Rise of the Old Masters: They're Real?!

Even flying through hyperspace the Stygeon system was several hours away, and Ezra ended up spending most of it napping fitfully. He woke only slightly rested when Hera's voice came over the comm telling them to gather in the cockpit for a mission's debrief.

Ezra trudged into the cockpit and leaned against the wall as Chopper took center stage, shining a holographic image into middle of the group.

"Welcome to the Spire on Stygeon Prime,the only Imperial detainment facility in the Stygeon system." Sabine announced. "And it's impregnable."

"That's never stopped us before," Kanan told her, and Sabine chuckled dryly.

"Trust me, we have never faced anything like this." She looked the image over with a critical eye. "It's a real piece of work. Blast proof, ray shielded, protected by anti-ship weapons, TIE fighters, and short and long range scanners."

"We can fool the scanners," Hera assured her, mentally crossing off one of the many problems Sabine had listed.

"Eh, maybe," Sabine shrugged. "But that just leaves an army of troopers and guard posts on all the walls."

Ezra moved closer as she pointed to the many guard stations decorating the building.

"Look," Sabine leaned back, brushing her bangs out of her face. "Even if we get into this beauty, the hard part's getting out. 'Cause, you know, it's a prison."

"Well, why not go in through one of the places meant to let stuff out?" Ezra pointed to the base of the spinning building. "The garbage shafts?"

"Figures you'd be the one to suggest that," Zeb scoffed, giving Ezra a pointed look as he waved a hand in front of his nose.

"I'm the one that smells bad? Who was it that–"

"Wouldn't work anyway," Sabine interrupted. "The doors are rigged to only open outward and only once enough pressure has built up behind them."

"Which could take weeks," Kanan concluded. "Not a bad idea if we had more time."

Ezra felt a spark of hope. See? He could be useful!

"Here," Kanan pointed to a spot about two thirds of the way down. "There's only room for a couple of guards. We take them down, make our way to the upper levels isolation cells, free Luminara, and come back out the way we came in."

Chopper grumbled and shut off his projector.

"Yeah," Sabine agreed. "You'd have to be crazy to try that lousy plan."

"Let's hope the Empire thinks so too," Kanan smirked.

It was another 30 minutes before the Ghost dropped out of hyperspace and the crew, minus Chopper, filed into the Phantom.

Ezra fiddled with the straps of his bag as he settled in the seat opposite Kanan. The man's eyes were closed and his arms crossed, and Ezra couldn't help feel as if Kanan was purposefully avoiding looking at him. Ezra glanced away, hands clenching. Kanan might be ignoring him now, but he would use this mission to prove to him that he could be useful.

The air got colder and Ezra ducked his chin into his scarf, shivering slightly.

"30 seconds," Hera called and they stood up. "Good luck!"

"Luck?" Zeb repeated. "We're gonna need a miracle."

"Here are three," Sabine offered, holding out three small, metal spheres.

Zeb took one and Ezra another, unconsciously mirroring the Lasat's stance and expression as he inspected it.

"Try to stay focused," Kanan ordered, glancing over his shoulder at Ezra.

"Thought there was no 'try,'" Ezra replied, tucking Sabine's 'miracle' into a pocket.

Kanan grimaced and Ezra winced internally, so far it didn't seem he was doing a very good job of convincing Kanan he was worth keeping around.

The door opened and Ezra pulled his scarf up over his nose as a blast of cold air filled the ship. Kanan knelt, eyes sizing up the distance to the small landing and the two stormtroopers guarding it, then launched himself out of the Phantom.

Ezra lurched forward in surprise and his eyes widened as he watched Kanan take down the troopers in a few swift and silent moves. Ezra smirked, the troopers were taken care of, and according to the plan this was the part he proved his usefulness by unlocking the doors.

Zeb glanced over as Ezra backed up and his eyes widened as he realization.

"Kid, wait!" Zeb's hand shot out to stop him, but it was too late, Ezra had already jumped. Zeb groaned. "Karabast, kid. What are you doing?"

Ezra tucked and rolled, just like he usually did when jumping such distances, and he would have landed just fine. . . But he forgot about the ice.

His feet hit the deck and shot out from under him. Ezra tumbled across the deck and crashed into the door. Almost immediately he shot up and to the side, hiding himself in the archway's shadow.

There was a long, tense moment as both he and Kanan watched the door, waiting for something to happen. When nothing did, Ezra relaxed and slowly straightened from his crouch.

"What just happened?" Kanan's whisper was barely audible but at the same time louder and worse than a yell. "You were supposed to exit with Zeb?"

'Ah, tihs!' Ezra winced. 'Knew I was forgetting something.'

"You're lucky every stormtrooper in the prison doesn't know we're here!" The words had barely left Kanan's mouth when the door opened.

Kanan cursed his luck as four stormtroopers primes their blasters. Raising his hands he snapped the Force like a whip, curling it around the two closest rifles and tugging them toward him.

"Whoa!" Ezra whispered. It was always amazing to watch the seemingly impossible happen so effortlessly.

Zeb and Sabine dropped down behind Kanan and Ezra jerked back to reality. He glanced around, sizing up the situation. So far it seemed he'd gone unnoticed by the troopers, something he was more than willing to take advantage of given one of them had positioned himself right in front of him.

As the man moved to attack Sabine, Ezra primed and fired his slingshot. The energy sphere hit the trooper in the shoulder just between the pieces of armor causing a light shock to run through the trooper's body and making him falter. Sabine didn't hesitate, twisting the gun from the trooper's hand and flipping him over the railing.

Ezra took a moment to appreciate the way the moonlight made her look twice as badass as usual before forcing his eyes away and to the others.

Kanan was busy using the Force to throw two of the three remaining troopers around like rag dolls, and Zeb seemed to be taking great pleasure in tossing the last of them of the deck.

Ezra turned his attention to the lock. He'd never messed with prison locks before, never had a reason too. After all, what was he going to steal from a prison? Prisoners? The fact that that was exactly what he was trying to do was ignored as Sabine appeared and began tapping at the buttons.

Ezra rolled his eyes. If that was all it was going to take he'd have had the doors opened by now. Before he could tell Sabine to step aside and let him work his magic Kana spoke up, continuing his lecture as if there hadn't been an interruption in the form a squad of stormtroopers.

"Stunts like that put us all in jeopardy. This is exactly why you need Master Luminara to teach you discipline."

"I was just following your example," Ezra hissed back, moving Sabine's hands out of the way and pulling out his tools.

"Yeah? Well, try to stay focused and follow the plan instead."

"Focusing!" Ezra muttered, gently coaxing the lock to release.

With beep and hiss the door slid open and Ezra frowned uneasily. Yes, he was good, but that had been too easy. He shook his head. This was a prison and, as Sabine had said, the hard part would be getting out not in.

"Your welcome," Ezra said waspishly as the other rushed inside. Zeb smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow!"

"You did your job," Zeb snapped at him. "You want a medal?"

"You offering one?"

Zeb rolled his eyes and shoved Ezra down the hall toward Kanan.

"Luminara's here," Kanan confirmed. "I sense her presence but it's. . .clouded."

Sabine rushed past him and began hacking into the prison's computer.

"Where's Master Luminara?" Kanan asked, peering over her shoulder. The Imperial codes were gibberish to him, but Sabine never seemed to have any trouble understanding them. It was actually quite irritating sometimes, but at times like this he more than appreciated her skill.

"Detention block CC-01," Sabine answered. "Isolation cell 0169."

"They have isolation cells on the lower levels?" Kanan brushed past her. He might not understand the codes, but the basic blue prints Sabine had pulled up he could understand. Kanan pounded a hand against the panel. "We planned off outdated schematics."

"Which means what exactly?" Ezra asked, frowning as that feeling of unease increased. He resisted the urge to look around. He could no longer feel those yellow eyes watching him, but for some reason that just set him on edge.

"It means the plan changes."

"You got a backup plan?" Zeb asked.

"Figuring one out right now." Kanan headed for turbolift, fingering his beard as he thought. "Zeb, Sabine, you're coming along."

"Weren't we supposed to hold our escape route here?" Zeb questioned, waving a hand at the empty corridor they were in.

"Now the turbolift is our escape route," Kanan corrected. "Let's go."

Zeb shook his head but crammed himself into the lift.

"His plan gets worse all the time," Sabine muttered as the lift carried them deeper into the prison.

"Just hope he doesn't change it again," Zeb told her.

"I'm standing right here." Kanan informed them.

"We know."

Ezra smiled at their reply, keeping his eyes firmly on the flashing lights in front of him as Kanan huffed behind him.

The lift slowed and ground to a stop and Ezra tensed as the door slid apart. Two troopers were stationed just on the other side and Kanan yanked them inside before they even had a chance to turn around.

Ezra pressed himself against the wall and well out of the way as Zeb exercised his muscles on the two troopers. As soon as they were out Kanan opened the door, gesturing for Ezra to follow.

"Maintain comm silence," Kanan ordered as he scanned the halls. "And whatever you do, hold this lift."

Ezra followed Kanan, his body naturally dropping into a low and ready stance. The door to the lift hadn't even closed behind them when two stormtroopers appeared.

"Hey you! Stop!" The pair of troopers didn't have the time to bring the weapons to bear before Kanan was yanking them forward with the Force and using the moment to clothesline them.

"Wow." Ezra nudged one of the unconscious men with his foot. "You're really not messing around tonight."

"There's a lot more at stake than you realize," Kanan said coolly, already moving.

Ezra frowned after him as Zeb pulled the bodies into the lift and out of sight. With a sigh, Ezra followed Kanan down the twisting halls.

"Ever seen this Jedi Master?"

"Don't have the clearance."

The voices floated from around the corner Ezra crouched behind, gaping as Kanan strolled right out into the open.

"Shouldn't you be guarding the Jedi's cell?" Kanan had one arm raised, fingers twitching slightly. "It's on the next level."

His voice sounded slightly. . .off, an edge to it that Ezra couldn't place, and it raised the hairs on the back of neck. He shook his head, trying to clear it from the odd feeling. Whatever Kanan was doing was weird and left Ezra with the feeling of hearing double, as if Kanan was somehow whispering in his ear and talking to him at the same time.

"It's on the next level," one of the troopers repeated, sounding more robotic than normal.

"You better get moving." Kanan suggested, still with that edge to his voice.

'Some kind of Jedi mind trick then,' Ezra concluded as the trooper once again repeated Kanan's words before moving off. Ezra stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it around as he stood up from his hiding place.

"When do I learn that?" Ezra asked eagerly. The ability to control minds? Now that was something he could definitely put to good use! Or, any use really.

"Luminara will teach you," Kanan told him, flicking a hand at the controls and letting the Force unlock the door. "And much better than I could."

Ezra closed his mouth, a sinking feeling in his gut as he stared at Kanan's back. There was a distance to Kanan's voice, as if he'd already cast Ezra away was only going through the motions in order to make sure nothing happened.

It hurt.

Ezra swallowed, feet moving automatically as he followed Kanan into the cell. It was cold and bleak, and he almost missed the figure sitting far too quietly in on the bench in front of them, face buried in her hands.

"Is it really her?" Ezra hoped it wasn't.

"Yes, but. . .something's wrong." Kanan straightened as the woman stood up and moved toward them. "Master?"

Luminara lips thinned and she walked away. As she neared the wall she turned and looked at them, an expression of pained frustration on her face as she. . .flickered?!

Ezra's eyes widened as she stepped back and through a metal container, the small window leaving only her face visible. He gasped, and was dimly aware of Kanan doing the same, as Luminara aged, skin shriveling until the bones of her skull were clearly visible.

"Wh-what happened to her?" Ezra asked shakily. It was obvious she was dead. He knew that, but for some reason that fact was being rather difficult to process. "I don't understand."

"No? It doesn't seem complicated." The voice was smooth and cultured, and had Ezra's every instinct screaming at him to get as far away as possible.

Ezra snapped around and froze, fear shooting through him.

Yellow eyes stared down at him, cold despite being the same shade as the sun. Yellow eyes that had terrorized his dreams. Yellow eyes that had haunted him in his waking hours. Yellow eye that shouldn't be – couldn't be – by some horrible twist of fate–

"Th-they're real?!"

Author's Notes:

Arg! I so wanted to write the Inquisitor's fight, but it had gotten long again, so cliff hanger!

Comments to Your Reviews:

~ 1st: For all the positive feedback, Thank you, thank you very much! *said in a lame Elvis impersonation*

~ To TheUltimateAngel: Thank you, I've been perfecting my evil with the Inquisitor as my role model and it's nice to know it's been noticed. *cackles madly*

~ To Guest 'E': I know Zeb and Kanan are coming off as butt heads (not sure what all age group reads this so. . .) but they have their reasons. I'll do my best to incorporate them into the later chapters.

~ To CatGirlFireFlare: What can I say? ^ Evil! ^

~ To Guest "Kitty cat meow" in response to your review to chapter 1(putting it here as well since I'm not sure if it'll be read under chapter one): Congratulations Kitty Cat, I was wondering if anyone was going to figure it out. Since you're the first (I'm just assuming since you're the first to say anything) PM if you want a "reward."

~ About the cliff hanger...sorry about that, Merlin (again don't know who's read this) knows I hate reading them and I did start writing the fight scene but it added something of another couple 1000 words and that just seemed too long for one chapter, plus I didn't like the style. I'll do what I can to make the wait worth it!
Till next time,
Word Puzzle