Reviews:

Mana: Oh, the Empire certainly will find Callum. A nice idea. I hope they do too.

The Night Whisperer: Any reasonable parent would tease their child about their love life. Of course, Doom isn't exactly a neutral character, considering that he has his own grand plans that have been 4,000 years in the making.

Grima: Avizandum is unaware that Dolam was Callum's father. If he was aware, he might not have done what he did. But Avizandum could respect Dolam for how he used the Dark Side to protect the innocent from darkness.

Chapter 17: Escape to Circe

Callum eyed the station before them. His eyes locked upon the drifting remains of what appeared to be construction platforms. Large dome like shapes littered the planets orbit. "What was the Empire doing here?" Rayla questioned, her eyes glancing over the remains.

Janai shrugged her shoulders. "Could be anything. But judging by the amount of Imperial Construction domes, it was huge." She replied, nodding at Amaya who pushed the ship forward.

"Might've been multiply things." Callum added. Janai glanced at her padawan. The once unknowing Prince had become a formidable warrior in terms of the blade, thanks to the work of others who knew hand to hand combat, but his skill with the force had also grown.

"Perhaps. But remember, Saw said that the Empire was building something massive." Janai replied.

Rayla moved her gaze away from the construction platforms to rest upon Janai. "And you believe the extremist? Senator Mon Mothma doesn't hold him in high regard, nor does Queen Zubeia or the other leaders." She responded.

Janai shrugged her shoulders. "One way or another, he might be onto something." She paused, her eyes glancing out to see a single ship in the distance, her eyes narrowed. "What is that?" She asked?"

Callum leaned forward as he focused upon the ship. "It looks like an Imperial ship, but it's nothing like the ones we've encountered before." He replied, frowning as he glanced at Rayla who shrugged her shoulders in response.

"An oddity for sure." Rayla agreed.

Amaya soon signed something, adding her own input. Janai nodded. "Agreed, it does resemble that cruiser that pulled us out of hyperspace."

Callum raised an eyebrow. "It seems ot be missing the domes though." He added, watching as the Imperial vessel moved ever so slightly through the abandoned construction platforms.

On board the Imperial vessel, Arimar stood tall as her eyes were locked upon the construction platforms. "Preform a perimeter sweep of the area." She commanded. The bridge was small, but it resembled the command bridge of an Imperial Star Destroyer. It had a command bridge cantered above a small pit. Within the small pit were four circular control panels with a small opening.

"Right away Ma'am."

She stood in silence as the process was carried out, the seconds turned to minutes before they received a signal. "A single Rebel craft Ma'am. XS Class Stock Light Freighter."

She smirked. "The Golden Knight." She said, walking forward along the bridge of the ship. "Move the ship further away so that the trap can be sprung." She said.

"Right away Ma'am."

Callum glanced over towards the Imperial craft. "It's moving away from the construction yards." He said, pointing towards it.

Rayla glanced up in the direction he pointed. "Perhaps they don't think we're a threat, and that we're merely scavengers." She said in response.

Callum shook his head. "I don't think so. Something doesn't feel right about this." He replied, frowning as he glanced towards Janai who nodded in agreement. "We should land and investigate." He added.

Amaya nodded and gentle moved the ship towards the nearest construction platform. The large structure came closer and closer as they approached it. "Be ready for anything, we don't know what the Empire left behind or why these things were abandoned." Janai said, standing from her chair.

Callum nodded and quickly moved to gather his things.

The station was quiet, too quiet for his liking. As he turned another corner with Rayla not far behind, he felt something, the unease he felt earlier had only increased. There was something here, something he didn't like at all.

"Prince Callum, we meet again." Soren said, emerging from the shadows with a few Stormtroopers. "We had wondered where you all went for the past five months. Yet here you are, at it again." He went on, drawing a pinkish sword from his belt.

Callum narrowed his eyes, his right hand moving to rest upon the lightsaber hilt resting on his belt. "Soren, still after me I guess." He replied, drawing the hilt out. "It won't be easy this time I'm afraid." He added.

Soren shrugged his shoulders. "I'm positive that I'll take you in." He said, holding the sword tightly before him.

Callum smirked as he ignited the sapphire blue blade and stood in his designated pose. His gaze locked upon Soren as he stood, moving around silently. "Do you even know how to use that thing?" Soren asked.

Callum's smirk grew larger. "I have a pretty good understanding of how it works." He replied.

Soren grinned and charged forward, swinging his blade towards Callum who blocked with ease before leaping back, avoiding another swing sent his way by Soren. The troopers had started to fire upon Rayla who returned fire with her own blasters, gunning them down.

Callum parried another strike, moving to the side as the two rounded a corner. He noticed that they were heading away from the hangar and towards the escape pods. The two continued to dance around one another. Callum remained on the defensive, parrying blows and avoiding swings as he backed up towards the escape pods.

The place rocked violently, something was firing upon the station, or the station was ripping itself apart. He was sure which, all Callum knew was that he needed to get out of there. Another violent rock caused a few loose panels to break free, they came down, knocking Soren out cold.

His comm beamed to life. "Callum, you need to get back to the ship now!" Rayla yelled. Callum glanced towards the direction of the hangar bay.

"Negative, I won't make in time. I'll take an escape pod." He replied, cutting the call there. He glanced down at Soren. The boy didn't deserve any death now. Not when Callum had sensed doubt in his heart. Closing his eyes, he felt the station rock again.

Leaning down, he quickly slid Soren into an Escape pod. Once he had sat Soren up against the wall, he turned around and closed the hatch before sitting down in the pilot's chair. He quickly pressed a few buttons, ejecting the pod out of the station.

Once outside, he glanced up to see a single Imperial Class Star Destroyer locked in combat with both The Cascade and The Crusader. Both of which were pummelling the ship with their combined firepower. Yellow and orange turbolaser fire filled the air as Duren Fighters moved together with Elven fighters against the Imperial forces. He soon noted The Ambler in action, gunning down TIE's.

He felt the pod rock as something impacted the side. The pod started to tumble out, spiralling down towards the planet below. He frowned and glanced to the side to see Soren still out cold. Glancing back, he narrowed his as he held the handles tightly.

The landing could've been better he thought as he pushed his way through the remains of the pod and whatever building they had crashed into. His eyes locked upon the contents, crates full of random materials, metal, tools, forgotten minerals rested about. There was also the problem of the dead bodies of workers and Stormtroopers, the weapons scattered across the floor.

There were also unfinished machines and walkers. Whatever had happened here, the people who worked left in a hurry. Glancing back, he noted that Soren was starting to open his eyes. Callum frowned and leaned down to examine a body. There weren't any blaster holes, but claw marks and what appeared to be bit marks as well. Whatever had killed them was a creature of sorts, a creature that was able to hold out against the blaster fire of Imperial Stormtroopers.

He smirked and spoke. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said, causing Soren to pause in his movements. Turning his head, he raised an eyebrow. "The thanks I get for saving your life." He muttered.

Soren narrowed his eyes. "Why save me and kill them?" He questioned.

Callum sighed. "Look at their bodies, notice any lightsaber, explosive or blaster marks?" He asked.

Soren glanced down at a fallen Stormtrooper, he bent down to examine. "Claw marks? Teeth marks? What killed them?" He wondered.

Callum shrugged his shoulders. "That's what I was wondering. And if they were still around." He replied.

Soren frowned and glanced at Callum. "Why save my life?" He wondered.

Callum looked away. "It was the right thing to do. You didn't deserve to die on that station. And I can sense that you have a lot of issues regarding the Empire at the moment." He answered.

Soren leaned against the wall as he eyed the rest of the place. "So, what caused the place to go down?" He asked.

"Firefight between a Sunfire Class Star Destroyer, a Keldabe Class Battleship and an Imperial Class Star Destroyer." Callum responded, his eyes constantly scanning the area. He glanced at Soren who remained alert. His eyes locked upon Callum. "You're warry of me." He said.

Soren nodded. "With good reason, Jedi aren't looked upon so kindly." He replied.

Callum sighed a heavy sigh. "Lies, the Empire lies about the Jedi. Ask anyone who was good friends with a Jedi, and they would say the exact opposite of what the Empire says. The Jedi were peacekeepers." He replied.

Soren raised an eyebrow. "Elven tricks and lies." He responded.

Callum sighed. "My father was a Jedi, Dolam, great Jedi who trained my master." He said.

Soren widened his eyes. "That just makes me question whether Sarai was willing to have you or not."

Callum narrowed his eyes. "My father loved my mother. I know just from the images of his past I get every now and then when I touch this lightsaber." He said, holding the hilt to highlight his point.

Soren rolled his eyes. "I was joking." He said flatly.

Callum didn't laugh. "Ah huh. Didn't sound like a joke to me."

"Ok, not one for jokes then. I get it." Soren replied.

The two remained in silence, neither one of them spoke. The silence grew tense as Soren analysed his surroundings, planning his moves. Callum on the other hand, kept an eye out for any danger that might threaten them.

Rayla walked back and forth. Her eyes locked upon the blue projection of the planet before them. Fell had remained behind with his flagship to assist in the search for Callum. A hologram of Zubeia stood not far from them, Zym by her side.

"It'll take time to scan all the potential land sights of the escape pod. It doesn't help that many pods from the Star Destroyer also made it planet side." Fell said, highlighting several points across the planet.

Rayla frowned as she closed her eyes. "We don't have time for this. What's the loss of one person when we have enough men to take Xadia." Zym said.

Rayla widened her eyes and glanced at Zym. Janai also seemed to have a similar fire in her eyes. "How dare you. Callum is the reason I was able to meet my parents." She cried.

"He's my padawan, and a member of my crew." Janai added.

Amaya signed something to which Gren translated. "He's my nephew and one of the few Jedi left in existence."

Fell closed his eyes. "He's quite the warrior, and seems to know more about the Empire's forces over Xadia then most of us, including which is the command ship." He added.

Zubeia glanced at Zym. "He is also one of the few with a rare Force ability. A power that can't be left in the hands of the Empire." She said.

Zym frowned and crossed his arms. "Fine, waste time searching for him. It's a pointless search anyway." He said in defeat.

Rayla sighed and backed away. Her eyes falling upon the planet. She hoped that by a miracle, they would find him before the Empire did.

I think I've got a pretty clear indication of who's going to be the big bad for the sequel. But well, five months have passed since the last chapter, nothing major against the Empire happened in those five months, just searching for allies and gearing for the final confrontation which is coming soon.

A lot of this was chapter was inspired by the season two episode of Rebels The Honorable Ones. And of course, the idea of a desert planet or abandoned warehouse from Grima helped the location of their crashlanding. And Circe is one of the many Latin words for Sun. And like Tempestas, it is believed to have been a homeworld of the Sunfire Elves and Sun Dragons.

Review, leave feedback and ideas. And be sure to check out my other works.