AN: This is my version of how Paul Kemp's novel, Lords of the Sith, should have ended. Warning for a character death.
Beta-read by A Certain POV. Thank you again!
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Queen Without a King
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The last desperate attack of the Free Ryloth movement on the Emperor and Vader was heading towards an inevitable failure. Without the strafing of Belkor's V-wings, which were now under Moff Mors's command and with the Twi'lek freedom fighters cornered by the Imperial troops at the bottom of the quarry, surrounded and shot one by one, it was only a matter of time before their leaders were going to face imminent death or, worse yet, capture.
And Isval, her blood pounding with adrenaline, but hands as steady as always, had no intention of letting that happen. Her eyes narrowed, focusing only on one target: Darth Vader. If she killed him, their escape would be possible and their comrades' deaths wouldn't be in vain.
However, none of the shots by Isval, Cham, or Goll reached their mark. It didn't look like they affected him at all as he cleaved a straight path up the wall of stone, proceeding towards their location like the unstoppable juggernaut of death that he was.
"Cham, you need to get out of here!" Isval shouted, firing a round after round, desperate to prevent the black, masked machine of destruction from getting closer. It was no use. That monster bounded up the steep wall of the quarry as if the gravity didn't exist, temporarily turned off by his unimaginable, malevolent powers. After what she'd seen him do on the Perilous, Isval was willing to believe in that.
"Cham! You have to run!" she urged him again, but Cham stubbornly held his ground.
"No! We can get Vader! It's all or nothing now!" he shouted back.
"Goll, take Cham and run! It's an order!" Isval stood up swiftly and took off for the enemy.
"Isval, no!" The Twi'lek leader called after her.
The blaster was scorching her hands but she didn't dare drop it. She would provide cover so that Cham, the man she'd always loved, could leave and carry on the fight. As long as he was alive, the Free Ryloth movement would rise again and oppose the Imperial tyranny. And one day, they would win this fight and restore freedom to all of Ryloth. With Cham Syndulla at the helm, their spirit would never be broken.
"Come on, Cham! She's giving us an opening!" Goll tried to grab him, but Cham evaded it.
"I'm not leaving her! Come with me!" The Twi'lek leader leapt up and ran after Isval, Goll following as a rear guard.
"Vader! Do you remember me?! Do you?! I saw you on the Perilous before I blew it to hell!" Isval screamed down at the Sith, still shooting.
They were close enough for Vader to deflect the shots with his lightsaber. The red blasts hit the rocks around them.
This was it; her last stand after years of fighting. In this game of holochess, she was the queen, the strongest piece which guarded the king, the weakest but most important. And Vader was the queen on the opposite side, with not a king but the Emperor under his protection.
Only one of the queens could survive the showdown between them. Isval grinned despite herself.
"Isval! Don't do this!" Cham shouted from behind. What was he still doing there?! She lost concentration for a critical moment.
Vader made a hand gesture and Isval was blown off her feet, flying back and hitting a tree with a loud thud, before collapsing to the ground in a daze. She saw dark spots and felt warm blood spill from the top of the base of her lekku. But she knew the wound wasn't so bad.
Never mind her, what about Cham and Goll?
Isval looked up fearfully. Her comrades were still at the edge of ravine and shooting, but then Vader finally climbed up to their level. In a split second he was upon them. He sent Goll flying just like he did to her.
Cham faced the enemy alone.
"Darth Vader, I will stop your terror once and for all!" he declared and in this moment he was the bravest man she'd ever seen.
"No, you will not, Syndulla," the masked man replied with a cruel amusement.
Cham fired.
Isval gave a hoarse cry and tried to get up, to help him, but it was already too late. Vader deflected the bolt straight into Cham's chest. And when Cham fell to his knees, the red lightsaber cut down and across, decapitating him.
She was barely seeing anything through the tears, but she grabbed around for her blaster, until her hand came in contact with the heated handle. But before she could resume her assault and try to avenge Cham, a heavy arm descended on her shoulder and turned her around.
"Let's run!" Goll told her, pulling her along for their transport.
"But-! Cham! He is- he is-!"
"Dead, I know! But he'd want us to live, so run!"
"We shouldn't just... leave him!" she protested.
"He left us first!"
Goll was right, she knew that, understood his logic all too well. It was pointless to return for a lifeless body. But it still felt like they were abandoning Cham and she hated it.
Isval looked around her shoulder and her blood ran cold. Vader was there, motionless, staring after them. She knew he saw them, knew where they were going.
Then he turned away.
He was letting them go.
The V-wings covered the forest with blasterfire. Rocks and pieces of wood went up in the air from the destructive force. The concussive blast caused Isval to stumble and the sudden punch of a headache blinded her. Goll practically dragged her up the ramp to the ship.
"Go, go! And keep to the trees!" he shouted to the human pilot, Faylin.
"Are you all okay?" she asked, risking a glance back. "Hey... Where's Cham?"
"He's dead." Isval replied numbly, staring off into space. "Vader killed him."
"What about the others?"
"They're all dead. The movement is gone."
Faylin cursed.
Isval ignored her and continued, "This is my fault."
"Stop it," Goll cut her off firmly. "This is grief talking."
Isval shrugged. "It's true. I failed Cham and he paid the price."
"He knew the risk. He's been fighting for years, he was prepared for this eventuality. Any one of us could've died down there. Cham was our friend. He wouldn't blame you or me for what happened. You know it."
Isval did. It didn't make it easier on her, though.
"Where should we go now? Is there a plan?" Faylin asked.
"Isval? What do we do?" Goll turned to her.
Isval, out of habit, looked to Cham to ask his orders before she caught herself. She was on her own now, the highest in rank.
She didn't want this. She just wanted to lay down and wake when everything was okay again, maybe in a hundred years. Her head throbbed and she closed her eyes, while massaging her temples.
"Isval?" Goll prodded her gently.
She gave him a tired look. "We take everyone who's left and we retreat."
That was the only thing the defeated could do.
In the next few days, as the remains of the Free Ryloth gathered and went underground, she was obsessively going over their last operation. She inspected every move, every detail, trying to deduce what should have been changed to let Cham escape with his life. She had no delusions about their chances of winning. Killing Vader alone was undoable, the Emperor – downright impossible.
She knew exactly why Vader let them go. He didn't want to waste energy on them, soldiers without their leader. They were like defanged kath hounds, fleeing into the jungle to lick their wounds. Even days later, the burn of that last humiliation wouldn't leave Isval's mind. It was like a piece of shrapnel that dug so deep in her flesh it couldn't be removed, constantly hurting, a reminder of her loss. Loss of friends, of dignity.
Vader killed their king piece and this game of holochess was officially over. Without Cham, the Free Ryloth movement was as good as done for. They wouldn't rebuild after so many had died in the assault that amounted to nothing. Even Moff Mors remained on her post, more vigilant and deadly than before.
The low morale among the surviving troops recuperating in their secret base beat down on Isval like a hailstorm. The guilt was crushing her. She was supposed to lay down her life to let Cham escape and reform the Ryloth rebellion again. Now she was the queen without the king.
She could quit. Maybe she should, for her mistakes.
But something wouldn't let her. Be it a misguided sense of duty to the cause, be it her desire for more blood and revenge, be it the actual spirit of Cham – whatever it was, Isval knew she couldn't let things end like this.
She commed Goll.
"Gather everyone. I have an announcement to make."
"Isval, what this is about?" he replied, sounding worried.
Isval allowed herself a smile as sharp as the edge of a vibroblade. "Our next strike, what else?"
She had to keep fighting.
For Cham.
For the Twi'leks.
Free Ryloth would fight on.