STAR WARS: Gray Jedi

Prologue

PLANET NAG UBDUR. THE CAPITAL CITY BINJAI-TIN.

Destin's wrist burned as his older sister, Solara, pulled him forward through the crowd, shouting for him to hurry as they ran through the terrorized city now being torn apart. Red streaks of blaster fire tore through the sky as local militia fired their blasters, fighting to repel their Stormtooper invaders. The city of Binjai-Tin was in chaos and Destin had never felt so much fear. His entire world was falling apart and he was right in the center to watch. Solara tugged on his wrist . 

"This way!" she shouted as she pulled him forward.

She pulled him out of the mob, leading him down a nearby alleyway made between the local cantina and scrap shop. 

"It's here!" Solara cried, as she slid onto her knees beside a pothole entrance burrowed within the dirt. 

Destin watched as his sister grabbed the edges of the pothole seal, lifting the cap as hard as she could. 

"Help me!" she cried out to him.

Without thinking, Destin did as he was told and knelt beside his sister, grabbing the edges of the pothole cap with his fingers. He grunted, lifting as hard he could, his fingers pained from the weight. They both had known since they were very little that Binjai-Tin was a city with a well known underground waterway system. They had used them constantly to traverse the city quickly and outmaneuver the latest vendor they stole old ship parts from in the local market. (Something their mother had always had a talking with them about). But now, these waterways had become even more indispensable to their survival. If they could just get into the sewer lines of the city, they could follow the underground passageways that led to the outskirts and escape the chaos that now surrounded them. That was the plan at least. 

It took a moment, but they were finally able to lift the seal and drop it to their side, but just as Destin felt a tinge of pride for their effort, a huge blast tore through the back wall of the nearby cantina, it's shockwave sending him and Solara soaring through the air.  Landing a good couple feet away on the ground, Destin coughed, his ears ringing from the explosion. His sister's voice was muffled to his hearing as she asked, "Are you ok?"  

"Yeah. I think so," Destin replied, the wind taken from him. 

Solara raised him to his feet. Together they turned, finding the pothole entrance they just opened shut with debris, blocking their escape into the underground.

"Frag," Solara cursed. "Well, there goes that plan."

Then, a voice cried out at the other end of the alley. "You two! Halt!" it shouted. 

Destin and Solara turned, spotting two First Order Stormtroopers running towards them.

"Quick! Run!" Solara yelled. 

Solara grabbed Destin's wrist again and pulled him towards the tree line that bordered the edge of the city at the opposite end of the alley.

"Stop!" one of the two Stormtroopers shouted. 

The young siblings ran into the forest. They dodged tall woodland trees and jumped over prickly brush and broken tree trunks fallen to the ground. Solara never looked back. Destin, however, couldn't fight the temptation to look over his shoulder and spot the white armored soldiers rushing towards them. They were terrifying, their helmets inanimate skulls come to bring death and destruction wherever they went. One of the Troopers  raised his blaster and fired, sending a round searing through the air, right past Destin's ear. It whisked past, striking the trunk of a tree just ahead, bursting into yellow flares on its impact. Round after blaster round followed, each just as close as the last.