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"I wonder how Remla is doing R6." Taffo said to her red astromech droid. R6 beeped as he set the coordinates for Dantooine.
"You know, I don't see what difference there is between Tatooine and Dantooine." Taffo continued. "They both have 'tooine' in them." R6 beeped in agreement.
"Have you been to Dantooine?" Taffo asked. R6 beeped and Taffo read what he was saying on the data pad.
"Oh, you were only built this year, I see." Taffo said. R6 beeped. "Have you been to Bespin?"
R6 beeped wildly and Taffo glanced around and checked her controls.
"What is it R6?" Taffo cried. When she read the data pad she immediately spoke to Obi Wan.
"Master, there is a ship approaching from behind us." Taffo said.
"It is the Slave 1." Obi Wan said. "A bounty hunter's ship, but I cannot recall the name of the bounty hunter."
"Bounty hunter?" Taffo frowned. "What would a bounty hunter be doing here?"
"He is here for the same reason we are, the Force crystals." Obi Wan replied as he turned his starfighter to the right. Taffo's starfighter followed his manoeuvre.
"How does everyone seem to know about them?" Taffo sighed as she looked ahead. They were approaching a small desert planet in the Outer Rim, Dantooine.
"It seems that someone in Coruscant overhead us discussing this and reported to the Sith of the location of the Force crystals. Whoever this was heard everything the Council discussed, but we would have sensed if it was a Dark Jedi." Obi Wan answered when Slave 1 began to fire continuous streams of laser blasts at them. Taffo's starfighter followed Obi Wan's complicated movements but a few stray blasts scorched the wing of Taffo's fighter. Immediately R6 beeped angrily. Taffo read the data pad.
"Obi Wan, I lost the autopilot and my torpedoes are disabled!" Taffo cried.
"You will have to pilot it yourself." Obi Wan answered, hoping his Padawan would make it to Dantooine alive. "Use your primary weapon." Taffo quickly grabbed the thing that looked like a joystick and turned it sharply. The starfighter spun in a tight roll and R6 cried out.
"It's alright R6, I can do this." Taffo reassured the droid. R6 beeped quietly, and Taffo read that he was not that reassured at all.
Taffo took a deep breath and reached out with the Force, sensing her surroundings. The bounty hunter was going to fire at Taffo's left wing so she would need to turn right. Taffo sharply turned the starfighter to the right and easily missed the laser blasts.
The bounty hunter locked onto Taffo and started to fire. Taffo could sense where he was firing and continued to manoeuvre and miss all the shots. The Force was a powerful tool, and at the moment it was flowing through Taffo and she was completely connected with it, and she could sense that her Master was as well.
Taffo turned the fighter left then did a few more manoeuvres and ended up behind the Slave 1.
"Let's get him R6." Taffo grinned, pushing the button and watching blue lasers fire from her fighter and strike the wing of the bounty hunter's fighter. Taffo had hit something and the bounty hunter manoeuvred his fighter away from Taffo as she continued firing. The bounty hunter went full throttle and sped into hyperspace.
"Good piloting, Taffo." Obi Wan said. "The Force is strong with you."
Taffo smiled and piloted her starfighter to follow Obi Wan to Dantooine. If it hadn't been for her solid connection with the Force, she wouldn't have known how to pilot the starfighter properly. I hope Remla is doing fine. Taffo thought. She followed Obi Wan as they entered Dantooine's atmosphere.
Taffo looked out to see a clear blue sky and a flat desert of sand with no life in sight.
"Looks like we are back in Tatooine." Taffo muttered as she decreased the throttle and followed Obi Wan over to a clear area of sand.
"This place is completely abandoned." Obi Wan said. "We will need to separate to find the Jawas."
"Where are they? Are they just walking across the desert?" Taffo asked, a bit worried that she would be separated from her Master.
"No, they travel in a sandcrawler." Obi Wan answered. Taffo knew what a sandcrawler was and nodded as Obi Wan piloted his starfighter to scan the area to the east. Taffo was now alone.
"R6, try and repair the autopilot so we can scan the area." Taffo told her droid as R6 beeped and got to work. Taffo turned her fighter and went west, scanning the desert for any life forms around.
"Looks like we will never find these Jawas, R6." Taffo sighed. R6 beeped sadly. Taffo saw a fighter on the data screen.
"Who is that?" Taffo frowned. "It can't be Obi Wan." R6 beeped madly.
"Oh no, it's the bounty hunter, he's back!" Taffo swerved to the right to avoid streams of laser blasts that continued to fire at her starfighter from the Slave 1.
"We've been hit." Taffo winced as laser blasts scorched the wing of her starfighter and she began to panic as pieces of metal tore from the wing and were blown away. The wing was falling to pieces. Taffo realized.
"R6, try to repair the wing and I will try and avoid his fire." Taffo instructed. She tried to reach out with the Force to calm herself and get her thinking straight, but she was frightened about the damage and the bounty hunter was locked onto her starfighter and firing.
More streams of laser fire hit the wing of Taffo's starfighter and the wing blew to pieces and flames burnt at the cockpit, Taffo could feel the heat.
"Oh, great." Taffo muttered as the alarms went off and the starfighter started to swerve to the left dangerously now that there was no left wing.
"Try and stabilize the damage R6!" Taffo cried but it was no use when another stream of laser fire struck R6 and the little droid exploded, pieces of burnt red metal flying away. The starfighter was damaged badly and Taffo flicked at the controls to try and stabilize the damage but it was no use, the starfighter sparked and flames ate at the fighter. Taffo tried to turn the fighter away but the sand was right beneath her and the starfighter crashed into the desert. The screen cracked and Taffo passed out as the starfighter lay damaged and submerged in the desert sand, black smoke rising into the sky.
Remla felt something had happened to Taffo at that moment.
"Master, is Taffo alright?" Remla asked, concerned about her friend in Dantooine.
"Nothing is wrong." Anakin reassured his Padawan but Remla wasn't convinced. Remla and Taffo had been friends for a long time and they could sense each other in the Force easily. Remla knew something was wrong. But Obi Wan would be able to help Taffo anyway.
"So which platform would Aserit be at?" Remla asked her Master as they hurried over to the set of landing platforms. They had gotten all the information they needed from Si Bonda, even the name of this Dark Jedi they were looking for.
"The one where Aserit is taking off right now." Anakin answered, and with that he Force jumped into the air, doing a flip, and landing in front of a cloud car on a landing platform ahead. Remla was a bit scared of doing such a big Force jump, but she knew she could because she had the Force with her. Remla reached out with the Force and focused, feeling herself launch into the air and land beside Anakin. She landed hard and took a second to recover.
Anakin pulled out his blue lightsaber and ignited it, cutting the cloud car and burning the main thrusters.
Aserit knew that she would not be able to fly now, and jumped out and activated her red lightsaber. Remla's comlink beeped and she quickly answered it.
Help me, I crashed, is anyone there? The comlink switched off. Remla paused to think. Taffo was in danger, she needed help, and she had crashed. Obi Wan wouldn't be able to help her if they had separated, and it sounded like they had. Remla decided that she would have to go and help her friend.
"Master, I have to save Taffo!" Remla cried, running from the duel as she ran over to her starfighter.
"Remla! The Council forbids it! We are not allowed to leave until we have completed the mission!" Anakin yelled as he blocked Aserit's attacks. "Obi Wan will help Taffo!"
"He can't!" Remla cried. "Only I can. Taffo is in danger and she needs help." Remla climbed into her starfighter and fastened herself in.
"R3, let's go." Remla told her droid and R3 beeped as the starfighter rose into the air and sped into the clouds, as Remla went full throttle to save her friend.
Remla piloted her starfighter carefully and guided the fighter out of the clouds and away from Bespin's atmosphere. R3 beeped a warning that they would lose power if they continued to fly at the speed they were going at.
"Alright R3, boost the axillery power so we can go faster." Remla ordered her droid. Reading the books on piloting a starfighter at the Jedi Temple was helping at the moment, but she hadn't known then that she was going to be piloting her own starfighter so soon.
Remla watched the white stars speed past her, and was getting increasingly worried about Taffo. Who had attacked her? Remla gripped the controls and hoped they would get to Dantooine faster, but the problem was that it was halfway across the galaxy and the starfighter couldn't go to hyperspace. She wouldn't be able to get to Taffo in time.
Next chapter: Remla goes to save her friend, but what will Obi Wan and Anakin say of her decision.