The battle of Castalore was in full swing, with ships all over the planet turning the place into a disaster zone.
Up in the sky, The Shooting Star continued to fly around and shoot as many fighter ships as it could. Cadance swerved the ship around to avoid getting hit, as Springer fired the lasers and destroyed a fighter. Another fighter was about to shoot at them, but it was shot down by one of its own.
Heather Bloom smirked as she watched another ship go down, then barrel rolled to avoid getting shot down herself. But as she destroyed another ship, she got a warning telling her her own fighter was starting to run low on juice. "I'm close to empty on firepower. How much longer until you can connect to the ship?"
In The Shooting Star, Springer fired whilst also tracking his friend's signal. But they kept blinking in and out as they moved. "I don't know. Flash and Shining need to find an access terminal, to boost their signal and give me wireless access. They're on a ship full of bug troopers, so that could take a while."
Cadance looked worried. "We can't keep this up forever." Sure enough, a blast hit the ship and The Shooting Star rocked around. "If we take too many hits, we're not gonna stay in the air much longer."
Heather frowned, "we have to hold out." She then remembered the two Padawans on the ground, surrounded by the enemy. "Applejack. Be careful."
Down on the ground, Applejack was making her way through the destruction of the city towards the castle.
With her were a bunch of castalorian civilians, attempting to escape the destruction. And leading the group, was a young mandalorian by the name of Rogue. The armored individual ran ahead and climbed up a pile of rubble, yet still kept to its shadows in order to avoid getting shot at by the fighters.
When he was at the top, an antenna of his helmet folded down over his right eye.
The others stayed hidden, Applejack keeping an eye on the sky in case a fighter spotted them. Rogue slid down the pile and turned to them. "We're in trouble." Everyone looked worried. "There are bug troopers walking through every path between us and the castle. I don't think we're getting there without another fight."
"Okay," Applejack wanted to avoid as much fighting as possible. As such, she climbed up the pile herself. Rogue went with her and they stared at the large area between them and the castle, which was full of destroyed buildings and crashed fighters.
As she looked around, she noticed the bug troopers Rogue mentioned. They really were all over the place.
"There's gotta be a way around them."
"I can't see anything. Although," he pointed to a path that was located between two lines of destruction. Those two lines had been formed when a fighter crashed. Instead of blowing up, it smashed into a line of rubble and carved a trench into it.
The walls of the trench were just high enough for them to be hidden from sight. And at the end of the trench, the still intact fighter was resting.
"If we go through that, the ground troops won't see us. But if a fighter spots us, it'll be like shooting fish in a barrel." Applejack frowned, as she stared at the trench and the fighter. Then, she had a brain wave.
"Nice. Alright. A'h know what we need to do."
In another part of the city, Thorax was staring down at the body of a bug trooper he had defeated.
Unlike the others, this one's body hadn't exploded when it was killed. Thorax didn't know if those explosions were to keep the enemy from discovering a body they could exploit, but it had kept Thorax from knowing the truth. At least until now.
The trooper looked just like him. There were a few differences, but it was clear this was the same race that Thorax belonged to. "Who am I?"
"Freeze!" He spun around and saw another group of bug troopers staring at him. They pointed their weapons at him and when they saw his face, they looked surprised. "What?"
Thorax now knew why they were shocked and he wanted answers. "What am I?" Thorax moved forward, the bugs continuing to keep their blasters pointed at him. "Answer me?"
"What are you talking about? Why are you out of your armor, soldier?"
"I'm not a soldier." Thorax held up his Lightsaber, showing them the Jedi weapon. "I'm one of the people you were trying to blast. Now tell me, who are you?" The troopers all shared a look before the leader turned to him and pressed the button on the side of his helmet, a snapping sound coming off it.
"You will come with us," the leader stated. "You will drop your weapon and come with us. I'm sure our queen will be very interested in meeting you." Thorax gave them a suspicious look.
"If I go with you, you'll tell me who I am?" They nodded, "and you'll stop this attack on Castalore?"
"Why would we do that?" One asked, "we will conquer this world and make it part of our new empire." Thorax frowned at this. "Come with us and you can be a part of that empire. The future ruler of the galaxy."
"Sorry," Thorax ignited his blade, "but I made an oath. To protect the weak." He charged forward, the others firing at him. But he easily dodged or deflected the blasts as he closed the gap, slashing at them as fast as he could. Again and again, the soldiers were disarmed and took out metal knives to attack with.
Thorax slashed at their chests, killing them before they could hurt him or anyone else. In a matter of moments, the bug troopers were all taken down.
Thorax sighed as he stared at the fallen bodies of his race, the insectoid Jedi letting the tip of his sword fall to the ground. He didn't have time to mop about losing his chance for info, since their armors were beginning to beep.
He gasped and leapt up, using his wings to fly as high as he could. As he flew away, the soldiers exploded and the shockwave sent him flying out of control. He crashed into the ground and rolled across the rubble, groaning as he came to a stop. As the city continued to explode around him, he lay there feeling like his own world was crumbling down around him. What was he?
Up in the ship, Flash and shining ran as fast as they could.
Using the key cards they had swiped from some bug troopers, they were looking for a place that they could plug their gauntlets into. "Find anything?" Shining asked, as Flash opened another door.
"Bathroom."
Shining opened another door, only to be met with a brick wall. "Seriously?"
Flash found another door and when it opened, he found it was just a room full of many more doors. "Why would they have a room for this?" They moved towards another door, only to suddenly hear noise coming from up ahead. The sounds of footsteps. "We've got company."
"We need to hide." Shining looked around, but suddenly heard more footsteps coming from the other direction.
"This way men!" They heard, Shining and Flash getting the feeling they were coming for them.
"No choice." Shining took out his Lightsaber, "get ready to fight." Flash nodded and did the same, as the bug troopers came around the corner. And as soon as they saw the Jedi, they opened fire.
The pair quickly started deflecting the oncoming assault, the lasers beginning to bounce around the hallway and destroying the walls and doors. The troopers kept firing, not slowing down for even a second. Both Flash and Shining knew they would eventually tire, long before they had to reload their blaster's energy cores.
As such, Shining switched to a one handed defence and used the other to grab the soldiers at the front before pulling them forward. The bug troopers cried out, as they were pulled into the path of the shooters behind them. They cried out, as they were shot in the back before Shining pushed them back into the other bug troopers.
As the insects were knocked over, Shining rushed forward and started cutting through their blasters. He then turned to the ones Flash was defending against and pulled those soldiers forward, resulting in them getting gunned down as well. Shining pushed them back into the others to knock them down, freeing Flash up to run towards Shining.
The pair jumped over the bugs and ran as fast as they could down the corridor, praying they would find a computer terminal before they ran into any more troops.
Back on the ground, Applejack and Rogue watched carefully.
When they didn't see any soldiers looking their way, they called out to the castalorians. "Let's go!" Rogue jumped out and headed for the trench, running over to it with his blaster at the ready. The castalorians followed suit and they all rushed towards the fighter at the end of the trench.
Applejack then spotted some troopers beginning to look their way. "Get down!" They all jumped to the floor and prayed the fighters above didn't notice them. After a few moments, Applejack called out again. "Go!" They kept running and eventually, they made it to the fighter and hid underneath it.
Due to the ship's wings being caught on the sides of the trench, a large space was beneath it. Deep enough for them to hide under it.
Once the last castalorian was under the fighter, Applejack ran over and got beneath the ship as well. "Alright," Rogue told her, "we're here. Now what's the plan?" Applejack smirked before raising her hands up, nobody daring to say a word as she did her best to connect with The Force.
As she did, the ship started shaking and slowly, it was lifted a few feet off the sides of the trench and hovered above it. "Let's go." Applejack slowly moved the ship forward along the trench. Those that saw this were shocked, Rogue included. They moved along the side of the trench, as the ship remained above their heads.
An explosion nearby, worried them and a castalorian turned to Applejack. "Can you move this thing faster?"
"A'h can, but we can't move any faster. If da'h ship moves too quickly, it'll be noticed by those above. We gotta go slow, so they don't notice us. They're movin' so fast, this ship moving slowly won't be noticed." They nodded, as they carefully walked forward. Applejack pulled the fighter a few inches, stopped and waited, then moved it again. All the while, Rogue kept an eye on their rear.
If a trooper walked past it and spotted them, they would be in trouble.
Back in the air, Heather shot down another fighter before her ship's weapons died.
"Great," she frowned as she noticed The Shooting Star. "Cadance, get back to the castle. If the others can't stop this, we might have to evacuate the queen and her family."
"Alright. But what about you?" Heather looked down at the entrance of the castle and saw a bunch of bug troopers heading that way.
"I'm gonna make sure the castle is secure." She swerved her ship around and dived down towards the castle entrance, the ship around her firing at her. She did her best to avoid them, but a few shots managed to hit her and she found her engines beginning to die. "Here goes nothing!"
She positioned her ship towards the palace and pushed it to full speed. She fell down to the street and as soon as the ship's power was gone, she hit the cockpit latch and leapt out.
The ship slid along the ground and the troops saw it coming.
Some leapt away, but most of them were smashed into by the ship and run over. Their armor quickly exploded, sending pieces of the ship flying all over the place. The surviving troopers dodged the falling pieces of metal, as something walked along not even caring that the metal was crashing down around her.
When the smoke from the explosion was gone, the troopers saw Heather standing in front of the palace's entrance. They raised their blasters, as she ignited her Lightsaber and stood defensively. She then raised a hand and gave them a 'come and get it' gesture. This stocked several of them and they started firing.
Heather spun her Lightsaber around, deflecting the blasts as best she could. Some, she simply dodged as she grabbed pieces of metal with The Force. After deflecting some blasts, she threw the metal at the soldiers.
As several were knocked down, Heather looked up and saw the Shooting Star reach the palace. Hopefully, they would be able to evacuate the royal family before it was too late.
Cadance ran through the castle, Springer keeping the ship safe as she ran for the throne room.
When she got there, she found the queen there along with her family and advisers. "Jedi!" The queen yelled, "what's happening? Have you found a way to stop this invasion?"
"We're working on it," Cadance cried. "Were you able to send the distress signal?" The queen nodded. "Alright. My friends have a plan to deal with this invasion. But if it fails, we need to make sure you guys are safe. So I'm taking you to my ship." They nodded and all began to file out of the throne room, back towards the landing pad with the Shooting Star.
But as they made their way through the caste, part of the wall in front of them exploded.
They all staggered back, as something leapt through the hole. A group of bug troopers, who looked like they had just leapt in from their likely destroyed fighters. "Freeze!" One of them yelled, as they pointed their weapons at the group.
Cadance quickly ignited her Lightsaber and ran forward, deflecting their blasts as she leapt into the air.
The troopers found her in the middle of them before they could react and in a flash, her blade swung through their blasters and cut them to pieces. The weapons exploded in their hands, knocking them staggering and allowing Cadance to leap away before any of them could attack with their knives.
Once she was far enough away, she grabbed them with The Force and pushed them out of the hole they arrived through.
As they fell down the side of the castle, Cadance glanced back and saw the castalorian royal family. They all appeared unharmed, Cadance gesturing for them to follow. They did so and kept themselves as far from the outer wall as possible. Hopefully, that would be the only incursion they would run into.
Thorax continued to run towards the castle, still thrown for a loop due to what he had discovered.
More troopers appeared around the rubble of a building and fired at him, Thorax deflecting the shots without attempting to fight back. Instead, he simply kept running and when a group fired at him again, he spread his wings and took off. This sight shocked the troopers, several taking pictures.
He flew as fast as he could for as long as he could, eventually needing to land again as he drew closer to the palace. But as he landed, he heard a scream and looked around.
Looking around, he saw a family of castalorians. They were huddled together, inside the remains of what was likely their home. But the structure didn't look very stable and as they held each other, a group of bug troopers were approaching and looked ready to shoot them.
Seeing this, Thorax couldn't stop himself. He charged forward and his sword was drawn, the Jedi letting out a roar to catch the soldier's attention. And as they spun around, they were greeted to the sight of Thorax swinging his blade around at them.
Several slashes later, their weapons were cut apart and they found themselves defenceless as Thorax pointed his sword at them. "Leave." They didn't move and stepped forward, looking like they would rather try and kill Thorax single handedly. "Leave!" But they refused to listen and charged forward, Thorax having no other choice.
With a roar, he slashed at them and cut through their armor. The soldiers cried, out as they staggered back, with Thorax slicing each of them down or through the chest.
As he did, he turned to the castalorians. "RUN!" They did so, getting out from under the remains of their home and running for it. As they did, the armor of the soldiers were starting to beep.
Thorax leapt into the air and flew after the castalorians, as the troops began to explode.
He caught up with the aliens, as they did their best to run towards safety. The only place they could find was the castle and as they turned a corner, more troopers appeared.
Thorax landed and pointed his weapon at them, telling them to leave as well. But the soldiers didn't and Thorax knew he had no choice. He wouldn't allow these castalorians to be hurt, even if it meant fighting his own kind.
Flash and Shining had managed to lose the bugs, but the ship was now on red alert.
They ran through the corridors, doing their best to stay hidden until they found a place they could tap into the systems. And when they did run into a group, they had no choice but to fight against them.
"We've gotta be getting close," Flash cried. They turned another corner and found themselves at a dead-end corridor, with a single door at said end. They didn't know what it was and if troopers came, they would be trapped. But they had to try.
Shining quickly slotted the key card and the door opened. When they stepped inside, they found the room was full of computers. But it was also full of bug troopers, who turned to them as they stepped inside. "Oh, hey." Shining tried to stay calm. "Sorry, I think we've found the wrong room. I'm looking for human resources. Are they on this floor?" The troopers pointed their weapons at them. "No? Too bad. You should talk about a health plan."
The troopers fired and the pair started firing back, deflecting their weapons into the soldiers and avoiding the consoles as best they could. They quickly cut through the guns and ducked under blasts, letting them hit other troopers, with Flash kicking one trooper into another three.
Explosions went off as they fought, some of the consoles getting destroyed as the soldiers were taken down.
As the last trooper fell to the ground, Shining rushed over to a console and checked to see if any of the remaining ones were connected to the main system. "Yes!" He cheered, seeing that one was. But it required an access code to connect anything to. "I think I can bypass that." He leapt behind the console and ripped the panels off.
As he did, another console started beeping. "What's that?"
"They probably noticed the damage done to this sector," Shining replied. "If they don't hear anything, they're gonna send someone to check it out.
"We can't let them do that. I'll see if I can convince them everything's fine."
"Good luck with that."
Flash hit a button and the beeping stopped, as he opened a channel. "Um...everything's under control here. Situation normal."
"What happened?" The voice replied.
"Er...had a slight weapons malfunction. But, er, everything's perfectly alright now. We're fine. We're all fine, here, now, thank you...how are you?"
"We're sending a squad up."
"Err...negative, negative. We have a...reactor leak, here now. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak. Very dangerous."
"Who is this? What's your operating number?" Flash panicked and before he could think of anything, he was igniting his sword and cutting through the communication panel.
"Boring conversation anyway. Shining! We're gonna have company." His teacher pulled some wires out of the machine and started connecting them to his gauntlet, which he took off.
"Just need to boost the signal and hopefully, Springer will connect to us." Flash rushed towards the door and stepped outside, standing guard as Shining worked. "Come on. Come on." A crackling sound filled the air, as he sent the signal through the ship's satellite. "Springer, can you hear me?"
Back on the Shooting Star, Springer continued to use the ship's weapons to blast anything that got too close.
As he did, Cadance and the royal family arrived. "That's our transport?" A princess asked, looking disgusted. "It's a commoner's ship." She looked like she was about to argue, but her mother spoke up.
"These people are risking themselves to save us. Show them some respect or you can stay here and fend for yourself." A nearby explosion made the princess scream and run towards the ship, as Cadance swung her Lightsaber around to deflect a fighter blast back to the ship.
As Springer shot another ship down, he suddenly heard something over the communicator. "Springer, can you hear me?"
"Shining?" He gasped, "you find a terminal to plug into?"
"I think so. But Flash and I can't stay here very long. You've gotta deactivate the ships and fast."
"On it," Springer used the connection to the gauntlet to hack into the ship's systems. The droid suddenly found his programming racing through a myriad of different subsystems. As he became integrated with them, he discovered all the different commands and overrides for the ship.
Cadance got onboard with the royal family, rushing up to Springer and seeing him zoned out. "Springer? Can you hear me?" But Springer didn't answer, Cadance growing worried as she feared he had been damaged somehow. But before she could say anything, Shining's voice spoke up.
"Cadance, is that you?"
"Shining? You're okay!?"
"Yeah. But Flash and I can't hold out much longer. We're gonna have to get out of here somehow, once Springer finds a way to disable the ships."
"I can't," Springer suddenly spoke up. "Their security's super tight. I can't shut their systems down through a wireless network."
"Seriously?" Cadance frowned, "is there anything you can do?" Springer started thinking before turning back to the computer.
"Shining, you and Flash need to get out of there."
"What? Why?"
"Because the only way I can stop these ships, is to blow them up."
"You can do that?" Cadance asked.
"If I set their engines to overload, they won't be able to stop them before they go critical. But once I start this, you won't have long to get out before it blows. I can leave your ship untouched and only blow the others, but that'd still leave us with a dangerous war ship"
"Alright. I'm leaving my gauntlet here. Blow the other ships now and give us ten minutes, then set this one to explode." Springer nodded, as the ship was almost hit by another explosion.
"We can't stay here much longer," the queen announced. "We have to leave!" Cadance rushed to the cockpit and powered the ship up, as more and more lasers rained down on them.
Shining placed the gauntlet inside the console and replaced the panelling. With any luck, it would remain undiscovered until the ship was destroyed.
He rushed for the door and as he opened it, a laser almost hit him.
Flash was currently defending against a bunch of bug troopers, Shining joining him in deflecting the attacks. "We need to get out of here, now!" Flash nodded and they charged forward, slashing the lasers away until they reached the soldiers.
They started cutting their way through the troops until they were all dealt with.
"Come on!" Shining ran off, "we've only got a few minutes until the ship starts blowing up. Flash looked terrified, the pair running as fast as they could looking for a way out of the ship.
Back with Applejack and Rogue, they continued to slowly make their way towards the castle from under the fighter.
Rogue continued to watch from the back. And much to his horror, a soldier walked past the trench and spotted them. "Freeze!" He called out, pointing his weapon at him. But Rogue was faster and shot him in the chest, only for more troopers to appear.
"We've been found!" He cried, Applejack and the others looking terrified as the soldiers charged. "Hold on!" He knelt down and pointed his backpack at the troopers. The missile-like weapon on the top suddenly exploded off of it and shot towards them, the troopers attempting to run away but getting blown up in the process.
The explosion caused the entire trench to shake, as part of the walls began to collapse.
But that explosion had likely caught the attention of other soldiers, Rogue turning to the others. "We need to get out of here, now!" They nodded and started running, Applejack groaning as he pulled the ship along faster.
As they got closer to the end of the trench, Applejack focused on what was beyond the trench. And to her shock, she saw someone fighting the soldiers. Someone with a green Lightsaber.
"Heather!" She gasped, as they stopped running. They watched as Heather fought the bug troopers that were attempting to access the castle. "A'm gonna go help her." She turned to Rogue. "When ya'h see a chance, get them inside." Rogue nodded as Applejack ran out from under the fighter, her Light-axe activating.
Heather quickly spotted her apprentice running at her, swinging her weapon around and smashing it into the soldiers. "About time you showed up."
"Sorry," Applejack dodged a blast and cut the weapon in half. "Had to take care of some civilians. Can we push these guys away from the castle?"
"Not a bad idea." Heather threw her hand forward and the soldiers were pushed away from the palace, she and Applejack rushing forward and creating an opening.
"Now!" Rogue ran out and the castalorians followed, the mandalorian firing whenever he saw a bug trooper looking at them. As he got them into the palace, he turned to see Applejack keep fighting against the insects. Hopefully, they would take them all out and the castle would remain safe.
Thorax roared as he cut down another soldier, the castalorian family quaking behind him as there appeared to be no end to the troopers.
Thorax was exhausted, but couldn't let himself be overwhelmed. He kept pushing forward, leading the four towards the castle. And as it came into view, he looked up and spotted the Shooting Star on a landing pad. "Are they evacuating the palace?" If they were, did that mean the castle wasn't safe?
These thoughts distracted him for a moment and allowed one of the soldiers to get the drop on him, firing at the Jedi and causing Thorax's instincts to kick it. He leapt up and did several flips, eventually landing in front of the soldier and slashing at his neck.
The younger castalorians gasped, as the helmet wearing head of the trooper fell away from its body.
Thorax pushed the soldier's armor away, as it blew up a good distance away from him. He then looked down at the armor at his feet, knowing that someone just like him was staring back at him through the visor.
He kicked the helmet away and turned back to the castalorians, telling them to hurry up since they were too exposed in that area. He had to stay focused on getting them somewhere safe. He didn't know if that was the castle or not, but he had to take them somewhere.
Flash thrust his sword into a trooper's chest and quickly swung the blade around.
It cut through their body and he spun on the spot, slicing another one down whilst Shining slid along the metal ground and cut through several more. "Please tell me we're almost out of here!?"
Shining picked himself up and looked around a corner, spotting something that made him smile. "Actually, yes. Come on!" Flash followed him around the corner and when he looked up, he saw a sign that made him raise an eyebrow.
"Landing pods?"
"To drop the ground troops," Shining explained. "Let's just hope there are some left." They reached the door leading into the pod's room and stepped inside, only to find a bunch of bug troopers inside.
They turned to the pair and instantly grabbed their weapons. "Oh, come on." Flash ignited his sword, "don't you have any unarmed people on this ship? What, is the janitor packing heat?" The soldiers started shooting and the pair had to fight against them, once again deflecting laser fire as they got in close and slashed through their armor.
As the Shooting Star began to take off, Springer saw the timer he had set hit zero.
There had been no contact from Flash and Shining, but he couldn't wait any more. He logged onto the ship's power systems and started making them overload, the engines beginning to store up power. "It's done. It should only take a few minutes for the ship to blow."
Cadance frowned as he looked over at the ship, as she realised something. "Springer. That ship's pretty big. How big of an explosion is it gonna cause?"
Springer calculated this and if he could change his expression, he would have looked horrified. "Connecting to the ship's orbital jets. Firing them so the ship will fly up into the atmosphere. I just hope Flash and Shining are able to get out of there in time."
Cadance worried the same thing, as the Shooting Star was suddenly hit with another laser. "Hurry Shining. You don't have much time."
Up in space, Tirek was watching what had just happened down on the surface.
Most of his ships had somehow been destroyed, as something had overridden their control and caused the ships to overload. He stared at the screen, as the destroyers exploded and crashed to the earth. The only ship not exploding, was the one that had been sent to the capital city.
"Sir!" A bug trooper announced, "the main destroyer's systems are going into overload as well. We're trying to stop it, but we can't. It's gonna blow."
"How is this happening?" He had asked this before, but they hadn't had an answer then.
"We've discovered a signal coming from the planet. Someone hacked into the destroyer's systems and set it to blow." He kept looking at the screen and noticed something. "The ship's being propelled upwards, into the atmosphere. This overload is going to be twice as powerful as the others."
"Are we in danger of being overridden?"
"I don't think so. But we should cut the connection to the other destroyers to be sure."
"Very well. Send a general order to the fighters. Any that are still flying, return to this destroyer. We don't want to lose any more soldiers than we already have." The trooper nodded, sending out that very order.
Flash cut down the second to last trooper, as Shining deflected another blast before throwing his Lightsaber at the last one.
The bug cried out, as the laser stabbed him in the chest and he fell backwards. Doing so caused him to accidentally fire his blaster and it hit a metal box on the wall, causing it to explode and the lights to flicker before dying. And when Shining spotted a drop pod and tried to open it, it wouldn't.
"No!" He cried, rushing over to the blasted box. "That was the main power relay. The pods aren't gonna drop without it!"
Flash rushed over to see the damage. "I think I can fix it. But it might take a while."
"We don't have a while." Shining pulled some of the chard wires out, Flash fiddling with some of the fuses. "This ship's probably already going into overload. If we don't get out now, we might not be getting out at all."
Flash nodded as they worked to fix the box. And hopefully, no more soldiers would show up and distract them.
"RAAAAH!" Applejack slammed the blade of her Light-axe through another trooper and kicked them back, as Heather leapt through the air and spun to slash at several more.
As she landed, she pushed the troopers away from her before they exploded. And as they did, she looked around and couldn't see any more troopers in sight.
"I think that was all of them." She looked up and saw the fighters in the air were beginning to fly away. "They're leaving." Applejack looked up and saw she was right. "That has to be good."
"Maybe Flash and Shinin' figured something out." She hoped this meant the invasion was coming to an end. If it didn't, she wasn't sure what would come next.
She was so focused on the fighters leaving, she didn't notice a single bug trooper was still alive. And as he snuck around the debris of a building, he took aim at the cow girl and prepared to fire. As his weapon charged up, Applejack finally sensed the incoming danger and looked around. But it was too late and he fired.
The laser shot towards her, with enough power to blast a hole through her chest.
But before it could hit, another laser shot past her and intercepted the blast. The two lasers exploded and the force sent the Jedi staggering back, as another blast shot past them and hit the bug trooper.
As they fell to the ground, Applejack looked around and saw Rogue standing there with his twin blasters in hand. "Now you owe me one," he laughed as he spun them on his fingers and put them in his holsters.
"Thanks," Applejack nodded. She then sensed someone else coming and looked around to see Thorax, running towards them with a family of castalorians. "You okay?" Thorax nodded, but Applejack could tell something was wrong with him.
As the family headed into the castle, an explosion made them look up and see part of the destroyer blow up.
"What's going on?" Rogue asked, as Heather smiled.
"That's our friends," he told him. "Hopefully, they've found a way out of there."
That explosion had not gone unnoticed by those on board and many of the bug troopers were rushing around, trying to stop their ship from going boom.
Flash and Shining were still trying to get power back in the landing pod bay. But it was a slow process. "Looks like the surge modulator was fused shut. We'll need to bypass it and hope nothing causes this thing to blow."
"It only needs to work for a minute at best," Flash pointed out. "Doesn't need to be pretty." He stopped what he was doing and picked up a gun next to him, pointing it towards the entrance as a bug trooper ran in. The insect didn't get a second to look around before getting shot.
"Alright," Shining replaced the last wire, "that should do it." They stepped away from the box, "power should be coming on...now!" But nothing happened, Shining frowning whilst Flash gave the wall a quick kick. That caused the lights to come on. "Yes."
"Hurry!" Flash hit the landing pod's button and the door opened, allowing them to step inside. The pod had six seats and the pair quickly strapped themselves in before Shining hit the launch button.
The door slammed shut before the pod was dropped, falling out of the ship as the bay's power died once again. Soon enough, the pod was ejected out the bottom of the ship and fell towards the ground.
Flash and Shining prayed nothing would go wrong, as the pod picked up speed.
"Shouldn't there be a way to slow this thing down?" Flash asked, as the pod shook from the speed. "A parachute or something?" Shining shrugged and was about to consider jumping out. But before he could suggest it, the pod instantly came to an almost complete stop.
The whiplash made them cry out, as the sound of rockets below them fired. They looked out the window and saw the ground was now only slowly getting closer, the pod now only a few feet away from it.
Suddenly, a loud explosion caused them to look up through the window and see the ship blow up. Pieces of metal flew everywhere, it being a miracle their pod wasn't struck.
As it blew up, Flash's gauntlet beeped. "Flash!" It was Springer, "are you there? Please tell me you're alright."
Flash laughed, "we're fine bud. But that was way too close. Is everyone else alright?"
"We just got in touch with them. Thorax, Applejack and Heather are at the castle. Cadance and I are on the Shooting Star, with the Royal Family."
"Did the other ships blow up?" Shining asked.
"Yeah. They were completely destroyed, but a lot of the fighters that were attacking the other cities escaped. My sensors determine there's another destroyer above the planet somewhere. I couldn't connect to its systems, so I couldn't destroy it."
"Any idea what it's doing?"
"I think it was just an observation ship, where the one leading this attack was doing his scheming." Flash and Shining nodded, as the pod suddenly touched down and bounced around.
Once it stopped moving, they quickly unbuckled themselves and opened the pod. Stepping outside, they saw the absolute destruction caused by the attack. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of castalorians had been made homeless. And that was just in this city.
Flash looked up towards the remains of the ship, still falling towards the ground. "This planet didn't deserve this. I swear, I'm gonna stop the one who did this. They're gonna answer for this, even if I have to drag them before a court."
Shining nodded, thinking the exact same thing. "Come on. We've gotta get back to the others. Just be careful. There might be some more bug troopers that were left behind." They headed towards the castle and as they made their way through the city, they got a better look at the damage and destruction caused.
At some point, they came across destroyed buildings and spotted the remains of the castalorians that hadn't been able to escape. The sight made them both sick, but they kept moving.
Flash felt horrible for letting this happen, but Celestia's words echoed through his mind. He wasn't a god. He couldn't have stopped this. But he had made it so this planet's future was guaranteed. Flash didn't know what the Sith's plans for this planet were, but they had stopped them. For now, at least.
They eventually arrived at the castle and spotted their friends, along with the mandalorian.
Cadance was looking Thorax over, checking on a few cuts and scratches he had gotten from flying debris. As she cleaned a cut on his head, they noticed Applejack was talking to the mandalorian.
"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked him, as Rogue nodded.
"I'm fine," he assured her. But Applejack noticed he was leaning against the wall. "I might have gotten a little banged up from the building falling on me, but my armor took most of the damage." Applejack could tell there was more to it than that.
"Ya'h could have a concussion," she pointed out. "Doesn't matter how good y'ah helmet is, y'ah can't stop ya'h brain from smashin' into the side of your skull."
"I can check," Springer told him. He floated up and scanned Rogue, but a beep made him groan. "I can't get a scan through that helmet."
Applejack sighed. "Stupid mandalorian tradition." But as she said that, they saw him reach up and grab his helmet. "A'h thought ya'h couldn't let any livin' thing see ya'h face."
"I haven't actually taken the oath yet," Rogue replied. "I just do it to get used to it, for when I eventually get to take the oath." With that, he slowly lifted his helmet off his head.
Everyone stared in amazement, as Rogue was revealed to be a brown skinned individual. He had a blue streak running up his nose and between his eyes, whilst his cheeks had blue lines running up them. His hair was blue, with brown streaks at the tips.
He turned to the others, who were all staring at him as Springer scanned his head. "What?" They all looked away, as Springer assured him he would be fine with some rest.
"What happened to the other mandalorians?" Flash asked, seeing Rogue's upset face. "When we saw the ship go down, we figured you were all..."
"I was the only survivor," he stated. "When the castle's communications are back online, I'll have to contact Mandalore and tell our leader what happened." He held his helmet tightly. "My first mission and this happens."
"Hey," Applejack told him, "you helped me save all those Castalorians. I'm sure your leader will be proud." Rogue smiled at this, as Springer finished his scans and he placed his helmet back on.
As he did, the Queen of Castalore stepped out of the palace. She looked out at the devastation and could only imagine the destruction caused to the other cities. "Why? Why would anyone do this? We've never caused anyone any harm before."
Heather sighed. "It's usually the peaceful members of an opposing force that are attacked first. I'm sorry, your majesty. If only we had acted faster."
"No," the queen shook her head. "You all did splendidly. This destruction would have been far worse, had none of you been here to help me." She bowed, "you have my eternal gratitude." They bowed back, but knew they couldn't be congratulating themselves yet. This was just the first battle of a much greater war.
In another part of the galaxy, Chrysalis was on a ship flying back to her base planet.
As she sat at her desk with a drink, her computer suddenly indicated a call and she opened it up. "Tirek?" She noticed the centaur's smirk, "can I ask why you're calling me? Your invasion had better been successful, given how many of my troops you took with you."
"Unfortunately, the Jedi got in the way. They were there before I arrived and messed everything up." Chrysalis glared at her. "However, I do have something that should make you like me again."
"I doubt that." Images suddenly appeared on the screen. Images of someone Chrysalis became very interested in. "It can't be."
On the screen was an image of Thorax, using his Lightsaber and flying through the battlefield. "These were taken by some of the ground troops. I'm guessing they wanted to make sure you saw them, so they sent them directly to my ship."
"Thorax." Chrysalis stared at the images, as she remembered what Celestia had said when they had her captured. She had tried to ignore Celestia's words, believing they were nothing but tricks. But now, she was looking at proof that everything she had said was true. "My son." She couldn't keep her eyes off the images.
As she flicked through the different images, she frowned.
"The Jedi have turned you against me. I'll make them pay and bring you home, where you belong. No matter what, you will join us and one day lead our people into a brighter future."
The reinforcements from Canterlot had arrived, though a little late, with the rescue and reconstruction efforts beginning all over the planet.
Despite the widespread destruction, many castalorians had managed to survive thanks to them implementing natural disaster protocols. Since Castalore was known for having tornadoes and earthquakes, almost every building was equipped with an underground bunker to protect them.
As soon as the attacks happened, many castalorians had rushed to these bunkers and managed to ride out the storm. Many still lost their lives, but the species wasn't doomed.
As soon as the reinforcements arrived, Shining and the other Jedi had been called back to Canterlot.
Rogue used one of the ships to call his own people, who would be sending their own transport. Rogue later saw them off, as they flew back to the Temple in the Shooting Star.
As soon as they were back on Canterlot, the group had been called in to the Council Chambers in order to give a debriefing. Celestia had not been happy to hear the Sith were already making their move, but this attack had shown the senate that this state of emergency was real.
There were still those who didn't believe, but a grand portion of the senate were on board.
As soon as the knights had finished their reports, Thorax had stepped forward. When they asked what was wrong, Thorax had explained what he had learned during the battle.
"You're one of them?" Flash had asked before he could stop himself.
"I'm not one of them," Thorax frowned. "I'm...I don't know."
"It's okay," Celestia told him. "Honestly, I had a feeling you might have been the same race as these bug troopers." Thorax looked at her in shock, the others looking just as surprised. "I wanted to tell you, but I always wanted to be sure before I told you anything that might not be true. During my stint as the Sith's prisoner, I noticed one of the Sith had the same features as you."
"Really?" Thorax asked.
Celestia nodded. "Yes. I believe her name is Chrysalis. Heather, Applejack, you were both there. I understand you didn't have a lot of time to look at her, but I'm sure you must have noticed she had some resemblance to Thorax." The two thought about it, remembering their fight and the Sith Celestia had fought.
"Now that you mention it," Heather turned to Thorax. "You do share a resemblance." Applejack nodded.
"I mentioned you to her," Celestia stated. "Even your name. And she seemed to react to it. There's a chance the two of you are related." Thorax looked shocked by this, Cadance placing a hand on his shoulder. "Thorax, I know this must be hard. You've wondered about where you came from for a long time. Finding out the closest thing you have to a family, is your enemy...I'm sure it's difficult. And I understand if you do not wish to fight against them."
Thorax thought about it, but then remembered that family he had saved. He had killed members of his own race, but those members had tried to kill innocents.
"No," he stated, "I'm not gonna let them hurt anyone if I can help it. So long as they're attacking the innocent, it doesn't matter that they're my own kind. They're my enemies. And if I ever meet this Chrysalis, I'll find out why she's hurting all these people and I'm gonna stop her."
The council smiled, proud of his dedication to justice.
Luna then spoke up. "Either way, things aren't going to be easy. They've already started their attacks. Who knows what their next target could be. The senate needs to start mobilising the military."
Skybreaker nodded. "We need to think about moving our own forces to planets that are bound to be targeted. If the Sith wish to cause problems for us, they'll start by targeting planets that help Canterlot and the republic function. Planets we get materials from. Planets that we use for food and other items that we need."
Shining then had a worried expression. "Ilum." The Jedi all turned to him. "Doom Raizer was a member of the order once. He's been to Ilum. If he wants to hit us hard, he'll attack one of the most important places to the Jedi. Ilum."
"Shining's right," Celestia nodded. "Ilum could very well be in danger. We'll need to have a squad of Jedi protect the planet." The other masters agreed, as Celestia turned back to the Knights and Padawans. "You've done well this day. Go rest up. You'll need all the strength you can get for your next mission."
They nodded and headed out, the six of them groaning as soon as they left the chambers. "I'm gonna sleep for a week," Shining stated.
"I doubt we'll have that long to relax," Cadance told him. "Celestia's right. We need to be vigilant, if we don't want to be taken by surprise again. The Sith are more ready than we expected."
"Maybe," Heather spoke up. "But we have something they don't. A variety of allies we can count on. The mandalorians, castalorians and several other planets are on our side. All they have are the bug troopers. And whilst they're clearly a large number, they're only one kind of enemy. We can handle that." The others nodded, as they headed towards their quarters to rest.
Heather was right. With only one kind of opponent, they wouldn't have many issues against this army. And eventually, the Sith would run out of bug troopers.
In another part of the galaxy, Armalum was walking through a dark corridor.
He eventually arrived at a large metal door, which slid open to allow him to step inside. And when he did, he was illuminated with a bright light. Said light was coming from the machines, which were currently hard at work getting the Sith's next line of warriors ready for battle.
Droids. Droids of multiple types and designs. There were four-legged scorpion droids, with blaster cannons where the stinger should be. Robotic wasps who also had blasters where the stinger should be. And humanoid droids that had no weapons, but looked like they could carry and control a bunch of different weapons.
These droids were all being mass produced, moving along a conveyor belt as the machines attached their parts to them. Once completed, the droids were activated and headed towards a containment area.
Armalum chuckled, as he watched the army grow larger and larger. "You'd better watch out, Jedi. Things are about to get a whole lot more difficult for you."