Chapter 8
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP *CLICK*
Aang switched off his alarm clock, which woke the rest of the team. "Alright, guys. It's almost sunrise. We need to prepare for that, bounty hunter, dude." Aang told the team as he exited his tent.
"Got it." Exar responded, popping out of his tent, groggy and a bit frustrated.
"Why wake all three of us? You could take him on yourself." Jo pointed out, also stepping outside.
"Could, but the rules go a different way. I added some 'excitement' to the ritual." Aang said.
"Oh boy." Jo retorted sarcastically, while ironically stretching his metal limbs.
"Come on, Jo. You know it's a good thing when it comes to 'excitement' with Aang." Exar told him.
"Yeah right. Remember the blender incident, or the engine one? Those practical ones did not turn out very well. In what way could you-"
"Jo." Exar interrupted. "This is a standoff. Plenty of ways it could be exciting."
"Yeah I just realized that."
"Okay we're wasting time; the sun should be rising in a half hour." Aang stated, looking up at the brightening sky.
Viran had already woken and started on his small journey to find the trio. He went back outside the forest and looked around for a sign as to where they might be. He shielded his eyes with the macrobinoculars and zoomed in on hard-to-see places. He looked around and finally spotted a town. He put the binoculars in his handbag and took out a datapad and wrote out the coordinates of the town, according to his binoculars.
Viran then went back to his ship and hopped in. He tried turning it on, but it wouldn't. He rested his head on the headrest of his chair, closed his eyes, and grunted, "Out of fuel." He got back outside and continued 'going through his facts', "Probably would've been smart to refuel in the middle of a trip to another planet across the galaxy. I sincerely hope those three aren't getting into trouble, but then, I don't know them very well. Then again, they're teenagers."
Anson Tomas stanced himself in the middle of one end of the street, waiting for the Jedi to arrive. The sun began rising at that moment, and people started gathering along the buildings to watch the face off. Anson kept glaring forward, expecting them to appear at any second. And arrive they did, Aang leading Exar and Jo. "And here I was, thinking you'd never arrive."
"That's one thing you don't know about Jedi: we don't chicken out like that. We tend not to get ourselves into these situations in the first place."
"Yet here you are."
"You don't seem like the dim-witted type. You know we just need a ride to Coruscant."
"Not what I meant. You could've avoided this. But enough of that; you know the rules. Who do you choose to participate?"
"We have to choose?!" Jo grumbled, drifting his gaze over to Aang.
"Yes." Aang whispered back. "I choose my friend, Jo." He proclaimed, stepping back and gesturing to Jo.
"Aang, I'm not okay with this."
"Just do it."
"Why am I the only one that gets selected for this kind of thing?"
"For one thing," Aang quietly replied, "You're made mostly of metal. Secondly, you didn't mind taking on those Tuskens."
"Pretty much made half metal." Jo corrected, sharply emphasising the correction. He stepped up and loudly asked Anson, "How does this work?
"You have a blaster?"
...
"Not exactly." Jo detatched one of his arms and one of its compartments disconnected from his arm and flew up. Jo grabbed it and held it. "I got this. It can act as a blaster."
"Well, we keep our weapons at our side, we wait ten seconds, we pick them up and fire. Just hope you're quick enough to survive."
"Oh I'm sure I will." Jo said as he secretly pressed a hidden button on the probe/blaster and placed it on his belt. 'Knew that would come in handy.'
"Clock it." Anson shouted.
A watcher on the side started a beeping countdown.
10
Exar started worrying. He didn't know of Jo's blaster skills, so that poured more anxiety onto him.
9
8
7
Aang started getting nervous.
6
5
4
3
Everyone's eyes were going from one player to another
2
People covered their childrens' eyes
1
DING
*Click*BLAM
The crowd gasped.
Anson fell. Aang grinned as he observed Jo's strategy. Anson wasn't dead, just stunned. Jo picked his arm up and put it back together and on his arm.
"Yeah I forgot to mention this doesn't involve killing." Aang said to Exar, who lightly hit him on his shoulder.
"Well we won, but how are we going to find his ship?"
"If you enter my 'Republic trap', you will be registered, and that information includes where their ship is parked. So if anyone does anything wrong, we'll know where to find them."
"You wouldn't have that problem if you'd inject trackers within people."
"Wellllll-"
"No!" Exar recoiled with a somewhat disgusted face.
"Relax, I'm kid-" Aang started laughing, "I'm kidding. I just-" He interrupted himself, still laughing, "You should've seen your face just now." His laughter died down and he turned and whistled loudly, then the head of security approached them and handed Aang the registration list. Aang scrolled through and found: Tomas, Anson - Parked in docking bay 23.
"Well then. Let's move."
"Hold up, do you not have them show their background? Some of them could be criminals." Jo spoke his thought.
"Oh we have them do that, it's just on a separate file. Those who have broken any law... we inject a tracker."
Exar hit Aang on the arm again. "That's totally wrong, dude. I hope you take them out later."
"We do. But the process is painful."
"We gotta talk later."
By the next morning on Coruscant, Rye, Erickson, and Garm were almost finished preparing the fleet for the attack. Overnight, Rye had some workers buy needed parts to fully refresh the ships; by morning, they were practically finished. Erickson then had Ephraim summon Calista for the final report and new orders. They were one-hundred percent complete by the time she had arrived, and she was greeted by the Jedi and the workers.
"By the organization of the room, and the grit of the workers, I assume you have completed the preparations for the attack?" Calista asked with expectation.
"Indeed, your honor." Rye and Erickson briefly bowed their heads, to which Calista chuckled.
"Well then, Senator Garm Iblis, assemble your men and prepare for the battle." Calista ordered.
"Yes ma'am." And Garm went right to it.
"Though, your highness, what of my team? I was hoping we could wait for them so they could be a part of this." Rye asked as everyone started scattering.
"I understand your concern, but we can't wait. With all we know, they could be heading here for another attack right now. And if we lose, at least they will be fine. My point is: if we wait, they will most likely gain an upper hand."
Rye hesitantly nodded in agreement, then said, "I'll contact Viran."
"Those three were here yesterday; they headed into town right before sunset to look for a pilot who could take them back to Coruscant. And by the looks of it, they got one." Maz informed Viran as she showed him a holographic picture, from the news, of Jo facing off Anson. Maz slid her finger across the screen and next showed a picure of Anson passed out on the ground and the team was gathered around each other. Maz turned it off and said, "I guess you should hurry if you want to catch them. Your starfighter should be refueled by now."
"Alright. Thank you," He muttered 'Excuse me', almost forgetting her name, "Maz." Maz nodded and silently chuckled. "Oh. Something really important-"
"They have the holocron." Maz interrupted, raising her hand.
Then, Viran's holographic communicator beeped and he picked it up and activated it. Rye appeared again. "What is it?"
"Any progress finding the team? Preparations are complete and the attack will start soon."
Viran started to panic, then calmly answered, "No. But I know where they are. They're in a nearby town, getting a ride off the planet. I might be able to catch them in time."
"Nearby?"
"Yes."
Viran saw Rye paused for a moment. He shook the hologram around, wondering if it was broken. "It's not broken, Viran. Just the easiest solution was avoided."
"What is that?"
"Communicate with them, using what you're using now."
Viran mentally kicked himself, then replied, "On it." Then shut off the hologram.
"I was waiting for you to think of that in our conversation about contacting people a short distance away." Maz said. Viran grinned and quietly laughed in response.
Viran tried contacting the team, and succeeded. He heard the buzzing on the other end, and heard Exar's voice from the other side, "Exar Sunrider here."
"Exar, I need you to tell your team-"
"What kshksh saying? We kshkshkshkshksh-nals here for some reason. Try somewhere elkshkshkshksh- *pop*
"They have a bad signal, I better hurry. Goodbye Maz."
"Farewell, Jedi Master Viran."
Viran started out the door and hopped into his luckily, fully refueled fighter. He quickly turned on the engine and lifted off slowly. "I'm coming guys. Stay out of trouble."
Geez, he really doesn't know them.