Maya-202!

A Star Wars-Inspired Story!

Episode I

The Two Prince War

Chapter XVII

Full Throttle

AN: Hi everyone! Thanks for the follow on this story. I hope it's OK that I have basically been updating every day recently, just alternating between my various fics. This is another chapter I started a bit ago but have come back to to finish today! Apologies if there are any errors or repetitions because of that, but anyway, I hope you enjoy!

"Sir, another ship has just been detected arriving in our atmosphere! It appears to be a Deep Beyond Tranqu-freighter, with one unidentifiable life form on board," said the trooper Ediz-123 over Prince Onasius' commlink. That was weird – if it was unidentifiable, then presumably it wasn't a Baaneraxx soldier as Ediz would have told him. "Thanks, Ediz. Can you find out its species?" he questioned, partway through rummaging around his wardrobe to find gear for the trip he had spontaneously planned. "One human male. But I'm not sure who – the scan signal isn't matching anyone in our database," the trooper replied. Onasius wondered for a moment who this could be – it wasn't his brother, they would have picked up on that immediately - all hell would have already been breaking loose if that was the case. "Thank you. I'm on my way to check it out now. You stay in the watch tower and don't worry about it; you deserve a break," the kind Prince decided. He received almost endless thanks from the trooper for his statement.

He rushed outside to see what the disruption was – the ship was visible to the naked eye now, swiftly approaching the planet's ground. Many troopers had gathered round, watching it, trying to determine who it could be. "Sir, I've just had word from another soldier that whilst this looks like a Deep Beyond ship, there are no Baaneraxx on board. Should I tell the others to prepare to fire on the ship should it turn out to be a hostile?" Leo asked the Prince when he had reached him.

"No Leo, thanks. I can deal with this. Besides, it might turn out to be an ally – you never know," Onasius replied. "Yes, Sir. Stand down!" Leo barked at some of the others who had already been beginning to take aim at the transport. The prince moved in front of his soldiers, silently urging them to stand back. The ship's hatch opened slowly, and out came something rather unexpected. A droid, specifically a Battle droid, clumsily fell out of the hatch. "Ow," the droid complained when landing on its torso. He got up carefully, to be met with the sight of several troopers pointing blasters in his face upon realising what he was. "No wait don't hurt me! I'm not here to do anything to you!" he cried. "I'm here with my Jedi friend!" he added, and Onasius gestured to the Dreamtroopers to lower their weapons. "Wait, what? Who are you?" he pondered curiously.

"I am Artex, Unit RT-EX1. I am here with Aren, the Jedi," the droid explained. Almost on cue, a slim, lanky blonde man climbed out of the ship. He turned around, and he did not look happy. "Jedi? I am Jedi Prince Onasius, and I don't recognise this –" he started, but when he actually thought about it, he had seen Aren before. It was a long time ago, and only a brief glance in the Jedi Temple's halls, but it still counted. However, before he could correct himself out loud, Aren spoke with a confrontational tone of voice. "I thought you might say that. Is that true, or is it just another lie in your vast chain of them, from what I've heard?" he spat. Onasius began to be extremely confused. He shook his head with a fading smile. "What are you talking about?" he wondered, but the blonde man just tutted in response. "According to what I've been told, you're quite the scumbag. And the worst of it is, you still have your place on the council! After all you've supposedly done behind the Jedi's back, you're still there! Did they never find out? Or worse, did they know and not do anything because of your power?!" Aren raged. Artex, who was stood right beside him, started tugging on the Jedi's garments, as if to tell him he was going too far. As far as the prince was concerned, the beginning of these accusations was too far itself. "I don't have any idea what you are talking about!" Onasius said, raising his voice. "Did Thomanius send you?" he suggested.

"You would blame him, wouldn't you?" Aren said dismissively. Suddenly, a new voice message on Onasius' commlink began buzzing. It was Ediz again. "Your highness, I'm picking up a-", she started, but Onasius told her that he couldn't speak about it now. "Thomanius is… evil…" he said, going back to the earlier question posed by Aren. It stung to call his own brother that, but it was the only thing he could think to say to make this guy understand. "He didn't send me. But his friend, Scald, told me all about what you did. To me. And I'm starting to think it's true," Aren stated. The prince's face changed from one of mostly confused into utter bewilderment. Scald? Was he working for his brother? "Thomanius doesn't have 'friends'. Scald… I don't know, he must be working for Thomanius! He must have told you whatever lies you seem to believe so you'd come and attack me!" the prince said, figuring out what must have happened. He was shocked Scald was working against him, though. He started to feel incredibly guilty for sending Maya and Leo to him a while back. In fact, their previous run in with the giant artillery machine of Thomanius' was all starting to make sense – Scald must have sent them right into a trap, and he had allowed it. He wasn't going to forgive himself easily for this. But first, he had to deal with the problem at hand.

Iryx atmosphere

"You're 100% sure he's in danger?" Finn questioned.

"Yeah! Ok, well, maybe not 100%... but close enough. I'm sorry if this wrecks your ship's suspension, but we have to get down there as fast as possible. I don't think he knows he's in trouble yet!" Maya panicked. They were bolting towards Iryx's surface – it had been an especially bumpy ride since Maya had sensed the problem. She had wanted to get back to her home planet as quickly as they could to help her Master. "No, no problem. Just wanted to make sure," Finn said. BB-8 chimed in to signal he was trying to go full throttle and get them to the ground. They were plummeting through the atmosphere now, and the ground below was creeping closer and closer every second. "OK, you planned for us to land, right?!" Finn yelled, beginning to worry that they would crash onto the planet in their haste. "Yeah, it's just not really something I thought about in my rush to get here, until now!" Maya told him. BB-8 made several alarming noises to alert them that they were going to smash into the ground soon if they weren't careful enough. "Maya, I'm sorry but we have to slow this ship down, otherwise we're all toast!" Finn commanded. Maya was about retort with information that her master might not be safe, but then she realised Finn made a good point. If they crashed, then she wouldn't be able to help Onasius anyway. After thinking it over for a second, she nodded and said, "OK, OK. You're right. BB-8, can you see if you can slow us down for landing?" BB-8 beeped with delighted relief that he wasn't going to be turned into scrap metal salvaged from a crash, and did all he could to decrease their velocity. Maya couldn't work out where they were landing yet, as the planet's surface had looked the same for most of the entirety of their descent. "Are we slowing down?" Finn asked BB-8 nervously, as they still appeared to be going at a high speed. BB-8 chirped, implying that they were. "He says we are but only ever so slightly, it's hard to decrease the speed as rapidly as we need to" Finn translated for the trooper's purposes. All of a sudden, after travelling through a lower layer of cloud cover that had partially blocked their vision of the surface, it appeared they were mere inches away from the floor. "Uhh… BB-8, any luck on getting us down safely?" Maya wondered, starting to regret her choice. Finn listened to BB-8's whirring. "He's telling me that there is a very slight chance of getting us to the right speed, but a chance nonetheless!" the Jedi informed.

"Hye, slight is better than none, I'll take it and pray to the Force that it comes true!" Maya said.

"You don't really pray to the Force, you…" Finn began, but trailed mid-sentence as he recognised that maybe this wasn't the perfect time for teaching the force-sensitive a lesson. "You know what, it doesn't matter right now, sorry," Finn added.

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry, Master Finn, and I really am. I got us into this mess," Maya said melancholically. Finn noticed a change in her mood. She had gone from frantic to almost… emotionless. He had seen this before. Maya was 'shutting down' – believing that death was eminent and approaching them very soon, and that there was nothing they could do about it. "Maya, I know it's easier said than done, but please don't freeze up. We'll make it – you just have to believe in the Force that-" Finn lectured, but BB-8's scream cut him off, and before they knew it, they were on the ground…

Prince Onasius' Mansion, Iryx

Prince Onasius was suddenly hit by a very close, sharp sensation. It was Maya – he felt it. And she had been with another of his friends – Finn. "Oh my…" he uttered. He stared at Aren, who also seemed to have received the impulse, as a quick look of shock flashed over his face. However, it was short-lived for him, as he went back to being angry almost instantly. "I don't know what that was, but right now, I don't care," he seethed. "You need to explain yourself, or… or I'll have to make you do it myself," he continued ranting. Onasius shook his head.

"No. Let's stop this ridiculous argument – something serious clearly just happened and I have to go and check it out! I need to see if Maya and Master Finn are OK!" Onasius bellowed furiously.

"Maya?!" Leo butted in worriedly. "Is she alright?!" he begged to know.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," the prince stated. But Aren had different plans.

"Not until you tell me the truth!" he yelled.

"Don't you care about Jedi Master Finn? You criticise me for… whatever I've supposedly done, and say that I'm un-Jedi-like, when you're standing in my way of trying to help a Jedi!" Onasius snapped to him. Aren tutted.

"I don't know what to believe anymore," he muttered.

"I don't wanna do this, but if you stand in my way of seeing if my friends are alright, then I will fight you," the prince warned impatiently. Aren snickered.

"Oh? You want to do this? Excellent. This at least makes it more fun. You hypocrite – I knew you weren't a 'peacekeeper', like a true Jedi," Aren scoffed.

"And you are? You obviously just got a kick out of wanting fight me," Onasius pointed out.

"Well, if it means I get to stop a corrupt Jedi, I'm willing to battle them," the blonde man replied. Out of the blue, the ground beside him started to crack, and huge chunks of stone began rising up and out of it. Artex attempted to intervene and tell Aren that this wasn't a good idea, but he told the droid to stay out of the way for a moment. "It's you? I remember hearing about you – an elementa-" Onasius started, but he shut himself up as he had to duck out of the way as the rocks came flying at him. Leo and a few other troopers started aiming their blasters at the rogue Force-sensitive, but Onasius gestured to them to stop. He didn't want this guy dead – he wanted to clear all of this up later with a conversation. He needed to know what lies Thomanius had fed him, and now he knew Scald was working with his brother, it was unlikely he would tell him. However, for now, knocking this guy out for a bit, until he was willing to talk civilly would have to be the best option – Onasius activated his lightsaber.

The Forest, Iryx

Maya opened her eyes to see… shockingly nothing out of the ordinary. "Maya! Oh, thank the Force, you're awake," Finn said, wrapping her in a big hug that was over fast.

"Hey, Master Finn, what happened?" she asked bewilderedly. The ship looked as if it was intact – there wasn't even any smoke to be seen. "You know when I said that there was a slight chance BB-8 could get us down safely? Well, that little, trusty astromech prevailed, didn't ya?" Finn revealed, petting the droid who made an excited sound. Maya let out a small chuckle. "Unfortunately, the ship's suspension is… how do I put this lightly… wrecked beyond belief," the Jedi Master explained.

"Oh man, I'm sorry…" Maya said, feeling guilty.

"Don't be," Finn accepted, and the trooper nodded in response.

"But why was I… unconscious, I suppose is the word for it?" she pondered.

"I'm not completely sure, and we don't have any medical droids here to tell us the definite reason, but if I had to hazard a guess, I think you shut down," Finn said.

"Shut down? What do you mean?" Maya questioned.

"Do you remember a few moments before you fell unconscious?" Finn asked. Maya told him that she didn't. "Well, I sensed your emotions, your entire body almost… giving up… that's what I call 'shutting down'. You thought you were certainly gonna die, and so you felt powerless to do anything about it. And I can't blame you for thinking that, because in all honesty, I thought we were too…" he confessed. Maya sighed. "Master Finn, once again I am so so sorry… I don't what I was thinking…" the soldier apologised another time. But the Jedi Master had other ideas. "No, no. You weren't thinking. But you followed your instincts. And that's a good thing. That's what you need to be a Jedi. I'm… proud of you, in all actuality. Even if you did almost get us all killed," Finn joked. "However, the way in which you go about following your instincts might require more thought – try to remember that, OK," he requested.

"Thank you, Master Finn. Once again, I am truly sorry, I-" Maya started, although Finn told her there was no need for her to be sorry. "Do you know where we are?" the Jedi then asked, helping Maya out of her seat. "I've been to this planet a couple of times, but not this part," he continued. Maya, who was still regaining her full sight, looked around. "I think we're in the forest – us dreamtroopers use the caves here to mine Iryxian copper. We're not far from the mansion, come on!" she beckoned, already getting back to her old, excited self.

"Umm… actually, Maya, you should stay with BB-8 and fix the ship. Apparently, he needs some help to repair it," Finn informed her.

"With all do respect, Master, no. Prince Onasius is my leader. In fact, he's more than that – he's a great friend. I'll go," Maya said, shaking her head.

"But Maya, if it's not safe then I don't want you putting yourself in danger!" the Jedi argued.

"I put us in danger a few minutes ago to get here. I've clearly damaged the ship. Besides, it was my instincts that got us into this, not yours – I should be, and I will be the one to go," the soldier insisted.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Finn muttered in worry. "Stay safe. I'll catch up with you when we're done here to help," he plotted. "May the Force be with you, Maya-202," he wished.

"Thank you; and you too, Master Finn," she smiled, before turning and sprinting off through the woods, not looking back.

Prince Onasius' Mansion, Iryx

"You can't stop me!" Aren shouted as he hurled another barrage of rocks at Onasius. The prince blocked them all with his lightsaber. "Really? You'll have to do better than that!" Onasius taunted. Aren picked up more stones telekinetically, and threw them at the prince once again, this time whilst charging towards him. He had now drawn his luminescent, yellow lightsaber. He launched himself at Onasius, holding his blade above his head, and forcing it down in an attempted slicing manoeuvre. Thankfully, it missed Onasius, who jumped back a little to dodge it, and then slammed his pink lightsaber into Aren's, causing them to interlock and push against one another. "I don't want to kill you!" Onasius emphasised.

"Funnily enough, I feel like I want to kill you!" Aren yelped with rage. Onasius, still using his might to hold the angry man back, tried another, much simpler tactic. Aren seemed not to notice that the prince's focus was elsewhere than on their locked sabers, as Onasius performed a swift kick to his kneecap. "Argh!" Aren screeched with irritation as he fell onto the grass. "You're gonna pay for that, you little!" he said through bared teeth. Onasius raised his saber, planning to do enough damage to injure but not kill him when Aren used all his power to force push him back. Onasius, who had failed to see it coming, went flying backwards, almost hammering into Leo. "Sir? Are you OK?" Leo said anxiously as he knealt down beside him to see if he required help. "Yeah, I'm fine thanks, Leo. This guy is one tough cookie," he commented. Leo was saying something about how he could take him on, but Onasius couldn't concentrate, as he felt someone… familiar nearby. A sense of relief crossed him. "Oh my Jedi!" he mumbled, staring into the distance with mesmerisation.

"Sir? What is it, Sir?" Leo queried and turned to look in the same direction.

"Hey, you! Leave my Master alone!" a female, well-recognised voice ordered. It was Maya-202.