Dark Order: The New Empire
Chapter 24: Escape
"Oh how the mighty have fallen..."
Luke stared at the creature before him and allowed a slow sneer to spread across his face as the door shut behind him. The Gungan roared in rage and jumped at Luke, it was only kept in place by the heavy metal restraints locked around its legs and chest.
"Sith scum!"
Luke grinned even wider as he stared at the crippled Jedi like the newest toy under the Kashi tree.
"You are quite the fighter," he complimented as he sat down cross legged on the floor before his prisoner. He didn't care if his trousers got dirty, if things went his way he would have to change uniforms anyways.
"I will avenge my friends' deaths!" The Gungan swore as he glared at Luke. His force presence was still strong despite lacking forearms
"Your attempt will be as pathetic as their deaths, I am sure."
"AGH!"
Luke drank in the creature's agony and rage like a parched man drank water. He was becoming a glutton for the sensation—something his father had warned him would likely happen—and found it necessary to torture the remaining Jedi prisoners daily in order to feed his addiction.
"Lord Vader has left to return to the armada," Luke assured his current plaything while he finally stood up and began to pace around the furious Gungan.
"Hopefully your master will die on that shuttle."
"It would be nice," Luke agreed—secretly seething at such a comment—before eying the creature with a brief calculating glance.
"You fought well when you unleashed your anger," Luke praised and stopped behind the Jedi. "It would be a shame if that was your only true display of power..."
"I was weak, it won't happen again." The filth actually sounded unsure of himself and Luke planned to exploit that to the fullest.
"No. You were strong!" He quickly stepped around to face the armless Jedi, his face barely out of the Gungan's reach. "Tell me you thought otherwise."
The monster growled and tried to head but Luke again; however, the chains kept him from moving very far. He was no where near Luke.
"What is your game?"
"Lord Vader believes he is the mastermind here, but in reality I have assumed control." Luke's bold statement threw off his prisoner's steely anger. "His soldiers and commanders are now used to me and will carry out my orders. I know his habits. I all but match him in potential," the Gungan was slowly sensing where this was going, "I only need a helping hand in taking the reigns."
"You Sith have no loyalty."
"But we do have power."
"I'd rather die!" The Gungan spat as he glared at Luke in disgust—though there was a slight mixture of contemplation and curiosity.
"We'll see."
Luke turned and stopped at the cell door. "If you change your mind, I can give you back your arms,:
The only answer he got was a colorful stream of insults.
Luke exited the cell and nodded at the guards to secure the room once again. He then made his way to the turbolift.
Obviously his father was in no danger from Luke, but the Jedi had no way of knowing that. As far as he knew, all Sith turned on one another after time. In truth, Vader had more or less forced Luke to try and sway one of the Jedi to the dark side as a test of his manipulative abilities.
"We can always use a pawn," Vader had told him just before he had left on his shuttle for Coruscant. The Emperor had called and even his father could not deny a summons from the galactic ruler.
The Jedi survivors held little interest to Luke, the only one he felt was worthy of becoming an apprentice—however temporary or fake—was most likely dead, her body decaying at the bottom of Vjun's oceans.
The Gungan, however, had shown himself to be a somewhat worthy step-in as it were. His anger and rage—and more importantly his willingness to use them—were more valuable than any force potential.
Sadly he still seemed to be angry about the loss of his forearms.
Oh well.
The lift opened and Luke shifted his focus to more pressing matters.
They had toured all of the Councilor's offices and talked with a number of "important" city officials. Leia knew that the gesture was nothing more than an attempt to solidify her status as the newest member of the Willaox family. Though she did get some pointed stares, she kept her head low and tried to remain inconspicuous.
"Don't worry dear," Thrace—he seemed to be having a wonderful time explaining his work to her—assured her as the car zoomed through the cityscape streets. "We just have to stop by Doctor Mallo's offices for a quick bit of business and then we can be home in time for dinner!" He seemed so excited by this that Leia almost felt bad about what she had to do to him and his wife.
Her entire experience with the Willaox family and her trip through Vjun City had definitely blurred her previously black and white perception of the Imperials and their Empire. Here the monsters were nice, the stormtroopers were civil, and order was maintained rather then terror enforced.
It made so little sense to the lost rebel girl.
"Could we come back another day?" Leia asked wearily as she looked out the car's windows at the passing buildings.
"No, I'm afraid I really can't postpone this meeting my dear," Thrace said sadly as he patted her shoulder while making himself a drink from the mini bar.
"Sir, there's heavy traffic ahead. I'll be taking another route."
"Oh very well..." Her temporary guardian seemed slightly annoyed at the delay—it would certainly take them longer to go another route—but he was still amiable with the driver about it. Leia was used to Imperial officials screaming in rage at the slightest problem.
"So Leia-"
The car suddenly flung itself sideways as a large cargo truck—trying to avoid the thick traffic clogging the downtown area—illegally crossed lanes and ended up slamming right into the Willaox transport. The small but luxerious speeder flipped numerous times and over several other vehicles before coming to a dull and creaky stop on the side of a street.
Leia was dazed and slightly bloody, but she could easily see that the damage had been more superficial than critical. The car was ruined and the mini bar had exploded across the passenger compartment, but other than that everything seemed fine.
Thrace appeared to be out cold on the floor and she had no idea about the driver. She did know however that medical personnel were on the way to offer their aid. And when that happened, they would check her blood for any internal injuries.
Then she would be arrested and hauled off to Vader.
Or his apprentice.
She kicked open the passenger door and ran.
"This latest attack is most disturbing my friend." The Emperor had received Lord Vader in his private gardens. The expansive forest of flora with an impressive backdrop of the capital was the perfect place to hold their most recent meeting.
"It is." Vader agreed as he thought back to the body count and the damage that had been dealt to his fortress and—unknown to the Emperor—more importantly to his son.
"You did kill them all, didn't you?" His master had the faintest hint of suspicion tinting his words as he eyed his second-in-command.
"Of course, master." Vader said, a subtle nod as he made sure his shields were strong enough to not reveal anything to the aged ruler beside him. The trick was to keep his defenses up enough to where they could not be breached, but also low enough to where his master would not realize he was protecting his thoughts.
A tentative silence passed between the two men and Vader knew his teacher was probing his mind for any lies he might have let slip.
"There have been...rumors of a recent addition to your entourage, my friend."
Vader paused and let his eyes roam over the city while he felt the tension around the two of them thicken so much that even he felt like he would suffocate.
"I have no knowledge of any recent changes."
"I see."
Vader knew the Emperor knew he was lying, even if he couldn't sense it. He also knew the Emperor had been behind Jade's attack. He knew Vader had a powerful apprentice and he knew that meant a war was coming.
A war between master and apprentice.
A cycle of the Sith that had remained unbroken for countless ages—thousands upon thousands of years—and it would not be broken now.
"I trust you will deal with the hunt for the new rebel base?" Palpatine asked as he turned his gaze from Imperial City to his apprentice.
"I will...master."
Vader met the Emperor's eyes calmly, but inwardly he was tensed for a fight. The master had never initiated the inevitable duel—it was seen as cowardice and weakness—but there were many things about the galactic ruler that were not ordinary for a Sith.
"Go then. Destroy them."
Vader bowed lightly and excused himself from the gardens. He knew he would remain in communication with the Emperor, but he had the distinct feeling—some called it their gut instinct—that he would never again be physically near his master in a calm environment.
The next time they met, it would be for blood.
"Power down your sub-light drives or we will destroy you."
Leia swore and banked the shuttle that she had "appropriated" from the Imperial starport on Vjun—a strictly military port at that—and watched on her sensor screen as the flight of Imperial ties closed in on her.
Everything had gone so well practically speaking.
She had snuck through the city for hours while the local security forces searched for her. The flaw in their plan was that they were searching for a lost girl and not a fleeing Jedi. They didn't know who she was and she had been able to evade them easily enough.
Sneaking into the spaceport had been slightly more time consuming. Leia had to wait nearly till sunset in order to memorize the guard routine enough to sneak in. Using the Force, she had slipped in and found a fresher locker room that contained a uniform that fit her well enough. After that she had just maneuvered her way carefully to the shuttle bay.
It had all gone well until she had hit orbit.
The com had started blaring from an orbital station demanding her clearance codes and she had tactfully ignored it. That had worked well until ties had been scrambled. Now she was flying for her life.
"Stand down!"
She dove down sharply while glancing at the hyperdrive core. Its charge was far too low to get her out of system; however, it might be strong enough to risk an in-system hop.
Laser fire streaked through space before she could even try to implement the option.
Leia's shuttle shuddered violently as it lost a wing and began to spiral randomly through space. Another pass by the Imperial squadron saw her engines shut down before she was left to float in space.
Leia thought at first that she was just going to be left to die by suffocation, but her worst fears were realized when a trio of boarding shuttles came floating towards her now lame vessel.
Oh Force...
Terrified, Leia grabbed her blaster and prepared herself for the upcoming assault. She had no lightsaber, but she was still a good shot and she had the Force. With a deep breath, she drew in the cosmic energy and waited.
The airlock exploded and the stormtroopers poured in.
Someone was banging on his door, but he didn't honestly care.
Leia was dead.
The man once known as Bail Organa, a founding member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, a royal of Alderaan's court, and a former senator of the Imperial Court, was laying on the floor of his small suite in the rebel base located on Hoth. In his hands was a strong Alderaani wine and he had clearly had more than a healthy amount of the substance.
"Bail!" Mon Mothma shouted from outside his door, Generals Rieekan and Madine flanking her in the hallway.
He ignored her.
Leia was dead.
"Bail! Leia's been captured!"
Normally, a parent would have been stricken with fear at the thought of their young daughter being taken prisoner by the Imperial military. In Bail Organa's case, he all but leapt in joy as he quickly felt his body sober up at the announcement.
"Where is she?! Who has her!? Is she alright!?" Bail demanded rapid-fire as he clumsily—he hadn't sobered up that much—rose to his feet and opened his suite door.
"She's on Vjun, but from what our spies have heard, Vader's ordered her shipped to a new facility...along with several other survivors..."
"We have to rescue them!" Bail cried, a new light growing in his eyes as he quickly retreated into his rooms to take a lightening-fast shower and to get a fresh change of clothes.
"We're already working on it," Rieekan informed him as he nodded at Madine. "You're team's almost ready right?"
"Correct." Madine agreed as he consulted a data pad in his hand and nodded again to himself. "It'll still be a feat to sneak into an Imperial garrison world."
Mon Mothma felt hope flaring through her as well as joy as she smiled.
"I know just the favor to call in."