On the outskirts of the Cabraille Sector, a ship was coming out of Hyperspace.
The Wonderbolt, appeared from out of nowhere and continued to fly towards the sector. The bullet-shaped ship moved with incredible speed, despite how bulky it was. The outer sections of the rear spun through the vacuum, the wings moving around and around as they unleashed bursts of propulsion in order to help keep the ship steady.
Inside the ship, Soarin was sitting at the controls.
In front of him was an old fashioned wheel, the pilot using it to control the ship as he chewed a bunch of gum in his mouth. He looked happy, though his passengers did not.
Further back, the Jedi and their droid friend were looking around the section they had been occupying since they left Canterlot. And whilst Soarin was clearly a great pilot, his ship repair skills were obviously less than amazing.
Every wall was poorly welded together or held in place by tape. There were loose wires, hanging from the ceiling, open sections of the floor to allow those parts better ventilation, and consoles that were sparking every now and then. This wasn't a ship. It was time bomb waiting to go off.
Flash, who had been playing cards with Iron, finally admitted defeat and got up.
He headed towards the drive area and as he did, Soarin had to shift the ship around to avoid a stray piece of rock. But the movement caused a panel above Flash to come loose and swing down. "Ow!" He pushed the panel back up, but it swung down again as soon as he let it go. "You need to get this thing fixed."
Soarin said nothing and suddenly spat the gum he was chewing onto the edge of the panel, then swung a leg around and kicked it. The panel flew up and the gum stuck it to the ceiling, keeping it from falling. "It's fixed."
Flash looked at him in horror, as Soarin flew around another large rock.
As he did, a pink holographic screen appeared. And on that screen, a pixel face appeared and started saying something. Flash couldn't understand a word of it, since it was a bunch of high pitched clicks and whizzes. However, Soarin seemed to understand just fine.
"Go group up with the rest of the Jedi," Soarin exclaimed. "Pixel's picked up a ship coming our way."
Flash said nothing and returned to the others, who had clearly heard what Soarin had said since they were packing up anything that could out them as Jedi. Their Lightsabers were all wrapped up in cloth and placed inside a smuggler's hatch, alongside their gauntlets and anything else that could tell someone who they were.
Once the hatch was closed, the four stepped up to the cockpit and watched as Soarin flew towards a large asteroid.
Said asteroid had a ship on it, which flew towards them and unleashed a blue beam of energy that swept across the ship. The Jedi all stayed as close as possible, as the beam broke through the Wonderbolt's shield and flew over them. Soarin did nothing to stop it and just kept flying, as the ship got closer and closer.
"If they do detect us," Shining spoke up. "What are the chances you'd be able to avoid their attack and get us out of here?"
"If it's just this one, I won't have a problem. But if more of them show up, I'm gonna be in trouble." As she said that, the radio beeped and Soarin answered it. "This is Soarin Skies, of the cargo ship Wonderbolt. How can I help you today, gentlemen?"
"What is your reason for being in his sector?"
"I heard a rumour that there was a guy willing to sell high grade vexatose grains at a reasonable price. I know a couple of planets that would pay an arm and a leg for that." They waited, hoping the guy piloting the other ship would believe them. And eventually, Soarin flew past the ship and they made no attempt to destroy them.
"Are you carrying any Jedi aboard your ship?"
"Do I look suicidal?" Soarin replied. "Why would I bring Jedi to a place where being a Jedi would get you killed? No. It's just me and my muscles. They're here to carry the grain onto my ship."
"Why not use a hover dolly?"
"Mine broke. By the time it was fixed, the grain might have already been sold. Speed is the most important factor in making profit in the universe." They began to fly away from the ship and it made no motion to follow them. But they didn't feel safe until the ship was out of visual and radio range, the lot of them letting out a sigh as they sat back. "I almost had a heart attack."
"What do we do now?" Iron asked, as Shining headed over to where they stashed their stuff.
He returned a few moments later with his gauntlet back on, the knight opening up a file with all the data Flash had gotten from the mysterious Jedi. "Okay. The data we received highlighted this planet on the edge of the sector. Hopefully, there'll be something there that'll help us find what we're looking for."
"What are you looking for?" Soarin asked, as he typed the coordinates into the navigational controls.
"Anything that'll help us find out what the Sith are doing," Skybreaker announced. "I'm hoping we catch an actual Sith and will be able to capture them."
"Wow," Soarin looked worried, "I don't want a Sith on my ship. What if they use their freaky magic to turn me into a mindless zombie?"
"How is that any different from normal?" Iron asked, laughing as he said that. "But seriously, you'll be fine. Don't forget, we've got the rock with us."
Skybreaker took the small gemstone out of his pocket. "This bad boy got us through the blockade and it'll help us keep the Sith under control." Soarin nodded and began to make his way towards the planet, but it would still take several hours. The entire sector lacked a Hyperspace Corridor, so there was no way to jump from one planet to another.
The planet the Jedi were heading to, was a volcanic planet with many dangerous areas.
In one of the few sectors that was safe from the many erupting mountains and rivers of lava, a city had been built that housed many dangerous individuals. And one of those individuals, was an alien by the name of Wydorm.
Wydorm was a tall individual, whose upper body was humanoid. His lower half had a bunch of long tentacles, which he used to walk around on. His skin was pale blue and had an occasional white dot, whilst his head had a single large brown eye. He also had a pair of tendrils, sticking out the back of his head. They went down and rested on his shoulders, the ends each having an eye on them.
He was dressed in a white shirt and brown vest, his human hands holding a piece of paper and a death stick in them.
As he took a breath of the stick, there was a knock at the door. He didn't answer straight away, instead taking the time to slowly breathe the smoke out of his mouth as he read the paper. Then, he finally spoke. "Enter!" The door opened and a human stepped inside, looking rather worried. "What is it?"
"A ship has entered the sector and appears to be heading for this planet."
"Did the patrol determine its reason for being here?"
"They said they were looking to buy vexatose grain. But as far as we know, there is no vexatose grain on this planet."
"I see." Wydorm took another huff of his death stick before stuffing it out into an ash tray, smoke slowly escaping out of his mouth. "Did they determine if any Jedi were on the ship?"
"They scanned it and there didn't appear to be any. As far as we can tell, the pilot and his crew are simply smugglers trying to get something else on our planet."
Wydorm nodded as he sat back in his chair. "Rimarun!" From out of the shadow, a black swirling figure appeared. They didn't appear to have any physical form, the being appearing to force himself into a humanoid shape despite the edges flickering.
"You called?"
"When this ship arrives, you will trail them and see what they're up to."
"And if they're up to no good?"
"Come back and tell me. I'll decide what to do with them, once I know what they're after." Rimarun nodded and his body exploded into a swirling cloud, which disappeared into the shadows. The human then left whilst Wydorm looked down at his papers, not looking the least bit curious about what had happened. If they were anything worth caring about, he would focus on them when he needed to.
The Wonderbolt finally arrived at the planet and as they got closer, they all saw what kind of planet they were heading to.
"You want me to land on that?" Soarin asked, seeing the many volcanoes and lava lakes covering the surface. "My ship will melt before we can even land."
"Don't be silly," Skybreaker told him. "Your ship will be fine. If it can survive the harsh vacuum of space, it can survive this." He looked around at the state that the ship's interior was in. "I think." They all watched, carefully, as the ship drew closer to the planet.
Pixel appeared and said something to Soarin, the pilot nodding as he headed to a location of some kind. "There's the spot Pixel found for us to land." It was a large collection of different ships, all parked close to one another. They managed to find an open spot that the ship could fit into, Soarin bringing the Wonderbolt down and landing.
As they landed, the Jedi got to work changing into clothes that wouldn't give away their profession.
Flash and Shining placed their Lightsabers into Springer's storage compartment, whilst Iron and Skybreaker had strange looking cases that had an opening in the side for their weapons. "What's in those things?" Flash asked, as Iron opened it up.
Doing so revealed an unusual tube-like device, with many buttons along the side and what appeared to be a mouth piece on one end of it. "Hexaphone," Iron replied. "I'm not the best player, but I can play enough to make carrying it around seem like something I'd do."
"Same," Skybreaker showed off an identical instrument. "We need to be careful. We can't do anything that might expose us as Jedi."
"I spent two years hanging around non-Jedi and not one of them managed to figure out I could use The Force. I think I'm good." Flash headed towards the ramp, Soarin lowering it as the heat from the planet suddenly wafted into the ship.
"Geez," Springer cried, "my circuits feel like they're gonna melt."
"You'll be fine," Shining assured him. "Just stay away from anything too hot and you shouldn't have a problem." They headed down the ramp and stepped out into the hot planet, as Soarin stayed behind to make sure his ship wasn't messed with.
They headed towards the city and as they did, they noticed a bunch of aliens that seemed right at him on this volcanic planet. Most appeared to be wearing some kind of heat-proof armor, whilst others looked like they were actually made out of molten rock themselves.
As the Jedi marched towards the city, Flash turned to Shining. "So what's the plan? Same thing we did on the desert planet?"
"Afraid not," Shining replied. "We need to be careful how we go about things. We can't afford to let anyone know who we really are. For now, we need to get the lay of the land. Figure out how things work on this planet and only then, do we start looking for information."
Flash nodded as they continued towards the city, he suddenly felt something.
it was like he was being watched by something. But when he looked around, he saw nothing but the many ships that were parked around them. He focused on the cockpits, but none of them had anyone in them. And when he looked around, he didn't see anyone staring in his direction.
"Problem?" Springer asked, floating next to Flash.
The teen said nothing and kept looking around, but still saw nothing. "I thought...I was sure something..." He suddenly heard Shining call back to him, telling him not to fall behind. "It's nothing. Come on." He ran ahead and Springer followed him, the pair completely unaware that they were actually being watched.
From the shadow of a ship, a swirling mass of black smoke appeared and flew into the shadow of another ship. It then started leaping from one shadow to another, keeping up with the Jedi as they made their way into the town. "What secrets are you hiding?"
When they finally arrived at the city, they found the buildings were rather strange in design.
Some of the taller buildings looked like those in Canterlot, though they were only five of six stories tall. But most of the single or two story buildings, were large domed buildings that had parts coming off the side to make them look like stone cactus with windows and a door.
As they got closer, they saw flames coming out the top of these buildings and arms.
There were more fire-themed aliens and as they spotted what appeared to be a bar and inn, the aliens seemed to notice them and watched as they entered the building. "I'm not liking the stink eye," Springer spoke up.
"Maybe you should connect to my back," Flash spoke up. "In case someone tries to make a grab for you." Springer nodded and flew onto Flash's back, changing into his backpack form for him to carry as they stepped into the saloon.
Skybreaker led them towards the bar, as the aliens continued to focus on them.
"What can I get you?" The bar tender asked, as they sat down.
"What have you got that a human and equestrian can drink, without setting our throats on fire?" The bartender reached down and brought out a bottle of something, which he poured into a quartet of glasses. As he did that, one of the aliens looked over at them.
He was a red and black humanoid tiger, wearing a gray sleeveless shirt and red pants.
He didn't seem particularly happy to see them and as the four took a drink, he saw Flash look ready to almost throw up. "A bit stronger than you're used to, huh?" The bartender laughed, as Flash turned away from the bar. As he did, his eyes happened to glance over at the tiger and they locked onto one another.
Flash noticed his upset look and quickly turned away, but the tiger was already getting up and heading towards him.
"Problem," he told the others. The next thing they all knew, Flash was being spun around and had the alien staring right into his face.
"Have you got a problem with me!?" The beast roared into Flash's face, making Flash lean back as he was covered in slobber.
"No," Flash replied. "What makes you say that?"
"You were looking at me." He grabbed Flash's shirt, "I don't like people looking at me."
"I was just glancing around and happened to see you. That doesn't mean I was looking at you."
"Are you calling me a liar!?" He looked ready to claw Flash to bits, but Shining got up and got between them. "What do you want? You wanna get on my bad side too?"
"No," Shining told him. "This is clearly just a misunderstanding. Let's all just take a step back and calm down. I'm sure my friend didn't mean anything by what he did. He's not the sharpest tool in the shed."
"Hey!"
"Why don't we buy you a drink and we'll call it even."
"You think a drink will make up for this insult? No, I want something better than a lousy drink." He spotted Springer and smiled. "That droid looks like it'll come in handy. It's mine now. Hand it over, or get cut the shreds."
Springer turned to him. "I think I speak for everyone when I say, flag that!"
"The droid's right," Skybreaker agreed. "We're sorry you feel insulted, but you're not taking him." The tiger snarled, as his hands began to grow claws out the end. Luckily, Flash had been able to escape his clutches before he could slash at him. "Just calm down."
"GIVE ME THE DROID!" He swung his larger hands around and the four barely managed to avoid getting their guts clawed out, as the tiger sliced through the wood of the bar.
He let out another roar and tried to punch Flash, who leapt back and reached for where his Lightsaber should be. But the weapon wasn't there and Flash remembered Springer currently had it. If he didn't want to let on that he was a Jedi, Flash had to find a way to beat this guy without The Force.
The tiger charged at him and Flash ran towards the wall, attempting to jump off it and do a back flip over the beast. But since he was still in the range of the crystal in Skybreaker's pocket, he failed that spectacularly.
The tiger reached him and prepared to grab him. But Springer acted faster and his blaster folded out of his nose, allowing him to fire several shots that knocked the tiger back.
As the beast fell backwards, Flash ran for the exit and the others followed suit. The beast rolled around, stunned but still able to move. And when it saw them making a run for it, he roared and got back up.
The four Jedi and their droid found themselves running through the city, a roar behind them signalling the tiger's desire to make them pay. "Great!" Iron cried. "We're here two minutes and we're already causing trouble."
"It's not my fault," Flash cried. "I didn't do anything."
Shining glanced back. "Obviously, he just wanted Springer. Probably wanted a dog-themed servant to push around." As he said that, the tiger came into view as it ran on all fours. "Faster!" They picked up the pace, but the tiger was still gaining on them.
"Down there!" Skybreaker yelled, pointing towards a gap between two buildings.
Iron squeezed through, having to walk sideways as he did so. Shining followed and Flash realised Springer wouldn't fit, even if he hovered down it himself. "Leave me!" Springer suggested, as the tiger roared. He retracted his straps and floated off Flash's back, but Skybreaker had other ideas.
He grabbed Springer and spread his wings, leaping into the air as Flash squeezed through the gap.
The tiger reached said gap and thrust his arm into it, but Flash was just far enough away to avoid getting cut to pieces. He roared, as he tried to force himself through the gap. But it just wasn't wide enough to allow it through. "Get back here!" He roared, as Iron, Flash and Shining all kept moving through the gap. "You can't run forever. I'll make you pay!"
"Geez," Iron rolled his eyes. "That guy's a few pieces short of a jigsaw."
They eventually reached the other side of the building gap and came out the other side, appearing in another street full of different aliens. Once they were all out, Flash looked back at the tiger and it roared again. But it clearly didn't realise it could go around the buildings and get to their street in less than a minute.
They all looked up and saw Skybreaker, carrying Springer over the building.
He flew down and landed next to them, as they looked around to see if there were any more buildings they could go into for information. "Can we keep out of the bars this time?" Springer begged. "There might be another loony that wants to steal me."
"Maybe we should take you back to the ship?" Shining suggested, though he knew that meant finding another place to hide their Lightsabers.
"Let's just be careful," Skybreaker stated. "I'm sure there's somewhere we can go without causing a mess." The others didn't seem to believe this and they all followed him, as they made their way down the street.
They kept going until they found what looked to be the largest building of them all. It looked like a giant stone manner house, completely different to all the other buildings around them. And as the four got closer, they realised people were walking in and out of the building like it was nothing.
"What is that place?" Iron asked, as they passed someone who was carrying a larger stack of books.
"A library?" Shining looked surprised. "Twilight would have loved to come here." Flash stared at the books, noticing their old fashioned form of being made of paper and leather. "This place is so hot, how the heck are they not bursting into flames?"
"Let's take a look inside," Skybreaker suggested. "If no Jed-" He stopped, looking around to make sure nobody was close enough to hear. "If none of us have ever been in here, there could be info that's not in the archives." They nodded and headed for the door, stepping inside the large stone building and finding themselves at some kind of reception desk with a mechanical gate blocking their entrance.
"Five credit entry," the woman at the deck announced. They frowned and were about to pay twenty credits, but the woman turned to Springer. "Droids aren't allowed in. It'll have to wait outside." Springer was liking this place less and less.
"I'll stay out here with him," Flash told the others.
"Be careful," Shining told him. "If you know who shows up, try not to engage him." Flash nodded as the three paid the entry fee and headed inside. Meanwhile, Flash and Springer stayed outside and moved over to a column outside the library. If the tiger guy showed up, they wanted to be as out of sight as possible.
Inside, Skybreaker, Shining and Iron were amazed by the number of old fashioned books that were filling the many different shelves. They walked into the very middle of the large shelf filled room, allowing them to look up and see a hole in the ceiling. This hole was a built in feature, allowing them to look up and see another four floors that had barricades around the central hole. On the roof was a skylight, allowing natural light into the building.
They finally decided to focus on the books themselves, Skybreaker and Iron choosing to head to a higher floor whilst Shining stayed on the ground level.
They started checking the many different aisles that had multiple different genres. There were books on farming, mechanical engineering, hairdressing and so much more. Shining randomly grabbed one of the books and pulled it off the shelf, his eyebrow rising at the title. "A hundred and two uses of noun fungus?" He put the book back and kept looking, wondering what could possibly be in there that might be useful to the order.
Flash and Springer remained outside, Flash leaning against the column looking bored as all heck.
Springer had turned off his hoverskirt and was looking out at the city, wondering who else was out there that might try and nab him away. But before he could find a new enemy, an old enemy showed up. "Tiger guy!" He cried, Flash looking around the column and seeing the bulky feline.
The psycho hadn't spotted them yet, but he was getting closer.
"Springer, fly out of sight." Springer activated his hoverskirt and lifted himself into the air, whilst Flash remained hidden behind the column. He occasionally glanced back, as the beast man began to sniff the air. "Don't tell me, he's tracking my scent."
The tiger began to make his way towards the library and Flash looked up at Springer, telling him to be ready with the Lightsaber if he needed it. But as the tiger walked up the stairs to the building, Flash moved around the column so he was on the other side of it to the tiger.
The alien stopped and continued to sniff the air, Flash praying he didn't look up and see Springer.
But then, he growled and marched into the building. "Huh?" He looked through the doors and saw him walking past the reception, the woman calling out he needed to pay entry.
But instead, the beast slammed his claws into the metal door and tipped it off its hinges. Flash realised he wasn't the one the guy was sniffing down. But if not him, then who?
"Guys!" Flash opened up his gauntlet, "guys, come in!" But nobody answered, as something was blocking his gauntlet's signal. "Come on!"
Shining had arrived at the myths and legends section, hoping that might be intriguing.
But all the books were on fairy tales and fables that Shining already knew. However, he soon picked up another book that seemed to be in a language he couldn't read. But as he looked at the cover, he realised he had seen the symbols somewhere before.
"No way." He opened it up and realised it was all written in the unusual symbols, that he had seen in the temple where the first relic Solara got was. The whole thing was unreadable to him. But he knew this had to be important.
He flicked to one page and found something had been drawn onto the page. It was some kind of stone archway, full of a strange light. When he flicked to the next page, it showed the image of someone standing in front of the arch. The light from said arch appeared to be flowing into them, making Shining wonder what it was supposed to be depicting.
But before he could read anymore, a horrible crashing noise caught his attention.
He ran towards the sound and when he got there, he was shocked to see the tiger man from before attacking the library. "WHERE ARE THEY!?" He clearly had no love of books, as he knocked down one shelf after the other. He let out a roar as he sniffed the air, "I know you're here!"
Shining frowned and looked down at the book, knowing he had to get this thing to the order. But that would be difficult with this guy destroying the place.
He quickly took off his bag and stuffed the book inside, fastening it up as the beast finally spotted him. "YOU!" He charged forward and Shining leapt to the side, throwing his bag on his back as he rolled along the ground.
The tiger roared again and began wildly slashing at him, Shining doing his best to avoid getting hit by his claws. At one point, he ducked under a slash and thrust his hand forward. He hit him in the stomach and risked using The Force, using it to throw him backwards into another bookshelf.
As the tiger was buried by a large pile of books, Shining ran for the exit.
But before he could escape, a bookshelf was thrown over his head and crashed in front of him. He skidded to a stop and turned to the tiger, who had pushed himself free of the books and was making his way towards him.
He growled, ready to cut Shining to pieces.
But before he could charge, Iron fell down from above and slammed his feet into his back. The tiger roared as he was pushed to the ground, Iron leaping away from him before he could. He turned to Shining, "you okay?"
"Yeah. And I think I've found something." The tiger pushed itself up, "we have to get out of here."
"I'm open to suggestions." Iron turned to the shelf, which was blocking their only way out. And before Shining could make a suggestion, the tiger charged and the two were forced to dodge his slashes. Iron growled, taking his hexaphone case off his back. But Shining shook his head. They couldn't risk to blow their cover yet.
As the tiger roared again, Skybreaker flew down with a wooden chair in hand.
He smashed the chair over the guy's head, causing him to stagger forwards. But that barely did anything and Skybreaker flew away before he could retaliate. The three Jedi watched, as the alien recovered and prepared to attack again.
Iron kept his hand close to the slot in his case that held his Lightsaber. They might have no other choice but to use them.
But before they could, something suddenly happened. A black swirling cloud appeared below the tiger's feet, which suddenly sprouted tendrils and used them to wrap around the beast man. The sight of this shocked the Jedi, who watched him fight against the darkness. But his claws just phased through the cloud, whilst the tendrils wrapped more and more around him.
"LET ME GO!"
"I don't think so," the cloud spoke. "This isn't the first time you've caused trouble. Wydorm warned you what would happen if you did anything like this again!"
The tiger roared, as he ripped against the tendril. But he was still unable to escape. And as he tried, the shadow figure lifted the tiger up before slamming him into the ground. The tiger howled in pain, as he was lifted up again and slammed back down.
He did this several times, the tiger roaring with every impact.
After the tenth smash into the ground, the tiger went completely silent as it lost consciousness. Its face was pretty bloody, but it would survive and the Jedi all breathed a sigh of relief. But those sighs turned to gasps, when three more tendrils shot out of the cloud and slammed into them.
They all cried out, as they were thrown backwards into the wall.
Their bags and cases took most of the damage, but the three were still thrown for a loop as the tendrils wrapped around their bodies. They were then lifted into the air and pulled towards the cloud, as it took a humanoid for. One arm was wrapped around the unconscious tiger, whilst the other was split into three and wrapped around them.
"What are you doing?" Skybreaker struggled against the shadow. "We didn't do anything wrong. He attacked us."
"Maybe. But you three are up to something. Your ship came to get vexatose grain, but I know for a fact that there are no such grains on this planet. And even if there were, why would you come here instead of getting them?" The three shared a worried expression. "Wydorm will want to talk to you."
Another tendril flew out of his stomach and slammed into the bookshelf, ripping it apart and allowing him to pull them out of the library.
"Where's your other friend. The one with the droid?" They all looked around, but found Flash and Springer were nowhere in sight. The three sighed in relief, since that meant they were likely safe. But as they were dragged away, they feared they might be in serious trouble.
Hopefully, Flash and Springer would find a way to save them.
Off to the side, Flash and Springer watched as their friends were being pulled away.
His first instinct was to run up to them, take out his Lightsaber and slice the shadow guy's arms off. But he knew that if he used his Lightsaber, they might have the rest of the city chasing them down. They had to think of a way to save them without causing a riot.
"Any ideas?" Springer asked, as Flash looked around.
If he wanted to save his friends, he needed help. And currently, there was only one person that would be willing to help them out of this. But it was probably gonna cost them.
Back at the Wonderbolt, Soarin was sitting in one of the rooms playing a video game on the computer.
He was playing a racing game, flying a ship through an obstacle filled course in an attempt to get first place. But whilst his normal piloting skills were great, his video game piloting skills needed work. "AUGH!" He cried, as he passed the finish line in last place. "This thing is so rigged."
Suddenly, the holographic screen of Pixel appeared and started saying something in its odd language.
"What?" Soarin turned off the game and turned to him, as Pixel kept saying something. "What do they want?" Pixel said a single word. "Fine." He got up and walked back into the cockpit, sitting down as he pressed a few buttons. "Sup. Pixel said you needed help with something."
"My friends have been captured!"
"What?" Soarin eyes widened. "How? Why? Don't tell me they found you what you guys are."
"I don't think they did. Listen, you gotta help me."
"No. What I gotta do is get the heck out of here. If they've found out who you guys are, the first thing they're gonna do is find the guy that brought them here and make him pay just as badly as you're gonna pay." He started powering up his ship. "If you don't wanna get stranded here, then you should get back before I'm ready to leave."
"You can't do that. We can't just leave them here. They'll die."
"You knew the risks when you came here."
"And you agreed to help us."
"I agreed to get you here and I did. It's not my fault your friends got themselves captured. Should have kept their heads down."
"Don't do this. The Jedi know your ship. Skybreaker gave its details to the order before we left. They'll find you if we die and make sure you're never able to fly again."
"I doubt that. I'm pretty sure Jedi don't hold grudges. Doesn't it lead to the Dark Side?"
"I'm begging you. Help me save them and you'll be rewarded."
"How?" Flash didn't say anything for a few moments, Soarin thinking he had no idea what to say. But then, he spoke up.
"Your ship is a wreck. It's a miracle it even got here without the whole thing blowing up." Soarin frowned, feeling a little insulted. "Help me save them and the Jedi will repair your ship for you." Soarin smiled at this, remembering those amazing looking ships he had seen the Jedi use.
"And you promise they'll actually repair it?"
"If they don't agree to the repairs, I'll fix it myself. No matter how long it takes. You have my word." Soarin hummed, then nodded.
"Alright. You've got yourself a deal. Where are you right now?"
"Springer and I are tailing the one who captured them." Flash and Springer were carefully making their way through the town, Springer on Flash's back.
They watched, as the shadowy figure arrived at yet another large mansion of a building. When he got there, several guards came out and took the tiger into custody. He then dragged Flash's friends into the building, Flash seeing it was well guarded.
"This could be a problem."
"Come back to the ship and we'll come up with a plan. I might have to move the ship somewhere else, so that they don't come and attack before we've got a chance to save them and escape." Flash nodded, though he hated the idea of leaving his friends behind.
They needed to be smart about this. If not, there was no telling what might happen.
As soon as they were dragged into the mansion, Shining, Skybreaker and Iron were tried up and their bags were confiscated.
The shadowy figure's arms returned to their normal state, as he lead them towards one of the rooms.
When they arrived, they were pushed inside and all sent staggering until they fell to their knees. As they did, they looked forward and saw someone standing behind a desk. Smoke was coming out of their mouths and as they turned towards the three, the Jedi realised they were likely talking to the guy in charge of the entire town.
Skybreaker spoke up. "I'm guessing you're the one called Wydorm?"
The figure moved around his desk and headed towards them, his many leg tendrils flopping against the floor as he got closer. When he finally reached them, his tendrils curled up and he was lowered to their eye level. He breathed out, causing smoke to fly into their faces. "You've got a lot of nerve, coming to cause trouble on my planet."
"We're not here to cause trouble," Shining told him.
"Really?" Wydorm told him. "You lied about why you were coming here. In my experience, that means someone's up to something no good. But if you're not here to cause trouble, what are you for."
The three shared a look, clearly unsure what to say that would allow them not to get executed. Eventually, Iron spoke up. "We were sent by the Republic." Wydorm raised an eyebrow at this. "They discovered information, that a group of criminals have some kind of connection to this sector."
"Criminals?" Wydorm chuckled. "Almost everyone in this sector is considered a criminal by your Republic. That's why most of us come here. Even I have several warrants for my arrest in your precious Republic."
"Well these criminals are different," Shining told them. "They're the kind of criminals you wouldn't want in your sector."
Wydorm glared at him. "Jedi?"
"Sith," Skybreaker corrected. "But I would assume you would be just as angry that they're somewhere in here. They're ever worse than Jedi."
"Sith...Jedi...they're all the same thing." Wydorm pulled away and moved back to his desk. "So, you work with Jedi? That's the only reason I can see you coming here. They knew Jedi couldn't come, so they sent you instead. And in my opinion, that makes you just as bad as Jedi. Those that work with them, are just as terrible as those Force wielding freaks."
"We're not working with them," Iron stated. "We work for the Republic. The Senate decided to send us, not the Jedi."
"How can I be so sure?" Wydorm replied. "You say you're not working with the Jedi, but how can I be sure? For all I know, you could be Jedi attempting to spy on us for some kind of Jedi incursion."
"Why would the Jedi want to attack this place?" Shining asked. "They have no reason to wage war on this sector. Especially since the Sith are a more pressing concern." Skybreaker and Iron nodded, but Wydorm clearly didn't believe them.
He snapped his fingers and the door opened, a man walking in carrying their bags and instrument cases.
They suddenly looked worried, as Wydorm opened up one of the cases and looked inside. He found the hexaphone and looked it over, Iron frowning since there was a good chance he could find his Lightsaber in there. "Be careful with that!" Iron cries, seeing Wydorm throw the instrument into the air. He had to pretend it was the most important thing in that case. "You have any idea how expensive that is?"
"If you're here on assignment by the Republic, why are you carrying a large musical instrument around?"
"We needed a cover for why we were here," Shining replied. "A couple of musicians and their manager seemed like a good idea." Wydorm clearly didn't believe that, but he also didn't find the Lightsaber compartment and returned the instrument to the case.
He checked Skybreaker's instrument as well, also not finding his concealed weapon. Then, he checked Shining's bag. "Hello." He took out the book Shining had found. "What do we have here? If I'm not mistaken, this is one of the books from our library." He turned to them. "Attempting to make off with it, were we?"
"No," Shining stated. "I found that book and thought it might be helpful. There are symbols in it, that might have something to do with the Sith. Those same symbols were found all over areas connected to what they're after."
"So you intended to steal it?"
"I only put it in my bag, to keep it safe. If that overgrown house cat hadn't attacked us, I would have just taken some pictures of it and left with them." Wydorm flipped through the book and clearly didn't believe any of what Shining was saying.
Eventually, he snapped the book shut and turned to them. "You're clearly hiding something. And I am not a very patient man." He turned to the man that had brought the bags in. "Take them to the heat cells. See if that doesn't loosen their tongues." The man nodded and left the room, whilst the Jedi looked worried.
"What's a heat cell?" Skybreaker asked.
"Underground cell," Wydorm replied. "Built directly over a lava tube. Gets rather hot in there. If you're not given water at least once an hour, you'll likely dehydrate. Last chance before you go an entire night without water." The three knew the only thing they could say, was that they were Jedi. But that would likely get them killed faster than the heat cell. "Fine. Enjoy being roasted to death."
A bunch of guards ran into the room and grabbed the Jedi, lifting them up and dragging them out of the room.
Wydorm sat back down on his desk and lit another death stick, as the shadowy figure appeared. "Anything else I should know about, Rimarun?"
"There was another with them. A teen with a K-9 droid. I lost track of him when I captured the others. What do you want me to do?"
"Find him," Wydorm replied. "But don't capture him right away. I want to see what he does." Rimarun nodded before his body exploded back into a cloud and disappeared into the darkness. As he did, Wydorm looked down at the book Shining had found and began to look through it. "Let's see what you can tell me."
Flash and Springer soon returned to the Wonderbolt, where Soarin was busy getting the ship ready for take off.
As they got onboard, Soarin was trying to shove a bunch of wires into a panel and force it shut. Flash rolled his eyes at this and moved over, pushing Soarin out of the way as he started streaming the wires into their proper place. "Please tell me the ship wasn't like this when you got it."
"Pretty much," Soarin returned to the cockpit. "That's why I got her for such a steal." He activated the engines and the whole thing began to power up, Flash having to leap back to avoid getting electrocuted. "Okay. I'm gonna have to hide her somewhere outside of the city."
"This thing's the size of three houses," Springer pointed out. "Where the heck can you hide it?" As he said that, Pixel appeared and started speaking in his strange voice.
Soarin nodded. "Sweet. He's found a ravine that's not too far from here. I can put the ship down there and you shouldn't have much trouble getting back to the city."
Flash hoped he was right. As he finally closed the panel, Springer tapped into the ship's coms and shifted the frequencies.
The ship began to take off and as it did, Springer managed to lock onto a particular channel. "I think I've got something on our friends." Flash turned to him, as he listened intently. "Got it. They're being sent somewhere called the heat cells. But it's not giving me any more information."
"Can you lock onto their gauntlets?" Flash asked, as Springer tried to hack into that system. As that was going on, Soarin flew the ship in the direction of the ravine. They flew away from the city and as the ship vanished into the distance, the shadowy figure known as Rimarun appeared in the ship's landing zone and saw them fly off.
"Damn it!" He cried, reverting back to his shadow form and flying off back towards the mansion. Hopefully, they would be able to scan for the ship before it went out of range.
"I got em!" Springer announced, having finally locked onto Shining's gauntlet.
The holographic screen appeared, showing the entire city. And in that city, a dot was moving through at high speed. "They must be on some kind of transport."
"Any idea which direction they'll be heading in?" Flash watched them shift through the streets and tried to find a building in that location, that could match a cell or a jail. But nothing looked right. "Maybe they're not going somewhere in the city." He zoomed out and began to look for spots outside of the city, mostly in the area Shining's dot was heading.
"There," Springer stated. "Several miles north of the city. There's a structure of some kind." Flash moved to that location and saw what he had found. A large square structure of some kind. It wasn't big enough to be a prison, but it was big enough to be a prison entrance.
"That's where they're going," Flash nodded. "We've gotta get them out of there before they're sent into that place."
"Not a good idea," Soarin told him. "I'm willing to bet that place is heavily guarded. The transports are probably just as well guarded. Attacking without a plan would probably get you killed or thrown in a cell with them." Flash frowned, knowing he was right. If Flash wanted to save them, he needed a plan.
As he studied the surrounding area, he also noticed something else. Another building, close to the prison, but very different to the rest of the structures he had seen on the planet. "What is that?"
"Some kind of arena," Springer replied. "But I'm not sure what it's used for." Flash had a bad feeling about that place.
They arrived at the ravine and found it was the perfect place to hide the ship. There was an opening that the Wonderbolt fit in perfectly, which was deep enough to hide it from view. The only issue was a nearby volcano. If it erupted, and it looked like it was about to, the lava would flow through the canyon within minutes and melt the ship.
As this was going on, Flash was looking through Soarin's closet. "What are you doing?" Soarin asked when he saw what he was doing.
"I've probably been seen by that shadow guy. Call it a hunch, but I'm pretty sure he was watching us before that tiger guy showed up." He pulled out a hooded cloak and threw it over him, pulling up the hood to hide his face. "If I head there, I gotta make sure I'm not seen."
"So what's the plan?" Soarin asked, only to get another cloak thrown at him.
"We're heading back to the city and we're gonna find anything that'll help us free our friends. Meanwhile, Springer will stay here and keep an eye on Shining's location. If he heads where we think he's going, we'll come up with a plan to get them out. If not, we'll need to track them down and find a way to free them."
"You want me to come with you?" Soarin asked. "But what if we need someone to airlift us out of a jam. Pixel can't fly the ship by herself."
"No, but Springer can. If anything happens, he'll bring the ship to our location and get us out of there." Soarin frowned, but nodded in agreement. But as he did, he noticed Flash had his Lightsaber hanging from his belt.
"Are you nuts? You're gonna give yourself away with that."
"Unless you're willing to hand over your blaster, I need a weapon to protect myself. I'll keep it hidden, but I'll come up with an excuse in case someone sees it." He moved back to the map and frowned when he saw how far he would have to walk in order to get back to town. "This is gonna take a while."
"Actually, it won't." Soarin moved over to one of the storage lockers and opened it up. Inside were a bunch of metal disks, which appeared to be split into four pieces. He threw one at Flash, the Padawan grabbing it whilst Soarin dropped another to the floor.
Before it could hit the ground, the disk split into two. Those two halves moved apart from one another, but remained connected by some kind of light blue glass structure. Once the two halves were a good four feet apart, they stopped and then split in half again. This time, they split in the opposite direction and the blue glass expanded until it was a foot long.
"Hoverboard?" Flash realised what it was, as Soarin stepped onto it.
"Ever use something like this?" Soarin raced through the ship and out into the ravine, whilst Flash looked at the disk.
He dropped it and the disk split apart, only the glass within this one was orange. Once the board was the same size as Soarin's, Flash stepped onto it. Balancing took a bit of work, but he eventually got the hang of it. And soon enough, he was flying out of the ship and following Soarin up the side of the ravine.
The pair reached the top and began to fly toward the town. At the speed the boards were going, it wouldn't take long to get back to the city. And hopefully, once there, they could find a way to save the others and get the heck off this planet. But was it too late?