━━━━━☆☆━━━━━

JAIRA CAUGHT THE COMMUNICATOR with one hand, her attention divided between her master and General Grievous. The hallway lit up in streaks of blue and green due to the six sightsabers, and it all seemed unreal. This could not be happening.

'We have no time to lose, Jaira,' Verena said as she raised her saber above her head and pointed with her other, empty hand at Grievous. 'I will take care of Grievous, you make your way to the generators and pull that lever.'

Jaira strengthened her grip around the communicator and her lightsaber. It would be suicide to face him alone, she could help her.

'Master. . .' But her voice was cut short when General Grievous coughed and tried to laugh at the same time.

'It is not very smart to tell me your plans, Jedi,' he said with a rasping voice and heavy, struggling breaths. He stalked towards Jaira, his mechanical footsteps vibrating through the floor but then an invisible force stopped him.

Jaira glanced at Verena who clenched her jaw in concentration to keep Grievous at one place.

'Go for it, now,' she said, her light eyes still focussed upon the cyborg. 'I will keep him off, but you run to the manual override. That is an order.'

Jaira seemed to grow in posture, nodded and jumped past General Grievous. She usually didn't take orders that quickly but she was fully aware of how serious the situation was. The shaking and creaking of the ship reminded her of that every passing second.

Behind her, Grievous managed to break loose and Jaira bolted through the dark corridor without slowing down. She forced herself not to look back, not even when the familiar sound of clashing lightsabers reached her ears.

She zigzagged through the labyrinth of the Destroyer, leaving Verena and Grievous far behind her.

However, despite the distance, Jaira was still able to hear the faint echo of a pained scream, bouncing off against the metal walls and traveling through the ship like the ghost of a wailing woman.

Jaira froze in her step, her eyes growing wide. It felt as if her heartbeat was caught in her throat and she could barely breathe; her breaths being shallow and not giving her enough oxygen. She wanted to turn around, aiding her master and she was halfway through her spin when suddenly the floor under her stopped moving.

Thrown off of balance, she took a few shaky steps to stay standing and she frowned. She sought support by the wall when another movement shuddered through the ship. Jaira had no way of navigating as there were no windows, but she just knew it was not in the same direction as before.

Something was pulling them away from the implosion, and that realization also brought her back to reality: she couldn't turn around. She had orders to override the engines and that was what she would do. The rest of the ship was counting on her. Every clone trooper, crew member and Jedi -- master or padawan, depended on her.

Jaira started running again and when she rounded the corner, the blue glow of the seven massive ion generators greeted her like a long lost friend. She had made it.

Now, where was that panel with the handle? Her eyes scanned the huge room, and she muttered several curses when she couldn't spot it the first time. While taking a deep breath, she observed the walls one more time, and then she saw it. She ran towards it, closing the distance with just a few leaps and wrecked it open.

The metal panel clattered on the floor and with all her strength, Jaira pulled on the lever. It wasn't as light as it looked, but she got it all the way down.

For a moment, the blue glow inside the generators dimmed and Jaira feared she had done something wrong until it reappeared; shining ten times brighter than before and she had to shield her eyes from it.

With one hand above her eyes, she reached for the communicator and contacted Obi-Wan.

'Master Kenobi, are you there? I have restarted the engines.' While waiting on an answer, Jaira ran back to the direction she had come from. Her duty now was to help her master.

'Just in a nick of time,' Obi-Wan's voice said over the com. 'Prepare yourselves for the jump, we are leaving in three. . . two. . . one. . .'

Jaira bend through her knees and placed her hand against the wall as the Star Destroyer noticeably sped up, accelerating until it was even faster than the speed of light. She pressed the communicator again, realising Obi-Wan didn't know yet that General Grievous was on board and she was separated from Verena.

'We have also encountered a second problem, Master Kenobi,' she started. 'General Grievous is here. I think he has, somehow, sabotaged the navigation of the ship; trapping us in the implosion.'

'That is not possible,' Obi-Wan responded, but he stayed silent for some seconds after that. Jaira guessed he was probably stroking his beard thoughtfully.

'Where is he now?' he asked.

'I don't know, Master Meadowdancer kept him occupied while I restarted the engines.'

She was almost back at the same spot they had encountered Grievous but when she shot around the corner, there was no sign of the cyborg, nor from her master.

'Oh no. . .' she whispered, her eyes wide in shock as she observed the dark and empty hallway by the green light of her saber. The destruction was worse. The air vent was fallen apart even further, the makeshift opening almost blocked by the debris. The electricity wires above her head crackled and white sparkles fell down from it, hissing violently as they soared down close by her ear.

Where could they be? The gears were spinning inside her head. General Grievous probably boarded the Destroyer with his own ship, and a floor plan of the Destroyer appeared in her mind. She knew how to get to the closest air lock, and she ran as fast as her feet could carry her.

On her way to the air lock, there was still no sign of them and she contacted Obi-Wan once again, telling him of the situation.

Jaira reached the air lock and the button next to it turned green just as the Star Destroyer jumped out of hyperspace. They had reached Ilum and General Grievous could leave in his ship without any issues. With a whoosh, the cyborg's ship detached itself and Jaira's heart skipped a beat when she cast a look through the window; right into Grievous' launched ship.

He had taken her master captive.

━━━━━☆☆━━━━━

A/N:

oof, I got a bit carried away with this chapter. lol.

but oh my god, tenth chapter already! this is the fastest I have ever written an apply fic, and I hope you guys are enjoying it as much as I am!

if there is something you want to read about, don't hesitate to let me know. I won't make any promises but if it fits within the story, I'll probably write it!

also, if you're looking for another Star Wars apply fic to join, check out xXAlaskaJonesXx 's profile. it'll take place during the sequels but with a focus upon the First Order. so, bound to be interesting!

━━━━━☆☆━━━━━