Star Wars: Advent of The Hellwalker (Ahsoka x M! Reader)

Chapter XIX - Out of the frying pan

Ah damn, RIP in peace to @OverlyRudeHumanBeing. Probably snitched on for having the based opinion that someone's story sucked (and I'm sure it did) I'll miss that sarcastic lil bitch, but you bet I'll be continuing the hate campaign in his honor.

You all suck.

o7

I hope I done you proud my nibba ),:

Ok on to the story

(A few years ago, Fall of Falleen, Royal fortress underground network, your point of view)

"Wait, I sense something," Noirah said from our rear, inciting Dama and I to stop and turn to her.

"What?" I asked, "What do you see?"

"I sense it too," Dama said, "... commandos."

"Where?" I asked, sensing droids somewhere, but my nose was far too overwhelmed with the smell down here to focus on where they were.

"Up ahead," Dama said and quickly retracted his lightsaber, "Keep it down." Noirah and I deactivated our lightsabers as well, trapping us all back in darkness. We got low and followed Dama's lead, stepping as light on our feet as possible. I pressed my hand against the wall to get a feeling of location in the nearly pitch-black tunnels, still trying to get my senses right. Soon enough though, the faint glow of flashlights skimmed across our path, making me almost skip a breath. What followed as the lights grew brighter were the sounds of rapid clanking, like marching.

Without a second thought, I dove to the right into a small chamber full of dust and cobwebs, and hid behind the wall. Noirah sprinted in after me while Dama quickly jumped to the left, hiding behind a few old boxes. The corridor gradually became more illuminated as the metal marching grew closer. I could sense them now but it didn't matter because a few seconds later, several commando droids sprinted through the corridor. I held my breath and tucked my head back as they all ran in formation in the direction that we came from. Noirah and I were safe from being seen in the room we were in, but I was concerned for Dama who was still out in the corridor behind a thin cover. Gripped by that worry, I peaked my head out ever so slightly and kept an eye on him until the droids all made their way past us, not having noticed a thing. I peaked at them, rushing further down the tunnel. Noirah came closer and peaked over my shoulder at the droids and breathed a sigh of relief as they disappeared in the darkness.

"They're appearing way more frequently now," I whispered, "At first it was just a few stray patrols every few miles, now it's entire squadrons every few minutes."

"They must be getting desperate. Lucky for us, they don't have the layout of these tunnels like we do," Noirah whispered back to me with a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

After the commando droids' lights faded in their descent further into the tunnels, I heard Dama emerge from behind his cover and whisper to us, "Psst, are you both alright?"

"Yeah," I said to him, "Why didn't you come over here with us??"

"Sorry," he said, "it was a split-second move, I had to act fast."

"Let's just be grateful they didn't catch you," Noirah said before taking a moment to sense the air around us, "... I think we're in the clear."

"Right. Come on, let's keep moving," Dama said before we all re-ignited our lightsabers, casting a blue light around us in a small radius, and continued on. The air was warm, and full of aged funguses. I had to cover my nose a few times as we walked on through the aged tunnels. The walls were indented and carved with ancient imagery detailing the old deities of the Falleen people and other significant symbols and figures dating back to the eras before they joined the republic. Most of these images had been covered up by mold and cobwebs, making my stomach ache. No one knows anymore what these underground passageways were used for, but I was starting to bet that burials took place nearby thanks to the deathly rotting smell, or maybe it was just the eerie atmosphere. The light of our lightsabers only stretched several feet in front of us, while obscuring everything past that in pure darkness. Torches lined the walls but they were unlit, in fact they looked like they hadn't been lit in ages. The silence was nothing short of foreboding. Nothing at all like the relaxing and easy solitude of the wind through the trees and the chirping of birds and insects out in the jungles of Falleen up on the surface. The only sounds to hear were the sounds of the three of us making our way through the gigantic labyrinth, and occasionally a few "roger roger"s and other droid dialogue from far off. There were puddles of dew stretching for long distances through the corridors, making the steps echo around us as we splashed along and making us have to step as softly as possible to avoid making too much noise, knowing there could be another droid detachment around the corner, speaking of which-

"Do y'all remember where we go from here?" Dama asked as we came to a fork in the road.

"It's a right," I said, having intensely studied the layout of the tunnel network that they had shown us.

"You sure?" Dama asked.

"Positively," I said, remembering the chart clearly.

"Alright then," Dama said with a shrug and led us down the path on the right. We continued down the corridors, completely uninterrupted for a few minutes until I caught something in my senses nearby.

"Hold up... I think I sense something," I said, "... it's close by."

"Droids?" Noirah asked.

"No... I don't think so," I said," It was just one... thing." I wasn't sure what it was. It sure had a lot of aggression radiating from it. Could it be a Sith? Turning to my left, I waved my lightsaber around the walls, revealing the terror that had caught my senses.

Noirah gasped as a stintaril leaped off the wall toward her face, claws held out and mouth gaping open, hissing wildly. As Noirah staggered back, caught off guard, I swung my lightsaber at the stintaril and sliced it clean in half, it's bisected body splashed in a puddle of moisture on the ground and it writhed in place, kicking up the dew for a few seconds before it lay silent and dead.

"Eugh, disgusting!" Noirah whispered, looking at the nasty rodent and then at me, "Thanks."

"No big deal," I said.

"It almost tore my face off!" She said.

"Hey, did you hear that?" a distinctive battle droid voice said, not too far away, making us all freeze in shock.

"It came from this way," Another battle droid said, "Heyyyy, what's that blue light at the end of this hallway?" And suddenly, the sounds of splashes and mechanical steps could be heard growing close.

"Maybe I did sense a few droids!" I whispered.

"This way!" Noirah said, directing us to turn back, but from the other side of the corridor, more lights appeared against the wall.

"KRIFF!" I whisper-yelled, "What do we do, what do we do??" I caught Dama darting his head around frantically and desperately, until his eyes landed on a grate in the wall close to floor level. Quickly, he knelt down and grabbed the sides of it, doing his best to suppress his grunts as he pulled the edges of grate until it finally popped off, revealing a small duct.

"In here, quick!" He said and I crawled in, with Dama following me and Noirah coming in last to twist herself around and pull the grate back over the hatch after we all deactivated our lightsabers and lay quietly.

A decently sized squadron of droids flooded into the area.

"Keep your photoreceptors open," A commander battle droid ordered, "That Republic extraction team has to still be wandering around down here."

"Roger roger."

"Hey, look at this," A commando droid said as he knelt down. I almost slapped my hand over my mouth when I saw that he was shining his light on the cauterized bisected remains of that stintaril I sliced up. "It appears this rodent was killed with a lightsaber."

"That means there's a Jedi in here with the extraction team," The droid commander said, "We've got to report this immediately. Spread out, they can't have gotten far."

"Roger roger."

"Roger roger."

"Roger roger," The droids responded over one another and began their careful search of the wide corridor. Noirah, Dama, and I stared at the droids at a loss for words. It was small and low in this duct, we had to lay on our chests with our fronts mostly submerged in the water.

"Crud!" Dama whispered.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

"I don't know. They're swarming right in front of us," Dama said as he and I stared at the droids beyond us. I tried to lift my head up above his to get a better look, but the ceiling in this duct was only a foot or two above the wet floor. It was constricting to the point where I couldn't even bend my arms to push myself up further.

"Agh, I hate it in here," I said, starting to get uncomfortably tense from the restriction of movement.

"Hey, look down there," Noirah said, inciting me to shift myself in the duct to look back, grunting painfully but as quietly as possible. The droids' lights were flickering and flailing randomly as they stepped past our position in the duct, but we could see from their lights that the duct continued on behind us. I suddenly remembered something that I thought was insignificant from the layout of the passage network. "This duct goes deeper," Noirah whispered.

"Smells awful," Dama commented, and I understood why.

"This is the water tunnel," I said, "I remember now, from the layout."

"Do you know where it leads?" Dama asked, turning her head to me.

"I think so," I said, digging through my memory, "I didn't look it over that much, but I'm pretty sure that if we make it a few minutes in here, we can get a shortcut to the palace entrance."

"Excellent!" Dama said and scooted himself over to give me room to get in front, "Lead the way."

"Wait, are you sure?" I asked, "Cause, like I'm not totally sure if I.. well, if I remembered it right."

"Your idea is the best we've got right now, you've got to lead us (Y/n)," Dama said, ushering me along.

With a deep and anxious sigh, I quietly crawled my way to the front and started us on our path. Dama and Noirah crawled along right behind me. The water splashed as I fought to squeeze through the tight space.

Several minutes into the ducts and the front of my robes were almost completely drenched, I could also feel some scratches along my chest from grinding it against the wet stone, I was beginning to breathe heavily, maybe I was stressed out from the tight space but I could have sworn the water tunnels wouldn't have been this long. My arms and legs were beginning to feel stiff from the constructing nature of these ducts. And holy crud, that smell is going to be the death of me. If I find any more rodents in here I'll just let them do their thing.

"(Y/n), we gotta pick up the pace," Noirah said from behind me, "We don't have much time left."

"Shut up! Don't put pressure on me!" I blurted out as Dama coughed in the damp air behind her

"KEEP IT DOWN," Noirah said to us both, "The echos in here are no doubt enough to alert them from anywhere in the tunnels."

"I'm trying!" I said, trying to squeeze my arm forward to pull myself along, "I can't stand small spaces!"

"(Y/n)! Please!" Noirah insisted, "This isn't the time for childish fears."

"Hey, it's fine," Dama said to her, "I doubt the droids can hear much at this point. We've put enough distance between ourselves and them to silence us out. I don't see a single opening where the sound can get to them."

"I'll say!" Noirah said, "I can't see a single thing since now we don't have the light of the droids to go off of. Are you sure you even know where we're going (Y/n)?"

"Will you get off my back?!" I said, trying to navigate through the pitch-black, "I can't remember the layout if you keep hounding me!"

"(Y/n), I thought you said a few minutes ago there would be a fork in the road soon ahead?" Dama questioned

"I did cause there is," I said, continuing forward, "It-it's coming up, I know it!"

"You don't know because you're so stressed out!" Noirah said.

"I'm stressed out because you won't shut up!" I said

"I won't shut up until you stop moving slower than a pregnant hutt!" She responded.

"Ok that's enough!" Dama said, silencing us both, "Gosh, you both need to take a breath! (Y/n), go at your own pace. Noirah, we've got enough time to be patient here, I'm sure of it."

Suddenly, I heard rumbling around us. A deep, loud but low rumbling, and a few bangs. They sounded faint, clearly many meters above us and suppressed by the tons of stone between us and the surface.

"What the heck was that?" Noirah asked.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that's Master Skywalker joining the battle up above us," I said.

"You think so?" Noirah asked curiously.

Next thing I felt was a few pieces of rubble fall off my shoulder, and then slowly but gradually, the whole water tunnel began to shake, softly, but surely. The water splashed lightly against my face, and some more pieces of rubble fell on me.

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no! OH NO! OH NO! OH NO!" I exclaimed with my heart beating out of my chest and my arms and legs scrambling forward wildly, accidentally splashing some water into Noirah's face behind me.

"(Y/n), hold up!" Dama said.

"NO NO NO NO N- OW!!" I exclaimed in terror as I crawled forward before slamming my face on what I made out in the darkness to be a wall. "Holy crud!" I said, looking right and left where more passages lay, "It's this way!" I said, looking to the right. The water tunnels quaked again, shaking us more this time and causing me to lose my grip and splash my face in the water, spitting out the disgusting dew.

"Calm down!" Dama said, "Take it slo-."

"Forget that!" Noirah interrupted him, "GO!" I was 100% on her side this time and scrambled wildly to pull myself through the tight duct with Noirah right on my tail and I think I could hear Dama lagging a few feet behind us, but I was too stressed out by the shaking and constricting water tunnels and the fear of being crushed in here to focus on him, clearly so was Noirah.

"Wait you might take a wrong turn!" Dama said.

"No we won't, he remembers!" Noirah said.

"Yeah, I remember!" I said.

"Just go! GO!" Noirah said, rushing behind me and splashing up the disgusting water, drenching my robes. Although I could barely blame her on account of who knows how much water I had splashed up on her face. After about a minute of speeding through the restricting water tunnels and gasping for air, a sudden gasp of joy escaped me. I saw ahead of me another grate from which a faint light was peering through. Rushing closer to it, this time out of anticipation instead of fear, I slowed down right in front of it and saw that indeed, there was another corridor on the other side.

"Hey guys, this is it!" I said, "Our way ou-AGH!" Looking back as I was stopped, I was interrupted by the mindless shove of Noirah still rushing to catch up with me and accidentally ramming her face right against my rear, pushing me forward and pressing my own face right up against the grate.

"Whoa-WHOAH!" I yelped

Gyahh!" Noirah exclaimed. Our weight against the grate in the wall caused it to burst open and spit us out into the corridor.

"Ow.. my leg!" I groaned, laying flat on the floor in a mess with Noirah having landed on top of me and breathing heavily.

"My arm...!" she groaned.

"Augh..." I groaned and looked around me, letting my eyes adjust to the slightly brighter environment. Sighing with relief and shoving Noirah off me.

"Hey!" She yelped when I heard her splash in another puddle of dew.

I stood up while popping my joints, stretching my arms and legs out, finally relieving them of that dreaded tension from being in that small and constricted environment for almost half an hour.

"Yes, we're finally free!" Noirah said, gracefully stretching her arms and legs as well. One second we were in dim darkness.

The next, several lights shined on us from both sides of the corridor, causing the relief from my face to drain.

"Ah great," Noirah said dead-toned.

"Freeze!" A super battle droid said.

"Looks like we've caught their extraction team," A battle droid said.

Noirah and I covered our eyes from the shining light and stood in the center of all the droids, still dripping wet from crawling along the cold wet floor. We darted our heads back and forth at both sides of the hallway, standing and facing opposite sides from each other.

"Keep yourselves quiet, you're both coming with us," A battle droid called out.

Noirah and I were staring at our respective sides of the corridor, not taking an eye off all the droids that were ready to gun us down to shreds. My eyes were wide open, and we cautiously stepped back from the droids until our backs bumped into each other. I darted my head at her behind me and she met my gaze, her worried face turning quickly into a confident smirk at the sight of me right behind her. And as we stood back-to-back, she placed her hand over her lightsaber.

"Quiet, I don't do so well in the quiet," she said and ignited her lightsaber. So confidently, might I add. When she looked at me I saw her uneasiness disappear in almost a second. She quickly got into combat position, still lightly pressing her back against mine. I darted my head at the droids in front of me and without much of another option, grabbed my lightsaber and ignited both blades, wielding the staff as confidently as I could.

"Blast 'em!" A droid from my side ordered, and immediately, the hallway was lit up with flashes of red and blue light, from our lightsabers deflecting the blaster bolts back at the droids. I was able to deflect a few shots into four of the droids on my side, eliminating them easily. That was when A newcomer came in, a commando running into the fray and jumping at me with a vibrosword ready to come down on my head.

"Move!" I yelled to Noirah. She turned in my direction and caught sight of of the commando quickly, quick enough for both of us to side-roll out of the way. The commando droid's vibrosword struck the floor. Before he could get up, Noirah quickly vaulted over me, landing in front, and sliced the commando droid from its head down, cutting it in half. I looked behind me and saw the droids still shooting, quickly rolling towards them, splitting my saber staff, and raising both of my lightsabers to deflect shots away from her. She stood back up and pressed her back to mine again, we got back into the position we were in before but now with switched partners. That was when the droids started closing in on us.

"You got a plan for this?" Noirah asked.

"Yeah, you lead the way!" I responded frantically.

"My pleasure!" She said, and reached her hand out to grab one from her side with the force, pull it towards her, and slice it in half. The bisected super battle droids parts slid past me and quickly, I grabbed them with the force and hurled them at my enemies in front of me, crushing two battle droids. I tossed my lightsabers out, keeping them spinning with the force, and letting them slice as many heads as they could, about five droids hit the ground before the lightsabers hit the walls and I pulled them back into my hands with the force.

"Heads up!" Noirah called out. I darted my head behind me to catch two commando droids jumping over their less agile buddies and coming toward us. One attempted to strike its foot into Noirah but she quickly backed away, which was when the commando droid went for a kick to her face. Noirah ducked in time and with his leg sticking towards me, I grabbed his metal ankle and quickly sliced his foot off, before grabbing his leg with both hands and hurling him over me, slamming him on the floor. The other commando droid jumped over a blaster bolt that Noirah tried deflecting at him and went for a drop kick at her, but she jumped over it and sliced it from above. His left half came my way and I caught it on the tip of my lightsaber before impaling it over his friend on the floor, killing them both.

On my side of the fight, another blue lightsaber appeared several feet behind the droids and began slicing through them while their focus was on Noirah and I. I stood there in awe for a few seconds until only one final super battle droid remained, and he was quickly impaled by Dama who peeked his head over the super battle droid's shoulder and winked at me.

With the droids on my side taken care of, I simply nodded at him and urgently directed my attention at the droids on Noirah's side. There were only three more commando droids on her side and they were running her way, blasting their guns at her and hopping off the walls and floor to avoid the shots that she expertly deflected back at her, until all three jumped in unison and drew out their vibroswords. I quickly reeled both of my lightsabers back.

"Alley-oop!" I said to her. She looked back at me for a moment before reaching her hand out and grabbing one of them with the force, yanking him into the path of the other two and causing them to fall in on each other. The one up front quickly sliced at her head but she rolled out of the way, giving me the opening to decapitate him with my right lightsaber while the others sliced down on me too, but I quickly ducked down, allowing Noirah the opening to catapult off my back and slice all of them at their torso. With the two droid torsos coming at me in the air, I disconnected my lightsaber staff and sliced both of my lightsabers to the side. The decapitated droid torsos scraped along the floor behind me. And with that, we were finished here

"Hm. That's some fancy agility," Noirah said, walking back over to me, "You're pretty good." I simply grinned and shrugged at her in response.

"Y'all just couldn't wait," Dama said, walking up to us both.

"What?" I questioned, "You wanna just take your sweet time while the whole thing comes down on us?"

"You both realize that small quake stopped far before y'all even got near the water tunnel's exit, right?" Noirah and I both raised our eyebrows and looked at each other for a second.

"You're not serious," Noirah said.

"Yeah, y'all were still scrambling for nothing. It was kinda funny. What could I do except watch?" Dama said with a giddy smile.

"Huh," I said, looking at Noirah.

"Whatever, where to now?" Noirah asked, turning to me. I looked around at our surroundings, remembering the direction that we exited the water tunnels from, and i envisioned the layout of the map in my head, taking a moment to understand where we were. I turned around.

"This way," I said, pointing further down the corridor, "We're close now."

"I sure hope so," Dama said, "We spent enough time in those water tunnels to close our time window tenfold."

"I thought you wanted us to go at our own pace?" Noirah said, turning her head briefly back at him.

"I was just trying to accommodate the impatience of you both," Dama said.

"What can I say?" Noirah said, "I hate small spaces, ugh..."

"I hear you," I said, "Gosh, I'll be surprised if there isn't mold growing on me from how long we spent in that water."

"You and me both," Dama said.

"Man, my arms are still sore like heck," Noirah said, flexing her shoulders, "I'll be in muscle shock therapy for a week at this rate."

Suddenly my foot stepped into something odd, it felt like a bunch of vines. I looked down and... and I froze. It was a collection of weaved fibers... a-

Noirah and Dama froze too.

"It's a mesh trap!" Noirah exclaimed and reached for me but at that instant, the mesh trap set off.

"ARGHHHH!!" I grunted in pain. My teeth clenched, my muscles tensed tremendously from the fibers of the mesh trap sending volts of electricity through my body from my feet. I felt like a whole power station had just erupted in my body, crushing my muscles and nerves. I fell to the floor, weak and barely able to move with smoke coming off of my body.

"(Y/n)!" Dama and Noirah exclaimed and came over to me. Then, on both sides of the hallway, yellow surges of electricity charged up.

Dama gasped in fear and yelled, "Noirah! Get dow-" but it was already too late The stun nets were fired and neither of them were able to get out of the way in time.

"GAAGHHHH!!" Noirah yelled out, becoming enveloped in the stun net, and dropping her lightsaber to the floor before being knocked out cold only a few moments later.

"AAAAAGGGHHHHH!!" Dama screamed louder, I watched through my heavy eyelids as he tried to keep his footing, tried to fight off the shock, but his scream only became louder until a commando droid made its way over to him and knocked him to the floor, his face landing just a few feet from my view.

"Urgh!... Urghhh!!..." I groaned and grunted, trying to move my arms. The mesh trap wasn't strong enough to knock me out like it did them, but my whole body was completely numb from the shock, and I had an incredible headache that put me on the border of passing out.

"What a surprise..." I sly, feminine voice said. And then a pair of white boots stepped in front of me. I forced my eyes up to see a woman in a sleek white outfit, with a light green cloak around her shoulders, and long red hair. "Three Jedi, padawans no less... Uh oh, looks like I might've been just a liiiittle too harsh on this one here." She stepped closer to me.

"Corm...! Urghn...!" I tried. I tried as hard as I could to just lift up myself, then I tried lifting up my chest, then my arm, then my hand, then my finger, but I was way too out of it.

"Mm, you're a real fighter aren't you?" The woman said, kneeling down in front of me, taking my hood off, and brushing some of the wet hair out of my face to get a good look at me as she cupped my chin in her hand, "That's fine, you'll do just fine," She said, with a wide grin, before she stood up and slammed her foot into my face.

The last thing I heard as I finally blacked out was, "Bring the three of them to the lab, there is much work to be done."

"Yes, Dr Zan Arbor," One of the commando droids said.

(Present Day, Cultist Scipio base, Ahsoka's point of view)

Rex stood up ahead at the end of the corridor, peaking from the wall. Pretty soon he waved us forward and announced, "All clear." We caught up to him and turned down the hallway.

We appeared in a large.. cavern... thing. There was no floor. The walkway simply disappeared into the endless pit below us. There was a door on the other side, and the metal walls of the pit were illuminated with yellow lights that displayed more of that dark demonic architectural style that was beginning to make me suspect a certain frail old demonic someone was trying to show off. In the center of the room was a platform where several...

"Oh shoot!" I snapped.

"Get back!" Master Tur-Mukan said to all of us, proceeding by me pressing my back against the wall of the corridor leading us in here. Everyone else hid where they could. About twenty or so... disgusting things were on that central platform, kneeling down. A few of them were tied up and grunting in distorted, demonic voices. They were all wearing UAC uniforms. I peeked my head out again and got a better look at them. Their flesh looked like it was in the process of decomposition. Their eyes were a dead gray. Yet they still moved, albeit lazily. All of them were in a kneeling position their hands stiffly raised. I saw one of them restrained, almost effortlessly quit his grunting and rip himself free of his bonds, before raising his hands and proceeding to just remain there with his torn mouth hanging open while facing the center of the platform like all the others.

"They're possessed," I said.

"It looks like they're BECOMING possessed," Anakin said.

"They have to force it on the ones who won't corporate," Master Tur Mukan said with her voice low in tone.

Suddenly the center of the platform began to glow, and from it erupted a giant yellow hologram of a frail and hunched-over man wearing a long skirt that covered his entire lower abdomen down with metal framing, and whose upper decomposed abdomen and chest were barely covered with a metal harness that stretched into sleeves covering his arms. His disgusting grimace of small jagged crooked teeth was haunting, and the rest of his head was concealed by the helmet, featuring 13 small beady optics, and a sideways metal mohawk that looked more like it was supposed to mimic a halo. The long scepter said it all about who he was. I immediately pressed my back against the wall again to hide from his gaze.

"Welcome to hell, my brothers," the hell priest said in an echoing voice that sounded like daggers to the throat, "Under my care, you are safe from the onslaught of the Slayer." At the sound of that title, I cautiously and carefully tilted my head forward to get a peek at him again. He looked down at all his newly possessed subjects while clutching his scepter.

"The priest!" X2 whispered.

"I don't think he knows we're here," I said, watching his gaze glued to the possessed at his holographic feet.

"The beast's onslaught has seen its end, my brothers," the priest said, "You may rejoice in knowing that his will shall soon follow. Do you not trust in my word, my disciples? In the word of the servant to the almighty Khan? The Slayer lies buried once again, imprisoned beneath the wreckage of my vessel, it has become his holy temporary barrier. And when he breaks free, he will have to trek very far to get here."

I felt a little scared, but I also felt a glimmer of relief from this. The cultists didn't seem to know that (Y/n) escaped their flagship. He's still above orbit in the debris field. That means he's safe, for now.

"Disciples, you must prepare," the priest said, "Prepare for the return of the beast. He may be broken, but his strength and ferocity will still be unmatched. You must protect me from the hellwalker's fury. Only then, will your destinies be fulfilled, and your everlasting reward be earned." With that, his hologram slowly faded away. And we all cautiously left our hiding spots and walked toward the edge, peering at the pit below us.

"How do we get across?" Comet asked.

"You're standing over it," Scorch said, scooting Comet out of the way of a panel in the wall right behind him. After tapping the panel for a bit, a yellow light bridge lit up stretching from the corridor to the platform in the middle of the pit.

"Let their be light," Scorch said.

I stepped onto the light bridge but then looked ahead, remembering the collection of possessed in our path.

"What about them?" Master Plo asked. I eyed them closely, before reaching into my pouch and pulling out a data drive, which I swiftly tossed at one of the possessed, letting it whack him in the head. The demon didn't flinch, barely even moved after getting hit in the face.

"They're still in the ritual process. The demonic spirits haven't inhabited their minds yet. They may as well be in a coma," I said, turning back to everyone else, "At this stage, I don't think they'll even blink if a bull rancor was about to stomp on them." With that, we walked across the light bridge, tip toeing passed all the kneeling possessed for the sake of caution, and to the other side of the bottomless room.

The area we entered appeared to be part of a lab, judging by the glass windows on the left side of the wall that showed us tables and strange devices, and also blood. A lot of blood spilled on the tables and stained on incision medical devices suspended above the tables, and of course, the hazard signs.

"Hmm. It's a lot more silent in here than I thought it would be," Serra said.

"You sound more disappointed than relieved, Serra," I said to her.

"Well we're not on the Celestial Wake anymore," She remarked, "you'd think these cultists'd be more protective of their... fruits, let's put it."

"Fruits?" I remarked, "If you're referring to 'fruits' in the way I think so, then thank goodness the order forbids children." I said, picturing the other grotesque labs and testing grounds that we had passed by on our trek.

We passed by a sector of the lab where on the right side of the walls, there was a row of protective glass chambers holding cybernetically enhanced demons immersed in what I assumed to be bacta.

I stared at the strange demons as we walked past them. There were several of them, about ten, more or less. They were submerged in the liquid in a death-like state, but their physique... they were tall, and bulky, with a likeness to the hell knights. But their skin was pale tan and lacked a lot of the hell knight's rough stony skin texture. And they were almost, ALMOST head to toe with visible cybernetic enhancements. Above their sharp toes, their legs had a few apparent enhancers implanted in their calves and knees, and a piece of armor plating in each thigh. Then came a piece of armor around their waists that appeared to protect some sort of liquid balancer that fed into orange glowing tubes protruding from the side of their waists and inserting into their backs, which had more armor plating and enhancing agents along their shoulder blades, upper spine, and collar bone. Finally, their arms were completely encased in thick metal armor. The orange tubes spouted from the armored biceps to the armored forearms, where right behind their strengthened and reinforced sharp metal claws, some sort of emitter could be seen. Above the puffy shoulders rested the demon's head, of which the only organic remains to be seen was its lower jaw, hanging between two sharp metal mandibles. The rest of its head was covered completely by metal plating that was designed like a large skull, with two bright yellow eyes slanted threateningly.

"It was bad enough when they were just summoning them here," X2 said as he looked at the strange enhanced demons.

"Now they're enhancing them," Boss said, "With our own technology."

"Ay ay! Don't get too close to them!" Fi said, trying to pull back Darman who was walking over to one of the chambers.

"I just wanna see them," Darman stated, wiggling off Fi's grip. He kept pace with us while walking right in front of the demons with his curious gaze stuck on them. I saw him pause for a second when his gaze was caught by a panel on the side.

"Well? Whadya see there?" X1 asked the demoman who turned to us after a few seconds.

"Hell Knight enhanced unit 012... Dread Knights?" Darman said, "These guys weren't in the codex archives."

"You're right, they weren't," I said, still gazing at the last ones curiously as we walked on.

"They're running out of breeds to summon," Master Plo said.

"So they're making more of their own," Master Anakin bounced off Master Plo's words.

"There are twelve units of these things already!" Comet said,

"Did you expect them to give us time to breathe?" Master Ferroda asked rhetorically.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Boost said.

"Think you're such a man? Cause when you're next to one of those beasts," Fi said, pointing to the dread knights, "You seem to be a few gleams short of a shinie."

"Word," Sev remarked.

"What, THOSE things?" X1 chimed in, "Just proves their weakness in my judgment. They think they're so special cause they got swept off their feet by the powers they couldn't understand. When these cultists die, it'll just be the gene pool cleaning itself up of that stupidity."

"Be sure you don't confuse stupidity with unpredictability, trooper," Master Tur-Mukan said.

Scorch had the facility's automap on a holopad and walked close to our front. As we reached the end of the dread knight pseudo display, he pointed us towards the edge of the hallway where we came to a T-intersection.

"It'll be a left up here," Scorch said.

"How much farther away are we?" Master Anakin asked.

"Fifteen to twenty minutes, give or take," Scorch said.

"Are you sure your chronometer's right?" Fixer asked.

"As right as your memory of everyone's numerical designation," Scorch quipped.

"That's no answer," Fixer said.

"... Actually I'm using my chronometer as a timer for something I'm trying to make from that 'Kadingir Cooking' magazine," Scorch said.

"What??" Fixer exclaimed.

"And no, I ain't making extras," Scorch said, "But, I think we're almost at the a-." He froze, we all did when we turned the corner with him and to greet us on the other side were a few UAC patrol guards accompanying some Kaminoans, who stopped in their tracks and stared wide-eyed at us as well. They were all armed with standard UAC weaponry, and one of them was armed with a UAC-developed grenade launcher.

"... I thought they were all outside..." Tup said.

"I don't think these nerds have ever been outside," Scorch said.

Sev charged his blaster close by and said, "And they're never gonna."

One of the patrols turned his head slightly to his left, in front of him close by was an alarm pull station.

Don't even!" Master Somtay exclaimed and on a whim, I along with my masters ignited our lightsabers. The clones all raised their blasters up too.

But the cultist didn't care. He ran over to the alarm and as he did, his buddies opened fire at us. I deflected shots back at them while the clones returned fire.

"AUGH!" The cultist fell on his leg, having been shot above his ankle by one of the clones when he was just barely within arm's reach of the alarm, he reached his hand up, and as he fell down, he looked at us and yelled, "Supid HERETICS!"

A siren immediately sounded off in the speakers of the hall.

"Intruder alert. All UAC personnel. Intruder alert," An automated voice said. I darted my head around before Jesse's yell caught my attention

"Grenade!" Jesse exclaimed, catching my attention forward where one of the cultists had aimed his grenade launcher at us. Master Anakin and Master Turk-Mukan reached their hands out and tried to push the grenades away with the force, but in doing so, they left themselves open.

"AGH!" Master Anakin yelled, dropping to one knee.

"Master!" I called out before the sounds of pain erupted again.

"AHH!" Master Tur-Mukan cried, dropping to her knee and covering her chest as well.

"Stay down," Master Ferroda ordered, but Master Anakin waved his hand in front of him and helped Master Tur-Mukan up.

"Master!" I called out to him.

"It's nothing fatal," Master Anakin said

"Move up!" Master Plo ordered, with the clones, Master Somtay, and Master Anakin up with him. But then I heard the signal of a grenade fly close to me, and when I faced up, I saw that one of the grenades from the UAC soldier had made it over our heads, it was just several feet in front of me. Master Anakin snapped his gaze at me.

"Take cover!" He yelled, then-

Boom. The grenade went off, pushing me off my feet and back several some.

"ARGHH!" I grunted as I slid along the floor feeling intense heat on my entire front that gradually sank away as I opened my eyes and looked forward. The alarm was still going strong, straining my montrals. There were still a few flames around, and some broken glass on the wall.

Then a large claw slipped past the broken glass, and I heard growling.

"Warning," The automated voice said again on the speaker system, "Laboratory 06 containment breach detected. Lockdown, in effect."

That was when between the halves of our group which had been blown away by the force of the grenade, A blast door came down from the ceiling fast, and slammed into the floor, closing us off from each other. It was then reinforced by a glowing red ray shield. I nearly skipped a breath, I definitely skipped a few heartbeats. It was all so sudden. I was left on the floor on our side of the blast shield with Master Serra, Master Ferroda, as well as Fi, Atin, Darman, Fives, Boss, Sev, Scorch, Boost,  X1, and X2.

"Master!" I immediately called out after hopping to my feet and running to the blast shield, but it was no use.

"General!" Darman shot up, calling out to Master Tur-Mukan, but her and the rest of the group was completely out of our reach. The alarm was still blaring, but it didn't cover up the sound of my wrist com beeping. I answered it quickly.

"What happened Snips? Are you and the others alright?" Master Anakin asked me from the other side. His words were rough and struggling, and they were accompanied by the sounds of blaster fire, lightsaber swings, and demonic growling.

"We're good over here! We're gonna try to find a way through," I said as I looked around frantically.

"No!" He ordered.

"Demons are beginning to swarm this area, we're retreating to the next level!" Master Somtay chimed in.

"Then what do we do?" Serra asked.

"You'll have to find another way," Master Plo said.

"General?" Darman questioned.

"We have no choice but to split up," he said, "Sinker says there will be a point ahead where our path will converge with yours prior to reaching the turret terminal, we're sending you the data now."

"We have it," Master Serra said.

"Are you sure you can make it, general?" Fi asked.

"Don't worry, we'll all be fine, just stay on the path," Master Anakin said, "You need to move now while the way is clear for you!"

"Uh...?" Fives called out from behind us. He was backing away from something cautiously. I walked over to him and once I saw what he was looking at, I almost gasped.

"UAC personnel, intruder alert," The automated voice said, "Security measures activated."

Fives was looking at the dread knights, where something was pumped into their tanks that turned the liquid a glowing red.

Then one of them started to move.

He shook his head slowly. The orange liquid in his pipes glowed up, and so did the lights and indicators on all his armor pieces, and then his eyes. They flashed a bright yellow. With that, a low rumble escaped the dread knight's majorly prosthetic maw. He tilted his head up lazily, shook it softly, and scanned his environment like he was just waking up from a nap. His eyes landed on us.

The dread knight tried to reach his arm forward, pressing against his restraints and the tight cage around his torso. He began to growl in frustration, almost instantly going from tired to blood-pumping energetic. His growl quickly turned into a roar, a scream of fury at the mere sight of us. He thrashed his arm out, breaking through his restraints even in the thick liquid. And with his arm free he wasted no time thrashing about, ripping at the rest of his restraints like a wild krakana with its prey. When his tank was full of sparkling metal shrapnel, he raised both his fists and slammed them against the glass, cracking almost the entire tank and causing some liquid to start leaking through. He slammed his fists again, roaring as he did so and obscuring his face with bubbles. This second smash succeeded in shattering the glass, covering the floor in the red liquid and pouring him out with the fall, where he slid along the ground on his back until he got his footing and stood up, starting right at us with his arms spread out.

Master Ferrroda, Serra and I ignited our lightsabers. He stared at us with his fists still spread out. Then he swiped his left fist along his chest, and from those odd emitters over his wrist, a large, orange, sparkling blade of argent energy burst out from it, creating a sound like a whipping and scraping chain as it did so. He did the same with his left fist, and another blade erupted from the emitter on his left arm. I stared at him with my eyes widening in both awe and dread, he had a fitting name.

"Oh shoot," X2 said close by me.

The dread knight let out a deafening roar that really tested the tolerance of my montrals and made me press my hands against the sides of my head while grunting in discomfort. Then I heard stomps coming my way along with metallic scraping.

"Fire!" I heard Master Ferroda order. I looked in front of me and saw the demon running at us, with its arms spread over the floor and its argent blades scraping along the ground. A few red cyclones began to appear around it and from them, several imps emerged.

"Light 'em up!" Boss ordered, and the clones were quick to obey, aiming their blasters at the dread knight and blasting shots at him, many of which lightly dented its tough armor, some of which were able to pierce its (relatively) weak decomposed skin, with some effort.

"Ahsoka, his tubes!" Serra called out next to me. I gazed at where she was pointing with one of her lightsabers and noticed that along the left side of the demon's waist, one of its tubes had been shot, causing some of the orange liquid to burst out. The left blade was also spazzing out, its emitter was clearly short of that sweet energy. I nodded to her, she grinned in response, and said, "On me!" Before running over to it, with both of her green lightsabers ready.

"Right behind you," I said, rushing after her. The demon came running at her head-on, and as it approached, it sliced its left blade down only for Serra to raise her lightsabers above her head and block the attack, barely. The demon raised its right blade and swung it at her side. Serra quickly took her left lightsaber and blocked the demon's other attack, but he persisted, pushing his blades harder on her, forcing Serra to her knees, grunting as she did so. The dread knight snarled, his face just about a foot from hers.

"Ahsoka!" Serra called out.

"I got it!" I responded, running over to them both and jumping. Serra leaned herself forward, giving her back as a platform for me to jump off of, spinning myself with my lightsabers stretched out, managing to cut clean through the tubes connecting the dread knight's shoulders and forearms which caused the demon to roar in frustration and back off of Serra. Then I landed my foot on the dread knight's shoulder and leaped off, landing gracefully behind its back, where I swiftly sliced through the tubes along its back, causing him to stagger forward, roaring again, this time in pain. As he staggered forward, Serra rolled out of his way through the side, and under his arm, managed to slice through the tubes on the left side of his waist. The dread knight fell to its hands and knees, but swiftly swung its arm her way, whacking Serra .

"Augh!" Serra grunted, taking the backhand to the face and sliding over next to me where she back rolled into combat position as the dread knight wasted no time getting back to its feet, but rather painfully. Making furious bellows as it did so.

"It's no secret that those tubes don't only carry the power for its blades," I said, noting the demon's sudden laziness, like it was being deprived of energy the more its orange liquid argent continued to spill out from the pierced tubes on its body.

"It's like argent energy is its life support," Serra responded. I nodded in agreement.

"Seems that way," I said.

"So let's turn it off-!" but as she said that, the dread knight thrashed itself upwards and let out another deafening roar at us, before reigniting its sparkling wrist blades, and leaping at us, very quickly.

"Move!" I said, leaping out of its path while Serra did the same in the other direction. The dread knight slammed its blades into the floor, and from them burst a splash of that molten argent energy that poured out into a large puddle around the demon, a puddle that I wasn't able to clear in time.

"AH, AHH! OW! OW!" I yelped, feeling drops of that burning liquid touch my bare arms and under my feet, I quickly leaped away, landing on my side, and watching the dread knight roar in fury in my direction while I quickly patted the burns before standing back up. But as the demon stomped its way over to me, kicking up more of that molten argent my way, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and fell to his hands and knees. I turned to my left and caught sight of Master Ferroda rushing over to us, with his left hand stretched out and assaulting the demon with a morichro attack. The dread knight was beginning to falter, but it was still adamant on reaching Serra and I, crawling his way to us despite the lack of energy in his system. wasting no time, Serra quickly ran over to it and slid under its armpit, slicing through the last of the demon's pipes, causing him to fall where he tried to get back on his knees. I heard a whirring sound and looked over to see Master Ferroda running up before he tossed his lightsaber out with a grunt. The lightsaber, spinning in the air, implanted itself in the demon's neck, but wasn't strong enough to go through. So I finished the job, running at the demon, leaping off its forearm, and bringing my lightsaber up to its head.

"HRAHH!" I yelled as I sliced through the demon's neck. And as the dread knight's head fell to the ground, its body followed after I leaped off. I heard blaster firing start to die down and looked over at the clones to see Sev raise his sniper rifle to shoot through the head of the last imp. But then I heard more mechanical hissing and turned around behind me, to see the rest of the dread knight tanks being filled with the same red element. A few seconds later the rest of the dread knights all slowly began to shake to life as well, their optics glowing at our positions. The next thing I knew, one of them surprised me with the fists smashing against the glass of his tank, cracking it, and causing the liquid to start squirting. Serra turned to the clones

"Fall back!" She yelled, waving them off.

"Come on!" Master Ferroda said, leading us all back down the hallway. Following the clones, we ran the opposite direction to the sealed off section with the energy shield and blast door in that T-intersection of the hallway. Behind us, I could hear more glass shattering and haunting echoing roars, accompanied by deafening stomps that shook me to my core, both figuratively and physically.

"Down here!" Fi called out, taking point behind Atin leading us further down the hallway while Scorch had the automap on his holoprojector. Fi spared a moment to turn back around and aim his sniper as the dread knight stomps grew closer and I could feel them enter the corridor we were running in, their horrific growls and roars echoing down the hall. Fi blasted a shot at the dread knights which I spared a look behind to see that it had pierced one of them in the chest, if you could call a decent indention on its outer armor a pierce and be proud of it. Master Ferroda suddenly stopped, causing me to gasp as he slid across the floor on his feet before coming to a halt.

"Master Ferroda!" I called out.

"General!" X1 cried out as well as we all stopped. Master Ferroda stretched his hands out, and I could feel the restraint of the force wrap around the hearts and lungs of the dread knights, they started to slow down and screech in pain and exhaustion, until a few of them fell on their knees. But they were fighting him off as best they could, some of them limping slowly, some of them crawling through heavy breath. Master Ferroda was struggling to put them all down with the morichro attack.

"What's wrong sir??" X1 asked.

"They're... too... strong!" Master Ferroda said through gritted teeth. Then Serra ran over to him and tossed her lightsaber. It flew out, buzzing in the air until it slashed through a hydro pipe overhead a few feet from Master Ferroda. The pipe burst instantly across and leaked out some water that spilled over the cauterized pierce and flooded the floor while also obscuring the dread knights from us behind the waterfall. After catching her lightsaber back in her hands, Atin aimed his blaster at the water and fired an electric stun shot, immediately sending a current through the entire stream which was beginning to spread rapidly and pool up under the pipe. Master Ferroda relented his morichro attack, falling to his hands and knees and breathing heavily with exhaustion. This allowed the dread knights to jump up and continue pursuing us, but as soon as they touched the electrified puddle of water, they shouted in pain and fidgetted in place, still, unwavering and determined to kill us, they slowly and painfully attempted to trod through the electric field.

"That'll slow them down, keep going!" Master Serra said back to us while X1 came over to help Master Ferroda back up to run with the rest of us. A few turns down the corridor later and we made it to another large blast door.

"Damnit!" Boss said.

"Through here?" Fives asked Scorch, to which the commando nodded. The door was locked, requiring a UAC blue access keycard. "Are you SURE?" Boss asked.

"As sure as I am that-!" Scorch started.

"Nevermind!" Boss interrupted. Suddenly I heard deep and furious growling echoing down the hall from where we came from. I could sense through my montrals that it was closer to us than that broken water pipe.

"They're loose!" I said.

"Atin, get that door open now!" Serra ordered.

"I'm on it!" Atin said, getting down in front of the terminal and ripping the front panel off to tamper with its circuitry. The roaring could be heard just around the corner and I could feel my heart skip a beat over it. When the stomps could be heard getting closer and the demonic howling so loud that my montrals became sore, I was started to look around frantically for any chance of escape for us.

I feel like a cornered Thimiar, yet I don't feel dangerous at all.

"It's opening!" Atin called out. A buzz sounded out nearby and the massive blast doors slowly slid open, sinking into the floor.

"Inside!" Serra ordered the clones, waving us all in. As soon as Master Boss came in last, I heard a roar, clear and close as ever, and gasped as I turned around to see the dread knights rounding the corner.

"Close it!" Boss ordered.

"Hurry!" Fi shrieked, aiming his blaster at the rushing and wild dread knights.

"You're taking way too long!!" Sev yelled.

"Get off my back, I'm working!" Atin exclaimed, pressing the terminal quickly, the doors began to slide shut again slowly.

"Shoot them!" X1 ordered, raising his hand blasters with the others following his command and blasting the incoming dread knights, who stumbled in their firing path but remained persistent and unconcerned with their own well-being as ever, staggering to their hands and feet but quickly getting back on the run even with the shots burning against their flesh and the burst tubes of molten argent. Atin mashed the button on the terminal, trying to make it go faster. Master Ferroda stretched his hands out again and grimaced, trying to hold them back with morichro but to only slight avail. Serra waved her hand and tossed crates and other objects nearby in their way with the force, causing a few of them to trip over. The one up front sprinted at us as fast as he could. Master Ferroda stretched out his hand and struck the dread knight with a last morichro attack, causing the demon to stumble to the floor again, but he tried as hard as he could to stagger his way to us. As the demon was only a few meters from us, Master Ferroda relented his attack, and the blast doors finally snapped shut. Right as the demon made his way to us, and slammed on the doors maniacally. We could hear him roaring in furious anger as he left deep dents on the tough metal doors. He scratched and slammed on them repeatedly for almost a minute, frustrated beyond comprehension that he was cut off from his prey. Atin put in a few inputs on the terminal that locked the door, then he faced us.

"That was way too close," Boost said after breathing in a heavy sigh along with the rest of us as the clones all lowered their blasters.

"Guess all that funding paid off," Serra said, patting the strong blast shields. Just then, another frustrated smack against the blast doors dented them further, making her jump.

"Not for long," I said, "We'd better put some distance between us and them."

"I sure hope the others haven't had this much trouble," Darman said.

"Master Tur-Mukan is strong, she'll pull through," Master Ferroda said reassuringly to the commando.

"If only she had Scorch to take her pain out on," Sev said.

"Between the two of us, I'd say you're the more durable punching bag," Scorch quipped.

"Wanna have a contest to confirm that?" Sev said, popping his knuckles.

"Nah, I'm good," Scorch said.

"Let's catch up with them," I said, looking at Atin, "Where to now?" He turned around, looking at his holopad as I followed him and looked at the place we were in now.

I froze at our surroundings and immediately placed my hands over my lightsabers.

"It's gonna be right down... this..." Atin looked up, right after the rest of us did, "Oh..."

"No..." Boss said

"Crud," Serra said, standing on guard as she looked around

"Kriff," Sev said, holding his sniper rifle tight, but on edge.

"Damn," X1 said.

"... Ah hell," Scorch said.

The several tens of UAC troops that were lining the walls, the platforms, and dotting the ground in front of us behind crates and other objects in the gigantic foundry we found ourselves in, all unanimously raised their weapons at us. We stood on edge and close to each other, not moving a muscle, they were all around us. The room was silent for a few moments, before one trooper wearing distinct golden armor strolled forward with his hands behind his back.

"Republic forces! Stand down!" He ordered sternly.

I looked over at Serra, who met my gaze, along with Master Ferroda. As subtly as possible, I focused on the solid railing close by to my right that was also near a few large offline construction droids. I darted my head at X1, X2, Sev, and Fives who were closest to me. X2 caught my gaze and kicked X1 in the shin, bringing his attention to me just as Sev and Fives got the memo too, with me lightly gesturing in the direction of the droids with my eyes.

"DROP. YOUR. WEAPONS!!" The gold-armored UAC runt shouted again.

"Here's a second option..." Master Ferroda said, "How about no?" before Darman quickly raised his blaster and fired several grenades into the fray.

"FULL HOUSE YOU MUNK-STAINS!" Darman exclaimed. I ignited my lightsabers along with my masters, and the clones started blasting the heck out of the UAC troops.

"KILL THEM!" The golden-armored guy ordered.

"Yes, Commander Kelly!" I heard one of the grunts respond. I got to deflecting shots back at the cultists while running with Serra, Fives, Sev, X1, and X2 to take cover behind the droids. A few plasma shots hit the ground right beneath my heels as I dove behind a droid next to Fives and X2 just in time. Pressing my back against the big and sturdy droid chassis, I could feel the vibration of an endless stream of plasma shots hitting the other side.

"Not the best course of action?" I said, looking at Serra.

"Ha, Master Skywalker would be proud," Serrra said, having to yell over the deafening sound of the plasma rifle, vortex rifle, static rifle, hellshot, and other UAC weapon noises that nearly defeaned us, "Maybe this is Celestial Wake after all."

"Di'kut! Three o'clock!" X1 announced. I looked to my right just as Sev raised his sniper rifle in response and blasted a hole through the armor of a UAC trooper who almost got the jump on us. And as I saw the dead cultist, I also caught sight of a huge turbine hanging over us. I turned to the clones.

"Give me some covering fire!" I ordered.

"With pleasure, commander!" Sev said and raised his sniper rifle up above the droid, "GRAB SOME OF THIS YOU PSYCHOTIC FLACKS!!" He shouted, "I'LL TEAR YOUR FRIGGIN ARM OFF!!" and I could hear UAC troops grunting and shouting in pain on the other side as Sev sniped them down one at a time while coming in and out from cover between shots.

"Yes! Tear them down!" X1 exclaimed, peaking his head and firearms over the droid with his brother, Fives, and Darman on Sev's lead, "They've got no power!"

Darman launched more grenades at the same time that I saw Scorch do the same from his position. And I heard the explosions go off along with the death cries of more cultists. Serra abruptly ignited her lightsabers and jumped on top of the droid to begin deflecting plasma shots back at the cultists, I peeked my head up to see what it was looking like. There were a lot of cultist bodies with blaster holes in them, but there were still a LOT more above or behind cover shooting at us with overwhelming force. A rocket was suddenly fired from the rocket launcher of a cultist in the corner, it was flying straight to where Master Ferroda and the others were positioned. Quickly, I extended my hand, pushing the rocket off course with the force and causing it to fly underneath a platform where some snipers were positioned, destroying the supports beneath them and sending them plummeting. They hit the ground right in front of the others, giving Fi and the other clones a clear shot to blast them to death.

"Whoah!" I yelped when a cultist trooper took the opportunity to shoot towards me while my head was exposed, missing by just an inch before I sank back below our cover.

"Watch yourself Commander Tano!" Fives said, scooting closer to me and blasting the cultist while he recharged his vortex rifle. While I sat against the droid, I looked up at Serra, who was displaying confidence in her abilities, but suddenly her face became frozen in terror. I peaked my head over the droid again to find out why, and it was because past that UAC rocket trooper from earlier, about ten or so more rushed quickly into the fray of the battlefield with their rocket launchers over their shoulders.

"Get back!" X1 ordered. And just as Serra jumped down, several rockets came our way, exploding against the droid and causing the droid to slide forward, pushing over Serrra while the rest of us had already backed away.

"Serra!" I shouted.

"General Keto!" X2 exclaimed, coming close to check on her as she lay on her front. She simply groaned in pain and lifted her head up. Her face was a little dusty from sliding along the floor like that, but after lazily raising her head at us, she gave us a nice wink and a smirk to boot. After seeing that my friend was ok, I peeked back over the droid and saw that while most of the other troops on us were still behind cover, the cultist rocket troops were reloading their rocket launchers behind cover, right under the turbine attached to the ceiling. Quickly, I ignited my lightsabers and flung both of them toward the ceiling, slicing the huge turbine off its hinges. The cultists heard the sounds of my lightsabers and darted their heads up.

"GO! GO! GO!!" Most of the rocket troopers shouted in terror, a few attempted to run away, and some did both before the turbine slammed against the floor only a few seconds after they saw it. The impact shook the foundation, and also crushed the rocket troopers... and the rockets, generating an explosion beneath the turbine as soon as it hit the ground and causing it to jump a little after it had already crushed all of the rocket troopers, leaving a small puddle of blood and a bigger spread of ash that stretched around it.

"Keep up the pressure!!" That Kelly guy in charge shouted from across the area in the foundry, shooting at our position with what I believed to be a hellshot.

"Never trusting Scorch again!" X2 said from behind cover while helping Serra up to a sitting position against the droid, "Don't you think we should call for backup-?"

"Shut up with that!" Serra said, slapping X2 across the helmet, "There IS no backup, the others still need to bring down the turrets!"

"Uh.. yes general!" X2 said after readjusting his helmet.

"What the heck is that?" Sev questioned, pointing to the ceiling in front of us, close to the cultists' positions, where some devices were starting to glow and activate. I squinted my eyes and peered closer, realizing soon after that the devices were holo-projectors, holoprojectors that with a techy hum, projected that yellow figure. And I was almost in awe, with my jaw hanging open a bit.

"So... the Republic fiends think that they can overcome the means of hell? The Republic snakes think they can take what rightfully belongs to the Khan? They think they are above judgment?" the hell priest said, calmly at first but slowly getting louder and more furious with each accusation, "They think they are worthy to step on these sacred holy grounds? And they think freely they can threaten my reign, as the Hellwalker did my brother's!?" the mention of the "hellwalker" made me skip a breath, "You are all... INSECTS. You are neither worth my mercy, nor my attention. My one true enemy, the only being worth my fury approaches," The hell priest turned his attention to his cultists below him, stopping as his gaze hit Commander Kelly, "Kill all of the heretic pests, my disciples! I will not have the final battle with my ancient rival tarnished by the ambitions of such pathetic creatures."

"It will be done, your holiness!" Kelly said before the priest's projection disappeared.

"Oh no..." I said, slowly scanning the area around us, hearing the sounds of blasters become accompanied by the furious hissing, deafening roars, and inhumane growls of imps, prowlers, and possessed clone troopers. I was on edge as I looked around, seeing bright beedy demonic eyes all around us. And the images of these clones, looking so deformed as if someone had stretched them out like rubber, with their armor melded with their skin, their helmets transformed into their heads, with their mouthpieces wide open, displaying jagged slimy teeth, grimacing at us. It was haunting.

"What do we do, sir??" X2 asked, quickly pulling out his rotary blaster cannon and aiming it at the demons around us. X1 was still blasting the rest of the cultists down, simply factoring in the demons as well as he could.

"Just keep shooting!" X1 ordered.

"Not in this spot," Serra said, pulling herself up and facing Darman, who quickly reloaded his DC-17m. A massive cyberscree roared in fury just as he finished and came crawling over to us, with the rest of the demons closing in. I heard the sounds of thermal detonators being primed and darted my head at Darman, holding a few of them in each hand.

"Grenades out!" He announced and flung them at the demons around us in all directions. They rolled along the floor, a few of them whacked some fodder demons. A few seconds later they detonated, illuminating the area around us in fire. But when the smoke cleared, the demons were no more than staggered, pushed off their footing, the possessed troops sluggishly pushed themselves off the floor with their deformed limbs, while the imps quickly scurried back to the chase, and the cyberscrees simply tanked through the blasts like nothing.

"Move!" I ordered, directing the clones to retreat from their cover.

"On it, commander!" Fives said.

"General Keto, come on," X2 said, taking Serra's arm over his shoulder to help her move, "we gotta-!"

"Ah, shut up!" Serra said, shoving him away and standing back up, "I can walk." X2 simply shrugged and followed her, myself, and the other clones who blasted their way forward through the demons, riddling a few imps and gargoyles, where not far past them, I could see Master Ferroda and the other clones caught surrounded by some more demons. I heard a loud bang and a deep ferocious hiss. Turning my gaze behind me as we ran, I saw the cyberscree effortlessly toss over the construction droid with its pincers as it chased us. It continued chasing after us with three others. I didn't realize out in space that the cyberscrees were almost twice as tall as myself and almost as long as a speeder. The giant insects continued galloping after us furiously, stabbing the floor with their pincers as they did so.

"Get ready!" I ordered and ignited my lightsabers, facing the screes head on with Serra while I heard the clones charge their blasters behind and beside me.

"HRAH!" I heard a deep voice yell before several volts of electricity sprang past us and enveloped the massive cyber-scree, who screeched out in pain and lost his footing, sliding to the ground on their fronts while writhing to get back up. I looked behind me at Master Ferroda, running up to us with his hand stretched out in a force shove, and Fi, Atin, Boss, Scorch, and Boost coming to regroup with us.

Without need for any more provocation, I ran up to the first cyberscree and plunged my lightsaber into its reinforced head, pushing it as hard and deep into its thick armor and exoskeleton as I could go while the clones kept the rest of the demons off me. The giant space insect screeched louder in anger while trying to wiggle back on his feet. Serra came up nearby to take down the other one, plunging her lightsabers into its head as well.

"AGH!" I heard from behind me and turned around.

"General!" Boost shouted

"Master Ferroda!" I cried out, watching him get tackled to the floor by a prowler who flew past the clones' firing path. But then I realized that the sounds of rapid hisses had started to die down, and cautiously turned my head back at the cyberscrees

"...Uh oh," Serra said, "GAHH!" That was when with a furious growl, the cyber scree she had targeted flung its head up, with her lightsabers still embedded in its face. She held on tight, rising off the floor with the beast's head, "Whoah, WHOAH!" Serra yelped when the cyberscree opened up its mandibles and tried to take a bite out of her dangling right in front of its face, but to no avail. The cyberscree I had engaged with tossed me off, where I landed on my feet in front of it and gazed at the cauterized hole in its head. It seethed at me before stretching its mandibles wide to give me a deafening roar. After covering my montrals, I gasped at the realization and quickly jumped out of the way, just as burning acid escaped the cyberscree's maw.

"Get off me!" Master Ferroda exclaimed on the prowler that still stood on top of him trying to pry its claws through his lightsaber to his face.

"Master!" I called out in fear for him. But the cyberscree snarled behind me and I turned back around just in time to see him raise his gigantic pinder over me and stab it into the ground just after I had jumped back a couple feet. He growled in place and continued to scrape at the floor while I cautiously stepped back, expertly dodging all of his slashes and occasionally deflecting his pincers with my lightsabers. I raised my lightsabers up in defense and looked at Serra who was still grunting while clutching her lightsabers tightly as their blades were stuck in the demon's head. I looked around us at the many demons and cultist troops who the clones and Master Ferroda were just barely keeping at bay, they were all around us.

"Yes! Surround them!" I heard that Kelly guy order from somewhere in the mob, "Close in!"

"What do we do, sir?!" Fives asked me as he continued firing at the surrounding enemy that was starting to get close enough to count every one of them.

"I don't know!" I exclaimed back.

Then one of the blast doors in the room exploded.

"Urgh!" I grunted, covering my face from the gust of air that came from the blast. I looked over, a cloud of dust and some flames stood in the doorway. But I could hear the new sound of marching.

"What the hell?" X1 said.

"Reinforcements?!" Boss questioned.

Some silhouettes began to take shape, tall, thin and skinny, except for one slightly buffer one up front, whose steps had a serious weight to them, clicking and stomping as his feet hit the floor. Their silhouettes became clear as they entered the area and...

Wait a minute... I know that head shape. That guy and those...

The big one up front suddenly halted and grunted in his deep voice that was like metallic scraping.

"Attack!" The distinct voice of General Grievous shouted.

"Roger Roger." A few who were part of a small platoon of Several battle, Super Battle, and Commando droids complied and started blasting into the room. I heard Serra grunt when she was finally yanked off the cyberscree she was tangoing with, and she looked up at the droids.

"Take cover!" Serra yelled before diving behind some objects in the room with us all taking point not far from each other. Fives peeked out while sitting close to me.

"Clankers??" Fives exclaimed.

"What are they doing here?!" Boost questioned.

"Meatbags??" A battle droid said when he caught sight of us.

"What are they doing here?!" Another battle droid close by questioned right before he was silenced by a vortex rifle round going through his head and sending him to the ground. I looked over at the cultists and demons that were still around us.

"New contacts!" A cultist trooper announced.

"They're Separatists! All the same heretics nonetheless! Mow them down in the name of the Khan!!" Kelly ordered.

"Rahahahaha!" Grievous let out a roaring fit of laughter as he grabbed his lightsabers from his hips and stretched his arms out. His arms split at the elbows before stretching apart. With his four arms extended, he ignited all four of his lightsabers and pointed them at the cultists, "You can try!"

"Die at the hands of the Khan's holy crusaders!" Kelly shouted before he aimed his hellshot at the droids, and fired along with the rest of his cultists. I stood in my spot behind cover, dumbfounded. My jaw hanging as I watched Grievous twirl his lightsabers and deflected the shots away from most of his droid subordinates.

"What now Commander??" Fives questioned as we peeked from behind the cover, with most of the demons beginning to become focused on the droids. I took a moment to contemplate the answer to his question.

Hollup, hollup!" X1 said, "You're not thinking what I think you're thinking are you?"

"Would you have a problem with that, Captain?" I asked.

"I'm- I'm just- nope. I'm JUST saying," X1 said, raising his hands, "THEY'RE the enemy just as much as the cultists are!"

"That's debatable," X2 said.

"Shut up!" X1 barked.

"He's a hundred percent right," I said, "They don't seem too antagonistic to us right now, shouldn't that say something?"

"Yeah, to me it says ADVANTAGE!" X1 said and pointed to Grievous, "Look at that! The lead clanker all out in the open! We can eliminate him NOW while we have the chance!" I looked at Grievous, who was still deflecting shots back at the cultists expertly. He was safe, but his droids were slowly starting to thin out. A B2-HA super battle droid marched out to the front and fired a rocket into the fray, causing many of the cultists to scream in pain as they were blasted by the explosion. Immediately afterward, the super battle droid was riddled with hellshot rounds from Commander Kelly, with more shots pummeling down a few droids past it.

"Even with all their might, the cultists still outmatch them," I said.

"That's a good thing though, right?!" X1 questioned.

"What do you think that means for us??" I turned to him and said.

"We're not going to be able to do this alone," Fives said.

"Permission to speak criticism, sir?" X1 requested.

"Permission denied!" I said.

"We are not going to do this!" X1 pouted.

"We'll do whatever Commander Tano says!" Fives said.

"They need help, 1," I said, "I told you, when we find people in need, we helpt them. No matter what."

"This is WAR!" X1 barked, "When they need help it's supposed to be because we're crushing them!"

"Well right now, we all need help," X2 said, "We need all the help we can get." X1 stared at him for a moment before hanging his head in frustration and grunting with compliance.

"Darman! Scorch! The cultists! Let 'em have it!" I ordered over my wrist comm, seeing how our combined efforts had thinned out the horde enough.

"What about the Seppies?" Darman asked.

"You mean our reinforcements?" I asked, "Yeah watch out for them."

"Aye aye Commander!" Scorch said before launching grenades into the cultists' positions, with Darman following suit. The booms, bangs, and "AHHH"s that echoed in the area were almost music to my ears. But with the focus on my hearing, I heard deep grunting nearby and looked close by. I saw to my surprise, Master Ferroda with his lightsaber impaled into a demonic prowler that was still trying to stick its claws into him, until Master Ferroda gave a powerful grunt and finally shoved his lightsaber out through the demon's back. The demon cried out in pain and rose up, allowing Master Ferroda to finally shove it off him. He looked at me with a sarcastic smirk.

"Oh yes. Thanks for the help..." He said dead-toned. I simply gave an awkward laugh.

"We're starting to run low," Darman said over comms.

I heard more demonic cries and cultist screams from beyond us. Rising above our cover, I saw that the cultists' numbers were beginning to dwindle. Their body count of them was reaching heights, literally. They were beginning to pile up in smoking heaps. Not just from us, but from the droids as well. I watched a grenade hit near Commander Kelly who ducked his head down and grunted before looking back up at both us and the clankers with his hellshot raised cautiously.

"Fall back!" He shouted over the incessant shouting of his troops while pointing to the end of the foundry.

"Retreat!" A few of his subordinates repeated as they all slowly backed through the blast doors. Kelly and his troops kept their weapons trained on us and firing defensively.

"Sir, the heretics are in the- AGH!" One of his subordinates said before he was abruptly blasted in the chest by a battle droid. Kelly grabbed his chest as he fell and dragged him through the blast shield.

"We will have another chance! We must protect the priest!" He exclaimed. He dragged his wounded through the blast door and once they were all through, it snapped shut.

"Cease fire!" Serra ordered, his voice echoing through the foundry now that most of the noise source was gone. The clones all complied and stopped shooting at the blast doors. Silence slowly ensued and with the threat gone, we all took a moment of breath. The clones lowered their weapons, but all that could happen next, after we had taken that moment to breathe, was for us to immediately direct our attention to the droids, who turned their heads to us after they had stopped firing as well.

The feeling of caution and danger did not end in me. General Grievous growled as he turned his head to us, with all four of his lightsabers still ignited, and I caught his gaze. His intense eyes showed no thoughts of surrendering, or even laying down his weapons. Carefully, I kept my hands over my lightsabers. My focus dared not cover anything else except his form. The room turned to silence in my head, I barely heard a few of the clone troopers charging their blasters cautiously. Was this the beginning of another standoff?

I took my lightsabers from my belt and ignited them.

At that notion, the droids all raised their blasters

At that notion, my masters all ignited their own and the clones with us primed their blasters and aimed them at the droids.

At this point, I could feel sweat beginning to run down the side of my head. I held my lightsabers tightly, not in combat position. I was only standing up straight in front of Grievous with them at my side just in case...

"Jedi scum..." Grievous hissed at us.

"Clanker kriff," I heard Sev say dead-toned.

"General Grievous, how nice to see you," Serra said, "A surprise to be sure."

"But maybe a welcome one," Master Ferroda said.

"That makes one of us," Grievous sneered before he spun his lightsabers intimidatingly.

"That's a... neat trick," Serra said, "How has it worked out on its use with the demons?"

"Good enough," Grievous said.

"Mhm. Hey, how many droids did you have when you entered this facility?" Serra asked.

"Did you expect me to care?" Grievous asked, "My droids are expendable. All that matters is I have as many as I need to secure the banking clan members."

"Do you though?" Master Ferroda asked, "We've barely gotten this far on our own, how much farther do you think you'll be able to get on your own?"

"As far as I need to," Grievous said.

"You're gonna die," I said insultingly, to which he threw his gaze back at me.

"Not likely!" He barked, "These barbaric cultists still don't understand who they're dealing with.

"Maybe they understand now because thanks to us, you're still alive," I said.

"I don't recall ever asking the treacherous Jedi for help!" Grievous snapped.

"Yeah, I know," I said, "But your boss did."

Grievous stomped forward roughly, sending a bang echoing through the area.

"Dooku. Is. NO boss of me," He growled, his eyes beginning to squint in anger.

"You're your own man huh?" I said, "Nice. Impressive. What a legacy to leave behind. You know, once all this is over, I'm sure the Kaleesh will tell campfire stories for millennia, about the great and mighty Grevious, too stupid, too cocky and in over his head to survive one of his first encounters with the new enemy, even with a whole platoon of droids as a crutch."

"CRUUUUTCH!" Grievous roared in fury. I heard X2 whistling softly from behind me.

"Ouch," he said.

"I would rather lay down and DIE than take any assistance from the Republic and Jedi scum!!" Grievouos shouted, stomping closer.

"The feeling.. is mutual," I said, still glaring at him, "... But these days, we don't get what we want."

The staring contest of tension continued for about a minute, with him not knowing how to respond. He just stared me back in the eyes with his eyes squinted in anger, and my brows furrowed.

Until the automated voice said in the speaker system, "Automated turrets, offline. Outer defense turrets, disabled."

"What??" Fives said. I darted my head up along with everyone else, confused. With my mouth hanging open, I looked at Grievous who was looking around confused as well. Then I got a transmission on my wrist comm, we all did.

"Turrets are disabled!" Master Anakin said.

"Master??" I exclaimed.

"Snips! What's your status? Have you found the Priest?" Master Anakin asked.

"Haven't made it yet, we ran into Grievous," Serra said.

"Oh dang, that sounds bad, hope you're alright," He said passively.

"Uh..." I said, darting my head back at Grievous, who met my gaze, "Yeah, for sure. He's a pain. How did you make it?" I asked, "Are you alright? I was worried about you."

"It's alright, we uh... found some help," Master Anakin said.

"Who?" I asked, "Reinforcements?" There was a bit of a pause.

"In a way," My mouth dropped at the sound of Count Dooku's voice on the other end

"No way..." X1 said from nearby.

Listen carefully," Master Tur Mukan said on the line, "We've acquired the location of where the priest is being kept, the priest AND the banking clan members. We're sending their position to you all now, you AND the Separatists."

"What?" I blurted

"What?" Grievous almost at the same time.

"General," Count Dooku's dead tone called out from our comms, "The UAC forces have proven to be too much for most of my droids. You are ordered to accompany the Jedi to our rendezvous point at the priest's position. Assist them however you can."

"HhrrrRRRGGHH!!" Grievous growled, his voice increasing in volume while he clutched his lightsabers tightly.

"Ground reinforcements from our fleet and the Separatist ships are inbound," Master Tur Mukan stated, "It won't be long until the cultist troops turn their attention inward and flood the halls to resist us. Make your way to the rendezvous point as quickly as you can."

"Yes, I hope to 'take care' of this priest before whatever guard he has, triples in number in response to our actions," Count Dooku said.

"We'll get right on it," Master Ferroda said, picking his gaze up to stare at Grievous, "... All of us." Grievous growled in response again.

"May the force be with y-," Master Tur Mukan said before she was interrupted by the automated intercom voice.

"Alert: Overhead atmospheric re-entry detected," The automated voice said.

"What the?" one of the droids said, "That was fast." Suddenly the overhead holoprojector displayed the cultist base, the Republic and Separatist ships overhead, and a small object rushing down through the clouds. The small image was magnified and revealed to be a small capsule vehicle.

"An escape pod?" Master Somtay questioned from the other end. I eyed the object curiously as it sank through the elevation of the cruisers.

Suddenly I got an alarm in one of my pouches. Digging through, I yanked out the tracker and looked at it.

I gasped.

"What is it?" Master Ferroda asked. I looked at him with wide eyes, before looking back at the tracker, and then back at him, and then I handed the tracker to Master Ferroda. He looked at it closely, and then faced his head up, "He's... He's right on top of us."

"No way..." Master Somtay said.

I gazed my head back at the holoprojector. The escape pod crashed into a wing of the cultist citadel, pretty much on the opposite side of the facility as us. The view changed from a layout to a live feed of the area. The escape pod was steaming hot and covered in ashes at the front. It crashed into one of the rooms through a ceiling and was implanted into the metal floor.

Suddenly the top canopy was ejected off, hitting the wall and then the ground with a loud thud.

I felt frozen in shock.

Two large armored hands grabbed the edges of the cockpit. The occupant pulled himself out of the pod, and his armored feet hit the ground with a thud.

After standing up straight, the helmeted gaze of the Slayer looked left and right, scanning his surroundings for a moment, before he cocked his shotgun.

"WARNING: All UAC personnel. The Slayer has breached the facility. Lockdown, in effect," The automated voice said.

"He's here boys," Sev said.

"We need to get going," Master Anakin said through comms.

"General, go with them," Count Dooku said. The mighty clanker responded with probably his hundredth growl in the past hour before he headed to the exit of the foundry. My masters and the clones went to follow him.

Meanwhile, I stood frozen in view of the hologram. Hypnotized by the image of (Y/n) walking away from the pod while the projection followed him. I was overcome with uneasiness at the sight of him so close again.

"Ahsoka," Master Ferroda said from right next to me, snapping me out of it, "We have to go."

I nodded and got to walking right behind him, but as I did, I took another look at the holoprojector. My mind still captured by the revelation that he was here. I walked unevenly, almost tripping over an imp corpse as my eyes stayed glued to the Marine.

And then as we neared the exit of the foundry, the projection faded.

"ATTENTION. All UAC personnel, Please destroy the Slayer. The priest must survive. I repeat: Please destroy the Slayer. The priest must survive," The automated voice said.

(A few years ago, Fall of Falleen, your point of view)

"(Y/n), this is Ahsoka! Come in now!" the voice of Ahsoka called me to open my eyes lazily

I was too exhausted to pick up my head, but I could see the legs of commando droids walking alongside me. My vision was a blur. Before long I was out again until I heard her voice a few minutes later.

"Answer your communicator! What's your status?!" She said again.

When I forced my eyes open again, my vision was still foggy, but I mustered up just enough strength to lift my head up to see my wrist, where her voice was coming from. I wanted to answer her, but I had never felt more tired in my life. I could still feel the intense shock from the mesh trap, weighing down on me from the inside out. My body would not move at all. It took all of my effort to keep my eyes open for the few seconds that it took to look to my left and right, and see Dama and Noirah being dragged alongside me before I fell unconscious again.

"Separatist reinforcements came from orbit an hour ago! We're abandoning the mission and retreating off world!" Ahsoka exclaimed through comms, "WHAT'S YOUR POSITION!? WHY AREN'T ANY OF YOU ANSWERING!?"

At the sound of her voice, I picked my head up again and looked forward. We weren't in the underground passageways anymore. There were lights dotting the path forward on the ceiling. It looked like the interior of a Separatist outpost. The lights around us strained my tired eyes until I was out of it again.

That woman... Zan Arbor was leading the droids dragging us down the corridor.

"(Y/N)! ANY OF YOU! DOES ANYONE COPY?!"Ahsoka shouted again, causing me to open my eyes again. My head was hanging down, just as I watched the droids lift me up and felt my arms and legs spread out and restrained onto something that raised me up.

"I need you to respond!" Ahsoka exclaimed, "Masters Kyrda, Arkan, and Lobis were all killed in action!" With drowsy eyes, I desperately faced my communicator and tried to articulate my mouth to form words.

"If we can't confirm you're alive then we'll have to leave you!" Ahsoka said.

"Nrghh....." I groaned quietly, but desperately, trying to say something, anything, particularly anything loud. But I was too tired and sore to try again before I heard a pair of boots stepping over to me. Before I could turn my head, a white glove covered my wrist comm, and then a finger pressed against my lips.

"Shhhhh."

Zan Arbor proceeded to grab my wrist comm off my gauntlet, before leaving me to return to unconsciousness.

From that point on, I lay there, out of my mind, and stuck to this thing. Over the next... who knows how long. I lay there, my eyes glued shut, even when my mind periodically drifted momentarily into consciousness, allowing me to hear snippets of people speaking in the room.

"The Falleen ruler has surrendered to the Confederacy." I recognized that voice, the voice of Count Dooku, The Sith political leader of the Separatists.

...

"This base needs to be secure! My research demands it!" Zan Arbor said a while later.

"Your garrison will do," A scratchy, deep, mechanical voice said, " More droid battalions are needed to secure our hold over the capital."

"... Yes, General Grievous." Zan Arbor said after a grunt of frustration.

...

"The general and I have urgent matters to attend to elsewhere in the system," Count Dooku said.

...

"I have none to gain from interrogation... do what you wish with your captives," Count Dooku said a while later.

...

"Oh no," Zan Arbor said, pretty close to me, "Nononononononono. NO." I heard her pacing in front of me.

...

"Commannder-" A commando droid said before being cut off.

"That's DOCTOR to you, droid!" Zan Arbor said, furiously.

"Doctor, we cannot seem to stabilize his cell condition," The droid said.

"DAMNIT... It was that damn MESH TRAP!" She shouted in frustration, I heard a table being kicked over

...

"How may are there?!" Zan Arbor asked.

"As we are, they outnumber us three to one," a commander droid stated.

"Well then let's get started!" Zan Arbor said.

"His cellular energy levels are too high, activating the cage would result in a clinical flatline before the extraction process could be completed."

...

"How long until they arrive?" Zan Arbor asked.

"Within the hour, that is all we can say," A commando droid said.

...

"Wake him up," Zan Arbor said.

"Roger roger," I heard a commando droid say before I heard buzzing around me, and suddenly I felt something pulse through me, it pushed me into movement and conscious thought.

"AHH!" I cried out, shaking myself awake and breathing heavily, my head still hanging from exhaustion, my body still feeling the shock and tiredness from that mesh trap, but at least now I could move... except when I tried to, I realized that my hands and feet were restrained. I darted my head to my sides and saw that I was cuffed to some sort of circular device. I started to freak out, trying to beat at my restraints.

"RRRAAH!" I finally screamed desperately as I tried to pull myself free, but it was no use. I kept grunting, and Zan Arbor, standing in front of me in this circular room which appeared to be a laboratory with two commando droids guarding the entrance, crackled at my attempts, seeming to revel in my desperation.

"Wake the others up," She said enthusiastically.

"Roger Roger," The droid responded.

That was when I looked across the room and gasped in horror. I saw Dama and Noirah, unconscious as well, cuffed to similar devices as my own on the walls of the laboratory. The devices began to glow with power, and soon they were grunting in exhaustion and shaking their heads.

"W-What are you doing??" I questioned, looking at the device I was stuck to, "What is this thing??" Zan Arbor ignored me, walking over to a terminal where another commando droid was at.

"Status?" She asked.

"No progress," The droid said, "The shock of the mesh trap could linger for hours. He still shows signs of dangerous cellular pressure. Activating the cage could kill him almost instantly." She looked up at me in response.

I swallowed a lump in my throat.

"What are you going to do?" I asked, beginning to feel terror.

"Can we not extract just a sample from him?" She asked the droid, still ignoring me.

"Even if we could, his medichlorians would be of no use, they are in a dormant state in his damaged cells triggered by the cage's interface, and they will remain in that state until the shock of the mesh trap has dissipated or until he has been removed from the cage," the droid responded. Zan Arbor abruptly tapped something on the terminal.

"AAAARGHHHH!!" I screamed in pain, I felt like the mesh trap was on me again, but from the inside. At the same time, I felt like I was being drained. The device was doing something to me, like sucking my blood out. Zan Arbor tapped the console again a second later, making it stop. I hung there, gasping for air. I watched as a gust of sparks flew from a power source in the wall.

"(Y/n)!!" I heard Dama shout from several feet away. I forced myself to raise my head up and look at him and Noirah, who had finally regained full consciousness

"You're right," Zan Arbor said, looking at the terminal "His cells are no good... damn mesh trap."

"AAAHHH!!!" I darted my head up, at the sound of Noirah's cry of pain. Smaller bolts were coursing through her, and the device that she was strapped to was glowing too.

"Noirah!" Dama cried out before he opened his hand, "Let her g-AHHHH!" Before he could finish his statement, he was shocked by the device as well.

"Stop this!!" I shouted, "STOP HURTING THEM!" I opened my palm, trying to grab one of the droids' blasters, but it didn't work, nothing happened, "STOP IT!!" I shouted at Zan Arbor, who gave me a grin in response.

"I'm not doing this," She said, raising her hands, "The cage reacts to the activity of medichlorians... by draining them." I opened my eyes wide and stared at my two friends, who lowered their hands and hung from their restraints, exhausted.

"What are you trying to do?" Noirah asked.

"Prep them both for the extraction process," Zan Arbor said, pointing at Dama and Noirah.

"No! Wait!" Noirah cried out.

"DON'T!" I pleaded, looking at them both. They both seemed super on edge and worried.

"Hurry it up, they'll be here any minute." Zan Arbor said. Suddenly another gust of sparks spewed from the generator.

"Energy from the mesh trap extracted from his blood, has tampered with the systems," One of the droids said.

"Damnit!" Zan Arbor shouted in rage, "Never using one of those pieces of muck again!"

"What are you doing??" Dama asked.

"Shut up you!" Zan Arbor shouted, "I'm draining the medichlorians from your cells, I suggest you focus on your prayers instead of interrupting my focus!"

"Why?!" Noirah asked.

"For my research of course-" Zan Arbor said.

"No!" Noirah interrupted, "W-Why would that kill us?" She looked terrified now.

Zan Arbor faced her and placed her arms on her hips, "Because I'm going to have to extract all of the energy in your cells to do it, thus ceasing your bodily functions," Or that's what I WOULD be doing, if this technology wasn't so STUPID!" She said, bashing her fist on the monitor

"We have enough power to commence the extraction process on one of them," The commando droid said.

"All because that boy's cells were too weak to handle the mesh trap," She said, before turning her head to me, "... I've got a game for you, fighter." She said.

"What?" I questioned. She walked over to me and looked me in the eyes while I stood suspended.

"You see, I'm trying to study the nature of medichlorians. Since the Jedi don't indulge in such intellectual matters, I could only turn to the separatists for support," She said, "My clients here are the backbone AND the consumers of this research... I can't disappoint them." I looked at Dama and Noirah, who were still staring back at me in shock and terror, but then Zan Arbor grabbed my face, making me grunt.

"PPAY ATTENTION!" She shouted before letting go and walking to the middle of the room again while facing my friends, "Thanks to you, disappointment is inevitable. I am forced to go back with only one sample when I promised them I would return three! Three clean and grand samples of fresh medichlorians! The only choice I can make now is... How good can that sample be?" She then turned back to me with a smug, but sadistic look on her face, "... You choose."

I nearly had a heart attack.

"What??" I asked.

"You know these two, their abilities, so... you be the judge." Zan Arbor said.

"What are you saying??" I scoffed.

"Hm, a fighter, but not so much an intellectual. I'm going to let you pick which of your friends I will drain the life out of for my research. You understand?"

"No!" I shouted, distressed.

"No?" She asked, "What part did you not understand? I can try to explain it bette-"

"I'M NOT DOING THAT!" I shouted, beating against my restraints again, but they didn't even budge.

"Yes you are," Zan Arbor said.

"They are approaching," A commando droid said.

"Who's approaching??" I asked.

"Doesn't matter," Zan Arbor said coldly, "Once THEY get here, it'll be too late for me. And if my activities are a disappointment, then all THREE of you will feel the brunt of that frustration. What's it gonna be? Gonna save just one of them or let them both sink?"

I looked at my friends in petrifying fear. They looked at me too, desperation in their faces.

"(Y/n)..." Dama said. His voice sent a flood through me, he was scared, his voice trembling. He looked to be on the verge of tears. If there were any tears not pouring through his eyes, maybe because they were filling up my own eye sockets. I could feel them slip past me as I looked at Noirah.

She didn't say anything, she was far too shaken to put words out. Tears were rolling past her cheeks too at this point, and she was frozen with terror, her mouth moved but she seemed to be in too much shock to force any words out of her mouth, instead just looking at me with scared eyes.

"DRAIN ME!" I demanded, "LET THEM GO! JUST TAKE MY LIFE!"

"That won't be a-" Zan Arbor said before I interrupted her.

"KILL ME!!!" I shouted furiously, "YOU CAN TRY AGAIN! JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE!!"

"That's not an option, boy," Zan Arbor said, "You're cells were damaged by the mesh trap, and now your medichlorians are inactive. Now quit wasting time and pick one!"

"I WON'T PICK!" I shouted, "LET THEM GO!"

"As if I-" she said

"PLEASE!!!" I begged.

"Aww... How sweet," She said, before turning back to Dama and Noirah, "Drain the girl and kill the boy," she ordered the droid.

"NO!! WAIT PLEASE!!" I shouted. Zan Arbor raised her hand for the droid to stop and looked back at me.

"You clearly care about them, so you must know which one should die and which one should live," Zan Arbor said, "You waste my time, make your decision now or I kill them both!"

I darted my head at both of my friends, who were shivering in terror at me. I looked between them both from my spot. I was overcome with both sorrow and fear. As always, it wasn't fear for my own, at least not on the surface. I hated being in this position. It sent tears of anger and frustration down my face. I felt so powerless. I wanted to do something. I wanted desperately to negotiate, to win over, to fight back... but there was nothing I could do.

You mfers have one week to decide in the comments who lives and who dies (This WILL affect the outcome of events in the story in the present)