Chapter 9
Aboard the Shooting Star, which was currently flying through hyperspace, Flash Sentry was in his quarters sitting at his desk.
The Jedi Padawan had his Lightsaber on the desk, in several pieces, as he used a bunch of tools to do some minor maintenance on the weapon. He had nothing better to do, since they had spent the last three days flying through different sectors of the galaxy.
Unfortunately, Hyperspace didn't always work in a straight line. Flying normally and flying through hyperspace, was like walking to an area or riding a fast moving river to the same spot. The river was faster, but it appeared to wind out of the way of the place it would eventually lead to.
As Flash replaced a circuit that looked close to breaking, the doors opened up and Jedi Master Luna stepped in. "Ahhh, excellent. Using your free time to make sure you're ready. I wish Trixie would be so diligent." Luna's apprentice, Trixie, was currently sleeping in the next room over. To say Luna was exasperated was saying something.
"I'm just antsy," Flash replied. "If I tried to sleep, I'd spend the whole time wondering what the heck had happened to the survey team." Luna nodded as Flash finished replacing the circuit and started putting the Lightsaber together. Once he was done, he gave the weapon one final once over before igniting it.
Luna stared at the blue blade, the old fashioned shape still intriguing her. "Do you ever think you'll change it to be the standard blade?" Flash thought about it, as he moved the blade through the air.
"I don't know. Maybe. I'd prefer it not get damaged. But if I ever need to repair it, I'll probably have to use the normal parts you use on a Lightsaber." Flash thought about the weapon's original design and the many hours he had spent, training with it on the forest moon. After it had been destroyed and he was forced to rebuild it, learning to use its new shape had been difficult. But now, he had grown accustomed to the design and had learned to fight with it well.
He deactivated the Lightsaber, as Springer floated up to them. "Shining said we're almost there." They nodded and Luna headed off to wake her sleeping student. Once she was awake, they headed to the cockpit and found three others already there.
Shining Armor was at the controls, Fluttershy sitting behind him looking a little worried. He could understand why, given the nature of their mission that day. In the corridor behind the cockpit, First Aid was sitting at a computer terminal.
"Alright," Shining began to pull the ship out of hyperspace. "And here...we...are." The tunnel of light slowed to an eventual stop, the stars shrinking around them as they exited the hyperspace corridor. When they did, they spotted a planet in the distance.
"Activate the scanning function," Luna told First. "Let's see what's out there."
First typed at the controls, the ship's radar beeping several times as it searched the surrounding sector. "Nothing appears to be coming up," First stated before the scanner picked something up. "Hang on. Energy trail. Not too strong. Maybe a week or so. It's not one of our ships."
"So there was another ship coming through this area," Luna frowned as she and Trixie sat in the remaining two seats. "The seekers who came to investigate this planet, said there was no sign of ships passing through when they arrived. This is a blank planet."
"Blank planet?" Flash asked, Trixie turning to him.
"A planet that doesn't have space capability. If it has any intelligent life forms, they haven't evolved to the level of space flight." Flash nodded, as the planet grew closer. Said planet had a variety of different biomes upon it. It was a mixture of green and blue, large oceans surrounding green continents. A couple of areas were devoid of greenery, either being covered in rocks or snow.
"Sending out the receiver signal now," First pressed a few buttons and the console beeped. "If the survey team still has their coms on them, they should be picking up the signal now." They waited, but nothing happened. "That is not a good sign."
"Any idea where their last known location will be?" Fluttershy asked, Luna thinking.
"Before the reports stopped, the team stated they had discovered some unusual readings north of one of the continents. I can't be sure, but we should scan the northern half of the planet."
"You wanna scan a planet that big?" Shining asked, "that could take ages."
"Well unless you have a better idea." They all frowned, none of them getting a thought. But then, Flash remembered what First had said.
"You were able to detect the energy signatures of ships, right?" First nodded, as Flash smirked. "Can you see if any lead to the northern part of the planet?" First smiled and began typing away at the console, scanning the surrounding area and picking up the energy they had detected. When he found something, he followed it towards the planet.
"I have something." He sent the coordinates to Shining's control console, "the energy is on this continent in the north."
"Sweet," Shining smiled. "Taking her down." He set a course and the ship shifted through space, eventually pointing itself towards one of the northern continents that was covered in forest. The ship soon entered the atmosphere and as they did, they continued to send a signal hoping the survey team would locate it. But still, they had nothing.
"What happens if we can't find the team?" Flash asked, seeing the others looking upset.
"It happens," Luna sighed. "I've been on many a recovery mission and was unable to locate the Seekers we lost. We won't leave until we've done a thorough search of the entire planet. I refuse to leave anyone behind if they're alive." The others nodded, as the ship continued to follow the signal. But as they did, they suddenly got some kind of alert. "What's that?"
"Energy pulse," Shining replied. "The kind usually detected when-" He didn't get to finish, for at that moment a laser flew out of the forest and hit the ship.
The entire ship shook, as an explosion rocked the boat and caused those not sitting to be thrown to the ground. "Ow." Flash groaned, as the ship kept shaking.
"Strap yourself in!" First hit a buttons and another chair folded out of the corridor's wall, Flash quickly getting into it and pulling the straps on tightly. The others did the same, whilst Springer magnetised himself to the ground. As they did, another energy pulse was detected.
"Hang on!" Shining cried, as the ship swerved around and managed to avoid the hit. "Any idea where it's coming from?"
First kept scanning, as another laser was shot at them. "There does not appear to be a single origin. We are being attacked by multiple enemies." The ship rocked as another laser found its mark. "We can not keep taking this kind of punishment."
"Ground mounted laser cannons don't have a great range," Luna stated. "Get us up higher!" Shining pulled the ship into the air and as they did, another laser struck. But that was the last one to hit them as they flew out of range. But they weren't out of the woods yet.
"I'm getting several warning light," Shining announced. "We need to land and repair the damage before we fall out of the sky." They flew south as far as Shining was willing to risk, until they eventually spotted a cave in the side of a forest mountain.
They flew into the cave, glad to see that it was just big enough for them to fly into and swerve around so the cockpit was facing the exit. Once they landed, everyone unbuckled and headed out of the ship to check on the damage. Shining rode the ceiling hatch to the top of the ship, whilst the others checked the underside.
"Yikes," Springer gulped as he scanned it. "This doesn't look good."
"Good thing we didn't try and go to hyperspace," Flash frowned. "Several of these circuits would have caused the whole ship to blow." The other Jedi watched as Flash, Springer and Shining continued to examine the damage. Despite each of them having built their own Lightsabers and knowing how to repair them, their technical knowledge was nowhere near the same as those three.
"How bad is it?" Luna asked.
"Not as bad as it looks," Shining replied. "The damage shouldn't take too long to fix. Flash, go get me a tool kit. Springer, see what you can fix up on your own." They nodded and got to work, whilst the others stepped towards the mouth of the cave.
"What the heck even was that?" Trixie asked. "I thought this was a blank planet."
"It is," Luna frowned. "Which makes what happened rather worrying. The seekers didn't have any anything like that when they came here, so it couldn't have been them. So what the heck happened?"
"There was that other ship energy source," First pointed out. "Clearly, we are not the only people on this planet."
"So what do we do?" Fluttershy asked. Luna stepped back towards the ship, the others following as they headed back aboard whilst Flash and Shining began their work repairing the damage. They headed to the cargo hold, where something had been stored for just such an occasion.
As Flash was replacing one of the damaged parts, he noticed the others stepping out of the ship pushing some speeder bikes out with them. "We're going to go investigate the area those lasers came from," Luna stated. "Shining Armor, we'll be calling in every twenty minutes. Should we miss a deadline-"
"I'll try and get in contact with you," Shining replied. "And if I can't, Flash and I will try and find your once we have the ship up and running." Luna nodded as she got on a speeder, Trixie getting on behind her.
First climbed onto his speeder, with Fluttershy sitting behind him. "Good luck," she stated. "And if we get separated, may The Force be with us all." With that, she kicked the engine into gear and her bike shot out of the cave. First and Fluttershy followed, as the others continued working on ship repairs.
The bikes raced through the forest, heading north as they followed the coordinates towards the area the blasts had come from.
The speeders swerved between the trees, Luna and First using their connection to The Force to allow them to move at high speed without crashing into anything. At the same time, Fluttershy had her eyes closed whilst Trixie kept an eye out of anything that might be of interest.
But nothing attacked them, Luna and First looking ahead and seeing a river up ahead. "Hold on," he told Fluttershy as he picked up speed. As he did, he took out one of his Lightsabers. He gave it a flick and when he did, his weapon appeared to break in half. In truth, the bottom of the Lightsaber flipped down as a trigger folded out of the gap.
First pointed it at a tree on the side of the river and pulled the trigger, causing a blue light to fly out and hit the base of the tree. The laser cut though the wood, weakening it as Luna used a Force Push to make it break the rest of the way.
The three fell towards the river and the end crashed onto the other bank, First returning his weapon to its normal shape and connecting it to his belt as the speeder raced over the new bridge. Luna followed as they continued northwards.
Twenty minutes after leaving the cave, they pulled to a stop with Luna raising her gauntlet. "Shining Armor, do you read me?"
"Loud and clear," he answered. "Find anything yet?"
"Nothing," she replied as they looked around. "The lasers came from the general vicinity we're in, but we haven't seen anything yet. We'll call back in twenty minutes with an update."
"Roger that." They closed the channels and the Jedi all took out their Lightsabers. First held both his sabers and with a flick, they both changed into the pistol forms. Fluttershy took out her Lightsaber whilst Trixie grabbed her, this saber being silver with a black leather grip and sections coming off the tip.
Luna removed her weapon from the back of her hip, this Lightsaber appearing double-edged. But unlike Skybreaker's, the ends of her saber were different designs.
They all began to walk through the forest, being mindful of the tall grass that could be hiding an enemy. But as they moved, they reached out with The Force. There didn't appear to be any signs of life around them.
They searched the area for five minutes or so, with there still being no sign that anything was around them. Luna was beginning to think the lasers had come from some kind of automated defence system, likely left by whoever had come and gone.
However, as she was about to state this, she heard a snapping sound and raised her Lightsaber. One end of the weapon extended a blue blade, the others noticing this and being put on guard as well. They turned to Luna and watched her head towards the bush that the sound had come from, but still she couldn't sense anything.
But then, a red laser shot out of the bush and almost hit her. Luna barely managed to block with her Lightsaber, as something leapt out of the foliage.
Her eyes went wide when she saw what it was, a figure in black armor that was insect themed.
The figure held up a blaster and fired, but Luna once again deflected the blast before igniting the other end. She spun the double-edged laser sword around her, deflecting the oncoming blasts as she rushed forward. And at the last moment she pulled the handle apart, splitting it into two separate Lightsabers that she used to shield herself as she spun around and cut the end of the blaster off of her.
The soldier staggered back, as Luna pointed her saber at him. "Talk! Who are you and why are you attacking us?" The soldier said nothing, as the others approached. Fluttershy and Trixie ignited her blade, Trixie's also being blue, whilst First pointed his blast-sabers at him. "I'm warning you."
The soldier stayed quiet, then suddenly pressed a button on his suit.
Luna saw this and prepared to attack, only for a beeping to fill the air and make her gasp. "Move!" The four Jedi ran away from the soldier, seconds before he was consumed by an explosion.
The shockwave struck the four and they were all sent flying, the lot barely able to prevent themselves from crashing into some trees and hitting the ground instead. Luna, the closest to the explosion, staggering around. "Master!" Trixie rushed over to her, "are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she assured her. "It'll take more than an explosion to take me down." She reconnected her Lightsabers and stepped over to the now burning area that had once held the insect soldier. "Sacrificing his own life, just so he wouldn't give anything away." She frowned, then raised her gauntlets. "Shining Armor."
"Here."
"Is Sentry with you?"
"He's in the ship. I can get him-"
"No," Luna stated. "You need to keep him there." This confused the others, as Luna picked up a piece of the soldier's armor. "We were just attacked by someone. Someone wearing the same armor as the soldiers that attacked Flash and killed Grand Hoof." Shock appeared on the three.
"Are you sure?"
"I re-watched the footage many times. I'm sure. If Flash learns of these individuals being here, there's no telling what he might do. Revenge is a path that leads to the Dark Side. We don't want him walking that path."
"Understood. I'll keep Flash here, but the ship's almost fixed. We won't have much of a reason to stay if he don't have anything to do."
"I know," Luna nodded. "We'll continued to search the area. I get the feeling this soldier wasn't alone. Inform Flash that we've run into the ones that shot at us, but leave out the part about them being the ones that killed Grand. We'll continue to check around the area, but we'll continue to call in when we can."
"Got it." The signal ended and the Jedi continued to look around.
"There's something I don't understand," Fluttershy frowned. "Why didn't we sense...whoever that was?" This question struck Luna and the others as well. They had been sensing everything around them, so why had that soldier taken them by surprise?
But before they could hazard a guess, the humming sound filled the air and they looked around to see something flying towards them through the forest. "Everyone take cover!" They leapt behind some trees, as a large speeder flew through the forest. Said speeder was almost tank-like, with several guns on it.
And as the Jedi took cover, the guns began to fire and caused the trees to explode and collapse.
The Jedi remained hidden behind the trees, First quickly leaning around them and firing one of his blast-sabers. The blue beam struck one of the tank's cannons and destroyed it. But as it was, the sides of the tank opened with several more of those insect soldiers jumping out.
The soldiers got into a line and started firing at them as well, the Jedi feeling their tree defences being blasted apart with every shot. As such, they all leapt out and used their Lightsabers to protect them. First kept one of his weapons in blaster mode, whilst the other formed a blue blade that he used to deflect the lasers as they rushed forward and got close.
Having no other choice, they started cutting down the soldiers. Their Lightsabers slashed through the armor they were wearing like butter. Luna once again spilt her two sabers and started slashing at them with incredible skill and precision, born from centuries of Saber training.
Fluttershy continued her defensive style of Dueling, focusing on deflecting the blasts sent towards her instead of retaliating. But when one of the soldiers got too close, she was forced to do what she must to protect herself. "I'm sorry!" She cut their hand off before stabbing them, whilst Trixie used The Force to push several more backwards before charging.
She leapt into the air and spun around, her blade cutting through the blasters of the soldiers she leapt into without issue.
She landed and kept cutting through the horde, whilst First Aid rushed forward. He blocked with his sword and fired back with his blaster, only to have to avoid another large blast that had been sent by the tank. The explosion sent out fragments of rock, dirt and wood, one of these fragments skirting by Trixie and cutting her arm.
"Augh!" She stopped and clutched her arm, Luna seeing this and frowning.
She extinguished and reconnected her weapon before putting it away, dodging the laser fire as she turned to the tank. And with a great push, the vehicle was thrown onto its side and hit the ground with a large crash. This kept it from being able to fire, freeing the Jedi to finish off the last of the soldiers.
The four panted as the last soldier was cut down. But he wasn't dead.
Luna rushed over and before he could try and hit the button, his entire body was frozen. "I don't think so." She glared at him, "who are you? What did you do to the Jedi that were sent here?" As she asked that, First stepped over to Trixie.
The girl had a gash running along her shoulder, blood flowing out of it. He raised his hand and focused on the blood, which stopped flowing and started trickling back up into her wound. As it did, First's hand began to glow green. The wound also glowed and when the last of the blood was back inside, it began to close itself up. Eventually, the entire thing had vanished with not even a scar being left.
"Thanks," she smiled as First lowered his hand. He then staggered back, Fluttershy rushing over to her mentor and grabbing him before he could fall over.
"Healing that much so quickly is too draining," she reminded him.
"We could be attacked again at any moment," First stated. "I could not wait to heal it slowly. And I could not simple scab the wound. In this situation, it would have likely been opened again." They turned back to Luna, who was still trying to interrogate the soldier. But he still remained silent.
"Your species better be one that can't talk," she told him. "That's the only excuse I'll accept for-" She stopped as a beeping sound filled the air. The suits of all the other soldiers started beeping and they realised what was coming next. Even the tank was making that noise. "Run!" The four rushed towards the speeders and quickly climbed on, kicking the vehicles into action and racing off away from the impending blast.
The soldier also pressed a button on his armor, joining the rest of his brethren in attempting to wipe out the Jedi.
Finally, they all exploded and and the ground rocked as the Jedi attempted to escape the oncoming fireball. They just managed to make it out of range, as the flame wave lost its momentum and stopped chasing them. Doing so also caused several trees to catch fire, whilst the ones consumed by the fireball were completely obliterated.
The Jedi pulled their speeders to a stop and saw the forest fire that had been started. "This is bad," Luna stated.
"I doubt that group were the only ones on this planet," First announced. "The rest were probably on alert, but now they know where we were."
"What should we do?" Fluttershy asked, as the elder Jedi attempted to think.
"We'll investigate the direction that tank came from," Luna ordered. "It's possible it was just patrolling that area, but it might have come from a base." They nodded and sped their bikes around the flaming area, being careful not to get caught within the flaming area as it spread.
"Oh," Fluttershy cried. "This poor forest. Think of all the animals that'll have to flee, or face being burned alive."
"I am sorry," First nodded. "I know how much you care about creatures in nature." They began to out run the spreading forest fire. "But there is nothing we can do at the moment. If there were clouds in the sky, maybe we could have pulled them down. But alas, it is a clear day."
"All we can do is make sure no more fires can be started," Luna replied.
"How?" Trixie asked. "Even if they don't hit the switch, it seems the suits just blow up on their own."
"Likely some kind of fail safe," Luna sighed. "If I were to hazard a guess, it probably happens if the suit stops reading their life signs. That could make things difficult." The others nodded, as they continued to race through the woods. No matter what, they would figure out who these soldiers were. They had many questions to answer.
Back in the cave, Shining, Flash and Springer continued their repairs on the ship.
They had finished the outside and now, we fixing the damage done to the interior circuits. Currently, Flash was in a hole in the ship's floor. Having removed that panel to fix up the ship's wiring, he was lasering a couple of pieces together. "Alright," he then called out, "try it now."
Springer tried to activate the engines, but the machine simply sputtered out and did nothing. "No."
Flash lasered another part, "how about now?" Springer tried again and the engine made the same noise, though it did so like it was almost about to start up. As such, Flash gave part of it a good slam with his foot and the engines roared to life. "YES!"
"We done?" Shining asked, as Flash pulled himself out of the hole.
"Systems check," Springer announced and the ship's computer began scanning all the core systems. "Everything looks okay. I think we can head out and join the others."
"No," Shining replied. "We're staying here." Flash and Springer looked at him in shock. "The others might need our help. Better we be on standby and ready to help them, than running into the fray with them and possibly getting in trouble ourselves."
"So we're just supposed to sit here?" Flash frowned, not liking the idea of waiting around. When he had heard his friends had been attacked, he wanted to rush out and help them. But Shining had told him an important part of being a Jedi, was trusting your fellow Jedi. Flash had to hope his friends would be okay. But that didn't sit well with him.
Shining shut down the ship to conserve power, as they waited in the cockpit for any news.
And after a few minutes, they got an answer with the radio going off. "Shining Armor?" Luna's voice announced.
"We're here," Shining replied. "Ship's been fixed, so we'll be ready if we need to use it. How's your search going?"
"Good."
Luna, Trixie, Fluttershy and First were currently looking over the edge of a cliff, which was overlooking an area of the forest that was a giant bowl.
Inside that bowl was another collection of trees, several large rocks and a waterfall that was feeling a river running through the valley. But there was something else. Something that would normally be missed, but Luna had years of experience and training. Training that allowed her to notices a faint distortion in the area. A distortion that was usually made by a wide range hologram.
"Something's down there," Luna stated. "Something our new friends don't want us to find out about. I'm willing to bet one of those ground defence cannons are behind this holographic wall."
"That would explain why we could not find them when we looked," First nodded. "Holographic drones are likely being used to project an image of what this valley used to look like. Who knows how different it is now."
"Only one way to find out." Trixie got up and moved to climb down the mountain, First about to tell her to wait, But Luna seemed to share her curiosity and spread her wings. She quickly flew down towards the ground, whilst Trixie was forced to climb.
"You two stay there," the Jedi Master announced. As she did, she took something out of her cloak. A pair of glasses.
First held up his gauntlet and as Luna put the pair on, the gauntlet projected an image of what the omni was seeing as she flew down towards the ground. The same image was also being projected to the Shooting Star.
Shining's eyes went wide, since there was a chance Flash might see the soldiers that had killed Grand.
Clearly, Luna and the others had forgotten this detail and now Shining, had to think of a way to stop Flash from seeing people he most likely hated with a burning passion. "Flash, go check on the other speeders." Flash looked at him in shock. "We may need to use them and I don't want to find out they have a problem when he really need them."
"Seriously?"
"Now." Flash sighed, but got up and headed towards the cargo hold. "Sorry Flash," he sighed once he was out of earshot. He turned back to the holographic screen, as Luna and Trixie reached the bottom of the cliff.
The pair were sneaking through the forest and as they did, they felt an electric aura in the air.
"We're about to pass through the hologram." Everyone watched, as the pair felt themselves push through a wall of static. And when they the environment completely changed.
The forest was completely gone, either cut or blasted down. In its place was some kind of camp, with many of the insectoid soldiers running around working on whatever they needed to do. The camp was located around a large cannon in the centre of the clearing, which was pointing towards the sky ready to blast anything that came near.
The only part of the valley that looked like the hologram was the river, though the waterfall was changed. At the top, some kind of pipe system was stopping the water from falling down the side of the cliff and was funnelled back down to be once again poured into the river.
Without the water rolling down it, the side of the cliff was shown to have a large hole that seemed to go deep into the cliff. And this hole seemed to be a point of great interest, as that appeared to be where the mass of soldiers were located.
"What is that?" Trixie asked, Luna unsure how to answer. The pair rushed over to a ship and took cover behind it, as some soldier ran past marching in perfect unison. Whoever had trained these soldiers, they had done a good job of it.
Luna tapped the side of her glasses and the image zoomed in on the cave, allowing her to see just inside of the hole. "There appear to be markings on the wall. Can the rest of you get a better image?"
First took a screenshot so Luna's movements didn't make it impossible to see. He started examining the symbols, but it wasn't anything he was familiar with.
"I can not determine what these etchings are. It is possible someone back at the Temple will be able to decipher them. Shining Armor, I am sending you a copy to place in the ship's database. When you get the chance, try sending it to Canterlot."
Once the image was sent, they continued to watch as Luna and Trixie made their way through the camp without being watched. "Maybe you should come back," Fluttershy suggested. "All you need is for one of them to spot you and the entire camp will be on you."
"She might have a point," Luna nodded. But just as she was about to pull Trixie away, they spotted someone stepping out of the cave that wasn't a soldier. "Hello."
"What is it?" Trixie asked, as Luna focused her attention on what appeared to be an Equestrian based on their legs and a lump in their head. They were dressed entirely in black leather, with some kind of helmet covering their head. But the most shocking thing Luna noticed, was what was hanging from her belt.
"A Lightsaber?" She frowned, wondering why the heck someone she didn't know held the weapon of a Jedi.
"Maybe it belongs to one of the Jedi that were on this planet before?" Trixie guess made Luna frown. That was possible, though this stranger having it did not sit well with her.
"Who are you?"
Solara stepped away from the cave, sighing as she felt herself getting exhausted.
"Lady Solara." Another soldier rushed over to her. "Another ship appeared in the sky whilst you were inside the temple." Solara's eye twitched. "We managed to hit it with the defence cannons, but it was able to get away and we lost its trail. We've sent teams out to-" He stopped, as some kind of pressure suddenly began to wrap itself around his neck. He gasped, falling to the floor as he held his neck.
Solara turned towards him, the soldier unable to see her expression but knew she was frowning beneath the mask. "And you only chose now to inform me of this?"
"I...I didn't want to...disturb you..." He tried to say more, but couldn't speak due to a lack of oxygen. "I thought..."
"You weren't bred to think," Solara stated. "You were bred to do as you're told. And I told you to inform me if anything happens. What if that ship had fired on the temple whilst I was inside. I would have been buried alive." The soldier gasped as he was moments from passing out. "Let this be a lesson to you. I don't like repeating myself." Suddenly, the force around his neck stopped and he fell to the ground panting. She looked around, the other soldiers staring at her. "What are you all looking at!?"
Luna, Trixie and all the others watching were in absolute shock.
"Did she just...Force Choke him?" Trixie turned to her master, who was equally horrified. Using the Force in such a manner was a highly punishable offence. No Jedi would ever do such a thing. But the fact this person did and could only meant one thing."
"A Sith," she growled. There hadn't been any reports of Sith in the galaxy in over a hundred years. But she could be nothing else. "This is worse than we feared. We need to get out of here, now." Trixie nodded and they started making their way back, but luck was not on their side.
"Freeze!" A voice behind them caused the pair to freeze, Trixie's hands going up on instinct. Luna frowned, chancing a look back and seeing several soldiers behind them with their guns pointed at them. Most were pointed at her, but some were also pointed at Trixie. If they fired, there was no way Trixie could avoid getting hit. "Hands in the air."
Luna sighed, but lifted her hands up as one of the soldiers stepped towards them. He started checking them over, removing their Lightsabers. "Don't try anything stupid."
Fluttershy and First watched in horror, as Luna and Trixie were disarmed before their arms were bound behind their backs.
"This is bad," Fluttershy gasped. And a snapping sound made First's head spin around.
"And it is about to get worse!" He drew his blast-sabers and started firing into the trees, hitting several soldiers that had been approaching. This made Fluttershy scream, as she rolled along the ground until she was behind a tree. The soldiers fired at her, but the tree acted as cover and she was able to get up and draw her Lightsaber.
Igniting it, she leapt out of the trees and started deflecting the blasts whilst First kept shooting. He then changed one of his weapons to sword mode, charging forward and slashing at several soldiers whilst blasting any that got too close. Fluttershy also began to go on the offensive, aiming for her enemies weapons and destroying them whilst using The Force to push them away.
But before they could think of escaping once the enemies were all defeated, another tank suddenly rolled towards them and charged up its weapons. "Fluttershy, MOVE!" First used The Force to push Fluttershy away, seconds before the spot she had been standing in was pulverised by the tank.
Fluttershy hit the ground and her Lightsaber fell from her hand, whilst First was suddenly struck by one of the blasts. He cried out and fell to the ground, his body going numb as his Lightsabers deactivated.
Fluttershy saw this and gasped, reaching towards her Lightsaber in hopes of pulling it towards her. But before it could, an armored leg came down and pinned it to the ground. She looked up and saw the soldier pointing its blaster at her, Fluttershy raising her hands to show her surrender.
"Hello?" Shining asked, "hello?" But they didn't answer, which made him worry.
"What happened?" Flash and Springer rushed into the room, looking concerned whilst Shining frowned. "Are they okay?" Shining didn't answer, "well?" The Jedi Knight let out a sigh.
"I think they've all been captured."
"What?" Flash and Springer cried, as Shining got up and headed towards the cargo bay. The two remaining speeders were ready to be used and Shining began pushing one towards the exit. But then he saw Flash heading towards the other bike.
"No, you're staying here."
"What?" Flash asked, "you can't do this alone."
"That's an order. Stay with the ship. I'm gonna need someone to fly it if we need to make a quick getaway."
"I can do that," Springer stated.
"Yeah," Flash nodded, "we're a team now. You know I've got your back-"
"I said, no!" Shining cried, shocking them both. Shining then headed towards the exit and Flash stayed where he was, frowning before he headed towards the cockpit and watched Shining race off on the speeder.
"What's his problem?" Flash asked, then remembered Shining had sent him to check on the speeders when he didn't really need to. "He's hiding something from me. But what?"
"Maybe there's something in the ship's database," Springer connected to the ship and looked through the recent activities. And it only took him a few seconds to find what he was looking for. "No way."
"What is it?" Flash asked, Springer remaining silent as if he was contemplating whether or not to tell Flash. "Springer, come on. Don't go leaving me in the dark. What's wrong?" Springer sighed, then uploaded the images he had found to Flash's gauntlet.
Flash heard the beep and raised his arm, as the device on it sent out a hologram showing the image First had taken of the temple. Then he saw something besides it. The image of soldiers wearing very familiar armor.
Flash stared at the attackers who had destroyed his first home, done who knows what to the people he grew up with and killed his former master. Staring at them sent a wave of hatred washing through him. He wanted nothing more than to take this ship towards that camp and blow it up.
He realised now, why Shining hadn't wanted to show him these images. And why he wanted Flash to stay there. He was protecting Flash from succumbing to anger and revenge. But now Flash knew they were on this planet and those emotions raced through him.
Shining flew through the woods towards the area the other speeders were located.
His bike's radar was showing him the speeders were moving, likely being taken to the camp with the others. He shot over the land and reached the river the others had come across before, the bridge they had used nowhere in sight.
As he searched for another way across, he thought about Flash and felt bad for yelling at him like that. He hadn't wanted to, but there was no way Flash could know those soldiers were on this planet.
He wasn't sure if they could keep that info away from him forever, but prayed they would at least be able to free everyone else and get them off the planet before coming clean. But a feeling he was getting was yelling at Shining, telling him Flash was going to find out sooner than that.
He finally spotted a large rock coming out the side of the bank, which had a flat ramp-like surface and hung over the river. He quickly moved to a good enough distance and raced towards it, flying off the end and soaring over the river before landing on the other side.
He drove at full speed towards the coordinates, keeping an eye out for any of those soldiers.
Then, at the last moment, he suddenly sensed something approaching and swerved to the side. Seconds later, a laser flew past and destroyed a tree. Shining turned towards the source of the laser and saw a tank flying towards him. Several soldiers were also there and firing at him, Shining doing his best to avoid them as he raced through the forest.
The tank was in hot pursuit and Shining could do nothing except focus on staying alive. But just as he seemed to be gaining distance on them, an extra powerful laser shot past him and struck the tree in front.
The explosion knocked him off balance and he was thrown from his speeder, Shining crying out as he hit the ground and rolled along it until he slammed into a tree. His speeder zoomed out of control until it fell to the ground, a miracle being the only thing to explain it not getting trashed.
Shining groaned as he picked himself up, whilst the tank raced towards him. And as it got closer, the soldiers fired at him.
He barely managed to avoid these shots, leaping to the side and pulling out his Lightsaber. Igniting it, he started deflecting the blasts as best he could. He aimed to send it back the way it came, managing to get a few hits in on the soldiers. But the blasts that hit the tank did nothing and the vehicle soon had its weapon charged back up.
Shining gasped as it fired, the Jedi trying to avoid it but the impact caused a shockwave that sent him flying. "GYAH!" He spun through the air and crashed into the ground, his Lightsaber falling from his grasp as he hit the forest floor. A ringing was also in his ears, as the tank made its way towards him.
But as the soldiers prepared to take him into custody, another sound filled the air and they looked around. They then turned to see another speeder racing towards them, the rider armed with his own blue energy weapon.
Shining picked himself up and turned towards the sound of the speeder, his eyes going wide when he saw Flash rushing to his rescue.
The soldiers fired at him, but Flash dodged or blocked with his blade until he reached the tank. There, he leapt off his speeder and flew up to the charging gun. And with a mighty swing of his sword, the barrel was cut in half and began to spark.
He landed in front of the tank and stabbed the blade into the hull, then ran and cut through the metal whilst sparks escaped from the gap and the damaged barrel. This made the soldiers leap off the tank, whilst the ones piloting it did their best to escape.
Flash also ran away, seconds before the tank exploded and sent pieces of metal flying everywhere. And whilst the soldiers were still recovering from their shock, Flash and Shining both began to attack. Before any of them could respond, their weapons were cut in half whilst a few found themselves getting slashed down the chest.
They all cried out as they staggered back, Flash and Shining standing side by side. Flash glanced over at Shining and saw he did not look happy, but they had more important things to worry about at the moment. "Why are you here?" Shining asked, "where are the Jedi you captured?" But none of the soldiers appeared up to talking, the lot of them hitting buttons on their armor. "NO!" But the beeping filled the air, Shining growled. "We have to get out of here!"
Flash nodded and ran over to where his speeder had come to a stop, Shining doing the same to his bike with the pair revving up and racing off. But no sooner did they do this, the soldiers' suits all exploded. Each explosion was rather powerful, so several going off was extra strong.
The blasts filled the air, sending out shockwaves that Shining and Flash were barely able to keep balance against. Fires filled the forest, threatening to burn the whole place down. This planet had known nothing but peace for who knows how long. Now, vast portions of it were beginning to burn down.
Once they were a safe distance away, Shining pulled the speeder to a stop.
Flash did the same and turned to Shining, who leapt off the bike and strode towards him. "I told you to stay at the ship. You deliberately disobeyed me."
"I had to come!" Flash cried, as he held up his gauntlet and showed Shining the image First had sent him. "I know why you didn't want me to come. You don't want me near them, because of what they did to me and Grand."
Shining frowned. "So now that you know they're here, you want to get revenge on them?"
"No!" Flash frowned before letting out a sigh. "I admit it, seeing them made me angry at first. I wanted nothing more than to make them hurt, the same way they hurt me." Shining frowned. "But...then I remembered what Grand had taught me. And some words you said as well. That revenge isn't the way of the Jedi."
"It's not," Shining nodded.
"And that's why I had to come. To show you I'm not interested in making them pay. I'm not saying I won't fight back if I have to, but I promise I'm not going to go out of my way to hurt them."
Shining frowned. "How can I be sure you won't."
Flash looked away, unsure about how he should answer. "These guys took my family from me once. I'm not gonna let them do it again." He turned to Shining. "I might not have known Luna, or Trixie or any of those other Jedi long. But we're all connected through The Force. So no matter what, I'm going to save them. Even if that means fighting these bug soldiers. So please, just trust me. I promise, I won't go off on my own and waste time attacking them."
Shining stared at him, as if trying to confirm whether Flash was lying or not. But in the end, he nodded. "Alright," he turned away from him, "you can come. But you will do exactly what I say. If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to ignore a soldier, you do just that. Got it?"
"Got it!" Flash nodded as they stepped over to their speeders. "Springer's at the ship. If we can take down that laser cannon near the base, he can fly us out of there."
"Maybe. But we'll need to also deal with their ships as well." They climbed onto their bikes and revved their engines. "This isn't gonna be easy. Are you sure you're up for it?"
Flash smirked, "let's do this." Shining nodded and they shot off, once again following the other bike's signals. And all the while, they prayed their friends would be okay.
First let out a groan as he felt himself begin to come around.
When he opened his eyes, he found he was in some kind of metal room, which had Luna, Trixie, Fluttershy and several others there. Each of them were strapped to a metal Y, sticking out of the ground. Their legs and waist were stuck to the lower parts by metal cuffs, whilst their arms were bound to the upper section in the same way.
He turned to Luna and saw she was struggling in vain to pull herself free, whilst Trixie and Fluttershy looked worried. He then turned to the others in the room and found they were the Jedi they had come to find, each one trapped just like them. "What is going on?" He asked, "what happened?"
"I'm sorry," Fluttershy sighed. "You were struck by a stun blaster, because you were trying to protect me." First frowned, not liking when his student blamed herself for things like that.
"What about you?" He turned to the most senior of the Jedi they had come to find, who frowned as he turned to glare at the doorway.
"Those ships came out of nowhere. They sent out a signal that prevented us from contacting you at the temple. Then they came down. We were able to hold them off for a little while, but they eventually wore us down and we eventually had no choice but to surrender."
"Any idea who they are?"
"No," Luna sighed. "But if they're being led by a Sith, then we're in serious trouble." As she said that, the doors off to the side opened and the suited up equestrian stepped into the room. She was followed by two armed guards, as she looked around the room.
"So many Jedi," she chuckled. "So many ways I could put you out of your misery."
"Stop playing games," Luna cried. "Who are you? What are you doing here? You will release us at once and leave this planet."
The woman stepped towards Luna and stared her down. "I don't take orders from you. I'm not one of your weak minded Jedi pawns."
Luna glared back at her. "The least you can do, is take that pathetic mask off your face. Look me in the eyes when you threaten me." She said nothing back, making Luna smile. "What's the matter? Don't trust yourself not to look scared in front of me?"
"What?" She pulled back.
"I might not be able to sense the emotions of these drones you've got. But I can feel it radiating off of you no problem. Fear." The woman stepped away, turning to her soldiers as if telling them to leave. They did so, clearly not wanting to be anywhere near the Sith when she was in a bad move.
Once they were out of the room, the mask wearer turned back Luna before removing the Lightsaber from her belt. A red blade extended from the weapon and she pointed it at Luna's chin, threatening to kill her then and there. "Don't assume you know me, Jedi. I am Solara. Sith Lord and future ruler of the galaxy. I will not be intimidated by you."
"No," Luna smiled, "you're not scared of us. You're scared of something else. You came here for something and by the feeling I'm getting off of you, you're having trouble finding it." The Sith glared at her, "am I wrong?"
After a few moments, Solara extinguished her blade and turned to leave. "You will remain here until we have completed our task. Once that's done, I'll take you to meet my master. I'm sure he'll be quite interested in meeting you." She walked out of the room, leaving the Jedi trapped.
"Well that was a waste of time," Trixie frowned.
"Not necessarily," First stated. "We learned that this Sith has a master. That's an important factor."
"Always two," Luna stated. "A Master and an Apprentice. And now we know which one we're facing. The council must be made aware of this."
"How?" Trixie asked, "we're trapped. How are we gonna tell the council when we're stuck here?" The others were wondering the same thing, but Luna knew they still had a chance. Flash and Shining were still out there. And even with it being two to two hundred, there was a chance they could free them. Luna just had to trust them.
Meanwhile, Solara stepped back into the temple and headed down the long corridor filled with ancient Sith markings.
She eventually arrived at the back of the tunnel and stared at a large stone wall, which had a large circle engraved into it. Inside the circle was a square, with many parts that looked like they slid around. It was an ancient puzzle, Solara sitting in front of it and taking off her helmet.
Her face was revealed and she took several deep breaths, allowing the fresh air to fill her lungs as she worked to prepare herself. Then, she focused her attention on the puzzle and clicking sound filled the air, whilst parts of the stone began to move. This was a long and trying process, but her master had entrusted her with this assignment. And she would not fail. She could not fail.
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That's right! Jedi and Sith finally meet at last!
I know some of you guys thought Shining was being harsh to Flash but you got to remember, Flash hold a grudge against those troopers for killing Grand Hoof and others back on his planet… of course he wouldn't take it well.
Shining forbidding Flash to help him because he knows Flash will ends up letting his grudge consume him and going overboard.
In Attack of the Clones, Anakin ends up murdering the entire village of Tusken Raiders because they tortured his mom to her death, that's what Shining and other Jedi fears the most.
Oh boy. The Jedi finally encounter the Sith. This is going to be an important encounter.
Luna is right, knowing who is the Master and Apprentice in the Rule of Two is very important. When the Jedi defeated Darth Maul they didn't know which he was at the time, so they didn't know they still had Sidious to deal with. By the time they learned of his existence in the tail-end of the Clone Wars it was already too late.
I can understand Shining wanting to protect Flash from giving into his rage and seeking revenge, but at the same time Flash can't avoid his past forever, especially with how big of a threat this enemy is. Flash has the right idea, wanting to stop these guys not for the sake of revenge, but to stop them from hurting anyone else they way they hurt him, including his new family.
Huh. Man the sith are now meeting the jedi wonder how it will go and also what's the plan for this sith is there a clone war coming soon or what.