Alpha was shoved into his dugout at dawn. "Make sure you stay in there," one of the Morgukai snarled. "If you try to escape again, I'll decapitate you myself! Tell the others to get up, you'll get up in an hour or so." The other called. They put more guard droids around the dugout.
Alpha made his way over to his bunk. "Commander Alpha!" Lon gasped, "I thought you and General Ti were killed!" Before Alpha could answer, a groan came from the other bunk. "Wha...clone? I haven't seen you around here for a couple days now!" Nearohut coughed haggardly and rubbed his eyes. Alpha shrugged, but was only rewarded with pain. He gently massaged his shoulder and answered Nearohut, "the Togruta and I tried to escape." Nearohut suck in a breath. "And? What happened?"
Alpha shook his head and said, "they tracked us with those darn chips. It turns out, the Togruta was a Republic courier. She asked me to kill her. I did." Lon looked confused and Alpha remembered that he had no idea of their plan. Alpha shot him an I'll-tell-you-later look. Nearohut looked equally confused. "A Republic courier? Out here? Are you sure?" Alpha nodded, "I threw 'er in a volcano...I think." The Rybet raised his brow. "You think?" he asked.
Alpha nodded. "It's all a little hazy," he lied. The Rybet nodded and said, "well, you better get some rest, I bet they gave you a capitol punishment or something." With that the Rybet turned over on his side and was soon snoring. "Strange species," said Lon.
"Now, what happened with you and General Ti?" Alpha told him of everything, from the plan to the last conversation he had with the General. Lon was simply quiet at the end. "It may work," he said. Alpha looked outside the dugout, careful to keep his voice low, "we're planning on it. As soon as the General gets back. You need to spread the word to the other clones too." Lon nodded and said, "I can do that, they were going to amass us in a big group today tell tell us of how to build some new shipment they're getting in." Lon gaze carried over to the Rybet. "Get some sleep now." Alpha nodded and slowly lay down in his bunk. "Oh," he said, "you two need to get up, you're wanted." Lon nodded and went to wake Nearohut. Alpha closed his eyes. Sleep was upon him in a moment.
A thousand feet in the air, Shaak Ti and the raptor-wasp, whom she had named Shaak Ti's alias, Shyla, were skimming on the clouds. She patted the beast's thick neck. "Thank you," she said, both physically and mentally. Shyla only flapped its wings faster and flashed through the clouds. It would take nearly half a day to get back to the camp, but only because she wanted it to.
She still needed to work on the hilt of her new lightsaber. She reached into her pouch and pulled out the stolen fusion cutter and welding hammer. She would work with these components to make her temporary lightsaber. Even though it would be temporary, it would still need to be a good one to fight that monster, Artel Darc. She could work on the lightsaber on the Shyla's back, just can't drop anything off the side, she thought.
With the Force, she brought the pieces into the air, and began the task that demanded her full attention. At dawn, she was barely half way through. It was said that skilled Jedi Masters could build a lightsaber in under two days. She didn't have two days. Artel may still look for the courier, if he suspects any deception in Alpha...which he most likely will, or has, Shaak Ti thought. She stretched out with the Force, searching for any enemy starfighters doing a routine sweep of the area. None so far. She glanced at the forest far below, the trees glistening with dew in the early morning light. She applied the power source for her lightsaber.
Now the crystals...she twisted the emitter placing on. She tinkered with a for another three hours, and finally, when she seemed sure it would work, she prepared to turn it on. There was a very high chance that the lightsaber would explode when she turned it on. She warned the Shyla of this. The raptor-wasp simply urged her to go on. Shaak Ti nodded and reached out with the Force trying to sense if any danger would come from the lightsaber. She didn't sense anything at the moment. She took a deep breath.
She'd only get one shot at this. She thumbed the ignition blade. The familiar snap-hiss of an igniting lightsaber filled the air. Shaak Ti grinned triumphantly. The blade hummed when she moved it. She swung it in a large arc over her head. She laughed with glee. She stared at the silver-blue blade, marveling at it. It felt so good to be holding a lightsaber again. After so many days in captivity, she thought she'd never touch one again. She loved the smell of the ozone it gave off. She laughed again. She stood on Shyla's back. The raptor-wasp's surprise radiated through the Force. She began to practice lightsaber drills, falling deep into the fourth form of Jar'Kai.
She kept her balance with the Force, leaping into the air, slashing away at invisible enemies. A couple hours later, it was nearly noon, and she was hungry. She hadn't had anything to eat since the day of her great escape. She urged Shyla through the Force to go down to the forest for a moment. The beast complied and banked to the left, then flew down to skim on the tree tops. She stretched out and felt for any presences that would be edible.
She wasn't looking forward to eating a snake, but would if she must. Shyla seemed to have an ideal location herself because she zipped away even faster. She perched herself in a huge tree. Shaak Ti climbed down. "Where?" she asked. Shyla gave her a mental shove forward. Shaak Ti turned her gaze on a tree that had some sort of yellow ooze coming from it. It smelled very, very good. She sloshed through the swamp water up to the tree and ran her hand in the ooze and put it up to her lips. It was very good, it tasted like a sweet candy, making her tongue tingle, yet she could feel strength returning to her weak, tired body. She gathered up more and downed it down.
She got more and more until she was stuffed with the stuff. She felt slight amusement coming off of Shyla. She waded back to Shyla and lightly leaped onto her back. Shyla took flight and they were soon back in the sky. She felt a danger sense in the Force after ten minutes of flight. It must be the routine starfighter scouts, she thought to Shyla.
Shyla raised herself into the clouds. Shaak Ti looked down and saw two vulture droid starfighters fly by. She gripped the pomel of her new lightsaber. She wasn't looking forward to a fight with two starfighters, not when the only thing she had was an over grown bug and her lightsaber. Shyla sent a wave of resentment at her for being call an 'over grown bug.' She sent her apology through the Force and turned her attention back to the starfighters.
They were coming around now. Shyla stayed in the clouds, barely moving. The starfighters were right under them one of them suddenly lifted into the clouds. Shaak Ti yelped in surprise as the starfighter crashed into Shyla. The droid fighter seemed equally surprised at its new discovery. "Shyla! Pull back into another cloud before they..." Too late. The droid fighters had locked onto Shyla. Shaak Ti stood on her back, keeping herself anchored with the Force.
She ignited her lightsaber and batted three laser bolts away. Facing a Jedi on the back of a giant raptor-wasp wielding a lightsaber a thousand feet in the air, was probably the last thing the two droids expected. She would have to finish this quickly before the droids sent out a distress signal. She used the Force to smash the two droids in to each other. The two fighters fell to the ground below, tumbling and exploding in the air. Shaak Ti patted Shyla's neck. "It's okay, they're gone now." Shyla dipped lower to the ground, scanning the sky, then she pulled back up into the clouds. Shaak Ti mused, "they're going to notice if two droids don't come back to them. We need to get back to camp. Quickly." Shyla went full speed. Shaak Ti was hanging on for dear life. After a long while, Shaak Ti could make out the unbuilt Techno Union starships in the distance. She touched Shyla through the Force, telling her to land. Shyla complied and dipped down and landed in the forest half a kilometer away from the swamp site. Shaak Ti patted Shyla's head. "Thank you, my friend. Go back to your little ones. They will live another day once I'm done here. The Republic is in your debt." The raptor-wasp could only make out her gratitude. She rested her large head on Shaak Ti's, then it blasted into the air with a large gust of wind. She turned and sat on a tree stump to wait for night fall. Then, their plan would be put in motion.
"Very good Slave Master Zinder," Artel praised. Zinder bowed low, saying, "I live only to serve, Commander Darc." Artel waved a hand in dismissal. "Leave." Zinder stood up and quickly sauntered out of the large docking bay. Artel turned his attention to the crowd in front of him. Over a thousand Rybet women and children. Some of them were whispering to each other in Rybese. Artel was standing on a repulsorlift platform, his feet three feet apart, hands clasped behind his back. The woman and children cowered when he passed his gaze over them. He chuckled to himself. Pathetic creatures.
He used the Force to project his voice to the far reaches of the bay, "welcome, Rybets. I hope you enjoy your stay here at the command center. We have a special task for you all." Some of the females looked at each other, terror rolling off them in waves. He smiled menacingly. "You have very good reason to be afraid," he said. "I'm sure your wondering what your very simple task is?" Some of the braver females looked him in the eye and one of them called, "what is it, you monster?" He looked at the female in the eye and said simply, "to die."
Suddenly the female was flying through the air and slammed into the wall with a sickening thud. Some of the children screamed and the females cried out in shock. "Now," he said slowly, "you will all cooperate without any trouble. For if you do attempt to revolt, I will personally kill every single one of the children." One mother held her infant closer, tears rolling down from her purple eyes. Artel merely smiled again and used their terror to feed the dark side within him.
He motioned toward one big door where three Morgukai were waiting to take the prisoners to their designated location. Artel jumped down from his platform and brought up the rear. One of the Morgukai came back to join him. "Commander Darc," the alien said, "we have everything set up as you wished." Artel nodded. "Good," Artel raised his hand as if another thought just occurred to him. "Ah, and can you clean up the mess I left behind?" He gestured to the dead Rybet female's body on the floor. The Morgukai motioned with his hand at two droids and turned to give them orders. Artel quickened his pace to catch up with the prisoners, his hands once again clasped behind his back, lightsaber bouncing against his hip. He smoothed out his wrinkled black tunic. He hadn't slept at all the past night. He'd been too busy planning his delicious plan for Jedi Master Ti. He chuckled, startling one of the females in front of him. She turned to look behind her at the noise, saw Artel, and fainted from pure terror. One of the females turned in surprise to see her fallen fellow prisoner. The female bent down to help the woman. She glared up at Artel. He grinned down at her. "Come now," he said, "I am I really that frightening?" The female lashed out with her hand, apparently attempting to slap him. She never came close. He sidestepped to the right, grabbed the female's arm, and yanked her up. The female Rybets were considerably taller than most humans, standing at nearly six feet high, and much higher than the males, who were only 1.5 meters tall. This was not so for Artel Darc. He was over six feet tall. The woman instantly tried to pull back. He only grabbed her other hand to prevent more resistance, and pulled her close. "Too late for that, ugly." Her eyes widened as she felt a deep pressure in her head. Artel pushed harder with the Force. Green blood came out of her nose and ears. Her eyes rolled back in her head and her knees buckled. Artel let her go and told the Morgukai to clean up. He grabbed the fainted woman's arm and dragged her to the Morgukai. "See to it she wakes up in the next minute. If she doesn't, kill her." With that Artel executed a perfect military turn\ on his heal, and walked out of the exit, following the prisoners.
