Alternate paths chapter 2
I was originally not going to continue this, but with the support, and a strike of inspiration, I have an idea. Though a fair warning, I'm going to talk about ships going to certain planets and low and behold, there isn't an updated Star Wars map with Lothal on it. (Or at least one I can find.) -_- So if you understand how Star Wars travel works and complain that Lothal is no where near the specific planet mentioned, I could not find a Star Wars Galaxy map with Lothal on it. (Seriously I spent almost an hour staring at Star Wars maps. I was getting a headache)
Also, I'm calling back to The clone wars with this.
"I have returned, master." The Inquisitor said.
"And we're you successful?" His master answered
"Yes. I captured the Jedi and his padawan."
"Good. I want the Jedi brought to corasuant immediately."
"It will be done."
"Send the boy with the others."
"Yes my lord."
"This will be his test. If he impresses us then he will be a worth apprentice for you. However if he fails to accomplish this, we will have no choice but to leave him."
"Very well my lord. I will see you by tomorrow I hope."
"I look forward to it." His master shut off the hologram.
"Soon boy you will see the true power of the dark side."
"They should've been back by now." Zeb said as he slouched on the couch.
"I'm worried too." Sabine said as she sat down next to him. Hera stood against the wall.
"We'll go check on them tomorrow. Although, we can't jump to conclusions on what's been going on." Hera walked over to them and turned on the imperial hollownet.
"What are you doing?" Zeb asked.
"Gall Trayvis usually broadcasts around this time. Maybe he has some information regarding what the empire is planning."
"And Fulcrum doesn't?" Sabine asked sarcastically. Hera smiled.
"Well, Fulcrum didn't have anything new to feed me when I dropped off Zibo."
"So we're just sitting ducks until they get back?" Zeb asked.
"Pretty much." Hera answered. Just then, the empire broadcast was interrupted and the picture of Gall Travis appeared. Everyone stared at the display.
"Greetings. This is former senator in exile Gall Travis, coming to you with a reminder that the empire applies the term, 'insurgent' to anyone who dares to defy their tyranny. Such as some very courageous souls on Lothal. To those rebels, I have a message. The sun may have set on the old republic, but a new age of freedom can be won if we are brave enough to fight for it today. See you soon my friends."
"And so in other news..."
They four sat there. Sabine and Zeb were smiling while Hera was calculating.
"He's coming to Lothal." Zeb and Sabine and Zeb looked at Hera.
"Are you serious?" Sabine asked. Hera nodded.
"Whenever he mentions a planet its usually the next one he goes to."
"How come the empire hasn't caught on?" Zeb asked.
"I said usually." Hera answered. "Travis is smart enough to know they'll catch on if he goes to every planet he mentions."
"So the question is, if he does come to Lothal, where and when should we meet?" Hera stroked her chin for a few minutes.
"Well, it's almost one hundred hours so I assume he means technically today at sunset. The only question is, is where. His messages are meant to only be noticed by the natives. Oh if only we had Ezra here."
"Speaking of the kid, when are those two suppose to be back?" Zeb asked.
"Relax Zeb." Hera said. "If they aren't back by, seven hundred hours then we'll go after them."
"What about the senator?" Sabine asked.
"I'm afraid he'll have to wait if Kanan and Ezra take more time than expected."
"That makes sense. So meet back here in six hours?" Sabine asked. The other two nodded while Chopper just sat in the background.
"Agent Kallus, are you sure this plan will work?"
"Of course I'm sure. Now that the Inquisitor has the Jedi and his padawan, it should be child's play to catch the rest."
"And if this plan of yours fails?"
"Then our rat will stay with them for a while. When that happens we can set up another plan to catch them all."
"You really have thought this through."
"I've been careless with my previous attempts to catch them. This time though it will be different."
"I wish you luck."
"I will teach you what your master could not." The Inquisitor said as Ezra backed up closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. Ezra was afraid. Kanan was down and the Inquisitor had Kanan's lightsaber. Even so, Ezra stood defiantly and stared at the Inquisitor in the same light.
"You don't have anything to teach me!" He yelled. The Inquisitor threw Kanan's lightsaber to the side and held out his hand. It looked as though he was choking someone. Ezra flew into the air and felt an invisible hand choking him. The Inquisitor laughed and moved the flailing Ezra so he was over the black abyss.
"The darkness will swallow you up." the. Inquisitor said while grinning, "Whether you want it to or not." The Inquisitor lowered his hand and Ezra fell. As he fell, his own screams were drowned out by demented laughter.
"Gha!" Ezra yelled as he jerked up. He saw that he was laying in sand on a strange beach with rocks and debris everywhere around him. He was also for some strange reason in a cadet uniform. Out of the corner of his eye between some rocks, he saw him. The Inquisitor with a ship right behind him.
"You..." Ezra said. He felt his blood boiling. The Inquisitor smiled.
"Enjoying your surroundings Ezra Bridger?" The inquisitor asked. Ezra's eyes widened in confusion.
"How do you-"
"Your master was very informative, not to mention all the information the Empire has at its disposal." Ezra gritted his teeth.
"Where am I?" Ezra asked. "What do you want from me?"
"You are on one of the moons of Trandosa. You have one goal and one goal only. Find a kyber crystal at any means necessary and meet me here in one month."
"What am I going to do for food?" Ezra asked. The inquisitor smiled.
"That's your problem not mine." He answered.
"So you're just going to leave me here to die?" Ezra asked. The inquisitor shook his head.
"I told you already. You have one goal. Find the kyber crystal at any cost. Then, in one months time, I will return to this very beach and if you have the crystal, I will take you off this planet and make you my apprentice. If you die it won't affect me in the slightest. You're life is expendable boy. Get use to it."
"You never mentioned that!" Ezra yelled.
"Oh I didn't? It must have slipped my mind."
"I'll never join you." The Inquisitor chuckled.
"Then enjoy a miserable existence hiding from the hunters."
"Hunters?" The inquisitor smiled.
"Oh you don't know? The Transdosans love to capture people from all across the galaxy and drop them off here. Then they hunt them down and are killed as a, 'right of passage' for their sons and daughters to become bounty hunters."
Ezra sat in defeat. Everything he had grown accustomed to had slipped through his fingers and he couldn't do anything about it. He knew his fate yet stood up strong and stared the Inquisitor down.
"I will find that kyber crystal, but I won't become your apprentice."
"Oh? A kyber crystal is pretty useless unless it's powering something. And even then the one I've hidden for you is very small and could only power a lightsaber."
"Those things can power lightsabers?" Ezra asked. The inquisitor nodded. Ezra looked at the rusted wreckage next to him and smiled.
"You've waisted enough of my time boy." The inquisitor said, interrupting Ezra's thought process. The inquisitor turned around and walked onto the ship.
"Enjoy your stay." The inquisitor said as he looked back at Ezra when he entered the ship. Ezra didn't try to follow. He knew the Inquisitor would only use the force to send him back. Instead he simply watched as the ship took off and left the moon.
"I thought he'd never leave." A new, feminine voice came from behind Ezra turned around and saw a girl with dark skin and black hair in a ponytail emerge from the forest. Her clothes barely looked like a cadet uniform for it was covered in dirt and was torn in the shoulder where you'd find the empire's symbol and in other places though not as big. Her black boots were intact though. Ezra looked at her up and down trying to understand why she was even there. She eventually reached him and reached out her hand.
"Are you okay?" She asked. Ezra hesitated at first, but eventually took her hand.
"I'm fine." He lied. She frowned and stomped on the sand.
"I can't believe he brought another one." She lamented and continued to kick the sand. Meanwhile, Ezra stood in confusion.
"There are more people brought here?" He asked. She stopped kicking the sand and nodded.
"He takes cadets at random and drops them off here. All he tells us is where we are and that our only way off this death trap is to get a kyber crystal he's hidden here." Ezra nodded.
"So what's your name?" She asked. Ezra paused.
"Dev." The girl smiled.
"Cool. Mine's Dhara." She said.
Where have I heard that name before?
Dhara walked towards the forest and motioned Ezra to follow. He obliged though found it difficult walking on the various trees and vines.
"So, um... How many others are there?" Ezra asked as he tried to balance on a very long and thick branch. Dhara smiled at Ezra's struggle.
"We're spread out across this area and we only really meet when there's a lot of a hunters out. We help each other out and leave."
"Why?" Ezra asked.
"Because that's how things are." Dhara answered angrily effectively silencing Ezra for the rest of the trip.
The two climbed a long vine that curved upward and lead to a huge hole in the vast forest of vines. When inside, Ezra couldn't see anything until Dhara started up a fire. He then noticed the entire hole was made up of various vines, trees, and tree branches. There were even spots high up where you could sit though besides that the only not worthy thing was that the fire was on a pan verses on the ground. That was probably for the best.
Ezra sat down next to the fire and Dhara took a spot large enough to have someone lay down above and across from him. She then turned away from Ezra.
"Get some sleep. You'll need it for tomorrow." She said.
"Why?" Ezra asked. "Can't we just wait here and see if anyone comes for us."
"No one is coming for us." Dhara answered angrily. "The empire dropped us off here and unless those rebels show up, there's no way we're getting off this planet."
"Unless we get a kyber crystal." Dhara turned around and looked down at Ezra.
"Listen Dev, we know where it is."
"Then why haven't you..."
"The last time we tried to go after it, almost all of us died. No one wants to risk their lives on something like that anymore so we're just going to stay in hiding."
"But why not stay here all the time?"
"The hunters will track us. You can't stay in one place for too long. They love going after cadets. I heard the Inquisitor pays them for every cadet that they kill." She pointed at Ezra's clothes. "I suggest you cover that in dirt before you go out tomorrow. You'll be spotted if you don't blend in." Ezra nodded but didn't put any dirt on, he decided to save that for tomorrow.
"Dhara, where is the crystal?" Ezra asked. Dhara didn't answer. And Ezra laid back onto one of the vines and slowly drifted to sleep.
"Kid! Where are you?"
"MOVE!"
"You..."
"Ezra! Kannan!"
"I see you've made yourself a lightsaber. No matter I..."
"I will make you suffer..."
"It's no use they're gone."
"RUN FASTER YOU IDIOT!"
"for all the lives you've ruined..."
"His parents..."
"You will be my first of many."
"Tortured..."
"He's not here."
"DIE!"
"and destroyed."
"Ezra?"
"Please find my br..."
"You will die a swift death."
"Wait, you're..."
"Do you have it?"
"For I have something you lack. Mercy."
"You traitor..."
"Congratulations..."
"The last thing you will ever see is the face of a boy staring down at a monster."
"Ezra don't do this!"
"My Apprentice."
Authors notes: I've done it! After leaving on a note where I didn't think I could add on, I added on! Though, I do apologize to those who expected something else and to the others who wanted this chapter out quicker. Inspiration comes in spirts my friends.
Anyway, after watching the three new episodes and then going back to something I saw in the clone wars this just seemed right. If you hate it I understand. You can unfavorite the story but this is where I wanted to go with it after dosing high on Star Wars cartoons. I hope you guys like it and stick with me to see what else I have in store for this story.
Also, if it's not too much trouble, please tell me if I screw up on any Star Wars lore. Unfortunately I don't have that much knowledge outside of the movies and some of the cartoons. Thank you.
READ IF YOU WANT MY OPINIONS ON THE THREE NEW EPISODES.
10: How does Ezra know what yoda sounds like? Other than that, meh.
11: five words and one letter. What a waist of Billy D.
12: better, but the twist was way too fucking obvious.
