A/N: Hello,

My name is Katia, and my friend Cassi and I collaborated on this story, the third in our Darth Maleficent series. Review, review, review!

Thank You Cassi! You are the BEST FRIEND EVER and an AWESOME writer!

Without any further ado, Chapter Three!


Adeline barely had time to be shocked as she twisted the helm of the ship frantically. "Man your battle stations!" She yelled. Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Sadira came running out of the back and stopped dead. Adeline glared. "Well, don't just stand there like a bunch of stupid lumps! Haul butt!" Obi-Wan was turning green, but Ahsoka ran to the guns. The sixteen-year-old Jedi Knight was a very good shot, and she started taking pot shots at squadrons of small, one-man TIE Fighters. Obi-Wan ran for the 'fresher.

"Well, this plan just flew out the window!" Adeline yelled, barely missing being hit by a TIE Fighter, which Ahsoka shot.

Sadira looked up. "So that means that this can still be the Imperial Shuttle Bananaphone?" She asked hopefully.

"Bad time, Sadira!" Adeline yelled, twisting the controls.

Suddenly, there was a huge explosion, and half of one of the small Imperial shuttle's triangular fins tore off. The ship rocked, and Adeline saw that a TIE Fighter had hit the small ship. She banked the shuttle sharply, heading for the largest Stardestroyer, which just happened to be firing at everything with all its laser cannons.

"What are you doing?" Ahsoka yelled.

Adeline didn't look up. "I'm saving our lives!" Skillfully maneuvering the shuttle, she managed to latch the small shuttle to an air lock underneath the Stardestroyer, and ran for the small entry hatch. There was the noise of a lightsaber cutting through metal, and her call of "Come on! Now!"

Everyone scrambled through the hastily cut airlock, Adeline leading them. They emerged in a hallway, where a small mouse droid was humming a funny tune. It shrieked when it saw the party of Jedi, and tried to get away, but Adeline's purple lightsaber hummed right in front of it, and it squeaked in fright and surprise.

"You're coming with us," Adeline snarled. "If you try to get away, you'll meet the end of my lightsaber. Was that clear?"

The mouse droid whistled meekly.

"Good. I'm glad you understand. We'll get along just fine."

Sadira got a curious expression on her face. "Wait... do you have a nickname, little droid?"

The mouse droid whistled a reply and Adeline translated. "No, he says. But, Sadira, don't get any ideas about weird names..."

The teenage Angel giggled maniacally. "Too late!" She said in a singsong voice. "I'm gonna call you Boogie, little droid!"

If mouse droids could look panicked, Boogie would have. Ahsoka burst out laughing. "B-Boogie? How stupid is that?"

Sadira looked miffed. "Well, you don't have to like it. He's my droid, and we're going to go surfing. Right, Boogie?"

Boogie squeaked frantically, but Sadira Force-jumped nimbly on top of the little mouse droid. Having no other choice, Boogie rolled at top speed down the corridor, squeaking loudly and attempting to throw the teenager off, to no avail. Ahsoka looked at her companions and burst our laughing, Adeline and Obi-Wan following suit. They all walked after Sadira and Boogie down the long hall, heading for the bridge of the ship.

Darth Vader stood on the bridge of the Stardestroyer Avenger, deep in thought. He could sense a strange presence... one he hadn't felt in years. Obi-Wan Kenobi, his former Master. He wasn't exactly sure whether the Force was playing tricks on him or not, however. His old Master had been thorough when he had disappeared; as no one had seen him in almost three years. How could Obi-Wan Kenobi be on an Imperial Stardestroyer? That was not like the Jedi Master.

A high-ranking official came onto the bridge. "Lord Vader, General Tarkin has several matters to discuss with you, about security. There is every possibility that the Rebels will try to board the Avenger."

Darth Vader made a noise that could only be described as a loud, bored sigh. "Commander Piett, I can assure you, the Avenger has enough security measures to prevent that!"

Piett looked worried. No one could make Darth Vader do something he didn't want to do. "Lord Vader, there is one more thing to report. A small, Lambda-class Imperial shuttle, not unlike the Emperor's, entered the Endor system during the early stages of the battle. It disappeared soon after. We have found no trace of it, and there is no possible entry to hyperspace among the debris."

Vader looked thoughtful. "Send in Tarkin." He commanded.

...

Adeline walked next to Ahsoka, lightsaber in hand, unusually silent. Obi-Wan walked on the Togruta's other side, also unusually quiet. They were driving Ahsoka nuts. Why couldn't they just kiss and make up? Sadira was still riding on Boogie, who looked tired, and the teenage Angel was still chattering away to her droid, making up for the long silences between the older members of the mission. "...and I'll paint you pink, and glue purple Wonky bird feathers on top, and..." Boogie looked as downhearted as a mouse droid could get.

Suddenly, the lifts, which were not too far ahead (and there were five of them in a row, too) all beeped, signaling parties of stormtroopers ahead. Adeline reacted instantly. She knocked Sadira into an empty storage compartment, scooping Boogie into her arms. "If we get out of this alive, without Imperial traitors, I will never let her do that to you!" The older Angel hissed. She threw Boogie into the room after Sadira, her (now green) lightsaber igniting with a snap-hiss.

Dozens of stormtroopers poured out of the lifts. Adeline swore loudly. "E Chu Ta! It's a trap!"

Ahsoka drew her lightsaber. "If we're going down, we're doing it together!"

Obi-Wan looked hassled. "I have a plan! Adeline, you must get to the control room, and disable the laser cannons! Ahsoka and I will protect Sadira, and create a diversion!"

Adeline tried to argue, but Ahsoka cut the Angel off. "Aunt Adeline, it's a good idea! Anyway, you're the most qualified of us all for the job! Go, before it's too late! May the Force be with you!"

Adeline didn't have it in her to argue. She ducked into a hallway, and sure enough, it led around to another set of lifts. "Well, here goes nothing," She muttered, getting in the lift and pressing the button for the control room.

As the lift rose higher and higher, Adeline, using her incredible skill at fixing (and breaking into) machinery, opened panel after panel until she found the right one, the hotwired it to express mode. As she rode up, she thought about her fight with Obi-Wan. She thought about what Ahsoka had said about Obi-Wan's wanting to propose. She thought about getting married, at sunset, when the twin suns were setting behind the horizon. She thought about wearing a white dress, and having Ahsoka and Sadira as bridesmaids. She thought about how wonderful it would be... until the lift lurched. Adeline nearly threw up, and she swore. The Angel had been tired and sick lately, but had been hiding it from Obi-Wan. After all, she kinda knew something was going to happen, and she wanted in. He wouldn't have let her come along if he knew she was sick, after all. Suddenly, there was a pleasant ding, and the lift doors opened into the control room. She smiled devilishly, her sickness going away as deviousness took over. She was a mechanical genius, and so, upon finding the section of the control board that she needed, the Angel opened it up and began to work.

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano were fighting side-by-side against the Imperial stormtroopers.

"Why...do...we...always...get...in...trouble?" Ahsoka yelled over the noise of the stormtroopers' blasterfire.

"I don't know!" Obi-Wan shouted back.

Ahsoka managed to cut down three stormtroopers. "How are we going to get out of this?" The Togruta yelled.

Obi-Wan looked annoyed. "I don't know!" He shouted. "Ask Adeline! She's the one who came up with the plan!"

Ahsoka looked mad. "Well, if these stupid stormtroopers were droids, we wouldn't be having this problem!"

Obi-Wan tilted his head to the side. "How so?"

"Well, Adeline would have disabled the droid control station! However, there is no 'Trooper Control Station!'"

"This is true!" Obi-Wan shouted back.

Ahsoka looked over at him. "If Darth Vader's here, then perhaps I could work with the situation a bit..." She deactivated her lightsaber and faced the troopers, who lowered their weapons a bit. "Look, men, do any of you realize how old I actually am?" She asked.

The troopers shook their heads.

Ahsoka smiled coyly. "Do any of you realize that you nearly shot down a minor?" She asked.

One of them cleared his throat. "Um, how old are you exactly?"

Ahsoka's eyes flashed subtly. "Sixteen last birthday," She stated matter-of-factly. "Also, let's work on introductions. I am Ahsoka Tano, and I think that perhaps a few of you know me, eh?"

There was a start among several of the men. "Ahsoka?" One of them asked.

She looked up. "Yes?"

He took off his helmet, and Ahsoka's heart dropped. It was Oddball, one of her old friends. "Oddball?" She asked cautiously.

He nodded. "Look, I'm really sorry about that, and-"

She cut him off. "Well, you wouldn't have stopped firing if I had just been any normal Jedi, would you? Well, I think I might just have to give you the 'You're-not-a-real-person' treatment, and run you through!"

Oddball looked worried. "Um, sir-"

Ahsoka's lightsaber ignited with a snap-hiss. Here was the true test, the one she was looking for. Obi-Wan looked at her as if she had cracked. She glared at him, as if to say, 'I'm not crazy, you idiot!'

Most of Oddball's fellows raised their weapons and prepared to fire. Three did not, including Oddball himself. "I'd die, rather than kill you, sir," He admitted. "It's not right to kill a person."

Ahsoka deactivated her lightsaber with a smile and stuck out her hand. "Welcome to the team, Oddball. Anyone else going to help us?"

Several more clones left the group. Ahsoka gave Obi-Wan a look that said, 'See, it's that easy!' She spoke up again, this time to the remaining troopers. "If you let us go, we can let off on you. You don't have to join us to live."

Several troopers exchanged a look, before pushing one forward. "That works with us," He said.

Ahsoka smiled. "May the Force be with you all!" The young Togruta, Obi-Wan, and their group of clones stepped back towards the lifts. Ahsoka saluted the remaining clones as they all piled into a lift, and skyrocketed towards the bridge.

Adeline yanked on several wires, short-circuting them with her life Force. She checked the small panel in Imperial code that told how the control board worked. She had cracked the Imperial code easily, as no one can have the safeguards to keep a Nubian Angel out of one's Stardestroyer. Adeline traced a blue wire backwards, and gently slid her lightsaber off her task belt, slicing through it and placing several explosive charges on the control board. She then wired the detonators to a timer attached to her wrist and boarded the service lift again, flying up towards the bridge. If she could take the bridge, then the whole fight would be in her hands. She could do that.

As the lift skyrocketed upward, Adeline thought about everything that had transpired since she had met Obi-Wan, so long ago, on Dathomir. So much had come from that. And, since she had nothing to think about other than tormenting memories, she sat down and began to meditate, reaching deep in the Force, as no other could. She reached into the future, and flashes of pictures popped into her head.

A little Angel, perhaps three years old, wearing a little cloak, being swung high in the air by her laughing 'sister', a seven-year-old Angel listening to a bedtime story, read by her mother, a teenage Angel stabbing battle droids with a lightsaber beside her father, a young Angel, standing with her mother, father, 'sister', and her 'Aunt Ahsoka', watching the Tatooine sunset with her family.

Adeline's eyes flew open as the lift jerked again, bringing back her sickness with a vengeance. "Blast!" She shouted, leaning up against the side of the lift. It slid to a stop, and she swore in seasoned Huttese.

"E Chu Ta!" Adeline ripped a strong metal panel from the side of the lift and connected two wires. The lift jerked, and began to move again. Adeline sighed happily. "Well, thank the Force that I had to take care of myself when I was younger, or I would have never learned to hotwire anything!"

Suddenly, the lift stopped, and the doors opened with a pleasant ding. Adeline cautiously looked around, and, finding the area to be free of stormtroopers, crept out, flattening herself against the wall.

"Blast! I can't believe I got fat while I was living in the desert!" She muttered, looking down at her not-so-flat stomach. "I have got to exercise more."

Suddenly, Adeline bumped into Ahsoka. "Ahsoka? What are you doing here?" She asked.

Ahsoka looked surprised. "Taking the bridge, of course! What are you doing?" The Togruta asked, absentmindedly stroking one of the burn scars on her cheek.

Adeline burst out laughing. "Well, that's what I'm doing here!"

They were standing behind a door, and suddenly it opened, revealing a black figure with a red lightsaber. Sadira shrieked, and Boogie squeaked and rolled behind the clones. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan drew their lightsabers, but Adeline turned, waving them off.

"Go." She said, and it was not a suggestion, but an order. "I can take care of this."

Obi-Wan looked like he was going to protest, but Adeline leaned forward and kissed him passionately on the lips. "Obi, our argument doesn't matter now. Just let me deal with this. You know I can handle it, since I handled Maleficent two years ago."

Suddenly, things got a lot worse. Maleficent, burning with hate and anger, stepped up beside Darth Vader. "Looking for me?" He asked.

Adeline drew her purple lightsaber. "Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Sadira, GO! That's an order. Now!"

Obi-Wan looked like he really wanted to argue, but knew better than to argue with a feisty Nubian Angel, especially one gearing up for battle. He put his arm around Sadira and led her back towards the lifts with the clones and Boogie in tow. Ahsoka drew her two green lightsabers. "Aunt Adeline, I am not going to leave you here to die! There are two of them!"

Adeline's eyes flashed from green to gold, then back again. "Ahsoka, go. Now. This is something to do on my own. Tell Obi that I love him. Go!"

Ahsoka stood firm. "No, Aunt Adeline, I won't leave you to die! If there's a will, there's a way! And I think most people would argue that I have a very strong will."

Adeline turned around and placed her hands on Ahsoka's shoulders. "Ahsoka, I need you to protect Sadira! She's only a little girl, and I need you to keep her safe. Can you do that? I'm not going to die. I promise."

Ahsoka looked serious. "I'll protect Sadira, Aunt Adeline. I promise!"

Adeline hugged the girl. "May the Force be with you, Ahsoka."

The Togruta smiled shyly. "May the Force be with you too, Aunt Adeline." She ran off to follow, and Adeline drew on her strength again, gathering her life Force to help her in battle. Her purple lightsaber came out with a snap-hiss. "Looking for me, Maleficent? Want your hand? Well, I took it home and pickled it, so, if you want it back, come and get it!" She taunted.

Maleficent's face turned red. "You dare?"

"Uh, yeah, stupid!" Adeline grinned, relying on her natural talent to annoy people if she wanted to, and let fly a barrage of insults and taunts.

"Hey, Ani-bananni-bo-banni, how's the sore throat? Not so good, huh?" She imitated Vader's breathing, and could feel that she was infuriating him. Both Sith Lords leaped at her, and she fended them off with her lightsaber, doing a dance she had done many times, a dance between Light and Darkness.


A/N: Hey!

Thanks so much for the nice review, TCTrent45! We appreciate this more than you or anyone else could imagine! Oh, Harriet, thanks for reading, and may the Force be with you!

May the Force be with you!

~Katia and Cassi