Maya-202!

A Star Wars-Inspired Story

Episode I

The Two Prince War

Chapter XX

Attack of the General

AN: Hi all! Here is the next chapter of Maya-202. I can't believe it's already been a whole year since I uploaded the first chapters! I want to thank everyone who has supported this so far, including my parents, Kubazeroms on for following this story and the guest who left kudos on Ao3. I hope you all continue to enjoy my story! Btw I hope you like the cover I made for the story on (sorry, Ao3 doesn't have book covers). TRIGGER WARNING: There is a depiction here of violence that could be considered graphic and may cause discomfort for some readers. Also, there is a curse word in this chapter. Reader discretion is advised. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Infirmary Room, Prince' Onasius Mansion, Iryx

"How're you feeling, sir?" Leo asked inquisitively, taking off his clone trooper's helmet and scratching his head. The medical trooper, Dr. Chris-921, had not allowed anyone in whilst he was patching up Prince Onasius' head injury, as the trooper hadn't wanted any distractions whilst doing so – but now he was finished, Leo had eagerly walked in to see how his leader was doing.

"I'm good thank you, Leo. It was little more than a scratch, to be honest," Onasius chuckled.

"Actually, it was quite a serious graze to the back of the head, your highness," Chris corrected.

"Well, I'm glad that you're feeling alright anyway," Leo said, smiling.

"And you? Are you OK?" the prince quizzed.

"Oh yeah, nothing really happened to me," Leo answered chirpily.

"Good, good. I wonder how Maya is getting on down there with our… visitor…" Onasius mused.

"I'm not sure yet, sir."

Onasius paused, wondering whether to question Leo about the rather obvious elephant in the room. "So… I have to ask… let me think, how do I put this…?" Onasius mumbled to himself under his breath.

"Maya might be… force sensitive, sir," Leo replied, as if he had read his highness' thoughts. "That's why only I returned earlier, whilst Maya was on Coruscant." The prince exhaled with confusion.

"Don't get me wrong, this is very interesting, and she was a great help earlier, but… how?! I don't understand…" he ranted. "I mean, dreamtroopers are designed by the Monarians very specifically," he continued.

"Are you sure about that, sir? Last thing I heard; they basically just throw a bunch of completely random DNA sequences together…" Leo pondered.

"That's only really for your facial appearance, as that was never something of concern for creating a soldier," Onasius corrected.

"I guess I got very lucky being this handsome, if I do say so myself," Leo said jokingly with pride. Onasius carried on. "But in terms of everything else – your body, your structure, even your strength – the genetic sequences are quite cautiously and carefully selected… And they were never intended to be force sensitive. Ever. Midichlorians are not meant to be in your bloodstreams. So how did Maya end up like this?"

Leo was unsure how to respond. "I'm not sure about that, sir, but what I am sure about is that you needn't beat yourself up about it; she seems to be very excited about the whole thing. I like seeing her that way," he revealed. Onasius looked at him with a slightly smug expression.

"Not in that way, sir…" Leo insisted, putting his hands up defensively – but deep down, something actually told him that maybe he wasn't being entirely truthful to himself.

"If you say so. I don't mind if you do, by the way. But this is why I'm admittedly worried about Maya being force sensitive," Onasius said.

Leo cocked his head. "What do you mean?"

The prince sighed. "If Maya is force sensitive, then I'm uncertain of what will happen to her. She may be taken to be trained as a Jedi. The prospect of that happening may excite her now, but she could have a great shock coming to her – I know it's rich coming from me, the Jedi prince that does little but sit in his bedroom meditating all day, but being a Jedi is sometimes not all it's cracked up to be. If she is to become one, she'll have to give up a lot of things. If you do like Maya, and the feelings are requited, you'd be unable to pursue your interest anyway as Jedi are forbidden from attachments. She wouldn't be around as much as she'd spend more time training, probably on Coruscant. It would be unlikely that she'd continue as a Royal Guard trooper, at least certainly not full time. She'd have to spend time meditating, not that that's a bad thing; it would just mean that-"

"That I'd barely see her anymore… My best friend…" Leo murmured sadly. Onasius shared a look of sorrow with him. The prince felt awful for spelling that out in front of Leo; he could see the chemistry that blossomed between his two troopers. Whilst Onasius also knew that it was Maya's life, and Maya's choice, he didn't want her to make that choice with a biased perspective of exhilaration at being force sensitive. The only reason Onasius himself was a Jedi was because he had come from a family of Jedi previously. He'd had no choice to make.

Southern Tropical Forest, Iryx

General Grievous trundled through the muddy, watery pathway, following the directions Prince Thomanius had given him. He hoped that all the damp terrain wasn't going to ruin his circuit boards. He hadn't even known of the existence of this part of the planet until the Sith prince had told him about it – it was a beautifully lush walkway filled with plants of all shapes and sizes. There were colours everywhere due to the flora and fauna – reds, greens, yellows, even blues – it was so vibrant that it was almost like strolling through a vivid hallucination caused by deathsticks. Thomanius had used this path as a child to sneak out of the castle at night. Apparently, he and his brother had also utilised it when they used to play hide and seek with each other.

"Get out of my way!" Grievous screamed irately to two rather large red birds, flapping his metal arms at them to shoo them off. He activated two of his purple lightsabers, and started slashing down some of the overgrown vegetation that blocked his path. He coughed slightly after doing so – he knew he'd have to try and control that if he wanted to get into the mansion undetected. He couldn't really help it, though, it was sort of a twitch that had somehow remained with his soul even after death. Eventually, after a long trek through lots of wet trails and even a few streams, General Grievous caught his first sight of the back of the mansion. From what he could see, Prince Thomanius was right, so far – there didn't seem to be any troopers out guarding that side, which was odd considering Onasius knew about this entrance. Maybe he didn't expect anyone to use it, or perhaps he thought his brother had forgotten about it since he hadn't lived in the mansion for so long. Grievous creeped carefully along the pathway to the entrance and hopped across the small lake behind the mansion via a few stepping stones, until he finally arrived at where Thomanius had pointed him.

The droid leader had been told that the secret passage into the mansion was to its east, so his left. It was apparently disguised to look like a normal part of the manor's exterior walls, but on closer inspection, a little crack could be seen that signalled it was actually a door in. The general investigated the east of the wall, feeling it to see if he could find the crack that had been mentioned as it wasn't too noticeable at first sight. After a few seconds, one of his claws scraped over the near-invisible crack. "Found it," Grievous muttered quietly, chucking evilly to himself. He placed his other claws so they were ledged between the wall and the crack, and tugged lightly, trying not to alert anyone inside the mansion – it didn't open. He groaned frustratedly, then garnered his effort and this time, pulled the door forcefully with strength; the secret door flew open. It revealed a very dark passageway that ran along into the mansion's basement. It looked very old and not used very often, as it was damp and there were cobwebs practically everywhere, scaling the entirety of the corridor's walls. The only light (besides the daylight outside the door that had just been opened) came from a few torches that were hung at the sides. It was very archaic - so basic, that in fact, Grievous suspected they must have been placed there centuries ago. Cautiously, the droid stepped into the dim hallway, and pulled the door closed quietly behind him, just in case anyone turned up around the back and saw that something was out of the ordinary – he wanted his attack to be a surprise for the Jedi dirt that had escaped his clutches those times before.

Grievous followed the instructions as best he could remember, which was very well as the new memory chip that the Kaminoan technicians had installed in him provided him with near-perfect recollection. The holomap that Prince Thomanius had given him was detailed with many precise underground routes through the mansion, and their position relative to the different rooms of the house. Now, the General was approaching the room that was believed to be where Aren was currently being held, judging by the coordinates the probe droid had displayed when watching earlier. The question was, how was the general going to get up there, and into the room, all the while remaining undetected? He pondered this for a few seconds, scanning his eyes back over the holomap to see if there were any vents or ducts that he could use to get inside. Luckily, there was a vent quite nearby, but he'd end up in the corridor just outside the room he wanted to get to. Oh well – he'd probably just have to fight his way through a couple of troopers to get to the Jedi, he decided. Fighting a few dreamtroopers wouldn't be a problem; in fact, Grievous presumed he was gonna at least have to defeat the one soldier that had been speaking to Aren earlier, unless she had left before he arrived. However, if the whole Dream Army was informed of his presence, then there'd be no way he'd be able to focus solely on destroying Aren as he'd have to battle his way through hordes of them. The droid leader backtracked a little, coming out from the corner underneath where the room was, and took several strides down the dusty old stone tunnel, before he ended up at the duct he was looking for. He stretched on his toes so he could reach the vent, and ripped its cover off, throwing it down to the floor. It made a loud clanging sound as it hit the ground, but it didn't matter as nobody would be able to hear him down here. He stood on top of the vent cover he'd just torn off for a bit of extra height, and lifted himself up and into the shaft, crawling through the opening. Had the two princes not been Jedi padawans, it would have been anyone's guess as to how they had been able to use this as young children, since they were so high up.

Grievous was rather well-adapted to squeezing through the vent. His parts and their mechanisms allowed him to crawl through them on his claws – it was no more troubling for him than if he'd been a small strill that had gone exploring the ducts. Eventually, after garnering several scrapes on his knees from the vent's metal flooring, the general found himself at the other end. He peered up to see he was just level with the mansion's ground floor. He couldn't see a lot of what was outside the vent, but he could see that there were two dreamtroopers with shields wandering around, most likely on guard of the 'prisoner'. The droid cocked his head as much as he possibly could (due to how tightly he was held up behind the duct cover), firstly to his right where he could find nothing other than yet another long stretch of corridor, and then to his left, where he saw a bright white door. That must have been where the Jedi filth was being held. Grievous cackled to himself when he thought about what he would do with the Jedi once he got his claws on him. Unfortunately for him, his excitement had caused him to briefly forget that he'd intended to be quiet right now.

"Hey! Did you hear that? What was it?" one of the shielded troopers asked, clearly on edge. The other soldier glanced around, searching for where the source of the sound was.

"I think it came from… down there, in that duct…" he said, pointing at the vent. They both approached where the general was hiding suspiciously. Looked like the gig was up – 'Not to worry,' Grievous thought. 'It won't take long to dispose of these two weaklings…'

"So, what happens now?" Aren asked Maya, secretly hopeful that he'd be released.

Maya put a hand up to her chin in thought. "I… I'm not sure. I'll have to see what Prince Onasius wants to do with you," the trooper revealed. Suddenly, a lot of banging and clattering could be heard outside, alongside a blood wrenching scream and a very audible *thud* sound against the outside of the room's walls. Aren's head shot straight to the doorway in suspense.

"Uh-oh…" he gulped. "I don't like the sound of that…"

"Me neither," Maya said with alarm. She put her previous-stormtrooper helmet back on, securing it tightly to her head, and started rushing towards the door. But before she could open it, it burst open as the body of another trooper came flying through it, hitting her, and causing them both to come smashing to the floor. The person – droid – that had thrown it was stood at the entrance coughing.

"There you are!" General Grievous laughed wickedly.

"Grievous! How did you get in here?" Aren yelped.

"You should tell Prince Onasius he needs to up his security," the once-cyborg chortled smugly. Maya pushed the poor, dead trooper's body off of her and climbed off the ground. Grievous, who had been staring at Aren thinking Maya would've been at least knocked out, turned around to see the soldier rise up. "Ah, what do we have here? I thought that the impact from your dead friend's body would've made you unconscious, trooper. Not to worry," the general reassured them, his lightsabers now glowing a bright, deep purple.

"You'll have to do more than that to put me down," Maya taunted.

"Aha. You are a bold one, soldier," Grievous scoffed, and took a swing at her. Maya hopped backwards, narrowly avoiding the blade. The droid tried to swipe at her again, but he was prevented from doing so by Aren; the former Jedi force-locked his arm just as the lightsaber was mere inches away from Maya.

"Leave her alone, General. You came here looking for me, I presume. So why don't you stop picking off troopers and fight me?" the blonde man suggested.

"I was hoping you'd be up for a rematch. I wouldn't want vanquishing you to be too easy – where's the fun in that, eh?" Grievous wondered. Maya had chosen to give another trooper Onasius' lightsaber so it could be handed back to him. She was regretting that decision now. All she had was her TH-7 blaster; whilst it was good for close-up armed combat, there was no doubt it would do little, if any, damage to this droid. Before she could plot what the best course of action was, Grievous smacked her out of the way, battering her into a wall. Luckily, her helmet saved her from getting hurt. "Where is your lightsaber, boy?" the general questioned.

"Good point. Maya, you think you could somehow retrieve that for me?!" Aren requested, the fear evident in his tone.

"I'm… on it," Maya complied, hopping up and dashing down the hall to the safe, where Aren's saber had been confiscated. Grievous wasn't worried about her getting more soldiers to try to stop him, which she was obviously going to do whilst getting the lightsaber anyway – he'd be done with the Jedi by then. He thrusted both his blades in a crossing motion, aiming for Aren's neck. The man ducked and rolled to his left, just missing a potentially gruesome end. Aren kicked the general's knee-plate, causing the droid to growl with anger, his eyes filling with rage and irritation. Grievous then, however, chose to take a similar page out of Aren's holobook; he raised his right leg so that its claw contacted Aren's stomach, and pushed mightily, making the Jedi stumble and collapse. The droid then started slamming his foot down onto the ground with no restraint, trying to stamp on the man; it was a tactic he could recall using another time, long ago during the Clone Wars when fighting other Jedi.

"You little rat!" he shouted – right then, his foot landed on Aren's left hand. The droid pushed down hard on it and chuckled sadistically.

"Argh! F*ck!" Aren yelled, his other arm and legs flailing about, struggling to get out of the position he was in on the floor. Grievous placed his other foot onto the man's other hand, restricting his movement even more.

"This is what you get for betraying Lord Thomanius, Jedi scum!" the malicious droid spat acidly. "I can't say I'm not disappointed, though. You're not as strong as you were last time we met, are you? You barely even put up a fight here. Pathetic," he remarked, teasing him.

"I've been… through… a lot today…" Aren panted, hissing at the general.

"Still, it's not really an excuse for an underwhelming duel, is it?" Grievous replied. "Anyway, enough chatting, let's get on with this. This might hurt a little…." he added – if the droid could've have grinned menacingly, he would've been doing it right about now. He lowered his right saber slowly to Aren's arm.

"No… no!" he cried, realising what the general had planned for him. He wriggled his legs, which were behind the droid, a bit more, using all his strength to attempt to kick Grievous anywhere he could; but it was no use. The lightsaber began slicing into his right bicep, causing a pain that he'd never felt imaginable until this moment.

"Try using the force now," the general said giggling callously. Aren started to black out – he was beginning to think it may be more straightforward to just stop fighting back, shut his eyes and give into this painful death.

'This is it,' he thought as his eyelids fell. 'I'm about to die…'