Chapter Fifty: The Citadel

"Fear," I heard a voice say in the darkness. "A Jedi spends his whole life training against it." In the blackness, I began to hear the buzz of a generator. The clicking of buttons. I saw the glow of monitors.

I could tell by the slightly overbearing, claustrophobic feeling over my skin that what I was seeing was through the Force. I was likely still frozen in a block of carbonite...hopefully on our way past the defenses of the Citadel. And hopefully not on our way to death or worse...imprisonment.

"But at the Citadel," the voice continued, making me turn to see a Phindian looking over a series of monitors. "Breaking Jedi is our specialty. Within these walls, they will learn to fear us. And if not, they die."

I was bombarded with images. A Lannik with a terrible scar over his eye suspended in the air. Droids torturing him. He was a jedi.

Republic officers locked in cells.

The pain the Jedi was feeling.

Over and over.

The smugness of the Phindian. I prodded into his mind. His name. Osi Sobeck.

I lurched out of my brick of carbonite like a drowning child being drawn from a pool. Coughing and spluttered, I chased the Force visions from my mind as I righted myself, letting my cramped muscles loosen slowly.

"Hey, Snips," I heard Skywalker say casually, making me turn. A grin crept to my lips as I saw Ahsoka stretching her neck, having just exited her own carbonite.

"Hey, Master," she greeted back with the same nonchalance.

And then it dawned on Skywalker. He looked sideways at his padawan with an angry expression as Obi-wan and I joined him. "I must have carbon sickness," Obi-wan expressed. "Because I could swear that's Ahsoka."

"Your eyes are fine," Anakin said with a sigh. "It's Ahsoka's hearing that needs help." My eyebrows shot up as the padawan scowled.

"I received orders to join the team," she lied smoothly, her glance cutting to me quickly. "I thought you knew."

"Orders? From who?" her master pressed.

"I discussed it with Master Plo." I smirked beside her, watching Obi-wan go and check on the men. Sure, she'd discussed it with Plo. But I was the one who prodded her to go on the mission.

"He didn't tell me," Anakin growled.

"You were already in carbonite."

"Well, I gave you a specific order not to come."

Ahsoka crossed her arms. "If there's one thing I've learned from you, Master, it's that following direct orders isn't always the best way to solve a problem."

I smiled as Obi-wan returned to the group, the clones having been checked on. "I see Anakin's new teaching method is do as I say, not as I do." He looked to the young Togruta. "Welcome aboard."

Ahsoka gave him a slight smile as the clones went about preparing, the droids discarding the leftover carbonite. And then...we started to walk.

I fell in beside the padawan, giving her shoulder a nudge. "I see you took my advice. You didn't have to lie to cover my ass, though," I said in a hushed tone.

"What?" she smiled. "I didn't lie. I talked to Master Plo."

"Right," I chuckled, glancing at the clones around me, all of whom were pretending they weren't listening. I looked down at my boots briefly, remembering the visions I'd seen in the carbonite.

"That was weird, wasn't it?" Fives muttered to his brother. "Like a dreamless sleep."

Yeah, I wish mine had been dreamless.

"Are you alright?" Ahsoka asked, butting into my thoughts. "You seem troubled."

"We are breaking into the Citadel," I lied smoothly-even better than she had. "It's not something to take lightly."

She frowned at me. Damned Jedi and their extra senses. "It's more than that."

I sighed. "I had a vision. I saw Master Piell."

Obi-wan turned abruptly from in front of us-apparently he was listening in, too. "What did you see?"

I stopped in my tracks, all eyes on me now. Ah...now I knew how awkward this would all be with my new abilities. And they didn't even know it all yet.

"He was being tortured. But he's alive, for now. The officers are alive, too," I assured.

"Then we're not too late," Anakin said with relief.

"There are cameras in every corridor," I cut him off, not wanting anyone to get too confident. "The guy in charge is a Phindian named Osi Sobeck."

"Yes," Obi-wan mused, regarding me as he stroked his beard. "He's been the warden of this Citadel for some time. And he's not a threat we should take lightly. Come along. We are almost there."

We rounded the corner of the cliffside we walked on, the Citadel looming before us, speckled with spotlights and security measures. I could feel Rex's gaze on me, but I ignored it as Anakin took out electrobinoculars to examine the wall. "I see the entry point," he announced.

"You were right," Cody said beside me. "The wind conditions are too strong for jetpacks." I dropped my goggles down, engaging the interface to scan the wall we'd have to climb to reach the door.

"Yes," Kenobi replied to his commander. "We'll have to do it the old-fashioned way, with ascension cables and a steel grip."

"I don't think so," Anakin sighed, seeing the same thing I was seeing.

"What do you mean?" the jedi asked.

I chuckled, pushing my goggles up my forehead again. "Electro-mines."

"She's right," Anakin mused. "We hit one of those, the mission's over. They'll know we're here."

Rex stepped up beside me, looking it over with his helmet specs. He glanced at me for only a moment before speaking. "I suppose that means we free-climb it."

I breathed out slowly through my nose, steadying myself as I'd been taught by my masters. Obi-wan. Qui-Gon. Yilria. Bendu. Even Darth Bane. And even Jango.

And we started to climb.

With no ascension cables, I felt like I was back on Tatooine where Jabba would send my scrawny ass crawling to the tops of his Sail Barge to fetch his disobedient pet. Despite having his favor, I was still only a slave to him. And I was the only one light enough to crawl up there and get his monkey-lizard.

Or...it reminded me of when I would have to go clean the Rancor pit and scale the walls to get the pieces of armor that had been thrown around when the creature devoured its meal. Poor thing was starved. It really wasn't that mean of a thing, as I'd seen it with its handler be rather sweet. He was raised in domestication, so he wasn't raised to be savage. But Jabba didn't feed him enough and chose to use him for entertainment.

What was I, a slave, supposed to say against his wishes?

Electricity bounced over my head as it zapped between the electro-mines. "You hanging in there, Snips?" Anakin called back to the padawan beside me.

She leaned in her hold on the wall, looking up at her master. "Couldn't be better." Her voice quieted as she started climbing again, glancing at me. "I could do without the wind, though."

Sweat was beading under the rims of my goggles when Obi-wan glanced down at us. "The entry point is just a few more meters." He scaled the last distance, pulling his nose up over the edge of the platform. Suddenly, he dropped down, hanging with only one hand, pressing a finger to his lips.

Anakin motioned for everyone to stop, my breath catching in my throat as we held on in silence. I heard the clanking of droid feet as they stepped out to inspect the platform above us, my fingers aching from gripping the stone wall. The footsteps receded again in a moment, followed by a sound that made my heart stop.

It sounded like a ray shield engaging.

"They locked the door," Obi-wan called down, confirming my fears. "It's ray-shielded."

"Ray-shielded?" Anakin groaned. "That wasn't the plan."

I crawled up beside him, grunting. "Well it's in the plan now." I glanced over at Ahsoka as she crawled to the side to look up.

"There's an opening up there," she announced.

"We know," Anakin dismissed. "The ventilation ducts. But they're too small for us to gain access."

"Too small for you, maybe," Ahsoka argued. "But I think I can squeeze through."

"Well, we hadn't planned on Ahsoka being here," Obi-wan allowed. "Perhaps she's right."

Anakin gave his padawan a nod, all of us resuming our climb up the wall as she pounced up deftly, slipping through the ventilation shaft with ease. I smirked, watching the ray shield disengage when she got inside.

"See?" she said, greeting her master as we pulled ourselves onto the platform. "I can handle myself after all."

He smirked at her, but waved his hand. "Kida could have done that."

"Not with my armor on, I couldn't," I called back, sitting for a moment at the edge of the platform, breathing hard. All my Force-based training had taken away from my usual physical work outs.

I was losing my edge.

I took a deep breath, getting up to help Fives as he found his way to the edge. I pulled him up, the two of us offering our hands to Rex, who was following close behind. The captain grabbed our hands, letting us haul him up onto the platform.

As Fives moved to help the next clone, I was kept still by Rex still gripping my hand. It was brief and discreet, so we didn't draw attention...but it was enough.

He looked right at me, squeezed my hand in thanks, and then helped me to my feet beside him. I met his gaze from behind his helmet, but our moment was wrecked in a single second.

"Charger!" Fives yelled beside me, making us all turn and see the clone slipping down the wall. I leapt forward, throwing my upper body over the edge, feeling Fives grab my legs. He was too far out of reach for me to grab.

So I caught him with something else.

The clone-Charger-stopped midair, suspended by the Force. I could feel the surprise of the group, but I shoved them from my thoughts, focusing on getting Charger back safely.

It was hard. I hadn't used it to hold something this big, or from this far...ever. And if I had, it was before I had training and was tapping into my rampant darkness.

Rex was beside me in a moment, leaning over the edge to reach for Charger's rising outstretched hand. He grabbed his soldier, hauling him up onto the platform, both panting from adrenaline.

"Thank you," Charger breathed, touching my shoulder gently. I gave him a nod, feeling terribly drained.

And this mission had barely even begun.

The alarms sounded, all of our heads shooting up. "Well," Obi-wan mused. "They know we're here."

"How?" Ahsoka asked, leading the way into the Citadel halls. "We didn't hit a mine."

"I'm assuming our shuttle was cleared for landing," I breathed beside her, trying to muster my strength again. "We didn't land where we were supposed to."

"Take out their surveillance," Anakin ordered as we raced down the halls. Fives took out a camera, only to have a series of wall turrets aim at us.

"Cover," I called, ducking into the walling beside us, letting the Jedi deflect the incoming bolts with their sabers. Mine practically itched in the pouch at the back of my belt. The kyber was daring me to use it. It reflected my own soul quite a lot, I realized… the more I got to know it.

It was daring. Determined. Stubborn. But also had a love for life. For fighting. For protecting. For excitement.

So it wasn't very happy that I was electing not to use it just yet.

The clones and Jedi worked together to destroy the turrets, barely spending any effort on the matter. My head lifted at the sound of something booting up.

"The walls are electrified," a clone reported, turning our heads to the sight of an electrical field heading towards us. "Go! Go! Go! Go!"

I darted around the corner after Rex and Fives, feeling the electricity pass behind my heels. Someone screamed, a body flying past, encased in lightning.

"Longshot!" Cody called, leaning into the hall to see the dead soldier. I felt the immediate grief through the group. It nearly knocked me over, my hand reaching out blindly to find the wall. It caught Rex's shoulder pauldron instead, prodding him to grab my shoulders.

"Are you alright?" he muttered softly, doing the best to smother his own grief. I shook my head, but stepped away to try and separate our touch. Him touching me only intensified my connection to him through the Force. It made the loss of the clone-his brother-horrible to bear.

"We must keep moving," Obi-wan said gently, the clones following him easily.

I ran with them, making our way towards the holding cells. "I'm sorry about your vod," I whispered gently. It was loud enough for the clones around me to hear, but soft enough that the Jedi leading us would not.

They were quiet for a moment before I heard them softly recite the Mando'a I had learned so long ago. I knew Jango had taught it to them. I was there when he had gently taught it to some clones after a training accident took one of their squad.

"Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la."

It was whispered softly, but it still felt like a chorus. As we came upon the holding cells, I muttered it back to them, understanding.

"He's inside," Anakin muttered at a door, stepping aside for Fives and Echo to take the lead. The door hissed open, the ARC troopers spinning into the room with ease and taking down the special units arranged along the walls.

Rex stepped in with me, easily shooting down the droid that was torturing the Jedi Master. I stepped forward immediately, seeing the Jedi as I'd seen him in my vision-suspended in the air, looking exhausted. I knelt at the base, pulling it apart to find the switch.

"You're not who I expected," the Jedi grunted above me. He wasn't teasing, nor was he complaining. He was just making a statement.

"Secure the entrance," Anakin commanded as he entered the room, lightsaber engaged. I rolled my eyes as I worked on the base, knowing the room was already secured by the clones. I found the switch, pulling the wires from their homes to disengage the restraints.

Obi-wan was beside me in seconds, helping the wounded Jedi to the ground. "Master Piell, are you alright?"

"Obi-wan," Piell groaned out. "What took you guys so long?"

Anakin let out a grunt of amusement, helping the master to his feet. "At least your sense of humor is still intact."

"It takes more than they got to break me, young Skywalker," Piell assured, accepting the spare lightsaber Obi-wan had brought for him.

"So you have the coordinates for the Nexus Route?" Anakin asked, getting right to the point.

"I got them, all right. Half of them, anyway." The Lannik turned to look over us with his one good eye. "My captain's got the other half." That would explain why I'd seen the officers in my vision. "I erased the computers when we were boarded and had both of us memorize part of the intel. That way, if somehow I cracked, the information would be useless to them without the other half."

"Where's your captain?" Obi-wan asked.

"Being held with the other officers, I assume." I earned some glances around the room after Piell spoke. They'd remembered what I'd said about my vision.

Anakin sighed. "We're going to need a new plan for getting out."

"We can figure that out on the way," I dismissed, glancing out the door to the sound of the alarms still blaring. "But we need to get moving now."

Piell smirked at me as he led everyone from the room. "I like your style" he grunted at me before running off down the halls. I lifted my eyebrow earning a teasing punch in the shoulder from Fives as he ran by.

We hurried into the halls, making our way towards where the clones and officers were being held. As we moved, Cody taking point, I glanced around, my hair on edge.

"We're being watched," I whispered, Echo glancing at me knowingly. Whirring sounded at the end of the hall, commando droids pouncing into our line of vision. Kenobi and Skywalker stepped in front of us with lightsaber ignited, only for more to appear behind us. We were cornered in.

I stayed behind Ahsoka as she blocked the shots, firing my pistols over her shoulder. I hated commandos. Not only were they deadly, they were damn hard to shoot because they never stopped moving and jumping and twisting.

I almost envied their ability to move so fast.

They were getting too close, one dodging my blasts and pouncing straight into Ahsoka. She fell back into me, both of us pinned below the droid. It grabbed at her neck and lightsaber, letting me lift my pistol beside her montrals and shoot the droid in the head. She pushed it off, helping me up as the rest of the group downed the final commandos.

"We need to keep moving," Kenobi said, leading us forward past the scrapped droids.

A loud, high pitched, whine sounded over the speakers, making us all flinch and hold our ears. I watched in horror as our guns were drawn to the ceiling...as well as Skywalker and I. There were magnets, pulling my armor with our weapons.

I would have laughed at Skywalker being pulled up by his metal arm if the situation wasn't so dire. And then the ceiling ignited in electricity, Anakin and I both screaming as it enveloped our bodies.

The laugh I recognized as Osi Sobeck came over the loudspeaker. "You fools!" he cried with glee, more commando droids appearing around us. "I hope you enjoyed the reunion with your fellow Jedi, because you're going to be my guests for a very long time."

I watched in a daze from the ceiling as Ahsoka, Obi-wan, and Piell used the Force to push the commandos backwards, only for them to move only a few feet. "They're magnetized," Kenobi worried, pushing again. The clones did their best to fight with their fists...but let's be honest...human fists against metal assassin droids? It wasn't their best idea but I appreciated the gusto.

Glancing over to Anakin, I saw him reaching for his saber, my eyes widening. "Anakin, don't!" More electricity coursed through the mechanism, making us both cry out. To my surprise, despite the terrible pain, Anakin was still reaching for his weapon. He got it, slicing through the ceiling, disengaging the magnets. We fell hard to the floor. I did my best to land deftly, but my legs gave out, making me crumble beside Anakin.

Now with their weapons, the Jedi and clones took down the remaining commandos, Fives and Echo coming over to us. "Are you alright, sir?" Echo asked, helping Anakin to his feet. Fives helped me up by my elbow, steadying me.

"Yeah," Anakin breathed. "Let's get out of here."

They led the group out, Rex shooting out the camera Sobeck had been watching us through. He ran beside me, glancing over. "You alright?"

"I mean," I shrugged, trying to brush off the remaining soreness from both the electrocution and the fall. "It didn't feel great."

He surprised me with a light chuckle as we rounded into the next hallway of cells. The clones locked down the hallway as I joined the Jedi at the locked door. I could feel the clones inside.

Anakin ignited his lightsaber, waiting with his eyes closed in front of the door. Suddenly, he pushed it through the door, destroying the droid on the other side and unlocking it. Ahsoka leapt in from above, taking out the second guard.

"General," an accented officer greeted as Peill entered the room. He was a slight man who stood with a rigid back and emanated arrogance. My nose crinkled slightly.

"Captain Tarkin," Piell greeted back.

The captain stepped forward to greet the Jedi as the clones tended to the four that had been captive. "I never thought I'd see you again. And you've brought friends."

"Tarkin, this is Obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker."

The man didn't greet the Jedi, merely glancing at them before addressing the room as a whole. "Now that you've found us, how do you expect to get us out? If they've locked this fortress down, there's at least ten squads on their way. It's going to be impossible to escape."

"Well, he's quite an optimist," I muttered as the clones exited the cell beside me. I earned a few chuckles from them, the newly freed ones giving me a grateful nod.

"What if we split up?" Kenobi mused. "My team will create a diversion, while Anakin leads the others away. That way, if one of us is captured, the enemy will only have part of the information, and not all of it."

My eyebrow rose as Tarkin stepped forward, a frown on his face. "General Kenobi, I think it's better if we stick together. A stronger force would have a better chance of protecting the information.

"Not in this situation," Obi-wan bit, obviously having a distaste for the captain.

"But surely we'd have more strength in numbers, Tarkin persisted, stepping after the Jedi. "Rather than divide us."

"Obi-wan has a point," Piell cut in with finality in his tone. "I'll go with him. You go with Skywalker."

I glanced between the captain and the Jedi before following them out of the cell. "Kida," Obi-wan said, looking back at me. "You're with me."

I nodded, not missing the slight anxiety coming from Rex when he heard we were separating. "I'll be fine," I muttered beside him as the group readied to split. He nodded only slightly at me before turning to prepare his men.

"Shoot straight, kid," Fives said, knuckling my shoulder pauldron again. I grinned at him, telling him to do the same.

Echo touched me shoulder gently, a jolt going through me that I couldn't quite pinpoint the meaning behind. "Stay safe."

"Yeah," I whispered, watching the brothers give me a nod before following Skywalker and Ahsoka. "You too."

Yet, as they receded, I felt the Force ripple with a sense of dread and sadness. And it was centered around Echo.

I couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was going to happen...and I wouldn't be there to help.

MANDO'A

Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la- not gone, merely marching away (tribute to a dead comrade)