Anabeth: New Beginnings

Chapter 7 - The Great Escape

As Bo and Ana hurried down the corridors towards the generator room, Ana's commlink began beeping. She glanced at the caller ID only to identify it was Obi-Wan.
"What a coincidence that you're calling," Ana joked as she picked up.

"Well, you cracking jokes at least tells me we aren't in mortal danger," Obi-Wan sighed. "What's going on?"
"Power outage and an intruder. Bo and I are working on catching him. You just stay with the Senators incase he comes for them," Ana replied.

"Will do. Keep me posted about any developments."
"Of course," Ana assured him before ending the call. They finally reached the generator room as she did so.

"The hatch to the old ventilation system is opened, and the generator has several wires ripped out. But apart from that nothing is out of the ordinary. No sign of our guy," Bo told Ana about what she was seeing. "I'll have some people come down and work on getting power back."

"Sounds good. In the mean time, we need to start sweeping the surrounding hallways. Call some people down..." Ana trailed off as something in the force caught her attention. A person walking a hallway close by that was supposed to be empty. "Never mind, I found him," she quickly informed Bo before sprinting out of the room

She was letting her senses lead her as she ran down the hallways of the palace in almost total darkness. By the time she got closer to the presence she had sensed, it started running too, all but confirming she was onto the right person. He had to be wearing night vision glasses considering the speed he was going at though

As she tried to keep up with him, Ana couldn't help but notice that the guy was fast, however, not as fast as her as she slowly came ever closer. She kept on following him through the halls. Much to her surprise, he was not heading for the Senators or the exit though, rather the center of the palace.

Eventually, they passed through a door that was supposed to be locked as it was labeled as a do not cross zone. Right behind the door were a flight of stairs leading downwards. The fact that he had taken this route made Ana quiet uneasy as she knew exactly where it was leading.

Coming to a halt, she decided to make her way down the stairs slowly and quietly, so he wouldn't alert the intruder. She knew he was locked in a dead end in the room, however, she knew that if he knew anything about the items down there, she proably stood little chance. The vault she was walking into was the one where Satine kept the last remains of weapons designed specifically to work against the Jedi during the Mandalorian wars.

She eventually reached the lower end of the stairs, using the force to scan the room for possible traps and to locate the fugitive before entering. She could sense him sneaking between some crates in the corner the furthest away from her, unaware that she was standing at the foot of the stairs. As she quietly stepped closer she could hear him rummaging through one of the crates.

The noise was a dead giveaway of his position and confirmed hat he was still distracted, giving Ana the confidence to sneak up to right behind him. The man still had his hood pulled over his head and was dressed in all black. She quickly scanned the items laying on the floor around him, determining that, even if used, few would pose a problem. However, she was not so sure about the contents of the other crates around them.

Deciding to use this moment of vulnerability agaist the intruder, Ana activated her lightsaber, pointing it to the back of the man's head.
"For a number of reasons I will not even begin to list right now, you are under arrest. Raise your hands up in the air and stand up slowly."
For a moment, the man seemed surprised at her presence as he flinched at her words before slowly putting his hands in the air.

"Great, now stand up so that we can get this over with quickly and like civilized people," Ana said impatiently, however, the man didn't move. She was about to grab him and pull him up herself when she suddenly spotted a red, blinking light on the floor behind the man, coming from a small ball that looked like a flash grenade.