sparky // a padawan story

chapter 41. hijacked.

I watch Petro go up against a training droid on the ship with a helmet over his head. He spins the wooden training saber with ease.
"Keep it up, Petro, you're doing great," I say to him as Ahsoka enters the room. He blocks a few more blasts, then his the training droid away into the wall. It rolls back to him and he picks it up as he lifts his helmet. "Well done."
"I call that move the 'Whirlwind of Destiny'," he tells us.
"Show-off," I hear Zatt mutter.
I chuckle at him. "Yeah, you're gonna want to find a better name than that."
Ahsoka claps as she approaches us. "Can everyone gather around, please?" She takes the training equipment from Petro and sits it to the side. The two of us stand behind a counter on a ship. "You have all successfully passed the Gathering and harvested your crystals." I giggle at Petro and Ganodi playfighting with the helmet Petro wore. Gungi vocalizes happily at Ahsoka's statement.
"So when do we start to build our sabers?" Petro questions.
"Place your crystals on the table," Ahsoka tells them. They do as she says. "Your lesson begins now. May we introduce you to architect and lightsaber designer Huyang?" We step to the side as the old familiar droid steps out and makes his way to the counter.
"These are them? I swear they get younger every expedition," he states. "All have passed the Gathering?"
"Yes, sir," Ahsoka and I say in unison.
"Are you sure?" he asks. We nod.
"But he's a droid," Ganodi says. "You expect us to learn from a droid?"
"Who said that?" Huyang questions. Ganodi steps out from the back and crosses her arms. "Many years I have been on this ship, teaching many a Jedi before you, and I will continue teaching many a Jedi after you. Call me what you want, but inside my memory banks, I contain a record of every lightsaber ever made and the Jedi who fashioned them." He presses a button on the counter and pulls up a hologram of different lightsaber hilts. I recognize the majority of them. One looks like Obi-Wan's, another, Anakin's, Ahsoka's, and even one that looks like Qui-Gon's hilt that sits in the drawer of my nightstand. "Which will you choose? A simple grip? The curved approach? One inlaid with the bone of the Carthusian whale, pastillion ore, or black onk? Well? From Battles of Rashford to the Peacekeeping of Parliock to our very own Clone Wars, the lightsaber is a Jedi's only true ally. But how do they work, hm?" He puts down his electric monocle as he picks up one of the crystals and observes it. "Yes, you have brought me crystals, but they're all useless unless you give them life. Do you know how to awaken the Force within the crystal?" The younglings shake their head no. "No? Then I suggest you listen and learn until you think of a question this droid cannot answer." He steps towards Gungi. "A Wookiee. Rare you are to the Jedi. Proud your people must be." Gungi nods. "Unique, just as your lightsaber will be. Hold out your hand, Wookiee." Huyang holds out his hands and Gungi places one of his in them, palm up. "Describe what you see your saber to be." Gungi growls a response. "No, no, no. Not what you imagine, but what you feel in your hand. Concentrate. What will make you strong in battle and humble in retreat? What connects you with your Force?" Gungi closes his eyes and concentrates. He closes his hand and vocalizes what he feels to the droid. "Ah, yes. Wood. Not a common choice. And only wood from the brylark tree is a strong as metal." He walks towards the back shelves. "Let me see. Where would we find that all the way out here, far from anywhere, deep in space?" He shuts off the hologram and enters another row of shelves. "Let's see what we have. Let me see, let me..." He extends multiple arms from his body, opening drawers and peeking in them. "Yes, yes, yes. No, no, no, no, no, no. Ah, I wondered where I put that. Oh, that's not mine. Ah ah, what do we have here?" He pulls out the drawer and walks over to the counter with the box. The younglings gather around it as Huyang begins to construct parts.
"Woah, look at that!"
"Ooh!"
"Wow!"
"You can say that again."
He holds up the completed example saber. "It is my job, before you leave this ship, you will have everything you need to build your lightsabers and the knowledge of how to do it. So let us begin. There is much more to be done."
—
The younglings look at a hologram of how to set up their lightsabers. They use the Force to put them together, but no one quite gets it yet. Except for Petro, who grabs his finished-a-bit-too-fast saber proudly.
"What's the rush, Petro?" Zatt questions.
Petro holds it up as if he was going to ignite it. "With this lightsaber, I'm going to challenge Obi-Wan Kenobi to a duel and kill Grievous!"
I snicker. "Heh, good luck with that. I've been training with him for years now, and I still can't even beat him." Huyang walks over to Petro and holds out his hand, and Petro hands him the lightsaber. He puts down his monocle and examines it.
"The only person you are going to kill with that, my young friend, is yourself," Huyang tells him. "You have inverted the emmiter matrix, which will cause the power grid to backfire. Light this, and all that will be left of you and your lightsaber will be your crystal. Start again, and this time, please follow the diagram." Petro swings the saber a few more times. I look at Ganodi, next to Katooni, who groans in frustration as her parts fall from the air.
Ahsoka places a hand on her shoulder. "Remember, quiet your mind and concentrate. The design will become clear."
"You all got this," I tell them. The two of them close their eyes and try again.
"Good. Gently," Ahsoka reminds. "Trust the Force." Suddenly, something rumbles, and we all jump.
"What was that?" Katooni asks, slightly panicked.
"I don't know. Hold on. Let's go, Lo," Ahsoka says as we run out the door.
"Stay calm, guys!" I yell back at the younglings as we rush away to the cockpit.
"R2, what's happened?" Ahsoka questions as we hurriedly enter the cockpit. R2 beeps rapidly as the ship shakes again.
"I have a bad feeling about this," I mutter.
"Where?" Ahsoka then asks as a familiar pirate's ship approaches ours and begins to fire. "Oh, no."
"Shit, Hondo!"
"Ugh, they're aiming for the hyperdrive. Get us out of here!" Ahsoka tells R2 as he rushes over to fly us away. We then hear an explosion from outside the ship. "...I don't like the sound of that. Stay here, Arlo and I will check on the younglings." As we run back through the halls, we hear them attach to our ship.
"They're boarding," I tell Ahsoka. We turn a corner and see even more of them board. Our eyes widen and we run in the opposite direction. We shut the door as we find the younglings and Huyang waiting in a hallway.
"Younglings, younglings!"
"Who's attacking the ship?" Ganodi asks.
"Pirates," Ahsoka answers.
"Pirates? They'll kill us all!" Ganodi panicks. Byph vocalizes in agreement.
"Not if I'm here. I know this guy," I tell them.
"You know pirates?" Petro questions.
"I sure do. So don't panic. Yet."
"Perhaps we should hide in the ventilation shaft," Ahsoka suggests. "Follow me." Ahsoka lifts the grate to the vent below us.
"Hiding is for cowards," Petro tells us as I help Huyang into the vents. "We should stand and fight."
"We're gonna fight, just not in the way they expect," Ahsoka says. He nods and hops down as we see more pirates about to enter. "Time to go."
"Is this part of our training?" Katooni questions as she hops down.
"It is now," Ahsoka tells her. Gungi is the last of the younglings to hop down, then Ahsoka and I get in and pull the grate back over us. She looks to the younglings and puts a finger over her lips to tell them to stay quiet as pirates walk over us.
"Hondo says find the kids and bring 'em to him," we hear one say from above.
"Dead or alive?" another asks.
"Yes," the first one tells him as we begin to crawl. Kriff, Hondo, why do you have to be such a pain sometimes.
"We must have courage, young Jedi," Ahsoka says to the younglings. "Ganodi and Zatt, we need you to get to the cockpit, find R2, and secure it. The rest of you, take Professor Huyang and seal yourselves inside the hold, and wait for Arlo and I's command."
"What are you all going to do?" Petro asks.
"We're going to reroute enough power to the engines so that we can break free of the pirate ship's hold on us. Okay?"
"Wh-what about the pirates already on board the ship?" Katooni questions worriedly.
"Once the docking tube is ruptured, when the ship pulls apart, a vacuum will be creates, which will suck the pirates off our ship and into space," Ahsoka says.
"Will we be sucked into space?" Ganodi asks.
"No, the cockpit and hold will be sealed and still have air. Do not, and I mean do not engage the pirates," Ahsoka commands.
"Leave that to me and Ahsoka if need be," I add.
"Your only job is to stay hidden. Do you understand?" Ahsoka asks. The younglings nod. "Now go."
"And may the Force be with you, little ones." Ahsoka and I begin to crawl in the opposite direction as the younglings. After a while, something begins to stink. "Ew, do you smell that?"
Ahsoka looks behind us. "It's smoke. They're smoking us out of the vents." I sigh in annoyance as the two of us crawl a little faster. We discreetly hop out of the vents out of the smoke into a control room. The two of us punch in to controls and pull the levers to reroute the power. Ahsoka presses the button on her com. "Zatt, come in. We are overriding the emergency power fail-safe and routing energy to the engines."
"It's working!" we hear him exclaim.
"Any word from the others? Have they reached the hold?" Ahsoka asks.
"Uh, not yet."
"Where are they?" Ahsoka questions.
"I don't know, I didn't hear from them."
I groan. "Great."
"I know what that means," Ahsoka adds. We leave the control room and begin searching for Huyang and the other younglings. We run through the halls as quietly as possible. We hear Hondo speak from another hallway.
"Well, children, you have put up quite a fight, but playtime is over. Now, hand over my crystals, and no one gets hurt... much." At that, Ahsoka and I burst through the door and push his men away from us with the Force.
"Well, well. You've really lost it this time, my friend," I say to Hondo as Ahsoka and I approach him.
"Hondo. The Jedi Council will not take kindly to this attack," Ahsoka says.
"Arlo, Ahsoka!" he says cooly with a grin. "How will they know who is responsible, if there is no one left to tell the tale?"
"You seem less hospitable than our last meeting," Ahsoka says.
"My mood is based on profit, and today I am in the mood for crystals," Hondo tells us.
Ahsoka and I share a look. "You want the crystals?" she starts.
We pull out our sabers and ignite them in a ready position. "Come and get 'em," I finish. The pirates charge at us and we dodge them as Hondo pulls out his electrostaff.
"Oh, easy, now," he says as he deflects our sabers. We begin to parry with the pirate, and he continues to deflect our sabers as the younglings and Huyang escape. "You know, had I known you two were here, I would have asked for the crystals directly, and we could have avoided all of this." Our three blades and an end of his electrostaff clash together.
"We don't want to hurt you, Hondo," I say.
"I know, and I appreciate that, he says with a sly grin.
We suddenly hear Zatt com Ahsoka. "Ahsoka, Arlo! Ahsoka, come in!" We push Hondo away from us. "They've made it to the hold."
"Then what are you waiting for?" Ahsoka replies. Hondo and two of his men charge at us again.
"But what about you all?"
"Do it!" both of us yell. We continue to hold off Hondo and his men as the ship begins to rumble. The connector between our ships begins to break, and a vacuum begins to for. Most of Hondo's men are sucked back to the door while Hondo holds on slightly ahead of them, not quite at the door yet, and Ahsoka and I safe distance away, clinging on so we're not sucked with them.
"What are you doing?" he shouts at us.
"Getting you off our ship," Ahsoka tells him. We let go from where we held on and use the Force to push ourselves to his through the forming vacuum and kick him away, but we get pulled with him towards the connector. Hondo stops himself again and we pull him off with us as we continue to get sucked away. We barely hold onto the end by the connector as the last of the pirates is pushed in with the Force by Ahsoka. We then push together to force the rest of the pirates down towards their ship. Ahsoka begins to close the door. "We're all clear, make the jump to hyperspace," she says through the com. But a straggling pirate falls towards us and knocks the two of us into the connector as the door shuts. We fall and topple into their ship, and the pirates immediately take ahold of us and put us in handcuffs.
"Well this backfired," I mutter to Ahsoka as Hondo's men drag us away. She nods in agreement.
"Shut up, Jedi," one of them tells me.
"Seriously? I'm pretty sure I saved your all's asses just a couple weeks ago! Oh, and you're welcome, by the way!" I struggle against the pirates' grasp. "Where's Hondo, where'd he go?"
"We're taking you to him," another pirate sneers. We enter the main cockpit and the force us in front of Hondo. I have no idea how he got here so quickly.
Hondo shakes his head and clicks his tongue while we try to break free of our bonds with difficulty. "You have cost me greatly, young ones. And you know I don't like that," he says while he glances at me. "And since you lost me so much profit, I am left with no choice..." He points at the ground as the pirates Force us on our knees. They hit Ahsoka hard in the head. "...But to turn you into profit." Ahsoka looks up at him with a scowl as he crouches down to us before she loses consciousness. "Good night." Hondo then looks to me. "I don't prefer to do this, m'dear, but you did deny me my profit when I specifically asked you not to."
I sigh and roll my eyes. "Just get it over with." I'm hit in the back of my head, and the last thing I feel before drifting off is Hondo patting my cheek.
"You know how the business goes."
—
another short chapter, but as of now the plan is to combine the last two episodes of this arc into one big and hopefully fun chapter. sorry it took longer than usual to write, as some of you know one of my friends is in the hospital and me and some others are helping out with that. and as far as i know, she's doing a bit better, so that's good :)
thanks for reading! -a 🪐