“What is this place called again…” Kara scowled at the swamp laden world, orbited by five separate moons. One of these satellites reminded her of Coruscant, but smaller and more polluted.
“The Y’toub system…” Cal squinted at their mission orders and shook his head. “The big planet is called Nal Hutta, and that city moon is Nar Shaddaa… we’re supposed to escort the terraformers to Nal Hutta’s surface, then take a foothold on the smuggler’s moon.”
“I remember that much…” Kara sighed. HK-47’s fleet was more than enough to take this world, even if the gangster-like inhabitants rallied all their resources to put up a fight. “I just wish we could meet some real enemies… look, that defence fleet is already ashes!”
The ships in question, a ragtag collection that launched from both Nal Hutta and its moons, blossomed into radioactive bursts of light. The young Kryptonians hung in three separate groups, far from the battle as they followed the terraformers' slow progress.
“There aren't many species that can match up to ours in this galaxy,” Cal shook his head as the last of the enemy force joined the rest, reduced to background radiation and molten wreckage. “In all our lessons, I can only think of one that Master Dan-EL warned us against contacting.”
“Who?” Kara tilted her head. History and galactic politics tended to drift through her ears under a veil of cotton, lost before she ever tried to file them away.
“A race of Force Monks… the Aing-Tii,” Cal sighed at Kara’s failure to pay attention to their Emperor’s warnings. “Master Dan-EL said they can manipulate time and space at will, but they also mind their own business unless provoked.”
“That sounds like a better fight than this one!” Kara flexed her fingers into fists as the terraformer they guarded finally entered Nal Hutta’s atmosphere. Once it was in position, she turned toward the smuggler’s moon of Nar Shaddaa. “I wonder if we can get a leave after the campaign and check them out…”
“I just said that it was forbidden…” Cal hurried to keep pace as Kara blitzed toward their target moon. Several thousand of their fellows followed suit, positioned like a spear with them at the head. “Get ready!”
Kara nodded and raised her hands. Joined by the Kryptonians at their back, she charged an orb of ki and flung it ahead. A rain of stars crashed into the planetary shields of Nar Shaddaa, too much force for their capacitors to handle. Twin explosions blossomed under the barrier and the shields fell.
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
“Let’s go!!!” Kara howled in excitement and pushed the edge of her current speed. The crime ridden moon rushed to meet her, filled with toxic odours and the stink of unwashed bodies. “Let’s damage the generators beyond repair and secure a section of the city for the Empire!”
“Wait for me… and don’t forget Master Dan-EL has placed a recovery order on one of the locals,” Cal strained both himself and his symbiote, barely able to keep pace as Kara closed with an overloaded shield generator complex. “Every Kryptonian is supposed to keep an eye out for a female bounty hunter named Mira!”
----------------------------------------
“Welcome to the Peragus Mining facility,” Dan gave an elaborate flourish of his hand as he and May slipped from the phantom zone. “One of the least interesting places in the galaxy and the current residence to a Force sensitive man called Atton Rand.”
Thanks to the changes in the timeline, Dan would be present when the harbinger was attacked. The Ebon Hawk would never deliver the Exile to this place and Atton would be forgotten by fate if they didn’t actively retrieve him.
“It certainly lacks character…” May squinted at the asteroid field, eye lit by the runes of a spell. “You’re right about there being a Force sensitive on board… they’re stationary, somewhere in the middle of the mining facility.”
“That’s him,” Dan nodded. Atton should be locked up tight in the detention cells, captured not long ago by station security. “How about I blitz in and grab him, then meet you on Telos?”
“Alright, I’ll check on the restoration and see if Revan has found her old soldier,” May planted a quick kiss on Dan’s lips and drifted back. “Just make sure you hurry, we’ve got less than two days before the Exile is attacked.”
Dan smiled as his Wife vanished in a flash of light. If the Kryptonians managed to find Mara on Nar Shaddaa, his visit to Telos would be the second last stop before his quest was completed. Bao-Dur and Brianna were both on the desolated world, ready to be recruited to the cause.
“First, let’s get this part over with…” Dan floated to an airlock and activated the cycle. No need to risk destroying this place, as the Exile had been destined to do. “It’s a bit surreal to be inside this place…”
“Hey, who are you?” A man in blue overalls and goggles stomped up, eyes widened in astonishment. “Did you just come in from outside…without a spacesuit?”
“Sorry, no time to chat…” Dan tipped an imaginary hat to the confused engineer and vanished down the hall.
Several mangled doorways, and one ruined turbolift later, and Dan stood before the detention area doors. Alarms blared, while a few rather bold miners fired off several blaster bolts into his back. Dan raised an eyebrow as the bolts dissipated against his skin.
“Everyone just relax,” A flick of his finger extended his biofield along the ground, until it enveloped the aggressive miners. They flattened against the ground, held in place as he forced open the detention centre door. “I’ll be gone in a second.”
“Who the heck are you?” Atton blinked as Dan folded the metal door like paper and approached his cell. The smuggler edged as far backward as his force-cage allowed, hands raised. “I surrender!”
“I’m not here to hurt you,” Dan rolled his eyes and flicked a finger against the forcefield that held Atton in place. A ripple passed through the force cage that scattered it to starlight. “I’m here to break you out of jail… now hold your breath!”
A lightning quick extension of his hand seized Atton by the back of his jacket. Before the man could complain, Dan pulled them both into the phantom zone, headed for the habitable section of Telos.