Chapter 9: Fight for the Truth
Leia hurried over to the bridge of the ship when they arrived to Jewlania. "That's it father!" she exclaimed, biting her lip.
"It looks abandoned," Padmé commented glancing over at her husband.
Anakin let out a breath. "I have a bad feeling about this," he murmured.
"Keep your weapons at hand," Obi-Wan instructed as they landed the ship.
Anakin stood up and looked at his wife and daughter. "Stay close, we could be walking into a trap," he told them before they left the ship.
As they walked around the landing platform, the two Jedi were scanning the area. "It's quiet," Padmé murmured.
"Too quiet," Anakin answered.
Leia let out a deep breath. "It's down here!" she called them heading toward the prison cells.
"No Leia don't!" Anakin exclaimed just as a blaster went off and went straight for her.
Anakin jumped in front of his daughter blocking the blast with his light saber when Stormtroopers started coming out of their hiding places. Padmé was able to block an attack with her own light saber before ducking behind a pillar drawing out her blaster, firing a shot at a Stormtrooper, disarming her attacker. She hid back behind her spot as another blast came her way. "They're everywhere!" she exclaimed when she saw more Stormtroopers coming out of their hiding places.
Anakin continued to block the blasts coming his and Leia's way before disarming a Stormtrooper that was close enough to him. Raising his hand the assailant was thrown back against the wall. "Get to your mother and stay there!" he ordered his daughter before rushing over to Obi-Wan who was becoming surrounded.
"This just keeps getting better and better with each ambush," Obi-Wan commented as he and Anakin were back to back.
"We've seen worse," Anakin answered with a small smirk.
Defeating the circle of Stormtroopers that were around them, Anakin looked towards his friend. "I don't even feel Luke's Force signature!" he called out through the noise.
"He's not here!" Obi-Wan agreed.
Leia was standing next to her mother as Padmé fired another round of blasts. "Mother!" she called. She blocked a blast. "Luke's not here!" she exclaimed.
"We need to get back to the ship! Now!" Anakin called, "Padmé! Get the ship ready for take off!"
Padmé grabbed a hold of her daughter's arm firing her blaster as they got back on the ship. Running over to the bridge, she started the ship up. "Mom they're coming!" Leia called out as she grabbed her mother's blaster firing several shots.
"Let's hope they're leaping skills are still as good as they used to be," Padmé commented as the ship lifted off the ground.
Leia fired another blast, hitting her target in the shoulder and watched in horror as her would-be assailant fell out of the open door. "They're not on yet!" she called to her mother when she saw that they were lifting off the ground.
"We're picking them up," Padmé answered.
The young girl backed up as her father and "uncle" jumped onto the platform of the ship. "Padmé close the doors! Get us out of here," Anakin called to her.
"Gladly," Padmé answered as she steered the ship away from the planet.
Putting the ship onto autopilot she walked to where they were standing. "Is everyone alright?" Anakin asked.
"Yes," Leia replied.
Anakin sat down, letting out a deep breath before hugging his daughter and his wife. "We'll find him," he reassured them.
"The question is where could Scourge have taken him? There are thousands of planets he could've taken Luke to," Obi-Wan answered.
"Couldn't you get Luke's Force signature?" Padmé asked holding onto Anakin's hand.
"It depends on how weak Luke is Padmé, if he's too weak it'd be hard to detect it," Obi-Wan replied.
"But we'll try," Anakin put in quickly.
Padmé closed her eyes, resting her hand against her forehead as she couldn't help but wonder what this Scourge was doing to her son. The mystery terrified her, but the possible answers were even worse. "We'll find him, I promise Padmé," Anakin told her softly. He hugged her close, resting his forehead against the side of her head. "I promise," he repeated quietly.
On Korriban, Luke was slowly gaining consciousness when he saw Scourge standing in the room. "Give yourself up, Luke, your feeble Jedi powers are no match for the Sith," he told the boy. Luke shook his head slowly.
"Never," he answered wincing from the pain.
Scourge grinned as he crouched down by the injured boy. "Do you have any clue of what kind of father your truly is? You think just because he claims he's good that he's all good again?" he asked with a smirk.
"He defeated your evil uncle, you tell me," Luke answered.
The battered boy suddenly felt like a vice grip was around his throat. His hands immediately went to his throat gasping for air. "You think your father is so good hm? Despite the fact of all the evil he had done? What about what he did to your precious mother before you were born?" he sneered. Luke gasped for air. "Oh that's right, you don't know," Scourge commented with a smirk before letting the boy drop to the ground.
"Father would never hurt mother," Luke answered gasping for air.
"Really? So you don't know what happened on Mustafar?" Scourge asked.
Luke glared at the evil man before him. "How he almost strangled to your mother to death while she was pregnant with you and your sister?" he asked. Scourge step a little closer. "Well, I guess that wasn't entirely his fault, since your mother betrayed him," he commented.
"Liar," Luke answered.
"Am I? She goes to your father to gain his trust but she brings Obi-Wan with her to destroy him, isn't that betrayal?" he asked.
"Liar!" Luke repeated, "she never would've done that! Never!"
"Is that what they told you?" Scourge asked.
He crouched back down beside Luke. "Or have they kept everything a secret from you? What did they tell you about Mustafar? The fact that Obi-Wan and Vader fought each other? Is that all they told you?" he asked. Luke was silent. "Admit it Luke, you hear that Vader almost killed your mother out of anger, but why would he be so angry to kill her? Would it be because she betrayed him?" he asked.
"No," Luke answered.
Sighing, Scourge stood up from the floor. "Believe what you want to believe, but think about it long and hard," he told the young man before raising his hand the electricity went from his hand and into Luke's body once more.
