(no subject)
Part 1 - Distracted
Part 2 - Desperate
Part 3 - Proud
Part 4 - Devoted
Part 5 - Impatience
Part 6 - Contact
Part 7(a) - Curious
Part 7(b) - Curious
Part 8(a) - Heroes
Anakin braced himself against the wall of the tunnel, trying to remain out of sight. His muscles protested, ready for action, but he stayed still.
After a moment’s contemplation, Anakin peered out from his hiding place. He felt a small number of beings somewhere near the end of this long path, but he couldn’t tell exactly where they were.
He ground his teeth and groaned. This inaction was getting him nowhere. He ran a hand across his cheek, trying to wipe away some of the itchy, caked-on mud.
The darkness made it hard for Anakin to see more than a few feet in front of him. He squinted and tried to look down the dark hallway, but to no avail. He couldn’t even see any tunnel-dwelling animals.
“Patience, young one, patience.” Even when Obi-Wan wasn’t with him, he still heard the voice inside his head. Only this time, he didn’t think Obi-Wan’s guidance was going to get him anywhere.
Obi-Wan would probably want him to wait behind this wall protrusion until some terrorist came to find him because, clearly, defense was their best offense.
Instead of waiting, he clutched his lightsaber in his right hand and slunk down the hall, deep into the darkness, sticking close to the sticky dirt wall.
As he edged further down the tunnel, he heard a voice in the distance. A gravely male voice that seemed to get louder the further he walked.
Now he was finally getting somewhere. He stopped to examine the surrounding area, igniting his lightsaber as a torch. But the tunnel was empty.
He ran a muddy hand through his hair, unable to believe that a terrorist headquarters could be so poorly guarded. No droids. No security beacons. Only eerie silence greeted him. “These are some stupid terrorists,” he muttered.
Another voice joined the deep voice. The voices grew louder as he approached the end of the hallway. He saw a bright light coming from the branch to his left, and, with lightsaber blazing, he turned towards the voices and the light.
The only thing between him and the enemy appeared to be a large door. No droids. No guards. Nothing. Just like the rest of the tunnel.
He clutched his lightsaber and prepared to meet his enemy.
He touched the door pad, not really expecting it to be unlocked, but the door flew open without his having to enter a code. Before he opened the door, he focused on the Force for only a moment, and could almost hear a familiar voice said, “Be careful, Anakin. I love you.” He wasn’t sure if it was a wishful dream or a figment of his imagination, but her voice energized him and made him ready to face whatever lay before him. Anakin drew strength from her love and wrenched open the door.
To Anakin’s surprise, the door was unlocked, so he didn’t need to exert much force for the door to swing open. And when it did, the bright light hurt his eyes. It was such a vast contrast from the dark hallway and the rest of the subterranean tunnel system that he needed a second to adjust.
“Hello,” a large humanoid croaked through a closed mouth in the deep, gravel voice Anakin recognized. “We’ve been expecting you. You’re right on time, although not quite as we expected.”
“Oh really? What were you expecting?” His voice was deep and laced with sarcasm. Anakin clutched his lightsaber with his finger ready to activate it at a moment’s notice. He reached into the Force for guidance, feeling its comforting buzz around him.
“Jedi Skywalker,” a tall, thin humanoid said through his teeth. “We were expecting you to be dead.”
“Dead?” he spat, trying to hold back his obvious dismay. He looked at each of the rag-tag terrorists with a skeptical scowl. Four beings: two human, one humanoid and one alien. Each of the group wore drab grey uniforms with an inverted triangle logo. Anakin looked himself up and down, with his menacing scowl plastered on his face. “Apparently not.”
“How did he survive the river trap?” The alien turned to the humanoid and stuck out his thick green tongue. “I thought you said it was foolproof.”
“I thought you said the switch was Jedi-proof.”
Anakin rolled his eyes, but said nothing. As the terrorists debated amongst themselves, he surveyed the headquarters. The room was filled with different control panels and view screens, but they all seemed to be off.
“Gentlemen, enough. So he lived.” The female human shrugged and said, “We’ll just have to kill him now.”
Anakin’s head snapped to attention. He squeezed his lightsaber’s handle and was comforted by the blade’s familiar buzz.
“How are we going to do that? We sent all the droids after Kenobi.” The humanoid ran a pudgy hand through his graying hair.
“Blast,” Anakin said under his breath. Obi-Wan always got to have all the fun.
“Master told us Kenobi was the real challenge. And we are in no place to challenge the Master.” The alien said through clenched teeth, his furry face in what seemed to be a perpetual scowl. “This boy is a mere apprentice. We don’t need droids.”
“I am an apprentice,” he said with false humility. “Of course you don’t need droids.” His words were more like grunts coming out under his breath as he worked to subdue his enemies. As the small group argued between itself, Anakin managed to tie all four of them together, effectively immobilizing them.
“Sithspit!” The dark-skinned human exclaimed.
“Bantha poo doo.” The female terrorist grabbed at their bonds and spit at Anakin.
“Jedi scum, you have no idea the consequences of these actions.” The humanoid thrust his leg at Anakin. “You haven’t stopped the Revolution. You’ve only hastened your Master’s death.”
Anakin stood above the group with his lightsaber still in his hand, unlit. “You were saying?”
The alien terrorist clenched his paw and growled. “Skywalker. You haven’t defeated us.”
“Really? From my perspective, it looks like you are defeated.” He folded his arms across his chest and stared at his prisoners.
“Your pride does not suit a Jedi.”
Anakin shrugged. “Your ineptitude does not suit a terrorist mastermind.”
The four took a collective gasp. “We are not masterminds. The Master is all powerful,” they recited in perfect unison.
“I . . . see. And who is your Master?”
“We may only speak the Master’s name in death.”
Anakin’s eyes widened. He didn’t have a terrorist organization on his hands; this was a cult. “All right. Can you tell me his goals or his . . . mission statement or . . . manifesto?”
The female growled, “You have no idea what the plan really is.”
Anakin smiled at the group. “Why don’t you tell me the plan?”
“Idiot,” the alien spewed.
“Patience, Gor-L’ac, his time will come. Skywalker, why don’t you turn on the monitors to see for yourself?” Her voice was low and menacing, even calm, as she struggled against the bonds. “La Revolucion Forever.”
Before Anakin moved towards the monitors, he said, “What is this revolution? And is your Master someone so heartless to leave you so unprotected and defenseless?”
The dark-skinned human male stuck out his chin. “We are hardly defenseless.”
“Clearly.” Anakin looked at the group he had captured without much effort. “What is your cause? What is your revolution against?” His voice grew louder and more agitated. A vein in his forehead pulsed and his stare grew cold. “Tell me.”
“Turn on the monitors, and you will know.” The hairy-faced alien laughed. “You think you have hurt our organization? How wrong you are. La Revolucion is far more powerful and further reaching than just the four of us. The capture of four mere pawns can never dent the resistance!”
“Resistance from what?” Anakin ran a hand through his hair. “What is your cause? What could be so compelling to make you do something like this?”
“Jedi slime,” the graying humanoid spat.
Before Anakin could respond, the female yelled, “Vivimos, Count Dooku.”
“Dooku,” he growled.
“Vivimos, Count Dooku!” the other three said in unison.
And then, all was silent. The group of four became martyrs for Dooku’s cause, whatever it might have been.
Anakin turned to the group, and all four had gone limp and silent. In just a moment, they all had fallen.
“Suicide?” He grabbed the female’s wrist and didn’t feel any sign of a pulse. “She’s . . . gone. They weren’t kidding. Only in death could they speak his name.”
Anakin had never met Count Dooku, although he had heard countless stories from Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. Dooku had been Qui-Gon’s Master, so Dukoo was a member of Anakin’s Jedi family tree. He had once been a masterful warrior and a powerful master. The Order had been crushed when Dooku had become the twentieth lost Jedi.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After a moment, he approached the pile of bodies and tried to feel for any sense of life. “They’re all gone. But why?” The Force washed over him, and he knew there was nothing he could have done to save them. He couldn’t have known they had planned to take their own lives.
Trying to center himself in the force, he closed his eyes again. Surrounded by four dead bodies, he felt his connection to the Force become tenuous yet again. After a moment, he opened his eyes and turned to the monitors.
The screens lit and flashed images of what Anakin imagined was the underground bunker. He looked from monitor to monitor, amazed at the vast expanse of the base, but seeming lack of security forces. Before he saw the appropriate screen, he felt a tremor through the Force. “Master, ” he whispered.
His eyes became riveted to a monitor near the bottom of the furthest left part of the monitor deck. And there was Obi-Wan, covered with a web-like substance, unconscious, in the corner of a water-filled room, surrounded by large, menacing droids; the only droids he had seen in the tunnel or on any of the monitors.
“I’m coming, Master!” He reached through their training bond and sent comforting vibes. “I’m coming.”
To be Continued