Chapter 67

Slave Circuit

"We took you on before when there were four of you. Now you're outnumbered," Ahsoka said.

The clone snarled and launched a blast of Force lightning towards the her. She used the Force to leap high over the blast, and the clone swiveled to focus the remainder of the blast at Master It'kla. Ylenic caught it on the blade of his lightsaber and stood his ground, although the clone had added enough telekinetic force in addition to the lightning to cause the Caamasi Jedi's feet to sink a centimeter or two into the mud.

Ahsoka struck down hard with both of her sabers as she landed in front of the clone, and he had to put both hands on his saber hilt to block the full force of the impact. Up close, Ahsoka could see that constant use of emotion driven Force power was causing the clone to break down physically. Wrinkles were forming on his face, and his eyes were now more yellow than the deep vine-coffeine brown that had characterized the real Mace Windu's.

Master Yoda dashed forward and swung at the clone's legs. The clone was forced to whirl around Ahsoka, still holder her two blades at bay with his two handed grip on his own lightsaber, and trying to keep Ahsoka between himself and Master Yoda.

But Master Yoda wasn't so easily kept at bay. He sprung into the air, and then used the Force to push off again in mid-air, bouncing around Ahsoka towards the clone. The clone let loose with a blast of Force telekinesis, sending Ahsoka stumbling back a few steps in the mud, and causing Master Yoda to be knocked back to nearly where he'd started his jump.

From behind the Windu clone, the hiss of a fifth lightsaber igniting could be heard. The clone turned to block an attack from Master It'kla's green lightsaber. The gentle Jedi Master struck with surprising power, causing the Windu clone to stumble backwards, one step closer to Ahsoka and Master Yoda.

Jorj Car'das crawled along the ground. The Dagobah mud stained his front and side. With a faint whisper, he whispered, "Lixar Tellethon Corrosis" into the foliage.

Over the sounds of the Force-powered lightsaber battle only a few dozen meters from where he was, he heard a faint beep in response. The high-tech slave circuit remote control unit that had been on his belt had flown free when he had been hurled out of the cockpit of the Talus Twin. Thankfully, he'd spared no expense, and paid for one that could be preprogrammed with a code phrase that would trigger a flash and a beep, to help find it if it was ever lost.

The flash was obscured by the mud. But Car'das zeroed in on the beep, and found the small metal cylinder in the mud. The buttons were labeled in Cheunh, a language that, as far as Car'das knew, only one other person in Known Space could read. Breathing heavily, and in great pain, he pressed a sequence of buttons on the device.

Somewhere in the swamps, he heard the sound of the Talus Twin's engines desperately trying to force a hard start.

The Windu clone tried to leap away from the three lightsaber blades behind him, only to meet Master It'kla's green blade. This time, the furry Jedi had managed to plant his feet in the damp ground and meet Windu with full force, two grown men with a two handed grip on each saber.

And surprisingly, the gentle Caamasi's strength won out. He forced Windu to take a step back towards Ahsoka and Yoda. Sensing danger in the Force, the clone stepped back again, just out of reach of the meter-long green blade, and spun to block an attack by Ahsoka. Knowing he could easily step back from her to avoid a second attack from her shorter shoto, she decided to scissor her two blades together to trap his purple blade in place, so that the other two Jedi could attack him freely.

Sure enough, he tried to step back away from all three of them to free his blade. But Yoda flipped over his head to surround the clone.

"Finished this is," the tiny Jedi Master said.

Then Ahsoka's blades suddenly swung freely, and the violet blade disappeared. The clone flicked the lightsaber off, and back on again just long enough to free it, then leapt high into the air over Master It'kla's head. It'kla leapt up to block him, but the violet and green sabers clashed, and the two Jedi were both knocked apart. Before the Windu clone hit the ground, Yoda was already across the clearing, swinging his shorter lightsaber. The blades clashed rapidly, and after the third clash, the clone was clearly beginning to tire. His block only partially deflected Yoda's blade, and the clone snarled in pain as it singed his forearm.

The clone tried to blast Yoda with telekinetic force once again, and the Jedi Master easily countered.

As Ahsoka and Ylenic darted across the clearing to aid Master Yoda, the Talus Twin came into view overhead. It was clearly listing to one side, damaged in the crash. It passed the clearing and set down just behind several squat swamp trees.

The clone launched himself high into the air over the three Jedi, following the ship.

"Oh no, you're not getting away again," Ahsoka yelled as she used a burst of Force enhanced speed to try to catch up to him. To her surprise, even though he was farther away from the clone, Master Yoda darted ran past her, his green lightsaber blade pointed low at the ground as he ran.

The freighter was hovering over a dry patch of land, and in the haze of the humid planet, Ahsoka could see a mud-covered humanoid crawling towards the ship. The ship settled down on the ground, and the humanoid tried to crawl up the ramp.

Barely audible against the sound of the ship's engines and the humming of five lightsabers, Ahsoka heard the humanoid say in a raspy voice, "Get away..."

Then she saw the slave circuit remote in his hand, and realized what he was trying to do. The port side blaster turret swiveled to track the clone as he ran towards the ship. Ahsoka dove to the side, thankfully finding a dry patch of ground so that she could roll safely out of the line of fire. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Master Yoda do the same.

The turret opened fire, a stream of powerful turbolaser bolts cutting across the swamp. The clone dodged the first volley, but one of the bolts from the second volley looked like it was going to hit. He got his lightsaber in line with the bolt, but the sheer power of the blast knocked the saber out of his hand, and sent him sprawling into the mud.

The turbolaser blasts stopped, and the man with the remote pulled himself upright on the ship's ramp.

"It's... over," the man said. He slumped over, barely keeping upright by hanging onto the ramp's hydraulics. He didn't even have time to register shock on his face when the clone lifted up his arm and sent another jagged arc of Force lightning towards the ship's ramp.

The man tumbled backwards out of sight into the ship, and Ahsoka knew that it was unlikely that he survived the blast. The clone rose to his feet, unsteadily, and reached out with his hand. The purple lightsaber flew up from the ground towards his hand.

Yoda pounced, slicing the hilt of the saber in two. There was a massive spark, and the violet blade dissipated into nothingness as the two halves of the metal cylinder that had once been a near perfect replica of Mace Windu's real lightsaber fell into the mud.

The clone screamed in anger. Ahsoka darted towards him and swung with both her sabers, but the clone leapt back before she could strike. The clone gave a massive roar, and Ahsoka could feel the raw emotion and Force energy swirl around him. Bits of mud and rock rose up from the ground in a swirl around him, and then blasted outward in an expanding ring of kinetic and electric energy. Ahsoka tried to block it with the Force, and was surprised to find that the blast parted around her.

Then she looked down and realized that Master Yoda was standing in front of her, with his eyes closed in concentration. He had shielded her from the blast.

"Where did he go?" she asked, when the blast subsided and the clone was no longer there.

"Down below, he went. Into the cave. Finish this sad duty, I will. Help the victims of this clone, you must." Yoda turned to look up at her, and for the first time in more than a year since she had left the Jedi order, she saw the faint hint of a smile on his green lips. "Glad to see the two of you alive and well, I am."

"Are you sure you don't need our help?" Ylenic asked.

"Perhaps my own presence will not be needed. Steeped in the dark side of the Force is the cave here. Find the violence he brings inside, this clone will."