“Ugh...”

  ‘My eyes opened, I tried to sit up, but the sudden movement caused a just as sudden spike of pain in my head.’

  “Ouch... damn... no sudden movements, I guess.” — ‘I wiormented by my disfort.’

  ‘It was one of the worst hangovers I ever felt, but... I ’t seem to recall when I mao get this drunk?’

  ‘Oh, yeah... wait, I am a child… so that’s uhat I got drunk. What the hell happeo me then? When did I fall asleep? I ’t remember that kind of importaail...’

  ‘Was I kidnapped? Oh hell, not that please…’ — Nizzal was beyond fused at the moment of her waking. An uandable rea after going through so much extremity in such a short time.

  ‘I was in a garden, with the healer...’ — She finally recalled. — ‘I was ba the damn temple... Sigh... No matter, I will have to py the part of a padawan for a few more weeks...’

  With slow and calcuted movements this time around, she finally mao sit up. She heaved a sigh of relief afterwards.

  ‘I finally mao sit up in a way to not move my head more than it is entirely necessary.’

  ‘That was the first time when I looked around... I saw an even more minimalisti than the jedi usually used... There was nothing except this bed built into the wall, in a way that it was impossible to move it. There was a water source built into a different wall and a room that was clearly leading to the toilet.’

  ‘While assessing my situation, I assively elling healing energies towards my brain to soothe the stantly pulsing pain that was distrag me from thinking over the causes that lead to this situation.”

  ‘There was a massive door in front of me. It was obviously locked, sihere was also an energy shield, stopping me from even toug the inside of the doorframe.’

  ‘There was no window in this room. I was uo check my surroundings behind the walls of this pot that I o do so to create my clusion.’

  ‘Yep, it seems that I am in prison. That’s well, that’s ly what I expected, but it wasn’t too ued either... I mean, if that damn girl, who I freed from the lizards shared my pns to never ever go o Corust, and maybe even some of my more iing opinions of their order...’

  ‘My face paled gradually, as I couldn’t certainly remember if I only thought, or actually spoke out loud when I called Yoda a green shit and wao see him boil in his sweat.’ — Nizzal face palmed at the memory, a sense of desperation flipping her empty stomach. — ‘Oh damn, I would never have said that, if I khat I will be brought back here so soon... If the “here” still means the Jedi Temple, but there is an easy way to figure that out.’

  ‘I reached out with the force, and immediately found a few more force sensitives, but... there were not many actually... I was not in the Jedi Temple anymore... Why?’

  ‘I pushed my senses even further. There were three, four... no five jedi in close proximity, and one of them was a familiar one.’

  ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi, my so-called substitute master. I sensed a few other humans without any special force presence, most likely es and also two droids moving around the ship.’

  ‘Yes, I was being transported on a ship. Based on the stant low frequency humming created by the burning engines, resonating through the body of the ship. I could feel it if I focused on it a bit. I don’t evehe force to figure that part.’

  ‘I just have to toue of the steel walls surrounding me, and I easily feel the resonance.’

  “Auuurgh... damn... why does my head hurt so much!?”

  ‘The memory of being shot in the back by an infuriating human girl, only to crash into the cold floor face first like a cut down tree, fshed in front of my mental eyes.’

  “So that was the reason for my cussion!” — The girl excimed in disbelief stumbling across the room while grasping the sides of her pulsing head.

  ‘My head began to hurt even more... That was strange... I was stantly healing it. It should have been mostly healed...’

  ‘Now, I was feeling a fresh wave of drowsioo... Something was wrong... The air... it must have been poisoned!’ — Nizzal realized her eyes widening with newfound fear. — ‘What is the meaning of this?! It is ohing to put me in prison, but to kill me on the way there. No, wait... Calm down... this is not the style of the jedi... Then who?’

  “Cough... cough...”

  ‘No time to think about that... I sat down on my bed and rexed my mind. I must focus oing an air bubble around my whole body. Who knows what kind of poison is this?’

  ‘This force aura teique is an old os purpose is to filter any type of harmful material from the air around the user. A master of this teique is believed to be able to use it in raw spad survive. Well, at least until they have enough air locked ihat bubble.’

  ‘Holy, I am not sure about that space part at all. I ried it, and I am not that bored to actually try it out in space. I mean, not willingly... What if I fail, or it is simply misinformation?’

  ‘I opened my eyes after I activated the teique.’

  ‘An invisible bubble appeared around me taining only air and pushing anything else away from my body.’

  ‘Although I ’t see any visual difference, sihe gas or poison that is in the air is also perfectly transparent, but since I stopped coughing and breathe without a problem, it be said that the teique was a success. I only have to support it until I figure out what to do, which was not a big deal, even for my current self.’

  The energy shield proteg the doorframe suddenly disappeared. It was followed by a hissing sound as the door opened out of nowhere.

  “What? Who?” — The sudden opening of the door took Nizzal by surprise. She was certain that she would sense anybody getting closer to her cell in her armed state, be that e or droid.

  She shouted, somewhat bewildered seeing the opening door. Her slightly raised eyebrows furrowed once again when she realised that nobody was standing at the door.

  ‘Well, that at least expined why I didn’t feel anybody getting closer… For a sed, I thought I was getting senile!’

  ‘I stood up, still hesitant about the headache, but since I could breathe air while keeping up the healing process in the background, my head felt much better now.’

  ‘I walked towards the door on mostly stable legs.’

  ‘Peaking out into the corridor, I noticed two temple guards. They were knocked out, lying on the floor. I kneeled dht o them and checked their pulse.’

  ‘I was relieved to find them still alive, only asleep. The gas was evidently not focused on my room. It was unleashed across the entire ship.’

  ‘I don’t know who is behind this, but I will never have a better ce of getting away. I was about to pick up one of the guard’s lightsabers when I realized that my own bde ced on the belt of one of the unscious guards.’

  ‘I couldn’t believe my luck? Why would they pce my on in su obvious pce?’

  ‘I picked it up, activated it and it worked! Unbelievable. I looked over my clothes with a smile, as I hat I was still in my rich girl clothes, which I loaned from the pirate gang. I will easily fit in with the Corust people, at least on the surface levels.’

  ‘I stole one of the wrist puters from the knocked-out temple guards, then I picked up a one handed bster gun from one of the es that rawled out across the floor. I checked our current position on the wrist puter real time map.’

  ‘Luckily, we were in atmospheric levels. Merely a few kilometers above ground level.’

  ‘What was the ship’s goal? I wondered... A prison perhaps? That would make sense... I tinkered with the map and found out that our route was in lih one of the highest security prisons on Corust, capable of restraining force sensitives.’

  ‘I gulped, a bit frustrated but not even surprised anymore.’

  “They were really about to put me on ice for the forceable future... Fuckers, well, nobody say that I didn’t try.” — The girl pined while standing still in the middle of the corridor between a few unscious soldiers and guards.

  ‘Maybe the Grey Order is not the best in raw force power, like the Sith are, nor are we that incredible in force heal or ht side powers as the Jedi. But, if there is ohing we excel at, that is hiding and surviving.’

  A surprised expression appeared oill golden-eyed girl’s face as she actally saw a small paper attached to the hilt of her previously recimed lightsaber...

  ‘I k, they would not simply leave my on on a guard posted in front of my cell... Someone pced it there ter, most likely after the guards had been put to sleep... Clearly the same person who was the cause for this entire charade.’

  ‘I read the message... It was one single word, tellio “JUMP!”’

  ‘Well, I would do that on my own anyway...’

  ‘I po levitate down to one of the buildings. Sadly, with my midi-chlorian t, I will not be able to fly with the use of the force, but to slow down my fall to a survivable degree. That is a piece of cake. I walked to one of the doors and ope through the sole.’

  ‘I didn’t even have to use my saber to cut an opening on it. As the pressure door retreated, I ped in the face by the rushing air current. I had to grasp onto the door frame to stabilize myself, unless I wao take the plunge soohan I was mentally prepared for.’

  ‘I stared dowhe swiftly passing buildings underh and the general hustle and bustle of the gaxy's biggest city p. It was a marvel to see and sense so many souls pressed into one p. It was als to watch, especially after living almost a decade in a tomb, and many more turies through my memories.’

  ‘I took a deep breath, preparing to make that leap of faith. No matter the power and knowledge one accumuted, jumping out of a flying ship merely relying on your force abilities will always remain a terrifying deed, ohat required the utmost level of focus.’

  ‘I was just about to step over that doorstep when a desperate and somewhat angry voice appeared behind me.’

  “Nizzal, if you step out of that door, there will be no going back!” — Souhe warning.

  ‘I turned around, partially, and looked at the fay substitute master... No, he never really deserved that titled, did he? He was, but another Jedi Master, called Obi-Wan Kenobi. A person who was not my enemy, not even now, yet he had never been my frieher. Nor will he.’

  “Obi-Wan Kenobi. I should have known that some simple sleeping gas is not enough to stop you.” — ‘I aowledged his preseh a gnce over my shoulder. Never for a moment stepping away from my way to freedom.’

  “Maybe that is why you sent that assassin droid after me,” — The slightly disheveled master answered with cold distrust. — “but I will give you one more ce if you go back to your cell right now, on your own. I will do everything in my power to make the cil look over this... You will have a fair trial and-...”

  ‘I showed him an easy-going smile, while I weakly shook my head.’

  “Assassin droid, you say? Let me guess, it’s color was, copper?” — ‘I asked with a newfound suspi.’

  “Why am I not surprised that you are right about that?”

  “I hope you destroyed it.” — ‘I added, causing the master to feel quite fused all of a sudden.’

  “Well... yes.” — He answered. Clearly unsure of what to think about the situation.

  “Good riddance,” — ‘I chuckled heartily.’ — “thanks for that assist. It’s a pity that was not the real ohough.”

  ‘Obi-Wan rayed a questioning eyebrow at that, which I promptly ignored.’

  ‘Aside from that annoyance, I have to say that I clearly see why the cil trusted you to be my iigator. If there is one person who turn someone away from the dark side, it o be just as stubborn with the pestering as you are.’ — Nizzal sighed helplessly, while turning ahead, looking over the forest of skyscrapers once again. — ‘To be ho, there were times when I kind of enjoyed being your padawan. Messing around and stuff like that. It was fun, at least for a while, Master Kenobi. Although, I have to say, that you were never meant to be my tutor, because I had one already.’

  ‘No… that is not quite true either. I had many tutors. All of them were great in their own ways, etric, true, but wise. Their gazes pierg far beyond the horizon, seeing things with a sense of certainty, things that could be merely anticipated by the best of your order.’

  Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes at the girl, a sense of uainty lingering on his features.

  ‘There is nan my tone, Master Jedi… if you are wandering, the reason for that… is that I am merely stating facts.’

  There was a short silence passiweewo.

  ‘We all have our burdens to carry, Master Jedi. Mine ys elsewhere and it is shrouded by darkness and uainty, but I sehat our path will cross again.’

  ‘I spared o gowards the sky above Corust. The sky seemed calm aernal, pared to the colorful city moving under my feet. The blue sky extended over the horizon, promising sweet freedom with tless possibilities. My heart fluttered from sensing the massive life energy of the trillions of beings living on this colossal city phe whole thing seemed to call out to me. It wanted me to join to live the life I romised. Ay promise that I have exged for survival on a faithful night oreets of Ryloth.’

  ‘That was the truth.’

  ‘Now… I am bound to my order with more ties than I could ever cut. Being a living maion of the Grey Order’s secrets, a personification of everything it entails… This p would sooner cease to exist along with me than my existence would be allowed to bee promised.’

  Obi-oke up behind me, his tone more pleading than demanding this time.

  “Nizzal, think about your friends! What about Ahsoka and Rika? Are you going to make them suffer this way? They are already worried about you! e over here and we still think through this... Choosing suicide is not the way, it is not what the cil intended for!”

  ‘My face whipped with frustration towards this idiot. Who the hell is talking about suicide here… oh, wait… I guess, from his point of view, this might as well look like it.’

  ‘A new sense of frustration jolted through my body, realising that this entire se was once again misuood by the annoying jedi, and my ck of on sense.’

  ‘For fuck’s sake, I couldn’t hold one single serious versation over my eay here with this idiot!’

  ‘The frustration I felt quickly grown into anger uhe influence of the lingering dark side energies in my body. I s the man with newfound anger and a cheap pink blush spreading over my cheeks, which he no doubt noticed, that only added to his general fusion.’

  “What is there to think through?! I already know what the Jedi would do with someone who is suspected to be a sith. You either kill them or strip them from the living fortirely, or perhaps mold them into a different person?”

  ‘I felt as my eyes for a sed turo the deepest golden glow as a burning hatred shook my whole being unleashed from the depths of my subscious.’

  “I will not suffer that fate again!” — ‘My voice torted, coiled and twisted by the dark side as it shook through the hull of the ship, making it shake like a leaf in a storm.’

  ‘I shut my eyes forcefully and forced myself to calm down through a few deep breaths.’

  ‘Those were not really my words, since I was ripped from the force. They beloo someone else, Revan’s… Revan’s memories gered by our versation. The shame and powerlessness wheook away what he worked for in his entire life. What he rightfully earned! It left behind a deep scar, which could never heal even after they altered his memories. That impotent rage kept boiling under his skin.’

  ‘I saw as Obi-Wan shook from the power of my voice. Words that seemed to have left my mouth against my will. He was fused, but there was something else visible on his features, a ion... pity.’

  ‘I sighed again.’

  “Let me warn you here and now. If any of you would ever try to desd into my mind as I am now, Master Jedi. You would only find your owh. A long and hopeless death. Eternally wandering in the dark until the st segments of your memories turo nothingness.”

  “It is better for all of us if I leave now before any of you succumb to the temptation.”

  “Oh, and don’t you worry about me. I did not io kill myself. Far from it, really.”

  There was another moment of uainty before the girl tinued her monologue.

  “Kenobi, you are a good man. A good jedi. A jedi that the people may actually hese days. You remind me of my master in many ways... except, maybe that he was more cowardly in nature, which you are clearly not.”

  The girl chuckled with unbidden mirth.

  “He had missed many opportuhat he regretted ter. All because of his fear. He lost many friends because he was afraid to die, afraid to risk more than what was absolutely necessary. But, is that really what you call a coward?”

  “I would say no, yet he somehow, along the passing years, mao stigmatise himself, and therefore he truly believed that he was a coward and in a manner indeed became one.”

  “One day, when I was much younger, I asked him this question. Is it really your mistake that your friends didn’t listen to you, when you told them not to risk your lives foolishly in a stupid endeavour? Is that your mistake, that you didn’t join them and die too in the process? For nothing? Because, if he died, I wouldn’t be arguing with yht now.”

  “I would have died in a slum on Ryloth seven years ago. But even if my master was a coward in his life. In his death, at the end, he chose from his own free will to give me something precious, in exge for his very life. He showed ce, something that I could only hope to ever rival.”

  “Joseph, Joseph Grey was my master’s hat you clearly had never heard before. He was not an outstanding man, but for me, he was everything that I could wish for.”

  “Tell your cil tet about me, and our paths differ in peatil fate once agaihem together.”

  “Yet, I already see in your eyes that you will not let me go that easily... I guess, then I will have to py the cat-and-mouse game. Let me tell you o thing, I am pretty good at this game...”

  ‘With those words left in the air, I zily jumped out of the door backwards while showing a double bird in Kenobi’s general dire.’

  ‘The man was clearly fbbergasted by my childish antics, especially after such a serious versation. Still, I could only think about ohing on the inside.’

  ‘Oh god, that felt good.’

  ‘I saw as Kenobi rushed towards the door, looking down at me with a horrified expression, only to see that I had nded oop of another ship. It was, of course, the Ebon Hawk. Which I have long siiced from standing in the doorframe. I have to say that there are many differences since I st saw the ship. It graded with eologies, hopefully with shield geors too, and on systems, because I have a feeling we will soohem.’

  ‘I spared o g Kenobi, before starting to climb down into the ship.’

  ~oOo~

  Kenobi was standing in the door of the prisoransporter ship. He felt utterly helpless about this whole situation.

  Why the hell did the cil have to force him into this damn role? He k the beginning that it would not end well.

  He walked over to the door’s sole and closed the door. The others should be about to wake from the sleeping gas, since he had already destroyed the strange protocol droid, and most of the poison was sucked out through the draft.

  That damn thing was an actual assassin droid in disguise. Damn droid... cough... It even had some weird martial arts program. He was occupied with it for a whole ten minutes. He didn’t want to imagine what would happen if these types of droids would be the ohat made up the bulk of the separatist armies.

  What a nightmare... And the worst thing is the fact that after he finally mao destroy it, the whole damn thing turned into dust. Some kind of in built self destructive release triggered the moment the droid went down, releasing nano maes that ate up all the evidence, leaving behind nothing but a pile of metal dust.

  But how did this cursed droid mao slip up on a high security prisoransporter ship in the first pce? This thing was supposed to be a well-guarded ship? And where are the reinforts? He has asked for it about twelve minutes ago?

  “R-4? Do you copy? R-4? Oh, damn it! Of course, the unication is also promised... Sigh...”

  Kenobi looked out on a nearby window towards the currently accelerating ship while a simple sentence left his mouth.

  “The cil won’t be happy about this...”