Disclaimer: I do not own any of Star Wars, the right of ownership of Star Wars belong to Lucasfilm and I guess Disney too. The only thing I own is the characters you do not notice and the plot.
Chapter 7: Pieces to the Puzzle
A Speeder came speeding down a dirt path that is about 15 miles away from a Bakuran Military Base. Rachelle is driving the Speeder because she got to the Speeder before her mentor Master Mark Alan Zane was able to. So, he has the misfortune to experience her driving once more.
"Slow down!" shout Mark as he grip the door of the Speeder as a house appear out of nowhere. Rachelle slams on the brakes and turns the steering wheel hard to the left. Due to the speed and momentum that the Speeder has, the right side of the Speeder turn and the Speeder slides to a stop before it can hit the long set of steps that leads up to the house.
"Master, there is something very wrong about this." say Rachelle as they walk up the stairs. Mark waves his hand to silence her as they approach the door. He notices that the door was just a wooden door. He knows the walls are Durasteel but with a wooden look to it. He pushes the door open lightly and it squeaks a bit. On the doorway, he notice there was pieces of technology that is used to make a Force Field. No wonder why the door was weak because it had a Force Field on it.
"You are right, Rachelle. Something is not right here. I sense death." say Mark as he draws his Lightsaber from his belt and walks forward. He sees Holopictures of a Bakuran General standing besides his family and Maxus Zane. As he walks through the halls, he turns to looking into a living room area. There were 5 people in there laying on the ground dead in a pool of blood. Their bodies were burnt from blaster shots and there were cut marks that were bleeding. There were two little boys no older then 5 that were shot 5 times each and was stab in the forehead once and twice in the chest. There were two older girls most likely in their early teens that were stabbed 10 times each and slash between their breasts. Then there was an older woman that could be in her late 50s that had many stab wounds.
Mark senses a familiar presence among the dead. Maxus Zane killed them. By looking at the bodies, he knows that that he must have been hiding behind the drapes of the window. The mother, the woman in her late 50s, came in first, Maxus attacked her than attach her daughters. Her sons were the last to come into the room and Maxus stab and shoot them.
Mark then sense his father presences lead out of the room and up the stairs. Mark followed it with his hands tightly gripping the hilt of his inactivated Lightsaber tighter and tighter as he approaches the top of the stairs. He sees burnt areas on the walls as if there was a blaster fight. Mark walks down the hall to an open door. He looks in and sees the body of the Bakuran General of the Red Comet Regiment on the bed with his dead eyes looking at Mark from the bedpost. The headless body lay in a red pool of blood on white sheets.
The bedroom is a mess as if someone was looking for something. Mark found a computer that is hook up to the security cameras that were watching the house. Mark rewinds the footage of the camera to prove what he sawed down in the living room. He notices they arrived home from some sort of vacation and Maxus killed the family. He was trying to kill the General with a Vibro-sword in the living room but failed.
The General ran up into the bedroom while exchanging fire. Before Maxus came into the room, the General throws something under the bed and that sent off a grenade that made the room a mess. The General once again exchanges fire with Maxus until he was shot in the chest once. He falls down into the bed wounded, he keeps firing at Maxus but Maxus beheaded him. Then it shows Maxus looking got on the computer and try to find something that the General throws but failed. He then put the head on the General's bedpost, leaps out of the window, and runs away.
Mark fast forward to an hour later and it showed him and Rachelle walks into the house. Mark got up, walks over to the bed, and uses the Force to move the bed. At the edge of the bed, it looks like there was a slot in the wall.
Mark focus on the Force and his eyes begin to glow blue. He can see through the wall and see that in the middle of the wall was a Holodisk. The ability of the Force he is using is called Force Sight.
Mark activates his Lightsaber and cut through the Durasteel wall. The melting metal is building up along the edge of the cheery red cut. After cutting a circle into the wall, Mark uses the Force to remove the circle of metal that he had cut. Inside there was a Holodisk.
Mark look down at the fine red Holodisk. Mark presses a button and a Hologram of the dead General appears. "Please state your name, to activate the message." say the hologram. "Jedi Master Mark Alan Zane, former General of the 3rd Legion." say Mark. The Hologram phases out and the General appears.
"To Jedi Master Mark Alan Zane and Chancellor Skywalker. I hate to admit it, but I have failed the Republic and Bakura greatly. If you are reading this, than I am most likely dead and so is my family. There is a resistance movement against the Republic that are leaded by the Sith. A former member of the Bakuran Military Maxus Zane have came to me at the beginning of the years demanding for information about the location of the secret stations that was being made in the Galactic Republic. I normally would not tell but Maxus threatens to kill my family if I did not tell him the location and if I tell anyone. The guilt had been eating me up. I should have not gave into but I could not let my family suffer. Please if my family is still alive when you red this please protect them because I would not and I hope that they can forgive me for my mistake. If my family is dead when you read this, I want you to make sure that Maxus Zane and the resistance movement that is being run by the Sith will pay for hurting my family. I only know the location of one. Two others know the exact location of the other two stations. Two others know of the locations to the other one. The Vice Chancellor knows of the one and the Bakuran Minister knows about the other one. Once again, I am so sorry." say the Hologram before phasing out. The Hologram of the General had tears coming down his eyes.
Mark touch a button on his Comlink and contract Amelia. "Mom, I need you to get in contact with the Prime Minister right now. He might be in danger. Apparent not only one person knows all three locations of the base. The Prime Minister is one of them. I think whatever group the Sith is running against the Republic might have target the Prime Minister. Protect him and the family. I think they might be making sure that there are no loose ends. Also send this this conversation to the Jedi Order and have some Jedi guard Vice Chancellor Mas Amedda." say Mark.
"I am doing that right way." say Amelia before she hangs up. Then the ground shakes roughly. Mark almost falls and he looks up and sees a ship that he would consider to be in the Star Destroy class firing upon the land.
He knows that the Turbolasers on a Star Destroyer are much stronger than those on a Starfighter. Mark notice that their firing is coming closer to them. He runs down the stairs as they fire at the top of the house. The top of the house exploded. Mark was thrown down the stairs hard.
Mark got up and saw Clara getting up from the ground. "GET IN THE SPEEDER! YOU KNOW HOW I TOLD YOU NOT TO DRIVE. DRIVE LIKE THAT!" shout Mark as they rushes out of the house before another attack from the Star Destroyer nails the house. It sends the house into nothing but a crater in the land.
Rachelle leaps into the Speeder as Mark jumps into the Speeder. She took off flying. Mark turns around and looks at the Star Destroyer it was a Bakuran Military one. He sense the people are under the Dark Side influence. He hates to do it, but their lives out weight the numbers of lives that will suffer if they keep on attacking the planet.
As Rachelle speeds up, Mark leaps out of the Speeder. Rachelle notices this and stops. "GET GOING! I NEED TO BRING THAT SHIP DOWN! GET BACK TO MOM'S PLACE NOW! THAT IS AN ORDER!" shout Mark as he begins to focus a lot on the Force.
Mark only took down a Star Destroy once before with the Force and that was back in his universe, and when he say take down he does not mean the way that Rachelle use the Force to exploded the gas on the one Separatist warship back in 20 BBY. He is going to make that ship crash.
The Star Destroyer stops moving as Mark focuses tightly. Rachelle watches this from the spot where she stopped a couple miles away from her mentor. She was not going to let him there by himself. She refuse to let stay without any help. If he gets in trouble, she is going to be there for him. She does not care if she gets kick out of the Order from disobeying a direct order from not just her mentor but also a member of the High Council.
She than notice the ship begins to slowly come down to the ground. Soon it passed the tree line and she felt the ground shakes roughly and hears trees begin to crash down.
Mark slams the Star Destroyer into the ground and it comes sliding toward him quickly knocking down trees and damaging the land. Mark hold out his palm and use the Force to slow the Star Destroyer down. The Star Destroyer stopped a few inches from Mark's palms.
Rachelle who was using the Force to make sure her mentor was okay was surprise that the Force show her how her mentor did it. She watches as the Star Destroyer landed roughly on the ground digging into the ground and uprooting the trees. Her mentor stand there as if he was not scare as he use the Force to slow the Star Destroyer down and it stop in less than a foot from him.
Mark walks away from the Star Destroyer and to where Rachelle parked the Speeder. He can see most of the command tower of the Star Destroyer and some of the body through the trees. "You really have a hard time listening do you. I told you to head back to mother's house not 2 miles down the road." say Mark as he looks at Rachelle with his arms cross.
"You cannot expect me to leave you there back alone. You know what happen to my first mentor when she told me to go. She died and she could have been saved if Rachelle took her or stayed with her. I will not let that happen again. Go ahead kick me out of the Order. You have your ways of doing stuff but I have my own ways. You may like go out there and be the hero without any back up, but I do not let my team behind!" say Rachelle.
Mark cracks a smile. "You learn something new today then. Yes, everyone have their own ways of doing stuff. The thing is I do not want to be the hero. I am a Jedi, and when I need to protect people of the Republic, I would do so. I am also a team person but I also aware when there might be times when having people helping me prove to be more of a problem. Now come on drive, and you better not drive the way I told you not to drive. I am tired and I might take a leaf out of Master Yoda's book and hit you with a stick." say Mark.
"Yeah you do not have a walking stick!" say Rachelle with a smile as she gets in. Mark took his left hand and slaps Rachelle hard in the back of the head. "I do not need a stick. If I want a stick, there are plenty around us." say Mark as Rachelle rubs the back of her head.
She does not know what is worst being hit by Master Yoda's walking stick or being slapped hard by her mentor's bare head. She would image Yoda's walking stick would have hurt more. She turns the Speeder back on and shifts it into gear.
Mark lays back into his seat to relax a bit. He got a little relaxation when the Force let him know that the Sith are nearing his homeworld. Something tells him that there is going to be more trouble than finding out and protecting those that the Sith have target.
Than his mind went back to what the Hologram said. He thought all those at the meeting knew the location. Wait no; they only know the general location. There were only 3 who know the specific location of one of the three stations. So much for all the secrecy it did nothing to protect the stations since the people who was to protect the secret was forced to tell.
He closes his eyes and sees a vision of the future. it was Him and the golden helmet Sith was dueling. The Sith wants the red hair baby girl who is being cuddled in her mother's arms. Mark eyes widen as he reaches out through the Force and sense the young girl and her mother somewhere on the planet. The young girl is strong in the Force.
Seems like life is going to get a bit more interesting. Mark Comlink beep. "Mark we are late the Prime Minister and his family are dead!" say Amelia. Than he heard blaster and the line went dead.
Mark opens himself up to the Force again. "Rachelle forget what I told you! Drive as I hate you driving! There is trouble, I think Maxus is at Mom's place!" shout Mark. "Wish you would make up your mind!" say Rachelle as she presses the pedal all the way down. Mark feels the Speeder launches forward.
Padme is firing her blaster at Maxus Zane as the twins hide behind her. "MOVE OUT OF MY WAY CHANCELLOR! YOUR CHILDREN IS COMING WITH ME RATHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! THE SITH WANTS THEM!" snap Maxus. Padme fires twice more before Maxus sidestep.
Leia cries as a shot nearly hit her hand. If it were a millimeter closer, it would have nailed her hand. It was so close she could feel the heat from the plasma that hit the floor. "Mommy Right!" cry Leia as she senses that the Maxus that is firing at her mother is a droid. Padme turns around before she nailed hard in the side and ripping part of her shirt. Padme stumbles as she feels the pain. She begins to stumble.
Her cut shirt reveals the scars she suffers back on Geonosis back in 22 BBY from a Nexu had attacked her. She falls down to her knees. Leia screams as she runs toward her mother.
Maxus walks closer to her as he deactivates the droid. "Sorry Chancellor your time has come to an end. Do not worry, I guess the Sith wants to use your children to forward there plans. He did say that there were a few strong Force Sensitive children on the planet. Hmm, maybe watching the Sith turns your babies into a Sith will be a big way to suffer." say Maxus as he tries to grab the Skywalker twins. Padme kicks his hand.
"My husband would not let you!" snap Padme as she looks around for Anakin. "Anakin Skywalker is a bit busy saving the Zane family. Don't you remember that called that the Prime Minister called in before he died. I forced him to say that, and since I know that Mark is far away, I know Anakin Skywalker would want to protect his best friends' family. Say goodbye to your children. I expect the next time you see your children they will be train in the Dark Side of the Force. Hmm, maybe they will kill you. That will be funny to see!" say Maxus.
"You monster!" roar Padme as she kicked him once more to protect her children. "I am no monster, I just outsmarted you. This is war Chancellor, something I do not think such an idiot from Naboo would understand. Peaceful freaks of nature you are. I wish I could kill every one of you. So stupid and blinded by peace that you lack in a military. If Bakura were to invade your planet, it will be under Bakura control in less than an hour. Now shut your trap or I will stab this sword through your heart in front of your twins' eyes. The only thing that preventing me from killing your no good children is that I have orders to take them alive!" say Maxus.
He loves to see the struggling weak Padme. "YOU WILL NOT TAKE THEM!" roar Padme angry as she got up picks up her blaster and fires at Maxus. The blaster did little on the armor he is wearing. He kicks her so hard in the face that she falls down to the ground knocked out. He picks up the twins.
As he was walking to the door, Amelia who recovered a bit from Maxus attack on her earlier ago tries to shot at him. He pulls out his blaster and fires one shot into her. She falls down to the ground holding her shoulder. "Now, do it again, I will kill you. Now stay down there like a Bitch you are. Get up I will hurt the twins and end your pathetic life." say Maxus.
"You wouldn't get away with this. You will not get off the planet with those babies." say Amelia. "Come on honey, you are much smarter than that. You know I am one of the best General in all of the Bakuran Military what can you and a group of your pathetic group of Senator and guards going to do to stop me." say Maxus.
"I already alert all authorities with in the planet." say Amelia as she grabs her blaster. Maxus fires at her hand. She screams in pain. "The only reason why I am letting you live is so you would tell your son about what happens here. Oh and my commander wants me to tell you that Darth Vader has order this. Make sure your pathetic son gets that." laughs Maxus as he walks out the door with the twins.
Amelia crawls over to Padme and manages to wake her up. "Luke, Leia where are they?" ask Padme as Amelia struggle to get up to get the first aid so she can wrap Padme's wound. "I'm sorry, I tried to stop him but I am in no condition to fight him full on like you did. They are gone." say Amelia lowly as she struggles to walk. They both are lucky to be alive.
"What! You did not stop him! How could you!" snap Padme wincing in pain as she hold her side. "Padme, I tried! There nothing more to do. I am not a miracle worker. I am not my son." say Amelia as she wraps Padme's wound up. Padme glares at Amelia. "I bet that was one of your family members you would have struggled to get up and fight him!" snap Padme.
"Padme, you need to calm down! I tried my best!" say Amelia looking at her friend. Padme move toward the couch on her knees and hands a bit. She lays her back on the couch. "Only my friends called me Padme. It is Chancellor Skywalker to you!" snaps Padme.
"Padme, he is a highly trained military General, I only know the basics of fighting. Maxus spent his whole life in the military. I do not care who kids they were, I would have put my life on the line to prevent any child from a bad life." say Amelia falling down to her knees.
Padme looks down and back up at Amelia. "I am sorry, Amelia. It just that they mean a lot to me." say Padme. "It is okay, trust me if there are two people who could saved them they are Anakin and my son. Mark and Anakin are two of the strongest Jedi in the whole order. When they team up, they are most likely unstoppable." say Amelia.
"No, they are both unstoppable alone. I must have faith that they will get them back. There is nothing I can do against a trained Sith. If what Maxus said, I would not even stand a chance against Vader because he is just like an evil version of Mark." say Padme lightly.
They hear a Speeder pull up. They did not need the Force to know who that is. That is Mark and Rachelle. It seem like they might have solved parts of the mystery. They are right about Maxus. He was the one who told the Sith about the base. They bet he was the one who went around to the General and killed him. They know that the Prime Minister and his family are dead. No one in that family lived. The whole bloodline and name is now dead. They just hope that they can get back the twins and hopefully and due time they can fix all the problems that is being caused by the Sith for this planet.