Inquisitors, Sidious, the work for the rebellion, my...other business..." he said, his eyes drifting back to the twins, the two children whispering to the protective Cody. "I will destroy Black Sun, Sabine. All of them. If your friend is among them when I come to call, she will die as well."

"I'll be sure she isn't," Sabine said, putting her helmet back on her head. "There's something better she can be doing. I'll make her see it."

"See that you do. Make her understand what it means to stand with the Black Sun. They name themselves after a star and I'll make them burn like one." He cut the com, his hand slamming far harder than intended on the console, his jaw clenched so tightly he could feel a headache begin to pulse in his temples and his eyes begin to burn as the Dark Side slowly reached within him, its sharp claws sinking deep within him as it tried to coax him to give in and surrender to its will. He had half a mind to do it, to allow the ashes and embers to kick up within him to stoke the flames that had long since burned out, to turn the ship away from his destination and bring the twins with him on his murder spree. They wished for action, and before him lay the perfect opportunity to bathe his children in blood...

"Brother," Cody said gently, and the Sith Lord reeled around, fury and fire and darkness blazing in eyes stained red, but the calm, unafraid face of the soldier quickly soothed him, familiarity allowing him to hiss and silently throw chains around the Dark Side that reached for control. "Black Sun isn't going anywhere. Focus on the task at hand. We'll deal with them soon enough."

"Was burning their planet not enough?" Obi-Wan hissed, and the clone simply shrugged.

"Black Sun used to mean something. An infestation is difficult to root out when the place where the pests are nesting is rotten to the core." Cody laid his hand on Kenobi's tense shoulder, the black armor immaculately cared for and the gold trimming shining brightly under the ship's lighting. "It will take more than one scorching to destroy them all. But we will. For Mandalore."

"Ni partayli, gar darasuum, Satine. Ni Kelir haa'taylir gar ru'gra'tuar." Obi-Wan took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and forced the Dark Side to yield, the snarling beast only putting up a meager resistance before submitting ti the will of the Sith and crawling back to lay coiled up inside him. "The way I see it, the Black Sun could only have evaded my notice if Jabba is keeping silent about them. No doubt he knows, he had his hands involved in every criminal enterprise in the galaxy. I'd have thought he'd be glad to do away with a rival, but that slug has always been ambitious and is likely keeping his options open. If he means to betray me, I'd like to know about it."

"I'll look into it while you're out," Cody promised quietly, handing the Sith his helmet and quickly nodding to the twins. "Be safe. Call me if things don't go as planned."

"Oh, please," Obi-Wan said with a roll of his eyes. "When do things ever not go according to plan?"

"Before you go saying shit like that, you Sith bastard, remember that we're in the heart of one of the most important arms of the Empire, and you're taking the kriffing twins with you."

"I got it, dad, don't worry, we'll be safe," Obi-Wan said with a roll of his eyes as he pushed Luke and Leia toward the waiting, open port to the Shadow. "Come on, kids, we have a heist to pull off." Leia ran excitedly on to the ship, with Obi-Wan following behind at a relaxed, easy stroll, but Luke stayed behind, hesitating for a moment before he ran to the clone and stood rocking on his heels before him.

"Don't worry, Cody," Luke said with a soft, easy smile. "I'll be sure Father doesn't do anything reckless."

"You're a blessing, Luke," Cody sighed, giving the teenager a quick pat on the shoulder. "I believe your Father always needs to keep a Jedi around to temper him. He's unchecked otherwise, and he so easily loses himself in the dark."

"I'll strive to someday be that man," Luke whispered gratefully, bowing to the clone as he backed toward the Shadow. "In the meantime, I hope being his son is good enough."

"That has always been good enough, boy," Cody said, quickly saluting the retreating young Jedi. "Try to have fun out there." Flashing Cody a bright smile, Luke turned and ran on to the ship, the door closing behind him and the airlock hissing as it sealed. It only took a minute to walk to the cockpit, but by the time he got there, the Shadow was already cutting through space away from the Umbra toward a planet far in the distance, a hazy gray world that somehow felt out of place and wrong. The Sith Lord sat silently in the pilot's seat, swiftly making adjustments to their flight path and running the necessary post-flight checks. Leia hung on his seat, looking over the man's shoulder as he worked. In the copilot's seat sat K-2SO, the droid plugged into the ship's central computer and silent, it's visual receptors flickering as he uploaded the Imperial security protocols into the identifiers and navigation.

"Have you ever been to Muunilinst?" Obi-Wan asked, the question aimed mostly at Leia, and the young princess shook her head. "It used to be beautiful here," he muttered softly. "Wealthy. The Muuns took great pride in their world. Forests and plains and mountains with skies said to be the most beautiful in the entire galaxy..." Obi-Wan sighed wistfully, his eyes fixed on the planet as he flew them near. "I was there several times during the Clone Wars, it was a vital world to the Separatists, and as one of its leaders, I found myself there often on business. There were volcanoes there rising out of the oceans that continuously spewed precious metals from deep in the core of the planet. The wealth was endless, and the Muuns went to great lengths to care for their world."

"Was and were..." Luke said softly, unable to shake the feeling of wrongness as he stared at the planet. "All past tense."

"Their capital city was ravaged during the Clone War," Obi-Wan whispered. "And when the Empire took over, they mined this world's wealth until there was nothing left. The Muuns may still run the Intergalactic Banks, but they are far from loyal Imperials. They are greedy and self-serving because they know the galaxy needs them to keep the economy from collapsing. Beyond that..." Obi-Wan shrugged. "They're a proud people, children, and while their leaders continue to do business with the Empire, the people did not take well to the rape of the home world they took such pride in."

"Sounds like a world ripe for rebel sympathies," Leia said softly, leaning toward the viewport to look at the planet.

"That has yet to be seen..." Obi-Wan muttered. "The Muuns are too greedy to be trusted, but it is not an avenue I want to discount. They are close to the Empire, and they like playing both sides. It could be a way to get good intel on the Empire. I'll get Ahsoka on it."

"So, who exactly are we stealing from?" Luke asked, and a slow, pleased smirk spread across the Sith Lord's face.

"We will be seizing the entirety of the wealth belonging to Damask Holdings," he whispered, the twins leaning in to hear him better. "Back when I served as apprentice to Darth Sidious, he set up an account for me with the company. It has been dissolved, of course, but the accounts still remain. He owned and operated it from the shadows, but it once belonged to his Master, Darth Plagueis." Kenobi smirked. "A Muun. Go figure."

"Hold it, we're stealing from Darth Sidious?!" Luke gasped, his eyes wide as he stared at his maliciously grinning sister and father. "Like, directly from him?!"

"It's just his personal accounts, Luke, he doesn't even need it since the wealth of the Empire is his," Obi-Wan said, his fingers flying over the console, priming the Imperial entry codes that K2 provided when he could see Star Destroyers slowly materialize in the distance. "No, this is a personal slight more than anything. An insult. And besides, he owes me. Months of visions of him standing over me, sleepless nights dreaming of my defeat at his hands...I feel I'm owed at least some compensation for this shit, especially if it's going to come to pass..."

"Don't..." Luke snapped, his pulse suddenly jumping as he gripped his father's arm. "D-don't...say those things, Father, it's going to be fine. You'll find your way out of it. I know you will." Luke smacked Leia lightly on the arm. "Tell him, sister."

"You're taking steps to counter it, aren't you?" Leia asked softly, her hand resting on the Sith's shoulder. "That's why you went and got that Sith artifact you were telling me about, right?" When her father was silent, she slowly threaded her fingers through his hair. "You never said what it was."

"I have been called Darth Nihilus reborn..." the Sith whispered, his eyes fixed out the viewport as the Imperial ships slowly came into view. "They are wrong, of course. I possess a similar power, but I lack the hunger that once defined him. But it left me with a...fascination, I suppose. I possess a power I only barely understand and I yearn to learn more. I thought going to the Lord of Hunger himself would be the best place to start."

"Oh, oh!" Leia gasped excitedly, flicking her braid over her shoulder. "You found his holocron, right Father?! Please, tell me you found it!"

"No..." Obi-Wan said, still and impassive and distant as he felt the Force, his focus on the ships outside, looking for any sign of the Chimera and the engravings she possessed on her hull. "I found his mask."

"Oh, good," Luke said with a slight, knowing nod. "You can look really scary now."

"Shut up, Luke..." Leia said breathlessly, her eyes wide as she looked at her father, the Sith Lord refusing to look back at her. "...Father, if Darth Nihilus created a holocron, I can use that mask to find it! Any of the deeds he did, the powers he commanded, I can find all of it!"

"I know," Obi-Wan said, finally taking his eyes away from the ships and looking at the girl, gently taking her hand in his own. "But I do not know what looking into the history of such a thing will do to you. I am...reluctant to use you in such a way."

"Father..." Leia admonished, wedging herself between the Sith and the console and casually flicking the autopilot on, the droid in the copilot's seat looking at her for a moment before he slowly assumed the controls. "It could save you. There's knowledge there that could give you the edge over Sidious, why are you hesitating!?"

"Because when forced to weight my life against yours, Leia, there is no contest!" Obi-Wan shouted, a deep, menacing growl in his chest as he took her hands in his, the tension in the Sith Lord palpable in the air, and Luke laid his hands on his father's shoulders, the touch of the Force running through his fingers and laying his head against the man's strong chest. With a shivering sigh, Obi-Wan pulled the twins into a tight embrace. "You two," he whispered between them, "are worth more than my life has ever been worth. I will not put you at risk at my expense. Not now. Not ever. If I must die so that you may be safe, so be it, but I will not endanger you or use you so that I may glean an advantage."

They were silent for a long while, none of the members of the small family moving as the Star Destroyers hailed them, K-2SO respectfully dealing with the Imperial commander and transferring the necessary codes for their authentication and clearance, and after a moment, they were given permission to pass. For just a moment, it was still in the Force, all three hearts beating as one with each other, their chests rising and falling at the same slow pace, the same bittersweet strain running through them and making their chests ache with love and longing and loss, and not one of them could bring themselves to let go.

"What will you do with the mask?" Leia asked softly, and with a sigh, Obi-Wan released the twins, his hands mindlessly drifting over the console as he assumed manual control from K2 and brought them down into Muunilinst's atmosphere.

"I'll see what I can glean from it myself," the Sith Lord muttered. "I've worn it, and it's..." He paused, his eyes flicking upwards as he thought for a moment. "It's seductive. Compelling. It makes me feel like I'm drowning." He took a deep breath, his eyes closed as he ran his hand over his face, imagining the burning feel of Nihilus' mask upon his flushed skin. "It speaks to me. Not like it would for you, Leia, but by the time Darth Nihilus wore this mask, he was the mask. He didn't have a physical form, his spirit was bound to the mask and armor he wore. He may be long gone, but a piece of his spirit is bound to the artifact." Obi-Wan sighed deeply, his hands covering his eyes. "It compels me to destroy myself for greater power, just as Nihilus' hunger did to him."

"Sith Hells, Father..." Luke gasped. "C-can you resist it?"

"Yes..." Obi-Wan whispered. "It is not easy, but I can."

"No wonder you want to keep me away from it..." Leia muttered. "Can you learn anything from it?"

"Perhaps..." he muttered. "I've reason to believe that wearing it may give a person without the gift the ability to touch the Force. The cave where I found it, it was being worn by a creature altered by the Dark Side, and he wielded the Force like a Sith Apprentice. Such a creature has no cause to have powers like that. The mask taught him, I am certain, and if a barely sentient cave dweller could learn from it, a Sith Master certainly can."

"If that fails, Father..." Leia said softly, and Obi-Wan stopped her with a quick squeeze of her hand.

"I know, Leia. If I find a way to make it safe for you, I won't hesitate to tell you. I promise."

---

"Father," Luke said sweetly, drawing closer to the Sith Lord. "You said we were going to the bank." He gestured wildly at the building before them. "You said nothing about a fortress!"

"Come now, Luke..." Leia teasingly reprimanded, her finger tapping against the side of his helmet. "This is the financial center of the Galactic Empire! What did you think this was going to be? A little shack like the one at the Oasis with a single safe and the cute girl working the counter?"

"No..." Luke hissed, smacking the chortling girl's hand away. "I'm just saying-"

"She's never going to give you the time of day, you know," Leia chirped, and though the helmet concealed his face, she knew her brother was flushed with anger.

"Shut up! She will so! I just...it's just never a good time to talk to her, alright?!"

"Focus, children..." Obi-Wan said quietly. "We came here to make a withdrawal, not discuss your brother's inability to talk to the opposite sex."

"Sith Hells, Father, I talk to girls all the time!"

"When?" Leia asked with a harsh laugh. "And honestly, brother, you're wasting time. I'm not afraid of the bank, Father..." the girl drawled, running her hand down the Sith's arm. "Do we need a distraction?" she whispered, eying the armed Imperial guards at the entrance. "That guard over there is really cute, if you need me to get his attention, I'm sure I can hold it..."

"He's not your type, Sister..." Luke drawled, moving toward the girl and tapping her on her shoulder. "He's too upstanding for you, it was my understanding you only like scoundrels and ruffians..."

"Oh, please!" Leia said with a roll of her eyes. "I like a bad boy, it's true, and these days, there is nobody more bad than the soldiers of our great and glorious Empire..."

"I don't know..." Luke said skeptically. "Imperial are upstanding, law abiding citizens! They throw the sort of men you like into prison. And look! He's not even drunk yet because he's working."

"Children..." Obi-Wan said tightly, his fist clenching at his side, and the twins fell silent and still, their hands slowing coming up to pull at their collars to help relieve the tightness in their throats. "I asked you to focus. I meant it. When we get inside, you are to be silent while I conduct my business, and watch carefully so that you might learn. Am I understood?" The twins nodded swiftly, sucking in sharp breaths of air as they were released, and sticking close to their father's side, the walked up the steps and entered the building.

As Luke had observed, the Banking Clan's headquarters was more fortress than building, an enormous creation of air tight security, blast doors ready to be slammed shut and sealed at a moment's notice in complete lock down, and an entire battalion of the Empire's finest, most dangerous soldiers in the form of the imposing, black armored Death Troopers. Despite Leia's earlier ease, as they followed their guide through the bank past lines of Death Troopers and heavy doors that were ready to seal closed at a moment's notice, the girl drew closer to her father, her heart racing with fear as she understood that they walked into a trap that could slam closed at the slightest provocation. The threat of being discovered, her identity revealed, the disastrous implications it would have for Bail Organa and Alderaan hit her hard, and though she hid it well, the Force trembled with her fear.

They followed a Muun guide, a tall, pale, sniveling pathetic creature through the halls in silence, the presence of the Empire's fearsome Mandalorian warriors making the usually talkative guide hold his tongue for fear of biting it in his trembling. They didn't wear the armor of Mandalore's Death Watch, the most fearsome, deadly warriors the galaxy had to offer, but all of them wore armor trimmed in gold, worn only by those who held positions of high esteem beside the ruthless Moff Bo-Katan. It was enough to force the Muun into silence, the trembling alien leading the way through the bank as quickly as he could so that he may be rid of the intimidating trio.

The room they were led to was long and rectangular, the far wall lined with counters behind which a hundred tellers stood in secure booths where they conducted their business with long lines of distinguished looking clientele. Heavily armed guards lined the walls and patrolled the area, though the tellers behind the counter appeared to be more nervous of the Imperials than the people milling about in the lobby or standing patiently in line. Obi-Wan slipped into the end of the line, long but swiftly moving, and he allowed his eyes to drift around the room, observing the people, the guards, the tellers, the locations of the security cameras, the multiple doors behind the counter that led out of the room. Important business with important people within the Empire were brought elsewhere to private rooms where meetings with bank officials took place, which was where transactions like the one Obi-Wan was going to make typically ended up. For the heist to work, he was counting on it.

When it was his turn, the twins drew closer to him as he strode up to the available teller, a stutter in his step when he saw the girl behind the counter, young and beautiful with long, blond hair and light green eyes, and the twins groaned when Obi-Wan's gait shifted to an arrogant swagger, the Sith leaning against the counter and drawing as close to the teller as the divide allowed.

"Hello there..." the Sith Lord drawled, his voice smooth and inviting, and the pale woman couldn't keep the flush from her face.

"G-good evening, sir," she lightly stammered. "Happy Empire Day."

"And to you as well, my sweet thing," Kenobi drawled. "Long live our glorious Empire." He tapped his finger on the counter. "My comrades and I are going out celebrating. We're in need of funds for that."

"Well, you've come to the right place," the woman said, absently twirling her hair around her finger, and Luke groaned, cut off quickly by a swift elbow to the ribs from Leia. The woman didn't seem to notice, which the twins found highly unusual, and they both stopped and paid rapt attention. They couldn't feel their father move the Force, but that didn't mean he wasn't exerting influence over the woman. "If I may have your account codes, we can get started."

"Actually, I was hoping you could help me with that matter..." Obi-Wan said, leaning in and laying his hand flat on the counter. "I'm the sole proprietor of Damask Holdings. I was hoping that you may look up my company's accounts and give me access that way."

"Um..." the woman said uncomfortably, setting to work on bringing the information up, and she frowned, eying the Mandalorians cautiously. "I...have the business account right here, sir, but I need your codes to allow you access."

"Mm, you're mistaken," the Sith Lord said, his fingers rhythmically tapping on the counter. "I don't need the codes. Override it." The woman smiled at him, a distant thing that felt slightly off, made only more odd by the vacant expression in her eyes.

"Of course, sir. One moment." The woman silently worked for a moment, her fingers moving swiftly over the small console before her, and the twins leaned around their father to look at the enthralled woman. They saw the results of his influence on the woman, knew exactly when it happened, but they didn't feel the Force move at all to make it happen. It was of particular interest to Leia, who had been struggling to make her own powerful influence a mild suggestion instead of a strong command. "What can I help you with, Magister?" the woman asked sweetly, and the Sith Lord reached out over the counter and lightly grabbed her chin between his thumb and forefinger.

"I need a summery of the accounts," the Sith said, his voice still smooth and even, flat in affect and devoid of emotion, and the twins leaned in, paying rapt attention to the Force, not sensing the usual pull of influence, but the slightest ripple across the otherwise calm waters. The waters became still a moment later, the ripples not traveling far and proving to be short lived, an imperceptible thing unless a Force sensitive was very close and paying attention.

"Sir, Damask Holdings is no longer classified as a business account, but a personal one, dissolved over forty years ago," she said, her eyes squinting as she looked at the readout. "Your balance sits at nine hundred million credits."

"Oh, is that it?" the Sith Lord asked, disappointment in his voice that made the woman appear desperately unhappy, the willingness to please the man pulsing strong within her. "It's senseless to keep such a paltry amount in the bank," he said smoothly, his fingers drumming slowly against the counter again. "Withdraw it all and close the accounts."

"Sir..." she said softly, fidgeting uncomfortably. "We can absolutely do as you wish, but because of the sum, I'm afraid you're going to have to come with me to sign papers with the bank administrators to confirm the transfer of funds and the closing of the account."

"Lead the way, my dear," the Sith drawled, releasing the girl's chin and walking the length of the counter toward a vaulted door at the other end of the room. "Son, contact K2," Obi-Wan said softly. "There's a private dock at the top of the bank, have him bring the ship there. He has all the appropriate codes." Nodding swiftly, Luke slowed his pace, his hand to his helmet as he activated the comlink and did as he was told, and with her brother hanging back, Leia drew closer to the Sith Lord.

"I could hardly feel you touch the Force," she whispered, her modulator switched off and her voice muffled under the helmet. "How did you do it? She's not unintelligent or weak-willed."

"I've been playing with people's minds for a long time," he whispered in return. "Time, practice, experience and mastery. Like all things, the longer you work to perfect a skill, the better you will become."

"K2 is on the way," Luke said as he jogged back up to rejoin the pair, their eyes on the teller as she made her way toward them, her pace suddenly slowing and confusion on her face for just a moment before Obi-Wan's fingers wriggled at his side, his piercing gaze focused on her. With a sharp intake of breath, the woman sped up again, her hand laying on the bioscan of the door, and the heavy locks disengaged. Bowing slightly and beaconing for the Mandalorians to follow her, they disappeared through the door into the halls beyond.

The moment they were alone in the halls and walking deep into the depths of the bank, Obi-Wan gently grabbed hold of the back of the woman's neck, their pace slowing immediately as she softly groaned, her eyes fluttering as the Sith invaded her mind, establishing a tighter hold on her and slowly draining her will to bind it to his own. It was silent in the halls, save for the sound of their footfalls echoing off the ground and the distant, hushed discussions of businessmen and bankers in sequestered rooms. Like out in the lobby, guards stood vigil along the walls, but they went largely ignored, attracting only a few glances from troopers when the teller drew closer to the Sith Lord, the touches on her neck mistaken for affection when the woman eagerly leaned into his touch.

'I'm telling you, I feel something..." a light, feminine voice hissed quietly from an adjoining room, and Obi-Wan slowed, turned his head as he passed by to look within the small security station to see a Death Trooper, his helmet on the desk and his dark hair ruffled as he stood, arms crossed and staring blankly at a pacing woman. The Sith swiftly released the woman's neck and placed his hand at her lower back, gently pushing her along and urging the twins to move faster. A few minutes later, and they had arrived in the meeting room, a file on the desk but otherwise empty, and when the door closed behind them, the Sith reached up and clenched his hand, the four security monitors sparking as they were shorted, and with a swift touch to the teller's forehead, the woman's body grew limp and she collapsed, Kenobi catching her and depositing her into a chair.

"Change of plans, children," the Sith said, quickly taking off his helmet and running his hand through his ruffled hair. "We get the money,and you two wait in the Shadow with K2 and protect it for...twenty minutes or so while you wait for me."

"Oh, no!" Luke gasped, his hands grasping the top of his helmet and staring in disbelief at his father. "Father, I promised Uncle Cody that you wouldn't do anything crazy! This is crazy!"

"There's an Inquisitor here," Obi-Wan hissed. "I can't pass up the opportunity."

"Father, that isn't fair!" Leia said indignantly. "I want to fight! If you're going to fight a kriffing Inquisitor, I want to be there!"

"Do you hear yourself?!" Obi-Wan hissed, his hand tightening around the girl's arm. "I brought you here for a heist. In and out like ghosts, no fighting, no attention!"

"But you said-"

"Did I say anything about fighting the Inquisitor?" he growled, thrusting his helmet back on to his head and touching the teller on the head as he sat beside her, the woman waking with a start and stared with vacant, hazy eyes at the documents that Obi-Wan was writing on. "I will be taking the Inquisitor. There will be no fight, not here. Not today. Not when you two are at risk."

With a heavy, defeated sigh, Leia grabbed a chair and dragged it to the wall where she petulantly plunked down into it. Luke took the seat beside his father, leaned over to look at the legal documents, which the Sith ignored, and the note that Kenobi was scratching out in his elegant scrawl. Luke reached over and laid his hand on his father's arm, the touch carrying the weight of his gratitude through the Force, and with a heavy, relaxed sigh, the Sith gently pat the boy on the back, pushing the documents closer to him so he could read them easier.

The door hissed open and a tall, gaunt Muun and a small, red-haired human stepped into the room, hands extended in greeting toward the Sith, but Obi-Wan did not rise, and before they had a chance to introduce themselves, the Sith Lord moved his hand through the air, the door closing and sealing behind the two bank officials.

"Have a seat, gentlemen," Kenobi said in a soft, almost gently voice, and the Muun and the human moved in an awkward, shuffling gait to the seats opposite him. He turned the documents around and pushed them toward the two men, his hands folded on the table as he waited for the men to finish going over it.

"Sir," the Muun said in a thin, wispy voice. "We are having trouble authenticating-"

"There is no trouble," Obi-Wan said evenly, his gaze fixed on the men opposite him, and the twins could feel the pressure in the room increase, the human groaning as his shoulders slumped and his head dropped to his chest. The Muun's breath hitched, his elongated fingers trembling as a violent shudder ran through him, a show of resistance before the tense muscles in his elongated head relaxed.

"There is no trouble..." the Muun repeated, and Obi-Wan passed the man the pen he was using.

"That's good to hear." He tapped the packets of paper. "I need you to sign these." Mindlessly, the two men flipped through the documents, signing on every line indicated. When they were done, the Muun handed the pen back to the Sith Lord, and Obi-Wan continued writing.

"Magister, the funds have officially been moved into a holding account, and Damask Holdings has been closed." The Muun flashed him a tight smile. "If you provide us with your credit chip, we can make the transfer immediately."

"Mm, no, that's not going to work for me," Obi-Wan drawled, laying down his pen and reading the letter over before he laid it neatly on top of the packet of documents and carefully lined up the edges. "I'm afraid I can only take payment in Imperial Credit ingots." He smirked slightly when their faces dropped, their jaws slack, and Obi-Wan closed his eyes to keep the men from seeing the brightly glowing gold of his eyes through his visor. "I'd like to hang on to this very legal document until my ship is loaded with the full amount of my funds, if you don't mind," he drawled, laying his hand upon the packet of documents. The two men were still gaping, too stunned to object.

"S-sir..." the human gasped. "Even in our greatest denomination, that would be nearly two hundred thousand ingots! That's...an absurd amount!"

"Well..." Obi-Wan drawled, his hands clasped together on the table as he leaned in toward them. "We better get some help carrying it all up to my ship, hmm?"

---

"This sucks!" Leia snapped, kicking one of the several crates packed full with thousands of golden Imperial Credits in the form of the small, flat, rectangular ingots, and when the heavy, metallic thud stopped ringing, she resumed her pacing. "Father is down there dealing with an Inquisitor, and we have to stay here! With the ship! Like...like children with a droid babysitter!"

"Perhaps if you didn't act like a child, the Master wouldn't feel the need have someone babysit you..." K-2SO droned. "It's just a thought, of course, but I'd love it if you took it to heart. My programming doesn't cover childcare. That is HK-45's area of expertise, and I am quite fond of his policy on the matter." The droid looked over his hunched shoulder from his place in the copilot's seat. "His policy, by the way, is incineration."

"K2, HK wouldn't burn us..." Luke muttered lazily, the boy sitting with his back against the bulkhead as he tended to Obi-Wan's armor, which the Sith Lord had quickly taken off and left behind before he returned to the bank cloaked in the shadows he walked in. "Being his Master's kids sort of gives us immunity from his rampages."

"...incineration from the inside out, I'll have you know," the droid stressed, and Leia howled in frustration, flicking her braid over her shoulder.

"It isn't fair! He just...drops us off at the ship on a mission that we're supposed to be part of!" She stood up tall, her head held up high and her fists firmly on her hips, defiant as she ever was. "If he's going to go running off and changing the plans, we should be a part of those changes!"

"We are a part of those changes, Leia..." Luke sighed, neatly stacking the black and gold armor on one of the ship's storage shelves and placing the helmet beside it, the intricate golden inlays and designs seeming to glow against the jet black. "Our part in all of this is to watch the ship because there's nearly a billion Imperial Credits onboard!" Leia scoffed dismissively as she rolled her eyes and continued her furious pacing. "Leia..." Luke groaned, running his hand over his face as he watched his impatient sister. "You must understand that this job is important. If we were with father, not only would we be discovered, but we'd just slow him down. He doesn't want a fight, and it's easier to sneak around undetected in smaller numbers."

"...but we should be with him!" Luke groaned loudly, finally fed up with trying to reason with a madwoman, but Leia finally stopped pacing and sat on top of one of the crates. "You know things never go according to plan! There's going to be a fight, the bank will be locked down, he's going to attract all sorts of attention..."

"No he won't, you know he won't..."

"He's going to need our help," Leia continued as if Luke hadn't even spoken. "He's in there with a thousand armed guards and an Inquisitor. Half naked."

"I'm personally offended that you think the Master needs you in this matter," K2 drawled, and Leia shot the droid a glare vicious enough to kill. "He's approaching the situation shirtless. This isn't a battle, or even a cause for concern, it's the set up for a bad pornography." The droid turned and faced the console, his fingers slowly tapping the buttons as he ran through the system checks, his lowered head making it appear as though his shoulders were hunched. "Which, by the way, I told him I was distinctly uncomfortable the last time he did something like this."

"See?" Luke said with a tight, uncomfortable smile. "Father's fine. We should just stay here and guard the credits, like we're supposed to."

"...or..." Leia said slyly, a devious grin on her face as she eyed her brother. "Father's in there drawing attention to himself probably! Which means...maybe eyes won't be on us."

"...oh no..." Luke muttered, a pit dropping in his stomach and quickly rising to his feet to stand at the back hatch when Leia grabbed her helmet and put it on her head. "Leia, no! Do you remember the last time we went out on our own? Father had to come save us and we were grounded for a month!"

"Oh, please, Luke, we were twelve years old!" Leia scoffed, rolling her eyes as she started to walk past her brother, only to have the boy stand in her way. "This isn't the same thing! We aren't going into a battleground like before, it's a bank!"

"A fortress bank, right in the heart of the Empire!" Luke cried. "Father has a plan, and that plan involves being undetected. Eyes aren't going to be on him, they're going to be everywhere!"

"Oh, please, when have Father's plans ever gone the way he envisioned?"

"Maybe they don't go the way he plans because people like you mess them up!"

"This is why Father likes me best," Leia said, her nose turned up in the air and looking as regal as any princess could. "Now, I'm going to rob one of the vaults. Are you coming or not?"

"You can't just...rob a vault, Leia!" Luke said desperately, and his sister responded by laying a comforting hand on her brother's shoulder.

"Luke, Father just walked out of here with almost a billion credits that he stole directly from the Emperor himself. How hard can it be?"

"Right, see, we haven't left yet, so we really haven't stolen anything..."

"Exactly!" Luke groaned loudly, his hand running over his face, and Leia casually draped her arm over his shoulder. "Come on, brother...think of how proud Father will be of us if we can increase our payload. All of it's going to help the rebellion, it's for an important cause! And if he can see what we can do on our own, he'd have to let us help more often instead of being hidden away in the desert, or in some stuffy palace with supervision at every hour of the day." She took off her helmet and looked up at the boy with wide, pleading eyes. "Come on, Luke...it's what we've always wanted. Fighting beside father against the evil of the Empire..."

"...a-alright," Luke stammered, biting down on his lip and looking away from his sister so she couldn't see how excited he was by the prospect, his heart beating so fast he thought it may burst from his chest, and he quickly grabbed his helmet and thrust it on his head to hide his expressive face. He had never been so good as Leia at hiding how he felt. "B-but I'm just going because I promised Uncle Cody that things wouldn't get too crazy, and without me, there wouldn't be anyone to keep you in check."

"You are, as always, my favorite person, Luke," she said, patting her brother on his armored chest and putting her helmet back on. "Come on, K2, we're going to need your help."

"Oh no, absolutely not," the droid said swiftly, spinning in his chair and focusing his visual receptors on the twins. "Master said to stay here and guard the ship, and that is exactly what we are going to do."

"Uh, no, Father told Luke and I to watch the credits," Leia drawled. "And we are watching the credits!" She paused for a breath. "...that are in the vaults in the bank!" A loud, electronic groan emitted from K2's vocal modulator. "Oh, stop that, Father wasn't being very specific! And if I remember correctly, he asked you to watch us. So if you're going to do what Father asked, I guess you're just going to have to come with us."

"Or, we could do the reasonable thing and do exactly as Master asked and stay right here," the droid said with a sigh, his head drooping when Luke and Leia opened the back hatch. "Do you even have a plan beyond, well, Father made it look easy?"

"Of course I have a plan, K2..." Leia scoffed with a derisive roll of her eyes, and though the helmet concealed her face, her body language conveyed the sentiment well enough. "We just walked out of here with crates of credits. All we need to do is find the bank administrators, thank them for their business, tell them we're still missing some, a little push with the Force and off we go to the vault! Easy!"

"You do realize that perhaps it isn't as easy as the Master makes it look, don't you?" K2 asked in a flat, expressionless tone, and Leia dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand.

"Oh, please, I've been manipulating nobles at parties since I was a child!" Leia said with a light, easy laugh. "How hard can it possibly be to get a couple elevated accountants to show us to the vault?"

---

The Inquisitor paced restlessly through the halls of the bank, back and forth through the same halls, the same path she had been on for the past hour, occasionally making her way back to the security room to growl and hiss at the many monitors, looking for something, anything to justify her paranoia, but she consistently turned up with nothing. She felt something, something in the Force that she couldn't quite put her finger on, something unspeakable that she had no name for. The Force was calm, cold, still, far too still, unnaturally so, the waters so unmoving they reflected like a mirror. That was strange enough, but meditating on it, drawing closer to the natural ebb and flow of the waters of the Force showed it to be frozen, the stillness a result of a crystal clear sheet of ice born from the snapping chill. It was calm, and it was peaceful, but it felt wrong, like the stillness of the lake only served to hide a creature that swam just below the surface, the ice only serving to hide its movements.

Something was here. She knew it.

She entered the security room once again and tore her helmet off and violently cast it against the wall with a frustrated snarl, her blood red skin flushed darker in anger and her long, black patterned lekku squirming in agitation. She slammed her hands on the console, her yellow eyes darting over the monitors and looking for something, anything at all. One room earlier turned up with a camera malfunction, leaving a time frame of approximately half an hour where the room was off the security grid before the problem had been identified and fixed. The Inquisitor was on it immediately, demanding to know who was in there, but nobody seemed to know, or care. The bank had been especially busy because of Empire Day, flooded with more highly respected and wealthy Imperials than any other time of the year, and employee apathy was at an all-time high since they were at work instead of taking part in the festivities.

Her demands to lock the bank down until she discovered the source of her agitation was met with scorn and dismissal, the Chief of Security insisting that such a closure was not only impossible, but would cause major problems with the media should they act so rashly on a mere hunch. It showed weakness when the Empire needed to be strong, and he insisted that the woman was being paranoid, jumping at shadows because of the grisly scene in the Senate that morning. The Inquisitor was weak, he had said, afraid because three more of her rank had been slaughtered like animals by the Shadow King. He had reassured her that the annual display was over, that the Shadow King had his fun, and now it was back to business as usual. There would be no more attacks that day. Everything was fine. And he left her, leaving the woman to pace and snarl and hiss because of the incessant irritation scratching at her mind.

Something different pulled through the air, the Force rippling with movement, and her eyes shot to the monitors, her hand on the switch as she quickly flipped through the different views of the numerous hallways and rooms until she stopped on a camera displaying a view of the central vault, the reenforced, heavy door wide open, the hallway filled with soldiers aiding the bank's Chairman in pushing repulsor carts filled with gold out into the hall. Out of the vault came two Mandalorians, one in red and gold, the other in blue and gold, each holding a crate piled high with gold ingots and followed my an Imperial security droid. The scene itself wasn't unusual. She had seen them in the security footage at the vaults before loading up an obscene amount of credits, and a quick check through the bank's systems confirmed the transaction as legitimate. But something was off, something...not quite right about it. There was a third Mandalorian, a man in black and gold, and he was missing.

The gnawing irritation in her mind erupted into a frenzied clawing, a painful throbbing in her head as she watched the girl order the guards and the bank administrators accompanying her around like she was born to it. Again, a common enough thing when dealing with the wealthy, entitled assholes that frequented the bank's most secure areas, and that would have been the end of it had the Inquisitor not felt the distinctive, unmistakable pull of the Force pulse in time with each of her movements. This Mandalorian was Force sensitive. There was no mistaking it.

The Inquisitor turned quickly to run from the room and found herself faced with a splayed hand, the irritation in her mind exploding in pain as her vision lit up with fire and fear as she looked into the blazing, golden eyes of a Sith Lord. With a gasp of fear, she stumbled backwards in an attempt to put distance between herself and her sudden assailant, but she quickly found herself backed up against the security console with nowhere to go, forced to look in fear into the blazing eyes of the man she recognized as Darth Lumis.

"Oh, you are beautiful..." Obi-Wan drawled, his arms boxing the woman against the console, the cruel smirk on his lips growing as she began to squirm under the worming feel of his presence clawing at her mind. "I was beginning to think all you Inquisitors were pale, drab creatures, but you are a sight..." He smiled wolfishly, leaning in toward the woman, her hand placed firmly on his chest to push him away, only to have her fingers lightly drag down his body with a defeated groan.

"Y-you killed them..." she whispered, averting her eyes to look away from the Sith Lord, as she was taught to do with her own Sith Masters. "You killed my brothers and sisters today, the ones in the Senate..."

"I haven't killed any Inquisitors today, my dear..." Obi-Wan softly admonished, his fingers touching her chin and forcing her to meet his eyes. "And I only killed them because they fought me. You aren't going to fight me, are you, dearest?"

"N-no..." she whispered, her eyes fluttering shut when the pain of resistance suddenly fled her mind with a rush of soothing pleasure, and before she could stop herself, she gratefully submitted herself to it, opening her mind to the Sith's touch and allowing fire and lust to cleanse herself of pain and fear.

"There's a good girl..." the Sith muttered, swiftly kissing her cheek and running a hand over her sensitive lekku as he released her and allowed the moaning Twi'lek to slide to the ground. Obi-Wan sat in one of the swiveling seats at the security desk and opened up the console, his hands rummaging through wires and circuit boards until he felt a smooth, thin, rectangular box. Whistling softly, he pulled the device up, his eyes drifting to the Inquisitor on the ground as she lazily fought against the commanding hands in her mind, but the struggle was half-hearted at best.

"Would it be easier to wipe today's security footage, or simply remove the device the surveillance is saved to?" he asked the Twi'lek, the woman obediently looking at him for only a moment before she shut her eyes tight and curled up, a vain attempt to hide the lust she felt that she knew was not her own. "Mm, you're right..." he said casually, disconnecting the thin device and taking hold of the wires. "It would be safest to do both. There's no telling if its saved to a backup somewhere! Let me short out the system real quick and we'll be on our way." He flashed a wolfish grin at the woman, her lekku twisting wildly and her jaw clenched tightly as she tried to block the soft, seductive whispers of the Dark Side echoing within her. "Give in to it, dear. You'll find me a more enjoyable Master than the half-men that own you now."

Smirking as he turned back to his work, Obi-Wan's eyes roved briefly over the monitors as he reached his hands inside the console and grabbed hold of the central processor, and stopped suddenly, his hands going slack and dropping what he held as he focused on one of the monitors. There, on the screen, were Luke and Leia, accompanied by K-2SO and a procession of Death Troopers, guards as bank personnel pushed carts filled with gold ingots and crates stacked high with credits through the halls. He couldn't understand what he was seeing, didn't understand if somehow the bank administration grew wise to his deception, if they had gone to the ship and detained his children and his droid and brought them along to return the credits to the vaults.

It took him a moment to banish the thought, to realize that these were not the same crates he had loaded on the ship, not even the same currency, as he had accepted only the small credit ingots, and these carts were stacked with the much larger gold ingot, no yet run through the treasury to be melted down for currency. No, these people were going away from the vaults, and Luke and Leia were leading them.

The fear that had very nearly gripped him turned to swift and furious rage, the edge of his mouth twitching as his eyes began to burn, and when his gaze darted to look at the Inquisitor and found her gone, his momentary shock enough for his hold on her to be released, allowing the Inquisitor to make her escape, the Lord of the Sith just about lost his mind.

The room erupted in a blaze of blue light as Force lightning lashed out from the Sith's body, the harsh crackling of electricity snapping through the air as sharp, arching bolts tore through the security room. The consoles cracked open and the monitors shattered as the electronics and wires and processors shorted out and melted together under the assault of the burning plasma, the loss of power to the entire building causing the heavy vaulted blast doors to slam shut all over the building, the bank effectively turned into the fortress that had so frightened Luke when they first arrived. When the lightning stopped, the Sith Lord stood still within the room, his breathing hard and heavy and his eyes blazing red in the dark, the area lit only by the dying sparks of broken electronics and the meager emergency lighting along the junction between the wall and the ceiling. The lock down was in effect, the Inquisitor our of his grasp, his perfectly executed plan of silent infiltration ruined in a flash of temper because of his disobedient teenagers.

When he got them out of this mess, they would be hopelessly, irreparably grounded forever.

---

They stopped when the lights went out, the Death Troopers and the additional security the bank provided all drawing their weapons and priming the charges, the unsettling, scrambled speech of the Troopers echoing in the dark hallway as the bank personnel and administrators drew closer to the carts they pushed to make it easier for the security to protect them. Luke and Leia drew their blasters as well, mostly to blend in with the others, though their free hands slowly drifted to the long pouch on their belts, the secure ammunition pouch where their lightsabers were concealed. They drew closer together, their hearts racing as fear ran cold and unrestrained through them, and in that moment, surrounded by twenty of the Empire's most ruthless soldiers, they silently wished that they had obeyed their father.

"What's happening?" Luke asked one of the administrators quietly when he touched his comlink, a frown on his face as he quickly put that away and looked at his datapad.

"I don't know," the Muun said quietly. "Communications are down, and the power is offline. The celebrations in the city may have overloaded the power grid. This lock down is a formality," he said in a thin, shaking voice, trying to sound authoritative and failing spectacularly. "Once the power is back on, it will be lifted. Don't worry."

"Are you sure your payment was not received?" the human administrator asked, a confused frown on his face, and Leia quickly turned toward him, her hand splayed at her side as she grabbed hold of the Force, her control slipping in the face of her fear, and try as she might, she couldn't stop her racing heart.

"I'm sure..." she said, her attempts to keep her voice flat and even not entirely successful as the slightest tremble snuck its way in. It was enough to bring the man back under her sway, but only just barely, and before where he had easily submitted, now he struggled against the control and the confusion.

"I just...can't shake the feeling that I've done this before..." Before Leia could respond and tighten her grasp on the man, a long, low hiss echoed through the hall, followed by a loud, metallic crash and swift, light footsteps. The Death Troopers pointed their blasters toward the noise, and before they saw the cause of it, the end of the hallway was bathed in red light, and the twins felt their fear fade, the Force snapping cold with the untempered fury of their Father, and while they were in no hurry to face his wrath, they were happy to have them come to rescue them from a situation that was swiftly slipping out of their control. The fear returned to them quickly when it wasn't their father, but a red-skinned Twi'lek dressed in black with the angular helmet of the Inquisitors on her head, the blast shield up to expose furious yellow eyes. A second blade extended from the hilt of her saber, and she pointed the double sided weapon at the two Mandalorians.

"Rebels!" she shouted, her tone edged with a feral, savage growl, and at once, the Death Troopers turned their masked heads to look at Luke and Leia. "Kill them!"

Their lightsabers were in their hands and ignited just as the Death Troopers opened fire, the blades spinning rapidly to deflect the absolute wave of green plasma bolts that were shot at them, their attention continuously drawn to the Inquisitor that was quickly rushing toward them. They got a moment to regroup when K-2SO brought his heavy hands down upon one of the trooper's heads and stolen their blaster, the droid shooting rapidly at the assailants, but the twins reached out and grabbed hold of him with the Force and pulled him behind them when the frightening soldiers turned their weapons on him and peppered the droid with green fire. No shot was debilitating, but several holes had been burned into the droid's body, missing the central processors, but his movements had become jerky and disjointed.

Now with the droid to protect and the Inquisitor fast approaching, it became clear to the twins that there was no winning. The continuous fire from the slowly advancing Death Troopers kept them pinned down, unable to move at all from the wave that was coming toward them. They steeled themselves to engage the Inquisitor, but knew that the moment their sabers were engaged with the blazing red blade, they would be unguarded to the Death Trooper's fire, and it would be the end. They crouched down to make themselves smaller, their blades in continuous movement, and braced themselves as the Inquisitor vaulted over the carts and the Imperial soldiers, her yellow eyes blazing and her saber held high above her head as she readied herself to strike down at the Mandalorians.

Just before she struck down at Luke and Leia, the Twi'lek froze, her limbs twitching as she was held in the air, and she suddenly went flying backwards, slamming to the ground and skidding along the floor, the friction wearing holes in the tight black suit she wore and leaving her exposed red skin with long, raw lacerations. Her body came to a stop halfway down the hall, and the Death Troopers shifted their attention to the new threat in the room, the Sith Lord's bare chest rising and falling rapidly with barely contained rage, the gold of his eyes given way to glowing blood red and his arms surrounded with the arching blue of static that his clenched fists struggled to control.

Before any of the Death Troopers could open fire, the Sith Lord reached out, the Force slicing through the air in a vicious, cutting wind, and the Mandalorians rose into the air, the two teens pulled rapidly toward him to hang struggling in the air behind him, clutching at their throats as they fought to breathe. The momentary confusion as to why the supposed rebels were being attacked made the Troopers hesitate for just a moment, their fire held as the Inquisitor rose groaning to her feet, and with a flick of the Sith's hands, the Mandalorians were thrown hard against the ground, the two bodies laying still upon the ground.

After that, there was chaos.

The Sith didn't wait another moment to spring into action, his fury unleashed in a storm of sharp, cutting wind and arching, burning electricity, the Force pushing and pulling everyone before him and keeping them from working together to shoot their target down. The moment the Sith reached the line of soldiers, his red lightsaber and the darksaber flew to his hands, the blades slicing through limbs and necks and heads, screaming echoing through the hall and the stench of burning flesh and blood filling the air. Bodies flung against the walls split open in a shower of viscera, splattering the walls and the floor in blood and thick, crushed organs, the Sith Lord's purpose singular and clear. Everyone in the room needed to die. With the security systems down and no way to conduct surveillance in the halls, these were the only people who had seen his twins, had seen the lightsabers in their hands, and there could be no witnesses. Not if he was going to keep them safe.

Death Troopers at the end of the hall managed to regroup long enough to begin a counter-offense, the air filling with green suppressing fire in an attempt to bring the Sith Lord down when the Inquisitor managed to rise and attack the fearsome man, the final attempt of a woman that knew she was going to die to try and kill her executioner. The Sith held her off with the darksaber, his red blade moving to deflect the fire from the Death Troopers, his divided attention allowing occasional shots to get through. Green plasma struck his arm, his leg, grazed his side, struck his shoulder, and not for a second did he even seem to register the pain, reacting only with violent, explosive anger when he grabbed the Twi'lek by the lekku as she spun to strike him and threw her into the line of troopers. Lightning arched from his fingertips, all his enemies lined up before him, and as they convulsed from the shock, he rushed forward, his slicing sabers bringing a swift end to the remainder of the Death Troopers.

With the smell of death and blood thick in the air, the Sith Lord closed his eyes and breathed deep, felt the death in the Force of the nearly thirty men he had killed, the small, frightened presence of his unconscious children, heard only the pained gasps of the defeated Inquisitor and the erratic sparking and the scrape of metal on metal as a damaged K-2SO limped toward him, the droid's head bowed in reticence. Obi-Wan arched an eyebrow at the droid when he stood before him and only managed an inquisitive, "Well?"

"...I fear I am a poor babysitter, Master," K2 said mournfully. "Your daughter is...difficult to argue with. She is willful, Master. And...persuasive."

"I ought to deactivate you for allowing that child to countermand my direct orders," Obi-Wan hissed, his gaze quickly shooting to the Inquisitor as she began to rise and with a snarl of fury, he extended his hand and brutally entered her mind, the woman gasping and shuddering as she was violated and choked back a scream before she collapsed on the ground, her eyes hazy and blank and her face expressionless, and with a gesture, she wordlessly rose to stand behind the Sith, her head bowed subserviently. He looked down at himself and scowled when he saw he was splattered in blood and with a disgusted flick of his wrist, he gestured to the bodies that lay strewn across the carts and the floor.

"Clean up this mess," Obi-Wan commanded, turning away from the droid and quickly striding to the twins, the Twi'lek close on his heels. K2's visual receptors looked about the room, casually observing the blood and the bodies and the carts stacked with bloody gold.

"...all of it, Master?" the droid asked, and the Sith shot him a vicious glare as he scooped the unconscious twins in his arms.

"Yes, you mechanical idiot, all of it!" Obi-Wan snapped. "My stupid children went through the trouble to empty a kriffing vault, and I will not have it be for nothing!" He menacingly stepped closer to the droid. "Put the bodies on the carts and take them to the ship. Am I understood."

"...perfectly, Master."

The droid immediately set to work, and when Obi-Wan saw how slow his movements were, how jerking and uneven his arms moved, how his feet dragged on the ground, the Sith Lord sighed, commanded the Twi'lek to put the bodies on the carts, and after gently laying Luke and Leia on one of the crates of credits, the Sith Lord quietly helped the droid in his task.

---

Luke and Leia awoke to the sound of a youthful voice over the com excitedly talking to a quietly amused Obi-Wan. They were back in the Shadow, the two laid upon a long seat made into a make-shift bed and had been lovingly wrapped in blankets, warm despite the cold that rushed in through the open back hatch. They sat up and focused their bleary eyes to see their Father stripping the black armor off a dead Death Trooper, the body casually thrown out the open hatch before he moved to begin stripping the next one in a line of about ten. As he worked, bits and pieces of the armor were thrown into an open crate, already overflowing with the black Imperial armor. On a high shelf sat his comlink and a small holoprojector, a small blue image of a teenager gesticulating wildly as he spoke.

"We only barely got away!" the teenager said, running a hand through unkept hair and standing on his toes to look down at the Sith Lord. "So...what exactly are you doing?"

"Oh, you know..." Obi-Wan said lightly, wincing slightly as he put too much weight down on his wounded leg. "The usual." He threw the last of the armor into the crate and pushed the body out with his foot. "I got a gift for you. For your birthday."

"Y-you did?!" the teen asked excitedly, and Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.

"Or for Empire Day. Or whatever. Look, don't make a big deal out of nothing, Bridger!" Obi-Wan snapped, shaking an admonishing finger at the grinning teen. "I just happened to be in the area and came across something you might like. That's all."

"Uh huh..." the boy said, a cocky grin on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Sure, Kenobi."

"Sure yourself, brat, I'll shove it up your ass if you don't watch yourself." Obi-Wan glowered when the teenager laughed, and he snapped his fingers, pointing to the bodies on the ground, and the Twi'lek stirred from her place at the floor by the pilot's chair, crawling along the ground and coming to sit beside the bodies, the woman slowly undoing the straps to strip the armor from the Imperials. Obi-Wan turned his full attention to the hologram, the boy again standing on his toes and craning his neck to try and see what was happening at the Sith's feet. "Your mission was a success, then?"

"Oh, yeah!" Ezra said swiftly. "The courier delivered, with Fulcrum's thanks. We even got Sabine's friend to stop trying to kill us and help us fight the Empire. We do good work."

"That you do..." Obi-Wan said softly, looking over his shoulder when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye as Luke and Leia slowly sat up, groaning and rubbing their heads. "I need to go, Ezra, I'll see you in a few days."

"You bet!" the boy chirped, snapping to attention and saluting. "Empire Day! Long live our glorious Empire!" Obi-Wan cut the com, a small smile on his lips as he sighed, and he cast his gaze over his shoulder, watching the twins as they slowly rose to their feet.

"I hope you know you are grounded forever..." Obi-Wan growled, and Luke and Leia bowed their heads and nodded, their eyes averted to the ground.

"Father..." Leia said softly, laying her hand on her brother's shoulder. "...it was Luke's idea."

"What?!" Luke gasped, pulling away from his sister and looking at her in disbelief. "Oh, that is rich! Of all the fools in this galaxy, not a single one of them would ever believe that! You're supposed to be a better liar than that, Leia!"

"Be silent!" Obi-Wan hissed, the Force snapping frozen around them, and the twins quickly obeyed. "What were you thinking?! I gave you a direct order! Stay in the ship, watch the credits! How hard is it to obey me?!"

"We are not your servants, Father!" Leia shouted, bristling at the harshness of the Sith's tone. "We thought we could help! We thought we could do something to help the rebellion, and we did!" She gestured around her to the crates of gold and credits that were packed tightly against the wall and up toward the ceiling. "We doubled the amount you secured all by ourselves, and if you had dealt with that bitch," she snarled, pointing to the Inquisitor on the ground, "like you said you would, we would have executed it perfectly!"

"Don't you dare blame me for what happened, girl," Obi-Wan snarled, his hand squeezing together as he used the Force to close around Leia's throat, the girl dropping to her knees and clutching at her neck, the defiant look still in her eyes. "You wish to be Sith one day, which means you will be my apprentice, and I will demand complete obedience from you, and I will expect nothing but until the day you kill me!"

"Father!" Luke said swiftly, standing between Obi-Wan and the coughing Leia. "We just want to help! You let..." He cleared his throat and gestured to the shelf where the holoprojector sat. "You let Ezra Bridger fight with you, and he's exactly the same age as us! All we ever wanted was to fight beside you so we can all be safe, now more than ever since you're having those visions!"

"You and your sister are impulsive and reckless and clearly not ready!" Obi-Wan said firmly. "I expect this kind of defiant teenage idiocy from your sister, but from you, Luke, I expect better."

"Father, we hardly ever see you!" Luke shouted, Obi-Wan and Leia both taken aback by the harsh tone that they had never heard from the mild mannered boy before. "Are you...replacing us with Bridger, is that it?!"

"Don't be absurd! He-"

"He's our age!" Luke snapped, counting off on his fingers. "He's Force sensitive, though not as strong as us, he isn't as smart as us, he's also impulsive and reckless, and still you let him fight beside you!"

"Ezra Bridger isn't my son!" Obi-Wan shouted, his face flushing with anger, though the Force grew tense and trembling, not with anger, but with deep, wounded fear, the waters stained red from the open wound in their father that they knew always bled. "I don't think you appreciate how close I came to losing you two today! Do you have any idea what I..." He ground his teeth together, his finger pointed menacingly at the two children. "I will not endure the loss of another child! I-I can't..." With a frustrated growl, he shoved another body out of the ship with a swift kick and stormed into the cockpit, threw himself in the pilot's seat and turned toward the viewport. He swiftly smacked K2 upside the head when the droid looked at him. "Get the kriffing bodies out of my ship!"

With an electronic sigh, the droid rose from his seat and shuffled to the back, his leg periodically dragging against the floor as he shuffled to push the stripped bodies out of the ship. Guilt washed over the twins, the two of them laying apologetic hands on the damaged K-2SO as they passed by on the way to the cockpit. They silently stood behind the Sith Lord, watching him for a moment while they got the nerve to draw closer, and they slowly reached out, his muscles tensing when their fingers touched the scarred skin. The flash of anger passed quickly, his tense muscles relaxing as he slumped wearily in the seat, and Luke and Leia gently wrapped their arms around him, the both of them feeling their throats tighten with emotion when Obi-Wan tightly embraced them.

"I thought I lost you..." Obi-Wan whispered, clutching the twins tighter to him, and for just a moment, Luke and Leia thought they felt the dampness of tears on their father's cheeks. "And it was my fault. I deviated from the mission by going after the Inquisitor, and if I had kept my wits about me, she wouldn't have escaped me, the lock down wouldn't have been activated, she wouldn't have found you, and you wouldn't have been in that mess..." He sighed heavily, his breath trembling slightly as he exhaled, and the twins clung to him tighter, their hands slowly touching the new blistering burns and charred indentations on his skin, the surrounding muscles tensing at the feel of the Force that they pushed to heal him. "Your plan...was a good one, and it could have been executed perfectly if it was part of the plan."

"I'm sorry, Father..." Leia whimpered, laying her head against his chest, silent, unwanted tears slipping down her cheek as she ran her fingers over the raw, burned skin on his side. "I just...w-we're seventeen years old, and I have always, always hated being away from you."

"...I know, princess," Obi-Wan whispered, his hands threading through their hair and lightly kissing their foreheads. "You do know I keep you away so you will be safe, yes? I...disabled and destroyed the security recordings, I killed every witness, I attacked you in case something was still recording somewhere. If the Emperor knew about you, if he knew what you meant to me..."

"We know you just want to protect us, Father..." Luke whispered, laying his hand over the charred skin on his chest and channeling the Force to heal him. "I'm...sorry you were hurt because of us."

"I'd rather be hurt than have you harmed, son..." Obi-Wan said absently, looking up at K2 as the droid returned to his seat, and he quickly sealed the rear hatch and pulled the lever that sent the shuttle shuddering into hyperspace. "...I lost my family once. I would do anything to see it doesn't happen again."

"You won't, Father," Luke said softly. "I promise."

"I want to fight..." Leia said with a sigh. "But I'll wait until I'm ready. And..." A sly smirk crossed her face. "Robbing that bank was the most fun I've ever had. Thank you for taking us." With a small, sad smile, Obi-Wan placed a quick kiss on their foreheads.

"I do love you both. You are damned frustrating, but I love you." He reached over and tapped K-2SO on the head. "You're still grounded forever, and you're going to start your indentured servitude by repairing the droid." Obi-Wan grinned brightly. "After you're done with that, I have a list of things Ahsoka needs done around the base. General maintenance, pipe repair, the water purification system is broken, there is dust in the ventilation ducts..."

"Father..." Leia said, her eyes wide and her voice flat and emotionless. "That's janitor stuff." With a sly grin, Obi-Wan rose from the seat and patted the twins on the shoulder as he sauntered to the back to lay down.

"Welcome to the rebellion, kids."