Maya-202

A Star Wars-Inspired Story!

Episode I

The Two Prince War

Chapter XIII

A New Plan

It had been an interesting last hour – from being captured and locked in a prison cell to now running around with a Jedi trying to find out where Thomanius had gone and where the plans were now, Maya had had an increasingly extraordinary day. Finn had used his Jedi mind trick several times to get the Kaminoans to reveal what they had been instructed to do. It was fascinating to watch in action. They had managed to find out where the main translation lab was by coercing the Kaminoans to reveal its position. It was in the West wing of the large, stretched building with overly-long white corridors, and it had taken a while to get there from their prison cell, but eventually they arrived at a rather small, vacant room. At its centre was a desk with an inbuilt computer, its screen flashing amber with the words 'WARNING! TRANSLATION INCOMPLETE DUE TO REMOVAL OF DOCUMENT'. Maya strode up to the computer and stared at it with interest. "I'm gonna assume that the plans were being translated, but they're not here now…" she said.

"Yes, I suspect the Dark Prince had his minions take them with him on his escape ship…" Finn answered. "Damn… so what now?" Leo pondered aloud.

"Now, we need to find out where he's going. Maya and I will head to Coruscant to meet with Grand Mistress Rey. You, C3-PO and R2-D2 should go to Iryx and discuss the recent events with Prince Onasius," the Jedi Master stated.

"Roger that, Sir," Leo agreed.

"So it's decided, then," Maya replied nodding her head at an almost frantic speed.

"Indeed. I'm going to comm Rey and inform her of the new plans," the Jedi said. "We'll leave afterwards," he pointed Maya to the outside, where his ship was located. She turned her head around, and as she suspected, Leo was shooting her a quick look of confusion, silently asking her 'What am I supposed to do next without you?' with a shrug of his shoulders.

Maya took off her helmet and mouthed back to him, "Take our ship, and head back to Iryx like Finn said.". He nodded, and BB-8 rolled up beside him, beeping with excitement. "Aww," Leo exclaimed without thinking at the cuteness of the droid and stroked him as if he was some kind of pet porg. He glanced back up from the Astromech with visible embarrassment, even under his helmet. Maya chuckled to herself quietly, and Finn loaded up his comm. A miniature hologram of Jedi Master Rey appeared out of thin air. "Mistress Rey… our mission has unfortunately been unsuccessful – Prince Thomanius has escaped. However, there's something you need to see – or rather, feel…" Finn stated. Even on the tiny image of the Jedi Master, Maya could see her confusion. "What is it?" Rey questioned. "I believe, and I don't know how, but one of Prince Onasius' dreamtroopers, that came here to try and retrieve the plans, is force-sensitive."

"Really? Interesting… but I thought they were created to be perfect ground soldiers with blasters, not force-sensitives…" Rey said.

"Yes. Let's discuss this more later – we're about to head to Coruscant to come and visit you. We need to find out where the Dark Prince has gone to with those plans," Finn dictated.

"I agree. I will see you soon, Master Finn," Rey signed off with a wave. Maya was filled with excitement that she was going to meet the Jedi Grand Master Rey. It was the same feeling she imagined regular civilians having about the fantasy of meeting a celebrity. Only this was all going to be real.

"Excuse me, Jedi Master, but d'you think we should take a further look around this compound before we leave?" Leo asked. "I know it's unlikely we'll find anything, but you never know – there might be something else important hidden here," he added. Finn considered the idea for a moment before replying, putting a finger up to his chin in thought. "No, you may have a point – whilst I suspect he had planned for this emergency escape, there is a chance he may have forgotten to pick something up, maybe even a clue to where he has evacuated to. Alright – tell you what, we'll dispatch another Jedi from the order to search around," Finn agreed.

"Another Jedi? But why don't-" Leo said, but Finn held his hand up sternly to stop him from speaking. "I think you two have had enough action for today, besides, Prince Onasius will be wanting to see you safe and sound," he told him. Leo didn't say anything back. "Right, I think it's time we get going," Finn gestured to the rest of the group, directing them outside, as stormy as it ever was on Kamino, and they unanimously followed him into the rain.

"Well, I suppose this is goodbye for now…" Maya said to Leo when they reached the landing pad, patting his shoulder. "I think we'll only be away for a few hours rather than years, Maya, but yes, goodbye," he replied, taking off his helmet to reveal his short brown hair and flashing her a smile. His hair was getting soaked, but he clearly didn't care. Maya giggled for approximately a millisecond and then took her arm off his shoulder. "You know what I meant. See you soon, buddy."

"May the Force be with you, Maya-202."

"And you, Leo-78," Maya responded, and the pair saluted each other. She turned around, the raindrops pattering against her helmet's visor, and walked towards the Jedi ship that Finn had arrived in. BB-8 slid up next to them with a buzz. "Is there enough room for the both of us in there?" Maya wondered as she glanced into the tight cockpit. "Should be, it'll just be a squeeze, if you're ok with that," Finn said with a grin. "Ladies first," he gestured to Maya, who strode past him and hopped into the cockpit. There was another seat other than the driver's, and although it was rather small, it was the only option since she didn't how to pilot a Jedi Interceptor. She presumed it would be similar to every other ship anyway, but Finn was the more experienced pilot of it of the two of them. Maya sat down on the chair, in the back right corner of the fighter. BB-8 loaded himself into the droid compartment above, and Maya could hear him beeping yet again. Lastly, Finn launched himself into the driver seat with an overdramatic Jedi leap, rather than just climbing into it. He flicked the engines on and the ship awakened with the loud sounds of clanking machinery coming to life. "Setting course for Coruscant…" Finn muttered to himself whilst pressing some buttons on the blue screen at the front of the ship. "So how do you drive one of these things?" Maya asked to pass the time. "Well if it's just a simple journey like this one, majority of the time you can just ravel through lightspeed or I can have BB-8 engage the autopilot system, like a regular ship. To be honest, not much is different to your usual ship, however in a fight, which has been around once a year for me in the recent past, you'll have to be able to manoeuvre it very quickly, and be able to dodge incoming attacks. Thankfully, our trust astromech here can repair the ship's damages, so long as he has enough time." BB-8 chimed in with another happy buzz, as if saying "That's where I come in!" Maya glanced out the window to her left to see the F-fighter that she and Leo had arrived in rising into the air and zooming off at great speed. "Maybe it's none of my business, so sorry for asking this, but are you and the other trooper… you know, together?" the Jedi wondered curiously, as he steered the ship into the planet's atmosphere. Maya, who had removed her helmet moments ago, looked humorously shocked. "What? Me and Leo?!" she yelped, nearly breaking into a fit of laughter at how strange the question felt. "OK. Noted. Apologies for asking, but, and maybe I shouldn't really be talking about this this early after finding out about your force-sensitivity, but 'attachments' as we call them, are… well, forbidden, for want of a better word," Finn explained. Even though she wasn't a Jedi or anything, this news still made Maya a little sad. She supposed it was more at the idea that Jedi could possibly never be allowed to love – from what Finn had said it sounded like a choice, love or leave the Jedi Order. She decided to think about something else quickly instead, and she changed the topic of conversation. "Do you have any ideas where Thomanius has gone to?" she questioned.

"No, unfortunately. But maybe, just maybe, Prince Onaisus might have an inkling… Hopefully Leo will find out and if so, contact us," he replied.

"Hopefully…" Maya murmured, before once more staring out of the window, which now provided a breath-taking deep blue view of Kamino below them. Very soon, it would be time for Maya to find out who she really was…

Karanda System

"Master Thomanius, you understand that this was not the plan Lord Sihlo agreed to," the Baroness scolded. "I know, Baroness, but he needn't know that I'm here," the Prince said. Kotorinah's eyes widened in surprise. "Are you seriously suggesting hiding this change of events from him? He will be less than pleased if you lie."

"I know that. But as far as both you and him know, I'm still on Kamino, and the Jedi have not made contact with me. And if you blab… well, I think you know what happens…" he warned her, but she was not scared. "You may be a Sith Lord, but your force powers are no match for my training," she responded calmly. The Prince rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, your marital arts training that we've heard so much about but never actually seen being used. If I'm force choking you, you're not gonna be able to karate chop me and stop me, are you, genius?" he taunted.

"You really test my will power sometimes, d'you know that?" the Baroness seethed through her teeth in frustration.

"Anyway, I'm going to use Karanda as a new, temporary base for our operations until the Jedi have left Kamino for a while, OK? No problems with that? Good, I thought so," Thomanius told her, not willing to give her the chance to object to him using her moon. He continued. "Our ship will be landing in about 3 minutes. Any ideal spots that we can use?"

The Baroness, as annoyed as she was at this entire ordeal, decided it would be easier to help the Sith Lord. Sure, if Darth Sihlo found out she had been keeping this from him he would be outraged, but if she continued to argue with Thomanius they would waste more time, time that could be used to build the bomb – and she knew her Master would not be most pleased with that either. "Fine. There's a pharmacy on the Kuquishi Island, at the Southern Pole of the planet. That's the best you're gonna get if you want another lab. There's people working there but I will comm them now, and tell them to leave – they won't dare disobey."

"Good. Thank you, Baroness. That wasn't so hard, was it?" the Prince mocked.

"Ha. Ha," she scowled at him, and turned off her comms. Thomanius directed the ship's captain to where they were meant to land, but right after that, he received another comm call. This time it was from General Grievous. He answered it swiftly, hoping to hear good news. "Ah, General. I hope you have something good to report," he greeted. Grievous coughed.

"My Lord, we might have a problem with the Jedi…"