Lena didn't know what to think. On one hand, she was still furious that Rhodes offered her as a gift to Gran-we. While she didn't think he was actually sincere, it still annoyed her that he didn't mention that when he explained his plan. On the other hand, she just watched Rhodes convince the guards that he was on the guest list. Was this some new Force power that Rhodes hadn't taught her? Just the thought of Rhodes teaching her, reminded her just how annoyed she was at how this mission seemed to be getting in the way of her training. All of these emotions swirled inside her as she followed the Pantoran man toward their room.
They meandered down various hallways until eventually coming to a hall full of doors. The Pantoran came to a stop and instead of opening the door, stood in front of it. "Mr. Edge, you, and your attendant will be in this room. I can deliver your 'gift' to Gran-we now."
As he was saying this, the man was shooting a grin right at Lena. Before she could say a word, Rhodes took a step in front of her. "That won't be necessary. I would like to deliver her to your master personally."
The man shrugged while unlocking the door. "Very well. But I do need to ask your droid to wait with the other guest's droids in the motor pool."
Rhodes attempted to protest, insisting that Hunter remain with him. The expression on the other man's face grew sour as he waited for Rhodes to finish. "You are a guest in this household, and I ask that you respect our rules."
Not wanting to risk being found out, Rhodes agreed to the man's terms. He crouched down next to Hunter who was chirping with displeasure. "I know buddy, it's inconvenient. Keep your comm channel open so we can stay in touch." Hunter continued to grumble as he rolled over to the guard.
"A little attached to your droid?" the man chuckled.
"Yes, I am," Rhodes simply replied while rolling his eyes.
The man shrugged while opening the door. He ushered Rhodes, Timber, and Lena into the room before disappearing down the hallway, escorting the disgruntled droid.
Rhodes immediately began pacing around the room, trying to figure a way around the newest wrinkle in the plan. Before Rhodes could say a word, he felt a powerful push that sent him flying into the wall. He fell to the ground, trying to catch his breath after the wind had been knocked out of him. He looked up to see Lena's hand outstretched, her face red with rage.
"How dare you!" she shouted.
Rhodes stumbled to his feet and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, Lena. The plan changed a bit once I got a look at those guards. I had to make it more convincing."
Lena rolled her eyes as she lowered her hand. "And you used me?" Lena continued. "Why couldn't you have offered them Hunter or Timber?"
Timber, who was watching from the side, began to laugh. "No one would want a washed up, old man like me," he said, continuing to chuckle.
Lena rolled her eyes before turning back to Rhodes, waiting for an answer. "They were men, Lena. And since you are a woman—"
Before Rhodes could finish, Lena cut him off. "Never mind, I don't want to hear it. Now, to my next point. How did you convince them you were on the list? Is this another Force power you haven't taught me? Oh wait, that's right. I am learning discipline."
Rhodes sighed, choosing not to acknowledge her sarcastic tone. "That was a Jedi mind trick. I can use the Force to influence the weak-minded. I will teach you it in time but in order to get to that stage, we need to lay down a foundation of discipline. You lack the discipline to keep composure as evidenced by you pushing me against the wall. Before we can continue with your training, you must learn to control your emotions."
"Whatever," Lena said while blowing a strand of hair out from in front of her face. "Now what do we do? Hunter has our lightsabers."
Rhodes returned to pacing around the room. "We should still go through with the original plan. Hunter, come in." A few beeps could be heard through the commlink as the droid responded. "Alright, get to a computer console. Find out where the girl is staying. That would make our job a lot easier."
The droid confirmed the order, sending a random series of beeps as he worked.
"What's he saying?" Lena asked, trying to listen in.
Rhodes sighed before responding. "He is narrating what he is doing. And he just told me directions. Left, right, and third door on the left. Let's go." Lena and Timber both nodded, following Rhodes to the door.
Rhodes peered into the hallway. He could probably roam the palace as a guest, but he figured the less interaction, the better. Once he could tell that the coast was clear, Rhodes slipped into the hallway and turned to the left. The group moved to the next turn.
Anxiety was growing within Lena. Most of her conscious life she always had some sort of weapon to rely on. Without her knives that were aboard the Kestrel, and her new lightsaber with Hunter, she felt vulnerable. The outfit she was wearing didn't help either. No weapons and no armor were something relatively new to her. Despite her uneasiness, Lena tried to trust Rhodes as well as her own abilities. Even without a weapon, Lena was still an exceptional fighter, but she still felt safer with a weapon.
On the other hand, Rhodes could sense the emotions of his apprentice. He wanted nothing more than to ease her anxiety, but he decided to let her figure it out. Master Dew always stressed that emotions must be controlled on the individual level and that he wouldn't always be there to assist. It should be no different with Lena's training. Rhodes tried to push this out of his mind as he focused on the present.
After a deep breath, he peered around the next corner to see a tall Transdoshan walking away from them. Rhodes patiently watched as the figure disappeared through a door to the right.
Lena was growing impatient, desperately wanting to see around the corner. She opted to remain silent, not wanting to risk a speech on discipline from Rhodes.
She watched as Rhodes turned back to the crew. "Alright, there doesn't seem to be any guards. We should be in and out. We'll be gone before they suspect a thing."
Lena and Timber grinned before following Rhodes around the corner. The door was nothing special, a deep brown with the ornate crest of Gran-we's syndicate. Every door in the palace seemed to have that logo. It was just another way that Gran-we's hubris presented itself throughout the building.
Rhodes took another quick glance to the left and right before twisting the door handle. The room was dimly lit and larger than it seemed from the outside. There was a sizable decorative bed to the right with elegant purple curtains. A large wardrobe was positioned next to the bed. The wall opposite the door featured a circular window overlooking a garden. Below the window was a desk at which sat a Pantoran with long, blue hair. It had to be Asteray.
Timber rushed in front of Rhodes as he walked toward the desk. "Lady Asteray, we are here to rescue you. Your father sent us."
Timber reached for her shoulder as the chair spun around. He stumbled backwards as he stared down the end of a blaster pistol. The man in the chair tossed a wig off his head and stood up, keeping his blaster trained on Timber's masked face. With his offhand, he snapped his finger and the doors to the wardrobe popped open as another Pantoran jumped out. A third Pantoran slipped out from behind the door that Rhodes had pushed open. The group was surrounded by three identical Pantorans, each with a blaster pointed at a member of the group.
Rhodes, Timber, and Lena had their backs to one another and fists at the ready even though they were clearly outgunned.
Timber was the first to speak up saying, "I think we walked into a trap."
"It is starting to look that way," Rhodes muttered.
Before any of the Pantorans fired, the first one paused and put a hand to his ear. After a few seconds he rolled his eyes. He glanced at his two associates and said softly, "She wants them alive." The other two shrugged as they went to change their blasters to stun.
Rhodes, not wanting to waste an opportunity, sprang into action. "Now!" he yelled as he delivered a kick to the hands of the man in front him. The Pantoran's blaster went flying from his hands, crashing into the wall. Timber and Lena didn't know what "now" meant but they got the idea once they saw Rhodes attack.
Timber quickly lowered his shoulder, ramming it into the man who seemed to be the leader of the group. Timber kept running until the man slammed against the wall. Lena was last to react. Her opponent managed to ready his blaster before she could strike. Before the man could pull the trigger, Lena had grabbed hold of his hands, pushing the blaster toward the ceiling. The weapon fired, leaving a scorch mark above her head.
Lena was quick to strike again, twisting her body so that her back was facing his body and his arms were over her shoulder. Using her leverage, and a little help from the Force, Lena flung the man over her shoulder, slamming him into the duracrete floor. Lena looked at her hands as she realized that she had thrown him harder than she had planned. The Pantoran lay on the ground, still alive, but it was clear that he wouldn't be awake for a while. She glanced to the side to see Rhodes in a fist fight with his opponent in the corner.
Rhodes had a gash across his lip while the other man had blood streaming from his nose. At the moment the two were blocking every strike thrown at them, leaving the fight as much of a stalemate.
Timber on the other hand, had the enemy leader pinned against the wall where he was throwing punch after punch into the man's abdomen.
Lena was about to go and help Rhodes when she noticed Timber's adversary reaching for his blaster that had fallen onto the desk. Determined to stop him, and figuring Rhodes could hold out longer, Lena ran to the desk as the man retrieved his blaster. She was able to grab hold of his wrist, wrenching it until he let go of the weapon. The man screamed as Lena caught the blaster he had dropped. She was quick to aim and fire the blue ring of energy toward the head of the trapped man. He went limp in Timber's arms as he fell unconscious from the stun blast.
Timber let out a sigh of relief as he dropped the immobile body to the floor. Before Timber could thank Lena for the help, she was running toward Rhodes who had his opponent backed into the corner with his hands up. Rhodes had managed to retrieve one of the blasters lying on the floor and was aiming it at the bloodied man.
Before Rhodes could decide whether or not to stun the man, Lena fired a single stun shot over his shoulder and into the man's chest. Rhodes gave her a glare but chose to have that discussion later.
He reached for his commlink and activated it. "Hunter, we walked into a trap. Find us a way out." He could hear a few short beeps from Hunter before the connection was dropped.
"You three made a mess of the triplets. Not many can best Aye, Bee, and Cee all at once." The voice was coming from behind them. The crew all turned to see a tall Transdoshan standing in the doorway.
Rhodes and Lena were quick to aim their blasters at the newest arrival. Frisk revealed a toothy grin as he raised his big arms. Rhodes and Lena were too focused on his face to notice the two blasters poking out from under his arms. Two bolts were fired, each impacting on the blasters in Rhodes' and Lena's hands.
The two dove to the ground, Rhodes taking cover behind the door and Lena hiding behind one of the unconscious triplets.
Into the room ran two short Rodians who quickly attacked Timber and Lena. Timber reacted late as one of the Rodian's boots crashed into his helmet, sending it flying from his head. "You shouldn't have gone through with the mission, clone," he taunted as Timber regained focus.
The second Rodian was on top of Lena. She desperately struggled to shake her attacker, refraining from using the Force. She figured since Rhodes hadn't done any of his Jedi mystics, they shouldn't reveal their true power. As she struggled, she could see her opponent slip his hand into a pouch on his belt. Lena was able to get in a solid punch before the Rodian blew a green powder into her face.
"Sweet dreams," He whispered as her vision began to blur. The last thing she saw was Rhodes tackling the Rodian off of her. A few seconds later, Lena was fast asleep on the floor of the room.
Timber had gathered his bearing and was staring down his adversary. "You dirty sleemo, Dwig. You sold me out."
Dwig chuckled before saying, "Nothing personal, it's all business."
Timber was fuming. He lashed out, taking a reckless swing at Dwig's head. The Rodian ducked out of the way and slapped his hand against Timbers back, attaching a small device to him. Before Timber realized what had happened, Dwig pressed a button on his wrist. Electricity coursed through Timber as he fell to the floor, writhing in pain. He eventually fell unconscious, laying in a panting heap next to Lena.
On the other side of the room, Rhodes was doing very well. The Force flowed through him as he predicted every move the other Rodian made. Rhodes countered each one with quick strikes, forcing his enemy on his heels. Before he could finish him off, Rhodes sensed danger and dropped to the ground. Dwig had come to the aid of his partner, but his clumsy swing was slower than Rhodes' reflexes.
Dwig's fist met a target, although not the one he intended. His partner went down in a daze, the last punch proving to be too much.
"Verm!" Dwig screamed as he realized what he had done. "I didn't—"
His words were cut short by a Force-augmented punch from Rhodes that sent him into the wall where he slid down, unconscious next to his partner.
Rhodes took a deep breath, preparing himself to fight the Transdoshan who had been watching the fight from the entrance of the room. Rhodes turned around to see a green Mandalorian helmet in his face. He hadn't even noticed the figure enter the room.
Despite his normally fast reflexes, Rhodes couldn't dodge or counter the powerful headbutt coming his way. The solid beskar steel of the Mandalorian helmet crashed into Rhodes' forehead. The Jedi crumpled to the floor, and everything went black.