Disclaimer – all original Star Wars characters in this fanfic (excluding my OC's) are the property of Lucasfilm and Disney.
Chapter 10 "The Inner Darkness – part 1"
Republic on Tython! While the Kingdom of the Force deals with the chaos on Arkania, the Republic fleet under the command of Chancellor Windu travels to the ancient home planet of the Je'daii Order with the intention to force the Padawans and the younglings to join the new Republic. Not taking no for an answer, the Republic forces the Jedi to defend themselves, which results in a fierce battle.
After losing contact with their ship, which guarded Tython, the Kingdom of the Force travels to the planet to save the Jedi before the symbol of the light vanishes from the galaxy, which would result in a disaster and presumably the end of the galaxy as they know it.
Hyperspace Tunnel, The Untouchable, Command Deck.
With the Adascorp destroyed, a part of the Kingdoms forces remained on Arkania to keep order until further notice. However, now, they had a new problem on Tython. If Windu wanted to kidnap the younglings or worse, helping them was a top priority. Without even a plan, they headed to Tython.
The ArchKnights tried to contact anyone in the Jedi Temple, but there was no response. Their ship, that was supposed to guard Tython wasn't responding either. They also noticed that they stopped sensing the younglings and the Jedi, which was a real problem.
General Grievous, the ArchKnights, Anakin, and Ahsoka, stood in front of a holographic image of the planet Tython. They needed a quick plan of action and answers.
"So what's the plan?" asked Anakin. "We're just going to attack head on?"
"Four Republic Star Destroyers won't be that much of a problem for the Untouchable and the Vicious," assured Grievous. "S-12s, which will be launched from the Nest, will swarm them and make quick work of them."
"And besides, this is an emergency," pointed out Avelon. "We need to act quickly and save the younglings. Killing Windu it's not a priority, but if you get the chance, take it."
"You don't have to tell me twice," Anakin replied with a smirk. "I've been waiting for an opportunity like this."
"Get in line," stated Ahsoka. The young Togruta had a serious expression on her face and her crystal-blue eyes sparkled with anger. She wanted payback on Windu for the troubles she went through because of him. Admiral Thrawn was still her top priority in terms of vengeance, but she would settle for the Jedi Master.
"Just remember that saving the younglings is our top priority," reminded Qui-Gon. "If anything happens to them, this could mean the end, not only for the Kingdom of the Force but the whole galaxy. Time is running short so we can't count on the Force to create another symbol of the light."
"I know," assured Anakin.
"Me too," Ahsoka also nodded to the ArchKnights. "I still don't know why we can't sense them," she added.
"The Republic has the Force-jammers from the Arkanians," Deiven said without a sheer of doubt and with a displeased tone. "That's the only explanation. I don't believe all the younglings died in one instant. The Republic must've activated the Force-jammers when they attacked Master Yoda and the others. That's why we stopped sensing them. Our ship on Tython, the Mirage, is capable of creating a powerful cloak-shield, which allows the vessel to vanish from the eyes of the enemies as well as from the most advanced sensors and has a pretty decent defence for when enemy fleet begins to fire blindly, but in exchange they use a lot of power and lose communications. It will keep the Republic fleet on its toes, but we need to hurry!"
"Samara will not fail us," Zai'shira assured.
The Orbit of Tython, The Mirage, Command Deck.
Triangle-shaped and black-plated, the Mirage was like a bigger, meaner brother of the Silent Shadow, although its main purpose was to be unnoticeable transport of both a large number of goods or people, the Mirage was deadly under the right crew and command. The ship was one-fourth the size of a Venator-class destroyer and required at least fifty crew members to fly it, of which ten had to be Force-users. It didn't have the weaponry powerful enough to destroy a whole Star Destroyer in one hit, but with its cloak-shield and one particular laser cannon attached to its underside, it could fly towards one unnoticed and make a short work of an enemy bridge for a fatal blow. Samara Ker had the command over the vessel along with her friend, Shiva'ra Teko, a female Zabrak and a former Jedi healer.
Shiva'ra was a real beauty and even as a Jedi, she used her assets really well. Her medium-long light-brown hair, which almost covered her horns, were arranged in an artistic disorder. Light-blue eyes, pearl white teeth, and her facial tattoos adorned her diamond-shaped face. Her tanned, almost brown skin was real eye catcher, but not as much as her large breasts, which always made many young Jedi lose their focus. Not to mention, the Zabrak wore her trademark light green midriff top with deep cleavage and tight black pants. There was always a part of her body to hang one's eye on.
She never behaved like a true Jedi and would never achieve the rank of a Master despite her natural talents as a healer, which gave her a second place in the Kingdom right behind ArchKnight Avelon Karkko. Shiva'ra was full of passion, which brought her trouble many times, and could lash out in anger if wronged, but she had a good heart full of compassion. In many ways, she was similar to Anakin and Aayla.
"We need to destroy at least one Republic cruiser!" Shiva'ra exclaimed forcefully. "While we're cloaked, the Republic has already sent their ground troops to the Temple!"
"I know, but we need to be careful," Samara replied. When Mace Windu gave the order to attack, the Venator-class Destroyers, which earlier launched the gunship with ground troops, returned to the orbit and focused on the Kingdom's ship, that at the time wasn't cloaked. Now the vessels hunted the stealth ship. "We don't stand a chance in direct exchange against four Star Destroyers. We need to do this carefully and with a clear head."
Shiva'ra exhaled and calmed down. Samara turned to look at the Rakatan pilots and spoke. "Get the Mirage close to the bridge of the enemy vessel," she ordered.
"Which one?" asked one of the Rakatas.
Samara narrowed her hazel eyes and approached the viewport. "To the one furthest behind," she said. "The three others would need to turn around to fire at us. That will give us time to cloak the ship once again and repeat the maneuver."
"Right away Knight Ker," replied the Rakatas.
Since the ship was operated by the Force, all Rakatan pilots lifted their hands over the hovering discs and channeled their energy. The cloak-shield hid their Force signatures so there was no way to sense them and pinpoint their ship's location.
Like a Sith assassin, the Mirage slowly flew past between the two vessels and headed towards the furtherest Star Destroyer. "Everyone keep calm and stay focused," Samara said as she approached the pilots, who formed a half circle. They could simply wave to the enemy troops aboard the other two vessels if they could see them through the viewports. As the stealth ship approached the front of the Star Destroyer, Samara took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Alright, get ready to charge the cannon with low energy output," she said. "The moment the energy levels pass twenty percent, we'll lose our cloak. Then set the charging to maximum output."
The Mirage positioned itself in front of the bridge. "Start charging the cannon... now," ordered the blonde Knight.
Two Rakatas switched from using the Force on the discs to manually pressing buttons on the silver-blue consoles. Now it was a race againts time. Shiva'ra approached the viewport and took a good look at the enemy bridge. They were so close, she could actually see droids who moved inside it. Only droids.
"That's weird," she stated and narrowed her light-blue eyes. "Either the Republic has a problem with recruiting real soldiers or they decided to use droids like the Separatists."
Samara took a few steps to approach her friend and also looked through the viewport at the bridge. She spotted astromechs and protocol droids. "That is weird," she admitted. "Maybe that vessel is just a decoy?"
"Cannon at eight percent," informed a Rakatan pilot.
"Even so, that's one Republic ship less to worry about," Shiva'ra replied with a shrug. "And besides, such droids won't react in time to do anything against us. They lack creativity and imagination."
"They wouldn't be able to even if they were to fight us head-on," pointed out Samara. "Which is even more strange."
"Sixteen percent," informed the Rakata.
Samara turned around and approached the pilots. Whatever the reason they needed to stop or at least stall the Republic until the forces of the Kingdom could arrive. "Twenty percent!" exclaimed the Rakata. "Cloak-shield powering down!"
"All powers to the cannon!" ordered Samara. "Fire and re-cloak us!"
Shiva'ra noticed as the droids on the enemy bridge began to point towards them. Their reaction was slow and she was sure that Mirage would fire first and destroy the bridge. "Firing cannon in ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one... firing!"
A yellow beam was fired from the Mirage's cannon directly towards the bridge of the Star Destroyer. As it exploded, Shiva'ra noticed how the droids were sucked into space, but also something else. The explosion was colorful. Violet, yellow, green, blue, and red flames of the explosion covered the bridge. One part of the ship exploded, then another, and another. The Zabrak quickly turned towards the pilots. "The vessel is filled with canisters full of rhydonium! Forget cloaking! Get us out of here!" she yelled.
The Mirage quickly turned around and began to fly away from the giant bomb. The three Star Destroyers didn't turn towards Mirage despite that they saw the stealth ship on their scanners. All three Republic vessels were leaving the explosion radius. Suddenly, a blinding, white flash illuminated from the exploding vessel. When the light vanished in a complete silence, one a gigantic explosion, which was visible from the surface of Tython, ripped the vessels from the inside and hurled its pieces in all possible directions.
First, the shockwave reached Mirage and shook it so hard that all crew members, who weren't sitting, were swept from their feet. After that, many pieces of the Republic vessels showered the stealth ship and began to puncture its hull. Sirens began to echo in the whole ship as its damage reached critical levels. "We've lost all power!" announced one Rakata, who held onto the console. Sparks flew everywhere and lights flickered in the command deck. "We have a major breach in the hangar and multiple other areas!"
Samara got up to her feet and blinked a few times. Blood trickled from her forehead and down her face. Literally, she saw red as the blood got into her eyes. Despite that, she was able to notice many Rakatas who lay on the floor. Some were just unconscious, but some were dead. The former Jedi shadow noticed Shiva'ra who was using her healing techniques to save a Rakatan pilot.
"Ugghh..." Samara shook her head and wiped the blood from her eyes. "Casualties?!" she asked loudly to be heard over the siren.
"Half the crew is either dead or severly injured, the rest aren't in that much better shape either!" replied the Rakata. "It's a miracle that we're still in one piece, but we've lost all power to the engines, we're sitting ducks."
Samara managed to get up to her feet and walked wobbly towards the viewport. One Republic ship was covered in smoke and flames, but the two others were fine and were turning towards the Mirage. "Shit!" Samara muttered under her nose. There was no way to escape, much less to cloak the ship.
The blonde-haired woman only sighed. At least they managed to destroy two ships, from which one was a trap that could seriously damage the warships of the Kingdom. She turned and look at Shiva'ra, who meet her gaze and understood the situation. "Despite everything, I would prefer to die in a real battle," stated the Zabrak.
"Heh, I know," Samara replied with a tired smile.
The Star Destroyers were in firing range, but before they could finish the damaged ship, the Untouchable jumped out from the hyperspace tunnel followed by the Vicious and the Nest. The large warships didn't even wait, they unleashed on the Republic ships, while the S-12s flew out from the Nest and headed towards Tython.
"Thank the Force," Samara said with relief. Her holoprojector beeped and she immediately reached into her pocket. When she activated the device, a small holographic image of Zai'shira appeared on her hand. "Samara, are you guys ok?!" she asked worriedly.
"Many of the crew didn't survive," replied the human. "One of the Republic ships was filled with rhydonium, when we destroyed its bridge it exploded. It was a trap."
"Hold on, we're going to get you guys, good job for holding out for so long," stated the Togruta. "Now leave the rest to us." With those words, Zai'shira ended the transmission.
Samara smiled and looked through the viewport at the Kingdom's fleet. The Untouchable and Vicious didn't even stop after leaving hyperspace, the two massive warships simply pushed forward through the flying parts of the destroyed Republic vessels while firing at the Star Destroyers, which shields weren't able to absorb the magnitude. One vessel exploded and the second was rammed by the Untouchable and in the process split in two.
"I guess the Force is on our side," stated Shiva'ra.
"Yes, it is," agreed Samara.
A few minutes later - The High Atmosphere of Tython.
The Republic gunships received a heads up from the Republic vessels before they were destroyed, and immediately got ready to intercept the Kingdom's starfighters. However, it was a futile attempt. S-12s were much faster and better equipped to fight other vessels. Not to mention Aritia, Anakin, Plo Koon and Shaak Ti lead the four S-12 squadrons. No prisoners and no mercy, that was the direct order of the ArchKnights. Tython was under the protection of the Kingdom of the Force so invasions weren't tolerated or treated lightly. After being fooled by the Dread Masters, the forces of the Kingdom were eager and ready to finally fight.
While Vicious remained in the orbit of the planet along with the Nest, the Untouchable entered the high atmosphere of Tython and deployed the shuttles with ground troops, which were supported by the S-12s. Just the Republic earlier, now it was the Kingdom, who swarmed the Temple and the Republic troops.
Ten minutes later - Tython, Jedi Temple, High Council Chamber.
Master Adi Gallia and Master Siri Tachi barricaded themselves inside the chamber just like Master Yoda ordered. Against Mace Windu, who had the support of dozens of soldiers, they really didn't have any other choice besides that and getting shot by a lucky energy bolt. The two females were covered in sweat and dirt. They used the large, round table to barricade the door and waited.
The Jedi felt the arrival of the Kingdom and sensed a few familiar Force-signatures. The sounds of banging against the door turned into sounds of battle. After a few moments, the silence filled the room, until Adi and Siri heard and knocking on the door.
"Is anyone there?" asked a familiar voice.
The Jedi looked at each other and nodded. They raised their hands and moved the table from the door, which opened a short moment later. ArchKnights Deiven Virlo and Avelon Karkko entered the room together with Knight Shaak Ti, Knight Ahsoka Tano, and ten sentinels. Right behind them, the Jedi Masters noticed many dead soldiers.
"Masters," Deiven nodded. "Are you hurt?"
"Just tired," replied Adi Gallia. She and Siri looked at Avelon. For the first time, they saw him personally as an ArchKnight of the Kingdom and not as Darth Enigma. "Thank you for your help and concern, but Master Yoda is in trouble."
"Where is he?" Deiven asked.
"He was overwhelmed by the soldiers and Master Windu," replied Siri Tachi. "They learned that the Padawans took the youngling away from the Temple. They want to lure them out by using his as bait."
"And where are they hiding?" asked Deiven.
"Somewhere in the jungle near Akar Kesh," replied Siri. "Before the Republic arrived, we needed to call the Padawans and tell them to turn off their comlinks in case the Republic would use the old Jedi frequency to track them down. We learned where they went."
"So there's a chance that Windu learned that from Yoda," surmised the Anzat. "We need to hurry."
Tython, Near Akar Kesh, Republic Gunship
Akar Kesh, or the Temple of Balance, was one of nine temples of the Je'daii Order located on the verdant world of Tython. Erected atop a towering pillar-like rock formation, the temple at Akar Kesh served as the Order's academy for instilling the ideals of balance in the Force among its students.
As they flew with open sliding doors, Captain Tarkin and Mace Windu tried to spot the younglings in the dense, green jungle. Just like Siri said, Master Yoda was defeated and taken as bait. The green alien was injured in his shoulder and beat by the soldiers so that he wouldn't be able to move without the use of the Force. Bruised, the poor Jedi was leaning against the gunship's wall. Because he was so weak and tired, not to mention he had the Arkanian collar around his neck, Windu was able to penetrate his mind and learn the location of the Padawans and the younglings.
"I can't see them!" stated Tarkin. "They could be anywhere!"
"Land in the middle of the Temple!" Windu yelled towards the pilot and turned to look at the jungle beneath them. "They can probably sense us and surely hear the gunship. I'll use Master Yoda as bait. Without any real Jedi training, the younglings and Padawans have grown attached to him and won't let him suffer."
As instructed, the pilot landed the gunship on the dark, stone floor in the middle of the eight large, rectangular columns. Ten soldiers, Tarkin and Windu exited the gunship with Master Yoda, which was held by the soldiers like a small doll. Windu approached Yoda and took off the collar from his neck so that the Padawans could sense that it wasn't a trick.
"Padawans!" Windu yelled. "I know that you can hear me! Come out now or Master Yoda will suffer greatly! We don't want to hurt you! We just want to take you back to Coruscant!"
The soldiers and Captain Tarkin began to look around in silence. They could actually feel that they were being watched and they were right.
Padawans indeed watched them for the trees and bushes. Many young Padawans were extremely worried and sad when they spotted Master Yoda, who was really beaten up. "Keep calm everyone," said Barriss. "This is all a trap!"
"We must help Master Yoda!" exclaimed a young Tholothian girl named Katooni.
"Then his sacrifice would be in vain," replied Caleb.
"There's only twelve of them!" pointed out a human boy, Petro. "We outnumber them greatly!"
"Master Windu is there," stated Caleb. "We don't stand a chance against him."
"We don't want Master Yoda to die!" whined another youngling, a Twi'lek girl. The younglings did really care for him.
"We must... Petro!" Barriss called towards a human boy, who dashed towards the Temple. Like a first rock, that started an avalanche, many younglings ran after him to help Master Yoda. "Dammit!" Barriss and other Padawans grabbed their lightsabers. There was no way to stop this now. Not without revealing their location.
After a moment, Windu sensed and then spotted a young boy, who ran up to them followed by many other younglings. The Padawans joined them shortly after with their lightsabers ignited. The soldiers prepared their rifles and aimed at the large group of the very young Jedi.
"Drop your lightsabers and no harm will come to Master Yoda or yourselves," said Captain Tarkin.
"Let him go and leave Tython!" Caleb demanded.
"We don't want to rejoin the Republic!" yelled one of the Padawans from the center of the group.
Windu silently approached the green alien and took him from the soldiers by grabbing him by the neck. Without any warning, he punched the old Jedi in his stomach. Yoda's eyes opened and he coughed up blood. The younglings gasped, few of them covered their mouths and closed their eyes.
"We won't ask again," Windu said threateningly.
Petro lunged at Windu with his blue lightsaber ignited. "Petro don't!" Barriss called out.
As the young boy jumped towards Windu, the soldiers unleashed at him without orders. He managed to deflect two bolts, but two others hit him in the chest. "Petro!" Caleb cried out.
"Stop firing!" Windu scolded.
With one eye, Yoda witnessed as the young boy fell down to the ground... dead. A tear appeared in his eye and trickled down his cheek.
Windu looked at the dead youngling, sighed and shrugged. "Oh well, it's just one rebellious boy, less trouble for later," he said coldly. Just as he wanted to continue. A loud crack echoed in the Temple as one of the soldiers was literally broken in half like a toothpick.
The Chancellor sensed a powerful dark side presence right beside him and looked at Master Yoda. The green alien looked directly at him with both of his eyes glowing in a yellow color. Before Windu could process the situation, a powerful telekinetic blow pushed him few meters backwards. He dropped Yoda, but the Jedi landed on his feet and remained standing.
"Yoda says, not worthy, I am," said the Jedi Master with a chuckle. "Yoda doesn't play with me anymore. Play with me, you will."
"The hell?" Windu narrowed his eyes and reached for his lightsaber.
"Simply, rip off your head, I will, hihihihi," Yoda raised his hands and small sparks of electricity began to dance between his fingers.
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