Racing through the city, high above the streets and dodging the various structures, a group of troopers on speederbikes patrol the area. They adjust their sensors and looked down at the ground in search for the renegade Jedi. As the leading speeder trooper took another look at his sensors, the soldier in formation next to him quickly called out and pointed.
"There they are!"
The leader nodded in acknowledgement and pressed his console button in front to signal the others.
"The enemy has been located! Stay in formation and follow me!"
The group quickly did as the lead trooper commanded. Together they flew down rapidly as they approached the fleeing trio and targeted them with their weapons. Lenko noticed the group heading their way and looked over at Laytana to see if she had also spotted them. She was out of breath and tried to keep a good hold on Solo as they raced through the roadways. With a simple glance of acknowledgement, she signaled to the small boy to protect them. The child gave a devilish smirk and soon released his hold on Den's arm. With two steps back and one giant leap from the ground, the Force guided him up to the coming speeders that were firing at them.
The lead Stormtrooper was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the Jedi boy, Lenko crouched onto the front of his speeder bike while holding on to the sides as it zoomed past his friends. Desperately trying to shake him off, the trooper spun, looped and increased his speed as he watch the boy laugh at the attempts. The soldier then took out his side arm and pointed it at the child's head, looked straight into his eyes and poised his finger over the trigger.
"You Jedi scum!" The Clone Soldier growled.
"Don't you think you'd better watch where your driving?" The kid laughingly questioned. Lenko leapt off of the trooper's speeder bike and headed for another coming close. As he managed to attach to another one, the lead trooper looked back at his own heading and noticed a building in his path. With no means of escape in time, the trooper reacted by screaming in horror and folding his arms over his face. The impact was explosive and destroyed another speeder that came close to the fiery blaze. Lenko continued to keep attached to the other trooper's vehcile as he once again smiled at the clone trying to remove him from the front of his craft.
"You're not going to fool me, Jedi." The clone stated. "I've killed more then my fair share of you."
"Is that supposed to impress me?" Lenko shugged. "Cause I've taken out a lot of you guys…and I'm not even trying."
The bike trooper got angry at that remark and took a swipe at the boy. Lenko used the force and threw the man off the vehicle. He took control of the speeder bike as the trooper screamed to his doom. A few quick clicks of some buttons on the main panel and a hard thrust of his body to the right, Lenko swung the bike around and returned to Solo and Laytana. The woman was happy to see him return and threw Solo and herself onto the bike as it hovered close. Lenko calculated it precisely so that their motion never stopped. Once they got on, they held on tightly and braced for the sudden thrust of the bike. The boy revved it you maximum and headed for the landing bay where Solo's ship awaited them.
On the shuttle heading up to the Star Destroyer, Darth Vader lowered his head as he could feel the Darkside of the Force tormenting his mind. The strange power caused him to struggle as he could begin to feel a sense of overwhelming dread. He had succumbed to its hold and to betray it (even in thought) was painful and conflictive. It knew what he wanted to do, it fed him the anger and fear on such a turn on his feelings. The battle with the old Jedi he knew as a child was tearing him apart. But more so was the knowledge that Palpatine had betrayed his trust and managed to switch his loyalties so easily.
Sitting across from him with a curious eye, an officer watched the Dark Lord as he twitched and jerked his hands and head.
"Are you…alright, Lord Vader?" He asked cautiously.
"Yes." Vader responded coldy. His head lifted up as he broke from the Force and returned to an upright position. "You concern is not needed. When we arrive, I want all weapons at the ready."
"Sir?" He questioned again, cautiously. "What is the target? If you mean the surface, I think it would be wise to…"
"I have made my order clear to you." Vader breathed with frustration. "One way or the other, no Jedi will be allowed to survive. Tell Commander Altavis to stand by…now!"
"Y-y-yes Lord Vader." The man bowed nervously and headed to the main cockpit.
Watching the man dash for his life, the Sith Lord shook his head with disapproval. It seemed the Darkside had pulled him back into focus and returned his actions to the task at hand. The confrontation with his master would have to wait, but it will be dealt with one way or another, this he swore with a balled fist and a slow release of his breath. The day would come – and he will be ready for it.
"There's no one there. We should go while we have the chance." Solo spoke.
After landing the speeder bike a few sections away, Lenko, Laytana and Solo watched the hanger where the Razorclaw sat undisturbed. Looking around, they couldn't see any troops or unwanted company loitering about awaiting their arrival. Laytana didn't like it. She felt it was too good to be true and bit her lower lip while trying to survey the area. Lenko was becoming impatient and tried stepping out a bit further away from the wall they all hid behind.
"Not yet, Lenko!" Laytana said in a raised whisper to him. "We need to be sure."
"Do you sense something?" He asked. "Cause I don't."
"No, I don't sense anything…. but that troubles me."
"That troubles you?" Solo chortled. "Come on, girl. If your 'Force Sense' isn't tingling maybe it's ok to head over there. Live a little. Danger keeps the life interesting."
"Says the man who kissed the ground awhile back." She remarked back.
"Nice." He simply stated. "Ok, you get that one, sure. But trust me…this is a piece of Alturinan crusted cake. Just super run us like before over there and we're home free."
"What about prepping the ship for take off?" Lenko said quietly. "And attracting attention with the ship engines powering up?"
"Ok, listen kid…"
"He's got a point." Laytana interjected. "We won't have time."
"Look!" He shouted. "I'm the damn pilot, ok? Trust me, I can get us out of here without so much a scratch. But if we don't get over there soon, we're gonna miss it entirely. So what's it to be, huh? Sit here and talk to end about options? Or haul our butts over there and punch through? Sure it 's a risk…but that's the kind of odds I like to take."
Laytana shook her head at the man. What a piece of work this scoundrel was. He was selfish, disrespectful, and cocky – not to mention took risks when it suited his purposes. Yet, there was something about his inner character that gave her a level of trust she didn't expect to find. He was also hiding something, but it wasn't anything sinister as far as she could tell. With a quick thought about the situation, she nodded in agreement to his tactic.
"Ok, good…" He said with a sigh of relief. "Let's do it."
Lenko and Laytana held on to either arm of his and whisked away to the ship. They were a blur to many of the robots who stood around and some quickly jolted with surprise as they felt the rush of wind nearly knock them over. As they stood inside the hanger, the Jedi let go of the man and breathed heavily from the sprint.
"I think you enjoy doing that it too much." The woman heaved at him.
"Certainly a time saver." Den Solo winked.
"What now?" Lenko questioned.
"Get on board and start up the batteries. Not the engine…ya got me?"
The boy nodded gleefully and trotted up the ramp of the ship as it opened. The woman managed to regain her breathing and looked at Den with a smirk.
"You've got a plan don't you?"
"I learned a few things that work." He smiled back. "Get the ship powered, just enough…and then switch the engines on once they've been juiced. Kinda a rough ride and it may burn them out…but this ship's been pretty good on doing it."
"How many times did you do it?"
"Including today…" He said mulling over the question. "This will be my second attempt."
"I'm sorry…attempt?" She replied dumbfounded.
"It worked, eventually….took a few tries….but don't worry, I got it down pat now."
He patted her shoulder and was about to step onboard when a laser blast came out from above and struck Den on the shoulder. It spun him around and fell face down to the floor. Laytana quickly ran to him and looked up. Sitting on the ship with a blaster poised at her was a young man in faint blue and green armor. Suddenly laughter came from behind her and a cloaked figure approached slowly.
"I knew you'd come back here, Den. It was only a matter of time." Garindan said as he came into view of her. "Jabba is through with you. He's happy I managed to track you and gave me a young protégé down on his luck to work with. I promised the boy he'd get the chance to take out the greatest pirate of them all…. and become famous."
The female Jedi helped the injured man sit up and faced the creature hissing in delight. The assassin kid leapt down with the aid of a rocket pack and kept his weapon locked on them. In his hand was a helmet, a silver Mandalorian helmet with blue markings. He looked too young to be a killer to Den, but the woman took no chances and tried to protect Solo. Garindan stood beside the kid assassin and patted his shoulder. The child then placed the helmet on and completed his full armored look.
"Good work, Boba Fett." The creature chortled. "I'll teach you everything you need to know."
"I don't need you to teach me anything." Boba Fett grumbled. "My dad was the best assassin in the galaxy. He even took on the Jedi."
"Oh…that's right." It said dismissively. "I'm sure he was good."
Den rose to his feet and held his shoulder in pain. He eyed the cloaked being and laughed at him. This confused Garindan and looked over to both Laytana and Fett.
"You sack of bantha fodder. You couldn't even end me alone, huh? Had to recruit an upstart and take all the credit."
"Whatever." It motioned back to him. "Time's up for you Den. Those good ol' days of yours are gone now. Kill him Boba!"
The young Mandalorian took aim at him. But Laytana used the force to push both men back. So much so that it flung them right out of the hanger. She tried to bring Solo on board, but the man shoved her away and took out his side weapon. The Jedi woman looked confused and reached out with her hand.
"Come on. Now!"
"Sorry, Princess." He grinned back. "You got to go. Tell Lenko, engines up full and punch down on the main thruster. That will boost you out here."
"We're not leaving here without you."
"Lady, I've got nowhere to go. I've lost everything, including my grandson. At least I can give you a head start. Go….go on! Go!"
Turning about, Den held out his weapon and fired it at the opening. The two assassins had recovered and tried to enter back in. The blasts missed them as they dove to either side. Den never stopped firing his weapon. He started to howl loudly as he kept his finger on the tigger. Laytana watched helplessly and decided it was best for them to leave. She stepped on board and closed up the ship. Lenko saw what was happening from the cockpit and started to get out of his seat. The Jedi woman held him back down with one hand and shook her head negatively.
"But we've got to…" Lenko started to protest.
"No, he made the choice. Engines up full…you know what to do."
The boy reluctantly nodded and gave a sad gaze out the window. He sat back into the pilot seat and waited for Laytana to do the same. Den was continually blasting away and didn't look back to the ship as the sound of the ship engines hummed with power. Lenko flipped up the last switch and readied himself to activate it. With one last look, the boy shed a tear and whispered his goodbye to him. He flicked the switch and the Razorclaw took off like a shot out the hanger. The force of the blast threw all three to the wall violently. Den managed to recover quickly to see the ship vanish in the distance. He smiled and nodded with pride. Lenko was a fine pilot and seemed like a good surrogate grandson…if only for a little while.
"May the force be with you."
Entering the bridge of the Star Destroyer, Darth Vader briskly walked across the narrow platform where Commander Altavis was standing. The man looked surprised at the Sith's quick arrival and greeted him with a slight bow.
"Report Commander." Vader spoke.
"Weapons are ready, my Lord. Awaiting your command."
"Locate the hanger where the pirate ship is and – "
"Lord Vader!" A young bridge officer shouted from below. He sat a station embedded near the platform and looked up at him. "A ship is coming out of the planet at high velocity. It matches the description of the Razorclaw."
"Bring us about, full pursuit!" Altavis commanded.
"Aye, sir." The officer nodded.
Vader stood in front of the main window and searched for the ship with his mind. He could sense the Jedi on board. And he was almost certain they could feel his presences as well. The Razorclaw had reached space and was now fleeing the approaching Star Destroyer. The Dark Lord placed his hands to his belt while waited and watched the small ship's engine glow in the distance. Altavis stood beside him and watched with interest as well.
"We'll get them. That ship is too small to get by us."
"Make sure of it." Vader stated.
The Razorclaw continued to journey onward into deep space, but soon Lenko noticed the Star Destroyer closing in. He motioned to Laytana to the tracking scanner and looked at her with panic.
"Here they come!"
"Just start making the calculations for hyperspace. I'll try to use the cannons on this thing."
"It won't be enough!" Lenko shouted to her as she left the cockpit.
"It's better than nothing!" She replied.
"Shouldn't you be flying this thing?" He yelled. "I can shoot at them."
'Lenko, we don't have time for this. Just do as your told for once!"
The boy frowned at her and spun back to the controls. He was tired of being talked down to by her. But she was slightly older, and full Jedi where as he was only a mere padwan learner. Even so, he knew enough of the Force and doing things no ordinary boy would at his age. She was right though, this was not time to act like the child he was, it was time to be a Jedi. He entered the computation into the navi-computer and prepared to take the ship into light speed.
Laytana slipped into the small, turret control pit that barely managed to give her enough room to move, and switched on the controls for it. She put on headset with microphone and swivelled the cannon turret at the approaching Star Destroyer.
"You can do this, you can do this…" She mutter to herself. "Just need to keep them busy till we're ready."
"Microphone works." Lenko snickered over the headset. "Good luck."
"To both of us." She smirked.
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