“Ah, I had it all under control,” Malik chuckled.
Three of the troops turned to fire upon Serra, but she merely shrugged off their efforts by spinning her lightsabers at rapid speeds. She then approached the trio with a couple of acrobatic tumbles, landing in the middle of them and taking them all out with a single blow. In the meantime, Malik had decided to go more on the offense, taking out three more soldiers with a few precision slashes. He and Serra ended up back-to-back, defending each other from the final group of clones, taking out two of the three with their deflected shots. As the final one realized he was alone, he began to back up in fear but tripped on a small pile of junk before he could run, dropping his blaster in the process.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Serra asked, approaching the soldier. She raised her swords, watching as the clone attempted to shield himself.
“Serra,” Malik said in a stern voice.
The Jedi said nothing in reply, but only smirked and swung one of her blades towards the ground. As Serra sliced his blaster rifle in half, the soldier fainted as a result of his near-death experience. Serra then turned back towards Malik, holstering her lightsabers at her belt with a confident grin.
“That wasn’t necessary,” Malik said, boarding the ship with her. “You didn’t need to terrify the man.”
“I know, but… I’d be lying if I said I don’t take the betrayal of the clones personally. We were friends and allies, after all.”
“Still, we’re better than that, Serra. Fear and revenge are not the Jedi way, even in this changing galaxy. Besides, the clones are programed for absolute loyalty. They had no choice in the betrayal. No, none of this was their fault; it was all Palpatine’s fault.”
Taking a seat in the cockpit, Serra sighed. “You’re right, of course. I’ll try to remember that.” With a quick kiss on his cheek, she said, “Thanks, Malik.”
“Anytime,” he replied with a grin.
With their ship now powered up, they lifted off from the junkyard and took off into space. As they broke through Ord Mantell’s atmosphere, Serra activated their new cloaking system, picking up an incoming ship on the scanners. Malik searched the radio frequencies in an attempt to listen in on their transmission.
“Commander Jace, come in. Do you read? This is Sargent Fox of the 501st legion. Please respond!”
“Sounds like they’re trying to backup their buddies down there,” Serra observed.
“Yep. Not to mention that they’ll have no idea where we went in the aftermath. Look how close they are to us, and they have no clue! Nice job on the cloaking unit, by the way.”
Serra smiled in reply and began plotting a course to their next destination: Alderaan. Once they were a safe distance away from the clone ship, she activated the hyperdrive and deactivated the cloaking systems. Soon, they were safely in hyperspace, away from the eyes of the Empire.
“Malik,” Serra said quietly. “There’s something I’ve been wondering.”
“What’s that?”
“Well… back on Coruscant. The last thing I remember was Skywalker throwing me from that balcony. At that point, I thought for sure I was dead. Then, I opened my eyes and there you were. You saved me, Malik. How? I… thought I heard either you or Master Windu mention Force Lightning, but I had to have been hallucinating from the pain.”
Sighing, Malik replied, “You weren’t hallucinating, Serra. I don’t know how it happened or what I did, but I was so determined to save you that I somehow unleashed an electric shock into your body. I don’t know what else it could have been; it had to be Force Lightning.”
“But that’s a power of the Dark Side, right? How did you manage to use it?”
“I… I don’t know.” Thinking back to those moments, he continued, “I was at first devastated at your demise, but then was able to sense that you weren’t gone yet. I became determined to save you. Your life did not deserve to end so prematurely. I felt… something awaken within me. So strong was my desire to save a life, to save your life that I was willing to use any measures I could think of to do so. Then it just… happened. I shocked you. Your body responded positively, so I somehow did it once again. That’s when you woke up.”
“So, you weren’t drawing on the Dark Side at all?”
“I don’t think so. If I had, Master Windu would have said something.”
“It must be because you were focused on its power to give life, rather than take it,” Serra speculated.
“Maybe so…”
Turning to him, she said, “I think it would be worth exploring, to see if you can replicate it.”
“What are you talking about? This isn’t a power a Jedi should be using!”
“Lightning itself is simply a force of nature,” Serra countered. “Whether it is a power of the Dark Side or the Light Side depends on how it’s used. If you learn to use it to give life, to defend the innocent, how could that ever lead you down the path to the Dark Side?”
Thinking for a few moments, Malik muttered, “I suppose it’s worth looking into…”
“And if at any time either of us feels that you are straying down that path, we will stop immediately. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” he replied with a nod. Standing from his chair, he said, “Let’s get started.”
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