Ghost of a Smile

Chapter Twenty-Two

Climax of the Story! Who's excited?? Fair Warning: This chapter is much longer than the others.

Nur – Fortress Inquisitorius

Shaden's legs hurt from standing at the entrance to his cell for so long. He had watched as four of the remaining acolytes get dragged away and felt minutes later as they screamed in pain, more so than ever before. Five acolytes, if you included Ezra, but Shaden didn't because Ezra had never screamed. Now Shaden was all alone in the prison room.

Whatever had happened to those other students, Shaden could tell they were alive, but they were not taken back to the prison. The blast door hissed open; two familiar figures strode into the room.

"My turn." Shaden chuckled to himself with no amusement. They reached the ray shield and turned it off, "I don't suppose you guys could not drag me? I'm happy to walk by myself, thank you very much."

Saying nothing, the inquisitor's iron grip clamped mercilessly around his upper arms and they began dragging him off to wherever their destination was. Shaden had promised himself he wouldn't beg for his life so the trip was silent.

When the trio was about halfway to the chamber, flashing red alarms and screaming klaxon sirens filled the hall. The Thirteenth Sister threw Shaden at the Twelfth Brother and activated her commlink.

"What's going on? Status report!" She ordered.

"Several ships just dropped out of hyperspace! They're making a run for the surface."

"Rebels?" Twelfth Brother asked.

"Looks like, sir. They seem to know where they are going, that's not a usual trait of idiot pilots who jumped into the wrong system." He paused for a moment, "They jumped too close for the fleet to stop them! Charging ground-to-air turbolasers now." The link went dead.

"What do we do? Bring this one to Vader or defend the Fortress?" Twelfth asked the scarlet skinned inquisitor.

"Let's hurry him to Lord Vader, then we'll get our orders." She wrapped both her hands around Shaden's biceps; that was a mistake. Because her hands were preoccupied with holding the boy up, they never were in a position to defend against Twelfth Brother's wide swing. His gloved fist hit the side of her skull hard and she was out instantly.

Shaden didn't move for a minute.

"Get up," Twelfth Brother hissed. Shaden complied.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I always did hate this place. Come on, we have to hurry if we want to get out of here!"

"Wait! What's the plan?" Shaden still couldn't wrap his mind around what was happening.

"We need to go back to the prison room for something important, then we're going to the armory, where the other acolytes are being outfitted with gear, to rescue them, then we're hauling ass out of this system!"

That was enough to get Shaden moving. They sprinted back into the prison; the trip went a lot faster when the inquisitors weren't dragging Shaden behind them.

"What now?" Shaden called after Twelfth, who was running up towards... Sevrina's cell?

"I gave Sevrina two lightsabers. I was hoping Vader would spend an hour or so trying to break Ezra before starting the tests, giving the Rebellion the time they needed to get here, and then Sevrina would use the sabers to defend herself and the weakened Ezra. Unfortunately, Vader had other plans. But we still need those sabers cuz my duel-bladed one isn't going to be enough to get all of us out." He dashed into the cell and dashed out holding two small cylinders.