Chapter 11

Location:"Death to the Vong"Trade station Dirha Sector

It was here that Dena's talents shone bright. Sure, R2D2 got them half way there but they needed Dena to bring in the whole Sabaac pot. You see, droids could run checks against databases, and do comparative analysis. But droids didn't have hunches, and they couldn't reach out to individuals who may have seen or known something but weren't in any kind of database. Within a few hours after receiving the serial numbers found on Tendra, Dena tracked the V.O.C used in the murder down to a specific mining supply shipment in the Si'Klaata Sector.

The hauler carrying that shipment was boarded by pirates the previous week. The scans the shipping convoy took of that particular pirate corvette matched a corvette that Jedi strike team 9 (Seha and Ben)had disabled.

Although all the databanks on the corvette had been wiped clean, the crew was a different matter. Most pirate crews had no loyalties or any form of tribalism. Faced with the intimidating canine features of a Klatooinian interrogator, it didn't take much for their own horrific imaginations to get the better of them. By the time Master Katarn would arrive for interrogation they were more than ready to show their cards.

It turns out that the crew were ordered to steal the shipment and bring it back to their not so secret base in: Hutt Space, of course, where corruption and piracy was an industry. Whether the pirates worked for the Hutts or others it didn't matter, the Hutt's always got their cut. The Base that gave the corvette it's orders was on a trade station in the Dirha Sector.

Although the whole station was full of vile business dealings, it was a Pirate Cantina called: The Slit Throat that served as headquarters to these particular "businessmen". Luke, R2D2, Tahiri, Ben, and Dena would head to the station to get to the bottom of who ordered the sabotage. Corran would stay behind and, among other things, he had the dreaded but necessary task to"gently" question Lando about his family's death. Luke would lead the strike team to the station. Surprise and overwhelming force would be needed, and they would have to be fast. After the alarms went off the whole station would turn into a viper wasp's vine.

It was just as Luke had expected it to be: A smokey, dimly lit "Rancor Pit" if he had ever saw one. Sitting around dilapidated booths, leaning against the walls, and stooped over the bar were scum (no other word for it). And Scum hailed from every corner of the Galaxy. There were some Ishi Tib, a few ugly Humans, a few Nikto, and a bunch of Rodians. Luke figured if they were bold enough, they could bluff there way into whatever data base they had and then take off before backup came.

Which is why Luke with hood pulled back, walked right into the centre of the Cantina, ignited his green lightsaber and with a single one handed over-head strike, cleaved the durasteel slab in two, spilling the drinks of the "patrons" that were on it, to the floor. At the same moment Tahiri and Ben stood on either side of him crouched with lightsabers lit. No one noticed the professional looking woman and domeheaded droid that entered behind the three. All eyes were fixed on the hated Jedi.

Then Luke said in a voice that many thought lost to the past: "I am Luke Skywalker, Grand Master (close enough) of the Jedi Order. We have come to take what we need. I have no interest in you or your operations. So I will say this once: Stay out of our way and you stay alive."

Ben was grinning so hard, Tahiri thought his face would crack in two. He was just so happy to see his Dad being his Dad again. And to his mild suprise the bold tactic worked.

For about 5 seconds. That's when the full scope of the situation came belatedly in to view. There were the visible Pirates and then there were the ones that had been recovering or just plain residing on the floors, under tables, and behind the bar. By this point dozens of blasters where now trained on the Jedi. There was a pause as nervous eyes darted at each other and the targets, the entry points and... behind ... THE BAR.

The room spontaneously lit up in an eruption of technicolor. There were duel hand blasters, blaster rifles, and heavy repeaters (the average assortment for happy hour at this particular establishment). Bolts of red, blue, green and yellow impacted the furniture and walls casting even more eruptions of flashes and sparks. But nothing could outshine the spectacle in the middle of the room where Luke Skywalker had turned into a blur of black robes and glowing green light. He moved with such speeds that his lightsaber ceased being a linear glowing blade and seemed to morph into a protective cocoon of green (or at least that's how his blade was seen by onlookers). Every blaster bolt that intersected his blade created even more light, smoke, and sparks. While Ben and Tahiri were doing some to protect the droid and crouching woman in between them it was Luke who was taking most of the onslaught.

Tahiri shivered when the sight of Luke brought back to mind some of the great last stands of her peers: Anakin Solo, her first true love, holding back a whole platoon by himself on Myrkyr. And of course, Ganner Rhysode single handedly fighting off a thousand warriors while holding the line. This is what she was watching right before her eye's: Luke Skywalker's last stand. But she soon realized this was different. He wasn't fighting like a mad man out of desperation. His attention was barely on his own efforts with the lightsaber. He was leaving that duty to the force. His attention was on the wall behind the bar... and... the previously unseen Twi'lek woman entering a code on a control panel Attached to that wall.

"Tahiri." Luke called to her with raised voice, but raised because of the noise not because of anxiety.

"Yeah?" she called back breathlessly.

It was at that moment she realized, with a mixture of awe and horror, Luke wasn't even trying to ricochet the bolts back at his opponents. He was going out of his way to avoid harming this blood thirsty pack of Huttslime. Sure enough the bolts were being thrown back into the floors, ceiling or walls.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Luke: "That Bartender !...She's going to destroy what ...we need." He said, gesturing with his eyes to the Twi'lek at the bar's wall. "Stop her... bring Artoo and...Dena, get the... Data..."

He said while deflecting hundreds of bolts.

"Got it" was her only reply.

Within a few seconds of shielding the makeshift convoy with her lightsaber, Tahiri, Dena, and R2D2 had reached the not so hidden door that now adorned the back wall. That wasn't the only decoration the wall had. Two Rodians and a Nikto guarded the entrance. As Tahiri approached, the guards dropped their sights off Luke and Ben and put all there focus on her. She in turn put all her focus on the force, letting it guide her. She sent the first bolt back in their direction but not into the Pirates. She had sensed that the door was about to close so she had aimed the ricochet blaster bolt into the door control panel, locking it open. She turned the next volley of blasts from the motley crew back on them. The Nikto Dropped like a bag of sand. The Rodians, showing a spark of intelligence momentarily ceased firing and retreated from behind the position they had taken up in front of the doorway.

Tahiri hadn't paused once, and she didn't start now. With her companions following close she barrelled through the secret passage. They were suddenly in a vast warehouse. To the right she saw that there were literally rows upon rows of shelves loaded with Merchandise and equiptment that seemed to be organized by type. Who would have thought that pirates were so professional? Were those aisle description signs? Seriously?

To the right was the Twi'lek. She was just reaching some kind of command hub. Tahiri launched herself toward the Pirate in a force augmented leap. While sticking the landing she drew back her right hand and sent a wave of energy ahead of her. The Invisible shockwave sent the woman flying head first into the head level bank of controls. She would spend the rest of the fight in undeserved blissful unconsciousness.

"Artoo!" She called out.

R2 responded with a series of whistles that were increasing in volume as he approached her.

"Right here, right here , little guy." she said pointing to the computer interface port.

"You already know what we're looking for so just grab what you can and we'll have to check it later, Luke and Ben can only hold off these guys so long."

Normally, she would have been right. And at first the Pirates surrounding Luke thought it was a matter of wearing him down. After all they thought he was not hitting them with their own bolts because they were just good. But slowly, doubts began to erode that belief.

For starters, Everytime someone headed toward the (formally) secret doorway behind the bar. He would channel the incominng stream of bolts with his blade to lay down suppressive fire, keeping his team inside safe.

Second when someone started to get too close to him or Ben he would take out their weapons with a ricochet or take them out of the fight with a disabling injury. After a while it was hard to tell who was trapped, the two Jedi or the inhabitants of the station? Was he just playing with them? Either way reinforcements from the rest of the station had started showing up and were entering the Cantina in a steady stream.

"Dad how long can we hold them off." Ben asked his Dad in a panting voice.

Luke replied in a voice that was reminiscent of someone in a near meditative state: "We will hold them off for as long as it takes. It's ok Ben we aren't in any danger."

Ben responded with: "...uh... Dad? You're kinda scaring me now."

And the barrage continued.

Back in the secret store room Dena had found what she was looking for: Crates of Ore charges. Each crate had a serial number printed on the lid. She checked through dozens till she found the right one. She then opened the lid and took out a single charge. It wasn't much Bigger than her hand; such a deadly device for something so small. Dena put it in the pocket of her jacket, and headed for Tahiri and R2D2.

By the time she had joined them, R2 had announced that he had "got it" by a series of beeps and whistles.

"Me too" Dena said.

"Good, let's move" Tahiri said.

She was starting to get worried. I mean this was insane. How in the galaxy was Luke and Ben holding off a station of pirates? How long could they last? And how in space were they supposed to make it back to their shuttle? She didn't have time to answer those questions, because in a blink, it seemed, she was there, stepping through the doorway.

She noticed Ben and Luke were slowly making there way toward her. She waited for her slower companions and then provided cover for them all is they joined the Skywalkers .

"Master Skywalker, we got it ... Uh ..how are we getting out of here?"

In a manner so calm, it freaked her out a little bit he replied: "it's will be ok Tahiri, it's almost done."

With that, using his lightsaber he sent about a dozen bolts back into the pirates that fired them. All twelve targets of Luke's counter attack, went down in a halo of smoke and sparks. This caused the room to grow still for a moment as the bandits began to rethink their strategy. Thats when Time seemed to slow down.

Luke was just standing there so calm and so powerful and confident, lightsaber ready when all of a sudden... his blade appeared to flicker and then with a snap hiss it just... deactivated! He remained calm but his eyes betrayed his surprise. In reaction to the unexpected malfunction. Luke pulled back his left hand, and started to gather the force. A strange bluish glow began to form in the palm of his hand. One of the Pirate's, seeing that the Jedi's main defender was now... undefended, broke cover and let off a couple bolts.

The bolts... struck Luke square in his chest. He dropped to his knees and as flame and sparks erupted from his robes in front of him, his face also erupted with fear and confusion. Tahiri and Ben had been out of position to save Luke from the blasts, nor had they been anticipating the need to.

Nobody had been expecting this. Ben let out an anguished cry: "Dad!"

He was about to loose another parent. Not only that, they all were about to die. Ben knew they were not going to make it out of there without his father's help. All these thoughts rushed through Ben's head all in the fraction of time it took Ben to try to reposition himself. But it was too late the pirate that had struck Luke let another pair of blasts fly. But instead of striking Luke again, the bolts of angry power slammed into...Dena?

One struck her shoulder and one caught the side of her torso as she leapt in front Luke, shielding him with her body. She fell to the floor in front of him curling up into a ball of pain, whimpering while grasping her wounds with each hand.

Luke, now only half conscious, was still amazingly holding on to the built up energy that by now was manifesting as a glowing purplish blue orb. With one final push, the power was released sending out a wave of energy ahead of him. Initially Ben and Tahiri were horrified when the wave impacted the pirates and did not send them flying backwards as they had expected. But it was soon apparent that the wave had rendered all the blasters useless. An electrical charge flashed in each of the blasters and then it was over. Now seeing the real power these Jedi possessed and realizing that nothing stood between them and two angrily humming Lightsabers, the pirates dropped the useless bricks and fled in no particular direction.

This was the: "We tried to stop them, but it's not worth dying for" line that they were not prepared to cross. With that, Luke fell atop of Dena. He did not lay there long. In the next instant, using force augmented strength, Ben took Luke and Tahiri took Dena. Hoisting them over one shoulder and lightsaber in the opposite hand they headed to the airlock with minds that were fogged with utter disbelief. In a few more surreal and seemingly disjointed moments they were disconnecting from the station and flying away leaving their would be pursuers cowering in corners and counting their lucky stars and licking their wounds.