Battle for Earth

Return of the old Apprentice

Athena nearly jumped out of her skin. Her saberstaff flew into her hands and ignited two teal blades as she turned around to face the voice.

"Jalo! You again?!" Athena growled.

Jalo stood near less than a meter from Athena as the teal blades of her lightsaber hummed near his chest. He now wore a long sleeve white sweater with the shoulders and neck being grey. He wore black pants that went to his rusty brown boots. Athena's eye spotted the blaster strapped under his left arm and a new lightsaber on his belt. His dark blonde hair was slightly longer and his eyes seemed to have changed to a complete blue instead of a muddy brown. His eyes were the same icy blue as her father's, not a royal blue like Ezra's or Ahsoka's.

"We meet again, Syla," Jalo greeted. "Congratulations on your defeat of Abeloth."

"Don't say her name!" Athena snapped as she neared her blades near his heart. "What are you doing here?"

"I-" before he could even get his second word out, a shout from behind Athena interrupted him.

"Jalo!"

Athena turned around to see Rae. Rae swung her twin blades at Jalo's neck. Athena was quick to block the violet blades just before they came in contact with Jalo. Jalo ducked and his hand hovered over his lightsaber as Athena held Rae off.

"What are you doing?!" Rae shouted as she took her blades away from the clash. "Have you gone mad?!"

"Rae! Hold on! I think he's here for a reason!" Athena put her hand up to put distance between Rae and Jalo.

"To kill us!" Rae yelled as she glared at Jalo. "You should be dead!"

"Hey! He's not going to kill us!"

"Yes he is! You don't know him, Athena!" Rae shouted. "He'll kill us the second you give him a chance!"

"Look, Rachelle-"

Rae seemed to be at the breaking point with Jalo. She whipped her pistol out of her holster on her belt and aimed it at Jalo's head.

"Call me Rachelle one more time. I dare you!"

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Athena shouted. "There is no need to bring a gun into this mess!"

Rae and Athena soon started to get into an argument where no words could be deciphered since it was yelling over top of yelling. Jalo dared not say anything as Rae still had the pistol aimed in between his eyes and he held up his hands.

The yelling abruptly stopped when a calm voice was heard not too far away.

"Padawan?"

The three turned their heads to the source of the calm voice where Cyla stood with her green blade ignited, but down.

"Master?" Jalo seemed to be in disbelief as he looked over to Cyla.

"What?!" Rae's eyes were wide.

"I thought you were dead," Jalo said as Cyla approached him.

"There is no death. There is the Force, my old Padawan."

"Wait...WHAT? You're his-"

"I was his Master...Yes," Cyla confirmed and turned to Jalo. "I thought you were with the Empire."

"I was. Now I'm not," Jalo said, gulping as Cyla stood only a meter away from him. She seemed to have a mix of disbelief and disappointment in her green eyes as she looked at her former Padawan as she held her green blade at her side.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm here to warn you about an attack that will be carried out by the American Earthlings. They sent me here after I was captured. It seems as if they want to warn you."

"Why would they attack us? They helped us on Earth," Athena asked as she turned off her lightsaber.

"Why should we believe him?" Rae snarled.

"Rachelle Styles, as my former Apprentice, you and I have a bond, no? So, you know if I am lying or not very easily in the Force. Do not let your emotions cloud what is true in the Force."

"Wait, you were her Master?" Cyla asked Jalo. "When did that happen?"

"The Empire and I had a deal and I took this brat from the Inquisitors-to-be litter and I took her as my Apprentice," Jalo gestured to Rae. "She left after a while and trained under Master Luminara Unduli until her death."

That triggered Rae to take her twin lightsaber and hold them to Jalo's throat.

"Hey! Hey! HEY!" Athena shouted as she was in between Rae and Jalo. Athena soon used the Force to turn off Rae's lightsabers and rip them out of her hands and into her own. She threw the cylinders onto the ground in front of her feet. "No cutting people's heads off! Everyone put their lightsabers in the pile! Apparently we can't be civil!"

Athena soon threw her own lightsaber in the pile and took Jalo's and threw his into the pile too. Athena turned to her mother who still had her green blade ignited. Athena crossed her arms and stared at her mother.

"Mom...please?" Athena kindly requested. "It's not the Jedi way to use our lightsabers as a tool of negotiation."

"Fine." and Cyla turned off her blade to throw her lightsaber in the pile also.

"Now, what about Earth sending an attack here?" Cyla asked.

"They sent me out into the galaxy with the information and warning of them attacking. Something about a nuclear missile being stolen," Jalo told.

"How do they know about it?" Rae asked.

Sighing and rubbing the back of her neck, Athena admitted, "Darn it...I may or may not have mentioned that when I was talking to that agent when they took me from the Empire...I think they pieced together the puzzle."

"What?!" Rae exclaimed.

"Let's not lose our heads, ladies," Cyla said. "We can fix this. Jalo, what else did they say?"

"Nothing," Jalo answered.

"We have no way to contact them. How do we stop this attack?" Rae asked.

"They may not send an an army of troops. They might use knowledge against us. Knowledge of our location," Cyla suggested.

"I actually do have communication with the United States government. They had a communicator implanted in my wrist while I was a bounty hunter for them," Jalo told. "It broken after I had fallen off my ship back in Mexico." Jalo glared at Rae.

"We'll get that fixed then at the base. I better tell Sato about this," Cyla told. "You can ride with us. It'll be a tight fit, but we'll make it."

"Hold on," Rae interjected. "We're taking him to our secret base?! Are you kidding me! He tried to kill us!"

"Yeah, Mom, I'm not too trusting of him after he tried to kill me and my brother."

"My old Padawan can handle himself for a while," Cyla assured. "If he doesn't, Rae, you're allowed to cut his head off."

Rae smiled at that.