David was currently looking at his Holopad and studying the layout of the city.
"For fuck's sake. We have been walking around this shithole for like hours now." Ben was completely furious about having walked that long. They were obviously lost in his opinion.
"Welcome to Nar Shaddaa..." Jack deadpanned nonchalantly while sighing and changing his focus to David. "How is it going with the map?"
"I think we managed to get a few levels up...Something like 3000 meters or something...I am still amazed at how we even actually managed to go so deep down without dying..." David was also slowly losing his patience navigating them back up.
He was at first angry from the start since it was Ben´s fault they were here but now it was more tiring than anything. So his anger already subsided greatly. That and the fact that they were friends. Most of it was practically already forgotten and forgiven.
Ben shortly glanced back at his friend David and then returned his gaze to his front. "Sorry again for this."
Jack smiled wryly. "Nothing that you could really do about it. If we didn't end up running, I think we would have been in much worse shit by now."
Then Jack thought about the 100 credits from that Twi´lek woman. "I wonder what was so important that she stole."
"Probably nothing special. A lot of shit is hitting the fan on all these worlds.", answered David.
"Yeah, you are probably right." Jack nodded to his suggestion.
"I am getting tired...Should we just end the day and search for a place to stay?" Ben was suggesting to them both.
"Mate, if we don't hurry up and get into contact with that crime lord soon, we will be doomed to be always running away our entire lives..."
"True that..." Jack snorted slightly in agreement. "Let's hope he ain't too..."
Before he could finish his sentence suddenly something small flew past Jack´s peripheral vision. He reflexively grasped at the spot where he suddenly felt a deep stinging pain. At the same time, he abruptly stopped walking.
"Huh?" Both Ben and David noticed his behavior and looked at him only to see him fall flatly with his head first to the ground.
"What the fuck? Jack!?" Ben frowned and came over to him.
But Jack could not react to his words anymore and only saw darkness in front of him.
-------
The darkness faded slowly and an unnatural picture appeared in front of him. It was very clear but at the same time blurry. The feeling was like he was watching it from afar into some little snowglobe.
A ratehr freaky out of body experience.
He saw a dark environment. Something like a cave. In that said cave a big triangular building was erected and at the top, there was another triangular object humming with a sinister red hue. It was producing electrical arcs that collided with the ceiling or other places and objects around it.
Beneath that triangular object very close to it, there were two small dots illuminated by the red lightning arcs around an sinister pulsing stone.
Magnifying them enough showed that they were actual people that seemed to have a confrontation - a fight.
And looking even closer to a human scale, one could now easily discern that those two people were using weapons. Those objects they were holding in their hands were lightsabers.
Each and every of their attacks collided with each other each time they swung. The buzzing and humming of their dance reveberating together with the arcs of lighting.
One figure wielded a crimson-colored blade and its counterpart held a pure blade with every color in it - white.
Colliding with each other more often than not at some point they locked their blades in a struggle. The figure wielding the red blade was clad in black armor with a black helmet coupled with a black cape.
"You have improved...But you are still far from being my match." A raspy voice travels through the mask the figure was wearing. It sounded mechanical and had no emotion to itself but coldness of the machine pumping the lungs.
Then after saying those words, he started to increase the pressure his opponent was subjected to. Enough that he pushed his enemy into submission, forcing the person to their knees to keep the grip on their weapon.
The wielder of the white blade was actually using two lightsabers in a cross stance to defend. "We will see about that." A female voice answered his provocations with clear confidence remaining in her struggle. Her face came closer to her own blades with every second and was illuminated in white and red from the sabers. On could see her gritting her teeth to withstand the masked man's assault.
"I can feel it...The guilt and fear inside you is slowly consuming you. You will not be able to defeat me like that."
"Graaaa!!" The female cried out in frustration and pushed forward against him with all her strength left making a slashing movement with both blades. Her attack was also imbued and strengthened by the Force.
With that, the black-cloaked individual was actually sent skidding on the ground away from her until about a few meters of space was created between them.
The woman huffed exhaustedly and looked with a tired yet firm gaze at her enemy. "Anakin..." She stood back up and prepared her stance once again to confront him further.
"I have told you...Anakin Skywalker is dead..."
A lighting arc crashed straight between them and the now identified dark lord looked over to the left where the triangular-shaped dome slowly started emitting more and more energy.
"..."
Then the dark lord looked to the other way with his half broken mask where another person slowly approached them.
He was also clad in dark robes and a mask also hid his face just like Vader's.
"Good, you are here as well. Take care of this Jedi...I will look at how to stop this weapon before it becomes useless." Then the dark lord started to turn on his heels and nearly walked away.
"You will do no such thing, Anakin..." The words from the other person were also scruffy and muffled through the mask. But they were demanding, cold and strong nonetheless.
And it actually got the Vader stopping in his tracks. "What was that?" He was once again called Anakin and now turned back to his supposed comrade. "You are going to betray the empire right now?"
"I have waited long enough for this moment. You will not stop me..." Saying those words the other person also grasped a cylindrical object from its belt and ignited the same red-colored lightsaber.
Not wasting any time he immediately charged Vader and both crimson saber wielding man collided into a heated saber flurry of striking and parrying. Ferocious strikes with intent to kill in them.
None of the two gave the other even the slightest space to retreat and they swung their sabers like maniacs while still holding their feet grounded at nearly the same spot when they contacted.
Every mistake could mean death. And then there it was.
The black-robed masked men slowly overwhelmed Vader that already had fought the woman and was slightly exhausted and with an outstretched hand, the robed man used an opening and telekinetically sent Vader flying meters backward where he slammed into a wall.
The electrical device near his chest that helped his respiratory started to squeal each time it pumped air into his lungs now. It was clearly damaged by this. Even Vader seemed to not be moving any longer.
"Just don't interfere..." The man then turned his head and looked over to the woman that was still shockingly looking at their confrontation.
Seeing that the new arrival approached her as well now she came back to her senses and entered her former battle stance.
But that was no use because the person instantly reached out his hand again and a sudden invisible grip lifted the woman up. Her face became distorted and pained.
Slowly walking and arriving at her side, the person looked at her pained face for a moment. Then he raised his blade to strike her down. But before he could do so the whole area together with the building around them started to vibrate strongly.
That let him look to his left where he saw the triangular object producing even more energy that was nearly at the point where it looked like to explode.
Just at the same time he felt something else and grabbed the wrist of the woman that was still lifted by him at lightning speed. Something seemed to have pulled at her and when she started to disappear slowly he also vanished into thin air with her.
Just at that moment, the whole energy the machine produced froze and started to go haywire resulted in a glorified explosion. Only engulfing Vader in it.
"No...That can't be..." A youth said in utter shock after he saw the black-robed man in front of him.
The young man that wore a white stormtrooper armor and had his black hair cut buzz-short stepped back and stumbled a little. He even gulped down his saliva in fear. "You were not supposed to get inside here..."
The woman that was grabbed was also here but she was currently lying on the ground and coughing.
The masked man looked around and saw only a dark space around himself. Then there were white outlined paths leading to what looked like windows.
Looking behind himself the masked man saw the place where he came from. The collapsed ruins were still shown in that little mirror.
"...Then you shouldn't have interfered, Ezra Bridger...But I do have to thank you..."
The youth looked at the man and couldn't understand why he suddenly said those words? "Did I make a mistake?"
"Maybe...I know what this place is...I have finally reached my goal..." The masked men deactivated his red lightsaber what surprised the young boy and the woman.
Then the man reached to his head,, revealing the helmet beneath the hood and pushing a button at the back of his mask that unlocked its safety.
Pulling the helmet off his head his face was now visible. "It has been so long...Sorry that I had to be so rough with you, Ahsoka..."
Seeing his face and now hearing her name the woman that already prepared for combat again stopped and stared at the face of the now unmasked man. "You!?" Her eyes became full of shock. "No...not you as well...I..." A pained expression surfaced on her face again.
----
But right at that moment the dream suddenly twisted and turned into oblivion and an incredible headache traveled through Jack´s head.
"Ugh...What the hell happened...?" Jack murmured groggily and moved his eyelids open to look around.
"Look who came back to the living. How are you, little sunshine?" A man asked him. Jack looked towards the sound but couldn't see the person's face since it was obstructed by a helmet.
"Jack! Are you alright!?" Ben looked back seeing how his friend was finally awake.
"Good, if you are awake, start walking by yourself, you heavy fuck." Another man said directly from his side. It looked like Jack was currently dragged around by two guys and they were not that happy to carry him.
Grumbling a little bit at first after being forced to stand on his own, Jack just tried to do as told. It was hard because he was still somewhat feeling disoriented. The forceful pushing from behind by the guys that carried him a moment ago did not make it better. But his head slowly cleared up and he stood upright again and managed to walk after a while.
Lifting his hands and searching for the reason why they felt so heave, he could see that they were currently cuffed.
´Shit...What the hell happened. Terra?´
[You blacked out, Jack. You got a tranquilizer shot to your neck.]
´And what about those weird images I have in my head? I feel like just a moment ago they were crystal clear but now they are so freaking scrambled up. I can't remember anything.´
[By the looks of it, the force gathered around you and gave you another vision. But the drugs seem to have an after effect that you can't remember. What a bummer.]
´So you can't do anything about it?´
[No, sorry.]
Jack cogged his head sideways and moved his jaw until it made a cracking sound. When he fell asleep he seemed to have hurt himself. But that was not his primary worry for now.
"So...What is about this hospitality? Are you after our money?"
"Oh, it looks like your mind is cleared up enough. Resilient fella, aren't ya. Nah, you, my friend, got worse shit to worry about than that. And if it were me I would have already killed you." The guy that seemed to be the leader of this kidnapper group answered.
"Its Grakkus, Jack. He sent these guys to collect us. Looks like he was not all too thrilled to find out about the empty cargo...." David explained.
"Shut up you little shit. You are going on my nerves with your constant high pitched sounds!" David received a clear hit to his head from another merc.
"Hey! We are cooperating, okay!? Stop hitting him!" Ben shouted at the guy.
"Even if you didn't we would have dragged you there. I must say you dimwits sure were hard to track since you got into trouble and went through the disposal vents. Anyway, you guys were late meeting with Grakkus so he told us to fetch you. You should have gone straight to him. Now I wonder what he will do with you."
"Shit..." Jack just cursed on this and his mind already started to think about solutions on how to get out of this shitty situation. At least alive if possible.
"Shit indeed." The merc leader chuckled under his helmet.