After dusk
The Gathering Place
Shili City
Shili
"Everyone stand down, or the Emperor dies!" Leia Organa called out, her voice ringing across the arena. She had her left arm wrapped around the injured despot, and her right hand held the green lightsaber near the Emperor's neck.
The volume of her voice was augmented by the Force, and within seconds, the three surviving Royal Guards had swiveled toward her, their Force Pikes held high. And then, as the words trickled into their brains, the other troopers in the arena turned from their individual targets and pointed their weapons at her.
The pain coursing through the Emperor fueled the Dark Side, but his body was weak, he knew that. He was no longer young, and the removal of both arms at the elbows had crippled him substantially. But he had survived severe danger before, though none so biologically damaging.
"There is no escape from here," he managed to rasp aloud, "Let us discuss this matter ..."
"No," the blond haired boy said, stepping closer, even as his own green blade was held up to the other side of Darth Sidious's neck, "There will be no discussion. Tell your men to stand down and let us leave or we will kill you. You have 10 seconds."
Panic clawed Palpatine's heart. If the former Darth Vader took him hostage his end would likely be unpleasant. But better to be alive than not. Where there was life, there was hope.
"5 seconds," the youth said, the green blade creeping closer.
"Stand down," the Emperor ordered loudly. In an instant, the guards had their Force pikes down and within another few seconds, the blasters were lowered.
Anakin Skywalker hurried forward, "Get him on board the shuttle!"
Palpatine felt himself being lifted up and dragged aboard, and a moment later the girl (she seemed familiar, though in his terror the Emperor couldn't place her) injected something into his stringy neck, and everything went black.
"How badly are you hit, Ahsoka?" Kenobi asked as he helped the Togruta onboard.
"It's not terrible," Tano responded with a gasp of pain as her arm was jostled, "Not great either."
Anakin began giving orders, "Luke, take the controls of the shuttle! Leia, help him. I'll guard Sidious. Kenobi, care for Ahsoka."
Luke hustled into the shuttle cockpit with Leia in pursuit and began a rapid start up sequence. It was a good thing he was an awesome pilot, because most of his brain cells were occupied with what had just gone down.
"Was this the plan?" Luke inquired (rather pathetically) of his sister and father, "Taking the Emperor hostage?"
"No, not the original plan, but we'll work with what we've got," his father sent back, "I was expecting to kill him but we have a better chance of surviving with him on board and temporarily alive. There are more troops than I expected, and I suspect a fleet in space. Go on now – we're using Plan B to get off Shili."
"Why plan B?" Luke muttered to his sister, "Why not call it Plan A since this was the primary plan?"
"Don't ask me," she shot back, "Just get us out of here!"
The ramp closed, the shuttle lifted off and flew into the darkness.
/-
The Super Star Destroyer Eclipse
In Orbit around Shili
Admiral Kendal Ozzel was out of his depth. He knew it. He could feel the sweat beading in his armpits, could feel his face flushing, and he knew he would hyperventilate if given the opportunity.
He hadn't been told the details of this mission but he was quite certain that the abduction of Emperor Palpatine had not been the intended plan!
What was he supposed to do? The Emperor was the most important individual in the Empire; indeed, if he died, the Empire would likely collapse.
And given that Ozzel's meteoric rise to the upper echelons of the Imperial Navy was tied directly into his Caridan family's support of Palpatine, the Emperor's death was not acceptable!
But what could he do? Palpatine was trapped on board a shuttle with unknown assailants. And while Ozzel had the greatest respect for the man's mysterious Force powers, the word on the ground was that the Emperor had been badly injured.
And Darth Hamanen, the Emperor's apprentice, was dead.
This, if nothing else, convinced Ozzel of the seriousness of the situation. Sith Lords did not die in the middle of Imperial operations. It just wasn't done. It was really quite crass and unprofessional, but then Ozzel had never been particularly impressed with Hamanen - or Vader, for that matter, but at least Vader had seemed entirely in control until he had disappeared so abruptly.
If the Emperor died on his watch, Ozzel's career would be ruined. Indeed, there was every reason to believe he would be executed for failure.
What should he do?
A thought occurred to him. Seek counsel, and shift any potential blame. Sometimes, making as few decisions as possible was the way to go.
"Captain," he said suddenly to his second-in-command.
"Yes, sir?"
"Take over the bridge and order all ships in the orbiting Fleet to track the Emperor's shuttle. Make it clear that the Emperor must not be endangered. I must make a vital holocall to Imperial Center."
"Yes, sir!" the captain replied smartly.
He waited for the Admiral to leave, then signaled the TIE squadrons 2 and 3.
"Track the shuttle carrying the Emperor. Do not fire upon her without orders, but try to keep her from leaving Shili's gravity well."
/-
A random large glade in a forest near Shili City
20 minutes later
Han Solo frowned as he leaned over the communicator.
"Is there Imperial pursuit of your craft?"
The answer did not make him happy.
"Moons and stars, Kilman, what have you done? Get here as fast as you can, then. Solo out."
He stabbed the communicator and glared at his co-pilot, "Prepare us for take-off as soon as they get here, Chewie. This job is going to get us killed! Why did I let you talk me into taking it?"
The mighty Wookiee chortled softly and then roared at some length.
"She is more than 10 years younger than me. She's a kid, Chewie. Don't be ridiculous."
Chewbacca managed a near impossibility, a sniggering growl.
Ten minutes later, the shuttle touched down near the Millennium Falcon and the occupants raced down the ramp as soon as it had lowered completely.
All save their hostage, who was still unconscious.
"Why don't we just kill him?" Tano demanded, panting slightly from exertion and the pain in her injured arm.
Anakin was carrying, carrying, his former master, watching the yellowed skull bouncing slightly as he moved rapidly toward the Millennium Falcon. Palpatine was remarkably light for someone who had managed to terrorize an entire galaxy.
"We will, Snips, I promise, but for now we need him alive. They won't shoot us down so long as Palpatine is alive and on board."
"Better we die with him than to allow him to live much longer."
Anakin bared his teeth, "I agree, Ahsoka. But we'll manage to kill him and stay alive ourselves."
He hoped.
At the top of ramp stood Han Solo. Anakin had met the man many months ago, in a slimy bar (literally – an enclave of sentient mosses had chosen to inhabit one wall) in Mos Espa, in an encounter which was clearly directed by the Force. Solo was intelligent, an amazing pilot, and had demonstrated a capacity for risky missions which paralleled Anakin's own more insane antics in his glory days.
Anakin just hoped the man could handle this latest mission, which had proven as exciting as it possibly could be.
He felt a brief twinge of guilt; Solo didn't know his true identity, or the identities of his children and former master and apprentice. All the smuggler knew was that Nika Kilman, proprietor of a parts and repair facility in Mos Espa, was willing to pay top credit for certain illegal activities. This particular mission had required a backup craft, and Anakin had made full use of Solo's battered but remarkably agile ship. He hoped it wouldn't get the man killed. He was paying the man very well and would provide a substantial bonus, but still ...
Solo was standing at the top of the ramp and looking upset, "What did you get us into, Kilman? Are you injured? And who are these people? Do you need a med kit?"
Leia answered, "Ahsoka here is injured, not badly. Our hostage is injured more badly, but he'll live. For now. Get us out of here, Captain. We've got TIE's closing in on us.
"Hostage? What?" Han Solo sputtered briefly and then raced for the cockpit, "Chewie, get us out of here!"
As the Falcon lifted off, the charges set in the abandoned shuttle exploded in a blaze of metallic chunks which soared high, briefly lighting up the darkness of night. The battered freighter wobbled just slightly, then rose toward space, and freedom.
"I hope that blowing up the shuttle will confuse them for a while," Anakin muttered to Kenobi, even as they both worked on getting the unconscious Emperor strapped firmly down to a reclined med table in the main cabin.
"How much did Leia give him?" Obi-Wan asked.
"25 cc's," Anakin grunted back as he carefully analyzed a lock, "Which is enough to put down a gundark, but you know that Sidious will use the Force to diminish the medication's effects. No matter what happens, I am staying here with him until he is dead. He's too dangerous to be left alone. And he's incredible with locks and restraints. I doubt this will hold him."
Kenobi nodded, a trace of unease crossing his face, "Are you going to be all right with this, Anakin?
His former student gazed at the wrinkled and ugly visage of the man who had nearly destroyed him, "I have to be, Obi-Wan."
Kenobi clapped a hand on his old friend's arm and said, "I'm going to check on Ahsoka. That blaster wound looks serious but not life threatening."
In the cockpit, Solo and Chewbacca and the Skywalker twins stared out of the transparisteel front window as the ship climbed toward space.
"Don't go directly towards Tatooine," Luke cautioned, "We'll need to make a couple of jumps to throw the Imperials off our trail."
"No need to tell me my job, Kid," Solo grumbled, "I've been doing this kind of thing since you were knee high to a shaak. But I want to know about this hostage you've brought on board right now. I don't do torture, you got that? Or blatant murder of a helpless man, especially one as old as that dude looks. So if that's what you have in mind, then you can forget about it right now. Who is he, anyway?"
Luke and Leia exchanged glances.
"You're better off not knowing, Han Solo," Luke said softly.
Solo flew with casual grace even as he turned away from the viewscreen and glared at the young man, "I will know, right now. Anybody you bring on my ship is my responsibility!"
"He does deserve to know," Leia sent telepathically.
Luke sighed, "Ok. But prepare yourself for a shock, Solo. It's Emperor Palpatine."
"Right," Solo growled.
The twins waited.
"What?! You can't be serious! You brought the Emperor of the Galaxy on my ship as a hostage? That's crazy and impossible. He's got guards, he's got weird powers, or so I've heard. There is no way! And my fee just went up!"
Leia chuckled openly now, and patted Han's arm in a reassuring manner, "Well, we killed many of the guards and sliced off his arms. Taking him hostage wasn't the original plan, but it'll be easier to get off Shili and into hyperspace if we can convince the Imperials in orbit that he'll die if they don't let us through."
The Falcon was climbing through clouds now, and for a long moment Solo seemed focused on his flying.
"And then what?" he asked, "Assuming you actually have Emperor Palpatine in my main cabin, what are you going to do? Ransom him for billions of credits?"
Leia shook her head, her gaze resolutely on the man in front of her, "No, Captain Solo. We're going to kill him. Not unpleasantly, but thoroughly. He's caused so much pain and anguish and death and destruction that he is not exiting this ship on our watch, whether you like it or not."
There was a soft growl from the Wookiee, and Solo looked at her even as he nodded grimly, "If you don't kill him, I will. He was responsible for the pillaging of Kashyyyk and the murder and enslavement of most of Chewie's clan."
The smuggler's face grew gloomy now, "But I think you're probably just crazy people and I don't want crazy people killing an innocent old man. You need to prove he's the Emperor before you kill him."
The Falcon broke from atmosphere and headed into space, and the captain spoke again, with concern in his voice, "But I think we have more immediate problems than the identity of your hostage."
Abruptly, looming in the relatively near distance of space, was a Star Destroyer.
Aboard the Avenger, Captain Lorth Needa was rigid with anxiety. The latest reports were that the Emperor's shuttle (with the Emperor possibly on board) had been found in a million scattered pieces on the ground near Shili City after a substantial explosion.
So the Emperor might be dead. Or not. There were indications that another craft had been nearby, and the Emperor might possibly have been transferred.
This whole operation was shaping up to be a complete disaster for the Imperial Navy.
A lieutenant looked up from a screen, "Captain, a ship has appeared on our scopes!"
"Scan and report!" Needa ordered, "Is it one of ours?"
There was a pause, and a tech spoke, "No, sir. It's a light freighter, possibly a YT-1300."
"Hail them," Needa ordered.
A tense 60 seconds went by, before the tech said, "They are not responding to hailing, sir."
"Order TIES already launched to fire on them. And launch squadrons 4 and 5. They may be associated with the Emperor's abduction."
Aboard the Falcon, the hails had naturally gone unheeded, but the sudden barrage of fire informed the occupants of the freighter that they definitely needed to get out of here.
"When can you make the jump to lightspeed?" Leia demanded.
Han responded tensely, "I've entered the nav coordinates, but we're still within Shili's gravity well. We need to get past that Star Destroyer."
"That ..." Luke began, just as the ship lurched, "Is not going to be easy!"
"Chewie, fire up the main guns," Solo ordered, "And come with me, Kid."
"I've got an idea!" Leia said, rushing from the cabin. Outside a small cabin she saw Obi-Wan Kenobi, who peered out the door with an anxious look on his face.
"Leia, what's happening?"
"We're under attack by TIEs and likely a Star Destroyer soon."
Kenobi muttered softly in distress, then glanced behind him even as he lowered his voice, "Leia, Ahsoka is injured more severely than I knew. I have to focus on her or ... or we may lose her."
Leia closed her eyes just briefly, then nodded briskly, "We'll manage, Obi-Wan. Stay with her. Anakin will ... you know he'll be devastated if we lose her. Use all your powers to save her, Ok?"
The old desert hermit nodded gravely, "I will. I promise."
/-
On board the Avenger, Needa was coping with a stream of information.
"Personnel on the ground confirm that there are no biological remains in the wreckage of the Emperor's shuttle!"
"Inform the Eclipse that we have an unknown freighter attempting to flee. It is not returning hails," he ordered an ensign.
"Yes, sir!"
"Sir, the ship is firing on our TIEs now."
And on the Falcon ...
"I got one!" Luke exclaimed.
"Great, Kid, don't get cocky!"
On the Avenger...
"Sir, the ship is hailing us."
"On screen!" Needa ordered, straightening himself.
There was a flicker, and the main holoscreen on the bridge lit up. The captain of the Avenger sucked in a careful breath.
"Lieutenant, run facial recognition to evaluate whether that is the Emperor," he murmured.
For the image showed a man, dressed in a cloak, secured firmly to some kind of bed. The prisoner was apparently unconscious, and his face was thin, yellowed and severely wrinkled. And beside him stood another man, tall, middle aged, with magnetic blue eyes and a bald, scarred head. Very bald. Very scarred. And the second man, the bald one, was holding a blaster up against the prisoner's skull.
"What do you want?" Needa demanded.
"You will order a cease fire and allow us to depart, or the Emperor dies," the Bald One said starkly.
The captain's heart thudded faster. His last orders from Admiral Ozzel were that he must not to endanger the Emperor, if this indeed was Palpatine. It wasn't like Needa had ever met the Emperor in person ... and this guy looked more like a living corpse than the ruler of the known galaxy.
"Facial recognition confirms that is Emperor Palpatine," murmured the technician softly.
Needa was rather shocked, truth to be told. The Emperor was ugly. And old.
Now what?
"The freighter's shield strength is falling rapidly under TIE fire," the lieutenant reported.
"Cease fire," Needa ordered, then turned to the Emperor's abductor.
"Who are you," he demanded, "And what do you want?"
"My name, and my purpose, are not important," the Abductor stated coldly. His voice was odd, as if it was mechanically augmented in some way, "It is enough to know that I will kill the Emperor before your eyes if you do not allow us to enter hyperspace."
Needa rigorously kept his face calm even as he felt a cold sweat break out underneath his collar. Now what?
He saw a message flash next to him, and breathed a sigh of relief. The Eclipse, which was obviously monitoring the situation, had given specific orders.
"Very well, you may go. But if the Emperor suffers harm, there is no place in this galaxy that you will not be found. I personally will hunt you down and kill you, if necessary."
(Not that Needa had any intention of going on any kind of personal rampage, but it would be best if he generated an air of concern and enthusiasm for his liege.)
The man with the blaster smiled very unpleasantly, "Then until we meet again, Captain Needa."
Needa blinked at this awareness of his identity, even as the freighter sped up, and, two minutes later, made the jump to lightspeed, with Emperor Palpatine on board as a prisoner.
Back on Imperial Center, night had fallen long ago, and most of the city slept. The door to Ars Dangor's very opulent office suddenly flew open and Sate Pestage, still with the smell of Trillium soap clinging to his person, rushed in.
"Ah, there you are, Councilor Pestage," Dangor said gravely, "I'm afraid we have a most serious situation on our hands."
"Is it true?" Pestage demanded incredulously, "The Emperor has been abducted?"
"Indeed, and the ship he is aboard just made the jump to lightspeed, unknown destination."
"What? How could you let that happen?"
Dangor solemnly ran the recordings from the Eclipse and the Avenger, and Pestage was nearly drooling in rage by the end of it.
"How could you let the ship go? You should have shot it down! You should never have given Ozzel that order without consulting me!"
"I was unable to reach you," Dangor riposted smoothly, "As your protocol droid absolutely refused to interrupt your bubble bath. I did speak with Ysanne Isard. She believes, as I do, that the Emperor can manage a group of mercenaries, whoever they are. The key was to keep him alive until he regained consciousness. Isard and I believe that his abductors would have killed his Royal Highness and themselves rather than allow the Emperor to be rescued. Their own deaths would be long and painful in such an event, and they must know that.
"If the Emperor cannot escape on his own, we will pay the ransom, whatever it is. But I doubt that will be an issue. I have no doubt that within hours, his Royal Highness will be free and safe, and his abductors either dead or his prisoners."
Sate Pestage ran a shaking hand across his face. His exalted role in the Imperial government was very much dependent on being one of the Emperor's favorites. And being in a bubble bath during a major Imperial crisis was not the sort of thing he ever wanted to get out publicly.
"Very well, Councilor Dangor, I trust you are right," Pestage said as he drew his tattered dignity close to him like a garment, "In the meantime, we should identify the Emperor's captors."
"We are indeed working on that," Dangor responded calmly, even as he attempted to suppress a twinkle in his eye. A bubble bath. He couldn't wait for that news to get around.
