A.N: Hahahahah I'm not ready for Monday Lol nope! Also sorry for not updating last week, it got swamped, but I had time this week to catch up. I also thought it best to spread out my updates so I'm still updating biweekly, but starting from today.
I don't own Star Wars.
Chapter 42: A Mark In Battle
Ahsoka informed the group that she had made contact with the Star Destroyer. "We told them we surrender, hopefully in their best interest they take it."
"So we move when they move," Rex said.
Chief had his guards posted on the tree tops, waiting to spot any sign of transports. The wait made Demira disappear for a while before she came back with her face painted. The Tribe Mark symbol of two green horizontal lines on one cheek, and on the other three small yellow swirls. "What does that mean?" Ezra asked.
"The Mark of the Nomad."
"Oh," Ezra responded, slightly somber.
Demira heard him and gave a smile smile, "I know, I know…. You can't where it unless you are officially part of the community." Ezra blinked. Demira had no idea why he had reacted. But before he could answer Demira continued, "If you want I can still draw something. There are symbols that you can use without initiation."
Feeling more curious now, Ezra forgot what he was worried about and said, "Really? Like what?"
Kanan, Hera, Sabine, Zeb, and Chopper gathered at the front of the Ghost. "We all have our roles, let's get to them," Hera said. "I wish everyone luck…" she faltered in seeing Ezra and Demira come up to the group. Everyone turned to look. They all stared at his face, sporting a blue line that crossed bellow from cheek to cheek with a small line bellow it on it each.
Zeb laughed and said, "Getting fancy with paint?"
Demira came up next to Ezra as the boy replied, "Demira wanted to give me war paint and I was on board. I mean who wouldn't? It's supper cool. Besides, I'm not lucky like Sabine. I don't have armor or style to do it myself."
"True that," Sabine said.
Chopper suddenly came rolling up to Demira and saying something. The girl looked at him quizzically before Ezra translated, "He wants some war paint too."
"Oh… hmmm... one moment Demira quickly ran into the tree line and disappeared before coming back a minute latter with a handful of berries in all colors and sizes. She then kneeled down in front Chopper and used a crushed red berry to draw on the top od his head. A red line across with two vertical lines going down on top of it. "A line across meaning you are one track minded, but two lines down show you have a hidden traits that contrast the main one. Where some may see a heartless droid, the close ones you keep see compassion."
"What what was all that?" Sabine asked.
"Symbols have meanings," Ezra explained. "Though I think, Demira, you might want to change that up a bit. I don't think it's accurate. "
Chopper growled and used one metal arm to take a swing and hit Ezra in the leg. Ezra winced and back away. Hera assured Chopper, "I think it's on point."
Zeb asked Ezra, "What does yours mean?"
"The main line across means I can be mature but the two small lines on either side show I can be—"
"Immature?" Zeb mocked.
"Energetic," Ezra hissed.
"Fine, try me then," Zeb said as he came up to Demira. She smiled, taking a purple berry and crushing it so the juice was on her fingers. Zeb leaned over as Demira reached p and drew one line down the middle of his forehead to the bottom of his chin. Two lines branched off from it to go down to other side of his face. "Like a tree, strong you are for not only in brute strength but in endurance of harsh tails in life."
Zeb stood up and said, "Hey, kind of like that."
Sabine stepped forward next. "I don't know where to paint…." Demira said as she looked at all the camouflage armor. "But how about your helmet?" Sabine allowed it, putting on her helmet so that Demira could use some crushed pink berry juice on it. As she drew a diagonal line across with one other small line bellow the left eye, Demira explained. "The small line is your ability to see other concepts and ideas that at first seem unlike anything. The line diagonal meaning you take those ideas and not only expand them but make it creative."
"Yep, that sums it up," Sabine said, proudly, putting her hand on her hips.
Demira looked to Kanan and Hera. The twi'lek women looked a bit skeptical before saying, "All right…" Demira crushed a green very and painted two simple lines, one on each cheek. "This symbol has two meaning. Like a rank, these symbols show your leadership and authority. The other meaning is so that it is drawn like dimples when one smiles. A smile shows that one cares so dear."
As if on cue, Hera gave Demira sweat smile and said, "That's very kind of you."
She let a hand stroke the girl's cheek before she backed up to let Kanan step forward. "All right, what'd you got?" He crossed his arms and gave her a smirk.
Demira smirked back. She crushed a yellow berry, the same color as her swirl symbol. She then said, "Close your eyes." Kanan did and Demira reached up. "It may seem that sometimes you close yourself off…" With two fingers, she drew two lines from the top of his brow to the middle of his cheek, one crossing over each eye. "… but with little help, you yourself can open up and see more."
Kanan opened his eyes and said, "Oe Ngat Kame."
Before Demira could respond, the blast of the sound barrier breaking was heard. The Guards in the dress gave out yowls to the large group bellow. The Imperials have come.
Several Sentential Class Landing Crafts landed in a clearing surrounded by scorched trees. Agent Kallus walked out of the lead shuttle with several soldiers marching in filled lines behind him. The Inquisitors were next to him on either side, both looking around their surroundings. Nothing but the environment around them. "Why here?" Fifth Brother asked.
Agent Kallus looked at the destroyed remains of the Imperial Tanks scattered around. Claw marks and lightsaber scorches evident on the metal surfaces. Kallus answered, "This is where our troops last fought them. The Jedi Woman had made this a so called border to not cross."
"And you think they will come here to attack us… in the open?" Seventh Sister asked a bit sarcastically.
The Fifth Brother said, "It seems more like an actual surrender then an unsuspecting attack."
"Believe me," Agent Kallus said darkly, "They are never one to surrender." The Stormtroopers had all filed out of their shuttles and AT-ST's were lowered to the ground by passing transports. Even after a half hour of assembly, the Rebels had not come out into the clearing.
"They definitely want us to go into the forest," Seventh Sister concluded. "There may be much life on this planet to block us but I can sense a mass gathering in the forest. So foolishly brave for the inhabitants here."
Fifth Brother said, "I still do not see how if there really are more inhabitants on this planet, there can be enough of them to fight our own."
"They know that, that's why they want to trap us. But we'll expect it," Kallus said as he ordered the armies forward.
The Imperials moved in, trying to keep to a path in the thick forest. But soon the terrain got too thin their walkers were forced to stop. "Clear the way," Kallus ordered. The walkers got ready to fire but Seventh Sister yelled, "Hold!" No one made a moved.
The Fifth Brother came up next to her, "I sense it too but…"
"Where…" She hissed.
Suddenly bushes rustled far left of the armada. Kallus called out to the army, "Be prepared for an attack on all sides. They want to keep us locked in. Don't give them that chance." All the Stormtroopers stood poised and ready with their blasters aimed for the forest around them. They expected to see someone attack, but not something. Out of the left of the group, a giant net came flying out. A Stormtrooper tried to shoot at it but blast went through an opening in the thread. The giant net then fell on three Stormtroopers, the rope tangling them up.
"What the…" Kallus gasped. He then dead panned seeing the three soldiers struggled trying to get the netting off only to make it tighter around them. And the others were just staring at them. "Stop fooling around! Get that net off and find the ones responsible." That's when an answer came …. a laugh echoed throughout the forest.
Everyone looked around for the source, they looked left, right, behind them, in front of them. But they didn't look up. All of a sudden, a long piece of rope that was woven through the end of the net was pulled so that the entire net wrapped around the three Stormtroopers. In an instant, they were pulled up to the tops if the trees, disappearing behind a canopy of leaves. Everyone was looking up now. Big mistake.
More nets came flying out from behind the tree line in all direction. All of them getting at least two or three Stormtroopers before the net tightened around them and pulled them up high. The army numbers began to dwindle. The Inquisitors pulled out their lightsabers and slashed through the nets, but they were coming fast. Kallus ordered to the AT-ST drivers, "Fire into the treeline!"
The walkers only managed to start turning before even bigger nets came put from the branches above. The net was got stuck in the mechanism between the legs and the head of the driver cockpit. When the walkers tried to turn the rope got jammed, creating sparks and breaking wires. "Stop!" It was too late. The rope around them pulled them tight so that the head came loose and the entire thing fell apart with a crash. Seeing that their two biggest weapons were rendered useless, the Stormtroopers themselves fired into the trees around them. But it made no change as more nets took more soldiers up into the canopy. "What is going on?!" Kallus yelled.
Sabine laughed as she and two fishers and hunters threw rope from behind the trees and into the path where the Stormtroopers were clustered. They watched as the net fell on two soldiers before the rope end tightened the tangle of rope. Sabine gave a wave to the trees above.
Up the Stormtroopers went. The rope pulled the net high, past some branches before it got almost to the top. The Stormtroopers looked around wildly as they spotted sitting crouched on trees several hunters and one Lasat. Zeb cackled and said, "Welcome to the canopy. You'll be staying for a while." One hunter tied their end of the rope to a branch so that the net stayed hanging. The hunters grabbed whatever weapons the Stormtroopers managed to cling on to in the mess. They took the blasters and smashed them into the trunks of the trees so that they shattered into pieces.
Zeb nodded to him, "Good work." He watched as the rest of his group, several hunters, brought more and more Stormtroopers to hanging by the net. The Lasat looked down the army of Stormtroopers. He could tell the ones who were scared stayed a little ways behind firing aimlessly at Sabine group. The ones who braved it pushed forward, the three main leaders being the Inquisitors and Kallus. Zeb growled seeing the agent order his men to march forward even through the chaos. He was dead set on finding the crew. Well if he wanted them, "Come and get it…" Zeb said with a smirk. He got an estimate of the Stormtroopers the had before he jumped down high to grab onto a branch. He swung himself across to the other side of the tree. Holding onto another branch with one hand, the other he used to wave down at Sabine. The girl noticed as she looked up, seeing Zeb signaling her with a sign there were enough Stormtroopers in the trees. Sabine pulled out a couple of detonators before throwing them towards the back of the cultured group of Imperials. The bomb went off, not doing much damage but enough to herd the soldiers forward.
The Inquisitors took the lead with Kallus just behind them as two more detonators went off behind their army. They moved their troops away from where the nest were being thrown It made Seventh Sister think, "Those aren't meant to destroy. They want to push us back on path."
Fifth Brother stopped in the middle of the dense forest as Kallus stopped to wait for his men to catch up and regroup. In that time the male inquisitor said, "Why force us to go deeper if that is our goal in the first place? Another ambush?"
Kallus, who was angry watching half of what was left of their army recuperate, pulled out his communicator. "Whatever it may be," He hissed to the Inquisitors, "I'm not letting those rebels spell victory today. If they want us to fight here now then fine, we have our own back up-" Before he could speak into the communicator it the response was static. "Argh—"
"Nothing will work here Agent," Came a familiar feminine voice. Jumping out from the tree line ahead, the mysterious Jedi Women came out in her Jedi garments but wore a fur cape, her full on mask and held her hooked staff. The mysterious bare jested man in the long mask came out too with spear. He said, "The deeper you go, the harder back up is too call."
The Inquisitors pulled out their lightsabers, knowing fully well that unlike the Imperials, the stranger was no match for them. But then suddenly, shadows from behind the tree line around them began to move, come closer, and take form. Men and women, brown brown and light skin, all shapes and sizes came out with armor made from their environment around them. Many came riding on hooved creatures that grunted and kicked up dirt. From up front it seemed there were only a few, but behind them gathered several more. Stormtroopers got their blasters ready as Kallus held his hand up ready to make a command. As for the Inquisitors, they were ticked. They didn't sense their presence. To confirm, Kanan with his face painted oddly came up next to the women stranger. He held mask in hand and his lightsaber in the other. He said, "Places like this block even the darkest side of the Force." He put on his mask and held out his lightsaber as it came to life. "Still think this is just an ambush?"
The two groups stared at each other, seeing that Kanan was right. It was now a face off. But the Imperials weren't going to let that stop them. The Inquisitors looked to Kallus. He got the message. "Fire!"
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A.N: Long because I didn't update last week. So I didn't come up with the marking, someone came up with them on tumblr but I LOST THE SOURCE! If anyone can recognize the marking description to someone who drew the crew in war paint, please let me know so I can properly credit them! I only came up with the meaning behind them. Anyway, after that the fight actually begins, it's about time to kick butt! So I'll see you all with an update in the next two weeks, if I survive the return of Rebels though. I'm KikaKatTIOI, peace out!
