Ghost of Nightmares Past/Chapter 11

BATTLE OF MUSTAFAR

"It's a shame Siri." Bruck said, walking around the imprisoned Jedi, staring up at her. "A shame that your friends are not here to save you."

Siri kept her head down, staring at the floor. Bruck lifted her chin, and smiled at her. "I can give into my temptation for now Siri, but later, I might not be able to hold back my will. Oafy will be so furious if he found you and me together, wouldn't he?"

"Obi-Wan isn't a fool." Siri shot at him, staring into his eyes angrily. "He doesn't love me anymore anyway!"

"Oh, we'll see," Bruck sneered, turning away. "We'll see when he comes and saves you now, won't he? Apparently, he is on his way right this minute." Bruck turned back to her at the door. "I shall see you later Siri."

When Bruck closed the door, he gave a sigh, and walked towards the control room where he knew Grevious was preparing his droids for a surprise ambush on the Jedi. He knew Kenobi wouldn't come alone; he always had someone tagging along with him. Bruck watched as Grevious organised his troops around certain areas of the station. "Is the troops ready?"

"Ready as can be," Grevious rasped. "How is our prisoner?"

"Moaning," Bruck answered, and suddenly smiled when he saw five gunships cut across the security holograms. "Looks like they've decided to arrive." He turned to the commander droid. "Gun them down."

"Roger Roger,"

Obi-Wan shook slightly in the gunship, as they approached the molten surface of the planet below. He could hear gun-fire already, and held on tight to his handle above him, as the gunship rocked slightly from it. Ahsoka was next to him, hooded and cloaked, like he was. "Stick close to me young one," Obi-Wan told her, "And we'll get out fine." "I'm just worried," She admitted. "I don't like this plan Master."

"It's the best I can think of just now," Obi-Wan admitted also. The gunship's engines hummed slightly, and there was a bump as it landed. The shutters opened, and the clones moved to the side, leaving a gap for Obi-Wan to move freely. "Now, the plan is simple; distract the droids, and I'll handle Bruck."

"Yes Master," Ahsoka said, as he set off onto the planet's surface. "Ready to go Rex?"

"As always Commander," He answered.

They took to the air, and rejoined the massive gun battle that was occurring. Ahsoka heard something explode close to them, causing the ship to rock slightly again, and cried, "Land on the first land stretch you can pilot!"

"Yes commander."

Ahsoka pulled her sabre from her belt, and readied herself as the gunship bumped again on the ground. "GREEN LIGHT!" A clone yelled.

The doors slammed open, and they ran into the fray. Ahsoka pulled her cloak off her, and ignited her sabre, parrying blows that were aimed for her. Ahead, she could see Mace Windu's purple blade, and headed towards him and his squad. Ahsoka leapt onto a droid that had managed to grab a clone from behind and sliced its arm off. The clone turned, thanked her quickly, and rushed back into the battle. "Where's Kenobi?" Mace asked her when she joined his side.

"Scouting ahead!"

They ran towards the droid army, and, together, force-pushed them away, giving them time to get their bearings a bit better. They were still quite far from the station. Ahsoka pressed ahead, Mace following her close, as they spotted some droidkeas rolling towards them. "Watch out master!"

"On it!" Mace yelled back to her. He raised his hands, and the molten supports that surrounded them began to rock, and fall, crushing the droids that were unfortunate enough to stick around. Ahsoka could see twin blades ahead, one green, the other blue, rushing towards them.

"I'll handle Grevious!"Ahsoka shouted, and, rushing forward, flung herself through the air, and smashed her blades into Grevious' own. Grevious pushed her away, and she parried his next blow weakly, and dodged his other blade effectively. Grevious gave a roar of laughter as she failed to stop his hidden kick, and she landed a few metres away. Ahsoka got to her feet, and raised her blade again. "Where's my Master?"

"About to kill his own!"

Ahsoka felt panic rush through her body, as Grevious seized her around the throat, and her sabre hand with the other, holding it away, and stopping it protect her body. His eyes bore down into hers, as she choked and coughed. Grevious twisted her blade towards her, making in too close, ready to slice her in half.

A purple blade broke the hand holding her sabre, making her able to slice off the one that held her by the neck. Mace bore down on Grevious, and Ahsoka joined him, as the massive Droid general ignited two more sabres, ready to enter the fight with them. Mace lunged first, and parried one of Grevious' blades, and, like a whirlwind, blocked another. Ahsoka went next, and brought her blade down on Grevious' left, causing him to sway against the two Jedi's blows. Ahsoka felt Mace grabbed her by the shoulder, and flung her, spin kicking Grevious in the metal chest, causing him to fall dangerously close to the edge, where lava bubbled and hissed. Grevious roared in anger, and rushed towards them, but Mace force-pushed him back, and the droid general almost fell from the cliff. Ahsoka ran at him next, but he parried her attack, only to have Mace join her. Together, they heaved and pushed, and the droid slipped, falling to the lava river below...

Only to land, hard, on all fours on a ledge below them, and scurry away, towards the station. Ahsoka watched him, and turned to Mace, "Obi-Wan's there!"

Mace nodded, and, together, they ran through the battle towards the station.

Obi-Wan abandoned his cloak at the entrance to the station, before, stealthily, rushing in. He crouched and walked down the corridor, trying hard to make sure his boots would not make a sound. He heard some droids close by, and looked up, and spotted the ventilation system above him. Raising his hands, he pulled the grill down, before jumping up into it. Once up, he used the force to replace the grill back in its spot, just as two droids rounded the corner where he was standing moments earlier.

"There isn't anything here!" One was saying.

"Must be invisible," The other said.

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, and crawled down the metal tube, hoping that the force would guide him to Siri in time, before Bruck would kill her. He came to a fork.

Left or Right? He asked himself.

He turned right.

He could sense Siri was close, and continued in the direction he was going, only stopping when he needed to check that no one was following him through the shafts. He came to another grill, and a horrific sight came to his eyes.

Siri was on the ground, with Bruck beating her, Anakin's body lying just feet away. Then Obi-Wan understood; he had drained Anakin's force- energy to make himself a new body. His hair was long and tied up, white as ever, and his clothes were black, and a sabre hung on his belt. He grabbed Sir's wrists and flung her against the wall, almost pressing his face close to hers. "Where's your precious Jedi now?"

Siri struggled, as Bruck pushed her to the floor, igniting his sabre.

No! Obi-Wan thought, anger striking him. He kicked the grate off, and leapt down; sabre ignited, and pointed it at Bruck, who had placed his blade close to Siri's throat, keeping her pressed to the ground with his legs. "Get away from her," He said through gritted teeth.

Bruck smiled, before saying, "Nice of you to drop in, Obi-Wan. You were about to miss the fun!"

"Get away from her," Obi-Wan said dangerously, walking towards him. "Get off her Bruck!"

"Jealous?" Bruck said, standing up. He looked down at Siri, "When I deal with him, I'll come back."

Siri shivered on the ground, trying to move away to Anakin, who lay unconscious still. Obi-Wan wandered over to them, sabre still held up, and said, "You will not touch her!" Bruck laughed, and extinguished his sabre. Obi-Wan instantly found this odd, as Bruck said, "Why don't you come and get me Kenobi?" And he ran through a door, with Obi-Wan following in hot pursuit.

Obi-Wan felt his anger rush through his body, as he gave chase. Bruck was leading him everywhere he could think off, but the anger of what he had just nearly witnessed clouded his vision, and he raised his hand eventually, tripping Bruck and causing him to catapult into the control room. The doors slid open, and Obi-Wan walked in, holding his blade to his side with both hands, as Bruck struggled to get up. When he looked up at Obi-Wan, he smiled suddenly, and said, "Now Grevious!"

Obi-Wan felt someone grabbed him around the throat, and a claw hand grab his sabre hand. Obi-Wan struggled, and heard the hum as a sabre got ignited.

It was thrust through his chest.

The blue blade hummed below his chin, and, slowly, he crumbled to the ground, panting, holding his chest in agony. Yet, he was still alive, as though the blade had not done as much damage as it should have. Bruck got up, and walked towards him, squatting next to him, as Obi-Wan tried to pull himself to his fallen sabre. "You know Kenobi," Bruck said, pushing the sabre away from Obi-Wan's hand. "I feel quite sorry for you, this fate." He pushed Obi-Wan over onto his back, as he choked for a breath, with his breathing rasping and wheezing. "I only wish that, in some way, you let me live."

Obi-Wan stared at the ceiling, as Bruck sat next to him. "All the times I tried to prove myself to the Jedi, only to get my dreams destroyed by you." He smiled, as Obi-Wan raised his hand, shakily towards him.

"Please...Bruck!"

Bruck took Obi-Wan's hand, and placed it back onto the ground, and turned his face towards him. "I want to see the light fade from your eyes."

Obi-Wan stared into those icy-blue eyes, as they gleamed evilly back at him. He coughed, blood trickling down from a corner of his mouth, as he tried to speak again. "Bruck...please...you can't!"

"I just did," Bruck said, and he sat there, watching Obi-Wan, ignoring the hand that he raised to him. Obi-Wan could feel the crushing darkness gather around him. His eyes were misting over, and the sounds of the battle were disappearing. His hand was shaking now, as he tried to grab Bruck, and hold onto him.

His next breath was his final.

The hand came crashing down to the floor, and he became still.