Hey everybird! What's up!?

So yesterday the trailer for the second season of Carmen Sandiego came out and I'm hyped! I just need to wait until the first of October to watch it! Also it looks like one of the locations is going to be Rio de Janeiro because there was a shot of the Christ the Redeemer statue!

Anyway, moving on to today's question…

What do you think the title, Rise of Skywalker, means?

Me: Well The Force Awakens was about Rey learning she's force sensitive and The Last Jedi was about her actually becoming the last Jedi, so I'm betting that Rey is going to find out she may in fact be related to the Skywalker family. Or in a twist… It could be bout Kylo Ren since he's directly related to the Skywalker family, it could very well be about him finally turning and much like Darth Vader, realize his true identity as Ben Solo during his last moments.

Moving on to your questions…

From T8ECR34TOR, he asks, "Aside from Tiago and Lisa, and your OC-Self and Ivory, what OC ship did you create that you're most proud of?"

Me: I'm not really sure… I guess the first one, besides the ones you mentioned, which comes to my mind is Bia and Tomada Junior, so yeah those two.

From Stormknight089, he asks, "Which one sounds cooler to you, Crimson Arrows or Wings Of Freedom?

Me: I'll go for the second one, although I have to ask… Why?

And lastly, the next couple of chapters are based on the Star Wars Resistance episode, "Station Theta Black".

Chapter 26: A Freezing Situation

(Arthur's POV)

A Few Months Later…

Ever since Tyler and I got back from our short leave to our mom's home planet, over the course of several months the Resistance has been busy, gathering up strength and allies for the coming struggle. While in the New Republic Senate, things were very chaotic, with the First Order representatives still there, in fact staying at Hosnian Prime for long periods. They were trying to gain their own support and sympathy in the senate and it was actually working to some degree as our faithful allies in the senate let the Resistance know about any updates at their own risk.

So far Blue Squadron, alongside the other fighter squadrons were mostly running supply and recon missions, with engagements rare and very brief. The First Order still keeping their potential real power mostly hidden and out of sight, after all there were many worlds that were not part of the New Republic and the Resistance could only go so far…

However soon enough the state of the missions began to change as a fateful day arrived for Tyler and I…

Tyler and I were doing a squadron check on our pilots, making sure they kept their X-Wings in top shape and kept them maintained, clean, and ready to go out on a moment's notice.

"Weapons, engines, hyperdrive…" I went through the check list as Tyler and I were just about finished, ending with Tally and her X-Wing, Tally rigidly standing at attention by the pointed front end of the fighter. "Everything looks good Tally, well done."

"Thank you sir." Tally replied back as I felt Tyler tap me on the shoulder as I turned to see Grandpa Blu approaching as I, along with Tyler and Tally saluted at our superior officer.

"At ease pilots." Grandpa Blu saluting back. "I hope I'm not stopping anything important."

"No sir, in fact we just finished our squadron checkup." I stated as Tyler then spoke.

"What can we help you with sir?" Tyler asked.

"Well commander, captain, General Organa and I have an important mission just for you two, better come with me so we can discuss it alone together." Grandpa Blu answered.

"Yes sir." I replied as Tyler and I left Tally, going with Grandpa Blu into the base as we arrived at one of the holographic tables where General Organa was waiting as we both once more saluted to the general across from the table.

"Commander, captain." General Organa taking note of our arrival as she activated the table to reveal a holographic image of an icy world. "This is Ilum, a world once rich in kyber crystals and a scared planet to the Jedi order, the crystals powering the lightsabers the Jedi knights used, when the Empire came about they stripped as much of the planet of crystals as they could for weapons projects."

"And the First Order is going to find more crystals?" I interrupted respectfully.

"Well as far as we know, there have been reports of some ships there that do not belong to the New Republic and since the planet is not inhabited, the New Republic does not have any jurisdiction over the world." Grandpa Blu added.

"Kyber crystals were once used to power the Death Star, if we can prove that the First Order is trying to mine for more, it may alert the Senate in taking more action against the First Order and take them as a legitimate threat." General Organa continued. "Your mission Commander, captain, is to land down there and search the coordinates that Colonel Blu will give you, find any evidence that we can use to our advantage."

"Yes general, we'll get it done." I stated confidently as Grandpa Blu turned to us.

"I'll get the coordinates and feed it to your droids, meanwhile you boys better get some warm clothing, it's pretty cold down there." Grandpa Blu joked a little as Tyler and I had to smile as well as we went to prep for the mission, getting warm clothing and making sure our fighters were gong to be adapted to the cold setting.

Once our fighters were ready, fueled up to the max, Tyler and I climbed into our cockpits as Alex and Ashley, after getting the coordinates, got into their sockets in the fighters themselves. As I started up the engines and closed the cockpit, I saw Grandpa Blu nearby, giving me a salute and wave off as I imagined him saying, "May the Force be with you." as I saluted back, then turning on comms.

"All set and ready to go Tyler?" I spoke to my brother through comms as I receive his impatient reply.

"Yeah, lets get going already." Tyler replied as I chuckled a little before taking the flight stick with both wings and lifting my fighter up, pointing the front end towards the sky as I pushed the engines, going through the atmosphere before entering space and then into hyperspace as Tyler followed me as we were on our way to Ilum.

A hyperspace trip later, above the icy world of Ilum…

Coming out of hyperspace as the blue tunnel became white lines of stars before the black stillness of space, a white world of ice and snow greeted our cockpit views. And well looking at the world visually, except for Tyler and I, there were no other ships present in Ilum's orbit.

"You see anything Tyler?" I asked Tyler as he was right next to me.

"Nothing as far as I can see." Tyler answered.

"Well, lets hope we're the only ones during the duration of this mission." I replied as I issued out orders to Alex and Ashley. "Alex, guide us to the coordinates Grandpa Blu gave you, Ashley, you keep scanning for any ships." I called out as I got beeps back in response.

Focusing back on flying, I headed on down towards the planet's surface, Tyler following me as we flew through dark grey clouds, snow falling down as frost started to form on the cockpit, it was that cold as I started to feel it as well, my wings shaking as I kept a loose grip on the flight stick, a little afraid that if I held it too tightly, my wings would stick to it. Eventually breaking the heavy cloud cover, the ground was very close as I quickly slowed down before I could hit the surface, making sure to turn on the fighter's lights, which were on the top wings as I extended out the landing gear, which touched the soft snow cover on the ground.

"Well, this is off to a cool start…" I commented as my comms were still on, so Tyler heard me.

"Seriously brother?" Tyler's voice came through. "Making jokes about the freezing wasteland we been sent to?"

"Sorry." I blushed back as I felt a little embarrassed as I put on the warm clothing I packed for the trip before opening the cockpit and despite the warm clothing I was wearing, it was still super cold as I could see my breath.

Jumping out of the cockpit, Tyler as well, I hit the soft snow as I warmed myself up a little before thinking.

"Alex, you come with us, we're going to need you." I told the red and white R2 unit in the back of my fighter as he got himself out. "Ashley, you keep the fighters flying and hidden in cloud cover, keep the engines warm and running in case we need to make a quick getaway." As the two droids complied with their orders, Ashley linked the controls of both X-Wings before taking them back up towards the sky as Alex came with Tyler and I.

The place we were searching was an ancient Jedi temple that held caves once filled with kyber crystals, a place scared, but was since razed by the Empire and if the reports were true, the scraps of what was left taken by the First Order. Entering through a temple entrance, with images decorated in there of robed figures holding lightsabers, our visual sighting became better as we had some shelter from the blinding storm outside. We still needed lights as Alex turned on his, Tyler and I taking out our own flashlights as we began walking through, taking out our blaster pistols.

"See anything yet Tyler?" I asked my brother as he was walking besides me while Alex was in front.

"Nothing, except for the ruins of a temple." Tyler answered as we walked through and entered through the caves, walls of solid ice all around with drill holes all over, places where crystals were being mined and old, broken mining equipment scattered about, covered with ice all around. "We should split up, Ill go left, you and Alex can go right." Tyler suggested.

"Alright Tyler, stay safe and keep your communicator on." I told my brother as we parted ways, going deeper and deeper into the caves, things getting darker and colder as we searched for any evidence of First Order presence as Alex beeped at me in slight fear. "Yeah, I know Alex, this is a little scary… But we have to do this."

Eventually we found what we were looking for, but not really…

"Wait…" I said as I noticed something quite odd… "What's this?" I said as I saw what looked like a round object inserted into the ice walls.

Getting closer and holding my light and blaster steady, I got closer and closer until…

"AHHH!" I shouted as the object loosened itself from the ice wall and grew bigger, to reveal it was a probe droid, with what looked like three legs stretching out from its main body, which held a rotating head, the head turning until its "eye" was laid on me and Alex. "What the heck is this thing!?" I shouted as the droid began shooting lasers at me, luckily I was fast enough to dodge out of the way as I shot back, my shots missing at first before some impacted the droid, but the droid was too strong as it used its "legs" to shield itself.

The droid then decided it was time to get out as it began to fly away, but with quick thinking, Alex first his cable at the droid, attaching the end to the strange droid as Alex locked his legs to the ground, holding the droid in place to give me enough time to hopefully find a weak spot to take down the droid.

"Thanks Alex, hold him still!" I told Alex as I took steady aim as I fired at the droid, but the droid still fired back and well…

The strange droid got lucky as one of the laser shots hit me in the shoulder, the laser burning through my skin as I gave out a cry of pain, dropping my blaster as I held onto my shoulder with my wing, the flesh wound burning as the smoke from the shot condensed in the freezing air. The droid, now free from dodging my shots, then went to cut the cable line Alex was using to hold him in place as Alex, struggling to hold the droid, fell backward with the sudden loss of the hold, the droid now free to make its getaway or so it thought…

"Where are you going?" Tyler's voice sounded as he appeared, surprising the strange droid as Tyler fired off several shots, one of which was finally lucky as the droid's systems went haywire before the droid dropped onto the ground, black smoke coming out. "Brother!" Tyler shouted as he saw me and came to my side.

"I'm alright, it's just a flesh wound." I reassured my brother as he helped me up before helping up Alex. "Well no doubt that droid belongs to the First Order,

they definitely got their wings on some kyber crystals."

"I agree, now what?" Tyler asked as his communicator came alive, but since we were deep in the caves, there was some static as we both heard Ashley's beeping, which sounded a little panicked. "I suddenly have a bad feeling about this…"

"Sounds like we're going to have some visitors…" I agreed as Tyler made sure my wound wasn't going to get worse before we prepared to expect our "visitors".

And I think it's obvious who the visitors are…

So with that, I don't think there's anything else to say at the moment, so…

See everybird later!