Chapter 5

The shadows seemed to bend and flow around Galen and Anakin as they infiltrated deeper through the Geonosian droid foundries. Stealth was hardly their forte - a path of smoldering wreckage and scattered battle droid components marked their inexorable advance.

Anakin motioned for them to halt just around the next bend, sensor telemetry flickering across his heads-up display inside the armored breath mask. "Big heat spike and heavy ordnance up ahead. Looks like the main sorting vector."

He punctuated the warning by unslinging the particle rifle from across his back and disengaging the safety in one smooth motion. "You ready to cut loose?"

The look Galen leveled back at him could have curdled rathtar's blood. With a subtle flourish of his hand, Anakin's rifle disassembled itself in a shower of components that clattered across the deckplates.

"I thought you'd never ask," Galen rumbled, his youthful face set in a grim mask.

Stepping around the bend, he allowed the shadow tendrils concealing their presence to dissipate. They emerged into the heart of the main sorting facility with over two dozen heavy assault droids whirring into readied firing stances across the immense chamber.

The first volley of high intensity laser fire detonated harmlessly against Galen's outstretched palm, wisps of deflected energy bleeding off into the overhead atmosphere recyclers. Anakin's lightsaber sprang to life with a hiss, whirling defensively as the second barrage converged on them both.

But Galen did not call upon his own weapon. Instead, he merely lifted that hand higher, clenched into a merciless fist. Rending shockwaves of force power detonated outwards in pulsing rings that slammed through the nearest droids like a tsunami against sand castles.

Rent durasteel and jagged mechanospine fragments cartwheeled past in deafening chaos. Anakin staggered under the ferocious expanding pressurewaves, hunching lower to ride it out. Still Galen advanced, his unstoppable wake leaving little but scattered debris in its path.

Within moments, the entire sortation facility lay in smoldering ruins, smoke and sparking wreckage settling in the malevolent stillness. Shaking his head in disbelief, Anakin lowered his 'saber and stepped through the dissipating Force storm to gape up at the battle-hardened young warrior.

"What in the blazing hells of Mustafar was that?!" he demanded, ripping off his mask to glare wide-eyed at Galen. His boots crunched on shredded components as he approached. "I've never seen anything like that level of power, not even from the greatest Jedi Masters!"

"Save your questions for later," Galen cut him off, unfazed. He gestured towards the opposite end of the devastated chamber where blast doors hung twisted open in their distorted frames.

"Those will lead towards the upper levels where they likely hold high-value captives like Jedi, especially Kenobi. I can sense faint life force signatures that way."

Before Anakin could protest, Galen had already moved off through the shattered bulkhead remains, lightsaber climbing to ignite in his grasp. Heart thumping with equal parts adrenaline and trepidation, the young Jedi could do nothing but trail along in the wake of such unmitigated destruction.

It wasn't long before they encountered fresh Geonosian resistance - detachments of beetle-like droids skittering down access corridors and interceptor beams that Anakin was forced to deflect with his blade time and again. But for every countermeasure they encountered, Galen countered a dozen times over.

At each intersection and fortified checkpoint, the exiled warrior would stretch forth his free hand and unleash bombarding force concussions that battered and crushed all opposition into twisted wreckage. Reinforced blast doors became so much misshapen scrap in the wake of his focused fury.

By the time they fought their way into the upper detention levels, Anakin was visibly shaken. While he dealt brutal enough attacks to any droid or Separatist forces they encountered, each lethal stroke now held the slightest hesitation shadowing it.

He was reevaluating his newfound ally - or was it adversary? - with each fresh display of awesome power. And Galen could sense the trepidation rolling off the young Jedi like storm clouds massing on the horizon.

When at last they reached the main holding cells, there was little resistance remaining aside from a few scattered security 'droids. Two limp forms hung suspended in electrified force cages flanking a central control dais - Obi-Wan and another woman Anakin didn't recognize.

"Stay back!" a tinny insectoid voice chittered from the operations terminal centered in the room. "One more step and your friends are disintegrated into their molecular components!"

Galen came to an abrupt halt, studying the single Geonosian drone standing rigid beside the controls. Anakin, however, had already sprung forward towards the caged prisoners with his lightsaber leading.

"Let them go, you worthless bucket of-!" The Geonosian hissed and stabbed a segmented limb towards a flashing override portal in the control array. The energy fields around the occupied cages immediately intensified tenfold, strobe-lighting the hostages into blurred, spasming shadows within the high-powered containment beams.

"Anakin, stop!" Obi-Wan's strained voice crackled out as his bearded features flickered in and out of view. "Don't... don't do anything rash..."

Anakin froze in place, grip tightening around his 'saber in frustration until his knuckles shone pale white. His chest heaved with barely restrained anger when he turned once more to where Galen stood, composed and watchful.

The exiled warrior cocked one eyebrow. "I believe you'll find most droids are susceptible to simple logic vulnerabilities. Watch and learn..."

With that, Galen strode around the opposite side of the control dais as the Geonosian operative tracked him warily. Igniting his own weapon, its distinctive snap-hiss seared the already ionized atmosphere. He held the humming blade out horizontal at eye level as if studying the hilt's fine decorative scrollwork.

"I hope you realize how stupid it is to threaten us here?" Galen spoke evenly. "A being of your modest processing matrices could not possibly hope to overcome one of my not inconsiderable talents. All it would take is..."

He trailed off ever so slightly, allowing the weight of the implication to hang before continuing in that same measured tone.

"Well, let's just say even something as insignificant as disrupting your respirator feeds or flipping your synaptic outputs would reduce you to a husk. I don't even need to move from this position."

The Geonosian issued a harsh clicking sputter of binary protests through its distressed vocabulator. Galen only shrugged, taking on an almost bored expression as he feigned examining his lightsaber again as if it were an antique weapon.

"Ya know, I could certainly make your remaining operational moments far more..." He allowed his free hand to twitch minutely, Force tendrils snaking invisibly around the operative droid. "...Unpleasant? If you prefer?"

With a sickening shriek of protesting servomotors, the beetle-like 'droid suddenly contorted backwards. Its armored plating began warping and folding in on itself as if imploding against an irresistible inward pressure. Galen didn't even spare it a glance as the horrific compaction continued, snapping structural members and causing secondary systems to rupture like overripe fruids.