Chapter 17: Confrontation

                                    

                                          


                          
Lux was surprised, to say the least, when Padmé Amidala came to visit his mother on Raxus. Seperatist and Republic officials hadn't been allowed to meet since the start of the war, and despite being on opposing sides, Mina still spoke of Senator Amidala with high respect.
                          
Yet, accompanying Senator Amidala was a young Togruta, with lightsabers strapped to her belt.
                          
A Jedi.
                          
She was... beautiful, to say the least. She was stunning, but she also looked like the type who looked cute yet could kill you if she wanted to, even without those lightsabers, and he knew very well from the stories about how powerful those blades were.
                          
And as she spoke with Senator Amidala, he picked up a name:
                          
Ahsoka.
                          


                          
When Lux came to, he was surrounded by rebel soldiers in a room full of supplies.
                          
"Ugh... where am I?" He mumbled.
                          
"You're finally awake," General Tandin said.
                          
"Looks like you had some, uh, panic attack back there?" Another rebel soldier said.
                          
"Kind of?" Lux said. "I'm... not very sure what happened."
                          
"I think I have an idea," Tandin replied. "But it sounds... well, how do I put it... like something that would happen to a Jedi."
                          
"What do you mean?" he replied.
                          
"You felt her coming," Tandin said. "You mumbled her name just before you passed out. We've made it to the bunker, but... oh, I'm not sure my legs can handle all this. Any more and I'll need a prosthetic-"
                          
"Get to the point," Lux said.
                          
"Lux," Tandin said, "Do you ever wonder why you have such quick reflexes? When you know something is there when you can't see it? When things happen to you that you just can't explain?"
                          
"Well, no, not really. Why?"
                          
"Because you're strong in the Force, Lux. I've suspected it for maybe a few months now, but I wasn't quite certain until now. Unfortunately, though, I think she knows where we are."
                          
"Then I've doomed us all," he said. "I guess I'm nothing more than a tracking beacon for the Empire. I gotta go."
                          
"They likely already know we are here, Lux. If you leave now, they will still know where we are. And besides, they may have simply used technology alone to discover our location."
                          
Suddenly, there was a rumbling noise, and everyone fell silent.
                          
"Son," General Tandin said to Deni, "you turned off the lift and collapsed the cave, right?"
                          
"You saw me do it with your own eyes, father," Deni said.
                          
"I think the Imperials found a way around that."
                          
The rumbling wasn't stopping. It was clear that it wasn't explosives, but rather, heavy mining equipment and vehicles.
                          
"Get moving, now!" Tandin said.
                          
Everyone grabbed what they could and ran away from where they heard the rumbling.
                          
They rounded a few corners of the cave, and then-
                          
"It's a trap!" Tandin yelled.
                          
Stormtroopers, loads of them, had already moved into this part of the cavern.
                          
"Dank Farrik, we've been made!" Deni yelled, as they fell back behind one of the corners.
                          
The rumbling stopped. They had drilled through the cave they collapsed.
                          
"We're surrounded!" a Rebel yelled.
                          
Deni grumbled and brought a thermal detonator out of his pocket.
                          
"Deni, no!" Lux yelled.
                          
But he threw it at the Stormtroopers anyways.
                          
The detonator exploded, and the cave immediately started falling apart.
                          
Yet, instead of crushing them, the floor gave way to a large room underneath.
                          
Thankfully, it wasn't that big of a fall, but Lux still tumbled down a slope before he could finally get a grip of something and stop himself.
                          
His legs hurt. A few of the supplies from the supply cache had fallen beside him, including food, detonators, a lamp, and an electrostaff.
                          
But when the dust cleared, he realized he was alone.
                          
He could hear blaster fire, as well as the yelling of stormtroopers and rebels. Occasionally, a blaster bolt would create a dim light in the distance, but other than that, it was dark.
                          
Lux grabbed the lamp and turned it on.
                          
Now, Lux could see he was in a large, cubical room with ancient writing on the walls. It was ancient, and it was clear to him now that this was as much as an archaeology site as it was a mine. However, the room was completely devoid of anything besides it's own walls, as whatever it may have contained was long gone.
                          
Then, a horrible chill went down his spine, and screams echoed around him. He felt something... dark.
                          
He had to get out of there.
                          
There were two ways to go. One in front of him, where the fighting was coming from, and one behind him.
                          
Maybe he could escape if he went away from the fighting, but truth be told, he's probably get lost, so he decided it would be better to join in on the fighting and help his comrades.
                          
He picked up the detonators and put them on his equipment belt, and picked up the electrostaff.
                          
He had seen this weapon before: it was infamously used by separatist Magnaguards, as well as some high-ranking stormtroopers. It could even withstand a lightsaber hit.
                          
He turned it on. The electric lightning sparked to life at both ends.
                          
He started to head towards the fighting, but then, some feeling kept nagging at him, intensely.
                          
Almost as if it was trying to pull him back.
                          
He stopped, turned off his staff, and leaned against the wall, panicking.
                          
"No," he said, "no..."
                          
"You're right to be afraid."
                          
Lux turned around and saw the Inquisitor ignite her lightsabers.
                          
He quickly turned the staff back on and stood on guard.
                          
The Inquisitor laughed.
                          
"No, I'm not afraid of you," Lux said.
                          
"Very well then," she replied. "Then you will die braver than most."