Author's Note: Okay, Christmas is passed, New Year's is next week, new SAO today, The Mandalorian is done with season 1, and the Skywalker Saga has finally ended! (My thoughts of ROS and Mando E8? see below!)

For now, is anyone ready to pick up some power converters at Tosche Station? Please enjoy!

Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.

Chapter Twenty-Five - Arrival at Mos Ila

Asuna and Kirito were both aboard the Mother's Rosario juggernaut cruiser as it sailed through the galaxy at top speed in pursuit of the dried, arid planet know as Tatooine.

Known for being a harsh desert planet off all the major trade routes, Tatooine was famous for its heat, its sand, its dangerous wildlife, and very little else. Only a few settlements dotted Tatooine's endless wastes, which were inhabited by handfuls of local traders and moisture farmers. Tatooine's obscurity has also attracted a small but significant criminal population, stationed to hide from galactic authorities.

In truth, Tatooine lacked any central government or allegiance to the Republic or Empire. However, after several rumors of an Imperial occupation taking place, this eventually came to be a reality as Imperial players were ordered under the command of the Emperor to ready themselves on the Outer Rim's territory in case a Republic backlash returned to that corner of the world.

"Tatooine was surveyed by Imperials right after the PvP war started across the galaxy. The Emperor wanted an extra system to place some of our forces in case the Republic took to many inner planets." Asuna explained to her would-be apprentice, Kirito, as they sat on the command bridge of the Rosario. Sinon elected to stay back on the Korriban space port, for some unknown reason, but Asuna paid no mind to her wishes as she was too focused on reeling in her new pupil.

Kirito pulled up a mini-map of the galaxy. "Yea, but isn't Tatooine a little far off from the rest of the planets? What good does stationing people all the way out here do you if your target is the Core?"

Asuna sighed. "Honestly, I'm not sure either. Lusac mainly uses it as a place to keep people who are starting to get on his nerves. Lusac and Trentyn are actual friends in the real world, but I think being trapped in this game together has put a dent in their relationship."

"Is Trentyn jealous of your title?" Kirito tried to give his darkened wife a swift grin to lighten the mood for once. "No doubt if they're really that chummy."

Asuna lowered her head as it swelled with arrogance. "Hmm, yes, he is. Which is why I've decided to use this opportunity to pay him a visit. I'm also curious to see how he reacts when he sees you at my side."

"No kidding." Kirito nodded his head. "I've heard I'm pretty famous all over the galaxy."

Asuna agreed. "Emperor Lusac hasn't had contact with his father since the game started, and from our reports, neither has Amun-din. You were personally invited into the game by Mathis, and you talked with him after logging in. You're the last person in The Old Republic Online to have any contact with him."

That made Kirito feel very strange once he heard it out loud. He remembered seeing how cheery the old man was when they met at the Immortal Gaming headquarters, then remembered how his demeanor changed once they met on Mortis.

"Hold on, he personally invited you too. And all of our friends. "Kirito was swift to add that detail. "We're all in his personal office in Tokyo using their Holocron machines."

"That's true, but you kept your brain." Asuna sounded a little annoyed by Kirito's suggestion. "I can barely remember what my parents faces look like. I hear random words like 'Aincrad' and 'Mother's Rosario' pop up inside my head now and again, but I honestly can't remember where they came from."

Kirito was extremely hurt to hear that. It reminded him of the very recent ordeal he faced with the Augma and Ordinal Scale. Asuna lost half her memories from that as well, and even that was too much for him to deal with. Now, on top of losing all her memories, she's been turned into a Dark Jedi hellbent on taking over the virtual world.

"Lady Rose." An Imperial technician alerted her commander as they left hyperspace. "We've arrived at Tatooine."

"Excellent." Asuna stood from her command chair and turned for the door, expecting Kirito to follow as she addressed her crew further. "Prepare my shuttle for our decent. We're landing at Mos Ila's space port."

Located near Anchorhead, Mos Ila was restored by the business of industrious Jawa creatures after years of mining for minerals. Mos Ila boasted a small spaceport as well, making the settlement ideal as a base from which the Empire could explore the abandoned Czerka Corporation weapons labs. After the reign of Emperor Lusac took control, Imperial forces claimed the town, displacing the Jawa that had made it their own.

Asuna's shuttle, The Blood Oath, soared through the dusty skies of Tatooine as the pitiful sprawling deserts came into view, nearly blinding the pilots as they shielded their eyes from the sun's violent reflection off the smooth dune sea.

Kirito looked out the window as a small but lively town with white buildings and towering orange rocks came into view beyond the numerous clouds of sand. He laughed to himself and shrugged.

"Well, I take it this place is a 'wretched hive of scum and villainy' too? Kinda like that place in the movie?"

"Huh?" Asuna sharply responded. "What are you even talking about?"

"Mghgh..." Kirito groaned underneath his breath, and realized humor would not be an easy way to crack through Asuna's cursed mind control. "Never mind..."

Now, we come across the broken but not beaten Pina as it slowly makes its way out of Imperial territory and back into the Republic. The hyperdrive had been slightly damaged by the Empire back on Korriban, but a few small repairs managed to get it back up and running to some small degree for a single flight toward Coruscant.

"I can't believe that thing's holding together!" Klein howled as he kicked his legs up on the dashboard and looked out to the blinding blue window. "I thought for sure we'd have to make the jump back to Coruscant without lightspeed!"

"Don't jinx it, Klein!" Silica barked out as she monitored the Pina's fuel leveled with her wide eyes. "The cloak is still broken, so if we lose our speed, we're going to be sitting in open space with no protection."

"Nah, our shields can hold up pretty well. These bulk cruisers have pretty impressive armor traits too." Klein tried to make comparisons between her Pina and his Salamander. "How else are smugglers supposed to transport their goods?"

"If you say so..." Silica finally leaned back, and turned back to the cockpit door. "Should one of us go check on that Bounty Hunter girl?"

"I guess." Klein looked very comfortable as his eyes shut to take a nap. "She's probably just sleepin'. If she's awake she'd just yell our ears off anyway."

Silence filled the room as Klein slowly opened his eyes, and realized Silica was still looking at him with a nervous expression. He let out a large huff of air, and took his feet off the control panel.

"Fine! Ugh..." Klein dusted his hands, and turned to leave out the door. "I'll check on pinky."

Klein maneuvered his way through the narrow halls of the Pina, and finally made it to the hallway connecting the engine room to the sleeping quarters. Klein and Silica decided just to lock the captive Lisbeth alone in the bunkroom for the rest of the flight home, and opted to trade out on flying while the other took a quick nap. Klein felt the hallway pulse a few times on his way around, and noticed a similar vibration while back in the cockpit.

"Huh, that's really weird...better check it out after I see Lisbeth!" Klein pushed the button to unlock the door, and as it drew upward, Klein entered the room and noticed Lisbeth curled up on one of the beds, with her body facing the wall in isolation.

"Hey, Cotton Candy-head. You need anything? Water? Food? Er...bathroom break?"

Lisbeth remained quiet, and left Klein to breath off a cloud of air. "Look, just because we captured you doesn't make us the bad guys. After all, we're supposed to be friends in the real world!"

Lisbeth made no response as Klein grew even more annoyed. "Fine, suit yourself!" He went for the door, but as he turned around, Lisbeth spoke up.

"You might want to fix that power coupling of yours." Lisbeth was still lying down, and she never turned or leaned forward to fully address her captor. "That's why the ship is vibrating."

"Is that so?" Klein chuckled, and started back into the room. "You sound like quite the mechanic. How the hell would you know that if you've never seen or been on one of these smuggler ships before?"

Lisbeth sighed. "Idiot...all hyperdrive units are the same. One of them is probably polarized, or something. You'll need to replace it if you want to get me back to your base."

"Well, how helpful." Klein crossed his arms. "But how can I know you're not trying to sabotage us?"

Lisbeth rolled her eyes, but Klein had no way of knowing that until her voice carried her annoyance for her. "If that thing blows up, I die too." She shuffled around on her bed. "Or you can run the risk of it just powering down, which would let my friends catch up to you."

"Agh!" Klein jumped in the air, and ran for the door. "Already on it!" He went to shut the portal, but before his finger pressed the button, he delivered a proud salute to his captive.

"Thanks for the suggestion too, Lisbeth. We owe ya one once we get back on Coruscant!"

The door shut, and Lisbeth took a deep breath as she tried to fall back to sleep. "Idiot...I don't want your favor...even if we are friends IRL."

Once Klein returned to the room, he noticed Silica running through a few more checks on the main monitor. "Wow, our hyper speed increased just now. And our ship leveled out! We're not vibrating like before!"

"O-oh, hehe, yea..." Klein played himself off very coolly as he slid an arm behind his head. "I just figured the power coupling was dead. So, I switched it out for a new one!"

"Really?" Silica turned around with a look of shock on her face. "Was it on the positive side, or the negative side? Was it just polarized or something?"

"Erm..." Klein's bluff was being called as he slowly hunkered down into his chair. "Yes...to both of your questions."

Kirito followed Asuna off the Blood Oath as a large cloud of sand and dust whipped up from the ground on their landing. They both used their Force powers to wave the particles out of their faces, and greeted a couple of commanders waiting by the entrance. It was just after sunrise, and the air was still quite cool.

"Lady Rose. We're glad you could make it." One of the men kept his salute high, and lowered it swiftly with his partner as Asuna approached. "Hopefully you read Darth Trentyn's full briefing. We don't have a lot of time before the Republic makes their move."

"I did." Asuna gave them a nod as she walked by the with Kirito in tow. "I'd like to speak with Trentyn though before we make our plan for defense."

"Gladly, My Dear." Lord Trentyn walked out of an elevator door coming from the ground level of the spaceport as he marched forward to greet his commanding officer. "Hopefully you brought what I actually needed from you. That great garrison army of yours is meant to be quite the force against a Republic squadron."

"It appeared to be that way on Alderaan." She knew he was teasing her, but her army's results spoke for themselves. "Do you know who the commander of the Republic forces is yet?"

He crossed his arms with a smug expression. "At first, we thoughts they we Jedi, but apparently it's a pair of commandos. Quite the fighting duo..." His eyes opened, and narrowly landed on the apprentice standing behind Asuna.

"So, this is the boy, Kirito." He walked forward, past the lady Sith, and stood a few heights taller than the black swordsman from Aincrad. "You're Peter Mathis's prodigy child. A bold choice on his part."

Kirito's expression never changed from its passive state. He looked Trentyn in the eyes, making a note that one was glassed over with red cybernetics. "You must be Lucas's friend from the real world. Trent Bishop. You've made some pretty great strides with graphics technology for Immortal Gaming."

"A true connoisseur." Trentyn raised an eyebrow. "It would only make sense for you to know that...I've had my hand in some great works for Immortal, but Lucas is the true mastermind behind our main titles."

Kirito's eyes narrowed. "On the technical side. Amanda is the better writer."

Trent laughed. "Is that so? As far as I can see she just lifted most of the work from Bioware's version of the game. She's done very little in the last year to take the head chair at Immortal. When the old man leaves, Lucas will be the one in charge."

"I guess we'll just have to see it happen." Kirito let the air between him and Trentyn heat up in their silence for just a little longer, then turned to address Asuna. "So, what now? Do we have a plan for your attack?"

"Our attack, you mean?" Trentyn looked confused. "I was under the impression Lady Rose would send her new acolyte into battle the auxiliary forces before the main..."

"Kirito knows what his assignment is." Asuna was putting words in the black-haired boy's mouth. "He was talking about our role." She quickly turned to address her new acquaintance, but notedly gave him quite the icy stare.

"Right, Kirito?"

The grey-factioned Kirito eventually realized that he was starting to blow his cover. He tried convincing himself the whole way over that if it came down to it, he would not hurt any of the Republic soldiers. Since the Light Side faction at least had their own free will, he figured he would need as many of them as possible to take down Lusac and end the game.

That being said, Asuna and Trentyn were not familiar with his still loyal heart to the Republic. Even his defense of Amanda's reputation tilted the meter into a suspicious range as they all three left for the doorway out of the port.

"Right. Whatever you say."

Asuna led the trio out into the open town. Busy groups of Imperial soldiers and Sith Warriors were prepping themselves for an assault on the Republic advance. Fighters soared in and out of the skies as they patrolled the grounds for signs of movement, and while the lieutenants were all assigning roles to their underlings, the two majors in this army were discussing their plans.

"Most will remain here in the town in case the bulk of enemy forces make it into the valley." Trentyn explained as he followed right behind Asuna. "I'll have your crew be the ones in defense here while I take my forces in an ambush. We believe their main camp is stationed in the Jawa's sandcrawler field."

"Sorry, but I didn't fly half way across the galaxy to be put on the side line." Asuna barked backwards as she kept her eyes down through the thick clouds of sand. "My army is stronger than yours. I'll go on the offensive."

"You expect me to have a supporting army complete my mission for me while I wait around at Mos Ila? I'd look like a total fool to Lusac!" Trentyn was already regretting calling the girl out here.

"I expect you to use the tools at your disposal wisely. My forces wiped Alderaan clean out of this war. A small task force scattered across Tatooine will be nothing for me. Besides..." A small look of evil took her grinning face. "I'd like to see my new apprentice in full work against the Republic."

Trentyn rolled his eyes. "If your little husband wants to get his sword whet, then have him fight the P.O.W.s after the battle. We need true Sith men on this operation."

Asuna stopped walking, even as a sand storm shook the town to its core. "I'm sorry, you probably think I was listening to you. And, I also imagine you think Kirito is still with us."

"Huh?" Trentyn turned around and tried to locate the now missing grey warrior as the storm subsided for just a moment. "What in the hell are you thinking letting a factionless soldier walk around our base freely!?"

Asuna carried on walking. "He's not in our base. I sent him to snuff out the Republic's leaders."

"You are a fool after all." Trentyn hissed. "You sent a former Republic sympathizer to parley with the enemy? If he turns on us, I'll make a personal report to the Emperor to have you stripped of your titles."

Asuna stopped, and turned around to fiercely look up at Trentyn's one human eye. "And if you lay one finger on Kirito, I'll cut you down myself by order of your beloved Emperor. He wants him left alive." The Lady Sith turned again, and made her way into the command office in the center of town.

"If Kirito had any sympathy left for the Republic, it vanished the moment he laid his eyes on me. If we're lucky...the commanders he finds at the Republic's base camp will be more of his friends from the real world."

Towering over the Tatooine valley that kept the Republic's forward camp was a large cliff, and standing at its peak were two very well-decorated Republic Commandos. One was a male, and he held a set of binoculars as he scanned the fuzzy horizon in the direction of Mos Ila. The other was a woman who looked patiently down at the Jedi and commando troops scurrying in the valley own below. Two large suns were just poking over the dune hills, and the day was growing more and more brighter than the current orange on the horizon.

"Dang. We won't be able to see the Sith if they make their move. That lousy dust storm is really working out in their favor." Thinker lowered his scopes to take a long sigh as he channeled his thoughts. "It must be the work of that Sith Lord, Trentyn."

Yulier nodded, and kept her hands on her rifle as she continued scouting her troops. "He's the main target. We do need to take out as many of Emperor's Lusac's confidants as possible, but Amun-din was specific in her direction though. We need him alive."

"Why is that again?" Thinker turned to ask his wife about their orders. "He's no doubt a dangerous man if kept alive."

"He knows Lusac very well. He can tell us most of their plans, and we can use him to plan our invasion for..." Yulier wanted to say more, but a soft buzzing noise quickly turned into the feint roar of an engine as they both looked down to the other end of the cliff. A sharp line of sand and dust was shooting into the air as a rapid speeder bike zoomed away from the direction a thick cloud, and made its way closer and closer to their point. The small object clearly had one lone passenger, and as their eyes adjusted enough for them to see the vehicle, the bike ramped off an upward jutting rock to propel the figure to their level on the mountain side.

Kirito jumped from the bike, and turned to regretfully address his friends. "I should have expected to see some of my old friends. Long time no see, guys!"

"Hey, you're the Kirito boy from Alderaan!" Thinker quickly remembered the face of his savior as he waved the boy over. "It's good to find you out here."

"No joke!" Yulier's heart lifted upward as she lowered her weapon. "We could use your skills to help us take out the Imperial's first wave."

Kirito nodded. "I came to talk to you guys about that. Their commander has a new ally now, and this one is extremely powerful. You need to return to Coruscant and give Amanda a warning for me!"

"Huh?" Thinker questioned that suggestion. "Why would we want to return now? We're almost ready to make our move. We need to acquire the Emperor's lead confidant before we escape the planet!"

"Absolutely." Yulier agreed. "Besides, how did you get here anyway? How do you know who's fighting for the Empire?"

"It doesn't matter!" Kirito wished to hide his previous affiliation. "You need to evacuate now!"

"Sirs!" A buzz came from Thinker and Yulier's intercom link as a man's voice yelled over the microphone. "That person you're talking to came from Mos Ila! They came straight from the Empire's home base!"

The voice echoed from a patrolling Republic fighter, which was also flying toward the commanders standing on the cliff at that very moment. It locked its barrels on the grey figure standing in front of Thinker and Yulier, and alerted them once again of his intentions. "Clear out so I can open fire on him!"

"Knock it off!" Kirito rapidly turned to send a swelling force of wind into the speeding fighter. The mighty gust blew the ship off its trajectory, and let loose premature laser shots at the group to try and blast through the dust for its target.

Kirito drew two crimson red lightsabers, and slashed at the bolts to send them back at their target. One hit, and forced the fighter out of the sky, and into the rocks down below as fire and ruble covered the sandy stretch beneath the cliff side.

Yulier gasped, and Thinker tensed his fists as he drew his round-barreled Gatling gun from his back to aim it right for Kirito. "Sith Lightsabers? You turned on us! You came with the Empire to talk us into leaving the planet!"

"They must be low on soldiers if they're trying to scare us off." Yulier thought to herself, and aimed her shock rifle right at Kirito's face. "Don't move and come with us! You're under arrest by order of the Galactic Republic!"

"Guys..." Kirito lowered his weapons with a saddened look in his eyes. Smoke and flames continued to build up behind him, and only fueled his heated heart more as two old friends from back in SAO aimed their weapons at the already tense boy.

He had spent too many days with the Sith Empire recently. Leafa and the others did an excellent job at holding down his rage, but the moment Darth Rosario began sinking her claws into the confused Kirito, his inner rage snapped as his red lightsabers slowly rose up.

"I finally made it to Asuna...I'm not letting anyone ruin my shot at winning her back...not even my old friends."

So Tatooine! Wouldn't be Star Wars without it!

Asuna and Trentyn seem tense, as does Lisbeth and the smugglers. Kirito has reunited with some of his friends from SAO (and the battle on Alderaan) but he is very unbalanced and believes they are there to take Asuna from him. The grey Jedi is still showing his darker side, which brings me to...

Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker! Hmm, well it was quite the conflicting film with fans. I do not want to discuss due to spoilers, but eh, I'd give it a 6/10, maybe 7/10 being the wrap-up to 9 films (and JJ Abrams had to finish a different director's stuff from Ep VIII).

The Mandalorian Series Finale? HA! 10/10, overall the Disney+ Flagship series is a 9/10 to me, capturing a very nice corner of the Star Wars saga.

That's all I have to say about that. I have spoken. Until Next Time!