I'm a Skywalker too!
By: Tellemicus Sundance
Chapter 07

12:9:18 GrS
Cerea

Piloting the Dandy Eagle alone would've been extremely difficult for most people, and practically impossible in the midst of combat, because it was designed for two people to fly it together. Thankfully, with the Force guiding him and his own natural skill, Luke was able to easily circumvent that minor handicap.

"Tes'chi, we're entering the mountains now," Luke said over the intercom. "I'm engaging the scanner scrambler."

"I'm at the forward loading bay and holding tight," Tes'chi answered, anxiety clear in her voice. "Please warn me if you have to do anything drastic again."

"I will," Luke promised, smiling despite himself. There had been numerous times in the past where he had to pull frantic maneuvers to escape or dodge when someone hadn't been properly buckled down.

Shaking his head, he flipped a few switches and a green light lit up on the console before him as the scanner scrambler was activated. The scrambler was an invention that Tes'chi had developed shortly after she joined their crew and gotten a few firsthand experiences of what they did for a living. It had come as a real surprise to the twins that she was a naturally talented programmer and knew her way around software like Luke knew mechanics and Leia knew diplomacy. With the ability to hide the Dandy Eagle's IFF signal and don a false one, the scrambler had come in real handy really quickly afterwards. But, when combined with the new armor plating that they had recently added, it made the freighter practically invisible to most standard scanners and sensors.

Flying low and guiding the Eagle through the rugged mountains, Luke kept the engines powered low and was flying as much on the repulsors as he was on the engines. Up ahead, he could sense the collection of the transports and escort vehicles were underway. Even without Leia's confirmation, Luke would've known this because the three Jedi that were accompanying them stood out like a trio of lighthouses in moonless night. They had only discovered this after they'd already landed upon Cerea two hours ago and had developed a functioning plan. The Jedi escort was a surprise that demanded adjustments to the plan, but they were not a crippling blow. They had sensed the presence of an especially powerfully Jedi and had been worried that it might've been one of the Jedi High Council who had gotten personally involved with the mission. That would've been very bad if true.

"Eagle to Stormbird," Luke said into the comm. "Approaching the pickup zone in two minutes. How's your end holding up?"

"Targets approaching waypoint," Sparky answered. "Songbird is in position. Beginning boarding actions in thirty seconds."

"Roger that," Luke said, smiling tightly as he gently weaved the freighter around another mountain cliff flying for the designated area. "Good luck and may the Force be with you. Eagle out."

Seated up on a high cliff overlooking a fork in the mountain road, Leia Skywalker waited with bated breath. She could see the convoy of transports approaching their trap. Normally, Leia would've been bouncing with excitement and anticipation for the coming confrontation. It was something that had caught Leia by surprise the first few times it'd happened. Leia had found that she was an adrenaline junkie every bit as much as her brother. But where he preferred to fight from the cockpit of a starfighter, she was much more confrontational. Yet with the presences of three Jedi, she fought to keep her own impulses and presence as thoroughly masked and shielded as possible.

Her part of the plan was both simple and difficult. When Sparky got control of the transport and took the path off the convoy's route, she had to trigger a landslide to block the road and prevent the convoy or escorts from backing up and rushing to regain control of the lost vehicle. That was the easy part. The hard part was timing the avalanche to block the road without accidentally causing any significant injuries or death. If she did it too soon, she might bury the convoy and likely kill many of the innocent guards or allow them to realize what was happening and regroup. If she did it too late, they'd still try to regroup and call in the Cerean authorities. The trick was to time it so that the convoy would believe that the last transport was buried under the landslide when it really was driving off down the other side of the mountain trail.

Delving into the Force, Leia sought its calming effects. After years of practice, she connected to it with relative ease. The calming power soothed her nerves and encouraged her confidence. She could do this. As far as missions went, this was a milk run. And while the Jedi had the potential to screw it up, there was no denying that they still probably would be caught by surprise when it happened and could only react to it so quickly. Once she was suitably calmed, Leia again turned her attention to the convoy.

With the Force augmenting her perception, she sought out the three Jedi that Sparky had reported seeing. Unlike last time, she didn't try to reach out to them to get a measure of their powers. The youngest and strongest of the trio had somehow sensed her presence last time and it had likely spooked him. And, indeed, she could sense a heightened level of caution and alertness from him, more so than the other two. The Jedi had used the tactic of divide and conquer well, not one of the convoy transports was more heavily defended and the third Jedi could easily rush the aide of either one if necessary. With the Force sending images into her mind, Leia glimpsed the three Jedi in her mind's eye. The bearded one sitting calmly in the cockpit of the front transport, immersed in the Force for clarity and forewarning. The dark-haired, grim-faced Jedi in the speeder constantly looking, constantly surveying the landscape, seeking potential ambush locations and improvised explosive devices. And the youngest Jedi stalking the cargo bay of his transport, lightsaber almost in hand as he turned corners around the pallets of cargo.

"Stormbird to Songbird, beginning operation," Sparky commed to her.

Swerving her binoculars to the cockpit of the transport, she glimpsed the droid pulling itself up from where it'd been magnetically clamped to the transport's undercarriage, opening the door and almost casually pulling the startled driver out of his seat. With swift, mechanical ease, the droid pulled itself up into the cockpit and closed the door. It had happened so quickly that if she hadn't been paying attention, she'd have missed the switch occur. Almost immediately she could see him working the controls and computer of the transport, changing its location and preparing the autopilot.

"I see you, Stormbird," Leia acknowledged. "Be advised, there's a Jedi Padawan in the cargo bay and he's very jumpy."

"Understood," Sparky said, already bringing up the interior security footage to watch as the aforementioned Jedi prowled the cargo bay.

By now, the convoy had almost reached her position at the crossroad. Drawing in the Force, Leia reached out gently. She grasped ahold of numerous large boulders and dirt, sensing the natural cracks and faults that each possessed, and applying pressure to each one in calculated bursts. With the Force as her guide, she watched as the building avalanche began to take shape. She knew the precise moment that the convoy discovered the impending avalanche. It was the Jedi who'd noticed it first, sensing mounting danger ahead and above. But it was too late for the convoy to stop or swerve to the side, so they could only gun the throttle and hope for the best.

As that was happening, Sparky leaned out of the pilot's seat and aimed one of its blaster rifles at the escort speeder that had pulled up and was flying alongside it. One shot at the power generator sent the vehicle into a sliding crash to the side. Even as it was doing that, the transport suddenly swung to side onto the crossroad like was planned. Watching carefully, Leia could see that none of the convoy or escorts seemed to have noticed the transport's detour, too busy as they were trying to outrun the avalanche. Not even the Jedi could spare the time to notice, too busy using the Force to deflect or redirect the falling boulders and dirt.

Grinning widely, Leia quickly bounced to her feet, stuffing her binoculars into her satchel as she turned and gave a mighty jump. Flying gracefully through the air, she landed upon a lower rock outcropping. Below her not even twenty meters was the commandeered transport. Grinning widely as she glimpsed the upper hatch from the cargo hold suddenly opening from within, she gave another leap for the transport. "Sparky, you've got incoming! I'll deal with it. You focus on driving."

"Acknowledged."

As the Padawan was pulling himself upon the transport roof with a glaring scowl on his face, Leia landed heavily just behind him. The loud thump of her arrival clearly caught the Jedi by surprise since he hadn't sensed her approach. He spun around, lightsaber igniting and swinging even as he was turning. If Leia hadn't landed in a deep crouch, she'd have lost her head. As it were, her flapping braids and ponytail did lose a few inches, though she didn't notice. As the Padawan was recoiling in surprise, Leia launched herself up and forward, her arm cocked back. She barreled in him into like an ore-freighter, her small but strong fist burying itself into his stomach and knocking him backwards with a loud gasp of pain and surprise.

To the young man's credit, he didn't stay down for more than a second, rolling and popping back up to his feet again. His scowl was deeper now, much more menacing. Leia had to admit that she probably would've been ver intimidated by him if she hadn't already landed the first punch.

But his fury was quickly replaced by surprise and even a bit of contempt. "A girl?" he said loudly, having to almost yell over the mountain winds so that she could hear him. "A little girl is responsible for this chaos?"

"Got a problem with that, big boy?!" Leia snapped angrily, her own aggression spiking at his almost dismissive tone.

Without letting him answer, she attacked with all the speed she could manage. Her burst of speed caught the Padawan by surprise, but not enough to catch him off guard. He brought his lightsaber up in a defensive stance, trying to ward her off. Instead, she slipped low, sliding along the roof as her foot lashed out and caught his own. His footing disrupted, Leia bounced up and threw a Force-empowered punch for his side. Rather than try to take the blow, the Padawan let his bad footing give way, allowing him to dodge her uppercut. But even as he fell and she leapt, he swung his saber for a disabling strike at her knees.

To his surprise, she was able to yank her legs and torso up at an almost impossible angle before the blazing blade was even close enough. Then, aided by the Force, she reversed her momentum and swung her body forward, snapping out a double kick at his face and hitting him with remarkable strength. The blow sent him tumbling backwards and careening off the side of the transport, his lightsaber knocked from his grasp in the process.

"Amateur," Leia said cockily as she landed lightly on her feet. Turning, she grabbed her comlink with one hand while she used her other to gesture towards the roof the transport ahead of her. "Stormbird, the Padawan has been dealt with. Proceeding to the next phase. Get up here!" As she was speaking, the transport roof suddenly contorted violently. With a terrible screeching shriek, the roof was torn open and exposed the many pallets and cargo containers within.

"Acknowledged, engaging autopilot," Sparky responded.

"What are you doing?!" a loud voice yelled from the side. Leia turned in surprise to see the Padawan. He was hanging for dear life on the side of the transport, only now visible because she'd yanked the roof of the transport off. Thankfully, he didn't seem to have his lightsaber in hand but his dark glare was back.

"Wow, you're a persistent one," Leia said, grinning childishly down at him.

The young man's scowl deepened as he reached towards her. Leia felt the Force grasp ahold of her and start to yank her towards him. Quickly digging her feet in, she crossed her arms as she drew in her own power and then expelled it with a strong flex. His grip on her vanished with that expulsion. She used his momentary surprise to her advantage, reaching out and wrenching the section of the transport he clung to, swinging it outwards so that he hung over the steep drop of the cliff, the valley floor several hundred meters below. 'That outta give him something to think about!'

"Okay, this is the part of the plan I don't trust," Sparky said as it pulled itself up onto the roof near her.

"It was your idea," Leia pointed out as she again turned back to her work of tearing apart the roof and front section of the transport. Glancing up briefly, she smiled as she saw both the approaching Dandy Eagle up ahead of them, the cargo compartments mounted atop of its frame opening as it neared them. And the approaching cliff that the transport was racing towards unerringly.

"Yes, but I don't like how much you kids rely on your magic Force powers!" Sparky said as he dropped down into the now open cargo bay, landing upon one of the containers.

"Have a little faith in us and trust in the Force!" Leia barked as she prepared herself for a jump.

"I do trust you," Sparky called back as he crouched down and magnetically locked himself tightly to the container he was on. "If I didn't, I would be locking myself to a container right now!"

Before Leia could make a remark on that, the transport suddenly lurched forward into a steep nosedive. With a mighty leap, Leia leapt free of the transport as it drove off the edge. Turning in midair, she reached out and grasped ahold of the many containers within the transport, yanking them out of the transport before it could fall more than several meters. Focusing intensely, she carefully aligned the containers into specific groups and guided them towards where she could sense Luke was flying the Eagle towards them all. With the grace of long practice, the numerous containers landed, albeit rather roughly, into the various cargo containers on the Dandy Eagle. Several of them formed into a narrow line that was scooped up into the open forward airlock. Guided by the Force and knowledge of the ship's layout, Leia was easily able to redirect the containers into the two forward cargo holds inside and even stacked a few up along the hallway.

Sparky quickly detached himself from the container he was on after it landed and walked along the top of the Dandy Eagle for the upper airlock. Leia herself had landed in a deep crouch just above the forward airlock, having to brace and strengthen herself in the Force as she hit the ship. It was an extremely jarring impact that would've easily pulverized the bodies of any other being, whether they were Force-trained or not. But with her long years of physical training on Caridad combined with Force-augmented strength, it was merely painful, not bone-shattering.

Standing up once her body had adjusted, she dropped into the airlock. Behind her, Tes'chi quickly closed and locked the airlock, cutting off the strong winds instantly. With a heavy sigh, Leia collapsed exhaustedly against the nearest container, panting heavily.

"You okay?" Tes'chi asked, rushing to her side immediately and starting a basic medical examination.

"F-Fine," Leia said, waving her hand dismissively. "Just tired."

"I'll be the judge of that," Tes'chi said, lowering the Skywalker's hand. "Now tell me what hurts and where."

Despite herself, Leia smiled up at the pretty Pantoran.

Picking himself up from he'd landed, Anakin held his throbbing stomach tentatively, gasping for a breath. Landing in the valley had been an exercise of simplicity for him, but he'd landed on loose gravel and sand, which caused him to belly-flop painfully and compounded his earlier injury. Farther up ahead of him, he watched as the transport he'd been assigned to protect finally came to a rolling stop, little more than a smashed bundle of twisted metals and leaking motor fluids. Looking upwards, he watched as the freighter blasted up into the atmosphere and quickly vanished from sight.

"That girl… Who was she?" he muttered to himself, conflicted.

During their fight, he'd sensed her power, briefly. She was very good at masking her presence and intentions from the Force. Yet she had to lower her mental guards briefly whenever she went on the attack, boosting her strength and speed. If he had to guess, she was probably on the level of a very high-tier Padawan in terms of her body augmentation. But her fighting style is what really caught him by surprise. She used her fists and feet, something he was rather familiar with fighting against. Yet she also had used the Force to add power to her blows. When she'd hit him with that kick to the face, he'd sensed a burst of Force power at the same instant, not at all that different from a simple push. But her raw power…

He'd sensed it when she broke free of his grasp. She had caught him by surprise when it happened and he really hadn't been trying that hard to hold her in place. But she'd still managed to overpower and repel his hold on her. To his experience, only high-tier Jedi Masters were ever able to overpower him like that. How could she do that? Who'd trained her? Where has she been all this time? Why wasn't she in the Jedi Order?! Such a powerful and talented girl like that should've been known by the masters and sought out almost immediately! These questions and many more were plaguing his mind.

Sighing heavily, he looked up as he heard the approach of a speeder from above him. It was Master Vos he saw leaning out over the speeder's side to watch him.

"Come on, kid!" Vos called when he was close enough, waving him upwards.

With a mighty jump, Anakin flew through the air. Landing gingerly on the speeder's rear, near the engines, he carefully slid down into the backseat. As he did, Vos turned around and held out his dropped lightsaber. Though he didn't say anything or scold him for dropping his weapon like Obi-wan would've, the look in his eye said all of it. Sighing again at the silent reprimand, Anakin took his saber and clipped it back to his belt.

"What happened? Who was it?" Vos demanded as the speeder turned and raced back towards the convoy.

"A droid, a young girl, and a YT-series freighter," Anakin answered. "I fought the girl. She's a Force-sensitive and very powerful. She caught me by surprise before driving the transport off the cliff and the freighter grabbed them and the cargo as it flew by."

Turning back, Vos eyed the young man critically with a raised brow. Despite himself, a snort of amusement and a grin escaped him as he turned back to flying. "Impressive plan," he said, sounding grudgingly approving. "Not many could've pulled this heist off so easily."

"I think they've done this many times before," Anakin said, scowling again. "They seemed to have timed it too perfectly, done it too easily, for this to have been the first time."

"You're probably right," Vos agreed. "But don't worry. They won't get far."

"How?" Anakin demanded, turning an unhappy glance at the man. "They're already flying out of atmo and will likely be in lightspeed long before the Cerean government will be ready to respond. And the girl was able to hide her presence in the Force from me. We'll never find them."

"Not with the Force," Vos nodded agreeably. Then he reached down into his belt and held out a datapad to the Padawan, showing him what was on the screen. "But with the tracking beacon I'd planted in one of the cargo containers, we will."

"Tracking beacon?" Anakin repeated, surprised by the Master's forethought as he watched the data scroll down the screen. "How did you know to do that? When did you do that?"

"When you and Obi-wan were arguing before the convoy left," Vos answered, grinning. "And I suspected we'd lose at least some of the cargo. There's too much scum in the galaxy for us to not run into it. Always be prepared for the unexpected and unlikely."

Impressed despite himself, Anakin nodded. 'When we find them again, I'll get my answers, little girl.'

12:9:19 GrS
Eriadu

With a gasp, a white-haired man was jolted awake. Groaning as a waves of pain assaulted his mind, the man tried to move and caress the areas of his body that were in agony. In doing so, he discovered that he was strapped tightly to what basically amounted as a torture chair. Opening his eyes blearily, he squinted through the darkness of the room he was in. The air was cold and the darkness only broken by the soft red glows of various instruments that were scattered throughout the chamber. Moving one of his arms, the man looked down towards, trying to gauge how much give the restraint had. Sadly, he could scarcely move it even an inch before the cold metal and leather straps starting biting into his soft, weak flesh.

"Don't struggle," a deep, menacing voice said from the darkness ahead of him. "It's useless to try."

"Who are you?" the man demanded, trying to hide his fear and pain behind a façade of righteous anger. "Where am I?! Do you have any idea how m—?!" He was silenced immediately when his head was slammed back against the headrest and his throat was pinched shut by an invisible force. His façade now abandoned, he struggled against whatever was holding him, futilely trying to gasp for a breath.

"You are not in a position to be demanding answers," the voice said dangerously. Through the darkness, a dark silhouette could be faintly seen moving closer, an arm held outstretched towards the quickly choking prisoner. "Now, I want to make something very clear to you. I have been having a very bad couple of days. If you do not give me what I want, quickly, I will must assuredly enjoy venting my frustrations on you."

A blade of red light suddenly sprung to life a short distance between them, illuminating the old man and the menacing white Twi'lek who was holding him captive. The old man easily recognized what kind of weapon that the Twi'lek was holding in his hand. The red color was different from most of the other blades he'd seen throughout his life, but given the environment he was in and the one holding it and him in his grasp, the old man knew all-too-well just how much danger he was in. He nodded his head franticly in agreement. Sensing the old man's acquiescence, the Twi'lek released his hold of the man's throat, allowing him to gasp in a few much needed breaths.

"Now, you recently found several financial reports that you were not authorized to view," the Twi'lek said, cutting straight to the chase. "You even made a few illegal data copies of the information."

"You mean those…redirected credits to…Kaut Drive Yards?" the man asked, confused. "What does it matter?"

"Where did you hide the data?" the Twi'lek said, stalking around the chair. "If you answer now, truthfully, I will release you."

"Why do you want the data?" the old man asked, trying to stall as he tried to find a way to talk his way out of it. "It's just a series of redirected data loops through a bunch of dummy companies. What could be so dangerous or desirable about that?"

"Do not test my patience," the Twi'lek growled menacingly as he circled around from the other side. "Or I will have to hurt you."

Staring at the armored Twi'lek with a calculating gleam, the man said, "Perhaps we can make a deal?"

Rather than answer, the Twi'lek's eyes gained a distinctive yellow shine as he reached his hand up towards the man's face. That invisible force jolted into him again, rocking him back into the headrest. Somehow, through a strange sense that he wasn't even aware he possessed, the man felt an invading presence insert itself into his mind. He could feel it rummaging through his memories, searching. The man fought, trying to repress or avoid the memory of where he'd hidden the data.

"Get out of my head!" the man cried, wincing and cringing in pain and mental anguish.

As a banker and financier by trade, the old man had always been wealthy. He had more money than most moderately wealthy second-class citizens had. He was also quite guilty of many illegal actions, including quite prominently money-lauding and profiteering. So when he'd accidentally found a data trail of redirected credits from a series of Republic taxes, he'd followed and copied the trail from start to finish and what he'd found was astonishing. Someone very high up in the Republic was essentially stealing money and using it to fund the creation of thousands, even tens of thousands, of military warships and vehicles, weaponry and armor, and other accessories. He had hoped to use this information to blackmail or bribe one of those involved into channeling him some of those credits, to keep him silent and not approach any of the rising Separatists Movement or Loyalist Senators, people who would care about what he'd found and what it implied.

But he was also clever enough to realize that holding onto such information by himself was too dangerous. So, he'd hidden a full copy of everything he'd found in— "NOOOO!" the man shouted as he realized just what had happened.

"The data is in your droid," the Twi'lek said as he finally withdrew from the man's mind. "A C-unit astromech. How…quaint."

Panting, the old man raised his head to glare up at his interrogator. "You won't find it. I've been running and hiding from bounty hunters for days. Quirky knows to stay hidden until I call for it."

"Perhaps," the Twi'lek agreed. "But I also know where you've sent it and where it'll now go if it doesn't hear from you."

Frowning despite himself, the man's glare deepened. "So what do we do now?"

The Twi'lek's menacing scowl was all the warning he had before he raised his red lightsaber up and gave a powerful slash, chopping the old man and chair alike into pieces. Turning around and leaving the torture chamber without a backwards glance, the Fifth Hunter stalked towards his TIE Advanced. He'd leave the mess behind for someone else to find and deal with.

Takodana

With a soft, almost unnoticeable thud, a white and blue YT-1250 freighter landed in a small clearing. As Luke was busy finishing up the landing sequence, Tes'chi eagerly rushed to the lowering boarding ramp and disembarked. Once she was out of the ship, she rushed to the edge of the nearby lake and stopped to stare, taking a deep and fulfilling breath of fresh air, relishing the serenity of the world around her.

"It is beautiful," Leia said as she approached her friend and 'guardian'. "I dare say it is almost as beautiful as Alderaan."

"Coming from you," Tes'chi said, turning to look at the young brunette. "That's quite a compliment."

Leia shrugged before she turned and started walking towards the large stone castle that was a short distance away. Taking one last appreciative glance at the lake, Tes'chi hurried after her young friend and 'master'. The feminine duo entered the rowdy casino castle casually, moving around the various smugglers, thugs, droids, and creatures carefully. Though the establishment was run by a fairly outgoing and respectable old woman, Leia and Tes'chi kept their hands very close to both their weapons and their pockets.

As they were nearing the bar, a loud voice suddenly cried out, "Leia Skywalker! What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Ms. Kanata," Leia greeted easily, waving cheerfully up at the millennia-old, small orange woman. "How's business?"

"Just fine," Maz Kanata answered as she waved the duo up to the bar. "Come, come! Sit, tell me what I can do for you this time!"

Taking the offered seats across from the castle owner, Leia pulled out a datapad and slid it across the bar. "We could use a list of planets and settlements that are in need of these supplies we've come across recently."

After topping the mug she'd been filling and sliding it down the bar towards it's thirsty drinker, Maz took the datapad and surveyed the information it held. After a few moments of checking the inventory, she glanced up at Leia with a cocked brow. "Don't tell me you made a run at that convoy."

Leia and Tes'chi just nodded, sheepish grins spreading across their faces. Maz let out an overly dramatized sigh of aggravation as she slid the datapad back to the girl. "I swear, you kids are most reckless, hardheaded, and successful little pirates I've ever come across!"

"We're hardly pirates, Maz," Leia quipped, rolling her eyes. "Not when we don't sell the goods we acquire for a personal profit."

"Perhaps," Maz said, nodding. "But others, especially the Republic's high society, won't see it like that."

"Then they're what we've always said they are," Tes'chi said quietly. "Willfully blind and deaf to those outside their little circles."

Maz just shrugged indifferently as she turned to leave. "I'll get you that list in just a few minutes. Hold tight, maybe try one of my famous cocktails?"

Outside, as Leia and Tes'chi were bartering with Maz, Luke and Sparky were checking over the Dandy Eagle. Luke was inspecting the engines and the coolant systems while Sparky was examining the different programs and systems. They made it habit to regularly examine and maintain the ship, to prevent anything bad from happening midway through a mission. With their attentions so focused on what they doing, neither of them noticed a battered and old C1-QR astromech droid quietly enter the ship and seek a hiding place in the cargo hold.

(Author's Note) Sorry about the long wait. I was procrastinating with this chapter and suffering from a mild case of writer's block.

Here's some trivia! Who can guess just where I was inspired for this heist? Here's a hint: it was a movie released in June 2010.