Chapter 3:
Two hours later, the Ebon Hawk left hyperspeed and headed down to Tatooine.
Seroroon was in the cockpit pointing at a holo map while Joker was trying to pinpoint it on the planetary chart.
"I think I found where he's talking about." Joker said.
Joker poked on the holo screen and a landscape appeared.
"It's six miles away from Anchorhead which is under attack by the Aparoids." Joker said.
"Land the ship in a hidden area so that it isn't spotted and we will travel to this abandoned town on foot." Decorus said.
Joker landed the Ebon Hawk in a small trench and the group headed out except for Joker, Seroroon, Arentei, her scientists, and the Otters.
Everyone was wearing ragged clothing suited for Tatooine and looked like civilians.
Scourge was using the force to guide sand onto everyone so they could really blend in on living on the planet to fool the Aparoids.
"Remember, please see if you can-" Arentei began to say.
"Get a brain or half the body, I know I know." Decorus said.
"Don't worry, we have this!" Hide shouted.
A few minutes later, the group arrived at a small abandoned town beside two rocky arches that went into the nearby canyon wall.
"What is that smell?" Scourge asked.
"Sure smells familiar." Hide said.
"Smells like what Brody had in his dorm, with all that canabis." Ken said.
"That's because it is cannabis my man." A unknown voice said.
Everyone brought their weapons out looking at an abandoned building.
Walking out of the building was a dark-skinned man wearing a Kage outfit but with no shirt on under the opened robe and had shorts.
"Who are you?" Decorus asked.
"I should ask who you are." The man said.
The man walked by them.
"Freeze!" Decorus shouted.
The man just kept going and walked behind a building where a row of weed was growing, which more was growing behind the other buildings and inside.
There was a few hoses with tiny holes in them spraying drips of water.
"I need to tend to my babies." The man said.
"Citizen, we need to use this town as bait to take down an Aparoid. Please cooperate." Decorus said.
Ken began to walk up but he didn't notice one of the weeds he was approaching.
The man held his hand out and surprisingly blew a strange wind at Ken that didn't knock him away but instead lazily moved him back which Ken had no control against.
"Was that an attack or...?" Atton asked confused.
"I couldn't control myself." Ken said.
"Who are you?" Decorus asked.
"The Taimakage. But for you folks, how about just Snoop." The man said with a grin.
"Taima- cannabis, wait a minute this is the hidden valley of..." Eto said.
"Huh?" Scourge asked.
They looked around and noticed that it would have been a canyon valley but one said was more open to the desert.
"Years went by and the sand and earthquakes ruined our great valley. I'm all that's left. Daddy died about five years ago. Villagers left but I never have left, got nowhere else to go." Snoop said.
Decorus sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Mister Taimakage- I mean Snoop. Please, sir, do you know what's going on?" Decorus asked.
"I do but nothing I can do." Snoop said.
"There is, please we need to use this village to trick an Aparoid into attacking it, thinking there are people here. We need to bring it down and collect it's brain or at least half of its body so that our scientists can find a way to kill their queen with a virus." Decorus said.
Snoop looked at them and pondered and looked at his small town.
"I know it's a hard decision." Decorus said.
"It is." Snoop said with a sigh.
Snoop just nodded.
"We have a ship nearby, we could take you to another planet or whatever you want, but this mission is for the sake of the galaxy." Decorus said.
"Alright, but I want your friends to help me carry four loads of the cannabis to your ship." Snoop said.
Scourge mumbled something before approaching.
"I'll grab the blasted crates." Scourge said.
"Sacks my man, just sacks." Snoop said.
"Least it's easier." Scourge sighed.
"Now we just need to draw an Aparoid Moth over here somehow from Anchorhead." Ken said.
"There was a few smaller ones that marched around but left seeing how it was abandoned here." Snoop said.
"Then we have to draw them back somehow." Ken said.
"We need to shout and hollar." Hide said.
"But we need to draw one to a distance to hear it, we need it to follow someone if we could." Ken said.
"I got a speeder in the back over there you can take to Anchorhead, just look like you're taking supplies, and that way it has to follow you." Snoop said.
Ken and Hide walked to the back and found a speeder and got it running.
"Ken, Hide, hurry! We will be setting up right now!" Decorus said.
Ken gave them a nod and drove the speeder quickly toward Anchorhead.
"Dude's a better driver than me. Sometimes I just go one mile an hour." Snoop said.
Everyone looked at Snoop and looked to one another.
"Okay, so we brought along someone who's high." Thane said to Atton.
Atton just shrugged.
"Between Otters, a Qiqirn, and now him? It wouldn't surprise me if we brought in an Aparoid." Atton said.
Ken and Hide arrived on the outskirts of Anchorhead and saw thirteen Aparoids hovering over the city, sending down solar beams or dropping down Aparoid Crawlers.
"Holy shit those things are scary." Hide said.
"We will need to get their attention. The Crawlers can't catch up to us on this speeder so it will be an Aparoid Moth to chase us." Ken said.
Hide and Ken headed into Anchorhead and hid behind a building grabbing anything they could find and put it in the back.
"So they will think we're packing up and leaving?" Hide asked.
"Yup, and that they will follow us to see us destroyed." Ken said.
"How do we get their attention though?" Hide asked.
"Yell." Ken said with a shrug.
Once they got enough junk in the back of the speeder, they zoomed out to an open zone and began to yell in panic.
Two Aparoid Crawlers saw them and they quickly sped away from them.
"Is it working?" Ken asked while he drove off.
A solar beam nearly hit them from one of the Aparoid Moths.
"I think so!" Hide said.
One Aparoid Moth flew out of the city and followed them.
"That thing is fast!" Hide shouted.
"Damn, I didn't expect it to outrun a speeder!" Ken shouted.
Ken kicked up the speed but the Aparoid was flying right over them but having trouble to make a precise aim on them.
"Hide, you have to get it agitated or it might give up chasing us." Ken said.
Hide grabbed one of the metal pieces and threw it but it missed.
"Hide, a blaster would be great!" Ken suggested.
Hide took out Ken's blaster pistol and shot at the Aparoid and he noticed that one bolt that hit a sphere-like object on its wing made it screech in pain.
"What was that!" Ken shouted.
"I accidentally shot at something on its wing!" Hide said.
"We have to tell Arentei that!" Ken said.
"Oh, it's agitated alright!" Hide said.
The Aparoid tried to crush itself on them but toppled into the sand missing them but flew back up to give chase.
"It looks like it's movements are slower since you shot that thing off its wing." Ken said.
"That's it!" Hide said.
Hide quickly got on the comlink to Decorus.
"We're almost there, try to aim at the spheres on its wings, it can easily cripple it!" Hide said.
"Got it." Decorus said.
"Everyone, act like civilians until it's above the town and then open fire at spheres on its wings." Decorus said.
Everyone got into position and right when they saw Ken and Hide coming around the corner, the Aparoid behind them swiveled and nearly fell again but kept flying toward them.
"There it is." Thane said on the comlink.
"That thing is bigger than I expected, a lot bigger." Octavia said.
The speeder stopped in the middle of the town and everyone acted like panicked civilians running inside.
The Aparoid Moth soared by making sand fly everywhere to try to blind everyone before turning around and flying over the city with its abdomen pointing down with a solar beam at the ready.
Scourge held both his hands up and used the force to try to hold it in place while Stolas and Octavia used paralyzing magic to help Scourge keep it held.
Snoop inhaled a good amount of air and blew it toward the Aparoid and the smokey air circled the Aparoid's lower half to numb it and its solar beam ability began to fade away.
Thane, Decorus, Hide, and Atton opened fire at its wings.
The Aparoid Moth screeched loudly.
"It's calling for help!" Eto shouted.
"Hurry everyone!" Atton yelled.
"It's weak enough." Scourge said to them.
Scourge ignited his lightsaber and leaped up slicing off two of eight of its wings making it fall into the ground wiping out the buildings and the canyon arches.
Ken and Eto helped by wiping out two more wings and thus it was immobilized.
Decorus got on the comlink.
"Fifth Fleet, hurry here now. Sending ping location, bring an Endurance-class here to magnetize this thing." Decorus said.
"Joker, get the Ebon Hawk here now, bring the metal chains, they need to magnetize it." Atton said on his comlink.
"On the way." Joker replied.
Scourge, Ken, Eto, Thane, and Hide walked up to the head of the Aparoid as it's glowing insect eyes stared at no place in particular, but it's large eye turned and looked at them.
"Annoying Organics, you think by killing me that you won?" The Aparoid Moth said to them telepathically.
"Don't think, we know." Ken said.
"Ken Kaneki, we was told about you from your organic known as, Saren. A pity the tool is dead." The Aparoid Moth said.
"A fool more than a tool." Eto said.
"Ah, the descent of a man who tried to stop our coming. Our Queen wants to meet you personally." The Aparoid Moth said.
Eto kept silent.
Scourge ignited his lightsaber looking over to Decorus.
"You wanted its brain?" Scourge asked.
Decorus nodded while still on the comlink.
The Aparoid Moth grew silent.
"Atton, I'm in the air but I see six Aparoid's in the distance coming our way." Joker said on the comlink.
They heard a humming sound in the sky and noticed the Endurance-class fleet carrier coming down.
"I think we will make it out before they reach us." Atton said.
"No matter what you do, it won't work. Your attempts at destroying us are as insignificant as your future." The Aparoid Moth said.
Scourge sliced it's head off.
"Yeah yeah, we heard this before." Scourge said.
The Aparoid's eyes went black and it's telepathy ended.
Everyone quickly attached the metal chains to its body once Joker came back with the Ebon Hawk and the Endurance-class magnetized the chains and carefully lifted up into the sky and activated the shields to keep it preserved.
The head was taken to the hanger with the Ebon Hawk.
"Alrighty, warp us to hyperspeed to Coruscant." Decorus ordered.
The fifth fleet entered hyperspeed just in time as the six Aparoids was nearing their position and once they left, they went back to Tatooine to purge the planet.
Arentei and her scientists quickly went to work on the Aparoid head and body while in the Endurance-class hanger.
"Thank you." Arentei said to all of them.
Everyone gave a nod and looked at one another with smiles.