"And where do you think you're going?"

Before the four could even get to the stairs, they were forced to back up as Ventress and a squad of super battle droids and battle droids followed behind her. Jack would take cover behind Anakin and Ahsoka, the two Jedi activating their lightsabers as the droids lined up in the room.

Had the Sith not of had her dual lightsabers already active, Jack would've taken his chances to try and shoot her. But then again, Force users can block blaster shots if they timed their powers just right. He'd have to catch her off guard to do that.

"Master Skywalker, I've been so looking forward to another encounter with you." Ventress said as the four found themselves nearly backed into a corner. "I see you've found yourself a few pets."

"Careful, they bite." Anakin responded, glaring at the Sith assassin.

"I'm no pet."

"She's more of a rough negotiator if I'm being honest." Jack added in, backing up off the caged floor along with Artoo, guarding the astromech as he went back to the console.

"Don't worry. I'll be sure to kill you first so you don't have to watch your new family die."

"You know, the threat would be there if you weren't standing on top of a trap door right about now." As Jack finished his words, Artoo caused the trap door to fall, sending the Sith, Jedi and most of the droids down into an arena like pit. Seeing a droid avoid the fall, Jack quickly grabbed it by the neck and pulled it down, slamming it's back against the ground.

"Huh?" The droid questioned as it looked up, seeing Jack aiming right at it. "No wai-!"

Two blasts to the chest shut the thing up completely. And with it dead, there certainly wasn't anything to stop him from taking the blaster rifle. "Sorry Rex, I'm just not much of a pistol person." He said as he connected the pistol to his belt, taking the droid's rifle and running over to one of the windows that opened down at the pit.

By the time he was there, he saw that most of the droids were dealt with, leaving the Sith to fight against both Jedi at once. Despite the numbers difference, Jack was shocked to see how well the Sith could handle herself, fighting between Ahsoka and Anakin both simultaneously, kicking the Knight and almost cleaving Ahsoka in two.

Due to her dodge however, Stinky fell out of her pack. "Stinky!"

"I'll handle her. You get the Huttlet out of here." Anakin said, his saber fighting for power against Ventress'.

"Easy for you to say." Ahsoka responded, running after the two buttons next to the gate in the arena. It was then Jack snapped out of his fascination at the duel and focused on Ahsoka, reaching his arm out.

"No Ahsoka wait!" His warning came too late, as the Padawan soon pressed the lower button, opening the gate. "Oh crap."

Loud, thunderous footsteps were then heard. And soon after a jungle Rancor emerged from the opened gate. "Oops."

"Oops!? You release one of the most dangerous carnivores in the whole galaxy in an enclosed area, and all you can say is OOPS!?" After his rant, Jack ducked down as blaster fire went off behind him. "And now there's more droids!" He shouted as he turned and began to fire into the group of several battle droids. Rolling to the side, he avoided a flurry of blaster bolts while firing two of his own, hitting one in the head.

Once he rounded a corner, Jack placed his back against the wall to avoid several more shots. Once the droids stopped, he instantly retaliated, firing five shots in quick succession. Three more droids fell, leaving just three left to take care of. Jack could hear the beast roaring in the arena, but knew better to keep focus on the droids.

Seeing as it was, Jack would run back towards the droids, dodging left to avoid their first volley with ease before reaching them. He would blast the first in the head before dodging behind the second to get the third to shoot it for him. When it was just the last one, it actually put up its hands as it dropped its blaster. "I surrender!"

"Not happening." Firing once, he took the droid's head clean off and sent it crashing into the arena below, ending the small firefight relatively quickly. "Good thing it was just regular battle droids." Looking over the edge, he could see that the Rancor seemed to have grown exhausted, as the Jedi were now given some room to breath. 'Where's Ventress? Eh, whatever.'

Jumping down, Jack was followed by Artoo as he walked up to the to Jedi. "I see you were having your own fun down here. Didn't realize Rancor's would make good play pets."

"Very funny." Anakin responded.

"I thought it was." Jack mumbled as the Knight took Stinky, placing the pack on his back instead. The four then ran through the gate, Jack taking the lead once more as he would lead them to the back hangar. Luckily there wasn't any more resistance, so it took little time to reach the platform.

"Skywalker to air support. Mark my position." Anakin said as he activated his wrist communicator. "We need a medical ship immediately."

With the small break, Jack looked over to the sick Huttlet, seeing it's heavy breathing and weak appearance. Even with his attitude towards it, he had to admit it was a painful sight to see a baby seem so close to death. "Hang in there little guy." Jack said as he lightly rubbed Stinky's head. "We'll get you all fixed up soon."

It took a minute, but a gunship was approaching quickly, hovering just over the edge of the platform to pick the four up. "We'll get the slug here to the docs, then we're coming back for Rex."

"Come on, hurry, hurry!" The clone called out to them. However, before they could even reach the ship, it was shot down by a vulture droid, sending the gunship crashing into the jungle area below.

"Blast!"

"Incoming!"

Making a turn around, the vulture fighter then started to fire at the group, the Jedi igniting their lightsabers once more and blocking the shots. Slowing to a stop, the vulture droid then landed behind them and freed its wings, turning it into a more ground fighter.

"Oh what even is that crap." Jack groaned before having to jump back, avoiding several shots from the droid. Firing at it only proved that the armor was too strong, and with its range and awareness getting close to it was impossible for Anakin or Ahsoka.

"Have you ever fought one of these before!?"

"Nope, but there's a first time for everything."

"Well I'm open to suggestions!" Jack shouted as he had to duck and turn to avoid the droid's shots. He couldn't move much more back, otherwise he'd be falling off the edge.

"Buzz of laser beak!" Ahsoka shouted to the vulture, getting its attention. Unfortunately however, that proved to be a mistake as it kicked her with one of its leg-wings, sending her off the edge and left hanging.

"Ahsoka!" Jack and Anakin both shouted.

"Don't worry about me." Ahsoka responded as she tried to pull herself back up.

"Ah… crap." Jack muttered as he started to run right at the vulture droid, firing at its head to try and stun it. It didn't don much, but he was able to get under it due to the bolts knocking the head back. It then flung one of its leg-wings at him, to which he rolled forward to avoid, grabbing Ahsoka's dropped lightsaber as he did.

"Ahsoka!" Running to Ahsoka, he saw the Togruta prepared to throw herself into the air, and reared his arm back with the lightsaber hilt before throwing it up. "Catch!"

The Togruta needed no other words as she pulled with all her might to throw herself into the air, using the Force to catch the saber as she flipped over him. Once she landed, she ran at the distracted vulture droid and cut a chunk out of one of its legs.

With the droid down and stunned, nothing stopped Anakin from running up one of the other legs and impaling its head. As the Jedi jumped off it, the former fighter collapsed and fell off the platform.

With the threat gone, the Jedi turned off their lightsabers while Jack sighed in relief. He was pretty sure he had almost been killed five times now in the last couple of minutes. Most from the stupid fighter.

"Good distraction, Snips." Anakin said. "Let me guess, you meant to do that."

"Distraction?" Ahsoka questioned. "I cut his wing off, mortally wounded him. I don't know what you were doing."

"Can we save this for when I have the strength to add into the banter?" Jack asked, not really tired but mentally exhausted. Kamino trained him to be a soldier, but he's pretty sure it didn't train him to fight alone with two Jedi.

"Sure, you'll have a minute while I try and contact Hawke."

"Don't go Shorty on me Anakin."

"What does that mean?"

"You know exactly what it means Shorty!"

"Come on, I can't reach him." Anakin said, turning back to the others. "I think they're jamming our signal to the ships. I'm going to try Rex next."

"Good luck."

"Captain Rex, respond."

"I read you General." Rex said over the comms, blaster fire clear in the background. "We're pinned down in the courtyard."

"Do you need help?" There was no response from Rex, only the sound of more blaster fire. "I'll take that as a yes Captain. Stand by, we're on our way."

"Anakin, we can't just go back." Jack spoke up. "If we go back now Stinky probably won't make it to even reach a shuttle. How do you suppose we get him back to his dad if he dies before then? We'll be framed for his death. Which means no treaty, no supply routes and equals a war with half our armies cut off from supply lines."

"Hawke will get here eventually." Anakin responded. "Right now, we need Rex to help us find a ship."

Artoo then began to chatter, and the sound of droidikas' approaching filled their ears. "Great, rolling death balls." Ahsoka said.

"Why can't we get a break?"

The droidikas then stopped and were about to start firing, when suddenly several blasts came from behind the group and demolished them, sending scrape back towards Ventress, who simply cut them apart as she approached.

"I see I got here just in time for the fun." Hawke said as he stopped between the group and Ventress, stepping off the speeder he came on.

"Master Hawke!"

"About time you showed up."

"Hey, give a guy some slack." Hawke said as he turned at the Padawan and Knight's responses. "I had to land down in the forest to just so that I could fly up on a speeder. Not my fault trouble follows you everywhere you go." Hawke then turned back to Ventress, seeing the Sith approach with her sabers activated. "Why don't you all get a move on? I'll keep Ventress busy while you get Stinky out of here."

"Hawke, are you sure?" Jack asked.

"Don't worry Jack." Hawke responded as he pulled his lightsaber out, exposing the smooth, silver metal of the curved hilt. He then activated it, revealing the green blade to everyone. "Saber combat is my specialty. I'll be fine, take my speeder and go find a ship outside of combat."

"Well, you heard him." Anakin said, sitting on the speeder. "Snips, you and Jack will have to find somewhere to sit."

"Oh, great, I get to hang on for dear life." Jack groaned as he sat on the front of the speeder, seeing a ship in the distance. "We got a ship straight ahead we can use."

"That's convenient." Anakin commented as Ahsoka got on the back. "Alright, hold on!"

"Wait don't go fast you psycho!" Jack yelled as he grabbed onto the speeder.

"Alright Ventress." Hawke said as he held his left hand behind his back, pointing the tip of his saber towards the assassin. "You now have my undivided attention. Let's see how well you do against me."

"You overestimate yourself Jedi." Ventress responded as she leapt forward, swinging her sabers down. Hawke parried the move with ease, keeping his body centered as he then jabbed at the Sith. She easily recovered and blocked the attack, the two now dueling with higher speed.

Hawke would parry or dodge Ventress' slashes, keeping himself safe from the cutting blades while attempting to get a strike in. Having learned Makashi, the second form in lightsaber combat, Hawke was a skilled swordsman. The form emphasized simple footwork precise attacks, making it perfect for fighting against Sith fighters such as Ventress.

"I must say I'm slightly impressed." Hawke commented as he blocked a slash on his right, the two's sabers crackling as they pushed against one another. "Been awhile since I got a warm up fighting someone."

"Then prepare for the real fight." Ventress would then go on an all out assault on Hawke, forcing the Knight to walk back as he dodged or parried. Every slash or jab made would be blocked or parried, with neither side missing a beat. Recognizing this, Hawke would use the Force to jump over Ventress and land behind her, kicking her side in an attempt to off balance her.

Doing so had worked, but Ventress quickly countered with a charged Force Push, sending the Jedi flying back through the open gate.

"Stop right there!" Hawke looked up from his downed position to see two battle droids pointing their blasters at them, and stared normally at them.

"Are you really trying this?" In a swift move, Hawke was to his feet and slashed the two droids apart. Using the Force, he then threw the upper half of one at Ventress, who cut it in response and the two began to duel once more. The two's duel would always be moving, with Hawke backing up to keep Ventress far enough to properly block her incoming slashes.

"Please tell me this isn't all you have." Hawke said as they separated.

"This is far from it." Ventress growled as she connected her two curved blades, forming a dual sided lightsaber.

"Okay, now it's fun." Hawke grinned, taking his stance to prepare for the next round of their dual to start.

Meanwhile, Anakin and the others had made their way to the landing platform in the distance, them and Artoo landing just a few meters away from the old ship. The ramp was open with crates outside of it, meaning someone was loading it for takeoff.

"We're taking this junker?" Ahsoka asked. "We'd be better off just riding the speeder all the way to Tatooine."

"Jack, get aboard and see what he have to work with. Prep the engines." Anakin ordered, knowing the boy was good with old ships. "Assuming it has engines."

"Don't worry sir. The ship you found me on looked like this over 50 years before I took it." Jack responded as he approached the ramp. "This ship will do just fine..." He then stopped as he looked up the ramp, seeing two battle droids looking down at him. Both sides only looked at each other, looking almost as surprised as the other.

"Jack?"

Breaking out of the silence, Jack quickly raised his blaster and took out the two droids, watching their bodies fall of the ramp with a thud. "Clear." He said simply as he walked up the ramp, being followed by Ahsoka, Anakin and Artoo.

Taking the main pilot seat, Jack would go through all the systems, checking to see what worked and what didn't. "Okay, first thing's first. Life-support check."

"Shouldn't we check the engines first?" Ahsoka asked as she and Anakin took separate seats, the Togruta now carrying Stinky again.

"No use having a ship if we can't breathe in space is there?" Jack asked as he took his helmet off. "Alright, Life-support's clear. Engines…" He trailed as he hit the engines button, hearing the sounds of the old engines whirring. "Better than expected, worse than I hoped." After a second press, the engines would give out, only to try and activate again. "Okay, I see the problem." Jack then turned to Artoo. "Hey Artoo, try starting the ignition couplers and open up the fuel lifters all the way."

The astromech was then quick to go, plugging into one of the consoles and doing as instructed. In a couple of seconds, the ship came to life, everything powered up and the engines active. "Thank you Artoo." The astromech beeped in response, getting a chuckle from him. "Well, let's get a move on." With another press, the ship would begin to take off and Jack grabbed the controls, now flying the ship away from the platform. "And we are airborne."

"Good work you two." Anakin said. "Now back to work. The troops still need our help. Charge the main guns."

"How are we going to help?" Ahsoka asked. "Stinky's getting sicker and sicker."

"But we promised Rex we'd help him."

"Anakin, we can't just let the little guy get more sick." Jack responded. "He needs medical attention now. Rex can handle himself fine. And look! He has a ton of reinforcements plus Hawke is there even. We have to go now if we're going to save Stinky."

Anakin would then weigh the options, looking at the small Huttlet whimper as he struggled to breath. Coming to a decision, Anakin turned on the ship's comms. "Captain Rex? General Skywalker."

"Yes, General?" The clone questioned over the comms.

"We're not going to be able to help you."

"Don't worry about us General. We'll be all right." Rex said as he saw the ship. "The mission always comes first sir."

Taking the conversation as his orders, Jack would then make his way up, taking a safe way to head for the nearest Republic cruiser he could. With finally a break from combat, the Jedi and soldier could take a minute to breathe.

"Master, today I did my best to stay calm, focused and when I did, everything seemed so easy."

"I really wish you'd stop jinxing us at every break." Jack responded to the Padawan, as mere seconds later an explosion went off near the ship, causing it rock. "Ya see what I mean!?" It really shouldn't have been a surprise that the whole fleet was in the middle of a heated battle, but Jack was looking for a way to vent, and it worked.

Pulling the controls to the side, Jack was able to narrowly avoid a squadron of Republic fighters dogfighting against several vulture droids. After that, three more vultures were flying behind them, attempting to shoot down the freighter ship they were in. "Hold on! I'm gonna try and get us to the cruiser as best I can!"

"Hold on to whaaaaaa!" Interrupting the Padawan, Jack quickly rolled the whole ship, spinning a fully 180 degrees while simultaneously flying up, causing the droid fighters to fly past them. He would then take a sharp left, avoiding a Republic bomber as he then began to fly at the ship's top speed.

Even then, the vultures were quick to recover and chase them once more, irritating the pilot. "Blast, we can't get away with speeds this slow. We're carrying too much weight right now."

"Well then what do we do?" Ahsoka asked.

"We'll have to open the cargo hold and dump everything in there." Jack answered. "Ahsoka, I need you to-"

"Already on it!" Ahsoka responded, getting out of her seat, placing Stinky on it and heading to the cargo bay.

"Wait!" By the time he already called out to her, she had closed the door behind her and went into the cargo hold. "I do not understand that girl."

"Oh, so it's not just me then." Anakin spoke up, looking at the cameras linked to the cargo hold.

The Togruta wasted little time as she looked around. "Alright, opening hatch." She mumbled as she pressed a button, watching as the doors open and give her a view of the droids following them. "Alright Jack, I got the hold open, now what?"

"Hold onto something!"

"What am I supposed to hold on toooooooo!?" The Togruta shouted as Jack pulled up on the ship, climbing up straight vertically as the droids followed. With nothing to grab on to, the Togruta fell for several seconds before a connection tube came out from the roof. Grabbing it, Ahsoka managed to save herself just moments before it would have been out of reach, and she would of plummeted to the planet's surface.

"Stupid greaser ship!" Ahsoka screamed as she held onto the tube as tightly as she could. She then looked up as she heard screeching, and saw that the crates were starting to slide off of the ship. And right at her. Igniting her lightsaber, she would cut one of the crates that had come close to hitting her, saving herself once again from a painful fate.

With the droids right behind them, the crates would crash down right on top of them, destroying the ships easily and taking them off their tails. With the threat gone, jack then spun and flew straight down, giving Ahsoka the opening to pull herself right into the cargo hold. Once there, Jack evened it out, causing her to land on the floor as the tube went back into place.

The Padawan gasped for air as she laid down, resting her head down for a second. "I take back everything I said. I love you, you greaser of a ship." Once she was able, she walked back up to the flight deck, sighing as she entered and sat back down, putting Stinky on her lap. "Sorry I'm late, it was a bit of a process getting the doors open."

"Yeah, and by far the much harder way." Anakin responded.

"What?"

"The cargo release switch is right in front of you." Jack said as he took a second to point to the button, which was one of the only red buttons on Ahsoka's side of the ship.

The Padawan looked at the button in temporary shock for several seconds before letting her shoulders go down, appearing annoyed and tired. "Can we just… not talk about that? Act like it never happened?"

"If you didn't almost fall out I wouldn't." Jack chuckled. "But I'll give you a break, just this once."

"So all we have to do now is land, right?"

"Well… normally yes. Buuuuuuuuut, there's a small problem."

"And what's that?" Anakin asked.

In response, the ship jerked violently as a blast hit their side. "The ship we need to land in currently thinks we're the enemy."

"You could have said something!" Anakin responded, going to the open comms. "Jedi cruiser, hold your fire!"

"Who is that?" A clone asked over the comms. "Incoming ship, identify yourself."

"This is General Skywalker. We have Jabba the Hutt's son." He needs medical attention. We must board immediately."

"Stand by."

"Stand by? That's helpful." Ahsoka said.

"Welcome to the world of the military." Jack mumbled before beginning to preform evasive maneuvers once more. He was able to avoid incoming fire from four more vulture droids, flying between the Republic cruiser's twin bridges while spinning to fit through it. Jack's evasion seemed almost second nature, as he fluently dodged each and every bolt of plasma that would come at them. Every tilt and every strafe kept several shots from landing their mark, and the calm face he kept while doing so showed just how natural he was at evasion.

"Any time now!"

"General Skywalker, we lifted the deflector shields on the lower level." A clone said over the comms.

"We're on our way."

"Time for a good show." Jack said as he began flying across the length of the Republic Vindicator, strafing left and right to avoid incoming bolts.

"We've made it." Ahsoka said to encourage Stinky, the Huttlet chattering slightly as she did. "We've made it."

Jack then pulled up to avoid the droid fighters, his eyes widening as he saw two of them fly past them towards the now open hangar. "No, no, no!" He then watched in horror as the four fighters all crashed right into it, several large explosions going off as a result.

"General Skywalker, abort! Abort!" The clone was able to make through the comms before they were cut, causing Jack to look down and shake his head.

"Blast!" Refocusing his attention, he began to fly as fast as he could, avoiding the two remaining fighters as he flew under the cruiser. "Change of plans, we're taking this freighter all the way to Tatooine." Avoiding the carnage around them, jack spun a full 360 to dodge two destroyed ships as he pulled up, allowing the two fighters to crash into them. "Just have to get out of this fight first."

"Ventress, I know you're here." Back on the planet's surface, Hawke was walking through the monastery, entering a large room with upper platforms and pillars around them. "Even amongst all this chaos, I can easily pick out your anger from everything else."

"Ragh!" Quickly turning, he activated his lightsaber in order to block the Sith's downward strike on him.

"It'll take more than that to catch me off guard." Hawke grinned as he pushed them apart, moving his saber left and right to parry each of Ventress' attacks. The two seemed fairly even in speed, albeit Hawke making more use of his free movement to keep Ventress from doing anything damaging.

But even then, his precise attacks weren't able to land any decisive blows on the Sith herself. The chances of the fight winning easily were slim for either, and both could match blow for blow in any clash they had.

Jumping to the side, Hawke avoided Ventress' double slash before attempting to pierce her, clicking his tongue as she parried it away. He then attempted to deliver several more swift attacks, getting little as the assassin would block and push them away each time.

Using the Force, Hawke would push the Sith away a small distance as she used her sabers to stop herself quickly. "You know, I have to admit you almost managed to keep your master's plan away from us." Hawke said as she recovered. "But I'm aware of your attempt at turning the Hutts against us."

"Then the truth dies with you." Ventress growled as she began using her superior acrobatics to put Hawke on the defensive. He would move from side to side, jumping back and parrying to avoid her assault, finding the speed difficult to follow at times. Even then, he always managed to just keep himself away from the assassin.

Trying to find a way to get out of the predicament, Hawke wasn't aware that he was backing into a pillar before he connected with it. "Blast!" Now cornered, he had to rely entirely on his ability to dodge Ventress, moving his upper body constantly to avoid getting cut in two. It was after eight full swings of her sabers before Hawke recovered and kicked her stomach, knocking her away and giving him back breathing room.

Jumping up to one of the platforms, Hawke quickly brought his guard up and blocked another slash from Ventress, dodging to the side again and jumping out through one of the wall openings.

Landing outside, he stepped to the left, avoiding the grazing of the assassin's blades as they cut the ground apart. The two separated several meters, standing in their stances as they readied themselves to continue.

"Jumping to Hyperspace now." Jack said, Hawke's comm going off before the Jedi and Sith lost their direct sense on the ship's occupants.

"Well then, looks like Jack and the others had managed to get out of here." Hawke commented, smirking at Ventress. "Which means the pale, bald Sith in front of me has failed."

The assassin growled in response as she attempted to strike at Hawke, only for the Jedi to parry and block at every turn. With their sabers connected, he'd kick Ventress once more, causing her to lose her left saber, to which the Jedi caught in his left. "I wonder who's Kyber crystal this was before you made it Bleed." Putting the saber onto his belt, he prepared for the next strike as Ventress rushed at him.

Even though Ventress' powerful and overwhelming style could effect most Jedi, Hawke's style was almost a perfect counter for the Sith's, with only Form III being superior in the situation.

"You have no more reason to fight in this battle Ventress." Hawke said, pointing his saber at the woman as they separated once more. "Lay down your weapon and surrender. I'm sure the Council will be merciful if you come quietly."

"Not today, Jedi." Ventress responded as she jumped over the edge, landing on a vulture droid that was flying away. Leaving Hawke to turn his lightsaber off and watch his opponent flee away from the battlefield.

"So much for that." He sighed, starting to walk back to the monastery while looking at the Sith's saber on his belt. "Poor thing, what did she do to you?"

Hawke, like most Jedi, knew that the Kyber crystals were living crystals. They were deeply connected in the Force and often represented whoever first found them. It could be in their color, their balance in the Force, or most commonly how their lightsabers turned out in control. But for a Kyber to Bleed, it must be put through something truly unnatural.

It was not common knowledge of the Bleeding process, in fact Hawke as a Jedi was not supposed to learn of such a horrid practice. But his curiosity on all things in regards to the Force brought it to that, and he was appalled at his findings. TO make a Kyber go through Bleeding, you had to put it through unimaginable pain from yourself. Force the pain directly into it and harm it beyond return.

The poor crystals can't handle the suffering of the process, which causes it to Bleed and turn red. It was the signal that it was gone, and that it will never heal from the pain it feels. To a living creature, it's like suffering a permanent scar, or losing a limb. And then there's the state even beyond Bleeding, where a Kyber crystal cracks. But to this day, there has only been one being to push it that far, and it's been gone for centuries.

"I'm sorry for what you've been put through." Hawke said as he dismantled the saber and held the red crystal in his palm. "I swear, I'll find a way to heal the wound you've suffered through." He then gently wrapped his fist around it, keeping sure to avoid breaking it. "No matter how long it takes."