Teen Titans / Star Wars Crossover: A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Chapter 11: Searchings and Findings

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Sorry for the long hiatus, people, but you know how it goes sometimes. Sometimes, the world just gets in the way.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this new chapter!

I don't, of course, own either the Teen Titans or the Star Wars franchises in any way. I doubt you thought I was, but had to say it.

Oh, and I would like to give credit to Edgar H. Sutter, for his help, and particularly to Sharnosian Empire, for her untiring enthusiasm for the story. And I'd like to thank all of you who read, and especially all of you who review. Such encouragement always helps.

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By the way, the character of Darth Asmodeus was created by Sharnosian Empire, and is entirely her own idea. Check out her stories!

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Chapter 11: Searchings and Findings

Ben Kenobi, or Obi-Wan, as he'd been known in a previous stage of his life, had found the mechanism he sought. Unfortunately, it wasn't unmanned.

There were two stormtroopers stationed too far apart for him to take them out simultaneously. A little subterfuge was called for. He concentrated, calling upon that strange realm that, in his life, had become almost a brother to him…

Imperial Stormtrooper Garrel was the first to notice it. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That sound."

"What sound?"

"Well, I guess that means you don't hear it. It's a low humming sound, rises and falls."

"I don't hear nuthin.'"

"I'm going to investigate."

"Our orders are to remain here."

"And watch. Like for sounds like this that don't belong here."

The other trooper sighed. "Awright, go get your death sentence from Lord Vader. See if I care."

Garrel cautiously stuck his head and gun simultaneously into the accessway-*

The other trooper waited. His suit's internal chronon ticked to 15. Garrel did not come back. Probably taking a nap back the-*

Obi-Wan, now unobstructed, made his way to the generator core. Now, if he could just figure out how it worked…

Corl Vanderk sighed, walking along the corridor back to his barracks. He hated lying to Sorn…and a part of him was wondering if he really should have. But no, admitting his complicity in freeing Starfire would have been an automatic death sentence, one he himself would have executed upon another soldier who'd similarly betrayed his corps. He'd couldn't blame anyone.

But he was wondering if he deserved to live.

Ever since humanity rose from the slime, there have been those called upon to defend or fight for others. Ever since the formation of recognizable fighting battalions, a system of honor had been developed. One did not betray one's corps, one's oath, not without good reason.

Had he had such good reason? Really? Or had he simply, as Starfire put it herself, "fallen for the pretty face"? If that was the case, he didn't deserve to live. The blood of Grand Moff Tarkin, whom he'd sworn to serve, was upon his head. Justice-*

Two incredibly strong hands reached out from a shadowed alcove and dragged him in before he could so much as utter a peep.

….

The Millennium Falcon: "Garfield, we have to warn them. It's not safe here, not with that presence. Something's very wrong here."

"That's gonna be difficult, Rae. I'm not sure myself where they are." He fumbled with the comm unit Ben had given them. "I hope this isn't traceable."

In another passageway: Robin's comm unit beeped softly. Just as softly, he answered it. "Yes?"

"Rob, Rae's awake. She says we have to get away from here. Something about this place has spooked her big time."

…

Elsewhere on the Death Star:

A young man strode onto the command deck, dressed in Imperial black and grey as he stopped respectfully behind the imposing figure of Darth Vader.

"My Master," he greeted.

"Lord Asmodeus," he returned, turning to look at his Sith Apprentice.

"I sensed a disturbance in the Force upon my arrival," said the one known in this life as Darth Asmodeus.

"Indeed, it is a strange presence, mixed with a familiar one… one I have not felt since…" Vader trailed off and Asmodeus knew not to press the matter.

"It is indeed strange… dark yet not one of a Force User," Asmodeus agreed. He bowed, a short bow of respect to one's Master. "With your permission, my Master, allow me to investigate this matter. You have other concerns, now that you are in command."

"Do so, Lord Asmodeus. I grant you permission to deal with this matter. This other concern, however, this...familiar presence I sense...that is one only I can deal with."

Damn, thought Asmodeus. I nearly had it. He bowed again, careful to keep his emotions off his face. "I shall deal with it, My Master." He bowed again, and left.

Only when he was safely away did he allow his fury to show in his face.

….

In a shadowed alcove, Corl Vanderk found himself pressed up against a wall with no less force than he'd experienced with Galen Marek, but stemming from a very different source.

Starfire's lips were pressed up against his so tightly he could hardly breathe. "I've missed you so, my friend." she whispered, releasing him only partly.

He looked at her closely. There was a sheen to her eyes he didn't like. "Uh, Starfire? Are...are you alright?" She still hadn't let go of his arm, and her other arm was pressed up against his chest. With considerable force. He remembered Sorn saying the guards had been torn apart by something with "inhuman strength." "Starfire?"

"Please...call me Kory. We are friends, no? The best of friends." Again she kissed him, an aggressive kiss that alarmed him rather than aroused him. This was more in the order of an attack than anything else. "Let me taste you, my love…"

With an effort, he pulled away. "Look, St-I mean, Kory, you're not well. Something's wrong…"

"Indeed, something is wrong. But all is right now. I have found you again. Good man. Spark of light in this endless darkness…"

She wasn't making sense. "Star...look, there's something wrong. Let me go; I've got to help you somehow…"

'Oh, but you can, beloved. You can." She moved back a hair. "That armor looks sooo uncomfortable…" She curled her fingers into the top of his chestplate and cracked him out of the upper half with one stroke. "There. That looks soo much better." Working so swiftly that he could barely keep up, she proceeded to remove his armor, leaving him wearing just the soft undersuit all Stormtroopers wore to keep the armor from chafing. "Oh, but this must go, too." And she pushed him down on the deck, ripping at the cloth, straddling him with her naked body…

Wait. Naked body? When had that happened?

She moved against him in a most arousing way, bending over to kiss him, that spectacular hair falling to either side of their heads…

...And suddenly, her eyes rolled up into the top of her head, and she fell over and off him.

"I can't decide," said Marek, standing over him with the hypospray, "whether I just saved your life or your sweet innocence."

He got up, pushing Starfire's dead weight off him. "Probably both. There's something wrong with her. She wasn't like this before."

Marek knelt down while Vanderk tried to pull together the torn remnants of his undersuit. He checked her pupils. "Hm. Eyes dilated, and I think her heart beat seems kinda fast, but that could be normal for her. Do you know anything?"

Vanderk was trying to piece together his armor. In her frenzy, Starfire had cracked the snaps and couplings, so he had to make do. "I don't know. But she was down on 4DC for a while. Like I said, things seem to happen to people down there."

Marek shook his head. "That's too bad, kid." He pulled out his lightsaber. "I guess we have to kill her, before she wakes up."

"No! Wait!" He was frantically trying piece his armor together. "Don't kill her! I've gotta help her!"

"Kid…how? We don't even know what's wrong with her. And that hypo won't keep her under long. When she wakes up…"

"Then," said a voice from the doorway, "We must make sure she does not wake up." They both whipped around to see a young man, apparently barely out of his teens, dressed in Imperial black and gray, standing in the doorway. "Not as she was, anyway."

"Who the frag are you?" That question, from Galen Marek, worried Vanderk. If a Force user of Marek's level couldn't sense this guy…

"A friend. I asked for permission to…investigate this matter of intruders on the Emperor's Battlestation. And here you are." He glanced down at Starfire. "Some of you, anyway."

"You…you wanna help us?" Vanderk's voice was almost a squeak. Marek didn't say anything, but Vanderk noticed he kept his lightsaber ready. The stranger had not yet produced any weapons, but if he was a Force user, he might not need any.

"Yes. I am Darth Asmodeus. And I can help you…if you'll let me.

"Otherwise, I'll have to kill you."

"You mean you'll try."

The young man who'd identified himself as Darth Asmodeus (that was a strange name, thought Vanderk) turned a set of cold eyes on the Force user. "I don't have the time to get into a pissing contest with you. I don't give a shit how strong in the Force you are, or think you are. There's no way you'll take on the entire battle station plus her." He gestured to the sleeping Starfire. "Now either follow me or don't. It's really all the same to me." And he started down the corridor, his robe swishing along the floor.

Vanderk looked at Marek, who shrugged. "I don't have any better ideas, kid. But you carry her."

They followed Asmodeus down into the guts of the station. "Wait," said Marek, "This is the detention area."

"Yes," replied Asmodeus with the air of one talking to a child, "This is next door to the armory. That's where they keep the force-shackles. You surely didn't think they'd be in the commissary, did you?"

"Those things didn't hold her before," spoke up Vanderk. "What makes you think they'd hold her now?"

"Because I know how to adjust them for alien biology. It's not that complicated. I imagine the troopers who initially used them simply employed the standard settings. And, of course, as you've all seen, she is anything but standard.

"They'll keep her out until we can locate her friends. You all need to get as far away from this station as you can. My Master, Darth Vader, will not hesitate to hunt you all down once he finishes with his current business."

"Your Master is Vader?" snapped Marek, drawing his lightsaber instinctively.

"Sst! Put that away before you draw attention, idiot! If I was working for my Master's interests, we'd already have settled this matter in the most violent way possible." He turned to them more fully, and spoke quietly, but with great intensity. "Listen to me. You all must get away from this station if you want to live. There is a force at work here, one that has no relation to the Force we know. It's something different. Something ancient. Something powerful. Whatever it is, it is mightier than anything I have ever encountered, or even heard of. Sufficiently aroused, it is more than a match for my Master. And you. And me. It could rip this battle station in half.

Whether or not I can leave is yet to be decided, but you must. I have cast my vision into the future, and have seen that you both play a role in the upcoming events. Either that, or you will not play any role…

"…because you will be dead.

"The choice is yours."

….

"We have to find where the prisoners are being held," insisted Robin. It had been no easy task to take the command center, and, once again, the Titans had had to accommodate themselves to the new rules, which involved killed one's opponents. But, Robin reasoned, this was war, and people die in wars. It couldn't be helped. "Cy? Can you do-* But he was cut off by a series of boops and beeps from R2.

"Master Robin," began C3PO, "R2 here, says he can interface with the Imperials' computers far better, being more familiar with their format."

"Oh! Of course." Robin, so accustomed to depending on his teammates, had forgotten about the little droid's ability. "Uh, well, go for it."

R2 rolled up to a port that Robin hadn't even seen, extended a plug, and jacked in.

The rush of information was dizzying, even to the droid. But he focused; he had to find out where the prisoners were being held.

More boops and beeps. "Master Robin, Master Luke? R2 is saying there is only one prisoner, and she is being held in confinement, and...oh, no."

"Oh, no? What's 'oh no'?"

"It seems she is scheduled for execution!"

Luke spoke up. "We can't let that happen!"

"And just how are you proposing to stop it, kid? Take on the entire complement of soldiers here single-handedly?"

"Not alone," he said, scrounging around amongst the fallen Imperial bodies for more blaster charges. "I'll need help."

"Yeah? And where you gonna get this help? You sure ain't lookin' at it!" Han was livid. "Once I get free, I'm outta here!"

"C'mon, Han…"

"Wait, wait," broke in Robin. "R2, can you tell who it is in the confinement cell?"

More boops and beeps from R2, this time interspersed with some squeals. "He says it's the Princess Leia Organa, Master Robin."

"And there's no trace of anyone else?"

"None, sir. Though…" He conversed with R2. "R2 says the Imperials are on the lookout for an escaped alien female. One they believe to have killed the governor, one Grand Moff Tarkin."

"An alien female," mused Robin, "that's gotta be Kory. But killed this Tarkin guy? Well, she is trained as a warrior, and she surely knows this to be a war. That's gotta be her. Any info on her?"

"Nothing. Only that she was cornered on something called 4DC, and apparently seriously wounded, but not apprehended, for some reason that doesn't appear to have been cataloged."

Robin's concern spiked. Kory, wounded? That was his worst fear. The level of tech here could definitely do that.

….

Ben Kenobi, or, as he was known in another life, Obi Wan Kenobi, had completed his mission. The tractor beam mechanism was properly sabotaged. It would still work-for now. But in just a few moments…

He made his way back to the Millennium Falcon. But partway there, he sensed a dark presence…

A red lightsaber beam lit up the darkness by a corner. "I've been waiting for you, Obi Wan. The circle is now complete." The Dark Lord of the Sith stepped out into the light. "When I left you, I was but the learner. Now, I am the Master." Obi Wan had long since drawn and activated his lightsaber, its blue glow partially dispelling the red of the other's.

This meeting could have only one outcome.

"You are only a master of evil, Darth." And with that, they clashed.

Obi Wan had to give his adversary credit. His skills, both in combat and in the Force, had improved greatly. He could feel Darth Vader extending his senses, trying to determine what Ben's next move would be, just as he was. He could also feel Vader's deliberate "scrambling" of his own future moves, in order to throw him off, catch him off-guard. He responded in kind.

He knew better than to try to influence Darth Vader's mind, as he had back on Tatooine, with the storm troopers. Vader's mind was far too strong. Just as Vader knew better than to try his Force choke.

Besides, this was a matter than could only be settled by combat. This was personal.

….

"No, Gar, I've got to get out. I can scramble their sensors…."

"...But you can't scramble their eyes, Rae! And with the others gone…"

"That is why I must get out. There is something about being confined in here that inhibits my powers-a purely psychological thing, perhaps, but real, nonetheless-and only if I am on the outside of this craft, can I contact them, mind-to-mind. And I must. We all have to leave this place immediately."

…

Detention Center: the one calling himself Darth Asmodeus had found a set of shackles that fit Kory. He turned and adjusted the settings knob.

"Huh. I didn't know they had that setting," said Vanderk.

"It's not standard knowledge. But this will suppress her consciousness for the time it is active. Now." He turned to the other two. "There is a matter we must discuss, regarding her."

"Er, what?" Already Vanderk was nervous. But Marek just nodded, as though expecting this.

Asmodeus turned his full attention on him. "Private, you surely see the problems carrying her around will cause. It will take at least one of us, working on a constant basis, to transport her from place to place. Or did you think you could just stash her away somewhere? You know," he glanced back at the quiescent Starfire, "she'll need...tending. Water. Food, depending on how long she remains in this condition. And, although I don't know about her biology, she'll need...well, let's just say, hygiene care every so often." He looked back at Vanderk. "Actually, the kindest, best thing you could do for her, at this point, is to put her back in lockup. At least there, the guards would have the responsibility of seeing to her needs, lest they incur my Master's wrath; you, on the other hand, will have your hands full just surviving on this station, and eluding capture…" He saw the look on Vanderk's face.

"No," said Vanderk, "It's my fault she's alive. It's my fault she's in this, this condition. Maybe, maybe if I'd, I'd told her, done something, sooner… I, I feel responsible for her." He straightened up, somehow, without moving from his kneeling position. Marek and Asmodeus exchanged brief glances. Well, the boy had decided his fate.

"You'll have to be responsible, then, for her upkeep, at least until you can find her friends. And, considering the size of this station, that might take a while."

At which exact point, alarms began whooping in the corridor. Asmodeus looked up. "Or," he continued, "It might not, at that."

To be continued…