Chapter 6

Aries leaned back in his chair, picked up his half empty bottle and took a large gulp from it. It would have seemed to many that he didn't have anything to worry about at all.

Certainly not several armed soldiers, a Jedi master and now that he was thinking clearer and she wasn't hiding who she was, a young Jedi as well to contend with.

"It's been quite some time hasn't it?" Anslinger said.

Aries shot a look at Sariss before saying "a lifetime."

"The consequences of our actions always catch up on us," Anslinger replied.

"Still constantly spouting your philosophies eh," Aries said. "I'm sure he was a lot of fun to travel with.". He spoke the last words to Sariss, who was still quiet. He did a bit of a double-take as well, since she was no longer wearing the outfit she had on earlier, but instead the traditional Jedi robe.

"Holographic clothing eh, you're full of surprises," he said. He then looked over at the soldiers Anslinger had brought, studying them and trying to guess what weaponry they'd brought. He could make out at least one blaster, he made note of it. "Brought enough back-up?"

"The goal is to bring you in alive. These men are all armed, their weapons set to stun if you try to resist us," Anslinger said.

"Did you really expect anything else?" Aries said as he threw the bottle he'd finished at Anslinger.

Anslinger reacted instantly, his lightsaber slashing out and catching the bottle with an incredible amount of precision. The act required less than a split-second's attention away from Aries, who kicked the table, sending it in Sariss' direction, and while he rolled back his hand shot out and the blaster he had noticed earlier sailed towards him, shooting wild arcs of blue in all directions before reaching Aries' left hand. The stun arcs taking out four of the soldiers.

He had rolled back and had taken out his lightsaber before the blaster had reached his hand, the golden blade leaping out and aiming a low horizontal slash at Anslinger, who met Aries' blade with his own, it's colour aqua.

Aries managed to hold Anslinger back with only one hand on his blade, and angling himself so that his former master was in-between him and the remaining soldiers, who now had their weapons out and were trying to get into something that resembled a tactical formation.

"You won't escape a second time," Anslinger said, pressing his lightsaber down on Aries' blade, trying to keep him in one spot long enough to be stunned.

Aries gave Anslinger a savage smile, and for a brief instant Anslinger saw the person Aries had been so many years ago shine through, if only just a glimmer. He hesitated and Aries yet again capitalized on it, pushing back enough to allow him enough space to backflip up in the air towards to the wall, land on it, and use the Force to help him propel himself over Anslinger and while in midair stun yet another of the soldiers.

He landed in-between the last two conscious soldiers, Agear and Horace, who displayed a surprising amount of dexterity and reaction timing, as he shuffled stepped back and withdrew a vibro-blade. Agear chose to rely on the butt of his large rifle to try and knock Aries out at such close quarters, but Aries ducked the blow and spun low, bringing his leg around with tremendous force, hitting Agear in the shin, unlike the previous night though the soldier didn't fall over, but did stumble forward, catching himself on a table.

The second he had finished the sweep, he pointed the blaster at Horace and fired, knocking him out with the blue arcing beam.

This left him a clear path out, with Anslinger and the rest behind him, though Anslinger was close. He was older though, and even with the Force on his side, it also seemed to be helping Aries, who sprinted out of the cantina faster than any normal human could move. He looked back to see Agear and Anslinger a few meters behind him.

A maintenance shuttle had landed nearby and was unloading materials in big brown own boxes and Aries reached out with the Force to grab them and launch them across the path behind himself. He was lucky too, because of his rusty skills he had to dive to narrowly avoided one of those very boxes.

He used the momentary diversion and what was left of his powers, since he had used more in the past few days than he had in years, to launch himself up into the air and land on a large transport shuttle.

He lowered himself on it with shaky legs and turned over and onto his back, somewhat exhausted but smiling and laughing as well.

The shuttle he was on was at least three times longer than he was tall, and there was plenty of space for him to stretch out and relax for a moment. That moment was interrupted by a loud thump that came from the other side of the shuttle. He looked back and saw, upside down, the figure of Sariss, holding a green lightsaber.

Aries groaned as he rose to his feet and faced Sariss. Her face had a determined expression on it and her eyes were locked on him.

"You can still turn yourself in," she said.

Aries laughed, "you know what they do to people like me?"

"Whatever it is, I know you deserve it, I've read up on you and know what you've done," Sariss replied.

"You've read up on me have you, well I guess you're an expert then. If they capture me they'll cut me off, sever my connection to the Force and leave me a useless husk," Aries said.

"Are you sure that's what will happen? I've heard you've left the dark side, but acting out of fear like you are now will only bring you closer again," Sariss said.

His eyes flinched at the truth in those words, but there was also a weariness there as well. "That sounds like something someone who's spent their entire lives at the Academy would say. Spend some time out on edges of the galaxy long enough and your perspective might change," he said. "I'm tired of this though, you do what you have to."

He switched on his lightsaber and jumped on top of another shuttle, one half the size of the one they were previously on. Sariss had anticipated him and landed on top of it before him, her lightsaber up as he landed and met her blade with his golden one.

Green and gold blazed against the backdrop of bright lights and passing shuttles and speeders. The one they were on swerved to try and shake them off, and Aries jumped onto the top of another smaller grey shuttle, then another another larger one, Sariss following close behind.

Wide eyes of people in various shuttles and speeders watched as they played their dangerous cat and mouse game thousands of metres above any sort of solid ground.

"You're crazy!" Sariss yelled as she landed on another shuttle, her face flushed and sweaty, as was Aries'. He was also still slightly drunk, and his focus and the fact that it been years since he'd been in a battle like this made it hard or him to concentrate. Still, he found he was also enjoying himself, and let out an exhilarated cry.

"Maybe I am crazy," he said as his duel with Sariss continued, "because this is the most fun I've had in years."

"How did you ever become a Jedi?" Sariss yelled.

"Through intense concentration and having no sense of humour, thank the Force I've grown out of that phase," Aries said before jumping yet again.

Sariss chased him as he jumped from transport to transport, like a mynock swooping after it's prey in the lower recesses of Coruscant. When he finally landed on another large shuttle, he looked around wildly for an escape from Sariss' relentless pursuit. Finally he looked down and before thinking took the gamble just as Sariss jumped right next to him. He felt her hand brush against his jacket but it slipped from her grasp as he jumped straight down, falling through the traffic as the vehicles shot past him, hoping he'd timed it right.

After falling at least a few hundred feet he reached out and barely grabbed hold of the side of a smaller speeder with one hand, the other hand still holding his lightsaber, he shut the blade off and the first chance he got let go of the speeder, as it flew over a building that it was close enough to so he wouldn't break his legs when he landed.

He rolled as he hit the ground and though nothing broke, he definitely felt the force of the fall rip up his legs like mini shockwaves. He was lucky that his adrenaline was still flowing strongly or it would have hurt quite a bit more.

He ignored the pain and looked around and saw that he had finally lost Sariss. He didn't relax though until he'd reached his apartment. There were no records that he lived here, as was the case in much of Nar Shaddaa, and as long as the credits continued to flow no questions were asked. Still it was probably best if he lay low for a while.

Aries slumped down onto his bed, feeling the adrenaline finally recede and after opening and closing his eyes a few times he closed them yet again, and passed out.

When he woke up it was to the sight of his room full of soldiers as well as Sariss and Anslinger.

"Tell me this is a nightmare?" he asked.

"Afraid not," Anslinger said. "Sariss tagged you with a tracer, she is quite talented."

"Yeah, unfortunately I have to agree," Aries said, right before Agear strode up and shot a stun arc right at his chest, and all he knew for a while was black.