Trial of the Times

Chapter 43 - Captured

Despite his rising wave of fury, Anakin knows he can't be stupid. Charging in with his lightsaber blazing will only get Ahsoka killed. No doubt they want to take him prisoner. If that happens, he cannot afford to be weaponless. He smirks behind his mask as he stows away his lightsaber before straightening and leaping down over the barrier behind which he had approached.

"No need," his voice rumbles through the vocoder, "I am right here." He narrows his eyes, the Dark Side surging around him as Maul and Grievous whirl to face him. "Unhand my Padawan."

"On one condition," Maul replies smoothly, giving Grievous a harsh look to shut him up. "You come with us as a prisoner. If you attempt escape before you are locked in a cell on the command ship, she'll die." He pulls the blade closer, and Anakin doesn't miss the sharp intake of breath from Ahsoka as the heat from the lightsaber singes the skin on her neck.

"Don't touch her," Anakin snarls, "If you hurt her, I'll kill you all."

"I know," the Sith answers, a bit too haughtily for Anakin's liking before motioning towards Grievous. The droid general stalks towards him, producing a set of cuffs with great relish as he snaps them onto Anakin's wrists. Clenching his jaw, Anakin lets him do it, knowing he'll be able to get them off later, especially as they aren't blocking his connection to the Force.

"Give me your lightsaber," snarls Grievous.

Anakin shrugs nonchalantly. "I lost it somewhere," he lies. Growling under his breath, Grievous grabs his arm and pulls him away.

"Don't worry about me, Snips. I'll be fine," he reassures Ahsoka, meeting her eyes before following Grievous away. They walk to a small shuttle a distance behind the droid lines. Grievous secures Anakin in the back while he orders a battle droid to return to the station.

Anakin waits with bated breath. He knows that one he's imprisoned on the ship and Ahsoka is freed, he'll be able to escape. Besides, this will also give him the opportunity to discreetly plant a tracking beacon. No doubt the ship will go directly to Sidious. Once they know where he is, they'll be able to follow and launch an attack of their own.

In the minutes spent flying to the command ship, Anakin closes his eyes slipping into a light meditative trance as he reigns in his emotions. He cannot afford any weaknesses right now, and if his fear or anxiety get out of control, he might do something rash. He only hopes that Maul will keep his end of the bargain and free Ahsoka once he's secured.

The armor gives him privacy he couldn't otherwise expect, and he's grateful that Grievous can't see his expression. It would probably give him away. He won't risk Ahsoka's life, but he will risk his own. He has no intention of being dragged to Sidious in chains, and if he dies trying to escape then so be it.

All too soon, Anakin finds himself behind a ray shield with two droids guarding outside. "The prisoner is secured," Grievous rasps into a commlink.

"Good," Maul replies, "I'm returning to the ship. Set the course for the base. My master wishes to see him."

No word about Ahsoka, so Anakin reaches out along their bond. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, he just let me go," the Padawan answers with no small amount of relief or irritation. "What will you do now, Skyguy?"

Anakin smirks. "Leave that to me. I have a plan. Tell the others not to be concerned."

"Of course you do." He can almost see her rolling her eyes and snorts quietly as he pulls back from their bond, letting it go silent once more. He waits another minute before using the Force to rip the cuffs off his wrists. If Maul thought they would hold him, he was sorely mistaken. Perhaps he hadn't counted on Anakin smuggling his lightsaber aboard. Honestly, he was surprised the droids who checked him for weapons hadn't noticed it.

Turning his back on the hall, he crouches down, pulling off his boot and tugging his lightsaber out of its hiding spot before whirling and yanking the guard droids into the ray shield to electrocute them. He knows it will only be a matter of minutes before they find out he's escaping. That will have to do. Igniting the lightsaber, Anakin stabs the blade into the back wall of his cell, cutting a circular hole. If he's right, this should go right to space.

Bracing himself, he finishes the circle which is almost immediately sucked away into space. He instantly activates the magnets in his boots using the Force to hold himself to the floor of the cell. When Dooku told him about them, he thought it was unnecessarily complex. Now, however, he's grateful. If not for the various features on his armor, he wouldn't be able to make such a daring escape.

Keeping his fingers clenched around his lightsaber, Anakin moves to the hole, carefully edging himself out and into the vacuum of space. The respirator in his armor is on, but he knows it won't last him long. He'll have to move extremely fast if he doesn't want to die. He hastily withdraws a tracking beacon and secures it to the hull of the ship using the Force before moving in the general direction of the escape pods. He's been on enough Separatist ships to locate them.

It only takes him a few minutes; walking on the outside of a ship is really a fantastic idea. He cuts his way through an airlock before dropping into the hall and using the Force to close the doors over it. No use getting sucked back into space after all. He doesn't hear any alarms, but he knows it will only be a matter of seconds. He races towards the escape pods, pausing to secure another tracking beacon out of the camera's range of vision in case the first is discovered.

"Halt!" yells a patrolling battle droid as he approaches. Without breaking his stride, he slices through the pair, darting around the final corner just as the alarms go off.

"I'm doing better than I thought I would," he mutters under his breath, leaping into an escape pod and closing it. He pushes the button, ejecting himself from the ship. All he can do now is hope that they don't find him or think to bring him back using a tractor beam. This is his only chance of escape, and he has little desire to be caught.

His heart is racing as the escape pod plummets downwards, pulled by the gravity of Serenno. He can barely breathe, offering up a silent prayer that he is not recaptured. He has little desire to face Sidious without the others. He has no delusions that he can defeat the Sith Lord alone, and he knows he'll fail with Grievous, Maul, and Savage being there.

It feels like hours, when, in reality, its probably only about ten minutes, before the pod crashes onto the planet's surface. Anakin hastily climbs out and scans his surroundings. Luckily, he only landed a few miles from Dooku's mansion. He can walk back on foot without any difficulty. Unwilling to stick around lest the Separatists send forces to retrieve him, he sets off at a brisk pace, following the Force and his bond with Obi-Wan.

It takes him no more than an hour before he's walking through the remains of the droid army near the entrance. He smirks seeing the droids laying strewn all over the ground with no visible damage. Probably Sith lightning then. Definitely Dooku's handiwork. He'll have to commend Dooku on the strategy when he sees him again.

"General Skywalker! It's good to see you back, sir." Rex's voice pulls him from his thoughts, and he turns, a half-smile on his face though it can't be seen.

"It wasn't hard to escape from them," he replies shrugging. "They were in a hurry to leave and didn't check me properly for weapons. I managed to get two tracking beacons on the ship. Track the signal. We need to know where they're headed."

"Yes, sir," Rex answers, "The others are inside."

He nods his thanks and walks the rest of the way to the entrance, opening the front door and striding in. "I wondered how long it would take you to show up," Obi-Wan quips, smirking at him as he steps through the entrance.

Anakin snorts. "It would have taken far longer if they had gotten into hyperspace before I escaped. I'll be sure to thank Dooku for equipping it with magnetic boots and a respirator whenever I see him later."

"No need," says Dooku smoothly as he appears around the corner. "I'm right here, and your thanks is accepted, Skywalker. I'm glad you are back unharmed."

"Where's Ahsoka?" queries Anakin. Her absence is glaringly obvious.

"She's overseeing cleanup," Obi-Wan answers. "We need a plan," he adds a moment later. "Sidious will not stop. He failed now, so he'll come back even better prepared."

Anakin nods in agreement. "And that's why I attached tracking beacons to the ship. Instead of letting him come to us, we'll go to him."