What Could Have Been Part III: The Destined Warriors

Blast from the Past

Leia

Leia recognized the voice. As the flood lights flickered to life, she recognized his steely grey eyes. She knew there were thousands identical to him, but this was definitely...

"Blast."

Blast. The the young clone Leia had met on Felucia now stood full-grown in the same cobalt armor as his brothers, his helmet at his side.

"Long time no see, Sweetheart. Nice of you drop in." Leia breathed sharply as she felt her brother's eyes land on her.

You know this guy?

Remember the clone boy from Felucia?

The one who ended up being a bad guy? The one who betrayed you? The one I said I would decapitate if I ever ran into?

So you do remember him...

A haughty smirk tugged at Blasts lips as he placed his fingers on the trigger of his rifle. "Hey no hard feelings, right Babe?" He remarked, shrugging towards Leia. With her lightsaber still ignited in her hand, she took a step closer. "Enough with the games, Lover boy. We're here for answers!" She growled. Luke was by her side, his lightsaber ablaze and ready to slice through the smart mouthed clone.

"Easy, easy... I'll answer all the questions you want. But before that, I'll need you to hand over your weapons." Blast demanded. Leia lunged in, her lightsabers less than an inch from Blast's neck. "Over my dead body!" She snarled. Blast, though slightly alarmed, cracked a knowing grin. "Well I like the sound of that. What do you think, Commander?"

Leia looked around in confusion. Commander? Leia looked to her brother. Tension was evident on his face as his eyes flickered across the room. And then his eyes landed on her. A puzzled look crossed his face as he studied something on her. Leia soon realized what it was when the same thing appeared in her brother's skin; a laser scope.

And then there were more. Thousands of red dots covered their bodies. They were all coming from troops that lined the hanging catwalks lining the interior of the gigantic ship. Leia retreated to her brother's side as Blast strode forward pridefully. "Now," he began. "I'm going to ask you again..."

"Hand over your weapons."

Anakin

They jumped.

Anakin couldn't believe it. They had actually jump.

Not only had they jumped, they had jumped onto a sonic speed fighter assult weapon that had been dive bombing the Jedi Temple for the past ten minutes. Anakin didn't know whether to be angry or proud.

He chose angry as he stood at the edge of the landing bay that overlooked the city. It seemed the ship that his son and daughter had unexpectedly boarded was taking off toward the north end of the city. That worried Anakin. If they weren't coming back, they had gotten what they wanted.

Luke and Leia.

Meanwhile, the ground battle seemed to fizzle out. Astonishingly, Rett's military was retreating from the battle, even though they had the upper hand. About a dozen gunships circled the Temple; landing one by one to collect the navy armored troops.

Alliance soldiers and Jedi lay wounded throughout the hectic bay as Anakin watched one ship take off full of its passengers. What was left of the Alliance troops shot futilely at the ships, only managing to take out a couple clones. This battle was over.

But Anakin Skywalker had one trick up his sleeve.

As another gunship was meters from touching down, Anakin reignited his blue sword and sprinted after it. Dumbfounded clonetroopers turned toward him but by the time they took aim, Anakin was aboard the gunship.

It didn't take long to take out the handful of troops on board. Anakin shoved the pilot off the ship with one push and then was in control. He studied the panel of buttons and switches for just a second until his gloved hands wrapped around the controls. In an instant, his flying skills were locked into his mind.

No matter how old he got, Anakin Skywalker would always be a pilot at heart.

The gunship was fast. But it wasn't fast enough. Even at top speed, Anakin knew if he was going to catch the ship Luke and Leia were on, he was going to have to make a few adjustments.

Forcing the engines onward, Anakin guided the gunship through the towering skyscrapers on Coruscant. He was trailing behind the phantom ship at quite some distance but it was only a matter of time until he hot wired the engine. If only he could reach the mother board...

A sudden jolt in the rear of the ship forced Anakin back against his seat. He had been hit! The scanners indicated two more gunships in pursuit of the rogue one he was flying. Perfect. Just perfect. The ship ahead of him was gaining distance and now he would have to shake the pair behind him as well.

Anakin increased the shield power and turned his attention to the scanners. He was in no mood to play around and if it was a fight they wanted, it was a quick death they would get. The guns on the top of the flyer made a 180° turn and focused on one of the two ships. With a twitch of his thumb, he fired straight into the main hull of the ship. Flames poured from the forward bow but the pilot managed to keep the ship air born.

Have it your way. Anakin flicked his wrists with incomparable precision and his ship made a sharp turn right. As he predicted, both ships attempted to follow him. The already-damaged ship lurched sideways and swung into the side of the building while the other hung on Anakin's tail. That's one down. He thought thankfully as he leaned down for a closer look at the mother board. One hand was still absently directing the reigns of the ship to avoid colliding into any buildings itself.

But when Anakin glanced at the scanners, two more ships had appeared on his radar. They edged close to him and he was forced to turn his attention fully to flying rather than hot wiring. "Oh kriff," he muttered under his breath. With a ship on either side of the stern and another practically in his back seat, Anakin prepared himself for attack. Sure enough, the ships began their lethal firing and all Anakin could do was pray that he had better aim than them.

With no other choice, Anakin pulled down the nose of the ship, plunging it towards the ground of Coruscant. As the ships followed, firing a torrent of shots right at him, he suddenly jerked the ship right, then left, then back up again. The trio of ships lagged behind; unable to match his elite flight skills.

But he wasn't out of the woods yet. The ship his children rode on was nearly out of tracking range and the only way to catch up was to enhance his ships speed abilities.

Anakin disconnected one of the motherboard's wires. When he did so, the gunship's engine fizzled out and the ship fell. Quickly, Anakin reached down and reconnected the wire to the emergency ion engine. Here goes nothing... Sparks spewed out as the ship spiraled toward the ground and Anakin held his breath until the engine kicked back on.

A roar from the rear of the hull brought the ship back to life. Anakin snapped his attention back to the controls and gunned it forward. The trailing gunships behind him fell out of range as Anakin tore across the city after his son and daughter.

You two are in so much trouble...