When I came too, I was in a cell much like the one Ezra and I had stored the troopers we'd knocked out on the Gravity Well Star Destroyer. Only this time, I was strapped to a vertical table with a light slope. Well, not so much strapped as much as clasped. Metal restraints kept all four of my limbs from moving, and there was even a bar going over my waist keeping me down. Frankly, I was surprised I wasn't wearing one of those masks they put on Hannibal Lector.
The next thing I noticed was my attire, or lack thereof. All of my clothes were gone save for my pants. Even my boots were taken. I had to admit, the thought of the Seventh Sister undressing me was an uncomfortable one, but she did have authority here. She probably ordered someone else to do it. I don't know if that was a worse or better thought though.
For several hours, incredibly uncomfortable hours I might add, I tried to wriggle my way out, unsurprisingly resulting in failure. I tried to think of other ways to escape, but they all hinged on the obvious: me getting off of this table. I considered trying to use the Force to open the door or undo the restraints, but I was worried about the Seventh Sister, and possibly her friend or even Vader, sensing it.
As it turns out, I didn't need to worry about that.
The door slid open, and in walked the Seventh Sister and the Fifth Brother. Seventh Sister was looking way too pleased with herself as she gazed at my prone form. Or maybe she was just ogling me. Hard to tell.
"Well, here we are again, Lance Mikaelson." She said, her form of a greeting perhaps.
"It is familiar, isn't it?" I asked in a dull tone. "Me restrained, you stalking around like a sexual predator, and your ugly friend snarling like someone pissed in his caf." I recalled. In response to my jab, the Fifth Brother growled and stepped forward, his fist raised to punch me, but the Seventh Sister stopped him.
"He is baiting you." She told him.
"I mean, she's not wrong." I smirked at him. "I know you're a Darksider and all, but snarling and growling like an animal is frankly beneath you. At least it should be." I said with a nonchalant shrug. At least, as best as the restraints allowed.
"Rah!" Fifth Brother snarled again and got right up in my face. "I will cut out your tongue boy!" He hissed.
"Ok, first of all, gross." I said without a change in my expression. "Second, you really need to get yourself some tic-tacs or something, because your breath is rancid." I gave a gag. "You may want to get that checked by a doctor. They might be able to do something about your face too." I smirked at him as his anger grew. "Seriously, you look like a meiloorun had sex with an older, more disgusting meiloorun. And not gently, like it was hate-fucking." I emphasised. "There was something wrong with the relationship, and that was the only catharsis they could find without violence." I went on, a thoughtful look on my face.
Suddenly, a lightsaber ignited and was brought uncomfortably close to my face. Blisters were forming where the blade heated the air near my skin.
"Lord Vader has ordered us to bring you to him alive. He never specified to bring you in one piece." He growled, hovering the blade ever so slightly closer.
"Given your past failures in detaining me, is that a risk you want to take?" I asked, keeping my composure as I looked straight into his eyes. He held his position for another few seconds, and I could smell the flesh on my cheek burning, but I kept my expression blank. With one more growl, he deactivated the blade and stomped off. "Good call, you wouldn't want to risk getting kicked out of the Inquisitorious."
"That's enough, Mikaelson." Seventh Sister told me, as if I would actually listen.
"Hey, at least you'd have a good back-up plan if you did, assuming Vader doesn't kill you." I went on. "You could star in your own horror holo-dramas, because you look Vader's mask face-fucked a topographical map of Naboo." I grinned widely as Fifth Brother glared at me. Before he could respond or I could continue, Seventh Sister pressed a button on her wrist. "Grrrrrrrrr-fuck!" I grunted loudly in pain as electricity coursed through every muscle in my body. It only lasted a few seconds, but damn did that hurt.
"Do you have anything else to say?" Fifth Brother asked, grinning in satisfaction at the sight of me panting in pain.
"Yeah…" I panted a bit more. "You look like the inside of other people's assholes." I grinned at him one more time. "Gaaaaaah!" A more intense burst of electricity shocked me as I ended the sentence.
"Enough of your silly distractions." Seventh Sister said, glaring at me threateningly. "We are not here to play word games with you."
"So why are we here?" I asked, panting from the pain. "You think you can manage to get me to tell you anything? Fat chance." I told her, dryly.
"If you are referring to where your Rebel friends are hiding, we already know they are on Garel." She smirked darkly. "Or rather, they were." She said with sinister undertones. A cold, unpleasant feeling made its way into my chest as I processed what she said. "Oh yes, we found where your little fleet was hiding, and we attacked. Quite clever, scattering your ships across several spaceports, but it wasn't enough. More than half of your fleet is gone, boy. And the rest will follow soon enough." She said stalking around the table as she spoke. "It's a shame we couldn't bring your Jedi friends in. They would have made excellent Inquisitors, but they forced our hand." She said with a fake forlorn sigh. I glared murder at her for a moment before I stopped to really think about what she was saying, and honestly, it didn't hold up. I had to let out a little chuckle. "You find the deaths of your friends amusing?" She asked.
"No, it's you who's amusing." I responded, smirking. "If Kanan and Ezra were really dead, I would have felt it by now. My powers may be unrefined, but I'm not incompetent. Their deaths are not something that would fly over my head." I told her. Her evil smirk fell, subtly, but I noticed it. "And if you attacked whilst the ships were docked in the spaceports, that gives me an idea of what escape pattern might have been used. If they executed it well, and I'm sure they did, I'm sure casualties would be minimal." I concluded. By now, Seventh Sister was scowling at me. "Nice try though. You almost had me." Not really, but she didn't need to know that. "If you're thinking I know where Ahsoka is, you're out of luck." I said with an unapologetic shrug. Again, as best as I could with the restraints.
"What makes you think we don't have her in custody as well?" Fifth Brother asks, smirking.
"Besides the fact that she'd never be defeated by the likes of you?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, making his smirk drop instantly. "If you had taken her down, you would be a lot more pleased with yourself, and not as easy to piss off." I said simply.
"Irrelevant." Seventh Sister piped up before her colleague could get antsy again. "You're going to tell us where your fleet has gone, and more importantly, where we can find Ahsoka Tano." She said, bringing her hand to her wrist again. "And I have no qualms taking my time." She said, pressing the button.
So, I'm not sure how much time passed after Seventh Sister started well and truly torturing me. She never kept to the same pattern, going back and forth between the electrocution and the Force-induced lobotomy at random intervals, even having her probe droids inject some kind of drug that causes pain throughout my body as it did its thing. Everytime I couldn't, or wouldn't, answer her questions, it just got worse, regardless of what method she was using. Sometimes she'd just let Fifth Brother do whatever he wanted, without even bothering to ask questions.
All in all, a really unpleasant afternoon.
I'd passed out at some point in time, and I assumed that's when they decided to take a break. I came to who knows how long after, faced with nothing but a nearly empty room and the quiet. I allowed myself some time to just turn my brain off and not think about anything, to really rest and relax my body and mind before I focussed on trying to escape. Inside of the room were two stormtroopers, on either side of the door, facing towards me with their weapons ready.
"Inquisitor, I'm reporting that the prisoner has regained consciousness, as ordered." One of them said, pressing on the comm at the side of his helmet.
"Excellent." Seventh Sister's purr came in response. "We'll be down shortly to continue our fun." She said with sinister undertones.
"Understood." The Stormtrooper responded. Brilliant.
OK, there's no way I'm going through that again, especially not so soon. I had to think of a way out of the cell, and fast. I was barely able to move thanks to the restraints, so I wouldn't be going anywhere without dealing with those first. Thinking quickly, I knew I'd be stunned in an instant if I tried to use the Force on the table itself, and I'm not sure I'd be able to do it in the first place, which left one option. Well, one option that wasn't ridiculously stupid.
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, and focussed my mind's eye.
"Hey, what are you doing, Rebel scum?" One of the troopers demanded as they both aimed their weapons at me. They probably knew the tell-tale sign of a Force-sensitive concentrating.
"You've been ordered to release me." I said, not opening my eyes.
"He's trying to Mind Trick us." The other trooper realised.
"Hah! Like that would work on us, Kid." The first guy seemed amused.
"You have been ordered to release me." I said again, putting more strength into it.
"Carry on with that, and we'll tighten those restraints to the point where you're just barely able to breathe." One of them warned me. I ignored him.
"You will release me." I said hardly, one more time.
Silence.
"We will release you…" They said in unison, and I released a breath I didn't know I was holding.
Much harder than one would think.
The troopers both approached and unlatched the restraints around my waist, and the ones keeping my limbs in place. With a mechanical hiss, the restraints opened and I fell to the ground on my hands and knees, my sore limbs barely supporting my weight.
"Now shoot each other." I said, my voice void of any emotion. They obeyed promptly, the red bolts hitting them in perfect unison as they both fell to the ground. "Ugh…" I grunted as I forced myself to my feet. Everything hurt. Muscles I didn't know I had were still aching from the electricity before. I'll never complain about Ahsoka's workout regiment again. As the dizziness faded from my head, I began to think quickly on how I could escape. There had to be a shuttle or escape pod or something I could use to get off of the ship I was on. The problem was going to be getting to it.
My eyes suddenly drifted to the downed troopers, and I had to groan.
Am I really doing this?
Putting Stormtrooper armour on was a lot more complicated than it seemed. I would say that my respect for the guys went up a little bit, but I'd be lying. Seriously, I've seen them in action. The armour is about as effective as wet paper, and the guns are so low calibre, hitting anything with them is a matter of luck. It explains their incompetence so well, I'm actually annoyed by it. It's probably just the Star Wars fanboy in me though.
"Captain." I saluted a Stormtrooper with an orange shoulder guard passed by me, two regular troopers behind him. He nodded back in response as they continued. God, I cringed as I went on my way.
It wasn't long before my escape was noticed.
"Attention all Troopers! The prisoner has escaped! Repeat, the prisoner has escaped, and he is wearing Stormtrooper armour!" Seventh Sister's angered voice resounded through the ship's intercom. "Deactivate all turbolifts and seal all decks!" She snarled.
Fuck.
"There he is! Blast him!" One of the Stormtroopers yelled as I found myself confronted by a squadron. I quickly took cover behind the frame of a blast door. Apparently, Stormtroopers don't often patrol alone, so when they see just one skulking about by himself, one that can't recite any of their protocols or jargon, it's a dead giveaway that he's an intruder. That, and the fact that I ran away when I couldn't answer their questions.
"Motherfucker!" I snarled behind the infernal helmet as I blasted one of the troopers. Again, sheer luck. These guns were bloody awful, and I could barely see a thing through the god-forsaken helmet, which I quickly discarded. With a grunt, I pushed my arm forward, sending many of the troopers flying, but not all of them. The handful that were not disoriented continued firing, and the rest were recovering quickly. Aiming carefully, I fired several shots at the control panel of the blast door they were covering behind. Eventually, this god awful gun hit the panel, closing the door. And just in time too. The ones I knocked over were getting up.
Now what?
I let out a sigh as I looked around. One way, there was a squadron of Stormtroopers, the other way, a corridor that could lead anywhere. It was a shitty choice either way. I had just decided to go down the corridor when I felt a chilling presence, almost freezing me in place.
The inquisitors, they were closing in on me. I was stuck. I would encounter them for sure if I went that way, and there's no way I'd be able to dispatch all the troopers before they reached me.
Think, dammit, think!
After a painstaking moment, something caught my eye. On the wall beside me, there was a small grill gate. I remembered in A New Hope, when they were being overwhelmed by troopers, after rescuing Princess Leia. Given the choice between the inquisitors, and a potential encounter and drowning by way of a tentacled monster with a singular eyeball, I'd choose the tentacles.
"God help me." I give an exhausted sigh as I open the grill gate. The garbage chute was thankfully, or maybe not so thankfully, big enough for me to slip through. So, I slipped in, held onto the edge so that I could close the grill gate, and then let go, sliding down. The smell was bad enough before I got in, but my god did it get worse as I went down.
I was prepared for what I would find down there, or at least I hoped so, so I didn't fall face-first into the rancid liquid at the bottom of the room I found myself in. It was much smaller than I'd expected, about the size of a house pantry. The liquid was only ankle deep, so the odds of a tentacled monster were slim to none. Still, there was another problem.
"Fuuuuck!" I grunted in strain as I tried in vain to open the magnet sealed door. Up side, I was a few decks down and closer to the hangar. Downside, I was stuck in this god-awful smelling room. If I had my lightsaber, I could cut through, but Ahsoka had taken it before I entered the cave. "Just great." I said with a sigh, leaning against the door and sliding down, sitting on the platform in front of it. "Ok, I just need two seconds of quiet." I say to myself, trying to let myself relax, if only slightly.
Be-woop!*
"I didn't mean literally." I growled as I grabbed the gun I'd stolen, standing up quickly at the familiar sound. No doubt, it was one of them. "Stop." I order as I see the mechanical limb try to hide behind some of the garbage. "Come out, now." I say. Slowly, the limbs pulled the body they were attached to into my vision. Yeah, I was right. It was one of the Seventh Sister's probe droids.
Something was wrong though.
The lightbulb for its 'eye' was cracked, one of its three legs was broken, and there were a couple of wires sticking out from the back of the head. It'd taken a bit of a beating it seems.
"What are you doing here?" I asked. It gave the typical bleeps and bloops in response. Based on what Sabine had taught me about binary, I'd picked up the word 'damage' and 'thrown' but nothing else. "You were thrown down here after taking some damage?" I asked, getting another bleep. "Look, I don't speak Binary, so I'm going to need you to be a bit more direct in your communication." I say as I lower my gun. In response, the droid shows a holographic image of… Zeb?
The hologram showed Zeb being attacked by one of the probe droids. It was clinging to his head, and he was roaring as he slammed his head into a crate, smashing the droid.
"That's when we were at the medical station." I realised. "So, the Seventh Sister tried to repair you, but chose to throw you away?" I asked, getting a nod and a down-trodden bleep in response. "Well, sorry about that." I say. I'll admit, it actually was a bit sad to see. "I can't help. Seventh Sister and I aren't exactly friends." The droid's head shot up at that. It bleeped some more, crawling closer to me over the garbage. "The only word I picked up from that sentence was Rebel, and yes, I am one." I say, being ready to shoot. The droid reached out with its small, pincer like arms, clasping and unclasping. "You want me to carry you?" I asked, getting an affirmative bleep. "You can't float?" I asked, getting a negative. "Alright, but if you try to shock me, I'll smash you like a bug." I warned, getting another affirmative as I let the droid climb onto my arm.
It immediately shuffled up my arm, over to my back, and to my side, facing the panel. "What are you-?" I asked as its foot/claw thing popped out of its 'wrist,' folding back as a scomp link slid out. It inserted the link into the panel, opening the door. "Huh." I say, looking down both ways of the corridor. No troopers yet. "Why are you helping me?" I asked. It showed me another holographic image.
"Useless thing." The hologram of the Seventh Sister scoffed as she tossed the droid down the garbage chute. The very same one I'd slid down, apparently.
"I see." I frown thoughtfully. This could be a trap, but right now, I didn't have many options. "Alright, here's the deal: we help each other get off of this ship. That way, I don't get killed, and you don't get turned into scrap metal." I propose. The droid climbed up to my shoulder, giving me another affirmative bleep. "Alright. But first…" I trail off as I pull the armour off of my body. "That shit is absolutely useless." I scoff as I toss the last piece of armour into the garbage room. I even discarded the boots, which were drenched in that disgusting liquid. I was now running around a Star Destroyer, barefoot, in nothing but a body glove, and armed with the worst blaster possible. "Alright, let's get…" I stopped as I felt a presence, my eyes drifting to the side. Narrowing my eyes, I focussed on that familiar presence. I knew what it was. "This way." I said, following the presence. The droid didn't respond, clutching to my shoulder as I ran.
I followed the presence for a few moments, stopping as I felt it shift right as I ran past a large door. Moving back, I approached the door, which opened. It seemed to be an armoury or storage room. There were numerous crates and shelves, all full of the same awful gun I help, and various sets of Stormtrooper armour, from cadets to scouts to captains. A smile broke out on my face as my eyes landed on what I could feel.
"Thank god." I said as I approached my belongings, which had been stacked on top of a crate. The presence I was feeling came from the strange box that the old man had given me. "If I didn't want to know what was in you before, I certainly do now." I say under my breath as I gather the rest of my effects. My belt, the unstable peacemaker's lightsaber, my coat, even my boots. I was most thankful for the coat. I did not want to have to tell Sabine that she wasted a beskar credit on a coat that I lost. The only thing missing was… "The holocron." I whispered. "Dammit." I cursed under my breath. Seventh Sister probably had it. "No time to worry about that now." I say as I slip my belt on, by boots and coat following shortly after. Still felt a bit naked with just the body glove, but it was better than before. "Hmm…" I hum as I press the box to the back of my belt, against the magnetic strap. "Hah! Can't believe that worked." I gave a light laugh. The metal box was secure enough that I could move around easily enough.
"Alright, now we need to get to the hangar. Got any ideas?" I asked the droid, who pointed up at the roof with one of its pincers. "Of course." I said dryly, seeing the air vent it pointed to. "I've been spending too much time with Ezra." I sigh as I climb up the crates below the vent shaft, pulling it open with the Force and hopping right in. "Alright, which way?" I asked the droid, who hopped off of my shoulder and set off down the vent, me right behind it.
After an unpleasantly long journey crawling through the air vents, the droid finally opened one of the hatches, latching onto me as I climbed out. All the climbing, twisting, turning, and sliding disturbed all the bruises I'd sustained in the crystal catacombs. It suddenly hit me that I was incredibly tired. And hungry. I didn't know how long it had been since Ahsoka and I left Garel.
"Alright, hangar bay!" I grinned as the droid and I entered said room. I quickly dispatched the small number of troopers in the room. It was surprisingly bare, but they were still looking for me on the other decks. "OK, I need something that has a hyperdrive." I said out loud, mostly talking to myself. I hadn't expected any kind of response, but the droid did so nonetheless. It showed me an image of a TIE fighter, but it was different. The wings were curved inwards, and the central sphere was larger. "I think I recognize this." I say with eyes narrow in thought. "Is that the TIE the Inquisitors use?" I ask, looking around. The droid bleeped an affirmative as my eyes landed on a TIE that matched the image the droid showed me. Its wings were tucked inwards, making it flatter and more stable on the ground. "Bing." I said with a smirk.
"Bing indeed." An unpleasantly familiar voice said drolly. I immediately turned to face the owner, finding the Seventh Sister. "You weren't going to leave without saying goodbye, were you?" She asked teasingly as she activated her saber. "And leaving behind such a valuable artifact too." She added, holding up the Barsen'thor holocron.
"I was looking for that." I said idly, activating the peacemaker's lightsaber as she stuck the holocron to her belt. Apparently, everyone has magnetic belts.
"Making new friends?" She asked casually, seeing the droid on my shoulder, who cowered behind my back.
"You know what they say: one cunt's trash is another man's treasure." I responded, shifting into my high guard stance, my weapon poised at a low horizontal angle, my hands in line with my heart to allow the blade to shield my upper body.
"Indeed." She responded. With that, she dashed. I blocked her blow, but she immediately shifted into another, unleashing a flurry of quick strikes on me that I strained to keep up with. With a growl, I thrust my arm out, delivering a palm strike to her stomach, coupled with a Force push, sending her back. She landed expertly, almost like a cat on the prowl. Standing up straight again, she activated her second blade.
It wasn't long before I realised I'd have to rethink my strategy here. Form VI, Niman, incorporated the use of Force abilities significantly in its practice, something I'm still not up to par with. Some minor acrobatics and telekinesis throws here and there weren't going to cut it. I couldn't use lightning, I had very little practice with the mental arts, and I hadn't even touched on healing power yet. I'd have to tackle this issue differently. Niman does come the most naturally to me, but it wasn't what I needed at that moment. So, with that in mind, I changed my stance, squaring my hips, facing my opponent, and holding my weapon in front of me, the blade up. Form V, Djem So.
Djem So wasn't too difficult for me to learn alongside Niman. Niman was essentially an elaborate combination of the previous five forms, with most of its emphasis being on Djem So and Soresu, Form III, and incorporating the use of Force techniques. My Niman training helped me get a feel for the two, and practicing them improved my ability with Niman. But right now, Djem So was what I needed; solid blocking and parrying, with fast counterattacks.
The Seventh Sister saw my change in tactics and smirked, ready to attack once more. As she dashed towards me, it was as if that moment had been reduced to slow motion. I tugged at the Force, pulling it inward, letting it fill my body as I focussed my intent. My grip tightened on my weapon, and the veins in my arm and neck bulged slightly as she attacked. Rather than blocking her attack, I met it head on, swinging my lightsaber directly into hers, stopping her attack in its tracks. We were caught in a bladelock, and her confident smirk fell as my superior strength pushed her back, inch by inch. Before she could react, I twisted my blade and swiped up, piercing her defense, but not before she back-stepped. Her eyes were wide as her hand drifted to her cheek bone, feelling the light graze I'd inflicted. I smirked as she looked at me with narrow eyes, readying her stance again.
And so we fought. As her attacks got more savage and brutal, I pushed my strength further, meeting her attacks and instantly counterattacking. Within a few minutes, we both sported numerous grazes and burns from the other's weapon. This only proved to infuriate her more; I imagine her ego was taking a beating as well, knowing I could keep up with her. Still, I was reaching my limit far quicker than she was. I had to end the fight, and quickly. So, I baited her. I switched tactics, ducking underneath her attacks several times. If she had been more focussed, she would have noticed, but she didn't. When she finally took the bait and went for an overhead swing, I acted.
I reached out with the Force, gripping her mentally and physically. If I did it right, she wouldn't immediately notice when her body slowed. This technique was a gamble, I'd never done it in combat before, but I had to risk it. And surprisingly, it worked. Her movements slowed, just a touch, but it was enough. If I'd done it to a Stormtrooper, they would have been moving in real slow motion, both their mind and body Slowed by the Force, and they probably wouldn't have even noticed, they'd see everything else moving faster. She, on the other hand, was an Inquisitor. All I could do was buy myself a few split seconds. It was enough though.
I sidestepped away from her attack, and lifted my own lightsaber up for my own overhead swing. The difference was, mine connected. With her perception and movements reduced by my Force Slow, she wasn't able to move quick enough to block or avoid my attack, even if it wore off right as I swung my blade.
"HAAAAAAAH!" She howled in pain as her right hand came clean off. Right as my weapon cut through her flesh, the pink-purple blade sputtered and fizzled, dissolving into nothing. And that was it for the Unstable Peacemaker's Lightsaber. Still, I could probably use the parts to make my own eventually. "Bastard!" Seventh Sister snarled at me as she clutched her stumped wrist.
"Cry me a river, Bitch." I growled in response, pocketing the derelict lightsaber. "I'll take that." I say as I summon the holocron to my hand from her belt. I expected her to be incapacitated, but she surprised me by standing up, clutching her stumped hand to her belly as she glared at me, hunched over.
"If you think you have me beaten, you are sorely mistaken." She growled, holding her remaining hand out. "This is nothing compared to-" Her sentence was cut off when I hit her with a hard Force push, sending her flying into a regular TIE fighter, silencing her.
"Less yapping, more fighting." I said dully as I turned towards the TIE Advanced, but something caught my eye. A certain lightsaber, just laying there on the ground. "I might start a collection." I say with a smirk as I summon the Seventh Sister's lightsaber to my hand. "Thanks for the souvenir." I say with a grin, knowing she won't respond. Rolling my eyes at myself, I clip the weapon to my belt and head off to the TIE.
Right as I neared it, I felt the holocron get pulled right out of my grip. Reacting quickly, I spun and gripped it with the Force, stopping it in its tracks. There, hunched over and standing on wobbly legs, the Seventh Sister was reaching out with her remaining hand, trying to get the Holocron back. Her helmet had been discarded, showing short, messy black hair, and her face was twisted into an inhuman snarl, her eyes glowing bright yellow.
I reached out with both arms, trying to keep her from getting the holocron. It hovered in place, shaking back and forth, practically vibrating between the two opposing forces. With one hand still focused on the holocron, I used the other to reach out the Seventh Sister, gripping her throat. I wasn't trying to choke her, just restrict her breathing until she passed out, which was proving difficult. Trying to maintain two different grips through the Force with two different hands, and with my mind split between two different goals, was making this very difficult.
This whole time, I've been keeping my conversation with Wresirdata in my head, my promise to heed Ahsoka's warnings, even if I didn't fully agree with them, and my desire to keep some space between myself and the Dark Side until I got better feel for the Force as a whole. I'd been doing remarkably well, I do say so myself. I'd been calm, focussed, and rational this whole time, and I was doing my best in the stand-off between myself and the Seventh Sister as well. At least, I thought I was.
As I focussed my mind solely on keeping the Holocron out of her hands, I felt something. It started out as a tingling feeling in my arm, quickly expanding along the limb and into my very heart. It didn't feel Dark, I didn't feel the same cold I did when I faced Vader or lost it on the Inquisitors, but it resembled a Dark Side ability quite clearly.
"RAAAH!" A yell escaped my throat and white sparks encircled my right hand, the one I was using to try and asphyxiate the Seventh Sister. And then, with no warning, like a circuit being closed, the white lightning connected with Seventh Sister. She let out a loud, pained scream as the energy hit her, robbing her of any and all muscle control, her limb spasming before she fell to the ground. "Ow!" I yelped as I suddenly fell to the ground, my backside taking the brunt of the fall. "What just happened?" I asked nobody in particular as I blinked through my blurry vision. The droid beeped frantically from behind me, still clutching my coat between my shoulder blades. "Right! TIE Fighter!" I said, standing up, grabbing the Holocron, and jumping up on top of the TIE Advanced.
"Alright, let's light this candle." I said as I sat in the TIE's seat, instinctively flipping a few switches and grabbing the steering handles. With my adrenaline running high, it didn't register in my head that I didn't really know what I was doing. It wasn't until I gripped the steering handles and pulled out of the hangar that I realised what was happening. "Wait, what am I doing?" I asked, pushing the handles forward in spite of my question. The droid bleeped at me questioningly. "I don't actually know how to fly…" I said with a gulp as I accelerated the ship. The droid beeped frantically, as if asking if I was serious. "Hyperspace! I need Hyperspace!" I said as my eyes scanned over all the buttons and switches. With what sounded like an annoyed sigh, the droid hopped onto the console in front of me, sliding its scomp link right in. Various buttons around the navicomputer lit up and bleeped as if they were pressed, and I felt the ship vibrate, almost like a car engine had been turned on. The vibrations intensified as the stars outside lengthened, and I found myself whirling through the blue expanse of hyperspace.
"Phew…" I breathed out a sigh of relief, sinking backwards into the chair. "Thanks for that." I say, getting an affirmative beep in response. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. Ezra and Zeb stole a TIE fighter once. "There's one more thing we need to do." I said as I looked next to the chair. "There should be a locator beacon somewhere." I mentioned. The droid bleeped once again, and crawled down next to the pilot's seat. It pulled six wires from under the chair, each a different colour. "OK, you need to cut the red and blue wires." I say. Using the tips of its pincer like hands, it pinched said wires, cutting them. "That takes care of the locator beacon. Now, where are the comms on this thing?" I looked around. "There we go." I smiled as my eyes landed on the built in circular console to my left. The droid gave a questioning bloop. "Yes, I can use a comm." I roll my eyes, dialing in one of the only comm frequencies I knew. The comm beeped like a ringtone for a few moments before a very comforting image was generated.
"Lance!?" Ahsoka exclaimed in what I assumed to be shock and relief.
"Hey Ahsoka." I let out a tired breath. "How are you doing?" I asked with a wry smile.
"Are you alright? I felt your pain, I've been worried sick!" She said with the most emotion I've seen from her since Vader touched her mind the day we met. She's not the most expressive person.
"I'm exhausted, and definitely more than a little sore, but I'm intact." I assured her. "The Inquisitors weren't exactly gentle in their hospitality, but I don't think I've sustained any permanent damage."
"How did you escape?" She asked, calmer, but her worry was still evident. I could feel it.
"I mind-tricked a Stormtrooper into releasing me and then I stole one of the Inquisitor's TIEs." I responded simply.
"Did you disconnect the locator beacon?" She asked.
"Red and blue wires, yes."
"Good." She let out a calming, relieved sigh before tapping a few keys on her comm. "I'm sending coordinates for a rendezvous point. I'll meet you there on the Liberator." She told me. The comm bleeped it's receiving of the message a few seconds later.
"Got them." I said with a nod. "I'll see you there."
"And make a few micro-jumps as well." She told me. "It will throw off any pursuits."
"Will do. See you in a bit." I said. She nodded as I deactivated the comm. Per Ahsoka's instructions, the droid dropped us out of Hyperspace for a few minutes, before changing directions and jumping right back in. "Thanks." I said to the droid, my eyelids drooping. I shook my head, not willing to sleep.
This took longer than I would have liked, but I managed. I do wonder if Lance defeating the Seventh Sister was feasible here though. I suppose the Force Slow would cover that, but I still wonder. It occurred to me that I actually started writing this story after my first Fallen Order play-through. I recently 100% both of the games, so it brought about a spark of inspiration here.
Was the lightning too much here? I mean, Rey was able to do it by accident with minimal training, so I don't see why Lance couldn't. But this isn't typical Force Lightning, so that question still hangs in the air.
Regardless, I am thoroughly burned out in the creativity department. Consider this the obligatory update following the April Fools Chapter in Hunter and Hunted. I'm job hunting again, so that's kicking my ass. One would think that having a Certificate would make finding a job easier.
On a slightly more positive note, I just hit the 100k word mark for this story. Not often that happens.
And what do you guys think of the cover image? Another GPT creation. Working on Jack's for Arifureta.