‘Hondo told me about his so-called pn. We are going to attaother pirate group, ohat had attacked Hondo’s pirate team multiple times. They are pretty strong and well equipped, that is why they want my help. I could be their joker, as no other pirate would expect a force user to appear on the side of a pirate group.’

  ‘They told me what the transport they are carrying is. more than half of it ice, and that was what Hondo cared for, but he was right wheold me that I would be more ied iher half. This pirate transport was carrying twi’lek sves, woman and man too. Even children weren’t spared from the cruel fate of svery. I k well, since I myself experiehe ess of this world as a child... If you had no power, knowledge, money or es. You were nothing more than prey in a rge part of the gaxy. There were far from enough humanitarian services and their bags were less and less by the passing days, as the founds are stantly rerouted and pumped into the gaxy-wide war mae.’

  ‘These twi’leks are much like I was back then. The only exception, that master is no longer here to help them. He gave the mao me the knowledge to use food or bad. I am no longer powerless, and I have decided to help them. Hondo told me that he was also sold to a sver when he was a child, by his own parents, he less. He didn’t tell me the details, but he assured me with a serious voice that he does not trade with sves because of his personal experiences in svery. Actually, half of his crew were sves at some point in their lives. Therefore, they also hated the prospect of svery from their very guts.’

  ‘I didn’t see any trouble with that, since I was more than ones chased around by svers, in the slums of Ryloth. It was a terrifying experieo live through. Now I know that the only reason I was able to escape was the force subtly guiding me on the right path. The bastards left me after they felt that I was too troublesome to chase around, only to try it again a few days ter. Hondo promised me that the twi’leks would be left alone on their own, or if they wahey could join his pirate group aheir own fortune from now on.’

  ‘Hondo also told me that they had a base ier rim, where they usually spend their free time. It sounded like a pirate y. It was their safe heaven, where their families lived a somewhat cultured life among the outer rims ies. It was a secret base, therefore, he didn’t mention its location. Clearly he didn’t trust me enough, not yet. I guess it was normal. I didn’t trust him either. I hoped that he will prove me to be wrong about not trusting him, since I wouldn’t want to fight against someone who saved my life... Even if he just wao make a profit, it still doesn’t ge the fact that I was saved, thanks to them.’

  ‘Well, I ’t really speak of an actual battle pn here. It was more like a trick, since we would simply attack their ship after they came out of hyperspaeet with the spice buyers. This spice buyer will be me, and a few of Hondos men disguised. I will py the rich, spoiled brat, who likes to spend money on goons, bodyguards and buy illegal stuff using her rich dad’s money just like sves and spice.’

  ‘I was sitting on a chair, still in that same room, eating some soup with deep fried nuna legs. It was a bird-like creature that was easy to domesticate because of its trusting nature. It was widely used in every er of the gaxy as a cheap yet delieat source. I was really hungry and was dev the food in big immodest bites. Hondo decided to actually join me in the feast. He was smiling at me, and seeing my anners, his smile only grew.’

  “You must have been really hungry, to not evehe food before eating it. You are either someone who is very fident in her abilities or has a stupidly trusting nature, just like this nuna bird, my little twi’lek friend.” — Noted Hondo.

  ‘I looked up at him half-heartedly, rolling my eyes in a way that it was impossible to miss. He only smirked as a rea, then picked up one of the nuna legs from our shared pte and began to eat too.’

  “I realized as much. Why would you poison me when I am already in your hands? It sounds like overkill to me...”

  ‘He chuckled heartily at that.’

  “You never know what a crazy pirate captain from the rim is capable of doing...”

  “That might be true…” — ‘I said, and took a particurly big bite from the tasty meat, then tinued with my unfinished sentence.’ — “However, you don’t look crazy to me. Your act is ving, but you ’t really lie to ah who is also armed with the force.”

  “Ah?” — He asked, genuinely fused.

  “Someone who is especially sensitive towards other people’s true iions. People like that are rare in itself, but this ability is much-much rarer when it es in a bination with force sensitivity.”

  ‘It is a lie, of course. I am not ah, but if he believes that, he may decide to actually tell me the truth, or at least half-truths instead of ht lies, to fuse me.’

  “Hmmm... I guess, I will have to sell you to the hutts in the end... If you have such a rare bination of abilities, I know multiple buyers who would pay for you so much that I could build a new ship from scratch...” — He smiled thoughtfully. — “Yes, that sounds like a good idea...”

  ‘I almost choked on the food which I was currently attempting to swallow. I began to cough forcefully while trying to spit out the bite that went down in the wrong pipe and immediately told him that I was actually not ah at all...’

  ‘He was watg my clearly ical rea, and began to ugh.’

  “I already khat, girl. You calm down. It was only an i joke on my part. You are seriously bad at lying, though. Every time you tell a lie, you break eye tact at the st sed. You should watch out for this…”

  ‘Hell, that may actually be true. I was so focused on hiding a lie in my force presehat I didn’t learn to hide it from the more muhods of dete. What a ridiculous fw indeed.’

  ‘In the meantime, I finally stopped coughing. My pride felt somewhat tarnished as I realized how stupid of a mistake I had made. I clearly looked dejected, as even Hondo tried to cheer me up a bit.’

  “You shouldn’t be that disappointed girl. The fact that you are not aced to lying tells a lot about you in itself. Either way, in my line of work, you either learn to differentiate lies from the truth, or die.”

  ‘I sighed, then owards him, aowledging the statement, then tio eat my food.’

  ‘My gaze once again hovered over the dim room. This pce was dirty. The shelves probably never saw a duster i few years. Strangely enough, it kept reminding me of the sith temple I lived in. I mean, the rooms we actually used were, of course, ed. Yet, there were hundreds of rooms, and each of those were in much of the same ditions as this room, buried under five timetres of thick dust.’

  ‘Maybe this was the reason why I felt so rexed here. Or, maybe, because there was not a bunch of jedi around me, who were just waiting to n me.’

  ‘Before I knew, I was smiling to myself fortably. Hondo was watg me while also partially lost in his own world. It was a simple and nice early afternoon.’

  ~oOo~

  “But master! We will have to go bad search for her! She is lost somewhere, I just know it!” — Ahsoka demanded.

  A clearly troubled looking Anakin answered that question.

  “Ahsoka, I know that you are afraid for your friend’s wellbeing, and believe me that I would like to help her too. But our ship is heavily damaged. We were lucky to get away from that trap. Sadly, there is nothing we dht now to help her. We ’t risk the lives of more than five thousand es just like that.”

  “Then, we should go baly with one ship, and...”

  “Clear your mind, Ahsoka.” — Said Obi-Wan this time. — “Your judgment is clouded by your feelings. We don’t even know if Nizzal was indeed kidnapped, or she herself killed those two es and escaped using the general chaos.”

  Ahsoka was horrified by the suggestion and vehemently defended her friend.

  “She wouldn’t do such a thing! She risked her life in that battle to defend the hangar. You weren’t there to see it!”

  “General, if you allow me to say this.” — Started a soldier standing behind Ahsoka. Obi-Wan looked at the man and nodded, allowing him to speak his mind. — “I agree with aano's statement on this. ander Nizzal would never do such a cowardly deed.” — Added Crusher.

  The door opened behind them, as Handy helped Watcher walk into the room. He was heavily injured, in multiple pces, and o lean on his brother to walk.

  “General, I have something to report.” — Said Watcher.

  Everyone’s attention simultaneously turowards him. Obi-Wan gave the permission by gesturing with one of his hands.

  “By all means, trooper. As we uand, you were the st person who is still alive and saw ander Nizzal being escorted by two es under my and.” — Obi-wan stated.

  “Yes, General, but she couldn’t do it. I mean, she couldn’t kill them.”

  “tirooper, and tell us why exactly did you e to this clusion?”

  “She was heavily injured, couldn’t even stand on her own. Even if she surprised them, in that dition, she could only kill one of them at best, while the other would have put her down. I know my brothers. They wouldn’t go out so easily.”

  Obi-Wan’s shoulders seemed to rex somewhat, but only for a sed. Theeeled himself and asked.

  “Describe her injuries as much as you .”

  “Yes, sir. She was blown away in the explosion of a self destru droid. She crashed into a pile of steel crates. Her left shoulder and back got the brunt of it. I think her shoulder was momentarily dislocated, but it resettled itself ba paturally. She most likely had heavy internal bleeding and cussions. Her limbs also suffered surface cuts, bruises, along with burns. She also seemed to utterly exhaust her forergies.”

  Ahsoka and Skywalker seemed to be taken aback by the extremely detailed observations of this particur e. Especially the ohat were describing her exhausted force reserves.

  Ahsoka seemed to be the most shocked and angered for a variety of reasons. First of all, she just got the information that her dear friend was not just simply kidnapped, but kidnapped in a state when she had not even a ce to protect herself. She unknowingly bit into the inside of her lips, as she began to bme herself that she had to leave behind her new friend, in a pletely vulnerable state. She was worried to the bone, and anxious to get bad search for her.

  Obi-Wan seemed to finally rex... His previous dark expression now was dire for a different reason. That was her than a sense of guilt. He eventually added.

  “Thank you for your report, trooper. You go back to the infirmary for your well-earned rest.”

  “Yes sir! Thank you, sir!”

  As the three troopers left the bridge, Obi-Wan finally sat down in a close-by armchair, exhaling deeply. Anakin knew, from the start, that something was fishy about this mission, but he didn’t mention it since he khat his master would tell them wheime came.

  “Master, I guess it’s time to share what our actual mission was from the beginning.”

  “What do you mean? Master?” — Asked Ahsoka, fusioling over her features.

  Obi-Waed his throat and said.

  “I guess it didn’t matter anymore, since we failed spectacurly. Sigh... Well then, in all hoy, we didn’t e here to chase some small time pirates...”

  “What!?” — Excimed Ahsoka. — “So there aren’t even any pirates here?”

  Obi-Wan gri that.

  “Of course there are pirates here. Otherwise they wouldn’t serve as an ideal alibi for us to lure out a certain sith lord.”

  “What?!” — Said this time Ahsoka and Anakin at the same time.

  Obi-Wan only shrugged his shoulders.

  “Did you really think that the Senate could spare a venator with over seven thousand e troopers, two jedi knights, and two padawans in the middle of a gactic civil war, only to chase around some stupid pirates? Please, don’t make me doubt my teag even more…”

  Ahsoka and Anakin looked at each other, then back at Obi-Wan with a gaze that practically radiated disfort and embarrassment.

  Seeing this, Kenobi’s shoulders sagged dramatically, and he was forced to exhale an even longer, almost desperate sigh.

  “Really now... We were creating a trap for this supposed sith lord to lure him or her out. We know that there are spies in the Senate, and we suspected, based on the result of our missihtfully so, that there are spies even in the Jedi Order itself. Our enemies have ears everywhere, it seems. We tried to use this information to surprise them, or at least gain more information from the nature of our enemy.”

  “So what was the trap?” — Asked Ahsoka. — “Because it seems to me that we were the ones who got kicked in the booty.”

  Anakin coughed drily, pointing a warning gre in his padawan’s dire.

  Obi-Wan generously igheir usual antid tinued with his expnation.

  “We were supposed to ask for reinforts, at the moment we entered the enemy, there were awo venators following us at the distance of a ten-minute hyperspace jump.”

  “Yet the enemy was clearly aware of our pn from the very beginning, and in a much greater detail we ever anticipated. They created a widespread unication disturbance field around our battle, that was activated a few minutes before the enemy ships arrived.”

  “We, as of me and your master, also sensed a strong disturban the force at that time, but weren’t able to identify the true nature of the danger fast enough.”

  “The force disturbanly made us more fused. While we were looking for immediate threats, we didn’t realise that our long distanunication was disrupted. Thetle began.”

  “One of the smaller enemy frigates was stantly positioned in a way that we couldn’t jump into hyperspaless we inteo crash into them and blow ourselves to smithereens. Thankfully, to Ahsoka and Nizzal’s as in the hangar, we mao send out almost all of hter ships. And with Anakin leading the attack, hters mao destroy the forward heavy turbo sers on the munifit css ship. Which caused a turning point itle.”

  Anakin o that clusion. He also expio the seemingly fused Ahsoka the meaning of that information.

  “Those pair of turbo sers are incredibly powerful. They are capable of melting a smaller iet by tinuous shooting in a day, pletely ging its climate.”

  “Wow...” — Excimed the girl, genuinely surprised by this information.

  “As you might expect, based on Anakin’s example, our shields couldn’t take more than a few shots from such a on.” — tinued Obi-Wan.

  “That was the reason why we positioned our ship uheirs. Those ons, thanks to their sheer size, are very slow to aim and have a limited ao turn. This way, giving time to the fighters to do their part.”

  “After the biggest threat was no more, we could freely turn the ship in a way that allowed us to focus the majority of our firepower on the Resust-css frigate. The one blog us from entering hyperspace. It couldn’t possibly hahat level of firepower, and soon jumped away to save itself. Its pce was taken by the sed one.”

  “This time, we focused the ons on that one. However, it didn’t run away. We most likely mao damage its hyper-drive. Uhe tinuous heavy barrage, it eventually exploded. Leaving us aloh the munifit css ship, which was barely damaged aside from its main ons, while our ship was barely holding together at this point.”

  “Luckily, the munifit was much slower. It couldn’t effectively block our escape path. Therefore, we called back the fighters to the recaptured hangar. And finally entered hyperspace. This is where we are right now, after realizing that ander Nizzal was most likely taken by enemy forces...”