Star Wars: Rebels: Truth in Legends
Disclaimer: Star Wars Rebels and all Star Wars characters and Lore are not my property, as they are all owned by Lucasfilm and the Walt Disney Company.
A/N: At long last, the hiatus is over. Welcome back to all my returning readers! I apologize profusely for the unexpected and extended delay, and I won't bore any of you with the details. I believe I've kept all of you waiting long enough, so enjoy!
Chapter 2: The Paths We Take
It was down on the crew accommodation decks of Home One that the Rebellion's resident Jedi Knight and Mandalorian gunslinger had been afforded a cabin of their own. It was mostly spartan, and only slightly larger than the crew quarters on the Ghost, but it had everything the couple needed, including a private refresher chamber, something typically reserved for higher-ranking officers and officials. While they both preferred their more secluded accommodations on the Starbird, this cabin was, for all intents and purposes, their home for the time being, pun not intended.
Sitting at the foot of the bed, her armor discarded and left in her jumpsuit and boots, Sabine Wren had just finished scrubbing her blasters for the second time in the last couple hours. She knew it was a waste of cleaning solution, but she preferred to keep busy however she could, especially when she had no idea where her husband was. He hadn't been scheduled for any missions, and she was understandably surprised to discover he was absent upon her return to the Rebel flagship. Ezra had been a tad more aloof than usual these past couple weeks, but the young Mandalorian decided it was just his way of dealing with Kanan's apparent death. They had barely talked about it, admittedly, but when they did, Sabine knew he understood she was there if he needed someone to talk to, and vice versa. She still hadn't fully come to terms with it either, truthfully. For her own part, Hera had buried herself in her work as a general, and caring for her daughter, and Sabine respected that. Everyone coped in different ways. Things hadn't been this difficult for the crew since they lost Zeb, but each of them took solace in the knowledge that like that, they weren't facing this loss alone, either.
When the door to the hallway swished open, Sabine looked up to find her favorite Jedi had returned to her. She offered him a faint smile, though her eyes told Ezra he had some explaining to do. It didn't take him long to realize she was waiting for him to speak.
"So… um, you're back early," the Lothalian nervously rubbed the back of his neck as he grinned sheepishly.
"Yeah, intelligence actually overestimated the number of Imps at the objective, for once," the Mandalorian rolled her eyes as she recollected, "Honestly, it was pretty much just mopping up by the time I got there."
"How boring," Ezra teased.
"Yeah, well, we did manage to snag some much-needed munitions for the fleet. But I'd much rather hear about what you've been up to, oh husband of mine," Sabine pressed the heart of the matter, leaning forward from her perch and eyeing him seriously. Ezra's grin faded.
"Look, I know I should have told you where I was going, or at least left a message, but it was just a simple meet up with a contact for information, nothing dangerous. I didn't even have to fight anybody, honest!"
"Exclamation: I did!" a familiar mechanical voice gleefully chimed in from outside in the hallway. Ezra immediately reached out through the Force to activate the door controls and seal it behind him.
"Details, now," Sabine ordered sharply, folding her arms across her chest as her eyes narrowed.
"I may have recovered some intel vital to finding Kanan," Ezra answered honestly. He couldn't lie to her, and any attempt to change the subject would be useless. After all, her sharp wit was one of the many things about her that he fell for in the first place.
"May have?" Sabine arched a brow, clearly skeptical.
"It's not a hundred percent, but hey, what is?" the Jedi shrugged.
"How irritated I am right now, for starters" the Mandalorian countered instantly.
Ezra sighed and hung his head low. Despite her frustration at him, Sabine couldn't help but let her expression soften. She knew his heart was in the right place. Ezra could definitely still be boneheaded at times, but he never meant to intentionally upset her. She didn't need the Force to know he was still beating himself up over losing Kanan, and any chance he thought was there to make things better, both for himself and the rest of the crew, he would take.
"Ezra," she began with a sigh of her own, "I know you miss him. I do too. I've given you your space up until now to deal with it in your own way, but make no mistake, I need to know where you are and what you're doing, especially when it's off somewhere in this vast galaxy with that homicidal maniac of a droid."
"I was afraid you wouldn't understand," he replied sadly, looking back up to meet her gaze, "I know you, Hera, Chopper, and everyone else thinks I'm wasting my time on some wild bantha chase, but I can't give up. If I give up, it's like I…"
"Like you failed him, again…" Sabine finished for him. She knew he had never fully come to terms with the events of that fateful mission to Malachor 1.
"Yeah…" Ezra admitted as his head hung low again, in defeat.
Sabine felt the last remnants of her irritation and frustration dissipate. She stood up and walked over to him. He was so caught up in his own thoughts, he nearly jumped when he felt her pull him into a tight, warm embrace. He raised his head to meet her gaze again, just in time for her to seal her lips against his in a deep kiss. It was slow, purposeful. His suspicions were confirmed when she pulled away and spoke earnestly to his stunned face.
"You failed no one, Ezra. You could never fail any of us," she told him sincerely, her expression fierce and her voice absolutely certain.
Wetness formed in the corners of his eyes, and he heaved a shaky sigh when he felt her reach up to wipe them away. She maneuvered them over to the edge of the bed, and she sat down, pulling him with her. The Mandalorian held her Jedi close to her, placing his head against her chest. Slowly, he closed his eyes, content to listen in silence to her heartbeat.
"I have to get stronger. I have to protect her! I have to protect Hera, too, and Dawn, all of them!"
A couple days passed. It was after dark in the capital city on Mandalore, Keldabe. Having spent most of the day in strategic meetings with his top generals, Mand'alor the Vindicator was about ready to finally get some shuteye. The aging veteran was no stranger to meticulous planning in the war effort, and he was grateful to have lieutenants like Fenn Shysa, Kuervo Ordo, and Bo Katan Kryze who shared his attention to detail. He was even starting to allow Ursa and Alrich Wren occasional attendance at these conferences, and they brought their own skill sets to the table. Still, there's only so much dialogue and cataloguing the individual mind and body can take before it's ready to shut down for a while. Naturally, when an unexpected call for him came in on the holocall transceiver in his stronghold's communications hub, he audibly groaned at the prospect of an unwelcome interruption to his demanding schedule.
"Manda'vod. Do you have any idea what karking time it is here?" the supreme ruler of the Mandalorians fought the urge to growl through clenched teeth in exhausted frustration when the live holoimage of Ezra appeared through the projector on the transceiver.
The young Jedi Knight in question could only grin nervously, chuckling and rubbing the back of his neck in uncertainty. When he mustered his nerve, he spoke.
"Yeah, hehe, sorry about that. But... I won't be able to make this call once my ship goes into hyperspace, and this will be the last chance I'll have to ask you something…" he trailed off, perhaps sensing the twitching eyebrow of the Mando'ade leader behind the latter's helmet. If looks could kill…
"Ask, and I will answer, but be quick about it," Mand'alor replied sharply yet restrained, his souring mood contained, for the moment.
"Have you ever heard of a planet called Nanthema, in the Chorlian Sector? I'm heading there right now, flying in mostly blind. The holonet has nothing. You've seen much more of this galaxy than I have. I thought perhaps, maybe, you'd be able and willing to help shed some light on this for me, please?" Ezra inquired earnestly, and somewhat meekly.
"Seriously, boy? What am I here, your travel agent?" Mand'alor rolled his eyes, folding his arms and sighing in exasperation as he did so. "Fine. If we have anything on this mystery world of yours, it will be archived in our databanks. Give me a few minutes and I'll call you back. Fair warning, if you don't answer for any reason at all, I will personally hunt you down just for the satisfaction of throttling you."
"Oh… um… thanks, I think. I'll be here!"
Ezra sat in silence for the next several minutes, and then several minutes turned into a dozen. Soon, a full half hour had passed, and no reply had come. Uneasiness soon gave way to uncertainty. Finally, after an extended and very uncomfortable period of silence, the telltale ping of an incoming holocall sounded off at the controls, and the young Jedi swiftly answered it.
"Well, that took longer than expected," Mand'alor began in an exhausted voice, "It was buried away in the system, but I found one mention of Nanthema, from an old scouting report some of my troops conducted in the Chorlian Sector during the last war," the aging veteran took a moment to yawn in spite of himself before continuing.
"Take your time, I really appreciate this," the freedom fighter from Lothal expressed sincerely.
"Whatever. Now, this is a bit dated, but apparently it's an unpopulated world devoid of any noticeable signs of life, both sentient and non-sentient. No surface water to speak of, either. Multiple scans and sweeps showed no trace of enemy activity, and since it was a significant distance away from any active warzones at the time, it seems this report was never given a second look. Okay, now if you don't mind, I'm going to go turn in," not skipping a beat, Mand'alor moved to cut the transmission, eager to finally get some shuteye. His ally's voice stilled him, much to his chagrin.
"Wait, that's it?" Ezra arched a brow, clearly underwhelmed by the sparse information. "It's just an empty world that nobody lives on?"
"According to this scouting report from about twenty five years ago, yes," the Mandalorian ruler sighed before letting out another yawn, "And before you ask, no, I have nothing more current on this planet. Our business is concluded, safe travels, boy. Now goodnight!"
The eradicator of Death Watch didn't wait another second before ending the holocall. Ezra let himself release a sigh of his own. It was better than nothing, at the very least.
When Emperor Palpatine formed the Imperial Inquisition in the aftermath of Order 66, the organization's stated purpose was to root out and deal with any surviving Jedi troublemakers causing unrest in the Galaxy. By and large, the Dark Jedi who formed the ranks achieved this, with a handful of notable exceptions. When Palpatine declared the Great Jedi Purge a success shortly before the Battle of Yavin, many Inquisitors felt the days of their unique status were numbered. So naturally, when it was announced the Inquisition as a whole would be reassigned to track down and decimate an enigmatic cult of Force users, most felt relief at the news.
The most significant piece of intel on their new foe to come forward, yet, was news of a secret listening station near Taspan in the Mid Rim. The Grand Inquisitor himself, with a hand-picked team of cohorts, had arrived to spearhead the raid on the converted, former Separatist service depot.
Galen Marek, aka Starkiller, flanked by his longtime allies and fellow Inquisitors Garnac and Barriss Offee, swiftly cut through the rank-and-file Disciples and reactivated B-2 battle droids in the corridor leading further into the interior from the main hangar pay. They had already lost two fellow Inquisitors and almost an entire company of troopers just securing the area behind them. Every inch taken had been paid for with blood. Still, they pressed forward, leaving corpses both friend and foe in their wake.
"If the intel is accurate, we'll find the control room in the center of this place!" Starkiller called out to his allies, using the Force to tear a pair of droids apart before impaling a Disciple, all the while dodging enemy blasterfire.
"Let's get this over with!" Barriss griped with a huff while deflecting blasterfire, more often than not right back into those pulling the triggers. She clearly had little personal investment or interest in the mission.
"Haha! This isn't a choke point, it's a meat grinder!" Garnac clamored in delight. The Trandoshan barred his razor-like teeth in a sadistic grin as he cleaved another Disciple in two. His left side was caked in blood splatter; minutes ago he tore off an arm from yet another unfortunate Disciple and left the man to bleed to death in agony on the floor behind them. Barriss had then taken the latter's head off with her blade, if only to shut up his screams, much to the irritation of her reptilian compatriot.
Finally, after several more minutes of relentless slaughter, the trio had arrived at their destination. After cutting through the two blast doors in their way, they stepped into the control room, and immediately found another large group of Disciples and B-1 battle droids waiting with railgun rifles trained on them, plus two Adherents with their lightsaber polearms drawn and ignited. The Society's commanding officer, a young Dau'to Twi'lek female, a Champion in rank, had a railgun rifle drawn in her right hand, and a vibroknife in her left. She yelled at the three Inquisitors as they quickly moved into defensive stances.
"Unbeliever filth! You dare attack the faithful of the Great Dragon?! You will answer for this unforgivable affront with your lives!"
"I'm gonna enjoy hearing you scream!" Garnac spat in reply.
Barriss stayed silent, merely rolling her eyes.
"One chance: surrender, and we will show you and what's left of your forces mercy," Starkiller offered, sternly yet sincere.
"Kill them all!" was all the Twi'lek had to say.
Almost immediately, the three Inquisitors found themselves pinned as they deflected a constant rate of fire. Since their enemies were now using projectile guns rather than blasters, they were left with nothing to deflect back at them. After a moment, Starkiller and Barriss both drew a pair of droids to themselves through the Force, severed their hands and their weapons along with them, and used them as shields as they lunged toward the enemy line. Garnac seized upon the distraction they created and leapt at their foes, hacking and slashing as he landed directly among his opponents. Limbs and heads both organic and mechanical went flying. The two Adherents had entered the fray at this point, but they were outnumbered and were quickly forced on the defensive.
It was only a few short minutes before the Adherents were all that remained between the Inquisitors and their objective. The Twi'lek was now frantically working at one of the computer consoles against the far wall. As Barriss locked blades with one Adherent and Starkiller electrocuted the second with Force lightning, Garnac saw his chance and lunged at the Champion, but she heard his movements and dodged his attack just in time. The Trandoshan Dark Side user had to break off his attack at the last second, lest he destroy the console and any valuable information on it. His opponent seized this opening, and hurled her vibroknife into him, the sharp metal blade embedding itself deep into his torso just below the ribcage. Garnac choked out a surprised, pained gasp, eyes wide in surprise as blood began to run from the corners of his mouth. He nearly lost his footing as he recoiled slightly
"You schutta!" he spat blood as he roared, "I'm gonna gut you for that!"
The reptilian Inquisitor raised his doublesaber to strike at her again, but his movements had slowed, and the Champion was quick on her draw. She used her railgun to shoot his weapon out of his claws, and she then took aim straight for his head as he fell to one knee.
Then, at that moment, she didn't have enough time to process the sound of the last Adherent falling to the floor, dead.
Before she could react, the Twi'lek Champion felt her own eyes go wide in surprise as her rifle was torn from her hands telekinetically. Starkiller drew the firearm to him and sliced it in two with his own doublesaber. The Champion quickly went for a sidearm blaster pistol at her side, but she herself was pulled through the Force before she could grasp it, right into Barriss' blade. The Mirilan Inquisitor cut through her midsection, nearly cleaving her in half as well before dropping her to the floor.
"Captain!" Starkiller wasted no time calling the Stormtrooper officer back at the landing zone, "The control room is secure! Send in the tech team and a medic, pronto!"
"Right away, sir!" came the reply.
The Human Inquisitor moved to assist his wounded ally, and just as Barris moved to check on the Champion at her feet, she dodged more fire from a railgun. One of the Disciples, critically wounded but still alive, had mustered just enough strength to keep the female Inquisitor distracted as his commanding officer dragged herself over to the console. By the time Barriss finished him off with a telekinetic snap of his windpipe and Starkiller saw where the Twi'lek had gone, it was too late. She managed to enter a four digit code and press one single button before his Force lightning struck her and blasted her back onto the floor, but it was all that was needed.
A foreboding alarm sounded and red lights began flashing just as a group of four Imperial technicians and one medical officer arrived. They immediately set about their work over at the various computers and Garnac, respectively.
"That better not be what I think it is!" Starkiller growled in anger and frustration as he kicked the Champion onto her back, moving his blade to her neck. She chuckled weakly, mockingly.
"In five minutes… th-this entire station will… will be reduced to space dust. You… will… n-never escape with our data… in time! Burn in hell… False Imperials!" with a defiant last breath, she succumbed to her wounds.
"Sir!" one of the technicians drew the Grand Inquisitor's attention to him, "We have a partial download of the main computer underway, but it will take more time to complete the process!"
"Is there any way to shut down to self-destruct?!" Starkiller inquired immediately.
"Negative, sir!" another technician answered after a few seconds, "We need whatever code she put in to activate it, and we don't have enough time to try and slice through any more encryption!"
"Lord Vader will not be pleased if we don't finish the mission," Barriss drolled out, but her eyes showed she was indeed serious.
"What we have is what we got," Starkiller reasoned, "Everyone, fall back to the LZ! We're pulling out!" he finished while speaking into his comm.
With the partial download compiled on a single datapad, the three Inquisitors, one supported by the medic, hurriedly retreated the way they had come, with the technicians in tow. Mere minutes later, the Sentinel-class transport shuttle they had arrived and evacuated in just barely cleared the blast zone in time.
When the Starbird dropped out of hyperspace at the coordinates provided, it wasn't long before Ezra caught sight of the mystery world in question. A simple re-alignment of their trajectory, and the young Jedi Knight and ancient assassin droid were en-route to their true destination.
The planet ahead vaguely resembled other desert worlds at a distance, but Ezra could tell immediately that something was off. While other worlds of barren expanses and sand dunes like Tatooine had at least some signs of varying landscapes and clouds in the atmosphere, however small and scarce, Nanthema showed nothing at all from space except what appeared to be an empty wasteland across the entire surface. The appearance began to shift from that of a desert to a landscape choked with ash as the ship drew closer.
The moment the Starbird entered the upper reaches of the atmosphere, Ezra immediately felt something surge through his very being. His heart sank deep into his stomach. It wasn't long before he realized this was a feeling unlike any other he had ever experienced in his travels before. It was definitely deeply foreboding, but somehow, it didn't feel like anything Sith he knew about up to that point.
The young Jedi had felt the Dark Side more than once before, both from his opponents and his own use of the Trayus Holocron, but this was different. While the Dark Side typically felt cold, intimidating, and yet tempting, this felt… draining. It was as if the very air around his ship was trying to suck the life out of his body.
Ezra had not even touched down on the surface of the mysterious, barren, forgotten world below him, and still he knew, something terrible happened here.
A/N: Chapter 3 is in progress, and I will post updates on its progress here. I can say for certain there won't be another lengthy wait like last time. Again, I apologize for that. Once again a most heartfelt and sincere thank you to all of you, as well as my longtime beta reader and friend, WikkedGrin.
Best wishes to you all, and I look forwaed to continuing this saga with each and every one of you. :)