Chapter Twenty-One
Arden was making her usual rounds on the garden, making sure that the students were applying just the right amount of water and soil for the fruits, roots, and vegetables to survive. That was when Kadann asked for a private audience with Arden Lyn, his face telling her something bad happened. "Have you checked the HoloNet News lately? Not that I need it but I know you do," he asked.
"No why?" she replied. He gestured for her to follow him to a station that would play the HoloNet News, informing her of a broadcast that was coming up just as he turned it on for her to see. "And the latest news, the Emperor has arrived to Endor despite an attack above Imperial Center by traitorous Vice Admiral Paris Zaarin and his Tusken Raider bodyguard Hoar. Hoar has been killed by Emperor's Hand Lumiya and all enemy forces are wiped out except for Zaarin who was apprehended.
"When we report back in just a few minutes when we broadcast live footage of Paris Zaarin's execution by firing squad in the Imperial Square, thus marking the grand finale of the Zaarin Insurrection. Paris' father Demetrius was already successfully destroyed by Grand Admiral Thrawn when a cloaking malfunction vaporized him in his attempted escape. He was using the cloaked corvette called Vorknkx in an attempt to achieve this end but it didn't work out too well for him as it would seem," the news anchor stated tonelessly. Arden was stiff to the bone, frightened by what the reporter just said about Hoar and Demetrius being killed with Paris scheduled for execution without a trial's formality.
"This... this can't be," she whispered. "I'm afraid so: the fate of the Zaarin insurrection, as I foresaw, was never meant to be ended in victory. Demetrius' obsession with advanced technologies combined with his son's opposition to this obsession destroyed it from the beginning. Nonetheless, I'm sorry it came to Paris being publicly executed as you stand helpless to watch," Kadann replied.
"But why him!? Why couldn't he have gone down with his ship which his father didn't deserve?" she demanded. She had no means by which to actually produce tears but her child's reactions to her sadness were more than enough to add to the pain she already felt. However, her placement of her face into her mechanical hand was more than enough to show Kadann her pain.
"There was nothing you could have done for him or his father, not anymore than what you already did," Kadann told her sympathetically. "But I had the Emperor right where they wanted him, I captured him with nothing more than my power, wits, sabers, and bare hands! And this is what is begat from that successful defeat of the most powerful of all Sith Lords by myself?" she asked him. "Sometimes, the Force is seldom unfair to even the strongest of those who serve its dictates, such as you and I," he answered.
"The baby is barely more than two months away from being born and I already have the promise that its father won't be there to see it. I know I won't even have the chance to say goodbye before he goes!" she screamed, her sadness finally producing some tears though only some. Kadann held her head on his shoulder and let her sob there until she could no longer do it. "I once had a family myself, a wife and three children actually," he began after a time.
"What happened to them?" she asked, blowing her nose on a nearby tissue. "One of my children died of heart failure brought on by massive amounts of uncontrolled arterial clotting in her lung. My eldest son decided to enlist in the Clone Wars only to be hit with a grenade during the Battle of Saleucami, all that remained of him being his head, hands, and rifle. When this occurred, my wife became so maddened with grief that she hanged herself despite my best efforts to stop her.
"My last child, perhaps my greatest failure of all, was subjected to horrendous experiments in relation to the Dark Side. Experiments that the Emperor started but grew disinterested in, leaving me to continue the project by myself. The child's name was Azrakel and though I taught him to hate the Emperor and Lord Vader, he also grew to hate me to the point of blood vengeance," he answered. Can't say I blame him, I turned him into what he is now despite the fact that he is my own son he thought to himself quietly.
"Hello and welcome back the HoloNet News and as promised, we bring you live footage of the execution of Vice Admiral Paris Zaarin the son of defected Admiral Demetrius Zaarin. His execution will mean the permanent annihilation of the Zaarin Insurrection which has been going on for half a year. One of our special reports, Lucia, is live on the scene," the anchor said after returning. "The Imperial Square is the scene of a crowded yet surprisingly silent crowd as folks everywhere have gathered to see this.
"It is, after all, once in a lifetime that the Emperor approves of a firing squad happening in the Imperial Square. As the soldiers chosen for execution prepare their blasters and march to where they will fire the shots, the audience is watching as the annunciator will ask Paris a few questions," the reporter said with equal tonelessness. "Will the prisoner request to be blindfolded?" the annunciator asked. Paris shook his head quickly, clasping his hands behind his back and standing erect as he ever did.
The executioner squad marched directly in front of him and turned to face them before placing their blasters at their hips. "Does the traitor of the Empire have any final words he would like to share with the worlds of the Galactic Empire before he is executed?" the annunciator asked. "Just some," Paris answered. Arden looked on, wondering with wide eyes what it was that he would say to the galaxy.
"When I first joined the Empire to be with my father, I was a drinking sot who enjoyed the company of too many women. I confess that this was a part of life I was once proud of and couldn't imagine living without but someone special came to my life, someone who made me ashamed of it. Because naming her would only endanger her-she knows who she is anyway-I will only say this: thank you, thank you for making me ashamed of that past life. Thank you for granting me the courage to defy my father's obsession for technology to attempt to rid the galaxy of a tyrant where he would not.
"And thank you for granting me the serenity to accept my capture with the honor and dignity of a true warrior of the light. But please, do one thing for me and one thing only," he began. "Anything Paris, anything!" Arden proclaimed though she knew he wouldn't hear her. "Name our child Naomi if it is a girl or Hector if it is a boy; either way you deserve a way by which to truly remember me," he said.
"I will always remember you, even when I am alone after sending the child off to school," she vowed. Again, she knew that he wouldn't hear her but it didn't matter: she had to release the passion of her sadness and her love out before seeing him die. "I tried to imagine a galaxy reborn without the Emperor, without Lord Vader, and without the Dark Side. And let me tell you, my love, it is a magnificent and beautiful picture that not even Heaven's Glory could paint.
"Wouldn't it be great to live in a time of peace, freedom, and love? A time where you didn't have to fear being you just because your ruler would kill you if you weren't conforming to them? A galaxy with renewed and restored serenity and passion, a true sense of safety without sacrifice? I'd like to think so even now as I stand to be executed with my greatest enemy yet: myself," he finished.
He signaled the completion of his final words, the questions and the admission that he was his own greatest enemy struck Arden Lyn and probably several people incredibly hard. The stormtroopers stood to attention and rose their rifles, waiting for their signal to fire at their target and silence him. Paris, in the meantime, kept his erect posture and clasped his hands to his side but closed his eyes. He breathed slowly, knowing that any one of those breaths could be his last upon the orders of the squad.
Several seconds passed of the stormtroopers just aiming at Paris and everyone waiting with anxiety for the final order to be delivered. "Fire!" the annunciator shouted suddenly. Paris smiled just in time for the stormtroopers to fire, one bolt catching his forehead quite fatally and another in his chest. As he fell to the ground, time seemed to slow for Arden as he watched his lifeless body float to the ground.
When his back finally touched down, she slowly got up and began retreating to her bedroom provided by Kadann when she first arrived. "I don't suppose you won't be joining the rest of us for supper? No meaning to be rude or heartless, I just believe some socialization to be a good medicine for this sort of thing," he asked. "If you don't mind Kadann, this is just more grief to add to what I've already dealt with alone: that's been more medicine than being stuffed in a crowd," she answered.
"I understand, have your maid let me know when you would like to have something to eat and she'll have orders to pick up whatever you want fresh from the kitchen," he told her. "Why are you so kind to me, Kadann?" she asked. "Yours is a pain unparalleled by any other being that I know in the galaxy and yet you still manage to tough your way through most of it. I admire that about you and wish to do what I can to show you that you don't have to recover by yourself.
"Besides, I'd rather have you as an ally than as an enemy even if I am on par with the Emperor in my knowledge of Dark Side power. And I can't exactly act like a Sith if I want to insure you don't turn on me like you did the Emperor as a result," he admitted with a smile. "Is this more of your control that you did with Merili when we last met or is this actual friendship?" she inquired. Laughing, Kadann was amazed that she still remembered any of that from their last friendly encounter.
"This is an attempt at genuine friendship, the strength of your mind is far too great and diverse for me to do anything of that sort," he said. Smiling, she retreated to her room to deal with her sorrow by herself, eating only when she and her child actually needed feeding rather than to relieve stress. However, as Kadann continued to check on her, a premonition donned on him thanks to mentioning his son Azrakel to him: it was a matter of time before the man came for his revenge. Knowing the powerful being that Azrakel had become, he didn't want Arden around for the day that it happened.
I may not be able to prevent my own death but perhaps I can regain some of my old Jedi self by sacrificing my life for Arden and her child he told himself quietly. Jedgar wouldn't like it nor would any of the other Prophets if he revealed this to them but Arden was a guest, nothing more. She had no reason nor any need to be involved in what was an internal affair for Kadann and his servants. The sooner she was out after weaning her baby off breast milk, the better for all of them but especially Arden and her child.
Two months later...
Arden Lyn was lying in bed, still grieving for what had happened with Paris when she felt something that she had never felt before. Looking down after righting herself in her bed, she began to see blood ooze out of her genitalia and she knew it could only mean one thing: her water broke. She alerted her maiden who immediately spread the news all the way to Kadann's ear. Intrigued and excited, the dwarf Prophet dropped everything he was doing to see Arden Lyn give birth.
"Where is the midwife, we need the midwife now!" Kadann shouted upon seeing the sight of Arden birthing. After the woman arrived, she immediately told Arden to slow her breathing and just push to help her baby out. Her assistant nurses stood ready to assist the delivery of the baby and Kadann knew that these women would not fail. For one, they were some of the finest midwives in the galaxy and even worked for a company that had only done the finest in medical delivery of babies.
"Just breathe slow honey and push!" the lead midwife told Arden. She even demonstrated the kind of breathing she wanted her to do and Arden followed along. The effort was continuous and even straining on not just Arden but on the patience of the audience around her. They longed to see the newborn baby and Kadann especially longed to bless it after she gave its name.
Jedgar, however, was the only one who was genuinely bored after about the first hour of effort and he excused himself. "Let me know when it's almost over and I'll rejoin you," he asked Kadann. Though disappointed, Kadann let him go and knew that it was probably for the better that the gigantic man who posed as his bodyguard did just that. "Keep going Arden, you don't want us to have to knock you out with anesthetics and conduct C-section, do you?" the lead midwife asked.
"The hell is C-section?" Arden said as she continued with the effort. Briefly, the old lady demonstrated what she meant by pretending she had a knife and placed it across her belly. The fashion in which she did so indicated cutting and Arden knew immediately what she was talking about. She had had a stillbirth that had come partly because of a C-section whilst trying to give birth to Xendor's heir.
The motivation was more than enough for Arden to heave with all her might though the nurse quickly warned her against doing this for too long. "Just keep going at a good steady pace and we'll make sure to help you along the way," the elderly woman added. A few more hours passed, the audience slowly fading but not for one moment to Kadann leave her side: he needed to see this child. After all, when he had once touched Arden's belly to check for problems (he sensed none), he had foreseen that this child would be a powerful one with an incredible destiny ahead of it.
True that the most likely path for this child's future lied with the Jedi but she would be the most powerful amongst them. She would stand at a nexus between the Light and the Dark, the perfect entity that was an example of being everything and nothing at once far more than her mother had been. Yet even so, with such nexus as that, this child would nearly always choose the right path. She would lead the Jedi into a bright future that was greater than anything Skywalker could hope to conjure in his life.
Two hours after coming to this conclusion for himself, Kadann finally saw Arden Lyn give natural birth to a healthy young girl. When the nurses weighed the child after cleaning it, they were surprised to find out that she was a little over seven and a half pounds. Kadann ordered that the nurses finish what they were doing and leave mother and daughter be, both needing their rest. "What is her name?" Kadann asked, curious to see whether or not Arden would honor Paris' request.
"Cassandra, her name is Cassandra," she answered. "But Paris asked that she be named Naomi if she were a girl in honor of him," he reminded. "I love Paris, I really do but looking into her eyes are all I need to remember him. She has his light blue eyes, after all and that's better than having my golden eyes," she explained. Kadann understood at once that these beautiful features about her daughter were all Arden needed to remember the father even if she was denying him his dying request.
"I'll let you two rest for a couple days, then I'd like your child to be brought to the Chamber of Sanctity to be baptised by the Prophets of the Dark Side. I sense a great destiny ahead for your child and wish to give her as best a start was I can," he said. Arden nodded, holding her little Cassandra. "Thank you Kadann, how long do you think it'll be before she's weaned?" she asked after nodding her reply.
"Give or take, I'd say the typical baby is usually weaned off after about a year. You'll need to feed her nine to twelve times a day for the first one or two months. After that, she'll need only to be fed at least seven for about the rest of the time but slowly work to weaning her off before the year's out. Begin introducing solid foods about six months of age in order for the weaning to be done effectively," he explained.
He was surprised that he had retained this knowledge from when his wife used to feed their children at least thirty years ago for Azrakel, the youngest. "I will help you with the weaning process if you need you and will guide you through the basics if you wish. However, much as I hate saying it, I will need you to leave after the year is out anyway. There is a personal matter relating to Azrakel brewing on the horizon and I don't want you around for it," he added.
"What do I do once I'm out in the bigger galaxy again?" she inquired. "I have already secured you a one-way ticket to Ossus where you can get a job teaching Terras Kasi, if you wish. The ticket is all I can offer after having allowed you to raise your child to this point in relative peace," he replied. "It's all I would want if anything after such generosity, Kadann," she told him.
A year later...
"Thank you for everything Kadann, I will truly miss you. Without you, I don't think I would have ever been able to raise my daughter as well as I have," Arden declared proudly. And indeed she did do a good job: her daughter displayed very advanced intelligence for a baby like her mother did. She had already mastered the art of walking like Kadann and Arden had in addition to showing potential for talking before two years of age.
"Anything for the one woman I respect more than the Dark Side itself. After all, even now that the Emperor and Vader are dead, the fact that you defeated the former is still significant to us all. It gave the Alliance some hope when they found out as it did for all insubordinate Imperial citizens," he replied. "I was just doing what was asked of me without any thought of reward to myself or anyone else," she said.
"Keep that philosophy up and you will gain more than you have ever known even if it doesn't seem like you will," he told her. She hugged him and he kissed her cheek, concluding his goodbye by kissing the baby on her forehead. The sacrament he had bestowed on the child was one that would eventually help her reach the nexus, a baptism of sorts that opened her to both paths in the Force. Arden thanked him a last time then made her way towards the ship that would take her to Ossus where she would begin yet another existence, away from the eyes of the reborn Emperor.
Four months after that farewell, Azrakel arrived and slaughtered many of the Prophets including Kadann. Jedgar killed him in a confrontation via the lightsaber but was severely wounded in the process of doing so even with help from the other Prophets. About a few days later, on orders from the reborn Emperor who had a bone to pick with Kadann, Lumiya and her secret apprentice finished them off. With their obedient act of loyalty to the Emperor, Lumiya and Carner Jax had finished the extermination that Azrakel started and sacrificed his life doing.
"Thus is the fate of all who dare to question the might of the true dynasty of the Sith," Palpatine stated when she returned with the report of their destruction. In the meantime, unknowing of the ill fate of the Prophets though suspicious of it, Arden Lyn founded a Terras Kasi school on Ossus. However, she knew it would be only a matter of time before Palpatine renewed his pursuit on her. She knew him too well to not know that even if he temporarily relented, he would never truly give up on finding her.
Thrawn had returned to the Unknown Regions on behalf of the Empire and thus his protection was out of question. Demetrius and Paris were dead thus their forces were scattered so there was no returning to the insurrect. Worst of all, most of her students were dead, in the service of the Emperor (like Shira) and only a couple in the Rebel Alliance. She doubted the Alliance would accept her after her attempts on the lives of some of its leaders nor did she want them to accept her, considering all that.
But life as a single mother was not as bad as Arden had been taught that it would be for a woman. Granted, the views of twenty-five thousand years ago didn't mostly apply now but she did see the strange looks and the patronization on some people's faces. But instead of hating those people, she pitied them for hating them for their looks, she pitied them. Two parents had the ability to split the load that came with raising a child and while effective-when done right-, seldom ever had any true hardship as a result. For Arden Lyn, whose child lost her father before she was born, this was about to prove especially true in the years ahead even with the credits brought in by teaching martial arts classes.