I do not own any of the Star Wars and DC characters and ideas represented in this work.

Nardoc was studying the papers at his desk when he heard a commotion outside of his office. At first, he thought it was soldiers dropping equipment or officers having a loud disagreement but he was proven wrong when he heard what could be described as muffled yelling. He went out of his office and into the concrete hallway bunker, there his eyes widened. He blinked multiple times as he thought he was hallucinating. He saw Queen Audrey, the current ruler of Kaznia and part of the Royal Kaznian Family, was now gagged, bound, and blindfolded with several NKLF guards escorting her.

Audrey was struggling with the guards' grips, squirming and trying to impede them from moving her. This didn't stop the guards from their hold and they continued through the hallway. Behind them was Szekeres, he was in a jumpsuit and was behind the guards.

Nardoc should have known this would happen, it wouldn't take a genius to guess what Szekeres has done. He did the unthinkable, capturing the Queen of Kaznia, and is now holding her in their main HQ. If Szekeres had gone to the deep end, he would have hit the bottom a long time ago. Szekeres has officially declared war against the South, letting Olanic do whatever he wants to the North.

Sure, Nardoc didn't like the Queen, but he also didn't hate her either. Despite the NKLF trying to kill her twice now, she still tried to sue for peace and had not ordered any retaliatory actions against the North, which Nardoc greatly respects. In her own rule, she did her best to respect the wishes of the North Kaznia, she wasn't the problem, it was the dogs under her that were the source. Olanic was one of those dogs and with all of his tough personality he likes to showcase, he was still obedient to the Queen.

Now that safeguard was gone, she was in their custody, and the whole of Kaznia knew who did it. Olanic will order the Kaznian military to rampage in the North with bloodlust for the NKLF capturing the Queen. An unprepared North that will barely put up a resistance against the foreseeable offensive.

All of this was Szekeres fault, he caused this with his delusional backward mindset. He was a brilliant leader, Nardoc thought, he had a skill of tactics and was natural at leading the NKLF. Yet, now he threw that out of the window when he thought that he could just take the Queen without majors consequences that Northern Kaznians will pay for. Whatever so-called "weapon" that he said could win the war, most likely went into his old man's head.

Nardoc quickly went to his commander, grabbing his arm to get Szekeres attention, "What is the meaning of this?" Nardoc demanded.

Szekeres while offended didn't show it and got out of Nardoc's grip, then slightly smirked. "What I did Narodc, is winning the war."

Nardoc narrows his eyes into slits, "Winning? Is that what you think this is?" He pointed towards the captured Queen who was now leaving out of their sight with the guards taking her around the corner. "I could hardly call this a win when we're gonna have nothing real soon."

"Nardoc, my boy, I-"

"Don't "boy" me this, Szekeres!" Nardoc cuts off the one-eyed commander in an outburst. "We were all lucky the Queen didn't do anything while you were trying to blow her up. She was the only thing keeping Olanic in check-in. Now you just let him free like a bird and you think we won?"

Szekeres gave Nardoc a one-eyed cold stare, "You should watch your tone, Nardoc."

"I should watch my tone?" Nardoc repeated, "You should check yours first, you led our people to ruin because you wanted to prove a point? You're out of your mind!"

Szekeres's face turned into anger, and the older man despite his age grabbed Nardoc by the collar and shoved him into the bunker's concrete wall. Passing members of the NKLF who were either in NKLF uniforms or makeshift fighter garbs stopped at their spots when they saw the two leaders arguing. Nardoc didn't put up a fight as Szekeres went to his face with gritted teeth.

"Let me remind you, Colonel, that I am the leader of this movement. I will lead our people out of this pig-headed country, and I'll be the one to do it! I am sick and tired of you second-guessing my command when I'm leading our people to victory." Szekeres dropped Nardoc onto the floor.

Nardoc sat there on the floor with his back against the wall, he looked up at the angry Szekeres who continued arguing and was looking down at the younger commander, "I've always liked you, Nardoc, you've always shown yourself to protect our people above everything else."

Nardoc shook his head, "Not like this, we were supposed to defend our people and nothing more. I didn't ask for war, I didn't ask for a slaughter."

Szekeres pointed at the downed Nardoc, "You weren't there when the Regent had his pigs sick on Volgyes and Orom. You didn't see what they did to our people there."

Nardoc exactly remembers the massacres in those villages that got burned down years ago. The Regent when he still ruled the country sent some of his "Civil Unrest Teams" to settle down major protests and work stoppages of North Kaznians in those villages. They systematically butchered the majority of the villagers, stating that the villages were under terrorist control to the outside world.

Nardoc remembers seeing the aftermath, the pictures and videos the Regent tried so hard to cover up. Nardoc wasn't there, but he remembered Szekeres, Varga, and Laszlo were though. They were the few NKLF fighters who tried to stop the onslaught but couldn't put up a major fight.

Szekeres continued, "You know what Nardoc? I find it ironic that we will do the same thing to the Regent's bastard people as the same way he did it to us," Nardoc's eyes widen in shock at what he's hearing. "You remember when the Regent wanted those fancy suits from that American, Lex Luthor?"

Nardoc remembered the scandal of the Regent trying to buy those Lexcorp battlesuits years ago. Nardoc didn't answer to Szekeres though as the old commander finished his statement. "Well, Nardoc, Let's just say we got some attention from people of interest who were sympathetic to our cause." Szekeres turned his face into a grin.

Nardoc had to process what Szekeres was saying. He knows Szekeres's determination, he will always want things his way. Nardoc thought that Szekeres was always backward, but not mad. Now he's just gone completely insane. Szekere was going to be the very same monster that he hated these decades, he'll just be another Regent.

Nardoc managed to cough up the courage to stand up, "Szekeres…we can't do this."

Szekeres stepped closer to Nardoc, "If I hear another word that's isn't "Yes, Sir." I'll make you'll get replaced in a "sudden" absence."

Nardoc moved away back to the wall with Szekeres's threat. He looked down, not thinking what to do. The hallway was quiet as the NKLF members still watched as the older commander towered over Colonel Nardoc.

"Yes, Sir," Nardoc replied in a defeated tone.

Szekeres looked over to Nardoc for several moments before leaving towards the direction of where they were taking Queen Audrey. When Szekeres was out of sight, the NKLF members then continued to their business, walking past each other and a defeated Nardoc. The Colonel stood there, looking at his feet. His only thought was that this wasn't what he was fighting for.

Lieutenant Aleksandr was currently smoking his cigarette. He was posted with Sergeant Gregor to guard the gate that led to the abandoned airfield that housed the NKLF HQ. Most of the airfield was empty and broken down except for a few old storage supplies and a couple of old Soviet firetrucks. Right now, the gate was the only way in or out since most of the fence was covered in barbed wire. Since it was abandoned, the NKLF used it as a base of operations in the Airbase's underground tunnels and warehouses.

It was currently night, the moon was full and the trees were rustling due to some wind. Perimeter duty is limited due to the fact of not wanting to raise full suspicion for the South Kaznians, so the NKLF deployed a few amounts of guards to keep it under the radar.

Gregor was reading a book in the gate booth while Aleksandr was next to the gate, enjoying his now short cigarette. He then noticed in the moon's light that a figure in all black was approaching them on the gravel road. Aleksandr knew that during these nights, NKLF spies, informants, and couriers would travel in disguises. It wasn't suspicious for this one guy to come out, but he still had to be cautious.

Aleksandr flicked the cigarette butt at Gregor for his attention. Gregor stumbled almost at first but looked up to realize that there was a stranger approaching the gate. Gregor quickly got up and went beside Lieutenant Aleksander with his Yugo SKS. The Lieutenant walked towards the stranger with Gregor, he turned off the safety of his Russian AK-74 and stopped at a talking distance to challenge the stranger for the password of the day.

"How was the football game last night?" The lieutenant spoke in Hungarian.

The stranger in black continued to walk, not saying a word.

Aleksandr and Gregor took note of them not saying a single word. Both loaded their weapons to give off an audio warning. The weapon's made a mechanical click that should be heard by the stranger. The man in black got closer, not hearing or caring.

Aleksandr spoke up again in Hungarian, "I said, How was the football game last night?"

The man got closer to the point where they could tell he had blonde hair and something that was shining in the moon's light at his hip. Aleksander raised his rifle to the man who was 20 yards away, and ordered Gregor to call control that they might have a problem, "Call it, Gregor," Gregor nodded and went to his side to grab his radio. Aleksander was about to yell to the stranger that they would shoot, that was until the stranger made them both stop in English.

"You will not tell your superiors." The man spoke with a relaxed tone, pointing a gesture to them.

Aleksander immediately pointed his weapon down as he thought they didn't need to call command since the guy wasn't causing any problems. Something about this guy seemed trustworthy and reliable, in fact, he's probably NKLF and he just forgot the password.

He looked over to Gregor, "We don't need to call control." Aleksander spoke in Hungarian as Gregor nodded and put back his radio. They returned their gaze back to the blonde in black as he continued.

"You will let me through the gate and will not remember anything from this."

Aleksandr instantaneously thought the guy could be trusted to be let in. The Major has been over their ass for not calling control for new visitors. They can let this one guy in and control doesn't need to know. Besides what's one guy going to do?

The Lieutenant looked over to the Sergeant, "Open the gate, control doesn't need to know."

Gregor also agreed and got his keys to open the gate. Aleksander could have sworn the blonde looked familiar but realized he was just a harmless guy and wasn't bothering them. The gate opened as the stranger was about to enter before saying one last thing with a hand gesture.

He looked over to Gregor first, looking down then up, then did the same thing to Aleksander. He went up to the Lieutenant with a wave of a hand, "I'm going to need your uniform."

Luke did his best to move around the NKLF's hidden base while not getting attention. He used a Jedi mind tricked earlier to get the NKLF's member's uniform to make it easy for him to infiltrate the base. He passed roaming guards, fighters carrying supplies, and other NKLF members doing their duties. He used the uniform cap he had to cover his face, tilting the hat slightly forward to not look suspicious at the same time not revealing his face. NKLF probably has seen him stopping the bomb from going off since it was broadcast. He was also been using the Force to hide his presence while at the same time, he was attempting to find Audrey through his senses.

The Jedi got the location of their base through that mech pilot. The NKLF was stubborn and wasn't giving Luke any information. Normally, Luke would find another way to find the information, but with Audrey's life and war coming to the country, he didn't want to risk nor have the time for patience. So he used the Force to search the man's thoughts and memories of where they were taking her. Luke didn't have to search that deep into the pilot's mind and left him to the Kaznian authorities.

As Luke entered a large concrete room that looked like it was a storage area for the NKLF. There were open shipping containers, wooden boxes, and tarped-over supplies in storage. Other than the supplies stored here, NKLF members were milling about, checking supplies, or gathering up equipment. He knew that when he entered the man's thoughts on where they were holding Audrey captive, they had her in an underground bunker complex that was beneath an old military airbase. The NKLF repurposed it into its main base of operations and has been using it for years.

Luke still looking for Audrey while trying not to get attention, went beside a wall that had crates against it, attempting to look busy. While playing the act, Luke uses his senses to detect Audrey's presence in the Force. He felt her, the beings in the underground base that radiated their hatred and loathe from the Force, Luke felt Audrey's signature through the cloud of prejudice. She was afraid, afraid of what could happen to her, what could happen to her country.

With Luke letting her signature guide him, he stops his act and lets the Force guide him to her. He exited out of the warehouse from the other side of the large room and entered a hallway. He continued to walk it, Force guiding him to Audrey. After a couple of minutes of walking through the old Soviet-designed concrete bunker hallways and avoiding any NKLF members who could see through his disguise, he reached his destination.

He went to a corner of a hallway that started, he leaned against the edge of the wall to look casual while trying to get the readout of the situation. He leans his head slightly at the corner, peaking at the hallway. There was a locked security door with two armed security guards standing as sentries. Through the bunker's walls, on the other side of the metal security door, he felt Audrey was in there.

His senses told him that she was in good health and was in no bad condition. He thanked the Force that the NKLF didn't resort to torture, but they weren't far off due to their history. He also sensed that there were two other guards beyond the door with Audrey. Luke thought about how he would rescue Audrey without causing a fight.

The whole reason why he took the time to go into disguise and not attack the base was the fear of the NKLF killing Audrey if an attempt was made. General Olanic was having none of it from Luke, for Olanic thought the Jedi was just a middling member of the League who had no idea what he was doing. Even if he did convince Olanic to mount a rescue, he would probably do it the direct way of attacking, instead of launching a covert mission. An open attack to rescue the Queen would leave the NKLF to threaten her life and they've shown the world they can do so.

As Luke leaned against the concrete wall, a pair of passing NKLF soldiers saluted to Luke. He got off guard at first but realized that they were saluting him because they might think he was an officer due to his uniform. To keep up with the disguise, Luke saluted back and dropped it when they passed. This hatched an idea in the Jedi's mind without having to rescue the Queen with brute force.

Backing away from the hallway that contained the imprisoned Kaznian Royalty, he looked around and entered a storage room. While dark, a dim light shows boxes filled with MREs all around the room. Luke, thinking that he could use this as part of his disguise grabbed one and went over to the room that contained Audrey. He stopped a few paces in front of the guards, still slightly tilting his hat forwards to give them less details of his face to show. He could use the Force to trick the guards into letting him in, but he figured that he could use this option first before utilizing the Force.

With both hands on the MRE, he silently gestured to the guards for the meal pack. Luke's bet with his rank and their thinking that the Queen will have to be fed at some point will let the disguised Jedi in. The two guards looked at Luke and back at each other, one gave a wordless nod to him. The other guard unlocks the door and lets Luke in.

He enters as the cold metal doors close behind him. Audrey was tied up to a chair in the middle of a room. She had her head down and eyes closed. He could sense she wasn't actually sleeping but in her thoughts seeing how that's the only thing she can do at the moment. The two guards were at either side of the door against the wall and looked at Luke for a second but saw his rank and they carried on to their guard posts.

Audrey looked up for a brief second not recognizing that it was Luke. The Jedi looked around the room for a couple of seconds. After viewing and sensing that no one else was in the room other than the guards and Audrey, Luke made his move. With a wave of his hand, the guards are knocked against the wall with the Force. Both being knocked out, they began to fall forward and so did their weapons. Luke used the Force to catch the guards and the weapons before they hit the ground. Both the guards and the weapons levitate for a brief moment before coming down gently to the concrete floor.

Audrey widened her eyes in surprise at what happened. She looks closer to Luke and the look of hope comes into her again, "Luke?"

Luke lifts his hat up, showing his face and a smirk to the Kaznian Queen, "Surprised?"

Audrey almost jumped up from her chair in excitement despite her being tied to it. She was about to yell his name in surprise but quickly shut herself to be quiet. Luke went over to the tied Queen to release her.

"I'm sorry if I wasn't good enough in time to stop them from taking you Audrey," Luke told the Queen with shame for not stopping the kidnapping even though he had the power to do so.

Audrey rolled her eyes as the ropes began to loosen, "I doubt that seeing how you risked your life for me, darling."

Before Luke could have said anything back to Audrey, his senses warned him that someone was coming outside of the door. That sensation was confirmed when he heard someone talking to the guards. Two things entered Luke's mind on what he could do, either he does nothing and gets caught rescuing the Queen, making him to fight their way out, which could put her life in jeopardy. Or hide himself, hide the knocked-out guards, stay quiet when the person comes in, and sneakily knock it out before he makes a noise. Luke picked the latter within a second.

He tied back the rope on Audrey's chair to not raise suspicion on her escape. Audrey took note of this and turned to him, "What is it?" Audrey whispered her concern.

Luke went beside her with his finger on his lips to gesture a silence. Then pointed the same finger to the door. Audrey looked at the door and Luke noticed she tensed up when hearing the faint but firm voice talking behind the door.

"I'm not hear," Luke said to the Queen.

Audrey moved her head down and up in a nod at where he was getting at. Luke heard the voice stop talking and the doorknob to the security door was now rocking back and forth. Quickly reaching out to the Force, he made it where the door wouldn't be able to open. He can hear the person on the other side struggling to knock the door open but was failing to do so. The doorknob was shaking violently to break the door free from whatever was blocking it.

"That will give us time," Luke muttered to himself.

With his free hand, he had the two unconscious guards and their weapons float in the air and move them behind a set of boxes to hide them. With all the evidence of him rescuing Audrey, he went behind a stack of crates not too far from the door. He quickly looked back at Audrey who did the same with him, he nodded his head to gesture to get ready. She gestures the same way with her head. With the Force developing around him, he hid his presence from anyone looking in his direction. Luke then released his grip on the door and it was free to open.

The door slammed wide open since the Force was lifted from blocking it and the person who tried to break free almost fell to the floor. He caught himself and then looked around the area. The man murmured to himself in Hungarian, Luke sensed that the man said how the door must've been broken. The man closes the door and looks around the room.

The man himself wore an NKLF uniform with no distinct feature other than what looked like a higher rank on his shirt's collar. The man was in his mid-30s with a black goatee, and semi-long black hair that reached the bottom of his neck.

The NKLF member looked at the spots where the two guards should have been and instead saw an empty space. He moved his gaze around the room and saw the spot where Luke was at. With him being behind the crates and hiding with the help of the Force, Luke was unnoticed by the man. The man then turned his eyes to Audrey, who was looking at the man with distaste pretending that he was her recent visitor to the room.

The man was visibly confused about why there were no guards within the room. He was going to question the Queen why her guards weren't there to watch her. Before he spoke, Luke thought this was the best opportunity to silence the man right now before he got too suspicious of the guards' whereabouts. He quickly dashed into a blur and went behind the man's back to retrain him. Luke had his prosthetic arm on the man's mouth before the NKLF member couldn't even say a word. Luke's other hand quickly grabbed the man's arms behind his back to keep him from doing anything.

The man muffled and tried to yell out but was stopped by Luke's tensing hand which gripped harder on his face. The Jedi was thinking about putting the man to sleep for the better, yet he sensed the man wasn't here to harm the Queen. Instead of feeling disgusted and loathing towards the Kaznian leadership, especially the Queen, Luke sensed the man was there to help the Queen out of all things.

Luke argued to himself in his head as he shushed the man to not peep a sound. The option of making the man go to sleep with the Force was still there, but the revelation of the man wanting to help the Queen can't be ignored. Luke was sure he wasn't being followed when he entered the base, the Force didn't warn him of anything that was going to happen. As far as he is aware, Luke's disguise hasn't been broken, so this NKLF member entered Audrey's room on his own accord.

Luke took a deep breath to clear his mind on what to do. The man that he restrained was in his grip, nervous about what could happen and sweating like he'd been put into an oven. The confused Queen of Kaznia looked into Luke, wondering why he hadn't put down the man like how he did to the two guards earlier. Luke was wondering the same thing, yet he wanted to know why this man contradicted his allegiance to the NKLF by wanting to help the Queen.

"I'm gonna take a guess that you know who I am and what I can do," Luke calmly talked to his hostage. He had a somewhat idea that word of a Justice League member protecting the Queen of Kaznia would spread and the footage of him stopping the bombing attempt helped that.

The man gave some thought to Luke's guess and nodded slowly.

"Then you know what I can do if you try anything." Of course Luke wasn't going to resort to torturing or killing him, it was a point of intimidation to show the man Luke was in charge of the situation.

The man nodded in careful consideration.

Luke asked the question that had been in his head when the man came in, "Why are you here?"

The man's eyes looked around as Luke's question bounced around his head to find an answer. Audrey looked at Luke and wanted to say what he was doing. Luke respectfully held a hand up to stop her from talking. He can tell the man wants to answer despite Luke restraining him from that.

The options of knocking out the man cold and continuing the rescue or letting the man speak were still in Luke's mind. The Jedi's instincts told him to trust the man despite his affiliation. Luke hesitated to let the man speak for a moment then made his decision.

"I'm gonna let go of your mouth and let you speak, you're going to be as quiet as possible and do nothing drastic. If you do anything otherwise, you are gonna regret it, I promise. Do you understand?"

Beads of sweat dripped from the man's head like condensation from a leaking moisture evaporator. A tense silence passed for a few seconds before the man nodded again.

Luke's hand lets go of the man's mouth while that arm holds the man's neck to keep him there. The man breathed in and out carefully with his mouth free from Luke's strong hold. Luke still had his other arm restraining the man's arm. The man thought carefully of his answer to Luke on why he was there.

Then he finally spoke with a Northern Kaznian accent in a quiet tone and looked back to Luke who was behind him, "My name is Colonel Nardoc, and I made the mistake of helping the NKLF."

"Nice to meet you Nardoc, I'm Luke Skywalker, why do you think joining the NKLF was a mistake?"

Nardoc looked at Audrey with guilt and shame then responded, "Because I never wanted this, I never wanted the movement to degrade to a level of violence. I joined to protect the people of Northern Kaznia "

Luke saw that Audrey scowled at the man despite his honesty towards them. Luke continued with his questioning, "Back to my first question, Why are you here?"

"Because I'm here to get her out of here," Nardoc confidently said, "Szekeres, the leader of the NKLF. He's out of his mind. He's going to attack the South with those suits he's got."

Audrey budded in, "How did he get those Lexcorp suits?"

Nardoc shook his head, "I don't know, he's been keeping me out of the loop about things like that for a while. He only said someone was interested in our cause and wanted to help. Believe me when I say I had no idea that the NKLF had involvement in your assassinations. All I wanted to protect my people, I never wanted the NKLF to be involved with Szekeres's sick sense of revenge."

She gave a skeptical look to Nardoc, not knowing if she and Luke could trust the now apparent NKLF renegade.

"So you are willing to help the Queen escape and betray your comrades than let them continue to harm innocents?" Luke questioned.

Nardoc led his head down to think about the question, he let out a huff, "Yes."

That was all that Luke needed. He could still put him down and continue his rescue. He didn't need this man to come with him. But this man saw the damage he the group he associated with and wanted to fix it. Despite being enemies, he's willing to rescue the Queen and help stop a war rather than let his personal grudges get the best of him. Something that reminded him of a certain Thanagarian woman.

Luke lets go of Nardoc. The Colonel stumbles a little forward but gets his composure. Audrey was stunned by Luke letting him go so easily. "Luke!" She did her best to get his attention without yelling out loud, "What are you doing?"

Luke gestured to Nardoc, "I'm getting help to rescue you, Audrey."

"But," Audrey didn't finish as she looked at Nardoc. Sure she didn't want a war with NKLF and was fine with having compromises with them, but to put faith in one of their leaders? These were the things Luke felt Audrey was thinking about.

"Audrey," Luke insisted, "It's clear that Nardoc here isn't part of the bloodthirsty terrorists you and everyone else might think when we hear the NKLF. He's just like you, wanting to put things right after a long history of bad decisions made by bad people." Luke looked to Nardoc, who nodded with a wordless "Thank you," for defending him.

Audrey gave Luke's words some thought. After a couple of seconds, she let out a sigh, "Okay,"

"Thank you, Your Highness," He went over to Audrey and resumed untying her, "Plus," Luke added, "I told you before I can read people's thoughts as part of my powers, he told the truth."

Audrey rolled her eyes as the ropes that trapped her loosened, making her free. "Yeah, yeah, I remember," She got up from her chair and dusted herself off, "Next you're gonna say you have the power to predict the future."

Luke rubbed the back of his head, "Well, yeah I kinda do."

Audrey stopped cleaning herself and turned around to Luke in disbelief, "You do?"

Nardoc made a fake cough to get the two blondes' attention. Luke realized that they were wasting precious time on saving the Queen, "Right, sorry." He looked back to Audrey, "We need to get you out of here,"

Audrey asked, "Right, so do you and Olanic have a plan on how you're going to get me out of here?"

Luke was going to say that he thought of sneaking Audrey out before realizing that she might've thought that Olanic and himself planned this rescue together. Seeing how he was the only one who managed to sneak on the base from his knowledge, her question was wrong.

"About that," Luke broke his thought, Audrey cocked her head, "After you got captured, Olanic didn't want anything to do with me since he thought I was the one at fault for letting them get you."

Audrey squinted her eyes at Luke in a way where she thought Luke was speaking in another language. Her face turned beet red when the realization of what Luke said hit her. "You tried to tell him that you wanted to rescue me?" She said in gritted teeth.

"Yes."

Audrey shook her head and turned her hands into fists, thinking about how she would put Olanic in a world of trouble when she escaped. Nardoc rolled his eyes when Luke answered Audrey, letting a non-surprising, "Typical."

After Audrey calmed down, she asked Luke, "Well, Now what?"

Luke eyes Nardoc then to Audrey, "We get you out of here, get in contact with your people about the base, and stop Szekeres from going through his plans."

Nardoc stepped closer to Luke to give his remarks, "Okay, but what about the mechs? We can't just leave and let Szekeres have them."

Luke knew this, "Do you know where they are?"

Nardoc shook his head from left to right, "No, like I said earlier, he's been keeping those mechs a secret for a while, probably for months. I saw one of them outside on the airstrip when they got back from getting the Queen. But they could be anywhere on the base now."

Luke sighed at this information. They could make a secondary objective of destroying or the very least disabling the mechs so they won't be able to use them. But time was of the essence, the NKLF leader was planning on attacking the South and Olanic was preparing to search the North for the NKLF with any means. Luke wanted to go find the mechs and make them into scrap, but Audrey's safety was also a priority.

"Okay," Luke said to both of them while keeping his tone down, "We're gonna get you out first to safety," he looked to Audrey. "If we have time to search for the mechs and find a way to destroy them, then that'll be our second priority," he looked to Nardoc since that was his concern.

Nardoc looked to Luke to think about the plan, then nodded, "Alright, I just hope we get the time to get rid of them."

"Do you know how many there are?" Audrey asked the NKLF Colonel.

Nardoc shrugged, "I only saw one of them before I had to go back down to the bunker. There could be more though."

The Kaznian Queen looked to her Jedi rescuer, "Think you could handle them like before?"

Luke gave some thought before confidently answering, "I had trouble before because I had to consider your safety and the safety of the civilians. With you out of the picture, they shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"So," Audrey asked, "Do you boys have an idea of how we are going to get out of here so I can rip that caterpillar of a mustache off of Olanic?"

Nardoc snickered to Audrey commenting on Olanic's facial hair. Luke pondered on what to do. The only plan Luke had was to sneak Audrey out to safety, with Nardoc's help they might have a chance of doing that and stopping a massacre from happening. Luke noted that he and Nardoc both wore NKLF uniforms, with the Jedi managing to fool the entire base that he was part of their cause. Audrey was the only one not uniformed. He then remembered the two knocked-out guards behind the crates in the room.

An Idea hatched in Luke's mind, "Easy," he looked towards "We're all NKLF soldiers that will take a stroll outside of the base."

Both of the Kaznians looked at each other and then back to Luke, "What?" Both said in unison.

Luke went to the crates that had the hidden guards, he moved one of them to show the Kaznians what he meant.

Audrey shook her head, "I still don't understand, Luke."

Luke answered the Queen's confusion, "As I said, three of us are all NKLF soldiers in uniform and were going to take a simple walk across the base and do a "perimeter check" outside." He winked to Nardoc as the Jedi picked his uniform to show what he meant.

Nardoc realized what he meant and grinned. Audrey realized what he meant and shook her head. "Wait, but I'm the Queen of Kaznia, they're gonna recognize me the second when I step outside of the door. " Audrey argued.

Luke smiled at Audrey, remembering Superman's secret identity and how he kept it for so long despite his lack of a mask. "Not to worry, they'll be looking for a pampered Kaznian Queen in a dress with long hair. They won't be looking for a female battle-hardened NKLF freedom fighter in a ponytail. You'll be surprised when people notice things and what they don't pay attention to."

Audrey crossed her arms, "Okay I know that you want me to be safe, but come on. As Queen of Kaznia, I say we aren't doing this."

"I can't believe we're doing this." The disguised Queen of Kaznia in an NKLF uniform said in a hushed tone.

All three of them were walking through the underground bunker hallway. Nardoc was in front while Luke and Audrey were beside with each other following him not too far. Audrey's uniform was a little too big for her, though uniform size was the least of her worries.

"How much further," The Kaznian Queen in disguise said quietly to Nardoc who was in front of her.

"Not much," Nardoc responded, "Just be patient, we don't want to draw attention."

Audrey did her best to not scoff loudly, "Drawing attention is usually my specialty."

Luke smirked at the Queen. Audrey guessed that this was somewhat payback for teasing him days ago. The two followed Nardoc across the concrete corridors and hallways to their destination. Passing patrolling soldiers, NKLF fighters carrying supplies, and walking officers discussing while oblivious to Audrey's escape.

Because Nardoc was one of the highest leaders of the NKLF, two other soldiers next to him weren't a concern to the other freedom fighters. They've been walking around for several minutes until Luke spoke up to Nardoc.

"You sure those service tunnels you spoke of are good to be used?"

Nardoc earlier in the room said how they could use one of the bunker's service tunnels to quietly exit the bunker to the airstrip outside without using the main entrance. "Should be around this corner."

The aforementioned corner was their next turn showing the entrance of the service tunnel. The corner led to a dead-end in a hallway, the back of the hall was a large grate that showed a tunnel behind it. The grate had a door built in the middle of the frame that could be used to enter the tunnels. That detail was put on hold due to the fact that there were two armed NKLF guards talking to one another in front of the grate.

The three saw this and stopped while trying not to look at the exit directly. They let a pair of passing-by officers continue walking before they talked about the situation.

"Well, now what?" Audrey asked the two men.

Luke eyed Nardoc, "Think you can order them to let us through?"

Nardoc rubbed the back of his head, "There's a chain of command we kinda have to respect. Not supposed to be ordering them around willy-nilly."

Luke raised an eyebrow, "I'm sensing a but."

Nardoc slightly smirked, "But I can perform a surprise inspection like you said earlier, which wouldn't disturb the hierarchy."

"Well," Luke shrugged, "Let's give it a shot."

Nardoc as he whispered, "Follow my lead," to Luke and Audrey. Both of them walked towards the grate casually behind Nardoc.

Two of the guards took notice of the second-in-command of the NKLF walking towards them and went to attention. Nardoc pretended that he wasn't helping Luke and Audrey escape the bunker and approached the two guards with a military attitude.

"Everything going along fine, Soldiers?" Nardoc asked in Hungarian.

"Yes, Sir," the two NKLF soldiers said at the same time.

Nardoc looked back behind the soldiers, "I believe an inspection is due for this tunnel," Narodc turned his head around to Luke, "Don't you agree, Lieutenant?"

Luke quickly played along and nodded. The two soldiers looked at each other with confused expressions. Nardoc went back to them, "Will there be a problem with that, Soldiers?"

Both soldiers shook their heads, and one of them said, "No, sir, not at all." The other soldiers pulled out a set of keys and started to unlock the built-in locking mechanism in the grate.

Audrey let out a relieved sigh that they were very close to freedom. She had to hold herself down so as not to run straight into the tunnel as the grate door fully opened. It seemed like this nightmare was going to be over, yet to Audrey's knowledge it was only starting.

When the grate fully opened, Audrey heard a large group of NKLF coming towards them from around the corner. The group was armed with General Szekeres leading the huddle of soldiers toward the three. The one-eyed General was staring at Nardoc as if he had a grudge. Audrey would've started to panic, thinking that their cover was blown, but Luke went beside the disguised Queen and reassured her.

"Nardoc!" the grizzled old General said to the younger Colonel. "I've been looking for you, where have you been?"

Nardoc quickly came up with an excuse, "I'm just…we were doing a surprise inspection on this service tunnel, sir." He gestured to Luke and Audrey.

"Surprise inspection?" Szekeres repeated Nardoc's excuse in his own words with disbelief. "We're about to deal with that brat and you want to do surprise inspections?"

Audrey did her best not to scowl at the General from the comment he made about her. Szekeres turned his eye toward Luke and Audrey, not recognizing their faces. Audrey tensed up a bit and did her best not to show it with the patrol cap she had on.

Szekeres narrowed his eyes to Nardoc, "Who's the Lieutenant and the Corporal here, Nardoc?"

Nardoc looked back at Audrey and Luke, "Oh, they were pulled from the Engineering section to help me with inspecting the tunnels."

Szekeres took note of Nardoc's lack of answers and asked the question again, "Okay, but you didn't explain WHO they are."

Audrey realized they hadn't gone that far into the plan. A wave of anxiety washed over Audrey on what could happen if the General caught them. What broke a camel's back was when a rushing soldier from the corner went to Szekeres in a hurried state. He was breathing heavily as he ran across the entire bunker complex to talk with Szekeres himself.

"Sir, the." the Soldier said while trying to catch his breath.

Szekeres turned to the exhausted soldier with annoyance, "Yes? What is it?"

"Q-Queen Audrey, Sir, She's gone!"

"What!?" Szekeres said with his one good eye-opening and an open mouth that showed his surprise.

Audrey murmured quietly, "Uh oh,"

The soldier continued, "I went to Queen's room to check on the guards like you said sir, but she was gone and the guards were knocked out cold! One of them was even naked to his underwear."

Szekeres looked like he was about to yell at the soldier for not sounding the alarm when the General's eye opened further when the realization hit him at that moment. He quickly turned to Audrey in her disguise and immediately looked through the act. The other soldiers with him quickly took notice and started to arm their weapons.

Luke let out a tired "Great," under his breath.

Szekeres then started to pull out his side pistol that was attached to his holster and eyed Nardoc with not-so-friendly looks. "NARDOC! YOU-," Szekeres didn't finish his accusations and swearing to the Colonel, the soldiers including himself didn't fully raise their weapons at the trio as all of them were pushed back by an invisible force. Their bodies either collided with each other, went into the hard concrete ground, or crashed against the bunker walls.

Though she didn't know what happened, she quickly looked with her eyes and realized that Luke did all of that with his hand reaching out to them. Immediately though, Luke turned around to the two guards who caught on to what was happening and pointed their rifles at them. Luke with speed that Audrey barely caught up with, pulled out the sliver cycliner that he hid under his NKLF fatigues and activated. A bright green light erupted to life and Luke quickly blurred the energy beam across the guards' hands that held the rifles.

The energy sparked at the guards' arms and the rifles followed by two hands dropped to the floor, the guards did the same, grasping in pain at the burned barbecued nubs that once had their hands attached to them. Audrey blinked a couple of times, thinking all of that was so fast that she might've had whiplash from it. Nardoc looked at the hallway that turned into chaos in less than 3 seconds.

Luke with his emerald energy sword that hummed in the air, noticed that loud shouting was coming from NKLF soldiers running to their side of the bunker complex.

"Okay," Luke said, "At least we tried."

Luke went to Audrey and Nardoc, both of whom were still grasping how fast the situation devolved. The shouting NKLF soldiers closing on them brought them back from their shock, "We need to go!" Luke warned out to the two Kaznians.

Nardoc nodded and quickly grabbed one of the dropped rifles from the still-alive guards groaning in pain. Thinking that the best way out of the bunker was still the service tunnels, it was that or fighting their way out against hordes of NKLF soldiers. If it was just him, he wouldn't be that concerned, but since he needed to get Audrey to safety, it was something that could wait.

Luke went over to Audrey with his real hand grabbing her by the arm to guide and protect her, "Let's go."

Audrey still nervous nodded to him and both of them rushed into the service tunnel with Nardoc following behind. As they entered the dark barely lit tunnel, Luke stopped a moment and reached out to the Force to close the grate and crush it. The metal door slammed shut and the entire metal grate screeched and groaned as the Force disfigured it. What once was a grate now was mangled slabs of metal that would stab someone if they attempted to go through it. The only way through it would be a set of explosions.

With that done Luke continued running with Audrey and Nardoc. "How far are we from reaching outside?" Luke asked Nardoc.

"This tunnel here should lead us to one of the bunker's air vents on the airstrip," Nardoc replied.

Luke nodded, Audrey was close to him while eyeing his activated lightsaber, "So you could have done all of that this entire time and just now decided to use it?"

Luke turned his face to Audrey while continuing to run with her down the tunnel, "Well, I could have done that, but they would have put a bullet in your head, Your Highness. Which obviously isn't ideal." Luke put it bluntly why he couldn't just rescue Audrey when they had the option of hurting her. He might have said it rudely, but hopefully, Audrey gets the point.

Audrey was kind of shaken by Luke's words of truth, then realized what he meant, "Uh yeah, that probably wouldn't be the best."

Szekeres got up with a fuming face as most of his soldiers did the same. Two soldiers were on the ground holding their arms that used to have their hands. Armed Soldiers with old surplus Soviet rifles from parts of the bunker came out of the hallway corners to aid Szekeres. One Major went to the old General.

"Are you alright, sir?"

Szekeres with his one working eye looked into what used to be the grate that led to the service tunnel. It was mangled and torn, no one will be able to go through it. If anything, that bastard Nardoc would probably lead them to the surface and try to escape. If it was just Nardoc, he would kill him and that tramp Queen himself. But because of that hero he just now recognized, things got more complicated.

An idea enters Szekeres' mind and makes him grin, thinking about busting out his new toys. He turned to the Major, "Tell the pilots to ready the suits! I'll be there with them. And alert the base that we have enemies in it."

The Major salutes to Szekeres, "Yes, Sir!" Then proceeds to hurry from Szekeres to carry his word. Though Szekeres mildly walked through the hallways while the soldier started to run with a purpose, he thought about the many ways he was gonna crush Nardoc like a bug.

The night sky covered the airstrip and the countryside that surrounded it. The abandoned airfield lay motionless and inactive as it had been for decades. The only light that dared to show itself against the night was the full moon that broke through the night clouds, but that light would be joined by another. In between one of the hangars that used to house Soviet bombers and fighters, an air vent was built for the bunker underneath in the concrete. A hot beam of green energy shoots up from inside the vent and cuts a circle. When the circle was complete the green energy disappeared into the vent and the cut-up part of the air shaft vent shot up into the sky.

Luke Skywalker jumps out of the open vent and lands next to it. After surveying for any enemies outside, Luke deactivates his lightsaber and sticks his right hand into the hole he made. Audrey grabbed it and Luke pulled her up to the surface.

"You okay?" Luke asked.

Audrey having to go through the air vent as with Luke and Nardoc, had to endure crawling cramped space caked with oil, dirt, dust, and other substances that accumulated over the years from lack of maintenance and cleaning. Audrey's uniform was stained and she was doing her best to wipe her golden blonde hair from the dirt that got on it.

"I'm starting to think the option of fighting our way out was a better option," Audrey said with disgust as she wiped something black from her forearm.

Luke slightly smirked and grabbed Nardoc's hand from the small dirty abyss. Lifting Nardoc as well with his weapon, he too did his best to dust himself off.

"I guess we were right, the tunnels did need an inspection, and badly." Nardoc jokingly said with disgust.

Audrey done with cleaning herself went to Luke, "Well, we made it…right?"

Luke was going to say that while they did escape, they would have to get her to safety and maybe try to deal with the mechs afterward. A call from the Force to him saying that he must be prepared to battle said otherwise. Following the Force's warning, Luke felt a quick shake under his foot, Nardoc and Audrey noticed this too. The shake was brief, not noticeable if someone were not to pay attention. Another shake followed and some more until shaken until it felt like the ground itself was moving.

Luke carefully moved in the direction of the quakes, looking around a corner of a hangar overhang. Nardoc and Audrey quietly did the same, what they saw was going to hamper their escape to say at least. What caused the quakes was the large mechs that came out of a hangar that was built on a large hill. The hangar doors were open as the mechs moved side by side. There were at least five of them, with the sliver one that captured Audrey in the middle.

When Nardoc said that they might have more mechs, Luke guessed that it would be at least one or two more, since Kaznia was a poor country, that level of sophisticated tech would be very few. Yet he was now staring at five mechs that had the height of an AT-ST while having the firepower equivalent of a Clone Wars Turbo Tank. If it was just two or three, he could handle, but five including the one that looks more advanced? Luke's ability to protect Audrey and Nardoc was gonna be very lacking in the coming moments.

And just to put salt on the blast wound, a battalion's worth of NKLF soldiers came out of the very same hangar. Foot soldiers, armored trucks with heavy machine guns, and obsolete tanks were behind the wall of steel that were the mechs. Luke cursed himself in Huttese, he really should of taken care of those mechs when they weren't being used.

"Okay," Luke admitted back to Audrey and Nardoc. Audrey looked petrified while Nardoc was sweating like a Gamorrean guard, "We might have a problem."

Olanic stared at the wide military map of Northern Kaznia at his headquarters. After the Queen's capture and that "hero" failing to stop it, Olanic has put matters in his own hands and started to take care of the terrorists in the North. He's been coordinating the country police's forces to stage raids in known and suspected NKLF cells and holdouts, with the help of the National Guard.

Meanwhile, Olanic will put the entire country in martial law which will be enforced by the Army to restrict the NKLF's movements and other forms of contact. The Kaznian Special Forces on the wayside will be searching for the Queen, but now at the moment are coming up empty-handed.

Olanic was about to give the green for the whole operation when a Colonel went to inform him of something. "Sir, there's something you should know."

Olanic's eyebrow raised, "Yes?"

"There's been reports of firefights and explosions seen in one of the abandoned airfields in the Northeast." He gave Olanic sheets of paper that showed the reports of disturbances. Olanic took a glance.

"You sure it's not just a bunch of farmers playing with fireworks this time, Major?" Olanic mocked.

"No sir," The Major retorted, "Civilians and local fire department been saying that there were large fires in the airfield and have been even feeling some earthquakes in the area. We have some suspicion that it's NKLF."

Olanic gave himself time to think about the developing report. He already has multiple units deployed at various points of the country and he wouldn't be able to relocate them. The only unit that he'll be able to send is at least a brigade worth of soldiers to investigate it. There's also the possibility of being NKLF, which could be important. Lastly, if they do get the Queen back and she learns that he didn't do anything, he'll never hear the end of it. He's already having a headache from thinking how much nagging he'll hear from her.

"Okay," The General gave a tired response, "Get 5th Brigade's Command, tell them they're gonna have orders changed real soon."

What once was the old abandoned Soviet hanger building that used to house Soviet planes that had the potential to hold enough bombs and ordnance to level entire cities, erupted into a fiery maelstrom of chaotic fires and smoke. If the debris was not melted or destroyed from the explosion, then they were thrown across the airfield like leaves being blown by the wind.

NKLF soldiers who were close to the hangar trying to fire their weapons on Luke were either blown apart from the first storm or blown back by the shockwave. Some of their vehicles, jeeps, trucks, and armored vehicles were knocked on their sides or were reduced to scraps of metal. The only things that stood firm against the chaos of heat were two Cold War-era Soviet tanks.

Luke Skywalker jumped above the fire that engulfed what was left of the hangar from the other side and landed not far in front of the tanks. Luke still in disguise, had ash and dust all across his uniform, with two or more torn parts from fighting the NKLF. Both tanks saw the Jedi and rotated their turrets to point their barrels at him, ready to fire.

With the Force as his ally, Luke with both hands commanded the tanks to rotate their turrets towards each other just right before they fired. Both turrets obeyed Luke's wishes and the turrets swiveled to one another, pointing their guns at one another at the second they fired. The crews didn't react fast enough due to the unnatural speed the turrets moved, thus both tanks fired and destroyed each other.

The Jedi moved his hands down and calmed himself for all the chaos that happened in such a short span of time. He practically made Nardoc and Audrey hide as he dealt with the NKLF and the mechs. Which he was about to deal with right now. The Force warned him that he would be crushed by the combined might of two pairs of mechanized feet worth 120 tons if he didn't move out of the way. Luke surged forward the fast he could, enough to avoid the landing of two Lexo-Skel battlesuits and the shockwave that followed their landings.

Luke flipped around, avoiding debris and rubble from the shockwave, and faced the two mechs head-on. Both mechs raised their arms to shoot at Luke, one started a hail of bullets with its rotating Gatling gun while the other shot a large round in an attempt to reduce the Jedi into a cloud of red mist. Luke turned into a blur to evade the incoming storm of bullets and explosions, he came closer and closer to the two tall mechs. He zig-zagged, ducked, and manipulated his body to not get hit by their barrage, letting the Force guide his every step and jump.

The pilots in the mechs did their best to follow blur, but their tracking systems and training weren't enough to even hit the Last Jedi. Luke activated his green lightsaber and quickly went in between the two mechs, both suits were not fast enough to react to his maneuver.

Luke slashed one mech's leg, disconnecting its limb from it's chassis. The mech buckled and made it's way to the ground, Luke using this chance, jumped up onto the falling mech's back and jumped again into the air to attack the other mech. The other mech did its best to turn but in a slow clumsy manner, the only thing it could do was try to raise its gun at the Jedi.

Luke while in mid-air, sent a telekinetic wave to the standing mech. The Lexo-suit flew straight backward, not too different from how a person gets hit by a speeder, devastating and messy. The Force push left an imprint on the front hull of the armor, warping it. Metal that can withstand a blast from an Abrams tank cracked and snapped. The mech flew until it was stopped by one of the previous tanks Luke dealt with and crashed into it. The tank got turned into a piece of scrap metal while the mech rocked into it. The pilot inside was no doubt knocked out cold from the impact.

Luke took a moment to take his breath to let his muscles and nerves calm from the olympic struggle he had to go through. Using the Force to enhance speed to the point where everything goes slow motion is one of the most labor-intensive and exhausting abilities one can perform. Sweat rained down his head, making his hair almost look like he got out of a shower. The heat from the inferno that used to be the airfield and fighting for his life made him feel like he was sun tanning back on Tatooine in all-black.

"Okay," Luke said while taking a breath, "That's two."

Luke heard a cocking noise not too far behind him. He quickly turned around and saw one mech raising's left arm to him. A red arc of flame roared out of the arm and targeted its flesh-melting heat to Luke. He took his stand and raised his left hand to catch the arch of flame. Using his knowledge of Tutaminis, he used the Force to direct it in his hand to absorb the hot flame. He groaned a bit as he barely had any practice with absorbing flames before.

The fires continued, Luke with his other hand that still had the lightsaber, called the Force to crush the flamethrower arm. The arm that cast the arc of flames on Luke started to groan in discomfort until it cracked and the fuel inside ignited with the torch in the flamethrower, causing the arm to explode. The mech stumbled back due to the surprise of its arm disappearing in a cloud of fire.

Luke took the opportunity, with the energy from the flames he used to absorb with the help of the Force, he commanded the mech to be lifted up in the air and crush it. The mech did what the Force wanted it to, going up in the air and crushing the limbs and warping metal. The only thing left that wasn't completely damaged was the body that held the pilot, Luke made sure not to kill him while destroying the mech. The combat suit fell to the ground as it helplessly stood up for a second with its destroyed legs then welcomed the concrete ground with its face.

Luke breathed in and out, "Three."

"Hold still!" Audrey commanded Nardoc.

Nardoc with his right arm was bleeding from a bullet and clenched the wound while a torn piece of uniform was wrapped above the hole to stop the bleeding. Audrey was doing a terrible job at tightening the makeshift tourniquet.

"Hold still?" Nardoc mockingly repeated, "How can I hold still when you're making it worse!"

Audrey did her best to tie the piece of fabric tighter, "It's this stupid truck we're in, Nardoc! It's too cramped to do anything" Audrey argued.

When the bullets started to rain down on them and bodies flew all over the place, Luke made the Queen of Kaznia and the former NKLF Colonel take cover in an abandoned Soviet fire truck left on the airfield. Though they ran pretty fast, Nardoc got shot in the arm while trying to get Audrey into safety. Audrey was eternally grateful despite him being a recent employee of the NKLF, now she's trying to return the favor by dressing his wounds, but he's not really complying that much.

"Cramped? You're smaller than I am! That shouldn't be excused."

"Oh I'm sorry, do you want me to kick you out with your only one good arm?" Audrey pointed out of the window. Fires engulfed the airfield, NKLF vehicles that tried to shoot at Luke either got rag-dolled all over the place or crushed in less than a couple of seconds. The airfield looks like a junkyard now that it an actually a former military installation.

"Okay okay," Nardoc got defensive, "Just make it tighter."

A rumble rocked the truck back and forth, Audrey looked inside and saw what it was. While the flames glared in her vision, she could see what was causing the short quake. Luke was fighting one of the Lexo-Skel suits, dodging its big cannon that fired large shells at him. Though the shells passed Luke and detonated behind or near him, he still continued to run toward the mech and activated his energy sword. The mech probably thought that he wouldn't be able to fight Luke so it looked like he tried to engage his rockets boots to evade Luke's coming attack. The key word was "tried".

The mech was only able to get a couple of feet into the air before Luke threw his energy sword at the mech. The sword itself swung like a boomerang, Audrey thought. It slashed through the midsection of the mech, cutting it half horizontally. The bottom portion of the mech flew up into the air, without the control pod regulating the speed of the rockets, the legs went up like a bullet and exploded into scrap. What was left of the mech fell forward and used its arms to catch itself.

The sword came back to Luke and he caught it. In an effort that brought professional acrobatics to shame, Luke jumped toward the mech. The mech despite being damaged did its best to hit look with its arm. That only helped Luke as the moment the arm swung toward him he landed on the arm and jumped again to land on its head.

Luke stabbed the cockpit of the mech with his lightsaber and cut open the head. When done he used the Force to pry it open, revealing the now scared pilot. The pilot aimed a pistol in an attempt to shoot Luke, though he wasn't fast enough to react to Luke's lightsaber cutting the gun into two. Luke grabbed the man by the collar and threw him out of the cockpit, the pilot crashed onto the concrete putting him out of the fight. With no one piloting the mech, the suit fell forward to the ground. Luke jumped out of the way and landed to view his surroundings.

He reached out into the Force to sense Audrey's presence, he was relieved when he sensed she was fine for the moment. She was still in the truck with Nardoc. He didn't forget her safety during the chaos that ensured. One thing he did forget during the mayhem was there were five mechs, not four.

The last of the NKLF Lexo-Skel suits, piloted by Szekeres came out of one of the large firestorms that sprinkled the airfield. Luke turned to the mech and threw his lightsaber at it to finish the fight. The lightsaber swirled in a bright green energy vortex towards the mech. The green blade hits the silver-coated armor and simply bounces off harmless. The saber deactivates and falls into a scarp of rubble.

Luke was shocked and alarmed at his lightsaber failing to penetrate the armor and abruptly turning off. This somewhat explains the color of armor, probably some type of alloy metal very similar to cortosis. "Great," Luke murmured.

Audrey watched as Luke dodged and ran from the hail of bullets and shells fired by the final mech. Audrey saw Luke dispatch the other mechs in a somewhat fast fashion, now it seemed like he was having a little trouble. Whether he can't use his powers to deal with the mech or is exhausted from all the fighting, Luke is putting down the mech like the others.

The mech fired almost all of its weapons, from the cannon, the flamethrower, and the minigun at the same time. All targeting Luke. Luke spun, swirled, ducked, and surged to the point where Audrey thought he was fast like the Flash. He used his powers to levitate debris to use as barriers and cover before bullets and flames hit him. However, the piece of cover didn't last long as the barrage of bullets turned it into dust for a few seconds. He even manages to levitate pieces of rubble to hurl at the mech, but the mech seems to stand its ground.

Every dodge, every evasion, anything Luke did to avoid and try to take on the mech seems to wear him down second by second. While the sliver coating of the mech gleamed like a brand-new car, without a scratch despite all of the punishment it took. Audrey thought Luke wasn't gonna win this, she thought Luke needed help.

"We need to help Luke!" Audrey stated.

Nardoc still grasping his shot arm gave Audrey a look of disbelief as if she was crazy. "Are you mad?! You want to fight that?!" Narodc with his good arm pointed at the mech outside still firing it's armament at Luke.

Audrey stared at him, "He looks like he's in trouble," she argued, "We can maybe pick up the weapons the soldiers dropped and use them to shoot it as a distraction." When the fighting started, soldiers were hurled around by Luke's powers and left enough equipment to at least to get the mech's attention for Luke to land a critical strike.

Nardoc shook his head in disagreement, "No no no, I am in no condition to fight," he gestured to his bad arm. "And you are no soldier, Your Highness."

Audrey gave a fiery look and made her way to open the door, Nardoc stopped her with his good arm, "No! I didn't get shot for you just to get squashed, If you get hurt or die then Olanic is gonna justify that for tearing apart the North. I need you to stay!"

Audrey respected Nardoc despite his affiliation with the NKLF. She gave him credit for at least worrying for her safety, even if it might be indirect. "Okay…you're right," Audrey admitted.

Nardoc let go of her arm and thinking that was the end of it, though Audrey wasn't going to give up nor let him stop her. When Nardoc wasn't looking she threw a punch at Nardoc's bad arm. She didn't punch him hard enough to reopen the wound, but just enough to give him pain. Nardoc yelled in pain and clenched his arm as he went further in the seat. Audrey quickly then exited out of the truck and searched for the nearest weapon.

She felt the intense heat of the flames and the fumes of smoke that entered her lungs. She coughed and waved the smoke from her face. She searched the rubble for any weapons that might be useful. Sure there were rifles and such that she could use, but she was finding something with a little more punch.

She then saw sets of RPGs on the back of a broken-down jeep. That was her ticket. Going to the jeep and grabbing the RPG, she used both arms to hold it. Realization hits her, she has no idea how to use it. She might've been lucky if she used a gun, but a bazooka was a little more different. She held it the way she saw people in movies held it, rocket facing forward and saw there was a trigger no different than any other gun had. She pointed the bazooka at the mech who was at a distance firing at Luke and braced herself for the blowback.

She closed her eyes and pressed the trigger and nothing. She reopened her eyes to see that the rocket didn't ignite. She pressed it again and still nothing. Sure she wasn't a soldier like what Nardoc said and maybe shot a gun once when her dad owned shotguns for hunting, but she was pretty sure the rocket was supposed to go out when she squeezed the trigger.

After moments of examining the RPG and thinking there might be a safety switch on or some complications. The safety said it was off so she was good in that department. Then she noticed a piece of metal behind the handle that could be depressed and locked it. Curious she lifts the lever down slightly and puts it at the bottom, thinking that was the malfunction.

Audrey was set, or at least she thought she was. The piece of information about Audrey shooting a gun once her life was indeed a fact. Another fact is that she shot the gun when she was little. And to back that up with another, she was never taught the principles of trigger discipline. This entire time she had her forefinger pressed onto the trigger, because of that and her cocking back the hammer, she made the rocket go off without her knowledge.

The rocket roared to life as she was almost thrown back by the power it made. Thankfully she had the RPG slightly up so the rocket went into the air and collided far from her. She really didn't know where it went but she thought she saw a quick flash of light appear deep in the woods. After realizing that she found out how to use it and also almost killed herself, she finally thought that she could help Luke, and hopefully, no one saw what she just did.

An explosion of heat and fire rocked Luke back to a piece of rubble. He barely managed to raise up a protective shield. He was protected from most of the blast though he didn't brace for it. He crashed into the piece of debris with his back, feeling some bones breaking. His breathing became erratic as his muscles were failing him. He tumbled to the ground as he tried to ignore the pain, he thought of using the Force to heal but wasn't too sure if he had time in this fight.

The fight was a slug-fest. The mech was definitely better than the other mechs he dealt with and faster too. He never got the chance to use the Force to disable the mech due to Szekeres blasting a near-constant barrage. Luke didn't see the gun of the mech raise to him until it was too late. The Gatling gun spun right before the hail of bullets exited out of it.

Then out of a sudden, a rocket hits the mech and disrupts it firing on Luke. The mech was unscathed though it did stumble a little. Luke was surprised by the explosion and looked in the direction of where it came from. His eyes widened when he saw Audrey holding what looked like a missile launcher.

"Audrey!" Luke yelled out, "What are you doing?!"

"I'm trying to help you!" Audrey replied as she loaded in another rocket.

The mech faced in the same direction and noticed the tiny Queen. In Luke's distraction of her involved in the fight, he didn't respond that the mech raised his cannon arm and sent a shell to her. Luke quickly used his reserves of whatever Force energy he had left to change the direction of the shell and sent it away from Audrey. But he miscalculated, the shell went away from Audrey and exploded into the distance. But the shock sent a piece of scrap metal to Audrey, crushing her from Luke's sight. As the smoke cleared, Audrey was bared in the rubble.

Luke stared at where Audrey was. He stared where just seconds ago she was alive, now she was gone from a piece of rubble that he couldn't stop. He blinked once and twice to think he was not seeing her due to inhaling too much smoke. A sense of guilt exploded in Luke's heart, he didn't think the rescue would come to this.

He swore to her himself how he would protect her with his own life, swore as a Jedi. He failed once by not stopping the terrorists from capturing her. In all the moments, he protected her from, gunfire to bombs, he failed to save her from a piece of debris, something from his own doing.

Now she was gone, the Kaznian government would blame him and the North Kaznians. War will erupt, families will be torn apart, and villages will be destroyed, all because of him. How he failed to protect the peace, how he failed Audrey, how he failed as a Jedi.

Luke was so deep in his thoughts and gawked at where Audrey once was that he didn't notice the mech turning towards him to finish the job. Luke went out of his pseudo-trance and had his eyes on the mech. He should feel anger, anger for the Szekeres, NKLF, and himself. He didn't, instead, he felt a strange feeling of justice he had never experienced before. It was something almost the complete opposite of anger, it was serenity and knowing what to do.

It was the energy that was similar to what he felt on the second Death Star, how he went into a red-seeing rage when Vader tempted to turn Leia into the Dark side. Yet it was more peaceful than that, he felt no darkness coming out of him.

The energy coursed throughout his body, rejuvenating muscles and flesh that were worn down by all of the fighting. The wounds and the broken bones he received almost felt like they were healing themselves. With this new-found energy that brought him back to the fight, extended his left hand to send a push from the Force to hurl the mech. He thought he would send enough energy to knock a small cruiser out of orbit. Yet the telekinetic push never did appear, something unexpected did though.

Instead of an invisible Force energy that would have rag-dolled the mech, a surge of green electrical energy sparked out of Luke's fingertips. The arc of emerald lightning spread and searched for something to ground itself almost like many fingers wanting to grab something. The branches of green energy were large enough that it could have been a strike of lightning from a thundercloud. Though the airfield was dominated by the colors of orange and red from the hot flames around it, the color of green overwhelmed any other color in its path. The lightning found its target and danced its electrical energy all over the mech.

The mech spasmed and convulsed like a living being. Components sparked, mechanism heated up and melted, wires, fuses, and circuit breakers were overwhelmed and failed from the extreme energy that rushed through the mech. Szekeres even was overwhelmed and sent out shouts of pain as his cockpit was invaded by the green energy which shocked his nerves.

It took Luke a few seconds what was happening. Horror was set on Luke's face and was stunned by what he was doing. He completely cut himself off from the Force and the emerald lightning stopped. The last of the energy completed its barrage on the mech and ended. The mech stood motionless and sparks sprinkled in the mech's joints and its insides. The mech fell forward as the power that it once had was completely overloaded.

Luke looked over to his left land that conjured the Force lightning. Fears of what was happening entered Luke's mind. He stared at his left hand almost as if he murdered the first time with it. The hand was shaking out of control. The hand was smoking as if it was on fire he put it in iced water to cool it off. A trail of smoke curled and left from his hand. His mind was going through what he had done.

He had just used Force lightning. Something he thought was unnatural and an abomination of the Force. Something Obi-Wan never taught nor did Yoda. He never learned it from any Jedi texts, Holocrons, or anything that could teach the techniques. Now he just unleashed a storm of lightning out of whim.

His face was stunned, petrified. The first time he learned about Force lightning was when he was at the receiving end of it. He remembered how painful it was, the shock, the nerves being overwhelmed, his skin boiling from the assault. Sidious used all of his hate, rage, and fury in his blast of light into Luke. He always assumed it was part of the Dark Side, an ability that was never meant to be used. Using it was abusing the Force itself for one's desires.

He thought that he just used the Dark side for such a feat, yet he remembered short back that he never did feel an ouch of darkness overcoming him. He felt knowing exactly what to do yet never actually predicted the outcome. He didn't use rage for vengeance. He was sure he was in control of himself.

He was shaky about what had happened. If he didn't use the Dark side, then what did he use?

A deep memory of Yoda training Luke back on Dagobah resurfaces in his thoughts.

"Is the Dark side stronger?" The young rebel now Jedi in training said. Breathing in and out slowly from the hours of running and jumping through the swamp.

"No!" Yoda on his back said immediately. "No," he said again, "No" he ended it with a silent response that turned it into a whisper.

"Quicker, easier, more seductive."

Luke huffed at the answer, "But how am I to know the good side from the bad?"

With knowledge of training Jedi for over 800 years. From Padawans, Knights, and Masters, the old hermit responded with answers the old Grandmaster knew and had before young Skywalker asked them, "You will know…when you are calm, at peace… passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack."

The answer to Luke's question came to him. Years after Dagobah, he understood what he meant. But now it took a completely different take. To use the Dark side was easier and seductive but was not stronger compared to the Light side. With Light and Dark, there will always be a push and a pull, an action and a reaction. Living beings change the Force itself with their intentions, good or bad.

Luke ran Yoda's words of wisdom around his head, about the Dark side only being a shortcut. If the Dark side was the easier path and the Light side was the harder path, then the power he did use, was it part of the Light? Did the Force intend for Luke to use it for defense and nothing more? Did Luke discover or even rediscover this Light Side technique? If someone were to use Force lightning that draws power from the Dark side that could imbalance the Force, then using lightning from the Light side version would bring it back to balance?

Luke's questions of himself and the Force overthrew the sudden fears of what he has done. Those same questions were put to the side when he realized that Audrey was dead. Luke's fears of her death went away when he felt a small fading presence in the Force. He got back his focus and tried to find the presence. He realized that it was coming from the area where Audrey was. She was alive, she didn't die from the piece of debris collapsing on her.

He cursed himself for assuming her death and went to her. He removed aside the rubble that buried her, took her into his arms, and put her down in an open spot that did not have any debris on it. She was knocked out, he felt her pulse, it was faint but beating. There was some blood drawn on the top of her head, forming a little stream on her face. The important detail he found was that she had a bruise-like wound on her abdomen when he checked her for damage.

It was internal bleeding, something that needs to be addressed now. Seeing how he's in a country where he doesn't know the nearest hospital, he thought he would need to deal with it himself. Luke focused and channeled every bit of Force energy in and around him. He had his flesh hand on her stomach over the wound. He concentrated on reforming the broken tissue and her ruptured organs. A minute or so passed when Luke was finished. What was once a fist-sized purple spot was no more.

Luke was exhausted. Fighting Audrey's captors all day, finding their hideout, escaping with Audrey and Nardoc, fighting an entire army, and, taking on military-grade mech suis while saving Audrey from a near-death experience didn't give Luke a break. The adrenaline in his body practically was depleted. If he didn't have the Force to power his mind and body, he would have probably collapsed from exhaustion minutes ago.

In something that surprised Luke, Audrey slowly opened her eyes, gazing at Luke above her. Though weakly, she noticed Luke and how she was still alive.

"Thank goodness," Luke relived, "You really had me worried."

He placed her back on the ground, grasping her head in discomfort, "Ugh, I don't think you need help anymore."

A sense of appreciation for Audrey for helping her and a bit of anger for putting herself in danger for him. "Your Highness, you know you didn't need to do any of that."

Audrey despite going through all of that rolled her eyes, "Luke…"

"I'm serious, forgive me if I say this, but what was incredibly stupid, short-sighted."

Audrey shook her and went closer to him, "Luke," she said softly.

"You could have gotten captured again, got seriously hurt, or even di–."

Audrey pulled the Jedi into a passionate kiss that Luke didn't anticipate. Luke's face went from an expression of disappointment and anger to a look of embarrassment and shock. Their lips connected for a little bit until Audrey was the one who pulled out.

She placed her hand onto his cheek as he still looked like a deer in the headlights. "And what would you call that?" She said smoothly.

"Um," Luke was at a loss of words for what happened, slightly looking away from her eyes.

She grinned at a job well done of catching the composed Jedi off guard and embarrassed, "That's what I thought."

Luke and Audrey heard the sound of sirens and vehicles coming from many directions of the fiery airfield. Kaznian military vehicles entered the abandoned base with fire departments following behind. Soldiers exited out of their vehicles and started to round up NKLF members who were knocked out by the fight. Others went to secure portions of the base finding the hidden bunker. While there were shots fired, most of the NKLF surrendered to the Kaznian military that promptly surrounded them. Firefighters went to work and spewed water to contain the fires.

The soldiers went to Audrey to make sure she was safe and almost pulled they weapons up if it weren't for Audrey telling them he was Justice League. Seeing how the situation was solved, Luke went to the rubble where his lightsaber had fallen and retrieved it. As he did, he went back to Audrey and both of them noticed one of the NKLF soldiers carried by the Kaznian soldiers was Nardoc. Luke noted that Audrey wanted to say something and went to the soldiers carrying Nardoc.

"Not him," the Kaznian Queen argued, "He helped me escape, so I hereby pardon him."

The two soldiers including Nardoc looked confused at her words. "But, Your Majesty," one of the soldiers tried to argue.

She raised an eyebrow at them, "Are you telling me what to do? Your Queen? He helped me and risked his life despite his allegiance to them," she pointed at the line of NKLF being arrested.

"From his actions of saving me, he served his time as far as I'm aware. I want you two to make sure his wounds are tended to and send him on his way without any problems" She goes closer to them and points a finger at both of them, "And if I hear that both of you do anything or let anyone to hurt him, I'll personally see to it that you both get sent to that prison that has Vandal Savage."

Luke swore the two soldiers' faces almost turned completely white from dread. Both of them shook their heads in agreement with her demands, "Yes, my Queen!" both of them said in unison with renewed spirit.

Before they left, Audrey went to Nardoc, "Thank you, and uh sorry for punching you earlier."

Nardoc gave a light smile, "eh, guess you aren't a pampered Queen people thought you were." Audrey smiled back and left Nardoc to the soldiers.

She went back to Luke who had his arms crossed and smirked, "You know, Your Highness, despite me not knowing you when you were a princess, I think something didn't change when you got the title of Queen."

Audrey smirked back, "And what that might be, sir Knight?"

He shrugged, "I think what you showed over there is that you're still the Princess getting her way with things."

"Hmm, guilty as charge."

After the Kaznian army went into the airfield and captured most of NKLF leadership, Audrey was taken back to a safe location, her lodge that only the government knew. Luke was with her of course. After arriving, Audrey had a long and loud conversation with General Olanic following another very loud conversation with Prime Minister Zebic. Luke was pretty sure she was the only one talking when she brought them to a different room.

He was certain that she yelled, shouted, shamed, and said other things to the two Kaznian officials, and maybe a threat or two. After Audrey's "talk", Olanic and Zebic went to Luke and apologized to him like how kids say their sorries to a parent when they do something against their wishes. Luke found it amusing.

Nardoc after being taken care of was pardoned by Audrey, but the one catch was he had to leave Kaznia as a whole, for the sake of his safety and others. Nardoc agreed and left Kaznia. General Szekeres was arrested on the spot and was being charged with so many crimes that one would need to spend all day naming them. Most of the NKLF leadership were also brought in and charged.

NKLF cells, hideouts, and members surrendered the following days. Because of this, tensions between the North and South decreased, but bad blood still lingered in the air.

Now days passed and Luke was now in Audrey's remote lodge. View of the mountainside of the Kaznian wilderness showed itself around the luxurious lodge. Luke back in his black outfit that he fixed entered Audrey's office. The Queen was writing when she stopped to look at Luke. She ordered her guards away so they could be alone.

"Everything going fine, Audrey?"

Audrey gave a sigh, "Yeah, NKLF is being taken care of and the protests calmed down." She paused, "But there's still a lot of people in the North who still are mad over everything."

"And the parliament?" Luke asked.

"Well…they haven't exactly been the most perceptive bunch. A lot of them are still bickering like children other the North." Audrey crossed her arms and adopted a frustrated look. "Even with the NKLF mostly gone, the North will always have a problem with being in the country."

Luke went to her and sat in a chair across from her desk. "So what are you going to do about it?"

Audrey thought about Luke's question for a minute, "I've been thinking about what you said about my people having gone through tough times."

Luke titled his head, "What about it?"

"I thought about how you described them, not a lot of people have a good view of us Kaznians in general. They always see us as backward."

Luke held his hand up, "People aren't backwards, different for sure, and even hard to understand, every culture is different and unique from one another. In fact, the people who look down on Kaznians might go cross-eyed when they see all the cultures and people I've seen."

Audrey gave Luke a light chuckle, "I'm sure there are some crazy stories you ought to tell me."

Luke shook his head, "You have no idea."

"Well, what you said about my people was very caring and understanding of you, Luke. What you said about Kaznians coming together in times of need, I thought of it…and I think I wanna use what you said to the parliament. You were right, Kaznians come together in hard times, this isn't any different."

"So are you going to the parliament assembly tomorrow?"

The Kaznian Queen nodded, "I wanna thank you, Luke."

The Jedi held up his hand again, "You don't have to Audrey, you said that so many-."

"No," she shook her head, "I didn't mean you saving my butt, I'm saying thank you for telling me days ago of how I shouldn't doubt myself." Luke thought back to the day he talked about his opinions on the crisis,

"Every since I became Queen I never did thought that I was good enough to help my country. But you told me to do it, not try it. I'm gonna go over to that parliament building and tell them my mind. I want us to be Kaznians, nothing more or less."

Luke smirked at the Queen's newfound confidence. "So, I guess you don't require a special bodyguard anymore since the threat is dealt with."

Audrey tilted her head, "Well, when you put it that way, no." saying with minor disappointment. She up from her chair with looks of sudden excitement coming to her, "You could stay here as a guest though."

Luke thought about Audrey letting him stay for a while. It couldn't hurt, the lurking thought about what happened on the airfield caught him. How he used Force lightning, was something that he would have to get back to his island to meditate deeply on. There was also the fact that Bruce finished the first Javelin ship and was giving it to Luke for proper inspections and a first test flight. He had a full plate of activities to fulfill, he could come back to Kaznia to see Audrey later.

"It's a tempting offer, Audrey, but I'm afraid I have things to do after this assignment." Audrey's smile turned into a frown at what Luke said, "But," Luke continued, "I can come back to see how things are going in the future."

Audrey smirked and came back to her, "Well, sir Knight, I bid you fair well." she jokingly teased.

Luke bowed, "It was a pleasure, Your Majesty." Audrey gave a bow back and Luke went to the door to call Artoo to come and get him.

"Oh Skywalker.." she said slowly and softly. Luke turned around and Audrey paced up to him, "One more thing," she kissed him on the lips. Luke blushed but found her lips soothing. She lets go of the kiss, "A token of gratitude."

Luke smiled back but with less confidence than the Kaznian Queen. "Right. I'll see you later Audrey." She said her goodbyes and Luke Skywalker left Kaznia.

Notes

Lord, this chapter was way longer than it should be. Introduced the Force Lighting, kinda rushed. Was gonna introduce it in another chapter that was gonna be darker but decided not to. This chapter really did kick my ass for a month. If the ending felt rushed or had less substance, that's because it was. Anyway, next chapter we'll see Shayera and Luke for some time.

(Beasthunter for talking about chapter 7) Yeah it's gonna be a little warning about what's to come. Hint, it's gonna be a mix between Dark Empire and the Zygerria Arc from the Clone Wars show.

(Nealrm) Yeah we all know Luke can dispatch them but I had to make it where in the situation, he couldn't focus to the pressure of losing the Queen and the civilians. We all know Luke can but I had to be careful about who he can ragdoll and what can make him struggle. This was situational of course, if he did not have the mind of safety for the Queen and the civilians, he would of dealt with them.