Hello everyone, and welcome to chapter 13 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade!

Creativity: Ooh, this is it, isn't it… Where things are gonna get weird…

Author: Oh yeah, things are gonna get weird…

I know that this chapter is among the more anticipated chapters for this story. I can't imagine why… ominous chuckle…

Now then, let us address the preview chapter's reviews:

NullSilver: Right now! Thank you for asking

Creativity: Nothing else? Very well then! On to business!

Author: So, last we left off, things were about to get CAHRAAAAAAAZAY!

Creativity: And so, after we provide our Discord password: xtydzBf, we can get into the CAHRAAAAAAAZAY stuff we have planned for you all!

Author: So we can! And so we shall!

Allow us to proudly present chapter 13 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade!

DWAT!

SNAP-HISS!

PING!

"AAAAAGH!"

Arvos may have still been reeling from the shockwave of horror that had crashed into him through the Force, but he still recognized the sound of a lightsaber deflecting a blaster bolt. He turned to see Master Marahl standing in a crouched position, arm over her head and lightsaber pointing towards the ground. Just behind her was a dead Clone Trooper, a smoking scorch-mark in the right temple of his helmet.

Suddenly, Arvos found himself thrown flat against the wall as chaos erupted around him! Blaster bolts were flying past him at Master Marahl as she blocked every blast coming her way with a speed and ferocity that Arvos had yet to witness from his master! Suddenly, one of his lightsabers sprang from his belt into the Jedi Master's hand and ignited, the ebony blade joining the master's emerald one in a deadly dance to ward off the hailstorm of blue plasma!

Barely heard over the din of whirling lightsabers and blaster-fire were the shouts of orders and agony from the clones, as they fell to their own deflected blasts and the occasional lightsaber strike when they strayed too close.

However, the clone numbers weren't diminishing in number, and Arvos didn't need the Force to tell that his master couldn't keep this up for much longer. The clones needed to be cut off.

Seeing an opening, Arvos reached out with the Force and threw a trooper's aim way of course, straight at the controls for the blast doors! One misplaced shot later, and the doors began to shut!

Unfortunately, that little stunt had reminded the clones that Arvos was still there and now he had blasters trained on him again! That said, those blasters were no longer pointing at the Jedi Master, who immediately capitalized on the opportunity to finish off the clones cut off at the blast doors, then rush towards the clones by the turbolift and cut them down in a matter of moments!

"Master, what…" Arvos stuttered in a daze before Master Marahl replaced her lightsaber on her belt, then used the Force to call a trooper's blaster to her hand and shoot out every security camera in the hallway!

"Master, what are you…!" Arvos yelped before Marahl grabbed him by the shoulder and quickly pulled him to the corridor walls, hauling open a maintenance hatch and shoving him through! Arvos wound up falling on his side amidst the many pipes and wires that hung about the maintenance corridors of the Star Destroyer. A pair of boots thudded to the floor beside him and the maintenance hatch slammed shut before he was hauled up to his feet by his shoulder, then spun around to look his master dead in the eyes. There was great fear in them, but also resolve.

"Padawan, I need you to listen to me very carefully. The Clones have turned on us. All of us." The Theelin Jedi hissed to her pupil, who paled.

"I don't have answers to your questions yet. All we can do is focus on getting off this ship alive, and hopefully finding more Jedi to ally with." Master Marahl told him firmly as she gripped his shoulders. Arvos just nodded numbly. Everything felt wrong; the ground felt unsteady under his feet and everything he heard sounded distorted.

Luckily, a sudden shaking from the shoulders (courtesy of his master) was enough to snap him back reality, at least enough that he could pay attention and focus.

"Okay… What's the plan, Master?" Arvos asked hesitantly as he took back his lightsaber from his master before the sound of plastoid armor clanging against durasteel. Marahl cursed and quickly began dragging Arvos through the maintenance corridors, deeper and deeper into the guts of the ship.

"Right now, we have to assume that everyone on this ship wants us dead. We can't use the escape pods; No hyperdrive and we'd be a sitting duck for the Star Destroyer's turbolasers and starfighters. That means we'll need to commandeer a ship from the hanger." Master Marahl began muttering as she led Arvos further and further through the maintenance tunnels.

"The starfighters are too risky. We'd need to reach a hyperspace ring, leaving us too exposed to turbolasers. That leaves the vessel we arrived on, which will no doubt be locked down by the Troopers, not to mention all hanger itself will be locked down even tighter…" She continued before she reached a vertical hatch, which the Theelin hauled open and descended down with one hand, other hand clutching her lightsaber tightly. Arvos followed behind her, having combined his lightsabers into a saberstaff to keep one hand free.

"We'll need to cut off internal surveillance to mask our approach, and disable the weapon systems near the hanger at least. If we can do that, then we can try to breach the hanger and reach the ship. That said, we'll still have to get through the Troopers stationed in the hanger…" Marahl continued muttering as they rounded a corner, eventually coming to a more open area where she took a knee and closed her eyes. Arvos paused a moment, then kneeled down beside her and waited for his master to speak.

As he waited, Arvos closed his eyes and did his best to center himself. He couldn't just keep getting pulled around through this nightmare, especially if/when they were confronted with Clone Troopers again. This was a matter of life and death, and it required all of his focus.

"I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me… I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me…"

The mantra helped to calm and center himself, but Razorre still wasn't at his best. His connection to the Force felt different… wrong…

Whatever was happening to all the Jedi, it was reverberating through the Force and affecting his connection to it.

"Padawan."

Arvos looked up from the durasteel floor to his master, who wore a grim expression.

"We need to form a plan." She declared quietly before she fished a portable holoprojector out of her tunic and tapped on it a few times, bringing up a hologram of a Venator class Star Destroyer.

"If we want to escape, we need to break the Clones' coordination in hunting us. It won't be long until they start searching the maintenance tunnels for us, but we can use that to our advantage. But I'm getting ahead of myself." Marahl explained before she tapped a few times on the holoprojector.

"I can currently think of two methods of escaping; Escape pod, and the shuttle we arrived in. The escape pods will be easier for us to reach, but also more dangerous as we will have no weapons or shields to defend ourselves, and they can simply pick us off with their turbolasers. However, if we knocked out surveillance and communications, as well as damaged their targeting systems, we could launch all of the escape pods at once and hopefully make it down to Felucia, where we could possibly commandeer a ship." Master Marahl explained as she pointed out a few different sections of the ship.

"Surveillance and Communications can both be disabled here, and we need them disabled if we're going to use either of the proposed escape methods. However, we need to make sure that they aren't rerouted to the backup systems. However, I should have a way around that…" Marahl began explaining before she adjusted the projection of the Venator.

"The targeting systems are going to be more difficult, and we can't be assured that any of the systems we bring offline will stay offline for our escape…" Marahl noted as she stroked her temples, trying to think of something. Arvos closed his eyes and considered all the information he'd heard so far.

"The escape methods don't have to be mutually exclusive." Arvos realized. Marahl eyed him curiously as Arvos slowly began putting some pieces together.

"If we can somehow disable their lifeform scanners and the turbolasers, then launch all the escape pods all at once, that would force them to open the hangers to send fighters after them. If we disable the communications afterwards, they won't be alerted if we rush the hanger and make our escape on the shuttle. They might not even notice until we're already in hyperspace!" Arvos thought aloud. A faint smile crept across Marahl's face.

"That could work. However, we still run into the problem of timing. We need to be able to disable all those systems in order, and be able to escape before they can get them working again." She noted. Arvos stroked his chin before inspiration struck.

"Does this ship have EMP charges on it? If we connected those to a remote detonator, we could set off the charges as we needed from anywhere aboard the ship." He suggested. Marahl's smile widened.

"Yes, yes that could work… We'd have to get the charges from the armory. Clones can't carry them while not deployed on missions. However, the armory security might have dropped. After all Jedi don't use blasters and explosives. That said, we shouldn't count on it." She noted as she closed her eyes in thought. After a few moments, she rose and removed something from within her tunic. Arvos couldn't see it very well, but it looked like a communicator of some kind.

After pressing a few buttons on it, Marahl pocketed the device and motioned for Arvos to follow her.

"First stop is the armory. We secure the charges and then start laying the groundwork for our escape. I've arranged for a few distractions to keep the Clones off our trail." Marahl quickly informed Arvos as they navigated through the maintenance tunnels. Every once and a while they heard the Clones rushing by hatches, though they luckily went unnoticed.

Unfortunately, the Clones weren't going to stay out of the corridors for long, and soon Arvos and Marahl had to start being very careful to avoid detection. The closest brush they had with being discovered was when they'd been forced to hide in a tangle of cables suspended from the ceiling, getting out of sight moments before the Clones in the tunnels rounded the corner.

Luckily, one of Marahl's apparent distractions managed to draw them away, and the two were once again on the move. It took a lot longer than Arvos initially anticipated to reach the armory, but they eventually reached it and Arvos could already see the items they were looking for. Unfortunately, there was also a standard patrol assigned to the armory. Apparently, whatever had caused the Clones to suddenly lose their minds hadn't stopped them from following other military protocols.

"Master, how are going to…" Arvos began to ask, only for the Theelin Jedi to hold up her hand.

"Wait for it…" She murmured cryptically. So, Arvos did just that; waiting for whatever his master had planned.

Then, all hell broke loose.

Alarms started going off in the corridor outside as the doors began to open and shut at rapid speed! Several of the clones rushed to figure out what was going on, while others began shouting into their comm units! Arvos wasn't able to make out all of it, but what little he could make out seemed to indicate that similar events were going on in multiple areas of the ship. Arvos turned his gaze to his master, who was wearing the biggest grin of self-satisfaction he'd ever seen.

"Never underestimate the chaos a group of astromech droids with a mission can unleash." Marahl lectured with a mischievous lilt before creeping out of the tunnels like a predatory feline. Arvos followed close behind as he and his master set about collecting all the EMP charges they could carry before slipping back into the maintenance corridors.

"How did you get the astromechs to do that?" Arvos wondered in awe as they stole their way towards the surveillance and communications hubs.

"R4-V8 was specially modified at my request to have a silent, binary transceiver added to their design, allowing us to communicate wirelessly without using holocomms. The messages can't be too complicated, but that's why we included several key phrases and associated plans. I just told R4 to pass on a message to the astromechs aboard this Star Destroyer and get our ship ready for takeoff, and now we're off." She revealed. Arvos suddenly had new appreciation for his master's forethought, and especially thankful to the astromechs that were now risking themselves for himself and his master. Undoubtedly those astromechs would be found out and either have their memory wiped, or worse, be terminated.

"We need to move quickly. I doubt this distraction will work for long, and we have to anticipate the likelihood that they'll notice the missing weapons." Marahl reminded him. The two picked up the pace, nimbly navigating the maintenance corridors and avoiding the occasional Clone patrol until they finally reached their destination. This one was strangely unguarded for such a critical location. At first, Arvos anticipated that there was an ambush waiting for them. However, Marahl disagreed. Apparently, the rogue astromechs had done an excellent job of specifically clearing the clones away from this section of important, yet incredibly fragile computer systems.

"We'd best work quickly. We don't know when they'll return and we don't want them discovering our plan even if we're well away from this place." Marahl muttered before the two of them got to work. Placing the EMP charges didn't take too long, but they had to be careful to make sure they weren't going to be spotted to early, and they had to make sure that there were no clones coming in that could discover them and ruin their plan. Still, they were able to make short work of the task and were soon on their way to handle the targeting systems.

The trek to get there was easier than getting to the armory or the surveillance and communications centers, but that was countered by the fact that there was a far heavier Clone presence at this location than the others. As Arvos and Marahl continued to scout from the vents, it was becoming increasingly clear that setting up the EMP charges was going to be much more difficult than before.

"I don't think some astromechs causing light mayhem is going to work this time." Arvos murmured as the two Jedi tried to get a better view of their opposition.

"Then we'll need to try a different approach…" Marahl murmured as she handed all of her detonators to Arvos and unclipped her lightsaber from her belt. Arvos paled as his eyes widened.

"Master no, you can't…!" He started to plead before Marahl cut him off.

"I will do what I must to get you off this ship alive and in one piece, padawan. Even if it costs me my life." Marahl hissed as she grabbed his shoulders and looked him dead in the eye. Arvos felt new dread knotting in his chest. Marahl's gaze softened and relaxed her grip.

"Fear not. I do not intend to die here. I have a plan to set the charges and escape to the hanger, but I need you to stay focused and not stop for anything, not even me." She continued before she produced her holoprojector again.

"I'm going to alert the astromechs through R4 to cut off cameras and lights in these sections of the ship. After that, I'll draw the clones away from the targeting systems so you can set the charges and escape. After the charges are set, don't wait for me. Run for the hanger and get ready to detonate the charges." Marahl carefully instructed. Arvos nodded numbly and took a few deep breaths before his master firmly gripped his shoulders again, drawing his uncertain eyes to her determined ones.

I swear to you on the Force, padawan, that I will see you safely away from this place." Marahl promised firmly. Arvos swallowed and nodded before he took one last deep breath.

Tense minutes went by as they waited for the astromechs to respond to Marahl's instructions. Arvos was growing fearful that the droids had already been felled by the Clones gone mad. However, the lights suddenly going out and alarms going off suddenly dispelled such worries. As the Clones sprang into action to figure out what was going on, Marahl silently slipped out of the maintenance corridors and crept off into the shadows. Minutes late, Arvos heard the distinct SNAP-HISS of a lightsaber being ignited and Clones shouting in surprise, followed by blasters discharging and screaming as the clones were cut down by blade or their own fire.

"That's my cue…" Arvos muttered as he slipped out of the vents and stole his way into the housing for the targeting systems and began attaching the charges wherever he could. There wasn't enough time to be careful. Arvos just hoped his master survived the distraction. He had no idea how he was going to escape without her…

While the work was swift, it felt like it took an agonizing amount of time to set a single charge. Still, it was soon done and Arvos snuck back into the tunnels and began making his way towards the hanger. The stage was set. All that was left was to make the run.

This was the longest stretch of the escape, and it had Arvos the tensest by far. Every sound that wasn't a blaring alarm had him jumping and ready to ignite his lightsabers. Fortunately, he had no encounters with even a single Clone in his escape. Wherever Marahl was, she was certainly doing an excellent job of keeping the rogue soldiers occupied. He occasionally heard duraplast boots run past him in the main corridors, but there was never any danger of being discovered.

Soon enough, Arvos' last stretch of running across the ship came to an end as he reached the large security station that overlooked the hanger. Peering inside, he breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing it was empty and slipped inside, quickly engaging the emergency locks to ensure the Clones couldn't just walk in and catch him unawares.

After cutting the door controls with his lightsaber for good measure, Arvos turned his attention to the hanger. It was still teaming with clones that were ready to gun him down at first sight, and they looked extra vigilant. He frantically searched all the bays until he saw a blue flash coming from one of the bays. Peering closer, he could see it was R4, using a blinker to signal his location! Arvos quickly opened the docking records and checked the bay that R4 was signaling from and confirmed that was where the ship was located.

"Alright, I know where to go. Now all I need is to…" Arvos started to say before he stopped. Master Marahl wasn't here yet, nor was there any indication that she was nearby.

"After the charges are set, don't wait for me. Run for the hanger and get ready to detonate the charges."

Those were his instructions; his last instructions from his master.

Arvos retrieved the detonator from his tunic and looked down at it. The device was growing heavier in his hand with every passing moment. Why was this so hard? All he had to do was detonate the charges connected to the targeting systems and wait for the escape pods to jettison, then wait for all the starfighters to leave the hanger and cut off communications before making a run for the ship to escape.

It sounded a lot more complicated to Arvos when he laid it all out like that, especially when he would be doing so on his own, and probably leaving his master behind to die.

"What do I do…?!" Arvos hissed to himself as he paced back and forth, trying desperately to think of a plan that would allow him to wait for his master without disobeying her last order.

Knock knock knock

Arvos' back ran cold as he heard the sound of duraplast rapping on durasteel. It was coming from just outside the door to the rest of the ship. Worse still, he could hear the muffled voices of clone troopers outside; a clear indication that he was rapidly running out of time.

Well, it turned out that this chapter was WAY too long and had to be split in two for better readability and flow. So, you all won't have to wait as long for your next helping of Star Wars goodness!

Creativity: I think you're just so evil, that you're starting to be subconsciously evil.

Author: I won't write off that possibility.

Welp, not much else to say here! I'm mentally exhausted and need at lots of sleep. Lots of sleep, dear god…

Creativity: Well, he's out of it. I guess I'm handling the outro this time!

Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you next Friday!