Star Wars: The Other Young Jedi Knights

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 10: Darkness

The foothills of the jungle-covered mountains were difficult to navigate even for someone as surefooted as Cira normally was. The two young humans were still heading north, following nothing at all except for the guidance of a feeling that Cowan had. They were both being much more careful, though, since the attack of that animal just ten minutes earlier. Cowan, despite the long scratch marks across his chest left from the attack, was still leading the way, climbing up steep inclines with the help of tree branches and outstretched roots, all the while feeling something growing stronger and stronger.

It was close...very close.

“You dead?” Cira’s voice shook Cowan back into reality, causing him to jump slightly and realize he’d been standing in one place for close to five minutes, staring blankly at nothing in particular.

“Uh...no,” the words came out before he realized it was Cira there, still. Normally, he would have been short with her, more out of habit than anything. But why had he stopped like that? Think...feel. Reach out. Remember what Master Skywalker taught you...

There.

Cowan blinked, then his eyes followed the bright, pulsing sensation he could feel in the Force. Eventually, they landed on a small, dark spot off about ten meters to the left and up against one of the many inclines that showed the foothills were quickly becoming mountains. It didn’t feel like anything he’d ever experienced...it was not an emotion, or even an indistinct thought process like most animals were. Instead, it was just...strong. There. Pulling at the back of his mind like a tow cable.

Caution brought his hand down to the blaster pistol, drawing it from its holster and readying the weapon as he slowly started walking towards the dark spot. Cira stared at him blankly and let him get about ten paces away before finally drawing her own blaster and following, muttering to herself about him not saying and thing and just walking off like that. She was long past wondering whether he tried to annoy her on purpose. By this point, she was sure he did that...just not always when.

The Thyferran stopped a good three meters from the dark spot, which Cira now noticed was his aim. It was dark because the branches of the trees overhead seemed to come together more right above it than in the surrounding area. There were many spots like that throughout the jungle, so it didn’t surprise or worry either of them. But looking closer, Cira immediately noticed that this was darker...and quickly figured out why.

“I should probably go first,” she said, glancing over to try to make sure he was actually listening to her instead of standing there with that blank look again.

Cowan blinked again, then turned to show a somewhat confused look, “Why would you do that? I should be going first.”

“Yes...well...” Cira trailed off, shrugging idly and trying to ignore the dark strands of hair that suddenly fell in front of her eyes, “...you’re a bit injured. Or hadn’t you noticed that?”

Slowly, Cowan looked down at his slightly shredded tunic as if he hadn’t even noticed it before, “Oh...right. Of course. Yeah I...I guess that’s a good idea.”

Amazed at how cooperative he was being, Cira decided not to push her luck and started forward to what she was now sure was not simply a dark spot, but a small opening to some kind of animal’s den...or possibly a shallow cave. Whatever it was, it most definitely went in. She stepped over to it, reaching out with the Force first to make sure nothing jumped out, then when she was sure, stuck her head in. The hole was just big enough for her to squeeze in from the looks of it, but it looked to widen a little ways down. Or at least...she hoped it did. Otherwise it would be very cramped and simply pitch black.

“You’re sure you want to go in there?” Cira asked over her shoulder, suddenly not liking the idea of going in at all.

Cowan nodded and walked over to have a look into the blackness, too. After a moment, he sighed and nodded, “There’s something in there. Its...strong. You can stay out here, if you’d prefer.”

“No, I’ll lead the way,” Cira mumbled. Besides, it was too late to back out now. Staying back would probably just make things worse in the end, and she was at least slightly curious as to what could possibly be in such a cramped space.

She took a deep breath, checked with the Force one more time, then crawled in. It was tight on all sides...dirt from the feel of it. But there was enough room to move, and Cira was able to crawl her way a good distance before she heard a sound behind her. Not that she could turn around to see, but she was relatively sure the noise was Cowan. That this point, if it wasn’t, there wasn’t all that much she’d be able to do about it anyway.

Crawling onwards in the near pitch black of the...tunnel, Cira started to wonder how it was being held up. From what she could tell, it was all dirt, with only the occasional rock to dig into her side or stomach. Considering that the ground itself continued to go up from the entrance, they had to be under at least five or so meters of solid(well, relatively at least) dirt. Maybe the nearby tree roots were helping, but it still seemed far too perfect to be natural.

And then it got wider. And brighter. And immediately, Cira froze.

After a long pause in which she heard Cowan’s muffled questions behind her, she decided that it was best to let him see for herself. Carefully and slowly, she crawled out completely until she could turn around, then looked back at Cowan and pointed to the faint light ahead, “You need to see this.”

He crawled out and had to look back at her a few times before being sure he was not, actually, seeing things. In front of them, the entire place opened up into a very large chamber that was probably about the size of the docking bay in the lowest level of the main Academy Temple. All along the walls were small glowrods at equal distances to provide a dim, but adequate, light to see the entire chamber. And there was a lot to see. There were small structures throughout, all of them quite obviously made of some kind of metal, some of the shapes even reminded Cira of starship parts...but, thankfully, there were no full ships that she could actually see.

But what really caught their eyes were the figures moving about. Hundreds of them. All human, or at least near human, from what they could tell, but Cira and Cowan were laying up on a ledge high above the floor level and so couldn’t get a very clear view of things. They could, however, see the bright red glow in multiple places and hear the very distinct sound of lightsabers thrumming.

After a deep breath, Cira quietly whispered, “I think you’re going to have some trouble getting a crystal in here.”


((A short little thing that's actually unrelated to the SH. If you haven't done so already, go check out this thread and vote on the 2006 ENnies Judges. This is my first year running, and, yes, I'd like it if you'd vote for me, but I won't stop updating these SHs if I don't win. ))

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 11: Our Plans

“I don’t like this,” Esah whispered, ducking her blue head back behind the large tree that she and Gant were currently using as cover.

He was sitting with his back against it, still in the same slightly burned tunic, with his head facing the direction they had come from. However, Esah could feel his ‘vision’ was instead aimed back behind him and where she had just been looking. It was still unnerving to think he could face one way but be ‘looking’ a completely different direction.

“I do not understand how so many could arrive with the shield up and still go undetected,” the Miraluka whispered.

Carefully, Esah risked another glance around the tree. They were still deep in the forest, not too far south of the main Academy Temple complete. They had gone past the clearing where they had first encountered their attacker, and hadn’t gotten far before realizing it would be a good idea to take some cover and think.

There was a camp. Or at least, something similar to a camp. At least six different tents of sorts were spread through the thick section, masked by their dark colour and the trees and underbrush that were all over the place. It wasn’t too hard to spot the many different figures moving about, and at least a few other guards watching the outskirts diligently. According to Gant, there were at least thirty people there, all of whom resonated so strongly in the Force that even Esah had little trouble in detecting them.

“What are we supposed to do?” the Mon Calamari asked, turning back and glancing to the comlink she held in her hand.

Gant shook his head, “Too dangerous to send a message back to the Temple. We can’t risk that they might be able to intercept it.”

She sighed and managed a slow nod, “You’re right...but I don’t like the idea of running back and leaving whoever these people are out here.”

There was a short pause before Gant said quietly, “Neither do I.”

Silence. Both of them carefully reached out with the Force again, making sure to keep their own presence hidden enough to not give away the fact that they were only about fifteen meters out from the camp. Then, after drawing back again, Esah decided she was going to have to be the one to say it, “Master Skywalker will kill us.”

“Probably,” Gant agreed in a serious, matter-of-fact tone.

Esah managed a nod, looking up at the forest’s canopy far above them, “So what do we do?”

This required more time for the both of them to consider every possible option that wouldn’t get them killed. There were, thankfully, few options left so it didn’t take much time to go through them. Having considered everything, Gant suggested, “We can’t do any serious damage...but we can cause them problems.”

“Yes, but wouldn’t it be bad if they know that we know they’re here?” Esah asked, then blinked to make sure she understood the words she’d spoken. She knew that she had a habit of making things sound more complicated than they really were, and this time had nearly confused herself.

Gant, at least, understood what she meant, “Then we can’t do anything directly. Nothing that would arouse any suspicion. They obviously want to be hidden, so they have to think they’re still hidden no matter what we do.”

More silence as they both considered the few options left. At this point, everything they could think of was being eliminated far too quickly and it was starting to look like turning back and letting the Jedi Master’s know was about all they could do without making the situation any worse than it already was.

But Esah’s mind continued to latch onto one idea, and so, finally, she decided to see if Gant could find problems with it, “What if we get some of the local animals to attack them?”

Gant turned his head to face her, a gesture she knew was more out of kindness so that she didn’t feel odd talking to the side of his face than anything, then said quietly, “That could work. However, I’ve never been very good at understanding the minds of animals.”

“Neither am I,” the Mon Calamari said under her breath, but then shrugged and said, “Why do we have to be, though? Can’t we just get the things angry with us and lead them to the camp here?”

“Maybe...” Gant whispered, thinking it over, “But how do we shift their attention to the encampment? They’ll surely be tracking our scent.”

“Then we give them a false scent,” Esah said, a grin creeping onto her face. Gant’s face, however, looked confused and he was about to argue that. Immediately, though, Esah knew what the problem was and cut him off, “Use the Force to convince the animals that we continued into the camp. I think even I could do that.”

Gant laughed slightly, “Probably. That is simple enough.”

So, very carefully and still trying to remain hidden behind the large tree, Esah got to her feet and dusted her tunic off with his webbed hands. She waited for Gant to also get to her feet before looking back towards the direction they had come from, “Now...what do we go after?”

Gant smiled and began to carefully lead the way back towards the clearing, “Something big enough to cause more trouble than we would...” he trailed off, thinking about the area, “I’ve got an idea.”

“Uh-oh,” Esah mumbled, recognizing that tone of voice right away, “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”

“Because you know I like to wander out here on my own everyday,” Gant said over his shoulder once they had reached the clearing. He then turned to the east and started that way, “And because it would be more fun to use a whole pack instead of just one animal.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 12: First Test

It took a long hour and a half to return to the main Academy Temple, and when Cira and Cowan returned they found the place in chaos. Of course, chaos to that place wasn’t anywhere near chaos anywhere else in the galaxy. However, seeing students and a few Masters quickly moving from here to there across the grounds with an obvious sense of worry and near panic on their minds was definitely close enough to count as chaos. At least a few were in groups, going through motions that looked to Cira like a very rushed kind of combat training with some of the younger students.

They plowed through a crowd and into the docking bay, silently agreeing to hunt down someone that would actually tell them what was going on. Easier said that done, of course. But after only a few paces into the hangar, in which they noticed the distinct shape of a YT-1300 transport that hadn’t been there earlier, the familiar and strong voice of Master Kenth Hamner called out.

“Cira! Cowan!” the two of them spun to see the tall Jedi Master jogging over to them from behind one of the small transport ships that usually ran supplies to the Academy.

“Master!” Cira let out a sigh of relief, “What is going on here?!”

Master Hamner came to a stop a few paces from the two apprentices, not even giving a glance around to the people moving everywhere around them and said in a void that could almost have been tired, “The Solo twins have just gotten back and they haven’t brought us any good news.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Cowan mumbled under his breath.

The Jedi Master didn’t seem to take notice, “The Shadow Academy is preparing an attack on us here on Yavin IV. They could be here within the hour.”

The two humans went silent. Yes, they knew about the Shadow Academy. It was hard not to. A small, hyperspace capable training academy run by some former student of Master Skywalker’s who was now completely bent on reviving the Empire in all its former ‘glory’, whatever that was. Even Cira couldn’t grasp that. But the point was, it was well known that they were preparing some kind of attack, but never known when...and it had only been a few months since the discovery of the Shadow Academy. Everyone had expected more time before an attack.

And despite all this, Cowan surprised himself by asking, “Where are Gant and Esah?”

“They went out to do a quick survey to the south,” Master Hamner responded quickly, “They ran into what was probably a scout for the Shadow Academy earlier.”

Cira and Cowan exchanged a careful look. Then, Cira decided it was her turn and said carefully, “There’s something up in the northern hills, too.”

The Jedi Master didn’t actually say anything, but his look said everything she needed to know. Quickly, she did her best to describe the small place, knowing full well that the entrance they had found was very likely not the main one at all. There was simply too much in that large cavern to necessitate everyone crawling in like that. Once she had finished, Master Hamner was still silent in a way that worried the two young Jedi. After a moment, though, he motioned for them to follow and led them into one of the small control rooms for the hangar that looked to be halfway through a conversion into a defensive position.

He reached over into a pile of various equipment and then, after retrieving something, extended two objects to the both of them. Neither needed a second to think what the cylindrical shapes were. Lightsabers. Both apprentices looked up in a mild form of shock, but Master Hamner simply extended them more, “You’ve trained with practice blades, you can use these.”

There was a pause where both of them carefully took the weapons, running their hands over the cold metal and trying to not look as amazed as they were. When they said nothing, the Jedi Master went on, “Yes, I know this is sooner than you expected, but we don’t have a choice anymore. You both know basic combat techniques and what to do in case of this kind of attack. But right now, you do not need to focus on that. Clear your minds, focus, and head to the south. Find Gant and Esah and bring them back here as quickly as you can. We can’t have students spread out through the jungles at a time like this, no matter how important what they’re doing could be.”

It was a natural reaction for the both of them to simply nod. But after a short second, Cowan stopped himself and asked, “What about what we found?”

“It will be dealt with,” Master Hamner’s response was short as he started to lead them back out into the hangar, “Get back here as quickly as you can. I don’t how long we have until the attack, but I promise you that we aren’t going to escape it. The New Republic doesn’t have a fleet within two days hyperspace trip from here, so we are on our own.”

They sighed together and nodded. It was Cira, this time, who said quietly, “Yes, Master.”

“Clear your minds,” Master Hamner intoned again, “Trust your feelings and do not worry. We will make it through this.”

Again, they nodded. It was easier said than done, but the Jedi Masters had always told them that the Force would test them one day. If this wasn’t that day, they had no idea when it would be. By the time the two humans had left Master Hamner behind and reached the jungle’s edge, they were running. Running as fast as they could and forgetting and previous difficulties between each other. This was more important than that. They could argue later.

And then, high above them, there was an explosion. Instinctively, their eyes shot up, looking up through the thick canopy above to see the soft blue sky...which had just shimmered green. The colour of the energy shield around the main section of the Academy. And there was a plume of flame. Another. Another explosion. And another.

Blurs of movement could be seen far above, and it wasn’t another second before the distinct shriek of TIE fighters reached their ears.

“By the Force...” Cowan whispered, his eyes turned back down to see Cira’s white face. Gaping with shock and surprise, they stared at each other for a long moment, hoping it was just a bad dream. Praying to anything that was in control of the galaxy that it wasn’t real. But it was. They could feel it. And that meant their friends were out there in the jungle, alone, and cut off from the rest of the Jedi.

Without another word, they ran south.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 13: We're Late

After only a few minutes, Gant had led Esah back north, across the clearing and then east a short ways. The ground did its usual dipping and rising through the forest, making it an interesting trek when one couldn’t actually set eyes on the ground below, but soon they came to a stop and Gant carefully pointed through the thick trees to a small patch of green ahead of them.

“There,” he whispered as quietly as possible, “Just under the lower branches.”

Esah leaned in to peer closer. She could feel the whatever-they-were in the Force without even trying, but actually laying eyes on them was much more difficult. But, after a few seconds of careful watching, she caught a soft movement right where Gant had pointed. In an equally quiet voice, she asked, “What are they?”

“Some kind of hawk-bat,” Gant answered, kneeling down to get a half-step closer.

“Hawk-bat?!” Esah tried not to yell, “You said pack! Pack implies canine! Not hawk-bats!”

Gant stopped his slow movement to ‘look’ over his shoulder at her and mumble, “I’m not an expert on animals.”

“Obviously,” Esah rolled her eyes and knelt down, too, “So what do we want to do?”

They both decided moving any closer was probably not a good idea, as it didn’t take much training in the Force to sense the alertness of the hawk-bats. So, instead, they sat there on the ground watching and thinking. There didn’t seem to be very many ways to get a group of hawk-bats all the way across that clearing and to the camp. But, thankfully, they meant the options were few and it was going to be easy to narrow them down to one.

Or at least, that was the hope.

Esah shifted slightly and tried to tip her head down so that the branch above her would stop brushing against her and whispered, “I am not sure we have the skill enough to do this.”

To her surprise, Gant actually nodded, but added quickly, “Probably not, but we don’t have to trick them the entire distance now, do we?”

As much as they could, Esah’s eyes widened, “You don’t really mean what I think you mean, do you?”

The grin that appeared on the Miraluka’s face was more worrying than anything she’d ever seen on him. It faded after a moment into a more simple, and normal, smile, “We run in and get them after us, get close enough to the camp and then disappear.”

Esah’s large, orange eyes blinked a few times as she put together his ‘plan’, if it could be called that, in her mind. She then sighed and shook her head, “You’re as bad as Cowan when you try to be, you know that?”

The only response was a quiet laugh and a nod.

Shaking her head, the Mon Calamari went on, “Hawk-bats, Gant...hawk-bats. You want us to run through there, and then all the way back to that camp with who knows how many hawk-bats after us?!”

“Seven.”

“Huh?”

“Seven hawk-bats,” Gant clarified helpfully.

Silence. Every few seconds, Esah’s mouth opened and closed...not for breath, but simply out of shock at what the Miraluka was sitting there and telling her. Finally, though, she found the correct words, “Seven?! Are you insane?! One is bad enough!”

That grin quickly returned to Gant’s face, “Now, now. Haven’t you learned anything from Master Skywalker? Trust in the Force, my friend!”

“Oh, I trust the Force!” she growled under her breath quickly, noticing that he was starting to move towards the hawk-bats again, “Its you that has me worried!”

But he was gone then, ducking under another branch and carefully creeping towards the nearby creatures. It was one of those times where Esah wondered if Miraluka really were just eye-less humans. Gant sure acted like one a good amount of the time. He was nearly as reckless as Cira or Cowan if he wanted to be. Esah, of course, ignored the fact that she could be, too, since that would have completely destroyed her theory. And besides, it was too late for complaining. He was already moving and she decided the only thing left to do was hope this wasn’t as crazy as it sounded and get ready to run.

Gant got about five meters from the hawk-bats before everything went horribly wrong. At first, the two apprentices could only identify a rush of movement. But a second later they quickly realized that the hawk-bat’s had suddenly jumped up from their perches and scattered. They did not, however, fly straight for Gant as would have been expected as normal behavior from the creatures. Instead, both Gant and Esah felt a sudden surge of panic from the creatures and then they were up and gone, off to the north with lightning speed.

There was just enough time for Gant to spin around and look confused before a deafening explosion rocked the ground, sending the two of them to the ground on their faces. The second the sound started to fade, there was another...and another...and another. They both managed to get up to their feet again, but anything yelled from one to the other was drowned out by the noise of the explosions and...and...

Their heads shot up to look (and sense) the source of the other sounds. Sublight drives could be heard screaming above, coupled with the very distinct screech of TIE Fighters. Vaguely, the shapes of a multitude of ships could be seen through the jungle canopy, but it was impossible to distinguish any actual design with such a bad view.

Gant scrambled across the ground to Esah, screaming at the top of his lungs, “I think we waited a little too long!”

Esah nodded, instinctively turning back towards the clearing they had come from. Very faintly, small lines of bright red could be seen. Glancing back to the Miraluka, she yelled, “I think you’re right!”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 14: Can We Do This?

It took only a short run before Cira and Cowan were out of the protection of the shield. Not that the area was being bombed. It seems that the shield was the current target, though they were getting a good view of the TIE Bombers flying above the somewhat thinning canopy above the forest. Animals and creatures that normally would have stayed out of their way were scattering in all direction, not caring what got in their way as long as they got away from the deafening sounds.

And through the chaos, the two apprentices did their best to reach out with the Force to find their friends. While they could feel the distant presences, there was also a flood of...of other things. Bright, strong presences that were most definitely not Esah or Gant, but were also not too terribly far away. But in only a matter of minutes, those became the least of their worries.

“I heard something!” Cowan yelled over the roaring of the TIEs and other ships above.

Cira nodded, a step ahead of him, and glanced off to their left. Through the thick forest, small points of bright red could be seen, “I think we’ve got friends.”

When she stopped, so did Cowan. He followed her gaze to see the same thing, then noticed she was taking the lightsaber off of her belt, “We can’t keep ahead of them?!”

Cira shook her head this time, “We could, but it wouldn’t be smart! There’s something else on the other side of Gant and Esah. If we leave these behind us we’ll be trapped.”

As the red points of light grew into large lines, the sharp snap-hiss of a lightsaber blade activating sounded right next to Cowan. He looked over to see a bright green blade held up in front of Cira as she took on one of the defensive stances they’d been taught. Reluctantly, he removed the weapon from his belt and held the hilt in his hands, “I don’t think I can do this, Cira.”

“It’s a little late for doubts,” she responded quickly, taking a half step back as black-clad figures were beginning to come into view attached to the red blades they could already see.

“No,” Cowan shook his head as he felt the odd metallic hilt in his hands, “I really don’t think I can do this!”

Despite the fact that the...four approaching figures were now only about twenty meters in front of them, Cira risked a look to Cowan and said sternly, “Then go. Get Esah and Gant, and I’ll hold these four here.”

“But you can’t—“

”Then stay and help!” Cira snapped, her head turning back to face the figures that had now rounded the last of the large trees in the way. There was no more time to talk now. Cowan would do something, and now that was up to him. Cira’s mind focused in on the moment, drawing the Force to her as the four figures charged in, each with a bright red lightsaber blazing. They were all human, wearing the same black tunics but with completely different faces...two women...no, girls and two young men. None of them likely any older than Cira was. Hopefully they were just as inexperienced.

Quickly, Cira extended her right hand towards one of the girls that was on the far right, sending a heavy wave of the Force at her. The invisible attack slammed hard into the black-clad girl, sending her flying back a few meters and onto her back. Cira then immediately ducked under a long, horizontal swipe meant to remove her head from the rest of her body, and rolled left, bringing her green blade up to parry another strike aimed to cleave her in two.

A third lightsaber from the third attacker drove itself straight for her face, point first, but there was a sudden, very loud snap-hiss that interrupted the humming and whirring of the other blades, and then a deafening crash as the red blade was thrown up and replaced by a bright blue one. Cowan then was forced to sidestep an attack at his back, as he’d stepped right in the middle of the three standing attackers to parry the strike at Cira, and got a good singe across his tunic for being in so close.

But Cira was up again, and she knew that this was where her talents truly were. She batted away a red blade swinging in at her face and then twisted around to put her back to back with Cowan, currently the safest defensive position they could manage. Planting her feet, she caught another blade at her side and then forced it away from the body of its possessor. The young man was flung back just enough that the weapon went high and away from his body, and Cira took advantage of the opening to plant a strong kick in the center of his chest.

He fell back two steps, and just as Cira prepared for another defense, a large branch came swinging in and slammed into the back of their attacker’s head with nearly enough force to crush a skull. The young man went down face first, lightsaber falling away and its safety mechanism deactivating it. Everything suddenly seemed to stop. Behind her, Cowan had managed to defend himself clumsily but successfully, though even he and his two attackers had frozen to spin around and see what had happened.

But before eyes could lock on and focus on what was going on, there was a rage filled cry from where Cira had thrown the first of their attackers. Eyes all again spun a different direction as the girl literally jumped from her spot straight for Cira and Cowan, red lightsaber up and prepared to swing straight down. But then there was a loud, and very familiar, sound just before a bright red bolt of energy slammed into the attacker’s chest, sending her back to the ground a second time...but this time without a chance to get up.

When she hit the ground, chaos erupted again. The two remaining attackers, both right in front of Cowan, growled a curse and swung their lightsabers violently at the young Thyferran. He feebly raised his blue blade up in a defensive position, but it was immediately apparent that it wasn’t going to do him any good. Cira pivoted around, swinging her green blade up in a long arc to bat away the first of the attacker’s swings, but unable to do anything about the second...which slammed hard into Cowan’s blade and sent him straight down onto his backside, hard.

There was a blur of motion behind her as Cira kicked the attacker in front of her back, and she managed to glance over to see the other suddenly flung against a nearby tree before dropping, unconscious. Her eyes, though, quickly returned to the last attacker in front of her, and she finally found an opening to attack. The bright green blade swung in at the young man’s torso, and though he managed to parry it with his own red blade, he was not able to defend himself from the tree branch that caught him across the skull and sent him to the ground in a second.

Cira immediately looked to her side to see Gant standing there, lightsaber-sized tree branch in his hand and a grin on his face, “You are welcome.”

“I’ll thank you later,” she said quickly before glancing back to see the blue-skinned Mon Calamari, Esah, helping Cowan up to his feet as quickly as she could, “Right now, can we leave?”

“That would be advisable,” Esah said as Cowan tried to shake off the dizzying attack that had sent him to the ground, “We are being pursued.”

There was silence as the four young apprentices both reached out with the Force and listened with their ears.

“There are more than four of them,” Cowan mumbled.

Gant nodded, then motioned back to the north, “That is why we should get moving.”

No one disagreed, and though it took a great deal of effort for Cowan(and Cira, to a point), in another moment they were all running back to the main Academy temple.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 15: Not the Front Lines

The four young apprentices arrived at the edge of the forest and the clearing that surrounded the main Temple grounds without incident...well, beyond the shaking of the ground and deafening shrieks of TIEs overhead. And when they exited the dense jungle and stepped out into the clearing, they were greeted with a sight that was actually expected: Chaos. The first thing the eyes locked onto were the bodies that littered the ground...and it wasn’t hard to realize that there were only about four types.

Black clad, tunic wearing young humans that were definitely students of the Shadow Academy, more casual clothed, even younger students of various species marked dead students of the Jedi Academy, brown and white uniformed figures of even different species were the small contingent of New Republic Troopers that had arrived to help defend, and white armored stormtroopers were scattered among the dirt and underbrush. For a long moment, the four students stood frozen, staring blankly at the scene in front of them. But sounds caught their ears and drew their attention to the fighting still ravaging the Temple. Eyes shot towards the sounds to see a mass of people at the entrance to the Temple’s hangar...

They spoke no words but all four quickly ran to help. Among the group ahead of them, every kind of uniform could be seen. Cowan and Cira activated their lightsabers halfway to the ground, and Esah raised her blaster pistol to fire a quick shot at a stormtrooper who had taken notice of them coming from behind. Gant simply held his tree branch back and ready, still in his refusal to take a life but damn well ready to cause concussions. At Esah’s blaster shot that took down the stormtrooper, others began to spin around to face the four approaching students.

Blaster bolts shot out at them from weapons none of them could actually see, and Cira and Cowan were lucky to deflect a few away just before they dove into the mass. None of them had any real way of knowing what was actually happening, and it was amazing they didn’t cut(or gun or club) down fellow students and New Republic troopers. But they didn’t. Maybe it was the Force...as they ducked, spun, pivoted, and pushed through the line, there wasn’t time to think what was doing what. There wasn’t even time to check if they’d taken any casualties. Something simply guided their actions through it, and in a matter of moments they were on the other side and standing next to a group of older students who were forming the front line of the defense. So far, it was working, as no one had gotten past them and into the hangar yet.

But just as they turned to help in the defense, a familiar voice yelled from behind them, “Gant! Back here!”

It was likely that the Miraluka was named because of how much taller he was, but when he shifted his range of ‘vision’ around behind him and caught that the speaker was Master Hamner, Gant quickly said, to the other three, “Come on.”

And they stepped back from the line, leaving others to take their place and defend the hangar. Quickly, and ducking a few blaster shots in the process, they retreated back to a small section of the hangar behind a large pillar where Master Hamner was ordering a few other apprentices, who then ran to the nearest turbolift. The tall Jedi Master spun around to face them and said immediately, “The shield is down.”

That froze them again...the one defense from the bombers...

“How?!” it was Cira who blurted that out, her borrowed lightsaber still thrumming at her side.

“How doesn’t matter right now,” Master Hamner snapped, “We need to get all the young students into the lower levels and out of their quarters immediately.”

Esah didn’t even wait for him to finish the sentence. She holstered her blaster pistol and started for the nearest unused turbolift, “We’re on it.”

As the others headed after their Mon Calamari companion, deactivating lightsabers and getting out of ‘combat mode’ as it were, Master Hamner called after them, “Be careful! There’s reports of explosions so there may be enemy troops up there!”

Nothing else was said. The four students reached the turbolift and hit the switch that would take them all the way to the top level. The last thing they saw in the hangar before the turbolift doors slid closed was Master Hamner igniting his lightsaber.

There was nothing to be said on the way up. The adrenaline was still flowing and they all knew what had to be done. But, only halfway up, Gant spoke up in his usual calm voice and said simply, “The top level is clear of anyone but the students.”

“And the others?” that was Cowan, sounding a bit nervous again...almost back to normal, even.

Esah, who had been doing the same thing as Gant and reaching out in the Force to check the levels, fielded that question, “Some do have guests.”

“We should go there first,” Cira stated firmly.

“No,” Gant answered immediately, and then quickly waved a hand to silence her protest, “There are others there, too. They will be safe for now. We start at the top and we work down. No leaving anyone behind.”

All of them nodded. The turbolift came to an abrupt halt a few seconds later and the door slid open to reveal the stone-walled corridor at the top level. Immediately, the four of them ran out and started going from door to door, yanking out children if they had to and getting them to the turbolift as fast as possible. As they got halfway down the corridor, the TIE Bombers began to make their first pass on the unshielded Temple.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 16: Level 2. First Pass.

Even through the thick, stone walls of the Great Temple, the screaming of the TIEs outside could be heard...which did nothing but cause the younger students to panic as they were urged to the turbolifts. It was only a matter of minutes and one was full. Reaching that point meant there was a decision to be made that none of the four apprentices wanted to make...but all knew it had to be.

“You take them,” Cira said to Gant and Esah over her shoulder as she urged the other students towards the turbolift that was empty at the other end of the hall, “We’ll take the next group down and then get the next level below.”

It was Esah who nodded and said in her watery voice, “We’ll take the level below that. Go quickly.”

She didn’t need to say the last part. All of them, probably even the children, could feel the urgency through the Force itself. As the turbolift door, with Esah, Gant, and the first group of probably ten students ranging from age eight to close to 14 inside, slid closed, Cira and Cowan turned and started to herd the rest of the students to the opposite end of the hall. They were running now. All of them. No words were necessary to tell everyone to run...even the youngest students with little training could feel the need to.

They were all in the turbolift in just a few seconds, and the moment that Cowan was in, Cira hit the switch. The door slid shut, and the turbolift shot down...then stopped suddenly a level below, the door opening again. Confused children started to look around and ask questions, but Cira said firmly, “The others will be with you at the underground levels. You’ll be safe.”

She then stepped out of the turbolift tube, grabbing Cowan’s arm and yanking him out as one of the children took charge and hit the switch to go down. There was a short glance between her and a small Duros boy, his large reddish eyes somehow showing fear despite having no eyebrows or pupils to hint that he was even looking at her...but the door slid closed and the turbolift left.

“What are you doing?!” Cowan finally growled out.

“They’ll be fine!” Cira yelled over her shoulder, now already heading for the other doors and checking to get anyone out who was still inside, “It’s the students still here we should worry about! Come on!”

Cowan grumbled something to himself that she didn’t hear, but he was soon helping her to check the doors. This level was emptier than the one above. They got halfway down the corridor and still had found no one. Fed up with how much time this was taking, Cira turned and ran as fast as she could to the far end of the corridor to start checking rooms from there to meet Cowan somewhere near the ‘middle.’

And then what they’d been hoping would have waited longer happened.

At first, there was a deafening boom that lasted only half a second before neither Cowan nor Cira could hear anything. Then the entire temple shook...and a moment later the roof and walls began to collapse and a great explosion of white hot flames erupted from the ceiling above. That was about when Cowan blacked out, but Cira stayed conscious long enough to feel herself slam face first into the stone floor.

Neither knew how long it was when the blackness faded into a muddied and dizzy consciousness. Hearing began to return as slowly as sight did, and Cowan even managed to push himself up from the stone floor slightly. He felt a mix of stones and other rubble fall off of his body, but thankfully none of it seemed to have been large enough to crush him. He felt dizzy though...and the small patch of red on the stone where he had lain was probably partially responsible for that.

But then he noticed the intense heat and the loud roaring all around him. Eyes focused more and he saw that the brown stones were tinted bright red...and it only took looking up some to see the entire corridor engulfed in thick flames. Or at least, the part of the corridor he could see. There were huge piles of debris all throughout the hall, and he was amazed at looking up that he couldn’t actually see outside. The top level shouldn’t have even been there anymore...

Feeling a tinge of something through the Force, Cowan was once again snapped into the moment...into the burning, destroyed high level of the Great Temple. At the top of his lungs, voice scratching at his throat and hurting as he spoke, Cowan yelled, “Cira?!”

He thought he heard a cough from farther away. He was sure, though, that he heard Cira through the flames when the sound traveled through the inferno, “You’re alive, too?”

Typical of her to act like that...so typical. She was just...just...

The words that Cowan said next slipped through as his mind argued with itself, “The whole corridor is on fire!!”

There was a long pause before Cira responded, and it even seemed like the roaring of the fire got louder. Then, though, the flames were drowned out by Cira’s voice, “I bloody well noticed!”

Cowan managed to get to his feet now, a hand resting on the hot wall next to him to steady himself. He did his best to peer ahead of him at the debris and the flames, knowing that was where Cira’s voice had been. But before he could say anything, her voice yelled through the flames, “Get to the turbolift on your end! Meet me on the level below!”

“But what about this level?!” Cowan nearly screamed at the fire, now suddenly angry again...despite his head spinning slightly, still.

“Cowan,” this time, Cira’s voice was somehow quiet and yet still could be heard over the flames, “Nothing could possibly be alive on this end...and unless you found anyone on yours...”

“Alright!” he snapped, just to shut her up and not have to think about what it looked like on the other side of the rubble...at the same time curious of Cira’s actual condition. But something stopped him from asking anything else, and he simply turned and headed for the other end of the corridor, trying to ignore the fact that he had to actually push through some flames and what very well looked to be a body part...they shouldn’t have missed anyone...but...no.

Focusing as best he could away from that, he got to the turbolift to find it, thankfully, still active. Cowan quickly hit the switch(which was scorching hot like the walls themselves), and waited for the lift to return...distantly, above the sounds of the roaring flames around him, Cowan could hear the screams of the ion engines of the TIE Bombers above...and the sounds were growing louder again.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 17: Head On

The turbolift came to an abrupt halt at the lowest of the underground levels, and the door immediately slid open to reveal a relatively small room with a few older Jedi herding the younger students to the safer storage areas. Esah and Gant did not leave the turbolift. Instead, they simply got the younger students out, made sure they the older Jedi knew there was another group, and hit the switch on the lift to head back up right away.

Halfway up, the turbolift came to another abrupt halt...but this time there was a loud explosion above to add to the stop...and they both felt the turbolift’s safety features kick in and lock them into place to prevent the thing from falling. Esah had instinctively gripped the wall of the lift and shut her eyes...but soon opened them back up to find little had changed, “What was that?”

Gant’s head was turned up and he seemed to be focusing on whatever the source of ‘that’ was, “The top level is gone...the two below it are severely damaged.”

Esah shifted slightly to look up, reaching out with the Force as she did so. After a moment, her head turned back to face him. She knew he couldn’t see through walls. He’d said it himself more than once. He saw in the Force like they all did when solid objects got in the way of the scanner-like vision his species had. So, after rubbing her forehead with a webbed hand, Esah asked, “How can you be sure?”

Now, Gant’s head went own and turned to face her, “I feel nothing up there.”

Esah took another moment and concentrated again. He was right. The emptiness of the sky seemed to occur much lower down than it usually did. The feeling of emptiness caused her stomach to turn, “We have to get up there.”

She was starting to reach up and open the top section of the turbolift to get out of the now-frozen-in-place lift. But Gant reached up and caught her wrist, saying flatly, “The bombers are still out there, Esah. They will kill us.”

One thing that Gant was very good at was leaving things unsaid. How he’d learned to speak only two sentences but cause her to think of five others was still beyond her. The Mon Calamari let out a watery sigh, “Then what are we supposed to do?! Just stand here while people...while Cira and Cowan could be dead?”

“They aren’t dead,” Gant answered before she’d finished the word ‘dead’, “But they can handle themselves.”

Again, Esah listened to the things that Gant was implying. But instead of asking a stupid question, she went straight to the point, “What do you want to do?”

Gant let go of her wrist now, motioning for her to open the hatch up so they could get into the actual lift tube, “Something needs to be done about the bombers.”

After Esah finished getting the hatch open, she climbed up and out to look up the small tube, saying down to her Miraluka companion, “I get the feeling there’s more to your idea than shooting at them.”

A moment later and up next to her on top of the turbolift, Gant smiled and nodded, “That’s about all I have at the moment...but the climb down should give us a little time to think.”

The climb down did give them time to think...but it was more than a little time. By the time they had reached the main hangar level, at least three more violent explosions had rocked the temple. They got the main door open and exited the tube into the hangar again, finding it to be in much worse shape than they’d left it. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed in places, and two of the larger columns were crumbling from the violent explosions. But the Jedi and New Republic troops were pushing the Shadow Academy and their troops back. No longer was the fight right at the edge of the hangar’s entrance, and it was still moving back towards the tree line.

Now, though, Gant and Esah knew what they were going to do. They just needed...

“This one,” the Mon Calamari called over to Gant, waving a blue hand at him as she headed for a fairly small shuttle. It was the kind of box-shaped transport that was really only used because it had to be, not because anyone actually liked them. But they worked...they were easy to fly...and most importantly, no one was watching it.

The two Jedi apprentices ran across the hangar to the shuttle, glad to find the hatch wasn’t locked or sealed...not that it would have stopped them. Esah would have been able to open it. But it did mean they didn’t have to wait anymore and that was just that much less time for the bombers to get another run in. The Mon Calamari was immediately in the pilot’s chair, her webbed hands clumsily working around controls that hadn’t been designed for her species. But, despite this, she was working amazingly fast and the ship’s systems were online before Gant was even seated next to her. By the time he was down and strapped in, Esah had the repulsorlifts operating and was already heading out of the hangar.

“You can use the sensors, yes?” she asked out of the side of her mouth, currently focusing on not flying into any of the Jedi that were making it interesting to get out of the hangar.

Gant nodded, but said nothing. He could see them, yes, but it was a bit ‘fuzzy’, if that was the right word to use. His species’ vision didn’t always like to cooperate with computer screens, and it took a lot of training and focus to really be able to ‘see’ them. Gant had just enough...which was all that mattered right now, anyway.

“Two clicks north,” he announced after those few moments of concentration, “There’s four of them and they’re starting to pull around.”

Esah nodded, despite the fact that he wasn’t even paying attention to her and likely couldn’t even sense the motion. He did, of course, feel the ship pulling around as she said, “We’ll head right for them.”

This was, finally, her turn to leave something important unsaid. And, thankfully, Gant didn’t miss it. They were heading straight at four TIE Bombers, which weren’t heavily armed but still had two blaster cannons...more than their shuttle had. They wouldn’t just let a shuttle rush them without putting up a fight.

Gant was going to have to get this right the first time.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 18: Sure of It

The entire corridor had collapsed in on itself...Cira could see patches of sky through the rubble, but for the moment it wasn’t her concern. Her concern, currently, was getting to the turbolift shaft...shaft, because she had watched the lift itself explode out of the thing and kill a young student who’d gotten in the way. There were at least two other bodies buried amongst the rubble, but she was doing her best to ignore that and just get down to safety.

Her left arm was broken, Cira was sure of it. Her right leg felt nearly broken, but she could move it without too much trouble and so she decided it was something at least. Though her vision was blurred from a heavy hit to the head, the Force was helping her to ease through that. She was no healer, though, and was simply doing her best to push on rather than fix any of the problems.

With her good arm, she pushed off the remainder of the stones and got to her feet for a third time. It was difficult to stand up and not be overcome with dizziness, but this time she was not going to fall back down again. It was becoming annoying. Gritting her teeth and pushing through the blurred world around her, Cira slowly moved to the turbolift shaft. She managed to get over the ruined lift itself without too much trouble, but then found herself in an interesting situation...and not a good one, either.

There was a ladder built into the stone structure around the lift tube, but she only had one arm and while she did have two legs, Cira was still limping. She allowed herself a sigh, which was soon drowned out by the screeching of the TIEs far above. That sure put things into perspective. Focus. Those TIEs would be coming around for another run soon. She had to get down. She took a glance down the tube.

Not all the way...just a level or two.

Cira allowed herself a few more deep breaths before carefully twisting around and grabbing onto the ladder on the inner side of the tube wall. Her right hand gripped the rungs tightly, while she kept her good foot down for balance. It was awkward, but left the weight off of her two injured limbs.

That was the easy part.

Now the fun part.

Very carefully, and with a good amount of help from the Force, Cira began the climb down. It was less a climb, though, and more a well timed hop down one rung at a time. It took about five minutes before she managed to reach the next level down, and by then her good arm was starting to feel ready to break. She knew it was more because her concentration on the Force was fading, but it was still enough. Cira wasn’t going to risk going any farther...which meant now she had to find a way to get the door open.

Thankfully, that wasn’t going to be too difficult. Forcing her concentration back, Cira reached out and found the doors through the Force. Then, very carefully, she wrenched them open. A moment later when her eyes opened again, she saw it had worked. After allowing herself a proud smile, Cira swung herself down and to the not-so-ruined corridor. It hurt to land, but it was bearable enough.

“Cira?!” it sounded like Cowan’s voice, but it was a bit muffled.

“Huh?” she looked up, noticing he was about ten meters ahead of her and pointing a few of the younger students to the other turbolift. It was then that she noticed even her voice sounded somewhat off.

Cowan had turned away for a moment before quickly heading over to her. Cira was surprised to see that Cowan actually had a look of concern on his face, “You alright in there?”

Cira blinked a few times, tilted her head, and mumbled again, “Huh?”

Obviously, she’d taken more hits to the head than she had first thought. And she still wasn’t hearing as well as she knew she should be. In another surprising move, Cowan put an arm on her shoulder(her good one, thank the Force) and started to carefully lead her to the turbolift, “Come on. You need to get down there with the others.”

Maybe it was the adrenaline rush fading...or maybe it was just that she was alright now and no longer needed the push of the Force to keep her going, but Cira suddenly felt exhausted and covered in far too much pain. She was definitely going to have to question Cowan severely about this later on. He was acting far too strange...and spinning slightly. How he managed to walk in a straight line with everything spinning so much was beyond her.

By the time they’d made it to the turbolift, Cira had lost consciousness. Cowan did his best to get her in with one of the other older students who had been there, then sent the turbolift down. There were still a few left up on this level that would have to wait. He sighed and closed his eyes. He had been able to tell that Cira’s arm was broken. The way it just hung there at her side would have told that to someone with even Cowan’s lack of medical knowledge. He could also see that she had been limping severely, but that was easy to explain as there was a very large patch of deep red that had sunk through her tunic on that leg. And she had definitely taken a few hits to the head. Not only were there bruises, but Cowan had also see many cuts and gashes that allowed small streams of blood to seep down her face.

All in all, it was extremely discomforting to see. Not that he was suddenly her best of friends, of course, but despite all his feelings towards her, Cowan didn’t want her dead. Now, at least, he was sure of that much.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 19: Of Insanity

The small, generally unshielded shuttle continued its head-on path straight for the four TIE Bombers. Esah was still at the controls, her fin-like hands having trouble manipulating the controls of the ship but still managing to maneuver them out of the way of the green laser blasts that the TIEs were firing at them. If Gant had eyes to closed, they’d have been tightly shut...both due to the need for him to focus and at least a slight fear that they were going to get themselves killed, in his opinion, far too early.

Besides, Esah’s moving of the small shuttle back and forth was making him feel somewhat uneasy. He had never liked atmospheric flight all that much. At least in space there really was no up or down to confuse one’s stomach. But, so far, they still weren’t dead, so Gant was willing to give his Mon Calamari companion the benefit of the doubt.

And then the ship rocked from a laser hit, nearly breaking Gant’s concentration as he continued to reach out and out to find the TIEs in the Force. Forcing away the moment, and doing his best to not make a sarcastic comment about Esah’s flying, Gant drew on the Force in every way he had ever been taught through his life. And then he had it. Or rather...had a TIE.

Esah’s focus, currently, was on allowing both the Force and her natural pilot’s instincts to keep them from getting shot out of the sky. The bombers didn’t exactly have the best of short range weapons, but it was enough to take out a small cargo shuttle like they were in at the moment. While she wished for weapons to shoot back with, the Mon Calamari decided it would have just been one more thing to think about, and she still wasn’t sure if she’d be willing to trust a blind man to shoot when their lives were so much on the line.

About the time that this thought crept into her thoughts, the blind man came through. The left center TIE suddenly wobbled slightly, normally a sign of a malfunctioning system or a drunk pilot, but this time it was neither. The wobbling stopped a half second later as if the pilot had regained control...but what had really happened was the attacker had gained control. Then, very forcefully, the bomber was lunged to the side, its bent solar panels slamming straight into those of the other TIE in the center, which in turn was jolted to the side and took out the third of the bombers. There was no explosion as the three bombers twisted and fell out of the sky, their systems damaged and repulsorlifts unable to pull them out of the twisting fall that Gant had thrown them into.

But as they careened down to the trees below, Esah decided it was time to speak up, “Gant! You do know there were four bombers, yes?!”

The remaining of the TIEs fired two quick shots from its green laser cannons, both of which hit the shuttle. They were rocked more violently this time, and an annoying alarm sounded to alert the occupants that shields were not, in fact, working anymore. As if they needed to be reminded of that after such a hit. But no shots followed. None could. The TIE was already flying past, and shot straight over their small shuttle the second that the shield alarm had gone off.

Gant still wasn’t answering Esah’s question, and it was starting to annoy her more than the damned alarm that she couldn’t figure out how to turn off. One bomber was still bad enough, and it was nearly to the Temple again. Finding the right controls, Esah then growled in an odd, watery-but-obviously-angry voice, “Hang on!”

She then wrenched the entire shuttle around, performing a completely one-hundred and eighty degree turn without moving more than thirty meters forward. Needless to say, most starships did not enjoy this kind of maneuver...especially shuttles. Especially this shuttle. The ship creaked and groaned violently, but not so much so to drown out Gant’s sudden yelp of surprise and the loud smack of his hand catching the wall before his skull did.

“What in the Force are you doing?!” he suddenly screamed, obviously no longer focusing on the Force.

Esah violently pointed her blue hand at the TIE bomber in front of them that was starting its run on the Temple, “Four. Bombers.”

“I was working on it!” Gant snapped.

“And you were taking too long!” she snapped back. Then, after a moment when nothing happened, angrily asked, “Why the hell aren’t you doing anything?!”

“I lost my focus!” he yelled at her.

“Dammit, its going to get to the Temple!” Esah tried to use the Force to calm herself, but had never been all that good at it, especially in moments like this. But before Gant could say anything, an idea cropped up. It was crazy. It was absolutely insane. It was the definite proof that she’d been around humans far too long, because it was something that Cira would have thought of.

But it could work.

It could work...and with how close the bomber was to the Temple, it was about the only choice left.

Immediately, Esah’s hands were moving over the controls. Mainly to the sublight drives, kicking them into full speed and re-angling the shuttle slightly as they were jolted forward. Gant started to protest, but Esah was already climbing out of her chair and dragging him out of his. He was still trying to find words to ask if she’d lost her mind when she yanked a small pack out of a panel behind the pilots chair and thrust the thing into Gant, “Put this on and get ready.”

“Huh?” he redirected his Force vision to look out front again, noting that they were now on a course below the bomber, but still rapidly approaching.

Esah pushed the pack into him harder, “We’re going to jump! There’s only one emergency pack. Put it on, don’t let go of me, and we jump!”

Gant was too stunned by the insanity of this idea to not start putting the pack on. Of course, his mouth had time to argue, “Are you insane?!”

“Yes! Now come on!” Esah pushed him over to the hatch, then put an arm around his neck and tried to hang on tightly, “The important part is to not let go of me.”

And then she hit the emergency release on the hatch. It slid open to a violent rush of air, and in a matter of moments they were out, falling to the trees below as the air stunk their bodies. But Gant did hold onto her at least...though both of them were currently directing their vision up and back. Not at all caring about the fact that the emergency pack was going to activate an yank them hard in a matter of seconds, they watched the shuttle.

It shot forward like a missile, heading straight under the TIE Bomber. When it started to head past the fighter, its boxy nose creeping out in front, a proton bomb could be seen shooting out of the second tube of the TIE. It went forward a couple of meters, then started down...down for barely a second before hitting the shuttle and exploding in a violent ball of fire that also consumed the TIE and sent the debris flying in all directions...but mostly beyond the Temple itself.

Both Gant and Esah breathed...then the pack activated, the internal repulsor unit kicked in, and they were jolted up at a painful rate.

But at least Gant held on.