Hey everybird! What's up!?

So before we get to today's questions, I did let all of you know my plans for the rest of the year and one of those included making a Halloween one shot and well I thought of something… I remember two certain episodes from The Clone Wars titled, "Legacy of Terror" and "Brain Invaders", for those of you who don't know those episodes, it's basically Geonosians who were undead by a parasite and than one of the parasites got loose and infected a clone, who in turn infected a whole ship of them and even a Jedi padawan! Luckily they were stopped before they spread everywhere! It's simply the closet thing to zombies we will get in Star Wars…

So I thought maybe doing a one shot or even a mini story, during The Scarlet Rebel where Lisa and Tiago are sent on a mission to Geonosis and encounter a still alive parasite…

Moving on to today's question…

"How long have you had these droids?"

And to your questions…

From T8ECR34TOR, he asks, "Are there any exotic animals that you admired and never mentioned before?"

Me: To be honest I can't think of any… Growing up I wasn't really an animal lover until I watched Rio for the first time and of course when I saw MLP: FiM and learned Fluttershy, who reminded me a lot of myself growing up, is also an animal lover.

From Stormknight089, he asks, "Have you ever heard the tragic tale of Darth Plageuis the wise?"

Me: You're the Sith Lord we have been looking for! LOL! Well, thanks to Palpatine, who foolishly almost revealed himself to Anakin that time, yes I have!

And one last thing… Thank you to KingElsera for the fav and follow!

Chapter 22: Remains of the Past

(Arthur's POV)

Grandpa Blu's answer very nearly froze me in place as we were walking to the main operating room of the base. Endor was the place of one of the greatest battles of the past war, a great battle that ended in victory for the rebellion and one where mom and dad fought to help achieve that costly victory. Shaking my current thoughts away I resumed my steady walking pace as we entered the room, seeing General Organa, as well as Poe and his second, already by a holographic table as we gathered around ourselves, ready to receive our mission.

"Good, now that we're all here…" General Organa started. "We have received news from a reliable source that whoever this unknown faction is, is sending a force to Endor, for what purpose even our source doesn't know."

"We believe whoever they are, is trying to recreate the Death Star from whatever remains they can find to take and study." Grandpa Blu continued. "It seems to be the most logical conclusion."

"And I agree, which means we have to act before they can possibly retrieve any useful, intact information in order to build a battle station." General Organa explained. "Which is why Commanders Arthur and Poe, you're here.

"Arthur, you will take Blue Squadron to Endor, find out if they are there and only scout, you still have only half a squadron, so don't engage unless you are forced to." Grandpa Blu instructed. "Commander Poe will be on standby with Black Squadron on orbit here, ready to jump to hyperspace to Endor to assist you."

"Any questions?" General Organa asked.

"What kind of opposition can we expect?" Tyler asked seriously.

"From our source, it suggests only light forces, fighters, shuttles and/or transports, no capital ships to worry about it seems, but still be careful and if there are capital ships, jump to hyperspace right away." Grandpa Blu answered.

"Why not just have both squadrons show up?" Poe then asked.

"We want to hide our numbers for as long as possible Commander Dameron, you're to only go if it's necessary, am I understood?" General Organa putting in a slightly strict tone.

"Yes general." Poe replied.

After almost a minute of silence in which there were no more questions, it was time to start the mission. The two squadrons of T-70 X-Wings were already getting fuel pumped into the tanks and proton torpedoes being loaded in as I climbed up the ladder into my cockpit, Alex going into the socket behind the cockpit, from the bottom without the help of another machine, another improvement from the X-Wings mom and dad have. As I was about to close the cockpit and go through the checkup of the fighter's systems, Grandpa Blu climbed up the ladder to speak to me.

"You alright commander?" Grandpa Blu asked.

"A little nervous sir… It is my first mission as a leader, I hope I can do a good job…" I replied, feeling a little shaky as that fact sunk in.

"You know, your mom felt the same way when I put her in charge of the mission that retrieved the Death Star plans, but she succeeded despite the odds stacked against her and I have no doubt you will too." Grandpa Blu smiled as that actually helped a little.

"Thank you sir…" I took a deep breath. "If you don't mind me asking, since you were a squadron commander yourself once, is there any advice you can give me?" I asked.

"Well there is one piece I can give you right now." Grandpa Blu replied. "Trust in your pilots and they will follow you no matter what, good luck commander and may the Force be with you." Grandpa Blu finished as he then climbed down the ladder so the mission can start.

"Okay than…" I took more deep breaths as I turned to look at Alex who was behind me. "Ready Alex?" I asked the droid, who beeped back a positive "Yes" at me.

As I began starting up the engines, one of the ground crew unhooked the fuel line as he gave me a feather up to let me know I was good to go as I acknowledged it by returning the feather up. Getting the engines to full power, I lifted off from the landing pad my fighter was brought to as I climbed up and up through the atmosphere before coming to space as I turned on the squadron frequency.

"Okay Blue Squadron, check in." I ordered.

"Blue Two standing by." Tyler replied as the other four reported in after one by one and were ready to make the jump to hyperspace for Endor.

"Try not to have too much fun Arthur, I want some too." Poe's voice entered through comms as I chuckled lightly.

"I'll try Poe…" I replied as I returned communications with my squadron. "And hyperspace in three, two…" I said as I pushed the hyperspace button, the blackness of space turning into a white and then dark blue tunnel of light.

A trip through hyperspace later…

"Huh? What?" I woke up to the sound of Alex beeping at me as the squadron came out of hyperspace, arriving at the Endor system. "Oh, thanks Alex, guess I thought the trip would take longer…" I yawned as I shook myself awake, grabbing hold the flight stick as I turned on comms to the squadron.

"Hey commander you awake?" Tyler's voice entered through.

"Yeah, just took a nap during the trip here, I'm up and ready now captain." I replied as I than spoke to the whole squadron. "Any contacts Blue Squadron?" I asked around.

"Nothing yet sir, just debris." Tally reported in.

"Negative sir." Blue Five reported in. "I thought we were supposed to encounter enemy forces sir."

"I thought the same thing too…" I thought in my head as I made a quick decision. "Okay, here's what we're going to do, Captain Tyler and I will go on ahead through the debris field and see if we find anything, Tally, you're in charge of everyone else in the meantime."

"Sir, are you sure that's a good idea, my wing partner and I can go instead." Tally insisted.

"No Tally, listen to orders." I said a little strictly as I relaxed. "Captain Tyler and I will be fine, stay here unless trouble shows up."

"Yes sir…" Tally replied with a bit of hesitation as I spoke to Tyler.

"Okay Tyler, follow me." I told my brother as I flew on ahead into the debris field and the remains of a huge battle.

"Right behind you Arthur." Tyler communicated back as he was slightly behind me on the right.

Flying through the debris field of a battle long ago was haunting in a way as the wrecks of X and TIE fighters to the wrecks of Imperial Star Destroyers and Mon Calamari cruisers littered the space around Endor. Half of these debris was the remains of the Death Star, a superweapon I read and heard about had the power to destroy an entire planet with ease, the rebellion taking down such a massive structure was a huge turning point in the war. The day the Alliance could go on the offensive and the Empire was finally forced to go on the defensive and take the Alliance seriously. The day real hope was given to the galaxy and everyone who suffered had the courage to finally stand up and fight back.

And mom and dad were a part of it, even when they told Tyler and I their personal experience fighting in this battle, it still seemed surreal as I tried to imagine the raging battle, laser and missile fire all over as fighters were shot down and explosions on the hulls of the warships. I tried to imagine the very moment the Death Star blew up, ending the reign of terror that would have surely come. Taking a deep breath however, I focused on the mission as I checked both my sensors and visuals for any sign of anything out of the ordinary.

"Got anything yet Alex?" I asked mom's droid who was behind me, beeping back a "Nothing" as I wondered if maybe they left already. "Tyler, you got anything on your end?"

"No brother, weird…" Tyler replied. "You think we came too early or late?"

"That's what I'm thinking, but lets keep checking." I ordered as Tyler then got an idea.

"You know brother, since we're the only ones here, how about we have some fun, you know practice some flying tricks."

"No captain, we're on a mission, we need to stay focused and not let our guard down." I told Tyler right away, only…

"What?" Tyler asked, pretending to not have heard me. "You're breaking up… Can you repeat that?"

"Captain, that's an…" I started, only Tyler cut back in.

"I'm sorry sir, it seems I'm having trouble with comms…" Tyler tried to sound serious, but failed as I could tell he was chuckling as the comm unit went silent and from besides me, I saw Tyler speed up his engines as he roared past me, dodging debris and doing twists and sharp turns, narrowly avoiding crashing into anything.

"Why do you have to push me sometimes brother…" I sighed as Alex beeped at me. "Yeah I know Alex… He's my brother, it's what siblings do… Just keep watching for any activity, alright?" I asked as Alex beeped back a "Yes" as I sped up my own fighter's engines and chased after Tyler, soon enough catching up to him.

"I knew you would come sooner or later." Tyler's voice entered comms. "So, up for a race?"

"Fine, just one, but than we have to get back on mission, understood captain?" I smiled.

"Yes sir…" Tyler replied as he put more power in his engines, once more taking the lead as he nearly avoided hitting a wrecked TIE fighter wing.

"So unfair…" I told myself as I followed, taking a slightly different path, climbing, diving, turning right or left sharply, it was a bit tiring as I had to navigate my way through the maze of debris, but I must admit it was worthy to practice such flying in such conditions.

Eventually Tyler, even thought I didn't think it was possible, grew tired himself and I saw him slow his fighter down to a normal cruising speed as I came up alongside him. Close enough to see him in his cockpit, I saw him take deep breaths and I could tell he was sweating a little as I had to laugh.

"So, I guess it's a tie?" I asked.

"No way, I won!" Tyler shot back.

"Sure… By the way I can hear your breathing, you would not have." I had to laugh a little as I stopped and cleared my throat. "Okay captain, fun's over, it's time we get back on…" I started, but stopped as Alex began beeping at me in an urgent kind of tone.

"Arthur, Ashley's picking up contacts coming from Endor's surface." Tyler told me in a serious voice.

"Alex is also picking them up too…" I added as the data began coming on my computer screen in front of me. "Looks like the intel was right, I'm counting at least one shuttle, a couple of transports, and at least one squadron of fighters."

"What are we going to do?" Tyler asked.

"We have our orders, lets see what we're up against at a safe distance so we're not spotted and then I'll figure out our next move." I answered as I turned my fighter towards the contacts coming up from the surface of Endor as Tyler followed behind me. "Well, here we go…" I told myself as I prepared myself for my first time leading a real mission for the Resistance…

And I'll end it off on there!

In case you haven't figured it out yet…

Remember in The Force Awakens when Kylo Ren was speaking to his grandfather and then it was revealed that Kylo managed to retrieve Darth Vader's helmet and kept it? How do you think he got it!? Because in Return of the Jedi, Luke didn't let Vader, aka Anakin Skywalker, to die on the Death Star, but brought him down to Endor and laid him down on a funeral pyre before burning him. So Kylo Ren did have an easy time tracking it down and retrieving the helmet to keep.

And with that…

See everybird later!