Shadow's Odyssey: A Star Wars Story
The group of younglings was starting to feel overwhelmed by the number of droids shooting at them. Byph suggested retreating.
"No, we have to keep them distracted!" Petro objected. "We need to keep their attention away from the main force."
"I don't think we'll be able to do much good if we die." Zatt pointed out.
"Wait! What if we do that one thing we saw in the holocron?" Katooni proposed.
Ganodi looked worried. "Do you really think it'll work?"
"I don't think we have any choice!"
Petro, Zatt, and Gungi stepped forward to defend the others while they focused their concentration. With only three lightsabers instead of six, defending became much harder and while they only had to do it for a moment, that was enough time for a shot to slip past Gungi's guard and slam into his shoulder.
He fell to his knees, unable to do anything but stare down the muzzle of the droid's blaster as it aimed to kill. The bright red bolt of energy raced for him…
…And struck an invisible barrier inches in front of his face.
The droids fried everything they had at the invisible wall, but nothing could penetrate it.
Petro grinned. "Now it's our turn!" He stepped forward and shot Force Lightning through the barrier.
The attacking droids struck by the lightning spasmed and died. With the others maintaining the barrier, Petro struck back.
Jesse ran over to check on Yoda. He was breathing, but unconscious. Jesse scooped up the Jedi carried him away from the action. The group quickly moved forward, trying to outrun their attackers. They ran into the returning scouts.
"Is there anything up ahead?"
"The city is on high alert and every building is on lockdown. The Separatist Parliament is probably headed towards their bunker."
Rex, who was carrying Kalani, gave orders. "Alright men, if those droids behind us catch up, we're dead. So, our best is to make a run for the bunker. This is where our mission either succeeds or fails. If we die today, at least we died for a cause we chose to believe in."
They charged into the city with a roar.
After what seemed like hours of crawling through the vents, Shadow finally found what he was looking for, the loading bay.
"You still haven't explained what your plan is." Padme prodded.
"We need to sneak aboard the Death Star."
"And then?"
"We hide and wait for the signal. Now come on, we need to hide in one of these crates."
Shadow helped Padme climb into a crate and then climbed in himself. They waited in tense silence for the crate to be moved and the next phase of the plan to occur.
"Hurry up loading those crates!" Eggman bellowed. "And be careful! Those materials are delicate!"
The robots obeyed, as they'd been programed to. The shuttle was loaded, and the crates were shipped over to the Death Star.
With much of the city guard distracted, the group of clones and droids arrived at the Separatists' safety bunker. A clone began hacking the computer to override the door controls. The pursing force of egg pawns caught up and the destroyer droids moved to protect the clones and fight back.
But then a tank rumbled onto the scene. It was oval in shape, with a twenty-foot diameter. It was painted blue and gray and was adorned with Eggman's insignia. It boasted a quad-laser cannon on its rear, grenade and missile launchers, and a double barrel main turret.
With one shot, the tank killed half of the destroyers.
"Get us in there now!" Rex screamed.
"I'm trying!"
"Sir, I think I have an idea!" Jesse offered.
"Whatever it is, do it!"
"Here!" Jesse shoved the still unconscious Yoda into the arms of another clone and ran towards the tank.
There was an entrance hatch in the side of the tank. Jesse yanked open the hatch and went inside. He shot the main pilot first, then the one on the main turret, and finally the robot on the rear turret.
Jesse commed Rex. "Get everyone away from the door."
He climbed into the seat for the main turret and pointed the huge gun at the door to the bunker. Jesse fired.
After the forth shot, the heavy doors collapsed.
"Everybody in!"
They raced inside, and found the Separatist Parliament huddled at the far end of the bunker. Several of them had weapons pointed at the intruders. The Dooku Android stood out in front of them with Dooku's lightsaber ignited.
It was at that point that Rex realized just how hard it was going to be to explain all this them. "Uh… don't worry! We're not here to hurt you."
They stared disbelievingly
The Congress Leader Bec Lawise spoke for the others. "The last time you came here, you massacred us!"
"I will not allow this assault to continue!" The android proclaimed.
It sprang forward and was inches away from decapitating Rex when it was Force Pushed away.
Yoda hopped out of the arms of the clone who was holding him. "Deceived, you are. Dooku, this is not."
"What are you talking about?" Bec demanded.
"He's a droid." Rex explained. "Watch this." He pulled out a droid popper and threw it at the android.
It went off, and "Dooku" spasmed and collapsed.
The Parliament members stared, wide-eyed.
"H-how is that possible?"
"Deceived, you have been." Yoda repeated. "Dead, Dooku is."
"But, why? Who would build a fake Dooku?" Bec asked.
"Someone who wants to control you without you knowing. Who wants us to fight while they build power." Rex stated. "That massacre you were talking about? That was staged. And we have proof."
Kalani the displayed his memory file of Dooku giving him the orders and the commando droids disguising themselves.
Most of the Separatists still looked wary, but at least the weapons were lowered.
"If you're not here to fight us then why are you here at all?"
Rex steeled himself. This went against everything he had been taught. "Because we need your help. We're not strong enough to take on the new droid army."
"Who is your enemy if it's not us?"
"Our enemy is Chancellor Palpatine. Also known as Darth Sidious."
"Your own chancellor?"
"Yes, he's secretly been orchestrating this whole war. All of us were pawns in his game."
"How do we stop him?"
"We need you to shut down the droid army."
"No!" Someone in the back yelled. "You're just trying to trick us!"
"If we wanted to shoot you, we would have done that already." Rex pointed out.
"Give us a minute to discuss." Bec requested.
Eggman arrived at the Death Star. He quickly made his way to the main reactor and inserted the Chaos Emeralds. He was tired of taking orders from that creepy wizard, but now he was finally ready to make his move.
But first, he had to deal with the current commander of the Death Star. Eggman hurried to the command center.
Trench was examining his new command center when Eggman burst in and pointed a blaster at him.
"Wow, you are even uglier than I'd thought you'd be!" Eggman exclaimed in disgust.
Trench wasn't fazed. "Doctor Eggman. I've heard so much about you. But I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be taking my orders, not pointing blasters at me."
"I won't be taking orders from anyone anymore. I'm running this empire now."
"It appears you're not as intelligent as the rumors say. Do you really think you can take out my entire security force here?" Trench gestured to the four egg pawns in the room's four corners.
But then he noticed that their weapons were pointed at him!
"You mean the security force that I built?" Eggman grinned smugly.
Trench realized he was trapped. "Very well. I surrender."
"Sorry, but I really don't like spiders."
And then Eggman shot him. Repeatedly.
After a few minutes of discussion, Bec turned back to the clones and asked, "Where is Shadow?"
"Not here." Rex answered. "He was captured."
"Exactly how accurately did the news stories depict him?"
"They're as inaccurate as inaccurate gets. Shadow's not interested in power, except for what he needs to get home. He doesn't do anything without a reason. He's a bit… aggressive towards people he doesn't like, but you are not on that list. He doesn't even know who you are."
"What do you plan to do when Palpatine is gone?"
"First we need to find a new planet to call home. After that well… some of us are going to study politics, some of us are going to study the culinary arts…" Rex shrugged. "Basically, we're going to find what we're passionate about and just… live our lives."
Bec considered this. "So that's what Shadow wanted for you?"
"Yes. He wasn't trying to hurt the Republic. He… hated them, mostly because of what they did to us, but once we were free he didn't seek any further retribution against them."
"I see." Bec conferred with the others some more and then announced, "We're with you."
Rex was deeply relieved. "Great now can you shut down the droids?"
Bec nodded. "Yes, we were given an emergency shut down code."
He walked over to large computer and input the code.
"I don't think we can keep this up for much longer!" Ganodi cried as she struggled to hold the shield together.
All the younglings were exhausted, their reserves of Force power almost depleted.
"Just a little longer!" Petro encouraged.
But then the droids stopped firing.
"They did it!" Zatt panted. "They shut down the droid army!"
"Um… I'm not so sure about that." Katooni said, pointing at the droids as they started moving once again.
The egg pawns turned around and began marching away.
"Where are they going?" Petro asked.
