Luke made his way up the last few steps to the roof, with Indy following
behind him, somewhat exasperated. "Ready?" Luke asked, pausing before the
door. Not about to show how tired he was, Indy nodded and held his sword up
in his right hand. Luke held tightly to his own weapon, and with his free
hand, threw open the door.
At the far side of the roof, a red speeder was parked. It was only 50 years away, but in between them and their means of escape stood four members of the Movement. They reacted quickly to the sound of the door opening, spinning to face their opponents. Three of them were sturdy young men, the fourth a stout young women. Standing with their swords ready to attack, however, they became opponents to be taken very seriously. "Stop! Drop your weapons!" one of the men yelled.
Luke always tried not to kill if he could. Turning to Indy, he said, "Just try to disarm them if you can. We don't want unnecessary deaths."
Indy really didn't care either way, as long as the enemy was disposed of. But he saw the serious look on the Jedi's face, and nodded his agreement. "Is that what we're trying to get to?" he said with a nod towards the speeder behind their opponents.
"Yes. We can't let them get away with it, either." He paused only a moment before steadily saying, "All right, let's go." He and Indy began to run at their adversaries, who had remained stationary but obviously ready to fight.
In a move that surprised his opponents, Luke stopped short of attack range and extended a hand palm-outward towards them. All four were knocked off- balance by the power of the Force hitting them, and stumbled backwards. In a fantastic leap, Luke quickly jumped to the closest one and pinned his right arm to the ground. The young man still held onto his sword, but was unable to reach Luke with it. Before the Jedi could disable the man, however, he sensed a blade slashing at his right side, and he spun to block it just in time. With a little surprise, he noted that his attacker was the young woman, who had sprung to her feet remarkably quickly. She swung expertly at his head, forcing him to take a step back and release his captive. He was too busy focusing on his new adversary.
Indy wasted no time in advancing upon the nearest fallen fighter. Forgoing the sword, he knocked the man unconscious with a single punch. Just in case he should happen to wake up, however, Indy tossed the man's sword over the edge of the roof. The other man near him scrambled quickly to his feet and lunged at Indy, who was barely able to deflect the barrage of enraged blows. Being only a novice at sword fighting, the archaeologist wasn't able to do much more than back away from his opponent's attacks. He realised that he was slowly backing towards the edge of the roof. His opponent perceived the worry on Indy's face, and allowed himself a momentary smirk of triumph as he raised his sword in the air. The satisfaction was short- lived. Indy drew his revolver quickly and shot the man in the leg. With a scream, he dropped his sword and grabbed his injured leg.
The sound of the gunshot distracted Luke's opponent briefly. It was enough to allow him a chance to flip over her head, a move she was obviously not expecting. Before she could reorient herself, the Jedi already had his sword at her neck. They locked eyes, and she scowled angrily. "Drop the sword," he said firmly but not harshly. Still, the young woman stayed frozen in place with her weapon gripped tightly in her right hand.
The sound of a gun cocking cracked the silence. "Please." Indy added in a slightly smug tone. With an angry sigh, she let the sword clatter to the rooftop, focusing her eyes on the blade Luke still held at her throat.
Convinced they had the woman subdued, Luke slowly lowered his sword and nodded to Indy to put away his revolver. "Where is the transmitter located?" he asked gently.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied stubbornly.
"We know there's an electromagnetic pulse, just tell us where the transmitter for it is located," Luke continued a little more firmly.
After a moment, she said, "It's in the basement of our headquarters."
"Where's that?" Indy said, stepping forward.
She spat out an address, which Luke quickly committed to memory. "All right, let's go, Indy." The two men hurried over to the parked speeder and jumped in, with Luke in the driver's seat. He pushed the ignition button, but nothing happened. He frowned and tried it again, but still none of the lights came on.
The woman behind them began to laugh, and Indy turned to Luke with a frown. "Why isn't it working?"
Luke let out a sigh. "Because it has no power."
* * * * *
Han immediately rushed over to pull Leia out of the way of any danger. They gathered with Bail at the edge of the room. In it's center, Uratis and Obi- Wan exploded towards each other simultaneously, the blades of their swords meeting with a loud sound that echoed through the assembly hall.
The young Jedi tried to relax and let the Force flow through him, but found himself overcome with adrenaline instead. Qui-Gon had always said he had a problem focusing on the moment, and he knew it was true. But, faced with such a formidable opponent in a real life-threatening situation, Obi-Wan had trouble keeping himself centered. Instead he began striking at his opponent in a frenzy. But Uratis was extremely well trained, and countered everyone of Obi-Wan's attacks with a move of his own, forcing the Jedi to push himself further. He aimed a long series of blows at alternating shoulders of his opponent, but to his dismay, each one was blocked. In fact, he realised too late, Uratis was intentionally letting Obi-Wan drive him backwards.
Uratis swung his sword in a full arc in front of himself that was not so much aimed at hitting his opponent as it was forcing him to take a step backwards. The second of space between them allowed Uratis enough time to jump up on one of the benches now right behind him and leap off of it into the air. Obi-Wan blocked his attack, but the extra momentum it gave the already powerful strike was enough to unbalance the Jedi. All his weight was pushed back on his right foot, and he was left half-crouching. With his weaker left arm forward, he was barely able to hold off the next blow, which came towards his head. The two blades were locked. Uratis pushed down with all his weight, a smirk crossing his features. He was taller and stronger than Obi-Wan, and forced the Jedi down on his right knee. Then, with a flick of his wrist, Uratis sent Obi-Wan's sword skidding across the floor.
Bail gave Han a quick worried look, and Leia bit her lip. But there was nothing any of them could do to help Obi-Wan. Han clenched his fists in frustration. He hated feeling helpless.
Only his Force-enhanced reflexes allowed Obi-Wan to roll backwards and out of the way of the next downward strike Uratis aimed at him. He sprung to his feet and desperately called the sword back to himself. Just as he was doing so, however, the lights in the room came on, amplifying the natural lighting streaming in via the skylights in the room. It took Obi-Wan a second to realise what this meant- the power was back on. He didn't know how, but he didn't really care either. He quickly dropped the cumbersome sword and activated his lightsabre. In a flash he had cut Uratis' sword in half and had the blade of his lightsabre pointing threateningly at his chest.
Uratis paled a shade and stood still for a moment. Then suddenly, he held an activated lightsabre in his own hand. In the moment of Obi-Wan's shock, he knocked the glowing blue blade away from his chest. "Not as easy when the playing fields are even, is it Jedi?" he taunted. "I took the liberty of borrowing this from your friend." He nodded towards Leia, who gave him a cold stare.
Obi-Wan ignored the taunting. He blocked out everything and took a deep, cleansing breath, letting the Force flow through him. It seemed much easier to concentrate with his own familiar lightsabre in hand than with the awkward sword. Now he definitely had the upper hand, but he couldn't let his confidence lull him into a false sense of security. Uratis was still a dangerous opponent. The Jedi did not advance on his opponent, but waited for him to make the first move. When he did, Obi-Wan blocked it easily, and the same with the next, and the next. As difficult as it was for him, he had to try not to attack impetuously. It had obviously not done him much good so far. He had to be patient, wait for Uratis to leave an opening or tire. But the man was driven by rage and the cause he believed in, both very powerful. He seemed unrelenting, and Obi-Wan felt as though the battle might never end.
That thought had just crossed Obi-Wan's mind when the sound of blaster fire rang out, and Uratis screamed in pain and loosened his grip on this lightsabre hilt. Without hesitation, Obi-Wan struck a well-aimed blow to the hilt, cutting off part of the top and effectively destroying it. Uratis stood doubled over, grasping the blaster wound on his leg. When Obi-Wan took another step toward him, however, he snapped up with a furious yell of pain and rage. He slashed at Obi-Wan with a knife he had kept tucked away in his boot, and the young Jedi had to spin to the side to keep it from sinking into his abdomen. Instead, it merely grazed his right side. Before Uratis could make another desperate attack, however, a series of blue rings hit him. The stun bolt knocked him over, finally motionless and unconscious.
With a heavy sigh of relief and exasperation, Obi-Wan deactivated his lightsabre and clipped it back on his belt. Just to be safe, he kicked the knife out of Uratis' limp hand as well. Then he turned his attention to Han, who was still holding his blaster comfortably in his hand. "Thank you," Obi-Wan said gratefully. "I was beginning to doubt my abilities there."
Han's eyebrows arched slowly as he realised Kenobi had shown humility. Maybe Leia was right, and he had been too harsh on the young man. "Hey, you looked like you were doing just fine. In fact that was pretty impressive fighting." Leia smiled up at Han appreciatively, and he just rolled his eyes slightly and looked away.
Obi-Wan bent down and gathered up the two broken halves of Leia's lightsabre. He handed them to Leia with a somewhat sheepish look on his face. "I'm sorry about that, Leia. I should have been more careful. I think I got caught up in the moment."
"It's fine Obi-Wan," she replied with a smile. "I can always build a new one. The important thing is that we're all right." She turned to Bail. "Especially Senator Organa."
Bail bowed his head slightly. "Truly, I am infinitely grateful to you Jedi for your assistance," he turned to Han, "and to you as well, Sir."
Han had never been good at accepting honest praise. And the realisation that he was now receiving it from Leia's father, whom he had never met, made him more uncomfortable with it. He tried to think of something graceful to say, but that was never his strong point. Instead he settled on a shrug and a low, "No problem."
Obi-Wan addressed Han. "If you'll stay here with Uratis, I'll go out and see if I can get the local guards to come arrest him. With the power back on, they should be in control very soon. I should also find out what's become of Luke and Indy." Han nodded his agreement, and the Jedi began to jog back to the main entrance.
At the far side of the roof, a red speeder was parked. It was only 50 years away, but in between them and their means of escape stood four members of the Movement. They reacted quickly to the sound of the door opening, spinning to face their opponents. Three of them were sturdy young men, the fourth a stout young women. Standing with their swords ready to attack, however, they became opponents to be taken very seriously. "Stop! Drop your weapons!" one of the men yelled.
Luke always tried not to kill if he could. Turning to Indy, he said, "Just try to disarm them if you can. We don't want unnecessary deaths."
Indy really didn't care either way, as long as the enemy was disposed of. But he saw the serious look on the Jedi's face, and nodded his agreement. "Is that what we're trying to get to?" he said with a nod towards the speeder behind their opponents.
"Yes. We can't let them get away with it, either." He paused only a moment before steadily saying, "All right, let's go." He and Indy began to run at their adversaries, who had remained stationary but obviously ready to fight.
In a move that surprised his opponents, Luke stopped short of attack range and extended a hand palm-outward towards them. All four were knocked off- balance by the power of the Force hitting them, and stumbled backwards. In a fantastic leap, Luke quickly jumped to the closest one and pinned his right arm to the ground. The young man still held onto his sword, but was unable to reach Luke with it. Before the Jedi could disable the man, however, he sensed a blade slashing at his right side, and he spun to block it just in time. With a little surprise, he noted that his attacker was the young woman, who had sprung to her feet remarkably quickly. She swung expertly at his head, forcing him to take a step back and release his captive. He was too busy focusing on his new adversary.
Indy wasted no time in advancing upon the nearest fallen fighter. Forgoing the sword, he knocked the man unconscious with a single punch. Just in case he should happen to wake up, however, Indy tossed the man's sword over the edge of the roof. The other man near him scrambled quickly to his feet and lunged at Indy, who was barely able to deflect the barrage of enraged blows. Being only a novice at sword fighting, the archaeologist wasn't able to do much more than back away from his opponent's attacks. He realised that he was slowly backing towards the edge of the roof. His opponent perceived the worry on Indy's face, and allowed himself a momentary smirk of triumph as he raised his sword in the air. The satisfaction was short- lived. Indy drew his revolver quickly and shot the man in the leg. With a scream, he dropped his sword and grabbed his injured leg.
The sound of the gunshot distracted Luke's opponent briefly. It was enough to allow him a chance to flip over her head, a move she was obviously not expecting. Before she could reorient herself, the Jedi already had his sword at her neck. They locked eyes, and she scowled angrily. "Drop the sword," he said firmly but not harshly. Still, the young woman stayed frozen in place with her weapon gripped tightly in her right hand.
The sound of a gun cocking cracked the silence. "Please." Indy added in a slightly smug tone. With an angry sigh, she let the sword clatter to the rooftop, focusing her eyes on the blade Luke still held at her throat.
Convinced they had the woman subdued, Luke slowly lowered his sword and nodded to Indy to put away his revolver. "Where is the transmitter located?" he asked gently.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied stubbornly.
"We know there's an electromagnetic pulse, just tell us where the transmitter for it is located," Luke continued a little more firmly.
After a moment, she said, "It's in the basement of our headquarters."
"Where's that?" Indy said, stepping forward.
She spat out an address, which Luke quickly committed to memory. "All right, let's go, Indy." The two men hurried over to the parked speeder and jumped in, with Luke in the driver's seat. He pushed the ignition button, but nothing happened. He frowned and tried it again, but still none of the lights came on.
The woman behind them began to laugh, and Indy turned to Luke with a frown. "Why isn't it working?"
Luke let out a sigh. "Because it has no power."
* * * * *
Han immediately rushed over to pull Leia out of the way of any danger. They gathered with Bail at the edge of the room. In it's center, Uratis and Obi- Wan exploded towards each other simultaneously, the blades of their swords meeting with a loud sound that echoed through the assembly hall.
The young Jedi tried to relax and let the Force flow through him, but found himself overcome with adrenaline instead. Qui-Gon had always said he had a problem focusing on the moment, and he knew it was true. But, faced with such a formidable opponent in a real life-threatening situation, Obi-Wan had trouble keeping himself centered. Instead he began striking at his opponent in a frenzy. But Uratis was extremely well trained, and countered everyone of Obi-Wan's attacks with a move of his own, forcing the Jedi to push himself further. He aimed a long series of blows at alternating shoulders of his opponent, but to his dismay, each one was blocked. In fact, he realised too late, Uratis was intentionally letting Obi-Wan drive him backwards.
Uratis swung his sword in a full arc in front of himself that was not so much aimed at hitting his opponent as it was forcing him to take a step backwards. The second of space between them allowed Uratis enough time to jump up on one of the benches now right behind him and leap off of it into the air. Obi-Wan blocked his attack, but the extra momentum it gave the already powerful strike was enough to unbalance the Jedi. All his weight was pushed back on his right foot, and he was left half-crouching. With his weaker left arm forward, he was barely able to hold off the next blow, which came towards his head. The two blades were locked. Uratis pushed down with all his weight, a smirk crossing his features. He was taller and stronger than Obi-Wan, and forced the Jedi down on his right knee. Then, with a flick of his wrist, Uratis sent Obi-Wan's sword skidding across the floor.
Bail gave Han a quick worried look, and Leia bit her lip. But there was nothing any of them could do to help Obi-Wan. Han clenched his fists in frustration. He hated feeling helpless.
Only his Force-enhanced reflexes allowed Obi-Wan to roll backwards and out of the way of the next downward strike Uratis aimed at him. He sprung to his feet and desperately called the sword back to himself. Just as he was doing so, however, the lights in the room came on, amplifying the natural lighting streaming in via the skylights in the room. It took Obi-Wan a second to realise what this meant- the power was back on. He didn't know how, but he didn't really care either. He quickly dropped the cumbersome sword and activated his lightsabre. In a flash he had cut Uratis' sword in half and had the blade of his lightsabre pointing threateningly at his chest.
Uratis paled a shade and stood still for a moment. Then suddenly, he held an activated lightsabre in his own hand. In the moment of Obi-Wan's shock, he knocked the glowing blue blade away from his chest. "Not as easy when the playing fields are even, is it Jedi?" he taunted. "I took the liberty of borrowing this from your friend." He nodded towards Leia, who gave him a cold stare.
Obi-Wan ignored the taunting. He blocked out everything and took a deep, cleansing breath, letting the Force flow through him. It seemed much easier to concentrate with his own familiar lightsabre in hand than with the awkward sword. Now he definitely had the upper hand, but he couldn't let his confidence lull him into a false sense of security. Uratis was still a dangerous opponent. The Jedi did not advance on his opponent, but waited for him to make the first move. When he did, Obi-Wan blocked it easily, and the same with the next, and the next. As difficult as it was for him, he had to try not to attack impetuously. It had obviously not done him much good so far. He had to be patient, wait for Uratis to leave an opening or tire. But the man was driven by rage and the cause he believed in, both very powerful. He seemed unrelenting, and Obi-Wan felt as though the battle might never end.
That thought had just crossed Obi-Wan's mind when the sound of blaster fire rang out, and Uratis screamed in pain and loosened his grip on this lightsabre hilt. Without hesitation, Obi-Wan struck a well-aimed blow to the hilt, cutting off part of the top and effectively destroying it. Uratis stood doubled over, grasping the blaster wound on his leg. When Obi-Wan took another step toward him, however, he snapped up with a furious yell of pain and rage. He slashed at Obi-Wan with a knife he had kept tucked away in his boot, and the young Jedi had to spin to the side to keep it from sinking into his abdomen. Instead, it merely grazed his right side. Before Uratis could make another desperate attack, however, a series of blue rings hit him. The stun bolt knocked him over, finally motionless and unconscious.
With a heavy sigh of relief and exasperation, Obi-Wan deactivated his lightsabre and clipped it back on his belt. Just to be safe, he kicked the knife out of Uratis' limp hand as well. Then he turned his attention to Han, who was still holding his blaster comfortably in his hand. "Thank you," Obi-Wan said gratefully. "I was beginning to doubt my abilities there."
Han's eyebrows arched slowly as he realised Kenobi had shown humility. Maybe Leia was right, and he had been too harsh on the young man. "Hey, you looked like you were doing just fine. In fact that was pretty impressive fighting." Leia smiled up at Han appreciatively, and he just rolled his eyes slightly and looked away.
Obi-Wan bent down and gathered up the two broken halves of Leia's lightsabre. He handed them to Leia with a somewhat sheepish look on his face. "I'm sorry about that, Leia. I should have been more careful. I think I got caught up in the moment."
"It's fine Obi-Wan," she replied with a smile. "I can always build a new one. The important thing is that we're all right." She turned to Bail. "Especially Senator Organa."
Bail bowed his head slightly. "Truly, I am infinitely grateful to you Jedi for your assistance," he turned to Han, "and to you as well, Sir."
Han had never been good at accepting honest praise. And the realisation that he was now receiving it from Leia's father, whom he had never met, made him more uncomfortable with it. He tried to think of something graceful to say, but that was never his strong point. Instead he settled on a shrug and a low, "No problem."
Obi-Wan addressed Han. "If you'll stay here with Uratis, I'll go out and see if I can get the local guards to come arrest him. With the power back on, they should be in control very soon. I should also find out what's become of Luke and Indy." Han nodded his agreement, and the Jedi began to jog back to the main entrance.