Location: Bastion. Capital world of the Galactic Empire.
THA-THUMP... THA-THUMP... THA-THUMP...
The biology behind the phenomenon didn't make any sense to the 11 year old.
"How could someone hear their own heartbeat?"
She wondered silently.
THA-THUMP...
As strange as the sensation was, she appreciated it's presence just the same. The sound of her heart beating in her ears, reminded her that she was awake! She was alive!
She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, pulling Wynn to a halt as well. They had been running down a back-alley, and were about to cross an intersection when she felt it: A sense of Danger.
Wynn picked up on the cue, and pressed himself and Allana tight against the nearest building. He looked down at her, to see that she was silently pointing to the left. Still tight against the wall, he was able to ever so carefully, peak out into the intersection. There were 2 YVH's running toward their same intersection. In about 10 seconds, both of them would be spotted by the killer droids.
Wynn went to pull Allana back the way they had come, be she had anchored both of her feet firmly to the ground, with the force. She then pulled away from him...TOWARD THE INTERSECTION!
Wynn tried desperately to shout-whisper: "ALLANA! ALLANA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" But she ignored him. She poised herself, close to the wall facing the continued back alley on the other side of the intersection.
He could hear the droid's heavy foot falls, approaching... closer... and closer.
That's when she reached out in the force. Just as the Droids were about to pass in front of the exposed little girl, a stack of crates that had been placed about 20 metres into the the opposite alley, fell over in a large crash.
The attention of both droids was thus drawn to the alleyway in the opposite direction. The droids turned in the direction of the downed crates, and proceeded to investigate the mess.
Allana didn't squander a microsecond of her diversion. Grabbing hold of Wynn's hand once again, she pulled him up the street in the direction the droids had come.
Carefully, the pair negotiated droid patrolled alleyways and streets, all the while following the location indicated on Wynn's hand held beacon receiver.
In less then 2 minutes, they where there. He had spotted a particularly large, blue dumpster about 10 metres away. That was their destination!
Letting down their guard with salvation in sight, they made a dash for the dumpster. They got about 2 thirds of the way there, when Allana let out a sharp gasp.
Wynn halted their run, and quickly examined the girl for any injuries. She looked unharmed, but her face bore an expression of terror. She turned around and pointed a finger down the way they had come, and... There he stood!
Darth Thanaton. A dark twisted spectre from the past. Instinctively, Allana raised her blaster and fired!Twice!Although the distance between them was great, so was her aim.
But, her opponent was also highly skilled. A fraction of a second before she fired, his lightsaber snap-hissed to life. The evil red blade easily nullified the threat.
Wynn knew fighting that monster wasn't an option. Their only hope lay about 10 meters away. Nearly pulling the girls arm out of it's socket, he ran the distance with an iron grip on Allana's hand.
He didn't have to turn around to know that the Sith droid had not given up. The CLOMP CLOMP of running mechanical feet, seemed to thunder in his ears.
Barely a meter away away from the dumpster, he yelled breathlessly: Echo, Tycho, Zabreeni, Four, Zero, Nine.
With that, the sides of the large dumpster fell away to reveal a sleek spacecraft.The Hawk Bat!
After 4 decades of intrigues, assassinations, alien invasions, and civil war, GA Security thought it prudent to create and deploy a quick getaway option for the Chief of State.
The Hawk Bat was one part escape pod, one part starfighter, and one part pod-racer.
The pilot's cabin was situated deep in the heart of the ship; the most protected location. The Hawk Bat resembled a short-fat missile, with two small wings that were armed with laser cannons. The rear end sported 4 ridiculously large engines, that could outrun anything, in normal or hyper space.
The hull was a light grey, with large jagged purple stripes travelling down it's sides, in honour of it's namesake.
With the hatch already open, the 2 of them dove into the ship. As soon as they sat down in the compact acceleration couches, several restraint bars slid in place, securing the both of them tightly to their seats.
Being an emergency craft, there was no need for an engine warm up. In fact, the craft had begun to rise as soon as the passengers were seated.
By the time the Sith had reached the ship, it was already out of reach by several dozen meters.
"Perfect!" He thought to himself. He raised his arm and fired a small tracker tag which embedded into the ship's belly.
Once the massive engines engaged, the vessel was just an ever fading spec in the war torn sky.
Due to the defleashed skull-like appearance of a YVH droids face, Darth Thanaton always wore a macabre smile. Yet, deep inside his Holocronic heart, he felt pure joy at having successfully completed the first step in a diabolical trap. He was on the hunt. Not for the queen or the girl, but for the perfect bait. In her pathetic attempt to seek refuge, the girl would lead him to that bait.
And Luke Skywalker would be completely undone by it.
The Hawk Bat shot through the sky like a blaster bolt. All the while, the cabin was filled with the high pitch scream of a girl who was enduring a level of acceleration far above her previous experiences.
In less than 30 seconds, they had reached far enough away from the planet's gravity well to jump to hyperspace. The first jump was preprogrammed in, and would undoubtedly be to a point in deep space, where they could then input their real destination. But where would that be?
Tenel Ka had entrusted Wynn with her most precious possession. True, they had been extremely lucky in their escape from Bastion, but the choices he made now would prove whether or not that trust was placed wisely or not.
They needed help. They needed someone that could protect them. They needed a Jedi.
His mind drifted back in time to that meeting held in his office back on Coruscant. At that meeting Master Tekli had said she was going to send a Jedi to help with Moff Negotiations.
"Ben Skywalker!" He blurted out.
Allana looked up at Wynn "What about Ben?"
"He's nearby. We just need to send a general distress signal on the Jedi channel. "
Wynn took the beacon receiver that had guided them to the Hawk Bat, and plugged it into the control console in front of him. Pushing a whole new series of buttons, he activated an automatic transmission that would reach the nearest Jedi. Now, they would just have to wait, and hope... Hope that the force was still with them.
Location: Imperial Space.
"Cowardly Moffs! Was there any other kind?" Ben thought to himself. Sure they didn't mind forking over the credits to pay other people to fight and die in their pointless power plays. But when it came to their own skin, their own blood?
With some "aggressive negotiations" Ben had convinced them to see the error of their ways, and to send their respective mercenaries home.
Ben had just set a course for Bastion when a distress signal sounded from his control board.
Opening a channel to the signal's source, he spoke into his flight helmet's mic: "This is Jedi Skywalker! What is your emergency? Repeat! This is Jedi Skywalker! What is your emergency?
"Ben!" A familiar voice crackled over the comm. "This is Wynn Dorvan! Alanna and I just escaped an attack on Bastion. Ben! I'm pretty sure that Allana was the target. We need your help!"
Ben could hear the distinct mixture of adrenaline, fear, and hope in the chief's voice. For a Jedi, that particular combination triggered a particular response: He would do whatever it took to protect the man and girl in his charge.
"Are you capable of Hyperspace travel?" Ben inquired
"Yes!" The reply came.
"Ok! I'm sending you coordinates for a rendezvous."
"I got them Ben! Give us...1 hour!"
"1 hour! I copy." Ben's voiced echoed out over the hyperwaves."
The rendezvous point, turned out to be an abandoned mine complex on a forgotten moon, in an otherwise uninhabited system. In other words: the perfect refuge.
Ben popped the canopy of his stealth X and leaped up and out. With a muffled thud, he landed on, what he assumed was, a mixture of black sand and gravel .Reaching into his robes, he pulled out a communicator. As soon as he activated it, the shrieking sound of static engulfed his ears, and dread encircled his heart.
"Oh, Bloah!" Ben spat out through gritted teeth.
Followed by: "Of course it's trap!"
Looking up from his comlink, he noticed his eyes had started to adjust to the surrounding darkness. And in that surrounding darkness, he could now see an unbroken encirclement of YVH droids, all with weapons aimed at him.
At that moment he let his training take over. "There is no emotion only peace!"
He knew so many people throughout the Jedi's existence, had misunderstood that dictum.
A Jedi didn't walk through life like a slab of duracrete; cold and unfeeling. No! A Jedi's power came from their pure unselfish love of others. Controlled emotion was literally their strongest link to the the light side of the force.
But in situations of surprise or duress, raw emotion could overtake a Jedi; cripple him, or lead him to the dark side. That's when they stopped listening to their heart, and started listening to the force.
He knew in a situation like this, that surrender was the only course of action; capture now, escape later. But the force was prodding him to... What?.. Fight? Yes! Fight!
Someone had orchestrated an elaborate, multistage attack on some of the most influential people in the galaxy. An attack that led to the only Jedi in Imperial space, being called to a secluded location in the middle of nowhere. Yes! It was a trap! But he knew: It wasn't just a trap for any random Jedi. It was for Him! Ben Skywalker, was the snare's intended target.
This could mean only one thing: They wanted his Dad, and they would use Ben to lure his Father to his doom.
He could not let that happen. He would never be used as a tool to hurt Luke Skywalker. He would die before he let that happen. He was going to die! He was determined to die!
With lighting fast reflexes, he jumped skyward, like a launched missile, just as the ground below lit up with Blue stun bolts.
He was still ascending upward. When he felt a meshwork of some kind, entangle him from above. Before he could think, a surge of electricity, assaulted him, from the inside out. A shock net.
As he fell back down, consciousness drifting out of his grasp, he tried desperately to active the lightsaber he held in his hand. One slight movement, and he could take away their prize. He was absolutely willing to sacrifice himself, if it meant protecting his Dad. But Alas, it was not meant to be. And with that, all light faded into black.