FicWad

Chapter 8: The True Threat

Kim Possible sighed as she leaned against the shower stall of the Wildecat as it flew toward Coruscant. "Why aren't we going after him?" Kim asked herself again, as she has countless time on their trip back to Coruscant.

The warm water ran down her shoulders and back, flowing down her tanned skin to the floor of the stall. She'd missed her home world's twin suns, but she now wished she had used some sun block while she was there.

She let out yet another sigh as the wild, frightening look on Ron's face earlier crossed her mind. What worried her most was that wasn't the first time she had seen that look.

{Flashback}

"Stay quiet ..." Nine-year-old Kim Possible whispered to her younger brothers, Tim and Jim, hiding behind some rubble that was once their home's walls. Sandpeople were hovering around the wreckage of their home, and their town, stealing anything they could get their hands on.

Kim let out a scream as one of the nomadic warriors grabbed her by her hair and jerked her out from her hiding place. "Let me go!" She screamed, as her green eyes went to her screaming and crying brothers being jerked up by their necks by other warriors.

"Let. Them. Go." A young yet emotionless voice said followed by what sounded like a pop hiss.

Kim glanced at the source of the voice and found her usually light hearted best friend standing in the entrance of her home, in his nine-year-old hands gripped his father's lit red lightsaber. Black electricity sparked around him and his usually smiling freckled face glared with no emotion whatsoever.

Several Tusken warriors ran toward the boy with raised weapons but black lightening caused them to cry out in pain before dropping to the floor dead.

Ron's cold eyes looked down on the dead Sandpeople, before his icy face finally broke into a smile, followed by giggling and finally laughter.

The only remaining warrior grabbed Kim by the neck and held her between him and the preteen monster. Ron just cut his glowing red eyes toward the warrior before leaping toward him with the blazing lightsaber, cutting through both his arms behind Kim with one swing, and then beheaded him in one fluid motion.

"Awe ... that was the last one ..." Ron said in a voice he usually only used on the rare occasion where he was winning a game against Kim. "What to do now?"

"R-Ron?" Kim asked timidly, holding her brothers close.

"Don't act like that, KP," Ron said his back still to her, "They killed my mommy and daddy. Then they got yours... they killed everybody. Everybody but us. They won't hurt anybody else, KP ... they won't hurt anybody else ..."

Kim forced back a sob, as she watched Ron's shoulders begin to tremble. "I felt them .... I FELT THEM ALL ... I felt them all ... a-all die ..."

"Ron, it's ok now ..." Kim whispered padding toward him slowly.

"The pain ... then ... then nothing ... it hurts ..." Ron chocked as the lightsaber dropped to the floor switching off on contact.

Kim hugged the slightly taller boy from behind and laid her head on his trembling shoulders, "It's ok now, Ron ... it's ok now ..."

{End Flashback}


The water sputtered bringing Kim out of her memory. She glanced at the gage and saw that her bathing water was beginning to run out. It didn't matter though, they would be at Coruscant and she could fill the tank back up upon their arrival. She just closed her eyes and leaned forward, closed her eyes, and let the warm water wash over her face. As the warm fluid ran over her lips she thought back to not to long ago when she kissed Ron.

"You'd make it just fine without me slowing you up," Ron said, finally putting his arms around the girl's shoulders.

"You've never slowed me up, Ron," Kim corrected, pulling away.

"Face it, KP," Ron sighed, "I've been holding you back for how many years now?"

"What makes you think you've been holding me back, Ronald Stoppable?" Kim asked, crossing arms, giving her patented glare of death.

"Kim, it's like you said on the ship, I dragged you and the boys half way around the galaxy. Your parents were pretty high on the social ladder back on Tatooine, and I took you from that," Ron sighed, looking up to meet her eyes, "You were better off without MMPH!"

Ron's eyes widened when he realized that KP, Kim Possible, his childhood best friend was kissing him full on the mouth. "M-me ... um what was I saying?" Ron finished as Kim pulled back.

"I ... I'm sorry, Ron," Kim said sheepishly, turning crimson. "I actually wanted to slap you to make you stop degrading yourself ... I ... I'm not sure what came over me ..."

"What was I thinking ..." Kim asked out loud, as the water pressure slowly dropped.

She turned off the shower and touched her lips again. She wasn't sure what was more confusing, why she kissed Ron, or the fact she wanted to do it again.

She got out and looked at herself in the mirror. Kim always was a girl who liked fashion and making sure her appearance was pleasing to the eye when she wasn't on missions, but up until now the thought of if Ron liked how she looked had never entered her mind. And also what were they now anyway? Were they still best friends? More then friends? It was enough to give Kim a month long headache.

She pulled on one of Ron's red Apprentice Jedi tunics as a nightshirt. She looked at herself in the mirror again, at the long shirt that went to the mid of her thigh and hung off one shoulder. "When did Ron get so much bigger then me?" Kim mused, pulling up the shoulder of the shirt, only for it to fall down her arm again.

Kim shook her head and walked away from the mirror and moved to the bridge of her own Wildecat. She started to announce her presence when she heard Mara speak up and decided to listen in.

"Luke, it's not your fault, for the twentieth time," Mara said firmly. Kim peaked in to see Mara leaning over Luke in the copilot chair giving him a hard death glare.

"Farmboy, Ron's not a kid anymore, he doesn't need you there to hold his hand, plus Rue's there with him too so he'll be fine. They'll both be fine," Mara stated leaving no room for argument, as if that would have stopped the Jedi Master.

"Mara, there is something wrong with this whole situation, and I keep getting this foreboding feeling in the Force when I try to concentrate on Ron. I can't shake this feeling something horrible is going to happen to him. Ron could be hurt, or even ... Kim?" Luke said turning his head to Kim's hiding place.

"Ron's going to be ok," Kim stated stepping onto the small bridge, "No could, no may, he will be ok."

"Kim, you have to understand, Ron is in training to be a Jedi Knight. This isn't exactly the safest profession in the galaxy," Luke said carefully, "And because of his history even much of the current Order aren't too happy with his part in our community."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Kim asked crossing her arms over her chest.

"What the Farmboy is trying to say, Kimmie," Mara said, sitting back in the pilot's chair, "Shit happens, and usually happens to us Jedi. And because his dad wasn't exactly a hero, Ron's bulls-eye might be a bit bigger. Thus, as the old saying goes: hope for the best but be ready for the worse."

"Neither of you know Ron as much as I do," Kim spat emotionally, "Wherever he is, he can take anything anybody throws at him, even that green witch back at the Hutt's Palace!"

"Kim," Mara started, but Kim turned on her heel and stormed toward her quarters.

"I'm going after her," Mara said standing up, but Luke grabbed her arm.

"No, let her be," Luke stated in his Jedi Master voice, "She's scared for her friend. Let her have her space."

Mara narrowed her eyes on the blonde Jedi and crossed her arms across her chest before sitting back down in defeat, "What the heck was that about anyway? I've never seen you that harsh."

"I wanted to prepare her," Luke said looking forward to the star-lines.

"Prepare her for what?" Mara asked blinking in confusion

"I'm not as good at foresight as Master Yoda was," Luke confessed closing his eyes, "But in Kim and Ron's future I see much hardship ... and even more pain."

- - -

"Apprentice, wake now you must," Rue Fus said slapping his apprentice lighting on the cheek.

"What's going on, Master?" Ron said sitting up rapidly, finding himself in a small maintenance compartment beside the landing legs of the Imperial shuttlecraft.

"Slowing down, we are," Rue Fus said looking away from his student, "Dropped from light speed several moments ago we have, slowing down more now though."

The two Jedi waited for the ship to come to a full stop before the elder and smaller Jedi Knight poked his small pink head out the chamber and lightly crawled down the leg of the shuttle's landing gear. He saw only two guards watching the ship, and quickly reached out his hand toward the back of the bay, making a loud clanging noise in the opposite direction as he and Ron.

"Come, Apprentice," Rue Fus chipped, and scampered toward the cover of the storage boxes along the wall. Ron quickly followed and the two Jedi's took a glance around the landing bay to see if they had any hints of their location.

"On a space station it seems we are." Rue Fus stated the obvious as the two Jedi looked out the force field shielded open launch door.

"Gee, ya think, Master?" Ron smirked down at the small Rodent-like Jedi.

"Smart Jedi, our Order needs," the small bucktooth Jedi glared up, "Too many smartass Jedi it has already."

The two Jedi made their way through the hallway of the space station, occasionally Rue Fus would light his lightsaber and mark the wall as a means to track their way in.

The two carefully made it to a computer station and eased inside, relieved that it was currently abandoned.

Ron quickly went to the main computer and Rue Fus scurried up to his shoulder. "So?" the small Jedi Knight asked glancing at the screen as Ron typed.

"I'm looking, I'm looking," Ron complained as he used what hacking skills he knew. "Kim's so much better at this then I am!" He said, in frustration hitting the computer console. Instantly the words 'Access Granted' flashed on the screen. "Heh, I meant to do that... really," he said smiling at his master's skeptical look.

"So what is it we are in, Apprentice?" Rue Fus asked, glancing at the screen.

Ron smiled and started reading to himself to see what class of space station they were in. As he read his smile fade. "Force help us ..." Ron breathed.

"What is it?" Rue Fus asked, sensing the fear rising in his student.

"A Death Star."

---

Luke's surroundings where white and serene as his mind settled in a meditative state, letting his mind settle on the worries that haunted him, his upcoming marriage, the new Sith, this New Empire, and Rue Fus and Ron's disappearance.

"Well, for one, you don't have to worry about the wedding, Son," a familiar voice called from behind the Jedi Master.

"It's been a long time, Father," Luke smiled warmly as the blonde headed man in dark Jedi Robes approached him to sit cross legged beside him.

"It has," Anakin Skywalker nodded, his appearance given a blue transparent tint. "But I have been watching you. I knew you and Mara would work out."

"Umm ..." Luke blushed, "About my and Mara's relationship up until now ..."

"Son, stop, don't be ashamed about sharing the bed with your respective mate before your formal wedding," Anakin held up a hand, "Looking back, I believe it is possible you and your sister were conceived before myself and your mother were married as well."

"Oh ..." Luke furrowed his brow, "But you were a Jedi ..."

"So was Obi-Wan," Anakin chuckled, "The old bastard still doesn't know I know about him and that Nabooian girl."


"Ben? Wow ..." Luke blinked in surprise, with a faint shudder.

"Anyway, I'm glad you saved the Jade girl like you did," Anakin said, his blue eyes glazing over in sad memories, "I only remember one time she seemed as happy as she is now, and that was before ... me."

"You remember Mara when she was recruited as one of the Emperor's servants?" Luke asked curiously.

"Son, I remember," Anakin said looking away in shame, "I remember everything I did. That was just one of the many families I separated. When I raid the Possibles, she was so excited to be holding her baby sister, and I destroyed that excitement in one swoop." Anakin said absentmindedly, not noticing Luke stiffen.

Anakin sensing his son's sudden shift in emotions glanced his way, "Something wrong, Son?"

"Mara," Luke swallowed hard, "Mara and Kim are sisters aren't they, the baby sister you said Mara was holding when you took her," Luke said glancing at his father, "That was Ron's friend Kim, wasn't it?"

"Yes, Luke," Anakin nodded, "Mara's birth name is Possible, and she is the last family Kim and her brothers have left. I had assumed you had felt the bond between them."

"I felt them growing closer, but I had no idea," Luke shook his head, "I had assumed it was just friendship."

Anakin shook his head, "You still have much to learn, Son. But then, you had to have the fact Leia was your sister thrown in your face and to feel the soul bond you share with Mara took you both almost getting killed. Your senses toward force bonds really do need some work."

"Like you're a brilliant judge of character, Father," Luke smirked playfully.

"Hush, boy," Anakin shook his head and mock disappointment, "Palpatine's a good actor, but I did know your mother was mine the day I met her, and I was less then ten years old at the time." He said proudly.

"Ben said differently," Luke smirked.

"Point of view, Luke," Anakin pointed out, knowing full well his old master was probably watching at the time. "His points of view are about as factual as my grandchildren's storycubes."

"Yeah, you have a point there ..." Luke grumbled, before glancing at his father, "I doubt you just dropped in for a social visit and to drop that thermal detonator about my fiancé and Kim."

"I was actually using that as a means to put this off," Anakin said locking eyes with his son. "I probably shouldn't even warn you, but as you know and Obi-Wan has informed you countless times, I don't follow the rules very well. Dark Times are coming and history will attempt to repeat itself."

"Darth Shego and this New Empire?" Luke asked seriously.

"Yes, soon she will begin approaching one of the strongest of your new Order," Anakin warned, "She will slowly use his own anger and frustration to pervert and corrupt him. The event will probably be as disastrous as my fall if not worse, Son."

"What can we do to stop this, Father? What can I do?" Luke asked worriedly.

"You can do nothing, Luke," Anakin smiled somewhat sadly, "No Jedi can, I'm afraid."

"Then how can it be stopped?" Luke asked, somewhat frustrated.

"Trust your feelings son, you'll know when the time comes," Anakin said as he began to fade away, "The only chance will be a power greater then even the Force itself."

"I don't understand, Father?" Luke said as he slowly awoke from his meditative state, "Father!"

Luke looked around and found himself cross-legged on the floor of the bridge of the Wildecat.

"Welcome back," Jim smiled back from the co-pilot seat, while his twin brother Jim stared forward into the star-lines unusually quiet. "Since you're awake you care to take over for me, last few minutes Tim got boring."

"Sure," Luke said as the boy ran back out of the bridge. Luke quickly plopped down in the seat, to look at the pale young boy. "Is anything wrong Tim?"

"So ... Mara's our sister too?" Tim asked with a gulp.

Luke blinked in surprise, as Tim continued, "I heard you and your father talking, Master Skywalker, in my head." Tim said, then looked at the Jedi Master fearfully, "Don't be upset, Master Skywalker, I didn't mean to intrude, it just ... I heard."

"That's quiet alright, Tim," Luke smiled warmly, "I've been expecting you to start showing signs soon, but not of this magnitude this early. Did your brother hear us speaking too?"

"No, he can't ... do these things I can, sir," Tim said sheepishly.

"I expected as much, though you both have strong force sensitivity," Luke nodded, "not unlike me and my sister, we are both strong in the force, but somehow I am the stronger of the two. You both are strong in the force, Tim, but it seems you have more talent."

"Does that mean I'll be a Jedi like Ron?" Tim beamed slightly.

"If you wish to take the training," Luke nodded, "But it's a long hard road, one full of hardships."

"Do you think I can do it?" Tim asked the master hopefully.

"You've the potential, Tim," Luke patted the boy's shoulder, "perhaps when this mess is straightened out; we can bring you and your brother both in for some tests to see if you're ready for the training."

"Ok, but can I have some time to think about it?" Tim asked nervously.

"Of course," Luke nodded, standing up, "I'll go check on Mara and Kim, if you need anything page me or the others. And don't tell Kim or Mara what you heard earlier. With the damage the Emperor did to Mara, I'm not sure how she'll take this revelation."

"OK, I'll wait until you say so, Master," Tim nodded as Luke left the bridge.

Luke walked back into the resting area of the ship and saw Mara and Kim curled up together on one of the couches in the lounge. He let a small smile play on his lips as he used the force to levitate a blanket from a cabinet and placed it over their bodies for warmth. Luke switched off the light and left them in peace.

---

"A Death Star?" Rue Fus gasped, as Ron pulled a copied data disk from the computer. "Warn the Republic, we must!"

"Nuhuh, Jedi," a sinister voice spoke from behind them. Both Ron and Rue Fus turned to find Darth Shego standing with her cloak hiding much of her body, with the exception of her glowing saber-gloves. "You are going no where."

"You will fall as your father fell, Lady Palpatine," Rue Fus said glaring at the cloaked figure.

"Figured it out, huh?" Darth Shego nodded, throwing her cloak to the side. "Now I will restart my father's work, the destruction of the Jedi begins with the two of you."

"Apprentice, I'll hold her off," Rue Fus said, drawing his lightsaber. "You go, take a shuttle and escape. Warn the Republic and Master Skywalker, you must!"

"I won't leave you, Master," Ron said reaching for his saber.

"I have taught you all you need to learn, Jedi Knight," Rue Fus said, using the force to lock off all emergency alarms in the area, giving his student a proud look. "Now go!"

"But ..." Ron started to argue again.

"I SAID GO!" Rue Fus barked, as he spun at Shego using a point blank force push to knock the Sith out of the door way. Ron took this opportunity and dashed out of the computer chamber, following the marks Rue Fus left on the lower portion of the wall. Several Storm troopers blocked his path, but he easily made his way to the shuttle bay.

"Size matters not ..." Ron repeated to himself as he stopped at a lowered gangplank of an Imperial shuttle. "Size matters not ..." He said again, reaching his hand out toward a large metallic crate. He stretched out with the Force, lifting the heavy box into the air, and sending it flying toward the control booth, shattering it and disabling the force field and the tractor beam for the area. Air whipped by as the barrier between the inner atmosphere of the battle station and outer space vanished, sucking Storm Troopers and equipment into the void.

Ron using Force enhanced speed, made it to the bridge of the shuttle, and quickly used what Kim and Mara had taught about emergency take off procedures.

"I'm sorry, Master ..." Ron said sadly as the shuttle lifted off and shot out of the space station.

Rue Fus smiled as he sensed his apprentice disappear into light speed before blocking several swipes from the Sith Lord, and following up with a jumping slash before spin jumping away.

"You're trapped, little Jedi," Darth Shego smirked down at the rodent-like Knight, "You'll never escape."

"Intending to, I am not," Rue Fus said spinning his double-sided lightsaber taking a defensive stance, "Strike me down, and more powerful then you can imagine will I become."

"Really?" Darth Shego asked, mock-interested, "Ok!" She hissed bringing her claws downward.

To Be Continued...

C. Cowboy: yeah I admit it may be a little rough around the edges, but I really wanted to get this fic rolling again. Only a few chapters to for Knights of the New Republic Episode I, then the second episode in the series 'Episode II: The Second Purge' will kick off. More info on that on in the next couple chapters. Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review!