STAR WARS: The Hunt Begins - Chapter I

HEY, GUYS! What's good? Today, I'm gonna be sharing something very special with all of you, my beloved fans, and it's got something to do with Star Wars because I'm a devoted fan.

So, ever since I saw The Force Awakens, I started writing this little story with some new characters and using my understanding of some of the other factions in the movie. Ultimately, it takes place in the same world and the story will undergo some changes as the new trilogy goes on, but, for now, this is what we're gonna work with, 'cause I'm devoted that way.


Keep in mind that this is only the first chapter in a story, and that more will be coming. Some minor The Force Awakens spoilers are in this story, in case you haven't seen it yet, so, yeah, you've been warned.

 Made with this really cool little title maker you can try out at the link at the end of this post!

You might wanna have this on in the background to get you in the mood.

And here we go...

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A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

STAR WARS

The Hunt Begins

Luke Skywalker has vanished, his New Jedi Order betrayed and destroyed by the evil Knights of Ren and their leader, Kylo Ren.

Several students managed to escape, and are now scattered all across the galaxy. Supreme Leader Snoke has commanded the First Order and the Knights to hunt down the missing Padawans like beasts.

Above a familiar planet, First Order scouts have spotted a ship carrying two of the missing students. Kylo Ren has delegated the search to Zelo Ren, one of his best Knights, and has sent him down to Naboo....
 

CHAPTER I.

The first thing Zelo noticed upon exiting the drop shuttle was the billowing tower of smoke in the horizon. The Kel Dor had made a mental note to severely punish the officer who fired the ventral cannons when he had specifically requested that the ship be boarded. He would have preferred to be marching through the halls of the Corvette instead of trudging through the muddy Naboo swampland in search of the said ship.

To his annoyance, the assignment became the latter of the two options.

"Could we not have landed closer to the crash site?" Zelo muttered through the distortion of his mouthpiece's voice box.

"No, sir," came the nervous reply from inside the drop shuttle.

"And why is that?" Zelo asked, turning around to face the previous response.

The fingers on the Knight's right hand twitched in annoyance. An anxious gulp was all that came out of the co-pilot's mouth. "Our scanners picked up signs of multiple escape pod jetisons in this area," he finally said, "where the pods landed, we can't tell for sure."

Zelo had stopped twitching his fingers and turned around and set his feet in the thick, murky earth of the Naboo wetland. The troopers in the shuttle followed after. The Knight was a towering presence among his company and was much taller than most members of his own species. Unlike the other Knights of Ren, Zelo did not don a black facemask or a helmet - the features on his head would not permit it. Instead, the tentacles and the mouthpiece and the eyeguards on his face were shrouded by a sinister hood that engulfed most of his face in shadow - not that he wasn't intimidating enough.

"What of the Corvette's passengers?" the Knight asked, his voice somewhat raised, "what do we know about them?"

"When the pods jetisoned, they were too far away for our scanners to pick up any signs of life," was the report given by the Stormtrooper beside him.

"That wasn't my question," Ren returned.

"Before the ventral cannons opened fire on the ship, we detected roughly fourteen unique DNA signatures. When the Corvette entered the atmosphere, the number had become six."

The Knight stopped. "Bring me that gunner's name. I would like to have it submitted to General Hux."

"Understood, sir."

Zelo continued walking. "What should have been a straightforward assignment has now been turned into a hunt," he muttered in sadistic excitement.

"Apparently so, sir."

"Tell me, Lieutenant," Zelo turned to face the trooper, his eyes glowing a sinister shade of gold through his eyeguards, "do you enjoy hunting?"

"I can't answer that question. I know nothing of the sort."

"That's about to change," Zelo said, stopping in his tracks, "I think we're going to enjoy ourselves."

They resumed walking, and continued to do so until Zelo stopped in front of a lake. The water was a green-ish brown, and murky. Not even Zelo could see the lakebed, if there was one. Still, the Knight felt as if he had found something. "One of them is here," he said, two fingers placed on his right temple, "I can feel it."

"How can you tell?"

Zelo looked to his right and pointed. "I have found one the escape pods."

Half of the pod was submerged in the murky swampwater and the other was jutting out of the shoreline, at the edge of muddy crash trail. "Search the area," the Lieutenant commanded.

The troopers mobilized as Zelo Ren simply stood at the lake's edge. The Kel Dor's eyes were closed beneath his hood, although no one was truly able to tell. "Jin Haasens," he muttered under his breath.
"We can't find a trail, Lieutenant," one trooper said in the background.

"That's because he's not in these woods," Zelo said.

"Sir?" the Lieutenant asked.

"Lieutenant, do you have diving gear?" Zelo turned around.

"I'm afraid not, sir."

Zelo let out a disappointed sigh. "You'll need some, should you wish to find our target." The Knight scanned the situation at the site of the pod crash. "And have that pod brought aboard the destroyer, I'd like to have it scanned and investigated."

The trooper saluted him. "It will be done, sir," he said before turning around to face his troops, "you heard the Knight."

The rest of them went on to call for what was needed. Zelo returned his focus to the lake. "Where are you, Jin?" he thought to himself.

He thought harder, calling out to the fellow Padawan. "You cannot hide from the First Order forever, Jin," he warned, hoping Jin would hear him somehow.

He closed his eyes and tried to envision what might have been hidden in the lake in front of him. He knew Jin was here - he was certain of it - but where exactly Jin was, he was not. Jin was, after all, a very good swimmer.

Jin was a Gungan. Water was to him what air was to a human. Named after the Jedi master Qui-Gon Jin, who was held with the highest sort of regard Gungan society would permit themselves to bestow upon someone who was not one of their own, Jin was in a class of his own when it came to manipulating the environment around him. He had only one equal in that craft, and that was Elo-Daar, the name Zelo used to go by before being dubbed "Zelo Ren".

Jin was also a fairly proficient wielder of the lightsaber, and was considerably nimble for someone of his height. Zelo wondered what sort of physical condition the Gungan might be in now. Whether or not Jin was injured, Zelo could not tell. He only knew Jin was here.

As Zelo meditated, the ship for which he and the troopers had requested arrived and delivered diving equipment and brought the pod back to the destroyer. "Sir," the lieutenant called cautiously, "the equipment you requested; it's here."

"Took them long enough," he muttered, "come. We have much hunting to do."

The Knight pulled out a diving apparatus from his holster and attached it to his mouthguard. His menacing hood and cape fell to the muddy earth in one swift motion, as Zelo had decided that his favored garb would restrict his movements too much for him to swim efficiently. His head, which, at least for the troopers, had always been covered in that villainous cowl of his, was covered in wrinkly skin which had faded from its original, ochre-like shade of orange, into a more menacing shade that was closer to being red.

"Follow me," he ordered.

With a deep breath, the Kel Dor set one foot into the gloomy lake and descended into the water, with the rest of his troop following suit. They had been swimming for some time until they finally came across the dim glow of Otoh-Gunga.
 

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So, that was it so far, ladies and gents. I hope I got you excited to see more, because more will be coming. If you wanna make your own little title like the one I had earlier, you can click right here.

As always, this has been Rafa. Stay classy, folks.

DISCLAIMER!

I am in no way affiliated with Disney or Lucasfilm. This is simply a fan-written story, and I'm making no money out of this or the property in general.