Today (January 19, 2019) marks the One Year anniversary of the Shaniverse! I can't believe it has already been a year since I first started this series! Thank you guys so much for the support you've all shown! :D
Just learned earlier that the copyright claim on SWT's "Vader" has been removed! By none other than Lucasfilms! I'm glad they decided to step in and put a stop to the unfair copyright, considering they're the ones who set the terms with SWT in the first place, not Disney. They're finally doing the right thing, so I can only hope that they don't continue the year the way they did in 2018, and actually start respecting the fans and Star Wars now.
Don't screw up Disney! :O
Temple Island; Ahch-To
Jarik POV...
It's been almost a week since I left Shaak-Ti in the care of the rebels, probably around five days, and I've been brooding back on the island ever since, still feeling flickers of rage every no and then from what Ezra dared to tell me. Mara had immediately noticed my anger upon my return, and when she couldn't get answers out of me, turned to R5. Needless to say, she was also upset with what Ezra did, which will most definitely put a strain on their friendship, that's for sure. How the rest of Phoenix Squadron feels about Ezra I don't know, and quite frankly, I don't care.
So I was currently sitting at the desk in me and... my, hut, mulling over current issues involving rebel intelligence. This was mostly to try and give me something to do and not think about Ezra's words, which would only drive me deeper into a rage. Recently I've been surveying Kallus's progress, unbeknownst to him of course, and so far he seemed to be doing okay. He's been using his skills as an ISB agent to great success in keeping himself hidden whenever he does the more secretive side of his work.
How he's been doing it so far is very smart; taking only small bits of data at a time and not rushing into things. Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from one of the best students of, Colonel Yularen. Knowing he's firmly aligned with the Empire is a little depressing, but I never interacted with him too much so I don't consider it a big deal.
I've also been keeping tabs on a younger rebel agent, Cassian Andor, who Bail recommended. He's quick-witted and a little cold from what I could gain of his profile, and once fought for the Separatists when he was only a small child. However he's proven his worth with the rebellion, and even managed to repgram an Imperial droid named K-2SO, which is an impressive feat. When I get to it, I do think Cassian would be a good addition to the Fulcrum Agency, and rebel intelligence.
"How things have changed these days..." I mutter to myself quietly.
I haven't received any word about Shaak-Ti's condition yet, but while worrisome that also means she hasn't died either. I can only hope she manages to pull through, since I could use some advice from a Jedi Master. Obi-Wan and Yoda are not available, mainly because it's too risky, and don't wish to involve themselves in the fight unless they are truly needed, so I won't pressure them.
A stray file on the side of the computer screen catches my attention, and I pull it up to see the things I've recorded down for Elita-One.
"Huh..." I mutter to myself, mulling over her current state.
She's been trapped in some sort of coma, what I believe is called stasis, for six thousand years. From what I know, Cybertronians run on energon, or kyber crystals, by converting it into a liquid state. I can only imagine she's still in a coma because she's severely low on it, aside from being trapped in the clear, crystallized wall.
"How am I supposed to turn those crystals into a liquid?" I scoff in frustration.
Are they melted down in hot temperatures, like how rock becomes molten rock, and into magma?
"Maybe I could melt them down with my lightsaber," I mutter sarcastically.
I then freeze in place, thinking hard about the idea, and whether or not it would work. It probably won't, but it is worth a try.
"And we still have the massive kyber crystal Mara helped recover..." I recall quietly.
After that crystal's retrieval, me and Ahsoka has it secured here on Ahch-To, out of the Empire's reach. Kyber crystals work by providing near limitless energy to lightsabers, or any other machine repurposed for it. If I could figure out a way to connect that energy to Elita...
I let out a tired sigh, rubbing my head. "Oh I hope this works."
Grabbing my comlink I activate it to call Mara, and her voice filters through.
"Hey Dad, what's up?" she asks curiously.
"You know how underneath the island Elita-One is trapped in stasis?" I ask her.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"I think I may have an idea of how free her," I tell her.
"So, how are we gonna dig her out of this?" Mara asks me. "I'd imagine we'd need a large drill."
We were standing beside each other in the cavern at the end of the crystal caves, looking up at the crystallized wall containing Elita-One. Seeing her frozen reminded me a little bit of when I was frozen in carbonate for the Citadel Rescue back in the Clone War, only this was a bit different. The large blue energon crystals around us continued to give off their light humming and blue glow.
"Most likely," I reply in agreement. "However I was thinking we could start off by using our lightsabers."
She raises an eyebrow at me in confusion. "Uhh, no offense Dad but I don't think our lightsabers are big enough for that."
"I know, but we'll at least carve out the outline for where we'll have to dig her out," I explain.
"And what about powering her?"
"Well, she needs energon, and we luckily have plenty of it," I say, gesturing around at all of the crystals before sighing. "What we don't have is a way to change it to a liquid state."
"Alright, So we need to melt it down then," she deduces. "Could our lightsabers work? They turn everything else molten."
"I don't know," I admit. "Kyber crystals are already combustible if handled wrongly, so I'd imagine pure energon would be even more so."
I shrug helplessly in response. "We'd have to test it with small bits first, and not in here if they are."
"Guess that makes sense," she sighs in agreement.
Looking up at Elita, we pull out our lightsabers and activate the blue and purple blades, stepping forwards. We move towards her left foot and then plunge our sabers into the wall on either side of it. The blades manage to reach up to about half of her foot, and we begin to slowly carve out an outline in the rock. We cut our lightsabers slowly through the crystallized rock, the plasma melting through the stone and causing it to bulge out in orange molten flurries.
We connect our lines at the bottom of her foot underneath, pulling our lightsabers out at the same time. Glancing at each other, we look back up at Elita and start cutting more outline for her, jabbing our lightsabers into the wall. This will take a long time for sure.
Not to mention we'll need something to help us reach up higher.
*:*:*
It must've taken us a little less than two hours to complete an outline of Elita with our lightsabers, so by the end of it we were exhausted. Mara had brought Zenna in so that we could reach up to the higher places, where she would flap her wings to hover in place.
The end result was a clear outline around the frozen Autobot, the molten rock having cooled down to a black color. We stood back and observed the wall, breathing heavily from the effort it took us to accomplish this. Zenna crooned at us and nudged Mara, prompting her to pet her head in response.
"That was irritatingly hard," Mara exhales. "Is it gonna even mean anything, since she's still stuck in there?"
"Well we now have something to work off of, I remind her. "We'll have to acquire a drill of some sort in order to dig deeper, but this will make it easier to do that."
"If you say so," she replies reluctantly, but follows along with my logic. "What about the crystals?"
I glance around at all of the energon crystals in the cave, looking for a much smaller one stuck somewhere. Zenna was chirping curiously, sniffing at the wall and eyeing Elita's figure with confusion and wariness. Sometimes she'd also draw her gaze towards the energon crystals, probably due to her connection with the Force.
Kyber crystals share a connection with the Force, and they evolved from energon, so it only makes sense that the original stuff would do so as well.
Spotting a cluster of small crystals about the size of my hand each, I move up to them among the wall. Inspecting them for a moment, I grasp one crystal in my left hand and then give it a fierce yank. It stays in place for a moment, but the second yank has the entire crystal snapping completely off of the wall. The lack of crystal shards in the break, the cracked pieces only being the rock it was attached to, make me realize just how tough these crystals are. Much harder than most minerals for sure.
"Now, we figure out how to liquify these things," I tell her.
"Would it be easier to cut them from the wall?" she asks.
"Combustible, remember? We don't know what will happen," I remind her.
"Oh, right," she recalls sheepishly.
I toss her the first crystal and she swiftly catches it. Satisfied, I start ripping out a few more small crystals from the wall, tossing them to her each time, and she catches them in her arms. In total, we retrieved six of the energon crystals, and I take half from her.
"Let's do this up on the surface. I'd be pissed if we fought against Sith Lords, only to die because of an accidental explosion," I remark.
"Yeah, that would be pretty stupid," she replies in agreement.
Once we had gotten back to the surface and out of the caves, we set up our testing area in the Saddle, where the area was perfectly clear and wouldn't break anything important if the crystals did explode. Thanks to Zenna we were able to get there much quicker than if we were to walk.
I used my lightsaber to cut a short rock pillar that was sticking up from the ground, and then sliced both sides flat to form a flat table. I guess in a way it was kind of like the stone Toothless sleeps on, but thicker and more rough, just to use as a testing table. I set the flat rock in the middle of the field, and Mara took one of the crystals from Zenna's saddle, placing it in the middle of the rock slab.
"Alright, test one, with a lightsaber," I state with some level of exasperation, gesturing for Mara to back away. "You should probably move back."
"You're crazy Dad," she comments, crossing her arms.
"So I've been told," I reply with a wry grin.
Nevertheless Mara does as I asked, pulling Zenna to back up with her, and the dragon chirps questioningly
Facing the crystal, I pull out my blue lightsaber and hold it in my left hand as extra caution so that I don't lose another one. Crouching low, tense incase I need to run, I stretch my left arm out and point the blue lightsaber blade forwards, directing it towards the humming blue energon crystal. With the blade hovering over it, I carefully let it descend and begin slicing into the crystal.
The plasma blade began digging into the energon, slowly cutting through it with a small amount of resistance. It began glowing brightly in response, the areas contacting the lightsaber beginning to turn molten. Things seemed to be going well, although I had no idea if it was actually liquifying it, before I widened my eyes in alarm.
Sensing what was about to happen, I swiftly yanked my lightsaber back and leapt as far away as I could with a yelp, moments before the crystal erupted. It explodes outwards in a burst of blue fire, about the size of a thermal detonator explosion. I hit the dirt with a grunt and skid for a moment, looking back to see the remains of the energon crystal scattered everywhere, now charcoal black instead of a glowing blue.
"You alright Dad?" Mara asks in concern, and Zenna lets out a startled squawk.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I reassure her, getting back to my feet and brushing myself off.
"Okay," she replies in relief. "Guess it's a good idea we didn't use our lightsabers to cut them from the wall then huh?"
"Without a doubt," I nod in agreement.
*:*:*
The next for tests that we tried in order to liquify the energon from its crystallized form and into a liquid were met with nothing but failure. We tried using a power torch, laser drill, a portable furnace, even a transfer of intense heat energy from one of our spare generators, and all of them resulted in the same thing. A fiery blue explosion of energon.
I skidded across the ground as the most recent test with the generators blew up in my face, literally. I looked back up at the remains of the crystal and generator, groaning irritably.
"Waste of a good generator," I grumble.
"You think there might be some ideas on the holonet somewhere?" Mara suggests.
"Maybe, but no one's ever dealt with energon crystals before, and I'm not enough of a scientist to figure it out logically," I admit with a sigh.
"Kyber crystals are similar though," she points out.
"They are, but kyber crystals don't count, since while combustible they can still be melted through conventional means. Unlike the 'robotic-life-juice' here," I state, gesturing at the broken crystal.
She snorts in response at the nickname, but nods in understanding of what I was saying. Getting back up with a sigh, I head over to her and Zenna and reach into the saddle bag and retrieve the final energon crystal. I was about to head back over to perform the last theory we had so far, when Mara spots something with narrowed eyes.
"Hey, Dad?" she says.
"What?" I ask her.
She raises an arm and uses the Force to retrieve one of the charred and broken crystal shards. She holds it in her hands with an analytical gaze before holding it out for me to look at.
"Look at this," she says. "See the way the crystal is shaped?"
I take the crystal from her hands and hold it up with narrowed eyes, analyzing it. I take notice of how the angles and shapes are position, and holding it up towards the sky, the sunlight accentuates the features even more prominently. The angle in this part of the crystal was pointing outwards on one side... as if the other was the interior...
"I think the outside of the crystal is actually like some sort of storage container thing," she explains eagerly, and I widen my eyes in realization. "Like it's hollow!"
"You're right," I reply in agreement. "Then that would mean, that the energon doesn't need to be liquified, because it already is!"
"The crystal itself is just a casing for it!" she exclaims happily.
"Which means we don't have to figure out a way to liquify it at all. It's already a liquid!" I finish with a smile, looking down at her with a proud grin. "Nice work Mara!"
"Thanks," she replies with a small sheepish blush. "So do we just have to crack it open then to get the energon?"
"Yes, but we still have to be delicate about it," I tell her. "The outer covering of these crystals is really tough, so we still need to soften it up."
"So we still need to heat up the crystal, just don't do it too much?" she deduces.
"Yup," I confirm with a nod, glancing at Zenna. "And I think we have the perfect way of doing that."
Mara glances between me and Zenna, a concerned frown on her face while the Nadder chirps curiously, preening herself.
"Isn't that risky?" she says uneasily.
"It's the best option we have. A Nadder's fire burns at the heat level of the surface of an average star, if they give it as much power as possible," I explain. "And since we did confirm that theory with our knowledge, she'll be able to produce a flame hot enough for what we need."
"But what if it explodes?" she asks worriedly.
"She'll be doing a slow burn, just enough to soften the crystal. We'll be cutting through it with a steel blade," I explain, softening my voice. "I'll make sure nothing happens to her, don't worry."
Mara lets out a reluctant sigh but nods her head. Zenna croons softly and nudges her upon sensing her distress, and she smiles back, scratching her head.
"Alright, let's do it," she says.
With a smile, I head back over towards the testing stone, throwing away the charred crystal piece. Mara and Zenna follow after me, and I set the crystal down onto the slab, gesturing for her to go with it. Mara nods and turns to Zenna.
"Hey Zenna, can you give me a slow burn?" she asks.
Zenna chirps at her and gives a confirming squawk and then takes two steps forwards, lowering her head to the ground. She positions her head directly at the energon crystal and then opens her mouth, letting it fill with purple flames that flicker softly. The flames are softly blown in the direction of the crystal, the occasional one leaping out and licking at its surface. I keep a careful watch on her as she keeps up the steady burn, looking with my eyes and the Force for any sign of an explosion, ready to throw Zenna away with the Force if necessary.
Luckily this never happens, and after a little less than ten minutes of constant flame on the energon, I decide that is enough for now.
"Alright, Zenna, you're good," I tell the dragon softly, laying a hand on her snout and gently pushing her.
She closes her mouth to extinguish the flames and then pulls her head back up with a chirp. She croons in satisfaction as Mara stands beside her head, stroking her hands along her neck.
"Good girl Zenna," she whispers with a smile, said dragon squawking happily.
I reach out and take hold of the crystal with my left arm so that I don't burn myself, as the crystal is no doubt quite hot. I could visibly tell due to how the area that received the most flames is much bluer and brighter than other spots, further supporting the theory that the inside is filled with the liquid.
"Do you have a jar, or bowl of some sort?" I ask Mara.
"Yup, it's in the bag," replies.
She reaches into the saddle bag and pulls out a metal bowl, handing it over to me. I place it in the center of the stone slab and hold the crystal above it, pulling a steel chisel. Gesturing for the two to back away just incase, I make sure to hold the crystal firmly before jabbing the chisel into it. Not much happens at first, but with some effort I begin making progress, feeling the crystal starting to give. After a few more shoves and grunting a small crack appears on the surface, and the chisel sinks into the hard surface.
I grin in satisfaction and continue with the chisel, digging it around into the surface. After several more seconds I manage to break through the outer covering of the crystal, and the chisel goes all the way inside, proving that it is in fact hollow. Mara lets out a gasp of pleasant surprise when I pull the chisel back out, allowing a steady drip of glowing blue liquid to pour out of the crystal.
"It worked!" she exclaims happily.
"Yes it did," I declare with a smile, chipping away more of the crystal covering.
With enough of the hard shell removed, the liquid energon starts to exit the crystal in a steady stream, filling up the bowl. The more energon that left the crystal, the dimmer it became, until it no longer gave off a blue glow. I shake the crystal to let the last few drops of energon pour out, and then place it on the stone slab, picking up the bowl.
"Ladies... I present to you, liquified energon," I state with a grin.
"Woah..." Mara comments with a sense of awe, looking at the bowl of glowing blue liquid.
Zenna moves forwards as well with some curiosity, sniffing at the liquid energon before moving to touch it.
"Woah, not so fast Zenna," I say quickly, pulling the bowl away from her. "This isn't food alright?"
She moans with a whimper, attempting to give me the cute-baby-face look to try and draw some pity, and I roll my eyes in response, although a small smile manages to pull itself from my lips.
"Sorry, not happening," I tell her.
Zenna lets off an annoyed huff, but willingly backs down much to my relief. Mara strokes her snout with a sympathetic grin.
"Sorry Zenna. I'll get you some fish later alright?" she reassures her, and the dragon chirps happily.
"A word of caution; make sure not to touch this with any part of our bodies," I tell Mara seriously.
"What for?" she asks.
"In her journal, Satele wrote that energon, in its liquid state, can be harmful to organic creatures," I explain. "And I'm not willing to spend time looking for a cure."
She widens her eyes slightly and gives a nod of understanding.
"Ohh... okay, gotcha. I'll make sure Zenna doesn't touch it either," she promises.
"That would be wise," I say in satisfaction.
With the solution to retrieving energon found, Mara and I brought Zenna into the caves along with four Cargo Canisters in order to store the energon. We spent the next hour and a half emptying a few large crystals of the glowing blue liquid. The largest crystals were about the same size as an Imperial probe droid, and considering that there were so many scattered throughout the large chamber were didn't put much of a dent in their quantity, having to use only six crystals to fill the canisters with energon and sealing them.
I'm sure on an exact estimate, but from what I can tell Elita-One seems to reach at around 20-25 feet in height, just a couple feet shorter than the cave itself. So considering the cave's size, it definitely offered plenty of energon crystals to choose from.
"Finally, we're done," Mara sighs in exhaustion, sealing the latch on the final canister. "That took forever."
"But it'll be worth it," I tell her with a small grin.
"So we have the energon, and we have a plan for digging her out," she lists off. "But how are we going to inject the energon into her anyways? Feed it to her like a baby?"
"Who knows? It was never explained in the journal," I admit with a helpless shrug, before standing up straight with a confident stance. "But Cybertronians are still technically programmed machines, with real souls of course, and I happen to be the galaxy's best computer slicer."
"What does that have to do with fueling the robot?" she asks in bewilderment.
"Quite a bit actually," I retort. "I'll figure it out."
"Oh joy," she replies sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.
"But the day is almost over, and I think we deserve a break for now," I admit with my own exhausted breath.
"Oh thank Morai," she sighs in relief, moving over towards Zenna. "My feet are dying!"
"That doesn't mean you have to act like such a wimp!" I say in exasperation. "That's very un-Jedi-like."
"Like you're one to talk," she retorts and I let out a sigh, although I do concede her point with an agreeing nod.
Zenna rumbles with laughter at the comment while I just cross my arms, staring at the dragon with a raised eyebrow. "Really Zenna?"
"Hey, respect the dragon!" Mara calls out from Zenna's side. "Come on girl, lets go get some well-deserved rest."
Mara then pulls herself into the saddle and sits there with a content sigh, while Zenna starts walking her way out of the cave. I follow after the pair, shaking my head in exasperation at their antics. At this point I can't really tell whether or not Mara is actually serious about her feet being too tired to walk, or she's just exaggerating to try and mess with me.
I'll stick with the latter.
Chopper Base; Atollon
3rd person POV...
Ever since Ezra's outburst against Jarik, things haven't gone very well for him at all. Everyone was giving him a disapproving or disappointed look, and he'd been banned from missions for the next couple of weeks. Even Sabine was shocked and disapproving of his behavior, her of all people! She still retained a bitter distaste for Jarik whenever he was mentioned or in her presence, but she's managed to keep it down due to understanding that it wasn't necessary in the current times. At best her interactions with the Knight were kind professionalism, and at worst she ignored him or sent angry glares his direction.
But she's never yelled angrily at or accused him of terrible things since her first talk after the Action at Mustafar. While everyone was scolding him, Ezra tried to defend himself by reminding them of how Sabine used to hate him, becoming furious and yelling at him as well. In response however she had pointed out the reasons for it, as it was a cultural thing entirely for her anger towards Jarik, as all warrior-raised Mandalorian's hated his family more than nearly anything.
Kanan also gave him a lecture, one that Ezra tried to avoid, and pretended disinterest when in actuality he was frightened. The absolute power and fury that Jarik showed in response to his accusations still leaves him fearful and afraid of what could've happened if no one else had intervened. For the last few days Ezra hasn't even touched the holocron, not willing to listen to it after Jarik's rage. Feelings of guilt had also flickered through him as well after he began to think about it, realizing how low his accusations were.
Sitting on the bed in his room, he fiddles with his hands absentmindedly, glancing up at the shelf holding his Imperial helmets. The Sith holocron's red glow pulses gently underneath it, vying for his attention. He begins stretching out an arm for it, but then hesitates, pulling it back with a sigh.
"What am I supposed to do...?" he mutters helplessly to himself.
Looking up at the cadet helmet again, the temptation continues to pull at him strongly, calling to him. He was slowly deciding whether or not to give in when the door suddenly slides open, startling him, and he quickly stands to his feet. Sabine stood in the doorway, an impassive expression on her face.
"Hey," he greets. "Uh... what's up?"
"Kanan felt you needed to know about this," she replies with a sigh, and he struggles not to wince. "But Shaak-Ti is awake."
Ezra blinks in surprise before nodding. "Oh, ok well... tell him I'll be there," he replies quietly.
*:*:*
Shaak-Ti blinks her eyes slowly, trying to gain a sense of her bearings. She notices that she's in a more white room and lying on a bed, with some sort of monitor attached to her. Looking around, she then spots a man standing nearby, widening her eyes cautiously.
"Where am I?" she questions quietly, but with a demanding tone.
"It's alright Master, you're safe," the man replies reassuringly. "You're in the medical wing of the rebel base."
She calms herself down a little bit and looks around the room, sensing what he was saying to be truthful. Getting a good look at the man, she took notice of his green shirt, brown hair and beard, and most notably the mask on his face that covered his eyes.
"And who are you?" she asks.
"Kanan. Kanan Jarrus, Master," he answers. "You probably wouldn't recognize me-"
"You were a Padawan at the Jedi Temple," she realizes.
After a few moments of hesitation due to his surprise, he nods his head in confirmation. "I was Master. I was Depa Billaba's padawan."
Shaak frowns thoughtfully for a few moments before nodding her head in recognition. "Caleb Dume, is it?"
"Yes Master, but I haven't gone by that name in a long time," he replies.
"Understandable," she comments in response. "How did I arrive here at your base?"
"Jarik arrived with you in tow, severely injured. He told us the story of how you were both on Naboo, fighting off against the Sith," he explains, and she nods in confirmation.
"That's right... but what of Mace?" she asks cautiously.
"He didn't make it master," he replies sadly. "I'm sorry."
Shaak looks down sadly upon hearing that Mace Windu was now gone, but she holds back her sorrow to gaze back up at Kanan. There would be time for grieving later.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," she reassures him. "We knew what we were getting ourselves into, but at the same time... we were unprepared."
"I can relate..." Kanan murmurs with a light touch of his mask, prompting her to wonder what happened for him to lose his eyesight.
Another person then enters the room and Shaak and Kanan both glance over to see Ezra walking in uncertainly, although in Kanan's perspective he could sense him getting closer.
"Hey, uh... you wanted me to come here Kanan?" he asks uneasily.
Shaak-Ti's face shifts to one of concern and confusion, sensing some heavy tension between the two, as well as nervousness on Ezra's part.
"Yeah," he replies, gesturing to Shaak. "Master Ti is awake, so I thought it'd be good for you to meet her."
"Right, well... hi, my name's Ezra. Ezra Bridger," he greets with a hesitant wave, offering a stiff smile.
Shaak-Ti smiles back at him warmly. "It's good to meet you young Ezra. I'm Shaak-Ti."
"Nice to meet you too," he replies. "I'm a Jedi too... Kanan's, padawan."
she takes notice of his hesitance on the lat part but pays it no mind for now. "Then I'm sure you have a wonderful teacher. You seem like a capable Jedi yourself from what I can tell."
Ezra nods meekly with a bit of gratitude and discomfort, but chooses not to comment.
"What are your plans of what to do next Master?" Kanan asks. "Jarik told us you were in exile on Felucia beforehand, but wanted to leave the decision up to you."
"To be quite honest, I am not sure of what I wish to do yet," she admits with a frown. "But after my recent experience, I feel that I can no longer keep myself away from the conflict anymore."
"So you'll help us?" Ezra asks.
"Possibly, but I will have to think on this," she says.
Crystal Caves, Temple Island; Ahch-To
Jarik POV...
The day after we got ourselves a good amount of energon in order to revive Elita, we next went onto the project of carving her out of the wall. In order to accomplish this goal I brought a laser drill down in order to cut through the rock to expose her metal body along the outline we made earlier. The drill only reached as far as a lightsaber, but that didn't matter too much, as I only needed to cut away the stone connected to her body at the edges of it. The idea we had for bringing out the giant slab of stone is that we'd separate this front portion from the rest of the wall, and then we'd try and pull it all out.
Zenna's tail spikes would be very useful in this situation, as she can control the direction they fly through the air for a short time. So if we managed to stick the spikes into the cracks and stab them firmly into the rock, she should be able to theoretically pull her spikes out, which would also pull out the wall they were attached to. Of course this is only theoretical, as we wouldn't have much time before Zenna loses connection to the spikes she shoots out.
"Let them fly girl," Mara says.
Zenna squawks in confirmation and then flips out her tail, shooting the spikes at the wall. With amazing accuracy they get wedged into the cracks we cut out, although there were the occasional spikes that missed. Nevertheless, all of those spikes managed to penetrate the rock a couple of inches deep wherever they hit, covering one area. Mara directed Zenna to fire more spikes at the wall until all of the outline was covered with them.
She glances at her tail with a sad chirp, as most of them were now gone. Mara strokes her snout reassuringly.
"It's alright girl. They grow back in decent time, so that's good," she tells the dragon, which was true. It usually takes up to a week for a spike to regrow on her tail, which is a necessary trait for them to have. Otherwise a Nadder would run out of tail spikes long before they could reach adulthood.
I inspect the areas where the spikes got in between the outline, checking to make sure all of the spikes were inside firmly. It would do us no good if those spikes just come flying back out when Zenna tries to move them.
"I think they're all good," I observe in satisfaction. "Let's see if we can pull this thing out."
"Alright," she replies with a nod.
"Also, be prepared to catch it when it falls," I warn Mara. "When we pull out the wall, Elita is likely to follow with it."
"Got it. Let's do this!" she states, giving Zenna the go ahead.
Zenna lets out a few growls of exertion, and her tail swishes briefly as if pulling something. The wall then starts to move slowly, grinding against the rock, however some spikes were quickly snapping free so Mara and I decide to help further it along. Raising our arms, we use the Force to help pull out the rocky wall, and to our triumph it breaks free and falls down towards the ground. Before it could hit, we catch it with the Force and gently lower it down.
"Robot incoming!" Mara calls out in alarm.
With the front facing section of the wall removed, she was now able to tumble out and was coming crashing to the ground. I quickly raise my hands and catch her with the Force, narrowly avoiding one of her arms as it swings out towards me from the sudden stop. I grit my teeth from the effort before Mara joins in, gently lowering her body to lay on the ground beside the cutout section of the stone. Zenna squawks in surprise and curiosity, moving forwards and giving her an exploratory sniff.
The empty cast of her back half remained in the wall, very visible now that she no longer filled the space. Working together with some effort, me and Mara both then lift up the rock wall that we had cut out, and slowly push it back to where it was before. Giving it a solid shove with the Force, we make sure the rock was firmly back in its position, now even further wedged into the cave wall without Elita taking up space anymore. Letting go of the wall with the Force, we bend over with our hands on our knees, taking deep breaths as we take a few moments to recover from the effort of lifting such large and heavy objects.
"Piece of cake," I breathe out with a triumphant sigh.
"Are you serious Dad?" Mara groans.
"Well, we finally freed her from being frozen in a rock wall," I state in relief.
"Yeah we did," she agrees happily. "She certainly does look quite interesting."
The two of us approach Elita and start to inspect her with no small amount of wonder and curiosity, as now we can actually get our first good luck at her without the crystalized stone blocking our view. Throughout our operation down here I had R5 set up a bright lamp to provide better visibility. He thankfully agreed to carry out the request, but quickly rolled himself back to the Knight Hawk afterwards, not interested in spending his time in a cave. And thanks to this light, we can now see Elita-One's full form quite clearly.
At first glance it's easy to tell that the color of pink is definitely her style, with the shading being magenta in color. Along with having magenta as her primary color scheme, black and silver also runs along her armor as secondary highlight colors. Her facial plating is silver with her mouth and optics quite evident, although the optics were dark and lifeless due to being in stasis. The spark of life through the Living Force however is still there within her, just very faint.
On her helm she has features resembling some sort of crown or crest, seeming like some symbol of her authority as the Femme Autobot Commander. Based upon her features it's easy to tell that she's supposed to be female with a slender and elegant body shape, hands, and limbs. However there's also underlying strength behind it all, showcasing the fact that she is also a warrior.
"Not that I can really make a fair comparison with other Cybertronians, but I can definitely see how she's a high-ranking commander," I comment with a nod.
"Yeah, it's pretty cool," she says in agreement. "So... how are we gonna do this?"
"I'll have to look around to figure out how the process works," I admit, moving towards the exit. "But the idea I have in mind requires the big kyber crystal."
"The one I helped steal from the Empire?" she asks.
"Yup," I confirm.
"But that one is kyber, so how would that help us if it isn't energon?" she asks in confusion.
"It may not be a Cybertronian's lifeblood, but I'm thinking it has enough energy to give the kick necessary to bring her back online," I explain.
"Well, I hope it works," she comments, following after me.
ISD Chimaera; Classified location
3rd person POV...
The newly promoted Grand Admiral Thrawn stood before a holotable, mulling over the map before him with an analytical gaze. It had been only a few weeks since the alleged victory at Batonn, and his promotion to the highest rank within the Imperial Navy as a Grand Admiral. He still felt cautious about Governor Arihnda Pryce, considering his suspicions about what she truly did during the battle, but as there was no way to prove his suspicions, and she was offering political influence in the Empire's government, he didn't have much choice but to leave her be and continue with his current assignments.
"Captain Pallaeon," he calls out.
"Yes Grand Admiral?" Pallaeon replies, approaching him with a formal stance.
"Retrieve a map of the Unknown Regions for me, will you?" Thrawn requests.
"As you wish sir," he says, nodding to him before heading off to do so.
Thrawn watched him go for a brief moment before returning his attention towards the holotable, raising a hand to his chin with a thoughtful expression. With the defeat of Nightswan and the Batoon insurgency, his promotion to Grand Admiral, and his search for the Yuuzhan Vong, while unexpected and not what he wished for, completed he could now turn his attention to other matters that have plagued his mind for some time.
He narrowed in on a large cluster of planets, observing the lines that identify as hyperspace traveling routes, searching for something. A complete map of the Unknown Regions would definitely be most beneficial to him, but it isn't known as the Unknown Regions for nothing, so he would have to make do with the resources available to him, which would take up some time. And since he suspected he would be called to battle against the large rebel group known as Phoenix Squadron, he would have to spend as much time on this project as possible.
After all, it was time he finally began the search to uncovering the mystery of where Jarik Shan has been in hiding all these years.
Ooohhh boy, Thrawn is beginning to start a search for the location of Jarik and Mara, and Ahch-To as a whole. That is not good. Not good at all!
(Obi-Wan: Oh not good!)
I'm sure this was an interesting chapter! How'd you like my take on the energon? Out of all the Transformers media there's never been any real or definite explanation of how they process energon into a usable liquid, so I made up my own idea for it! Also if you want to get an idea of what Elita looks like, here's a link to how I'm having her depicted as in the Shaniverse:
www.deviantart.com/jpl-animation/art/TFP-Elita-One-BEAST-HUNTERS-458167265
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, your support continues to be so awesome!
ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE SHANIVERSE! WOOOOOOHOOOO! :DDD