Blurred Sides (COMPLETE)

7.7.4

A shuttle picked up Anakin's destroyed fighter and brought it back to the cruiser, but they didn't go anywhere. Somehow, without anyone else noticing, the Inquisitor had not only destroyed but actually removed all of the hyperdrives from the three Republic cruisers. If they were damaged, there was a chance that it could have been fixed, but there was nothing to fix.

They sent out a distress signal to Coruscant which immediately sent a large retrieval team out to them, but they were hours away. It would be up to the oxygen recyclers and the rations they had to keep them sustained until then.

A few inventory checks told Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Mace that they would be able to make it long enough for help to come, but it was unnerving to be floating in the middle of nowhere. There were no stars, no planets, or even moons to keep them company. Just three damaged cruisers amidst a field of debris.

Obi-Wan went to the cruiser without a Jedi, and Mace stayed on the one he had been manning during the battle. The two, along with Anakin once he returned, gathered in the command centers, and talked alone over hologram.

"How did the Separatists manage to take them without us noticing?" Mace Windu asked. "I check with the clones, no alarm went off during the battle. We should have been alerted as soon as it was removed."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it's another one of the Inquisitor's tricks," Obi-Wan stated, stroking his beard. "She had more than a few when I last caught a glimpse of her."

"This might be what we're looking for," Anakin said, dragging a still of the battle across the hologram projector and enlarging it so the Jedi Masters could see it clearly. "I crossed-referenced the ships and droids scanned in the fight with everything we have in the Republic database. This droid," he tapped on the image and the projector zoomed in on it, "Doesn't appear anywhere in it. It's new."

Master Windu crossed his arms. "What can you tell from the scan, Skywalker?"

"It has a self-destruct feature, and it has a lot of fine motor mechanics that aren't devoted to flying or weapons. I think it's what took out our hyperdrives without us noticing."

Obi-Wan walked closer to get a better look. "It definitely looks new, and it suits the Inquisitor's style, from the looks of her ship." He turned to Anakin. "Have you already submitted an entry for the database?"

"Just now. I put everything on there, about the Inquisitor, and the hyperdrives. Now, when our ships pick up these things, it will warn the bridge to keep a close eye on them. Hopefully, it will give us an edge next time."

Master Windu nodded. "Thank you, Skywalker."

Anakin returned the nod and closed down the projection.

Obi-Wan sighed and rubbed his chin. "So much for a trap. That was the plan, wasn't it?" He turned to the older Jedi.

"We were supposed to corner them, not to get cornered by them. I don't know how our coordinates leaked, but somehow they got them."

"It wasn't just that," interrupted Anakin. The other Jedi looked at him. "They had you surrounded on all sides. That wasn't just leaked coordinates, Master. They had to have sent out a ship, to find you and plan the ambush."

Windu looked at him quizzically. "You're saying they sent out a scout and we didn't pick up on it? But the clones would have noticed a ship that big, even if it did have shields and cloaking mechanisms, and smaller ships don't have that."

Obi-Wan and Anakin stole glances at each other. They both remembered the mission years ago when Anakin had flown a stealth ship.

"Not normally," mused Anakin, "but we had a ship like that a while ago. It's not impossible that the Separatist would have figured out the same thing. It was probably the Inquisitor herself who found you."