Disclaimer: See previous Chapters
A/N: I want to get something out of the way. I'm going slowly with what happens in my stories because it builds anticipation, like in Rebels. Needless to say, the less exciting episodes are still relevant and important to the plot.
There's a pretty big external reference in this chapter (meaning a reference to non-Star Wars Media). Hopefully it should be fairly easy to spot. Please leave a review if you catch it.
This chapter picks up about three weeks after the previous chapter. We've caught up to the timeline of the show, which means this chapter picks up shortly after "Trials of the Darksaber."
Mina sat back in her chair, bored. She'd gone over the mission with her mom before she left. Fulcrum had informed them of the arrival of another inquisitor, whom Thrawn had sent to seek out the rebels. Fulcrum had also warned them of the fact that the destruction of one of Thrawn's ships had actually assisted the Grand Admiral in narrowing down the potential locations of the rebel base.
Ahsoka suspected that this new inquisitor would also be seeking out Force sensitive children as well. Mina offered to assist in finding them and their families first. And apart from Chopper, Mina was going in alone.
Chopper whirred and buzzed in that snappy tone of his, and Mina turned to face him. "I don't know what we're going to run into down there. But just try to stay in one piece."
Chopper beeped at her incredulously, as if offended. She chuckled and replied, "Well, if I can knock Ezra out in one punch and keep Zeb floating in midair with almost no effort, I can handle one Sith Wannabe and however many Stormtroopers they have." Chopper buzzed a familiar phrase, and Mina rolled her eyes. "Who doesn't, these days?" She asked.
Finding the child was easy enough. Keeping it quiet was the hard part. She'd never had experience with catching Force Sensitive children. Luckily, she hadn't had much trouble. It had been difficult gathering up the nerve to silently will the infant's parents to die. But she reminded herself that either the parents had to die, or she would.
She'd slipped inside and scooped up the baby, who was peacefully asleep. She'd been in and out pretty easily. It was three blocks later when the child decided to start crying that Fourth Sister began to have trouble. She thought about Seventh Sister, an experienced child catcher. Seventh Sister likely would have snarled at the infant to shut up until the baby was properly afraid. But unfortunately, Fourth Sister knew she herself lacked skill to silence the baby with fear.
She knew the Mirialan inquisitor had perished at the hands of Maul on Malachor. Lord Vader had told her so after she'd picked him up from that planet. She'd also caught the slight sadness in her superior, though she wisely avoided questioning him about it.
As she looked around, hoping no one would notice, she struggled to quiet the wailing infant. "Shh, shh, shh," She whispered. "Don't cry, don't cry." She tried gently rocking the baby, but it didn't work. She put the child back in the basket and slumped to the ground. She had to get this child back to the ship. But then what? She didn't know the first thing about child care. All she knew was that the child would likely be indoctrinated to become an inquisitor like her...if it survived.
She buried her hands in her hair, racking her brains. She couldn't afford to fail. It was bad enough that she didn't have much of a good track record to begin with. If she screwed this up...No, she thought to herself. I'm not going to screw this up. I'm going to bring this child to the Emperor, and whether it survives after that or not, is not my business. I just need to make sure it survives-no, that she survives-the trip to him. Fourth Sister recalled that the infant she was now tasked with was in fact a baby girl.
She became aware that the child was now quiet. Fourth Sister stood up, inspecting the baby. She looked so peaceful. Fourth sister sighed. She'd been just a child herself when the Jedi fell. She'd remembered being forced to choose between death or the Dark Side. But she also remembered how she'd hoped that the Jedi would save her.
Enough, she scolded herself. I must return to my ship. I must not fail, or death will be a mercy.
Chopper buzzed again, upset that he couldn't just stay with the ship. "Well, somebody needs to make sure this inquisitor doesn't leave the planet before I find them. And since you and I were the only ones on the ship, that means you're stuck." Chopper whirred unhappily, and Mina said, "Because two sets of eyes work better than one." An argument arose from the snappy astromech, and Mina sighed. "You know what I mean, Chop. Now please try to find the ship. And watch out for any stormies."
Mina peered around the corner, not seeing any potential threats yet, and snuck down the street. I can't see anything down here, she thought. In a single jump, she climbed up the side of a building, and scanned the area.
Chopper interrupted her search with another series of buzzes. "So you've found the ship? Great. Now see what you can do about disabling it without blowing it up. And hurry."
Chopper got right to work disconnecting circuits from the ship. He even "hummed" a cheerful tune to himself as he worked.
"What are you doing here?" shouted a strange voice.
Chopper wheeled around, buzzing an "Uh, oh" as he was lifted into the air. The woman holding him up was carrying a basket in her other arm. Inside was a sleeping infant. She slammed him against the wall, and he landed on his "back" as he struggled to get up.
Fourth Sister set down the basket, inspecting the damage done to her ship. She growled in frustration. "Now look what you did, you rusty junk pile," She complained, though surprisingly for the droid, in a soft voice. "Do you know how long it's going to take me to fix this?"
"Long enough for me to stop you." Came a familiar voice. Fourth Sister spun around to see Mina, holding the baby in one arm. "Nice night out, isn't it?"
Fourth Sister glared at the half-Togruta, and hissed, "Give me the baby, and I might spare you and your droid." Said astromech had righted himself, and was at Mina's side.
Mina handed the swaddled baby to Chopper. "Chopper," she said, igniting her shoto, "Please make sure the baby is safe on the ship."
With a free arm, Chopper saluted and sped off, carrying the baby. Mina turned to her opponent, who had ingited her own saber, and replied, "You know, you really should consider a different weapon. I never really liked those fancy sabers you inquisitors love so much."
"I don't care," Fourth Sister snapped. "I'm going to retrieve that child, and bring her before the Emperor."
Mina could sense the shakiness in her opponent's voice and asked, "And if you fail?"
"I will die," Fourth Sister replied. "By my superior's hand or by my own."
This surprised Mina, momentarily distracting her. Fourth Sister pounced, her twin blades spinning rapidly. Mina ducked backwards, lashing out quick strikes with her shoto. She weaved in and out, force pushing the inquisitor away. She switched to her lightsaber and taunted the Fourth Sister to come at her again.
Fourth sister lunged, but stopped halfway when a storm of golden lightning flew at her. She brought up her saber in defense, but felt herself being pushed back. The lightning was getting past her defenses, and she could feel it messing with her muscles, threatening to bring her down.
As suddenly as it began, the lightning stopped, and Mina deactivated her lightsaber. She bent over, placing her hands on her knees, panting. It was the chance Fourth Sister needed. The human inquisitor hurled her saber at the young Jedi.
Mina smirked, and with a single upwards strike of her blade, the Inquisitor's lightsaber was sliced in two, the two pieces flying off in separate directions. Fourth Sister's eyes widened, before she was besieged by another wave of Electric Judgement.
It lasted only a moment, and when it ended, Fourth Sister collapsed onto her knees, as she panted heavily from exhaustion.
"No Jedi..." She breathed. "Could...use such power. Who...are you?"
Switching from her lightsaber to her shoto, Mina rushed forward until her shoto was nearly touching the Fourth Sister's throat. All was still.
"Well," Fourth Sister said, her head tilted back by the short blade against her neck. "What are you waiting for? Finish the job. Kill me."
Mina sensed the fear in the inquisitor's words. She didn't even need to look at the Agent of darkness to know that she was fighting back her tears. Mina inched the blade closer, tilting Fourth Sister's head back a bit farther. There was silence for a minute.
Mina entered her opponent's mind, going deep into her memories. She saw a small girl hiding in the Jedi Temple. She saw the image of her Uncle, Anakin Skywalker, as he burst into the room, his lightsaber ignited and ready to cut her down. She saw the flicker of remorse in his eyes as he offered to spare her if she chose to serve the Emperor. Mina saw as the frightened girl quickly accepted the offer, but remained fearful that it would be a lie.
Everything became clear to Mina. She had just seen the gist of the Fourth Sister's life. She understood the inquisitor's fears. And she knew what the right course of action was.
"No." Mina said finally. "I will not grant you the death you desire."
She sensed the confusion in Fourth Sister's mind. "You do not wish to serve the Empire with your life." Mina concluded. "You only continue to serve it the way many in this galaxy remain with it: through your fear."
Fourth Sister was about to argue, but thought against it. "There is another option." Mina continued, as she helped the dark acolyte to her feet.
"What's that?" Fourth Sister asked.
"The Rebellion." Mina replied.
"B-But I..." Fourth Sister began, before Mina cut her off.
"I know, you've already ended innocent lives. But you'll find that I'm very forgiving." She placed a hand on the Fourth Sister's shoulder and said, "But first, you must forgive yourself." Mina turned around, heading in the direction of her own ship.
"Wait." the Fourth Sister called out. Mina turned around.
"No rebellion is strong enough to defeat the Empire. So why delay the inevitable?"
"Well," Mina shrugged. "We've gotten this far, haven't we?"
Fourth Sister walked up to the Arai. She held her arm nervously and sighed. "I suppose so," she resigned. "At least I can live that much longer if I go with you."
Mina nodded in understanding, then said, "Welcome to the Rebellion, Fourth Sister."
"Eris." Fourth Sister said.
Mina turned around and asked, "Pardon?"
"My name, my real name," Fourth Sister replied. "Is Eris Colack."
As they approached Mina's ship, a battalion of Stormtroopers appeared, opening fire. "Get to the Ship!" Mina yelled, defending her new ally and deflecting as many blaster shots as she could. Eris almost made it to the ship when a bolt struck her leg. Mina saw this and hurled a blast of Electric Judgement at the troopers, who collapsed. She helped Eris aboard and the ship took off.
As they left the planet's atmosphere, a Star Destroyer came in to view. "Oh, kriff," Eris muttered. Both she and Mina knew who was on board.
"Grand Admiral Thrawn." They said simultaneously. The Star Destroyer opened fire, and a squadron of TIE fighters emerged.
"Chopper, set the coordinates and get us into hyperspace now!" When Chopper frantically started entering coordinates, Mina shouted, "Anywhere but the Base!"
In seconds, they were surrounded by the blue streaks of hyperspace.
"Admiral Konstantine," Thrawn said.
"Y-Yes, Grand Admiral?"
"Were you able to identify the trajectory of that ship?"
"N-No, sir." Konstantine stammered. "A-And we were unable to have a tracking beacon attached to the ship before it entered hyperspace. We have no idea where they could be."
Thrawn thought this over and was silent for a moment. "No matter," he replied. "The rebels will slip soon, and we will be ready to finish them off." It was not a question.
"Y-Yes, Sir." Konstantine replied, saluting. He turned to leave.
"And be aware, admiral," Thrawn added in his meticulous, calculated voice. "That this is the last time you will ever fail me. I'd be very disappointed to have to replace you."
As the admiral left, Thrawn returned to his own thoughts. He knew the Fourth Sister had been on the rebel's ship. One more traitor to add to the list. Needless to say, any trouble with the Emperor himself would not fall upon Thrawn's shoulders. If she wished to die alongside the enemy, so be it.
A/N: Pretty interesting chapter. Yet another ally for the Rebellion. Like I've stated before, it shouldn't have been too difficult to spot the reference found in this chapter. (Hint to the few who actually might have missed it: Although there were a number of Star Wars references in this chapter, which I also hope people picked up on, the reference I'm particularly hoping people see is to something other than Star Wars)
Next Chapter, we learn where Mina, Chopper, Eris and the child end up, and a few familiar faces arrive on Chopper Base. (I know I promised they'd appear in this chapter, but I swear, they'll be in the next one.)
Until then, please R&R, and I'll see you all next time. Peace Out!