My Unfortunate Fate

chapter 28

Reunions are often unexpected.

The inside of the Malevolence looked almost intact, contrary to its exterior. A few parts of the ceiling were spewing sparks, but none were prominent enough to harm me. If they were, I'd avoid them. I'm smart enough to do that.

I decided to stay in my ship until something happened, since there was no exit here that wouldn't vaporize me within five seconds. The hangar was crawling with battle droids; all would surely target a Jedi.

I close my eyes and focus on what's going on around me. Something's approaching, something coming for me. Something menacing, loud. Something tall, mechanical. Clanking footsteps creak against the metal flooring, nearing my fighter. I know exactly who's after me, it's incredibly obvious, really. It's General Grievous.

At his approach, I know he's not even in the hangar yet, but I don't waste time. My hands fiddle with the seatbelt around my waist, trying to pry it off. Damn safety measures, they make exits so difficult sometimes.

As soon as the seatbelt clicks open, I jump out of my ship and observe the hangar I was pulled into carefully. There aren't many places to go, so I head to the first one in sight. I hide in a crevice along the walls of the ship and see a large, caped figure followed by two B1 battle droids. There's the general.

Grievous inspects my ship and I stay hidden as best I can. I don't have much time, I know, and I have a plan. A careful, delicate plan. Alright, this can only go one way: well.

"Where is the Jedi?" Grievous asks his droids.

"I'm right here." I walk out of my hiding spot, revealing myself to the droid general. Was this the best idea I've had? No. Definitely not. But it's something, and something is better than nothing.

There was no use in resisting arrest or being hostile, that would only make things worse on both fronts. At least, it would make things worse on Grievous' front. I'd probably be fine... probably.

The droid general stomps in my direction and as he walks by my ship, I press the self-destruct button on my arm plate, causing the ship to implode. Now the plan is in motion. I've really taken after Anakin, honestly, wherever we go, there always seems to be an explosion nearby.

I run as fast as I can as Grievous is caught in the middle of the blast. He'll probably make it out, so I must hurry. I start for the corridors, covertly avoiding any passing droids. It's not easy to avoid them all, but it's not that hard either.

"Find that stowaway!" I faintly hear Grievous yell. Perfect. He needs to be thinking of me if Anakin and Obi-Wan, maybe Ahsoka, too, are actually going to blow up the Malevolence. They need a cover. And I'm it.

***

After a while of rushing down hallways, destroying a few droids, and avoiding the rest, I found a control panel on a wall and attempted to reconfigure it to reach the rest of the Republic forces. This machinery is always so complicated, and for what?

All right, the blue cord over to where this green one was... yes? I just assume that's right. Sparks shoot out ahead of me, closely avoiding my fingers. Next, the red wire right on top of... Suddenly, light, clanking footsteps sound throughout the hallway.

"Kriff," I mumble, and try to fix the comms panel. The best I can do is let go of the wire and let it sit. Any sparks died down already, so it shouldn't be so obvious.

I hide tightly in the crook of a wall and only hope no one saw me. I don't think they did.

Grievous walked up to the panel and his droids joined him as he stared at the loose wire I had left.