"In Need of Wings"

Chapter the Twenty-Eighth


Mandalore's army, Buurenaar, arrived on Naboo at the end of the planet's rotation. Everyone could feel tension begin to stir in both armies. As if all of them were beginning to hold their breath, all at once. Waiting for the moment that unity would collapse. Waiting for when the conflict in end goals—who would be the next leader of the Empire—would culminate into division. Waiting for the Empire to strike their base.

Both Vader and his apprentice felt their tension as well. Even halfway across the galaxy.

"Two of them have joined together," Vader spoke to her that night. "One army is weak enough. But two…"

"Are we in danger, Master?" she whispered, staring up at the ceiling.

"Of course not. Just means we get to have more fun, Snips."

"Two armies against two Sith…" She smiled. "Sounds interesting."


In only a week, several fights had already broken out between Buurenaar and Ami Dala troops. Just as Padmé had feared would happen as soon as the Armies of Twelve started coming closer together. After her brief belated visit to the twins' gravesite in Varykino, she returned and kept to date with all the reports of what had happened, with Sabé's help. Then again, without her handmaidens, there is no way she would have made it one day past her babies' deaths.

A couple fights were just two drunk soldiers who bumped into each other and decided they were tired of waiting for a battle with the enemy, tired of being away from home. But the others were not so. Her soldiers knocked out teeth to defend her honor…that is, her right to take the Emperor's place. No matter how clear she made it that she didn't want to become the Empire's Empress.

After yet another fight behind the barracks, the two soldiers at fault were brought forward for possible court-martial. Padmé was not surprised to see Bane, as this was his fourth fight since joining Ami Dala. Next to him stood one of the Mandalorians, with the face of a young clone. Many clones had ran away to Mandalore. To go back to the roots of Jango Fett, their genetic template.

Padmé recognized him. Another surprise.

"…Sergeant Boba Fett? I was not expecting this of you, if I may be honest. What were you doing in a fight with Captain Bane?"

Boba Fett stood up a little straighter and licked blood off his bottom lip.

"Well, first of all, he started it. Saw me leave headquarters and just came after me like a reek at full charge." Boba felt his broken nose and winced.

A sour look on her face, Padmé looked over at Bane, arms crossed at him. He glared at Boba with one eye, the other swollen half shut.

"Well, Captain? Was this your doing?"

"Not that it is any of General Amidala's business, but I had a personal matter to settle with Boba," he grumbled.

"And what sort of matter was that?"

"In case you missed it…" Bane bared his fangs. "Ain't the General's business."

She rubbed the bridge of her nose. And she thought she had dealt with stubborn asses in the Senate. Bane was a whole other category of stubborn.

"I'll be going, then. I have to go over tomorrow's strategy with my platoon," Boba said curtly. The two exchanged a death glare before Boba turned and walked off. Bane clenched his mechno fist, now rebuilt much more clean and functional. Resembled more of a weapon than a limb. A tool.

"You son of a—"

"Captain." Padmé cut him off. "I don't understand your behavior. I grant you a plea of pardon if you serve in my army without causing trouble. And how many fights have you gotten into now?"

"Don't keep track of them, General." He shrugged.

"Then what's going on here? Why can't you stay on good behavior for more than a day at a time? Anything you need to let me know about?"

His weight slightly shifted from either foot to the other. He looked uncomfortable.

"I don't…know how to stop it. Deathsticks used to help. So did the drinking. Ever since 'Soka…" He looked down. "Ever since Tano took my arm."

Her gaze softened, if only a little, and she swallowed a lump the size of an orange in her throat. After Bane arrived, Padmé felt her hesitancy to treat him any better than he deserved slipping, ever so gradually. First she refused, despite her peers' advice, to have him executed for his crimes. Then she refused to send him to prison. Sabé warned her not to give Bane the option to enlist, but he took it. Especially after she sweetened the deal by offering the pardon.

His connection to Anakin and Ahsoka changed everything. Made Padmé feel that he had to be protected. That she had to be sure Bane was not lost.

In a sense, he was her only remaining connection to her ex-husband and his padawan. And although she had no plans to go back to Anakin, no matter what happened, hope existed. As long as they were not completely severed from each other. She hated that she needed Bane safe.

"No. I need to be in on the action. Just let me get at the Empire. Let me fight them," Bane said, sounding almost desperate.

"Before that, for your actions, I'm going to put you in solitary for a week. When you get out, I expect you to shape up. Take meds, get therapy, alcohol, I don't care what it takes. Just do your duty."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever," Bane grumbled.

"What did you say to me?" she asked while knowing perfectly well what he said.

"I said, whatever you say, General." He backed off and complied when the guards arrived to take him to solitary confinement. Rex and Padmé watched him go.

"General, if I may say something…" Rex said, fists clenched on either side of him.

"Of course, Colonel."

"The men have been talking about him. The bounty hunter. None of them trust him at all. A few were even there when we fought Bane on Devaron. And when news of this gets out, they'll hate him even more."

"First off, he's not a bounty hunter anymore. He's Captain of Hurricane Company and under my command."

"And you trust him?"

"No. But I trust that he wants revenge against the Empire, and a second chance when the war is over. Right now, I am the only chance he has at both." She clenched her jaw. "I understand the distrust, but I know what I'm doing. Can't let all that vengeance and skill go to waste, now can we?"

"I suppose not, General," he said quietly, and said no more on the subject.


Ahsoka hated when her Master was sent away on a mission. He had no choice, and it had to be done. He was the most powerful in command of the galaxy, second only to Sidious. Vader had been sent to clear up an uprising in the Dathomir system, in the most secure Imperial priso. Only the most troublesome criminals were sent there and locked up for life. Although Vader expected to be back in only a couple weeks, Ahsoka felt the ache without him.

She had become needy. Without him, everything felt empty and useless. Without purpose.

Only Vader made living worthwhile to her.

And she knew it was wrong. To need him so much. But she had trained herself to stop caring, to avoid the pain of knowing how far she had fallen. It was better that way.

The loneliness soon became too much to bear. Ahsoka got up and commed the Third Inquisitor, who she once knew as Barriss, and wanted to keep it that way. The Mirilan arrived within minutes of being summoned. The scars from electrocution were visible from her fingertips all the way to the tip of her nose.

"Yes, Miss Tano?"

That made Ahsoka laugh.

"Come on, Berry-Jam. You don't have to be so formal."

"Oh…of course, Ahsoka." She hesitated as she entered the room. Ahsoka did not take her eyes off of her the whole time, and gestured for Barriss to sit down.

"I've been thinking a lot about you lately. About our past. Everything that happened before."

Barriss folded her hands in her lap, picking at her fingernails. She couldn't look Ahsoka in the eye.

"Have you now?" she asked in a low tone.

"Sure have. You know, it's funny…I do blame the Republic and the Jedi Order for screwing me over like that. It's their fault my future was stolen from me. That I was taken away from my Master. But it's more than that…"

"There is?" Barriss almost sounded hopeful. Foolish girl.

Ahsoka smiled, and leaned in close, looking over her former friend head to foot. Studying every single detail about Barriss that she had missed out on over the years. Not just the scars, but the way her nose and jaw had lengthened in shape, the way she parted her hair differently, the shape of her fully developed shoulders, breasts, and calves.

"Of course there is. You see, they were the ones who betrayed me and cast me aside. But they didn't start the whole thing. They needed something to give them a little push first." She giggled, fingers rubbing up and down her mortals. "All it took was one little push for them to turn on me so quickly. What if we're all just that close to losing everyone we think we can trust? What if all it takes for you to turn into a monster is one, itty bitty, tiny push in the right direction?"

Barriss' eyes widened. Bright blue with small speckles of violet, always bloodshot from exhaustion, opened up with a strange sort of innocence that Ahsoka now understood was a mere mask to hide the deceptive, manipulative bitch just underneath. Her dark lips puckered, smearing her makeup.

She was so beautiful. A mosaic of flowers and jewels. Every star in the sky on a bright night. Always had been.

She was the first girl that made Ahsoka's heart stop—figuratively. And almost had made it stop in the literal sense as well.

"What are you saying, Ahsoka?" she whispered into the darkness.

The darkness heard her not. Darkness had already won the fight.

"I'm saying that you were their little push. If it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't have been ripped from Skyguy's arms, thrown out with the dirty laundry. They may have tried sentencing me, but…it all came back to you. You."

"I…I know." Back to picking at her fingernails, head cast down. Trying to look so innocent, so sad. As if this beautiful goddess of the underworld could understand sadness. "And if I could take it all back, I could. I thought what I was doing was right. I couldn't live with myself for years after I…"

Ahsoka held up her hand.

"I don't want to hear it, Berry-Jam. You pushed it all into happening. Made me spend months barely able to survive on the streets. Made Skyguy miss me so much it drove him horrible…" She slowly stood up and approached her. "But you know what? Now that we're on the same side again, I know how to make it all better between you and I. I know how to get close to you and fix all of the things you broke."

Barriss' eyes clouded up and she fell to her knees in front of Ahsoka.

"I'll do anything…I want to fix this. I'll do whatever you ask, Ahsoka. Things can be right again." She looked up, smiling. "What do I have to do?"

"Oh, not much." Ahsoka cocked her head to the side. "But if you do it, I guarantee that it will fix everything for you and me."

"What is it?"

"It's very simple. All you have to do…is die." Ahsoka's smile widened. Darkness closed in, twisting the last of the sane fabrics of her mind.

And before Barriss could utter one syllable, make one movement of protest, her neck was already pulling her up through the Force as she began to choke. Panicking, kicking her legs, Barriss clutched at her throat even though she already knew it was useless. Again, Ahsoka did not take her eyes off of her. Not even when she stopped moving and her lifeless body collapsed on the floor. Vader's apprentice knelt by her, daring to touch her stunning, beautiful, perfect skin.

"All done. Now everything is as it should be, Barriss. You're gone, the Jedi are gone, the Republic is gone…and Vader will be back soon. Everything that stood between me and my Master…snuffed out." She snapped her fingers at the two guards standing at her door. Without hesitating they dragged Barriss' body out. It was done.

Vader would be so proud of her.

She hoped he would. She needed it.