ORD MANTELL
Although Kira had felt prepared for a vicious attack from this new enemy, his first blow was stronger than even she had expected.
The strength of his long blade of power striking against Kira's weapon sent her stumbling backwards.
Before she had a chance to regain her footing, Nihl took advantage of her predicament and use the Force to give her a small shove, and Kira cried out as she was sent flying off the edge of the balcony.
By this time, Tahiri had landed and was rushing from her docked StealthX to help her friend, purple-blades lightsaber ignited.
Kira was fortunately able to use the Force to slow her fall, and only landed with a mild bruising in the alleyway that cut her off from the main battle.
Without hesitation, Nihl jumped down from the platform with a midair somersault and landed on his feet.
Tahiri followed the grey-skilled, slick-haired Sith and rushed after him as Nihl charged at the recovering Kira.
This time, Kira was able to push back against the unusually long saber blade as he swung it in a motion intended to slice her in half.
Kira strained as she pushed back against Nihl's blade, groaning with the effort.
Nihl turned his attention to Tahiri as she charged him, striking back at her in a jabbing motion.
"Kira, we have to get out of here!" Tahiri shouted as she struck back with a series of rapid motions.
"We can take him!" Kira replied with a panting effort, lunging for the attack.
The Sith apprentice was able to deflect both of their attacks simultaneously with his extended weapon, maintaining an impenetrable defense. Unfortunately, he was not content to remain on the defensive for long, forcing both Padawans back with his deadly strikes.
More Coalition forces had made their way into the plaza, determined to stamp out the Jedi protectors.
Tionne looked up at the adjacent landing platform and said, "Master Luke, the Padawans are in trouble!"
"We'll get to them as soon as we can!" Luke replied, "We have a battle to win first."
Han, Leia, and Chewbacca had landed the Falcon to join Luke on the ground level, to be immediately met with heavy fire from the guerrilla warriors.
Leia's blade was at the ready, batting back all shots coming their way while Han and Chewie fired back, letting loose with everything they had.
In the alley, Kira and Tahiri continued to repel Nihl's aggressive blows.
Tahiri backflipped a short distance behind Kira and raised her arm. Just as Nihl was able to knock Kira's weapon aside, Tahiri gave him a push with the Force, knocking him backwards onto his side with a skid across the ground.
"Let's go!" Tahiri yelled.
Kira started running in the opposite direction, panting as she looked back at Nihl, who was already rushing at them with his blade leading a trail in the cobblestone.
The sounds of blasterfire around the corner grew louder.
"We'll lose him here!" Tahiri shouted, before another dark presence filled the air.
The red-skinned Twi'lek Talon appeared from above them, coming in front of the two girls with her own saber at the ready, dipped in their direction.
"Leaving so soon, little Jedi?" she teased, advancing towards them.
"I had them cornered already!" Nihl shouted at his fellow dark apprentice.
"I'm not letting you get all the glory," Talon replied.
Kira was starting to experience a genuine sensation of fear now, as loathe as she was to show it.
Together, she and Tahiri backed up against the wall as the two young Sith surrounded them.
"You two are about to find out just how painful death can be," the female Sith disciple snarled.
"Don't count on it," Kira replied, pushing back her fear. She and Tahiri advanced at the same time, with Tahiri turning her attention to Nihl, and Kira to Talon.
Nihl was surprised by Tahiri's sudden burst of adrenaline, and was forced to back away as she struck at him.
Meanwhile, Kira aimed blow after blow at Talon, who ducked and dodged before hooking her own lightsaber towards Kira's ribs.
Kira dropped and rolled away from the red bar of plasma, then held her own weapon close to her with both hands as her new adversary stood over her and brought her saber down like an executioner.
Kira grunted as she pushed the red blade away from her face, smelling a strong stench of ozone polluting the air around her. The snarling, crimson face of the Twi'lek girl covered her vision behind the blurring sparks coming from their clashing sabers.
The pavement felt hard and cold as Kira's back jabbed into it.
Then Kira came back with a kick to the young Sith woman's leg, causing Talon to stumble backwards. Kira went straight from laying on her back to standing with her two feet flat on the ground.
She noticed Tahiri struggling to keep up with the male Sith, ducking as he sliced into the wall above her.
Kira lifted an arm to push him away from her friend, but she had to jump out of the way as Talon nearly dismembered her.
"You're alone now, Jedi girl," Talon taunted her, "No Master to come to your rescue."
Kira didn't bother coming up with a reply, but hopped into the wall with her feet landing on it, bouncing off of it and colliding with Nihl just as he knocked Tahiri's weapon from her hand.
Nihl flew sideways and landed on his hands and knees.
Kira suddenly felt her throat closing as Talon extended a fist towards her.
She began to gasp for air, but the telekinetic hold was immediately relinquished. Tahiri had sent her discarded lightsaber flying in Talon's direction, forcing her to dodge the weapon.
Tahiri summoned her weapon back to her before exchanging a smile of camaraderie with Kira.
"Thanks for having my back," she said.
"That's what we always do," Kira replied.
Their moment was short lived, as both Sith resumed their attack, all the more determined to finish off their opponents.
In the midst of the battle outside the Capitol building, Leia turned her attention elsewhere and said to her husband, "Kira needs help."
They turned back to the Falcon to see that it was being swarmed with enemy guerrillas, cutting them off from it.
Han reached for his comlink as he dove out of the way of a volley of heavy blasterfire.
Chewie was luckily able to take out the mercenaries one by one with a lethal series of shots from his bowcaster.
"Sam, give me your position!" Han yelled.
From the cockpit of the Blue Harvest, Sam replied, "I've cleared Section 806 with fighters on my tail, but we've nearly got them all."
"We're held up down at the plaza," Han explained as he ducked behind a pillar, while at the same moment a grenade was thrown at the Millennium Falcon, "I need you to locate Kira as soon as possible."
Sam cringed inwardly, but replied, "On it, General Solo."
Suddenly, the back of the ship was struck by a hail of laserfire, causing the distracted Sam to stumble from his seat into McCallum, who was knocked into the wall from the blow.
The backup hatch slipped open as the Harvest spun out of control, with McCallum flying out of the ship.
"No!" Sam yelled, but McCallum caught onto a nearby landing pad, safely climbing on.
"I'm okay!" McCallum called from down below.
Sam began to steer the ship down to retrieve his friend, but he was forced to dodge fire from the Kihraxz fighters lurking between the towers.
McCallum disappeared into the building onto which he had landed, which happened to be a railspeeder station.
At that moment, a train sped onto the nearby tracks, with volleys of fire from heavy blaster rifles sticking out of the windows.
The top compartment of the head coach opened to reveal a cloaked figure wielding a blue lightsaber.
One by one, the Kihraxzs and Sycks went down.
"Yes!" Sam crowed, filled with relief.
Ben grabbed his comlink with his free hand and said, "Did we make it in time, Commander?"
"Like always, Jedi," Sam replied with a grin, "Now I have to go pick up your sister."
As the resistance fighters began climbing out of the train, another group of Ord Mantellans appeared from another railspeeder just above the battle in the plaza.
The mercenaries were overcome with fire from above as well as on the ground. Those that survived ran for shelter, deciding that their pay was not worth this much risk.
Catching sight of Han and Leia, Luke began to make his way to them, still deflecting fire from the enemy.
Suddenly, the Grand Master stopped in his tracks, a headache overcoming him.
"What is it?" Leia asked as she and Han reached him.
"Do you feel it too?" Luke asked.
Leia suddenly detected the same vibration in the Force, a presence of dark power almost matching of Luke himself.
A silver and black SuperStealther appeared within the daybreak above the city.
Ben leapt from the roof of the stopped train and joined the Ord Mantellans as they rushed into the city to do battle.
Ultor immediately spotted the young Jedi disappearing into the crowd, and steered his craft after Ben.
"I'll finish you the way I should have on Taris," he said, flying above the pointed towers.
The Coalition fighters had nearly all disappeared from the sky above Ord Mantell City, but Ultor paid it no mind.
He continued to follow Ben and his new friends as they engaged the guerrillas in the streets, working their way towards the plaza where Master Skywalker and the others were.
Then, all of the sudden, Ultor sensed more activity in the alleyway leading away the plaza. He flew his SuperStealther through the peaks of the building and spotted red lights clashing with blue and violet. His apprentices, Talon and Nihl were dueling two Jedi girls.
Flying closer, Ultor recognized the young Kira Solo, who had bested him in aerial combat on Taris five years earlier. She was nearly grown up now, but still as much on his radar as ever.
"You'll get yours soon enough, little girl."
Down below, Kira continued to back away as she deflected every strike that Talon made against her.
The sounds of lightsaber blades humming and clashing filled the air as she concentrated on staying alive above all else.
She knew that she couldn't have these two Sith have the last word, even if they were proving to be more of a challenge than she'd expected.
As they reached a nearby staircase leading into the train station, Tahiri shouted, "Now's our chance!"
Kira tried to put more distance between herself and Talon, but the Twi'lek wouldn't let up.
Tahiri leaned far back as Nihl's blade swept over her chin, then aimed a kick at Talon, who tripped in front of Kira.
"Jump!" Tahiri yelled, using the Force to propel herself towards the staircase.
With an angry cry, Talon reached out with both hands towards the airborne Tahiri while Nihl leapt after her.
"Tahiri!" Kira yelled as her friend was sent flying even further up.
Tahiri screamed as she flew to the upper balcony that led to the railway, slamming into the holographic ticket booth, which sent a jolt of electricity through the infrastructure.
Tahiri was stunned from the blow, and this made her an easy target to the two Sith.
Talon disengaged from Kira and followed Nihl after the fallen Jedi apprentice.
Kira raced after them as they reached the top and surrounded the fallen Jedi with their blades held ready to strike.
Suddenly, Talon and Nihl's attention turned to the medium-sized ship landing across the platform from them.
Kira stopped in her tracks and stared at the incoming vehicle with a gasp of shock. She knew instantly who was now here, and a tremor of sheer terror ran through her.
Ben's former friend Skyler emerged from the hatch, now the Dark Master of the Coalition.
He had worn a mask the last time Kira had seen him, but there was no mistaking his identity even from a distance.
Approaching the two apprentices and their target, Ultor held up his gloved hand to stop them.
Talon and Nihl instantly dropped onto one knee to bow, while Ultor reached towards Tahiri's discarded lightsaber and summoned it to him, deactivating it in the process.
"We have better use for her alive than dead, at least for now."
Kira had regained her nerve by now, at least to some extent, and was running as fast as she could to the top of the staircase, not thinking about just how much danger she was putting herself into.
"Lord Ultor, the Jedi and their friends are overcoming the Coalition forces."
"The battle here means nothing to our true cause," Ultor replied, "Take this girl aboard my ship, and come with me."
Tahiri was starting to come to her senses. Weakly, she tried to get up, but Talon and Nihl caught her by the arms and began dragging her after Ultor.
"NO!" Kira yelled, charging with her blade, full of rage and fear all at once, "PUT HER DOWN!"
A blast of energy caught her in the chest and knocked the wind out of her, sending her flying back onto the pavement below.
She hit the ground hard, feeling her saber hilt slip from her grasp.
The sound of an engine taking off filled her senses as Ultor's SuperStealther lifted off from the platform above, launching into the crimson sky with Tahiri aboard.
"No!" Kira yelled again, trembling with emotion.
Just then, the Harvest appeared overhead, beginning to touch down towards Kira.
She waved gratefully as Sam hurriedly landed his craft, strapping his rifle as he leapt from the pilot's seat. "I've got her, General," he said into his comlink before throwing it aside, "She's going to be okay."
He appeared at the ramp as Kira ran to him, summoning her switched-off weapon.
"Get in!" the commander yelled.
Kira wasted no time following him to the cockpit.
"We have to go after her!" she cried, "Tahiri's been captured!"
Sam sighed with dreaded anticipation, having more than he ever wanted to deal with now.
"Look, I'm sorry, but your dad wanted me to take you back. The battle's just about over now."
Kira seethed with frustration. She was not a child subject to what her parents wanted. She was a grown Jedi on a mission to save her best friend from whatever Skyler and the others were going to do to her.
"I don't care what my dad said. We're going after that Sith ship, now!"
"I don't want to argue, okay?" Sam replied, "We both have jobs to do here, especially me. So if you'll just..."
Sam didn't get to finish, as Kira had sent him crashing into the seat before she even knew what she was doing.
Sam's head struck the metal control panel hard and he slumped unconscious on the floor.
Kira looked down at him with a look of shock, hardly able to believe what she had done.
She already felt guilty about it, but she knew she couldn't dwell on the matter for long.
Kira hopped to the controls of the Blue Harvest and pulled the lever that lifted them out of the alleyway and over the towering buildings and stations.
Steering the attack shuttle in the direction in which Tahiri and her captors had gone, Kira sped into the clouds without looking back.
Back in the plaza, Han ran through the clearing towards Leia, Luke and Tionne with Chewie by his side.
Above them, Black Sun shuttles, Kihraxzes, and Hutt Sycks were fleeing into the sky, far away from the city and out of the planetary atmosphere.
Han reported to his worried wife, "Sam's got her, she's okay."
"And Tahiri?" Master Tionne asked.
"I'm sure she's with Kira and Sam," Han replied, "They'll be back any time."
Luke said, "Han, Leia and I should be getting to Coruscant soon. Chief Fey'lya and the Senate are expecting us."
"Take the Falcon," General Solo replied, "We're going to have to stay and help this city get back to normal anyway after what happened."
Leia gave her husband a kiss and said, "I'll be in contact before too long."
"Good luck over in the bureaucrat arena," Han replied.
Ben gave his mother a quick hug and bowed to his Uncle Luke, saying, "Don't let them get to you."
"Never do," Luke replied, beckoning for Artoo Deetoo to follow as they started to the awaiting Falcon.
Once Luke and Leia were aboard and climbing up to the cockpit, Artoo joined his old companion Threepio in the passenger hold.
"Now just what have you been up to?" Threepio demanded, "Leaving me here to worry about whether you've been blown to bits! See if I care next time!"
Luke and Leia assumed the controls at the cockpit, and launched from the capital plaza, setting course for Coruscant.
"This isn't going to be an easy fight, probably even harder than the one here," Leia remarked to her brother.
"We have the moral high ground, and that'll be enough," Luke replied, "The Jedi stand for what they always have, peace and harmony. They don't engage in war any more than necessary, and we'll make that known to the Senate."
As soon as Leia set the course for Coruscant through hyperspace, the Falcon braced itself for lightspeed before making the jump, disappearing from the orbit of Ord Mantell.
Almost immediately after reaching the empty sea of stars above the planet surface, it occurred to Kira just how lost she was. She had no idea where Skyler's ship had gone, and what she'd do when she got to wherever he was going.
She continued to fly away from Ord Mantell as she tried to think of a plan, but her mind went completely blank.
She looked down at the unconscious Sam before turning back to her screen ahead.
The Coalition had several outposts on syndicate-controlled worlds, but the Dark Master was rarely known to travel to them, let alone keep his main base of operation.
Kira sighed, wishing desperately that her grandfather's spirit was there to guide her.
It worked almost like a magic charm. As soon as she thought of Anakin, the Force spirit shimmered into transparent being behind her. She turned her head to greet her grandfather as he looked around the interior of the Blue Harvest.
"That was quite a stunt you pulled out there," Anakin commented, showing a hint of amusement amidst his solemn voice.
"I have to go after Tahiri," Kira replied defensively, "I know you wouldn't understand."
"You have no idea how many times I've done something like that," Anakin replied, "Good friends are as worth saving as anything."
"I just don't know where to go from here, Grandpa," Kira said, desperately seeking the answer that she knew he had.
"Just call me Anakin," the Force ghost replied, "I still feel like I'm a little young for Grandpa."
"Sorry...Anakin," Kira replied, "Now can you help me?"
"You have a very strong mind, Kira," Anakin said, "Now use it. Trust your instincts, and you'll find the way."
"Trust my instincts?" Kira exclaimed, "This is an emergency!"
Anakin looked out the window aside from where Kira was sitting.
"You're familiar with the Coalition. You've dealt with Skyler before. You know what to do in times of need. Now reach out and focus."
Kira tried to do what her grandfather said, closing her eyes and clearing her mind of worry and doubt. This was a feat far easier to achieve when Anakin was encouraging her, more so than even Luke or her parents.
"Somebody has to report to Skyler from the Coalition," Kira realized suddenly, "The Coalition is spread so far across the galaxy, that somewhere, somebody has to know where he is."
"And then..." Anakin prompted.
"If I followed another Coalition ship, it could take me to where Tahiri is! So now all I have to do is find a system where the Coalition reports to Skyler from."
"You are wiser and stronger in your mind than you realize," Anakin said, smiling faintly, "The Force will always be there, but it is not the only tool at your disposal. Now, I'll have to leave you to your mission. I'll be here to watch over you, even if you can't see me."
"Thank you, Gran...Anakin," Kira said with a wobbly smile.
Anakin's apparition flickered out of sight as Sam began to stir.
