Hey Super Star Wars Fans
See, I can be consistent with posting.
So, they released the trailer for Mandalorian Season 3 the other day and goodness am I excited for that. Kenobi was decent. Andor was an extremely well-done slow burn. And wow that Episode 10 had me standing up and cheering. But Mando is by far my favorite. So, I can't wait for that.
Alright, Chapter twenty-one is up, and just so you know, we are nearing the end to this book.
Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty-One
The dark jedi slowly made their way down the aisle. One of them stepped out in front and pulled his cowl back, revealing a slim, wiry Echani with hawklike features and narrow set eyes. Aedan had learned long ago to not judge by appearances, I mean how could he when Master Yoda was so little and yet so lethal. While this Echani looked unimpressive at face value, he radiated power through the force. And more unnerving than that is he was not intimidated by the four master swordsmen in front of him.
"Well, what a surprise this is. I was wondering when you lot would get involved," he said. "Though your infamous lack of vision has landed you in another debacle." The white-skinned, silver eyed dark jedi spread his arms out to the side. "I mean really, when will you learn? The failure with clone wars is bad enough, and now this. Bringing four jedi against seventeen of us."
Yoda stepped in front of Kit, Cin, and Aedan. "At an end your uprising is," he said. "Surrender you must."
The white haired Echani smiled. "I am Talendon, leader of the uprising, and I must say I am thrilled to be confronted by you, Grand Master Yoda," he sneered. "You who have brought the Jedi Order down with your blindness, arrogance, and truculence. Have you listened to the force at all, Master Yoda? Has it truly told you that joining the war was its will. And your whole ban on attachments is beyond outrageous. You're nine hundred years old, when are you going to learn your lesson? I wish you had brought that grump Windu along too, so I could fully cut the head off of the already dying snake"
Aedan watched as Master Yoda's shoulders slumped, his eyes closed, and let out a long sigh. "Perhaps mistakes I have made, but taking innocent lives not the answer is. Clouded is the Force by the darkside, but not in regard to murder. Clear that is. No excuse there is for that failure."
Talendon's lip curled at Yoda's truth. He continued his walk across the room, still well over twenty meters away.
"You just want attention, don't you?" Aedan interjected. "That's all this is. A youngling throwing a tantrum."
"I'll show you a tantrum," the Echani roared, and thrust his hand forward, and lightning shot forward. Aedan merely raised his saber up and caught it on his blade. Talendon then let a second burst of force lightning out, aiming for Master Yoda, who to Aedan's terror did not even reach for his blade.
The tiny, diminutive green master simply lifted one hand up to the incoming attack, and before Aedan's eyes he saw Master Yoda absorb the lightning into his palm. Aedan could not believe his eyes. He'd seen a lot over the years. Had seen force lightning deflected, but never halted and then absorbed into the hand. What did that even mean? Where would the energy go? There's always something more to learn.
Aedan was not the only one shocked. It appeared Talendon had never witnessed such mastery before either, and his supreme confidence faltered. He took a half step back. He glanced around and saw that his companions, though unsettled, were still with him, which seemed to help him a little. Eight of the dark jedi moved up alongside him, while the other eight split up, hopping over the slot machines on either side of them in order to flank the jedi.
"There's too many of them," Riggs said over the comms channel, clearly panicked. "We need to retreat."
"Lock it up, Riggs," Quix whispered. "That's not an option. Stick to the plan."
Yoda turned his back on Talendon and the approaching jedi, and moved several meters behind Kit Fisto who stood in the middle of aisle, Cin Drallig and Aedan on either side of him. They waited as the enemies drew nearer, and once the group of dark jedi crossed the middle of the hall, directly under the chandelier, the four SecOps agents popped up, aimed their high-powered blaster rifles, and fired four shots into the cable holding up the massive chandelier, sending it crashing to the floor. The three dark jedi at the front rolled forward, narrowly missing getting crushed. Those in back were able to leap clear, but two in the center weren't so lucky, and were buried under kilograms of glass and metal.
Two down. Fifteen more to go.
After the chandelier fell, the agents up top unloaded on the dark jedi that were creeping around the sides. Their fire was scattered as they blasted away at multiple targets—three-shot bursts to each one, and then on to the next. This kept the dark jedi off balance, but they still managed to deflect all of the rounds. Each SecOps agent was giving an extremely narrow target as they lay prone on the third level, their barrels, optic sights, and tops of their heads barely emerging above the duracrete floor. One dark Jedi, sensing easy prey, leapt up to the second floor without any oncoming fire, and then began his ascent to the third where the agents lay evidently oblivious to his upwards approach. He rose a meter up, and then halted in midair. Confusion filled his eyes, and then panic crossed his face as he locked eyes with Master Yoda who was standing underneath him, one hand extended towards him. Yoda grunted, and then launched him flailing across the hall landing in a broken heap two meters away from another dark jedi. Angered at seeing his comrade fall, he reached out with the force and pulled at one of the SecOps agents. Agent Barden lifted off the ground a few centimeters, but then stopped as his harness was secured to the railing. The dark jedi narrowed his eyes and pulled harder, but the strong cables held, and the agent remained safely secured, and continued firing causing the dark jedi to scramble and run for cover.
The three dark jedi that had barely dodged the crashing apparatus had only a brief moment before Kit Fisto was surging right for them. He ferociously swept into the first attackers attempt to block, but the slash was so powerful and the dark jedi caught so off balanced he was knocked backwards. Aedan and Cin engaged the other two enemies, but only fought defensively as their opponents attempted every strike, slash and cut possible. The two master swordsmen blocked every attack, but did give up ground, taking a few steps backward. Kit Fisto was now several paces ahead of Aedan and Cin, his back exposed to the dark jedi who soon became aware of the Nautolan's vulnerability. And one attacker, realizing Aedan was orders of magnitude better than him, decided to take advantage of the moment. He spun around, took two steps toward Master Fisto, and then swiped down at his exposed head.
There was a flash of sapphire as the red saber was beginning its descent, and an arm severed at the elbow fell to the ground. Aedan's blue blade continued forward towards Kit's attacker as the Nautolan spun on his heel to the right and dashed straight for Master Drallig's foe. The sudden change in tactics was too much for the other two opponents and they fell to the Jedi's superior skill and ability.
Up above, the agents' scattered fire wasn't effective until Quix spoke into her comms. "Concentrated fire on my target...now." All four units fired at full auto into the dark jedi who Quix had been firing at. The sudden, massive onslaught of fire overwhelmed the target, and several laser blasts slipped through his defense, lancing through vital organs, and sending him to the floor.
Seven down. Ten to go.
The remaining Dark Jedi fell back towards the main entrance of the room, and took cover in the hallway. In an impressive display of patience, they seemed to discuss strategy.
Taking advantage of the momentary reprieve, Aedan checked in with Quix, "Everyone okay up there?" he asked.
"We're good to go. They're starting to tee off on us now, getting closer and more accurate with their deflections. But we'll be fine."
Aedan didn't like that. These dark jedi were more skilled than he presumed, and that was an issue. "Copy. Vary your rates of fire and shot selection."
"My thoughts exactly," she responded.
Kit Fisto turned to Aedan, "Should we advance while they're not ready."
"No. While I don't like waiting to see what they come up with next, they'll have the advantage with their numbers and we won't have overwatch support in that hallway."
Master Fisto nodded his agreement.
"They're going to be desperate," Aedan said, "So be ready for-"
Aedan dove to the side as a fast-moving storm of metal debris and glass shards streaked through the air towards him and the other jedi with alarming speed. Aedan had moved quickly, leaping towards the cover of a slot machine to avoid the chandelier wreckage that the dark jedi had force pushed down the aisle. His torso cleared, but a searing burn across the back of his leg told him his lower body wasn't as lucky. Master Yoda performed several flips to the side and avoid all of the incoming projectiles. Fisto missed most of the attack, but sustained slight lacerations to his shoulder, and it looked like he was bleeding from a few tendrils. Aedan winced knowing this had to be excruciating. Master Drallig had not reacted as quickly, and was hit with one of the metal support bars across his back, sending him sprawling across the ground. Master Yoda force pulled him out of the way of more incoming hazards.
Aedan heard a torrent of blasterfire and glanced around his cover. His stomach sank. His blood went cold. The dark jedi were not pressing the advantage towards them; they were leaping up towards the SecOps agents who were firing frantically at the quickly ascending foes. With no jedi support they'd be cut down in minutes.
Aedan checked the wound on the back of his leg. Seeing that it was only a mild laceration, and didn't need immediate medical attention, he was good for now. "Hold tight, Quix," Aedan said into his earpiece. "We're coming." He zipped around the slot machine, leapt up onto a sabacc table, gathered the force, and then sprang up towards the second floor grabbing onto to the railing, one floor closer to the dark jedi that were closing in on Quix and her men.
He channeled the Force, and bent his knees prepping for another enhanced leap when an invisible hand grabbed him around the torso and yanked him down. There was no time to reorient, much less reach out and grab for anything, so gravity took its normal course and he plummeted down. Pain erupted across his ribs as he crashed into the sabacc table, breaking it in half and sending chips and cards flying everywhere.
His vision went blurry, and black spots filled his view momentarily. The wind was knocked out of him as he wheezed and rolled onto all fours. From the corner of his eye he saw Talendon approach, his silver eyes simmering with satisfaction. Aedan willed the air to return to his lungs, and the pain to recede so he could concentrate on fighting. The Echani smirked as he neared, raising two hands.
Come on Aedan, get up
He willed himself to stand, begged his body to cooperate, but his legs gave out. He hung his head, waiting for the end. Then there was soft thud next to him. Glancing up he saw Master Yoda standing a meter in front of him. "Catch your breath," he said. "Handle him I will."
Aedan sank back down in relief. He tried whispering, "Thanks," but all that came out was a wheeze. With Yoda there taking up the fight, he had a few moments to gather himself. He closed his eyes and tried to seek out his almighty, celestial friend.
A little help here
The recovery was slow going, he had fell from two floors up and the sabacc table breaking his fall was probably a blessing as drop straight to the event hall's marble floor would have been far more disastrous. He slowly got to his feet, and glanced up to see two dark jedi nearing Quix. The taller one's hood was down and it was obviously the Bothan, and the other was a red-haired human female. She and Riggs were holding them off on their side-the angles of fire making it difficult for the enemies to approach. Then he sensed Riggs' panic. He was holding on by a thread, and that thread was breaking. He gritted his teeth and moved to his feet, preparing to leap back up.
But a Klatooinian soaring through the air, headed straight for him, stopped him in his tracks. He growled in frustration and rolled backwards, as the attackers red lightsaber cut a molten orange gash into the floor. Aedan came up to his feet and brought his lightsaber out as the dark jedi executed a number of vicious strikes. Aedan parried the ferocious blows while moving backwards, scrutinizing every move. His attacker was good—strong, fast, and well-conditioned. But his balance was off. All his weight was on his front foot, putting too much momentum forward. Aedan gave up ground until he bumped into a large viewscreen. The aggressive Klatooinian tasted blood and sliced downward. Aedan pulled his right shoulder back, stepped backwards with his right foot, twisting his body, evading the blow as it cut through the screen. He turned this movement into a 360 spin, and brought his lightsaber down at the end of his spin, slicing through the Klatooinian's wrists. The blade dropped to the ground, two hands still holding it. He didn't wait for a reaction and blasted him backwards ten meters with a Force push.
He briefly checked on his allies-Kit Fisto and the other two guards were being attacked by several opponents, but they were holding their own. Yoda and a mostly recovered Cin Drallig were entangled with Talendon and a couple of his minions. They'd be fine. He turned back towards Quix in time to see Riggs finally break. The scared agent turned from the battle and fled down one of the halls. The two dark jedi now moved in largely unhindered. Aedan saw as Quix tried to hold them off with well-placed shots, but the Bothan reached out and grabbed her in a Force choke, her hands going to her own throat, the harness the only thing keeping her on the floor. Aedan sprinted towards her, his heart clinching in terror as the second moved in with lightsaber held high. He threw his lightsaber forward, instantly guiding it from his hand with the Force, and shooting it forward at the Force choker, causing him to stop his attack and deflect the missile, and Aedan recalled it into his hand and continued sprinting towards them from below.
Quix landed on the ground in a crouch, and quickly drew the pistol from her thigh holster and fired at the dark jedi approaching, varying her shots from his feet to his head, making it slightly harder for him to deflect accurately, while simultaneously drawing the vibroknife at her back and slicing through the harness attachment. She backpedaled, still firing, for several steps, and then was yanked off the ground again by the Bothan, and without hesitation was flung over the railing, and plummeted to the marble floor far below.
Even falling to her death, she still fired at the dark jedi.
Aedan dropped his saber and reached out with both hands towards his falling friend, convening with the Force in a profound prayer. Inspiration flashed through him. Catching her would be near impossible, but pushing her would be easy. He blasted her with a Force push as she had fallen below the second-floor railing. She was sent towards the side, and collided with the wall, but at a much slower speed than she would have with the marble floor. She hit the wall with a thud and then slid down it, knocking an expensive looking painting off the wall, and smashing a light fixture that was sticking out. Aedan was able to help with her descent much easier as he had something to push against, although he assumed this wasn't the most comfortable feeling for his friend. Better than being a broken heap on the marble floor. Landing unceremoniously in heap, pain flashed across her face. Then she glared at Aedan who was rushing over to her.
"Did you just Force push me?" she yelled.
Aedan shrugged, "It saved you didn't it."
She let out an exasperated noise, "Never do that again."
Aedan nodded towards the Bothan and the human female jedi, "Are you fit to go for round two."
"Feels like it's round twelve, but yea, I'm good."
"Any ideas on how to engage?"
Quix looked up to the third floor where the Bothan and the redhead were making their way towards where Master Fisto, Barden, and Xavier were fending off several dark jedi already. Aedan saw her trying to find a quick way up there but the stares and lifts weren't anywhere near them.
She sighed, "Throw me."
"What?"
"It's the fastest way up there. Throw me."
Aedan did his best to stifle a smirk, and reached deep into the Force. "You have a plan for dealing with them once you're up there?"
She nodded, rotating her A-280 around so it was strapped across her back. She checked the power pack on her pistol, and then holstered it. Then flipped the vibroknife in her hand so she had reverse grip on it now. Aedan readied himself. "I'm going to land you behind them, and then I'll jump in front of them."
Quix' gaze was locked onto the two above, "Awesome. Let's get on with it." And then she took a hand grenade out from her back pouch and armed it. "Ready."
Aedan took a deep breath, gathering what he could from the infinite energy field, and then grasped Quix as gently as he could. She grimaced as he lifted her up, and then he sent her flying through the air up towards the two dark jedi. He saw that as he guided her closer to the third floor, she pulled back her arm and, before landing, tossed the grenade in front of her targets. They reacted quickly and tried to fling the grenade away while jumping backward, but she had timed it perfectly so the moment it hit the ground it exploded. The female took most of the blast and was knocked off her feet. Aedan let Quix down softly, and saw her dash forward as the Bothan had sensed her presence. She kicked at his hand holding the lightsaber, his apparent lack of discipline causing him to haphazardly hold it in an ineffective position. Quix' heavy durasteel toed boot connected with the Bothan's hand, and there was an audible crack, and the lightsaber clattered to the ground. Aedan leapt to the second floor, and then leapt to the third, hopping over the railing as the female was getting to her feet. The right side of her face was covered in blood as there were pieces of shrapnel still imbedded in multiple parts of her face.
She screamed in rage, and swung wildly at Aedan. He ducked under the slice, only to catch a boot to the face as she had continued her wild slice into a spinning heel kick. His vision blacked out for a second, but cleared giving him time to lean backwards at the follow up attack, the blade passing centimeters in front of his face. He shook his head, and sank back into the Force, meeting her next attack much more easily. He saw Quix out of the corner of his eye engage the Bothan.
After kicking his saber away, she drove the vibroknife forward. The Bothan, though in pain and angered, had the wherewithal to block the knife, and counter with his own looping right hook. Quix ducked under it, and then slashed forward again with the knife. This time it sliced him, cutting a long gash across the Bothan's chest. He bellowed in anger, and then sent a hand forward, Force pushing her against the wall. She hit hard, and flopped to the ground. The Bothan was on her, both hands going to her throat, and lifting her up against the wall, her feet dangling below her.
Aedan reached out to pull him away, but quickly retracted his hand, as the female dark jedi's red blade sliced through the air where his hand had been. She came on strong, whipping her blade out in short, rapid-fire attacks, attempting to overwhelm Aedan's defenses. A sneer slipping through her obviously practiced calm exterior. Aedan nearly laughed.
"Juyo. Really? No one out Juyo's me. Well, maybe Master Windu, but don't tell him I said that. I'd love to teach you a lesson, but my friend's in-" He wasn't given a chance to finish.
Shame
He knew she was going to try a Vornskyr's Ferocity this time, and was ready for it. She took a violent, looping swipe at him, and not only did he duck under it, but he guided the red blade even farther away with his own lightsaber, sending her off balance. She awkwardly tried to reverse her blade back into him, but Aedan's blue blade met hers early. As the blades made contact, he let go of the hilt with his left hand and shot it forward, grabbing her hands, jamming her. He curled his blade up and over hers, angled his hand inward, and then brought the saber upwards, cutting clean through both of her wrists. She sank to her knees staring at her missing limbs. Aedan brought the butt of his saber down on her head hard, knocking her out. He then sprinted towards his friend.
Quix brought her knee up putting it on the Bothan's chest and then extended her hips, giving her much need breathing room, and finally breaking his grip on her throat. Her feet hit the ground and then she slammed her head forward into the Bothans solar plexus. The breath rushed out of him in a whoosh, and he doubled over. Aedan was still sprinting towards her when he saw her hand reach into her pouch pull something out and then punch at the back of the Bothan's head, who recovered quickly and spun around with a violent backhand catching Quix in the bottom of the jaw, lifting her up off the ground and sending her flying backwards.
With Quix down, the Bothan was able to dart to the side and grab his lightsaber, igniting it and turning back to face Aedan and Quix. Aedan brought his saber up ready to engage, but paused as he noticed something off about Quix. She slowly climbed to her feet...laughing. The same laugh he had grown fond of in the previous months together only with a slightly more sinister tone to it.
"What are you laughing at?" the Bothan asked.
She brought the knuckles of her left hand up to her mouth and wiped the blood away, still laughing. She then brought her right hand up, her fingers curled around something.
"Justice, vengeance, retribution, whatever. All fancy words for the truth," she said, and opened up her hand revealing a detonator switch. She flipped up on an activation switch, and a beeping noise started coming somewhere from the Bothan, who was now scrambling, hands reaching all over himself to find the source of the noise.
Aedan grinned. So that's what that sleight of hand and punch to the back of the head was. She put the explosive in his hood.
Quix lifted up her thumb raising it above the detonator. "Payback's a bitch," she said, and pressed down on the trigger.
Aedan and Quix dove their separate ways as the Bothan was blown to pieces. The shockwave washed over Aedan and reverberated throughout the event hall. Aedan let the dust and debris settle before rushing over to Quix. He found her reclining against the wall, a bloodied smile on her face.
"Not bad, Jedi," she said with a chuckle, then winced. "Not bad at all."
Aedan smiled, and held out a hand, "Come on trooper. Let's finish this."
He hefted her to her feet and they both took in their surroundings. "Looks like it's over already," she said. The event hall, though a complete mess, was quiet now. Kit Fisto, Xavier, and Barden looked as though they just finished off the last of the dark jedi they encountered, the Nautolan powering down his lightsaber.
"But where's Master Yoda and Master Drallig?" Quix said
"Not sure. Let's go find out."
They slowly made their way to Master Fisto, the two Jedi nodding in respect. "Well fought, Master Fisto," Aedan said.
"And you also," the Nautolan said with a smile.
"Is it over? Where's Master Yoda and Master Drallig?"
"Over it is, for now," Master Yoda said, coming up behind them, and Master Drallig not too far behind, though he seemed to be walking gingerly.
This time Aedan wasn't startled.
Apparently, I'm learning
"Talendon tricked the last three of his men to make a stand, using them as a diversion, and fled once we engaged them."
"He escaped?" Aedan said. "But I thought the hangar was locked down."
"It was," Master Drallig said, noticeably still in pain. "He got on an escape pod, and then was picked up by the reserve starship."
Barden stepped forward, clearly upset. "So we failed? After all that we failed."
"We took out sixteen of their members," Kit Fisto said, "Sixteen of them. Their insurrection is over."
"Yea, but the leader got away," Barden responded.
"Not exactly," Master Yoda said, causing everyone to stare at him. "A tracker I slipped onto him when dueling."
Aedan laughed, "Well, let's go after him."
Yoda grunted, and looked at the ground. Cin Drallig stepped forward holding a holotransceiver, "We received this a few minutes ago," he said as a blue hologram of Master Windu appeared.
"Masters, I urge you to hurry back to Coruscant. There have been some developments in the search for the dark lord. All of you will be needed in the investigation."
"Dark lord, huh." Quix chimed in, "That sounds ominous."
"Hurry back to Coruscant we must. Apologize, I do."
Quix sighed, "I understand. Give me the tracking device, and we'll call it even. I don't think I can thank you all enough. The leader may have escaped, but we've all but wiped out their group. This is a victory and we couldn't have done it without you."
Master Yoda bowed low in response.
After a fairly unpleasant chat with the captain of the ship and the head administrator of the cruise line, the Luminance jumped back to Agora. Promises were made of reimbursement and recompense, which only slightly placated the angered parties. Aedan didn't exactly blame them. They did ruin the experience for a few hundred guests, and not to mention the bad press that the ship line would get. But the three Jedi were diplomatic and made them see that they and all those on board had played a vital role in stopping some of the worst terrorists in the sector. Amused, Aedan watched as the demeanor changed. They actually began to feel...proud, fulfilled even. They helped stop terrorists.
"Many lives you have saved with your sacrifice."
When Yoda said those words, Aedan knew there wouldn't be an issue anymore. The four Jedi departed the space port in Quix' Mistrider, and soon they were bidding farewell to the skilled and feisty agent. Aedan was last to say goodbye as the others were making their way onto the Nubian and starting the launch sequence.
"Well, Jedi," Quix said, "I'm finally rid of you."
Aedan dramatically wiped his brow, "Not sure how much more I could take of your sass."
Quix smiled, "Oh please, you know you're going to miss all of this."
Aedan chuckled, "I know."
Quix's expression turned serious. "Thank you for everything. For saving my life."
"It was an honor fighting next to you. I'd love to do it again some time."
Quix laughed, "Hopefully, the next time we meet it won't come to that." She handed him a transponder. "If you ever need anything, contact me with that. I do owe you."
Aedan held it up, "Thank you."
"Goodbye, Jedi," Quix said, and started to turn around. She seemed to hesitate, and then moved towards Aedan and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Aedan returned the gesture. "I hope she knows how lucky she is," she whispered, kissed his cheek, her lips lingering on his skin, and then she walked away.
Aedan stood there frozen for a moment. The blast of wind that hit him when the Mistrider took off seemed to shake him out of his stupor. A half smiled formed on his lips as he watched the legendary craft's thrusters glow bright blue, speeding the ship away, two white lines marking its trajectory through the atmosphere.