The Tengu crew was currently on an operation at a Galactic Empire mining base, which they had managed to evacuate after making everyone believe that there would be an attack on the mine. An attack damaging enough to force the assigned stormtroopers to evacuate the mining base along with the workers.
While the Empire was distracted by whether it was true or not, the crew of the Tengu was stealing the cargo they had extracted from the mine, while at the same time placing remote explosives in the installation.
“I can’t believe the heist worked,” Lop said as she charged a container into the ship.
“And I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Frall asked, coming out of the ship. “Can somebody tell me again why we’re stealing from this mining base?”
“That was Kota’s idea. Ask the old man.” Said Yavis through the communicator.
“In fact, it was Lop’s idea,” Kota replied as he appeared with a container. “She suggested that we should help the people of the planet a little.”
“Can somebody explain to me what's going on?” Frall asked, stopping in the place.
“Many of the resources used in the work of this mine come from nearby villages to which the Empire has been forced to 'donate'.” Said Lop, moving out of the ship. “And the working conditions are not even adequate, since they use workers as slaves.”
“And you were a slave too.” Said Frall, getting a nod from Lop.
“All we do is take back what the Empire stole from them,” Lop said.
“And along the way, we take what they have extracted from the mine.” Said Kota.
“And what’s exactly what they’re mining here?” Frall asked.
Lop then opened the container that Rahm Kota was carrying, exposing large blocks of dark greenish stones. “Jade.”
“Jade?!” Frall asked, looking at the stones. “I saw it once! They’re as valuable as Nova crystals! They come from here?”
“As far as we know, Tao is the only planet where this mineral can be found, which increases its value.” Said Brad through the communicator. “And there is no need to imagine why the Empire excavated it.”
Brad was alongside Drasha placing some remote explosives inside the installation in different spots to cause the biggest impact with the explosion.
“For that reason, we’re going to blow up this place,” Brad said. “It is not the only mine on the planet, but making them lose this mine should reduce the income they could acquire from the jade’s extraction and trading.”
“And all the jade we steal will be used to pay for what we need, right?” Yavis asked through the communicator.
“Not all. We will deliver part of the cargo to nearby towns along with the resources we recover. It will be useful to rebuild the lives they have lost by the Empire’s fault.” Said Drasha as she placed some explosives.
“Let me guess. Lop suggested it?” Frall asked, looking at the lepi, who simply shrugged.
“Stop talking, we have a lot to do before the imperials discover our ruse,” Kota said as he closed the container and took it inside the ship.
Inside the Tengu, Yavis and Byte were resting on the cockpit’s chairs.
“Don’t worry, we haven't detected Imperial activity in a while,” Yavis said.
“And to think that the Empire could fall for this trick. Clones were harder to fool during wartime.” Byte said, spinning on its chair.
Some beeps began to sound on the radar, capturing the attention of both of them who looked to see what it was.
“Guys, you better hurry. I'm detecting an Imperial transport approaching the mine. It seems they sent someone to see what's going on.”
“Only one?” Lop asked, looking at the sky. “Will they know that we are here?”
“If so, why do they send only one transport?” Brad asked after placing a bomb. “Shouldn't they have sent several?”
“The strangest thing is that it seems to be an Imperial Patrol Transport.” Said Rahm Kota.
“We shot it down?” Byte asked, preparing the Tengu’s frontal cannon.
With no warning, the IPT began to descend to the ground.
“Brad, Drasha, I suggest you come back here. Maybe we will have problems here.” Frall said, preparing his rifle.
“Okay, we’re close to the exit,” Brad said.
When the transport landed, from the inside came a few stormtroopers aiming at them. But alongside them came a huge armor of three meters in height, fully plated with armored scales with a scaled helmet. It had some problems moving down the transport but began to advance to the Tengu crew alone.
“What’s that thing?” Lop asked while TD flew behind her. “A droid?”
“Surely the Empire’s new toy,” Frall said, shooting his blaster rifle against the armored being.
But even when Frall had good aim, the blaster shot just bounced when impacted the armor, unaffected by the shot.
“What the?” Frall asked, confused as he began to shoot at the armored droid, whose shots were deflected by the armor.
The mysterious droid then raised its right arm as it opened up exposing a twin wrist blaster and aiming at them it began to fire against them while advancing toward them. Immediately Lop and Kota turned on their lightsabers and began to block the droid’s shots and deflect them back, having little effect on the droid’s armor.
“That’s a relative of yours?” Yavis asked Byte.
“That’s too sturdy for a B2!” Byte said as he used the Tengu’s frontal cannon against the droid.
Even when the ship’s shots were stronger, they only were able to push the droid’s back a little, while still trying to advance against them.
At that moment Brad and Drasha got out of the mining center, finding how the droid was attacking them, and the two of them began to fire at the droid as well, but having the same result as Frall and the deflected shots.
The droid then opened a second wrist cannon on the left forearm and began to shoot at Brad and Drasha, who were forced to run to the ship.
“It's a standoff! Let’s go!” Brad said, running into the ship alongside Drasha. “Yavis! Byte! Get us outta here!”
“Better said we lost this round!” Frall said as he ran into the ship after firing a few shots.
“Lop, quickly!” Kota ordered as he retreated into the ship alongside Lop.
When everyone was inside the Tengu, Yavis closed the cargo door and lifted the freighter under the droid’s fire.
“Let’s see if that thing is bombproof,” Brad said, activating the explosives’ remote control.
Immediately the explosives began to blow up, destroying the mining facility and catching the droid in the explosion as the stormtroopers hid inside the transport ship to evade the smoke coming from the explosion.
The ship flew over the exploded area, seeing if the droid survived the explosion while everybody moved to the bridge to see. But sadly said droid came from below some debris that flew and fell over him with the explosion, showing having no damage from it.
“What the heck is that thing?” Frall asked as he looked through the bridge’s cristal.
“I don’t know, but we can’t do anything here. Let’s leave before more imperials decide to aid that thing.” Brad said.
The Tengu began to leave the area while the droid watched it fly away.
All the while a caped dark figure was watching everything from a distance before leaving.
Time later in the Tao capital, Shador Prar was alongside agent Hercules and some officers and stormtroopers in the imperial base’s hangar. By Prar’s foot tapping on the ground, he seemed to be nervous.
“Where are they?” Prax asked, looking to the side. “They were supposed to arrive half an hour ago.”
“Calm down, Director Prar.” Agent Hercules said, as then saw something approaching. “Oh, there they come.”
They looked at how a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle was reaching the hangar’s entrance, and landing in front of them. The shuttle opened and from the inside came a pair of figures going down the shuttle, a man of advanced age with an imperial uniform with the Grand Moff medal on the chest, and a person with full black armor with a cape. Prar and his officers approached them as they walked away from the shuttle.
“Governor Tarkin, Lord Vader. What a pleasant surprise to have you here.” Prar said as he bowed in front of them.
“Well, the reason we are here is not exactly pleasant, Director Prar,” Tarkin said as he passed at his side, stopping to turn around while Vader stopped at his side.
“What are you talking about?” Prar asked, looking at them.
“Don't try to play dumb, Director Prar. We have only come here due to successive reports related to the rebel cell that is harassing our forces on the planet.” Darth Vader said to him, soon signaling Prar with his finger. “A type of problem that you should have solved after solving the rebellious takeover of the Yasaburô clan. And yet, the clan chief is still missing, evading capture.”
“Now, about that, let's say that I have several projects at the same time, in addition to having to control imperial operations on the planet,” Prar said.
“And I have to assume that one of those projects is not that 'dark knight' variant of your black knights' project, right?” Tarkin asked, getting Prar surprised. “Yes, rumors have reached my ears that a Jedi has reappeared decades after their extermination, not to mention that the supposed adopted daughter of the head of the Yasaburô clan has proven to have Jedi skills.”
Prar began to babble, trying to respond to the Grand Moff.
“You should remember that it was made quite clear that any force user found would be under the jurisdiction of the Inquisitors, and that they would never be used for your particular project,” Vader said. “I'm surprised you've hidden this fact for quite some time.” He said, before looking at Agent Hercules.
“It was the suggestion of Director Prar. We think we can solve the rebel issue without requiring your attention, Lord Vader.” Agent Hercules said.
“And at the end of the day, the only thing we have had has been theft of resources in low-security areas,” Prar said.
“And does that include the model and plans of the Defoliator?” Tarkin said, surprising Prar and Hercules. “I'm aware of the Imperial Military Department of Advanced Weapons Research’s projects, and how your men lost that weapon.”
“Okay, I admit that this group is being a lot more problematic than I would like to admit,” Prar said. “But let it be known that I am working on it. Just now I have sent a new unit I created to deal with them!”
Tarkin raised an eyebrow as he said that. At that moment an Imperial Patrol Transport entered the hangar, getting a glare from Tarkin and Vader as Prar turned to it. From the inside the armored droid climbed down and began to walk to them until it stopped in front of them.
“What is that thing?” Tarkin asked, looking at it.
“My newest creation,” Prar said, before walking in front of it and facing it. “How did the test go?”
Soon the droid’s torso began to open, revealing that it was more a kind of a heavy armored mech, revealing the mech’s pilot.
“It went like silk, Director Prar. They didn't have a chance.” Said Ochô, who was piloting the mech until it opened enough so she could climb down it. “They destroyed the mine, but couldn't do anything to the armor.”
“It's okay, we can repair the mine without problems,” Prar said with a smile.
“Prar, what the heck is that thing?” Tarkin asked.
“Let me present to you the All Terrain Armored Combat Armor. AT-ACA for shorts.” Presented Prar as he snapped his fingers so some engineers could move the now opened mech, facing Tarkin and Vader. “I nicknamed it the Titan.”
“Fascinating,” Tarkin said, before looking at Ochô. “You must be Ochô Yasaburô. It’s a pleasure to meet you. It is an honor that you help the Empire for the adaptation of the planet.”
“The only thing I want is for the planet to benefit from the advances that you offer,” Ochô said as she bowed to him. “And it’s an honor to meet you too, Governor Tarkin.”
“A vision that does not seem to be shared by everyone,” Vader said.
“Lady Ochô, allow me to present you to Lord Vader, the Emperor’s Right Hand,” Tarkin said.
Ochô bowed to him. “If you mean by Lop, that is something that I am willing to solve at any cost.”
“I hope so, lady Ochô, for your own good,” Vader said. “You will soon learn that neither I nor the Emperor accept failure so kindly.”
The Tengu landed in the middle of a forest, with Byte scanning the surroundings in hopes of not finding more surprises.
“Seriously, what was that thing?” Frall asked as he walked in circles. “I hit that droid squarely, and the lasers were ricocheting.”
“We've all seen it, Frall,” Drasha said. “It even survived the mining center’s explosion.”
“But what was that droid?” Lop asked. “Never saw anything like that before.”
“Nor any of us. But I have a feeling Prar is behind this.” Brad asked.
“Are you sure?” Lop asked him.
“One of the bases of his Black Knight Corps project is the survival of his agents against all types of attacks. Most likely this is one of his secret projects.” Brad explained.
Yavis then turned to Kota who seemed thoughtful. “General?”
“I don't know, the fact that it resisted laser shots and explosions like that... reminds me of something, but I don't know what,” Kota said.
“So, what can we do now? We can't do anything against that!” Frall said.
“Well, we have to do something,” Brad said. “We can't run away from that thing every time we encounter it.”
“The problem is that we can’t do anything against it. Our weapons are useless here.” Lop said.
“And if blaster fire is repelled by its armor, our lightsabers will not work against it,” Kota said, crossing his arms.
“And if is an imperial weapon, there’s no hope for those who dare to rebel against the Empire if they have to fight that thing,” Drasha said.
Everyone got silent at that moment. No matter what they thought or what they planned. Nothing could work against that machine. This time they were lucky to escape because they blew up the mining facility. But they doubted they could have such luck the next time they faced that thing.
Back in the imperial base, Prar, Tarkin, and Vader were in an office observing the holographic schematics of the Titan.
“I must admit that this weapon is amazing,” Tarkin said. “Technically an armor that turns its pilot into a one-man army.” He looked through the schematics. “My eyes could have deceived me, but I think I recognized the plate your mech uses. Zillo scales, isn’t it?”
“You are right, Governor Tarkin,” Prar said. “I don't want to remember what it cost us to kill the clone that remained on Tantiss after the end of the Hemlock’s Necromancer project.”
“The truth is that I was aware that there was movement of Imperial troops in Tantiss. I didn't expect it to be your operation.” Tarkin said. “But given the present, I highly doubt you've built many of these units.”
“You’re right,” Prar said. “With the amount of Zillo hide we have, I'll be lucky if we reach ten units, but just one is enough to destroy an entire army.”
“Do you even plan to prove that statement?” Vader asked.
“Oh, no! I still remember what you did to my black knights in the Corps’ first year! So please, stay away from it.” Prar said. “But the capture of this rebel cell will mark the triumph of this project.”
“With only ten units?” Tarkin asked.
“After everyone sees their usefulness, the funds you receive will go to the development and replica of the Zillo hide,” Prar said.
“Only if it can deal with the rebels,” Tarkin said.
“Don’t worry! The next time the rebels appear, they will be finished.” Prar said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have things to do.”
Prar left the office, while Tarkin and Vader stayed in the room.
“All this reminds me of when he created the Black Knights Corps,” Tarkin said.
“He became very arrogant with the first results,” Vader said.
“Yeah, don't look how annoying he was during project budget meetings. It took you and your Inquisitors to calm him down and show him the flaws in his project.” Tarkin said. “In addition to canceling his dark knights sub-project.”
He walked around the holographic schematics. “But I must admit that this machine he has created is sublime. It has several weak points, yes. But in general, it is a fearsome weapon.”
Tarkin crossed his arms. “Honestly, I fear that this project will harm the project Stardust. At the same time, the rest of the crazy projects could be reborn, including the Dark Knight project. If that happens, this Lepi he is obsessed with could be the first of many. Think about the idea of force-using soldiers…”
“All that depends if this weapon can clearly bring down the rebels,” Vader said. “And I have watched how this thing fights. The rebel group has no chance of defeating him.
“Yes, but unfortunately, we can't do anything in this situation. Unless they’re able to figure a way to bring it down, the rebels will regret it by confronting this man.” Tarkin said.
Vader stayed silent as he looked at the schematics, his artificial breath being the only thing heard from his armor.
Time later, Lop, TD, Frall, and Brad were moving some of the cargo they robbed from the mining facility. They planned to sell the unrefined Jade they got to some confidants in the capital to at least obtain some profit for resources. They will need a lot now they will surely have to be wary of the armored droid.
“Are you sure they will be able to do anything with this Jade?” Frall asked, looking around so nobody heard them.
“I know some artisans in the capital. Surely I can process this jade and sell it.” Lop said.
“I just hope that with what we get from this we can acquire what we need to confront that droid,” Brad said.
TD kept following them, until something caught its attention, making it move away from the group. The small droid floated down the street until entering an alley, encountering a figure hidden in the shadow of the alley. With barely a word, he handed a small data disk to the droid, dispatching it immediately.
“TD!” Lop began to call after noting that TD was gone. “TD, where are you!”
“Keep your voice down, you're going to get us busted!” Frall exclaimed.
After a while, the small droid returned to the group.
“Ah, there you are!” Lop said, sighing with relief. “Don’t fly away again, okay?”
TD made some noises understanding her, but then Lop noted the small disk the droid was holding, taking it with her hands. “What is this?”
After delivering the raw Jade and returning to the Tengu, Yavis began analyzing the data disk that TD acquired in the ship’s computer while everyone watched.
“And you have no idea how he got that data disk?” Drasha asked Lop.
She shook her head before looking at TD, who began to make some noises.
“Are you sure?” Byte asked.
“What did he say?” Frall asked Byte.
“He said that he didn’t know the person who gave it, but he believes that it was an imperial,” Byte said.
“An imperial?” Brad asked.
“Yes, I know,” Yavis said while working with the data disk. “I've done some checks, and I can say it's not a trap.”
“Then how long will it take to be opened?” Kota asked.
“Just give me a moment,” Yavis said, soon finishing his job and making some schematics appear on the monitor. “And done.”
He generated a hologram of these schematics in the cabin, and when the Yokais looked at them, they gasped in surprise.
“That’s the thing that attacked us!” Frall said, recognizing the droid in the schematics.
Brad read the data in the hologram. “AT-ACA. All Terrain Armored Combat Armor. Aka: Titan.”
“So it wasn't a droid, but a single-seat combat mech stylized like a droid armor,” Kota said.
Yavis gave a view to the schematic, whistling. “Hydraulic motors, repeater blasters… And I was thinking the smallest mech they could do was the ATDP.”
“Say something about the armor?” Frall asked.
Yavis looked through the schematics for a while. “Outer armor made with Zillo hide. What is a Zillo?”
“You said Zillo?” Kota asked.
“You know what it is?” Lop asked.
“What was.” Kota begun. “The Zillo is a massive monster originally of Malastare. We found out about its existence during the Clone Wars. It died in Coruscant shortly after.”
“Now you say it, there was news about the attack of a huge monster that destroyed Coruscant, right?” Drasha asked. Kota nodded at her.
“But why was there anyway?” Lop asked, confused.
“It was taken to Coruscant to experiment with the Zillo’s hide, which was invulnerable to all types of attack. Not even lightsabers or the most powerful blasters could stop it. It took a toxin to kill it when went rampaged through the city. “ Kota explained. “We knew nothing about the body after that.”
“Well, we already know what they have used the skin of that beast for,” Frall said.
“But who built this armor?” Lop asked.
Yavis read more of the data. “He says it appears to be part of the Black Knight Corps project.”
“I knew it! I should have assumed it was Prar's doing!” Brad said, clenching the fist.
“But why would an imperial officer give us this information?” Lop asked them, which was a good question.
“That does not matter. What matters is that now we can use this information to our advantage, and take that thing down!” Brad explained, before facing Yavis. “Can you find some weakness in it?”
“The truth is that I have found one,” Yavis said, looking through the schematics. “Apparently, although the external shell is totally invulnerable to any type of attack, many of its components are similar to those used by the combat droids from the Clone Wars.”
“Yeah, that thing seemed to behave like a super battle droid B2,” Byte said.
“Which means that the internal parts of the armor are susceptible to Electromagnetic Pulse grenades,” Kota said.
“You mean droid poppers?” Yavis said. “And how you expect them to work if the external armor is protected against it.”
“Not all,” Brad said, signaling the armor’s arms in the hologram. “The arms need to open to expose the blaster cannons. We just need to place the droid popper there, and when it activates, bum! goodbye, titan.”
“Oh, that's easy. The problem is that for that we need one of those grenades. Where do we find one?” Frall said.
Back in the capital, Prar was in his office in the Yasaburô compound, looking at some schematics when Ochô entered the room.
“Director Prar, one of the scout probe droids may have found the rebel ship in a forest not far from here,” Ochô said.
“Excellent news, lady Ochô,” Prar said with a smile.
“Yeah, they’re excellent news, Director Prar.” Said Tarkin as he and Vader entered the room, getting a glare from Ochô and Prar. “This could be the perfect opportunity to capture these rebels once and for all. And while you're at it, see if your new weapon is as functional as you say.”
Prar fell silent at Tarkin’s words. It was clear that he was provoking him, but he was not willing to back down, now that he had the chance to demonstrate the usefulness of his project.
He then turned to Ochô. “Get to the Titan, get a transport, and take care of the rebels. And please, I want the Lepi alive.”
“But director, the moment they discover our transport, the rebels will flee,” Ochô said.
“If the rebels flee again, that means they know against what they’re fighting, and if they flee now, it will mean the end of their rebellion, as they will be unable to make another move against us again,” Prar said. “And if they decide to fight to the end… well, be imaginative.”
Ochô nodded and left the room.
“You’re not going to send reinforcements with her?” Tarkin asked Prar.
“I'm pretty sure that Miss Ochô will be able to take care of everything thanks to the Titan. Very soon the empire will see that my projects are much better than your 'giant ball' in space.” Prar said with a smile. “I'll just give her a few minutes' head start so she can have her fun, and if she hasn't finished the job when we arrive, we'll do it.”
Prar leaned back in the chair proudly, while Tarkin and Vader looked at each other for a moment, before leaving the room, but not before Vader discreetly waved his hand, at which point the chair slipped, causing Prar to fall to the floor.
“I know it was you! You'll see next time!” Prar exclaimed angrily on the ground, groaning, while Tarkin smiled.
Sometime later, back in the Tengu while the Yokais were discussing how to act now that they knew the enemy's weapon, Byte detected something on the radar.
“Uhm, guys. I think soon we will have company.” Byte said, signaling the radar.
“It seems that we have been a little careless. Most likely a probe droid located us.” Brad said.
“How many enemies are coming?” Kota asked.
“Just one ship,” Byte said. “And it stopped on a clearing close here.”
“Just one, you say?” Lop asked.
“The Titan.” Said Brad. “They’re sending it against us again.”
“Then what do we do? Do we run away again? I honestly don't like the idea.” Frall said.
“No,” Lop said. “We must fight it. If we run now, we will be running from the Empire forever. We will have to always be vigilant that this armor does not appear to torment us wherever we go. To fear it. But it won't be like that. We are going to show Prar what we think of his weapon here and now!”
“Good words Lop but, we still need at least a droid popper to bring it down,” Yavis said.
Brad then looked at Yavis. “Didn't you have one of those in your toolbox?”
“Yeah, but Byte got rid of it when he found it. She doesn't like those kinds of weapons at all, and that's normal.” Yavis said.
“The truth is, to be honest, let's say that I didn't get rid of that grenade. I just hid it.” Byte confused, rubbed his head.
Everyone looked at the droid with a shocked face. “What?!” Everyone asked in unison.
“I didn't know what to do with it, so I hid it!” Byte said.
“And where did you hide it?” Prar asked.
“I… I don’t know! It was so long ago that the memory data related to the location of that grenade has become corrupted.” Byte said. “But at least I know that is INSIDE the Tengu.”
“Great! Just great! Now we have to search the entire ship for a grenade that could be anywhere!” Cursed Frall.
“And what do we do with the incoming mech?” Yavis asked.
“We will distract the mech. You find that grenade. It could be our only chance.” Kota said as he and Lop ran out of the cabin.
The rest of the team looked at each other.
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let's turn this ship upside down and find that droid popper!” Brad said.
“I can’t believe I’m going to look for a weapon that can shut me off.” Byte shook his head.
Kota and Lop left the Tengu and ran inside the forest getting far away from the ship so it didn't turn into the mech’s target. As the two got deeper into the forest they began to hear heavy steps approaching them through the forest, until spotting the Titan in the area.
“There it is,” Lop said, facing the AT-ACA unit.
The mech opened its wrist blasters and began to fire at the two Jedi who quickly turned on their lightsabers and began to reflect the blaster fire from the armored enemy, while the mech advanced slowly at them. Clearly, the plan wasn’t to defeat this enemy, now that was clear that was impossible, but to win enough time for the rest of the crew to get that emp grenade, or try to make one if necessary.
As both Lop and Kota deflected the Titan’s shots, Lop made a large rock float and threw it to the mech’s head, making it flinch a little with the hit, before it turned to her.
“Not bad, Lop.”
Lop’s eyes widened as she heard the voice of who was piloting the Titan. “Ochô?!”
Inside the mech, Ochô grinned as she retracted the wrist blasters and punched the mech’s fist. “Let's see what you can do now that the sword is of no use to you.”
The Titan advanced faster toward Lop, raising its arm ready to punch her, but the Lepi jumped away avoiding the punch, soon attacking Kota who was then at its side as he moved to the sides avoiding the punches.
Maybe lightsabers weren’t useful this time, but at least physical contact could flinch the armored mech. This is the thought that Lop had in her mind and rushed to the mech, jumped over it, and landed behind the Titan which she kicked on the leg trying to bend the mech, but only staggered it momentarily.
The Titan turned around and tried to grab Lop with its hands, but she jumped away, while Kota used a force push against it, making it fall, a groan from Ochô inside the mech was heard before it stood up before it grabbed a down tree and began to use it as a baseball bat against both Jedi, forcing them to stay away of the tree’s range.
“Come on, are you afraid to face me?” Ochô asked as she swept the tree with the mech.
“With that armor, only a fool would face you,” Kota said as he used a force push to push the Titan away. “And only a fool would boast of the advantage of his armor.”
“Well, what I see is that I have the advantage right now,” Ochô said, throwing the tree against them before activating the Titan’s wrist blaster to shoot at them.
The two Jedi avoided the tree and ran in different directions avoiding the mech’s blaster fire, hiding behind trees as the Titan shot at them.
The plan was to get time, but it seemed they were having problems keeping the mech’s pilot distracted.
Back on the Tengu, everyone was putting the ship’s insides upside down looking for the droid popper that Byte hid some time ago.
“You found it?” Brad asked as he looked in his room under the bed.
“No, nothing here,” Frall said as he was in the bathroom, looking through everywhere.
“Me neither up here,” Yavis said as he was searching in the upper cannon’s cabin.
“It’s pretty hard looking for something here!” Drasha said as she was looking through the boxes in the cargo bay.
TD made some disappointing noises as the small droid wasn’t having luck on the lounge.
“Really, where the heck this droid has hid that damn grenade?” Yavis asked.
Byte was looking through the galley under the table when he suddenly stood up.
“Wait, I remember it now!” Exclaimed the BX droid, rushing to the cockpit as everyone went to where he went.
The droid entered the cupboard, moving a metal plate revealing a secret space from which he took out a box with various things.
“What are those things?” Yavis asked.
“Objects that remind me of my old past, during the days of the war. I hid them here so Yavis wouldn't play with them.” Byte said, searching through the box.
“Hey!” Yavis objected to the droid’s words.
The droid kept looking for a moment until he finally got something.
“Aha! There is it!” Byte said as he held in his hand a small spherical grenade, but when he looked at the grenade again he exclaimed scared, sending the grenade flying.
Fortunately, Brad grabbed the grenade. “Okay! Now we have to deliver it to Lop and Kota!”
“I’ll do it!” Drasha said as she took the emp grenade and began to run out of the Tengu into the forest.
Meanwhile, Lop and Kota were struggling to deal with the Titan attacking them as Ochô piloted the mech from the inside, avoiding the Titan’s punches and blaster fire.
“Seriously. For how long do you plan to keep playing?” Ochô asked, getting tired of having to chase the two jedis as they avoided her attacks.
As both Jedi blocked the armor's blaster shots, they both ended up side by side.
“Master, this is not going well at all,” Lop said as she deflected the Titan’s shots.
“You're right. If they don't hurry, we won't be able to hold out any longer.” Kota said as he deflected the shots.
The two began to retreat slowly while blocking the Titan’s shots as it advanced to them, keeping the fire of its blasters to them, while Ochô smiled, narrowing her eyes as she was getting the advantage over them.
But just at that moment, Lop and Kota turned their heads behind them, seeing how Drasha was running to her, with a spherical object in her hand.
“We found it!” Drasha said as she showed in the air the droid popper in hand.
Her eyes widened as some of the shots nearly hit her, forcing her to hide behind a tree before reaching Lop and Kota. They had the victory at hand, but the Titan’s constant fire was giving problems to get the only weapon to bring down the AT-ACA.
“I’ll cover you!” Kota said as he deflected the blaster fire.
Lop nodded at him and began to run to a side, the moment that Drasha threw the emp grenade to her. Lop caught the grenade and when had the chance she ran directly to the Titan.
Ochô saw her running at her and aimed the arm at her to shoot at her, but the Lepi jumped high, avoiding the shots and landing on the Titan.
“What are you doing? Get off of me!” Ochô exclaimed as she tried to shake Lop away.
“Sorry, but you gave us no other choice!” Lop said as she activated the droid popper, embedding it in the gap between the arm and the wrist blaster before jumping away.
“What the?” Ochô asked, looking at the grenade in the gap.
Suddenly the grenade activated, throwing an emp wave that entered into the armor’s circuitry under the armor, shorting it out as the armor shook from the effects of the grenade, until it stopped like a statue, falling on its back.
Lop panted seeing how the Titan was down, not moving anymore, but got worried as she knew that Ochô was still inside, and with all the systems in the unit down, she was trapped inside it. Quickly ran to it and tried to at least open the armor’s face.
Even confused, Drasha went to it and ripped the head off, surprised to see the girl inside the armor as she shook her head after what happened.
“Wait, Yasaburô’s daughter was piloting this thing?” Drasha asked.
“Yeah. And surely she was inside when attacked us before.” Kota said.
“Well, what do we do now? Surely the Imperials will come here if they don’t receive news from her.” Drasha said.
Lop looked at Ochô, who simply turned her head to the side to not look at her. Saddened, Lop began to walk away, soon followed by the other two, leaving her alone trapped in the Titan.
As they walked away, Drasha placed a hand on Lop’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry. Maybe someday she will reconsider her decision to serve the Empire. Just give her time.” Drasha said, getting a nod from the Lepi. “And well, now we have to get something to deal with these things if he sends them to us again.”
“Yeah, but surely we will have to wear lots of these grenades more frequently,” Kota said as he walked alongside them.
“Yes, I think that either Yavis invents something, or Byte is going to have something with so many droid poppers,” Drasha said, the three beginning to laugh.
A few hours later, Ochô was still on the ground trapped in the inactive Titan, surrounded by some stormtroopers to keep her safe, when Prar stopped at her side, looking at her with a serious glare.
“Any explanation for this, Miss Ochô?” Prar asked her.
“To begin with, this thing is too slow to keep up with the speed of the Jedi,” Ochô said. “And, if you don’t see it, I have an EMP grenade stuck in the wrist cannon!”
“Yes, I can see that,” Prar said with a hand on his forehead.
“It seems that not everything has gone as you expected, Director Prar,” Tarkin said as he and Vader approached him.
“Oh, just say it, okay?” Prar said facing them.
“I was just going to mention that, even though your weapon seems invincible, it still shows many deficiencies that need to be polished,” Tarkin said. “Especially if it is a prototype.”
Prar groaned with a hand on his face. “I don't know why I have Geonosis flashbacks right now.”
“You mean when Lord Vader and his Inquisitors humiliated your entire Black Knight Corps the first year?” Tarkin said with condescension.
“Do not remind me of that!” Prar said. “Okay, the Titan has some problems, but make no mistakes! One of these days, those rebels will fall on my hands, and that Lepi will submit to me as my name is Shador Prar!” He stated as he turned around.
Both Tarkin and Vader began to walk away from Prar slowly.
“You know, it’s pretty curious,” Tarkin said to Vader.
“What?” Vader asked.
“The fact that, somehow, the rebels were able to figure out how to neutralize Prar's weapon,” Tarkin said. “And just on the same day that he shows us the plans of the AT-ACA and its deficiencies.”
“Are you suggesting something, Governor Tarkin?” Vader asked.
Both stopped talking and faced each other.
“If it were not possible, it could be said that in some way you have helped these rebels stop the Titan. Obviously, it wasn't me, and taking into account that everyone who worked on that project is more afraid of Prar than of us, I highly doubt that any of them helped them.” Tarkin pointed out. “And let's not say that in theory, we were the only ones with access to the AT-ACA schemes.”
“Are you assuming something, Tarkin?” Was Vader’s reply.
“I'm not assuming anything, Vader. I just want to mention that, whatever happened, he has shown that Prar's inventions are not as invincible as he believes.” Tarkin said.
“And the best thing for everyone is to focus on testing them with the rebels and keep trying to achieve his ridiculous goals without interfering with the empire in his own projects. The more time he spends focused on them, the less problems he will give us all.” Vader said. “Normally I would send the Inquisitors to deal with this problem, but I think the Jedi will be able to keep him busy for quite some time while we iron out some issues with control of the planet. Don't you think so, Governor Tarkin?”
The two stood silent for a while after exchanging those words.
“Where the hell are the technicians?! Someone, get this woman out of there!” Exclaimed Prar furiously.
Both looked at the angry Prar, before resuming his walk.
“I won't mention anything about this,” Tarkin said to Vader as the two walked away.
