Repairing Beyond Ambition - Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order fanfic *EDITING*

Chapter 28

When the elevator doors parted, they exited but dread had halted the beating of their hearts. Second Sister stood before them, the helmet concealing her emotions, adding to her intimidating stance. Altheeda stepped back in fright, a shaky hand lingering by the handle of her blaster. Cal remained rooted to where he stood and his eyes giving the inquisitor a cold stare.

"Cal Kestis, how predictable." She snarled before turning her head to the redheaded girl.

"How is your ankle, Altheeda Reeve?"

They were both speechless, unsure of what to retort back with.

"Yes, I know both your names, your pasts; but most importantly, I know about Cordova." She explained as she paced in front of her prey. "Tell me, where did he hide the holocron?"

Altheeda turned her attention to Cal, as if to ask him what to do. He was still focused on Second Sister; he wordlessly shifted into a fighting stance and ignited his lightsaber and the inquisitor paused in her tracks.

"Outstanding." She taunted, before activating her own weapon.

"Altheeda, you need to move." He urged her, hints of panic were laced in his voice.

"I'll try recall the elevator." She replied quickly.

She made a beeline to the lift's control panel as Cal ran to Second Sister to engage in combat. Her hands shook as she pressed the button, only to receive no response from the mechanism. She cursed under her breath as she immediately began to slide the tool box off her back and her fingers fumbled to open it up. All she could hear were the two lightsabers colliding together and grunts of pain from Cal taking hits; although she could hear the occasional cries of pain from Second Sister. She dared not to look at the fight, hearing the commotion was off-putting enough.

"Focus Theeda, focus." She hissed at herself.

She took some rapid deep breaths and examined the panel before her, taking out the appropriate tools to pry the cover off to reveal the wiring below. She fiddled around, trying to access the issue that was deep rooted in the circuitry. She knew what little time she had and tried to keep an efficient work pace. At this point, the duel between Cal and Second Sister had shifted closer to her that she could see it in her peripheral. She felt her heart speed up and so did her handiwork. She made one final adjustment to the wires and she knew she had succeeded. Frantically she began to place the cover back onto the panel so it was ready to use, then began to pack her tools away.

She swiftly hauled her toolbox onto her back and her fingertip barely brushed on the button to recall the elevator when she felt herself become enveloped by some invisible power. Her body was lifted into the air jolted backwards towards the Second Sister. It clicked in her mind that it was her doing and she was at her mercy. The inquisitor then threw her towards Cal, who was already on a heap on the ground, and she landed beside him with a pained groan. The next sequence of events happened in rapid concession. Cal and Altheeda shuffled backwards, wide-eyed in fear. Second Sister stalked towards them raising her lightsaber. At the same moment she went to swipe her blade downwards, a ray shield appeared to sever the gap.

Cal and Altheeda gaped at the hazy red energy before them and on the other side, the inquisitor halted her attack in surprise. A confident beep made everyone turn their heads to find BD-1 latched onto a panel and they all were up to speed with what had happened. The two redheads helped each other to their feet and the little bot hopped off the device to reunite with the duo.

"You're learning." Second Sister sneered. "Not as gifted as Cere's last apprentice but not bad."

Altheeda eyed her carefully, noting that there was something odd about the way she was speaking about Cere. As she stood brooding, Cal was stood next to her, scowling at the Second Sister.