//------------------------------//
// Chapter 16 
// Story: Star Wars EQG: Episode 1, Harmony of the Force 
// by Banshee531 
//------------------------------//

Canterlot was in a state of emergency, as the planet's defences had been raised by the senate and all ships coming too and from the planet were being monitored and checked. 

The reason: The appearance of a Sith group and their army of insectoid soldiers. Until this group's intentions and motives were determined, the planet and all its neighbouring republic worlds were to remain on high alert. 

In the Jedi Temple, we find Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie in the holodeck. There, they were training against holographic Lightsaber wielders. "Raaah!" Twilight swung her blade at her opponent, but the holographic warrior easily dodged the attack and slashed at her. "Gyah!" She clutched her shoulder, as the enemy attacked again. 

Twilight wasn't the only one having issues, as Fluttershy and Rarity were both on the receiving end of an attack by their opponent. They both slashed at the holo-fighter, but the energy construct easily blocked their attacks and one managed to cut Rarity's weapon in half. 

Fluttershy was knocked to the ground and dropped her Lightsaber, whilst Pinkie swung her light-whip around to try and curl it around the opponent. But the figure ducked under it and kept their Lightsaber held up, the whip curling around that and allowing them to pull it from Pinkie's grip. 

"Hey!" Pinkie cried, seeing her friends with the same problem. 

Rarity and Fluttershy surrendered, but Twilight charged and tried to cut the opponent down. But the figure easily dodged her attack and with a single slash, Twilight's arm was cut off. 

She staggered back and clutched the stump that once held her Lightsaber, as her opponent raised its blade to finish her off. "End holo-training!" The fighters all vanished and the room returned to its normal state, whilst Twilight arm reappeared. 

Twilight sighed, as Rarity helped Fluttershy stand back up. "Maybe we should lower the opponent's training level," the cat girl suggested. "I'm pretty sure even the knights don't use the maximum skill level." 

"We can't," Twilight told her. "We have to be ready to fight an opponent, no matter how powerful they are." She thought back to her duel against Solara, and how much better she had been with the blade than her. Twilight had managed to escape with The Force, but she might not have that option next time. She had to improve her saber skills." 

"Twilight," Fluttershy frowned, "are you sure this is the best choice? Skipping all the way to the highest difficulty might not help us improve ourselves. Can't we use a lower setting and increase the difficulty when we're ready?" 

"We don't have time for that," Twilight told her. "We could run into those Sith at any moment. We need to be ready." 

"But we haven't improved," Pinkie pointed out. "Our opponents take us out before we can do anything." Rarity and Fluttershy nodded, whilst Twilight frowned. 

"Alright. We'll take it down two levels. But we have to work hard and improve. If we don't, who knows what'll happen." She really wished Celestia could be there, but this current situation had all the Jedi running around trying to get everything going. 



In another area of Canterlot, Celestia and Luna were in the headquarters of the galactic senate. 

At the very top of the building, was the supreme chancellor's office. That supreme chancellor was an alien by the name of Savick, a green skinned alien whose head had two skin sacks on the back. Whenever he breathed, they would inflate and deflate. 

"We have the entire planet in a state of panic," he stated. "You say these Sith are a genuine threat and I believe you. But the people won't take all these restrictions forever. Import and export has already ground to a near halt and if we don't do something soon, the people might start rioting to have things return to normal." 

"Chancellor," Celestia frowned, "I know you're worried. But these restrictions are important. Whenever Sith have appeared in the Galaxy, their goal has always been to overthrow any form of democracy and instil themselves as the supreme ruler." 

"That makes Canterlot their biggest target," Luna agreed. "They might not attack right away, but they'll eventually try and take control of this planet. It's just a matter of time before that happens." 

"Maybe," Chancellor Savick agreed. "But most of the public don't even believe the Sith are real. Many believe the Jedi have made this up as a stunt to make it look like the galaxy needs you." 

"That's ridiculous," Luna cried. "All we want is for the galaxy to be at peace. If the Jedi weren't needed, we'd happily let our Order end. But we are needed." 

"That's not what a lot of the public think," Savick sighed. "Until they see a Sith with their own eyes, they're gonna think everything's fine. As much as I hate to think of it happening, the Sith attacking somewhere might be the only way to prove they're here." 

Celestia sighed. "And even if they do, a lot of the public will simply state we did it to prove the Sith are here." 

Savick nodded. "Any idea what we do?" 

"There are other planets that are just as important as Canterlot," Celestia explained. "I've sent some of our best knights to those planets in order to make sure the defences are as good as the ones here. If the Sith do attack, they'll start by trying to conquer one of our weaker settlements. We have to be ready." 



In a nearby sector, the Shooting Star had just arrived at a planet that was lush and green. 

The planet had many differently shaped continents, with most of these areas being covered in green. Smaller areas had a desert environment, whilst others were covered in snow. The planet was also covered in many cities and other settlements, allowing those aboard the ship to see lights shining from the planet. 

"That's Castalore?" Flash asked, turning to the Knights beside him. 

Shining Armor, Cadance and Heather Bloom nodded, Applejack and Thorax staring down at it in amazement. "That's the place," Shining stated. "Home to the castalorians. It's a pretty peaceful planet, but a strategic location if the Sith ever decide to invade. A jumping off point into three different sectors of republic space, including Canterlot's sector." 

"So it could be targeted by the Sith," Thorax noted. 

"Exactly," Cadance nodded. "Which is why we need to make sure it's well defended." The ship flew down towards the planet and as they got in close, the console beeped asking for a clearance code. "Good. They've added some security already." Heather transmitted the code. "Let's just hope that's not all they've done." 

Clearance code accepted, they flew down to the planet and were directed to a launching pad in the largest of the cities on the planet. "Be ready," Heather told everyone. "We're being directed to the palace's private landing pad." 

Flash smirked. "So we're being invited in by the ruler themselves?" Nobody answered, as they flew down and found the landing pad they were being made to land on. Said pad was on the side of a large white castle, with many towers sticking up towards the sky. Around it, a large city could be seen with many tall buildings. 

As they landed, someone came out of the castle and walked towards their ship. 

To Flash's amazement, it was a short alien. No taller than two feet high. They were blue in colour and their head was covered in a brown shell-like structure with many pumps covering it. "Welcome," he announced as they disembarked. "To the beautiful planet of Castalore." 

Cadance bowed, "you honour us with this audience." The castalorian nodded and gestured for them to follow. 

Heading into the castle, Flash found it wasn't much different from the castle he had been in on Vapire. Pictures lined the walls, traps covered the windows, guards could be seen standing protectively in the halls and a few tables could be seen with vases and other interesting ornaments atop them.  

Staring at the guards, Flash had to fight back a laugh at how adorable they looked. Wearing tiny armor and carrying spears the length of Flash's leg. He couldn't help but laugh under his breath. 

Shining turned back to glare at him, making him shut up as they arrived at the throne room. 

When they got there, someone was standing guard that wasn't a castalorian. And when the others saw them, Flash heard them all gasp and he took in their appearance. 

They were human, or human-like, standing around Flash's height. Their body was covered in a strange looking armor, which Flash had never seen before. Said armor covered their chest, shoulders, lower arms, upper legs and knees. They also had armored boots, gloves, a utility belt around their waist and some kind of metal backpack. 

Their face was covered in a metal helmet, with a T-shaped visor covering their eyes and running down the front over their mouths. 

"A mandalorian?" Shining frowned as he glared at the figure, who walked up to them with a hand on his thigh mounted blaster. 

"These are Jedi from Canterlot," the castalorian told the armored individual. "They're the queen's guests." 

"Anyone wishing to enter the throne room, must first be scanned." He took out a device and held it up to the Jedi, Flash reaching for his Lightsaber until Shining stopped him. 

"Why do you wish to scan us?" He asked. 

"Security precaution. To make sure you're not hiding any explosives on you." Before they could argue, he scanned them. A white light ran over them all and after a few moments, it stopped and the device beeped. "You're clear. You may enter." Shining went to step inside, only for the mandalorian to raise his arm. "Once you've handed your weapons over to me." 

Now Shining was looking ready to start fighting, Cadance stepping forward. 

"You have to understand, we Jedi cannot allow anyone except other Jedi to handle our weapons." The mandalorian turned to her. "Would you be willing to hand over your armor, if someone told you you couldn't take it somewhere?" 

"No. But I wouldn't attempt to enter that place if they did. If you're going in there, no weapons." 

"Very well." Cadance took out her Lightsaber and the mandalorian held out his hand, only for Cadance to pass it to Thorax. "Would you be a dear and wait here for me?" 

"Yes master," Thorax nodded before Cadance stepped past the mandalorian. Shining and Heather followed suit, handing their weapons to their Padawans before walking forward. The mandalorian watched them enter, clearly trying to think of a way to stop them. But he couldn't. 

The Knights headed inside and found the castalorian queen sitting on the throne. 

Said queen was twice the size of a normal castalorian, in both height and width. Around her were several more castalorians and a trio of mandalorians. The Jedi frowned at the sight of them, whilst the mandalorians looked ready to grab their closest weapon. 

"Your majesty," the first castalorian bowed. "The Jedi Knights have arrived." 

The queen smiled. "Yes. the amazing Jedi. Here to see how well we're defended against this Sith invasion." 

"Well," Cadance nodded, "we're not sure there'll be an invasion. But better safe than sorry." The queen nodded, whilst the Jedi and mandalorians continued to eye one another suspiciously.



Up above the planet, a bunch of ships had just come out of Hyperspace. 

The ships were the same kind that Sombra's army was using and on the bridge of the flag ship, Tirek stood there watching the planet as it drew closer. "Castalore," he smiled. "Such a weak planet. Conquering it will be a piece of cake." 

"Master Tirek." A bug trooper rushed up to him. "An encrypted message is coming through for you." Tirek nodded and walked out of the room, heading down the hallway until he arrived at a room that looked similar to a Jedi holo training room. 

The room activated, creating a giant holographic image of Sombra. "Report." 

"Master," Tirek nodded. "We've arrived at Castalore and will be beginning our attack shortly." 

"Good. And you're sure this will work?" 

"Of course," Tirek nodded. "If we focus our attacks on this side of the galaxy, the Jedi and republic will send the majority of their forces here. That will free the others up to continue their work as they search for the last two keys and the needed materials." 

"Very well. Do some damage. Make this be worth the number of troops we're going to end up losing." 

"Of course," Tirek nodded. "I swear to you, we'll make these castalorians regret joining the republic." Sombra nodded before the image disappeared, Tirek turning to leave. He returned to the bridge and saw the planet closer than ever. "Prepare the invasion's first wave. All ground troopers, prepare to launch!" 

"Yes sir!" Many cried as they began sending orders to the other ships, whilst Tirek watched and smiled with excitement. 

"This is gonna be fun." 



Back on the planet, the Padawans stared at the doors waiting for their masters to finish their meeting. 

The mandalorian was also there, leaning against the wall spinning his hand pistol around. The Jedi watched him do this and felt uncomfortable with it, Applejack glaring at him. "Would ya'h stop that?" 

"Stop what?" The armored figure asked, as he spun the blaster around on his finger.

"That," Applejack cried. "You're gonna end up firing it by accident." 

"Oh please." The mandalorian spun the blaster before throwing it into the air, catching it with one finger and still spinning it. "I'm not a Jedi. I know how to use a blaster." 

Applejack glared at him, looking ready to clobber him. But before she could, Flash placed a hand on her shoulder. "Would you relax? What's gotten into you guys? When you saw him, you all looked like one of the Sith was standing in front of you." 

"He's mandalorian," Applejack glared him at. "He's almost as bad as a Sith." 

"Correction," the mandalorian replied. "Jedi are as bad as Sith." Applejack glared at him, with Flash needing to grab her arm to keep her from rushing forward. "You weirdos are nothing but trouble. Needing to use that weird magic of yours to be anything worth taking seriously. Without that thing, you'd just be a bunch of peace loving losers with silly swords." 

Applejack growled, as Flash stepped in front of her. "I'm starting to see the problem." 

"At least Jedi have honour," Applejack stated. "Mandalorians only care about money. How much ya'll squeeze out of these poor castalorians before ya'h agreed to do...whatever the heck ya'h doin' here?" The mandalorian said nothing, "that's what I thought. Nothing but mercenaries. Can't trust them as far as ya'h can throw em. All the other guy needs ta do, is wave more money around to make 'em turn on their employer." 

"That's not true," the mandalorian stated. "We mandalorians respect our contract. No matter how much the other guys pay us, we always stick with our employer." 

"Yeah, right." Applejack clearly wasn't believing that. 

Flash hoped Shining's meeting with the queen wasn't gonna be much longer. 



Inside the throne room, the place had been dropped into darkness and a holographic globe had appeared. 

"As you can see," the queen announced. "We are in the middle of creating a series of shield generators." The globe suddenly had several beams fly off the planet before spreading out and forming a second orb around the first. "Once that shield is installed, no ship will be able to enter our atmosphere without our permission." 

"Good," Shining nodded. "How long until the generators are online?" 

"Another two weeks," a castalorian higher up announced. "We're working as fast as we can, but these things don't just appear overnight. That's why we've hired these mandalorians, to act as extra security until the shields are up." 

Shining frowned at the armored individuals, one of the mandalorians stepping forward. "I'd suggest having each generator be equipped with a laser turret of some kind. Something that can shoot down any ship that tries to take them out." 

"But shouldn't the shield shop those ships?" The queen asked, as she took a bite of some grapes being offered her. 

"Shields aren't always effective," another mandalorian stated. "If someone can figure out the shield's frequency, they can equip a small ship with a negator that would allow it to pass through. Then, they can take the shield generator down." 

"I see," the queen nodded before turning to the Jedi. "Do you agree with this statement?" 

"As much as it pains me," Shining nodded. "Yes, you should use some form of defence for the generators. There's no such thing as a perfect defence. No matter what you do, holes will exist. That's why you've gotta be as careful as possible." 

"Very well," the queen nodded. "If it's alright, I would like for you and my mandalorians security to work together. Help my best minds come up with a way to protect my planet." The two groups clearly didn't like that, as the queen continued to explain what other measures she was considering.



Back outside, Flash watched as the mandalorian was fiddling with his blaster.

He had taken a small screwdriver out and was using it to do something to the weapon, all the while pulling on his collar. "If you're hot, why not take your helmet off?" The mandalorian looked up at him, as Applejack turned her attention to them. 

"For a Jedi, you don't know much about us." Flash frowned at this. "Mandalorians never show their faces, to anyone." 

"Why?" 

"Ancient ways of our people," he replied. "Why don't you Jedi let yourselves have attachments? Because it's always been that way." 

"Actually," Flash told him, "Jedi don't restrict themselves like that anymore. So you can never take your helmet off?" 

"Of course I can," he screwed something into her blaster. "I just can't show my face to any living thing." Flash frowned, wondering how mandalorians were supposed to make any kind of connection if they couldn't reveal their face to anyone.

He was about to ask, but it was in that moment a massive explosion suddenly rocked the entire castle. 

"What was that?" Thorax cried, this being the first thing he had said since entering the castle. They all rushed to a nearby window and saw smoke wafting up from below, then looked up and saw what had caused the explosion. 

"No way," Flash as a bunch of ships were flying around the city. He knew these ships, from the day he had escaped his birthplace. "Those are bug trooper fighters." 

"Which means the Sith are attackin'," Applejack ran into the throne room. The mandalorian followed, having clearly forgotten the no weapons rule. "The Sith are here. They've got a ship attacking the city." 

"Not just this city," Shining stated. The holographic globe showed several dots around the planet. "They're attacking every large city on the planet. There's a destroyer class ship above the city, unleashing a bunch of smaller ships."

"This doesn't make any sense," the lead mandalorian announced. "They've just been uncovered to the world, so how could they already have a plan of attack figured out so quickly?" 

"Unless they always planned to come out of hiding at some point," Cadance guessed. "They must have had the plan ready before we discovered them and now, they're just putting it into action." Another explosion caused the castle to shake again. 

"Who cares how they planned this," the queen cried. "They need to be stopped before they destroy my world." 

They all nodded as Shining turned to Flash, the Padawan throwing his Lightsaber to him. "Send a distress signal Canterlot. They should send reinforcements. Until they get here, we have to do what we can to slow them down." 

"You can try and slow them down," the lead mandalorian pulled out his blasters. "We're going to take them out." The four headed for the door, the Jedi frowning at them. "Destroy the larger ships and the smaller ones will fall."

"You can't really think you're gonna be able to destroy those ships, are you?" Heather's question got no answer, as the differently coloured armored figures left the room. "Idiots." 

"Let themselves get killed," Shining stated. "We need to find a way to deal with these guys." The castle rocked again, "we're gonna have to slit up. We'll let the mandalorians deal with the ship here. Let's focus on stopping the others before they level the other cities." They all nodded and rushed for the door, as the queen started mobilising her own troops. 

"There are five ships," Cadance pointed out. "Even if we split into teams of two and leave one for the mandalorians, that still leaves one ship unaccounted for. What do we do?" 

"I don't know," Shining frowned. "We'll have to think of something. For now, let's just focus on keeping as many people as we can safe." The others agreed as they reached the ship, Springer already on board and powering it up.

"Can't we go anywhere, without it turning into a big event!?" The droid asked, as they climbed aboard before the ship took off. 

As they took to the air, another ship also appeared from one of the palace's landing zones. This ship looked more like a speedy gunship than anything else, Applejack looking out the window and seeing the mandalorian she had argued with through the other ship's window. 

The other ship zoomed off towards the larger destroyer, whilst a smaller fighter began to fly towards the Shooting Star. "Hang on!" Shining cried, as they swerved around to avoid the lasers that were being sent their way. "Springer, get the weapons ready." 

"There's no way we can destroy all those ships," Cadance cried. "We're only one ship with very little gun power." 

"Then what do we do?" Thorax asked, only for Springer to have an idea. 

"Give me a minute!" He flew out of the cockpit, the others wondering what the heck he was doing. But they had to keep their focus on the ships trying to blast them down, swerving and turning whilst Applejack rushed over to where the ship's gun turret was located. 



On the mandalorian ship, the four armored figures were blasting their way through the smaller fighters in order to get to the larger destroyer. 

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" The youngest member asked. "How are we gonna take that thing out?" 

"We just have to hit them where it hurts," the leader announced. He flicked several controls and swerved the control stick, causing the ship to spin and avoid another hail of lasers. The other two mandalorians began firing their guns, destroying more fighters. "Every ship has a weak point. Someplace that, if hit, will disable it. All we have to do, is find it." 

At that moment, the ship was struck by a laser. It rocked, the young mandalorian, had to clutch the console to keep from being thrown about. "Shields down to eighty percent." 

"Seriously?" The female mandalorian asked, "that's some power." 

"We can handle it," the leader stated as they finally reached the destroyer. "Fire!" They started shooting at the giant ship, a line of lasers running along it, but the damage done to it was nothing. 



Back on the Shooting Star, they were feeling the pressure as more and more ships kept shooting at them. 

A few of the castalorian ships had finally taken off and had joined the fight, but they weren't doing much better. "We have to do something," Shining cried as he dodged another laser before Applejack fired and destroyed the fighter. "We can't keep this up." 

"Got it!" Springer cried, flying over to them. 

"Got what?" Flash asked, only for a small arm to extend from Springer's side. In it were a bunch of small disks. "Now is not the time to be getting into music." 

"These are override disks. Remember when we escaped that planet? I had to override one of their fighters so they couldn't stop us remotely. If we plug this into one of their fighter consoles, we'll be able to take it over and fly without being blown up by the other ship." 

"Nice," Flash smirked before taking one. Cadance took the Shooting Star controls, allowing Shining to take another. Heather and Thorax also took one, the group rushing towards the loading bay. 

As the ramp lowered, the four stepped out and stared at the many fighters swarming around them. "How are we supposed to take one?" Thorax asked. "I doubt they're gonna stop and get out for us." 

"True," Flash stepped forward, "but I think we can persuade them." Before the others could say anything, Flash jumped off the ramp and fell through the sky. He free dived towards the ground, as a fighter flew under him. He positioned himself and at the last moment, he swirled and managed to grab onto the side of the fighter. 

The bug trooper looked up in shock, as Flash hit the cockpit's hatch leaver to make it slide open. 

Flash then pointed his Lightsaber at him. "Get out, or get a hole through your chest." The bug trooper hit a button and his seat-belt came off, allowing Flash to pull him out and over the side. 

As the trooper pulled his parachute, Flash jumped into the pilot seat and kept the ship from going out of control. He then placed the disk inside the ship's computer and it began to override the control systems, giving Flash complete control over the fighter. 

"Alright," Flash started flying around, "been a while since I've flown one of these." He looked around and saw there hadn't been any changes to the ship's design. It was just like when Flash had stolen the other one. "Hopefully, I won't crash this one." He swerved around and started firing at another fighter, destroying it before it could attack the Shooting Star. 

The other Jedi saw this and Shining smirked, "show off." He spotted another fighter and leapt out, falling towards the ship and landing atop it before the pilot could pull away. 

Heather and Thorax quickly did the same, both leaping off the ship. Thorax summoned his wings and flew as best he could, landing atop a fighter. He quickly opened the hatch and pointed his Lightsaber at the soldier, who looked at him before tilting his head in confusion. 

"Soldier. What are you doing?" 

"Soldier?" Thorax asked, but quickly shook his head. "Jump out of the ship before I do something I don't wanna do." The trooper hit the button on his seat-belt and it came undone, Thorax then using The Force to pull him out. 

As three more Troopers fell towards the ground and opened their parachutes, the Jedi jumped into the cockpits and took control of them like Flash had. "Can everyone hear me?" Shining's voice called out, the override having changed the radio to their frequency. 

"We hear you," Cadance replied. "Just be careful. I have no idea which fighter has you in it." 

"Working on that," Springer replied. "Give me a minute. Uploading a beacon to our ships' targeting systems. That'll make them see you as an alley and not target each other." 

Thorax suddenly found himself getting shot at, forcing him to take evasive manoeuvres. Looking back, he saw another fighter was trying to gun him down. "I'm under fire!" 

"I see it," Flash cried. "Hold on!" Thorax did his best to keep himself from being hit, with a few shots getting through. He shifted his fighter's shields to the spot he was being hit, but that barely did anything. But before he could be in trouble, another fighter flew in and blew the ship up. "You good?" 

"Yeah," Thorax nodded, "thanks." As he said that, three of the red dots on his targeting radar turned blue. 

"Upload's done. You shouldn't have any issues now." 

"Good," Shining replied before one of the fights started barrelling through the air. It then fired several lasers, gunning down a bunch of ships. 

Another ship started fighting the others, with another being chased but managing to make their pursuers crash into another group. Thorax started flying around and shooting at a group of fighters, blowing them up. But as he did, he thought about what that bug trooper had said before. 

Why had he called Thorax a soldier? 

"Thorax, on your left!" Cadance's call made him look around and see the ship flying at him, Thorax dodging the oncoming lasers before unloading his own blasts right into its under-hull. "That was too close. Maybe you should come back to the Shooting Star." 

"No," Thorax shook his head, "I'm fine. I can do this." He focused his attention on the ships in front of him and started battling against them, using everything he had learned with The Force to direct him as he fired. 

The others did the same, but this wasn't an easy fight. With so many enemies, it was only a matter of time before one of them was shot down. Maybe the mandalorians had had the right idea. 



The mercenary ship continued to shoot at the giant destroyer, eventually hitting an area that exploded and did damage. 

"Yes!" The leader cheered, "we finally got a direct hit. Lock onto that section again and take it out!" But as he said that, an alarm went off. "What's that?" 

"We've got company," the young mandalorian cried. "Another wave of fighters are coming from the ship. They're heading our way." Sure enough, a bunch of fighters appeared in front of them. As they drew closer, they started firing at the ship and the lead mandalorian shifted the shields. 

The lasers slammed into the cockpit and made it shake, showing incredible power as the mandalorians fired back. They managed to hit a few of the ships, but the others started swarming around at high speed and they were starting to get shot at from every angle. 

"Shield strength dropping!" The young mandalorian cried, "we're not gonna be able to hold on for very much longer!" 

"Maybe we should pull away?" The other male mandalorian suggested. "We're not gonna be able to do much damage against this thing if we're getting shot at!" The others hoped their leader would agree, but the mandalorian stared at the destroyer. 

"Maybe you're right." But instead of flying away, he flew forward. "But before we go, I wanna make sure they can't send any more ships. Prepare an explosive." The others nodded and as they headed towards the opening that the fighters had appeared from, the mandalorian set one of their bombs to launch. 

The fighters kept firing and the shields grew weaker and weaker, until they were almost completely dead. 

And as they reached the hatch, the leader spun the ship around. "NOW!" The young mandalorian hit a button and an explosive shot off the bottom of the ship, being propelled upwards and into the hatch. 

Moments later, an explosion rocked out of the opening before it was shut. That destroyer wouldn't be sending out any more ships. 

"Yes!" He cheered, only for another explosion to occur. This one came from their ship, as the shields failed and the ship had taken a serious blow to one of its wings. "I'm losing control." 

"Engine one's been knocked offline!" The young mandalorian cried, "we're losing power." 

"Try to get it back online," the leader cried. But another explosion caused the ship to rock again, as the other two armored individuals tried to fire back. But one of the lasers caused the console of one of them to explode, sending him flying across the ship's interior. 

"NO!" The female mandalorian cried, shooting down a few more ships. But then her console was struck as well and she was blasted away, as another laser hit the other wing. 

"Engine two's out!" The young mandalorian cried, as the ship began to fall towards the ground. "I can't get them back online. We're gonna crash." 

The leader looked around at the other two mandalorians, abandoning the controls to check on them. "They're dead," he stated before turning to his younger clan member. "We have to go." He hit a button and the back of the ship opened, the leader rushing over to grab the other and pull him towards the opening.

"We can't just leave them!" He cried, but the leader threw him out before he could argue. 

He fell, lasers flying all around him. And a moment later, the leader leapt out behind him. Both ignited their jetpacks and began to fly away from the ship, only for a laser to slam into it and cause the whole thing to explode. 

The shockwave caused the pair to lose control for a moment. And as they worked to regain control, a piece of metal slammed into the leader's jetpack. "NO!" He cried, as the pack exploded and he was sent flying out of control. 

The younger mandalorian dived down to try and get him, but a hail of lasers forced him back. All he could do was watch, as his leader eventually slammed into one of the fighters. The force knocked the ship out of control and the jet-pack exploded once again, the entire fighter being destroyed in a large blast. 

The young mandalorian could only watch in horror, but had to quickly shake it off as his own jet-pack's fuel was already beginning to run low. He cut the thrusters and let himself drop towards the ground, doing his best to keep himself from being hit by the lasers. 

And as he drew closer to the ground, his pack ignited again and he pointed it to the ground in order to slow down. But the fuel ran out before it could completely stop him, resulting in him crashing into the ground harder than he had been hoping. 

He flinched as he staggered along the ground, barely managing to stop before he fell upon a pile of sharp rubble. Once he was safe on the ground, his legs gave out and he fell to his knees. The image of his friends, dead, caused the young armored warrior to roar in anger. And as more fighters flew overhead, he looked up at them and growled. 

Taking out his blasters, he pointed them at the nearest fighter and started shooting. But the small weapons did nothing against the shielded fighters. In return, the fighters started shooting at him and he was forced to run for cover. But before he could get away, a laser slammed right at his feet and he was sent flying into the air. 

As he crashed down, another shot in part of the building he was next too. And this caused it to explode and collapse down upon him, burying the mandalorian alive. 



Back in the air, the Jedi continued to fight against the fighters. 

Explosions filled the sky, as ships were destroyed one after another. Some were the bug trooper fighters, but most were the ships belonging to the castalorians. But the Shooting Star and Jedi controlled fighters, managed to remain airborne and shot down several more fighters. 

"We can't keep this up forever," Heather cried from her fighter. "Eventually, we're gonna get hit or run out of power." 

"I know," Shining agreed. "But we don't have any other choice." As he said that, Cadance spoke up from the Shooting Star. 

"Guys, I've got good news and some bad news. Bad news, the mandalorian ship has been destroyed." The Jedi all rolled their eyes at this, not surprised in the least. "Good news, they managed to damage the destroyer's launch bay. We're not gonna be getting any more fighters coming out of it." 

"That's good," Flash sighed. "But that thing's still packing enough fire power to turn the entire city into a pile of rubble. And we've still got another four to deal with after this." 

"I think the splitting up plan was a little adventurous," Cadance agreed. "If we're gonna stop this thing, we need to work together." The others nodded, as Applejack continued to gun down as many fighters from the ship's turret. 

But as they flew close to the ground, she spotted something that made her gasp. 

"We got bug troopers on the ground!" The others turned their ships to look at the ground and sure enough, troops were making their way through the destroyed streets of Castelore. 

"Must have been dropped off during the first wave," Shining realised. 

"So what do we do?" Flash didn't want to leave those troopers to have free reign, painfully remembering what had happened on his home world. "Do we shoot?" 

"There could be civilians on the ground," Shining stated as he shot down another fighter. "We can't risk hurting them." 

Applejack agreed with this and decided she had to do something. "Springer. Take over firin'" 

"What?" Springer asked, as the cow girl began to climb out of the turret. The droid quickly took control of the turrets and started firing, as Applejack made her way towards the loading ramp. 

"Applejack!" Heather called out, "don't do anything reckless." 

"Of course not," Applejack lowered the ramp and took her axe off her back. Once she was close to the ground, she leapt out of the ship and began to fall towards it. And just as she was about to hit the ground, she spun around and thrust her legs down. 

The Force created a cushion below her and she was able to land without issue. 

She charged in the direction the soldiers had been seen in and when she got there, she saw the bug troopers beginning to advance on a group of castalorians. "Back off!" She ignited her axe and as the troopers fired, she spun the weapon around to deflect their attacks. 

Once close enough, she swung the axe around and cut right through their armor. 

One staggered back, as Applejack cut down another and another. And as the others advanced, Applejack used The Force to throw the ones she had defeated at them. 

Remembering what Flash and the others had said about their fight with these insects, she didn't want them anywhere near her or the civilians. And sure enough, the ones she had killed were beginning to beep. And moments later, they all exploded and took the rest of these troopers out with them. 

Applejack turned to the civilians, "ya'll okay?" They nodded, but an explosion made them cry out. "Is there anywhere ya'll can go to stay safe?" 

"I don't think there is anywhere safe!" One of them yelled, looking absolutely terrified. Applejack looked around, trying to figure out the best course of action. She then noticed the castle and realised it was probably the safest place to go. 

"Follow me," she told them before they headed through the destroyed city.



Flash performed a barrel roll in order to avoid getting shot down, blasting several more ships as he did so. 

But he soon got a power warning, telling him he was down to his last few rounds of ammo. Once that was out, he'd be a sitting duck. "Any plans for what we do when we can't shoot anymore?" 

"I'm working on it," Shining stated. "But it's not like I've been in this situation a lot." He tried to think and started up at the destroyer, remembering the four others that were still causing havoc on the planet. "There's gotta be something we can do." 

At that moment, Thorax had an idea. "What if we take control of that ship?" 

"What?" Heather asked, "how do we do that?" 

"We took control of these fighters. How much different could it be? If we take control of that ship, we'd have the power to take on the rest."  

On the Shooting Star, Springer heard this and thought about it. "That might work. If I can get a connection to the ship, I might be able to hack into its systems and cause the ships to power down." 

Cadance glanced at him. "You really think you can take control of an entire space fleet?" 

"Just you watch me. But like I said, I need a connection. The fighters have all been cut off from the ship, so I can't use them. I need to be plugged into it, or connected to something plugged into it." 

Flash thought about this and looked over at the gauntlet on his arm, which Springer was connected to for communication. "Alright. Leave that to me." He suddenly turned his ship towards the destroyer and rushed towards it, dodging the other fighters as he flew towards it. 

But as he headed in that direction, Shining also flew after him. 

"Flash," he told him, "I know what you're planning. And it's suicide. There's no way you're gonna be able to get inside...at least on your own." The two shared a look and smirked through their cockpits, as they flew towards the destroyer. 

Shifting around in multiple directions, the pair flew up and got above the destroyer. They skimmed along the top of it and as they did, they spotted an area they were looking for. "There!" Flash cried, aiming for it. Shining also aimed for it and once the pair were close enough, they hit the lasers and shot the same spot. 

The destroyer's laser turrets quickly pointed at them and as the ships got close, they fired at them. 

"Pull up!" Shining cried, the fighters flying straight up seconds before the laser could hit them. The laser instead struck the spot they had been firing at, the weakened section of the bulkhead blowing apart and leaving an opening for them to fly into. "Hurry. Before it closes." 

Flash nodded and the fighters circled around and headed for the open spot, picking up as much speed as they could. 

"Ready?" Shining asked, Flash nodding as the turret fired at them again. But before it could hit them, the pair opened their cockpits and leapt out of the fighters as they slammed into the destroyer and exploded. 

The force from the explosions pushed the two forward, allowing them to fly through the hole moments before a force field covered it. They hit the ground of a metal hallway and slid along it, eventually coming to a stop before they went splat against a wall. 

The two laid there, a little thrown for a loop, then shook their heads before pushing themselves to their feet.

"That was fun," Shining shook his head. "Now, let's find somewhere we can plug the gauntlets in before we're discovered." But as they headed down the hallway, they suddenly found a bug trooper walking around a corner. 

It spotted the pair and looked surprised, but quickly recovered and reached for its gun. But before it could fire, Flash thrust his hand forward and the insect was knocked flying backwards until it crashed into the back wall. This knocked the soldier unconscious, the two quickly running down the hallway before any more showed up. 



"Flash?" Springer called out, "Shining?" 

"Are you there?" Cadance looked terrified, "answer me!" Fear flew through her body, the Jedi fearing she might have lost them. "Oh no." She was distracted and a laser managed to hit the ship, causing it to shake and knock her out of her worry.

Springer continued to scan the destroyer and after a minute or so, he finally got something. "I've got a signal. It's weak, but it's moving. The destroyer must be blocking our communications." 

"So what do we do?" Heather asked, only to suddenly get hit by a laser. "We can't keep this up forever!" 

"We don't have to," Thorax pointed out. "Just long enough for them to find a place to connect their gauntlets into. That should boost the signal and give Springer the chance to hack into the ship's systems." 

"We just have to stay alive long enough to do that," Cadance stated. But as she said that, she noticed a bunch of fighters turning their attention on her Padawan's ship. "Thorax! Watch out!" But it was too late. The fighters opened fire and her apprentice's ship took some serious damage. "GET OUT OF THERE!" 

Thorax opened his cockpit and leapt out, right as the ship spiralled out of control before crashing. 

As it exploded, he flew towards the ground and did his best to take cover. But the rain of lasers made it difficult. "Thorax!" Cadance called out through his gauntlet, "are you okay? Answer me!" 

"I'm alive," he assured her. But as he said that, he heard movement and looked around to see a bug trooper marching towards him. As soon as the trooper saw him, it froze for a moment and tilted its head at him. 

This gave Thorax the chance to ignite his Lightsaber and stand defensively. The trooper finally seemed to get over his hesitation and drew his blaster, firing at him. But Thorax began to defend himself as he moved forward. The lasers bounced off his blade and as he got close enough, he cut the end of the laser blaster. 

The trooper staggered back, seeing his weapon destroyed. He then threw it away and pulled out a knife, but Thorax slashed him in the chest and he fell to the ground. 

Thorax stared at the soldier, hardly believing what he had done. But before it could really sink it, the soldier's armor began to beep. This made his gasp as he turned to run, getting away just before the armor exploded. But this explosion caught the attention of more troops, that charged towards him and opened fire. 



In another part of the city, Applejack was fighting another group of insects. 

They blasted at her, but she was able to evade them all and cut the blasters apart. She then Force Pushed them away and as she did, the people she was protecting rushed up towards her. "Everyone okay?" They nodded, as the soldier's armor exploded. 

As they turned to leave, Applejack saw movement and looked around. 

A pile of rubble was moving, as something underneath was trying to escape. She held up her axe and slowly moved towards it, as part of the rubble fell away. Doing so revealed a hand, not like that of the troopers. 

Applejack realised it had to be a civilian and quickly focused on the rocks, using all her strength with The Force to lift them up. And slowly, the body was revealed and Applejack was shocked by who it was. "You?" 

The mandalorian groaned, as he picked himself up. He looked up at Applejack and then saw the rocks, which Applejack threw away. He sighed, "saved by a Jedi. I'm never going to live this down." Then, he reached down and grabbed his blaster. 

He pointed it at Applejack and fired, the girl gasping as she couldn't defend herself in time. 

But the blast didn't hit her, instead flying past her and hitting something else. And when she looked around, she saw a bug trooper fall to the ground. Moments later, the armor exploded and they were safe. 

"Now we're even," the mandalorian stated. 

"I guess," Applejack nodded. She then pointed at the castalorians, "wanna help me get these guys to safety?" 

"Sure," he nodded. "I need to get back to the castle anyway. Let's go." He climbed down off the pile and started walking towards the castle, the cow girl following him. 

"Applejack." 

"Huh?" 

"My name's Applejack," she explained. "Might be easier to work together if we know each other's names." 

"I guess." The armored individual led the castalorians towards the castle. "My name's Rogue." Applejack nodded, standing at the back of the group. It was a long road to the castle and getting there wasn't going to be easy. Hopefully, they could find a safe way there before it was too late.



Up on the ship, Flash and Shining stopped before they passed a corner. 

They looked around and saw it was empty, so kept running down the hall until they reached another turn. And once again, they glanced around it and saw a group of soldiers walking towards them. 

They didn't seem to notice them, so they pulled back and looked around for a place to hide. But the doors all required a security pass to get through. They had to think fast. And Flash had an idea. 

Moments later, the troopers walked around the corner and saw nothing out of the ordinary. 

But before they could continue down the hallway, something came down from above and crashed into them. They were tackled to the ground and knocked out, Flash and Shining laying on top after having fallen from above. And as they picked themselves up, Flash found a key card on one and smirked. 

"Hope this guy has high access." They ran down the hallway, using the card on every door they came across to find some kind of terminal. Hopefully, they would soon find what they were looking for. 



Thorax swung his Lightsaber around several times, blocking the blaster fire shooting towards him. 

He leapt at one of the bug troopers and cut his blaster in half before stabbing him, quickly jumping away as the armor beeped. He then used The Force to propel the insect towards some of its comrades, the explosion that followed knocking them all down. 

Three more troopers remained and began to fire at him, Thorax deflecting all three of their blasts so they hit them right in the chest. 

All three were knocked back and as they hit the ground, two of them started beeping before blowing up. But the third remained un-exploded. And as Thorax got down to keep from being seen by the fighters, he watched as the armored assailant laid there. 

After about a minute, he realised this one wasn't going to explode. 

Seeing an opportunity to know thy enemy, Thorax carefully made his way over to them. He looked the soldier over and realised the laser he had deflected, must have hit the section of the suit that gives the command to explode. He reached for the creature's helmet and removed it. And when he saw the face of his enemy, his eyes widened. 

It was him. Or a creature that looked just like him. Same facial structure. Same eyes. Same everything. 

Thorax could hardly believe what he was seeing. He looked up at the ships flying above him, at the troopers fighting around him. At his own race. He now knew where he came from. A race of Sith lackeys.