David rushed into the kitchen to see two pirates holding their blasters on his mother and father. His younger brother, Chen, was on the floor holding his bruised cheek, as another pirate was going through his pack. The said pirate then looked up to see David staring at him, his lightsaber at the ready.
"David Creed?" they said in disbelief. With a jerk of his hand, the pirate raised his blaster to fire, but David was faster.
The Jedi shot his hand out and sent the pirate flying. The other two pirates turned to see David force pull their fallen comrade's blaster towards him. He caught it and before the other two could even react, David ended them quickly. Unfortunately firing the blaster alerted the other pirates outside the house. Drawing their weapons, they hurried to the front entrance, only to be met by David.
He made quick work of them with his lightsaber, but before the last one fell, a transmission was sent out to Nex Slars. Soon, three big pirate vessels appeared in the sky above the Creed household. The young Jedi Knight knew that being close to his family meant that they could—No! They would be killed if Nex found them, so the handsome Jedi jumped onto his speeder bike and took off for the Dune Sea. Looking over his shoulder, David breathed a sigh of relief as the pirates followed after him.
As David drew nearer to the Dune Sea, he felt a tremor in the force. Looking back, he could make out twenty pirate speeders closing in and they were closing in fast. There was no way he could outrun them, so the only thing he could do was fight. After all, David was a Jedi Knight.
With a smile, he turned his speeder and sped towards the pirates, igniting his lightsaber.
Not far off was Beggers Canyon. Standing on top of the canyon was a group of Tusken Raiders. They looked on at the sight of the Jedi charging towards the pirates, a Tusken elder walked up to the younger ones. In his hands was a piece of cloth, on it was a drawing of warrior who was prophesied to return and bring peace to the Dune Sea. The Tuskens quickly mount their Banthas and made their way down the canyon to meet the chosen one.
The lead pirate of the group, a powerful male Altiri name Goliath, looked amazed by the Jedi's bravery. With a smile he drew his Beskar saber he had stolen from a Mandalorian he had killed. "Ten thousand credits to one who slays the Jedi!" he proclaimed. Hearing this, the pirates cheered and hit the accelerator on their speeders.
From a certain point of view, it would seem like David was a brave jouster moving in to clash with his opponents, but when he got within a hundred yards of them, a dust storm suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The pirates halted, but the Jedi kept on going.
Two pirates were cut down as the storm reached them. Goliath looked around for David, seeing on the blue hue of his lightsaber in the swirling sands of the storm. Then there was nothing. The Altiri pirate moved forward, his men staying close. As he took another step, Goliath fell though the sand and landed in what looked to be some kind of temple. Staring up in awe, the Altiri pirate looked around, seeing no sign of David.
As for the said Jedi, David was also in the temple. He couldn't believe it. There were ancient carving and texts lying all over the place. The Jedi picked up a broken tablet and was shocked to see the symbol of the Sith on it. He was so shocked that he almost didn't notice Goliath and his men coming around a corner. David quickly hid behind a pillar and waited for the pirates to pass. The Altiri pirate could feel that David was close by, he just couldn't see him… yet.
"DAVID CREED!" Goliath shouted, his voice echoing off the walls. "Come out. I promise to kill you quickly if you do." The sound of footsteps got the attention of Goliath, and he turned to see the silhouette of a shadow running on the walls.
"Over there!" he shouted.
The pirates gave chase. After a few twists and turns, Goliath and his men came to a strange looking hallway. The floor was covered in sand, with rocks sticking out, it was very strange indeed. Goliath looked up to see David staring at him from the shadows before hurrying out of view. A male Evereni pirate rushed forward to give chase, but the minute he stepped on the sand in hallway, he vanished! Goliath did a double take then turned to a Ezaraa warrior they had in the group.
"Go on," the Altiri ordered. The Ezaraa obeyed and took a few steps before vanishing under the sand just like the Evereni did. Goliath now knew what this was, it was a trap. He placed his foot down on one of the stones. He put his weight on it to find that it was solid.
"Stay on the stones," he said and moved with his men deeper into the temple.
One Anzat pirate walked by a sand fall as he was suddenly grabbed and pulled into the sand. A Rakata pirate spun around to see his fellow pirate gone, the sound of movement behind the sand alerted him. Raising his blaster, he began firing wildly but was suddenly dragged underneath as he screamed in terror.
"Goliath, are we hunting David Creed or is HE hunting US?!" A Siniteen pirate screamed.
"Calm down," Goliath growled. "He's just trying to scare us."
"Well, it's working," the Siniteen pirate said as he heard a crash. "I'm gonna go check that out." Goliath tried to stop him, but it was too late. He was already wondered through a dark corridor before the others lost sight of him. "Hello?" He asked, but didn't get an answer. "Who's here? Who's here?! Hey, I have a blaster, you hear me?!"
"I hear you," a soft voice called out.
"What the hell?!" The Siniteen screamed as he fired at all corners of the room trying to shoot David Creed.
"How are you going to kill me if you can't see me?" David said as he ran around in the dark room.
The hairs on the back of the Siniteen's arm stood up as his heart raced when he screamed, "Where are you?!"
"Behind you," David said as a cold fear went down the Siniteen's spine as he was impaled by David's lightsaber, and he dropped dead to the floor.
Back outside the temple, Nex Slars sat in his command chair of his ship, the Raider's Fire. The evil Dathomirian watched the screens with a frown. After the Evereni and the Ezaraa life signs flatlined, three more also flatlined. David Creed was certainly dealing with his men with ease. Turning to his second in command, he nodded giving him the signal.
"All guns prepare to fire!" the second in command shouted. Nex looked back down at the temple.
One way or another, David Creed would die.
Back in the temple, David sneaked up behind a Clantanni and took him out. Goliath looked around as he realized he had walked into a trap. Suddenly, the blue glow of David's lightsaber lit up the room. The remaining pirates turned to see just a flash of blue before nothing at all. The Altiri spun around to see David rushed past him, cutting down another three of his men. Soon, all that was left was just David and Goliath.
Goliath raised his Beskar sword, putting himself in a defensive position. His eyes studied the area, trying to figure out where David would emerge from. He could hear the Jedi running around him. Finally, the Altiri couldn't stand it. He readied himself and shouted, "Coward! Come out and face me like a man!"
David did. He came right up behind Goliath and tried to run him through with his lightsaber, but the Altiri quickly blocked it with his Beskar sword. The two were now locked in an epic duel to the finish. As they fought fiercely, the temple suddenly began to shake as the walls started crumbling, both realized that Nex Slars was bombing the temple, but the Jedi and Altiri cared not. As Goliath tried to take off David's head, the Jedi parried his attacked and drew out a second lightsaber and used it to slice Goliath across the stomach.
"Filthy Jedi!" Goliath growled before collapsing to the floor. David quickly raised his hands and used the force to hold the ceiling up. Soon, the whole temple was gone, reduced to rubble.
Nex Slars smiled as he watched the dust settle. There was no way David had survived that, but just to be sure, the Dathomirian pirate captain sent his men down to check out the area. For over an hour, the pirates looked around but found nothing. As they got ready to leave, one pirate called out to the others about finding a holocron, some armor and a piece of a weapon. Nex Slars figured he would just add that to his collection back on board the Taint of Darkness.
As the Dathomirian and his remaining crew left orbit, David's family and a number of the inhabitants of Mos Eisley arrived at the destroyed temple. Everyone stared in awe at the destruction the pirates left. Some could still see some pieces of the temple sticking out of the sand, some could see the sand still sinking into the deep cavers of the temple, but David's family were only looking for him. Young Chen raised his hands to his face and called out.
"DAVID!" his voice was carried across the Dune Sea, but there seemed to be little hope for David.
Just then someone shouted, "Look! In the center of the crater!" Everyone stared in awe and disbelief at what they saw. David was emerging from the sand like spirit rising from the grave. The people began cheering as the Jedi raised the Beskar sword high, clearly showing that he was the victor in this battle. Chen ran towards his brother, his mother and father following close behind him.
"You're alive, David!" Chen shouted.
"You crushed them like bugs," his mother proclaimed, his father could only nod in agreement.
Just as David was about to leave with his family, the group of Tusken Raiders appeared on the horizon, and the Jedi quickly realized that this was not an attack, but something much more. It was actually the beginning of his new life of being called…
"Phantom of the Dunes?" David asked the leader of the Tuskens. The old Tusken nodded and handed him a black robe and mask to cover his face. The Jedi took his gifts and got ready for whatever the galaxy threw at him.
Meanwhile…
The Nova Star came out of lightspeed. Before them, stood the gas giant planet of Jhas. Aleah wondered why they were here, but by the looks Jens gave, made her relax. It seemed that there was something hidden within the planet. The Nova Star slowly entered orbit of the Jhas, and made their way to a gas mining station that had been converted into a Voyagers base. Aleah looked at all the approaching ships and the ones already docked at the base. Within a few minutes, Jens and the others were allowed to dock.
Jens turned to his crew. "Fang and I are needed in the council chamber. The rest of you take a breather." he said, his voice was laced heavy with concern. Within minutes, Jens and Fang were seated among the other captains and their first mates. The aging human looked over at the all the other Voyagers, he could tell they weren't exactly happy to see him.
"All rise for Commander Bridger!" a Trandoshan shouted. A powerful well-built man emerged from a back room and too his place in the center of the room. His old gray eyes scanned the room until they locked onto Jens. Bridger spoke then a low deep, but strong voice.
"I want to thank you all for coming on such short notice. I cannot begin to fathom the losses and the sacrifices you all made to make it here," Bridger tugged at his collar. "I feared that you wouldn't make it out of Corcusant, Naboo or Mustafar alive, but it warms my heart that you survived. But, at this moment, your crew is wanted by the Empire," he said pressing a button on his wrist band. A hologram of the latest Imperial wanted list.
Jens and Fang both frowned when they saw the entire Nova Star crew's faces projected. Aleah and Dray had the biggest bounty on them since they were Jedis. The rest were about twenty to twenty-five thousand. Bridger turned off the hologram.
"Captain Jens Aldan," he began strongly. "Due to resent advents and the circumstances that your crew is now on the Empire's most wanted list, we, the Voyagers, have come to the conclusion that the best course of action is to relieve you of your duties as a Voyager. As of this moment, you and your crew are no longer part of the system."
From outside the briefing room, Aleah stood next to Siv, her hand gripped tight around his arm. Danny just sat down in a chair and shook his head, there was no way this was happening to them. Kenna, Lyra, and Feline just opened a bottle of alcohol and started drinking.
Bridger then brought up the next topic. "The next order of business is the Ember Moon," the old man said as he brought up a hologram of the Ember Moon. All eyes were on the image of a MC40a light cruiser. "She sent off a final transmission that was picked up just before she entered Dark Space. The transmission mentioned that the crew was going to pick up some scientists and their cargo from a former Republic research station located somewhere in Dark Space and that was all we know. It is vital the Ember Moon must be found before the Empire or pirates find it, because it has tons of secrets in her database."
A young Draethos captain stood, she looked at her fellow captains. "One does not just go flying into Dark Space," she began, her hands balling up as if anger was gripping at her soul. "I have seen many ships go beyond the boundaries of charted space in the galaxy, almost none come back. The ones that do speak of things only seen in nightmares. Not with the entire Voyagers fleet combined could we find the Ember Moon. It is folly."
A Frozian captain jumped to his feet. "Captain Zanda is right," he said agreeing with Draethos. "We cannot waste time searching for something that is in Dark Space."
"Then send me and my crew," Jens said standing up. "We'll find the Ember Moon." The captains began murmuring among each other. Bridger crossed his arms, as if he was in deep though on what to say about Jens' claims.
"You are no longer part of the Voyagers, Jens," he said firmly. "You have no say in-"
"I invoke the right of Final Voyage," Jens said interrupting Bridger. Both men stared at one another, both refusing to back down on their choice. Then an ally came to Jens' side. A strong Nazzar stood beside the bearded man.
"I will also go with Captain Jens, as well," Captain Jay Maxim of the Star Gazer declared. Jens looked shocked. Was this Nazzar really going to join him? From the look in his eyes was all the evidence Jens needed.
It was also all Bridger needed as well.
The commander smiled at the loyalty Captain Jay Maxim had for Jens. "Very well," he declared. "Jens, your right to Final Voyage is granted. May the force be with both your crews." Bridger then ended the council.
Outside the briefing room, Aleah looked at Siv. "What's Final Voyage?" she asked.
Siv said only two words. "Suicide mission."
Looks like Jens and his crew are on a one-way ticket to hell. Who knows what they'll find in Dark Space. Be ready for the next chapter of the Voyagers.