Escape from the Imperials part 1

Joint post between Nim, Halvtand, and Lily

Serenity ran through the forest leaping from tree to tree. She was trying to avoid the storm troopers witch was getting increasingly harder and harder to avoid. As she had to stay low enough in the trees at avoid the TIEs but high enough to be just out of sight of the storm troopers. Several times a stray bolt from a blaster came close to hitting her. She suddenly stopped in her tracks.

She felt something was that the master from the vision she saw. A blaster bolt flew past nearly hitting her in the head. “Help I’m afraid,” she thought as she started to move again. Fear and panic were starting to take hold. “ how did they know why after master had been dead for two years.” She thought as she continued to run. The wail of the tie fighters told her that that were right on top of her while the troopers were just below her. Things were not looking good. She felt as if it didn't matter if she would be captured and her master had died for nothing.

That was until she felt that pull a second time this time hearing something. “Tell me…Show me where you are and I can help you…” it must have been the Jedi master from the vision. It had to be she could feel his presence but did not know where he was. “They are chasing me, the TIE Fighters are right over head and there is a squad of troopers just under me.” She thought back she half though it was hopeless she could not give a landmark because she could not stop moving.

She heard the voice again” trust in the force” it was as if that was just what she needed to hear. She was getting tired but she had hoped that she would escape the troopers and get away from this planet. The planet was beautiful but she felt as if the imperials would destroy it. But she would live and her master would not have died in vain.

That connection was all that Anto had needed. The young girl trying to reach out made her shine like a beacon in the force. For both good and bad, she hadn’t learned to control that part of the force yet so while he could find her, so could any other force users in the vicinity. Light or dark.

He opened his eyes again, the direction of the girl locked in his mind, like the path to a well-known place. Pushing away the branches and leaves he’d covered himself with, he stood up quickly and got ready to move. He’d sensed her fear and desperation, she was being chased by imperial troopers. Half impressed with her ability to stay ahead of them, he also realised that her luck would run out sooner rather than later.

He grabbed his lightsaber in his right hand and made sure it was set to the normal state. He didn’t have time to sneak around and dodge the patrols any more. If anything he’d taken too long already, but the past could not be changed.

He set off at running speed, heading straight for the beacon in his mind. She wasn’t that far away, he could hear the TIE-fighters screaming in the distance as they dove down from above to get a shot at - he now knew - the girl. Rushing through the undergrowth Atno found himself suddenly face-to-helmet with one of the squads of troopers. Surprised, Anto hesitated for a microsecond. In that helmet he saw the clone troopers he’d fought side by side with for so long. Cutting them down felt like betraying an old friend every time, and it hurt. He wished he’d had the time to avoid them, that he could trust his ability to turn their minds and make them forget they’d even seen him, that he could put them to sleep for a few minutes and escape with the girl before they’d even realised what was going on. But he had no such luxury, he could not afford to take the risk of not affecting even one of the troopers. He had to take them out, he had to take them all out, and fast. Before they could call in their position and ask for reinforcements. Before they could gather around him, surround him and shoot him dead. Before they could get to the girl and shoo her dead, or capture her and send her off to be brainwashed by the dark side, turned into an inquisitor, another enemy for the few Jedi that remained. He needed her, the Jedi order needed her. Anto was a master, true, but she would be able to carry on their legacy for far longer than he if she could only survive this and receive the training she needed.

A meaty thumb touched the activation button on Anto’s lightsaber and in less than the blink of an eye the Jedi master had cut down the trooper in front of him. The others raised their blaster carbines and started firing, but Anto had no time to be a target. With the force as an ally, he could move much faster than normal people. It was like time slowed down. The first blaster bolt came toward him and he had more than enough time to raise the blade of his weapon to meet it. With a flick of his wrist he sent it back to the trooper right next to the shooter. As more blaster fire came he threw himself to the side, avoiding it all. Two more quick steps brough the closest trooper within his range and Anto brought his saber down across his weapon, and then forward through the troopers body. The three remaining storm troopers turned toward him and aimed their carbines with lethal precision. The Jedi master saw an opportunity to disable them all in one maneuver. He reached his left hand out toward them, palm facing them and pushed. The invisible force left his palm, rustled the grass in the small clearing and then grabbed the troopers and sent them screaming and flying away from Anto and into a pair of thick trees behind them. While their armor would save them from getting impaled by branches or splitting their skulls open on rocks, the sheer force of the impact would at least knock them out for a while, if they would be able to survive at all.

Well, she was still unable to determine where the Jedi Master was although she knew he was on his way, so she continued to run and hope he would find her soon. "Help!” Serenity thought, her control over the force more an instinctive thing then a practiced one. She was lucky she had only been hit once by a blaster but the burn in her side and the better part of the day she had spent running were taking their toll on her.

Eventually, she heard the sound of blaster fire and the filler hum of a lightsaber. It was not that far behind her. She followed the sound it was not long before she was in the trees above the noise. What she saw from her patch was amazing. The Jedi master moved so fast she could not make out any of his features.

Serenity dropped down from the trees just behind him. She landed lightly and held her lightsaber at the ready more troops were likely to come and there was still the TIEs to contend with. ”What is your plan?” she called out loud. She half wondered if the mysterious master had a plan or was he making it up as he went.

“To be frank, I’m pretty much making this up as I go along” The Jedi master replied “I sensed that you were in great danger, so there was little time to come up with a proper plan. The ship I came with should’ve been left unharmed by the imperials, with some luck we can fight our way back to it and get away from here. Come.”

After the transports had arrived to pick up the injured soldiers from the first encounter, Ria ran ahead to rejoin the chase.

She heard the sounds of battle before she saw it. There was way too much screaming happening. Something was amiss. The blaster fire ceased.

Her heart pounding in her chest, Ria crept forward through the forest. "This is CT-9433, what happened to the scout? Did you guys subdue her? Over."

Then she caught a glimpse of a prone figure in white armor in the distance. By the Emperor…

The sense of impending doom increased with every step. "This is CT-9433 to base, I think I'm going to die. You can find my body in Sector H22, er wait, correction, I guess I'm in H56 now." she squeaked into the helmet com. Suddenly…

"Two sentient lifeforms detected!" her floating ball-shaped recon droid beeped cheerfully nearby, causing Ria to yelp in surprise.

"Gaaah, are you trying to get me killed?!" she whispered harshly. Wait… TWO sentients…

"CT-9433, this is General Odet. Do not panic, I am approaching your position with reinforcements."

Despite the General's order, Ria was still pants-wetting terrified as she followed the annoying droid toward her fallen comrades. Soon she saw the source of their demise: the girl had come down from the trees, her blue glowstick of doom held in front of her, and she was now accompanied by a big red leathery alien in similar styled robes who was holding a yellow glowstick of doom. Ria did not avoid their attention for long.

Thinking quickly, Ria grabbed the droid floating in front of her, raised it over her head, and shrieked, "Drop your weapons now or I will blow us all up!". The young girls eyes widened and she froze.

"Hey, that tickles," the droid commented.

“Did that ball just talk” she said turning her head sideways with a confused expression. She lowered her glowstick but did not drop it.

Ria was, of course, bluffing. While earlier models of the R line of recon droids violently explode when their self destruct sequence was initiated, that feature was dropped from later models after research found that accidental explosions killed far more friendlies than planned explosions did bad guys. As a droid technician, Ria definitely appreciated not having to run diagnostics on floating bombs. Now, though, she kind of wished she had more bite to back up her bark, but well, fake it till you make it…

"I said drop your weapons!" she demanded again with false bravado.

“Master?” the girl squeeked, glancing at the alien. Then responding to Ria, she asked “Why should we? You will kill us either way."

“Very perceptive, she is bluffing, let us leave while we still can” The leathery male told the girl, clearly unconcerned with Ria’s threat as he switched his doomstick off and returned it to its place on his belt.

"I, uh…" Ria hadn't really thought things through to this point yet. "Er, maybe…"

The sudden roar of speeder bike engines interrupted her weak attempt at coming up with an excuse to get the girl to drop her doom stick. Three speeders came into view. Two were manned by scout troopers, but the third…

General Shevan Odet, Garrison Commander of the planet, clad in her grey officer uniform and protected by an olive breastplate and helmet, parked and leapt off her bike with surprising grace for someone of her advanced age, then strode toward them.

"Please do as my soldier has ordered, Jedi." Ria saw the General grimace as she took in the scene. Then things got even weirder as General Odet reached to her belt and instead of pulling out a blaster, pulled out her own glow stick of doom, this one green, and held it in front of her. Ria and the scout troopers exchanged astonished looks. When did the General get a laser sword?

"Soon, armored walkers and dropships will arrive," General Odet continued. "You are hopelessly outmatched. There has been enough death today. Drop your weapons, come with me, and I am sure we can come to an agreement on our next steps from there. If you do not comply, I will, with regret, well, some regret, have to order your demise."

Anto gazed into the general’s eyes. He’d been halfway to bringing his lightsaber up when the speeders had arrived, but saw now that it was pointless. The general was not bluffing and was wielding that lightsaber like she’d done so for some time. It was no mere trinket she’d picked up because it was cool and destructive, she was trained. How much he couldn’t spot from a mere glance, possibly he’d be able to take her out in a duel. However, while he was battling the general the rest of the troopers would be ganging up on his newfound companion. What was worse, the general was not bluffing about the reinforcements either. He could not take out a trained lightsaber-wielder, a squad of troopers on swoops AND whatever reinforcements were on the way. Not while also keeping another person safe from harm, and that was definitely not a risk he was willing to take.
“Do as she says” He told the girl, and motioned with his hand for her to drop the weapon “The force would not lead us together only to have us meet our end like this, trust it.”

As the walkers came into sight Serenity reluctantly deactivated and dropped her lightsaber. She dropped her head refusing to look at anyone. She remains silent as the troops approached and put the binders on her. A Trooper picks up her saber ass well. Her mind consumed by fear and despair. She shut her eyes tight she did not want to let any of them see her cry. Especially not the other jedi. She opened her eyes as one of the troopers prodded her with his blaster. She followed silently and did not care where they were taking them. They would be dead soon enough anyway she knows what the imperials did to jedi. Her master had made sure to teach her and warn her not to get caught by the imps.

The Jedi master stood still with his arms down while the imperial soldiers cuffed the girl, and then allowed them to do the same to him. They grabbed his weapon from his belt and the satchel off his back as well. “Move” a soldier behind him said as he felt something hard in his back and was forced to walk behind the girl in the direction of the walkers.

As the girl and the alien were getting cuffed, Ria felt the tension seep out of her shoulders. She was alive! She had thought for sure that she was going to join her comrades. Speaking of which…

Ria let go of the recon droid, which gleefully floated over to the General to give its report (and maybe file a complaint) and knelt down near a clump of fallen soldiers, carefully removing the helmet of the closest trooper. Feeling his pulse, she sighed in relief when she felt a heartbeat. She could tell that he was going to have a nasty concussion though. Ria removed the helmet of another trooper and gritted her teeth. His head was twisted at a weird angle, his pulse a breathing were silent. Broken neck… he was dead.

She moved on to the last guy in the area and removed his helmet. As soon as she did, the young man began to blink.

"Is it morning already?" he groaned.

"Actually it's well after noon," Ria informed him.

"Aw crap, I'm late for my patrol!" The man shot up, only for Ria to semi-gently push him back down.

"Easy, easy, you've been injured. Transports are on the way."

"CT-9433?"

Hearing the general call out her operating number, Ria scrambled to her feet and saluted. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that a scout walker and a transport tank had arrived at the scene, and the glowstick wielders were being pushed into the back of the tank. "Yes General Odet?"

The General, now flanked by a squad of medical personnel, smiled, then replied, "Please report the condition of the troops you have examined to these men, then get on the transport and watch over the Jedi. The girl has been grazed; patch up her wound if she will let you. And good work soldier. Your distraction bought us just enough time to get to the scene and force them to surrender."

"Yes General, thank you General!" Ria gushed. General Odet the turned and began shouting orders at the AT-ST pilots while Ria told the doctors about the two concussed soldiers and the one with the broken neck. As the professionals got to work, Ria timidly went into the tank, where she quickly saw the prisoners getting their cuffs chained to the benches they were seated at. After the scout troopers tested the chains to make sure they were snug, one of them turned to Ria and saluted. "They're all yours.

Ria gulped and slumped into the bench. She was not looking forward to this, not one bit. Even without their glowing sticks of doom, something about these people felt… unnatural...