So this fic is truly an experiment for me. What do I mean? Well I hate to admit it, but I suck at writing fight scenes. So what's the remedy? Writing a fic based on material that I can look up online and use as a basis of sorts, and what better than a childhood favorite: Teen Titans. Why not go with the Justice League or even Young Justice? Well I don't know enough of either of these two's histories nor every event that happened, however I do know almost everything in Teen Titans as it is a closed off series when it showed on Cartoon Network years ago, well technically it was cancelled before the series could be fully closed, but it at least got a movie. This chapter specifically in the case of story and dialogue is directly taken from the episode "Go!" (episode 510 [season 5 episode 10]).
This is also the first time that I have written a first person perspective fic on this site, so that's sort of a landmark.
Rating: K+ or T
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my laptop and my copy of MS Word. Star Wars used to belong to George Lucas but now belongs to Disney. Teen Titans belongs to DC. Only original characters belong to me.
XxXxXxX
"Talking."
[Suggested musical accompaniment]
XxXxXxX
Jump City. A random bar.
I sat on a barstool at a walk-in bar that overlooked the main street. It was a unique bar in the way that it emulated a few of the bars down in New Orleans and the fact that it was open twenty-four hours a day. Yours truly is about five foot eleven inches tall, I got brown hair, blue eyes, and slightly tanned skin. I'm wearing combat boots, jeans, and a t-shirt covered by a black hoodie.
I waved over the bartender. "What can I get you?" the slightly older man asked.
"Whiskey on the rocks," I replied.
"I need to see your ID."
"You don't need to see any identification," I replied, my hand on the counter wiping from right to left subtly.
The bartender's eyes glazed over and repeated, "I don't need to see identification."
"You will go about your business," again I used the subtle movement of my hand on the counter.
"I will go about my business." The bartender then returned not a moment later with my drink and then left to tend to the other bar patrons.
I sipped at his drink slowly as I thought back on why I was here, on this backwater planet who was only in the early stages of space flight. Oh right, the Purge. Yep, my mother was a Jedi and managed to escape the initial Order 66 Purge and met my father, a smuggler, and managed to stay on the run for two years, during that time I was "made". I've been on this planet now for four years, surviving from day to day, stealing food from fast food joints using the Mind Trick.
Ever since I was ten my father taught me how to pilot his ship, a YT-2400 light freighter. When I was thirteen my mom took me to one of the hidden temples scattered throughout the Outer Rim that were kept off the books. Inside I passed one of the trials that were required in order to become a Jedi, to which I received a silver-cyan saber crystal only known as Mantle of the Force, a crystal thought long lost since the era of Revan. It took a whole month before I had completed the construction of my lightsaber.
My mother taught me as much as she could in the Force, but she was only a recently knighted Knight. However, she needed more information to teach me on the Force, so that meant a heist. We went to Dantooine, the site of the old Jedi Conclave during the Revan era. However, we didn't know that we tripped an Imperial probe droid that had been sitting on the site for years, just waiting for Jedi to trip it. She and my father had managed to steal a Jedi Holocron before they were confronted by one of the Inquisitors. My father had managed to get the holocron onto the ship while my mom was keeping the Inquisitor busy. After getting the engines running my dad went back out to assist her, but he caught one of his reflected blaster bolts to the chest and unfortunately died. Mom fought the Inquisitor, but knew that there was no way that she could actually defeat him, and that I had no practical skill to defeat an opponent like him, so she told me to run.
That was the worst day of my life, after punching in random coordinates into the navicomputer and the freighter jumped into hyperspace I felt a tremor in the Force that felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest. I was depressed for weeks, even after landing on this planet I'm on now. I didn't eat nor sleep for close to a week before I just passed out from exhaustion in my quarters. After I got through my bout of depression I immersed myself in the holocron that my parents sacrificed themselves for.
I was brought out of my musings by someone screaming about a purse snatcher. I reached out with the Force and with a single small hand gesture I tripped up the thief, causing him to faceplant on the sidewalk, allowing the local authorities to arrest the thief. I chuckled lightly in amusement. I always stayed under the radar if possible, the less questions asked about me the better. It was then I felt a disturbance in the Force. Which was immediately followed by a what seemed to be a meteor slamming down into the center of an intersection. But it felt… living? The smoke around the crater was green, which was abnormal in and of itself, unless the smoke was the fumes of some chemical being dispersed.
When it cleared I saw a redheaded girl in a skintight suit with what looked like metal covering everything that would have been exposed if the girl had worn something akin to sports or workout attire. She then spoke something that sounded like Huttese, but not. It was definitely not Basic nor the predominant English of this planet. It was shouted angrily, but then again so was German at times. Probing her emotions through the Force, she felt desperate, seeking help, worried? I looked closer and saw that she had bindings covering her hands all the way up to the crease of her elbows. What did she do that would require such measures?
She started slamming the ground as to get them off, the civilians started to panic and run away. I pulled up my hood, hiding my face and felt for the one tool that had never left my side since Dantooine, and walked out on the street. The girl's mental train of thought was on the right track as she started to slam the bindings against the reinforced beam holding up the awning of the local pizza place. I was going to intervene when a flying piece of metal in the shape of a bird collided into her faceplate helmet, which caused her to stumble.
She, and I, turned to see a boy, around I want to see sixteen, standing on top of a car attempting to look menacing. He shouted out, "Who are you?" before the girl then attacked him similarly to a two handed smash… which just destroyed a good chunk of the pavement. Oh joy. The boy managed to dodge the strike and the several follow-up strike that the girl attempted to land on him. He then threw a low leveled explosive at her before somersaulting over her. Oh boy, you just pissed her off. To which my suspicions were confirmed as her eyes glowed green, but hey at least it's better than sulfuric Sith yellow. She then kicked a car towards the teen, to which he did dodge, that landed in a building at the end of the other street.
"Hmm, stronger than she looks," the boy muttered, too distracted by the car that barely missed his head to notice her slamming her restraints into him. I grimaced as that had to hurt. He managed to recover though and dodge another strike that would have made him a pancake on the pavement. He then struck her with a collapsible staff, which brought me to another question: was she lighter in this gravity? Surely that boy couldn't be benching enough to pull off the distance needed to send the girl careening into a car which was at least a few dozen meters away. The boy's staff then collapsed in a heap of metal dust. This had gone on long enough and I was, again, going to intervene but a green… goat? Wait… what? And he just transformed into a green spandex wearing boy. This planet never ceases to confuse me.
The green boy then saluted the other caped boy and said, "Ex-Doom patrol member Beast Boy, sir! How can I help?" The boy was then knocked out of his very… eccentric introduction. "Wowzers, you're Robin!" So that was the name of cape-kid.
"Well, you can start by not calling me 'sir'," Robin replied.
"Well let me just say that it's an honor to-."
"Beast Boy, was it?" Robin cut off the green kid.
"Yes, sir?" Robin then just pointed to his left, to which the redhead was throwing a bus. Geez, how much does this girl lift? I'm still going with my gravity theory, by the way. To which the bus was stopped dead by a very bulky guy. Ok, I'm cool with staying under the radar, but this is getting too coincidental for my tastes. The guy then flips the bus onto his side with a grunt. Again, what is it with people on this rock?
"Yo! Who's here messin' up my neighborhood?" he shouted, the tone of his voice suggests another teenage kid.
"She started it," Beast Boy pointed to redhead. She then slammed her restraints on the ground once more, freeing her hands at least. A two-fold restraint system? Why would you need-? She raised her hands, which began to glow before she started throwing something akin to blaster bolts at the teens. Oh so that's why? I wonder what that metal is made of, it could make wonderful armor. Luckily for the teens though she was only aiming a few feet in front of them. She threw many of these bolts erratically, the boys dodging as they tried to get behind cover. She finally collapsed on her knees in exhaustion, her breathing heavy.
"Girl's going to wreck the whole city," 'muscles' stated.
"I won't let her, I won't lose this fight," Robin replied before running out towards her from behind his bus; which happened to be the same time that I started to approach redhead calmly. A black veil in the shape of a raven rose to cut off the three boys, allowing me to approach closer without interruption.
"Maybe fighting isn't the answer," a girl said from behind the boys after appearing in what looked like shadows.
"What's he doing?" Beast Boy asked, referring to me.
Redhead saw my approach and tried to throw another hand blast at me, to which I reached out with the Force and thrust out my hand, holding her in place and freezing the bolt in mid-air. The other four teens were too gob smacked to say anything in reply. I continued to walk calmly towards her, pulling out my lightsaber and igniting it. With a snap-hiss the silver-cyan blade revealed itself.
To say she was terrified was an understatement. I knelt down in front of her, keeping the working end of my blade away from her. "I know you didn't mean to hurt these people and put them in danger," I said to her. I knew that while she couldn't understand the words exactly, she knew my intentions. I stood up and flicked my lightsaber, severing the center brace keeping the restraints together. I then deactivated my lightsaber, tucking it back inside my hoodie. I then let her go from my improvised Force Grip, but left the bolt still in its stasis-like field. She then ripped the rest of the restraints off with her bare hands. "Good luck, and may the Force be with you," I said before attempting to walk away. However, before I could she grabbed me and pulled me in for a kiss. While it was nothing, you know, sexual, that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it a bit.
She did pull away a moment later before saying, "If you do not wish to be destroyed, leave me alone." She then flew away. Nope, not kidding. Legitimately flew away.
"I'm Best Boy," the green boy greeted, breaking the tension.
"You guys might want to take a step to the right," I said. It was then the four remembered the hand blast, to which they moved aside. I then released the grip I had on it in the Force while deflecting it into the ground.
"Well, whoever she is, that girl knows how to make a first impression," 'muscles' said.
"I think we made a pretty good impression," Beast Boy said with a smirk. "Crazy space girl's gone, the city's safe, mission accomplished. Right, sir?"
"Seriously, stop calling me that," Robin replied, annoyed at being a superior again.
"Roger." The green kid then saluted again.
"Looks like we're done here." Robin then started to walk away. "I appreciate the help."
"You're going to go track down the alien?" the only girl asked.
"I have to find out if she's a threat."
"More like find out if she'll give him a kiss too," 'muscles' stated.
Beast Boy went after Robin. "Hey, sir- I mean Robin? Do you maybe-?"
"Sorry, I just went solo. I'm not really looking to join a team," Robin replied, cutting him off.
"Need a sidekick?" Best Boy asked, rubbing the back of his head. The others started to walk off in different directions. As for me? Well, I think my little outburst using the Force may have attracted a little too much attention. It was then Beast Boy-; do you know what? I'm just going to call him 'BB', it makes it easier. Anyway, it was then BB turned around, "Wanna get a pizza?"
I started walking towards the alley where I stashed my Swoop under an active camouflage tarp. BB then floated over to 'blue' and she only replied, "I shouldn't." Then she too walked away.
BB then hurried over to 'muscles', "I guess it's just you and me, right?"
I had just ducked in the alley and put the tarp away. I started up the repulsor engines on the swoop and boosted off towards my ship at extremely fast speeds. I whipped past most on the streets with only a buzzing noise or something that sounded like a bird of prey to an extent. I tapped my earpiece that I managed to jerry rig with one of the Bluetooth headsets of this world and a spare comm I had. "R2, warm up the engines, we may have to book it," I said to my droid, R2-S9. I received a set of bleeps from the droid. "What do you mean there's a large object coming towards the city?" Another set of bleeps. "Star Destroyer sized? Is it giving off an Imperial signature?" R2 replied with a negative beep. Ok, that was good. At least it wasn't the Imps. "Make sure the guns are hot and torpedoes are loaded in case we need them."
I stopped my bike and turned around to see a spike slam into the ground onto the island just off the coast of the city around the size of a small skyscraper. It then started to broadcast to the city using a hologram. "People of Earth, we come to your planet hunting an escaped prisoner," lizard-guy said. Ok either they're looking for me, or they're looking for the girl. "A very dangerous prisoner." While Jedi are dangerous, I think he's talking about the girl now. "Do not interfere and we'll leave your city with only minimal damage. But if you intend to assist her," yep, talking about the girl, "your destruction will be absolute." The communication then ended.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," I said to no one. It was then the spike opened and showed hundreds of warriors. "How come I feel as though I'm going to regret this?" I reached out with the Force, finding the one life form that was not of this planet. I turned my swoop around and boosted towards where I felt her signature. Cars and scenery whipped past me at over three hundred miles per hour, my Force enhanced senses keeping me from becoming a splattered mess on the pavement. Explosions erupted around the city as the reptiles searched for their prisoner.
I stopped outside one of the many video stores scattered around the city, the biggest clue? The glowing hole that looks like someone used a lightsaber to make an impromptu entrance. I engaged the biometric lock on the throttle and stepped off. I went back into one of the saddle bags and pulled out dad's old spare DL-44 blaster pistol he used to keep in his personal weapon vault on the ship. I checked the power pack before slamming it back into place, the catch tends to stick every so often, and activated the power flow. I put the bantha leather holster on my right thigh and placed the blaster inside it.
"Hey, cool bike!" I turned around to see BB's eyes… sparkling? "How's it float like that?"
"Classified," I replied, using a small Mind Trick to misdirect his attention.
"Who are you, and what are you doing with that gun?" Robin asked, obviously feeling threatened.
"It's none of your concern and it's not a slugthrower."
"You're not going to use that on her, are you?" the only girl of the group asked.
"It's not for you, it's not for the civvies hunkering down, and it's not for her. Occam's Razor, who remains?" I asked rhetorically.
"The other aliens," 'blue' answered.
"Bingo," I answered. "Now I believe Red owes us an explanation."
"Why would you want to harm the aliens doing their job?" BB asked.
"It's a last resort, just like any weapon. Now are we going to find out what's going on or are we going to discuss morality?" I ask. I roll my eyes at the lack of a response and take point and walk inside, my right hand hovering within reach, Force reach and normal, of the pistol. We all walk inside to hear what sounds like someone going to town on the movie store's snack bar, eating everything edible in sight. Either she had one HELL of an appetite or her so-called jailors had been starving her, personally, I hope that it is the former.
"Uhh… those taste better without the wrapper," BB said, snapping the others out of their stupor, as well as Red from her feast of junk food; which obviously pissed her off as she looked quite mad, her eyes glowing green right before charging up her fists again.
She growled but Robin put his hands up. "It's alright, we're friends, remember?" Robin asked.
'Friends?' I gave the teen superhero a pointed look, he's got a weird way of making friends. "Friends?!" Red asked. More power to you, sister. "Why did you free me?"
"Because it was the right thing to do," I said, cutting off what Robin was about to reply with. "In your eyes, I do not see the eyes of a murderer or killer like the lizard-guys claim you to be by insinuation, but an angry and scared girl trying to get away from something."
"And we were trying to be nice," Robin added unnecessarily.
"Nice?" Red asked angrily. "We do not have this word on my planet." You'd be surprised how many words are lost in translation, sweetheart. "The closest thing we have is rutha, weak." Oh great, a militaristic type culture.
"Well around here 'nice' means 'nice'," 'Muscles' replied. I rolled my eyes, not because his statement wasn't true, but because you don't describe a word using the same word to define it, that was something that mom drilled into me while learning Aurebesh. "And if you want us to keep being nice, you'd better tell us why the lizard king took you, prisoner." Lizard king, not bad.
Her eyes stopped glowing. Ok, at least we're going in the right direction. "Not prisoner, I am," she held her hands together, searching for the right word, "prize. The Gordanians deliver me to the Citadel, for me to live out my days as servant."
"And the Citadel are?" 'Blue' asked.
"Not nice."
"Then you're not going with them, not if I have anything to say about it," Robin stated firmly.
"Umm, don't you-," BB started.
It was then I felt the warning tingle in the back of my head, the Force was telling me that danger was about to-. "Everyone, get down!" I shouted. They looked at me confused as I dropped flat to the floor, already drawing my blaster. It was not a millisecond later that the wall behind Red exploded inward. The smoke cleared showing at least a platoon's worth of lizards all bearing those blaster-staves. "I knew I had a bad feeling about this," I muttered as I took aim at the lead guy, switching the fire selector from stun to kill.
"Seize her!" what I assumed the platoon sergeant commanded.
I quickly fired into two of the approaching lizardmen's wings, the plasma bolts cutting through them, leaving glowing edged holes and the lizardmen crashing into the ground. Robin gave me a pointed look as if I had just committed murder. "What? It was self-defense!" I said as I Force Pushed a group into the building across the street. He only gave me a glare that said 'We'll be talking about this later.'
'Muscles' double fist slammed several lizards. BB transformed into a rhino and ran head-on into a group, knocking a few of them out of commission; note to self: do not let him see a gundark or vaapad. Red punched a few right through the wall while scattering others from the group. Robin used his metal staff, wait where'd he get another one? Anyway, he used his staff to bash several of the lizards, sending a few flying as well. What the hell is this kid eating? 'Blue' used what seems like magic, as I really don't have time to think about it too hard right now, to send many more flying and away from us as a group.
I fired my blaster several more times, primarily aiming at the laser emitters of their staves. "What I wouldn't give for my E-11 right now!" I commented. I holstered my pistol and drew my lightsaber as five lizards tried to charge me. I slammed my hand into the ground, channeling the Force into a type of repulsory barrier, tossing four of the five aside, but only caused the fifth to stumble. I then ignited my lightsaber, its silver-cyan glow filling the mostly dark video store. The lizard tried to attack me using his staff as a club, however I just used my blade to cut right through it. As the two halves fell away, and confusion found its way onto the lizard's face, I kicked it in the side of the head, reinforcing it with the Force, sending it through the wall.
The wall they came through exploded once more, Red was taking on three more of the lizards. She managed to take one down with one of her hand blasts, and punched out the second, but the third came from her blind spot and slammed her into the pavement, creating a huge crater. Robin did manage to act quickly though, and threw one of the lizards he was fighting into the one that would have blasted Red right in the face. She only smirked in thanks. 'Muscles' though was having his own tough time and took several blasts to his person. When the smoke cleared it revealed he was a cyborg, or at least this planet's version of one. He managed to punch right through one of the lizard's staffs, rendering it useless. He then proceeded to throw the owner into a group of his friends. More gathered to go after this cyborg, but luckily BB flew over as a Pterodactyl, grabbed the cyborg's shoulders, and flew him over the charging lizards, the blue girl using her magic to use a lamppost as a golf club to send more lizards flying.
The lizards, seeing as though they needed reinforcements, flew off, some others in cowardice. I deactivated my lightsaber and made my way over to the group of teens. "I believe your expression is, thanks," Red said.
"Aww man, my suit," the cyborg complained.
"So?" BB asked. "You look way cooler without it."
"Yeah, like I'm going to take fashion advice from the guy in the goofy mask." Burn.
"Goofy? My mask is cool, isn't it?" BB asked sadly. "Raven?" he asked the girl. Oh, so that's what 'Blue's' name is. Both of them just shook their heads 'no'. "Mystery guy?"
"No comment," I reply.
"What about my secret identity?" he asked while pulling at his mask.
"What secret identity? You're green," Raven retorted. BB verbally flubbed trying to figure out a retort before pulling off his mask.
"This isn't over," Robin commented. "Now that we've interfered-."
"Trogar will strike harder," Red added. "It is only a matter of-."
"FOOLS! The Earth-scum were warned. Your insolence will be punished. Your city shall be destroyed," Lizard king said dramatically. The hologram disappeared as the ship the lizards arrived in hovered over the city charging a large canon. Oh, joy.
"Great," Raven dryly commented.
"You took the words right out of my mouth, sister," I add to the commentary.
"So after trashing a perfectly good pizza place and a video store we've managed to anger a gigantic space gecko enough to vaporize the entire town?" BB asked.
"Go, team," the cyborg dryly replied.
"All the fault is yours! I commanded you to leave me alone but you insisted on the being nice!" Red angrily yelled at Robin primarily, no idea why since I was the one that severed her shackles.
"My fault?!" Robin shouted back. "You blasted me, you kissed him," he pointed to me, "but you never stopped to mention that they've got a gigantic particle weapon?"
I let them argue while I reestablished my connection to my R2 unit. "R2?" I asked through my headset. I got a warble in return. "Did you load the proton torpedoes?" Another warble, this time affirmative. "Good, I need you to-."
"Quiet!" Raven shouted. After getting the group's attention she shyly said, "Hi."
"Whoever's fault it is doesn't matter anymore," Robin stated, to which I agreed. "We need to figure out how to stop that."
Silence reigned in the group, so I spoke up, much to me probably regretting it later. "From where I see it, we have two options. The first being infiltrating the ship, either overloading their reactor core or rigging it with enough explosives to take out a city block. The second requires a little more... finesse."
"And that would be?" Raven trailed.
"Making them chase us into an asteroid field and have pilot error be the cause of their demise."
"And how would we do that?" the cyborg asked."In case you haven't noticed we don't have-."
It was then R2 decided to arrive with the Dawn, hovering a dozen meters above the buildings around us. "You certainly don't have one, but I do."
"What is that?" the cyborg asked.
"The Forward Unto Dawn, a Corellian YT-2400 light freighter, smuggler's edition," I say with pride. "So are we sneaking our way in or outflying it? Because either way I'm going to need to rearm."
"I say we draw it away from the city," Raven said in support.
"While I don't like it, the lives of the citizens are more important," Robin reluctantly agreed.
"But isn't going through an asteroid field, like, dangerous?" BB fearfully asked.
"The odds of successful navigation is around three thousand seven hundred-twenty to one." They guffawed. "That's why I'm counting on those odds to be in our favor." I then turned to Red, "Can they track you?"
"What do you mean?" she asked in return.
"They didn't find us in that video store by chance. There are several million people in and around the city, and they definitely didn't check the sewers. That means they've been tracking you, how would they do it?"
She thought for a moment. "They must have found me when used my powers," she concluded.
"Alright, we'll use that to draw them away." R2 then landed a few feet behind me, ramp extended. "All aboard," I said before walking up the ramp.
"Woah, woah, woah, woah!" BB said, crossing his arms. "You want us to come on a suicide mission?"
I approached BB, getting well inside his comfort zone. "Those were soldiers, grunts but still soldiers. They've reported people fitting our description helping little miss red here. The longer we sit here worrying about our asses, the more in danger these people's asses are put on the line. Can you live with their deaths on your conscience?" When I received no response I continued, "I thought so. Doing the right thing isn't the easiest thing to do, even when it means your life is on the line." With that, I went up the ramp and into my ship.
Red was the next one up the ramp. The remaining three looked at each other before running up the ramp. I ran through the interior through the cargo bay, through the lounge, and into the workshop where my trusty astromech waited. "R2, cockpit now," I commanded as I ran past him, Red fast on my tail. R2 only whistled before giving me a raspberry. "Well there's no need for that. Superweapon going to destroy the city, that's why I'm rushing." I put my HUD eye-piece on and grabbed the control yoke and started running through an abridged pre-space launch flight check. I raised the ramp and once it sealed I gunned it. "I hope you guys are buckled down!" I shouted into the intercom system.
While the Dawn's artificial gravity and G-force compensators were active, as we were still in the atmosphere and therefore Earth's gravity, I heard a few someones crashing into one of the bulkheads. "OW!" BB cried out.
"Oops," I offhandedly commented, more concerned about death ray 9000 over there. R2, using his magnetic tracks, rolled up to his place. "R2, take control of the guns, fire on that ship on my mark." He trilled an affirmative as his data probe inserted into the data port. I leveled off as I strafed the alien ship, "FIRE!" The dorsal and ventral mounted quad-linked canon roared to life spraying the alien ship with plasma fire. "Cease fire and prep hyperspace coordinates for the edge of the asteroid belt," I commanded as I pulled into what would normally cause aircraft to go into a stall. R2 gave me a sarcastic set of bleeps. "No I'm not kidding, set course and prep the hyperdrive."
The alien ship was in hot pursuit. Firing whatever weapons it had to disable us, luckily for me the deflector shields so lovingly upgraded by my old man were holding and draining oh so slowly. As soon as we cleared Earth's gravity well I turned to Red, "Start to use your powers but don't be throwing any of those bolts in here." She nodded and her eyes and fists started to glow. "Here goes nothing," I mutter throwing the activation lever. Stars elongated and turned into the familiar blue tunneled hyperspace corridor. I counted down the seconds needed to just get to the belt. I deactivated the hyperspace generator, only to immediately bank to avoid an asteroid.
"WOAH!" the cyborg cried out. "You know what you're doing?" R2 rotated his dome behind him and sent a few raspberries his way. "I am NOT being useless. Oh my God, I just understood what that robot just said," he said in sudden realization.
R2 rotated his dome towards me and I just shrugged. "I guess some languages are universal." I then dodged another asteroid. It was then I felt the Force warning me of what was to come. "Get ready, here they come." The alien ship reemerged into real space using whatever FTL drive they had and immediately started opening fire on us. R2 whistled a question. "No, don't activate the ray shields, the deflectors need to be double front. Oh, and Red, you can power down."
"Wait, what about the rear?" the cyborg asked. "Don't we need our asses protected?"
I ignored him as I passed between two asteroids of significant size that closed behind us. "Are you suicidal?" Robin asked.
"No, they are for following us," I reply. "R2, prep the Void-7 charges." I kept delving deeper into the asteroid belt, dodging both sizable rocks of death and laser blasts with ease. Once we got deep enough where the aliens were more concerned about rocks than us, firing at asteroids instead, it was time to spring the trap. "R2, get ready… drop the charge." There was the sound of something dislodging itself from the ship, a second later all sound was gone before a loud thrum was heard by everyone. I adjusted my position to avoid the blue ring of death and watched as it cut through asteroids with ease, causing more asteroids to spawn from their destruction. "R2, enemy status?"
Immediately a readout displayed on my HUD. "That armor is so much weaker than durasteel. It's like freaking paper in comparison." I put the Dawn into an Immelmann roll and headed directly towards the alien ship. I armed the proton torpedoes and waited for a lock. As I piloted closer I aimed particularly at the bridge, as it was dead in the water. Finally, the target lock chime ringed through the cockpit and I pulled the trigger, firing the conical high explosive missile. The torpedo sped around other meteors with precision accuracy before slamming into the bridge, filling the side of the cockpit's viewscreen with a vivid explosion as it engulfed the alien ship, throwing molten metal fragments into the asteroids around it. "And that's that."
I flew us out of the asteroid field with ease, using the Force to guide my actions. As soon as the Dawn made it to the point where there were micrometeoroids instead of killer rocks that the shields wouldn't be able to handle I let R2 take over. "R2, plot a course back to the city; call me back if I'm needed," say before ushering everyone out of the cockpit and back into the lounge.
"Wait, you're letting the glorified advanced trash can drive?" the cyborg asked.
"Don't let him hear you say that," I say as I sit down in my comfy chair in front of the dijark table, the rest of the teens on the couch, "he'll either shock you violently or space you, probably the former." They gave me an incredulous look. "What? I trust him. He was my mom's starfighter astromech for years during the Clone Wars."
"The Clone Wars?" Raven asked.
I sighed before muttering, "I really need a drink." I brought up a hologram of the galaxy with boundaries of the Deep Core, Core, Colonies, Expansion Region, Mid Rim, Outer Rim, and Unknown Regions all listed in English. "Except for what's here listed as the Unknown Regions, about twenty-three years ago war broke out between the Galactic Republic, a government that's been around for thousands of years, and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Now this wasn't the first time that star systems have removed themselves from the Republic as, once upon a time, Nal Hutta and Nar Shaddaa were also part of the Republic but with the formation of the Hutt Cartel they removed themselves. Systems like Mandalore on the other hand like to remain neutral as their mercenary culture allows them to be hired on by any government for any job.
"The CIS wanted to recede because they were tired of the corruption inside the Republic, and to an extent, they were justified. However, what neither side knew is that there was a single man behind the scenes manipulating it all, a Sith named Darth Sidious. He had a clone army built that had a very specific order embedded in their flash training: Contingency Order 66."
"Order 66?" Robin asked.
"The immediate execution of ALL Jedi," I replied grimly. "Before the Clone Wars there were over ten thousand of us, now we are but a handful." I saw their solemn expressions. "Clone commanders that worked with their Jedi generals and commanders for almost three years betrayed them with the command of one order from the now Emperor. The Clone Wars ended with the dissolution of the Republic and the emplacement of the Empire. For over ten years my mother, a Jedi, and my father, a smuggler, kept us always moving. We were never in the same place for more than a few months at most. Finally through, our luck ran out. One of the Empire's Inquisitors caught up to us during a search of a Jedi artifact on Dantooine where millennia ago there was a Jedi Enclave during the conflict with the Republic and the Sith Empire.
"They found something and tipped off the Empire. My mother fought an Inquisitor, and when my father tried to help the Inquisitor deflected his blaster bolt into his chest, killing him. My mother told me to flee and held the Inquisitor off until I got the Dawn into hyperspace. After that, she died at his hands."
"How do you know? I mean you were already away from the planet, right?" BB asked.
"I know she is. There is a very intimate bond formed with a Jedi master and apprentice, I was her apprentice as she was my master. You can tell subtle things through the Force with those who are bonded, especially when they die. It's like feeling your heart is being ripped right out of your chest. I know she's dead, and it's all that bastard's fault," I growled. I caught myself drawing on the Force a moment later, levitating several non-bolted down items. I took a deep breath and calmed myself down and heard several thuds as some galley items landed on the deck. "Sorry, reliving some of that tends to being up some unwanted feelings. Anyway I plotted a random course and for four years now I've been living out of my ship in the woods outside of Jump City, only venturing out to get supplies."
"You keep talking about this Force thing, what is it?" Raven asked.
"From the way that my mom described it to me, which is the same way that Master Yoda explained it to her apprentice group years ago, is an energy field that surrounds all life, it flows through us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together; those that can harness the power of the Force are called Force sensitives. They are later separated into Jedi, those who harness the Force through lighter emotions, and Sith, those who use darker emotions." I shook off the past and explanations that I had. "Anyway, the reason I wanted R2 to take over was I needed to talk to you," I said to Red. "You have two options in front of you. On one hand you can return to Earth and do whatever there, but remember that the lizards may have reported your last known position. The other is that after I drop these guys off I drop you off somewhere in the galaxy, like Mandalore."
"Why Mandalore?" Red asked.
"Like I stated before they are a planetary society of mercenaries. I do have a few contacts that passed onto me with my parents' deaths that would be willing to take you in for a time to get you acclimated to the galaxy. The guys after you won't know where to look as you won't even be near where your last known position was. I can see that this might take some time to think about. I'll be in my cabin since it'll take at least an hour to get back."
"Why not use that hyperdrive of yours?" Robin asked.
"I don't want to tax my .49 Class hyperdrive with too many microjumps at a time," I replied dismissively as I left the lounge and entered my cabin, the cabin that used to be my parents'. To be honest, I needed the time to meditate. I entered my cabin and closed the door. I then unclipped my lightsaber and placed it in the center of the room. I sat on the floor in a cross-legged way before closing my eyes, opening myself to the Force. My lightsaber started levitating as it disassembled itself, exposing the crystal.
It was then I started seeing flashes. First was a man in mask, half of it was solid black with the other copper colored with an Egyptian styled eye. The second was of a black haired girl, like Red, being chased by squid-like droids. Then a Mirialan female with what looked like a city on Mandalore dressed in pilot's or smuggler's clothing; she had her hair cut in a way the emulated a pixie haircut that was layered and dyed with red and purple along with her natural raven locks, she has purple lipstick, she has the typical markings of her species but in violet instead of black, had one set of triangles on both sides of her cheeks and one set running vertically from her hairline to her eyebrows. On what looked like Ryloth there was a red skinned Twi'lek female wearing very revealing slave garb. The image then shifted to Red in a different outfit being stranded in a more futuristic Jump City. There was another where she was fleeing through the stars. I then saw Red and the others on an alien planet with others that looked like Red in species. Then the image of the split-masked man appeared with red markings all over him, the most prominent being a stylized S. The next one terrified me, a red, four-eyed behemoth that gave off an aura of pure evil. Finally, there was a room filled with frozen teens and what looked like a brain in a jar.
I opened my eyes to see Raven standing in the doorway, slightly shocked at the now reassembled lightsaber. "You needed something?" I calmly ask.
"Umm, we've landed," she replied.
I felt that the Dawn's repulsors were active and not the sublight engines. "So we have. Go ahead, I'll be right out." I changed out of my hoodie and into the bantha hide leather jacket my father left behind. I walked through my ship and down the boarding ramp to see the rest of the teens talking. They were talking about various things, like how the cyborg decided to actually be called Cyborg.
[Tribute, Halo 3 Original Soundtrack, Martin O'Donnell. Start at 0:36]
"That's quite a view," Raven commented.
"Someone should build a house out here," Cyborg added.
"Yeah, if you like the sunshine and the beach," BB nudged Raven in her side.
She smiled and let out a small giggle, "You know, you're kinda funny."
"You think I'm funny?" BB asked with stars in his eyes. "Woohoo! I know some jokes." That only made Raven sweat-drop.
"Where's Red?" I asked, joining the group at looking at the city, for me though I was just recalling my swoop.
"She wanted to borrow one of the rooms to change," Robin replied. "Looks like you've changed your wardrobe too."
"Indeed."
I heard footsteps coming from behind us, would you look at that it was Red. She was wearing a purple ensemble that looked similar to what she wore before. It has a metallic collar with a black jewel of some kind embedded in it, purple leather-like thigh-high boots, a miniskirt with a metal belt made of the same type of metal, and a top that stopped a few inches above her navel. "Please, I look nice?"
Girl, I could think of some other words that are much more flattering. "I still don't know your name," Robin said.
She approached closer. "In your language, it would be Star Fire."
"Welcome to Earth, Starfire."
"I thank you all for your bravery and help. And I wish to ask permission to remain here, where the people are most strange, but also most kind." Sister, you've seen nothing yet.
"So I'll take that as you don't want a free ride to Mandalore, fair enough," I said, breaking up the conversation.
She turned to me and said, "While your offer is most kind, it is unnecessary. I feel most welcome here."
I shrugged before turning to taxi my swoop back into the main cargo bay. "You aren't going to stay?" Robin asked.
"Not that I don't want to, but the Force wills me elsewhere," I reply standing towards the middle of the ramp. "Maybe I'll come around again, after all the future is an ever flowing river, no one knows what it truly holds."
"Fair enough. We'll keep a room open."
The others gave their farewells. But the one that Starfire gave certainly stood out, "K'oyacyi! (1)"
To which I replied, "Aliit ori'shya tal'din. (2)" I walked up the ramp and just as it started to rise, I addressed the group, "Oh, and be careful of the guy with the two-toned mask."
Before any of them could ask what I meant, because honestly I didn't know either, the Dawn took off and sped towards space. Once we were out of the gravity well R2 turned to me and asked in droid for coordinates. I thought back to my vision and replied, "Mandalore." R2 asked a question. "I don't know exactly, but that's where the Force is guiding me." A moment later the stars began to stretch in front of the Dawn until we were back inside hyperspace once more, on to another adventure.
XxXxXxX
Back on Earth...
The ship only known to the teen superheroes blasted off into the great black ocean known as space, it was then something dawned on Beast Boy, "We never asked him his name!"
"He will be known to us as 'burc'ya,' friend," Starfire said with no thought at all as she watched the city in the distance.
To be continued…?
XxXxXxX
And that's the end of the pilot chapter. Before I take off I got some end notes for you.
1. This is a Mandalorian saying that roughly translates to "be safe."
2. This is a Mandalorian proverb that translates to "family is more than bloodline."