What Could Have Been Part III: The Destined Warriors

Coming In Hot

      Anakin

      Getting on board had been easy. A Jedi mind trick here, a Jedi mind trick there, and he was aboard without too much hassle. It was taking control of the ship and driving it into the ground that concerned Anakin.

       Anakin Skywalker: Jedi Grand Master, war hero, general, and... space pirate. Won't Padme be impressed. Anakin thought as he slipped through the halls of the ship. It was a glorious vessel inside and out. Glossy chrome floors and walls created a distorted reflection that followed his every move he made. The command deck was wide open and finished with durasteel observation platforms where the high ranking officers inspected the soldiers beneath them. From his position above on a shadowy catwalk, Anakin had a difficult time staying out of sight while silently marveling at the spectacular ship he was about to obliterate. It was only an hour before the crew alerted their captain that they had reached their destination.

      "Captain Fett, we are right outside Onderon's atmosphere. Shall we begin our landing?"

      "Continue, Private. Today marks a true victory in the history of the galaxy. We have seen the end of Anakin Skywalker, and we will soon see the end of the Alliance."

       Could he have thought of anything lamer to say?  Anakin thought from his hiding spot. With that, he took a step off his vantage point and landed dead center in the middle of the control room.

       "I hate to ruin your little 'victory in the history of the galaxy' speech, but there's a few minor faults in it. One of them being, what was it? Oh yeah... I'm not dead," Anakin announced proudly. Captain Fett's helmet swiveled around to face Anakin. He drew his rifle as the rest of the crew stared idly. Anakin shrugged his shoulders as he reached into the folds of his cloak. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he warned casually as he held up a metal sphere no bigger than the size of his fist.

      "Allow me to introduce to you, Captain, a weapon of my own design. I call it, Idiot's Array. I'm sure you've heard of thermal detonators. Well, this is a thermal detonator's big brother. Twice the size... twice the boom. You do the math." Fett's finger curled around his trigger as Anakin toyed with the tiny bomb in his hand. "Go ahead and shoot me. But just so you know, this bad boy's a little unstable. If I drop it, well... I think you get the idea." He tossed the sphere in the air about a meter and caught it again; his eyes never straying from Fett. The captain eased his gun down. "This is terrorism," he barked. Anakin smiled deviously. "Oh of course not. I prefer the term, piracy. I'm a pirate now."

      A wave of unease passed over the crew as Fett glared at Anakin. He lowered his gun to his side and sighed. "I'm impressed, Skywalker. You are a gallant pirate indeed..."

      "But that was a lousy bluff."

      Fett pulled a pistol from his holster and shot the metal sphere clean out of Anakin's hand. The ball ricocheted against the wall and rolled to the floor with nothing but a dent in it. Anakin couldn't help but feel sheepish at the failure of his plan. So much for that idea...

      Now Anakin had no choice but to fight his way through this one. He ignited his lightsaber as armed soldiers poured in through the doorways. A volley of shots flashed toward him as his sword deflected them back toward their point of origin. As clones fell, more took their places. He was horribly outnumbered.

       "Sir, we're under attack!"

      "We're what?"

      Even Anakin and the soldiers turned their heads at this. Who was attacking? They had just come out of hyperspace. No one following them could have been close enough to catch them and no one on Onderon could have known they were coming.

      "A small battalion is approaching in attack position at the left rear of the ship."

      Captain Fett slammed his fist on the control panel. "We are in the most well equipped battleship in the galaxy! No battalion of ship's is stopping us from completing our mission! Shoot every last one of them down!" Anakin eyed the rifle at Fett's side. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that," he declared. Using the Force, Anakin ripped the rifle out of the Captain's hands and into his own. He leapt from his spot on the observation deck and dove for the control panels. The weapon was finicky and difficult for him to handle, but Anakin managed to land a dozen or so shots at the control boards. Sparks flew like a fireworks display but it only took a second for the clone troopers to return to firing at him as he darted across the control room.

     Out of nowhere, a blast more precise than all the others knocked the rifle out of Anakin's hand. Just as before, it came from none other than Captain Fett's pistol. Another shot was dangerously close to grazing Anakin's neck which it would have, had Anakin not moved just in time. I've gotta get that gun away from him. He thought as he resorted to defending the rest of the blasterfire with his lightsaber.

      It was then that a shutter from beneath the ship rattled everyone aboard. The frantic crew checked the controls which were still spewing sparks and smoke. "We were hit!" one of them gasped. Fett turned to him furiously. "Then hit them back!" he ordered. The Private shook his head. "The controls are fried. We're defenseless!" Fett grunted heavily. "Then take us down to the planet! I don't want a scratch on this ship!" he growled.

      "What about a scratch inside it?" Anakin asked with a smile as he grabbed for the captain's pistol. Fett grabbed desperately for the gun, setting it off and firing stray shots all over the room. It was mass chaos as troopers bombarded the doorways while the panicked crew attempted to evacuate the control deck that was now ablaze with the flames of the motherboard. "Who ordered an evacuation? Back to your posts!" Fett demanded with more fire in his voice than before. The men paid no attention despite their genuine fear of the testy captain. Disobeying orders was not nearly as dangerous as their current situation which was quite literally going down in flames.

      The ship shuttered once more as it was thundered on by the team of ships outside. This time though, it seemed that they must have hit the fusion reactors because the ship slowly became engulfed with raging flames; turning the once beautiful ship into a gigantic fireball plummeting toward the lush green planet of Onderon.

      As the rest of his crew evacuated to escape pods, Fett could no longer deny it. His ship was going down. Abandoning his precious assault weapon was his last choice. As the vessel lurched downward, throwing him toward the bow, a gave one last look at Anakin; half anger, half despair. "You're a mad man!" he exclaimed.

      "Pirate!" Anakin corrected triumphantly. As Fett was scrambling toward the exit, Anakin found one of the last control panels that was not spitting flames and searched for any means of taking direction of the exploding craft. The only thing he could find was an intercom. Maybe he could contact the fleet that had attacked the ship.

      "This is Anakin Skywalker! Do you read me? This is Anakin Skywalker..." Static on the other end was barely audible. "I repeat: This is Anakin Skywalker! Is anyone there?"

      "Ani, we hear you. Now would you get off that flaming hunk of metal already?"

      Anakin's face lit up in astonishment. "Padme? Wh- What are you- How did you-" Padme's sweet laugh crackled over the com. "I told you, Anakin. Wherever you're going, I'm right behind you. Now would you please get off that thing before it crashes into the ground?" Anakin wasn't sure how Padme and the rest of the Alliance had gotten their so fast, but he wasn't going to wait around for an explanation. As the ship broke the surface of the atmosphere, he hopped up to leave.

      "I'm taking the last pod down to Onderon. I'll meet you down there. Oh, and stay clear of this thing. It's coming in hot!"