Jungle Moon of Dxun - Japrael Sector
3rd person POV…
"Hey, Hadrian… you said this'll take a few minutes?" Kira asks carefully.
"Yeah, why?" he asks, not looking up from his work.
"Because I don't think we have a few minutes," she replies sarcastically.
The assembled group all look up to see Kira pointing outward; a platoon of Imperial stormtroopers is rushing for them, led by several death troopers. HK-47 readies his weapons cheerfully, eager to test one of the blaster rifles he acquired from Hadrian's lab. The others all pull out their blasters, getting ready for a fight.
"Well this'll be fun," Zhianna scoffs.
"Statement: Indeed! I enjoy a good slaughter!" HK declares giddily.
"You have issues," Shae says bluntly, a bit unnerved.
"Doesn't matter. We have to keep them back so Hadrian and R5 can get the cannon working," Crassus states firmly.
"Yes, please do," Hadrian replies with a hopeful nod.
One of the stormtroopers comes to a stop and lifts up a rocket launcher, aiming at them. He fires the shell, but before it could get halfway HK lifts his blaster and shoots it out of the air with pinpoint accuracy, nodding his helm in satisfaction.
"Statement: Silly tactic," he comments.
The Mandalorians all glance at each other, baffled, before shrugging their shoulders in acceptance. While Kira remains behind as the last line of defense for Hadrian, the rest of them all move forwards to meet the Imperials in combat, taking cover behind various natural structures or behind the legs of the basilisk war droid. The Imperials do the same on their end, firing their blasters at the Mandalorians, who swiftly return fire.
Shae aims her blaster and scores a headshot against a stormtrooper, ducking behind a tree trunk to avoid a few blaster bolts headed for her. Crassus stops closeby, pulling a grenade out and tossing it to kill a group of three stormtroopers before hiding behind another tree. Zhianna aims carefully, shooting her blaster pistols from the cover of the war droid's front leg. Unlike the Mandalorians, however, HK-47 did not bother with finding a safe spot to shoot and instead walts right into the open, rushing around while firing at the stormtroopers with a blaster in each hand, ducking out of the way of any shot that gets too close.
"Crazy droid," Crassus scoffs irritably, but let HK continue his strategy.
HK dashed around around the small field of trees at a constant sprint, scoring a kill for nearly every shot. He fires a shot at a death trooper, who rolls out of the way and then returns fire, managing to hit him on the shoulder. HK stumbles momentarily from the impact but is otherwise unharmed, viciously retaliated with Hadrian's blaster rifle and blowing a hole through his head.
"Commentary: At least that one could aim," he comments.
Kira watches the battlefield anxiously, worried for her friends and brother but also knowing they're more than capable of pulling through, she glances back at Hadrian and R5 to check on their progress, only to widen her eyes in alarm when she sees a death trooper and two stormtroopers sneaking around from the side, aiming at them with their blasters.
"Hadrian, look out!" she exclaims in a panic.
She dashes forward and fires her blaster, taking out one stormtrooper while Hadrian ducks down after noticing the problem. The other two troopers flinch when their comrade is hit, looking over in surprise to see Kira charging at them. The stormtrooper attempts to aim at her but is also shot down, and Kira fires another bolt at the death trooper.
The death trooper leans out of the way of the yellow bolt and aims his blaster rifle at her, but she jumps at him and then kicks the gun away. Undeterred, the trooper settles for melee combat and throws out a fist, punching her in the head and then kicking his foot out. Kira stumbles in surprise from the punch but side steps out of the way of the kick, tackling him to the ground. She rolls on top of him and attempts to pin him down, glancing up to see Hadrian considering helping out.
"I got this, keep working!" she tells him.
He doesn't argue, much to her relief, but her attention is brought back to the fight as the death trooper shoves her arms to the side and then punches her helmet yet again, pushing her off of him. She rolls to her feet and leans back to avoid another punch from the death trooper, retaliating with a swift kick to the knee. The death trooper grunts, dropping to one knee, and she follows it up by spinning around to kick him in the head, knocking him down to the ground.
The death trooper grunts in pain, his voice altered by his helmet's vocalizer, and Kira makes another charge for him. He turns himself around and throws a metal block at her, hitting her in the shoulder and making her stumble with a yelp of pain. Reaching out with his hand, the death trooper grabs hold of his rifle and then rolls to his feet, aiming at her with a few exclamatory shouts. He fires, and Kira just barely ducks underneath the bolt before thrusting her own arm out, blasting him with her flamethrower.
The death trooper yells in agony as he's cooked alive inside of his own armor, falling to the ground dead seconds later.
"Get up from that!" she scoffs tiredly, dropping her arm.
"I'm so glad we're one of the few types of people who use flamethrowers, because that looked painful," Hadrian says with a grimace.
"Well, as long as it works," she replies.
R5 suddenly lets out a few excited beeps, and the ion cannon begins to hum with power as it's brought online, the exterior structure shuddering and creaking slightly.
"We've got it!" Hadrian says. "Hey, droid, can you give yourself remote access to this?"
R5 beeps in reply with a bit of sass, stating that it's no problem and then works to do so. Hadrian nods in satisfaction and then steps back from the computer, turning to face Kira.
"Ion cannon is operable, thankfully," he says with a sigh.
"How many shots do you think it'll give?" she asks him.
"It'd say, three, maybe four at the most. Not a lot," he replies with a frown. "We'll also have to drop the shield too if we want to fire it."
"Well that stinks," Kira grumbles. "There's no way four shots is enough for that entire fleet."
"Unfortunately that's all we got, so we'll have to work with it," Hadrian tells her.
She nods in reply and then rushes to the edge of the platform while he turns back to assist with R5, calling out to her allies down below.
"Crassus! We're all set!" she yells.
"Alright, just one second!" he shouts back, blasting another stormtrooper.
Crassus ducks down to avoid a punch thrown at him from behind by a death trooper and turns to face him. The death trooper raises his blaster rifle in an attempt to hit him with it, and Crassus does the same. Both blasters meet in the middle, and the death trooper shoves him back to pin him against the tree, attempting to overpower him with physical force. He grunts in exertion as he holds the trooper back, scowling angrily at him. Lashing out with his foot he kicks the death trooper in the shin and then slams his helmet against his head, making him stumble back, where Crassus takes him out with several blaster bolts to the chest.
"Shae! Zhianna! We're all clear, so let's go!" he exclaims.
"What about the ion cannon?! These guys will just destroy it!" Zhianna points out in protest.
"We've got the bes'uliik!" he reminds her, waving his arm.
She and Shae both nod their heads in understanding and pull away from the fight, shooting back at the stormtroopers as they retreat. HK-47 lets out a groan of disappointment, casually shooting a stormtrooper beside him before sprinting after them. He crosses paths with a death trooper, who attempts to shoot him, and reaches out to grab him around the head, lifting him clear off of his feet before whirling around to slam him harshly to the ground. The death trooper is hit hard enough to get embedded in the dirt, and HK doesn't give him another glance before shooting him in the head.
"We ready? Kira asks Hadrian.
"Yup, the droid's got it covered," he replies, and R5 pulls out of the astromech socket with an agreeing beep.
"Then hold on!" she tells him.
Kira wraps her arms around him to secure a safe hold before launching herself into the air with her jetpack, flying them up and onto the back of the basilisk war droid. She sets him down in the cockpit, where he takes a moment to regather himself before looking at her in annoyance.
"Warn me next time, why don't you?" he suggests.
"I did," she replies innocently.
"Ugh, whatever," he replies with a roll of his eyes, turning to the controls and bringing it online.
"Honestly, I don't see how you'd survive in a fight if I didn't have your back," she teases him.
"I don't think I would be in the fight," he reasons.
"You're piloting the bes'uliik," she argues.
"Alright lovebirds, save it for the honeymoon," Crassus drawls sarcastically.
He comes in for a landing on top of the war droid, Shae, Zhianna and R5 joining him while HK climbs up the side and onto his position.
"Like you and Shae are any better," Hadrian retorts.
"Hah! Good one!" Kira grins in amusement.
Crassus and Shae glance at each other before looking away with grumbles of disagreement, while Zhianna shakes her head in exasperation. A shot ringing against the body of the war droid brings them back into the situation, as the rest of the stormtroopers are still rushing at them and trying to shoot them down.
"Annoyed statement: If you meatbags would stop ogling over each other and focus on the fight, our chances of success will rise exponentially," HK scoffs.
"Yeah yeah yeah," Hadrian replies sarcastically.
Bringing the basilisk war droid to full power, he grips the controls and turns them around to face the stormtroopers, pressing the trigger on the throttle. An intense barrage of laser fire surges from the droid, shooting all around the area and forcing the stormtroopers to scatter. Many of them are taken out by the initial strike, while the remainder are swiftly cleaned up when a series of missiles is unleashed, blowing them all up.
"I don't see this getting old anytime soon," Shae says in amusement.
"It's almost sad to watch," Zhianna says in agreement.
"Correction: It is quite entertaining to watch," HK replies.
"Alright, let's get back to the ship. I don't wanna be here still when they launch," Crassus states.
Two lightsabers continue to clash in the hangar, blue and red flashing brightly with each impact. Second Sister lunges forwards at a blur, flipping into the air and then slashing her saber down hard, causing Mara to stumble back from the force of the strike. She quickly ducks left and then right, raising her lightsaber to deflect another swipe at her from the Inquisitor.
Mara backpedals with her lightsaber held high, taking a moment to rest before launching herself at the Inquisitor, slashing her blade down left and right. Second Sister raises her blade to deflect both strikes and then parries the next, thrusting her hand out to shove Mara back with a Force push. She then sets her saber to spin and hurls it at Mara, who manages to swipe her saber upwards to bat it away in time. Second Sister pulls it back into her hand and then holds the saber at her side, glaring at Mara with bright yellow eyes.
"What do you hope to accomplish here Padawan? New allies? They will also meet their demise," she sneers.
"I beg to differ," Mara shoots back. "We're really hard to kill."
"Clearly. But no one can hope to defy the Empire forever," she states confidently.
The bright gleam of metal whizzing through the air catches her eye, and she leans back to avoid a metal shield which whirls around back into Hiccup's hands. Mara raises an eyebrow at the throw, impressed, before facing the Second Sister as she moves to retaliate. She lunges forward with an overhead strike, but the Inquisitor blocks it before shoving her to the side. Astrid comes charging in next with a swipe of her axe, and Second Sister flips over it before kicking her in the face to send her sprawling. She swings her saber down for a kill before she's barreled over by Toothless, who throws her away with a roar.
Second Sister hits the ground with a grunt of pain, looking up with a hateful glare and sneering at them, her teeth gritted in frustration. Toothless fires a plasma blast at her, but she dashes out of the way in a black blur before lunging at the night fury, lightsaber raised to stab him. Mara reacts by thrusting her hand out and blasting her away with the Force, sending her tumbling once more.
"You guys okay?" she asks in concern.
"Yeah, we're fine," Hiccup answers in reply.
"Good enough to kick this lady's butt," Astrid adds fiercely, getting to her feet and holding her axe with both hands.
"You could not hope to match me, child," Second Sister scoffs, standing up and shaking with rage. "I have no qualms about killing all three of you!"
"I think you forgot someone," Hiccup corrects her. "Toothless, now!"
Toothless roars before letting off another plasma blast. Second Sister dashes to the side before, but this time he's ready for it and fires another shot, catching her by surprise. She spins her saberstaff in order to deflect the first blast, thought the power of it causes her to stumble, and then loses her grip on her lightsaber from a followup blast. Hissing, Toothless fires a final plasma blast, and Second Sister is unable to avoid it. She raises her arms to protect herself, attempting to generate a Force shield, but is blown back as the plasma bolt explodes against her. She cries out in pain and goes flying several feet, hitting the ground and then staying down, sliding across the floor before stopping.
"Is she dead?" Astrid asks hopefully.
"I don't know, but I don't want to find out," Mara says in reply, gesturing them away. "Let's get out of here."
They make a rush for the Knight Hawk, entering the ship and getting themselves ready for a takeoff as Jarik told Mara to do, while Second Sister lets out a groan of pain, her fingers twitching as she struggles to regain consciousness.
Jarik POV…
I lean out of the way of a swift lightsaber strike, raising my blades to deflect the next one. I use the momentum behind Vader's attack to spin around behind him, but before I could connect with my strike he whirls around and blasts me away with the Force.
I slide across the ground with a grunt and stop myself, getting back into a crouched position while Cal and Cere move on the offensive. Vader swings his blade up to bat aside a strike from Cere and then brings it down to block Cal's horizontal strike, shoving him backwards. He spins around to strike at Cere, who deflects a few quick attacks before stumbling back as he puts extra power behind his swing. Cal twirls his saber staff and aims for the legs, but Vader brings his saber down to block him. Cal follows up by jabbing the other end of his saber, and Vader side steps out of the way, shoving him down to the ground.
Merrin appears nearby in a column of green mist, firing a few magic blasts at Vader. He whips around and swipes his lightsaber through the magic before throwing his blade at her. She teleports once more, the blade passing harmlessly through the residue mist.
I sprint forward and thrust a hand out, smacking Vader in the back of his shoulder with a quick Force blast so that he stumbles forward. I lunge at him with a double saber strike, but his lightsaber comes back to his hand just in time to block. We exchange saber strikes for a few moments before I stumble past him after a missed swing, and Cere jumps in to seize the opening. Vader raises his lightsaber to block a slash aimed at his middle and then reaches out his free hand, grabbing her shirt and then throwing her down to the ground. At the same time I push back out of my stumble and swing at his head, but Vader lifts his saber to block my strike, batting both blades upward before reversing the momentum in a downwards swing.
Cal jumps forward for his unprotected back, but is thrown over our heads by a simple gesture from Vader, who advances on me with powerful swings of his lightsaber.
I move to meet his speed and power with my own, parrying his strikes and retaliating with a few jabs of my own. We enter a blade lock with each other, and then Merrin teleports behind him once more, which Vader acknowledges with a tilt of his head. Merrin waves her arms, her green magic picking up several broken pieces of metal before launching them at Vader. He shoves me back to dislodge our sabers before raising his hand out to the incoming projectiles, halting them in their tracks. He sends most of it back at Merrin, who lifts her hands and creates a shield in order to protect herself from it. I make a dash for Vader once more, and he faces me again before swinging his arm to throw the last piece of metal at me. I swipe my green lightsaber through the metal to cut it in half and then strike out with my blue saber, catching Vader's red blade with it.
"How do you know about Ahch-To?" I demand angrily, adding my second lightsaber to the blade lock.
"Your daughter was kind enough to provide such things as a captive," he states.
"She would never break!" I scowl in reply.
"You underestimate the power of the dark side," he responds with a taunt.
"The dark side is only the easy path. And you chose that over what's right," I retort, pushing against his lightsaber.
"You and Kenobi took everything from me!" Vader snarls, pushing back. "The pain you felt with Ahsoka's death is meagre in comparison. Soon you will know what it feels like."
I narrow my eyes angrily at him and then twist our sabers, shoving them around and then dislodging them with a heavy slash to the right. Vader maintains his grip on his lightsaber and then turns sideways to deflect a strike from Cere.
"Coming in hot!" Cal exclaims.
He joins in with me as we lunge at him once more, but he once again halts our progress by twist his body out of harm's way and slashing his lightsaber wildly between the three of us. Cere blocks a swing, Cal deflects another, and I parry a strike aimed at my head and thrust my blue saber forward, which he bats aside. He then kicks his foot out at me, connecting with my chest, and I roll back across the ground with a pained grunt of surprise, losing my grip on my lightsabers as I land on my stomach.
Growling, Vader reaches his free hand out and grabs Cere's wrist, pulling her forwards and throwing her to the side. He swings his saber at Cal in an upwards arc, batting his blade up high and then thrusts his arm out to push him aside using the Force. He then turns to face Merrin as she shoots a stream of green magic at him, which he blocks by creating a Force shield in front of him. Struggling for a moment, Vader then retaliates by yanking his arms back in a pulling motion. Merrin falls to the ground with a cry of pain as a flat piece of metal hits her from behind, losing her hold on her magic.
Jumping back to my feet, I disregard my lightsabers in favor of a straight charge at Vader. He turns around to face me as I jump at him, swinging his saber in an attempt to cut me out of the air. However I kick my foot out to knock his lightsaber out of his hand and then bring my left arm back, punching his head with all of the strength my prosthetic has to offer. I both hear and feel the formation of a small crack in his helmet as a result of my punch.
Vader yells in surprise and pain, stumbling back, and I quickly follow up by punching him in the chest before whirling around to kick his head, making him stumble back painfully while his breathing becomes slightly labored.
"You've suffered a lot. But you've never had your family taken from you like I have," I state coldly, marching up to him with a glare. "You betrayed all of us!"
Vader thrusts his arm forwards with a snarl, anger and rage swelling in him, but I quickly side step his Force push and reach out with my own hand, intending to throw him down with the Force as I grab onto his shoulder.
He was sitting on his knees, inside of some dark, sandy tent, and cradling an older woman in his arms. She has several deep scrapes and gashes across her skin, blood dripping gently out of the wounds on her cheek.
A mixture of intense emotions are running through him: fear, sadness, anger… guilt. The woman reaches out to touch his face, then slumps backward lifelessly as she draws her last breath, staring up with blank, unseeing eyes. His breath catches, and it feels as if the universe came crashing down on him as his despair reaches its peak. He looks around with empty breaths, lost on what to do, only knowing that, as the tears begin welling up in his eyes, this is all his fault. He looks back at her, unable to muster the energy to even cry, and gently reaches a hand up to close her eyes. He bows his head and shuts his eyes tightly to stem the tears, drowning in his grief.
No… this can't go unanswered.
As the seconds pass by, the anger in him begins to swell, greater and greater until it dominates every fiber of his being. He lifts his head up, his face twitching with absolute rage and fury, his eyes slowly changing into a sickly yellow. There's nothing to think about except his hatred, and his dominating need for revenge. They will all pay.
"Anakin! Anakin!"
"NOOOO!"
The darkness flashes brightly with blue light as people are cut through. A dark, ghoulish-looking figure strides through the camp with its glowing blue weapon, slaughtering everyone and everything in its path without mercy in its quest for vengeance. A terrifying figure that looks upon everything he kills with intense hatred as he unleashes his fury on them.
A monster.
I stumble back out of the dream with a gasp, trying to make sense of the sudden occurrence. I look out aimlessly with wide eyes, startled and unnerved by the powerful emotions I just felt. There was so much hate and anger… so much grief in him…
Vader's roar of fury pulls me back to the present, and I widen my eyes in a panic as he physically attacks me with his fist, unable to react in time as he punches me in the face. I cry out in pain from the hit and get flung backwards, his punch fueled by a blast of the Force to slam me against the border wall of the walkway. I slump down with a groan, weakly supporting myself with my arms as I attempt to get up. I wearily look up to see Vader charges forward at a sprint with his lightsaber held tightly in both hands, swinging down at me with a yell.
I could stop him in time to save myself, but luckily I'm suddenly yanked out of harm's way by a tendril of green mist, narrowly avoiding the red lightsaber that impales the floor where I just was. Merrin pulls me back to the rest of their group, relinquishing her magic so that Cere can help me to my feet.
"He's not gonna stop," I say wearily.
"Then we have to get out of here," Cere decides, glancing at me. "Can you walk?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine," I tell her, standing up on my own.
"You dropped these," Cal says, holding my lightsabers.
I take them back with a nod of thanks, and Merrin points behind us with an alarmed expression.
"He's coming!" she warns us.
We all turn to see Vader running at us, his anger swirling through the Force viciously. Merrin hurls a bolt of magic at him, but swipes his lightsaber through the magic effortlessly, and then the next as she sends another.
"Cal!" Cere exclaims.
He nods, understanding her hidden meaning. They both deactivate their lightsabers and then thrust their arms forward, releasing the Force. Vader slams against the Force push, grunting in surprise, but still keeps pushing on against it. I join in as well, pushing back against Vader and gritting my teeth from the effort. Vader snarls with anger, stomping forwards still with considerable effort, his steps slow and heavy.
Without warning, a hail of blaster fire against Vader is released, coming from a large machine that stomps its way over to us: I recognize it as the basilisk war droid the Mandalorians were working on before. Vader is forced to jump out of the way to avoid the heavy fire, also leaving him vulnerable to our Force attack, which blows him far down the walkway. He rolls across the ground in a heap, and we watch in bewilderment as the war droid fires several missiles at him;
Vader gets to his feet and brings his arms up to protect himself, but is still struck by the missiles. Luckily for him he had brought up a Force shield to take the brunt of the attack, but the power behind the missiles blow him completely off of the platform and out of sight.
"Woah!" Cal says in surprise. "That was intense!"
"Surely that must've killed him!" Merrin says hopefully.
"Not a chance," I shake my head in firm disagreement. "We need to go before he gets back up."
"HEY COUSIN!" Kira shouts cheerfully.
The basilisk war droid comes to a stop close to us, and I see Kira waving at me from on its back. With her are Crassus, Shae, HK-47, R5, her boyfriend Hadrian, and another Mandalorian girl I don't know.
"Cousin?" Cal murmurs curiously.
"Talk about a killing blow, right?" Kira continues happily.
"There's no way he's getting up from that," the other girl nods in agreement.
"Correction: The Sith Lord is actually pulling himself back to his feet. And, my goodness, you can just tell he's angry," HK chirps in amusement, most likely zooming in on Vader with his optics, since we can't see him from here.
"WHAT?!" the Mandalorian group all shout incredulously.
"Query: Jarik Shan, do these three beings require elimination?" HK asks me.
"Excuse me?" Cere asks cautiously.
"No no, no killing unless they're stormtroopers," I sigh in exasperation. "We've got to go before Vader gets back over here."
"I'll second that," Cere replies, seeming unsettled.
"You got the mask?!" I ask Crassus.
"Yes!" he confirms with a nod.
"Then get yourselves to the cruiser!" I order urgently. "R5, with me!"
R5 beeps in confirmation and detaches himself from the basilisk war droid, flying over to land beside me while Hadrian turns them all around and heads for the hangar.
"This way!" Cere tells us.
She, Cal, and Merrin take off at a sprint across the base while R5 and I follow swiftly behind. An explosive burst of frustration and absolute rage flows across the Force and, glancing backwards, I see Darth Vader reappear on the platform a few hundred feet behind us, running in our direction as fast as he could. The front of his armor was scorched, made even blacker from the explosion, but other than that I can't tell. It's strange seeing him run in that heavy armor, but I don't bother thinking about it and face forward once more.
"You have a ship?" I ask them.
"Over near the trees! Greez is waiting for us!" Cere explains.
3rd person POV...
"The enemy is starting to launch their ships, Admiral," Commodore Faro reports.
Thrawn analyzes the battlefield with a critical eye, taking note of what his second-in-command reported. A section of the outpost is starting to detach, revealing the shape of a carrack-class light cruiser much more clearly. By the looks of things, Vader and the Second Sister are having a lot more trouble than they expected, but Thrawn is not worried.
"The progress of our ground troops?" he questions.
"They're nearly ready sir," she replies with a nod. "Should I instruct the walkers to halt the progress of their ships?"
"No, the walkers won't be necessary," Thrawn replies calmly. "Bring Immobilizer 418 forward, and contact the Second Sister."
"Yes sir," she nods in confirmation.
With Crassus and his friends rushing into the hangar of the cruiser on the basilisk war droid, Raman gave the order for the vessel to take off into the air. He and several others instead rushed to all of their Gauntlet starfighters to provide air support for their cruiser. The Knight Hawk also rose into the air at the same time, lurching momentarily as Mara struggles to properly pilot the ship.
"If only R5 were in here right now," Mara grumbles.
"You don't know how to fly a ship?!" Astrid asks incredulously.
"Of course I know how!" she retorts irritably. "I just don't do it often, that's all! Usually it's R5 or my Dad!"
"Well, as long as we aren't shot down," Hiccup says encouragingly.
Mara flies the Knight Hawk out of the hangar and into the air, traveling close by to the cruiser. The gauntlet fighters all do the same as well, flying around the cruiser in a protective arc. Raman looks out of the cockpit at the shield generator, then to the ion cannon, a frown on his face.
"Hadrian, how's the ion cannon looking?" he asks.
"It's ready to fire; Shan's droid is remotely connected to it," he replies.
"Will you be able to signal the droid?" he asks warily.
"I will. But firing that thing also means the shield will be dropped," Hadrian warns him.
"Then that'll help our chance. Once the cruiser breaches the shield, fire the cannon," Raman orders.
"No problem!" he says in confirmation.
Across the base, the Mantis ship starts to rise into the air, door wide open to grant entry for its passengers. Cere jumps inside first and then turns to the others, ensuring everyone gets onboard. Cal and Merrin jump inside next, followed lastly by R5 and then Jarik.
"We've got everyone!" Cere says.
"Right," Cal nods, turning his head down the hallway. "Greez! We're all clear!"
"Got it kid!" an older voice calls back.
R5 then rolls forward and bumps into Jarik's leg insistently, beeping loudly to get his attention. Jarik glances back at him and he starts playing a message.
"This is Fulcrum, with an urgent message! Please respond!" a distorted voice says, obviously panicking.
"Who's that?" Cere asks.
Jarik pulls back in surprise, glancing at R5 before crouching down beside him to answer the call. At the same time the Mantis starts to rise into the air, away from the surface.
"I read you Fulcrum!" he replies.
"Tell me you have a plan for escape!" Kallus asks anxiously.
"We've got one," Jarik tells him.
"You better go fast! I managed to sneak off the bridge of my ship and patched myself into Thrawn's communications. He's sent troops to disable the shield and the ion cannon!" he explains hastily.
"Oh no," he murmurs, eyes wide in alarm.
"You have to leave now! They've got an Interdictor cruiser on standby!" he adds anxiously.
"Understood. Keep me posted," Jarik says, ending the transmission.
"You have a spy in the Empire?" Merrin asks curiously.
He nods hastily in response.
"Yes. R5, are you able to connect with the ion cannon?" he asks, and R5 beeps in confirmation. "Then it's now or never. Take the shot."
The astromech beeps in acknowledgement, but after a few long seconds nothing seems to happen. He starts to panic a little bit, his beeping becoming more confused and frantic, and a sense of dread starts to overcome Jarik.
"Should something be happening?" Cal asks in concern.
"Yes..." Jarik murmurs in reply, alarm starting to set in. "Something went wrong."
R5 lets out a few distressed beeps, explaining that he's now locked out of the system and unable to connect to the ion cannon controls.
"No… no no no!" Hadrian exclaims in alarm, looking at his datapad.
"What's wrong?!" Kira asks, rushing over to him.
"Someone just shut off the ion cannon. And the shield too!" he says helplessly.
"Me'ven?!" Crassus shouts in disbelief.
Second Sister looks up at the large ion cannon, feeling some satisfaction at knowing it will not be capable of firing on the Imperial fleet.
"The ion cannon is disabled, Thrawn," she says into her comlink.
"Very good Inquisitor," Thrawn's voice replies in content. "I shall begin the final strike. Once their cruiser is down, you may take a squad and search for survivors. Spare any that you can for questioning."
"As you wish, Grand Admiral," she nods her head in acknowledgement.
Ending the transmission, Second Sister returns her gaze back to the sky to watch as the Mandalorian cruiser rose higher to meet the Imperial fleet. The transparent shield bubble once protecting it from the wrath of the Empire is now gone.
"We've got trouble!" Cere exclaims in warning.
The four of them look out at the platform they departed from to see Vader marching forward, coming to a stop and glaring up at them. Just as the Mantis is about to blast away into the open sky, he raises his arms out in their direction and clenches his hands in a pulling motion, calling on the Force.
"Ah kriff," Jarik mutters anxiously.
The Mantis shudders, lurching to a halt with enough force to make them all stumble. The Mantis crew stare outside with alarmed expressions on their faces, baffled at the sudden stop. The Mantis strains, tilting as it tries to pull away, but Vader slowly pulls his arms back, forcing the ship closer to him.
"What the devil?" Greez's confused and alarmed voice could be heard from the cockpit.
"How is this possible?" Merrin asks, bewildered.
Jarik thrusts his arm out, and a rock is lifted off the ground and thrown in his direction. Vader leans his head out of the way, only to flinch as a blaster bolt from Cere strikes the shoulder playing of his armor. Cere fires another few shots, forcing Vader to divert some of his focus to either avoiding them or blocking them with his hand. Despite this, he still manages to pull the ship closer to the ground, using his hate, anger, and frustration to fuel his power.
"What's going on with the ship?!" Greez shouts incredulously.
"Vader's got a hold of it!" Cal yells back.
Cere and Merrin both increase their rate of fire in hopes up getting Vader to relinquish his hold on the Mantis, the former using her magic to cast green bolts of energy. Frustrated, the Sith Lord thrusts his hand out and slams the two of them against the far wall with a Force push, resuming his focus on bringing the ship down. Jarik looks at Vader and then out at the surrounding landscape of the outpost. A shimmer of blue swiftly disappears into nothing as the shield pulls back, leaving them completely exposed to the Star Destroyers up above.
"I've doomed us all…" he murmurs.
"What're we supposed to do?" Cal asks in a panic, looking between him and Cere, who is shakily getting back to her feet.
Jarik clenches his fist, contemplating any options left. But before he could decide on something, a strange shift in the Force gains nearly all of his attention. Nearly all of his thoughts about the present moment are disregarded in favor of focusing on the disturbance. It's a strange feeling, something that he can't make out. It's not dark or unnatural, it just feels so... right. Whatever the source of it is powerful, that he can easily tell, whether from a person or something else he's not sure, yet it also seems familiar. As if he's felt it before...
It only takes him a few seconds to pinpoint where the strange shift in the Force is coming from, and he turns his head to look in the opposite direction of the Imperial fleet, past the outpost and out towards the mountainside behind it. Through the haze of the Force disturbance he noticed that neither Cere or Cal seemed to notice, however Vader's head was tilted in its direction as well, showing that he could also feel it, and thus his hold on the Mantis was loosening slightly. Up on the mountainside, Jarik could see what seemed to be a person, or two people, standing halfway up, on a small rocky ledge.
With them was the dim glow of silvery gold light.
With the shield now taken down, Thrawn gave the all clear for his TIE squadrons to engage with the Mandalorian fighters, allowing for their cruiser to be more vulnerable. The Interdictor vessel was ready and waiting in the case that they attempted an early jump to hyperspace, while he had the fleet positioned to cut off their escape. Things were going quite well.
As he takes his gaze off of the holotable for a moment, he catches sight of something off in his peripheral view, and turns to see what it was. Frowning, he raises a curious eyebrow at the sight of a bird sitting outside of the bridge, resting on the very corner of the port side viewport. It's extremely reminiscent of a convor, with feathers colored in a creamy-white, green, and gold pattern. The thing about it that confuses him however is that their fleet is too high in the air that type of bird would prefer, and it also seems to be staring directly at him.
It's eyes held intelligence unlike anything he had seen before.
The convor then takes flight with a flap of its wings and, as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone. Thrawn pulls himself out of his gaze at the creature's disappearance, momentarily surprised and blinking his eyes. He looks out where the convor was for a moment longer, trying to make sense of the strange occurrence, before the voice of his officers gets his attention.
"Sir... I'm getting a strange reading on the scopes," Commander Hammerly reports.
Whatever the source of the Force disturbance, Jarik could sense it's power suddenly start to grow rapidly, as if building up. At the same time he lets out a quiet gasp of astonishment, also feeling as if he himself was contributing to the disturbance, and takes a step back with a hand held up to his chest. Looking back outside once more, he watches as the glow from the mountainside becomes brighter and more visible, as if gaining strength.
Then it is all released.
As if thundering out in a massive storm, tremendous bolts of violet-colored energy arc outwards from the mountainside, blinding flashes of purple covering the environment for a few seconds. The huge bolts of energy arc out into the sky like lightning bolts, releasing a great blast of noise, before striking against the Imperial fleet.
Each Star Destroyer is struck by one of the great bolts, causing great explosions on impact. The Chimaera is struck along the side, creating an explosion that blows up with enough power to shake the entire ship. The Executor is hit along the underside of its hull by three bolts of energy, causing massive explosions that shake even the massive Super Star Destroyer and cause it to tilt in the air slightly. An energy bolt strikes the Interdictor cruiser and goes straight through the hull, causing the gravity well projectors to explode and sending the cruiser down for a fiery crash. All of the other Star Destroyers are struck not too different from how the Chimaera was hit: not terrible damage, but enough to throw them off their positions.
And while not facing complete destruction like the Interdictor, which has succumbed to the pull of gravity, it's quite clear that all of the Star Destroyers are disabled in some fashion, the ships flickering with power with volts of purple electricity crackle along their hulls in aftershocks.
Jarik sees all of this and more, feeling the tremendous power surge through the Force, and so does Vader. The Sith Lord's grip on the Mantis was completely gone, allowing Greez to quickly fly away and up into the air. The Mantis crew all have their own shocked and exhilarated reactions to the amazing energy storm, but Jarik can't bring himself to focus on any of it, or anything at all really. Throughout whatever just happened, Jarik's energy became entirely drained in frightening speed, as if he just ran around the entire planet without any breaks in a full out sprint. He groans weakly in exhaustion, stumbling on his feet for a few seconds before falling to the floor in a lifeless heap.
Before he could slip into unconsciousness however, Jarik could just barely make out the sound of a voice whispering something to him.
'...when they stand together, nothing is stronger...'
3rd person POV...
Darkness surrounds him like a cloud of dense fog. It's overwhelming, sapping him of any strength he had. He can't feel anything except how deprived of energy he is, to the point where it seems to hurt.
"Behold the Sun. Behold his might..." a deep voice growls, mocking.
Through his haze of exhaustion and aching pain, he sees the outline of a dark figure standing before him, crouching down to his level… Snoke. He tries to respond, to move away from the dark sider, but he's so tired that all he can muster himself to do is weakly shift his arm.
"Nothing more than the helpless boy who lost his parents," he speaks softly, sneering at him.
A rush of anger flows through his body at the scornful comment, but it quickly fades back into helpless exhaustion.
"Now you see the vast potential of such a relic, why it's power truly is infinite," Snoke states, grinning. "And I will have them all!"
He disappears, leaving him alone once more before he too falls into the blackness.
Kijimi System - Mid Rim
Jarik POV…
My whole being of existence felt like I had just been thrown under the exhaust of a Star Destroyer.
Very specific example, but whatever.
Small flickers of light burst into my vision as my eyes flicker, and I wearily blink them open to try and see where I am. My senses start to come back, and I feel that I'm lying on top of some sort of soft material. Groaning, I turn my head to the side to see the blurry image of a gray room, silhouetted figures coming in my direction.
"Hey, he's awake!" a voice says happily.
I blink my eyes a bit more to clear my vision up, and start pushing myself into a sitting position.
"Take it easy. You've been out of it for a while," another voice suggests.
Getting a better look at them, I recognize the person as Cere Junda, one of the Jedi that came to the battle. The next person to come up beside me is Mara, a relieved expression on her face. I take notice of the fact that I'm in some sort of medical room, and the other people gathered here consist of Hiccup, Astrid, Aathias, Kira and Crassus, Cal, and Merrin. Movement against my foot has me looking down to see Toothless nudging my foot with his snout, warbling you at me hopefully.
"What happened?" I ask wearily, furrowing my brows in confusion.
"After that… well, whatever it was... happened, the Empire's ships were disabled, and we jumped away before they could recover," Mara explains.
"We've stopped in the Kijimi System to regroup and count our losses before we move on," Aathias adds.
"How long was I out?" I ask them, sitting myself up against the wall.
"Nearly ten hours," Crassus says.
"Ten hours?!" I exclaim in surprise, becoming wide awake now.
"Whatever caused that energy storm also put you in a coma," Cere adds. "I'm surprised you're awake so soon."
"Yeah about that…" Cal says slowly. "What the kriff was that lightning storm?!"
"Beats me," Kira shrugs.
"I've never encountered or even heard of something so powerful. That wasn't just some random occurrence," Merrin remarks.
"Not to mention freaky," Astrid comments, and Hiccup nods in agreement.
"All I know is that if it wasn't for that energy blast, we would've never made it off of Dxun alive," Aathias states with a frown. "They had us trapped entirely."
"So… it couldn't have been a random thing, right? Someone, caused that to happen?" Hiccup theorizes, a bit uneasily.
There's a bit of silence as everyone contemplated that, and I think back on what I remember from it. About what I could feel through the Force…
"I don't even know if I want to think about someone being that powerful," Cere says, unsettled.
"Do you know what it was, Dad?" Mara asks me.
I look at her for a moment, contemplating, and then look back down with a thoughtful frown. Whatever caused it was very powerful, and the disturbance it made felt a bit familiar. And what I dreamt of… a relic with infinite power...
"I have an idea," I say softly, but offer nothing else.
The door to the room opens, and Raman comes walking through. He stops momentarily at the sight of me awake, but continues on over to us.
"Well, the clan is in decent shape… as well as we can be, anyways. The evacuation was efficient, and our only losses came from those of us who fought," he states.
"How many?" Crassus asks in concern.
"At least two hundred didn't make it," he replies with a sad sigh, feeling a great burden.
"Including Sedriv and Logan," Kira adds sadly.
He nods in confirmation, and Aathias stands beside him for support and comfort. She wraps an arm around him, and he returns the hug with his own arm.
"We did the best we could. We're just fortunate it wasn't all of us," she tells him.
"I wish we could've arrived sooner," Cere says regretfully. "We could've warned you they were coming."
"Is that what brought you here?" I ask them. "You knew the Empire was going to attack?"
"An associate of ours told us you were planning on stopping at Dxun in case we wanted to reach out to you. We were in the area when we also learned that the Empire has discovered your location," she explains.
"Well that's convenient," Mara comments.
"Indeed," Raman nods in agreement. "Speaking of which, Jarik, the clan doesn't know you're here right now, but if they do, they'll be out for blood."
"Oh, wonderful," I sigh in exasperation.
"I know you aren't to blame, far from it, but my people are blaming you for the Empire's attack, and they want vengeance," he explains apologetically.
"This again?" Astrid groans.
"I do not understand: why would the Mandalorians blame you? It's not like you wish to be found by the Empire," Merrin asks me, frowning in confusion.
"It's complicated," I tell her.
"More like freakishly stupid!" Mara adds angrily.
"For once, I actually agree," Crassus nods as well.
"Really?" Kira asks, narrowing her eyes at him. "Who are you and what have you done with my brother?"
Crassus rolls his eyes and shoves her shoulder.
"Haha, very funny," he scoffs.
"It's probably best if you depart as soon as possible. Give us some time to recover while I smooth things over with everyone," Raman suggests.
"Yes, that would be good," I nod in agreement. "Which reminds me: we need to get you three back home as well."
I give Hiccup, Astrid and Toothless all a pointed look, and the two Vikings glance at each other before returning their gaze to me.
"We're not gonna be coming back for a while, aren't we?" Hiccup deduces dryly.
"Not until the Empire is defeated, and then I might consider it," I confirm.
"Where are you guys from?" Cal asks curiously, slightly confused.
"That's the secret. Can't tell ya," Astrid shrugs.
"Yup. Very big secret," Mara adds for emphasis.
Cal and Merrin share a confused glance before looking over at my cousins; Kira raises her hands defensively while shaking her head.
"Don't look at me, that's their problem," she says.
"Mara, would you be so kind as to make sure they board the Knight Hawk safely? I'd like to leave as soon as possible," I tell her, frowning after I notice something. "Where's R5?"
"Fussing over the ship of course," she replies sarcastically, making a face. "And HK is with him too. He won't shut up."
"Those droids are psychotic," Crassus mutters, prompting a bit of snickering from Kira.
"I guess we're just lucky that BD-1 is pleasant company," Merrin murmurs to Cal.
"No kidding," Cal scoffs in agreement.
"He was getting curious when he learned the Knight Hawk's name," Mara continues to say.
"I can imagine why," I respond dryly.
I honestly can see why the droid made the connection. The name of the ship was influenced by two things: me achieving the rank of Jedi Knight from Obi-Wan and Master Yoda, and the Ebon Hawk, which was Revan's ship. And HK-47 was one of its crew members, if I remember my history correctly.
"Anyways, just get there and wait for me. I'll be out shortly... if I can make it without being seen," I say with a light scoff.
"Their safety won't be a problem, it's just you that has to be wary," Raman informs me.
"Great," I reply with a nod.
"Ok, cool. I guess we'll head out now..." Mara trails off awkwardly.
Shrugging her shoulders, she gestures to Hiccup and Astrid and they walk with her, giving me a small wave on the way. Toothless trots after them, and they come to a momentary stop as Kira and Crassus approach them.
"It was nice meeting you guys. Maybe if things change you can come out again," Kira says.
"Thanks, but this is probably for the best," Astrid replies. "We're more comfortable on our planet anyways."
"Hmph. I would agree," Crassus nods, giving them a look.
"Yup," Hiccup replies, rolling his eyes. "I know Toothless definitely would as well."
Toothless chirps in response, and they all continue on their way out of the room, following Mara's lead. After a few seconds Aathias leaves with Kira and Crassus, giving Raman a quick kiss before departing off to wherever they were headed to, while Raman stays behind.
"I totally get why the Emperor hates you. See ya later cuz!" Kira calls out before disappearing around the door.
"If you say so," I call back, a bit perplexed.
Having to deal with cousins is something I have no idea how to do, though it can't be worse than dealing with Weron and Kurhran back when I was a Jedi youngling.
"Cousin huh?" Cal asks me.
"Correct," I reply with a nod, moving so that I'm now sitting with my legs hanging off the side of the bed. "So, this 'associate' of yours: let me take a guess... Saw Gerrera?"
He, Cere and Merrin all look at me in slight surprise and caution.
"Yeah... you know him?" Cal asks.
"Know him? I'm part of the reason he's where he's at today," I scoff in amusement. "I was a part of the team that trained his batch of rebels back in the Clone Wars to fight the Separatists."
"Really?" he says curiously.
"We've been associates of Saw for some time now, but he never mentioned you until just recently," Cere remarks with a frown.
"Well, it's not something he likes to talk much about. He lost someone he cared about in the war. It's why he's the way he is today," I inform them.
"He does seem like he carries a sense of loss every time I've seen him," Merrin recalls softly.
There's a short period of silence before I decide to advance the conversation.
"So, the conversation we all know we need to have... what happens next?" I say sarcastically, looking up at Raman. "You guys need a new place of refuge."
"Losing the outpost is hard, but it's not the first time we've lost our home. We'll survive as we have been," he reassures me.
"If you're looking for a planet to hide out on, we could help with that," Cal offers. "We've visited a lot of places where the Empire doesn't have much of a presence."
"I appreciate the offer, but I'm thinking that we'll head to meet up with our fellow Mandalorians in Clan Wren," Raman tells us. "Seeing as how we're enemies of the Empire whether we like it or not, I'm thinking we'll join them in the fight for Mandalore."
"Please tell me you didn't lose the mask," I say nervously.
"Crassus kept it safe, and it's here with us," he assures me. "With Mandalore's Mask on our side, and the Darksaber with Clan Wren, we can start uniting all of the clans together."
"Sounds like a plan," I nod, relieved at knowing our mission wasn't all for nothing. "I'd recommend getting Clan Wren away from Knownest, at least for a little while. I have a feeling the Empire will turn to them now that your clan escaped."
"I'll bring it up, no worries," Raman nods in agreement. "Any what about you? Now that you've done what you wanted?"
I look down thoughtfully, considering my options.
"Well, first I have to get the Vikings and their dragon back home," I say with a shrug. "Other than that, Mara and I will need to stay out of sight for a while..."
Remembering the Mantis crew, I look up at them curiously.
"Are you interested in visiting the rebel base?" I ask them.
"Saw mentioned you were affiliated with a big rebel force," Cere tells me. "I was hoping we could establish a connection with you."
"I'm more than happy to lead you there," I reply, looking thoughtfully at Cal. "Hey, Cal, right?"
"Yeah, that's right," he nods, looking at me. "What's up?"
"You wouldn't happen to know a 'Caleb Dume,' would you?" I ask him.
Cal blinks in surprise, not expecting the question.
"Yeah... he was my best friend," he trails off, his eyes going wide in realization. "Did he survive?"
"He did," I confirm with a nod. "And we aren't the only Jedi survivors."
"There are more Jedi?" Cere asks hopefully.
"There's five of us, Mara and I included," I tell her. "If I had picked up on your group earlier I might've tried reaching out to you."
"We've remained mostly quiet. Doing smaller missions for various rebel groups," Merrin explains. "Nothing like what you yourself have pulled off, Shan."
"Hmph. I guess I'll take that as a compliment," I reply, observing her for a moment. "I admittedly don't have much experience with the nightsisters, but I know that it's very uncommon for one to be traveling with Jedi."
"We trust her," Cal states firmly, and Cere nods in agreement.
"Believe me, I have no problem with it. If I did I would be a hypocrite," I scoff, giving Raman a pointed look.
"You're gonna make me feel guilty for the rest of my life about this," he grumbles, shaking his head.
"Sorry uncle," I reply, hiding the small grin on my face. "Anyways, it's just an interesting combination, that's all."
"Well, I'm sure there are a lot of stories we can tell each other," Cere comments.
"I'm sure there are. But I think I'm ready to head home," I remark, pushing myself up to my feet.
Raman comes by to help support me, and I offer him a quiet thanks once I'm stable, to which he nods in reply.
The Executor
3rd person POV...
As he sat in his meditation chamber, helmet off of his head to be repaired, Vader was brooding in absolute rage. The only problem was, there was nothing to vent his anger out on. No training droids to destroy, no more officers to kill for some sort of failure, and the Inquisitor can't even be held responsible, nor can Grand Admiral Thrawn be blamed. Which only served to make him angrier.
Jarik Shan has escaped once again.
It's almost laughable how many times he's come close to being captured or killed, only for some freak occurrence to save him at the last second. Even the arrival of those two Jedi and the nightsister were not the cause of his escape; there was no way for anybody to leave the planet's surface, not one. The fleet was ready to destroy anyone who dare tried, and there was no way out for the Mandalorian ships. They were effectively trapped without any means of escape.
Until the tremendous energy blast exploded out and struck against the fleet, effectively disabling the Star Destroyers singlehandedly. It's as if fate deems it necessary to keep Jarik alive, and will ensure he lives by any means necessary. He could sense it in the Force when that energy blast started to gain power, and the strange thing is that the source of it almost felt familiar. But whatever it was that struck out to damage the ships, it also halted his efforts in bringing down the Jedi's ship, as a small bolt lashed out from one of the main blasts to strike the ground beside him, interrupting his progress.
Therefore, going against the most impossible of odds, Jarik Shan escapes, and the Empire ends up with a clear defeat in the battle. It's absolutely infuriating. He knows it's only a matter of time before the Emperor demands an explanation for this embarrassing mess. Regardless of whether he believes the reasoning behind the loss, in which Thrawn's report would support his statement, he knows there's still a punishment to be felt.
With his helmet newly repaired, the meditation chamber carefully lowers it back down over his head, bathing the world in a haze of red once more, and the sound of his respirator breathing for him echoes around the room.
Author's Note: Hello readers! Lot's of stuff in this chapter, and a lot of big questions that need answering for sure! Hopefully everything was explained and easy to understand, as I felt like some of it was a little wonky while I was writing in, and I wasn't sure if what I wrote made it clear what I was trying to tell. But, that's how I've felt when writing most chapters, so I assume it'll be fine.
Anyways, big things happened here! Against all impossible odds, Jarik and Clan Ordo escaped the Empire's grasp, though it's clear that they wouldn't have been able to without the intervention of... 'the Storm,' I suppose I'll call it. Clan Ordo has a lot of recovering to do, but they'll soon be joining forces with other clans now that they have Mandalore's Mask on their side. And the Mantis Crew will be coming to the rebel base on Atollon! That's a meeting I'm excited to write for the next chapter.
And thus we have reached the conclusion of the Mandalore Arc. What a ride, huh? This story arc has been foreshadowed an hyped up for over four months now, maybe more than half a year, and we have finally reached its end. I hope everybody liked it, and I tried my absolute hardest to make it an awesome storyline.
But Jarik's story is far from over...