Chapter 22

Rakata Prime

The T-6 Jedi shuttle's engines sprung back to life as it headed towards Rakata Prime. It glided in the tight entrance as it dodged the numerous amount of debri orbiting the planet. "Entering planetary atmosphere. Brace yourselves", Sabine announced over the intercom. Luke and Ahsoka groaned as the two walked into the cockpit. "How long were we out?", Ahsoka asked tiredly. She sat down on a nearby chair, calling her staff to her hands. "A very long time", Sabine replied, "But I got to admit, you two seemed pretty adorable together", she admitted. Ahsoka blushed as Sabine winked at her. "Let's focus on our mission, shall we?", Luke said suddenly, letting out a fake cough as he and Artoo joined them. "Right, Ezra Bridger is down there", Ahsoka said, "After all this time. We finally found him". Sabine and Ahsoka gave each other a small smile, they were close. They would soon complete the promise they have given to the lothalian jedi learner. "Or at least we hope he is", Luke corrected, "We've could've read something wrong or-", Luke stopped suddenly. Ahsoka and Sabine both glared at Luke. "I'm just going to stay quiet", Luke shyly replied, noticing the disapproving look from the two women. The T-6 shuttle started to shake violently as it entered the atmosphere. Luke watched as the dark sky was slowly turning into a bright blue. He smiled as he remembers all the times he had flown with Rogue Squadron, and seeing the magnificent view on every mission.

But Luke noticed something. Barely out of sight, was a small craft following them. It appeared to be a transport, or at least one of the new proto-type models. "Hey, you might want to see this", Luke spoke up. But before anyone could react, the craft started firing at them. "What was that!", Sabine shouted as she tried maneuvering the Jedi shuttle. The shuttle started shaking violently again, this time, throwing Artoo across the cockpit. Artoo let out a surprised chirp as he bumped into Luke. "Artoo magnetize!", Luke shouted desperately as he dodged Ahsoka's staff from hitting him. Artoo quickly followed Luke's order. He magnetized himself to the floor, creating a loud thud. But it was muted compared to all the chaos around him. Smoke started to fill the room, covering the cockpit. "I can't see!", Sabine said as she tried to control the shuttle. "Luke, with me!", Ahsoka commanded. She gestured him to follow, he quickly followed her as the two left the cockpit. Ahsoka pointed to one of the gun turrets, "You take the left side. I'll take the right", she commanded. Luke obeyed as he hopped onto the gun turret. Luke finally saw the craft up close. It was bigger than expected, but it was definitely a transport. He started firing at it, the blast hitting it directly. But no damage was done. "The shields are too strong!", he proclaimed. "Just keep firing, we have to distract them long enough for Sabine to stabilize", Ahsoka explained as the two started firing another round.

The shuttle started spinning out of control. "Sabine, what's going on there!", Ahsoka yelled to the cockpit. She and Luke had to hold onto dear life as they started getting dizzy. "We're losing half the ship!", Sabine yelled back. Luke heard metal starting to rip apart. He jumped out of his seat in a nick of time. The wall next to him had suddenly vanished. The air pressure started sucking everything out of the ship. "Luke!", Ahsoka screamed out, she grabbed her staff and extended it towards Luke. Luke grabbed the end of the staff as the area around him started to vanish. Ahsoka pulled Luke back to safety, the two made their way to the cockpit. "Detach!", Ahsoka commanded to Sabine. "Are you sure?", Sabine barked back, unsure if she had heard the Togruta correctly. "Just do it!", Ahsoka replied back. Sabine pressed a large button, red flashing lights popping everywhere. A metallic groan echoed as the doors started to lock. "Wait, the holocrons!", Luke shouted out. But Ahsoka strapped him to his seat, "It's too late for them", she told Luke. Luke could only watch helplessly as the cockpit ejected from the main hull. All his hard work in finding the holocrons, only for them to be lost once again. A big bright explosion of blue and red soon followed after, its shock waves sending the cockpit, now escape pod, hurtling towards the ocean. Everyone let out a scream as the pod crashed into the ocean. "Quick, lets get out of here", Sabine cried out. They struggled to keep the doors closed as water started entering the pod. Ahsoka grabbed her lightsaber to create a hole wide enough for them to escape. Artoo started helping Luke cover any holes that let water in. "Got it!", Ahsoka shouted gleefully. She gestured everyone to climb out of the pod, Luke and Sabine helped Artoo go first. The next was Sabine followed by Ahsoka. Luke was about to go next, when the water pressurized the doors to open.

Water came hurling in, the metal doors hitting Luke at full speed, he hit his head against the wall, knocking him unconscious. "Luke!", Ahsoka and Sabine yelled in horror. "I'll go get him, you go to shore!", Ahsoka declared to Sabine. Ahsoka quickly jumped back into the hole. She shivered as her body touched the cold water. She desperately moved things around to find him. "Luke, where are you?", Ahsoka whispered to herself. She knew he wouldn't answer back, but she was shocked to see blood starting to flow from its source. She rushed towards the unconscious Jedi Knight. Ahsoka had to hold her screams as she saw Luke's injures. His torso was exposed, with a large open gash across his chest. The sudden impact with the doors have left a deep purple bruise on him. She gently picked Luke up, fully aware of all the blood that started to stain her robes. She began climbing out, with Luke strapped onto her. Ahsoka let out a sigh of relief as she made it to the surface. Before she could celebrate her short victory, Ahsoka heard a distant yelling. She looked over the direction of the source, to see Artoo and Sabine floating towards the shore. It looked like Sabine was trying to tell her something, her arms wailing like crazy. "What!?", Ahsoka yelled out, "I can't hear you". Her question was soon answered. A deep growling noise echoed around her. Ahsoka turned and watched in horror as a humongous wave headed straight at her. Ahsoka tried to escape, but the extra weight of Luke dragged her down. Her world soon turned cold and dark. Consumed by the watery void.

"You imbecile!", Ragnos yelled at the top of his lungs. He flung Mara across the cockpit, knocking things over in the process. "I told you I wanted him alive! And you killed him!", Ragnos started force chocking Mara. Mara grasped for air as she was thrown to the ground again. She coughed out blood as she tried to stagger to her feet. She was immediately kicked in the gut, she yelped as she clutched her stomach. "Ren", Ragnos called out, "I want her dead. Finish the job". Baylon walked past the resurrected sith lord, he started putting on his mask. Hiding his emotion behind the gray helmet. "Don't do this", Mara said in between breaths. But he ignored her as he ignited his orange-red blade. "Sorry, nothing personal", Baylon stated as he raised his blade, he brought his blade down as he expected it to pass through Mara with ease. But it didn't. Mara had stopped the lightsaber with the force, just inches from her face. Baylon struggled as he tried to remove his blade from her invisible grip. Mara forced pushed him away, Baylon stumbled back until he fell to the floor. His lightsaber released from his grip. The Knights of Ren quickly got into battle position, raising their weapons when needed. Ragnos grabbed his vibrosword and started marching towards the assassin. "Stop", Mara said coldly putting her hands in front of her. Ragnos ignored the assassin's plea and kept marching towards her.

Suddenly, Mara pulled out a remote. "I said stop", she said in a commanding voice. Everyone stopped in their tracks, confused to the sudden move from the assassin. "You kill me, and this entire place blows up like hell", she explained. Ragnos simply chuckled at the assassin's attempt to scared him, "Clearly you underestimate us". Mara pressed a button on the remote, soft beeping sounds starting to fill the room. Several hidden thermal detonators started to blink. There was even some starting to go off on everyone on board. The knights started to freak out, as their helmets started to blink. Baylon threw his mask away from him as his helmet started to blink as well. Ragnos watched in amusement as his boot started to blink. "Impressive" , Ragnos said amusingly, "What is your proposal?", he asked setting his vibrosword down. He knew she wanted something, or at least wanted to think that she was in charge. "Here's what you're going to do", Mara explained as she got up, "You follow my commands, do exactly what I tell you. Now I'm on a mission to hunt down an imperial mastermind. When we find him, and if you behave, then I'll hand over Skywalker. Deal?", she proposed. Ragnos growled as he considered the option. "You killed Skywalker. He's no good to me dead", he claimed. Mara let out a soft chuckle as she activated a holo-map. The map had a small red dot moving quickly across the screen. "Skywalker is still alive and moving", Mara explained as she zoomed into the screen, "I have him tied at the end of a string".

The waves clashed against the sandy beach, an orange hand popped out from the water. Ahsoka broke through the water, still clutching Luke for dear life. She coughed out water as she tried to breathe. "Ahsoka!", Sabine cried out of relief. She helped the Togruta get out of the water. "Are you alright?", Sabine asked worriedly. "I lost my staff", Ahsoka lightly joked. "That's a shame... I really liked that staff", Sabine replied in the same light hearted manner. Artoo let out a whistle, indicating that they should focus on Luke. "Right, Sabine help me take his shirt off", Ahsoka ordered. Sabine followed Ahsoka's orders without question. Soon Luke was free from his shirt, blood oozing everywhere. Ahsoka quickly took off her outer robes, not caring about Sabine's comment that she had blood all over her as well. She ripped a large section of her robe, and started to wrap around Luke's torso. Ahsoka made sure that she applied enough pressure to stop the bleeding. "He stopped breathing", Sabine stated worriedly as she checked his pulse. Ahsoka started to perform CPR to bring Luke back. "Come on little Skyguy, don't you dare go on me!", Ahsoka shouted as she began giving mouth to mouth resuscitation in hopes of bringing air into his lungs. "Come on Luke, wake up. Please", Ahsoka shouted again. After a few tries, tears flooded her vision as she had no success. He was gone.

Sabine had to pull Ahsoka away from Luke, "It's too late Ahsoka. He's gone", Sabine told her in a sad tone. Ahsoka collapsed to the floor crying, Sabine held onto her, unsure of what to do next. Artoo stayed quiet, only letting a small sad chirp as he gently rocked Luke in hopes of waking his master. "I failed", Ahsoka said, "I failed him". Suddenly a loud cough interrupted the silence. Artoo let out a joyful chirp as Luke vomited water all over the place. Ahsoka and Sabine quickly rushed over to Luke's side. "Oh Luke, thank the force your alive", Ahsoka shouted in relief as he hugged him. Ahsoka checked to see if Luke was alright, his eyes were a bit red, but that was normal for having his faced suddenly filled with water. "Luke speak to me. Can you hear us? Say something", Sabine asked as she noticed that Luke wasn't reacting to anything. "I hate sand", Luke spoke dryly as his hand felt the ground, "It's irritating and it gets everywhere". Ahsoka had to hold her laughter at Luke's dry humor. He clearly was Anakin's son. "I thought I lost you", Ahsoka admitted as she helped him get up. "Its going to take a lot more than just water to kill this jedi", Luke replied looking down to see his torso was wrapped in a large piece of cloth. "You have a huge gash across your chest", Ahsoka explained, "I simply stopped the bleeding". Luke smiled as he gave his thanks to the Togruta. He walked over to Artoo, rubbing his metallic dome in the process. "Artoo, does your long range transmissions still work?", Luke asked his little blue droid. Artoo gave an affirmative beep. "Hey, I'm going to try and contact someone for another ship", Luke announced to the group, "What ever shot us down is still out there".

"Luke, are you sure you don't want to rest? We can continue the travel later", Ahsoka suggested. Luke nodded in disagreement, "We need to find Bridger and Thrawn before they do", was the only thing he said as he and Artoo walked farther in land to transmit their message. "What type of ship brought us down anyway?", Sabine asked as soon as Luke and Artoo left. "It seemed like some sort of transport, though I not really sure what model. It could be a prototype", Ahsoka suggested as she gathered any supplies that survived the crash, which was very little. "You don't think its the ones from Korriban?" Sabine asked wearily. Truth be told, Ahsoka was convinced that it was Zyon and the Knights of Ren. They haven't run into anyone else these past couple of days. "Possibly", Ahsoka pointed out, "Though I'm not really sure how they would've followed us. Or it could be that imperial remnant on Illum. A few assassins or bounty hunters usually do the dirty work", she suggested.

Suddenly, a loud roar echoed across the beach. Ahsoka and Sabine both flinched at the loud roar. "What was that?", Sabine asked the Torgruta. "I don't know", Ahsoka replied in all honesty. The one thing up in her mind was that the source came from the same direction... that Luke and Artoo went to. No. Luke, Artoo, Ahsoka inwardly panicked. The ground started to rumble as Sabine and Ahsoka saw the trees from the distance tumbling down. "Look! Over there!", Sabine pointed out. The figure of Luke and Artoo heading towards them at full speed. Before they could ask what was wrong, Luke started shouting, "Run! Run!", Luke shouted as he and Artoo passed the two women. A large red crooked hand erupted from the forest. Ahsoka and Sabine stayed in shock as a giant red Rancor revealed it self. "Run", Ahsoka shouted at the Mandalorian. The two quickly followed Luke and Artoo into a valley. The Rancor kept chasing them, knocking over large boulders that could easily crush an x-wing. "Over there, that's the Chimeara!", Sabine shouted. She pointed towards a large ruin of a Star Destroyer. She could tell it was the Chimaera, just by its insignia planted at the bottom of the Star Destroyer. "Are you crazy, that place could be crawling with these creatures", Ahsoka spatted back. "There's a temple straight ahead", Luke suggested. The temple was farther down, and seemed very ancient, yet secure. But another Rancor popped out of nowhere, blocking their path towards the temple. It roared as it flung its large arms at them. "The Star Destroyer will do", Ahsoka stated, immediately regretting her words. They quickly turned and ran towards the ruins of the Chimeara, the two large beast following right behind. They started growing tired as they seemed to lose their breath, their pace was slowing down, the gap between them and the Rancors was shrinking in seconds.

"We won't make it", Luke panted as he ignited his lightsaber to end this matter. "Go, I can stall them", he suggested. "Never, I already lost you once, I'm not going to lose you again", Ahsoka argued back. Before Luke could answer, one large blast of energy came out of nowhere, hitting one of the Rancors in the chest. The Rancor growled as another blast hit its head, it fell on its knees as another blast made the final kill. An AT-ST rose from the bushes in front of them. The other Rancor charged at the mechanical beast, the AT-ST fired again, stunning the Rancor for a moment. Several hollers and yells roared through the bushes. Several men and women came out of the bushes, all wearing a variety of stormtrooper armor, they fired their blasters at the huge beast. The Rancor had no choice but to retreat as the blaster fire kept coming. The Rancor groaned as it retreated back to its safe haven in the forest. Luke and the two women were shocked, unknown what to do. The stormtroopers stared at them, weapons pointed straight at Luke. "Put the weapon down!", one of the stormtroopers commanded. Luke deactivated his lightsaber, and tossed it to the side. He raised his hands in surrender, Ahsoka and Sabine doing the same. Artoo let out a small, oh oh, as the stormtroopers slowly circled in. "You're right Artoo, I've got a bad feeling about this", Luke agreed nonchalantly. "No need to be, Master Jedi", a calm, yet menacing voice said. A blue humanoid alien with striking red eyes and slick dark blue long hair reaching it's shoulders came out the the crowd. The alien eyed Sabine firmly, "It's so good to finally meet again, Ms.Wren", the alien spoke. Sabine spat out the only words she could think of,

"Grand Admiral Thrawn".