Thank you to the 10 people who reviewed the last chapter. You guys are the greatest and I'm still accepting ideas on what to do the arc after the Hostage Crisis episode that I will be doing after this arc is done with. Reviews, as always, are much appreciated and I hope you like this chapter.

Chapter 20

Obi-Wan glanced at Siri. "Our Padawans are going to have their hands full," he commented turning his gaze to the droids as they hurried toward the turbolift that would take them to the detention center. He knew Ferus could take care of himself but his own Padawan didn't have much experience in the field and that made him feel a bit worried.

"You're worried," Siri said.

Obi-Wan glanced at the blonde Jedi. "Jenica hasn't had much experience on the field," he said.

"Ferus is with her, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan glanced at the empty corridor beneath him knowing Siri was right. Ferus should have been made a Jedi Knight earlier but the war prevented Siri from going to the council with her proposal. That being said, Obi-Wan knew that Ferus would keep an eye out for Jenica.

He released his worry into the Force, it wouldn't do anyone any good if he continued to focus on it, before he glanced at Siri. "Ready?" he whispered.

Siri nodded and Obi-Wan removed the grate before dropping into the corridor lightsaber in hand but off as he gazed around the corridor was deserted. That didn't sit well with Obi-Wan and he glanced at Siri as she dropped to the ground beside him.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he whispered.

Siri gazed around. "So do I, Obi-Wan," she said quietly. "This isn't right. I would've thought Durd would keep some droids to guard him and yet there aren't any here."

"They may be on the floor above us," Obi-Wan suggested.

"Maybe but why leave this floor unguarded when this is the only way we can reach the top floor?"

"Perhaps the general isn't expecting us to go after him," Obi-Wan said doubtfully gazing at the empty corridor before he shook his head and began to reanalyze the situation. Anakin must have found a computer terminal and, perhaps, the location of the bioweapon by now and Jenica and Ferus were obviously heading toward the detention center. The droids were heading toward the detention center making it seem as though they didn't know about Anakin and Ahsoka or Obi-Wan and Siri.

However, Obi-Wan had lived through many battles in the future that seemed way too easy and quickly discovered that the reason it was easy was because it was a trap. But that didn't mean Obi-Wan could just figure out it's a trap right away. He briefly recalled the Battle of Coruscant the first time around and how he knew Dooku's presence onboard the Invisible Hand had been a trap and how he decided to spring it.

Was that what he should do now?

And how could he even know this was a trap?

He decided he would do exactly what he did onboard the Invisible Hand the first time around: spring the trap. "Come on," he whispered to Siri. "Let's get to the top floor."

"Do you know what you're doing, Obi-Wan?" Siri asked.

"I can't tell for sure if this is a trap or not, Siri, but I feel that it is and when there's a trap, might as well spring it at our convenience rather than have them spring the trap on us," Obi-Wan said softly stretching out with the Force to sense whatever was above them and, abruptly, he narrowed his eyes.

"I sense it too," Siri whispered. "The dark side…"

"Ventress," Obi-Wan murmured recognizing the Force signature almost immediately not only from Jabiim and all his other encounters with Dooku's assassin but also from the first time around.
"This is not good. Why didn't we sense it before?" Siri whispered.

Obi-Wan shook his head; he was asking himself that same question. "I don't know," he said. "If Ventress is really here then I was right and this is a trap."

"Do you think we should still spring it?"

Obi-Wan glanced at the blonde Jedi at his side. "Ventress most likely senses our presence just as we sense hers. If we don't spring the trap then she will and I'd rather spring it on my own terms."

"Show Ventress that we knew about the trap and were prepared for it," said Siri nodding. "All right, Obi-Wan, I'll follow your lead on this one."

Obi-Wan glanced at the beautiful Jedi he loved before he turned his gaze to the turbolift that would take them to the floor above their heads hoping he wasn't making a mistake. His duty was to capture General Durd and he had to focus on that at the moment; focusing on anything else at the moment would only lead to a distraction he couldn't afford.

He jogged toward the turbolift before slipping into it and Siri stepped into it behind him. It seemed to him that ever since the actual mission started, the tension that seemed to exist between the two of them had evaporated. Needless to say, the same could not be said for during the flight to the planet. Obi-Wan didn't know why there was so much tension though and Siri refused to say anything to him about it. Instead, she focused on discussing the mission.

Obi-Wan pulled himself from his thoughts as the turbolift came to a stop and the doors slipped open. He kept his lightsaber at a ready as he stepped into the turbolift lobby. He glanced at Siri who looked grim. Both of them could sense the dark side presence clearly now; they knew Ventress was in the next room.

Obi-Wan thought about what to do and decided on a delayed two-pronged attack; he would attack first and Siri would attack when he had Ventress distracted. It might not work because Ventress may have sensed both their presences but there was a chance, however slim, that it would work.

"I'll distract Ventress," he whispered, "and you come in after me. She may be expecting it but if we're swift, we might get the advantage."

Siri nodded eyes narrowing. "Maybe," she said quietly. "But I'm pretty sure Ventress knows there are two of us here. However, that tactic might catch her off guard." She dashed toward the door before pressing herself against the wall next to it as Obi-Wan dashed past her, past the door and into the short corridor beyond it.

With only a door on either side of him and one directly across from the door leading into the turbolift lobby, it wasn't hard for Obi-Wan to decipher through which one he should go through. The Force helped him make his decision too.

He walked toward the door across from him cautiously aware of Siri slipping into the corridor and then through the door on the right side of the corridor. There didn't seem to be any problem in that particular room, which further confirmed that Obi-Wan's decision was the right one.

He walked toward the door and it slide open before he stepped into a circular conference room complete with a long table surrounded on all sides by large chairs with a holoprojection console resting in the table at its head. Beyond the table were large transparisteel windows that offered a view of the courtyard and the land that lay beyond the walls of the base. Beneath the windows were consoles and panels with blank screens and blinking red lights. The alarms were still blaring and the blinding red lights in the conference room were blinking rapidly.

Obi-Wan gazed around as he edged deeper into the room. Ventress was in the same room as him but he couldn't seem to see her anywhere. He knew Ventress well enough from past encounters, some have occurred twice while others haven't occurred yet and may not occur depending on whether Obi-Wan can change the events that occurred the first time around, to know she was unpredictable and very good at surprise attacks.

Sure enough, Obi-Wan heard the snap-hiss of two lightsabers being ignited simultaneously and he turned to his side to find Ventress sliding out of an alcove in the wall to the right of the room.

"Kenobi, what a surprise. I can honestly say I did not expect you to show up here," Ventress said curling her lips into a sneer.

"I can honestly say I did not expect to see you here either, my dear," Obi-Wan replied and Ventress scowled angrily at him before leaping at him thrusting her lightsabers toward his chest but he easily blocked it and danced backwards to avoid the slashes that Ventress tossed at him.

"I am curious of one thing," Ventress sneered. "I sensed another with you. Where might this other person be?"

Obi-Wan shrugged. "Around," was all he said before he blocked the blow aimed at his head and danced backwards a few steps. He slipped into Form III as Ventress leapt at him again and the two of them dueled around the conference room. Their movements were like an intricate dance and they were unable to land a blow against the other, which infuriated Ventress.

Snarling in fury, Ventress leapt back before using the Force to send one of the chairs in the conference room flying at Obi-Wan. The Jedi Master from the future easily dodged the chair before leaping on to the table and off when Ventress launched another chair at him. It sailed at him and Obi-Wan's lightsaber sliced through it before he sent a nudge through the Force to Siri as Ventress leapt at him.

Their lightsabers collided just as another lightsaber ignited and Siri leapt at Ventress with her violet lightsaber. She slashed toward Ventress's side forcing the dark assassin to pull one of her lightsabers off her attack on Obi-Wan to catch Siri's lightsaber. She flipped backwards before holding her lightsabers in front of her.

"I knew there was someone else with you, Kenobi," she sneered. "I should have expected you would come up with a foolish plan like this."

"But you didn't, my dear," Obi-Wan reminded the dark assassin causing her to snarl in fury.

"Must you taunt her, Obi-Wan?" Siri asked raising her eyebrows.

Obi-Wan merely shrugged and didn't answer; it was something he picked up the first time around because whenever Ventress got irritated or too angry then she sometimes lost focus and made mistakes.

Ventress, snarling at them, leapt at them before slamming her crimson lightsabers into their blades and the duel began anew.

"There are a lot of droids down there," Ferus murmured examining the corridor where the droids were located outside of a specific cell. "I am positive that cell is where Doctor Fhernan is being kept."

"Probably yes," Jenica agreed softly. "But how do we get in there? There are a lot of droids between here and there."

Ferus pursed his lips together before gazing around the ventilation shaft. "Follow me," he whispered before he began crawling down the shaft to where there was a four-way intersection. He turned to the right and continued crawling until he came to a stop when he noticed the blank wall in front of him.

"A dead end. Now what do we do?" Jenica whispered sounding frustrated.

Ferus glanced at her. "Did you happen to see how far we moved from our last position?" he asked.

Jenica frowned. "Only a meter if that," she said.

"Just as I thought." Ferus unclipped his lightsaber from his belt.

"What are you doing? They might hear us," Jenica protested.

"If they didn't hear us talking when we practically right above them then they won't hear us talking now. If I am right then we are right above the cell where the doctor is being held," Ferus said.

"So what? We sneak her out through the shaft. But how do we get her out of the base?" Jenica demanded.

"Calm down, Jenica. Let's solve one problem at a time." Ferus touched the end of his lightsaber to the durasteel before ignited the blue blade. The blade sank into the durasteel and Ferus began carving a hole into the durasteel. He deactivated his blade before using the Force to remove the durasteel plug and resting it on the floor of the ventilation shaft on the other side of the hole.

He waited but no droids entered the cell and he peered cautiously into it. He spotted a woman with light brown hair staring up at the hole with wide-eyed shock in her eyes. He gestured for her to be quiet before he leapt into the cell landing lightly on his feet. He glanced up as Jenica joined him before he walked over to join the woman.

"Doctor Fhernan?" he whispered.

The woman nodded slowly.

"I'm Jedi Padawan Ferus Olin and this is Jenica Narak. We're here to get you out of here."

Fhernan swallowed before nodding. "How?" she whispered. "Those droids…"

"Let's get you out of this cell first. Can you walk?"

Fhernan nodded. "But the weapon…" she began quietly and quickly.

"We can discuss this later, Doctor. We need to get you out of here first."

Fhernan seemed to understand for she nodded and Ferus guided her toward the hole before gesturing for Jenica to leap into it first. Jenica nodded and leapt into the hole before turning around and Ferus used the Force to gently float Fhernan through the hole keeping a good grip on her while Jenica helped pull the bigger and older woman into the shaft. He then glanced at the door but no one seemed to have heard the commotion.

That seemed odd.

Ferus narrowed his eyes. Something isn't right here, he thought as he leapt into the hole behind the doctor and replaced the durasteel plug into its slot.

"So how do we get out of here, Ferus?" Jenica asked.

Ferus was still thinking about how something didn't feel right. Getting Fhernan out of that cell shouldn't have been as easy as it was. Why didn't the droids hear anything? Or, better yet, why didn't General Durd place the droids inside the cell? It didn't make sense. If Durd knew that they were going after the prisoner then wouldn't he have done something to prevent the prisoner from escaping by whatever means?

"Ferus?"

Ferus pulled himself back to the present. "Let's head back the way we came," he whispered glancing at the doctor before gesturing for her to go first that bad feeling still hammering at him as if the Force, itself, was trying to warn him of something.

Fhernan began crawling forward as Jenica took the lead and Ferus brought up the rear of the group.

Ahsoka kept one eye on her master and the other eye on the door to the room but it remained closed and she, her hand resting on the hilt of her lightsaber, felt confused. The alarms were still blaring and yet Ahsoka hadn't heard a single thing to suggest that the droids had caught Ferus and Jenica. Also there didn't seem to be any droids near her and her master's current location.

What was going on here?"

"Got it," Anakin whispered before his eyes went wide. "The bioweapon Durd created. It's scheduled to head toward Chandrila."

Ahsoka frowned. "Why?" she asked.

Anakin shook his head. "I'm not sure," he said before his fingers ran across the console and he began examining the blueprints again. "Based on the blueprints, the bioweapon is built so that it will fit on a Separatists dreadnought. The dreadnought is scheduled to depart the system tomorrow."

"But I didn't see any dreadnoughts when we arrived," Ahsoka protested.

"Neither did I." Anakin's fingers ran across the console again before he read the information that appeared on the screen eyes narrowing before he swore and Ahsoka glanced sharply at her master as his fingers ran across the console.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Someone must have discovered what I was doing. They just locked me out of the system and it looks like they're in the process of shutting the main computer down," Anakin said gritting his teeth before he removed his fingers.

"Blast it!" he growled glaring at the terminal as if it did something to insult him before he took a deep breath and Ahsoka felt him release his frustration into the Force.

"All right," he said regaining his composure, "at the very least I managed to get a brief glimpse of the time the bioweapon was to be transported to the Separatist dreadnought before the main computer shut down."

"And where's that?"

Anakin glanced at her before sighing. "This mission just got a lot more difficult," he said. "The bioweapon is being transferred to the dreadnought right now."

Ahsoka's lekku twitched with shock. "But where?" she gasped. She didn't bother asking why they weren't warned of the dreadnought's approach; the mission was supposed to be one of stealth and sabotage and, in order to prevent anyone from knowing they were there, Obi-Wan and Siri decided to avoid all contact with the Resolute.

Anakin pursed his lips together eyes thoughtful. "Let's try the courtyard," he suggested.

"Why?"

Anakin shrugged. "Hey, may as well start somewhere," he said.

"In other words, you have no idea where the weapon is."

"Not the slightest clue." Anakin jogged toward the door before peering out into the corridor that lay beyond it. He then slipped out of the room and Ahsoka dashed after her master before gazing around but she couldn't see anything. She glanced at Anakin who was also examining the corridor before following as he began jogging down the corridor.

He stopped so suddenly that Ahsoka nearly ran into his back before he gestured for Ahsoka to hide and quickly dashed forward to hide behind one of the barrels that lined the corridor. Ahsoka joined him before the two of them watched as four skinny battle droids walked into the open.

"What do you mean the doctor is gone?" the hologram of a Neimodian that Ahsoka figured was Lok Durd snapped.

"We checked the cell, sir, and she was gone," the battle droid said.

"Well, find her you idiot," the Neimodian spat angrily.

"Roger, roger."

Looks like Ferus completed his part of the mission, Ahsoka thought before watching as the droids neared their current position just as their comlink beeped again.

The droid activated it to reveal the hologram of Asajj Ventress. She looked out of breath and her eyes were blazing with anger. "I sense there are more Jedi here than General Durd had thought," Ventress said coolly. "Find them and kill them, kill them all!"

"Roger, roger," the battle droid said before disconnecting the transmission.

Anakin sprang into action at that moment and Ahsoka quickly followed suit. Within seconds, they managed to take out the four droids without even breaking a sweat.

"Ventress is here," Anakin said grimly.

"But no one said she was going to be here."

"No one said Durd would suddenly figure out we would infiltrate the base either. I am now positive that this is a trap."

"But for who?"

Anakin didn't seem to have an answer. "Come on," he said. "Right now, let's find that bioweapon." Without waiting for a reply, Anakin dashed down the corridor and Ahsoka, feeling a bit apprehensive, dashed after him.

Obi-Wan, panting from exhaustion, rested his back against the durasteel wall. "So Ventress is here but Durd isn't," he said.

Siri, resting her hands on her bent knees and gasping for breath, glanced up. "What do we do now?"

"We can't very well capture someone who is not here." Obi-Wan glanced back down the corridor he and Siri had gone down. They had decided that they were pretty much evenly matched with Ventress and decided to get out of there while they still had the chance since their primary mission, to capture General Lok Durd, was blown to bits once they learned Durd wasn't even on the planet. Ventress hadn't bothered chasing them and Obi-Wan didn't know whether that was a good thing or not. Normally, Ventress went out of her way to try and kill him and yet she let them go. That made Obi-Wan wonder what was really going on at the moment.

"This is beginning to worry me, Obi-Wan," Siri said frowning. "Something's not right and yet I can't seem to figure out why I feel that way."

"Neither can I," Obi-Wan agreed gazing around as he finally got his breath together. "What I am wondering is if this was a trap then who was it a trap for? And why did Ventress go through all the trouble of attacking us and then letting us escape afterwards? That doesn't seem like the Ventress I know."

Siri shook her head causing her blonde hair to fly into her face and she pushed it away. "I really don't know," she said.

Obi-Wan stretched out with the Force reaching for his former apprentice and he could sense Siri doing the same thing. He could sense Anakin's worry and frustration almost immediately.

Anakin, Obi-Wan sent through the Force.

Yes Master?

Did you find anything?

I only found out that the bioweapon is being transported to a Separatist dreadnought right now and that the dreadnought is scheduled to head toward Chandrila. The dreadnought must have entered the system sometime after we already landed and cut communications with the Resolute. Ahsoka and I are trying to find where it is being transported, Anakin replied.

Why are you angry then? Obi-Wan kept the tone of his question neutral but concerned. He was determined to show Anakin that he would be there for him anytime he wanted to talk about anything and he had to show that he would understand and listen to him. That was one of the mistakes he made last time and he wasn't going to make that mistake again.

Not if it meant losing his brother to the dark side of the Force.

Anakin was silent for a long moment. This whole thing seems like one big trap, Master, but I don't know why. I'm not exactly angry, I'm just extremely frustrated, he replied.

Anakin, Obi-Wan sent gently through the Force, whether this is a trap or not, we did learn some information that could be useful.

I suppose so, master, but I feel we shouldn't have come here. I've been having a bad feeling for a while now.

As have I. Something is not right here but the answer is eluding me.

"Obi-Wan," Siri whispered and Obi-Wan glanced at the blonde Jedi to find her face taut with worry and her eyes filled with dread.

"What is it?" he asked worriedly.

"Ferus just told me that he, Fhernan and Jenica are still below ground but away from the detention center and they found a room in the center of the base below ground. Obi-Wan, they found diamotite bombs there. This place is rigged to explode!"

A/n what do you think?

Blaze: ha, cliffhanger

Severus: I really don't like cliffhangers

Harry: something we can agree on Snape

Sirius: (faints)

Mace: HOW DARE YOU LEAVE A CLIFFHANGER?! IT WAS JUST GETTING GOOD!

Blaze: (pulls out megaphone) WILL YOU STOP SCREAMING IN MY EAR?!

Darth: you're the one that's screaming now

Blaze: (pulls out flaming machete) who asked you?

Darth: hey, don't take out your anger on me. Palpypie's right over there

Palpypie: (happens to wander in at that moment with Vader just behind him)

Blaze: (turns flaming machete on Palpypie)

Vader: I'm outta here! (Takes off)

Palpypie: what? Why? (Gets hit in head with flaming machete)

Vader: (at Starbucks) that's why you idiot!

Blaze: (rolls eyes but chuckles) I really hope you liked this chapter. I also have a question and I want your honest opinion since I am trying my hardest to prevent this from happening but do you think Jenica is a mary sue? I would greatly appreciate your feedback in your reviews. So please review and I will post chapter 21 as soon as I possibly can but I doubt it'll be anytime soon