"Nothing on this ship but boring rich people stuff," said Anakin, stepping onto the wide bridge where Akya and Artoo were looking at the cruiser's cargo manifests and hyperspace logs. She knelt next to the astromech, watching his arm turn through the data access port.
"That makes sense," she said. "But I went to the cargo hold to cross check with the manifest, and there's something that isn't here," she added, handing Anakin the data pad.
"And what's that?" Anakin knelt next to his droid, too.
"2300 pounds of duracrete." She scrolled to the bottom of the list, where the words indicating the order were highlighted in red.
Anakin stared at it for a moment, scrolling through the list. "All this other stuff is normal," he said. "Clothing, fabrics, serving droids, furniture, food. But the duracrete doesn't make any sense."
"Did you ask our friend what he does for a living?" Akya asked, referring to the owner of the cruiser.
"He owns a hotel. I checked. It's a real place."
"So why is he bringing 2300 pounds of duracrete on vacation with him?"
Suddenly, R2-D2 beeped with eureka, signaling them to turn to him. "What is it, Artoo?" asked Anakin, putting his hand on top of the droid. He beeped again, and Akya looked to Anakin to translate the astromech's language.
"This ship made a stop on Geonosis," said Anakin gravely. "In the same district where the Separatists manufacture some of their tanks and walkers."
Akya scrunched her brows. "And Obi-Wan told us the weapon was equipped on one of the cannons of a Separatist tri-legged walker."
Anakin glanced at Akya, then scrunched his brows, looking down in thought. "Hey, Artoo, how much does a tri-legger weigh?"
The astromech beeped in reply, and Anakin looked back up at the Padawan, his eyes wide. "About 2300 pounds," he repeated.
Akya put her hand to her chin in thought, a habit she's adopted from Obi-Wan. "Artoo, can you see if they picked up any cargo on Geonosis? And see if there's any communication logs?"
The droid beeped in accordance, and continued spinning his arm inside the data port. "Thanks," Akya said. She then looked up at the Jedi Knight in front of her. "I think we're going to need to bring our guy in for questioning," she said.
"Are we going to keep searching ships?" he asked.
"If this is our guy?" she added. "No way. Besides, it's getting dark. We should go back to the factory and see what Master Obi-Wan and Ahsoka have been up to."
R2-D2 beeped again, and Anakin reacted suddenly. "Really?" he said. Artoo made noise again, shortly this time. "What?" Anakin said.
"What is it?" Akya asked eagerly.
"The duracrete," said Anakin. "That's what he picked up on Geonosis. And the communication logs are locked. He can't get into them, not even with the president's clearance codes."
Akya nodded. "This is him, then."
Suddenly, the ship's owner walked through the door. In the span of an hour he'd gone through an outfit change already. "Are you two almost done?" he asked, his arms crossed. None of his guards trailed him, which seemed odd. "I've got guests for dinner, and I don't want two Jedi lurking around. You'd make me look bad."
Akya stood up straight, and Anakin mirrored her actions. "Sir, we'd like to take you in for questioning," she said. "We've got a couple things to ask you about your ship's data logs."
The man took a slight step back, and his eyes went wide.
"Sir, really, we just want to talk," said Anakin, holding up his palms to signify he wasn't going to hurt him. The man glanced out the door behind him, eyes still wide.
"Guards!" he called, and the two guards that had greeted them at the door earlier stepped inside the bridge— they had been hiding behind the wall on the sides of the door. They had their blasters out and began shooting on stun mode, but the two Jedi were faster than them— they had already ignited their lightsabers, and sent the blasts right back, knocking out the two men easily. The ship's owner had already run off the bridge.
"C'mon," Anakin said, retracting his lightsaber blade and running out after him. Akya did the same, but turned around before she completely stepped out the door.
"Artoo, download everything," she told the astromech. "Then get yourself out of here. Find Rex." He beeped in accordance, and Akya rushed out.
She and Anakin followed the man all the way down to cargo storage, where he lost them in between the rows of crates and racks of clothes. He did have quite the amount to wear, this man. He wasn't the quickest runner, but knew his ship, and was rather adept at hiding. After searching for him for a minute or so, the two Jedi heard a clatter coming from the corner of the room. They glanced at each other, then ran toward the source of the sound.
They stopped to find the man pushing on a part of the wall, using all his might to try and press that section of the siding in. To Akya, it just looked like a wall— but she decided it was better to be safe than sorry. Unfortunately, before they could stop him, the man succeeded in his mission, and the wall clicked, then expanded outward, revealing two rows of armed B1 battle droids waiting to be activated. He backed away, pushing the activation button quickly. Once the droids were released from their holds, he ran off.
"That's just great," said Akya, slipping her cloak off her shoulders and letting it fall onto the floor. She ignited her lightsaber. Anakin did the same and they stood back to back, waiting for the droids to take their first shot. As soon as they began firing, Anakin and Akya swung their lightsabers and deflected the blasts back at them, sending the droids flying. They slashed through them as if they were nothing, and it took a couple minutes, but the 20 battle droids were all soon disabled.
Akya retracted her blade, breathing heavily. "I really hope he doesn't have any more tricks."
"I don't know, this is kinda fun," said Anakin with a smile, walking in the direction the man went. Akya rolled her eyes.
"I see why Obi-Wan thinks you're such a pain," she said, following him. Anakin just smiled at her again.
They found the man further into the cargo area, where he was hiding between a couple tall crates and the wall. They did not ignite their lightsabers, as he was unarmed, but they did walk toward him, as they very much intended to take him in, whether that be to the Kisorixian government, or the Republic. He had cornered himself, and they walked slowly in his direction, as not to scare him.
"Sir, we don't need to do this," said Anakin, calmly.
After a second, there was a quick disturbance in the Force, like a slash from a metal sword. Akya and Anakin glanced at each other, both confirming they'd felt the sudden disturbance. They looked behind them to find the faces of two tall droids with glowing eyes, each of which knocked a Jedi over the head before they had a chance to get out their sabers, leaving both Akya Sagral and Anakin Skywalker out cold.
a.n.:
THURSDAY!!! omg what's happening next?? i LOVE leaving you on a cliffhanger. i just love it.
anyone else been on bad batch brainrot? i love my boys. and omega.
don't forget to vote!
molly