Arthur: Well all you lucky people, here is the next chapter in Echo and Resist's incredible story

Echo: Thanks, Arthur. Now let's see who betrayed Kao and got her in this situation!

Resist: First things first. Echo and I don't own Star Wars or it's characters, or these awesome quotes we continue to find

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

The Rescue

"It is easier to forgive an enemy, than to forgive a friend"

Mia watched as Arthur paced back and forth next to the holo table. He seemed very focused on the ground in front of him as he continued his loop. "Calm down," the young woman said with a chuckle, "Your plan will work. You just need to give it time."

"Master Kao could be gone by now, there is NO TIME!" yelled Arthur hitting the wall with his fist, then pulling it back quick due to the pain that his rash decision caused. Mia stepped closer and held out her hands so she could inspect it. "If she were gone," she started, lacking the sass and sarcasm from before, "You would be able to sense it, wouldn't you?"

Arthur walked over to the holo table and put his hands down and slightly leaned forward trying to calm himself before he lost control. "Yeah I guess so" replied Arthur, but he spoke very quietly. Mia sighed and put down her hands. She walked over and rested a hand on Arthur's right shoulder. A smile appeared on her face. "It seems like you're either angry or blushing," she narrowed her eyes at him, "Why is that?"

Arthur felt anger at first for taking so long for him to find his master, who probably would have found him by now if their roles were switched, but then there was Mia. She was trying to make him feel better, always sticking by his side and trying to comfort him through this dark time that he was in. Arthur could feel his anger beginning to leave, and another feeling starting to take over, a feeling he only got when Mia was around.

Arthur kept his face staring down at his somewhat bleeding hand, "I should probably get this looked at," replied Arthur, gesturing at his hand that he used to punch the wall. Arthur made for the door, but felt something grab his arm and hold him back.

The young woman was now frowning at him. "You're trying to change the subject," she said with irritation, "I'm going with you." Mia scoffed and waited for him to say something.

"Fine" replied Arthur, as he and Mia made their way to the med bay. Arthur remained distant from Mia on the way through the ship to the med bay because he didn't want to talk to her about his feelings toward her that he kept buried inside him.

They entered the med bay and found the medical droid, who studied Arthur's hand before grabbing some gauze and started to wrap his hand as tight as possible before leaving Arthur and Mia alone. Arthur felt the droid wrapped his hand too tight and tried to undo the wrap, but as he did so he started to struggle and tie things up.

Gently, Mia grabbed his hands in hers and began untangling the wrap. "Are you going to tell me, then?" she asked, not looking up at Arthur.

"Tell you what?" asked Arthur as calmly as he could, while slightly wincing from the bandages brushing against his exposed cuts.

"I'm no Jedi," Mia glanced up and narrowed her eyes at Arthur, "But I'm not stupid. You're not getting around it."

Arthur let out a long breath then decided to speak, "What do you want to know exactly?" he asked, hoping she didn't want to know what he thought she wanted to know.

Mia scoffed and rolled her eyes. She was done with the wrap and started walking away. "You know exactly what I'm asking, Arthur. I've been wanting to ask that question for years even though I already know the answer."

Arthur gulped and stood up to follow Mia out of the medical room "If I answered that question, and if certain people find out then my life as a Jedi is over" replied Arthur, he wanted to just say the answer they both wanted to hear, but he couldn't muster it. He fought against entire armies of droids, Grievous, and Dooku, and yet he couldn't answer one simple question that Mia already knew the answer to anyway.

The young woman nodded as she continued walking. "I understand."

Arthur started to mentally slap himself for his answer to Mia's question, he wanted to tell her so bad, but he was unsure how to make the words into a sentence that wouldn't make him sound stupid. Arthur could picture it clearly in his head, him trying to tell her how he felt and stuttering every other word.

"How many years?" Mia asked calmly.

"S-S-Since our first job together in the gang" replied Arthur trying to keep his nerves down, "I was just starting and you saved my life several times," finished Arthur as his memories flooded his mind.

"I remember," the young woman said as she began to smile, "That's around the time I started, too."

"Liar, you were too good to have started around the time I did," replied Arthur allowing a smile to grow on his face.

Mia's smile grew wider and she looked at Arthur. "I was talking about when I started feeling the same way about you."

Arthur felt like an idiot, which is what he was trying to avoid. "I grew on you that quick?" asked Arthur. It was his turn to ask all the embarrassing questions to Mia. She blushed slightly and turned away. "I guess so, but I never really thought about it as much until you left."

"I asked you to come with me, besides I turned to find you before I left and you were already gone, but I figured I'd see you again later" replied Arthur.

"We're together now," Mia said with a small chuckle, "It's a small universe we live in." She sighed and kept walking down the hall.

Arthur followed her and they entered the communications center where Arthur hit the wall with his fist. The fleet still didn't come under attack yet, and his thoughts about his Master reentered his mind, and he began his pacing again.

"The plan will work," Mia said as she gently punched Arthur's shoulder, "We are going to find Master Kao.

Arthur gave a slight smile and stopped pacing and leaned up against the wall and tried to calm himself again. This was the worst part of the plan. Waiting to see which fleet got attacked. Green was at a different set of coordinates, while he and Mia were at another. "I hate this part," said Arthur, "the waiting is worse than having to fight Dooku."

"What are they like?" Mia asked. "The Sith Lords...what are they like?"

"Dooku and Grievous are both frightening. To tell the truth, I'm surprised I survived my fights with them. Dooku is worse though, I lost track of how many times he could have killed me in our fight."

"I heard talk about Dooku before. I can't believe a Jedi would turn to the Dark Side. You don't think he could turn your master, do you?"

"Kao? No way, she helped me from turning when Dooku was trying to get me to turn," Arthur said. He looked down at the floor for a couple seconds remembering the times he used the dark side during his fight with Grievous.

"I heard what he does to Jedi like her."

Arthur frowned at this, "Please don't tell me, unless you want me to pace the floor again" said Arthur with as much sarcasm as he could muster, trying to not think about such things.

Mia scoffed in amusement before a sympathetic look came about her face. "I won't go into details, but," she paused, "Dooku will rip her mind apart. Council member or not, your master is not coming out of there unscathed. Has she ever experienced his mind games before?"

"I know she lost a padawan to him before" replied Arthur. He wasn't sure how to answer Mia's question as he hasn't been Master Kao's padawan for long.

Mia sighed at this and nodded. "That's a weak point he'll use to manipulate her mind. It's sick and I've heard of what happened to the other Jedi. He'll try to find the hidden things she doesn't want people to know."

Arthur started his pacing around the holo table again with an obvious look of fear on his face, and started to let it consume him. Arthur in his mind started to count how many times he circled the table, but after a while lost track, but kept his pace going.

"If she has nothing to hide, she's fine, Arthur," Mia started to frown at his pacing, "What's wrong?"

Arthur, continuing his pacing, and put his hands on his forehead, and tears started to run down his face. "Everything" he managed to say as his tears fell. Mia immediately rushed over and stood in front of him. She placed her hands on his chest and stopped him from pacing. "Arthur, stop and tell me why everything is wrong." She looked around the communications center and thanked heaven that they were alone.

"It's all my fault, I arrived too late, and by the time I got to where she was suppose to be, she was gone" Arthur tears continued to fall, more so than before.

"This is not your fault," Mia frowned and stepped back, now slightly angry. "Dooku is the one at fault here. Besides, you have nothing to worry about. Sure, he could use the loss of her last padawan to his advantage, but as long as she isn't hiding anything, she's going to be okay. She's probably survived worse, Arthur."

Arthur's tears started to fall less and less, but his fear was still gripping at him more and more. He wasn't sure if Oni was hiding anything or not from him, since he didn't really know her all too in all his brilliance, tried to scoot around Mia and start his pacing again.

"Do you know anyone who has known her for awhile?" Mia asked, "Maybe they would know if she has something Dooku wants to know."

Arthur stopped from trying to get around Mia, and thought for a second. "Green would know probably, he's the only one that comes to mind," replied Arthur quietly, still trying to get his bearings together.

Mia nodded and gave a reassuring smile, "Where's he? Didn't he board a separate ship?"

"Yeah, he did. Maybe we should contact him?" asked Arthur. He was worried that his Master maybe hiding something from him and he wanted to find out. Mia gave him a nod and gestured towards his comm. link. "You should do it now."

Arthur nodded and made to contact Green. "Green, can you hear me?" asked Arthur into his comm.

"Yes, kid. I read you loud and clear. Have you heard anything yet? Our scopes are clear here," the marshal replied in his usual gruff voice.

"Same here Green, has Oni ever told you anything that Dooku might want to expose?" came Arthur's voice over Green's comm.

It was a few moments before Green answered. "No, why?" he asked in a hushed and rather broken voice.

"Well that's what Dooku will use to get at her when he tortures her," replied Arthur in a slightly questionable voice after hearing Green's reply. "I'm sure she'll pull through," the commander said with a lace of fear and concern hidden, "She's a strong woman, Arthur."

"You don't sound very convincing" came Arthur's voice back over the comm, has he himself started worry again on the inside after hearing Green's voice.

"Arthur, I think we should focus on the ships," Green said mildly irritated, though he was just as worried as Arthur if not more. "That's our best bet to find the traitor that put Oni in this situation. Trust me, when we find him, he's as good as dead."

With that the commander cut the chatter leaving Arthur with even more questions than answers, and he hated that. He gave a look of fear and terror over to Mia and was about to start his pacing again.

"He knows something," Mia said, starting to get worried herself. "I've never heard a clone talk like that."

Arthur walked over and put his back against the wall and slowly sunk to the floor and folded his arms over his knees and put his head down, and felt tears starting to stream down his face again. Green had left him in the dark, his Master was in trouble and Green knew something and left him on the outside looking in.

"Maybe you could use your Force powers to find out what it is?" Mia asked, trying to placate him.

Arthur could feel that Green was keeping something big from him, so he decided to take Mia's advice and started to probe out with the force. Arthur reached out and found Green and started to dig carefully around to find his answers, and what he learned shocked him greatly. Arthur immediately stood up and took a couple of steps away from Mia.

"What?" Her eyes widened and she closed the distance between her and Arthur. She rested her hands on his arms and tugged them slightly. "What did you find?"

"Green and Kao are...are...are.." Arthur couldn't finish the sentence as he was weak from using the force to find his answers. He had never done that before and it took a lot of his strength, and he started to slightly fall towards the floor.

Mia stepped over to his side and caught him just in time. Slowly, she sat him down against the wall and waited for him to catch his breath. "Arthur, you need to breath. They are what?"

Arthur did as she said and slowly came to. "They are together" replied Arthur barely above a whisper as he answered her question.

Mia didn't understand at first and frowned. "Together?" She started mumbling different meanings of the word before her eyes widened in shock. "Oh my god." The young woman looked at Arthur and stood up. "Your master is secretly….what?!"

Arthur was just as surprised as Mia and he stood up and began his pacing once again around the holo table mumbling to himself, "This is bad, this is very bad."

"What if Dooku finds out about it?" Mia asked, running her hands through her hair. "Wait! What if the traitor knows which ship he's on? Do you think Dooku would go after that one?"

Arthur could hear Mia asking him questions, but his mind was off somewhere else, his world was spinning and he was trying to make sense of everything. He didn't notice that she stepped out in front of him and he crashed into her.

"Slow down," Mia stepped back from the impact and sighed. "I think we should-"

Suddenly the ship began to shake violently and creak. "Just wonderful" replied Arthur. Mia grunted and rolled her eyes. She began pulling on Arthur's arm and dragging him towards the bridge, "C'mon! We know who did it!"

"I can run myself you know," replied Arthur, who kept staggering over his own feet, as Mia continued to pull him through the ship. "Kuth, er Koth," Mia let go of his arm and began to stutter, "Or whatever his name is! That Zabrak is the traitor! I gave him these coordinates."

"Huh, guess the plan worked after all" chuckled Arthur, who formed a smirk on his face, as he continued to sprint to the bridge with Mia. They stopped just before the viewport to stare out at the Separatist fleet. "That's a lot of cruisers," Mia said wide-eyed as she counted the ships. As of now, it was ten versus one. "How are we supposed to escape and get back to Coruscant?"

"Huh, maybe the plan didn't work after all" replied Arthur with his usual sarcastic tone. "Could always go with my first option?" asked Arthur, who received a raised eyebrow from Mia, "We could just wing it" said Arthur still in his sarcastic voice, "Didn't actually think this far ahead."

Mia just glared at Arthur for a few moments. "Really?" She rolled her eyes when Arthur shrugged his shoulders innocently. "Contact Green," the young woman said, "Maybe he could help us out by getting his butt over here. His love life is kind of on the line." Mia made sure to whisper the last sentence to Arthur, as they were now surrounded by eyes and ears.

Arthur slightly chuckled at the last part before trying to contact Green, but all he could get was static. "Comms are jammed, we are going to have to get out of here ourselves" Arthur said making eye contact with Mia. She bit her lip in thought and fought the urge to pace. As she did so, red alarms starting blinking and the ship shook violently again. Out the viewport, the Separatist cruisers were hammering them with all the firepower they could.

Clones started running about trying to save the ship, giving Mia an idea. "What if we program the ship to collide with the Separatist fleet? We could board the escape pods and set the ship to auto pilot."

Arthur nodded in agreement, wishing that he could have come up with something so genius. "Sounds good to me" Arthur made his way to the ship communications and announced to the clones to abandon ship and make for the escape pods, while Mia started to mess with the nava-computer. "Once we hit confirm, we need to make a break for the escape pods," Mia informed, "You did reserve one for us...right?"

"Of course I did" Arthur said as his pitch fluctuated in his voice not making him sound very confident. "Arthur!" Mia scolded and sighed, slightly punching the nava-computer, "Go get us an escape pod before they leave. I'll stay and program the computer."

"No way I'm leaving without you, just hurry up and program the computer and lets get out of here," replied Arthur as he made his way over to where Mia was programming the nava-computer.

"Arthur, we need to make sure that there is an escape pod for us to leave," Mia said irritated, "I know that you want us to stick together, but in this situation, that might get us killed."

Arthur knew she was right, but he didn't want to leave her. "I just got reunited with you, and I don't want to lose you, I probably couldn't live with myself if you don't make it, and I do."

Mia stood up and came over to Arthur. Giving him a smile, she leaned in and pecked his cheek. Standing back, she now had a weak look on her face. "Arthur, I know and I feel the same way. I need you to go to the escape pod. I'll be fine...I promise you that," she said with a crack in her voice.

Arthur stood there dumbstruck for a few seconds before running out of the bridge and went to secure them a rid off the suicidal ship. Arthur found an escape pod and climbed in and did all the necessary preparations before sitting back and waiting for Mia to enter. He knew that she made a promise to show, but even he knew that she couldn't keep that one if certain circumstances happened.

The ship shook again and began lurching forwards.

Resist: Well we hate to be mean, but…..(Joker laugh)! Who am I kidding of course we do!

Echo: Hehe :D you guys have to wait to see what happens? You never know, maybe Mia won't come back or...or the Death Star could show up...you never know.

Arthur: TIME OUT! I call a foul! You can't end the chapter here. It's inhuman, illegal, cruel and like 50 other things I won't even begin to mention

Echo: She'll be fine! Just think about poor Green...Oni is being tortured for crying out loud!

Arthur: She can come back from that, if the ship explodes, bye bye Mia. Me too, now that I think about it….

Green: Whoa….you wanna take this outside?

Resist: That is harsh Arthur. You call yourself a jedi? Foreshame

Arthur: Sorry Green, my bad

Resist: Well don't forget to use the force and drop some reviews for Echo and I. Also weigh in on who would win this fight, Arthur or Green and why?

Echo: *whispers* I'm betting on Green…. Anyways! Thanks for reading guys! Check back for Chapter 9!