//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Wookiee Distress 2 // Story: Sunset Shimmer's Saga: Call of the Force // by Kenobiiii //------------------------------// Bossk stood there with his weapon pointed towards his bounty. He gave himself a small hurrah in the form of a growl, “ Pleased to see you here too.” The Trandoshan acknowledged Kara in a scratchy reptilian voice. “ How did you track us here, bounty hunter ?” a furious Kara asked, surprised to find him here, of all places. “ I didn’t. I was here in Kashyyyk doing a little community service for my people when you and your friends just happened to reveal yourselves.” Bossk said with a grin shooting across his pointed skull-like head. “ You’re not going to stop us from freeing the Wookiees.” Kara said, her jaw tightened with her voice iced with controlled anger. She wasn’t going to let the infamous Trandoshan Bounty Hunter, who’s been after them for a while now, get in the way of the mission. “ You’re not in the position to make any threats.” Bossk intoned, unfazed by her. She wasn’t expecting him to. She shot her legs upwards, kicking his blaster off the grips of his claws and sending the unsuspecting Bossk stumbling backwards, deprived of his signature weapon. In the moment, Kara quickly pulled herself up, to face the green skinned Trandoshan, “ Looks like I am now.” She quipped. His weapon was within a far reach from him but Bossk doesn’t need no blaster to bring in a bounty, his reputation alone speaks of it. Just that it’s going to take longer without one. He gave a hiss either in anticipation of a one and one fight or annoyance of it, or perhaps maybe both. “Blaster or not, I can still take you on, you stupid girl.” He said as he brought his fists up. Kara made the first move, she charged towards him, launching her fist to deliver the first punch on him in the jaw. However, He saw it coming and ducked both of her punches. It sometimes amused him that the normally weak humans thought that they could take him on single combat. He clenched his fists before delivering a punch right to her gut. Kara wasn’t able to evade that punch even though she saw it coming. Bossk then places his arm firmly around her head, holding it in an unyielding headlock. She struggled to break free of Bossk’s strong arms. She eventually managed to break free of his headlock by giving the Trandoshan a good kick in the gut. It perhaps angered him even more as he gave off a growl and charged towards her. Kara was ready for what was coming in her direction. As Kara and Bossk continued to engage with one another, Sunset and Karl continued to lead the Wookiees to Cell Gates. As they pushed forward, they faced heavier resistance from stormtroopers firing on them from above. The two of them did their best to fire back but the overwhelming blaster fire from the stormtroopers kept them constantly in their legs. The Wookiees, despite their muscular strength, capable of literally bringing down the entire platform with a single punch, were subjugated by their shock collars around their necks. Sunset couldn’t blame them. The moment they were to fight back, the collar would activate, sending a painful and agonizing shock throughout their bodies. “ Kara better have that Gate open by the time we get there.” Karl said as they pushed their way through the barrage of laser fire. Sunset shoots one stormtrooper off the platform railings before turning her attention over to Karl, “ What happens if she doesn’t ?” She asked. “ Well then this is gonna be one short lived mission alright.” He scoffed without turning his head over to her to make eye contact. He was too distracted with the stream of troopers firing at them from above. They couldn’t stay in one spot forever. They had to keep moving fast. As soon as they were cleared of stormtroopers, they continued their way towards the gates. Just then, they had their path blocked by a Yellow skinned Trandoshan guild member wielding an electro whip [1]. He had jumped from the above platforms to their way, keeping them from going any further. His height was almost if not equal to that of the Wookiees. It was almost as if both Trandoshan and Wookiee were an equal adversary of each other. “ End of the line, Rebels.” He said boastfully. Sunset couldn’t care less about the boastful manner but rather the ugly disgusting face that was standing in front of her. “They’re even uglier up closer.” Sunset revolted. The Slave Master clearly didn’t take her words too kindly, “I’ll show you who’s ugly.” He unleashed his electro whip before lashing it onto her. Sunset had little time to react before the whip came lashing onto her, wrapping itself around her. The whip exerted both pressure and pain. She could feel at least a thousand volts of electrical charge flowing through her entire body. While it wasn’t the worst pain she had ever felt in her life (that spot goes to the time she transformed into a she-demon during the Fall Formal), it was enough to bring her down to her knees. Karl and the Wookiees tried to intervene, but the foreman had his own reinforcements. With the flick of an activation button, the shock collars that the Wookiees had around their necks activated, sending shockwaves of unimaginable pain through their bodies. They wailed in extreme agony before collapsing to the floor, unable to bear the pain. Sunset could only watch helplessly as the Wookiees were subjected to more immense pain than what she’s going through. It brought great pleasure to the Trandoshan, as if their suffering is his entertainment. Karl, the only one who hasn’t been incapitated yet, pointed his blaster to him, hoping he might let Sunset go and stop the Wookiees suffering, but just then, he himself was electrocuted from behind by a stormtrooper wielding an electrostaff. He collapses to the ground, still conscious, looks above to see that they were surrounded by blister wielding stormtroopers from above on the platform, they were pointing their blasters towards them and the Wookiees. Three more electrostaff wielding troopers also appear on the ground, encircling the subdued Wookiees, using their staff to inflict more pain onto them. Sunset could only watch helplessly from the wraps of the whip herself. This mission was over sooner than expected, she thought. Meanwhile back in the Control Room, Kara and Bossk continued to spar amongst themselves. Thanks to his massive size and imposing height, Bossk had an unfair natural advantage to Kara, who often found herself in the defensive, having her arms blocking off repeated punches thrown by Bossk. She had tried to go on the offensive, throwing a few punches towards the bounty hunter, only to be pushed back by him. They both then engaged in some kind of pushing match, with both of them having their arms on the other's shoulder with their heads locked on together. Bossk could keep giving the illusion to his bounty that she had a chance of defeating him, but he had run out of time and patience to play games. Using his strong thin arms, he grabbed Kara and slammed her to the metal walls. She hits the walls hard, before collapsing to the ground. She feels a striking pain coming from the part of her head that had made the most contact with the wall. Her back was also aching with pain. As she pulled herself up, she placed her hand at the back of her head, giving the source of the pain a small massage. Her skull might have cracked due to the impact but she brushed this thought aside. There was still enough fire in her to carry on, and she wasn’t going to let some simple pain dampen it. The Wookiees' freedom depended on it. Bossk’s face was beaming with confidence seeing his bounty on the floor, on the verge of defeat. He thought of the hefty bounty he would receive for bringing her and the others in. “The Pyke Syndicate [2] will pay me well when I bring you and your friends in.” He boasted. Kara wasn’t going to give up just yet. She brushed aside the pain and pulled herself up and positioned her arms in a ready position. “Come and get me, then,” she taunted him. The beaming confidence on Bossk’s face was soon replaced with a vexed one. She must have hit a raw nerve in him. Kara charged towards the Trandoshan and another round of fighting between the two of them ensued. She threw a good punch on Bossk’s face, hitting it hard, which seemed to further agitate him. He managed to dock two other punches that were thrown at him before he realized that he was being pushed to the defensive. Bossk then goes on the offensive, launching himself on the unsuspecting Kara and brings her down to the ground. Before she could pull herself up, Bossk pounces on her and attempts to tackle her from getting back on her feet. Kara struggled to grapple with Bossk’s superior strength and size. She was being tackled by him and at this point it would seem that he would after all get his bounty payment from the Pykes. But she wasn’t out of tricks yet. To her far right, she finds a couple of electro batons stashed in a weapons crate which she happened to have not noticed all this while. This fight would have been over by now if she had noticed it earlier, she thought to herself. It still wasn’t too late though. She extended her right palm,reaching out to the Force to pull the baton towards her. It answered to her and the baton came flying straight to her palms. Bossk had little time to react before he was zapped by it, sending thousands of kilowatts, reaching every part of his body. It was enough to bring him down. Bossk collapses onto Kara in an unconscious state. She struggled to lift the heavy Trandoshan off her, his weight compressing her body. As soon as she managed to pull herself up, Kara went straight for the control panels to disarm the shock collars and open the Cell Gates, paving the way to freedom for the Wookiees. Meanwhile, Sunset thought they were done for. An ugly hybrid lizard creature had some sort of electric whip wrapped around her, bringing her down to her knees with the Wookiees incapitated with pain not to mention being surrounded by stormtroopers from all angles. Just then, the deafening agonizing cries of the Wookiees came to an abrupt stop. Sunset had feared for the worse only to find that the shock collars that had been subduing them had been deactivated. Even better, its locks were released, allowing them to pull out the torture device off their necks. Both Sunset and Karl stared incredulously at what just happened. This clearly wasn’t their doing. The foreman and the troopers, equally incredulous on what just happened, could only stare at the fallen collars, speechless. The Wookiees then rose from the ground, growling angrily at the stormtroopers who stepped back in fear, their hunger for revenge has never been louder. No longer held back by the shock collars, it was their turn to have fun. A number of them charged towards the troopers on the ground, grabbing them by the head with their strong arms and throwing them to their fellow peers on the ground, knocking the both of them out without any difficulty. One of them launched himself towards the Trandoshan foreman, knocking him off from the electro whip. With his grasp of the electro whip now no more, the whip contracts, freeing itself off Sunset Shimmer. Now Freed, Sunset gets back to her own two feet only to immediately take cover from blaster fire coming from the above stormtroopers. Some of the Wookiees used their body strength to ram into the pillars holding the platforms. Thanks to their strength, the pillars fail and the platform holding the stormtroopers collapses onto the ground. Chaos ensued as the Wookiees started grabbing and stomping on the stormtroopers, some who were running for their lives away from the Wookiees' rage which until now, had been kept locked up inside. Sunset then turned her head to find the Trandoshan forman engaging with the Wookiee who had saved her. He tackled the forman down to the ground before stomping on his face, effectively knocking him out if not killing him. The Wookiee then let out a victory growl. In the ensuing chaos, she rushed to help Karl, who was still on the ground unconscious. If he didn’t get up soon, it would be very likely that he would be trampled to death by the Wookiees. Luckily enough, he was in the midst of pulling himself up by the time Sunset approached him. She gave him a helping hand to pull himself to an upright position. “Thanks” He muttered in appreciation to her. Once upright, he got a good look at the mayhem unfolding, with Wookiees beating the wits out of the stormtroopers and using their Imperial blasters to fire on the other remaining troopers.“ What do you think is happening ?” Sunset asked him. Karl took another look at the events unfolding before giving an answer. “Looks like the Wookiees are having some sweet revenge at last.” Before Sunset could answer that, several Wookiees approached them and for a second Sunset thought it was now their turn to suffer their wrath but instead they seemed to lower their hostilities around them. One of them spoke in growls and purrs which Sunset, right or wrongly construed it to be a call for her to continue leading the way. “You’re right. We gotta keep moving,” She said in response to the Wookiee, who only nodded at her. She supposed her gut feeling was right then. With that, Sunset and Karl continued to lead the way for the now armed and revenge thirsty Wookiees. Meanwhile, Kara headed out of the Control room, only to hear the noise of blaster fires being fired from every corner followed by the sounds of screeching stormtroopers and the aggressive growls of Wookiees. Giving herself a small hurrah for starting a slave uprising, she continues to head to the rendezvous point she told Sunset earlier, taking out any stormtrooper in the way. She also took out several Sharp Troopers, who were using their vantage point to fire upon the Wookiees below. As she continued to make her way, her commlink started beeping, indicating an incoming transmission. She took it out and answered it, “Talk to me.” “ Imperial Chatter has it about some Wookiee slave uprising happening in a particular Slave Camp.” Came Zeko’s sarcastic voice from the comm link. “ Thanks to me.” She said in a deadpan manner, “ We could really use a fast pick up though” She continued. “ Send me your location quickly. I’m all clear of TIE’s but it won’t stay that way for long.” Zeko remarked. “ Head for the Main Gates. We’ll meet you there.” There was silence on Zeko’s end for a few brief seconds before he answered, “Copy that.” With that, Kara placed her comm link back into her vest and continued to make her way to the rendezvous point. She didn;t encounter much stormtroopers or guild enforcers at this stretch as they’re either busy subduing the slave revolt happening below or died trying too. They should have known that it is futile to placate a Wookiee’s rage, more so when they have been subjected to slavery and treated as non Sentients. As she could hear the agonizing screeches of stormtroopers below, Kara almost felt sorry for them, almost. Then again, they brought down this upon themselves when they had chosen to brutally occupy their home planet and treat the Wookiees as nothing more than animalistic slaves. Sunset Shimmer and Karl continued to lead the Wookiees to Cell Gates. This time though, their progress was much faster thanks to the help of the Wookiees themselves, who no longer restrained, teared through anyone, be it stormtrooper or Guild members who got in their way. They were unstoppable. They especially took great pleasure in breaking the necks of Trandoshan Guild members who came in their way. Sunset initially deduced it to be mainly revenge for their mistreatment but seeing how they furiously and mercilessly stomped the Guild Members, she thought it could be due to their species' hatred for each other, like what Karl had mentioned earlier. Just ahead was the Main Gates which was wide open, leading out to the tall wroshyr jungle forests, where freedom awaits. There were several stormtroopers that were in charge of guarding the gates who were taken aback when the gates opened revealing a large group of armed Wookiees approaching. They were, of course, quickly dealt with a couple of streaks of red laserfire to their white armored chest by them. With that taken care of, there was no more resistance between them and freedom. They finally exited the gates and when the moment came, the Wookiees let out a combined growl into the air. It was one filled with a sense of happiness, the euphoria of being liberated from the confinements of slavery while at the same time throwing their arms up in the air. Deep down, Sunset Shimmer felt nothing but pride in herself for being responsible for bringing it about. She felt like it was the most righteous act she has ever done. Just then, she could hear the sound of a ship coming from the sky, getting louder and louder with each passing second. “ It’s Zeko.” Karl pointed out to the Gauntlet which was approaching them. Zeko landed the Gauntlet on the ground and released the ship’s boarding ramps to the ground for them to board. However, there was still one person who was yet to join them. “Wait.” Sunset called out to Karl, “ Where’s Kara ?”. “I’m right here.” Came Kara’s voice from behind. Sunset turned her head behind to find Kara standing on the guard railing. She leaped down from there, landing almost perfectly on her two legs. She had used the Force to mitigate her impact onto the ground. “What took you so long ?” Sunset asked. “ I got a little caught up with something.” Kara vaguely answered her. “What do you mean ?” Sunset further queried, intending to know more. Before she could answer that, a red laserfire streak came shooting, striking the Gauntlet, missing Kara by only a few inches. It seemed like it intended to be that way. She turned her to the source of the shot to find Bossk, with his blaster pointed at them from the railing which she had earlier jumped from. “That’s what I meant.” Kara pointed out to the bounty hunter. Bossk leaped from the railing to the ground, leveling out their previous height differences, with his blaster still pointed right at them. “Bossk ?” Karl intoned. “We’re not done yet, Jedi.” Bossk hissed angrily at Kara. he clearly was pissed at getting stunned earlier. What concerned Kara and the others more was that Bossk knew of her little secret, and Bossk could see their concerned expression on their faces let alone sense it. “You didn’t think I would notice that little magic trick you pulled back there ? Thanks to you, my bounty price for bringing you guys in has just tripled.” He hissed in a somewhat boastful manner, with his blaster at them. Sunset had no idea who this new lizard guy was that was pointing a blaster at them and was dressed differently than the other Trandoshans earlier. Kara however seemed indifferent despite being cornered by Bossk. Instead she seemed like she instead had the advantage. “ You might wanna tell that to them.” She pointed out to at least a dozen of armed Wookiees who Bossk had failed to notice standing behind him. The Trandoshan was startled and was quickly outnumbered by the enraged Wookiees behind him. His earlier angry expression was replaced by an unsettled one. Heavily outnumbered by enraged Wookiees who would take pleasure in beating the infamous Wookiee hunter to death, Bossk quickly fleed to the jungle, heavily pursued by the Wookiees, except one who stays behind to thank the Gauntlet crew for freeing them from slavery. He conveyed this by extending his hand forward for a handshake. Sunset reciprocated by extending her hand. “Go,” She said to the Wookiee while shaking his hand, “You people are free now.” The Wookiee again purred, expressing his gratitude to them. “ We gotta move fast, The Empire will be sending more TIE’s after us.” Karl called out to Sunset and Kara. Realizing they couldn’t be here any longer, Sunset and Kara quickly boarded the Gauntlet, but not before Sunset wished luck to the Wookiees. As soon as they boarded the ship, the boarding ramp pulled up before the doors sealed themselves up. With the doors shut, Zeko immediately lifted the ship from the ground and pulled it up to the air, flying away from the Camp as fast as possible. “What took you guys so long ?” He asked while his four arms were working overtime to pilot the ship to get away as far as one could from the camp. Their trajectory was set to open space, where they could make the jump into hyperspace. “We got a little side tracked by Bossk.” Karl answered him. Before he could say a word, R5 interrupted, beeping in binary to warn of incoming Tie’s approaching their back. “I’m on it.” Kara intoned to the droid’s warning as she quickly dashed behind to man the weapons turrets below. Sunset quickly seated herself and buckled the belt. This was gonna be a rough ride out. “Bossk ? How the heck did he track us here ?” Zeko continued his original query, joined by Sunset who asked her own question. “ Wait, who is this Bossk guy ?” “He’s a bounty hunter who’s after us.” Karl answered Sunset before turning his head over to Zeko, “ And I have literally no idea on how he found us.” He continued. “ There’s a bounty hunter after us ?” Sunset exclaimed in a confused and surprised manner. She could only wonder what warranted for a bounty to be placed on them in the first place. “ One of several actually,” Zeko corrected her before turning his attention back to piloting the ship away from incoming TIE fighters. “ Yea, there’s Embo, Dengar, Zuckuss, IG-88, Boba Fett….. And those are just the big guys who are after us.” [3] Karl said, concurring with Zeko. “ You can thank him for that.” Zeko pointed out to Karl as the Ardennian increased power to the engines, giving them a boost for the Gauntlet to shoot upwards steeply, breaking the sound barrier, heavily pursued by TIE fighters. One of the Tie’s fired at the ship’s back, with its shots being deflected by the deflector shields. However, this caused the interior to rumble as if it was hit by an earthquake before being joined by a loud explosion sound coming from the back. “ What the hell are you doing back there ?” Zeko shouted to Kara who was supposed to be manning the cannons, “Are you ever gonna fire back?” He sarcastically said. “I’m working on it. Fly us into space fast !” Came Kara’s voice echoing from the back. As Zeko continued to fly upwards steeply, Sunset soon noticed that the blue Kashyykian sky was slowly getting thinner and thinner, being replaced with the dark star filled void of space. As they flew higher into orbit, she noticed the star destroyers in orbit were closing in on their trajectory, as if it was attempting to block their way. “Uhh, those Star Destroyers are closing in on each other.” She anxiously pointed out. “They’re trying to cut off our escape into hyperspace.” Karl said to her. Zeko, however, was indifferent to the destroyers closing in on them. “That’s laughable.” He brushed it off before turning to his astromech co-pilot, “ Is the hyperdrive set ?”. R5 responded in the affirmative. A smile shot across Zeko’s face as he primed the hyperdrive up with one of his arms before his other arm pulled the hyperdrive gear backwards, sending the Gauntlet full swing into hyperspace, narrowly jumping past the closing in Star Destroyers. Meanwhile, Rothana Imperial Outer Rim Shipyards On the Icy Outer Rim planet of Rothana [4], a fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers, known collectively as the 5th Fleet, was in process of running diagnostics and making their final calculations for hyperspeed. They were preparing for deployment and subsequent annexation of the remote Utthar system. Their orders were to force the locals into submission by the sheer display of strength and force. On the Command bridge of the fleet’s flagship destroyer, The Repulsor, Grand Moff Tarkin had a good view of the rest of the fleet from the deck. He was then joined by fleet Admiral Katz, a human male dressed in the standard gray coloured Imperial uniform with his right covered with a blue and red coloured insignia which denoted his rank.Being Governor of the Outer Rim Territories, Tarkin had chosen his fleet to annex the new planet for the Empire’s interests, a momentous burden for the Admiral, one which he did not plan on failing under Tarkin’s watch. “What is the status of the fleet, Admiral ?” Tarkin asked, indifferent to the Admiral’s presence. To him, Katz is just one of thousands of inferior fleet admirals serving the Imperial Navy. “We're in the process of making the final calculations for the jump into hyperspace as per the provided trajectory, Governor.” Katz said with his bowed down as a sign of respect to the Grand Moff. Just then, the ominous breathing noise of Lord Vader could be heard echoing throughout the deck. The Sith Lord had entered the deck through the main blast door which was flanked by two Imperial Purge Troopers[5] , troopers specialized with hunting down Jedi survivors while serving the Inquisitorius legion. Cladded with black armor with the Imperial insignia on their left shoulder pad with a black helmet design that differs greatly from the common stormtrooper armor with the notable difference being its color and a red narrow eye lens that stretched from one side to the other. Like their armor, the weapons they wielded have been designed specifically to counter the abilities of the Jedi in an effort to level the playing field. Purge Troopers were originally made up of former selected Clones with their inhibitor chip activated, but has since been heavily replaced with conscripted indoctrinated soldiers, with Clones making up only a very few of the overall legion. Vader's breathing rattled even the technicians situated at the two elongated pits below floor level, who stared in fear as the Sith Lord made his way to Tarkin and the Admiral. For many in the lower Imperial hierarchy, Vader’s existence has been a myth, with stories of the deadly consequences that would befall on those who displeased him. “Admiral Katz, has my Purge Trooper squadron been accounted for ?” He asked in his deep voice that would send shivers down anyone’s spine and Katz was not spared of this. He too has heard of the fate that befell on officers who failed him and he certainly did not want to join them. “ They are, my Lord.” Katz kept his head down as he answered him. “Very well Admiral. As soon as you’re done with your calculations, make the jump into hyperspace.” Tarkin dismissed him. Katz nodded before leaving the two Imperial Strongmen to themselves. He then turned his attention to Vader, “ Enlighten will you, Lord Vader,” He said in a heavily aristocratic accent, “ What other value does this primitive world bring other than its vast resources that the Emperor has sent you personally to deal with ?” “There is a girl on this system that my master seeks for me to apprehend.” Vader answered Tarkin. “ A girl ? What does a simple primitive girl bring to the Empire ?” Tarkin opined incredulously. “Do not underestimate this girl, Grand Moff,” Vader slightly raised his deep voice that was bound to get his attention. “She serves a greater purpose to the Emperor more than you realize.” Tarkin stood in silence for a moment. He knew what Vader had meant, being one of the very handful of people who knew of the Emperor’s true identity. “If that is what His Majesty desires, then it shall be done.” Tarkin intoned. Vader was slightly relieved to know that both him and Tarkin were back on the same page. They stared through the Command Deck’s as the The Repulsor, together with the rest of the fleet jumped into hyperspace, their next location: Utthar.