Chapter 21
The battle of Gemmax had ended and despite the many casualties, mass destruction and major clean-up that needed to be done, the battle was considered a victory for the Jedi.
As soon as the fight was over, the Jedi had made preparations to return to Canterlot. They had to do so before the Sith attempted another attack, since they had something the evil army wanted. As such, Flash, Shining and Springer had gotten to work on repairing the Shooting Star.
Ruby and Rarity had asked to remain behind, Ruby wanting to be there whilst her father recovered from the injuries he had sustained. Lucky, Fluttershy's immediate healing had made that process far easier. If he had waited to be treated, he might never have been able to walk or fight again.
As soon as the Shooting Star was fixed, the Jedi returned to Canterlot with it and their fighters.
As soon as they got back, Luna had taken Twilight and Trixie to the council in order to give a report on what had happened. Celestia was very proud of them, for managing to uncover the Sith's true plans and stopping them from obtaining their goals.
Now, they had two points of interest that needed to be looked into.
The first, and most important thing, was the mysterious relic that had been discovered. After Flash had taken a look, he was pretty positive this was the same object that Solara had taken from the other temple they had found. That meant there were more than one. And everyone on the council agreed, there were likely more pieces out there.
"We have to find these pieces," one of the masters stated.
"We don't even know what it is," Skybreaker pointed out. "How are we supposed to find something we don't know the purpose and number of? The next piece could be anywhere."
"The Sith have a huge head start," Luna agreed. "They must know what it is and where they need to look."
"Maybe not," Celestia told her. "Solara found the first piece a while ago and only now did she attempt to retrieve this piece. That leads me to believe they don't have the exact locations, which gives us a chance to find it as well." She held the relic in hand and thought about what to do with it. "Until we can figure out what it is, we must keep it safe. We'll place it inside the temple vault."
"We have a vault?" Trixie asked, turning to Twilight who simply shrugged. "Why don't we just destroy it?" The masters turned to her. "If the Sith plan on doing something with it, it's clearly dangerous. Why take the risk? Use your Lightsaber and cut it in half."
"Trixie," Twilight looked horrified. "We can't destroy it. It's a valuable piece of Jedi history. You can't destroy something like that."
"I actually agree with Trixie," Luna stated. "Yes, it's an important piece of Jedi history. But if it puts the entire galaxy at risk, stopping it from ever being used is more important."
"I concur," Celestia nodded. "However, destroying it isn't an easy task. Yes, we might just be able to slice it in half with a Lightsaber. But what if it has a way of making us regret that action?" Trixie looked confused. "A long time ago, a Jedi was tasked with keeping a special energy source from falling into the wrong hands. They tried everything, but were eventually cornered with no way of stopping those that sought its power. So the Jedi did the only thing they could think of."
"They destroyed the energy source," Twilight caught on.
"Exactly," Celestia nodded. "But that energy was so powerful, destroying it caused a massive explosion that took out half the planet and left the other half in a state of utter chaos."
"And you think this thing might do the same?" Trixie asked.
"Maybe," Luna agreed. "The point is, we can't jump to a conclusion even if we all agree it's the best course of action. We need to learn more about this relic and what power it contains. And if it does do something like that, we'll take it to an already dead planet and destroy it there."
"And maybe this relic can do some good," Celestia stated. "We don't know who it was that kid these objects. They're most likely Jedi. If they were, they must have thought these relics had the possibility of being used for good. That's why they hid them instead of destroying them."
Skybreaker frowned. "Maybe they wanted to destroy it, but just didn't know how without making their part of the galaxy go boom."
"Maybe," Celestia nodded. "Until we know for sure, we'll keep the relic in the vault and not talk about it. The more people know about this thing, the more danger we are in." They nodded, as Celestia chose to change the subject. "What of your other discovery? The mysterious gem that can stop a Jedi from using The Force?"
Trixie reached into her pocket and held out the small gem, Celestia attempting to summon it over to her with little success. "There's a whole bunch of them in that temple. I don't know where they came from originally, but just one is able to stop us from using The Force."
The Masters all stared at this gem, each having a different expression on their faces. "What should we do?" A master asked. "We can't allow such a weapon to fall into the wrong hands. If the Sith learn about it, they could attempt to arm their forces with them. Imagine, every droid and bug trooper, completely immune to our abilities."
"I doubt the Sith would do something like that," Celestia pointed out. "The Sith are just as dependent on The Force as we are. Having an entire army that could render them powerless is not something I think Sombra would be interested in."
"So what should we do?" Another master asked, as Twilight raised a hand.
"I have a suggestion." They looked towards her. "The biggest issue we have with the Sith, is that our only option is to kill them. We can't imprison a person who can wield The Force, since they can unlock the doors or whatever's holding them and make guards let them go. But with these gems, that's no longer the case."
"She's right," Skybreaker nodded. "We could design jails that use these gems to prevent them from escaping. And not just The Sith. I hate to say this, but we might be able to use them if a Jedi ever betrays our order. I know Doom Raizer was innocent, but if he had remained in jail. He would have been acquitted and we might have had one less Sith to deal with."
"I agree," Luna smiled. "Excellent idea, Twilight. As much as I hate to admit it, we need some way to keep Force users contained should the need arise." The masters all agreed, with Trixie and Twilight nodding in agreement.
"Excellent work, the pair of you. Now go get some rest. You've both earned it." They nodded again before heading out, leaving the masters to discuss more topics.
As they made their way out of the temple, Trixie smirked. "A Jedi prison. Not something I'd want to spend some time in. But I can't wait to see that Solara girl, stuck in one of those cells."
"I'm not so sure we'll be seeing her again," Twilight stated. "I'm no expert when it comes to the Sith, but I get the feeling they don't take failure well. If Solara was after that relic, letting it fall into our hands probably hasn't made her very popular." She looked out of a nearby window and up into the sky, wondering where Solara was. And what was happening to her.
On a distant planet, in Sombra's castle lair, a scream could be heard.
That scream was coming from Solara, who was currently riving around on the floor in absolute agony. The source was a bunch of red lightning, which was coming out of Sombra's hands as he sat on his throne. Off to the side, the holograms of Chrysalis, Doom, Tirek and Armalum were watching.
Chrysalis and Doom were flinching at the sight, whilst Tirek simply smiled with his arms crossed. Armalum stood there, no emotion on his robotic face.
Eventually, Sombra stopped the lightning and Solara continued to quiver on the ground. She panted and cried, as smoke came off her body. She was soon forced to pull the helmet off her head, allowing her to properly breathe. All the while, Sombra just glared at her.
"Now you know what happens, when you fail me."
"I...I won't fail you again." Solara dragged herself along the ground. "I'll find the final piece and get the other one back."
"And how do you intend to do this?" Sombra asked. "The Jedi have likely stored it away somewhere. How can you acquire it, if you don't even know where it is?"
"I'll find a way," Solara swore. "Please, just give me another chance. I'll prove myself to you, or die trying." Sombra stared at her for a moment, then nodded as Solara sighed in relief. "Thank you, master. I won't let you down again."
"Be sure that you don't," Sombra told her.
Solara began to drag herself away, eventually managing to stand up and head out of the throne room. It was clear by the way she was limping, that she wasn't in the best of conditions. But she didn't accept any help from the troopers offering to give her a hand.
Once she was gone, the holograms of the other four were moved to float in front of Sombra. "Master," Tirek spoke up, "are you sure it is wise to let her remain? Because of her, our mission is now in jeopardy."
"Maybe. But I do not have time to find someone to replace her. She may still be of use to me. If she can retrieve the relic, I will accept her back into our order. But if she fails again, I will remove her. Besides, she can be used as leverage against Celestia."
"Why would Celestia care about her?" Chrysalis asked, but Sombra simply smiled and chose to keep that information to himself.
"Continue your work. Tirek. Continue your attacks on the planets in the republic. Keep them guessing about our true goals. Armalum and Chrysalis. Keep building our forces as best you can. And Doom, I want you to take over the mining operations. I don't care where you find the material of labour. Get what we need."
"Yes master," they all replied before the holograms cut out.
As they did, Sombra sat back on his throne. He was still worried about the vision he had had. And now that he knew who the Jedi in question were, he knew he had to find a way to deal with them.
Back on Canterlot, Flash and Springer were walking through the city.
Despite this new beginning war, Flash had still been permitted some time to relax. Shining Armor and the others were also relaxing, but they all knew they could be called to action at any moment. As such, Flash was continuing to explore the surrounding city of Canterlot. He still knew very little about the city and wanted to know as much about it as possible.
"Flash?" Springer asked, "what exactly are we doing?"
"Whatever we find interesting," Flash replied. "And remember to stick close to me. Don't want anybody trying to nab you."
"Then why don't I just get on your back." Flash frowned, but decided to agree and knelt down. The droid quickly hovered up and extended the straps, turning him into a large backpack for Flash to carry around.
Remembering what Twilight had told him, he chose to keep to the top layer of the planet and made his way through multiple parks and other areas. All the while, he thought about the battles he would have to fight in.
So far, the fights he had been in were all ones he hadn't lost anyone in. But he knew it was just a matter of time before someone he knew, received an injury that might end their lives. Luna had taken a shot to the leg, but what if that droid had aimed a little higher and she was hit in the chest. Twilight and Trixie could have been killed by Solara, and Trixie would have if Flash hadn't been there.
"You okay, Flash?" He looked back at Springer, "you look worried about something."
Flash smiled and reached up to pat his head. "I'm fine, bud. Just thinking about stuff I probably shouldn't." But he couldn't help himself. This was war and in war, people died. Jedi had already lost their lives in this war and those were just the ones Flash didn't really know. How was he supposed to handle losing someone close to him?
Before he could say anything else, his gauntlet suddenly beeped. "Any Jedi in the area?" It was a male voice Flash didn't recognise. "I could use a little help."
Flash quickly answered, "right here. What's your location?"
"Lock onto my signal and get here as quickly as you can." Flash did so and uploaded the coordinates to Springer, who told him which way to go. Flash burst into a sprint and ran through the busy city, being careful not to run into anybody.
"Take a left here!" Flash quickly turned and ran over a bridge, a crack in the top layer right below him.
As he reached the other side, a speeder suddenly stopped in front of it and someone started unloading parcels from it. But Flash was easily able to leap over the speeder and landed on the other side, Springer telling him to go straight and head down some stairs to the next level down.
"We're almost there," Springer replied. "Are you sure this was a good idea? We have no idea what we're about to get ourselves into."
"We'll be fine," Flash told him. "The call came on the secure Jedi channel. That means it's a Jedi that sent the message." They turned another corner and when they got there, they found themselves in a large square open area. A couple of boxes were stacked around the place, but nothing out of the ordinary. "Are we in the right place?"
"This is the place we were sent the coordinates of."
Flash stepped into the area and wondered what the heck was going on. He was about to think this was a trick, only for the wall to suddenly explode right beside him. "WOW!" He leapt back to avoid the rocks, which went flying everywhere and smashed several crates.
From out of the dust, someone leapt out and did several back flips. As they did, Flash noticed a blue Lightsaber in their hand. They were humanoid, wearing a Jedi cloak over a white shirt and brown pants. Their hood was up, so Flash couldn't see their face. But as they held their Lightsaber in a single hand, Flash noticed the skin on their arm was brown.
Flash was about to call out to them, but suddenly heard a large roar and looked to see something stomp out of the hole.
It was some kind of rock alien, being three times Flash's size whilst having no head. Its face was on its stone body, with stumpy rock legs and large bulky rock arms. The ends of its arms were covered in blue gems, which turned their arms into crystal maces. Gems also stuck out the top of its body head, its back and even out of its knees.
"What the heck am I looking at?" Flash asked, as the giant creature roared and attacked the cloaked figure.
Said figure noticed Flash and as the monster slammed its mace arm into the ground, he leapt up and flipped through the air. "Get out of here, kid!" Flash recognised the voice and realised who this was.
"Hey," Springer jumped down and he drew his Lightsaber, "you called for my help!" He ignited the blade and ran forward, catching the rock monster's attention.
It raised one of its arms and tried to crush the Padawan, but Flash easily dodged the attack and stabbed his Lightsaber into its arm. The monster roared, as he cut up the length of its arms. It pulled its arm away, then tried to kick Flash away.
But Flash was able to leap away, as Springer came flying in using his hoverskirt to propel himself into the air.
His nose blaster extended and he started firing at the creature's head, causing bits of its ready face to break away. It roared at this and swung its arms around, Springer barely managing to avoid getting smashed as he fired.
The other Jedi watched this for a moment, then looked towards the hole in the wall. "Keep that thing occupied. I need to deal with something."
"What?" Flash asked, as the Jedi ran into the building. "HEY! What are you doing?" But the Jedi disappeared and Flash was forced to focus on the rock monster, which brought both its mace arms together before swinging them down towards him. "Not good." He leapt back, as the fists crashed into the ground.
The impact sent out a shockwave, which slammed into Flash and knocked him flying backwards.
He crashed into a crate and broke through it, groaning as he collapsed on the ground.
As he lay there, the beast stomped forward and prepared to crush him again. But Flash was able to lift a hand out and make the monster freeze, though the focus Flash needed to do this was seriously draining.
Luckily, Springer flew in just in time and fired several lasers at the creature's face.
The blasts knocked the unbalanced creature backwards and made it fall on its butt, which allowed Flash to roll out from under it and get back to his feet. "Thanks bud." He gave Springer a thumbs up, as the creature lifted itself back to its feet.
It glared at him, then looked around before heading towards the opening he had originally come through. "I think he's trying to get out of here."
"We can't let him out onto the street. There's no telling what he'd do!" He looked around, hoping to find some rope or something that might be able to help him stop the creature. But all there were were crates. "Come on!" He lifted as many of them up as he could, then threw them towards the rock giant.
The crates slammed into it, knocking the poor creature forward.
It slowly turned back to him and let out a roar, Flash slowly stepping backwards. "I think you got his attention!" Springer cried, as the rock giant raised its mace fists.
"Lucky me!" Flash leapt out of the way, as the creature brought it smashing down onto the ground. Springer tried to fire at it again, but the creature moved so the crystals on its body were hit instead of him. And as crystals were likely to do, they refracted the laser and sent it flying in different directions.
"WOW!" Springer barely managed to avoid getting hit by his own laser, the K-9 Droid pulling to the side before flying up to avoid getting hit by a mace arm.
Flash ran forward and used his Lightsaber to cut through the creature's leg, carving a deep groove into it and making the beast roar in pain. The rock monster staggered forwards, as its leg began to crack and break apart.
Flash felt sorry for the beast, but he couldn't afford to let it move around and do even more damage.
But as the creature fell to the ground, it raised its arm and smashed it into the ground. The shaking almost knocked Flash off his feet, whilst the ground they were on broke apart. Flash looked down and realised the area they were on was solid rock, as opposed to the metal or concrete that made up other areas of Canterlot's levels.
As the rock broke apart, the creature lifted the boulders up.
Flash half expected it to throw them at him, but instead the beast shoved them into its mouth. "Weird time for a snack." But then, he noticed that the parts of the beast's body that he had cut into, were beginning to heal themselves. The creature was using the rocks to repair itself. "Oh, great."
Body healed, the rock monster turned to him and charged.
He leapt away to avoid another mace strike, rolling along the ground as the monster turned to him. It raised both maces to crush him, Flash gasping as he prepared to escape. But he didn't need to.
Suddenly, the creature started glowing pink. And the next thing Flash knew, it started shrinking. It grew smaller and smaller, Flash shocked to see this. And as the creature grew small enough, he was able to look behind it.
The Jedi from before, was holding some kind of weird ray gun in his hands. The rifle was shooting out the energy and causing the creature to shrink, eventually turning it no bigger than three inches tall. "There we go." The Jedi stopped firing and the little creature tried to run away, but the cloaked individual held out his hand and it floated into the air.
It flew over to him, as he held out some kind of glass mug.
The creature fell into the mug and let out several screams, as it tried to break itself free. But the glass was too thick for it to shatter. "You should be safe in there until we can get you back where you belong."
"What did you do?" Flash asked, as Springer flew over to the rifle he had placed on the ground.
Scanning it, the droid looked surprised. "Some kind of molecular re-sequencer, built to target the size of an object's matter and shift it. Basically, it's a shrinking ray. But it could also be used to make things larger."
"Which is how this little guy got here," the Jedi replied. He held the creature up and as he did, Flash realised his left arm was actually robotic. "He's supposed to be the same size as us, but he was shrunk down to transport here. Then they made him even bigger, so he could crush me."
"They?" Flash asked, as the figure turned to the hole in the wall.
Flash looked inside and found a bunch of unconscious guys, most humans though many were different races. They all looked like they had been put through the ringer. And as Flash looked around the room, he spotted cages, glass cases and even a few force field containers. Each of them had a different animal, clearly smaller than they were actually meant to be.
"What is all this?"
"Trafficking operation," the Jedi replied. "I've been tracking them for months. Bunch of poachers, who shrink animals down for easy transport and sell to the highest bidder. Most of these animals are endangered, so doing something like this is a criminal offence."
"That's horrible," Springer cried. "Good things we stopped them. So what happens now?" As he said that, groans filled the air and some of the criminals were starting to come around.
The Jedi suddenly pointed the shrink ray at them and fired, Flash shocked to see the crooks all beginning to shrink down. And once they were small enough, he used The Force to lift them all into the air and place them inside an empty glass case. "Are you sure that's legal?"
"They'll be fine," the Jedi replied. "Sector Security can make them their proper height later." Once the last person was inside the case, he took out a pen and a scrap of paper. Moments later, a note explaining who they were was stuck to the side of the case.
"Wait," Flash turned to him, "you're just gonna leave?"
"I've never been big on dealing with Sector Security, especially if it's that Lightning guy." Flash shrugged at this. "Besides, I've got other stuff I need to deal with. Can't waste my time making a police report." He reached into his cloak. "But whilst you're here." He took something out and tossed it towards Flash.
The teen caught it and saw it was some kind of information chip. "What's this?"
"Give that to Celestia. She should find the info on it very helpful." Before Flash could say anything else, the figure ran away and leapt into the air. Flash and Springer were stunned by this and by the time their brains caught up, the figure was standing on the roof. "Oh. What's your name, by the way?"
Flash blinked. "Flash. Flash Sentry."
"Well, Flash Sentry, hope to see you again." With that, he leapt down off the roof and disappeared behind the building. Flash and Springer stared at the spot he had been, unsure what the heck had just happened. And as Flash stared down at the data chip, sirens filled the air.
"We should get out of here," Springer told him. Flash nodded and the two headed off, as a Security Cruiser flew onto the scene. They would find the destroyed building and check it out, finding an illegal molecular re-sequencer and a bunch of shrunken animals that didn't belong on Canterlot. They then found some shrunken people, with a note stating they were the crooks behind the animal trafficking.
The security officers stared at the shrunken people, wondering what the heck had happened. There didn't seem to be any surveillance equipment in the area, so they couldn't watch what had happened. Hopefully, the crooks would spill what happened under interrogation.
Back at the temple, Celestia had called Twilight to an area of the place very few bothered to go.
It was a dark section of the temple, with very little natural or artificial light. It was a storage area, where they kept anything they didn't have a need for at the moment. Boxes of fabric used to make clothing. Tools used to repair damage done to the Temple and just random knickknacks that found their way into the Jedi's possession.
Twilight walked through this area, a little creeped out by how deserted the place was.
She then spotted Celestia, standing near a wall looking around. "Master?" She stepped over to her, Celestia smiling when she saw her.
"Good. You're here."
"Why are we down here? I thought you were going to place the relic inside the temple's vault."
"That's exactly what I'm doing," Celestia replied. She turned to the wall and placed her hand on a specific spot, which Twilight suddenly saw light up and run a light over her hand. Another spot then opened and Celestia glanced into it, as a light flew out and ran over her eye.
"A secret entrance?" Twilight was amazed, as the entire wall suddenly opened. "Why do we have a secret entrance to the vault?"
"This is where we keep dangerous objects," Celestia explained. "Objects that cannot be allowed to fall into the wrong hands." She stepped into the small room and Twilight followed, Twilight realising it was an elevator. "We can't just have it out in the open. If it was known how to get into the vault, the younglings would be constantly trying to sneak in to see all the dangerous stuff."
Twilight thought that she wouldn't try something like that, but realised someone like Flash, Spike or Rainbow would have definitely tried that.
They rode the elevator down about a mile before it came to a stop, Celestia stepping forward before the doors even opened. When they did, she glided down the corridor without even looking where she was going. Twilight followed, as they arrived at a large metal door.
As Twilight looked up at the door, she turned to her master. "Why did you bring me here?"
"Because I believe you can be trusted," Celestia told her. She reached over to a console on the wall, which had a small metal hook sticking out of it. She pricked her finger on it and as the hook folded back into the wall, Celestia typed a code into the keypad.
Moments later, the large door opened and Twilight was greeted to the sight of a large room. Said room was full of glass draws, Twilight stepping inside and looking through the glass.
The draws were all different sizes, some being small whilst others were large. Many were empty, but a lot had something inside of them. Objects and relics of differing sizes and shapes, the glass distorting them and making it impossible for Twilight to tell what they really looked like.
"These are all items of great power," Celestia stated. "Used by Sith in order to increase their strength. In exchange for that strength, they had to do unspeakable things. Kill those they loved. Steal the power from others. Or allow themselves to be inhabited. Power like this, always has a cost."
Twilight raised a hand to one of the draws, which had some kind of strange glowing cube inside of it.
As soon as she placed a hand on it, she was suddenly overwhelmed with a cold and horrible feeling. She pulled her hand away and stepped back, gasping at the horrible sensation. "Why did you bring me here?"
"To show you," Celestia stated. "To help you understand the kind of threat that we're dealing with." She opened one of the draws and placed the relic inside of it. "The Sith are made up of those that only care about getting power as fast as they can, no matter what the cost might be. They choose to give themselves to these dark powers. To become tools of the Dark Side, simply because they couldn't find the patience to do things the right way."
Twilight nodded. She knew Celestia was right. Sombra. Solara. All of the Sith. All they cared about was making themselves stronger, no matter what the cost."
"Let this be a lesson to you. That no matter how much you want to become stronger faster, there's a right way to do things. And that way may take a long time, but it's far better in the long run."
Twilight nodded. "I understand. I'd rather spend years mastering something, then cheat and get it at a cost."
"That's my girl," Celestia smiled as they headed back the way they came. "And I'm sure that one day, you'll be the only one with access to this vault instead of me."
Twilight wondered what the heck she was talking about, but then realised what she meant and suddenly felt very nervous. The idea of becoming the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order felt terrifying. Twilight might have been talented with The Force, but she was a hundred years away from ever being Grandmaster. Luna was more likely to take over before she was."
"I don't know," Twilight told her. "That sounds like way too much responsibility. I think I'd rather you stay the grandmaster."
"I'm sure a lot of Jedi would. But I can't remain in charge forever. The galaxy is forever changing. If the Jedi can't change with it, then we are doomed to become obsolete and eventually die out. When I took over the order, I realised I couldn't let the Jedi remain as it was. That was what caused Sombra to break away from the Order. It was time for the Jedi to evolve and one day, the Jedi will need to evolve again. And it can't do that whilst I remain in command."
"But you've done so well leading the Jedi," Twilight pointed out. They returned to the elevator and rode it back to the Temple.
"That may be. But I've done as much as I can to help the order flourish. One day, a new leader will be needed to help it grow again." She took out her Lightsaber and showed it to Twilight. "These weapons are just like us. Long ago, the blade was connected to a larger battery pack that we had to carry around with us."
Twilight nodded, having read about the early Lightsaber. "But then they were upgraded."
"Exactly. New Jedi saw what had come before and found a way to make it better. Which led to the type of sword you and I use. And that led to the weapons Luna uses. Which led to Pinkie and Applejack's weapons. New Jedi, choosing to make something new instead of being dragged down by tradition. And that's what needs to happen with the Jedi. One day, our order will need to grow and evolve. And to do that, new blood is needed to lead us into the future."
The elevator came to a stop and the pair stepped out of it, making their way back up to the main areas of the temple.
They continued to talk and discuss many different matters, eventually arriving at the main hallway of the temple. It was here that they came to a stop, as they spotted Flash and Springer running around. "Flash?" Twilight called out, making Flash skid to a stop and turn to the pair. "What are you doing?"
Flash rushed over and was about to speak, but suddenly found himself completely out of breath.
He bent over, holding up a finger asking for a moment. The pair looked a bit concerned, then turned to Springer who could still speak. "We have something for you," the droid announced. "It was given to us by a Jedi, though we have no idea who they were."
"What?" Celestia looked shocked by this, as Flash finally regained his composure and took something out of his pocket. The data chip. "You received this from a Jedi?"
"I'm pretty sure he was a Jedi," Flash stated. "He had a Lightsaber, could use The Force and he fought against some animal traffickers."
Celestia hummed, as she took the chip from Flash. "I'm hesitant to connect something to our systems, that could be considered dangerous." She turned to Twilight. "Go to the archives and bring a tablet that's disconnected from our main servers." Twilight nodded and ran off, as Celestia had Flash and Springer follow her.
They arrived at a room Flash hadn't been in before. And when they stepped inside, Flash found it was a large round room with a round holotable in the centre of it.
Celestia turned to Flash, "tell me everything that happened." Flash nodded and explained the situation, how he had received a call for help and ran off to find a Jedi, being attacked by a rock monster that had been enlarged by some kind of shrink and growth ray.
As he finished his story, Twilight returned with Shining, Skybreaker, Cadance and Luna besides her.
"Hey," Skybreaker spoke up, "Twilight said something happened."
"Flash has had a minor adventure," Celestia explained. "And it appears, he was able to get something I will apparently find interesting." Twilight handed over the tablet she had retrieved, Celestia checking to make sure it was disconnected from their server. "Good. If this chip has a virus, we won't get infected." She placed the chip into the tablet, as Shining stepped over to Flash.
"What happened?"
"I got a call from a Jedi that needed my help. He was being attacked by a bunch of animal traffickers."
"Who was he?" Luna asked, but Flash shrugged.
"I didn't see his face. But he was good. Oh, he did have a mechanical arm. Don't know if that helps." Hearing that made Shining frown, as he seemed to recognise that description. "Anyway, he gave me the data chip and said Celestia would want to see what's on it."
"What is on it?" Cadance asked, as Celestia continued to look at the info.
"Interesting." She hummed as she flicked through the data. "The tablet's not picking up any viruses. I think we'll be safe to plug it in." She turned to Luna. "Just to be safe, activate the firewalls around this room's systems. If anything happens, we need to be ready to purge it before the damage can spread."
Luna nodded and stepped forward, typing away at the holotable controls. Once she was ready, Celestia plugged the tablet in and the data was uploaded to the computer. The table began to project something, showing multiple star charts and design schematics.
"What is all this?" Skybreaker asked. He pressed one of the blueprints and found it contained information on a type of ship. "The Sith weren't using ships like this."
"No," Celestia agreed. "But we still don't know how deep this rabbit hole goes. They may have other ships that we haven't seen before. And they might be using these ships to do something."
"I think I recognised this star chart," Cadance pressed one of them. The others turned to it and Luna nodded.
"That's the Cabraille Sector," the omni stated. "If the Sith have ties there, we might be in trouble."
"What's wrong with the Cabraille Sector?" Flash asked, Skybreaker being the one to tell him.
"It's a lawless area. Worse than that, it's controlled by those who hate Jedi. If a ship flies through there and is even suspected of hosting one, it'll be blown out of the sky before it can even attempt to make an excuse."
"Wow. Sounds like the kind of place Lightning Blitz would like to go."
"Maybe," Shining agreed. "But if the Sith wanted to hide something, that would be the best place to do it. Although, it also makes a risk since I doubt they'd be more welcome there than we are."
"Either way," Celestia frowned. "If the Sith are hiding something there, we need to find it and stop whatever it is. But getting there might be an issue."
"I might know of a way we can get there," Skybreaker smiled. "But we might have to wait. I'm not sure if he's on the planet at the moment."
"Who?" Flash asked.
"One of the best smugglers in the galaxy," Skybreaker stated. "You need something snuck somewhere, he can get you in." They all frowned at this, since smugglers weren't exactly known for being trustworthy. But what other choice did they have?
In the Sith castle, Solara was laying on her bed.
She had removed her normal clothing, dressed now in only a black shirt and black shorts. Her hair was a mess, still looking a little frizzy due to the electrical energy that had been sent throughout her body. But as bad as she looked, she felt even worse.
The young Sith had never failed her master before. There had been times she hadn't achieved her goal, but managed to get some consolation in exchange. But this was the first time she had ever failed to accomplish anything. It was a sickening feeling, which made her terrified of what might happen if she failed again.
Suddenly, a beeping sound filled the air and she looked over to a nearby desk.
There, a small dome-like device was beeping. She reached out and struck the device, which lit up and created the hologram of Chrysalis.
"Still pouting?" She asked, as Solara laid on her back and said nothing. "Come now. You shouldn't be upset. You're still alive. Which is better than I expected the outcome of your failure to turn out. Be thankful for that."
"I failed my mission," Solara told her. "How am I supposed to be thankful? I need to find a way to get the relic, which could have been destroyed for all I know. What is there to be thankful for?"
"You still have a chance," Chrysalis told her. "So what if you failed this mission? It's the next mission that matters. You need to stop moping about your failure. Focus on making up for it. Because trust me, you cannot fail your next mission. If you do, that's it. It's a miracle Lord Sombra gave you a second chance. You won't get a third."
Solara sighed, knowing she was right.
"But like I said. It was a miracle you were given a second chance. Lord Sombra wouldn't normally forgive a failure like that. So why did he forgive yours?" Solara turned to her, "there must be something that's making Sombra wish to keep you around. Other than your excellent track record, that is."
"Well I have no idea," Solara told her.
"Maybe he knows something about you, that makes you special."
"I'm nothing special," Solara replied. "Master Sombra found me when I was young. He said my family died, trying to escape the Jedi that were trying to take me from them. I don't really remember anything before I was with master Sombra. All I ever remember, is being trained by him."
"Then maybe the truth lies in the family you lost," Chrysalis stated. "Something to look into another time. For now, you need to focus on retrieving that relic. That should be your only objective." Solara nodded, as Chrysalis' hologram vanished. As it did, the girl began to think about her family. The one that had been stolen from her.
No matter what, she would make the Jedi pay for what they had done.
Back on Canterlot, Shining, Flash and Iron Core had made their way to one of the less reputable areas of the planet.
Flash and Iron were waiting outside a building, as Skybreaker had gone inside to search for the person they were looking for. Meanwhile, Shining had stepped out of earshot and was typing something into his gauntlet.
A few moments later, the device beeped and a voice spoke through it. "Guess you heard I'm back on planet." Shining rolled his eyes, the voice making him smile at the memory.
"Should have known you couldn't resist making trouble." Shining glanced back at Flash, "seems you had a run in with my new student."
"Yeah, I heard you were training a kid with a K-9 droid. Guess it was fate that we ran into one another. Too bad I couldn't stick around. He seems like a nice kid."
"Why didn't you stick around?"
In another part of Canterlot, the cloaked Jedi was sitting on the edge of a gap.
They pulled their hood down, revealing a made with red quills for hair and a robotic arm. "You know me. Never been one for making a scene. Or, at least, making a scene and sticking around to answer for it."
"You just didn't wanna come back to the temple, right?"
"Of course. If I come back to the temple, I'll probably have to spend the next few days doing reports and having debriefings. You know how much I hate that stuff. Besides, I don't have time for all that. And I can't risk being sent on a mission to deal with those Sith losers."
"Stax! The Sith are a big deal. You can't just ignore them."
"I'm not ignoring them," Stax replied. "But the rest of the galaxy's problems haven't disappeared just because the Sith had shown up. Someone needs to keep the planets of the system safe whilst you guys deal with the reds. And if it's not me, then who else is there?"
Shining sighed. "Where'd you get all that info that you gave to Flash?"
"Information comes my way." Shining rolled his eyes, but then noticed Skybreaker stepping out of the building. He looked around and spotted Shining, gesturing for him to come over.
"I gotta go. Next time you need my help, don't almost get my student killed." Before Stax could reply, Shining cut the call and moved over to join the others. "You find the guy you're looking for?"
"Yes. And he's not too far from here. Come on." He walked off and the three followed, Flash turning to Iron.
"So this guy we're meeting. Is he really that good?"
"Yup," Iron nodded. "And not just at smuggling. He's one of the best pilots I've ever seen. If you put him in a Delta-X, he could fly circles around you and Rainbow. If this guy had The Force, he'd probably be the absolute best in the galaxy." Flash was eager to meet this guy.
They soon arrived at a bar and headed inside, Flash looking around and seeing the aliens surrounding them. There wasn't a single one that wasn't missing something or had a robotic limb. Clearly, this bar wasn't for the soft hearted.
"There he is." Skybreaker pointed towards a booth in the back, where someone was lazing about with their feet on the table. He looked no older than Flash, with light blue skin and dark blue hair. He was dressed in a dark blue jacket over a white shirt and brown pants, with two blasters holstered to his sides.
As he drank, he spotted them approaching and put his legs down.
"Skybreaker," he smiled. "Haven't seen you in a while. What can I do for you?" Skybreaker sat down, the others staying stood up as the pilot looked them over. "Iron?" Iron nodded, "who are the other two?"
"Shining Armor and Flash Sentry," Skybreaker replied before turning to them. "This is Soarin Skies. The best smuggler in the galaxy."
"Sup," Soarin told them. "So, what do you need? You never show up unless you need something."
"I need you to smuggle us in and out of a sector of space." Soarin raised an eyebrow at this. "Cabraille."
"The Cabraille sector?" Soarin actually looked worried. "You want me to sneak you into the one place in the galaxy being a Jedi is an instant death offence. You realise what'll happen if someone realises you're Jedi, right? I'll be blown out of the sky before I can even say two words."
"That's why we came to you," Skybreaker replied. "If you can't do it, nobody can. So, think you can do it?" Soarin hummed as he sat back in his seat, clearly weighing the risks and rewards to doing this.
"If I do this, I want to be paid a heck of a lot." Skybreaker nodded, "how long do you want to be in this sector?"
"Long enough to find the information we need. We'll pay you five hundred credits, for every day we're in the Cabraille system. Sound good?" Soarin looked interested.
"Yeah, okay. I'll take you to Cabraille. But you'd better find a way to hide...whatever it is you have that they track to locate Jedi." He brought up his gauntlet and typed something into it, Skybreaker soon hearing a beep from his gauntlet. "Meet me at this location in two hours." With that, Soarin got up and headed out of the bar.
The Jedi watched him go and when he was gone, Shining turned to Soarin. "You sure we can trust this guy? What if he freaks when we get checked and he sells us out?"
"Soarin's not like that," Skybreaker assured him. "He might try and act cool and uncaring, but he'll never sell someone out. It's just not his way, even if it's the only way to keep himself alive." He stood up. "But Soarin's right. We need to find a way to mask our midi-chlorians."
"Our what now?"
"Midi-chlorians," Iron told him. "Don't tell me you don't know what those are." Flash shrugged. "They're a microscopic life form, which are reliant on The Force to survive. The same way we need oxygen to survive, they need The Force."
"Which is why they're mostly found in those who are Force Sensitive," Shining replied. "The stronger someone is with The Force, the more midi-chlorians they can house in themselves. It's one of the ways the Jedi locate Force Sensitive children."
"And possibly how they find Jedi in the cabraille sector." Skybreaker frowned. "There's gotta be a way we can mask them." Flash thought about it and slowly, an idea formed in his head.
"I can make a really dumb suggestion."
Flash's suggestion required them to go meet with those in the Education Core, who were currently studying the rock Trixie and Twilight had brought back.
"You want to borrow the rock?" The Jedi currently studying it asked, the rock currently under a microscope within the temple's research lab. "We just started investigating it. Why would you possibly want to take it away?"
"It might be our only hope of survival," Shining explained. "We're going to the cabraille sector." The Jedi looked shocked. "If we want to survive, we need to find a way to lower our midi-chlorian level. If my student's right, being around that rock might do it."
"It'll also make it impossible to use The Force," Skybreaker pointed out.
"It's not like we'll be showing off our Force skills anyway," Iron pointed out. "If this thing keeps us hidden, I say we go for it."
The Jedi hummed as he looked towards the rock, then took out some kind of device. "What are you doing?" The Jedi said nothing and took a sample of his blood, then took it over to a computer of some kind.
"If you're right, then my midi-chlorian levels should be way down. I've been spending all day around that thing. I shouldn't have any left."
Flash turned to Shining. "What happens if we don't have any of these midi-chlorians in us?"
"Nothing," Shining replied. "Midi-chlorians aren't harmful, but they don't really do anything for the Jedi they inhabit. The only real use they have is allowing others to find Jedi, which can be both a hindrance and a help depending on who's looking for them."
"It seems your idea was correct," the Jedi told them. "My midi-chlorian count is a lot lower than it should be. Insanely low. Whatever this rock does, it's the perfect way to mask a Jedi from being detected." He hummed. "If we can discover a way to replicate that effect without taking the Jedi's powers away, this could be a very useful tool."
"Well we'll be using this tool to make sure we're not blown out of the sky." Skybreaker took the rock and pocketed it, the Jedi frowning as the four headed out. "I promise to get you a new one if we lose this one. Maybe contact Ruby and see if she'll bring any more for you to study." With that, the four were gone and the Jedi no longer had anything new to play with.
By the time the Jedi had retrieved Springer and reached the area Soarin had told them to meet, they were well past the time they were supposed to be there.
When they walked into the hanger area they had been directed to, they spotted the ship that would be taking them to the Cabraille Sector. It was a large ship, even larger than the Shooting Star and any other cargo ship that would usually be used to smuggle.
It was a bullet-shaped ship with wings sticking out the sides as well as the top and bottom, the bottom wind also being used as a leg whilst four more pole-like legs extended down. One came from the front, one came from the back and the other two came out of the wings on the side.
The back of the ship appeared to be split into two parts, an inner and an outer section. The outer section held the wings and appeared to be able to spin, which would allow the ship a great amount of movement.
A section near the front of the ship suddenly folded down, then extended to form a ramp. Colour wise, it was light blue and had streaks of yellow painted along it.
Soarin walked down this ramp and smiled at them. "Took you guys long enough."
"Sorry," Skybreaker told him. "We had to get something that should keep us hidden. You ready to go?"
"Yup," Soarin smirked, "The Wonderbolt's ready to fly." As he said that, part of the ship suddenly fell off and he smiled. "Once I give it one final look over." The four didn't look so sure about this, but they had no other choice.
"Let's go," Skybreaker stated before they headed into the ship. This journey might not be the smoothest ride, but it was their best bet to finding something that might help them fight against the Sith. Only time would tell, if they managed to uncover something.
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That's right! After so many chapters, we finally meet Soarin at last! Through, I bet you guys didn’t expect him to be smuggler.
Of course, there’s Midi-chlorians which is the most hated subject in Star Wars fandom… hopefully you guys like Banshee's take on Midi-chlorians.
Oh! Stax's back! You can tell he's not a serious Jedi compare to his apprentice, Shining Armor.
I hope you enjoys it.
Awesome to finally see Soarin in this! So he's a smuggler that helps the Jedi. I guess that makes him like the Han Solo of the series. Though if he and Rainbow get together here I won't really be able to call Rainbow like Princess Leia.
I actually forgot all about the whole Midi-chlorians thing, since I think they were only ever mentioned once in Phantom Menace. Though Flash's idea to use the stone that cancels out their ability to use The Force to lower their Midi-chlorians is actually very clever.
It was cool to see Stax back and that he and Flash briefly worked together. He seems a lot different from how most Jedi would operate, but it is nice to see he is thinking of the big picture and the rest of the galaxy instead of just the war with the Sith.
Now this was cool! Sombra using red Force Lightning! I don't think I've ever seen Force Lightning in a different color before. Also, looks like Tirek is a bit of a sadist here, smirking as Sombra tortures Solara for her failure when even Chrysalis and Doom flinch at it.
I was going ask if Solara was his and Celestia's daughter, but that can't be possible. I mean, I'm assuming that Solara is about the same age as the padawans, and Celestia and Sombra are centuries old, and their falling out happened long ago enough that Twilight couldn't even remember his name. Am I wrong about something or missing information? I guess we'll know when more of Solara's backstory comes out.
I'm somewhat concerned about what you're going to do with Twilight, considering what has happened to the different versions of her in the canon material. She's either going to get corrupted by one of the relics in the vault or ascend to omni and eventually succeed Celestia as Grand Master. I can't think of a way where both could happen.
It turns out that rock ended up being useful in more ways than one.
So, midi-chlorians in this version don't actually do anything except exist. Okay, I could have sworn those did something in the source material, but I might need to actually watch The Phantom Menace to know. 🤔
11855409 They do actually do something in canon. I just changed it because that was a stupid addition to put in.
11855409
Oh my goodness. 
Wait just a minute. If I remember correctly from the sequel trilogy wikis, Rey descended from Palpatine through a clone. Is Solara...?