Chapter 7

Violent jolting woke Jack up abruptly from his slumber. "Wha-what's going on?" He said, putting on his uniform jacket and hurrying out the engine room. He wasn't the only one who had been rudely awakened. He collided with Zaalbar though the wookie was so big that he didn't seem to register the impact. Jack felt like he ran into a carpet with solid muscles.

After spitting out loose hairs that was stuck in his mouth, he managed to sputter out, "What's going on?" Zaalbar roared and gesticulated with his gigantic arms. Jack really wished he knew what Zaalbar was saying and resolved to learn the wookie language.

"Response to inquiry: We are caught in some sort of disruptor field, meatbag." HK-47 said. "Suggestion: Should I shoot you now so as to make your death quick and painless rather than dying a horrible, fiery death?"

Ignoring the homicidal droid, he turned to Canderous who happened to be passing by. "Well the crazy droid is right about one thing, something has messed with the ship but good, we're going in!" Canderous said as he ran past Jack.

"Everybody strap in, we're going in hot!" Carth shouted from the cockpit. As if to underscore the pilot's point, the ship bucked violently causing Jack to lose his footing. He slammed against the holo-table, the wind being driven out of him momentarily. He got his bearings though and found a seat and strapped in. Can't believe this is how i'm gonna go out! He thought to himself as he gripped the edges of the seat; his knuckles turned white because he was gripping so hard. He shut his eyes tightly as he waited for the inevitable impact.

The worst thing about an air or spacecraft crash, at least according to Jack, wasn't the actual impact itself but the anticipation of the impact. The anticipation was murder! He sat gripping the seat for two minutes though it felt like an eternity. Two minutes was way too much time to think about what would happen to him when they crashed. His mind went through every grisly permutation of what would happen. He just wanted the crash to happen and be done with it.

He got his wish; the impact was massive and it turned his world into a blur of movement and color. His teeth threatened to be smashed into tiny bits inside his mouth and he tasted the unmistakable coppery taste of blood. It was a wonder though that he was still conscious however.

For a few long moments he and the rest of the crew sat still in their seats. Jack wondered if they were all thinking the same thing he was at the moment, whether or not they had actually survived or if they were really all dead. Gingerly, Jack moved his fingers and toes. When they moved he tested the rest of his body by trying to get out of his restraints. He was successful but he was sore all over; the pain was the confirmation that he needed that he was still alive.

There was no interior lights working so the only illumination were the tiny fires in the loose circuitry here and there. Even in the darkness, the little flames managed to cast deep shadows over the crew. There was stirring from the rest of the crew in the sounds of moans and groans and soft curses.

"Everybody okay?" Mission's voice squeaked softly in the darkness. Everybody replied with audible "Yes'" except for Canderous who merely grunted in reply. Zaalbar gave a throaty growl. "I'm fine Z, stop smothering me you big fleabag!" Mission said with a chuckle.

Relief washed over Jack when he knew that everybody was alright. Indeed, already he could hear the unbuckling of restraints and the shuffling of feet. A lamp penetrated the darkness and Jack could make out the unmistakable silhouette of Revan behind it. "Everybody alright?" He asked, his voice shaky. Jack noticed that Revan shined his lamp specifically on Bastila when he asked the question. Again everybody replied to which Revan sighed in relief and he shined the lamp around the damaged interior of the ship.

"Carth was able to pull us out of our powerdive right before we hit so that's why we're still alive. But the Ebon Hawk is pretty badly banged up, we're going to have to make serious repairs. Fortunately, if you can call it that, there's ship parts strewn all over the place from what we can see. Obviously we're not the ship to crash on this planet. Let's split up and look for salvage to fix the 'Hawk.'"

Not knowing what to expect when he stepped off the ship, Jack was shocked when he saw that they crash landed on...a tropical beach of all places. "Wow, looks better than any place I took a vacation" he said to himself. The white sand crunched beneath his boots and the sun was tempered by the breeze coming off the blue ocean. "Don't suppose we could just stay here for a few weeks, huh?" He asked.

Carth chuckled as he came down the ramp and looked at the sky. "No such luck, kid. It may look like a garden spot but who knows what kind of dangers are lurking here? Besides, we still have Malak to stop." Reluctantly, Jack agreed with a shrug and the two of them waited for the rest of the crew to come out of the ship.

Next out of the ship was Revan followed by Bastila. Again, Jack noticed the unease between the two of them but this time it was somehow different. Jack realized that it wasn't uncomfortableness but the stirrings of danger on their faces. The two of them leapt off the ramp and onto the sand with their lightsabers drawn.

"What's the matter?" Carth asked, right before he was hurled by some invisible force against the hull of the ship, knocking him out cold. Jack turned around and then saw the ramp and door of the Ebon Hawk close up all on its own. Ignoring the weirdness of that, he ran over to Carth to check on his ally.

Meanwhile, Bastila and Revan stood shoulder to shoulder, using the Force to search out the source of the attack. The two Jedi traded glances with each other; their focus snapped back forwards when they saw a lone figure walking out of the green foliage of the dense jungle. He was clad in black and in his hand was a red lightsaber. The creature was humanoid but that was where the similarities with a human being ended. He was at least seven feet tall and had the bulk to match his height which his robes barely contained. The face underneath the robes was extremely alien, having gigantic yellow eyes but no nose or mouth to speak of; the head was conical which even with the hood over it, was still apparent.

"What is...that?" Bastila said, twirling her lightsaber. She never got her question answered because the creature came crashing toward the two at an unbelievable speed augmented by the Force. The two Jedi were barely able to get their lightsabers up to defend against the creature's strikes.

They realized that the first strikes were merely to test their defenses; the creature shifted from a seemingly clumsy attack into a variation of Form II: Makashi. He seemed to be everywhere at once, striking high and low; he was already fast and powerful and that was augmented to an N'th degree by the Force. Even with Revan and Bastila's considerable power, they were hard pressed to keep up with the creature.

"Jack, we need help!" Bastila shouted from over her shoulder, just barely parrying a slice that would've vivisected her torso. Meanwhile, Revan lashed out with the Force, trying to hurl the creature away but the creature erected a Force shield which absorbed the brunt of the attack. It did force it back a few steps; its feet dragged in the sand from the backlash.

This was a feint however as Revan sensed that the creature was expecting this attack and absorbed it on purpose. "Look ou..." Revan managed to get out before a wave of telekinetic force was unleashed by the creature, a combination of Revan's and its own. Bastila and Revan put up Force shields as well; Revan sensed the blast would obliterate Bastila's shield so he stepped in front of her. The two were blown backward forty feet. They landed hard and stayed still. Bastila was the first one that stirred but Revan did not.

Seeing this, Jack eyes went wide. "No..." he murmurred as he reached for his morpher. "SPD, Emergency!" He shouted, morphing into his Ranger form. He leaped at the creature while firing his blasters, trying to give the creature something else to think about besides his friends. The creature shifted seamlessly into Form III: Soresu and easily deflected Jack's shots. He reflected two back at Jack ; the Power Ranger caught the shots full in the chest. He screamed as the blasts hit with a shower of sparks and smoke. He fell to the ground, clutching his chest. "I won't let you win!"

"Re-Revan?" He asked, trying to catch her breath as she climbed to her feet slowly. When Revan didn't move, fear began to wash over her, then that fear was turned to anger. "You monster!" she screamed in fury. Turning to Jack's screams, she saw him fall to the ground after catching his own shots reflected back at him. "Jack!" She shouted as she ran toward the monster, shifting into Form IV: Ataru; she covered the entire distance between her and the monster in a single leap and came down in a overhead attack. The monster parried her attack and her others as she flipped and and spun around in her deadly dance of blades.

The pain finally subsided enough in Jack's chest for him to stand up. He knew he and his friends were in danger even more mortal than they had previously faced. He recognized the creature and some of the moves it used that were mixed up in its lightsaber fighting stances. "Bastila, that Dru's true form!" Jack screamed, cursing himself for neglecting to tell the group about Dru's true, monsterous and more powerful form. The female Jedi momentarily glanced at Jack in shock of the new information and turned her attention back to the fight.

"Battilizer, Cyber Mode!" He screamed. Energy surrounded him as the Battilzer components attached to his body. The energy sword appeared in his hand as he charged toward the Dark Jedi/Monster hybrid. In the space of a heartbeat, he was by Bastila's side, lashing out with his sword.

Fighting against a Jedi and a Ranger gave Dru something new to think about and he began to give ground. The two allies clashed against the monster, their fighting styles meshing seamlessly with each other. While one feinted, the other struck. They played off each other's strengths and covered each other's weaknesses in their defense. Despite this, Jack felt true fear as even with his power combined with Bastila's, Dru still fought as hard as when he first appeared. What really bothered Jack was that throughout the entire fight, Dru had said absolutely nothing; he was deadly silent.

Unknown to Jack and what Bastila was beginning to realize was that Dru was using the Dark Side to feed off of Jack's fear to make himself stronger. Before she could warn her ally, Dru stopped giving ground and began to take the offense once again. With his already considerable power augmented by the Dark Side and Jack's terror, Dru became stronger than ever. He easily batted away Jack and Bastila's strikes as he grew ever closer.

Dru knocked Jack's blade out of his hand and with a spin to increase his momentum, he struck Jack full in the chest. Even with his resistance to damage, if it weren't for the Cyber Armor, Jack would've been cleaved in two. Still, he was knocked twenty feet away with a shower of sprarks. He landed hard onto the sandy ground and de-moprhed, laying deathly still.

"No!" Bastila screamed. The distraction proved costly; she wasn't able to avoid Dru's super-powerful, Dark Side augmented kick which caught her square in the sternum. Even with the Force shield she wrapped around herself, she felt her ribs crack and blood flew from her mouth. She too, flew a great distance before landing on the ground, momentarily stunned. "R-Revan...Jack..." She gasped as she crawled along the sand on her belly.

A heavy foot landed on Bastila's hand breaking it and she screamed out in pain. "You're lucky that the master wants you alive" Dru said. Bastila looked up with defiance in her eyes. Before she could retort however, Dru kicked her in the face, knocking her out cold.

Calmly, Dru picked up Bastila's lightsaber and began to walk into the jungle. As an afterthought, he turned around to look at the two fallen fighters. "May as well get rid of these thorns in our sides. The master will be pleased." A smile crossed his inhuman face as he gathered the Dark Side within him, letting its dark fury grow and take the form of lightning.

He unleashed the bolts toward the prone heroes which were intercepted by Jolee and Juhanee's lightsabers. The two Jedi managed to get the hatch open and caught the tail end of the fight. They got out just in time to save their fallen friends from being incinerated by the Dark Jedi's lightning. Snarling, Dru dashed into the forest but not before unleashing another massive bolt toward the Jedi, blowing up the ground in front of them. Sand flew everywhere creating a screen to cover Dru's escape.

The battleground became silent once again save for the hum of Juhanee and Jolee's lightsabers. "Oh no..." Jolee groaned as he saw Revan and Jack. He look toward the undergrowth that was crushed by Dru's escape and for a moment considered going after the creature. Turning back to his fallen friends, he decided against it. "If there's a chance to save them, then there's no time to waste!" He said, to Juhanee but mostly to himself.