The Force Wills - Chapter 74 (Patreon)

A/N: Yes, his name is 'Even'.  Keep in mind to avoid confusion. 

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“Just tell me the coordinates. There is no escape.”

Pain.

“There is no rescue coming.”

Pain

“We are in a prison you Jedi built. One we’ve made even more formidable.”

The electrostaff was applied twice.

“No rescue is possible.”

Painnnnn.

“Why endure this, Jedi?”

Even Piell opened his right eye. It was agony doing that small action and he glared at the A4 lab droid that was supervising his interrogation. These droids were usually used in medical applications and now with the few creative edits of their coding, they were an extremely effective tool for forcibly extracting information. It knew all the right ways to ease pain and suffering in patients, so now it just did the opposite. The droid also knew just how far it could go, then even went about healing the damage it had done, only to undo it all again.

All of his focus was inward, directing the Force to heal, soothe and on his Tutaminis to absorb the energy of the electrostaff. It wasn’t easy and he was steadily losing the battle to redirect that energy. The droid had long since deduced to what level he was resistant, given all the medical scanners it had built into its chassis. It had also resorted to injecting him with all a manner of concoctions that further strove to break down his command over his own body. It had gotten to the point that Tutaminis was actually a detriment. He couldn’t pass the absorbed energy into the chaotic flux of the containment field that was wrapping around him and the droid was now dishing out more than he could safely make use of internally.

He idly wondered how long he could keep going and immediately discarded the thought into the haze of pain. Turning his mind once again to his touchstones - his old missing left eye and the scars crisscrossing on that side of his face.

The memory of the battle in which he had suffered that loss, but gained so much in return.

He had been mediating and protecting a meeting of Corellian diplomats with his homeworld’s prince. Trying to peacefully end the Red Iaro insurgent movement that was trying to depose Lannik’s royal family, government and the traditional ways of their people, for a dictatorial extremist model.

Even had to fight off and defend against eight revolutionaries whilst still keeping his charges safe. Yet he had done it, despite the element of surprise against him.

He had slain six and wounded the seventh, but the cowardly leader of the Red Iaro, Zug, managed to flee.

He had been offered the best medical care on the homeworld and a new bionic eye. He could’ve had his face healed from the scarred mess it had become, but he refused outright.

It was his badge of honor and bravery, a constant reminder of triumph no matter the odds stacked against you.

This was no different.

He didn’t care that there was an entire CIS fleet up there with a dreadnought securing the system. He didn’t care that he was in a prison designed by the Jedi Order itself for housing those fallen to the Dark Side. He didn’t care if Dooku himself showed up to rip the coordinates of the hyperspace lane from his mind.

He would prevail.

Even if he died, he would prevail.

He had sworn his hands to the Republic and his mind to the ways of the Force. If his death would keep the Republic alive, then so be it. He had already made his peace with that by the third day of his interrogation.

“You’re weakening, Master Piell,” the A4 droid said matter-of-factly, in its deep, electronic tone. It tilted its long head and stared with four soulless red optics at him. “You decide when the pain will stop.”

The droid was quite correct of course, but the thought of breaking and revealing the secret was anathema. If he broke, it would reveal the truth of the coordinates, that the droids and that pathetic scum Sobeck had spent all this time for nothing. It would mean that more of his men would be tortured and he had to protect them from this. They could not survive what he could. He had to make this sacrifice for them.

“Just give me the information.”

He fought through the pain and agony, mustering precious energy, he had to string them along. “No droid will ever break me.”

It was so tempting to grit his teeth, to show some weakness, his muscles were screaming in pain, it battered against his consciousness and psyche.

He conquered it all, remaining an unfailing pillar of composure.

“You bring more pain upon yourself then, perhaps it is time to add a new level of fear and pain upon you,” A4 said, delicately stepping forward on its thin legs, bringing up its left claw. Numerous surgical tools popped in and out of the center of that appendage, as it slowly approached his face, until it settled on a thick needle which he knew would blossom open once it was stabbed into wherever it was going. Its final destination soon became very obvious as it aimed for his right eye. “Blindness. The lights are going out… forever. It is one of the greatest stressors to organic beings who have enjoyed it since birth. How will you fare, Master Piell?”

He wanted to laugh but didn’t dare. If his remaining eye would be the price to buy another few days, he’d pay it gladly.

He steeled himself and focused on the tip of that needle, he wouldn’t flinch. This body was crude matter, it wasn’t important. No matter what was done, as long as he still breathed, he would endure.

The door to the interrogation room hissed open and in the next moment the sound of multiple blasts from DC-15 carbines echoed through the room.

The A4 droid’s claw fell out of view and he could only feel a strange sense of loss.

He had been looking forward to the test that blindness would impose.

The droid was now dead, reduced to scrap, victim to an ARC trooper’s precise aim - coring straight through its long head, melting central processors and memory. The lone commando droid that had been handling the heavy lifting of the interrogation, suffered two shots to the back and head. It hadn’t even had time to turn around.

The two senior ARC troopers charged into the room, sweeping it efficiently and precisely, double-checking both droids and even delivered an extra pair of shots into the droids as a means of making sure.

Three Jedi followed and finally he allowed his heart to feel a sliver of hope.

He recognized Kenobi immediately, the master leading with a lit blade casting the cell in a bright blue. Behind two fully armored figures… ah yes. Skywalker and his padawan followed and it took Even a few moments to recognize Ahsoka Tano - she looked strangely taller and older…

A mystery for another time, yet his mind made a note of it. His secondary role was to serve on the Council of First Knowledge and the padawan had made a distinct name for herself among the members of that council… the Mandalorian Jedi… her black-white blade - the Darksaber drew his eye…

Later Even, later, he remonstrated himself.

Kenobi came forward holding out his arms and without hesitation Skywalker swiped his lightsaber through the lower emitter of the containment field.

Even was caught under the armpits even as he bathed in the full renewing effects of the Force as it streamed into him, no longer deterred by the chaotic flux of the energy fields.

Despite that he collapsed to a single knee the moment he was put down on his feet.

“Master Piell, are you all right?” Kenobi asked with urgent concern.

He didn’t bother with answering the question whilst directing the full brunt of his power to begin healing as much as possible without going into a trance or going overboard with it - which was just as bad. It was a delicate balance. “Obi-Wan, what took you all so long?” he asked gruffly.

Skywalker and Obi-Wan gave each other a look.

“Well, your sense of humor seems to have survived, master,” Skywalker said with amusement.

Even got to his feet, “It takes more than they got to break me, young Skywalker.”

“Apologies, Master Piell,” said young Tano, before she abruptly kneeled next to him and placed a hand on his head.

He felt the Force shift under her guidance, doing what he had been attempting but with far greater efficiency. His lungs seemed to breathe much more freely and with alarm he noted she directed her efforts to his heart… what?

Her efforts specifically focused on a number of critical autonomic nerves… which had been clearly damaged. They weren’t a danger now, but if he exerted himself too much-

He belatedly was reminded of the fact that no amount of Internal Control could really substitute for the touch of a dedicated healer and he recalled young Tano had spent a few years in the Halls of Healing as an adept. He nodded in silent thanks to the padawan when she finished. She nodded in reply and walked over to join the ARC troopers covering the door.

Obi-Wan reached into a pocket and produced his backup lightsaber that Even gratefully accepted. He would miss his main blade, another thing that bastard Sobeck would answer for.

“Master, you still have coordinates for the Nexus Lane?” Skywalker asked.

“Of course I do, you doubt my memory?” He looked around for the surveillance device he knew was overlooking the room.

“No need, Master Piell,” Tano said urgently, holding up a hand to stop him. “We’ve got surveillance bypassed and fooled for the moment. About six minutes left on the loop, then we may have a few minutes further before they notice it.”

Even shook his head to clear it, his large ears flapping. He was really off his game at the moment. That the rescue team had even made it this far without triggering an alarm was quite impressive. He stretched out with his perceptions and confirmed it, all the prisoners and activity was normal throughout the Citadel in general. “So we can talk freely. Good. Truth is, I only have half the coordinates memorized. My captain’s got the other half. I erased the computers when we were boarded and had both of us memorize part of the intel.” He walked over to the dead remains of the A4 droid, lightly kicking its still smoking head. “That way if I cracked eventually, the information would be useless to them without the other half.”

“It’s just as well then that we’re here to rescue everyone from this prison,” Obi-Wan revealed.

“Really? Ambitious, Obi-Wan, very ambitious.”

“Chrono ticking, we must go now,” Tano declared.

Her words resounded through everyone and Even raised a brow as he felt his heart and spirit buoyed.

They hurried out of the cell and he found himself beside Skywalker in the formation these ARC troopers were using. He also noted that young Tano was clearly taking point for the entire mini-company of 24 troopers plus Jedi. Her gaze through the Force was piercing through the many floors with well practiced ease.

A forward gesture and everyone began moving in a demonstration of efficient teamwork. Naturally, he had to enhance his legs and speed with the Force to keep up with the tall strides of all the humans and single togruta surrounding him. He’d be damned if he was going to be a burden here.

They sped down a corridor, turned right and halfway down she suddenly signaled a halt.

Everyone ducked to the sides and found bulkheads to take cover behind.

He heard the droid patrol, his highly sensitive hearing picking up their heavy footfalls and clanking - two B2s and one droideka.

They were coming from an intersection ahead, from the left.

The instant they came into view, Tano held up her hand.

All three droids jerked and their optics sparked and flared with light.

“Optical sensors malfunctioning, returning to maintenance.”

The droids turned around and began retracing their steps.

She held up her hand and gave a double gesture to advance with speed.

The assault team emerged from cover and began running in her wake. Every time they turned a corner in the dizzying maze that was the common feature of this prison, her hand gestured, the Force flexed and the surveillance sensors began fritzing and sparking.

The reason for her urgency became apparent when the air was rent with an alarm that echoed through the corridors.

“Sithspit,” she cursed. “Well, our fortune had to run out at some point! Move!”

The assault team was now outright sprinting and Even had to move faster to keep up.

They barely got ten meters before the Force screamed in warning.

Every Jedi’s lightsaber burst to life.

At the closest intersection another droid patrol stepped into view and opened fire.

Large durasteel panels from the floor and ceiling ripped off and hovered forward, stopping the brutal high rate of fire from the three B2s cold. Buying just enough time for the clones to fall into cover and return fire. Skywalker seemed to have pulled that trick and his padawan deflected blasts with the Darksaber and swiped her left hand through the air.

The Force twisted, flexed and he nearly felt the beginnings of an Emerald Judgment… but not quite, it twisted and arced its way through the corridor they were in, outright destroying the systems within the walls, leaving the smell of acrid smoke and burning electronics. The corridor was plunged into darkness and even the emergency lighting failed to come on.

Why she felt the need to do this he had no time to ponder, as he was too busy sending every bolt he could back to the enemy.

Two B2s fell under the combined fire of the clones, whilst the third died by Ahsoka sending one of her other lightsabers spinning forward in a blinding, spinning green flare of light.

They emerged into another corridor, where Skywalker this time released another quasi-Electric Judgment that also wrecked the electronics here.

It was another ten meters of sprinting in the darkness, when the team stopped and clustered around a recessed cell entrance.

Skywalker led the way this time, stabbing his blade straight through the door, killing a commando droid that had been on the other side.

The door opened into the ceiling and the low red light of a detention cell burned into their darkness-adapted eyes.

It was no impediment, as Obi-Wan and Skywalker blurred into the cell and cut down the four other commando droids guarding the prisoners here.

Six clones stacked on either side of the corridor, whilst the remainder went into the cell.

There were ten officer level naval clones here and three troopers, whilst the fourteenth person in this cell was the only unique face among them.

“General,” said the middle-aged human officer in a surprised greeting.

“Captain Tarkin.” Even rushed forward, deactivating his lightsaber and sensing the condition of the man carefully.

Besides a bit of bruising from being roughly handled by droids, his naval captain was in good shape. None of them had any signs of being interrogated, which he could only feel a bit of relief at… the plan had worked.

“You brought friends,” the captain said mildly.

“Tarkin, this is Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano, we’re being rescued.”

The ARC troopers began pulling off backpacks and began handing out DC-15S blaster pistols and ammo packs to the clones.

“And we’re being drafted it seems,” Tarkin raised an eyebrow as a clone commander handed him a pistol by the barrel.

Also being pulled out was a somewhat bulky utility belt that every ARC trooper also had.

“You’re going to want to wear these,” Obi-Wan instructed. “It’ll dampen your lifesigns and is a portable isomag field. This prison has numerous deadly defenses built into the walls and these will save your life.”

“Curious,” said Tarkin, but he nevertheless accepted a belt and clipped it around his waist, before holding the pistol in a shooting grip and testing the weight. “Now that you’ve found us and armed us, are you expecting us to fight our way out?”

“Yes, after we’ve created an army out of the other prisoners here,” Skywalker said with a grin in his voice.

“I can applaud such an ambition,” Tarkin said thoughtfully. “Do you have enough weaponry?”

“We didn’t come unprepared, Captain,” Skywalker answered. “Finding a droid armory would be helpful as well, which is one of our next objectives.”

Tano stiffened, “Droid squads approaching.”

The ARC troopers finished arming their fellows and they all hurried out of the cell, the padawan also stormed out, igniting not just her Darksaber, but also her two other blades, which hovered behind her.

“I hope your ship can run the security blockade, otherwise this whole endeavor is pointless,” Tarkin flexed his hand on his pistol’s grip.

“One step at a time, captain.”

Blaster fire erupted outside the cell.

Even rushed behind the other Jedi into the darkness of the corridor.

Two squads of B2s and BX commando droids were attacking from both directions. He felt his spirits soar and he immediately turned left, blade in hand and charged with Force Speed towards the enemy.

He barely needed to duck, thanks to his short size and swiped his blade through the legs of two BX droids, before grabbing them both in a telekinetic hold, sending them soaring into two other BXs, fouling their aim and erratic dodging movements for them to catch multiple blaster shots to the chest and head.

He jumped off the side of the corridor to gain enough elevation to stab his blade right through the sensor cluster of an advancing B2, then twirled it within, utterly wrecking the internals. A slight Force Push made sure the droid toppled backward.

Even jumped off that droid, deflecting more bolts in defense before landing on the head of another B2 and stabbing downward.

He flipped backward and grabbed the now dead B2 in a telekinetic grip as he landed.

His green blade chopped off the legs at the waist and now he could enjoy his own B2 shaped mobile cover.

He charged forward and sliced left and right, directing the dead B2 to take the enemy shots lancing toward him.

Then he ran out of opponents.

“Clear left!” called an ARC trooper.

“Clear right!”

He hurried back through the darkness, keeping his blade lit to see the details of the battle as he ran.

Two ARC troopers were helping one of their own who had gotten hit, trying to stabilize him. There were also a couple of dead naval clones, whose weapons were already being taken back by others. When he rejoined his fellow Jedi he had counted three dead ARC troopers from just this skirmish, their weapons and equipment also being taken off them.

It was a grim calculus that he understood.

“As soon as you stabilize him, Longshot, open an empty cell and put him inside, we have to move in thirty seconds,” Skywalker ordered over the squad radio.

“Now that we have a bit of time, you’ll need these,” Obi-Wan held out comlinks to Tarkin and Even.

He grabbed it and slapped it onto his forearm. A few taps of its controls and he could now hear what was going on over the squadnet.

“There wouldn’t happen to be an extra trooper helmet I could borrow?” Tarkin asked dryly. It was clear the man hadn’t liked being in a firefight in pitch darkness. “I felt like I was wasting my shots.”

“Dash, grab Whizz’s helmet,” Skywalker ordered.

A few moments later an ARC trooper came forward with a helmet from a fallen trooper and handed it over to Tarkin.

“Move out,” Tano ordered.

The assault group advanced out of the darkness.

Mere minutes of tense running later they were on another primary detention block. Obi-Wan used an Electric Judgement, but seemed to be able to control it better, only destroying systems on the floor. These were individual cells for prisoners.

“All units, remember, not all of these prisoners are clones or even human. You ask them if they want to leave, give them ten seconds, they don’t answer, you lock the door again.” Skywalker ordered.

Every ARC trooper stabbed hand held logic probes into the cell’s outer controls and four seconds later the doors opened.

Barely a minute later, the prison liberation was now truly underway as their ranks swelled by twenty - a mix of captured troopers, political dissidents from conquered Outer Rim worlds, a few engineers who had refused to work for the CIS but was too valuable to actually kill, there was even a wookiee - a Claatuvac navigator - who had been undergoing interrogation to reveal their secret hyperspace routes.

The latter was very enthusiastic, roaring with awakened battle lust and he had to be given a DC-15 carbine that he handled like a pistol before he settled down a bit.

“Easy, easy, Asarl, you’ll get your share of droid scrap before this day is over,” Tano assured.

“I want the warden, Jedi. Not this lifeless scrap,” the wookiee growled. “I want to rip his arms off and beat him to death with them, before taking his head back to Kashyyyk and the Guild!”

“We might not have the chance. All former prisoners listen up! You have each been assigned an ARC trooper partner, you will follow him and do what he does. You will stay in formation or you will die. When he shoots, you shoot. When he stops shooting, you stop! If any of you frak’s up and get others killed, you will be shot as an enemy infiltrator.”

As Padawan Tano spoke, Even finally understood what he had been feeling in the background and he saw the Force being weaved over the spirits and hearts of every trooper and former prisoner.

How?

How was it possible?

Who had taught her?

How could she have had the time?

He cleared the questions from his mind with a durasteel will. Later, Even, later.

They soon reached a maintenance tube to climb to a higher level but Skywalker whirled around.

“Incoming, take cover!”

Everyone did their best and the three senior Jedi charged forward as blurry forms to intercept a large force of BX droids that was bearing down on their position.

These were clearly not standard BX’s though, as each droid brought their left arms forward to activate a flat plane of red shielding.

The shields easily absorbed or outright deflected the blaster fire from the clones now streaming down the hallway.

That not a single stray bolt was hitting them in the back in a friendly fire incident was a miracle.

The BX’s held their own blasters right beside their shields and fired with the deadly accuracy the model was known for.

Skywalker swiped the air with his left hand.

An Electric Judgement shot through underneath the floor, whilst Obi-Wan used a Force Crush on the first line of BX’s - turning them to twisted piles of armored scrap.

Even leaped on the opportunity as he deflected blaster fire and used a strong Force Push on the scrap to slam into the next row of droids.

Their fancy new shields might stop blasters, but it didn’t stop the kinetic energy of that much mass propelled at nearly 90 kph.

It knocked over two lines of droids, creating a cascade effect on the ones further behind, fouling their aim.

Skywalked pulled his left hand inward with a closed fist.

A dozen shields were ripped right off the droids, taking their arms with them.

He, Obi-Wan and Skywalker were then among them, lightsabers flashing, slashing, twirling, cutting. They ducked, deflected and bounced off the walls.

Acting not as three individual Jedi but as a perfectly coordinated team through the Force.

In less than two minutes, it was over, and the smoking pieces of seventeen dead BX droids littered the floor.

Skywalker’s armored form regarded the mechanical carnage and the now empty corridor, hazed with ambient smoke, before he turned around and strode implacably back down towards the maintenance tube.

“We have five more levels to secure and liberate, let’s get it done.”

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The ARC troopers now equipped with the BX energy shields, moved as a mobile wall, their carbines poking over the top and firing at the enemy. The troopers immediately behind them added to the weight of fire, aiming over the shield line’s shoulders.

Behind them, Skywalker and Tano were using the Force in various ways to aid the fight; mostly using simple Pulls and Pushes, to devastating effect on the enemy - allowing the troopers to get easy shots and mow down the droids with speed.

When the front line of shields either overheated or needed to recharge, a new line of shielded troopers stepped forward through gaps that the previous line of troopers opened.

The smoothness, fluidity and teamwork was awe inspiring to watch.

It had already gotten to the point where the ad-hoc ‘liberation force’ of the Citadel, was numbering a full company in strength and they had run out of blasters to distribute among the prisoners willing to fight.

Scavenging weapons from the fallen droids proved impossible to use, as it was quickly learned that there was a failsafe mechanism in these droid E5 carbines that the prison used. If any organic tried to pull the triggers, it would lead to the weapon overloading in their hands.

Obi-Wan, who was with Even in the rear of the company prevented disaster, using the Force to hurl the weapon out of the ugnaught prisoner’s hands, where it detonated safely far down the corridor behind them.

It was quite difficult over the deafening din of fighting, but word was quickly spread throughout the liberation company of the danger.

It also meant that trying to take over any armory to distribute weapons was pointless. That at least simplified things in terms of their objective - to take the central control room where the warden Sobeck was sitting.

At this point, Even decided that it was best to stick to Tarkin in the middle of the steadily advancing company where it was relatively the safest. All the unarmed prisoners had clustered here as well. He dearly wanted to be at the front line or even the back line, but it quickly became apparent that it was foolish to risk the knowledge of the Nexus coordinates in his head at this point.

Tarkin, who was long since content with doing the same, had already given up his blaster pistol to another who had gone forward to fight. He kept the trooper helmet on, listening to the radio and was observing the unfolding asymmetric battle with keen interest.

The bubble of relative safety was constantly moving and was itself clustered to either side of the corridor, where they could dive for cover if needed. They could even speak somewhat, as long as they shouted a bit.

“Master Piell!” Takin nodded. “Taking a breather from battle?”

“I’ve risked myself enough, considering what I know.”

“Good. I must admit that the battle plan for this operation is not one I would’ve expected from the Jedi.”

“I doubt the Council ordered this precisely,” Even grumbled. “No, they would’ve asked that we be evacuated to save the Nexus coordinates and any other prisoners only if possible. It’s Skywalker and Kenobi’s interpretation of those orders that brought us to this.”

Any further conversation was interrupted, when the call came through that they were approaching another wing of detention cells. At this point it was the former prisoners who had been given the logic probe slicers to open the doors and help to get yet more people out of the cells.

Even played supervisor and made sure that things went smoothly.

“If this keeps up we’re going to run into a problem soon,” Tarkin said thoughtfully.

“What do you mean?”

“If Sobeck believes he’s lost the prison entirely, that there’s no hope for repelling our assault, then he might decide to do something rather rash.”

Even frowned at the former governor of Eriadu, “Self-destruct the reactor?”

“Possibly, in my own interrogation sessions-”

“What? You were…”

“Of course I was, Master Piell,” Tarkin said in an obvious tone. “I was the Republic Naval captain of the ship. They deduced that if anyone would also know the Nexus route, it would be me. They also wanted to know command codes, procedures and any new technology that I might know of. You see no visible sign because they used a scan grid.”

“The mining tool?” Even asked in disbelief.

“Ingenius is it not? It creates constant electrical pulses into minerals to gather data on its composition. Yet when you expose a person’s face to one, you stimulate every pain receptor in that area without causing actual physical harm.” The company began moving forward again and the sounds of battle died down. “To get back to the point, Sobeck only appeared as a hologram briefly in one of my… sessions, to ask a direct question. He clearly goes out of his way to keep distance from his enemies, ostensibly to protect himself. It is either cowardice or prudence, though I’m leaning towards the latter. He’s someone who always wants to keep his options open. If we remove that from him, if we besiege him inside his control room…”

“He might call down a legion of droids from the security fleet above us,” Even deduced.

“Whether he is also truly in charge of that fleet is another question. He might have discretionary control, but all it would take is one holocall from Raxus Prime or Serenno and then we’d have the Citadel bombed to scrap by squadrons of Hyena droids. Neatly solves the problem.”

“The Separatists would be losing the Nexus Route then. Its strategic significance is too valuable to lose.”

“That might buy us some time,” Tarkin conceded. “If the situation here deteriorates too far, then Dooku might decide that if he can’t have the Nexus Route, then no one will have it.”

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47 minutes.

It had taken that long just to make it to the massive, double reinforced bulkhead doors behind which the warden, whose name was Osi Sobeck - Thank you, M8 - presided over the Citadel prison.

There were two corridors that converged into a T-junction and a short ten meter corridor that led to the control room.

Those ten meters were a literal no-man’s land at the moment.

It was protected by three redundant heavy Repeaters under direct computer control. The floor was electrified, magnetized and had grav traps. He could even throw out walls of advancing electrified plasma - which was an entirely new system.

If those weren’t bad enough, M8 had scanned that the doors were interlaced with phrik.

Sobeck had very deep pockets to splurge so much of that very expensive material on a door. Phrik was lightsaber resistant and it would take every blade we had, working for hours to cut through.

At this point, the upper half of the Citadel was ours, and the majority of the ARC troopers and our guerilla fighting force was working their way down to capture the main reactor and geothermal power taps. Anakin was leading that effort and so it was down to me, Obi-Wan, Rex and the best of his ARC troopers, to get into the control room and deal with Sobeck.

Master Piell and… Tarkin, along with the moderately injured, were now holed up in a nearby fully outfitted sick bay that was still intact. Sobeck clearly wanted the full facilities available to save his own life if he became sick or injured in some way.

I tried my best not to think about Tarkin and failed.

Wilhuff Tarkin.

I imagined many times during the battle how easy it would be, to convincingly fail or flub a blaster bolt deflection at just the right time.

Yet, while those blasted coordinates sat memorized in his skull I couldn’t do it. On the contrary, I had to keep him alive.

The Nexus Route was a door to possibly bring about a whole set of endgames to the Clone War that was most definitely in my own interest and the galaxy as a whole.

Again my emotions on what a future, older Tarkin would do was warring within my mind. This younger Tarkin had not yet turned into an old monster that would order the Death Star to destroy Alderaan. He had not yet formulated the Tarkin Doctrine of the future Imperial Fleet. He had not become the corrupt Grand Moff Tarkin, lording himself over his entire home sector with a despotic fist in the interest of the greater good and order, whilst enriching himself.

The Wilhuff Tarkin of the Clone Wars was someone I could very much empathize with and even like. I had discreetly done my homework long ago on certain major figures, including Tarkin.

He had been a major leader in Eriadu’s Outland Regions Security Force. Something the wealthy planet had formed in response to the inaction of the Republic’s Judicial Forces to properly deal with pirates and privateers in the Seswenna sector. An endeavor which they had succeeded at wonderfully - to the point where it was commonly known among the pirates of the galaxy, that if you wanted to die, try raiding Seswenna.

To this day, the ORSF used the ‘Tarkin Punishment’ on captured pirates and their ships - their nav computers were sabotaged, the pirate ships and crews were then given a one way ticket directly into whatever star was closest.

When he became governor of his homeworld, he wisely guided them to full economic independence and wealth. A true Outer Rim success story. By virtue of this, the world became a model other outlying worlds aspired to and in turn attracted the attention of those who wanted it for themselves. Dooku had been at the head of that queue, eager to see the wealthy planet, which was situated at the confluence of six major hyperspace lanes, brought into the CIS fold.

Tarkin, however, remained loyal to his political sponsor Palpatine and in the process prevented the CIS from bringing the Republic to its knees financially in the early days of the war.

If only I could somehow get Tarkin out from Sidious’ corrupting thumb. That alone would be a punch to Palpatine’s metaphorical face in the war being fought in the shadows. A true defeat he would have to swallow.

“Any ideas Master Kenobi?” I asked as I leaned against the wall of the junction, my face mere inches away from death.

“We’re a bit tapped out for more Electric Judgements, Ahsoka,” Obi-Wan mused next to me.

I nodded in agreement. We could throw out more, but we had to be frugal with our strength. Our survival and continued freedom was riding on a fine knife edge at the moment. We couldn’t afford to tire ourselves out. It would also have been nice to just throw a Force Sleep over Sobeck, but the entire Citadel was built to house Dark Jedi. The control room had redundant flux shielding covering it - that imitated the effect of a containment field. I could somewhat sense the warden in there, but trying to manipulate the Force actively in that shielded control room from the outside was almost impossible.

“Droid poppers?” Rex suggested from his position next to Obi-Wan.

On the other side of the corridor, Cody shook his head. “The Repeaters would slag them out of the air.”

“Sobeck has accounted for that,” I said ruefully. “Even if they could detonate in range, M8’s scans indicate the physical shielding on the electronics and the Repeaters in this corridor are too thick.”

“There has to be a weakness,” Rex practically snarled. “No defense is perfect.”

“He’s still communicating and ordering his droids about,” Obi-Wan pointed a finger at me with a mischievous smirk.

“M8, are you detecting hyper signals from inside the control room or are they hardlines to repeater antennas?”

“Both, master.”

I chuckled as I deduced the idea Obi-Wan had. Another benefit of spending over a year living with the man in a Jedi Chapterhouse, training together, sharing insights and debates on the Force and many other subjects.

“Direct us to the closest antenna, M8.”

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A large fist smashed into a computer panel.

“Stupid droids!” roared Osi Sobeck into the holo, where a BX captain commando was displayed. “You’re the best in the CIS. I improved your coding myself, the hardware… all of it. You have the latest technology, the shielding and you still FAIL!”

“Commander Sobeck, your diatribe and anger is illogical. Our data on Jedi do not conform to what is being observed from these.”

“I don’t care. You will defend the main reactor to the last.”

“Roger, Commander.”

Osi shut down the holo, stabbing his finger onto the touchpanel so hard, he nearly sprained the joint.

“Status?” he demanded of the TX-20 tactical droid, seated at the secondary controls of the prison’s many surveillance systems, what was left of them at least.

“Levels five through twenty have all fallen to the enemy.”

He wanted to scream.

It was impossible. So many months spent in planning, execution, installing systems and defenses in this prison - yet it didn’t even slow these Jedi down. He had studied everything he could on their abilities and built on the foundation that the Jedi themselves used to contain their own kind who had committed crimes according to their religious doctrine. He should have already subdued all three of them and easily mopped up the pathetic clones that came in their wake.

Reality was not conforming to his plans and expectations.

They seemingly had an answer for every gambit, trap, droid and system he threw in their way.

“Commander, incoming transmission from Count Dooku.”

Osi turned in his chair to face the holo and steeled himself. What did he want now? He had been on holo with the man more than thirty minutes ago after the alarms had automatically sent notifications offworld.

A hand sized, full body holo appeared of the executive leader of the CIS. “Commander Sobeck, have you made any progress?” Dooku asked in his usual stern manner.

“Pacification operations are still under way, Count.”

“Most curious. You would think that with all the resources poured into the Citadel that you would’ve been successful by now.”

Osi tented his long fingers, “The Jedi and Republic strike team have caused chaos by freeing the prisoners and arming them, including disabling a lot of the pacification systems. It’s naturally delaying things, but their capture is inevitable. They cannot reach me here and I will drown them in droids. There is already a droid carrier on its way from the security fleet.”

“Excellent, make sure of it, commander. The Nexus Route must be ours-”

“Commander,” the TX droid interrupted.

Osi felt his temper surge. “I’m on holo with Count Dooku! Whatever it is can wait!”

“Commander-”

He surged to his feet and pointed his blaster pistol directly at the tactical droid’s head. “Stupid droid! Can you not understand-”

His very dangerous, illegally modified blaster pistol fired.

The orange bolt slammed into the faceplate of the tac droid and bored a hole the size of a fist straight through.

The tac droid collapsed forward in its chair.

Osi stared in astonishment down at his hand holding the blaster.

I did not pull the trigger, he thought incredulously. Yet it still fired!

The holo of Dooku raised an eyebrow. “So hard and uncompromising on your droids, Sobeck? They are expensive.”

In that moment, he felt as if his entire right arm was being smothered with a giant hand holding it. Then, slowly, against his will and all his strength, his arm was moved, it pulled inward and up…

Fear surged through him. He grabbed his own right wrist with his left hand and wrestled with his rebellious right arm, to no avail.

The barrel of the blaster agonizingly came up…

“No!” he shouted and grit his teeth with effort as finally the weapon was now aimed at his own head.

“That is quite a predicament you are in, Commander Sobeck,” Dooku smirked.

“What! What is this?! How… are you doing this!?”

The barrel was pressed directly against his head, his hearts were thundering in his ears.

“You really should keep that temper under control, Sobeck. If you had just let your tac droid speak, it would’ve told you that it had detected an anomaly in the transmission you are seeing. Most likely in the localizer subchannel encryption, not easy to convincingly fake that.” Dooku now smiled in a manner that was completely unlike the man. It was almost cheerful and full of mischievous energy.

“Who… who are you?”

Dooku shrugged, “You don’t need to know. Suffice it to say that your arm is now mine. You will deactivate the systems protecting the control room and open the doors or you will die.”

Osi glared at the blaster and his traitorous arm briefly as he tried to think. “You… you have to be one of the Jedi outside. You wouldn’t… your kind doesn’t…”

“What? Kill using the Force in this manner?” The Dooku imposter thoughtfully scratched his gray beard. “Perhaps if you faced any other Jedi in the galaxy, that would be true. Few can do this little trick though. However, I don’t have to justify to you whether I will carry out this threat. We can do this the easy way or the not so easy way. It’s just a matter of choosing which path you’ll take. You’ll open this door or I will make you.”

Osi felt an invisible hand suddenly seize control of his left arm and pulled it away towards the control panel on his left side. His chair decided to betray him as well and it turned to face the massive touch sensitive screens and panels that controlled every system in the prison.

“I’ve had a chance to see what you’ve been doing to the inmates since the war started, Sobeck. Spoke to a few of them.”

His fingers were forcibly splayed open, then all but the index finger were pushed inward. His left arm and finger moved forward slowly and agonizingly, then began tapping on the buttons.

“No!”

“Yes. Nothing I can do really balances the scales of the horror you’ve indulged in here.” The shielding flux system was powered down. “A scan grid? Really? Of all the ways and methods invented over thousands of years, I really have to hand it to you, that didn’t occur to anyone.” The plasma walls were shut down and all the grav traps throughout the prison. His arm moved to another screen and the magnetized flooring was shut down. “You know there are many of the prisoners who would like to meet you in person and express their appreciation for the services you’ve provided. There are a number of them beyond the main door. Especially of interest is a wookiee from the Claatuvac Guild.”

Osi’s eyes widened and he couldn’t help but stare at the large doors.

“Ah, I see you know the implications of that and what would happen if he got his claws on you.”

Power to the exterior Repeaters were switched off and were put in standby mode.

His hand now inexorably moved towards the door controls - and his death.

“There is only one way you can save your life now,” said the fake Dooku solemnly, as Osi’s finger pushed down on the button that opened the first layer of exterior blast doors.

“How?!” he asked desperately. The question tore itself from his mouth and he was horrified that it had happened. He was caving… he was breaking…

“You will contact the incoming droid carrier and tell them that you managed to pacify the prison, everything is under control, they can return to the security fleet. Order them back. Don’t try any tricks or duress codes, we will know and then the last thing you will experience is a wookiee dismembering you.”

Hope and defiance seemed to drain from him. They were alien concepts to him now. It was impossible to win. Foolish to have tried fighting the Jedi or even accept this posting.

“Fine!” he blabbered frantically. “I’ll do it just… please… don’t open the door.”

“Why not? You think we’ll just let the wookiee have you anyway? Please Sobeck, we are Jedi. Our word, once given, is absolute. As long as you do what we ask.”

His chair turned, now facing the holo again. His hands moved to the controls and they opened a secondary channel.

“Droid Carrier 092346, responding,” said the tinny voice of a B1 pilot.

“This is Sobeck,” he swallowed, trying hard to keep his voice steady. “Emergency is over. Prison is secure. You can return to the fleet.”

“Uh, are you sure, sir?”

“Are you questioning my orders?!”

“No, sir. Returning to ship, roger roger.”

His hands closed the channel and the chair turned back to the control panel.

“What are you doing?”

His finger moved to the button that would open the final inner door.

“Don’t!” he said frantically, his breath coming in gasps as he tried with all his might to resist the force controlling his body.

The button was pushed.

His chair turned around to face the door, the pressure now spread all over his body… he couldn’t even speak now, he could just barely breathe.

The doors split open and beyond it was only darkness, he could just barely make out a tall figure which moved and sprinted forward…

“NOOOOOOOO!”

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed and stay awesome.