Chapter 45 – The Big Bang

Author's Note: In which the Crystal Crisis ends. :) Yes, it's a little bit rushed, but it's still important. :D

To Guest (1): Yeah, you're absolutely right. From the moment Anakin helped Palpatine kill Windu, it would have been pretty much impossible for him to turn back. But since Obi-Wan wasn't on Coruscant when Order 66 happened, Theseus wouldn't be, either. He'd be with his master. :)

To Guest (2): They don't both have to be apprentices, though. Palpatine did have Inquisitors, after all. xP

To Guest (3): About that... :'(

~ Amina Gila

"We have incoming!" Theseus calls, looking over his shoulder at the sudden sound of motors. Five speeders, with those same creatures from earlier, zoom into view, in chase of their transport. After fighting off the arms dealers – and the few remaining ones had fled – they'd gone to find the enormous kyber crystal themselves. Theseus didn't know such huge crystals even existed, and on that note, the thing is already green, which means someone must have made it that way. Not that that's really a concern right now.

They'd gotten the help of one particularly friendly animal to assist the speeder in pulling the crystal's enormous cart, but they're covering distance across the prairie far too slowly for Theseus' liking. It's not even a surprise that the arms dealers are catching up with them.

Theseus jumps up, leaping onto the top of the crystal as the droids open fire. Blaster shots strike the ground around them, one of them hitting part of the harness to the animal pulling the crystal's cart. The entire thing lurches violently, and he loses balance, rolling across the surface, scrambling to catch his grip. Which might have worked if the animal wasn't totally spooked now, and galloping wildly, shaking the whole cart vigorously.

Anakin flips off the speeder in the front, cutting it free. The animal takes off across the grass, dragging the cart along behind it. Obi-Wan is already on top of the crystal deflecting blaster shots by the time Theseus gets back to his feet, and jumps back to his perch to join him.

Two speeders already down; three more to go. One of them comes flying straight at them, and Theseus deflects a few shots back at it before he flips through the air, catching ahold of something on the other part of the speeder and slashing his lightsaber through it. He drops to the ground, rolling out of the way as it explodes, debris flying everywhere.

He's scrambling back to his feet in time to see Anakin – riding one of the speeders now – colliding with the last remaining one, and both of them go spiraling out of control for the ground. The animal – cut free somewhere in the explosion – takes off across the plains, leaving them far behind. Anakin catches the cart with the Force, slowing it down before it tips over.

"That wasn't so tough," Theseus quips, "Except that our ride is gone."

"That was just the first wave," Obi-Wan reminds grumpily, "And now we have nothing to pull the crystal with."

"Actually, we have something even better," Anakin says cheerfully, turning the nearest enemy speeder upright. "This one should work."

Theseus instantly moves to help Anakin connect the speeder to the cart, while Obi-Wan decides he needs to take care of the all dead bodies everywhere. Which... he can appreciate to a point, but they are in an urgent situation at the moment. He'd much rather their bodies not join the pile on the ground, thank you very much. He keeps any comments to himself, though. It's not as though there's really room for Obi-Wan to help here, anyway.

They finally race away across the endless grass again, only four more speeders to promptly come into view. "They shouldn't treat their guests like this. It isn't good business," Theseus mutters, climbing unsteadily to his feet again and jumping back to his perch on top of the crystal alongside Obi-Wan as the speeders open fire.

One of the speeders zooms up alongside theirs, and Anakin slams the side of the speeder into it, nearly throwing Obi-Wan and Theseus off again. The blaster shots they failed to deflect strike the crystal instead, and the Force suddenly surges in warning. Theseus reacts it instantly, leaping off the crystal onto the side of the cart as the entire thing seems to glow, and energy blasts out from it in every direction. It's too blindingly bright to see properly, but he's pretty sure it just disintegrated several of their pursuers.

What?!

And then the energy pulse dissipates into nothingness, leaving the crystal sitting there innocently. "What just happened?" Anakin is the first to find his voice.

"I have no idea," Theseus breathes.

"The crystal refracted the blaster shots back at them," Obi-Wan realizes.

"It can do that?!"

"Apparently," Anakin answers, eyes wide.

They keep speeding across the plain, leaving their pursuers behind. But only for a little while, because soon they catch sight of the one carrying the leader zooming off in a different direction entirely. "Where's he going now?" Anakin wonders rhetorically.

Theseus instantly pulls out a pair of macrobinoculars, scanning the horizon. "It looks like he's heading for the city... and hey, look! There's a port right ahead. Let's get going."

"At least something's going our way," Anakin offers.

"Or so we can hope," Obi-Wan states dryly.

"Well guess what else is coming our way?" Theseus chirps a second later, with very feigned cheerfulness as he looks a different direction to see far too familiar objects coming into view. "MagnaGuards."

"Is Grievous with them?"

"No."

"Do you want to fight them here or in the sinkhole?" Anakin asks, glancing over his shoulder.

Obi-Wan stands, igniting his lightsaber. "We have to keep moving. I say in the sinkhole."

"So we can get thrown around more? Sure, sounds fun," Theseus deadpans.

"You're very adventurous today, huh?" Anakin comments.

"Not by choice, I assure you," Obi-Wan quips, jumping onto the crystal for what must be the millionth time, and with a sigh, Theseus follows.

**w**

"Grievous is here!" Obi-Wan calls in warning as they race through the sinkhole, trying to shake the last remaining MagnaGuard. The other is already destroyed, from when it was trying to fight both Theseus and Obi-Wan at once. The padawan's eyes narrow as he catches sight of the rapidly approaching speeder. They need to do something to shake Grievous, because this would be a terrible position to fight him in.

"I'll think of something," Anakin assures, and suddenly jerks the speeder upwards, smashing the other MagnaGuard off into a structure above them. He drops the speeder downwards, suddenly, sharp enough to nearly throw Theseus off-balance. They sail gracefully right above a group of giant lizards, startling them by the noise. Theseus watches smugly as they wave their tails, knocking Grievous's speeder out of the air.

Finally, they race out of the sinkhole, only for their cart to suddenly go spiraling out of control as some of the controls on it start sparking. It tips sideways, throwing the crystal right off it. Theseus lands unceremoniously on his face – he is going to have so many bruises from this mission – and pauses to catch his breath, before starting to push himself back up again.

The Governor, inspector, and several guards are rounding the corner onto the main platform of the port as he stands. The Jedi immediately hurry to greet them. "Governor," Obi-Wan greets, "General Grievous is on our trail. We can't let this crystal fall into Separatist hands."

"I'm afraid it already has," the Governor replies simply, and all the guards abruptly aim their weapons right at them. Droids pour out from behind ships and other places they must have been concealing themselves, circling to surround the Jedi, right as a Separatists ship flies into view, heading for landing.

They were being tricked this whole time?! Yes, the Governor was being suspicious, but he didn't expect they were going to go to an extent like this. "Oh, great!" Anakin exclaims, "Looks like we delivered the crystal directly to Grievous!"

"At least we saved those poor droids the hard work," Theseus offers, "I don't think their backs could handle it."

"Stay calm," Obi-Wan advises.

"I don't think that helps," he mutters.

The inspector pulls out a comm, and when a tiny hologram of the cyborg general appears, updates him on the situation. He, of course, tells her to have the crystal taken onto his ship. Wait, she's been lying to them this entire time, too?! Or is that something that changed recently? It doesn't really matter, but he's still annoyed.

"Governor, I suggest you tell the droids to let us go," Obi-Wan warns, as the battle droids start moving the crystal away.

"Then I will have to disappoint you," he replies, "Kill them!"

They instantly whip out their lightsabers, standing in a circle as the guards and droids start shooting. Theseus deflects a few shots before lunging at the droids, while Anakin and Obi-Wan go for the superiors and hold them at lightsaber point.

He focuses solely on the droids, hastily slicing them to pieces. When he turns around, the ship with the crystal is already taking off. Without wasting a moment, they run to the remaining ship.

**w**

"Did we hear you correctly?" the hologram of Master Windu demands. "A kyber crystal?!"

"Yes," Obi-Wan confirms, "It is massive, nothing like anything I've ever seen before. We're chasing a Separatist ship that's carrying the crystal now."

"But what kind of support do the Separatists have on Utapau?"

"It seems that there is a whole Separatist fleet orbiting the planet. We're trying to intercept the ship before it can dock on one of the cruisers."

"We can send support, but help cannot arrive on time," Windu replies. Just as Theseus was expecting. They're here on their own, but it doesn't really concern him. They knew that from the start.

"Not to worry, Master Windu, Anakin and I've already stretched into difficult situations before. I'm sure we'll prevail," Obi-Wan replies flippantly.

"So cavalier you can't be, Obi-Wan," Yoda says disapprovingly. Seriously?! Theseus suppresses the urge to laugh at the thought of Yoda scolding Obi-Wan. "At all costs, escape with this crystal. Get it, Grievous cannot."

"Understood, Master Yoda," Obi-Wan nods, disconnecting the call. "Cavalier?" he repeats, irritated, looking at Anakin, "You're cavalier all the time and no one says anything about it."

"I'm just better at it," Anakin replies, smirking.

"You are a Council member, Master," Theseus chirps, "I think they might have higher standards then Knights."

Obi-Wan gives him a very annoyed, I-am-500%-done-with-my-life look. "Focus," he scolds.

Look who's talking? "I am focusing!"

**w**

Theseus leaps out of his escape pod the moment it finishes skidding across the hangar of the large Separatist ship they intentionally crash-landed in. Obi-Wan is already out of his, lightsaber ignited, as Theseus runs to join him. But where is Anakin? When they were trying to chase down the Separatists, the ship was badly damaged instead, so they used the escape pod trick to get on board the main cruiser.

The battle droids scattered throughout the hanger notice them instantly and start shooting. "At least we found the crystal!" Theseus calls, spotting the large green object a distance away. Although how they're going to get out of here with it is an entirely different story. There's got to be hundreds of droids in here, and as soon as Grievous figures out what's going on, there'll be a lot more on the way.

"Anakin, where are you?" Obi-Wan calls into his comm in his response.

"Uh... in the hangar," comes the immediately reply, "Where are you?"

"You're in the wrong hangar! The crystal is over here!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!"

Theseus charges the droids in front of him, slashing through them one after another. They've destroyed the ones in their immediate vicinity when two vulture droids flanking another ship fly into view.

Grievous.

He knows it. A prickle of unease runs down his spine, as he takes in their odds. Taking down the cyborg will be hard enough, but with this many droids on top of it? Well...

Grievous shoves the cockpit open, and jumps to the ground, stalking towards them. Half a dozen destroyers roll up all around them, shifting into firing position. "We should take those first," Theseus whispers, and Obi-Wan nods discreetly.

They both move as one, Force-shoving the droids back. They roll wildly backwards – unable to slow themselves – crushing through a bunch of other battle droids in the process before smashing into various ships, rendering themselves completely nonfunctional.

"General Grievous," Obi-Wan greets lightly, "We're here to request your surrender."

The cyborg snarls, igniting a blue and green blade and stalking towards them. Obi-Wan lifts several nearby crates with the Force, hurling them at him. He slashes through them, charging forwards. Obi-Wan darts forwards, blade crossing with Grievous'.

Theseus runs at him next, but a second too late. The cyborg suddenly extends a third arm, hand clamping around Obi-Wan's neck and lifts him into the air, throwing him across the hanger. Theseus swings for Grievous' head, but the General is already spinning, bringing his two blades down to block him. Theseus steps back, readying himself. This will not be a fun fight, he knows. Grievous is deadly.

Grievous slashes at him again, forcing Theseus back a step from the force of the blow. The cyborg cackles, pulling back and swinging for him yet again. They exchange a few blows as Theseus continues to retreat. It's the only way he's going to get anywhere in this fight, he suspects.

He swings for Grievous himself, and the cyborg blocks it with two of his lightsabers, his fourth arm splitting off as he ignites his other two lightsabers, abruptly pulling back and spinning away to block Obi-Wan's blow as the Jedi Master rejoins the fight.

They're moving in a blur of blue, green, and purple, but only for a moment, before Theseus blocks just a little too high, his slip-up giving Grievous the opportunity to kick him backwards. Unfortunately, the cyborg is very strong, and it throws him clear across the room.

Ouch. Theseus pushes himself up with a groan. Never get kicked by a metal leg again.

Obi-Wan cuts downwards suddenly, slicing off one of Grievous' hands. The cyborg roars, kicking him backwards much the same way he just did Theseus, then stalking over to him and crossing his lightsabers at his neck.

"I take it you won't be surrendering after all?" Obi-Wan asks lightly.

**w**

Theseus is tempted to grumble aloud to himself and the walls. Really, they should have suspected this would happen. He rarely gets captured, and he hates every moment of it, even if he knows Anakin is currently well on his way coming to rescue.

The door suddenly hisses open, but instead of Anakin in the doorway, it's a group of battle droids. What? What could they want with him now? Are they... planning to interrogate him? He's never been captured before long enough for that to happen, and if he's being honest, he's suddenly scared. He's seen the condition Anakin is often in afterwards.

The binders on his wrists and ankles deactivate, and he falls very unceremoniously to his knees on the floor. "Come with us," squawks the droid in front, as if he had some other choice in the matter.

"Where are we going?" Theseus demands, not really expecting an answer, as the droids lock binders over his wrists and shove him towards the door.

"You are being taken to the execution room," the droid replies monotonously.

The – what? Icy fear clenches at him, but he quickly tries to squash it. Anakin will be along shortly, or he and Obi-Wan will figure out something together. There's no way he's about to die here, like this. Of course, Grievous would decide something like this. Maybe he's just feeling extra petty over his lost hand.

Theseus steps out into the hall, to see Obi-Wan standing there in the same condition. "Good to know they have an entire room just dedicated for execution," he comments lightly, in an effort to distract himself.

"I was just telling them the same thing," Obi-Wan agrees cheerfully.

"Quiet!" snaps one of the battle droids, "Keep moving."

"Wait!" Obi-Wan objects, "According to the Yavin Code, all prisoners must be blindfolded before execution."

Theseus groans. This again. Admittedly it is an effective distraction strategy, but he does get a little tired of hearing about it almost every single time Obi-Wan gets captured.

"Uhh... Yavin Code?" repeats the battle droid stupidly.

"I don't think that's in their programming," he whispers loudly.

"Yes, the Yavin Code, just as it was determined in the Yavin Convention," Obi-Wan repeats.

Right on cue, the door at the end of the hall flies open and Anakin sprints in, slashing through the battle droids before they even have the chance to scream, then moving to cut their binders free. "Let me guess, citing the Yavin Code again?" he asks.

"Yes, I was, nobody seems to remember it," Obi-Wan quips.

"Well, maybe that's because it's already over a thousand years old."

"Well, the idea continues to be valid to this day."

"Or it's supposed to be," Theseus objects, "I don't think anyone's been following it much these days."

"The reminders don't hurt," insists his master.

"Look, I have something for both of you," Anakin interrupts gleefully, tossing their lightsabers back to them, "Try not to lose them again. You know, these weapons are your lives."

"It's good so see you, too," Theseus grumbles.

"I see you remember some things I tell you," Obi-Wan retorts.

Anakin ignores the remark. "Come on, I found out where they're taking the crystal."

The trio take off running down the hall without another word. They make it to the room in question without any complications, which with them, is mildly surprising. "How did you find out about this?" Obi-Wan asks in a low voice as they crouch behind a wall, watching the droids push the crystal down a long hall of blast doors and ray shields.

"I saw it in the central computer system," Anakin answers.

"When did you have time to do that?"

"It's amazing what you can accomplish when you're not captured," he smirks.

"I guess crashing in the wrong hangar has its advantages sometimes," Theseus quips, "Or we'd all have been seeing Grievous' execution chamber together."

"I was actually looking forward to that," Obi-Wan replies.

"I think you might be the only one, Master," the padawan deadpans.

"Let's go!" Obi-Wan exclaims abruptly, standing up. All the droids are facing the opposite direction now. They jump up, sprinting down the hallway into the main room and ducking behind two large pillars before they can be spotted. Except apparently their disappearance has already been noticed, because the droids are contacted only seconds later to receive a warning about it.

Leaving the crystal in the center of the room, all the droids file out, and the blast doors and ray shields along the hall all seal closed. "Now how are we gonna get the crystal out of here?" Theseus asks, "Since we're... rather trapped in here."

"Not for long," Anakin decides, igniting his lightsaber and plunging it through the first blast door. Theseus immediately joins him.

"You know, this is going to take forever. We haven't even cut a circle yet," he huffs.

"Patience," Obi-Wan advises behind them.

"How is that supposed to help us cut through the door?"

"Patience?!" Anakin exclaims, deactivating his lightsaber and spinning around, "We're trapped in a maximum security safe on Grievous' ship, outnumbered more than 500 to 1, and all you have to say is patience?"

"It doesn't help when you summarize our situation like that," the Jedi Master insists.

"You do that too, sometimes!"

"No, you choose to complain, while I choose to come up with a plan."

"Like you were earlier when we were riding?" Theseus snips back. "I didn't hear any brilliant plan-sprouting. That was all Anakin."

"Right now, we need to wait for the droids to open the door," says Obi-Wan, pointedly ignoring the remark.

"You can't be serious," Anakin groans.

Right on cue, all the doors promptly start sliding open. Theseus has only half a second to think that maybe they should try to hide somewhere before the group of battle droids standing at the far end promptly spots them. "Problem solved, and now it's your turn to come up with the plan," Obi-Wan decides.

"They want the crystal," Anakin smirks, smugly, "Let's give it to them."

Oh. Oh. "Brilliant idea," Theseus compliments.

And they do. It turns out to be a very convenient placing, because now that it's floating, they can throw it at the droids easily. It's much, much faster than the usual fighting, too. They crush the first several dozen droids and make it to the end of the hall, before another group rounds the corner to face them and promptly start shooting. They duck down behind the crystal, using it for a shield. The blasts strike the surface, and Theseus can see and feel the sudden surge of energy before a blast of green energy explodes outwards, leveling all the droids in their path.

"The crystal isn't just reflecting the energy," Obi-Wan observes, "It's intensifying the load."

"Makes things easier on us," Theseus says.

"What happens if it's hit by something bigger than a blaster?" Anakin wonders.

Right on cue, a spider droid marches into view. "I'm afraid we're about to find out," Obi-Wan realizes.

The droid fires, hitting the crystal. It starts to glow again, the energy pulsing stronger. Anakin starts pushing himself up, and Theseus follows instantly. The three of them dive around the corner, safely out of the vicinity when it explodes. There's a smoking hole blown straight through the wall behind where the spider droid was. Convenient.

"Alright, let's get going!" Theseus says cheerfully, stepping back into the hall once the smoke begins to clear. "This should be easy!"

It... is not in fact, easy, at least not after reaching the hangar. The droids are swarming everywhere in there on all sides, and several tanks are in position. How are they ever going to get out of here now?

A group of destroyer droids roll up, positioning themselves and opening fire. Amidst the shooting, the droids take out the devices attached to the crystal. Theseus winces as it crashes to the ground behind him. They have no way of getting it out now, which was, undoubtedly, precisely the point.

They all duck behind the crystal when the droids start closing in. "We can't keep hiding here," Theseus groans.

"No, but we can't let Grievous have the crystal either!" Anakin yells back over the commotion.

"We're not going to!" Obi-Wan calls, "We'll destroy the crystal and the ship along with it."

"I don't know what you're planning," Anakin declares, "But I'll get the ship for us to get out of here."

They jump up in unison, charging across the hangar together, slashing through all the droids in their path. Obi-Wan takes off for the waiting tanks – suddenly Theseus knows what he's about to do – and Theseus runs for the ship with Anakin.

Grievous runs into the hangar just as Obi-Wan finishes setting the last of the tanks to keep firing on the crystal, and then jumps onto the ramp of their ship. They fly for the hangar exit, right as a brilliant beam of green energy rips right through a large fuel tank. Everything explodes, and a cloud of smoke and flames fills the air behind them as they race for the opening.

Seconds later, another ship appears on their scanners. Grievous. He's trying to escape. Great. Clearly, he won't be going down this time.

Both ships have barely cleared the opening, streaking away into space beyond when the entire battle station explodes. It isn't the sort of ripping towards, with the outermost shell of the ship being left floating, either. The entire thing just blows, practically transforming into space dust. Nothing remains when the worst of the explosion begins to clear, not even the crystal.

"Well, hey, at least if we didn't get it, Grievous didn't either," Theseus remarks. But he still can't shake the sudden foreboding feeling that this might not be the last time he sees something of this magnitude. If the Separatists wanted this crystal that badly, they'll likely try to get ahold of a second one. Whatever they want it for, they aren't about to give up. Something tells him that one day they might end up finding out, hopefully not in the worst way possible.

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