I didn't need directions. No finger pointing, no map. I knew where it was. Could feel it in my very soul from what the Jedi call it.
I walked down the hallways of the ship, hearing it creak and groan from being tethered by the pirates' but I paid it no further mind. My objective was near, and my focus was solely on it. My arm if you will, a piece of my body.
My lightsaber.
I entered their room, shared but not used in any way that would break the Code. I'd have to get used to that if I wanted my plan to work but that will be after the Jedi are rescued. Which would be after all of the enemies were killed. Which would be after I find my—
I reached out with the Force and PULLED, ripping up the access panel on the floor and my lightsaber flew into my hand. It was wrapped up in bindings but I undid them with simple ease. The Jedi Masters didn't have more to secure it with. Finding me was not their main mission but it happened nonetheless. The Will of the Force maybe? Even I know I must walk it's path sometimes. My fate may be my own but how I get there is always up to the decisions I make.
I pulled apart the fabric that covered it and my spirits soared at seeing my creation again. It had felt like a long time since we had been together, which in actuality it had been and I couldn't wait to use it again. Just being with it brought me more strength than I'd hoped for and didn't want to waste it.
I looked around the room and picked up a stray robe one of the Jedi had dropped at some point in the journey. It was light brown in color and simple fabric but it completed the look. It was also part of my growing plan. I retraced my steps now in more of a hurry to use my newfound strength before it collapsed on me and found the Twi'lek woman just finishing up the meal.
"Let's go, no more time to waste. They've probably sent another boarding party to find out what's going on."
She stood up too and nodded her head, placing a communicator on the table.
"I've been listening in on their conversations. They've been calling for the team you killed since you left and are about to send some more over."
I looked down at the device and wondered when she had time to pick it up.
"I grabbed it as we were searching the bodies. You seemed to distracted by the food for me to bring it up," here she had a slight blush and averted her eyes. Yes, my table manners weren't the best at the moment, I know.
I nodded my head, "Good, we'll proceed to the docking tube and listen to what they're saying. Anything happens on our way there, relay it to me right away in case we may need to change our plan."
She didn't answer as she got up and took out her blaster while picking up the comm device and leading the way. That was about all the acknowledgment I got from her as I followed behind. We passed my containment room and I used the Force to pull a blaster from one of the dead bodies to me. She gave me a look after seeing my lightsaber dangling on my belt so I explained.
"They think they have all of the Jedi. If we make them believe there's still more on this ship along with more crew, they'll get spooked and won't act too hastily. We use that to get the jump on them as we strike fast and hard. Lightsaber will help with the more Jedi part but two blasters firing over the comms will do the rest."
She understood and didn't break stride the entire time and we approached the docking tube. Like she said another group was making their way through it towards our side and we needed to get set up now to get the jump on them. We stacked up just to the side of the entryway with me taking the lead position. I didn't need to tell her the plan since it was mostly a 'follow my lead' type of thing. We waited with baited breathe until the group got closer.
Suddenly the comm went off. Luckily it wasn't ours but it brought the group to a halt so they could answer it.
"Let me," the Twi'lek Captain moved closer and we switched places so she could hear.
"Where are you, have you found the group yet.
No, we're still in the docking tube, about to cross over.
Forget it, just come back, we have them trapped on our ship and losing one Twi'lek won't hurt our profits.
Understood, we'll get back across and—"
I didn't let her keep translating as I was already sprinting around the corner. I fired the blaster four times only aiming for the largest masses of body that I could find and then activated the lightsaber. The angry yellow glow of it illuminated the docking tube and the hum of it turning on distracted the group of now 6 able standing pirates, three were down but still alive from my shots while one was dead already. In the instant before it got crazier I saw the comm speaker at the back of the group and his eyes went wide. Still not caring about their race I sliced the closest one to me in half and ducked down. The Captain leaned out from her cover and shot a couple times, clipping two to bring them down and making the other three dive for the floor. As I passed the three I shot I sliced them clean through without braking stride and continued on my path shooting some more to drown out the comms guy from talking accurately.
One of the downed pirates the Captain shot tried to fire back at her but I batted the bolt away into his companion on the ground and then cut off his arm. His screams mixed in with the yell of the last three, especially the comm guys' but both were silenced when the Captain stepped out again and let a blaster bolt hit them square in the head. The last two tried to get back up and one even pulled out a grenade but before he could prime it I froze him with the Force and ripped the grenade from his hands. Because of my lack of strength I didn't want to move and break my concentration but I didn't have to as the Captain leaned out once more and ended both their lives for me.
It was a quick battle, but I had to wipe a flood of sweat off my forehead and catch my breathe from it. The Captain moved up next to me but quickly made her way to the pirates side of the docking tube and fiddled with the controls on it.
"You alright?" She called out to me once she was finished.
"Just, a little more exercise than I'm used to. Haven't done stuff like that in a while."
I stood up straight after getting my breathing more under control.
"So, did it work? They think there's more of us to fight than they thought?"
"Yes, I was able to kill the communications relay before he accurately described our numbers to those still fighting the Jedi so they think a considerable force is moving towards them right now. I also just manually disabled the docking controls so now they'll have to come down here to undo the docking tube and break away from the Siren."
I didn't comment on the name of the ship coming up again and just plowed through it. "Good, now we just have to find out where the Jedi are, rescue them, make sure these guys don't come after us again, and get to safety. Any ideas on that first part?"
She hadn't looked at me since asking if I was okay—which was good because I did not want to look anymore weak in front of this woman—and continued to fiddle with the console.
"Yes, actually. They seem to have pushed the Jedi back to one of the lower levels. No way of escape since they're standing at the only exit. Now it seems they've sealed the bulkhead door so as to prevent our 'army' from helping them."
"You got a map?"
She pulled up the comm device she took and projected a 3D map for me to see. The three yellow blinking dots clustered together were the Jedi and the red blinking dots, more like a single unit from how close they were, were close to them but not to close. Her analysis of them being boxed in and being waited out was accurate but that's not what my focus was on.
"What's this room here?" I pointed to the one just above the room the Jedi were in.
"That would be the.....mess hall."
".....any chance we can get to that?"
She looked at me like she didn't know what I was talking about but indulged me.
"Yes it would be easy to get to the mess hall from here but the Jedi are beneath it."
"I know, so instead of going to them, we make a hole in the floor, so they can come to us."
She thought this through for a couple moments as she weighed the pros and cons.
"Don't you think the floor would be too thick to cut through even with your lightsaber?" It seemed like a genuine question.
"The outer hulls of ships are the thick parts but the floors and ceilings shouldn't be. I mean, this type of ship probably has tons of smuggling compartments in it from previous owners and are ready for new ones to be put in."
"Let's try it on the floor above us just in case. We don't want the plan to not work in the heat of the moment and not have a backup."
This woman was smart. No wonder she saw through my ruse in the isolation chamber. I nodded my head and checked with her that the ceiling above us led to a room and not the vacuum of space. I then cut a 1x1 foot box to show her and the piece of metal fell and clanged onto the floor at our feet showing the room above us. She took my word for it then.
"Alright so while you do that, what should I do?"
"You, will be the distraction. They think a small army is coming at their backs and you will provide it for them. We'll retrieve the blasters of the guys in the docking tube and then you'll set up at the door they just sealed. When I tell you to, you'll blast away at it with every weapon here so as to make them believe we're trying to get into the room. I don't think they'll be to bright enough to realize what's really going on and assume they were the smart ones to seal the door and take care of us after they've dealt with the Jedi."
"And what if the other ship tries to dock again to help out? We can't take on that many people, you said it yourself that you're pretty weak right now."
"The other ship won't. They already have their prize and won't risk losing it. They'll stay where they are and cut ties with this ship to make some credits if need be. They're pirates, it's in their nature."
Again she debated this in her head and I let her. I know it wasn't fool proof and there were a lot of holes but we were also pressed for time. I would be losing strength and trying to convince the Jedi who put me in chains that I was there to help when I was to weak too move was not on my list of things to do.
"Fine, we'll go with that. But I'll give you a timer instead of using comms. We don't know if they'll hear it since we are in their ship. Once you hear me blasting at the door start cutting and please, I know your two groups hate each other but this IS a rescue. So save the killing for later."
I smiled at her and snapped off a mock salute, "Aye, Captain."
She rolled her eyes and we started to gather the blasters. I grabbed spare energy cells so she could swap them out when needed and I helped her get set up at the door. She gave me directions on where to go and I sprinted to it, making sure to not waste time. She'd given me an extra comm from one of the pirates in case I couldn't hear the blaster fire so I'd know when to start. As I passed through the mess hall I would have grabbed something to eat if it all didn't look gross and reprocessed three times over.
I didn't really need the map to know where to start cutting since I could feel the Jedi's Light Side of the Force and went directly to that. It proved how distracted they were that they couldn't feel me right away just above them but I'm sure they knew something about me was up. I hadn't been very discreet when using the Dark Side back in the ship.
As I positioned myself over them I both heard the blaster fire through the ship and over the comm on the Captains side and activated my lightsaber and started cutting. I figured a 3x3 foot box would be good this time, it should fit the shoulder widths of the Jedi, I didn't remember them being bigger than that.
The process was painstakingly slow and I had to stop twice when I heard the Captain stop shooting and switch to new guns or power cells, either didn't matter since her noise didn't cover up mine anymore. When I finally got through, the square piece of metal flew up at me and almost knocked my head off. I was just barely able to catch it with Force before it hit the floor. I should have expected that kind of response but it still surprised me. When I set the square down I again wiped sweat off my brow and took some deep breathes as I made my way over to the hole.
I looked into the hole to see the two Jedi Masters staring back at me like I was the last thing in the universe they wanted to see at that moment.
"You know, that's not a very nice way to treat someone rescuing you."
This was absolutely the last thing they expected me to say and they both looked at me like I was crazy, even more crazy than when they found out I was a Sith.
"What's the matter? Nexu got your tongue?"