Fifteen year old Rowan Freemaker followed his Master into battle once more, this time on a Dark Forces space station. They were joined by Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, for the reason they were on the station rather than just blowing it up was because Padmé had been taken by ones know as Inquisitors. Or at least that's what they had called themselves when they announced to the Jedi that they had the Senator.
The Council had thought it unwise for Anakin to go, but he wouldn't take no for an answer, so Ezra and Naare had been called upon to make sure that if Anakin did anything stupid, Ahsoka would have backup to help her out. "How's it going out there Lieutenant Valeria?" asked Naare quietly into a mic. "We're keeping them busy, don't you worry." "We need to make our move." Anakin insisted. "Shouldn't we wait to be sure we know what we are getting into?" Rowan asked boldly.
"That's my wife in there!" Anakin proclaimed, to which Ahsoka shushed him and stated "Rowan has a point Anakin. We could get not only ourselves killed, but Padmé as well if we go in there lightsabers blazing." Anakin sighed and said "You're right. So what do we know about these Inquisitors?" "Nothing. The first we heard of them was when they took Padmé, but they obviously work for Maul, otherwise why would they bring Padmé here?" asked Naare.
"You Jedi are so predictable, always having to save the day." Said a voice behind them. The four Jedi whirled as one, igniting their blades as they faced the owner of the voice. Even with the helmet it was obvious it was a female, though it had an almost robotic tone to it. Floating beside her, in fact, there were a couple of hovering droids of some kind. "Who are you?" asked Rowan. "I am the Seventh Sister and if you want to see the Senator alive again, you better do as I say. Now, drop your weapons."
The four Jedi looked at each other, before one by one they shut off their lightsabers and tossed them towards the Inquisitor. Anakin was the last to do so and Rowan could practically see the battle going on in his eyes, a part of him wanting to take down the Sister before the other part, the one that wanted to insure Padmé came to no harm, won out.
One by one she had them come to her, putting Force Inhibitors on them as they did so. Finally she led them into the other room, where Padmé was chained to a wall with a male Inquisitor standing beside her. "Padmé!" Anakin exclaimed. "Ani!" Padmé looked towards the sound of his voice, hoping to see a rescue but instead seeing the captured Jedi. Hoping to distract the Inquisitors from the special attachment Anakin and Padmé had so that they wouldn't use it against them, Ahsoka asked "What are you going to do with us and the Senator?"
"The Senator we'll keep around as bait, while we'll send you on to our Master so he can do with you as he wishes." The male Inquisitor said. The Seventh Sister frowned and said to him "You just can't keep your mouth shut, can you?" before turning to the Jedi and continuing, "Ignore what the Fifth Brother said, I see no reason why our Master should be the only one to have a little fun with you." Rowan gulped before Naare narrowed her eyes and stepped forward saying "You wouldn't dare to cause us harm, for you wouldn't want to anger your Master."
She knew she had hit a cord when the Seventh Sister glared at her but just ordered them to go stand with the Senator. She and the Fifth Brother left the room, sure that there was no way their prisoners would escape. Once they were alone, Anakin asked "Are you alright Padmé?" "I'm fine Ani, so what's the plan to get us out of this mess?" she asked. "I'm working on it." he replied, earning a groan from Padmé and the three other Jedi.
"How long do you think we have?" Rowan asked no one in particular. "Don't worry, I'll have you out of here in no time." Said a voice softly. Everyone turned to face the owner of the voice and found a blond hair, blue eyed girl there. She moved toward them and quickly worked to deactivate the Force Inhibitors on Rowan's wrist. "Who are you?" he asked. "My name is Becky and I was forced to join the Dark Forces when they took over my home. Please, help me to escape." As she finished speaking, the cuffs turned off and she quickly caught them to keep from making any noise, moving onto Naare.
"We'll do our best." Padmé promised her for the Jedi, knowing that they would do so. "That's all I ask." Becky replied as she finished freeing Anakin, who instantly took Padmé into his arms. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" asked a voice that was all too familiar to the Jedi. Turning towards the door, they saw Maul standing just inside the entryway, blocking their only way out. Their weapons hooked to his belt, as if they were trophies, easily obtainable, but not without risk to the Senator or Becky, who was huddling behind Naare.
"I thought the Jedi didn't allow relationships? It appears they grow more lenient with age." Maul continued, to which Anakin scoffed and said "They don't, they just allowed me temporarily back in when you took Leia." "Wanted to keep you a tight leash did they? After all that was twelve years ago, seems a bit long to be temporary." Maul taunted. Anakin gritted his teeth, which Maul noticed and chuckled saying "Fifty years old and you still have that temper. You should retire, you're getting too old for this."
"Look who's talking, old one, your older than me!" Anakin pointed out, to which Maul responded "Yes, but I have the power of the Dark Side to keep me going. It gives me great strength." His tone was almost proud as he finished speaking, which did nothing to improve Anakin's already annoyed mood. Before any of the others could react, he had pulled his lightsaber from Maul's belt and ignited. A smirk came onto Maul's face before he said "You always were the impetuous one." as he ignited his own blade.
"Get Padmé to some place safe." Anakin said to Ahsoka, before lunging at Maul. Once Maul was distracted by Anakin, the others called their lightsabers to them and proceeded to form a protective barrier around Padmé and Becky. As they exited the room where Maul and Anakin were fighting furiously, Naare quickly raised her blade, blocking a lightsaber that was thrown at the group. In their haste they had forgotten about the Inquisitors, who stepped out of the shadows as the Sister's lightsaber made its way back to them. "Going somewhere?" she asked.
"Thought you were going to take us to Maul and keep the Senator, what happened, did he not trust you to bring us to him without incident?" Naare asked and Ahsoka added, "He wasn't wrong apparently considering that we are now free." The two Inquisitors growled and the Brother said "You may be free, but you will not leave this ship alive!" "We'll see about that!" Rowan said, stepping forward. Naare put her hand out to her side, blocking him more with her words though than anything else. "Ahsoka and I will take care of this, get Padmé and Becky to the hanger."
Rowan wanted more than anything to stay and fight, but he nodded his agreement to his Master's words and hurried to obey them. The three of them cautiously made their way through the ship, though there didn't seem much point to doing so, it was oddly empty of Dark Force fighters. "Maybe those Inquisitors think they can handle things pretty much on their own?" asked Padmé which didn't sound right to Rowan and he knew he was just trying to comfort them, but Becky shook her head and said "This doesn't make any sense, I wasn't alone on this ship with them, we had a full crew plus pilots!" "Is there any security measures that would cause this to happen?' Rowan asked.
At his question, Becky went pale and said "We need to get out of this corridor, now! Warn your friends to do so as well." As they dived into the nearest room, with Becky slamming the panel harder than necessary to close the door behind them, Rowan did what she told him and though the other Jedi questioned him, they too moved to obey. Seconds later, there was a great whooshing sound outside the door and their ears popped as the pressure in the room suddenly changed.
The other Jedi showed they were okay by questioning what was happening and Becky filled everyone in. "In the event of an overwhelming amount of enemy forces on ship or if they just want to get rid of people, the Inquisitors have been known to send out a special code to those they want to keep alive to go into hiding out of the corridors. Others picked up on this and the moment we see one of them move, we all make to the nearest room as fast as possible. Once all the officers or whoever they felt like saving report that they are ready, the Inquisitors have the hanger they keep empty for this purpose open, sucking out anyone that is unfortunate enough to be stuck in the corridors out into space."
After a moment of silence, the Anakin said "Well that explains why Maul and those Inquisitors disappeared so quick." "How long until we can safely enter the corridor?" asked Rowan. Becky shrugged and said "Depending on how much of the ship was left open in the hopes of sucking us out, anywhere from ten minutes to an hour." "No good, we need to get off this ship sooner rather than later." Anakin said. "What if we use our air masks? Will we be fine then?" asked Naare. "It sounds like they have already closed the hanger so, yes we should be." Said Becky, "But I don't have one and I don't think the Senator does either." "No worries, we always carry a couple of extras." Rowan said.
Once Anakin, Ahsoka and Naare made it to their position, they all hurried as fast as possible to the hanger they had been dropped off in, calling Lt Valeria to have a transport sent in. The transport arrived at roughly the same time they did so they were able to quickly make their way off the Dark Force vessel. Once they were clear, Anakin said "Lieutenant, you are free to destroy that vessel." "Roger that." The group watched as the place they had just been stuck on was fired upon until it blew. While there was some relief to see that, and even a little sadness on Becky's part for the people she had known on there, the Jedi could sense, that neither Maul nor his Inquisitors had been on board. They wondered, just how long would it be until they showed up again.
Wow, it has been too long since I updated this story, I'm so sorry guys! It's the same old excuse of life got busy mixed with a ton of writer's block. But I think I have worked past that and I hope my life is as calm as it appears to be as I really want to start writing again. So here is hoping I'll bring you guys another chapter soon!