Escaping the Dying Planet

Chapter V | Episode III | 11/9/2019

Zanroy watched the figure in the distance wearily. The man, if that was indeed what he was, had his back turned to the group. In fact, it seemed that he had not even noticed them.

As Zanroy watched, the figure continued further into the lava filled chamber, eventually disappearing out of sight, behind a set of large stone doors.

Not wanting to let a potential lead slip away, Zanroy leaped across the rive of lava separating him and the next piece of broken architecture. As Twil and Idozzi followed suit (the latter not being aided by the Force, and nearly falling into the lake of fire and brimstone), Zanroy watched as the Chiss somehow managed to construct a bridge out of rock, broken flooring, and adhesive from his bizarre little gun.

As Rath walked across the makeshift bridge, Idozzi began berating him, “You couldn’t have made that before I tried jumping, nearly killing myself?”

Rath stared at Idozzi blankly through his helmet and replied, “You couldn’t have waited for me to figure out the solution? Don’t blame me for your own rashness.”

Realizing the more time spent in the lava cavern meant more time for the mysterious man to get away, Zanroy proceeded to leap across the lava to the next precarious platform. He then reached deep within, accessing the Force, he grabbed all three of the arguing crew members, lifted them, and sent them floating through the air, landing them gently onto the next platform.

“You couldn’t have done that before?!” Idozzi yelled, turning her indignation onto Zanroy.

Before he could respond, they were interrupted by Twil, “Uh, guys, what’s that?”

The three turned to where the Zeltron was pointing, to see what looked to be some sort of animal burrow. The only problem was that the burrow was far bigger than it had any right to be.

“Lava fleas.” Rath muttered, more to himself than anything.

Again, before Zanroy could respond, the cavern shook violently, and a loud, ear piercing screech echoed throughout the area.

“Okay, what was that?!” Twil yelled.

“Lava eel!” Rath yelled, just as a massive eel-like head erupted out of the middle of the lake of lava, causing the molten liquid to splash dangerously close to where the group had been standing.

As the monstrous beast acclimated to its new surroundings, its pitch black eyes settled on the crew of the Sovereign. With another shriek, it lashed its tail at the group. Splashing down back into the lake of lava, it caused an massive molten wave to form, threatening to engulf Zanroy. Reacting quickly, Zanroy used to Force to leap out of the way, just as the lava consumed the portion of broken platform that Zanroy had been standing on.

With lightsaber now drawn, Zanroy was fully prepared to somehow fight the beast, however, he noticed that its sudden hostility was gone almost as soon as it had appeared. The creature almost looked tired. It then suddenly sank back into the lava, quietly, without a seeming care in its head.

Confused, Zanroy turned towards the others. He then understood immediately as he saw Twil concentrating very hard, with an outreached hand. He shook his head in wonder, Twil could charm anything, even massive lava beasts. Well, anything except perpetually angry women, he added, laughing to himself. His brief reverie was interrupted, though, by Rath yelling out an expletive Zanroy didn’t understand, “New problem!” The Chiss continued.

Looking back towards the burrow, Zanroy could spot a massive bug-like creature emerging from the burrow, mere feet from Rath and the others. Seeing them, the creature squealed in what Zanroy could only think of as excited hunger.

But, again, before he could react, the issue was already dealt with, as Idozzi took a well aimed shot at the creature, splitting it in half.

“Thanks.” Rath said, then, turning towards Zanroy he shouted, “A little help?” Gesturing to the now massive gap between him and them.

Zanroy nodded, and again, reached out with the Force. Grasping all three of them, he gently lifted them, and guided them through the air, landing them on the stone steps beyond him just in front of the door.

As he joined them, he saw their next obstacle. Blocking the large stone doors, was yet another massive creature. Even bigger than the lava eel. Zanroy wasn’t sure how to describe it. It’s skinny, narrow body was a sickly grey, it had multiple legs, a long tail with what appeared to be some sort of stinger the size of at least a human attached at the end, a narrow head made mostly of mouth, with rows upon rows of teeth, and two tiny, closed eyes. Whatever this thing was, it was somehow still asleep.

“Thoughts?” Rath whispered.

“Should be easy enough to kill if its asleep.” Zanroy whispered back, twirling his lightsaber hilt in his hand.

“No.” Twil replied, “If it wakes up before you get in range, we’ll be in trouble. Besides, that guy got past here without killing it. There must be some other way.”

“Well, your tricks worked well enough on the eel.” Rath said with a shrug.

“True.” Twil replied, “Of course, there’s always the risk that I wake it up, too, not really understanding the mind of a… whatever this thing is.”

Just then the cavern shook violently again. But Zanroy recognized that it wasn’t the cavern shaking, it was the whole planet. “Whatever you do, Twil, do it fast. I don’t think we have much more time.”

“Right.” Twil replied.

Again, reaching his hand outward, Twil closed his eyes, apparently focusing on his own Force powers. Within seconds, the creature’s eyes opened, and it got to its feet. Zanroy had almost activated his lightsaber, but Twil stopped him, saying, “It’s sleepwalking. It doesn’t see us.”

Examining the creature again, it appeared as though Twil was right. The creature showed no signs of recognition or hostility. There was one problem, though. It was heading in their direction.

Reaching inwards, Zanroy attempted to use to Force once more to propel him through the air, and fly above the ambling creature. However, this attempt failed in spectacular fashion as he realized that the heat and all the energy he had spent previously had exhausted him, his jump fell short, and he careened toward the creature. Making a last minute save, he slid under the beast, narrowly avoid its huge footsteps and lazily swaying tail of death.

With a quiet breath of relief, he got back to his feet, and watched how the others would handle the situation. Idozzi and Twil opted for hiding among the rubble, trying their best to stay out or the creature’s way. Rath, however, did what Rath did best: come up with the most bizarre solution to the problem possible. Using his goo gun, again, he applied adhesive to the side of the stone bridge steps, and attached his feet to the adhesive, using his extra mechanical arms to stabilize himself. In essence, the Chiss was standing horizontally on the side of the bridge, fully clear of the creature and in no danger.

Zanroy shook his head, not in wonder this time, but more exasperation. He then turned back to the creature. He watched it galumph down the bridge, narrowly missing Twil. It continued, into the lake of lava, seemingly unaffected by the molten substance, it swam through the lake, climbing back up to ground on the other end of the cavern, and continue on, out of sight.

“Well, that was something.” Rath said, rejoining Zanroy, “Shall we?” He said gesturing towards the massive stone doors, which Zanroy only noticed now, were slightly opened.

As the group entered the next room, they were met with utter darkness. All except for Rath, who could see quite comfortably thanks to his unique Chiss eyes. However, the sight awaiting them was not something he particularly wanted to see.

They were in a smaller room, with an impossibly high ceiling. What was left of columns lay on the ground in broken pieces. One side of the room was another, much smaller door, and on the other, a similar door, only this one was blocked by a mountain of skeletal remains. In fact, the room itself seemed to be covered in similar piles of skeletons. What concerned Rath most was that the piles did not seem to be haphazard in their shapes. These once upon a time bodies were placed there with purpose. This was all the more apparent at the back of the room, in which stood what appeared to be some sort of stone throne. It was hardly visible, however, as the throne was covered in yet more skeletal remains.

As Rath took this all in, he could hear the distinct sound of lightsabers igniting. Zanroy and Twil were using the weapons as glow rods to light up the room.

“Ugh.” Twil replied, once he could see the scene that was already apparent to Rath.

“What is this place?” Zanroy asked.

Rath did not answer. He was too busy analyzing everything he could see. This was a place of death. This was a place of ritualistic death. A place of darkness. And most of all, a place long since abandoned. The dust was thick, everywhere he looked. There were no fresh footsteps anywhere he looked, aside from their own. He was beginning to think the figure they saw earlier was not as corporeal as they all had initially believed.

“Can’t see a thing in this dark.” Zanroy complained, “I’m gonna get a better look.”

His words were barely audible to the Chiss, as absorbed as he was in this room. This cause Rath all the more surprise when Zanroy leaped into the air, straight up, briefly illuminating the whole room. Rath would have been annoyed by the Human’s lackadaisical behavior, but his sudden burst of motion caused the dust to fly in a storm of disturbed air, causing Rath to see a glimmer of something in the pile of bones set around the throne in the back of the room.

“What was that?” Rath asked, mostly to himself.

He headed towards the bone pile, with the others following close behind.

“Rath?” Twil asked.

“Humanoid.” Rath said, looking closer at the bones. “Brutal deaths.” He said, examining the scars torn into the bones themselves. “Took their time. Killed them painfully, slowly. Arranged them purposefully.” He continued, not really fully aware of the others’ presence. This room was important. He could feel it.

As he tried to determine the skeletal structures more fully, in an attempt to discern the exact species, that’s when he saw it. Something impossible. A partially mummified hand and arm. The arm was still clothed in it’s ancient fabric. The fabric bore an insignia that Rath recognized instantly. An ancient, but unmistakable insignia of the Chiss Ascendancy.

“I knew it…” Rath muttered, reaching out for the arm. It was then that he noticed the hand was still clutching something. Carefully, he attempted to pry the fingers loose. They crumbled to dust the second he touched them, but the prize they were holding remained: an ancient data tape.

“Impossible…” Rath muttered again, still in shock. “Data tapes haven’t been made in eons.” He marveled, taking the tape in hand, ever so gently.

“Rath, what’s going on?” Twil asked.

Shaking out of his self-absorption, Rath turned to face the others. “My people were here.” He said, holding up the strip of ancient cloth. “This is the symbol of the Ascendancy. And they left me a parting gift.” He continued, holding up the data tape in the other hand.

“What?!” Twil asked, shocked and amazed, “Can you read it?”

“Not here. Not now.” Rath said, shaking his head. “Technology for this has been outdated for thousands of years. I’ll need to build something, back at my base. But this might hold some answers.” Rath then tenderly, and carefully wrapped up the data tape and cloth, securing them in his pack.

“We came all this way just for some old datacard?” Zanroy asked annoyed.

“No.” Twil shook his head, “We came here for something more. I think we should ask Elaiza.” The Zeltron then reached his hand out towards Zanroy.

Zanroy eyed it and sighed, saying, “Right.”

The two then joined hands and closed their eyes.

Much to Rath’s shock, the vision took physical form this time. He could see Elaiza appearing in the dust, being formed by the dust. The woman appeared before them, the look on her face was one of pure anger. Her lightsaber was drawn, and it was clear that she was fighting off multiple opponents. The battle with her unseen adversaries lasted for several minutes, as she swung her blade and flipped through the air, attacking invisible enemies. Finally, with a mute shriek, she seemed to push away all foes, no doubt slamming them into walls, shattering their bones. With a heavy breath, she deactivated her lightsaber, and walked through the unobstructed door.

“Wait.” Zanroy said, once the two Force users had come to, “Was Elaiza responsible for all this?” He asked, gesturing to the piles of bones.

“Not possible.” Rath shook his head, “These remains are far too ancient.”

“Then what was she fighting?” Twil asked.

“Best guess? Probably more of those husk things that we encountered when we first arrived.” Rath offered.

“Good point.” Twil replied, “Well, guess we go through that door, then.”

As the group approached the door, they found that it was sealed shut. No amount of normal force would open it. As Zanroy prepared to use the Force to blast the door open, Twil called out, “Wait! What if this door is sealed for a reason?”

“Elaiza went through here, Twil.” Zanroy replied annoyed.

“But what if Elaiza was the one that sealed it?” Twil asked.

“You want to turn around and go back to the ship, now?” Rath asked, annoyed.

Twil knew they were both right. But he couldn’t help but feel that there was something off about the whole thing.

“Yeah, okay.” He said, defeated.

Zanroy shook his head annoyed, but returned to face the door. With an immense blast of Force energy, the door shattered into a million tiny pieces of stone. Much to all of their chock, however, the stones seemed to simply float in the air, instead of clatter violently to the ground.

“What the…?” Zanroy muttered as he entered the room.

The cavern was in stark contrast to the rest of the area. It was calm, serene. A small river of water flowed through the cavern. Bio-luminescent flora spotted the ground. Cool black rocks built a path leading upwards toward an exit shining with light. But that light was nothing compared to the millions of pinpoint lights seemingly suspended in the air overhead.

Following closely behind, Twil was suddenly overwhelmed by the Force. Not bu the light, not by the dark, it was simply, the Force. The feeling was euphoric. It was so powerful to the Zeltron that he could not control his own actions, and he used his own powers to manipulate the others into feeling the same thing he felt, even the extremely reluctant Rath couldn’t help but feel suddenly light as a feather. Twil knew that he’d be paying for this later, but in this moment, he didn’t care. He didn’t have a care in the world. He’d forgotten why he was even here. He’d be happy to be here forever, if he could. If he was being completely honest with himself.

Just then, the entire planet convulsed and shook violently. Yet not one of the crew was even the slightest bit thrown off balance. The planet may as well have been dying. But it didn’t seem to matter in this place.

As the crew continued wandering up the path, they were suddenly stopped as a figure materialized out of thin air.

The being was unlike anything Twil had ever seen before. It was humanoid. Hairless. It had no mouth or nose, only a thick layer of skin. It appeared to have metal bars either jutting out of its ears, or it was simply one metal bar impaled through the head, he couldn’t quite tell. It’s eyes were yellow, with deep black pupils, that felt as if they could pierce his soul.

It gazed at all of them, then fixed its piercing eyes on Twil. Somehow, it spoke, “What do you seek?” It asked, in a nonthreatening, yet still unsettling tone.

“Uh.” Twil started, “Yeah, hi! Uh, I’m captain Twil. I’m here to heal this place.” He asked more than stated, “I guess? I’m here looking for understanding.”

The eyes left Twil and fixed on Zanroy, “What do you seek?”

“I’m looking to put an end to Dac Diggersby.” Zanroy stated plainly.

Again, without acknowledgement, the eyes changed focus, now looking upon Idozzi, “What do you seek?”

“My family.” Idozzi answered meekly.

And finally, fixating on Rath, the creature asked again, “What do you seek?”

“Answers. I seek answers regarding project aura. I seek answers as to the whereabouts of my family. I seek answers to the problems that have been plaguing us all for far too long now.” Rath said in an angry, defiant tone.

Not fixating on any one individual now, the humanoid spoke again, “You have come to this vergence in the Force seeking answers, are you prepared to receive these answers?”

One by one, the crew answered in the affirmative.

“Behold the visions given by the Force, visions of the past, present, and future.” The voice said.

Suddenly, each crew member received flashes of visions.

The first set of visions was shared by all. In a flash of white, they could see fleets of Imperial ships flying away from Coruscant headed into the unknown regions. In another flash the vision changed to a world unrecognizable to all but one. The world was dark, and berated with strikes of lightning hitting black rocks. Even stranger still, the lightning would then erupt from the ground, shooting out into the skies, into space. Another flash as the vision changed now to a scene of a massive space battle, fleets of ships locked in deadly combat.

With another flash, Twil’s vision changed to something very different. The construction of a second Death Star was shown to him. Flash. Suddenly he was seeing the Good Trader offices on Nar Shaddaa. The office was under siege as Gretta and Solomahal fled for their lives. Solomahal protected them both with his cape as it deflected the blasterfire. Flash. The Purple Pearl was being attacked by Imperial TIE Fighters. Flash. Aklee fighting for her life against a legion of Stormtroopers. Flash. Tyber Zann speaking with a man Twil couldn’t quite recognize, holding a datapad featuring Aklee’s picture. Flash.

Zanroy was treated with an image of Dac Diggersby being berrated by every high ranking official in the Empire, being dressed down for some egregious failure. Flash. Dac yelling at the the commander of a Star Destroyer, absolutely livid. Dac shoots the commander dead. Flash. Dac facing an Imperial officer, saying, “Congratulations, Commander Canady.” Flash. Dac, alone in his room aboard the Star Destroyer, sobbing, bemoaning the loss of his wife and son. Flash. Dac screaming at Doc Barris.

Idozzi could see a slaver, peering at the various slaves toiling in the dirt. “Keep digging!” He yelled, whipping two Twi’lek’s, unmistakably her mother and father. Flash. The slaver approaching a Muun. “Give me more!” He demanded. The Muun hands the slaver two syringes full of a virulent liquid that even Idozzi could recognize at this point. Flash. The slaver injecting the poison into her mother and father.

Rath could see Stormtroopers lining Chiss up in Imperial concentration camps. Among the Chiss being lined up, he recognized immediately the face of the former leader of his house, his Aristocra and aunt, Ar’alani. Flash. Chiss in work camps. One particularly powerful image flashing in his mind, that of Thex being berated and beaten down into submission. A sight too painful and unbelievable for Rath to even comprehend. Flash. A scene of Nox sitting in a small cell, life gone from his eyes. Broken. Flash. More images of Chiss, possibly family, appearing and disappearing too quickly for Rath to comprehend. Flash. Thrawn ordering Stormtroopers on Csilla. Flash. An Imperial Commander congratualting Thrawn, “You’ve done a great service to the Empire, and to your people.”

And just as suddenly as they had come, the visions were gone. Rath did nothing to hold back the tears that were streaming down his face. Behind this helmet, no one would see them anyway.

“Where are they?” Rath asked, angrily.

The creature stared at Rath for a moment, before his mind was suddenly overwhelmed by images. Images of ship brigs, detention cells, work camps, laboratories, planets. All too quickly gone before Rath could process them.

Rath shook his head, disappointed. But said, “What is the significance of Exogol?”

Again, the creature stared quizzically at Rath, and said, “That is where it ends.” Followed by a vision of a planet of ice and desolate wastes.

“Are my friends safe?” Twil interrupted.

The being looked towards Twil, and gave him a single vision of Aklee desperately trying to contact Twil.

“You must leave now.” The creature said, “The planet is dying. They are siphoning the core. You must leave.”

Just then the cavern shook violently again, this time, they could all feel it.

“How do we get out of here?” Twil asked.

The creature gestured towards the exit behind him, before dissipating into nothingness once more.

“Okay then.” Twil said, “Uh, let’s go guys!”

As Zanroy led the way out of the cave, he found that they were once more in the ruins proper. The planet shook with another tremor, and suddenly the crew found themselves surrounded by multiple husks. Where they had come from, Zanroy couldn’t tell.

“Ugh, we don’t have time for this!” He shouted annoyed. Reaching out with the Force, he grabbed the four most obtrusive figures and violently threw them into the other husks, causing them all to explode in dust.

Not wasting any time, he continued to lead the crew out of the ruins, or, rather, he hoped he was leading them out.

Running a few feet more, he was relieved to see daylight. Until he saw what was waiting for them. Just outside of the temple were four Imperial Deathtroopers being led by a man in a mask, but clearly of some sort of Imperial significant clothing.

“Well, well, well, what do we have hear?” The leader spoke up.

“Oh, finally! It’s about time you guys showed up!” Twil said, stepping front of Zanroy, “You were supposed to be here hours ago. You need to cover our escape out of that death trap. Who knows how many more of those things are gonna show up?”

Although masked, the leader was clearly flabbergasted, “Excuse me Zeltron? Who are you to make commands of me on my planet?”

“I just told you, we’re part of the sapper team.” Twil explained, “We requested back up ages ago!”

“You… I…” The leader was clearly showing signs of confusion, and Zanroy knew exactly what Twil was doing. “Right. Of course. My apologies. Come along men, into the ruins.”

Three of the four Deathtroopers followed the leader towards the ruins entrance, but the fourth could tell something was wrong, and began running the opposite direction.

“Dang, missed one.” Twil cursed under his breath.

As Zanroy and the others chased after the only one not mind controlled by Twil’s Force tricks, Rath activated his stealth suite, and gingerly lifted the datapad from the apparent leader, before following the others down the path, away from the ruins.

As he regrouped with the others, he saw what had caused them to stop dead in their tracks. Before them was a literal Imperial army. Three AT-AT’s, half a dozen AT-ST’s, and more Stormtroopers and mercenaries than Rath could count.

“K’tah…” He muttered under his breath.

Before anyone on either side could react to the sudden appearance of the Sovereign crew, however, the calm before the storm was ripped apart by the screech of a TIE bomber’s engines, tearing through the sky. The bomber’s first payload, however, slammed right into a group of Imperial solders and AT-ST’s. The other Imperial machines of war took notice and began to fire on the bomber, which was now climbing high in the sky, twisting, twirling, and spinning gracefully in an attempt to dodge the attacks.

“Draven, you magnificent son of a bitch.” Rath laughed to himself, knowing full well that there was only one being in the Galaxy with this kind of serendipitous timing.

As the bomber continued to twirl in the air, however, its luck ran out, as it took a direct hit. Suddenly diving, the bomber managed to veer the tailspin towards one of the AT-AT’s. The bomber ripped into the walker, causing it to break in half, explosions taking up both sides of the frame.

The rear frame collapsed onto a nearby AT-ST, crushing it, while the forward section careened into another AT-AT, causing it to lunge forward, collapsing onto a nearby set of jagged rocks. The rocks then severed the head, causing it to fly further, towards the other Imperials, and towards the crew of the Sovereign, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and smoke.

As the smoke and dust settled, a single figure could be seen atop the severed AT-AT head, draped in an unmistakable “Vested” brand trench coat, Draven coughed and batted away the remaining smoke and dust, saying, “Dust mask, knew I was forgetting something.” As he patted down his coat, attaching the mask, he turned to see the dumbfounded crew of the Sovereign, “Oh, hey guys! Small galaxy, eh? What are the odds?”

“Draven?!” All but Rath exclaimed in shock.

Before any more could be said, however, they were all interrupted by an angry yell of an Imperial commander, “Kill them, you fools!” Followed by a sudden barrage of blasterfire.

“Oh, no time to chat!” Draven said, hopping back into the AT-AT head.

Shaking the shock from his mind, Zanroy refocused on the task at hand. Leaping into the air, vaulting over the closest group of Imperials, Zanroy grabbed a thermal detonator out of his coat pocket, and dropped it right in the middle of the group. As he landed, the nearby explosion tore through a legion of troopers, and sent a few of the more heavily armed foes flying off in another direction.

Idozzi noticed one particular enemy did not seem too hurt by the blast. He looked like some sort of bounty hunter. This suspicion was confirmed when he activated a jetpack. From Idozzi’s years at Teemo’s palace, she knew bounty hunter’s loved jetpacks.

Rolling her eyes, she took aim and the fatal flaw, and pierced the fuel tank with a single shot. This caused the merc to go flying through the air, slamming right into a nearby AT-ST, causing yet another violent explosion. She would have been pleased with this result, had she not overheard Zanroy cursing loudly, afterwards. It was only then that Idozzi realized just how close the Human was to the now destroyed AT-ST.

“Sorry!” She tried calling out.

Zanroy simply responded with another slew of expletives.

Twil watched in shock as the Imperials were suddenly cast into disarray. What had seemed like certain doom, now suddenly felt like hope.

He was nearly knocked off his feet, however, as the ground reverberated from the blast of the nearby AT-AT- head, firing off into the last AT-AT left standing. The bolts tore into the side of the head, crippling one of the walker’s turrets.

He was about to shout out congratulations, but it was then that out of the corner of his eye, he could see a sniper setting up a shot, no doubt aiming for Zanroy, who was in the thick of explosions and Imperials.

Igniting his newly acquired lightsaber, he rushed the unaware sniper, and cleaved his head from his body.

“Wow.” He muttered, holding the blade in his hand, “This thing’s pretty good.”

“Damn it Draven, you ruined my fun.” Rath bemoaned as he had just reached the AT-AT. With the head that badly damaged, his original plan was out. As he was coming up with a plan B, however, the AT-AT attempted to take a shot. The damaged turret backfired, and caused the AT-AT to falter, nearing precariously close to a cliff that dropped into a ravine below.

“Well, well, hello Plan B.” Rath said with a crooked smile.

He rushed towards the walker, and immediately began to work. Making use of his mechanical arms, and his own mechanical expertise, Rath systematically dismantled the front left leg, which was closest to the cliff. With a satisfying pull of a single remaining pin, the leg collapsed, and the entire walker tumbled into the ravine.

“Damn it Rath, that was mine!” He could hear Draven cursing from across the way.

Rath simply laughed to himself, as he watched the walker tumble down the cliff. His smile faded as he noticed the sudden change in path, as it rolled towards Zanroy. Before he could even think of what to do, the walker exploded, sending fiery debris every which way. Followed by Zanroy shouting, “Stop blowing things up near me!”

He then saw the human vaulting himself in the air, landing on a higher outcropping of rock, now hidden by a small, deteriorated rock wall.

Most of the threats were now eliminated, but not all. Realizing this, Draven reluctantly exited the AT-AT head, and pulled out his grappling gun. Taking aim at a nearby AT-ST, Draven hooked onto it, to allow him to swing past the ravine. While in mid air, he took aim at three more Stormtroopers. killing them all before he stuck the landing.

As Idozzi watched Draven swing from the AT-ST, she noticed that the grappling hook had pulled off some of the small walker’s armor plating. Taking aim at whatever it was that was now revealed, she took a shot. Much to her shock, the walker exploded.

“That works.” She said, surprised but satisfied.

Zanroy was exhausted, bleeding profusely, and downright pissed off. There were still two more AT-ST’s to deal with, and he would deal with them. Struggling back to his feet, he reached out with the Force. Concentrating on the rage and anger he was feeling in that moment, he lifted the walker off the ground, and with great satisfaction, he crushed the thing into a large metal ball. With another burst of rage, he sent the thing flying straight into the one last AT-ST, causing yet another massive explosion.

With a satisfied grunt, he slid back against the wall, lowering himself back to the ground.

There were only two Imperials left. The commander, and the original Deathtrooper that had escaped Twil mind trick. They were running in a panic, running away from the crew of the sovereign, or at least, from most of them. They hadn’t yet realized that they were running right towards Rath.

Pulling out his goo gun, Rath spun a web of adhesive, connecting it between a large rock and cliff face, essentially blocking their only retreat. The Imperials had no time to react, before they were suddenly entwined in the webbing. Shortly thereafter, they were shot dead, by Draven.

With a breath of relief, Rath holstered his gun, and went to rejoin Draven and the others.

“Draven.” He began, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Well, long story short… those files I got from Barris’s computer contained a lot of data referring to Kyber crystals and some ship called the Conqueror. It’s in orbit of this planet right now by the way.”

Rath cocked his head, but remained silent, eager for more information.

“That ship was the delivery point of a good chunk of those Kyber crystals, according to some manifests that I found after a few other unannounced and ‘unnoticed’ boardings.

“Well, you know me. Figured if this ship was connected to Project Aura, then it must be important, so I found my way on board. Learned something too, apparently the leader of Project Aura is Dac Diggersby… Isn’t that Zanroy’s last name too?”

“Zanroy’s father.” Rath answered, nodding.

“Soon to be a corpse.” Zanroy added.

“Huh.” Draven replied, seemingly unaffected, “Well, anyway, while I was on that ship, doing what I do, I also noticed that the ship found the Sovereign, so I knew they’d be coming after you. And I figured, who doesn’t love a family reunion, so, I stole a TIE bomber, and here I am. Well, I mean, I tried hailing the Sovereign first, but all I got was some freaked out blue and pink droid who refused to talk to me. Where’s R5?”

“That’s a long story…” Rath said morosely.

“Well, thanks for the save.” Zanroy said.

“Yeah! It’s great to see you again buddy!” Twil spoke up, pulling Draven into a hug.

“Were you able to learn anything else?” Rath asked.

“Not much.” Draven said with a shrug, “Lot’s of Imperials have been traveling to the unknown regions. I’m not sure where yet, but me and my crew are gonna try hunting them down.”

“Wait, your crew?” Rath asked.

Just then, an impossibly old Corellian XS-Stock Light Freighter flew into view, landing just a short distance away. As the boarding ramp lowered, Rath could see a menagerie of aliens disembarking. “Draven… are they…”

“Yeah! The slaves we rescued on Yavin IV!” Draven replied happily, “Turns out they knew a lot about this stuff, should’ve asked them when we had the chance. Who knew, huh? Anyway, they’ve agreed to be my crew while we search for leads.”

Before Rath could say anymore, the planet shook again, more violently than ever.

“Oh, right. This planet is kinda dying. And that ship up there intends to finish the job. I might have sabotaged it, too, so I suggest you guys get out of here, soon.”

Just then, the Sovereign flew into sight, hovering just above the ground, with the boarding ramp lowered.

“Right, great seeing you again, Draven. Keep in touch!” Twil said, hugging Draven again.

As Rath and the others jumped onto the boarding ramp, Rath could hear Draven calling out from his own ship. “Oh and by the way, nice showing off with that walker, Rath! I can see you’re rubbing off on me! Wait, crap, I meant-” Before he could continue, the boarding ramp of the ship closed off on him, and the freighter was away.

“Let’s get out of here.” Rath said, turning to Twil.

“Right.” Twil replied, rushing to the cockpit with Rath.

As the ship exited the atmosphere, they could now see the Imperial Star Destroyer in orbit.It was no normal star destroyer, though, as they could all clearly see. Wedged into the middle of the ship was some sort of large circular plate.

“Wait, Twil.” Rath said, “If that ship is connected to Project Aura, there might be something important aboard.”

“What do you mean?” Twil asked.

“I mean…” His sentence was cut short, however, as the disc was now appearing to act. Bright green lines began to form, meeting together in the center to the disc, forming a sort of cone. Then, with sudden intensity, a single, impossible large laser blasted from the cone, penetrating the planet below.

Rath watched in abject horror, as the dying planet suddenly exploded into chunks of molten rock. The entire planet had been obliterated by a single laser blast.

“They’re building miniature Death Stars.” He muttered in pure shock, “The Kyber crystals… of course….”

Before he could continue his thought process, another massive explosion shook the entire ship. The Conqueror exploded in almost as magnificent a fashion as the planet.

“Draven.” Zanroy said.

“Okay guys, we gotta go, now!” Twil said, realizing the imminent danger they were all in. Doing his best to fly through the sheer walls of debris now cluttering this section of space, he yelled out, “Rath, astrogation, get us out of here. Now!”

Working at the speed that only Rath could, he calculated the quickest jump possible to get back to known space.

As the ship lurched into hyperspace, the Sovereign’s computers lit up with a message that had been trying to reach the ship for some time.

Twil and Rath exchanged a weary look before Twil played the message. Appearing in the screen was a man that Rath recognized immediately as Duke Erron Irbian, He was holding Aklee at blasterpoint, and said simply, “Twil. Call me back.”