Dr Midnight
Explorer
They raged up the halls. Entire forces of gathering Troopers were quickly swept aside like matchsticks. Blaster fire and furry fury cleared the way to the main hangar area. Lexo opened the ramp door and led the wookiees inside. Then, he and Woonie stood outside and said goodbye. The wookiees questioned them. "Growwrrrr?"
"No," Lexo said, "We're not coming with you. We've still got things to do here. Take care of yourselves." He pushed the button to shut the ramp door. As the door slowly drew closed, Woonie waved to them and growled a farewell in her Stormtrooper helmet. The wall of wookiees all waved back, growling, each wearing their own Stormtrooper helmets. The door closed and the ship lifted off.
"C'mon Woonie, we need to get back to..." Lexo stopped. Floating over a console in the hangar were several holo-screens of different areas in the complex. In one room, T'ek and Zybor could clearly be seen wielding lightsabers while blasterfire lit up the background. In another room, Uschi and Dent were holding their own against a force of Stormtroopers using E-web blasters. "They're far outnumbered, Woonie, and that guy in black looks tough. They need our help!" Woonwooken tapped his shoulder and pointed to another screen. "I don't... what..." Woonie growled her plan. Lexo stopped and thought for a moment. "... That might just work! Let's go!" The two friends ran off down a corridor.
Zybor and T'ek leaped towards Darth Xell, pinwheeling their lightsabers in deadly arcs. Xell darted towards them with a flourish of his black cloak. All around them, the Force Troopers were deflecting hundreds of bolts of red fire and falling to their attacks. Xell's red blade met Zybor's green one and T'ek's blue one in a rapid-fire flurry of lightning quick blows. The sabers hummed and buzzed through the air, sparking off of each other. Xell flipped and tumbled over swipes. Zybor pumped his arms, punching his twin saber blades through the air.
The Force Troopers around them were beginning to fall to the ground. They just couldn't keep up with the onslaught, and with each fallen Trooper, the training remotes could concentrate their fire on fewer opponents. Pieces of scorched Stormtrooper fell around them from the room above, where Dent and Uschi were laying waste to everything in sight using their E-Web blasters. Zybor and T'ek, however, were having trouble. The whiplike strikes of Xell's lightsaber were not easily deflected. He moved like a cat.
"Give it up, Xell!" Zybor yelled. "Your troopers are falling back... soon you'll be beaten!"
"I think not. Not if I can bring out the darkness I'm feeling. It's strong in you." Xell regarded Zybor and said "Not you... you wield a Sith weapon, but you are sickeningly pure." He turned his head to T'ek, whose black cloak hid his face. "You, however... I can feel the Dark Side in you. It pulses in you. I don't know how you came to think you're a Jedi. You're not. Does this anger you?"
"I AM a Jedi," T'ek shouted as he rained blows against Xell's saber. "You will not trick me."
"I think your companion is the one who has been tricked. Even now, he feels the hate rolling off of you." Xell was right- Zybor was only now beginning to notice that T'ek was radiating a black kind of emotion. He was infused with it. Darth Xell said "Perhaps your hate could serve a purpose, yes? The Jedi will never allow you within their ranks, after he has felt your anger. Cut him down. There is only one way from here, and you know it."
"SILENCE!!" T'ek's hand shot out. Bright blue lightning washed from his fingertips towards Xell. It crackled and twisted in the air.
Xell raised his hand and the lightning collected at his palm. "Yes," he said. "Silence." He pushed his hand back, and even more lightning churned through the air towards T'ek. It crawled over him as he screamed. He dropped to his knees as his muscles convulsed. Zybor rushed forward with his lightsaber held high. Xell pushed his other hand through the air towards Zybor, who flew back as though struck by a powerful unseen opponent. Xell stood over T'ek and spoke. "There is only one way. The Dark Side of the Force calls to you, for you are its rightful servant. There is only hate. There is only fear. What more are you good for?" The tortured Jedi screamed in agony. Xell leaned down and yelled "WHAT MORE ARE YOU GOOD FOR, IF NOT HATE AND FEAR?"
Then, the sudden whoosh of a door opening. Xell whirled with his lightsaber ready to see the oddest sight standing before him. Something seven feet tall was standing in the doorway from his quarters wearing one of his costumes... except it didn't entirely fit. The helmet was cracked, and something like a hairbow with a ribbon was poking happily through the top.
"Grarf," it grarfed.
T'ek's lightsaber flew to his hand from across the floor. He stood up in a flash and lit it through Darth Xell's midsection. "AAARRR!!!" The Sith apprentice stood for a moment, unbelieving. He'd been distracted and defeated. His lightsaber fell from his hand. The last thing to go through his head before he collapsed forward was "Is that a wookiee?"
"Good job, Woonie!" Lexo laughed as he came in through the door. The happy wookiee laughed in her snuffly way.
Uschi yelled down "Hurry, the entire base is after us! We have to get to the hangar!"
Zybor helped T'ek walk as they made their way through the halls to the hangar. Dent yelled "R5, think you can call the SURVEYOR down here on auto? Yeah? Well, do it! We have maybe two minutes." They ran through the corridors. They could hear the distant sounds of an army far behind them. The Troopers had amassed a large force to deal with the intruders, and they were only moments behind.
Obi-Wan's voice spoke in T'ek's head. I'm proud of you, my padawan. You've shown that you truly are strong in the Force.
I am, Master, T'ek responded. Do you know just HOW strong in the Force I am?
What? I'm not sure what you... Kenobi's voice silenced as T'ek stopped hiding something in his mind. Horrified, Kenobi whispered No.
"There's the hangar!" Dent saw it clearly ahead, and the Chandrila Surveyor was hovering just inside the docking bay with its ramp down. "Good job, R5! Let's get on board and get those plans back to Mon Mothma!"
R5 began twittering a happy response, which was cut short in a static blast as a lightsaber cut him in half. Everyone turned in surprise, then gasped.
T'ek Nova stood there all in black with his lightsaber lit. His hooded eyes twinkled at them menacingly. At his feet, R5's remains sparked and died.
Woonwooken screamed angrily and leapt at him. Her huge fist blurred past his head. He dodged it as though she were in slow motion. His lightsaber buzzed through the air, cutting her badly across one shoulder. She cried out and fell back. "Nova, what... What are you doing?!" Zybor's voice trembled as he yelled.
"He was right, you know," T'ek smiled. "He was the only one to see it. What he didn't know, though, was that I came not to join him- but to kill him. With Darth Xell out of the way, my path to the Emperor's side is clear. I thank you all very much for helping me along the way." He laughed. The hate and darkness now shone strongly through him, unhidden by his powers in the Force.
Zybor blinked back tears as he lit his own lightsaber. "I can't believe you would do this. I can't believe it was all a lie." Before T'ek could respond, Zybor attacked. He leaped over R5's smoldering pieces in a blur. His blade was a green flash. T'ek met the attacks and pressed his own.The battle went furiously between the two expert swordsmen. The others didn't even know how to attack if they wanted to... the two were moving so quickly that to attack one would be to attack both.
"It was so easy, Zybor!" T'ek laughed. Behind him, Stormtroopers were running up the long hall. Soon they would be within firing range. "Now I'll kill you and stay as the new leader of Farlan-Eul. I would think there's no way they couldn't take me... you can't say I haven't proven myself, can you?" He cackled madly. At that moment, Zybor's Jedi training failed him and his emotions overpowered him. He gave in to anger and grief. He screamed and swung his lightsaber over his head downward into a blocked shot. He pivoted on his heel and turned the saber's weight downward. It spun on a vertical axis and cut up and under.
"HURGH!" T'ek's eyes went wide. He fell to his knees. The Stormtroopers down the hall were now firing blaster shots towards them. The group dodged them as best they could.
"We take him," Zybor said, lifting T'ek's body onto his shoulders. Woonie and Lexo collected R5's pieces as best they could, and everyone ran as fast as their legs could carry them. All around them, blaster fire boiled the air. They jumped onto the ship and Dent dove behind the controls. The ship turned in the hangar and Dent locked the brake on for a moment while firing the throttle. Blue rocket fire flared from the ship's rear. Dozens of Stormtroopers screamed and died in the white-hot engine wash. Dent released the brake and the Chandrila Surveyor shot up through the tunnels above. Several TIE fighters began flying after them. They burst from Farlan-Eul's pockmarked surface into space. Dent's hand clicked the hyperdrive engines into warm-up and attempted to configure a course while dodging green TIE fire.
"They're closing in!" Uschi said.
"No they're not," Lexo said. He pointed. Uschi saw what he meant.
SHRIIIIEEEEEKK!!! The Garstang swept down onto the TIE fighters like a cloud of gnats. It ferociously chomped and tored through their tiny hulls.
The hyperdrive READY light came on, and Dent punched it. The stars bled around them, and they were gone.
~~~EPILOGUE~~~
Dent sat at the repair grid, sadly trying to rewire his droid. Lexo walked through the room and said "How is the little guy?"
"It doesn't look good," Dent said. "He may never be the same, IF I can get him operational again. It doesn't look like his memory unit was damaged, though, so the plans may still be intact."
Lexo watched for a moment, then walked on. He clapped Uschi on the back as he passed her. She could only give him a halfhearted nod. He looked over and saw Zybor meditating. Lexo could feel the Force as it rippled around Zybor. He was looking for answers.
Lexo stepped through a door into the infirmary, where T'ek was strapped down to a table, still unconscious, on life support. Woonie was in here watching him.
"Y'know, Woonie," Lexo said slowly. He didn't finish the thought for a full twenty seconds. "I've been thinking. T'ek will never leave Zybor alone. The Rebellion won't properly be able to contain him- he's a Dark Jedi. Blasters can't hold him back... and we can't be there to watch him. Of course, he won't be executed. The Rebellion isn't that barbaric. He's going to come back. He's going to come at Zybor until one of them is dead."
The wookiee growled.
"We do owe Zybor a great favor, Woonie, but we can't do that either. It's not right to kill a helpless man. I won't allow it."
Woonie was silent for a moment, then growled again, more softly this time.
"Hmm? I... I suppose... That may be the answer, Woonwooken. Let's do it. For Zybor."
They gently pushed T'ek's stretcher into the Surveyor's last escape pod. They shut the door. "With T'ek lost in space, he'll probably never trouble anyone again. He'll probably not survive. However, our consciences will be clear, and our friends will be safe." Lexo pushed the button, and the escape pod slipped out into the maelstrom of hyperspace and disappeared.
Woonie grumbled.
"No, old girl," Lexo said as he ruffled her fur affectionately. "I don't think we'll see him again."
The two friends stood there watching through the window as stars melted past them like raindrops made of light.
The End
"No," Lexo said, "We're not coming with you. We've still got things to do here. Take care of yourselves." He pushed the button to shut the ramp door. As the door slowly drew closed, Woonie waved to them and growled a farewell in her Stormtrooper helmet. The wall of wookiees all waved back, growling, each wearing their own Stormtrooper helmets. The door closed and the ship lifted off.
"C'mon Woonie, we need to get back to..." Lexo stopped. Floating over a console in the hangar were several holo-screens of different areas in the complex. In one room, T'ek and Zybor could clearly be seen wielding lightsabers while blasterfire lit up the background. In another room, Uschi and Dent were holding their own against a force of Stormtroopers using E-web blasters. "They're far outnumbered, Woonie, and that guy in black looks tough. They need our help!" Woonwooken tapped his shoulder and pointed to another screen. "I don't... what..." Woonie growled her plan. Lexo stopped and thought for a moment. "... That might just work! Let's go!" The two friends ran off down a corridor.
Zybor and T'ek leaped towards Darth Xell, pinwheeling their lightsabers in deadly arcs. Xell darted towards them with a flourish of his black cloak. All around them, the Force Troopers were deflecting hundreds of bolts of red fire and falling to their attacks. Xell's red blade met Zybor's green one and T'ek's blue one in a rapid-fire flurry of lightning quick blows. The sabers hummed and buzzed through the air, sparking off of each other. Xell flipped and tumbled over swipes. Zybor pumped his arms, punching his twin saber blades through the air.
The Force Troopers around them were beginning to fall to the ground. They just couldn't keep up with the onslaught, and with each fallen Trooper, the training remotes could concentrate their fire on fewer opponents. Pieces of scorched Stormtrooper fell around them from the room above, where Dent and Uschi were laying waste to everything in sight using their E-Web blasters. Zybor and T'ek, however, were having trouble. The whiplike strikes of Xell's lightsaber were not easily deflected. He moved like a cat.
"Give it up, Xell!" Zybor yelled. "Your troopers are falling back... soon you'll be beaten!"
"I think not. Not if I can bring out the darkness I'm feeling. It's strong in you." Xell regarded Zybor and said "Not you... you wield a Sith weapon, but you are sickeningly pure." He turned his head to T'ek, whose black cloak hid his face. "You, however... I can feel the Dark Side in you. It pulses in you. I don't know how you came to think you're a Jedi. You're not. Does this anger you?"
"I AM a Jedi," T'ek shouted as he rained blows against Xell's saber. "You will not trick me."
"I think your companion is the one who has been tricked. Even now, he feels the hate rolling off of you." Xell was right- Zybor was only now beginning to notice that T'ek was radiating a black kind of emotion. He was infused with it. Darth Xell said "Perhaps your hate could serve a purpose, yes? The Jedi will never allow you within their ranks, after he has felt your anger. Cut him down. There is only one way from here, and you know it."
"SILENCE!!" T'ek's hand shot out. Bright blue lightning washed from his fingertips towards Xell. It crackled and twisted in the air.
Xell raised his hand and the lightning collected at his palm. "Yes," he said. "Silence." He pushed his hand back, and even more lightning churned through the air towards T'ek. It crawled over him as he screamed. He dropped to his knees as his muscles convulsed. Zybor rushed forward with his lightsaber held high. Xell pushed his other hand through the air towards Zybor, who flew back as though struck by a powerful unseen opponent. Xell stood over T'ek and spoke. "There is only one way. The Dark Side of the Force calls to you, for you are its rightful servant. There is only hate. There is only fear. What more are you good for?" The tortured Jedi screamed in agony. Xell leaned down and yelled "WHAT MORE ARE YOU GOOD FOR, IF NOT HATE AND FEAR?"
Then, the sudden whoosh of a door opening. Xell whirled with his lightsaber ready to see the oddest sight standing before him. Something seven feet tall was standing in the doorway from his quarters wearing one of his costumes... except it didn't entirely fit. The helmet was cracked, and something like a hairbow with a ribbon was poking happily through the top.
"Grarf," it grarfed.
T'ek's lightsaber flew to his hand from across the floor. He stood up in a flash and lit it through Darth Xell's midsection. "AAARRR!!!" The Sith apprentice stood for a moment, unbelieving. He'd been distracted and defeated. His lightsaber fell from his hand. The last thing to go through his head before he collapsed forward was "Is that a wookiee?"
"Good job, Woonie!" Lexo laughed as he came in through the door. The happy wookiee laughed in her snuffly way.
Uschi yelled down "Hurry, the entire base is after us! We have to get to the hangar!"
Zybor helped T'ek walk as they made their way through the halls to the hangar. Dent yelled "R5, think you can call the SURVEYOR down here on auto? Yeah? Well, do it! We have maybe two minutes." They ran through the corridors. They could hear the distant sounds of an army far behind them. The Troopers had amassed a large force to deal with the intruders, and they were only moments behind.
Obi-Wan's voice spoke in T'ek's head. I'm proud of you, my padawan. You've shown that you truly are strong in the Force.
I am, Master, T'ek responded. Do you know just HOW strong in the Force I am?
What? I'm not sure what you... Kenobi's voice silenced as T'ek stopped hiding something in his mind. Horrified, Kenobi whispered No.
"There's the hangar!" Dent saw it clearly ahead, and the Chandrila Surveyor was hovering just inside the docking bay with its ramp down. "Good job, R5! Let's get on board and get those plans back to Mon Mothma!"
R5 began twittering a happy response, which was cut short in a static blast as a lightsaber cut him in half. Everyone turned in surprise, then gasped.
T'ek Nova stood there all in black with his lightsaber lit. His hooded eyes twinkled at them menacingly. At his feet, R5's remains sparked and died.
Woonwooken screamed angrily and leapt at him. Her huge fist blurred past his head. He dodged it as though she were in slow motion. His lightsaber buzzed through the air, cutting her badly across one shoulder. She cried out and fell back. "Nova, what... What are you doing?!" Zybor's voice trembled as he yelled.
"He was right, you know," T'ek smiled. "He was the only one to see it. What he didn't know, though, was that I came not to join him- but to kill him. With Darth Xell out of the way, my path to the Emperor's side is clear. I thank you all very much for helping me along the way." He laughed. The hate and darkness now shone strongly through him, unhidden by his powers in the Force.
Zybor blinked back tears as he lit his own lightsaber. "I can't believe you would do this. I can't believe it was all a lie." Before T'ek could respond, Zybor attacked. He leaped over R5's smoldering pieces in a blur. His blade was a green flash. T'ek met the attacks and pressed his own.The battle went furiously between the two expert swordsmen. The others didn't even know how to attack if they wanted to... the two were moving so quickly that to attack one would be to attack both.
"It was so easy, Zybor!" T'ek laughed. Behind him, Stormtroopers were running up the long hall. Soon they would be within firing range. "Now I'll kill you and stay as the new leader of Farlan-Eul. I would think there's no way they couldn't take me... you can't say I haven't proven myself, can you?" He cackled madly. At that moment, Zybor's Jedi training failed him and his emotions overpowered him. He gave in to anger and grief. He screamed and swung his lightsaber over his head downward into a blocked shot. He pivoted on his heel and turned the saber's weight downward. It spun on a vertical axis and cut up and under.
"HURGH!" T'ek's eyes went wide. He fell to his knees. The Stormtroopers down the hall were now firing blaster shots towards them. The group dodged them as best they could.
"We take him," Zybor said, lifting T'ek's body onto his shoulders. Woonie and Lexo collected R5's pieces as best they could, and everyone ran as fast as their legs could carry them. All around them, blaster fire boiled the air. They jumped onto the ship and Dent dove behind the controls. The ship turned in the hangar and Dent locked the brake on for a moment while firing the throttle. Blue rocket fire flared from the ship's rear. Dozens of Stormtroopers screamed and died in the white-hot engine wash. Dent released the brake and the Chandrila Surveyor shot up through the tunnels above. Several TIE fighters began flying after them. They burst from Farlan-Eul's pockmarked surface into space. Dent's hand clicked the hyperdrive engines into warm-up and attempted to configure a course while dodging green TIE fire.
"They're closing in!" Uschi said.
"No they're not," Lexo said. He pointed. Uschi saw what he meant.
SHRIIIIEEEEEKK!!! The Garstang swept down onto the TIE fighters like a cloud of gnats. It ferociously chomped and tored through their tiny hulls.
The hyperdrive READY light came on, and Dent punched it. The stars bled around them, and they were gone.
~~~EPILOGUE~~~
Dent sat at the repair grid, sadly trying to rewire his droid. Lexo walked through the room and said "How is the little guy?"
"It doesn't look good," Dent said. "He may never be the same, IF I can get him operational again. It doesn't look like his memory unit was damaged, though, so the plans may still be intact."
Lexo watched for a moment, then walked on. He clapped Uschi on the back as he passed her. She could only give him a halfhearted nod. He looked over and saw Zybor meditating. Lexo could feel the Force as it rippled around Zybor. He was looking for answers.
Lexo stepped through a door into the infirmary, where T'ek was strapped down to a table, still unconscious, on life support. Woonie was in here watching him.
"Y'know, Woonie," Lexo said slowly. He didn't finish the thought for a full twenty seconds. "I've been thinking. T'ek will never leave Zybor alone. The Rebellion won't properly be able to contain him- he's a Dark Jedi. Blasters can't hold him back... and we can't be there to watch him. Of course, he won't be executed. The Rebellion isn't that barbaric. He's going to come back. He's going to come at Zybor until one of them is dead."
The wookiee growled.
"We do owe Zybor a great favor, Woonie, but we can't do that either. It's not right to kill a helpless man. I won't allow it."
Woonie was silent for a moment, then growled again, more softly this time.
"Hmm? I... I suppose... That may be the answer, Woonwooken. Let's do it. For Zybor."
They gently pushed T'ek's stretcher into the Surveyor's last escape pod. They shut the door. "With T'ek lost in space, he'll probably never trouble anyone again. He'll probably not survive. However, our consciences will be clear, and our friends will be safe." Lexo pushed the button, and the escape pod slipped out into the maelstrom of hyperspace and disappeared.
Woonie grumbled.
"No, old girl," Lexo said as he ruffled her fur affectionately. "I don't think we'll see him again."
The two friends stood there watching through the window as stars melted past them like raindrops made of light.
The End
"Yay, update!"
"What will they do?"
"Darth Xell... neato..."
"...woah..."
