This is the sequel to my other Star Wars Discovery on Tatooine story. Remla is still recovering from her friend Taffo's death and must learn to be strong on her own. And the Force crystals are not destroyed as everyone thought.
Remla glanced up as the light on the data screen started to flash with a red light. They were being attacked.
"Three more coming in on the right." Anakin reported over the comlink. Remla grabbed at the joystick controls and turned her starfighter to the left, using a manoeuvre Anakin had taught her to spin around and face the attacking Separatist fighter. She pushed on the trigger and watched blue laser fire collide with the oncoming ship and it exploded into pieces, the heat brushing against Remla as she sat in the cockpit, the debris scraping against her fighter. She blinked against the burning light and smiled at how experienced she was becoming as a pilot.
"Good job." Anakin commented. Remla sighed heavily, turning her starfigher to where Anakin's flew ahead of her. She wasn't in the mood to hear Anakin's compliments like 'good Padawan'. As a Jedi she wouldn't have to be constantly complimented and criticized by her Master. And hopefully she would become a Jedi soon.
She was on another mission the Council had sent her on, a mission to track down the Sith Lord's ship and defeat the Sith Lord, who had become an increasingly bigger problem for the Council. The Sith Lord was a constant reminder for all of them of Taffo's death, which had caused Remla to fall into a cycle of grief and anger, mostly at Obi Wan.
She was so familiar with those emotions now, as she had been feeling them for many months since her best friend's death. It had been Obi Wan's fault that she had died, he had tripped over that tree root and now Taffo was dead. Remla accepted that all those weeks ago, she accepted that Taffo was gone and there was nothing she could do about it. That still didn't ease her anger at Obi Wan. But she could always take that out on the Sith Lord who had caused them to blow up the planet in the first place.
Remla felt the Force strongly, and glanced down at her Force crystal to see it shining in silver light. It was so powerful and she kept it close in her Jedi robe away from the Jedi. She didn't want them to take it off her and destroy it. It was too powerful and too useful to destroy, the only Force crystal left in the galaxy.
"Boost the axillery power R9." Remla ordered as the little red astromech droid beeped beside her. The starfighter sped up and the stars began to blur together. Remla turned the controls to fly beside her Master. She was used to travelling in starfighters now, as she used them through all the missions she had been on. Anakin was helping by teaching her manoeuvres to fight in battle and with the Force crystal speeding up her learning process; she could easily fight in battle.
"Sith ship dead ahead." Anakin spoke. "It's the Sith Lord."
Remla smiled and nodded. This was her chance to kill the Sith Lord and make him pay for how he had led Taffo to die. And hopefully to prove to the Council that she could be a Jedi.
"We will need to land in the hangar." Anakin said. "And make our way to the command room."
"Okay." Remla agreed. She piloted the starfighter towards the Sith ship and hit the throttle. The starfighter sped up and soon she was directly in front of the ship, watching Anakin manoeuvre his fighter into the hangar. The hangar doors were open, almost as if the Sith Lord was expecting them to arrive. Remla turned her starfighter towards the open hangar and piloted through the entrance, just brushing the roof of the hangar. R9 beeped crazily, having just missed getting its head scraped off.
"Sorry R9!" Remla cried, flicking the controls to land awkwardly near the ground. Sparks sprayed across the floor of the hangar as Remla's starfighter scraped against the metal. She skidded to a stop and undid the buckles around her. The roof slid open and she climbed out, impressed with the ease of the new starfighter models. They had fold out wings too, and were more improved than the other triangle shaped fighters available months ago.
"Happy landing?" Anakin smiled cheekily as Remla walked up the steps and glared at her Master. Sometimes she wondered how Anakin could be in such good moods during these type of missions.
"It was so joyous." Remla said dryly, then added seriously. "The doors are open; the Sith Lord knows we're here."
"Yes Padawan, I agree." Anakin nodded, stepping into the ship. Remla followed and glanced around at the small white corridors around her. It was a bit small for a Sith ship and too quiet.
There was a beep and Remla spun around to see Anakin's R2 droid behind her.
"What's R2 here for?" Remla asked as the little droid beeped happily.
"He's helpful to accessing the schematics of the ship." Anakin replied. R2 beeped a response that Remla didn't understand.
"Well, we need to get to the command room." Remla pointed out. "And find the Sith Lord."
"R2 can access the schematics now." Anakin looked over at the little R2 droid.
R2
beeped and a blue hologram appeared, showing the ship in flickering
blue light.
"Padawan, the command room is here." Anakin
pointed to an area of the hologram. "We need to go through this
corridor here which should take us there."
"Okay." Remla nodded. R2 beeped and the hologram faded. They walked down the corridor when Remla hesitated. She could sense something nearby, and through her powerful connection to the Force – Remla reached out to the Force crystal in her robe. Instantly, her mind cleared and her perception increased, she could see the droidekas guarding the command room, the battle droids patrolling the corridors, a vault of Force crystals heavily guarded by super battle droids. And she could sense Taffo. What? How? That was impossible! Taffo was dead!
But Remla was certain it was her, her Force connection was so strong that she could see through the Force cage and see her limp, bloody form trapped in there, in a room of Force cages. Usually Force cages blocked any access to the Force, but the Force crystal was so powerful that Remla could see who was inside. And it was Taffo!
"Taffo!" Remla cried, her concern for her friend overcoming the mission. She took ff down the corridor.
"Padawan!" Anakin shouted as Remla ran down the corridor, sensing through the Force and finding her way to the Force cage. She could sense Anakin running after her and R2 slowly following. She felt the power of the Force crystal, and in her minds eye she could see the schematics of the ship, as clear as a map, and knew exactly where to go. The map in her mind showed where the droids stood in the corridors, and the Sith Lord in the command room.
"Remla!" Anakin shouted, but it sounded on deaf ears. "Holly!"
Remla stopped when she heard that name. Anakin had never called her that before. No one had. Holly had been her name when she was born, and when she had been given to the Jedi by her parents, she had taken the name of Remla.
"What." Remla turned to face her Master, annoyed at how he had used that name to get her attention.
"Taffo is dead." Anakin stated. "What do you think you are doing? Trying to get captured?"
"I'm using the Force crystal." Remla replied simply. "I know where to go."
"What?" Anakin cried. "The Force crystals were destroyed!"
"Not this one." Remla held up the Force crystal in her robe, not caring what her Master thought. She was going to find Taffo and get her off the ship. She didn't want to know of her friend being tortured over the two months that she had been presumed dead.
"Padawan, why did you take one!" Anakin fumed. "They were to be destroyed!"
"They are too powerful to be destroyed. This crystal is mine, and with it, I can become powerful enough to sense everything in the galaxy! I can become a Jedi!"
"Listen to yourself! The Force crystals aren't tools. They corrupt the user, twisting their mind until they become a tool, consumed by the power of the Force."
"How would you know, that's not true, I'm not being twisted!"
"I read about them in the Archives. The Force crystals consume the user with their power. They sap the will and energy from them, either turning them to the Dark Side or killing them."
"But I'm not going to destroy it! It's mine!" Remla pulled out her lightsaber and activated the blue blade. Anakin stared at her in confusion. Even Remla blinked at how she had reacted. She lowered her lightsaber, a bit taken aback.
"I'm not going to take it from you." Anakin said quietly. "But tell me what you sensed."
"Droidekas guarding the command room. Super battle droids guarding a vault of Force crystals. Taffo in a Force cage."
"A vault of Force crystals?" Anakin looked worried.
"Yes. That's where you should go. I'm going to find Taffo."
"Remla, I need to go with you. I'm your Master, and you're just a Padawan. You can't do this on your own."
"Thanks for the support." Remla mumbled. At least Anakin wasn't complimenting her anymore, as even that was getting tiring. But Remla guessed all Padawans got annoyed of their Masters after spending so much time with them.
"No problem Padawan." Anakin grinned. He turned and ran down the corridor with Remla beside him. R2 beeped at them and stayed behind to guard their starfighters.
"If there are Force crystals here then we will need to destroy the ship." Anakin said. "Even though I doubt there will be as they were destroyed when Korriban was blown up."
"Unless the Sith Lord took them and Taffo before he escaped." Remla suggested.
"Good point Padawan." Anakin nodded. More compliments. Remla grumbled to herself as they turned a corner to see a group of super battle droids. Remla didn't know how to react for a second. Anakin pulled out his lightsaber and swung it to cut through one of them. The other fifteen of them started firing.
Remla used her lightsaber to deflect their fire, but soon they would both be shot down. They couldn't fight through fifteen super battle droids. Remla glanced around and saw a grate to the left. This was a similar situation to when she and Taffo had escaped from the droidekas at Korriban, they needed to go through the grate.
"To the grate!" Anakin ordered. Remla was a bit surprised that he had said that just when she was about to suggest it. But she didn't want to argue with her Master after all.
Remla ran to the grate and kicked it down then crawled through. She turned around to see Anakin get shot in the shoulder. Remla scrambled forward, about to leap out and save him, but then realised that it would be stupid, as she would be shot and captured too. Her Master was captured, and now she was alone. Remla could only watch as Anakin was dragged away. Remla sat in the tunnels for a while, fuming over her choices. She should have been able to sense the droids with her Force crystal, but then, she hadn't been concentrating enough. She was the only one left, she would have to destroy the ship, and rescue her Master– after she rescued Taffo.
Remla reached out to the Force again and sensed her friend close by. She started crawling through the air conditioning tunnels, her knees scraping across the metal. That was when she heard voices below. Reaching out to the Force, Remla could hear the conversation below.
"Well find the Padawan and bring her here." an angry voice said. "She cannot destroy the Force crystals."
Remla started to crawl again, frantically thinking. She would need to stay hidden from the droids if she was to rescue Taffo and her Master, and it was up to her to destroy the ship and the Force crystals. But she wasn't going to destroy her own crystal. She was going to keep it for herself. First she had to save Taffo, and then together they would go and save Anakin. Or they would use thermal detonators in the vault of Force crystals. But then the ship wouldn't be destroyed when the detonators would explode. Remla decided to stay focused on getting to Taffo.
Remla continued crawling, sensing droids running down the corridors below her. She reached out to the Force and felt her mind clear as she accessed the power of her Force crystal. Taffo was directly below her now. She stopped but there was no grate beneath her, no way to see underneath and into the room. So this was different from Korriban then.
Remla pulled out her lightsaber and stabbed it through the metal. She cut a square through the floor, watching the burning blue blade carve through the metal and melt it. She deactivated her lightsaber and punched the metal square. The metal fell away and landed with a loud clang below. Remla hesitated. That noise would have alerted any droids in the room. Remla waited for a few seconds, but couldn't sense anything below.
Remla jumped down and found herself in a holding cell room of Force cages. There were decaying bodies of Jedi in some of them, and even skeletons. Remla stared around in shock. This was a torture chamber. She glanced around to see a sealed door behind her with three droidekas guarding it. Remla smiled at how she had ended up using the tunnels and getting in the easy way. If she had gone down the corridors she would have ran into the droidekas and gotten captured.
Remla walked past the Force cages to see one that was activated with a glowing yellow light. Through the light she could see Taffo lying in the cage. She was alive! Taffo was alive! Remla could hardly believe it. Her friend was alive after all this time and she thought she was dead! Remla had gone through so much anger and grief for nothing! Her friend was still alive!
Remla quickly ran to the Force cage and studied it. There was no panel or datapad to shut off the field. Remla glanced around the room. There was no way to deactivate the fields around the cages. Taffo was trapped in there.
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