Have no fear, Grubkiller is here.

Well folks, here's part 9 of my story, 'Fallen Jedi'.

I hope that you all enjoy, and please be sure to leave your thoughts down in the review section.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Separatist Destroyer, aft tower, Barriss' private quarters, observation deck.

Barriss was in the middle of the chamber, which was at the very top of the superstructure tower that was protruding from the aft section of the providence class ship. The young dark side convert sat in front of the viewport that looked out onto the stars, and over the rest of the ship. She could not help but feel excited. She had two prisoners in the detention block. She had the Nexus Route co-ordinates in her head. She also gave a copy to the captain for back-up. With her mission a complete success, Dooku will reward her handsomely. She'll join the ranks of Sidious' Sith order and be the key to the CIS's success in this war.

Things were looking up for Barriss. Nothing would stop her, except of coarse the engine problems that kept the ship from going into hyperspace. Just then, her com-link started to buzz. She answered it.

"What is it? This had better be important. Do I hear blaster fire?"

"Uhm, Mistress? Your prisoners are escaping. They look very unhappy. Ah, no, NNooooo!" The panicking droid said before the transmission was cut.

'GGrrrrrrrrr! Someone really needs to rethink these holding cell designs'," Barriss thought to herself, thinking that Ahsoka might've escaped the cell the same way Barriss did on Coruscant.

"Alright. Time for lockdown," Barriss said as she activated her com. "Captain. Our prisoners have escaped. I want you to put all stations on high alert. And make sure the data is secured," she ordered the ship's captain.

"Yes Mistress," he said obediently.

"B-260, I want you to send your commandoes out. Search the ship for those prisoners and set your weapons to stun. I don't care what happens to the senator, but I want to take care of the togrutan personally".

"Roger Roger," the droid commander said in his monotone voice.

Suddenly, an alarm echoed throughout the ship. The call to battle-stations.

Barriss stood up and went to join the Hunter-Killer teams.

As Ahsoka ran through the ship, she had to put her Jedi skills to the test. She moved like an agile fox down the ships corridors, pushing aside any droid that got in her way. Every time she destroyed a droid, she couldn't help but enjoy the rush, the excitement, of doing one of the things that she loved most: knocking some droid heads together.

'Just like the good old days. Oh how I've missed this!'

Behind her, Lux was using his rifle on anything that survived her onslaught of the droid army.

Three more droids, a super battle droid and two regulars, were blocking her path.

"Uh, halt!" one of the B1's said.

Ahsoka just kept charging.

"Well that didn't work," the other B1 droid said.

"Just shut up and fire you idiots!" the Super Battle Droid ordered.

"Roger Roger," the two droids said.

The three droids opened fire when she didn't do as they said earlier. Red laser bolts flew toward her feet, but she was too quick. She dodged the blasts by jumping onto the walls, and then off of them to the opposite wall in order to confuse them. She was basically jumping in a zig-zag pattern.

"I can't hit anything!" one B1 droid exclaimed.

"Then try aiming!" the other one suggested.

The B2 droid lumbered forward, ignoring its two dimwitted companions. He raised both of his arms cannons and fired rapidly down the corridor. Red light illuminated the dark gray halls of the separatist dreadnaught. It also illuminated Ahsoka as she continued jumping off of the walls like an acrobat. She jumped off of the wall, somersaulted through the air, and was about to land right in front of the B2 unit. They stared at each other, as if in slow motion, as Ahsoka dropped down in front of her. The SBD tried to bring its weapons to bare on the young girl, but she was too quick. As Ahsoka hit the ground, she used the force to emit a shockwave that lifted the droid up in the air. Ahsoka then twirled around and sent a powerful force push in the floating droid's direction while in midair. The B2 was much bigger and heavier than she was, but, as a former Jedi, size meant nothing to her. The force push sent the much larger droid flying down the corridor and into the B1 droids.

They looked at each other. "Uh-oh!" They said in unison.

The B2 hit both of them. It smashed one B1 droid into a wall, crushing it between the wall and the now offline B2 unit. The other droid was hit in the chest by the B2's arm and sent crashing to the floor, mostly unscathed.

"Better luck next time," Ahsoka said as she continued down the corridor where the droids tried to block her seconds earlier.

The surviving droid rolled over on its chest and looked at her charging down the corridor to a door at the end of it. "Hey, that's just rude".

The droid looked over his shoulder just in time to see Lux blast him at point blank range in the face. A new hole now occupied the droids mechanical head. He then caught up with Ahsoka at the door. She was pressing keys on the terminal.

"Where are we going exactly? Shouldn't we get off the ship?" Lux asked as he aimed his rifle down the hallway they just came down.

"We could. But if we grab a pod now, then they'll just simply shoot us down or follow us to the surface. We need to cause a huge distraction," Ahsoka explained.

"How?" Lux asked.

Ahsoka opened the door. It was the engine room.

"Cover me while I find a terminal," Ahsoka said as she ran around a corner.

Lux heard more droids screaming in the distance, along with the sound of blaster rifles discharging.

I almost feel bad for them. Almost.

Lux walked around for a couple minutes when he saw the doors open. It revealed six battle droids, with two super battle droids bringing up the rear.

"An intruder. Get him!" the droid sergeant ordered as he pointed at Lux with a mechanical finger.

The droids obeyed and fired on Lux. Laser bolts flew everywhere. Lux fired back, hitting two of the droids, forcing them to slump to the ground dead. Despite Lux's small victory, his hand was still injured and he was firing with his off hand, blindly. With his decreased accuracy and him being all by his lonesome, he couldn't take all of the droids by himself. He fell back behind a metal column. It sheltered him from the incoming blasts. He aimed his rifle around the column, firing blindly. It helped keep the droids at bay for a short time, but he was using an inaccurate method and running out of ammo at the same time. He was down to his last power pack for his weapon, which was half empty.

This is really bad.

"Blast it, Ahsoka! Where are you when I need you most?" He said aloud.

Suddenly, the two super battle droids were suspended into the air. They were still firing.

"Wait. Don't shoot, don't shoot, don't shoot!" the B1 sergeant ordered.

"I'm having a serious malfunction!" one SBD exclaimed.

On droid ran into Lux's field of view.

"Run away. Run aw-," the droid started to say before he was cut down by the floating SBD's.

Soon, all of the B1's were destroyed, and Lux peaked around the column to see the floating SBD's faced each other. They fired their powerful wrist rockets at each other, point blank, causing a powerful explosion that tore the two droids apart, sending burning shrapnel in every direction. Lux took cover behind his column to hide from the flying debris.

"What just happened?" Lux said aloud, seemingly to no one at first.

"Me!" said a voice behind him.

He then saw Ahsoka walking down the stairs that she ran up a few minutes ago. Her hips and head-tails swayed from side to side as she walked down the stairs. She slapped her hands together repeatedly, as if dusting them off after doing some heavy lifting. Evidently she had. Lux, still dumbstruck, was amazed, frightened... and still aroused... all at once. His mouth hung open. "That was you? How?" He exclaimed.

Ahsoka smirked

"Come on Luxie, give me a little credit," she said as she dragged her fingers along his chin in a flirtatious way as she passed him, "I'm always in time to save your butt."

Lux nearly fell forward when Ahsoka withdrew her hand. Then he blushed fiercely.

"Now let's get out of here. I'd say that this ship'll go down in about a few minutes," she said casually.

"Alright then," Lux said as he started jogging after Ahsoka. Then he froze in place. "Wait. What?"

"I raised the temperature of the engines and the core, and then I deactivated the coolant systems. This ship is about to get really hot. Now come on. We've got to get to the escape pod bay," Ahsoka said as she took off down the corridor.

Lux ran after her.

'This day just get's better and better'.

They made it to the aft escape pod bay. There was a squad of commando droids in the bay. Ahsoka charged. She jumped and delivered a powerful force kick to the nearest droid. It went flying into one of its comrades, destroying both of them. One droid headed right for Lux, but Ahsoka used the force to levitate the droid. It collapsed into a ball at her will. The final droid, with gold accents marking his rank, brandished a sword. He charged at Ahsoka. He swung the blade to the sides and even tried to bring it down on her head. She dodged each swing. Ahsoka raised her hands and used the force to send him crashing into the ceiling. She then crushed him down into the deck. Sparks flew from the exposed wiring in, and out of, B-260's head and torso.

When the coast was clear, Lux jumped into one of the escape pods and got behind the controls.

"Wait Lux, don't go anywhere," Ahsoka exclaimed.

she ran to a terminal in the center of the bay.

"Make it quick!" He called out after her.

Before she could do anything, Ahsoka saw a familiar face down the corridor. The figure had a red lightsaber.

Barriss.

She pressed a few buttons as fast as she could as Barriss started sprinting down the hall. When Ahsoka was finished, a timer started counting down. Ahsoka turned around to see Barriss diving towards her.

Before the Togruta teen could react, she was tackled to the ground with a grunt. As Barriss straddled atop her waist, she slashed her blades across the deck until they were crossed in an 'X' formation over Ahsoka's neck.

For a moment, Ahsoka and Barriss stared into each other's eyes. "Don't make me do this," Barriss threatened as a mask closed over her face.

Ahsoka struggled to push Barriss away, but to no avail.

"Ahsoka!" A voice called out.

The orange teen and her captives looked in the direction of the shout, only to see Lux standing in the doorway. He raised his blaster and fired at Barriss, who stood up, placing one of her feet on Ahsoka's chest, and started deflecting the shots back at Lux, who ducked back inside the pod to avoid the danger, not wanting to have his other hand injured like last time. As Barriss was ordering her guards to subdue the Senator, Ahsoka noticed a sheathe hanging from Barriss' waist.

Realizing that it was her knife, she raised her hand and used the force to summon the blade. It swung back and forth until it pulled toward her. Then it flew into her hand. When Barriss looked down, Ahsoka quickly unsheathed the knife, and jammed it into Barriss' calf just before she could slash at Ahsoka with her blades.

Barriss screamed in pain as she felt the cold steel pierce her skin, and staggered when Ahsoka withdrew it. Ahsoka then used the force to slam Barriss into the ceiling. And before she fell back down to the deck, Ahsoka jumped back up. When Barriss fell from the ceiling, and was in front of Ahsoka, the orange teen summoned a force push that sent Barriss, and her guards, flying down the hall.

Ahsoka then rushed back down the corridor and dove into the pod with Lux, before shutting the hatch behind her.

"Now Lux!" She exclaimed.

Lux hit a button and the pod jettisoned into space.

"What took you so long?!" He asked.

"I set all of those pods to launch in 60 seconds," Ahsoka said as she strapped herself into a seat.

Just then, all of the pods in the aft launch bay jettisoned to the planet below.

"Looks like it's been 60 seconds," Ahsoka said.

"Way to think ahead," Lux complimented.

She smiled at him.

'Thank the force we were still above Shili'.

A few seconds later, the separatist dreadnaught fired a broadside salvo at the jettisoned pods. Over half of them burst into flames, but not the one that Ahsoka and Lux were on. Soon, their pod was safely in the atmosphere, leaving the doomed dreadnaught behind, while approaching freedom.

Barriss screamed and slashed her blade against the wall behind her. Any droid that was in the bay with her took a step back in order to avoid her wrath. She soon started to breath heavily through her teeth. Then she collapsed to the ground, holding the calf that Ahsoka jabbed seconds ago.

"Uh, they got away mistress," one droid said.

Barriss turned around and swiftly slashed her blade across its torso, slicing it in half. She reached for her comm.

"Captain. Prepare to make the jump to hyperspace. And rally our ground forces. I'm taking them to the surface," Barriss ordered.

"Mistress. We can't go into hyperspace. The engines are overheating, and the coolant systems have been deactivated. The ship's engines are about to go critical," the captain said.

Suddenly, a violent explosion in the aft section vibrated throughout the interior of the ship. The lights turned red, and the ship's PA system blared a warning.

"Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Abandon ship!"

Barriss growled in rage force dashed down the hall to the forward escape pod bay, ignoring her wounded leg. Droids were already trying to leave the ship. One droid, that was too slow boarding the pod, was force pushed out of the way by Barriss.

"Hey!" the droid exclaimed as the hatch shut behind Barriss.

The pod was jettisoned from the now burning ship. The ship's captain, who had the Nexus route on a chip in his uniform pocket, was aboard the same pod as her. He was busy setting up the distress beacon. It flagged any other sep ship in the system, like the surviving shuttles, for evac. The dreadnaught, who's aft section glowed orange from the previous explosion, exploded again. This explosion was so powerful that it caused the armory for the gunnery deck in the center of the ship to ignite, causing secondary explosions that ripped the ship in half.

Everyone looked at the horrific, yet majestic, scene that they just escaped from.

"Well, at least it can't get any worse," one B1 unit said.

That's when a Venator-class Star Destroyer and several small escorts jumped out of hyperspace.

Everyone looked up in absolute terror as they looked at the ships that just arrived. One droid looked at the one who just spoke. "'Can't get any worse'. You just had to say something, didn't you?" He asked mockingly.

Barriss let her face drop into her hands in annoyance. There was only one reason that she wasn't cutting the two droids in half right now: she didn't want to cut the pod in half at the same time.

The Republic ships began to fire on the surviving Separatist ships that began to flee for safety or fight back... both options being in vain. Vulture droids were blasted out of the sky as they tried to fight, while shuttles and escape pods were being blasted apart as they tried to escape.

Barriss reached for her wrist comm.

"Someone, get get us out of here. NOW!" She shouted.

Moments later, amidst the 'great droid massacre', a surviving shuttle managed to pick up Barriss' escape pod and fly away from the carnage, and then jump into hyperspace in the direction of Serenno.

When they were safe from Republic harm, Barriss got out of the pod and climbed into the shuttle through an emergency hatch, while they were in hyperspace.

The captain and droids climbed out after her.

"Well..." the same droid from earlier said, "...at least we have the informa-".

CRUNCH!

Barriss used the force to smash the droid against the wall.

"Ow," the droid said after a few seconds. Then Barriss let go, allowing the damaged droid to fall to the ground.

Barriss sat down in a chair and began to contemplate this situation. Though it was a long-term victory for Dooku and the Confederacy, it was an absolute and utter defeat for her.

Her ship was destroyed.

Not only that, but it was destroyed by her ultimate prize: Ahsoka Tano. Who managed to get away from her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Well folks, that was part 9.

Part 10 will be up soon.

Until next time as always, this is Grubkiller, over and out.