Lux Bonteri figured that he had the worst luck in the world. He'd finally reunited with Ahsoka, gotten to go on the adventure of a lifetime, and then he'd been imprisoned by the Deathwatch and would probably never see either Ahsoka or Barriss again.
It'd been several hours since Lux had been taken to the Royal Palace, and he's been thinking of nothing but Ahsoka for the entire time. Until now. He could hear sounds of conflict going on somewhere in the prison, but he couldn't exactly tell where. Then his door slid open and a Deathwatch soldier stood in the doorframe. The soldier removed their helmet. Lux studied the chin length red hair and green eyes. He thought he remembered her. Perhaps he'd seen her on Carlac.
"Name's Bo-Katan," said the soldier. "I'm here to help. I heard you came here with a Jedi. Is that true?"
"How did you hear that?" said Lux.
"We've got spies everywhere. Including inside of the Palace,' said Bo-Katan, jutting her chin out. "We could really use the help of a Jedi."
"And if I promise to help, you'll help me break out my friends?" asked Lux.
"That's the plan," said Bo-Katan.
"Alright," said Lux. "So, do you have a plan for getting out of here?"
Bo-Katan grinned. "I was hoping you'd ask." She nodded to someone Lux couldn't see and a suit of Mandalorian armor was tossed inside of his cell. Bo-Katan turned, giving Lux privacy as he put on the armor. Once he was finished, she tossed two blasters at him, which he caught with ease. "You'll need these," she said. "Now come on. We don't have forever."
Lux followed Bo-Katan out of his cell and towards the sound of gunfire. They encountered very few gaurds. Lux readied his blasters as the small battle came into view.
"Target the ones that have red on their armor," Bo-Katan whispered to Lux. "Those ones work for Maul."
Lux nodded and aimed for the soldiers in red armor that were trying to retake the prison. "How do we get out of here?" Lux asked Bo-Katan.
"With these," she said, hooking something onto his back. A jetpack, he realized. It was surprisingly light. Of course, it would have to be, if these Deathwatch soldiers ran around wearing them all the time.
The soldiers cleared a path through the enemy Deathwatch soldiers, allowing Lux and Bo-Katan to take flight first, and they were quickly followed by the rest of the soldiers.
Lux found flying by jet pack to be exhilarating. With the city flying by beneath him and the wind blowing on his face, Lux felt freer than he ever had before. It reminded him why he'd left behind his life in politics to pursue this...whatever you would call it. Adventure? Suicide mission?
They landed by what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse. Inside, however, there were Deathwatch soldiers everywhere. It reminded him of the Deathwatch camp on Carlac, but this seemed sadder. The warehouse was in shambles, in some corners there were piles of debris and garbage. Not to mention that some of the walls seemed to leaking. The soldiers seemed dispirited. They were already fighting for their home, and what made it worse was the fact that they were probably fighting and killing old friends of theirs.
The soldiers sat around small campfires which provided some of the only light.
"Lovely place you've got here," said Lux.
"Not all of us can afford to live a life of luxury," said Bo-Katan.
"I guess I'll just have to get used to that," said Lux. "Now, you said we were gonna rescue my friends. What's the plan for that?"
Bo-Katan sat by one of the empty fireplaces and patted the space next to her. "Sit." When Lux complied, she started talking. "We've been planning our attack on the Palace for nearly a month. We've decided to split into three groups. One will attack the main entrance and hopefully distract all of the enemy soldiers. The next group, which I'll be leading, will attempt to find and assassinate Maul. And the last group, which you'll lead, will break into Maul's wing of the Palace, locate the prisoners, then find and assassinate the Prime Minister. Once Maul and the Prime Minister both are dead, the enemy will have no one to lead them, and hopefully they'll crumble."
"You really want me to lead a group?" said Lux.
"I heard about your rebellion on Onderon. It seems that you know something about battle strategy."
"You can say that again," said Lux.
Then, one of the warehouse walls exploded. Flaming debris scattered everywhere, and Deathwatch soldiers scattered everywhere to avoid getting crushed by flaming chunks of the wall.
Dozens of enemy Deathwatch with the red armor rushed into the warehouse. Bo-Katan slammed her helmet on her head and she and Lux fired at the enemy soldiers.
"How did they find us?" asked Lux.
"They must have followed us back from then prison," said Bo-Katan. "Retreat!" she called. "They've taken the base! We need to fall back!"
Lux shot down two enemy Deathwatch. "Where do we go?"
"We're going to have to find somewhere else!" said Bo-Katan. "We can't stay here anymore. We can't lose any more soldiers before the Palace attack or we won't have enough soldiers to take the Palace."
Lux and Bo-Katan covered the retreat as their allies retreated. Bo-Katan tipped her head, telling Lux to follow their retreating comrades and Bo-Katan followed suit shortly after him.
The enemy soldiers didn't pursue them; it appeared that all they were interested in was driving the Deathwatch out of their base.
The streets that they were now on were dark and grimy, and the people Lux saw looked dirty and malnourished. It reminded Lux of what he'd heard about the Coruscant Underworld. Impoverish and riddled with crime and disease. It seemed that Mandalore had a dark side as well. The soldiers were now settling in a small building that appeared inconspicuous from the outside, Bystanders watched curiously as the armored soldiers crammed into the building. Bo-Katan glared at them sharply and the hurried away quickly.
Lux had been so busy previously that he'd forgotten about his friends in the clutched of Maul, but know he was wracked with thoughts of them in the custody of Maul.
I'm coming for you, Ahsoka, Lux thought. Whatever it takes.