A Temple Encounter
There wasn't any time to think about what was happening. Around her, everything was collapsing, and all Lumara Kinstike could do was run.
When they'd felt the first distant stabs of death reverberate through the Force, she and her Master had both run towards the source, but as the waves of troopers were unleashed upon the Temple, it quickly became clear that their position was indefensible. The halls and corridors of the Temple were filled with the shrill, harsh sound of repeating blaster fire, fighting with the buzz and hum of desperate lightsabers, lighting the night with an eerie glow. A steady stream of Jedi was running out to meet the army of soldiers, but for every trooper they killed, it seemed another stepped forward to fill his place.
Lumara had seen battles before. She'd been on missions with her Master in the war, destroyed Separatist droids and organics too, but this was different. This wasn't some far-rim planet covered in dust and weeds, this was her home, and it was filled with her family, and they were dying around her like flies. Every death echoed harshly in the Force, feeling like a solid impact to her chest.
When they had reached the edge of the battle for the Temple, they had realised the magnitude of the attack, and Master Tamek had quickly turned to her padawan. "Lumara. You must go now and get the younglings. Head for the shuttles in the hanger. Don't wait for me. Get them to safety. And… you know what I carry. Take care of it for me."
So now she ran. As she approached the crèche she confirmed with relief that they were all still there, that none of the troopers had made their way around yet. Centring herself briefly, as best as she could, she rounded up perhaps twenty younglings, most about six years old, and lifted the last of their charges, an orphaned baby twi'lek, from her crib. They were confused, frightened, several crying from the tremors they could feel on the edge of their untrained senses. She did all she could to calm them, lying that nothing was wrong.
As she hurried them down back passageways, searching out ahead of herself with the Force for trouble, carrying the baby in one arm and brandishing her lightsaber with the other, she forced herself not to panic. This wasn't the end. It was far from the end! This evacuation was a precaution, an absolutely unnecessary, over-the-top reaction to a threat that the Jedi could easily defeat. Her stomach churned with unease as shadows of images of troopers shooting down Jedi flitted across the walls of her mind, projected through her connection with her Master. 'Don't wait for me', she'd said. That couldn't mean anything sinister, Lumara told herself as she neared the hangar. And yet, the lump deep in the folds of her robe suggested just that. If Master Tamek thought she was leaving the battle alive, why had she given the hard copy of the holocron she'd been trusted to preserve to Lumara? Just a precaution, she repeated firmly to herself.
"You have to keep up," she insisted to the younglings as calmly as she could. "Come on, we're nearly there."
Just then, she felt a sharp stab of warning assault her senses. Folding the baby against her chest, she lifted her lightsaber just in time to deflect a barrage of blaster bolts intended for her and her charges. By sheer fluke, one of them ricocheted back into the trooper's arm, giving Lumara just the pause in fire she needed to leap forward and slash him across the chest.
Breathing heavily, she stepped back from the corpse, her ears throbbing with the sound and the feel of her own pulse. Forcing herself to push back her nausea, she pushed the dead body out of the way and urged the younglings on. It wasn't the body that made her stomach turn, but the realisation that she'd been lucky that time. There had only been one, and miraculously he'd been distracted by the injury to his arm. She was young, and even for her age she wasn't a very good swordswoman. Lumara knew that if she was faced with many more troopers, under slightly less opportune circumstances, she and all of the children with her would be dead.
Taking in another deep breath, she reached out around herself and found to her horror that troopers ahead of her were already closing in on the hangar. Just as dread was clutching at her heart, she felt something completely different- a strong presence in the Force rushing to meet her. Lumara felt her shoulders sink with relief. They were saved!
Anakin tore through the Temple, slashing left and right with his saber. The fear and pain in the air were intoxicating. Withdrawing his lightsaber from the belly of a young Jedi Knight, he shuddered with satisfaction at the look of shock still painted on her face. Yes, it was him, and there was nothing they could do to stop him: not one of them, not all of them together.
Just ahead a group of clone troopers was struggling to overcome a Jedi Master. With relish, he swept forward into the fray, and reaching deep into the Force, he lifted the old quarren by the throat, breaking his windpipe as his eyes, like those of so many before him, widened in shock at the transformation of the Chosen One.
The Force felt so different tonight, so much richer with opportunity and danger. Where before he had approached it reverently, like a teacher, studying it to learn answers to his questions, now he plunged into the potent depths of its Darkness, marshalling it to his will and enslaving its power for his own use. Ecstasy rushed upon him as he felt the feeble hypocrites around him being extinguished, and chaos mounting in place of their frigid Order.
Sensing the next obstacle ahead of him, Anakin's thoughts took an even darker turn. This was perhaps not so easy to do as to slay the old, practised liars that led the Order, but it was equally necessary. Steeling his mind with wilful brutality, he forged on towards the group of younglings.
Lumara felt all of her false bravery, every inch of her mask of composure fall as he came running round the corner, stopping several feet in front of them.
"Thank Force," she cried, her voice shaking. She wanted to embrace him. "Master Skywalker, I'm so glad…"
Something felt wrong. Without thinking, Lumara pulled the twi'lek closer to her chest, staring at the man in front of her. In the split second as he'd first appeared, had his lightsaber been raised in attack? That in itself wasn't that suspicious, given the circumstance, but surely he would have sensed they were Jedi, not enemies?
Anakin sized up the girl in front of him for a moment. She was obviously completely out of her depth, maybe sixteen years old at the most, but he'd seen clear in her thoughts as he'd approached that she was carrying something he wanted. He forced a reassuring expression onto his face.
"Don't worry, I'll get you and the younglings to the hangar safely. Is anyone hurt?"
Lumara felt a little more relief wash over her. Of course it was OK. This was Anakin Skywalker, 'the hero with no fear'; there were few better to protect them.
She looked at the frightened younglings crowding around her legs. "No, we're all OK. Just scared. How is the battle going?"
"Everything's going to be fine, but we're taking some precautions. I understand you have one of the emergency holocron disks, and the code needed to activate it?"
She jumped with urgency, "Were you talking to my master? Is she doing OK?"
Anakin felt his temper strain at its bounds at her idiotic sentimentality. It might have been simpler just to torture her for the code then and there. He forced himself to remain calm. "She's fine. She wanted you to give me the disk to me so it's better protected," he explained quickly, holding out his hand.
Lumara's hand automatically flew to that lump in her robes, but something made her hesitate. As she'd moved to do as he said there was an urgency in his eyes, a hunger, that had flared up. His fingers twitched, urging her to do as she was told. Something in his manner, in his presence was making her uneasy. Every time she reached out to him in the Force, he withdrew. It wasn't all that surprising considering he was a relative stranger, but the harsh way he locked her out felt very much like he was trying to hide something.
Anakin was growing impatient. "We don't have much time. The troopers are coming. Give me the disk."
As he said it, Lumara realised that they hadn't moved an inch since he'd arrived. Happily outranked, she'd been waiting for his cue to leave, and despite the danger of their situation, he'd shown no inclination to move them towards the transport. His only urgency seemed to be in getting the disk. She took a cautious step back. "Master Skywalker…"
His temper snapped and the outstretched hand clenched in a second into a tight fist. Lumara's question fell into a shriek of shock as she was lifted off her feet, and she felt iron fingers constricting the air in her throat. As she tried desperately to call out, struggling to keep hold of the baby in her arms, Anakin strode forward and roughly pulled open her robe, yanking out the disk.
Tears of horror began to flow down Lumara's face. She could feel him now, she could feel the Darkness of the energy grasping onto her throat. Behind her, the children had scattered, screaming, and she could feel every iota of the rage of the man in front of her.
"Now tell me the code," he snarled, every pretence gone.
"I-" She choked and spluttered, trying to get words out. The grip upon her windpipe loosened enough for her to suck in a deep, urgent breath. Terrified, she drew upon the renewed oxygen to pull the baby firmly to her chest. "Why are you- doing this?" she panted, her face wet with tears.
"Tell me the code!" he roared, his grip tightening again involuntarily.
The pressure on Lumara's head soared as she felt her neck come to within moments of being snapped, before Vader suddenly released his hold again enough for her to speak. Her vision swimming and her skull pounding, Lumara heard the shrieks of the baby in her heavy arms. Pushing the words past her lips with inhuman effort, she muttered, "I won't."
Letting out a cry of frustration, Vader forced himself not to let his grip tighten again, instead waving his hand and rendering her unconscious with the Force. He'd wasted enough time on this already. He'd deal with her after he got back from Mustafar.
Lumara's body crumpled to the floor, the small bundle she carried falling with her.
Thanks for reading. This story is a rewrite of the first fanfiction I ever uploaded, which originally only consisted of this chapter as a one-shot but developed into a 200,000 word+ story. After several years out of fanfiction, and perhaps 6 years since I wrote the original version of this, I thought it might be fun to see how my writing had come on. I doubt I'll rewrite more of it as I'm pretty busy with other projects, but you never know.
Hope you enjoyed it!