Chapter six: Run for ruins and old artifacts begins
Anakin stood with his best men and Yularen at the hangar bay, waiting for master Kota's shuttle to land. And it was just a five minute wait, before it even showed up near the opened hangar bay doors.
The Chosen one wasn't the waiting type, unlike his former master Obi-Wan, but he only lost his patience after ten minutes and it was only thanks to the training that he got as a Jedi.
The shuttle came to a halt next to Anakin and his group and the ramp slowly opened. Master Kota was already waiting behind the ramp, because he didn't want to make the waiting longer.
With the older Jedi came four members of the Militia. "Master Kota, we're glad that you joined us in our quest." Anakin formally started. Kota raised an eyebrow at that, but still remained calm.
"And I am glad to help, Knight Skywalker." Kota answered in the same way. "Master Kenobi told us about your arrival. But, can I ask, how did you find us?" Yularen asked.
Kota looked at the admiral with both his eyebrows raised. "The Force led us. Why are you asking, admiral?" the Jedi master answered.
"Well, we encountered four Marauder-class fighters not so long ago. We managed to capture one, but it had a strange droid inside. It seemed to have the same design as the HK-series assassin and protocol droids." the admiral said
"This, the fighter and the droid's armament showed us a terrible truth: the Star Forge is somehow active again and Darth Malak came back from the dead." Anakin finished the explanation with sadness and anger in his voice.
Of course, Kota and his guards froze in shock. "WHAT?!" the older Jedi shouted. "It is true. That's the…" Rex tried to help him, when the alarm went off.
"To all units: We have spotted ten Marauder-class fighters trying to attack us! Repeat: Ten enemy fighters are trying to attack us!" Echo's voice announced. "This is where the fun begins." the Hero with no Fear muttered and rushed towards his Delta-7 starfighter.
Revan and his two droid companions looked behind them, where the sound of ship engines turning off was heard. It was Revan's ship! "Who dared to steal my Ebon Hawk from me?!" he shouted at the ship.
Suddenly, a ramp went down and a young Togruta girl went out. Revan didn't even need his eyes to tell that Malak corrupted her. She looked at him with a smug glare. "Oh, do you think that the Pink maiden is yours? Prove it, Jedi scum!" she announced and ignited her red-colored lightsaber.
Revan felt anger. That Togruta not only stole the Ebon Hawk. She even renamed her into something disgusting for his ship naming senses. "Are you sure, di'kut?" the ancient Force user asked, ignited his lightsaber and almost instantly went into the Ataru Form opening stance.
The corrupted girl smirked and went into Makashi Form opening stance, avoiding the salute and waited for his answer. Revan chose to circle around her and she was confused by that.
Suddenly, Revan used a Force push on her, which caught the fallen Jedi off guard. The sheer power of it was enough to send her unconscious, but she was somehow only dazed for a few seconds.
After that, she held her head, as if she was in strong pain. "Get out of my head!" the former Togruta Jedi shouted and Revan saw the natural color of her eyes for a split second, before Al-Al managed to get her under his control again.
"Query: Should I terminate this Meatbag for you, Master?" both HKs asked him. "No. Just send her unconscious. We should take her with us and get out from here." Revan answered to both of the droids.
"Disappointed statement: But, Master! I haven't killed anyone in 4,000 years!" HK-47 protested. "Do as I say." the Prodigal knight snapped back in his master tactician voice, that never admitted protests as a way of completing tasks.
"Statement: I have found weak points in your defense, Meatbag. They could result in some unadulterated violence, but my Master wants you alive." the droid said, when it turned to face the Togruta and fired from its heavily modified stun blaster rifle with an inhuman precision.
She fell to the ground again, but this time finally unconscious. "We'll take the Ebon Hawk." Revan muttered to himself and his mind went back to the days, when he traveled with Carth, Bastila, T3, Mission, Zaalbar, Juhani, HK, Cancerous and Jolee through half the known Galaxy, in order to stop Malak from crushing the Republic.
Harold stared in disbelief at the two assassin droids and a robed man with a mask, which carried unconscious Ahsoka,(or Darth Ashla as she called herself now) without even dropping a single sweat.
"HK-47! Go to the cockpit and plot our course for Dantooine. We have someone to meet there!" the mysterious man commanded the seemingly older droid. "Yes, Master." it answered and went there. His siblings were scared to the bone by seeing those droids, but also quite interested in them.
"Just who the hell are you?!" Harold broke the silence, when the Ebon Hawk took off. The man looked at him through his strange Mando-like mask. "I go by many names. The Butcher, the Prodigal knight, the Revanchist, Revan, Darth Revan and the Mysterious Stranger." the man answered.
It wasn't the answer that Harold expected and it took him a while to process the information. "What?! Are you trying to fool us, that you are Revan? What a sick joke." Jeff stated before Harold even broke from the shock of realization, and he suddenly was about a half meter in the air and struggled to get rid of the invisible hand that was choking him.
"Is this enough proof?" Darth Revan asked, as he released Jeff from his grasp. Harold and Anne did the only good thing by nodding in agreement. "Good. But, I still believe that we started our companionship in the worst light. So, my name is Revan. And you are?" the man pretended, as that choking never happened.
"We are Harold, Anne and Jeff Sunstalkers. And that unconscious Togruta is, or was known as Ahsoka Tano, padawan to Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker. The Jedi council sent me and her to investigate a strange distress signal, which happened to be a trap. But, I forgot most of the things that happened after that." Harold announced in his calmest voice, that was possible for him, given their situation.
"Well, I am surprised that you managed to resist Al-Al's mind corruption. That poor girl showed how it looks. Consider yourself lucky, Harold Sunstalker." Revan stated with a bit of a joking voice and untied him.
"And, can we ask, who is our 'ally,' that we are going to meet?" Anne asked the Force user. "Our ally is hunted by both the Republic and the Confederacy. I also have a feeling that some bounty hunters are trying to find and kill him too." the former Sith lord answered by avoiding the name of their only hope in defeating Malak, this time forever.
'I heard recently only of one wanted man: Skywalker.' Harold realized and hid a small smirk. If Skywalker is their ally, then the 501st legion will be near. And more than 10,000 Clones are a force to be counted with and not to be underestimated.
Suddenly, an alarm started screeching. "Statement: Incoming fighters made by original Meatbag." one of the droids announced through the ship's comm. "This is where the fun begins." Harold muttered and rushed towards the turrets.
He was angry. Not only did Revan escape with the Ebon Hawk, but he also kidnapped his new apprentice and reprogrammed his oldest HK-66. And from his sheer anger the Star Forge shook violently.
"Master? We dispatched six Marauder-class fighters to get rid of them. They won't escape." one of the still active HK-66s said with a cocky tone. He nodded. "Good. RevAn wilL dIe AnD nOthinG wiLl StOp us fRoM dEsTrOyInG the RePubliC!" the Force ghost announced after a while.
The droid saluted and went out of his room. He was alone with his thoughts again. Something didn't still make sense to him. Like those pipes that were called droids, clearly better and faster fighters than his Marauders and most of all, that sheer numbers of Jedi. There were tens of thousands of his enemies, alongside millions of cloned Mandos.
'My plan is crumbling. I need to speed it up to destroy the Republic, while the Jedi are all across the Galaxy.' he thought. After that, another HK-66 went in. "Master, the Star Forge is operating at 70% of its capacity. That's far beyond the limit that our processors calculated as safe-" it started, but was cut off by him with a strong Force push.
"I wanT RepOrt, WhEn It ReAcHeS 200%!" he shouted and let the droid come out of his room. Soon, his army will overwhelm all Republic forces and turn Coruscant into a smoking pile of durasteel and transparisteel and his empire will last forever. He just only needed a distraction to finish that plan, whatever it would cost.
Ahsoka woke up. The first thing that she noticed was the ceiling of the Ebon Hawk, which wasn't a surprise for her, but there was someone else. That someone was strong with the Force. Maybe stronger than Skyguy, but she didn't felt, to which side of the Force the person belonged.
"She's awake!" shouted a familiar voice. It was sounding like Harold, but older. The Togruta Jedi tried to stand up, but her knees were weak, so she sat down on the couch, where she slept not so long ago.
And after that, she saw something that made her blink in disbelief. 'No. This can't be possible! Why is Darth Revan here and alive?!' Ahsoka thought and reached for her lightsaber. And again, there was nothing, where her lightsaber was supposed to be.
"Young one, I took your lightsaber, because it had a corrupted kyber crystal inside. But, you're lucky that I know how to heal the crystal from its suffering." the Sith announced. "W-what did you mean, Sith?! I don't have a corrupted kyber crystal in my lightsaber!" she shouted back at him.
"Really? Watch this." Darth Revan countered and ignited her lightsaber, but instead of the emerald green blade, a crimson red one extended from the hilt. Ahsoka gulped. The Sith lord was right, but why was he trying to help her? That was the sole mystery that was left in between them, but she didn't know that it would be solved soon enough.
"I have destroyed all enemy fighters! The path for us is clear!" Harold's voice shouted from one of the turrets. "Good. HK! Are the calculations for hyperjump done?" the Sith asked one of the droids. "Answer: Yes, Master. Jump in: 3… 2… 1…" the clearly older one said. And she felt the usual pull, that happened, when a ship entered the hyperspace.
Rahm Kota stared at the Marauder-class fighter in amazement. It was old, but still posed a threat to ARC-170. And, as he was told, a droid that looked exactly like a HK-series assassin droid jumped out with a blaster pistol already drawn out from its holster. "Pathetic Jedi Meatbags, I'll enjoy-" it said, before Kota saw Skywalker do something strange.
A small arc of lightning flew from his opened palm and disabled the droid. "What was that, Skywalker?! You used Force lightning!" the surprised older Jedi shouted. Skywalker looked back at him. "Revan's Force ghost friends taught me that." the younger Jedi answered without a trace of a joke or lie.
But, even the truth was impossible enough for him to believe. "Is that a joke, Skywalker?!" Kota asked. "No, it isn't. Juhani, Meetra Surik and Bastila Shan were in my dream and showed me the forgotten Jedi Force powers." the rogue Jedi knight answered and shocked him even further.
"Sir! We are ready for hyperspace jump!" shouted a Clone that rushed to the hangar. Skywalker nodded at that. "Close the hangar and execute the jump." he answered in a calm voice, that was in Kota's opinion unnatural for Skywalker.
"So, I guess, that we must wait here, until we reach the planet, where Skywalker will search for another of those 'Star Maps.'" one of his men said, as he saw the hangar bay doors close and sighed.
"Yeah… I only wanted to find and kill Dooku and Grievous and end this war, not get involved in the strangest quest ever." the last one added. "Well, we have an important one now. Our enemy is even more dangerous than Dooku and Grievous combined." Kota interrupted them and went towards the nearby turbolift. After all, he needed to rest.
2 days later, space above Dantooine
Yularen let out a small sigh of relief. They made it to Dantooine, before both the Republic and Seps. 'At least, another one good thing, that happened.' he thought and turned to order the Clones, but they had already begun their tasks.
The admiral looked to the left part of the viewing part of the bridge. Kota's forces were still with them and started to prepare for a possible attack. 'Kota trained them well.' Yularen admired. Even being that ragtag group of criminals, mercs and small local militias from the Republic space, they were almost better than an average Clone legion.
Suddenly, his personal holotransmitter beeped. Surprisingly, Skywalker was on the other side. "Admiral, you should go with us." he started. "And why, general? I am of a better use up here." the admiral answered at that with a surprised tone in his voice.
"Even you should sometimes let the boys do their work and the shift on the bridge already saw the Tatooine Star Map." the rogue Jedi said, surprising Yularen even further. "I-I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about going to the surface." he countered and it was enough for Skywalker to hear, because he ended the transmission.
The admiral of the 501st Clone legion of the Grand Army of Republic sighed and checked the radar just in case. Nothing was out of the ordinary: transport ships were flying into and out of the atmosphere and didn't see Republic warships as a threat, which was good.
Suddenly, a familiar cargo ship flew right next to the Resolute. It was in a hurry, from what he could tell."This is GAR admiral Wullf Yularen to an unidentified ship. State your business here on Dantooine!" he announced. "This is the Ebon Hawk. We have a scheduled meeting near the ancient ruins, a few miles northwest from the remains of the Jedi enclave." said a mysterious voice, instead of Sunstalker or Tano.
"Relay your clearance codes to us, or you'll be shot down!" Yularen continued with steel in his voice. To his surprise, the stranger sent a signal from the Old Republic era. And, before he could send the right code back, at least six bounty hunter ships came out from hyperspace and dodged with grace all turbolasers and proton torpedoes.
"Damn! Send a warning to Skywalker! Cad Bane and his friends are coming for him!" the admiral shouted at the Clones. But, he didn't notice that the Ebon Hawk flew towards the surface and at the same time fired at the bounty hunters.
CT-7567 looked at the ruins that were a Jedi enclave once. The building made him feel uneasy and relaxed at the same time. "Our destination is a few miles northwest from here. I only hope that inside of this building are some still functioning swoop bikes." Skywalker stated.
Rex gestured to Fives and Echo to follow him inside the building through the opened door. But, when he gestured to Kix too, he jerked his head. "Sir, if I saw this door open a few years ago, I'd leave this place. Nothing that has any value is in there." the medic countered with a worried tone.
"So, I guess, that we three will search for swoops in these ruins, then." Fives said jokingly and went into the Jedi enclave. Rex and Echo looked at each other and followed their brother into the enclave with a holomap that showed its layout before the bombardment by Malak's forces.
"The garage is just a few dozens of meters away." Echo broke the silence, as he looked over Rex's shoulder. The Clone captain sighed at that, but suddenly found his hands on his blaster pistols. "Something is here. We should keep an eye on our surroundings." he announced and went into a battle-ready stance with ease.
His brothers followed suit and they walked slowly towards the first and only crossroad that was in their way to the garage. But, no one noticed that a security camera, sliced by Bane and his men, watched them.
Cad Bane was furious. He expected Skywalker to come to the ruins to search for the swoop bikes, but this was still good. "Initiate plan B. Sabotage those swoops and let the Clones take them." he said to his holotransmitter.
"Yes sir!" answered a young lad, by the name of Sheev. Bane liked him. He didn't expect to see someone as dedicated or loyal, as Sheev was. Bane smiled for himself at that. He can say to Sidious that Skywalker chose to die in a swoop bike crash, rather than getting captured.
Suddenly, the sound of a firefight was heard. "Sir! We're under attack by 2 droids, a smuggler, 2 Seps and 2 Jedi!" Sheev explained immediately. "One of those Jedi wields a purple lightsaber, but also has an Old Republic style robe with armor." the boy continued, before the transmission was cut short without a reason.
'So, Skywalker got some allies… But, he'll never get these fancy holocrons.' Bane thought, as he looked at his backpack nearby. It was filled with holocrons and a few thermal detonators. The bounty hunter gave one last look at the valuable loot and sighed.
He almost reached the detonator, when he noticed a purple light that suddenly appeared in the room. "Well, I won't let you destroy these artifacts, bounty hunter!" a strange voice called. It sounded like someone was wearing a Mando helmet, but more unnatural.
"A Mando with a lightsaber? My employer never told me about you." Bane stated as he turned and tried to grab his blaster. But, the Jedi sliced it without hesitation. 'He is fast.' Bane realized and tried to run away, only to find that he couldn't move.
"What?! Why can't I move?!" the bounty hunter tried to find out. "Because you are in a stasis field." the Mando look-alike answered casually, like he was supposed to know this. Bane watched the Jedi as he picked up the detonators, deactivated them and put them in a pouch on his belt.
"And thank you for those detonators." his new enemy said, grabbed the bag with artifacts and left the room. Bane tried to break from the influence of the stasis, but it had no effect at all. He is trapped here until the stasis wears off, or laigreks find and kill him.
Jeff looked at the youngest helper of Cad Bane with a cold glare. He hated bounty hunters more than he did the Republic and its Jedi defenders.
He raised his blaster to kill him, when a hand stopped him. It was the Togruta Jedi padawan. "Don't kill a defenseless person. I know that he is working for Bane, but he is innocent otherwise." she said and gestured to the boy to go away.
Jeff stared daggers at her, but didn't last long, because her stare still had the small glimpse of her Sith self. "Mocking statement: You should consider yourself lucky, Meatbag." HK-47 said to the retreating boy with a really mocking tone added to the word Meatbag.
Jeff sighed and put his blaster back to its holster. The boy slowly stood up, while he also cautiously stared at him. "Go. You are not in danger from us. Only those lagrieks can pose it to you now." the former Separatist leader said after that and turned away.
'I'll regret this one day.' Jeff thought and turned to the opened door, just to see three ARC troopers with the blue of 501st legion. "Rex! Fives! Echo! I am glad to see you!" Tano shouted and leaped at the Clones.
A/n:
Hey guys! Here is another chapter. Sorry for the long wait, but y'know… Covid pandemic, school and other stories slowed me down.
See ya later!