Act 2: Chapter 21 - Festival Preparation
The Ebon Hawk and the Jedi fighter land inside their home's hangar. It is already sunset, which means curfew in Academy City is in affect. Besides, Theron and R4 could just sneak back in city through the old sewer tunnels.
"Home sweet home." Theron sighs as he and the child in the crib exit the Ebon Hawk down its boarding ramp before he closes it.
"You know, we could've brought our ships to inside Academy City instead." R4 beeps.
"You know we can't do that without the Superintendent's permission, which by the way, is the city's strongest Esper. I'm not going to risk going behind his back like that. If I happen to run into him, then I'll ask before we do anything else. Plus, we've got a kid to look after for a while till we find his home, AND see if Saten has made her decision in wanting to learn the ways of the Force."
The child coos in response, which sounds like he's agreeing with the teen.
"Fine." The droid grumbles. "But as soon as you do get permission, we still got a ship to repair."
"Duly noted." The Jedi rolls his eyes, not in the mood to put up with his droid's complaints. Seriously, he's acting like all of the protocol droids that have the stuck up, whiny personality.
...
Back in the city, Saten has just returned to her apartment when curfew came in effect. She looks very nervous given her blushing face.
"Damn it, why did I even agree with Uiharu in challenging her in a bet I somehow lost?" She laments in a cute dramatic way. "I can't go one day without flipping her skirt!"
The girl then opens up her eyes at something else.
"And what's worse, I have to wear a dress with a short skirt at the Midsummer Festival tomorrow!" She gasps in horror. "This must be payback from her and Misaka, isn't it?!"
She checks her closet wardrobe and sees a few dress clothes hanging on a rack and folded neatly on a small dresser inside the closet. Saten then picks up a white summer dress that has a short length skirt and lacks shoulder straps.
"It's beautiful." She admits shyly. "But... I can't wear this! What if creeps try to look under my skirt? *gasps* What if Theron does the same?! No, no, no! He isn't THAT kind of guy."
Saten puts the dress aside on her bed and takes out a pair of white lingerie panties and matching color strapless lingerie bra. Her blush deepens.
"Why am I acting this way?! It's not a date! He and I are just hanging out, that's all." She shakes her head, denying what she's feeling.
She then takes out her recovered, old smartphone and checks Theron's number. She gets even more nervous.
"You're just calling him, Ruiko." She tells herself, taking deep breaths. "It's just a simple phone call."
After she dialled the number down, Saten immediately answers first on her phone.
"Hey Theron." She greets.
"Saten? What are you doing up? Curfew just started a few minutes ago." Theron asks.
"Well, I was just wondering if you're still on for tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?"
"You know, the Midsummer Festival. We're hanging out with Uiharu and the others, remember?"
There was a moment of silence on his end.
"Oh. Oh! That festival! I completely forgot all about it!"
"You forgot?" Saten giggles.
"Yeah, you know, the usual." He nonchalantly explains without going in detail of what happened on Argos. "Look, it's getting late on my end so why don't we save our banter for tomorrow morning at the festival."
"Sounds good."
"Okay then. See you soon."
"Wait!" She stops him from ending the call. "Maybe when the festival is done, do you want to discuss about my decision on if I want to learn to control my ability on using the Force? After the festival, I mean?"
"I was going to bring that up tomorrow but... of course."
"Thanks." She smiles.
...
"No problem. Goodnight, beautiful." He yawns.
"Night, Theron." She warmly says.
He ends the call as he climbs into bed. But then, he realizes his mistake.
"Shit, shit, shit! No! I didn't mean to call her that!"
...
"Wait." She says to herself. " Did he just called me...?"
Realizing that he called her 'beautiful,' her face turns red, all flustered along with her heart beating rapidly again.
She screams in a high pitch voice and buries her face into a pillow to suppress it. After finishing up her little breakdown, she moves her face upward from the pillow.
"Talk about a weird guy..." She murmurs with red blush still on her face, all shy once more.
...
A few hours later (during the night)...
A small starfighter jumps out of hyperspace. This is a modified TIE Striker, originally designed for in-atmosphere combat, now modified for space voyaging and combat along with shielding and a class 1 hyperdrive (fastest engine class). The Striker's cockpit has been upgraded with the rear gunner seat turned into a passenger/co-pilot seat as the pilot seat can control the bombardment of proton bombs on its own. After all, the ship is built for speed and maneuverability like the original unmodified variant. Lastly, the paint job is mostly dark grey and black with red outlines on the wings.
The Striker bypasses Earth's atmosphere and military satelites (due to a superior stealth system, making it difficult for ships to detect it in an instant) as it flies down toward a forest area close to the walls of Academy City. The ship's infamous TIE howling sound is suppressed when the stealth systems have been engaged.
After landing, the entry hatch above the front of TIE opens up and the mysterious figure climbs out of the cockpit before hopping down on the grassy surface - surrounded by trees - without injury. He wears black armor (Sith Stalker armor (Dark Lord/Hoth variant) but black with red outlines; no claw attachments on full body gloved fingers) with a black cloak (hood down). He dons a black with red outlines helmet that has an outwards slanting metal plate attached that protects the rear and sides of the neck, and mimics the silhouette of Darth Vader's helmet, while also sporting a red T-visor. Lastly on his belt, he carries his lightsaber that's in crescent setting, similar to that of a European sword hilt except that the lightsaber hilt is slightly larger and has two blade emitters on opposite sides.
He is an Inquisitor, a dark side adept that were meant to hunt down surviving Jedi after the Purge. However, that was three centuries ago because unlike the Inquisitors that were once Jedi from when the Empire first established in the old Galaxy, the Milky Way's Inquisitorious were trained as children to learn the ways of the dark side of the Force. And thus, their new task is to eliminate any opposing factions that use the Force against the Empire, albeit in secrecy as a majority of the Empire aren't aware of their existence like the Sith the Inquisitors served under. But wait, they have a second objective as they're to track down any Force sensitive children so that they're used and trained within the Inquisitor ranks.
"I sense his presence nearby." He says to himself. "He is close."
The Inquisitor then hides his ship from prying eyes and makes his way to finding a way inside the city without being detected by its outer defenses.
To be continued...