Star Wars: Frontline Adventures: Malevolence Part I

 is a short story by J.D Tresherslider. Captain Jack Tresherslider accompanies his on the hunt for a.

Text

 * There was a doorway. “Hello?” Jack called out. He stood in silence for a few moments before walking towards it. As Jack pushed the button to open it. He felt its icy cold touch. It opened and without any hesitation Jack stepped inside. It took him back to the Festival of Unity and night of the ball. There he saw the queen giving a speech, the crowd cheered with great applause. Just as the queen walked off, a shot was fired which struck her in the chest. Jack rushed to her, only to find the shot was fatal. “I wasn’t fast enough… This is my fault…” Jack said. “All my fault…” He continued.


 * “Captain, wake up.” Boost said. “Huh?” Jack replied confused. “You fell asleep sir, General Plo needs you on the bridge now.” Boost continued. “Okay.” Jack replied. Jack got up from his desk and left his quarters with Boost.


 * After a short while, the pair arrived on the bridge. There, Plo Koon was contacting Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano. However, the transmission was cut off. “What is wrong with the transmission? Plo Koon asked. “There’s too much interference sir, we’ve lost them.” Wolffe replied. “Master Plo, is everything alright?” Jack asked. “Ah, Jack… I thought you would’ve slept through the attack.” Plo Koon replied. “It happened again master.” Jack said. “Another bad dream?” Koon replied.  “It has been sometime since your mission to Naboo, the medical droid said the queen will make a full recovery.” He continued. However, the conversation was cut short when a trooper called out: “The enemy ship is closing!” “Prepare for battle!” Koon yelled back.


 * “Meanwhile aboard the Separatist battleship, Count Dooku stood on the bridge with General Grievous. “General Grievous this will be a suitable test for our new weapon. You may fire ready.” Dooku instructed. “Yes, my lord.” Grievous replied. The ship main cannon began charging up. “I don’t like the look of that.” Jack said, upon seeing the purple energy manifest itself from the enemy ship. “We’re picking up a large energy reading from the target, sir.” Wolffe said. “Open fire!” Koon commanded. “We’re not in range yet, sir.” Wolffe replied.


 * “FIRE!” Grievous yelled. Suddenly, the purple energy was hurling rapidly towards the Republic cruisers. “Brace for impact!” Koon yelled. In doing so, Jack pulled down the visor on his helmet. Soon the ships were engulfed by the purple energy and begun to lose power. “We’re losing all our power… That energy field has left us defenseless.” Wolffe said. It was at that moment the Separatist battleship began to fire on the Republic fleet, destroying one ship in a few blast and another soon followed. “They’re tarring us apart, one by one.” Wolffe continued. “Master.” Jack said in a worried voice. “Quickly, into the pods!” Koon ordered.


 * As the battleship continued its attack, several clones made their way to the escape pods. “We don’t have much time. Get inside, hurry.” Koon ordered once more. Jack was helping the last few troops evacuate. “Go!” Jack yelled before running to Koon’s pod. The escape pods had just enough power to launch, with one hitting debris as it did so.


 * Back on the battleship’s bridge, Grievous was admiring the destruction the attack left behind. “Another successful test, wouldn’t you say count?” Grievous asked. “We must keep our position secret. Send out the hunters, I want all of those life pods destroyed.” Dooku ordered.


 * Inside the pod Plo Koon, Jack and the other clones began to assess their situation. “The power grid is burned out. We have no engine, communications or life support recharge.” Wolffe said. “So, we’ll just sit here and hold our breaths?” Sinker asked. “Someone will come looking for us right? Boost added. “Let’s get the power restored, so we are here to be found.” Koon replied. “Master Plo is right. We shouldn’t lose hope, someone will find us.” Jack said. The clones nodded.


 * Boost and Sinker began to rewire the pod’s electrical system. “No, that’s not it. This one goes there, that one goes there.” Sinker said. “Are you sure?” Boost replied. “We don’t wanna make things worse.” He continued. “How are we gonna make things worse?” Sinker asked. “When you ask for trouble. You should not be surprised when finds you.” Koon said. “I think trouble already found us, sir.” Sinker replied. “What if we connect these two wires right here?” Boost asked as he reached for them.


 * The pod begun to power up. “It worked.” Jack cheered. At that moment, the pod began to receive a distress signal. “I’m getting something.” Wolffe said as he tried to boost the signal. “This is pod 1-9-7-7. Is anyone out there? We are under attack!” The officer said. “It’s one of our other pods!” Wolffe exclaimed. “Repeat, we are under attack! Is anyone out there?!” The officer yelled. “That signal is weak. They must be close by.” Koon said. “We need to help them.” Jack replied. “They’ve locked onto our ship, they’ve locked onto our ship!” The officer panicked. “Our position is mark twelve at point two-six.” He continued. “I have visual contact.” Wolffe said.


 * Everyone inside Plo Koon’s pod could do nothing except watch as the battle droids cut through the viewport of the republic pod. “Pod 1-9-7-7, do you copy?” Plo Koon asked. “The droids are hunting the survivors.” The officer replied. “They’re cutting through!” He yelled. Suddenly the glass broke and the officer and his crew were sucked into space.


 * The droid ship suddenly turned in the direction of Plo Koon’s pod. “I think they see us.” Boost said. Within moments the droids were already latching onto the pod. “It is time to go.” Plo Koon said.” “Go? Where are you going, sir?” Woffle asked. “Outside to destroy the enemy. I can withstand the pressure for a brief time. Put your helmets on.” Koon ordered. “If you say so, sir.” Sinker replied. “This is a difficult situation. But there remains a possibility we will survive.” Koon said. “It’s now or never.” Jack added. “That’s good enough for me. Come on, let’s go.” Sinker said. “Wolffe and Jack, keep the communications signal alive. It is our only chance someone will find us.” Koon said. “Let’s just hope someone’s looking for us.” Woffle replied.


 * Just as the droids were about to start cutting through, Plo Koon started his attack and a firefight had begun. The droid used their ship’s claw like clamps to squeeze the pod. As they so, the pod received a signal. “Is there anyone out there? Come in. This is Ahsoka Tano.” “It’s Ahsoka. She must be close.” Woffle said. “Keep the signal alive, commander.” Koon instructed. Meanwhile, Jack kept the pod from rupturing by holding it together with the force. Jack grunted. “We’re losing the signal. The pod can’t take much more damage.” Woffle said. “Sinker, your turn.” Plo Koon yelled. “I’m on it, boss.” Sinker replied. Plo Koon lifted Sinker above the ship using the force.  “Eat laser clankers!” Sinker yelled as he shot the droids. Plo Koon then sliced the clamps with his lightsaber and pulled Sinker back onto pod.  The droid’s ship exploded when it hit nearby debris.


 * “Sir, we’ve lost contract with the pod hunter.” A droid told Grievous. “Perhaps, some survivors are putting up a fight.” Grievous said. “That is something we cannot allow.” Dooku replied.


 * A brief time passed, “Well general, this is another fine we’ve gotten into.” Boost said. “Your sense of humor is improving.” Plo Koon replied. “I don’t mean to say I told you so. But, I never believed anyone would come looking for us.” Sinker added. “Sergeant, why are you so certain no one’s coming?” Koon asked. “We’re just clones, sir. We’re meant to be expendable.” Sinker said. “Not to me.” Plo Koon replied.


 * Meanwhile tried from holding the pod together, an exhausted Jack fell asleep. “Hello?” Jack called out. “He’s after me, please help me!” A voice cried in the distance. “You can’t save her, she’s mine.” Another voice said. “I can and I will. It’s my duty.” Jack replied. Jack reached for weapons. “Ha-ha, pistols? Just pistols?” The voice laughed. “You call yourself a Jedi. But you don’t even have lightsaber.” The voice said. “I will stop you.” Jack replied. “It’s too late.” The voice said. “You failed her and you failed your men now.” The voice continued. “No.” Jack said. Several blaster shots were heard followed by a thud, then Jack awoke. “Are you alright captain?” Woffle asked. "Yeah, I just had a bad dream.” Jack replied.


 * Suddenly, a freighter headed towards the pod and pulled them inside with a tow cable. Once inside, Anakin and Ahsoka rushed in “Are you okay, master Plo?” Ahsoka asked. Wolffe and Jack stood up trying to get out pod. “There’s someone in the pod.”Ahsoka said. Anakin forced open the viewport and both men staggered out coughing as a medical droid came walking into the room. “Will they be alright?” Skywalker asked. “The pressure suits offer some protection, but they require a medical frigate for recovery. I will stabilize them, sir.” The droid replied. “Your men are safe now.” Ahsoka assured him. “Tell me, were there any survivors?” Plo Koon asked. “We couldn’t find anybody else.” Skywalker replied. “The hunters must’ve destroyed the rest.” Koon said. “I’m sorry.” Ahsoka said as she hugged him.


 * After a short while, the group headed to the bridge of Anakin’s ship, leaving Wolffe, Boost and Sinker with the medical droid. “We tracked the mystery weapon to this system. That is when we found it was an ion cannon.” Plo Koon said. “An ion cannon?” Ahsoka asked. “A weapon naturalizes all power to our ships, leaving the target defenseless.” Koon said. The ship’s computer begun beeping. “There’s a massive vessel approaching.” Anakin said. “Shut down the power systems before they detect us.” Koon said as he was pushing buttons. As everything shut down, the ship drifted off. R2-D2 let out a few beeps. “The droid!” Plo Koon said with surprise. Ahsoka rushed over to turn him off. “Sorry, little guy.” She said as she did so.


 * Within moments the battleship began to pass. “That is one big cruiser crusher.” Ahsoka said. “That doesn’t even begin to cover it.” Jack replied. Meanwhile, on the battleship’s bridge, Grievous wanted the complete destruction of his enemies. “There’s still no signal from the pod hunter.” A droid said “Reduce speed and activate your scanners. We will find who is responsible.” Grievous ordered. The droid’s computer started beeping. “We’re picking up a faint signal from a droid, not one of ours.  They’re right behind us.” The droid said. “Augh! We move us into attack position.” Grievous ordered.


 * The battleship began to turn around. “They’re coming back.” Skywalker said. “Are all the power systems shut down?” Plo Koon asked. It was the medical droid came through the door. “Is there a problem, sir?” It asked. “We forgot to shut off the medical droid.” Ahsoka said. “Oh, great.” Jack replied “Come on, we have to the power back on now.” Anakin said. “May I be of assistance?” The droid asked. “No thanks, just get in the back and take care of the clones.” Skywalker said. “That is my programming, sir.” The droid replied.


 * As the Twilight started to escape, the battle droids were monitoring the situation. “Sir, the enemy is attempting to flee through the debris field.” A droid said. “General, I don’t want any witnesses.” Dooku said. “Energize plasma routers.” Grievous responded. Meanwhile on the Twilight, Anakin was preparing for a hyperspace jump. “Artoo, program the navi-computer. Be ready to get us out of here.” Anakin said. “You forgot, we turned him off.” Ahsoka replied. Plo Koon walked over and turned him on. “Artoo, program the hyperdrive. Ahsoka ordered. He responded with a series of beeps. “Anywhere. Hurry.” Ahsoka said.


 * On the bridge of the battleship, the droids had already locked on to Anakin’s ship. “Enemy ship targeted, general.” A droid said. “FIRE!” Grievous yelled. An ion blast had discharged from the battleship and was hurling towards the Twilight. Anakin was narrowly avoiding the blast. “Master.” Ahsoka said in a worried voice. R2-D2 beeped suddenly. “We’re clear.” Ahsoka said. Anakin pulled a lever and the ship went into hyperspace. Back the battleship’s bridge, Grievous got frustrated. “Ahhh! Now the Republic will learn of our ion cannon!” He yelled. Dooku starred at Grievous for a brief movement. “Your failure is most unfortunate. I will have to discuss this with my master.” Dooku said.


 * When the Twilight arrived back at Anakin’s fleet, everyone was disembarking. Meanwhile, Jack and Plo Koon were talking. “We lost so many men and I couldn’t do anything.” “That is the reality of war. Yes, it is our duty to save as many lives as possible. One thing you must realize is: You cannot save everyone.” Koon said. “Do not blame yourself for what happened today or with the queen. It’s time to move on, young one.” “Yes, master.” Jack replied “Come now, it’s time we report to the council.” Koon said. Jack responded with only a nod.