Chapter 33 – Return
D123/0 ABY
Inside the holding cells of the recently formed Imperial re-education facility (slave camp) on the southern hemisphere of the planet Shili, were people of three different species – Togruta, Humans, Giants – being enslaved, the latter not native to the galaxy. This facility was manned mostly by Zygerrians, whose slave empire was now backed by the Empire.
Currently, a Zygerrian was dragging a young Togruta girl by a chain, which connected to a shock collar around her neck. This collar was designed to release electro-shocks to subdue its wearer, and could also explode – blowing up the person's head. As the young Togruta tried to keep up (she had no fight left in her whatsoever), she stumbled. The Zygerrian turned around activating his energy whip, telling her to get up. They were both right in front of a reinforced durasteel cage, holding a man and a giant within.
As the Zygerrian raised his hand to whip the Togruta girl, there was a low unearthly noise, following which the Zygerrian's eyes rolled back in his head, the whip fell out of his hand and he fell unconscious on the floor. The girl simply looked at this in shock. The giant then reached out to her, startling her but asked in the kindest voice, "Are you alright, child?"
The girl nodded yes, following which the giant told her to run along to her cell. He then turned around and looked at his cellmate, an old man, wearing with an orange shirt and brown shorts. He had a vertical scar on his right eye, but could still see out of it. The old man had a goatee as white as his hair, and was currently stroking it in deep thought.
"It was you… wasn't it, old man. Just who are you?", the giant asked him.
The man was still in deep thought, "Two more days. If he doesn't reach here by two days, then I will break you all out of here.", he finally said, surprising the giant.
D124/0 ABY
Flying in the Ghost, were Issho, Talia, Mace Windu, Kanan, Chopper and Hera. The latter was piloting the ship towards the set of coordinates given to her by Talia, which would take them well outside the Outer Rim. Sitting on the co-pilot's chair was Talia and on the seat behind them was Issho. These past few days had given Hera more hope than ever. The reason behind this was thanks to the newest members – Prince Issho and Mace Windu. Hera found her uncle to be an extremely lovable person, but when she asked as to why his eyes weren't healed stating that her Dad had healed Kanan's eyes, Issho laughed slightly and said, "Well, I'll be damned. Thor finally learns how to heal wounds. But this," he gestured at his eyes "is a life choice, Hera."
Kanan was currently outside the cockpit, sparring with Master Windu, with Chopper looking at their match.
"So, why exactly are we out here, Uncle?", Hera finally asked.
"We are meeting a council member here. I had a little talk with Balthazar, who told me that he had stolen quite a bit from the enemy.", Issho answered. With that he showed both Hera and Talia the stuff Balthazar had given him, a transparent box which had a green coloured ring in it. Looking at Hera felt a little sick. Issho then put the box back in his mould and then showed them a briefcase, which had a lot of vials in them. All except one, were blue in colour and the remaining one was fiery red in colour.
"What are they?", Hera asked.
"Graces of pagans and angels. I don't know about the red one, though.", Talia answered.
As they landed on the planet's surface, Issho signalled them to wait, "We are being surrounded. Talia, protect them at all costs. I will go and greet the host."
"Who is it?", Talia asked.
"Demons.", came the answer.
As Issho exited the ship, he snapped his fingers and the Ghost was suddenly launched into orbit, surprising its crew. "SHOW YOURSELF.", he yelled. He then sensed a few people standing in front of him, strong in the dark side. Issho could feel the cold and the evil emanating from them. His mould then transformed into an Uru sword, which along with his eyes glowed purple.
"A lone angel.", the demon right in front of him said, cackling. But before, anything else could happen a meteor shaped object collided with the planet's surface, and from it stepped out Bor. He looked around and saw Issho surrounded by the demons, before saying "Pitiful, son of Odin."
Suddenly Bor's face and hands erupted into flames and he reached out into the force suspending all the dark siders on the planet in the air, and whispered one word "Vengeance."
D125/0 ABY
On route to Shili, Ahsoka contacted General Dodanna, she had tried Hera before, but was unable to reach her. Ahsoka quickly informed Dodanna about the impending attack on Shili. He promised the Republic's help, but said that it would take them some time to gather their fleet.
"There is an Imperial slave facility on the Southern hemisphere of the planet. Our objective is to aid the rebel forces on the planet to successfully break into the facility and rescue its people, before the Empire sends in their reinforcements. Now the trick is to get past the Imperial blockade undetected.", Hunter said.
"That won't be a problem for this ship, it's got impressive cloaking technology." Rex said.
It took them a few hours to get to Shili and once they exited hyperspace, sneaking past the Imperial blockade was no hassle, like Rex said. They put the ship down in a forest, so as to get good cover, but before exiting the ship Tarre said, "Our arrival has not gone undetected."
"All right then, we'll split up. Force 99 and our new friend will deal with these guys, while the rest of you move forward to the facility. We will catch up.", Hunter said.
So, the group split with Ahsoka leading Rex and Echo, but after some distance she stopped and ignited her lightsabres. This was due to the fact, that there were two figures standing in front of them – Darth Vader and another person wearing all black armour and a mask. The second figure – a besalisk, nearly 8 feet in height, with four arms and two very large dual lightsabre hilts strapped on his belt.
"Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 and another clone", said the besalisk with as much disgust as he could muster.
Rex recognised this voice and said, "It can't be… you died.", his face filled with horror. Echo looked at him quizzically, but Ahsoka said with equal disgust, "Pong Krell." Hearing this, Echo was shocked.
Krell then laughed, "Atleast you are not consumed by fear as the clone is. Skywalker, you taught her well.", he said while looking at Vader.
"Skywalker? Wait… General… you're with the Empire.", Rex asked shocked and afraid of the answer.
Vader didn't answer, but Pong Krell, "With them. No Clone, he and his master formed the Empire. But their time is at an end, and soon this galaxy will belong to me, for I am more powerful than any Sith."
With this he ignited his lightsabres, crimson red in colour and attacked Ahsoka. With two hands free, he channelled force lightning at her. Ahsoka had managed to create some distance between her and Krell. Using her lightsabres, she blocked the force lightning, but was being pushed back by it. Rex and Echo, who were shaken out of their shock by this, tried to assist Ahsoka by shooting at Krell, who easily dodged and deflected their attacks. Vader then force pushed the two clones away, and did nothing to assist Pong Krell anymore. If Ahsoka wasn't so focused on her opponent, she could actually sense the pull to the light, that Anakin was feeling. Seeing his former padawan, alive and well, and his former comrades gave him hope.
Meanwhile, Ahsoka was trying to remember Tarre's memory about Master Yoda, where he and Thor had displayed a technique to block and absorb force lightning. She then tried it, concentrating the force in one hand, creating a barrier and blocked the lightning with it. It seemed to work, but Krell increased the power behind his attack, pushing Ahsoka into the ground who yelled out in pain, due to the electrocution, as she wasn't able to block the lightning anymore. Suddenly she heard the rumble of clouds and the swish of a hammer, colliding into Pong Krell, throwing him away from her and into the ground, destroying his chest armour to reveal a black jumpsuit beneath.
The hammer then returned back to Tarre's hand, who extended an arm towards Ahsoka, lifting her. She had minor burns on her face and lekku, which Tarre healed by placing two fingers on her forehead. Ahsoka looked at him with eyes full of sadness and pain, and Tarre understood why. He simply nodded. Meanwhile, Hunter and the rest of Clone force 99 had secured Rex and Echo.
Tarre took a step forward, but heard a weird noise from above. He looked up and saw Carl Creel landing on the planet's surface. Creel smiled, "Vizsla, heard a lot about you from the Zygerrians. Apparently, they are still mad that you caused their little empire to fall in the first place." Creel had already absorbed the properties of Vibranium. As Crosshair took aim at Creel, Tarre used the force to lower his rifle stating, "Your weapons will not work on him."
Before any side could do anything, there was an earth shattering scream and a green behemoth collided with Carl Creel, yelling "PUNCHING BAG." They both started punching each other and soon their fight took them away from the others.
Tarre sighed, "If that green moron is here, then the Republic is not far." He then used the hammer to unleash a lightning blast at Pong Krell, catching him by surprise and incinerating him.
"Go, I will deal with this half sith.", Tarre said snapping his fingers and teleporting the rest of them away from him and Vader.
As the group went towards the facility, they met with the Togruta rebels and quickly stated that they were here to help, and that the Republic was on its way. Ahsoka could feel the despair that Rex and Echo were feeling, so as the Hunter took lead, she and the two former members of the 501st were hanging back.
"Ahsoka, did you know?", Rex asked. The horror of this was evident on his face now that there was a slight distance between the three of them and the others.
"I found out in the Jedi temple on Lothal, and then on Malachor, Rex. But that is not Anakin. He would never be as vile as that creature.", Ahsoka replied.
"But, Commander… that was General Skywalker. He's the reason Order 66 was executed.", Echo said. His features were equally horrified.
"Echo, Anakin died with the Jedi. To compare him with that creature will be an insult to his memory.", Ahsoka said.
She suddenly stopped and her eyes widened in shock. Using the force she quickly pulled everyone out of harms way, just in the nick of time. Thanks to her, the group was able to avoid the sudden yellow photonic blasts that came from above. Doing this, Ahsoka saw the source of these energy blasts was on the top of the Imperial facility.
Using her scopes, she saw a man with short hair, wearing orange shades, striped yellow armour and having a white cloak around his shoulders. Suddenly his whole body turned into a bright yellow light, and Ahsoka yelled, "TAKE COVER."
But it was too late, as the bright yellow light appeared in front of the group, and the explosion that followed killed half of the Togruta rebels and threw the rest of them away. At the last possible minute, Ahsoka had put up a force barrier, which ensured the survival of the remaining group but was itself destroyed in the process.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?", Wrecker yelled. The man loves explosions, but only when they are not directed at him and his squad.
"Scatter.", Echo said. The survivors did as he said, but the bright yellow light appeared in front of him, transformed back into the man Ahsoka had seen before and kicked Echo into the ground. Ahsoka activated her lightsabres and tried to cut at the man, but her slashes simply phased through him.
"Bold efforts, but useless in the end.", the man said so slowly that Ahsoka thought he must be under the influence of some drug. As the others started to fire shots at him, Ahsoka put some distance between them and used the force to pull Echo towards her. It worked, Echo was unconscious but still alive. As he came towards her, the man turned back into light and intercepted Echo, pushing him back into the ground with his leg. Only this time he raised his other leg over Echo's head, which started glowing and said slowly, "This one is almost dead. Let me put him out of his misery." Time seemed to stop, with Rex shocked at his helplessness and Ahsoka silently praying for Tarre to come and help.
Before, the man could bring his leg down, Fenrir suddenly appeared gliding above the ground and using his leg, he redirected the light man's leg into the air, causing the photonic blast to explode about 30 feet in the sir. Fenrir, then landed two kicks, on the light man's chest and face pushing him 10 feet away. He bent down, placed two fingers on Echo's forehead, healing all of his previous wounds and bringing him back to consciousness. Surprisingly, Echo – de-aged and completely healed – now looked like he did before the citadel.
"Can you walk?", Fenrir asked him, to which Echo nodded. "Very well, now go. Let me deal with sunshine here." With that he snapped his fingers and Echo was teleported to where the others were standing, looking stunned at his transformation. Wrecker wanted to ask if Fenrir could transform the rest of them as well, but Hunter interrupted him "The mission takes priority."
"Borsalino, you fucking traitor.", Fenrir said, his eyes glowing bluish red, and his skin turning blue. The man called Borsalino then changed himself back into light and prepared to follow the group, being led by Hunter. But before he could do that, Fenrir appeared right in front of him, with an ice broadsword in his hand and brought it in an upward diagonal slash. Borsalino changed back into his human form, with blood leaking out of the newly formed cut on his cheek.
He then conjured a large energy based broadsword from in between his hands and engaged Fenrir, with their blades connecting, "Prince Fenrir… and here I expected things to be easy.", he said slowly.
"Adversity is a part of life, Borsalino.", Fenrir answered back with the two of them engaging in a deadly battle.