Chapter 10: Old Home
The ship was performing well, but my piloting skills were rusty without my old pilot, Malavai Quinn. The pang of loss was constant but the slightly sharper prick of pain was more immediate and noticeable, Quinn was a loyal man, at the beginning it was loyalty to my old master and as I came to understand the man more and trusted him after his betrayal.
Nevertheless this unknown ship was somewhat underwhelming, even if it was performing amazing it didn't change that the ship itself was little more than a slight upgrade on a fighter, like an amped up gunship. The fact that it could jump at all was a lucky break it seems, though Ahsoka should have some piloting knowledge so perhaps it wasn't just luck.
After I made myself to the pilot's seats I found Dooku and Ahsoka metaphorically growling at eachother from the pilot and co-pilot seat. "And? Where did you put us? I don't appreciate being lost my Apprentices." Ahsoka looked startled at me and then her face fell as she started to realize the full implications of what she had done.
Dooku, however, looked enraged. "I am not your apprentice! I am your superior in every way, even in age I am your elder!" His argument was not hollow words, he ignited his Lightsaber and exited the pilot seat facing me.
I looked at him incredulously, "You think yourself my superior? Since when has age been the deciding factor of superiority amongst the Sith? Also, do you believe yourself capable of holding off that many Republic troops that were ambushing you? I should think not, now go to these coordinates, I have a task that needs completed there." Dooku did not look like he was going to drop the topic and made a sudden strike at my chest.
I am very glad I have not taught him any of my tricks yet, or he might have understood to attack me the moment I got on board the ship but the Force is never truly gone from me provided I am alive, my skills are not so easily taken by fatigue. The best example I can give is that the Force has different muscles and if I tire a muscle out I cannot use that muscle for a short time, I cannot truly explain what I do not understand personally though.
The Lightsaber struck my personal shield and went through but then the cabin was filled with a deafening sound as I blasted the Force outward knocking him away from me at the last moment. "I gave you a task didn't I?" The Dark Side was back again, despite having seemed to have abandoned me earlier it came flooding back due to my emotions flaring. Dooku was held in a Force Choke and was being shocked with Force Lightning as well, his eyes quickly rolled back in his head as he lost consciousness.
Ahsoka looked at me slightly panicked but turned toward the control panel, "Sir, I mean, Milord, this ship doesn't… I mean, could you give me the coordinates?" She stuttered so hard I was wondering if this was the same girl, she had been off kilter since she first touched the Dark Side from me I suspect. The coordinates didn't come readily, I was not constantly on Dromund Kaas but I did know the old coordinates of the location of the Imperial Fleet which was at least in system.
I realized afterwards that perhaps jumping in system along a route that was possibly shut down may have been an incredibly hazardous idea but as long as no one else was jumping to a similar location I should be fine. With the coordinates input I could only calm myself in preparation of anything I might see, though I still didn't know quite what to expect.
As the stars snapped back to their regular shape the end of the war truly hit me, what lay in front of me was a graveyard to the ambitions of the Sith and their Empire. Hundreds of ships floated aimlessly around a humongous central station, the ships were in various states of decay, but only the primary station and a few ships were in any way holding together, all the other ships were completely blown apart.
Ahsoka gasped out as she saw the ships, "This is immense! Is this the fleet of the old empire? If this were to come down on Coruscant I don't think the planet could survive, is this what you are looking for?" The girl was in awe at the sheer size of the fleet in front of her.
While amused at her expression I did need to set something straight, "The ships of this fleet are not all Imperial, there are a number of ships of our allies, such as the Chiss and Mandalorians, they were great allies in times of war, the Bounty Hunters and Agents of the two were indispensable, I can think of two who were of particular importance, I wonder what has happened to them." As I faded away to nostalgia Ahsoka brought us toward the primary station and docked us in an open bay.
After checking all the seals on my armor and attaching an oxygen pack on my back and Ahsokas I made my way out and headed towards the station proper. After I entered the station I headed towards the control room, the interior looked as though the Republic had decided that boarding the station was a better idea and had shot the place up. After crawling about the station for a while I finally arrived at the control room.
The controls were all in shutdown, the ship had been completely shut down by the end, whether this was due to the Republic taking the room and purging the survivors or the Empire deciding to make the battlefield more hazardous for its invaders I would likely never know. After flipping back online environmental controls in a sector near where we had stopped the ship we headed back to the ship.
In retrospect it was somewhat obvious, honestly I'm not sure what I was thinking, leaving Dooku on the ship by himself. The only thing I can think I did right was wiping the coordinates from the banks before I left, Dooku or his master might have some idea, but they wouldn't know how to get here specifically. Needless to say, Dooku had taken the ship and left, likely to return to his little rebellion and continue a war that was technically to my advantage now.
Ahsoka looked at me looking lost again, "What do we do? Are any of the ships here even operable after all this time?" The girl needed to start getting used to being unsettled because once my training started it would be happening just as often as it had over the last few days for her.
~Ahsoka POV~
The Sith is way too at home here, like way too much, he's walking around like he owns the place. But after messing with my head and making me wonder what's right and what's wrong I don't really wanna question him all that much. "So were we planning on getting a fighter or something from one of the bays and going…" I actually have no idea what his plans are but we can't go back to the Republic, back home.
After a few minutes we arrived at the central command station again but this time he started powering up more than just the life support. After inputting a significant number of codes into various terminals the room came to life. A door opened to the side of the room and a superiorly crafted droid walked out and began talking, "Station back online, good to see you Lord Wrath, this station is currently resetting vital systems after the Republic directly assaulted the interior lightly damaging multiple systems, please wait for… 86 hours for repairs to be complete.
Okay, the whole station was still in pretty good shape, but that didn't help us much yet. After looking at the droid for a few moments Master asked it a question, "Are there any ships still capable of FTL travel amongst the wreckages?" The droid's tinny voice immediately shot him down, "Sensors are not one of the active systems, please wait 86 hours for repairs to be completed." At least it was consistent.
"Where are we going now?" Master seemed to be in a very good mood and was lightly chuckling to himself while answering me, "The hangar bays held four notable weapons of the Empire aside from the regular ships, these are the ships of the Bounty Hunters deployed by the Empire, though honestly, those are likely to have been long gone, The Imperial Agents, which similarly are very likely to be in low numbers, and the two notable faction types of Sith, the Sith Inquisitors and the Sith Warriors."
After talking for what seemed like hours he seemed to finally calm down as we arrived at a hangar. Entering the hangar I saw what looked like the coolest possible mix between a freighter and a fighter, the ship was clearly Imperial and, while not as aerodynamic looking as most of the Republic ships were, it was space, no one cared.
Positively giddy Master walked up to the ship, "This is even better than I could have hoped, it's a Fury class and the best part is… it's hers." Something in the way he said that made my spine tingle and the air chill, a grudge was held in regards to this ship and I felt like I was going to be finding out whether I wanted to or not, whether this grudge was going to be settled.