Just to let you know. I made a mistake with mentioning the Eye of Palpatine in my last update. I read up on the incident with the Jedi Asteroid and thought it was the Eye of Palpatine which destroyed it. I was wrong, it was a modified Victory-class with early super-laser technology which destroyed it. I will be fixing this in the next few days, so sorry about that.
Chapter 42
The Empires Secret Weapon
Alarm claxons wailed across the length and breadth of the Asteroid, lights were shut off to be replaced by dim red emergency lighting, bringing its denizens to attention just as a feminine voice boomed over the loudspeakers.
"Attention, attention. Unidentified craft has been detected along the outer sphere, all hands to level two alert status, I repeat, all hands to level two alert status!"
Naruto was this close to taking a sip of his Kuati ale when the alarms sounded. He grimaced at the noise, but shrugged and took a gulp of the beverage anyway. The alarms had definitely caught the attention of the men and women in the room, Obi-wan, Aayla and Solace were already on their feet while Rex and Lowie were placing their hands onto the handles of their assorted weapons.
"What the hell was that?" Rex cussed as he checked the power pack of one of his duel blaster pistols.
"Proximity alert," Solace answered, moving towards the rooms comm systems and inputting her command code. "This is Fy-Tor-Anna, code is Alpha-Tango-Solace-5-8-0-3. Get me command and control."
"Rex get in contact with Celeste, have the ship prepped and ready at a moment's notice," Naruto said, patting Rex on the shoulder who nodded and reached for his personal comlink. While he worked Naruto moved over and placed a hand on Aayla's shoulder. "What's the word?"
"We're about to find out now," she replied, folding her arms over her stomach as she waited.
"Alright," Solace nodded, listening to whoever was on the other end of the line. "Got it, I'll be right up."
"What is happening?" Obi-wan asked, frowning.
"There's an unidentified vessel approaching the asteroid. The station has been placed on level two alert and scouts have been dispatched to identify the ship." She answered, reaching for her own personal comlink and inputting the code for whoever she wanted to get a hold off. "Master Muln, assemble what personnel you can and meet me at command and control. Master Kenobi, if you can accompany me."
"Off course," Kenobi nodded before turning to Naruto, grabbing him by the arm. "I have a bad feeling about this."
"You're getting that bad feeling too, huh?" Naruto asked with a nervous smile.
The group exited the lounge area right out into one of the main corridors, herding their way through a mass of people from guards, technicians, engineers, auxiliary personnel some fully dressed and ready while others were half clothed still trying to dress on the move. It was pandemonium but they managed to herd their way across the main corridor, turn into a second and towards the chamber which had just been renovated for turbolifts.
The command and control centre was a large chamber located in the very centre of the asteroid, a round room full of computer terminals and databanks, Confederate personnel fully uniformed and armed sat at their stations or relayed messages. In the middle of the tiers was an elevated platform, ringed with terminals and a holotable at its centre.
Standing around the holotable were a handful of officers, and at their lead was an old Neimoidian with a slender but straight build. He looked up as Solace ascended the steps, Obi-wan and Naruto's group at her heels. "Ah Lady Solace."
"Commander," she nodded. "What's the situation."
"Scouting drones are closing in on the vessel, and the taskforce is moving into defensive formation around us." the Commander replied, nodding towards the blips on the holotable, three tiny little blue lights closing in on a larger white one. "We should have confirmation as to who or what it is within the next two minutes."
Celeste stretched in her chair and yawned, feeling a nice pop in her joints before relaxing and looking down at her charge with an apologetic smile. "Sorry sweetheart."
Rachi Sitra, comfortably seated on the former Jedi's lap, puffed her cheeks before turning back to the little datapad held in her lap. She had come into the cockpit about fifteen minutes ago, bored and looking for something to do. Celeste, not trusting a toddler with anything remotely mechanical or essential, fished out a datapad and found some children's story books to keep her occupied.
With the kid occupied she could now at least try to keep up to speed on what those Confederate techies were doing to their ship. Thanks to some threatening on her part, followed by a little more friendly diplomacy by Kenobi's guards they had made sure they didn't do anything to the ship itself. She, Rex and Aayla were happy with the way the ship was screwed together and no one was going to tell them otherwise.
Refuelling was underway, but rearming and resupplying was running into trouble.
The leader of the landing crew was barely out of his teens and didn't seem to understand half of the jargon thrown at him. That being said he at least knew how to follow the rule book step by step, and he also knew how to set his crew to multitask, while they were refuelling he also had some of his men start recharging the laser cannons, others to rearm their half empty concussion missile launcher and torpedo tubes and others still were working with Kenobi's boys in the basic necessities including food, drink and other miscellaneous items they needed.
Her comlink blinked, and with a grimace she reached over and managed to get a hold of it without falling off of her chair and taking Rachi with her. She thumbed it on and brought it to her ear. "Yeah, go for home bird."
"Celeste," the crackled voice of Rex reached through.
"Hey, Rex... that's quick have you knocked someone out already?" she asked, mirth in her voice.
"Proximity alarms are going off, looks like an unknown has just jumped in at the edge of their sensor zone, causing a bit of ruckus up here." Rex cut in, and Celeste took notice of his lack of humour immediately. When the former Commander lost all sense of humour it meant something serious was about to happen.
"What do you need?"
"What's the latest on the ship?"
"In the middle of refuelling now, up to thirty percent and it'll take another half an hour according to the little greenhorn kid I was talking too. They haven't started rearming or resupplying us yet." Celeste numbered off, shooing Rachi from her lap as she leaned forward and started bringing the basic systems on standby. "Do you want me to get her ready to fly?"
"Yeah, that'll do," Rex affirmed. "Let the guys keep refuelling, we'll need as much of that Tibanna gas as we can if we're going to make a run for the fleet."
"Got it, anything else?"
"Yeah, get those Jedi boys on the ball turrets."
"Sounds a little over the top."
"Better safe than sorry." She could swear she felt him shrug.
"Copy that, keep in touch."
"Will do, Rex out."
The comlink popped and then there was nothing but static. Celeste sighed, before changing the frequency to that of their in-house, "Seth, Jack, get back in here and man the ball turrets will you?"
There was a moment of silence before Jack's voice came through, "We expecting trouble?"
"Not sure yet, but better safe than sorry," Celeste replied.
"Copy that."
She clicked off the comlink and pocketed the device before continuing with the start-up procedures for the ship, eyes sharp as she got up from her chair and walked across the cockpit towards the main sensors and turning them on. Setting the output at full power, as far as the sensors could possibly go but scowled when she noticed that it was still out of their range.
"Celeste?" She looked over to see Rachi sitting in the communications chair, looking scared. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, just checking some things out sweetheart. We're good." She took a breath, and turned to the little girl with a gentle smile. She nodded, but still looked scared. Celeste walked over, picked her up, sat down and set her on her lap, resting her chin on the top of her head. "We're going to be just fine."
The little Twi'lek tensed for a moment, then relaxed and leaned into the older woman. Celeste smiled as she patted the little girls head, yet the longer she waited the more of a bad feeling continued to cross her mind, permeating her thoughts. She frowned, eyes narrowing, something big was going to happen and it was going to happen soon.
"Droids are in position."
"Receiving video uplink now."
An image flickered into existence on the holotable, showing the last thing any one of the men and women in the C&C had wanted to see. A wedge shaped structure just barely visible thanks to its own running lights, the closer the Vultures got the more features they were able to discern.
"That's a Star Destroyer."
"Try and jam their communications."
"They're too far out sir."
"Well that settles it then, get me contact with the Captains of the Indomitable and the Gallantry. Inform them of the situation and plot immediate intercept course." the Commander ordered. "I want our defence craft placed on standby alert, get every pilot into a cockpit and bring the rocks defensive systems online, I'm talking laser cannons, ion control, concussion missiles, interception missiles, ray shields, main shields absolutely everything."
"Yes sir."
"We've got confirmation from the taskforce, they're moving to intercept."
"Master Solace," the Neimoidian called, walking over to her. "We may have to think about full evacuation. Even if we do repel this attack they'll just assemble more ships and try again, our position will become untenable."
"I understand Commander," the Jedi Master nodded, face set in a mask of grim determination she had to put on too many times in her life. "I'll give the order for general evacuation of all non-essential personnel."
The Commander nodded before moving on.
Fy-Tor-Ana took a moment to gather herself before turning to them, she smiled weakly. "It looks like our reunion is cut short my friend, you and your friends get to your ship and take off. Get as far away from here as you can, Master Muln will give you the coordinates for the rendezvous point."
"Nope." Naruto cut in, folding his arms.
"Excuse me." Solace frowned.
"You guys are going to need all the help you can get, and our ship has been outfitted with enough firepower to be able to take on a Frigate. We can help and we will." Naruto continued, offering her a small smile before turning to his resident special forces guy. "Rex get in touch with Celeste, tell her to forget about refuelling and concentrate on rearming the bird."
Rex nodded before turning away, hand once again reaching for his comlink. Aayla walked over to Solace, placing a hand on her shoulder to stop her from followed him and rebuking. "Once he gets one of these ideas into his head it's impossible to stop him, just let him help."
"They've found the scouts."
"The Star Destroyer is launching her fighters, I'm seeing the signatures for TIE fighters."
"The taskforce has cleared the asteroid field, releasing fighters."
"They'll be within firing range in the next few minutes."
"What's the chances of them beating that Star Destroyer?" Aayla asked Solace.
Lowbacca growled menacingly low in his throat as he saw the Star Destroyer on the scanner, Naruto gripped onto the fur covered arm and give it a tug, bringing his friends attention back to him instead of to the warship approaching them.
"See the protrusions at the sides? That's a Victory-class with no support vessels, so the advantage will go to our Cruiser." Solace said thoughtfully. "The Indomitable is bigger, with more firepower. Twenty four fighters compared to the Cruisers compliment of two hundred and forty Vultures and Tri-Fighters. It's a no contest."
His very presence seemed to have an impact upon the very recycled air they breathed, it became heavy and each breath they took seemed to hang in their lungs. As Darth Vader walked along the main rampway of the bridge towards the towering view-ports the men and women, from the highest officers to the lowest ensigns, knew that to disappoint or fail him meant death. They all knew that the horror stories weren't urban legends but a real and valid fact.
"Captain Mahoney," Vader commented as he approached, his cloak snapping as he walked with poise and purpose, his life or death duel with the Jedi infiltrator seemingly forgotten. "Report."
"We are closing in on the rebel outpost milord," the Captain replied with a sharp salute. "It appears that the moles information was accurate. The rebel base is situated on this asteroid a few kilometres into the belt, two ships cleared the belt and are closing into our position, confirmed as a Providence-class Destroyer and a CR90 Corvette, fighters have already been launched but nothing from the asteroid."
"They do not feel the need to launch anything but drones," Vader said, folding his arms across his armoured chest. "Prepare the weapon Captain, fire on my command."
"Yes milord." the Captain saluted before turning on his heel and stalking back down the main rampway towards the ships command centre, barking out orders as he marched. Vader paid him no attention, simply remaining rooted in place, staring out the view-ports at the field of rocks and debris before them. By the time Maloney returned the Rebel Cruiser had opened up with her long range turbolaser batteries, and the swarm of droid starfighters were closing in.
"My lord, we are ready."
"Good."
"Our target?"
Vader looked at the Captain, silent for a moment, "The Cruiser, Captain."
"Yes milord." Maloney replied before turning and barking the order. "Target the enemy Cruiser, fire on Lord Vader's command!"
Vader turned to the bridge, "You may fire when ready."
They did.
Once the Indomitable came within range, and once the weapon was set they fired. A single beam of concentrated emerald energy blasted forth from the main weapons battery at the very tip of the Star Destroyers nose and collided with the Captial-ship just as she began to bank to starboard to evade. The beam struck at an angle on the portside. The shields held for a split-second before collapsing, the heavy armour held for less before it vaporised, the beam punctured through decks, through people, through blast-doors and stores before exiting through the starboard-side. The Cruiser hung there, motionless for several moments, then sparked, and exploded in a mass of flame and debris.
Vader and Maloney remained there, silent, watching as the explosion of the now doomed cruiser slowly dissipated, leaving nothing but a few shards of debris. The swarm of Vultures and Tri-Fighters which were closing in on their own fighter screen didn't seem to be effected for a few moments, then their transponders went off one at a time and they began to drift, nothing more than useless piles of scrap now that they're mother ship was vaporised.
"Success," the Imperial Captain exclaimed, smiling.
"It's only successful if it destroys planetoids with the same precision as Cruisers, Captain." Lord Vader said dismissively. "Recharge the weapon and bring us within firing range of the rebel base."
"Yes milord!"
The Command and Control centre was silent, every person within the chamber stopped what they were doing to see what had happened, the destruction of their only real defence in the Indomitable. A Providence-class Cruiser, classed as a Capital-ship, was obliterated from a single shot. The Commander began barking out orders before panic could set in.
"I need a sitrep here people, get back to your stations!" the Neimoidian roared, and slowly, almost mechanically the denizens of the control centre went back to their stations and their tasks. "What happened to the fighters!"
"When the Cruiser went down the fighters lost their hub, their just floating balls of metal now!" someone called.
"Can we reroute them to the asteroids hub?"
"Yes sir, but it'll take time!"
"Make it happen, launch everything we've got, fighters, bombers, gunships, hell even freighters. If they have weapons make them airborne! Bring the defensive grid online and make it operational, everything and I mean everything!"
"Force preserve me," Aayla muttered, wide eyed as she watched the bloom of fire slowly dissipate in the vacuum. "What destructive power."
"Have you ever seen anything like that before?" Naruto asked, also stunned.
"Never, I've never seen a weapon like that before, something the size of a turbolaser which could vaporise a capital-ship," Aayla shook her head, lekku flailing as she tried to make sense of it.
"It looks like preparation isn't going to cut it Master Solace," Rex stated as he walked towards the petite Jedi master. "We need to evacuate all non-essential personnel right now!"
"Yes," Fy-Tor-Ana said, shaking herself to break from her trance. "I believe you're right, with your leave Commander."
"Do what you need to do Lady Solace," the Commander agreed.
Solace nodded before taking a breath and speaking in a roaring voice she wasn't used too, "Give general order twenty three, full evacuation of all non-essential personnel, do it now! Get the word out to all Jedi on the station to report to their ships and prepare for battle, we'll be leading the diversionary attack on the enemy!"
"Lady Solace," the Commander asked uncertainly, frowning.
She turned to the Neimoidian, offering him what she hoped was a brave smile, "We can buy you the few extra minutes the evacuation needs, do what you need to do Commander and we'll do what we need to do."
"I like her," Naruto whispered to Aayla, who offered a small smile in return. "Rex, get in contact with Celeste and let her know we've just been challenged to a fight and it would be rude of us to decline!"
"Yes boss," Rex nod grimly before flashing a half smile. "Nothing like a fight against insurmountable odds to get the adrenaline flowing."
"Isn't that the truth?" Naruto agreed as he turned to his crew. "Alright folks, we're going with the same idea as our Jedi friends, lead a full on attack against the enemy. Whose with me?"
"Me," Rex nodded.
"I'm in," Aayla sighed. "If for nothing else than to keep you lot from killing yourselves."
Lowie growled in acknowledgement.
Obi-wan was silent for a moment, before shrugging and shaking his head. "Alright, force preserve me but let's do it. Is there a spare fighter?"
Master Solace allowed a smile of thanks, "We got a shipment of those new Z-95's a few weeks ago, didn't get enough pilots brave enough to pilot them if you're interested."
Obi-wan shrugged, "I've piloted worse."
"How many do you have?" Naruto asked.
"Three, why?" Solace asked.
Naruto turned to Rex. "Didn't you tell me a few days ago you'd love to get your hands on a Z-95?"
"Well now that you mention it," Rex replied, an evil grin of his own mirroring that of his commander and friend. "I did say that over a bottle of Whiskey, didn't I?"
"That you did," Naruto turned to Solace. "You have three additional pilots."
"We can take all the help we can get," the Commander nodded.
"Aayla, Lowie, get your asses back to the Will of Fire and take off." Naruto ordered, looking at his beloved and seeing a look he had seen a dozen times before, a look that said she wasn't going to follow his orders. "Get as many people aboard as you can and get moving."
"If you think I'm leaving you three to do this alone your dead wrong," she scowled at him, crossing her arms in defiance.
"Aayla," Naruto tried to placate, only to get a glare which he couldn't fight against.
"I'm not leaving you behind," she repeated firmly and without compromise, and to make matters worse Lowie let out a growl of agreement as well.
He had always known that she was stubborn, almost as stubborn as him in fact, and because of this he knew he wouldn't be able to convince her otherwise unless he knocked her out himself, then knocked everyone else on the ship out and set the Will of Fire on autopilot for the nearest emergency rendezvous point.
"The Will of Fire is boasted to be able to take on a Frigate boss, we could use it as a backup," Rex allowed, gaining a glare of betrayal from Naruto and a soft smile of thanks from Aayla.
"Ah, fine then," Naruto threw his hands into the air. "Get back to the ship, get it airborne and then line up with the rest of us when we launch!"
"Who do you think you're talking too, Ninja-Boy?" Aayla asked, smiling despite the peril.
"I don't know Star-Girl, you tell me," Naruto replied cheekily, smiling himself before leaning down and sealing his mouth over hers in a quick and chaste kiss. "You take care of yourself, you hear?"
"You too, love." She nodded. The two of them allowed their foreheads to touch, a simple yet genuine show of affection before they separated. "Stay safe."
"Always do."
"Well that doesn't look good," Cad Bane wasn't usually one to speak the obvious, but after what he had seen in the last few minutes he was willing to admit to shock and awe.
Skirata also watching the scene with rapt attention, nodded his head. "There have been rumours circulating for quite some time that the Empire was developing powerful new weapons, but to have developed a laser which can destroy a capital-ship with a single shot is... crazy."
"Crazy but true," Bane replied dryly. "And our target is right in the middle of it. It appears that the rumours of him always getting into trouble wherever he goes were true."
"If he dies then we can kiss the bounty goodbye," Bane hated to admit that his impromptu partner was right, so he didn't.
"Well what do you suggest," he asked instead. "Run into the middle of a fight between the Rebels and the Imperial military?"
"Infiltrate that asteroid and get him before they blow it," Skirata surmised resolutely.
"Are you mad?" Bane asked. "I have read up on him and his habits, and he won't be on that base for long. He likes running head on into trouble than cowering in a corner or running away, not when there's allies involved."
"Then what do you suggest?"
"Wait and see," the Duros replied. "We wait for our opportunity."
"And if he dies while we wait?"
"Then we still get away with our lives. I don't know about you my armoured friend but when I get the bounty I would like to be alive to spend it." Bane replied with a little edge in his voice. "At the same time I do not want to get in the way of the Empire, they have been good clients of mine since their foundation."
"So we wait?" Skirata asked, the growl in his voice.
"Yes, we wait."
There was a long moment of silence between the two, which was only broken when the motion alarms bleeped into existence. The Mandalorian turned the alarms off and checked to see what had caused them to go off. "The base has launched fighters?"
"How many?"
"A little over a dozen, looks like a motley group of Z-95 Headhunters, Delta-7 Interceptors, a few ARC-170's, V-19 Torrents and a couple of Freighters." he replied as he continued to scan the information. "One of the freighters is the Will of Fire. You were right, he does rush right into trouble."
"That he does," Bane smirked as he watched the details scroll across the screen. "Keep an eye on that craft, and if we get the chance we take it."
"Off course."
Naruto had to admit, he liked the Z-95 he had been given. It handled well, it's controls were fairly easy to get used to and as he fell into formation with the motley crew of Jedi and Confederate pilots which were his fellow defenders he found it's controls sharper than the Will of Fire by a large margin.
"Red Leader to flight report in!" the squadron leader, Jedi Master Garen Muln's voice echoed over the comm.
Naruto listened as, one by one, the individual pilots reported in with their squadron numbers. He heard Obi-wan report in as Red-13 and Rex reported in as Red-14. Naruto looked around his cockpit, trying to remember what his squadron designation was, and finally after a moments silence after the last pilot called in he remembered. "Red-15 standing by."
"All fighters reporting in and ready command."
"Roger that Red Leader. Your orders are to try and delay the Star Destroyer as long as you possibly can. The longer you can hold them the more people you'll save."
"Roger that command," Muln replied over the comm system before bringing his attention back to the squadron. "You heard him boys and girls, split into your groups and choose your targets carefully. The enemy fighters will be coming for us but we're going to have to plough through them. Whoever makes it to the Star Destroyer target her engines and sensors, remember that proton torpedoes are limited so make every shot count, understand?"
A series of confirmations, both vocal and through clicks, was the answer. Naruto tapped a few buttons on the comm. to get him access to Obi-wan and Rex's fighters. "Ah guys, I'm guessing we're one group right?"
"How astute of you Naruto," Obi-wan replied wryly.
"Yeah boss we're in the same group." Rex replied, with a little more diplomacy.
"Gee thanks." Naruto replied dryly.
"Fighters are incoming."
"Looks like they're finished with the Drones."
"Red Leader, this is Red-16, do you copy?" Aayla's voice was unmistakable over the comm. system.
"Red Leader copies."
"Split the squadron into two, we'll take half and deal with the fighters while you take the other and deal with the Star Destroyer."
"You sure you can do it?"
"Yes Master."
"Alright, Red's 2 to 7 follow Red-12's lead and intercept those fighters, the rest of you follow me."
The Will of Fire was the first to break off, rolling to starboard then climbing onto an intercept course. She was soon followed by two Jedi Delta-7's, three V-19 Torrents and an ARC-170 which followed their lead like a small stream, their weapons primed and ready to start a fight even though they were outnumbered at least four to one.
Naruto watched as the YT-1300 Freighter which was his home led the charge, knowing he would never be able to stop her once such an idea got into her head but also knowing that if anyone in this little mishmash crew of volunteers could fight and win against such odds it would be his Aayla, no questions. Yet he had a bad feeling in his gut, something which considering how bad the odds were already brought a queasy sense of unease to him.
Muln's voice once again broke through his train of thought. "Alright Red's the rest of you follow me. We're going to take care of that Star Destroyer, the longer we hinder it the more lives we'll save!"
He got a roar across the comm's as his response.
"Well will you look at that," Bane said with a feral smile. "It looks like they're splitting up."
Skirata nodded, his hands already on the control yoke of his ship, "That they do."
"Keep an eye on that dogfight," Bane ordered. "A moment of weakness is all we will need."
The armoured man nodded, and slowly pressed the control yoke, his ship creeping slowly forward towards the approaching battle. With a few more series of commands inputted into the controls the slave drives to the ships defensive weapons came online, as well as its military grade shields, missile batteries and torpedo launchers.
By the time he was easing the ship into cruising speed it was a fully armed and operational heavily modified AEG-77 Vigo, capable of fighting anything less than a Frigate. "They will not get away."
"No, they won't." Cad replied in agreement before rising from his seat and walking towards the exit. "If you'll excuse me I will be getting back to my ship."
The Duros bounty hunter walked halfway between the cockpit and the main body of the ship before turning around, watching his partner from the shadows of his hat for a moment before he spoke. "Those men you brought with you, they are trustworthy yes?"
"I trust them with my life," the Mandalorian replied neutrally, with conviction and a lack of uncertainty. Bane hummed low in his throat, before turning and walking into and through the main compartment, passing the small group of four men dressed from head to toe in Mandalorian battle armour.
Skirata waited until the Duros Bounty Hunter was out of earshot before he finished his sentence. "Off course I trust them Bounty Hunter, they are my brothers after all."
"Lord Vader."
With almost unnatural poise the Dark Lord turned his head to the speaker, which was none other than Captain Mahoney himself. The Coruscanti native gulped noticeably under the Supreme Commanders gaze but managed to compose himself.
"What is it, Captain?"
"The rebels have launched fighters milord," the Captain replied, handing him the report. "They have broken off into two groups, half of them have moved to engage the fighter escort while the other half are heading right for us."
Vader looked at the report, then tossed it right into the Captain's waiting hands, "Captain, a handful of fighters are of no concern to this ship."
"That is not the point I wished to make, milord."
"Oh, and what was your point?" Vader asked, deceptively calm.
"The ship leading the rebels against our fighters milord." Mahoney replied, typing commands into the datapad before once again presenting it to the Sith Lord. Vader took the small device and looked at the image, not speaking for the longest moment. "The identified codes have confirmed that it is the ship of Naruto Uzumaki, the Will of Fire."
Darth Vader looked at the image for several moments before placing it back into the Captains waiting hands, "Contact the squadron leader, tell him to take the occupants of that ship alive. No extermination, understand?"
"Yes, Lord Vader."
I am thankful for all the reviews I have gotten for this episode, to be honest I had thought that it would have been forgotten and tossed under a rug somewhere by now. It hasn't and thank you everyone for that. As a thank you I will try and update this story once every fortnight, during the weekend UK standard time, if you don't hear from me on those schedules don't panic I'm still trying to get into a schedule.
Now on another note, Mandalore the Freedom, you have not been annoying so don't worry about it. qtar1984, chakra and the force are not fully understood in this story, like in normal life, I wanted to make that apparent in this story, throwing around a few different theories before bringing up the grand finale. J.E.P1996 Star Wars: Rebels will not be making an appearance mainly because I haven't kept up to speed with it, seen one episode in the middle of the season.
As to all other questions concerning the plot (Sasuke vs. Naruto, Confederate battle plan, future deliberations between the force and chakra) I will keep all these things close to the chest. Because if I tell you guys all of the secrets and plans now then the whole story will be ruined, keep your readers in suspense is a motto of all seasoned writers.
Yours Sincerely.
Darth Malleus