Chapter 58- Endor and Searching
Endor was lush and green. Not even Talon had seen this much green. Not even Alderaan or Naboo had had this much greenery. There were trees everywhere to the point of not being able to see the sky. Talon had donned camouflage with the rest of them, keeping his lightsaber at the ready. "Remember, Talon, your lightsaber is your life," Master Plo's voice rang in his ears. Every Jedi master had drilled that into his or her Padawan from the time the Padawan had soldered their own lightsaber.
"So, what has happened to every Jedi who has lost his lightsaber, Master?" Talon heard a younger version of himself in his mind.
"So you run the risk if losing your life, my young Padawan," Master Plo said with amusement in his deep, masked voice. Talon smiled to himself as he squeezed the hilt of his lightsaber. If only Master Plo could have seen how much his Padawan had grown since the Jedi Purges. Talon looked up as Solo stopped the group, by holding up his hand.
"Oh, I told you it was dangerous here," Threepio fretted as everyone got to their knees. Lena pulled out her lightsaber from her place beside Luke and Leia. From the surges Talon felt through the Force, Luke and Lena were using the Force like he was to sense the danger. Talon followed Solo, Luke, and, Lena to a ridge. Talon felt the Force eddy around him as he looked to see two stormtroopers.
"Should we try and go around?" Leia asked.
"It'll take time," Luke said.
"This whole party will be for nothing if they see us. Chewie and I will take care of this. You stay here," Solo said as he got up, followed by the Wookie.
"Quietly. There might be more of them out there," Lena warned.
"Hey, it's me, Princess," Solo said with a wiseguy grin. Luke, Lena, Leia, and Talon all looked at each other.
"How does anyone who has gone through what he has gone through still act like a nerf herder at the end of the day?" Lena asked.
"Who knows, my dear," Talon said, brushing a kiss to her cheek. Then Solo while he was sneaking up on the troops, suddenly stepped on a twig. The trooper nearest him turned and knocked Solo down. "Go for help! Go!" The trooper shouted to his friend.
"Great. Come on!" Luke ordered. They all got up and ran to the clearing. The trooper got on a hover bike as Solo knocked the other one into a tree. Chewbacca aimed and killed the trooper on the bike before he got to far away.
"Over there! Two more of them!" Leia pointed at two more stormtroopers.
"We see them. Wait, Leia!" Luke and Lena both shouted and ran to two more hover bikes. Luke and Leia got on one while Lena got on the other one. Talon ignited his lightsaber as more troops came towards him and Solo.
"Look, it's a Jedi sorcerer!" One of them screamed as Talon fought beside Solo and Chewbacca and was calling on the Force to slap them with trees.
"Hey! Wait!" Talon heard Solo yell beside him at the fleeing hoverbikes.
Lena looked over the controls from her place beside her brother and sister. This thing was a lot more fun when watching someone else drive it; not when Skywalkers were driving them. "Quick! Jam their comlink. Center switch," Lena heard Luke order from his place behind Leia.
"And watch out for the trees! This planet has more trees than Naboo has Gungans!" Lena said as she twisted out of the way of a tree. All three of them ducked as they went under a log-bridge.
"Move closer!" Luke ordered as more stormtroopers joined the ones they were pursuing.
"Get alongside that one!" Lena said, indicating the one nearest to her sister and brother's bike. Leia started to ram the bike and Luke waited for an opportunity to jump on it.
Luke jumped on and tossed the stormtrooper off unceremoniously. Lena looked behind in time to see two more troopers behind them. "Luke! Leia! We have company!" Lena said as she felt the vibrations from a blaster behind her.
"Lena, Leia, keep on that one! I'll take these two!" Luke said as he put the hoverbike in reverse.
Leia and Lena both looked at the stormtrooper ahead of them and pushed the accelerate and upward climb button. Using the Force to control her movements Lena opened fire as soon as she saw the trooper beneath her and Leia. Leia got down to the floor and the trooper pulled out his blaster. "Leia, look out!" Lena screamed. Leia ducked as a blaster bolt sizzled past her ear. He took two more shots before hitting the back of her hoverbike. Leia gave a slight scream and jumped, her bike hitting a tree. The trooper looked back before his own bike hit a tree. Lena swung her bike around and jumped to where her sister landed and both promptly blacked out.
Talon, Solo, and the others waited at the spot where they had gotten separated. Talon felt a ripple in the Force and looked up. "What is it, Master Jedi?" A soldier asked.
"I feel something in the Force. It's someone moving very quickly," Talon said as he pulled out his lightsaber. Artoo then beeped.
"General Solo, somebody's coming," Threepio said.
"It's Luke!" Talon said, feeling relief flood him through the Force. At least one of his kids was back safe and sound.
"Luke!" Solo said with the same relief on his face.
"Where's Leia and Lena?" Talon asked, looking behind Luke to see if his girls were there.
"They didn't come back?" Luke asked, looking behind him and around the clearing.
"I thought they were with you," Solo said, a slight steel in his voice.
"We got separated. Hey, we better go look for them," Luke said.
"Take the squad ahead. We'll meet at the shield generator at 0300," Solo said to a member of the team as Luke, Solo, Talon, and Chewbacca walked in the direction the bikes had gone.
"Come on, Artoo, we'll need your scanners," Talon ordered the squat droid.
"Don't worry, Master Cail, we know what to do," Threepio said behind them. "And you said it was pretty here," Talon heard Threepio say behind him to Artoo. Talon squelched an urge to laugh as they made their way through the dense undergrowth. Talon stretched out with the Force. He felt the Force through all the trees and grass, but his girls had to be asleep. Force users didn't really shine while asleep as it was muted down. Talon felt that they had to find the girls soon. The battle depended on it