Acquiescence: Chapter 10

When Ben was done showering, he had slipped on the spare clothes he brought with him. When he was done dressing, Vestara opened the door.

For for a long moment, all she did was stand beyond the threshold of the door, looking neutral.

"Vestara," Ben said. "What is it?"

Slowly, reluctantly, Vestara stepped through the door and gradually approached Ben until she was just a meter from him. Then she looked into his eyes.

When Ben stared back, he found blank, expressionless eyes turn warm and inviting.

And for the first time since Ben met her, Vestara smiled at him in a genuine way. But her smile disappeared into something that was sad.

Now, for the first time, Ben saw the girl–the woman, he realized–before him as vulnerable. Sure, she did nearly fall victim to one of the poisoned plants on the planet where he killed Abeloth. But even after that, Vestara still had a fighting spirit in her that served to strengthen her resolve as a warrior–tainted by the dark side, though that spirit was.

"Skywalker," she said. Then she shook her head once and said, "Ben. You know... I don't really much care for you."

Ben made a sidelong glance. "That much is pretty obvious," he replied. "Go on."

"Well..." She trailed off and then sighed in frustration. "Even though... we haven't necessarily got along all that well..." She trailed off again.

"That's all right, take your time," Ben said neutrally.

"Ben, what I'm trying to say is..." She sighed in frustration once more as she looked down at her feet. Then she looked back up and noticeably composed herself. "Ben... despite the fact that we barely know each other, and I pretty much hate you for forcing me to kill Ahri..." After sighing again, she asked, "Do you... consider us... friends?"

"Friends?" Ben asked.

Vestara nodded without speaking.

"Well..." Then Ben trailed off, too.

Even though he was a Jedi and she was a Sith, they did have something of a friendship, despite the fact that she swore to kill him, and nearly did so in his guest cabin aboard the Eternal Crusader. After all, she saved him from Ahri, even if it was just so that it was for the sake of the alliance against Abeloth, and he did save her by bringing her, and her fellow Sith, back aboard the Crusader before the voracious plants' toxins became really harmful to them.

Despite this, it still took him a moment to answer.

"I suppose so," he said finally.

Vestara looked down again before facing Ben once more and said, "Okay then... um... you know... uh... to tell you the truth, I don't... really hate you, Ben."

"You don't?" Ben asked. Vestara shook her head in response. "I thought you said you did."

"Ah, well... that was before... you considered us friends," she said in response.

"Oh?" Ben asked.

"Yes," she said rather awkwardly.

"I see," he nodded slowly. "Well... you wanna declare this the first Jedi-Sith relationship that didn't involve either party trying to kill each other?" He said that last part as he stuck his hand out.

Vestara hesitantly looked at his hand before she shook it. "Agreed," she replied with a smile that Ben reciprocated.

They shook hands for what seemed like forever, but only last for a little less than ten seconds. Ben was the one who finally let go of Vestara's hand, and she said, "Well... bye."

"Bye," Ben nodded as Vestara turned away.

After she left the room and closed the door, she turned back to find her father staring down at her.

"Go back in there," he said, "now, so that we may get this over with."

"I don't wanna do this yet, Father," Vestara protested. "Ship said I didn't have to do it right away. I can take my time with this."

She turned to go to her room before her father caught her by the arm and spun her back around to face him. "The longer we have this Jedi scum in my house," he said, "the longer his stink in the light side of the Force taints the presence of the Sith. Especially yours."

Vestara's arm escaped her own father's grip. "His strength in the light side bears no impact on my heritage as a Sith," she argued.

"Perhaps not," Vestara's father countered. "At least, not now. But in time, unless we either get rid of him after... well, you know what you have to do; or, we turn him over to the Sith. There's no other way around this, Vestara."

Before Vestara could argue with her father any further, the latter's commlink beeped.

"Excuse me," he said as he took out the communication device from a pocket, turned away, and walked a few steps from his daughter before saying into the commlink, "Yes?"

Vestara turned and started to walk back to her room, but stopped dead in her tracks when her father screamed, "WHAT?"

~o~

By the permission of the Lost Tribe of the Sith, the Millennium Falcon was escorted down to a landing field on Kesh. Once its engines were off after it parked, Han and Leia Organa Solo, with their pesky yet useful protocol droid C-3PO, walked down the open ramp, confronted by half a dozen Sith Sabers. Their lightsabers still hung at their sides, but they each looked about ready to brandish and ignite them in less than a second if either of the Solos tried to pull a fast one on them.

"We shall take you to Sith Saber Gavar Khai's home," one of them said plainly, with a hint of menace still resonating in his voice.

The Sabers turned around and began to walk away, seemingly unconcerned if the Solos and C-3PO did follow them or not. As the trio of Kesh's latest visitors followed the Sith, Han remotely raised the Falcon's landing ramp, where it locked in place once it was completely raised.

Several minutes later, the Sith Sabers brought Han, Leia, and their protocol droid in front of a luxurious-looking home. The six Sith stood outside the door as the Solos and C-3PO advanced on the now-open door. Once the trio was inside, they were met by a plain yet still intimidating Sith male.

"I am Sith Saber Gavar Khai," he introduced himself. "And you are?"

Leia introduced herself, her husband, and C-3PO with only the diplomacy she had practiced for years as a politician. When she was done, Han cut in, "Where's Ben Skywalker?"

Ben slowly walked down the stairs from his guestroom, and stood before the Solos. "Hi, Uncle Han," he said. "Aunt Leia. Threepio."

"Ben," Leia said, "what's going on here? Why are you with the Sith?"

"It's a long story," Ben replied.

"Well, we got all day, kid," Han said. "So start talking. Start with what happened to your dad."

Ben composed himself for a moment before he explained all that happened–from Darth Bane killing Luke Skywalker; Ship bringing him to the Eternal Crusader; the events on Nam Chorios; the battle against Abeloth; and his continued existence among the Sith due to the fact that his descendent will determine the fate of their kind.

When Ben finished telling his story, Han looked up to Gavar Khai and asked, "And who is Ben gonna mate with among you to bear his kid?"

"That's none of your concern," Khai answered threateningly.

"It's damn well my concern when you're gonna force my nephew to be some kind of sex slave to you Sith," Han rebuked just as angrily.

Khai rolled his eyes. "For all I care, you can have him back," he said. "But only after his offspring is assured."

Han opened his mouth to argue with Khai some more, but he felt Leia's arm on his shoulder. It was her silent way of telling him not argue his point any further, because on a world full of Sith, whether he was right or not, he wasn't going to win this one.

So Han calmed down as Leia said, "So, if we are to pick up Ben after his offspring is assured, then are we to have guest quarters, as well?"

"No," Khai replied. "You will leave Kesh. But you may come back to retrieve young Skywalker after he has conceived his child."

"And that will be when?" Han asked.

"Before Skywalker contacts you on the matter," Khai replied. He looked to Leia specifically. "You are a Jedi like him, yes?" He eyed her lightsaber on her belt.

"Yes, I am," she replied simply.

"Then your nephew will let you know through the Force," Khai said. "Now go."

The Solos stood their ground for another moment before turning around and leaving the Khai residence. Their half-dozen Sith Saber escort followed them back to the Millennium Falcon, and Khai watched them leave.

Vestara, having come downstairs when the Solos left, passed by Ben with a friendly smile before continuing to her father. When she reached Gavar, she whispered, so that Ben wouldn't hear, "You know that if you let them go, they'll come back with a Jedi fleet, whether Skywalker's child will be conceived or not."

Gavar looked back down at his daughter with a humorless smile. "Very good, Vestara," he said.

Vestara cocked an eyebrow. "But you said that they could come back–"

Gavar cocked her head in Ben's direction, and the Jedi was already walking back up the stairs to his guestroom. He didn't look back in the Khais' direction. Vestara then gave her father a look of dawning realization.

~o~

Just as the Solos and C-3PO returned the Millennium Falcon, they heard the snap-hiss of lightsabers igniting behind them before Han could remotely activate his beloved ship's landing ramp. Immediately upon hearing the sound of the lightsabers' activation, Han and Leia spun around, their respective weapons ready; Han shooting his classic blaster; Leia with her own lightsaber ablaze.

The famous Solo luck only partially paid off for Han this time, as he was able to down two of the Sith Sabers headed his way before the third one got past his shots without even having to block them with his lightsaber and cut his blaster down in two. Han backed off from the slash that would have bisected him down the middle, and it was Leia who saved him from a decapitating strike with a block of her own blade. She then parried the Sith's lightsaber around and impaled her blade into the Saber's chest. She already turned around to face her three remaining opponents before her lightsaber even came out of the Sith's body.

One of the Sith had already advanced well ahead of his comrades and was the first to engage blades with Leia. As she fought the Sith, Han noticed the view beyond the fight that C-3PO had already been cut to two by one of the Sith. The protocol droid could easily be repaired, though, considering that Chewbacca was able to do it about forty years ago aboard Cloud City on Bespin.

As Han observed C-3PO's remains, Leia had dispatched with her current opponent by decapitating him. With that Sith out of the picture, that just left the two remaining Sabers to deal with Leia and Han. They circled the Solos, Leia's blade out to protect her and Han from the enemy warriors. Then the latter party rushed in, and Leia dueled them both, her blade moving in a crimson blur. And for a moment there, Han actually confused Leia's blade for the blades of the Sith warriors she was fighting.

After less than half a minute, Leia dealt with one of the two Sith by cutting off his weapon hand. He fell to the ground in, screaming in pain, while trying in vain to nurse his cauterized stump, while Leia and the remaining Sith continued their duel.

Near the climax of the fight, just as Han thought that his wife was gaining the upper hand, the Sith unexpectedly dropped to his haunches and swept his blade at Leia's legs. She made an easy jump over the swipe, but instead of continuing the failed swing, the Sith arrested his lightsaber's momentum and whipped it up into the air.

And it seared off Leia's foot.

Leia dropped onto her back, screaming in agony just like the penultimate warrior she had to face, her deactivated lightsaber flying in Han's direction and rolling to a stop at his feet, as he stared in horror at his wounded wife.

Then, without even offering her the slightest amount of mercy, as Han observed, the Sith swung his lightsaber once before stabbing it down into Leia's midsection.

Han gasped in shock as he saw the life in Leia's eyes begin to vanish before him as her head dropped back to the ground and the Sith lightsaber was pulled from her chest. Her dying eyes still had the ability to lock onto his own as she moaned painfully, "Haaaaannnnn..."

As he looked from his dying wife to the Sith that killed her, he screamed in pure anger as he quickly picked up Leia's lightsaber, ignited it, and, even though he had absolutely no abilities to go toe-to-toe with the man who had ended his more powerful wife's life, he charged him in an irrational, animal-driven rage. His thirst for vengeance rivaled that of a dehydrated man in the middle of nowhere on Tatooine.

"Noooo," Leia groaned weakly as she watched her husband charge.

Of course, when an ordinary man with a lightsaber tried to go and kill a Sith trained through years in the Force and lightsaber combat, naturally, the Sith was going to win.

Easily, the Sith Saber simply raised up his free hand and Force lightning flew freely from it. Han was then enveloped in electricity, and when it ceased, he fell to the ground, Leia's lightsaber rolling away from his hand. The Sith then stepped over Leia's dying form to the downed Han and administered the same fate he delivered to the old man's Jedi wife.

Han was dead before the lightsaber came out of his heart. But Leia was still alive for ten seconds after she watched her husband die, at an upside down angle from her viewpoint, before she, too, faded into the Force.

~o~

When Leia finally died, Ben felt her death in his room. He doubled over in pain, and realized in shock that not only was his Force-sensitive aunt gone, but so was his regular uncle.

Across the galaxy, on Coruscant, most of the Jedi Masters felt Leia's death, but not all, unlike when they all sensed Luke's passing. They had to tell their fellow Masters that Leia was gone, but none of them knew if Han had joined her in death.

Elsewhere on Coruscant, Jaina, who was babysitting Allana while the latter was in her bedroom, felt both of her parents' demise, and she fell screaming in a painful heap just from the impact it left on her through the Force. Then, when the impact faded away into nothingness, she broke down crying, just as Allana did the same in her own room, though neither of them were aware of the other's pain at that time.

~o~

Back on Kesh, Ben rushed downstairs and kicked open Gavar Khai's den. The Sith Saber had knocked over the chair he was just sitting in so that he could whip around and ignite his lightsaber in defense.

Ben growled, "You promised that they could go."

"And have them return with an army of Jedi?" Khai replied, his lightsaber still lit and humming in preparation for combat. "I don't think so."

Ben lit his own lightsaber and prepared to engage Khai before he heard a familiar voice call from behind, "Ben, stop!"

He did as he was told, looked behind, and found Vestara standing there. He deactivated his lightsaber, but turned angrily back around to face Vestara's evil father.

Gavar smiled. "You're lucky this time, Jedi," he said as he deactivated his own blade. "But next time, when you have conceived your offspring, Vestara won't be saving your life."

"I'm counting on it," Ben replied. "Because when the day comes where I'll find myself prepared for execution by the blade of a Sith lightsaber, I'll be sure to see you go first by my own."

Khai smirked. "We'll see."

Vestara then led a fuming Ben out of her father's den and back up into his room.

And there, upon entrance, he collapsed on his knees and broke down sobbing.

As Vestara regarded the weeping Jedi before her, she felt that she should have regarded him as a pathetic specimen that the Force misjudged of being worthy of life and then walked out, letting him wallow in his misery. Instead, however, she dropped to his side and grasped his shoulders, not to pain him any further, but to comfort him.

Vestara read his presence in the Force as he cried wordlessly. He was sobbing not because of his aunt and uncle's losses alone, but because of the grief he felt over his own father's death–as well as his mother's, which had happened long ago in Ben's life. It seemed to be the culmination of a chain of deaths of those who were close to Ben.

And so Vestara just let Ben cry it all out, saying nothing herself and just comforting him, going so far as to hug him. And even despite himself, he still found the resolve to hug back.

When Vestara looked up, she found her father standing in the open doorway, staring at the site. There was nothing in his face or body language to determine how he regarded this scene.

But Vestara sensed that he regarded it as a true Sith did: pathetic.