The Mantis-5000

The Sith contractors didn't trust one another. Even when they acted together, they kept their distance, wary of being ambushed by their own allies.

Count Dooku laughed maniacally and shouted to all the trial participants, "My little apprentices, watch your master break through the Jedi defenses!"

As everyone watched, a Starfighter passed through the air lane to the right of the Jedi Temple. Suddenly, it lost control and lurched toward the Temple!

The Jedi had received Kirk's warning in advance and were on high alert. A shrill alarm immediately rang out across the five towering spires!

"Shoot it down! Don't worry about the people on board!" Kirk, who had been on duty in the command room, issued the order decisively without time to consult Master Yoda. He wasn't a Jedi who blindly clung to dogma. Faced with Merit Points or civilian lives, he chose the former without hesitation.

Two anti-aircraft laser cannons emerged from the tops of the spires. The Jedi Temple was also a vast defensive fortress. The efforts of generations of Jedi Knights had made it impregnable.

The out-of-control ship was quickly blasted apart in midair!

Then an even greater explosion erupted!

The Starfighter had been packed with high-energy explosives! The blast was powerful enough to destroy one of the towering spires!

Fortunately, Kirk had ordered the Defense Shield activated in time, and the ship had been shot down early, detonating all the explosives before it reached the Temple. The explosion was enormous, but the Temple emerged unscathed behind the rippling shield.

"Don't celebrate too soon. That was only the enemy's appetizer," Kirk said calmly.

"But there might have been civilians on board," protested one of the Jedi Knights at the controls. "It'll give the Councillors even more reason to criticize us."

"Criticism?" Kirk fixed the Jedi Knight