No Way Out

"No Way Out" is a story in Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Volume 9. It stars Mace Windu as he discovers a lost city.
==Plot summary==
Mace is on a mission to find the members of the Alpha-2 Squad, which has been deemed lost. When he asks dispatch if there are any cities in the area, the man (or woman) on the other end tells him that the region is uninhabited. He finds this curious, since he's looking right at a city.
As he enters the city gates, he meets Z-18, a droid that's made of many parts of many other droid types, who resembles a hunchback. Z-18 leads Windu to the Alpha-2 squad who, Mace learns in shock, are dead. Chasing Z-18, who's disappeared, the Jedi Master is suddenly attacked by zombies of many different alien species. Even the members of Alpha-2 squad, who have also become zombies, attack.
Windu later finds himself hanging on a wall facing the Countess Rajine. Rajine reveals that she is, in fact, an energy vampire that has sucked the life forces from all the zombies she controls outside. Z-18 turns out to be in her service, too. Windu learns that Rajine has already started sucking out his life-force as well, and his ability to use the Force is dwindling.
Much later that night, Z-18 frees him and reveals that he used to belong to a Jedi Knight named Samuro, who died on the planet. Samuro had used his remaining Force power to trap Rajine on the planet, and left a Jedi holocron in Z-18's possession to give the next Jedi who happened to stumble upon the planet - in this case, Mace Windu.
The Master confronts Rajine, who is angered and destroys Z-18 with Windu's lightsaber. She then turns to the Jedi, who activates the holocron containing a message from Samuro. Windu and the hologram of Samuro use a Force spell to temporarily bring all the zombies back to life, and they destroy Rajine. Noting that all their life-forces are free, Mace radios dispatch to report that the Alpha-2 squad is no longer lost.
==Appearances==
==Notes and references==
9-4