Thank you to the 7 people who reviewed the last chapter. You guys are the greatest. Also, the vault used in this chapter (the one beneath the holocron vault) is completely fabricated, created for the purpose of this story. Here is chapter 4 and I hope that you like this chapter.
Chapter 4
Sariss had managed to reach the circular hallway between the first security door and the second one with security lasers that, based on the information she learned about the Temple, could detect movement and sound alarms. Peering at the lasers, Sariss silently thanked the droid for sending her information on how to disable the laser grid without triggering any alarms.
She sensed two more Jedi approaching the entrance to the vault and she swore realizing she was running out of time. She dropped to the ground near the grid before walking over to the panel in front of it and removing its cover. Having memorized the pattern needed to disable the grid, she turned off the laser grid before pausing but no alarms sounded telling her that the droid's information had been correct.
Before she entered the vault, though, her comlink went off, a quiet buzz that only she could hear and she pulled it out before activating it. "Yes?" she said softly.
"Sariss," Lumiya's voice sounded at the other end. "I'll be quick. After you retrieve the holocron, you are to come join me on Corellia. I've got a plan to carry out my most recent orders from Lord Sicarius but I will need a distraction and that is where you come in. I am sending you the name and coordinates for your target. I want you there in three days. Do not be late."
"Yes my lady," she said before she downloaded the information Lumiya had sent her onto a datachip, tucked the datachip away and disconnected the transmission.
She then made her way to the holocron vault using the Force to open it before slipping into it. There was a soft blue glow that came from the many holocrons embedded in the shelves that lined the floor. Sariss, closing the door to the vault behind her she made her way down an aisle gazing around for the entrance to the vault beneath the one she was in.
Pulling out the schematic of the Temple again, Sariss noticed there was a door in the southwest corner of the vault and she headed toward it. She moved as swiftly and as quietly as possible; the last thing she wanted was to alert the three Jedi she sensed to her presence, which was why she was limiting her uses of the Force. She could only hope her use of the Force to open the vault hadn't alerted the Jedi to her presence.
When she reached the doorway, she used the Force to open it only to find herself faced with another laser grid. She doubted that the laser grid could be turned off the same way the one leading into the regular vault had been. She swore under her breath as she glared at the laser grid before she glanced over her shoulder when she sensed that the three Jedi had been joined by a fourth one. She had a view of the entrance to the vault and so could see the durasteel doors sliding open.
They must have sensed my use of the Force, she thought irritated before she stepped away from the door closer to the laser grid and it slid closed behind her. She glared at the grid again before she thought quickly about what to do. She glanced toward the floor and found herself wondering if she could get to the vault by cutting a hole in the floor. It would activate the alarms but, unless she can figure out how to turn off the laser grid before the Jedi reach her, it was her only option.
I'll just have to be really quick and avoid them at all costs. It's a good thing they won't be able to track me with the Force so long as I don't use it anymore since my presence is still hidden, she thought as she ignited her lightsaber and sank it into the floor. Just as she expected, the instant the blade punctured the floor, the alarms began blaring. She ignored them as she carved a circle in the floor before removing the durasteel plug and dropping down into the vault below.
Unlike in the vault above, the glow from the holocrons was a muted red and she could feel tendrils of the dark side drifting off the holocrons. She drifted among them fingers brushing them until she could find the one her masters wanted her to grab. She was told that she would recognize the holocron when she came across it and it wasn't long before she found it.
She removed the holocron from the shelf before gazing at it. She didn't know who the holocron belonged to only that it was a Sith Lord because her masters refused to tell her. Tucking the holocron into her cloak, she dashed toward a corner when she felt the presence of the Jedi who had entered the vault. She peered at the Jedi; in the light of the Sith holocrons, the Jedi was tall and muscular though Sariss was too far away to make out any defining features.
She waited until the Jedi had walked past her hiding spot before she dashed toward the hole she had made. She jumped through it before dashing out into the vault pressing against one of the shelves and gazing around but she couldn't see anyone. She briefly remembered from the information she garnered about the Temple that only Jedi Masters who were on the Council were allowed in the vault. That didn't mean there weren't other Masters in the vault.
Drawing the hood of her cloak over her head, Sariss dashed toward entrance before pressing against the wall and peering into the security hall. There was no one there and she dashed into it before leaping into the mouth of the ventilation shaft not noticing it when her comlink fell. She then dashed down the shaft as she prepared herself to tackle her next greatest challenge.
Getting out of the Jedi Temple without getting caught.
Kira groaned glaring at the back of the Sith Lord as he walked out of the room. The Sith Lord was furious at the lack of answers he was receiving form the four Jedi but Kira didn't know how long she could last under the onslaught of Force lightning. It hurt more than she wanted to admit out loud and she knew that she wasn't the only one who felt that way. A full day had gone by since their capture and Kira wasn't sure how much longer she could last.
"Blasted Sith," Mara growled pushing herself to her feet, her fiery red hair falling over her face and her emerald green eyes glistening in pain. She and Kira had taken the worse of it as Sicarius decided to start with them in an attempt to convince their masters to answer his questions. Though it obviously pained Obi-Wan and Ahsoka to see them in pain, they still remained stubbornly silent.
"How do you feel, Kira?" Obi-Wan asked softly moving to her side and helping her into a sitting position. His gray-blue eyes glistened with worry but his face and posture remained calm.
"Been better," Kira said.
"So what are we going to do now?" asked Ahsoka.
Obi-Wan leaned against the cool durasteel wall behind them as he transferred his gaze from Kira to the closed durasteel door. "Escaping here is going to be the tough part especially because we could get trapped in the tractor beam or fired on by the droid fighters."
"If the droid fighters were recalled after we were captured then we'd just have to deal with the tractor beam. Scrambling the fighters would take some time," Ahsoka said.
"And if they don't know we've escaped until the last possible moment, we will stand a better chance at getting far enough away from the dreadnought to make the jump to hyperspace. The trick is getting that far before they scramble their fighters," said Obi-Wan.
"What about getting out of this cell?" Mara asked.
Obi-Wan grimaced. "If Sicarius wasn't onboard then it would be easy but if we use the Force to open the doors then Sicarius will sense it and that will limit the time we have to get out of here."
"So what do we do?" asked Ahsoka. "We don't have our lightsabers. I suppose we could use the Force against Sicarius when he next comes but he might be expecting that."
"Whether he's expecting that or not, I want to try it," Mara said. "Anything's better than just sitting here and getting blasted by Force lightning every time we refuse to answer his questions."
Kira nodded in agreement. "If we attack at the same time then we might get the advantage," she said.
"It's risky," said Obi-Wan. "But it might be our only chance. We're going to need to figure out how to keep the rest of the ship from learning about this though to give me enough time to find the tractor beam and turn it off."
"Wait, who said you were going after the tractor beam?" Kira demanded.
Obi-Wan smiled a little. "It wouldn't be the first time I've had to do this," he said. Kira wondered at that but decided that she would ask her father about it later when they managed to escape.
"I'm going with you," she said.
"No," Obi-Wan said with a shake of his head. "I want you to stay with Ahsoka and Mara. I can handle this myself and I'll meet you in the hangar bay okay?"
Kira had a bad feeling about all of this and she said as much out loud.
Obi-Wan placed a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed it. "I'll be fine, Kira," he said softly.
"He's coming back," Mara said a little surprised since Sicarius usually didn't return that soon.
Kira could feel the Sith Lord's presence too and she glanced at Obi-Wan who nodded and began gathering the Force around him. She couldn't be sure if the Sith Lord had sensed what they were doing or not but it was obvious he wasn't or else he probably wouldn't have entered the cell when he did.
"You four are trying my patience," he said coolly. "Now I want answers to my questions."
"You want an answer?" Ahsoka sneered. "Fine. Here's your answer!" Then she, Mara, Obi-Wan and Kira lashed out with the Force at the same time. The resulting Force blast sent Sicarius flying into the durasteel wall next to the door. He hit hard, fell to the ground and Kira felt him lose consciousness.
"Come on," Obi-Wan said leaping to his feet before he used the Force to open the cell door and dash out of the cell lashing out with the Force and sending the two guards flying down the corridor. Kira dashed out of the room along with Mara and Ahsoka, the latter two turned before closing and locking the door behind them.
"Okay, we've got only a few minutes head start at best," said Obi-Wan, "since we don't know how long Sicarius is going to remain unconscious."
He took off down the corridor and Kira followed him with Ahsoka and Mara bringing up the rear. Adrenaline was what was allowed Kira to keep moving though she could still feel the pain from the multiple strikes of Force lightning. Obi-Wan stopped when he reached one of the guards he had knocked unconscious with his Force push and removed a few grenades as well as a blaster from him.
They jogged onward down the curving hallway, stopping at a weapons room where they found their lightsabers, before stopping when they reached a door. Obi-Wan gestured before ducking into an empty cell lying next to them and Kira, Mara and Ahsoka quickly followed as a few soldiers walked down the hall past them. "The command post is probably crawling with soldiers, Dad," Kira said softly. "We need another way out of here."
"There." Obi-Wan pointed across the hall to where there was a metal grate. "That either leads to a ventilation shaft or a garbage chute but, either way, it might be our best chance at getting out of here."
Kira grimaced. She didn't like the idea of going down a garbage chute but decided that it was their best option and, possibly, their only option.
"All right, let's go," said Ahsoka.
Kira peered into the corridor determining it was empty before she dashed toward the grate. She knelt down and removed the grate covering the chute before wincing as the smell wafted toward her. "All right, let's get this over with," she said with a grimace as she climbed into the chute and slide down. She landed with a splash in the garbage masher and she turned around as Mara Ahsoka and Obi-Wan followed her.
Obi-Wan ignited his lightsaber before sinking it into the door carving an oval big enough for him to walk through before he deactivated the lightsaber and peered into the hallway. "Clear," he said and climbed out of the masher just as a grinding sound alerted Kira to the fact that the masher was being turned on. She quickly climbed out of the masher behind her father and Ahsoka and Mara followed.
"All right, what now?" asked Ahsoka gazing at the corridor.
"The alarms haven't gone off so they don't know we're gone yet," said Obi-Wan. "I'll head off to turn off the tractor beam while the three of you get back to the hangar bay."
"Uh where's that?" asked Ahsoka gazing around.
"Probably two or so decks above us," said Obi-Wan.
"How are you going to find a tractor beam power generator?" asked Kira.
"Leave that to me," her father said. "Now go. Don't forget, we don't know how long Sicarius is going to remain unconscious."
Kira nodded. "Be careful, Dad," she said hugging her father.
"I will be, Kira," Obi-Wan said hugging her back before he released her, turned around and took off.
"All right, now time to find the hangar bay," said Ahsoka before she, Mara and Kira headed off in the opposite direction of the Jedi Master.
Obi-Wan has been onboard dreadnoughts before during the Clone Wars and that was the only reason he had a general idea of where the generators were located. It took him a while to pinpoint where he was on the dreadnought after he got out of the garbage masher, he was on the engineering deck, and after that it became a matter of finding the generator.
It was a good thing Anakin had taught him the basics of hacking into a computer system.
After scanning the layout of the dreadnought and determining where the nearest tractor beam generator was, Obi-Wan took off toward it. He didn't know if shutting down the power to one generator would be enough to allow them to escape though but he remembered that turning off one generator on the Death Star had allowed the Millennium Falcon to escape. Let's hope it's the same for this dreadnought, he thought.
He continued to run down the curving corridor toward the generator sticking to the shadows and ducking into empty rooms whenever he saw soldiers until he reached the room. Pressing against the wall outside the generator's room, he stretched out with the Force only sensing a few occupants in the room.
Using the Force, he opened the door before removing one of the smoke grenades he had grabbed off one of the guards he had knocked out when they first escaped. He activated it before tossing it into the room and pressing against the wall beside the door. The grenade went off and smoke billowed out of the room followed by coughing soldiers in uniform. He aimed a Force push at the soldiers who came out and they flew into the wall knocked unconscious on impact.
Once the smoke cleared, Obi-Wan dashed into the room and toward the console. He spotted the power lever and pulled it watching as the power to the tractor beam generator drained away. Now to get to the hangar, he thought before dashing across the walkway next to the console to the door at the other end of the walkway. The door opened into a turbolift lobby and he headed across it into the turbolift.
Once inside the lift, he pressed the button that would take him to the hangar deck. The layout he had studied earlier had told him the location of the hangar bays and he had been right in guessing that he, his daughter, Ahsoka and Mara were two decks below them. The lift continued its journey upward and Obi-Wan leaned against the wall releasing his exhaustion into the Force.
When the lift came to a stop, Obi-Wan dashed into the lift lobby before scanning the corridor in front of him with the Force for occupants. When he didn't sense anyone, he thumbed the door release button and dashed into the corridor.
Sicarius was furious.
First, the four blasted Jedi knocked him unconscious by catching him off guard with that Force blast and then they escape the detention center without alerting the guards in the command post.
Everyone seemed to have known he was furious because they stayed out of his way as he strode toward the hangar bay where the shuttle was located. His lightsabers were in his hand though they would remain off until he came into contact with the Jedi. Even though he was sure the Jedi had already told the Jedi Council about the fleet's location, he wasn't going to let them get away; killing four Jedi would definitely deal a sharp blow to the Jedi Order.
Soldiers scattered the instant they saw him when he reached the hangar deck. He reached out with the Force just in time to sense that three of the four Jedi were near the hangar bay where the shuttle was located. He immediately headed toward the hangar deck eyes scanning the area before he spotted the three Jedi skidding to a halt the instant they spotted him.
"Oh kriff," the red-haired apprentice said.
"Well, if it isn't three of my four escapees," Sicarius said coolly. "I expected the four of you would escape but I did not expect to be pushed into a blasted wall." His eyes narrowed and anger crawled through him as he ignited his lightsabers falling into a ready stance.
"Kira, Mara, head to the hangar now. I'll distract Sicarius," the Togruta ordered igniting her lightsabers and holding them in a reverse hand grip.
"But master," the red-haired girl began.
"Go!"
The two apprentices nodded before running toward the hangar bay while Sicarius leapt at the Togruta who caught his attack with her blades and the duel began. A whirlwind of strikes and slashes followed as the Togruta parried his attacks and he blocked her thrusts. They were evenly matched but Sicarius was not about to let a Jedi defeat him.
Breaking the bladelock they had been locked in, Sicarius unleashed a blast of Force lightning that the Togruta caught on one of her blades. The power behind the lightning sent her skidding backwards a few feet and her teeth gritted as she struggled to fend off the lightning. Breaking off the lightning, Sicarius lashed out with the Force and the Togruta was pushed into the wall behind her. Her hands went to her throat when Sicarius grabbed it with the Force and lifted her up.
"You were once Skywalker's apprentice," he purred striding forward to come to a stop in front of the Jedi. "I'm disappointed. I would've thought anyone taught by Skywalker would at least pose some challenge."
"I've still…got a few…tricks up my…sleeve," the Togruta gasped.
Sicarius curled his lip into a sneer before one of his lightsabers disarmed the Togruta and he threw her into the wall. She fell to the ground with a groan before she struggled to push herself to her feet reaching out with the Force for her lightsabers only to collapse again when forks of lightning slammed into her. Screams of pain erupted from her lips as she writhed on the ground.
"Master!"
A Force push sent Sicarius skidding backwards a few feet and he glared at the interruption to find the red-haired apprentice standing there, blue lightsaber ignited and in her hand.
"Mara, get out of here," the Togruta gasped struggling to get to her feet.
"Not without you," the girl, Mara, growled glaring at Sicarius who simply raised an eyebrow.
"You really think you can take me on, little apprentice," he said.
"She may not be able to but I can."
The new voice, calm and collected, was accompanied by a Force push that sent Sicarius skidding to the side. He whirled around eyes flaring as Kenobi walked forward lightsaber in hand and ignited while his eyes were fixed on him.
Mara dashed to the Togruta's side while Sicarius was focused on Kenobi and helped her to her feet.
"Mara, get Ahsoka out of here," Kenobi ordered.
"But Master Kenobi…" Mara began.
"Just do as you're told, Mara."
"Yes Master Kenobi," said Mara before she guided Ahsoka away from the confrontation between the Sith Lord and the Jedi Master.
"You may have defeated a Sith Lord before, Kenobi, but that doesn't mean you'll defeat me," said Sicarius before he leapt at Kenobi who caught the attack with his own blade.
The explosion sent shockwaves across the city. Debris flew in all directions crashing into buildings and streets. Maniacal laughter could be heard above the screams of agony. Clones hurried down the walkways toward the location of the explosion while speeders flew in the opposite direction. Some were unlucky enough to get caught in the shockwave and were sent careening into buildings.
Anakin sat up sharply so sharply that his head spun and he, with a groan, lied back down. A day had gone by since the robbery at the Jedi Temple and the escape of the dark Jedi who caused it. As Luke had predicted, the attack on the Senate building had been a distraction and there had been an explosion in the Jedi Temple. If Madame Nu, Galen and Jinn hadn't been near the holocron vault when the dark Jedi had retrieved the holocron then they would not have noticed it. However, the dark Jedi still escaped through the ventilation system but the Jedi had alerted the Senate and had clones as well as a few Jedi searching the planet for the dark Jedi.
Mace Windu had also found a comlink in the security hall outside the holocron vault and they were working to reconstruct the last call made from it. They had still been working on that when Anakin returned to the Temple after spending most of the day at the Senate making sure Chancellor Mothma and Leia were all right after the supposed attack. They were able learn that the dark Jedi was heading toward Corellia and decided to finish reconstructing the last call in the morning.
The dream he just had was similar to the one he had earlier but it had more detail and seemed to hint that it might be taking place on Corellia.
Something's going to happen on Corellia, my vision says as much, Anakin thought. But what? And can I stop it? I mean, I stopped Padmé dying in childbirth and Obi-Wan helped stop my mother dying. He didn't know if he could but he would try to.
He wished that he could ask Obi-Wan but his former master was still trapped onboard the dreadnought. It was also early, no more than an hour after midnight, and Anakin doubted anyone he could talk to about his vision was up. Even Luke wasn't up and Anakin was glad that Luke hadn't had the more detailed vision.
He decided that he needed to get his mind off his vision and he changed and left his room before he walked over to the kitchenette. Making himself a cup of caf, he wandered into the living room and sipped at the caf. He wondered how Obi-Wan was doing and whether he managed to escape the person that captured him.
Checking on him will be a good way to get my mind off my vision, he thought reaching out with the Force toward his best friend. He immediately sensed the danger that Obi-Wan was in though he couldn't be sure what the danger was. He had a feeling it was whoever captured Obi-Wan, Kira, Ahsoka and Mara.
"Dad?"
Anakin glanced over his shoulder at Luke who was walking toward him rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "You're up early, son," he said.
Luke yawned. "Yeah. No idea what woke me up though," he said sitting down beside his father. "Why are you up so early? You're usually sleeping until noon when you aren't on a mission."
Anakin scowled at his son though his eyes shone with amusement. "I've gotten better since you and Leia were born," he said ruffling his son's hair and Luke, though still looking half-asleep, scowled at him.
"Stop that," he said ducking away from Anakin before he yawned again.
At that moment, Anakin's comlink went off. He, not remembering that he had grabbed it when he left his room, keyed it on. "Skywalker," he said into it.
"Skywalker," Windu's voice sounded. "Come to the Situation Room in the High Council Tower. We've managed to reconstruct the last call made on the comlink we found in the holocron vault and it's not good news. Bring Luke."
"On my way, Master Windu," Anakin said before he clicked the transmission off and stood up. "Come on, they've managed to reconstruct the last call on the comlink."
Luke nodded before getting up and disappearing into his room. He returned dressed in his Jedi robes, he had been in his pajamas before, with his lightsaber clipped on his belt. Anakin led the way out of the room and headed toward the Situation Room. Galen met them at the top of the stairs with Jinn just beside him when they stepped out of the turbolift.
"Hey Luke, Uncle Anakin," Jinn greeted him.
"Jinn, Galen," Anakin said before following Jinn and Galen as they led the way into the Situation Room.
The Situation Room was a circular chamber that took up an entire level of the Tower. Along the outer walls, large transparisteel windows granted a panoramic view of the cityscape. In the center of the chamber was a sunken dais on which was a large holotable surrounded by comm stations and holocharts. Standing around the table were most of the members of the Jedi Council and Siri. Windu stood across from the door with Yoda at his side.
"Anakin," Windu greeted him as Anakin joined the gathered Council Members with his son at his side.
"So what's going on?" Anakin asked.
"We reconstructed the last call," Windu said. "It would appear that the dark Jedi was in contact with someone who is following the orders of a Lord Sicarius."
Brow furrowing, Anakin said, "Who's Sicarius?"
"Kira told me that Sicarius was the name the Sith who captured her and Dad and them gave them," Jinn said.
"Sicarius is a Sith?" Windu echoed.
"Why weren't we told this immediately?" asked Shaak Ti.
"With the dark Jedi infiltrating the Temple and then trying to reconstruct the last call on the comlink, I kinda forgot," Jinn admitted.
"How do we know Sicarius is a Sith?" said Plo Koon.
"We don't," said Adi Gallia. "But it's a possibility. I don't think Kira would have said that otherwise."
"And his goals, if Sicarius is the same dark Jedi who chased Jenica, are the same as Palpatine's," Anakin put in.
"We don't know if Sicarius is the same person who chased Jenica," Windu pointed out.
"Point taken."
"Let's get back to why we're here. We were able to learn that the person the dark Jedi was talking to is planning on doing something on Corellia for her master and she needed the dark Jedi to pull off a distraction."
"She?" Jinn perked up in interest.
"Both voices were distinctly female yes," said Windu.
"Is the fact could be like what happened at the Senate be why we're here?" asked Anakin.
Windu nodded. "We might need to do a covert operation in order to figure out what these dark Jedi are doing, who their target is and, possibly, why. In other words, these dark Jedi can't know we know about whatever they're planning."
"No problem there. We don't know what they're planning," Anakin pointed out. "So what's the plan?"
"We've discussed it and we decided to send two Jedi teams to Corellia," Stass Allie said. "We don't believe in coincidence and it's just as possible these dark Jedi are working for Sicarius as the fact that Sicarius could be the same person who attacked Jenica. So we think that if Sicarius wants to take over the Republic then he might target the Senate."
"That is why, send one Jedi team to protect Senator Garm Bel Iblis we will and investigate the other team shall," Yoda said.
"My apprentice and I will be going," said Windu. "And we've decided to have you come with us, Anakin. You and your apprentice will protect the senator while Galen and I investigate."
Stang, Anakin thought and he could feel that his son obviously didn't like the idea of playing bodyguard to a senator either. Though he didn't like it, he would still do it. Over the years, he had gotten better at obeying orders thanks primarily to Obi-Wan's teachings even after he was knighted.
"Important that part of the mission is," said Yoda. "If the target Senator Bel Iblis is then well protected he must be."
Anakin placed a hand on Luke's shoulder as he nodded. "When do we leave?"
"We'll leave later today," said Windu. "May the Force be with us all."
Mara Jade stood at the top of the boarding ramp gazing toward she had last seen Obi-Wan her lightsaber was in her hand and blocking the blaster bolts that came from the soldiers in the hangar bay. Kira stood at her side her yellow blade also blocking blaster bolts or redirecting them back at the shooter. Nearby, Obi-Wan was still locked in a duel with Sicarius; their duel had taken them into the hangar bay a few minutes earlier.
"We should probably prepare for a quick getaway," Mara said.
"Ahsoka's preparing the engines right now," Kira said.
"How is she?"
"A bit shaky but she'll be fine."
Mara watched Obi-Wan flip backward before he lashed out with the Force when he was upside down in midair. Sicarius stumbled and unleashed a torrent of Force lightning at Obi-Wan who, landing neatly on his feet, caught the lightning on his blade. Though in his forties, Obi-Wan was still a force to be reckoned with. He was one of the greatest duelists in the entire Order, being one of the few to have mastered Form III of lightsaber combat, as was obvious by how he was able to hold Sicarius back and only looked slightly tired.
Obi-Wan lashed out with the Force again before flipping backwards again closer to the boarding ramp. He was now within earshot and, as he caught another torrent of lightning, he glanced at Kira who nodded sharply.
"Come on," she said to Mara closing down her lightsaber and dashing back into the shuttle. Mara slowly backed away blocking blaster bolts as she felt the shuttle shudder as the main engines were brought online and the ship slowly lifted up as the landing gear was retracted. She watched as Obi-Wan, with one last Force push, took a flying leap backwards to land in the middle of the boarding ramp.
Without pausing, he dashed into the shuttle and Mara lifted the boarding ramp. When it was lifted, she called, "clear," and felt the shuttle shoot forward.
She dashed into the cockpit nearly losing her balance when the ship passed through the containment field that kept the hangar bay pressurized. Grabbing the back of the co-pilot seat, Kira was seated there, she watched as Ahsoka twisted the ship around and flew away from the dreadnought.
"Fighters incoming," Kira said sharply as the shuttle hurried to get as far from the dreadnought as needed in order to make the jump to hyperspace.
"We won't last long against the fighters and I'm pretty sure Sicarius won't care if we're destroyed this time around," Obi-Wan said tiredly.
Kira looked at him concerned but Obi-Wan waved it off. "I'm fine," he said. "How long before we can make the jump to hyperspace?"
"Minutes we don't have," Ahsoka said through gritted teeth. "Blast, it's times like these that I wish Anakin were here."
Mara knew all about Anakin Skywalker's legendary piloting skills and how he could get them out of messes such as the one they were easily. Glancing at Kira and Obi-Wan, she could see that they agreed with her and she did too; Luke had to have gotten his good piloting skills somewhere.
Mara frowned at that thought. She hadn't thought about Luke at all throughout the mission and had to wonder why he came into her mind at that moment. She brushed it off and focused at the situation at hand.
The ship suddenly shuddered violently and everyone lurched forward. Ahsoka's teeth ground together. "We're hit," she said. "Shuttles like these aren't meant for battle and the shields won't hold out long. I'll redirect power to them to strengthen them a little but I don't know how long that'll buy us."
"It just needs to buy us enough time to make the jump to hyperspace," said Obi-Wan.
Another blast caught the ship and it suddenly shuddered violently before listing to one side until Ahsoka was able to level it out. "Blast. That one nearly took out our stabilizer. The shield's power is dropping fast."
The navicomputer beeped alerting the occupants of the cockpit to the fact that it could go to hyperspace. However, just as that happened, another blast caught the shuttle and it suddenly spun; Obi-Wan and Mara grabbed the back of the seats tightly to avoid getting tossed into the durasteel walls.
"One of the stabilizers is badly damaged."
"Can we still go to hyperspace?" asked Obi-Wan.
"So long as the stabilizer doesn't give out anytime soon, we should be able to but I'm having a bit of trouble trying to level the ship out."
"Here, let me try," Mara said.
Ahsoka glanced at her before nodding knowing that Mara was a capable pilot herself. They switched places and Mara began running her fingers over the console in an attempt to level the shuttle out. She worked instinctively, letting the Force guide her fingers and, before long, they were leveled out. After that, she pulled the hyperspace level and the stars transformed into the churning blue-white tunnel of hyperspace.
Mara leaned back relieved but, a few hours later, she learned that her relief came too soon because it was a few hours later that the console began to blare a warning. She scowled when she read the diagnostics report that came with the warning. "We need to drop out of hyperspace now," she said as the shuttle shuddered violently before she pulled the hyperspace lever and, just as suddenly, the churning tunnel vanished to be replaced by a field of stars and an orange planet beyond which were two brilliant suns.
"Of all places, we end up near Tatooine?" Obi-Wan said a little surprised.
"The Force certainly works in mysterious ways," Ahsoka commented just as the shuttle shuddered violently again before it began to spin as the damaged stabilizer finally went out and Mara gritted her teeth as she gripped the control yoke of the shuttle so hard that her knuckles turned white.
"I'm going to try to put us down on Tatooine," she said as she struggled to level out but, without the stabilizer, it was nearly impossible.
"Use the Force, Mara," Obi-Wan said gently. "Reach out with the Force and let it guide you."
Mara closed her eyes before reaching into the Force; immediately, she could feel the currents of the Force swirl around her. She had only been learning for five years but she had some measure of control over the Force though not enough to accomplish what Obi-Wan was implying she do. However, she could feel Ahsoka reaching out to help her as well as Obi-Wan and Kira; they were also using the Force to ensure that they arrived on the planet's surface as unscathed as possible.
At the very least, the shuttle stopped spinning but when it hit Tatooine's atmosphere, the turbulence nearly made Mara lose her concentration. She gritted her teeth and reached out again along with Ahsoka, Kira and Obi-Wan but they were coming down too fast. They shot through the air like a shooting star and then, suddenly, they hit something.
Mara's eyes snapped open and she watched as they bounced over the dune they had hit and skidded across the sand before slamming into the dune beyond. The force of the impact sent Mara and Kira lurching forward so fast that Mara's head slammed forward and then darkness took her.
A/n what do you think?
Blaze: CLIFFHANGER! My first cliffhanger of this entire story!
Darth: how dare you cut…?
Blaze: (holds out frappuccino)
Darth: never mind (takes frappuccino and runs)
Luke: what happens next?!
Blaze: I ain't saying
Han: hey, I talk like that
Chewbacca: (growl)
Blaze: hint
Palpypie: hi
Anakin: wait, you're dead in this story!
Palpypie: am I?
Blaze: possible hint
Anakin: well, if you're not then I'll happily fix that (lifts up flaming machete and chases after Palpypie)
Palpypie: (screams like a little girl and takes off running)
Blaze: (laughs) please review and I will post chapter 5 as soon as I possibly can but I doubt it will be anytime soon so sorry to everyone for the dreadful cliffhanger but hey, gotta had some suspense to my story (and maybe get some more reviews? Hint, hint.)