CHAPTER TWO
"Found anything yet?"
Toah Jarsan sighed as he rose to his feet, scanning the ruins of the former Jedi Enclave of Dantooine. "Nothing, Kyp," he said to the other Jedi Knight. "It's strange though. This place feels so familiar...as if I've been here before."
"Well, your father was a Jedi," Kyp Durron said. "Maybe he took you here on tour when you were a kid."
Toah shook his head. "I doubt it somehow. I don't think I ever knew my father...or at least my true father."
Kyp rose an eyebrow. "You think you were raised by foster parents?"
"It's possible," Toah said with another sigh. "Well, let's go meet up with Kyle. I'm sure the Sith will be here any minute."
Suddenly, the ground gave a small shake. Kyp gave Toah a grim look.
"I think they're already here."
* * *
"What in the worlds was that?!" Kyle exclaimed as he got up from the ground. Looking around, he could see that whatever knock him off his feet did the same to the stormtroopers that were approaching, as well as their commanding officers.
Nearby, Kelbis was scrambling for his binoculars. As he adjusted its settings, the Rodian's bulbous eyes widened. "Kyle, do AT-ATs normally have large cannons on their side?"
Kyle stiffened. "No, they don't.
"Well, this one does."
Suddenly, the barrels of the AT-AT walker's cannons began to glow with a whitish-green energy. After a moment's pause, they fired, sending a blast of power into the ground, which then sent a series of seismic waves, knocking Kyle, Kelbis, and everyone else nearby off their feet again.
Before he could recover, Kyle saw an Imperial shuttle descend from the sky. Once it had landed, at least a dozen figures walked down the landing ramp. In the lead was a person Kyle recognized all to well, even though it had been more than fourteen years since he last saw him.
Starkiller.
* * *
"We've lost Blue Squadron," Hawk muttered to Lando. "And I can't make contact with Katarn's team. I think we've lost, sir."
"No," Lando said firmly. "We're not giving up. Not yet. Make contact with Coruscant and request them to send Rogue Squadron."
"Do you think they'll make it in time?" Hawk asked.
Lando sighed. "Only one way to find out, isn't there?"
As Hawk went to carry out his orders, Lando took out his comlink and spoke into it. "Green Leader, how's it going?"
"Not good, sir," said the leader of Green Squadron known as Gorshun. "We've got Imp fighters tailing us everywhere we go. I'm not sure how much longer we can hold them off."
"Just hang in there, Gorshun," Lando said. "Rogue Squadron is on their way."
Gorshun responded with a sigh. "I sure hope they'll make it in time..."
Lando chuckled quietly and softly. "Of course they will. They aren't called the Republic's best for nothing!"
* * *
"Well, this is a surprise." The man Kyle once knew to be Sen-Axe Valan looked down upon him with a look of both pity and disdain. "The great Kyle Katarn lies before me in defeat, armless and vulnerable."
Kyle glared at Starkiller but said nothing. The Sith Lord went on.
"Now, I'm going to offer you a choice. You can surrender this planet to us and leave with your lives, or you can all be destroyed." He grinned. "Either way, you lose."
Kyle glanced at Kelbis, who, unbeknownst to Starkiller, was reaching for his comlink. Kyle took the chance to stall for his Rodian friend. "All right," he said. "We surrender. Though I'm not sure why you'd want Dantooine. It might be a bit...boring for guys like you."
Starkiller laughed. "Ah, you misunderstand. You see, we're not here to conquer Dantooine." He gestured to the Imperial Star Destroyers that flew overhead. "We're here to destroy it."
Kyle frantically glanced at Kelbis again, who seemed to be frozen in shock, his hand hovering over the comlink. Starkiller seemed to notice this and his grin grew wider.
"You've realized it now, haven't you? You've realized that you've lost, and that your Republic shall-"
Before the Sith Lord could finish, Kyle heard what sounded like a speeder bike approaching. Both he and Starkiller turned to see a cloaked figure riding the speeder, a violet-colored lightsaber in hand. Starkiller and his accompanying Crimson Knights immediately ignited their lightsabers. Kyle took this as an opportunity to make his move, and he retrieved his own laser-sword, activating its blue blade.
He charged towards the Sith, only to be pushed away by one of the Crimson Knights via the Force. At that moment, the mysterious stranger leaped off the speeder bike and lunged towards Starkiller, whose weapon clashed with the being's.
As the two adversaries dueled, Kyle noticed that Kelbis was also using this diversion to his advantage and he activated his comlink.
* * *
"Admiral, we have the Republic ships distracted," the captain of the Eradicator reported to Martok Zel. "What are your orders now?"
Zel did not answer right away. Instead, he simply gazed at the Republic ships, trying in vain to escape the Imperial Star Destroyers surrounding them.
This is too easy, he thought. They surely wouldn't let themselves get beaten so easily. They must have something up their sleeve...
"Sir?" the captain said again. "Sir, what are your orders?"
Zel quickly snapped back to reality. "Fire on their flagship," he ordered. "Full power."
Before the captain could carry out the orders, however, an Imperial ensign called from the bridge. "Sirs, we're detecting a number of enemy fighters coming out of hyperspace!"
"Blast!" Zel exclaimed. "I knew they were up to something! Send all TIE squadrons and eliminate them!"
The ensign rose an eyebrow. "All of them, sir?"
"You heard me!" Zel snapped. "Send all TIE fighter squadrons! Now!"
The ensign quickly nodded and headed off the bridge. Once he was gone, Zel turned back to the captain. "Are our weapons at full power?"
The captain nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Then fire."
* * *
Toah ran through the lines of fire, deflecting blaster bolts from Imperial stormtroopers. Not too far behind him was Kyp Durron, who was evading enemy fire from AT-ST walkers. And as if that wasn't enough for them, an AT-AT walker was looming over them as well, with over-sized cannons attached to its sides, primed to fire.
Just as Toah struck down the last few stormtroopers, he heard the giant walker's cannons begin to hum. With the aid of the Force, he broke into a quick run just as the AT-AT's twin cannons fired. A large shockwave sent Toah flying off the ground, landing painfully on the grass. Groaning, he struggled to get up, but to no avail.
The Imperial walker towered over him, ready to fire again. The red light in its head seemed to be staring at him menacingly.
An idea sparked in Toah's head. Retrieving his lightsaber, he activated it and, with enough strength, flung it towards the AT-AT's visor. Once it made contact, the head simply sparked for a moment before exploding with a loud, thunderous boom. It began to topple before slowly falling to the ground.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Toah painfully yet strongly got up from the ground to meet up with Kyp, who had apparently already taken care of the AT-ST walkers.
What a surprise, Toah thought. He always gets the easy ones.
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