Chapter 22
"Score one for Tachi in stupidity," said Siri, as she surveyed the statue she had knocked over as she had tried to avoid an alarm system. With a quick wave of her hand, the statue was back in one, slightly cracked, piece.
"What just happened?" asked Obi-Wan from the comm.
"Nothing to be alarmed over," replied Siri. "I think it would be best to maintain comm silence now. I'm not sure what I am about to get myself-" Siri broke off in mid-sentence. She felt a haze over her lift, and with a flash, realized-"Arryn!" she exclaimed suddenly.
"What?" asked Obi-Wan.
"She's here, I can sense her. The effect from the ysalamiri has dissipated. Now would be a good time for backup. Meet me in the mezzanine. I am going to try to find Arryn." Siri flicked off the comm and set off tosearch forArryn.
"I don't care how long it takes, I want the power back in here immediately!" Arriette screamed into her comm. In addition to locking them in, the little Jedi brat had cut the power in the room. The backup generators were not working, which made the situation worse. That littleJedi had caused her too much disarray. Arriette didn't care how much knowledge the Padawan contained- the next time she found the brat, she would spare no mercy.
"Lightsaber, lightsaber, where would they keep a lightsaber?" said Arryn to herself. She tensed for a moment, sensing something, but relaxed slightly as she realized it was a Jedi presence! As she rounded the corner, she saw Siri, but behind her were the two Sith apprentices, Annika Lia and Coram Nelamin. They weren't with the others, thought Arryn as she slapped herself on the forehead for forgetting such an important detail. Arryn grabbed a blaster from a weapons rack on the wall and shouted "SIRI!" as the two Sith apprentices advanced on the Jedi Knight. Siri turned just in time to ignite her lightsaber and found herself face to face with two double bladed swords.
Siri went immediately into action, blocking and striking with all her might. The Sith apprentices were good, but not nearly to the level of a fully trained Jedi Knight. Arryn was frozen, helpless, as she watched the battle commence.
"Use the blaster," called Siri to Arryn.
Arryn looked down at it. "I don't know how to use it!" In the blink of an eye, Siri tossed her lightsaber to Arryn, who threw her the blaster in turn.
"Remember what we practiced earlier on the ship?" called Siri as she expertly fired at the two Sith.
"Yes!"
"Now would be a good time to use it. Remember, keep a strong center. Come on, Arryn, you can do it."
Siri's lightsaber felt a bit strange to Arryn, but it felt more normal than using a blaster. She was able to easily maneuver with her small size, which made it more difficult for Annika and Coram to decently attack. Arryn heard voices behind her and saw the rest of the Jedi team. Elantra, whose expression of joy at seeing Arryn quickly materialized into one of grim determination, ignited his lightsaber and lept into the battle to defend hisMaster.Less than a second later, Arryn heard three additional lightsabers ignite and watched as the two Sith apprentices found themselves outnumbered.
"I surrender," said Annika, switching off her lightsaber and dropping it to the ground.
"Me too," said Coram as he dropped his lightsaber next to Annika's.
Arryn's eyes narrowed. The move was highly unusual and she had a slight feeling there was some ulterior motive behind their surrender. Siri picked up the two lightsabers and moved to guard the two Sith apprentices. Upon turning, she saw why they had given up so easily. "Behind you!" she called to the other Jedi. The Sith had managed to hotwire the door and had escaped with the two Imperial guards at their flank.
"This does not look good," murmured Elantra.
Obi-Wan tossed something at Arryn, who caught it with her free hand. It was her lightsaber. Shethrew a grateful look to Obi-Wan and tossed Siri's lightsaber back to her.
"Let's show 'em what Jedi are made of!" Arryn whispered to Elantra. The battle commenced and the Imperial guards, who were very slow,were quickly takendown by Obi-Wan, leaving only the two armed Sith lords.
"Annika! Coram!" snarled Emory as he saw the saw the twodefeated apprentices. "I thought better of you! Assist us now!"
Coram looked around helplessly.
Arriette yelled, "That's a direct order!"
Annika replied bluntly, "I don't want to die."
Arriette lunged at them, "Why I ought to…" But was not able to finish her sentence. She collapsed forward as she was hit in the back by a blaster shot. Arryn turned to look and was surprised to see Willis Schualberke holdinga blaster with a shaking hand.
"I couldn't let her hurt...my granddaughter," he said before collapsing.
"Is he…dead?" Arryn asked, before fully comprehending what Schualberke had said.
Darsha felt his pulse. "No, he'sjust unconscious."
Annika looked shocked, but her attention quickly turned toward her Master, who had a look of pure and utter hatred on his face. "You will pay for killing Arriette!" As quick as lightning, he snatched both Annika's and Coram's lightsabers from Siri.
"Now I'd like to see you take me on!" Tiana said, starting to rant. "Come on Jedi, give me your best." He started backing up against the wall.
Silence dominated the room for a split second, as time seemed to slow. Siridiscreetly picked up Schualberke's discardedblaster and a shot rang out. Emory fell to the ground and looked directly at Arryn. "Jedi brat," he said with great difficulty. And then he fell quiet.
"Is he…gone?" asked Elantra.
Darsha nodded silently. Annika's dark eyes suddenly welled up with tears. Coram moved closer to quietly comforther.
Everyone's attention was drawn from the sobbing girl to a crash in the hallway leading back to the room where Arryn's interrogation took place.
"Ballastiodes!" Arryn looked to Obi-Wan. "He is here too!"
"Stay here, Arryn," called Obi-Wan.
"You two, stay," ordered Darsha to Anaria and Elantra as the three Jedi Knightsran to find the missing Senator.
Arryn surveyed the mass of bodies, including Coram and Annika crying in the corner. She heard Anaria and Elantra come up next to her. "Even though they were evil, I still feel bad. Ugh, I hate death!" Arryn said to no one in particular.
"Who doesn't?" Anaria replied softly.
Garith Ballastiodes was sitting at his desk in the adjoining office to the room in which he used for interrogations, when the door burst open and the three Jedi arrived.
"Hello," he said smoothly. "Might I ask what you are doing in my office?"
Obi-Wan looked around cautiously. "You are Senator Ballastiodes?" Ballastiodes got up and walked around his desk to face them.
He held out a hand. "Yes, I am. And you would be…"
Siri looked at his hand and raised an eyebrow. Obi-Wan continued."Curious about your involvement in the kidnapping of an eleven year old Jedi Padawan."
Ballastiodes took his hand back. "Excuse me? I've been here all night working. I know nothing of…a kidnapping and I find it very disconcerting that you just accused me of such a crime."
Obi-Wan fed into his thoughts with the Force. "You're lying, Senator. I'd advise you to make things easier for yourself and simply tell us the truth."
Ballastiodes smoothed his expensive tunic and folded his arms. "I have no idea what you are talking about."
Siri peered at his desk. "Then you wouldn't mind if we searched your office."
Ballastiodes' cool deportment changed into icy hostility. "Do you have a warrant?"
Obi-Wan stepped forward. "Actually, we do. You see, while my friend was here searching for my apprentice, we notified the local authorities, whoare arriving this verymoment. They were very distressed to hear that both their governor and senator were involved in a corrupt plot to kill innocent people. That would make for interesting reading in the morning news, now, wouldn't it?"
Ballastiodes' snake-like eyes narrowed. "Fine. I was behind it all. The kidnapping of the stupid little girl, the deployment of the Sith, all of it. But you'll never be able to prove it. I have a ship ready for deployment in ten minutes and if I am not on it, squads of battle droids will descend on Bondori and destroy the city."
Several squads of the police force stormed in. "By the high order of Bondor, we are hereby placing you under arrest!" Ballastiodes immediately put on his oily politician façade.
"I am the Senator of this planet and I demand to know under what charges you are placing me under arrest for!"
Siri pulled out her comlink and pressed a button. Ballastiodes voice filtered out. "…I was behind it all. The kidnapping of the stupid little girl, the deployment of the Sith, all of it..."
"Now call off the droids." Siri commanded.
Ballastiodes looked at the chief of the authorities. "These people are trying to set me up! I had nothing to do with the kidnapping and torture of the Jedi!"
"If you had nothing to do with it, then how did you know she was tortured?" said Darsha, folding her arms.
The chief of police stepped forward. "If you call off the droids, your detainment time will be reduced. You might even be able to run for reelection...though after this, I'd like to see who would vote for you."
Seeing as he had no choice, Ballastiodes called off the droids. An officer placed stun cuffs on his wrists. Ballastiodes sneered at Obi-Wan, "You set me up. You will pay for this, Jedi scum."
"You set yourself up the moment you involved yourself in this," replied Obi-Wan.
"Take him away," said the chief of police.
"You'll find Willis Schualberke and two Sith apprentices in the hall with the Padawans," said Obi-Wan to the chief. The three Jedi left the senator's office and returned to their apprentices.