The Apprentice
The door to the medical bay opened silently, Juno took a deep breath walking inside, Galen had his back to the door, his head buried in one of the medical consoles, Juno's eyes narrowed when she saw the prone form lying on the examination table.
"That isn't who I think it is, is it?" Galen turned on his heels to face her.
"Yeah." The Jedi dragged the word out as he ran an eye over Nyria's still body, Juno slapped her forehead.
"Are you kidding me?!" The heels of the pilot's boots rung out loudly against the deck-plate as she stormed into the cabin. "What were you thinking?!" Juno stood over Nyria, glaring incredulously at Galen, the Jedi groaned helplessly as he ran a hand over his face.
"I kind of wasn't. Everything happened so fast; the rafters came down, there was ice everywhere, I saw her lying there and just sort of, grabbed her." Galen grimaced as he stared at the unconscious Stalker. "I couldn't leave her." Juno blinked bemusedly.
"Couldn't leave her? Galen, this isn't Ahsoka Tano anymore, she's an agent of the New Regime! There's no hope for her, not after what they've done to her mind!"
"Look at her." Juno frowned, then glanced downwards, her eyes widened.
"Ahsoka." A huge chunk of the left side of her mask had been carved out from the cheek to the top of her forehead. Her closed eyelid was heavy, the skin an unnatural splotchy black, a deep, dark ring ran under her eye, Juno grimaced.
"She looks tired." Galen nodded sadly.
"Yeah, she does." Juno shook her head.
"What should we do?" The pilot fumbled with a draw in the examination table and retrieved a medical scanner. The device let off a series of beeps and whistles as Juno ran it over the Stalker. "She's stable, but we can't take her to the Rebels like this. She's a walking, talking, killing security risk! The Medical Frigate doesn't have the equipment to deal with her like this." Galen frowned.
"There is one person in the Galaxy who may be willing to help Ahsoka Tano."
##
"I see 'em! I see 'em!" Han grunted as he flipped a few dials on his right-hand console, Sabine sat back in one of the passenger seats, her arms folded against her chest, the Mandalorian rolled her eyes as she rested one of her legs over the other.
"I told you." Han ignored her, his focus on the two Star Destroyers that were baring down on them.
"Check the deflectors." Chewie grunted as he tapped a few buttons, Han grimaced. "Well we can still out maneuverer 'em!" The Millennium flipped over in space and pitched sharply downwards; a pack of TIE Fighters, each marked with the crimson symbol of the New Regime, doggedly pursued, a gale of green laser fire lancing out at the old Correllian Freighter as it twisted through the void. "Prepare to make the jump to lightspeed!"
"They're getting closer." Sabine rocked her heel against the floor, gently swinging her chair side to side, she wasn't looking forward to breaking them all out of a Super Star Destroyer's brig. Han glanced over his shoulder.
"Yeah? Well watch this!" The smuggler grabbed the hyperspace controls and jammed the lever forward, the hyperdrive stuttered, then a high-pitched whine wailed around the ship. Sabine scoffed, a half smile spreading across her face.
"Watch what now Solo?" Han's knuckles whitened as he clenched the controls, Chewie tapped the comm switch. "Allana?"
"I'm on it!" Allana dropped her headset on her gunners' seat and began to climb the ladder, on her comm line she heard Sabine drawl.
"I told you she needed a dry dock." Allana rolled her eyes as she stepped off the ladder and ran towards the engineering compartment; pulling her hair back into a ponytail as she ran. Sabine got far too much out of annoying the Correllian, she could hear the indignation in his voice when it blared over her comm line.
"What's going on down there?" The dark-haired girl grimaced as the cabin door hissed open for her, she pulled her goggles off her tool belt and looped them over her head, the floor panelling had already been pulled free, Allana rolled her eyes, this thing never worked.
"I think we're in trouble." Han muttered under his breath, behind him, Sabine scoffed.
"You think?" Han held up a finger as he tapped the comm switched again. "How're we doing Allana?"
"The hyperdrive's motivator is shot!" The dark-haired girls voice rang out in the cockpit, Han groaned. "You can forget lightspeed Han! I'm amazed we're still moving at all."
"We're in trouble."
"Any bright ideas?" Sabine had drawn one of her blasters and was inspecting the inside of the barrel. Han glared over his shoulder, then frowned and glanced out of the cockpit, a smirk spread across the smugglers face. Sabine glanced up as the Falcon lurched violently to the starboard side, the Mandalorian's eyes widened.
"You aren't actually going into the asteroid field, are you?!" One of the many reasons the Alliance had chosen the sixth planet of the Hoth System as its base was the large asteroid field that hung over the planet, the field helped conceal Alliance ships and continually confused unfriendly sensors.
"They'd be crazy to follow us, right?" The Mandalorian seized the armrests of her seat and flinched as an asteroid hurtled past them.
"You don't have to do this to impress me Solo!" In the passenger seat next to Sabine, C3P0 raised his arms in alarm.
"Sir! The odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field are approximately three thousand seven hundred and twenty to one!"
"Never tell me the odds!"
##
The Rogue Shadow came out of hyperspace over Onderon, Galen glanced over at Juno as the pilot flipped a few switches.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Juno shrugged as she twisted a dial on the comm unit, honing in on a specific frequency.
"This is Mon Mothma's personal frequency, apparently they're old friends."
"Let's hope so." Galen muttered as he grabbed the receiver, the Jedi glanced at Juno, the pilot shrugged and gestured to the receiver. "Calling agent Steela, this is Commander Marek of the Rebel Alliance." The line was silent, Galen grimaced and pressed his thumb against the transmitter again. "We need your help, Ahsoka Tano needs your help." There was a moment of silence, then a man's voice answered them.
"We're transmitting co-ordinates to you now. Activate all stealth systems you have available to you before entering the atmosphere." Galen glanced over at Juno, the pilot was hunched over her console, she raised the thumb on her right hand.
##
The former Imperial ship flew over the snow-capped mountains of Onderon's northern region, the afternoon sun bathed the blank peaks with a warm orange glow. Juno let out a low whistle as she glanced out over the mountaintops.
"There are some truly beautiful places in this galaxy." Galen stayed silent, his gaze on the large mansion that was nestled at the base of a steep valley, a dozen soldiers in the blue garb of senatorial guard were stood waiting for them on a small landing platform. Juno glanced over at the Jedi. "I wasn't expecting an armed reception."
"He's a Senator and we're strangers." Galen shrugged as the pilot brought the ship into land. "I would have been surprised if we weren't met with one." The Jedi frowned through the viewscreen as he got to his feet.
"How does he know Ahsoka?" Juno asked as they made their way to the loading ramp.
"The Separatists occupied Onderon during the Clone Wars." Galen checked his lightsabers as he pulled on a cloak. "Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano were sent to train the Onderon Resistance, Ahsoka stayed to keep an eye on them." Juno raised an eyebrow as she hit the button to lower the loading ramp.
"The Clone Wars? They go back a long way then." Galen nodded as the light of the afternoon sun washed over them, the Jedi's hand found the pilot's and gave it a reassuring squeeze before he strode down the loading ramp, Juno squared her shoulders, then followed him. To anyone else, the light shining off the snow would have been dazzling, but Juno and Galen had spent the last two years on Hoth, they were used to it. Galen drew himself up to his full height, Juno did her best to hold back a fit of giggles as the Jedi puffed out his chest.
"Greetings, I am Galen Marek, of the Rebel Alliance." The Senatorial guards parted to reveal a man in his late thirties or early forties, his brown hair was streaked liberally with grey, his pale blue eyes narrowed as they flitted over the Rebels. Galen strode forward, his arm raised. "Senator Bonteri, it's an honour to meet you." Lux took the offered handshake.
"Likewise, I'm sure Commander." The Senator's eyes lingered on Galen's belt. "You're a Jedi?" Lux nodded to Galen's lightsabers. The Jedi let his cloak swing across his body, covering the lightsabers.
"I do my best." Lux nodded understandingly.
"It is ironic, once I hated the Jedi, now there isn't much I wouldn't give to see them return." Galen shrugged bashfully.
"My pilot." The Jedi gestured to Juno. "Captain Juno Eclipse." Lux smiled charmingly as he took Juno's offered hand.
"A pleasure." Lux bent and lightly pressed his lips to Juno's hand. "Captain Eclipse." Juno smiled mischievously as Galen's eyes narrowed, the Jedi cleared his throat.
"Commander Tano is in our medical bay." Lux straightened up at the mention of Ahsoka.
"I see." The Senator glanced over his shoulder and beckoned, half a dozen men and women hurried towards them, they all wore white uniforms, two of them were pushing a gurney between them.
"Um." Juno raised a hand hesitantly as the medics disappeared up the Shadow's loading ramp. "Should I go with them?" Lux shook his head, waving a hand dismissively.
"They'll find their way. How is she?" Juno and Galen exchanged an awkward look, the pilot cleared her throat.
"Are you aware of what happened to Ahsoka almost five years ago?" Lux frowned, his pale eyes brimming with concern.
"I heard that she was coerced into joining the Dark Side, Master Jarrus seemed quite shaken when he spoke of her when we met at the Senate House three years ago." Galen cleared his throat awkwardly.
"I'm afraid Master Jarrus might have softened the blow for you."
"Commander Tano lost both of her arms and one of her legs." Juno's voice waivered, the pilots took a deep breath. "As for her mind, she has been in unbearable pain for the last five years, it's taken a toll on her." There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, Lux's eyes widened with concern.
"What do you mean constant pain? What did they do-?" The Senator's voice faded, his look of concern fading into one of abject horror. "Ahsoka." The medical team had just reappeared, four of them were pushing the gurney now. "Those monsters." Lux's teeth were gritted as he stared horrified down at the Togruta, the Senator turned to the lead medic. "Take her into surgery."
##
Luke frowned curiously down at Dagobah.
"Yep, this is the place." The Jedi rolled his eyes as he glanced at R2's speech to text screen. "No. I'm not going to change my mind about this." Behind him, R2's dome rolled around to face the other way. "I'm not picking up any cities or technology." The Jedi muttered as he inspected his instrumentation. "Massive lifeform readings though." Luke glanced up at the planet. "Something's alive down there." Luke scoffed as he glanced back at R2's screen. "Yes, I'm sure it's perfectly safe for droids." The Jedi banked the X-Wing downwards and into the swamp world's atmosphere. R2 howled in protest as the tiny fighter began to rock violently. "I know! I know!" Luke hurriedly opened his flaps, teeth gritted as he struggled to bring the craft's nose up, the cockpit was completely shrouded in pale fog. "All the scopes are dead; I can't see a thing. Just hang on, I'm gonna start the landing cycle" Luke reached up and flipped a few switches on the roof of the cockpit before grabbing the stick. Branches appeared out of the gloom as they smashed against the cockpit, then a body of filthy water reared up from the fog! "Damn it!" Luke yanked the stick back as far as it would go and the fighter managed to pull up, its underbelly skimmed the swamp a few times before its nose dipped into the bog and the craft came to a shuddering halt. "Another happy landing." The Jedi muttered sarcastically.
##
"Alright, bring her in." Han and Chewie set the Falcon down, behind them; Sabine raised an eyebrow, she hated to admit it, but she was impressed. Unable to shake their pursuers in the asteroid field, Han had instead flown along the surface of one of the bigger asteroids and found a deep cave. The smuggler spun around in his seat, his usual smug grin in place. "Not too bad for a bucket of bolts." Sabine rolled her eyes, for some reason that damn grin always gave her an odd sense of Deja vu.
"No, not bad at all Solo." The Mandalorian smiled at Chewie. "You were great Chewbacca." The Wookie grinned smugly at Han as Sabine got to her feet, the smuggler scowled as he spun back to the controls.
"I'm gonna shut off everything but the emergency power systems" 3P0 hesitantly got to his feet.
"Sir, I'm almost afraid to ask, but does that include shutting me down too?" Han rolled his eyes as the lights in the cabin died.
"No, I'm gonna need you to talk to the Falcon, see what's wrong with her." The door to the cockpit opened to reveal Allana, the dark-haired girl had pushed her goggles up her forehead and was wiping her hands off on an old rag.
"I already know what's wrong with the ship, the power coupling on the negative axis has been polarised, we'll need to replace it." The mechanic tucked the rag into her belt and folded her arms against her chest. "You have the parts we need?" Han glanced at Chewie; the Wookie nodded. "Good." Allana sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose tiredly. "There's only so much we'll be able to do here; we'll need somewhere to make proper repairs." 3P0 fidgeted nervously.
"So, will you be shutting me down?"
"No, you're a pair of hands." Han glanced at Chewie. "Chewie, take him to the back and start getting the parts ready."
"Sometimes I just don't understand human behaviour." 3P0 muttered wistfully as Chewie seized his arm and pulled him out of the door. "Afterall, I'm only trying to do my job." The door shut behind them, Allana sighed tiredly as she sunk into one of the passenger seats. Sabine cleared her throat awkwardly, suddenly recalling the last time her Allana and Han had been in a room together.
"You alright?" The Mandalorian asked cautiously. "Is there anything I can get you?" Allana smiled wearily, her head in her hands.
"Enough caf to float this thing would be good." Sabine nodded at Han, the smuggler raised an eyebrow incredulously, the Mandalorian scowled; then jerked her head towards to door. Han rolled his eyes.
"Making the caf on my own ship? What the hell is going on?" Sabine smiled as the door shut behind him, one of Allana's deep brown eyes flitted up to look at Sabine, it narrowed.
"What happened between you two?"
"Nothing!" The skin around the brown eye crinkled as the dark-haired girl smiled.
"Then why are you orange?" Sabine scowled as one of her hands flew to her face, her cheeks were burning, Allana chuckled softly as she sat up. "Come on, you owe me an explanation after what happened in the med-bay back on Hoth." Sabine felt more blood rush to her face.
"Yeah." The Mandalorian rubbed the back of her neck, her eyes on the ceiling. "About that…" The dark-haired girl raised her hand, an amused twinkle in her eyes.
"It's fine, I get it, the look on their faces was priceless." Sabine let out a long sigh of relief, a half smile spreading across her face, some of the colour left her cheeks.
"They were, weren't they?" Allana nodded to the other passenger seat, the Mandalorian hesitated, her lips pursed, then she sighed again and sat down. "Nothing happened, not really." Allana raised an eyebrow, her eyes drilling into Sabine's. "Nothing happened! We were in a cramped shelter in the middle of a snowstorm." Allana's eyebrow slowly lowered as her brow furrowed into a frown.
"You cuddled?" Sabine frowned, her eyes on the ceiling.
"I wouldn't call it cuddling, I slept close to him for warmth." Allana covered her mouth as she struggled to hold in a giggle, she quickly gave up, the dark-haired girl's laughter rang around the cramped cockpit, Sabine's eyes narrowed. "What's so funny?" Allana held up a hand as she took a few deep breaths.
"That's it?" The mechanic wiped her eyes. "Sabine's that's nothing, why'd you kiss me over that? I'm sure you've woken up in a man's eyes before." Sabine bowed her head slightly, her cheeks glowing orange again, Allana raised an eyebrow. "You have, right?" The Mandalorian nodded slowly.
"Once." A look of realisation spread across Allana's face.
"You've only ever been with Remnous."
"I was with Ezra!" Sabine snarled, the Mandalorian started to get to her feet, then paused and took a breath. "Sorry." Allana shook her head.
"No, it's fine, I'm sorry, I'm just so used to calling him that." Sabine's face fell as she sunk back into her seat.
"It's been so long since I lost him, sometimes I wonder if any of it was real, if any of my Ezra was ever in there." Allana sat back, her face sombre. "I was so sure it was him." The Mandalorian scoffed bitterly. "I was an idiot, a young, naïve idiot who was so in love she couldn't see past her own nose."
"You had hope." Allana shook her head. "That doesn't make you an idiot." Sabine snorted; the dark-haired girl's eyes burned. "It makes you a Rebel." Sabine rolled her eyes.
"What do you know about it?" Allana's eyes narrowed, the Mandalorian had taken a step too far.
"Yeah, what do I know about how it feels when the person I love turns traitor and runs off to join the Empire?" Sabine's eyes slowly widened.
"I'm sorry." Allana sighed as she shook her head.
"It's fine." Sabine nodded, there was a moment of silence, the Mandalorian cleared her throat awkwardly.
"You never talk about Tandi." The dark-haired girl shook her head.
"I don't plan to either. We're talking about you." Sabine rolled her eyes.
"Well I don't want to talk about me. As much as I appreciate the gesture, I'd rather not." Sabine got to her feet.
"Sit." The Mandalorian sunk back into her seat at the sound of Allana's tone. "I don't care how stubborn you are, this is eating you alive, I can see it a mile off." The dark-haired girl leaned forward and took Sabine's hands between her own. "You can't cling to the past forever; it'll kill you in the end."
"You're one to talk." Sabine yanked her hands free. "You won't even talk about Tandi, you haven't moved on." Allana frowned, an odd look in her eyes, Sabine's eyes narrowed. "You're seeing someone?" Allana shrugged.
"I wouldn't say 'seeing'." Sabine was taken aback.
"I didn't know."
"I don't exactly advertise my private life Sabine." The Mandalorian nodded understandingly, but couldn't quite hide the curious glint in her eyes. Allana let out a long sigh. "You know Liara? The Logistics Lieutenant under Raddus?" Sabine frowned as she racked her brains.
"The blue Twi'lek?" Allana nodded. "Oh." Sabine sat back. "Do you love her?" Allan shook her head sadly, Sabine's frown deepened. "Does she love you?"
"I doubt it."
"Then why?" The dark-haired girl sighed tiredly.
"Because Rebels die every day, because it could be us any day, because we've been fighting this war for years and there's no end in sight. Those, stolen moments we have, they're more than that, they help to remind us both that we aren't just weapons in this war, we're alive, and one day, when this war is over; we can get back to our lives." Sabine frowned, 'back to our lives.' She'd always been a solider, the fight was all she knew, it suddenly dawned on Sabine that she had no idea what she was going to do when the war was over.
"What were you? Before?" Allana smiled wistfully.
"My parents were merchants, they had this old Correllian Freighter, an old YT thirteen hundred like this actually." The mechanic patted the wall of the cockpit fondly, Sabine snorted.
"Bet it was more reliable than this hunk of junk." Allana chuckled quietly, the dark-haired girl turned to stare at the pilot's seat, her yes far away as she gazed at something that wasn't there.
"Believe it or not, it wasn't, we couldn't always afford a mechanic."
"That's how you got so good with machines." Allana nodded, still smiling sadly.
"By the time I was ten I could take the hyperdrive apart and put it back together blindfolded, good thing too, given our current circumstances." The door to the cockpit opened, Han stood in the doorway, a steaming metal mug in his hand. "You actually made it?" Allana got to her feet and gratefully took the mug from Han. "You're a gem." The mechanic held the caf under nose and inhaled deeply. "Alright, let's get to work, we don't have all day." Allana caught Sabine's eye as she got to her feet. "Think about what I said."
##
The Capital of Lothal had grown considerably since the Imperial Remnant's occupation began three years previously. Much of the old inner city had been demolished to make room for factories and armoury plants. A sea of poorly constructed shanty houses stretched from the old city limits to the horizon, build cheaply and as quickly as possible to house the thousands of vagrants had had begun to pour onto the streets. The sky overhead was laced thickly with unnatural dark smog, fed by the plumes of thick, ugly smoke that was constantly spewing from countless chimneys across the dark city.
Mara Jade stared down at all of it from the window in her office in the Imperial Complex. The redhead felt nothing, even now she knew that this place had once been her home, she had no memories of it, not even a fleeting one, it was just blackness and confusion before Palpatine.
"High General Jade?" Mara turned, Iden Versio was stood in the doorway of her office.
"Ah, Captain." Mara turned to face the solider. "Come in." Iden nodded, then glanced behind her and gestured, the other three members of Inferno Squad filed in after her. "Inferno Squad, you are the Imperial Remnant's most elite unit." It was no exaggeration, the Elite Unit had only been in its infancy when Remnous had risen against Palpatine, they'd quickly been solidified into a permanent fighting force and sent out to secure the Imperial Remnant's boarders in the Outer Rim. The territory was writhe with pirates and gangsters and most of the Outer Rim systems had proven to be hostile to all Imperial occupation efforts. It had quickly become apparent that the New Regime had bought the Hutts loyalty, gangs of pirates had constantly raided Imperial supply shipments, others had committed brazen acts of espionage on worlds the Remnant had occupied. Inferno Squad had taken on the role of the scalpel where the hammer failed, removing pirate nests at their cores with harsh and brutally efficient tactics. "You have served our course well. Now it is time for your ultimate mission." Mara caught Iden's eye. "Three years ago, you asked who I was taking my orders from, today's the day you find out."
Mara led Inferno Squad through the Imperial Complex, Stormtroopers that passed them stood to one side at attention to let them pass, Mara smirked, once the Imperial Officers and Bureaucrats had thought she was just an exotic dancer Palpatine kept for his own twisted amusement. At the time she had been content to dwell in the shadows, over the past three years she'd learned that she quite liked having power. Iden glanced at over at Gideon, he returned her stare uneasily, none of them knew who truly led the Imperial Remnant. High General Jade had been the one to rally the first loyal Star Destroyers in the Inner Rim after Remnous struck down the Emperor, Iden's father Garrick Versio been the one who had rounded up the stragglers, but the leader of the reinforcements from the Deep Core had never been revealed. Iden had the distinct impression that they were about to find out who they were. Mara glanced behind her as she came to a halt in front of a large door.
"Only the highest ranked Officers and Officials are permitted past this door." Mara ran an eye over each of the Squad member's faces in turn. "I must caution you all, you are about to become members of a very small circle, the penalty for violating its trust is a summary execution, with extreme prejudice." Del Meeko and Seyn Marana exchanged an anxious glance as the High General turned back to the door and placed her hand on the scanner that was mounted on the wall. There was a deep rumbling sound as the door slid open; a dark corridor lay beyond the open doorway, weak neon lights glowed dully overhead.
Wisps of smoke hissed up from beneath the grated metal walkway as Mara lead them deep into the dark corridor, Iden readjusted her helmet under her arm as the High General led them into a vast subterranean cavern. It wasn't a natural formation; she could see chisel marks in the walls. Flaming torches had been mounted in the rough stone, filling the dark space with a dim flickering light. Iden peered through the thick smoke swirling around them, she gasped.
"It can't be." Around her, the other members of Inferno Squad were dropping to their knees, their heads bowed with reverence and respect. "My Emperor." Iden sunk to one knee, staring in awe. The smoke parted to reveal a narrow staircase cut into the rough stone, the steps led to a huge throne carved into the cavern itself, a withered old man sat upon; draped in massive black robes, he looked more skeletal than human, but he was still utterly distinctive. "How is this possible?"
"The Dark Side leads to many abilities some consider to be, unnatural." Darth Sidious rasped weakly as he stared down at the soldiers. "Needless to say, I never trusted Lord Remnous completely, and took precautions to ensure my survival." The old man coughed weakly, his wizened form seizing up as a violent fit of hacking overtook him. Iden and the rest of Inferno Squad waited uncomfortably for the fit to subside, Palpatine wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. "There is an ancient Sith Art, known only to a few." Iden glanced at Mara out of the corner of her eye as Palpatine smirked pridefully, the High General had her eyes fixed pointedly on the ground, her shoulders flinched. "Even my master, the great Darth Plagueis, was unable to harness the power of Transfer Essence!" Palpatine chuckled darkly, Gideon grimaced, the sound of the cackle raised the hairs on the back of his neck, he couldn't help but wonder if quite all of Palpatine had survived, the Emperor was trying to get to his feet; Gideon turned his head away. It was clear he didn't have the strength to rise on his own, the old man's emaciated arms trembled as he held himself over his throne. "Mara!" Jade was on her feet in a second, she hurried over to the Emperor's side and quickly helped him to his feet, Palpatine's features softened as he wrapped an arm around her middle, his hand snaking downwards. A lecherous smile spread across Sidious's face as Mara's eyes momentarily widened and slight grunt of protest escaped her clenched lips. "Thank you." Iden and Seyn had to stop themselves from squirming at the sound of Palpatine's tone. "My, young, Apprentice." Mara kept her eyes downcast as she helped the Emperor down the stairs. "Rise!" Palpatine barked suddenly, Iden leapt to her feet; there was something, wrong, about this, Palpatine had been right, she did consider this to be unnatural. "So, you are the soldiers?" Palpatine peered at them through the gloom.
"Yes, my Lord, this is Inferno Squad." Mara spoke gently, her voice barely betraying her tension as Palpatine's hand continued to roam over her nether regions. "They are our most efficient Elite unit."
"Yes, good, good, yes." Palpatine murmured, the Emperor seemed suddenly absent, his piercing golden eyes drifting out of focus. Gideon and Del exchanged an uneasy glance as Mara grimaced.
"My Lord? The mission." Sidious shook his head, his eyes snapping back into focus.
"Yes! Yes! The mission!" Iden took a half step back, shocked by the old man's sudden intense cry. "The mission to Coruscant!" Palpatine snarled, his rotten teeth gnashing together as his eyes gleamed with insane hatred. "You will aid my Apprentice in infiltrating my palace on Coruscant, the traitor's armies are scattered across his territory." Sidious's lip peeled back in disgust. "The fool wastes power helping the weak rise above their place, he is a bastardisation of the way of the Sith! Ours is the way of fear! And intimidation! Not charity!"
"Master." Mara murmured firmly; Palpatine paused to take a breath, only to gag on his own breath and break out into another fit of coughing. The Sith Apprentice turned her face away from the old man, her face drawn with discomfort. Palpatine gurgled up a ball of phlegm in the back of his throat before spitting it onto the ground, Seyn edged a few steps away, barely managing to contain her look of disgust.
"You will go to Coruscant, you will observe him, learn his routine!" The old man raised a finger and pointed it threateningly at Iden. "No matter how long it takes, you will find a gap in his defences and you will kill the accursed traitor Remnous!"
##
Luke set down the last of his supplies in the small clearing where he'd made camp, the clearing stood in the centre of a thick patch of trees a short walk away from the bog his X-Wing had crashed in. R2 let out a low series of grumpy beeps, the astromech had taken a dip in the bog after slipping off the X-Wing, luckily, droid wasn't part of the native species diets and he had been quickly spat out. Luke had done his best to clean him up, but given the circumstances it wasn't surprising the astromech was still caked in a fine layer of mud and grime.
"Ready for some power?" R2 chimed warily. "Okay." Luke set down the bundle of cables he was holding, R2's dome spun to follow the Jedi as he crossed over to a small generator and switched it on. "Alright." Luke muttered after plugging a cable into one of R2's ports. "Now all I have to do is find this Yoda." Luke opened a chest and retrieved his ration tin and took a seat. "Galen was right though, this place is strong with the Force, I can feel it all around me." Luke opened the tin and retrieved a protein bar. "It feels familiar somehow, I dunno, it feels like…"
"Feels like what?" Luke spun around, his blaster raised, a small green creature was stood on a nearby stump, it was dressed in a filthy brown sack and carried a small cane. Luke frowned, his blaster lowering.
"Like we're being watched." The Jedi shook his head, this creature, he could sense that there was something about it, it had a remarkably strong connection to the Force. It couldn't be. "Yoda?" The creature's eyes narrowed.
"Come a long way, you have, young Skywalker." Luke's eyes widened.
"You know me?" Yoda scoffed.
"Long have I watched you, young Skywalker. All your life you have looked away, to the future, the horizon. Never your mind on where you were, what you were doing." Yoda pointed his stick accusingly at Luke, the old Master's brow furrowed. "Adventure, excitement, a Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless!"
"So was I. If you remember." Luke glanced around him; his eyes wide with alarm.
"Obi-Wan?" Yoda bowed his head and let out a long sigh.
"Right, you are, old friend." The old Master fixed Luke with a pointed stare. "Across the galaxy, the shroud of darkness has fallen." Luke nodded sombrely.
"Remnous." Yoda's eyes narrowed momentarily.
"Indeed. Ready are you, to complete the training?" Luke nodded; his fists loosely clenched, Yoda shook his head. "A heavy burden, it will be."
"I won't fail you, I'm not afraid."
"Oh, you will be, you, will be."
##
Sabine reattached a cable before leaning forward and attempting to ease open a valve. The Mandalorian was sat in front of an open panel in an engineering cabin's wall. Sabine rolled her eyes; she couldn't quite get a purchase on the valve. She took a moment to peel her cloves off before leaning back into the wall space and having another go. This time she managed to get a hold of the valve and yank it open.
"Har'Chaak!" Sabine yanked her arm out of the wall, something had let off a spark right next to her right hand. The Mandalorian clutched it to her chest, her teeth gritted as she fought to hold down a cry of pain.
"Huh, I don't know what 'Har'Chaak' means, but I'm guessing it isn't good." Sabine glowered up at the door.
"Not now Solo!" Han raised his arms in mock surrender.
"Woah, a little extreme there, you alright?" The smuggler crouched next to her and gently took her hand, turning it over as he examined her burnt fingers. "Ah it's nothing."
"Of-course it, it was just a spark." Sabine yanked her hand free, rolling her eyes with annoyance.
"I'm only trying to help."
"I know." Sabine sighed tiredly, deep down she knew Solo was harmless enough, he was no saint, but he wasn't likely to stab them in the back and she almost believed that he had the Rebellion's best interests at heart. "But you make it so difficult sometimes." Han smirked.
"I do, I really do." The smuggler got to his feet and offered Sabine a hand. "You could be a little nicer though, come on, sometimes you think I'm alright." Sabine ignored the hand and climbed to her feet on her own.
"Sometimes." Han raised an eyebrow, his old smirk spreading across his face.
"Like the other night?" Sabine glowered.
"Cut that out Solo, whatever allusions you're under, nothing happened, we were in the middle of blizzard with two other people crammed into a three-man shelter!" Han's smirk only widened; Sabine glowered. "We needed to keep warm, that was that, forget about it"
"Alright." Sabine blinked.
"Alright?" Han nodded; his smirk had slipped away, replaced with an almost sincere expression, save for the slight wrinkling around his eyes from amusement.
"Yeah, and you were right back on Hoth, I don't know everything about women." Sabine raised an eyebrow; she hadn't expected this.
"Well, I'm glad you can acknowledge that." Han raised a hand, one finger pointed upwards.
"But I know more than you give me credit for." Sabine rolled her eyes, she should have known this was coming, Solo always had to have the last word.
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, it is, I know when one's lonely." Sabine froze. The Mandalorian's eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared as she took a deep breath.
"What makes you think I'm lonely?" Han shook his head, his face still only betraying the barest hints of amusement.
"I never said you were lonely." Sabine's eyes narrowed; she'd played herself. "But speaking of which, I have noticed a few things." The Mandalorian glowered at him. "You look at that old picture every day, it's what? Five years old now?" Sabine ran her fingertips over her vambrace. "I know a bit about you Mandalorians, you're taught to be warriors before you're taught to be people, I'm betting Remnous showed you what it meant to be a woman and you liked it, but he broke your heart. He wasn't who you thought he was, so you've cut yourself off and tried to go back to being just a warrior, but you can't." Sabine shook her head.
"Shut up."
"Am I wrong?" Sabine glared at the smuggler. She wished she could tell him he was wrong, that he'd just spouted a load of nonsense, that she was fine, like just she'd said every time she'd been asked how she was over the last five years. But she couldn't. She despised herself for admitting it, even to herself, but Han as right, Remnous had been right when they'd met aboard the Death Star, she did miss the passion, the rush, she missed Ezra.
The Mandalorian grimaced, but did she? Had she ever been with Ezra? Or had it been Remnous the whole time? Somehow, in the depths of her soul, she knew she'd only ever kissed Ezra once, on the day he'd marched out to die for the Ghost and its crew, for her. The man who'd come back to her might not have been Remnous yet, but he certainly hadn't been her Ezra Bridger, that made it all the worse, she'd realised too late, now she'd been left alone with a hole in her heart. The Mandalorian bowed her head.
"Even if you were right Solo, why would I be interested in a scoundrel like you?" Sabine glanced up and was startled to discover that the Correllian had closed the distance between them, Han smirked down at her.
"A scoundrel?" Sabine frowned, that smirk? Why was it familiar? Then her eyes widened. 'My name's Ezra, what's yours?' "I like that." Sabine shook her head as she tried to clear the image of Ezra from her mind, he and Solo were nothing alike.
"I bet you do."
"There aren't enough scoundrels in your life." Han murmured, he'd began to lean in towards her, Sabine took a half step back only to back into the cabin's wall, flustered, she shook her head again.
"I happen to like nice men." Han nodded as he leaned over her, resting his right arm against the wall over her head.
"That's right, you only like heroes." Sabine gulped as the Correllian leaned in towards her again, she pressed her hands against his chest as the fingers of his left-hand brushing over her chin.
"That's right." Han tilted his head to the side.
"It would probably never work out between us." Sabine let out a long breath, Solo was still leaning in, their faces were inches apart, her hands were on his chest, she could push him away at any time, but she wasn't.
"It definitely would-" Sabine was cut off as Han closed the last of the gap and kissed her. The Mandalorian moaned with surprise, her hands gripped the smugglers jacket as she prepared to push him away; her grip slackened, Sabine's eyes slowly closed and her hands ran up the Correllian's chest to wrap around his neck. Now she understood what Allana had meant when she talked about those stolen moments with Liara, Han and Remnous had been right. She'd missed this feeling.
"Sir! Sir!" C3P0 hurried into the cramped cabin and eagerly tapped Han on the shoulder. "I've isolated the reverse power coupling!" The Mandalorian and the Correllian smuggler broke apart, Han ran a hand through his hair as he turned to 3P0.
"Thank you."
"It was no bother Sir, while I'm no astromech, I am remarkably adept at mechan-" Sabine shoved past Han and pushed 3P0 out into the corridor. The protocol droid stumbled awkwardly backwards and collapsed to the ground. "Lieutenant-commander Wren! What did I do to-" Sabine shut the door, cutting the droid off mid-sentence. The Mandalorian turned back to Han, she ran her left hand over her lips, her eyes narrowed, Han raised an eyebrow and shrugged.
Sabine slapped him. She put enough force into the blow to make him feel it, he deserved that much. The smuggler straightened up, his hand caressing the bright red handprint she'd left across his right cheek, he smirked. That damned smirk. Sabine ran an eye over the Correllian, he was handsome, in a scruffy way.
"Oh, what the hell?" The Mandalorian seized the smuggler by the front of his jacket and pinned him against the cabin wall.
"Woah, what the hell-?" Han was cut off as Sabine grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down towards her for a kiss. He smirked as they broke apart. "See? I'm not so bad." Sabine rolled her eyes as she rested her hand against his mouth.
"Just shut up." Han smirked behind her hand and nodded. "This, means, nothing. You got that?" Han raised an eyebrow curiously, then nodded. "Good." Sabine wrapped her arms around the smuggler's neck. "Now, kiss me."
##
Sabine Wren strode through the Imperial Palace, she was flanked by two other Mandalorians, both garbed in black armour with red highlights, one of them carried a box. Sabine glanced around her, even the clone troopers seemed to avoid her gaze when she was looking, but were quick to stare when she turned away. That was natural, her inferior original had proved to be quite the nuance to the New Regime, it must be disconcerting to see one of your sworn enemies walk freely through the Emperor's palace.
She was aware of what she was, she had the original Sabine Wren's memories, she remembered her life on Mandalore and her time at the academy, running away and meeting the rebels, Ezra, Starkiller, all of it. There was one difference though. She understood what her confused double never could; it was useless trying to tear down the Galaxy and build a new one from the rubble when the system could be fixed. Remnous had the power to do it. She knew that, and his results spoke for themselves, she would fight by his side and die for his vision, as the other Sabine should have sworn to. A pair of New Regime officers stepped aside to allow the three Mandalorians to take the turbo lift they'd been waiting for. Sabine smirked, being the Mand'alor had its perks.
The turbo lift opened onto the Emperor's throne room. Mel kept a wary eye on her as she and her guards strode through the massive space. Starkiller stood at the bottom of the Emperor's dais, he nodded to her curtly. Sabine nodded respectfully to the other clone, she couldn't help but feel an odd sense of gratitude towards him, the process that had created her had been perfected creating him.
Remnous had his back to them, the Emperor was surrounded by a group of Mandalorian Armourers, she had ordered them to make the journey to Coruscant from Mandalore, they were the finest armour's her people had to offer, now Mandalore was officially a part of the New Regime, they would do their part to make sure their Emperor was defended.
"My Lord." Remnous turned, raising a hand to wave off the armourers, his scarred face split open as he grinned.
"Sabine." The clone smiled, he looked magnificent. She'd painted the armour herself, electing to use a minimalist style, using the same bloodred as his lightsaber to highlight the armour's natural decorations. Like her own armour, she had stencilled the symbol of the New Regime onto the right-hand side of the breastplate. "Thank you, this armour." The Sith Lord smirked, "it would seem your people's skill is not exaggerated." Sabine bowed her head.
"Thank you, but it's not quite complete yet." The Mandalorian snapped her fingers; the guard holding the box stepped forwards. "This is my gift to you." Sabine opened the box and stepped back, Remnous frowned as he stared at the box's contents.
"Is that what I think it is?" The Sith Lord gingerly reached into the box and withdrew a helmet, well, it was more a mask than a helmet, the sides curved to the shape of the wearers face and a single black bar ran across the front as an eye slit.
"It is the helmet of your ancestor, Darth Revan." Remnous ran a hand over the mask his eyes wide with wonder, it looked amazing, it could have been brand new.
"How did you come by this?" Sabine smirked as she sidled up to Remnous and took the helmet off him.
"It was a relic in the possession of Clan Revan, when I ascended to the position of Mand'alor I had it brought to Coruscant and personally restored it." The clone gently slipped the mask over the Sith Lord's head and settled it into place, she clicked her fingers again. One of the armourers hurried forward and draped a cloak around Remnous's shoulders.
"How do I look?" Sabine sunk to one knee, around her, the other Mandalorians and the 501st clones followed suit.
"Like the Master of the Galaxy, my Emperor."
##
Allana sat in the Falcon's pilot seat, the mechanic was busy dialling the start-up sequence into the controls.
"Alright Chewie, boot it up." Next to her in the co-pilots seat, Chewbacca flipped the final few switches, the cockpit was lit up in a multitude of different coloured lights as the ship powered up. The dark-haired girl grinned and let out a long, relieved laugh. "Yes!" She tapped one of the comm buttons. "How are we holding down there, Bran?"
"Steady." Allana nodded as she tapped a few more commands into the console.
"Good, looks like we got partial power restored, sub light engines are green." The mechanic flipped a few more switches and let a bit of power flow into the engines, the cabin shook gently. "Power distribution is good, the dampeners are holding, I think we'll be alright to get out of here." The dark-haired girl and the Wookie jumped as something slammed against the outside of the cockpit. "What was that?" Chewie shrugged, there was a moment of tense silence, then there was another crash as a huge bat-like creature thudded into the cockpit. Allana and the Wookie exchanged a worried glance. "What that a Mynock?" Chewie grumbled lowly to himself as he got to his feet. "You're right, we'll have to get them off or they'll drain us." The mechanic tapped the comm switch. "Bran, meet us at the hatch, we've picked up a couple of Mynocks"
The Falcon's hatch hissed open, Bran was the first one down the ramp, cautiously, he reached a foot out and tapped the cave floor. His foot disappeared into the thick layer of fog, his brow furrowed, he beckoned behind him before taking a tentative step off the ramp and into the cave. Allana followed closely behind him, Chewie brought up the rear, his bow-caster held ready. The mechanic frowned at down at the fog.
"The ground feels, off." Bran nodded.
"A lot of moisture." Chewie ran a wary eye over the Falcon's hull, he knew checking the ship for any hitchhiking Mynocks would be an arduous process.
"Well, let's get this over with, no telling when the Regime will bomb this asteroid again." The three broke off and began to check the freighter, Allana shone her torch around over the ship, her eyes picking over the dull grey hull. There was blur in her the corner of her left eye, she spun on the spot and drew her blaster, she'd never been the marksman Tandi was and the laser bolt missed the squealing creature by several feet. The noise scared it off, but the Mynock quickly became the least of their concerns. The laser bolt flew on into the depts of the cave and struck a wall. The entire cavern rocked violently.
"What the?" Bran leaned a hand out to steady himself against one of the Falcon's landing legs, the gunner frown suspiciously at the ground, the drew his blaster.
"Bran, what are you doing?" Bran held up a hand as he squeezed the trigger. The cave shuddered fiercely; Bran's eyes widened.
"Inside, now!" Chewie was already halfway up the ramp.
"Chewie! Get us out of here!" Bran helped Allana up the last leg of the ramp.
"Go. The dark-haired girl nodded before running after the Wookie; in the cockpit she flung herself into the pilot's seat as Chewie brought the engines online.
"We have to get out of here!" The Falcon rose off the ground and spun about, around them, the 'cave' walls began to close around them, Allana gritted her teeth as she muttered aloud what they'd all realised. "This is no cave!"
##
Juno and Galen sat quietly together as they waited for the Doctor's prognosis, Lux paced the length of the clean white waiting room. The Senator ran a hand through his greying hair.
"Tell me again." Galen sighed tiredly.
"They're called Sith Stalkers, the Empire hates to waste resources, especially Force Sensitive's. When one is was injured beyond natural abilities to heal, they're rebuilt much like Darth Vader was."
"But Ahsoka was so steadfast, she would never have joined the Dark Side willingly." Juno shook her head.
"No, not willingly." A dark silence fell over them, Lux continued to pace.
"Barbarians." Juno sighed awkwardly, it had been hours since the doctors had taken Nyria, in the back of her mind she wondered how they were going to explain going AWOL to the Rebels. The door the to the waiting room opened, short, balding man in his late fifties walked through it, sighing tiredly as he ran a hand over his face.
"What news Doctor?" Galen was on his feet in a second, he and Lux rushed the Doctor, the older man grimaced warily.
"You may want to sit down." Lux's brow furrowed, the doctor nodded insistently, the Senator and the Jedi each took a seat next to Juno. "We have performed a preliminary examination, Madam Tano has several implants imbedded throughout her body, however." The Doctor paused; his face drawn with discomfort.
"However?" Lux leaned forward intently.
"It would appear many of them, are no longer medically necessary." Galen's eyes widened, as Juno gaped. Lux's eyes narrowed with disgust.
"What are you saying?"
"Many of the implants, such as the breathing apparatus and the mask seemed to only have been temporary measures to help her body heal, whoever her handlers were, they chose not to remove them." Galen's jaw clenched as Lux got to his feet.
"So, they can be removed?" The doctor fidgeted nervously.
"It would be a dangerous surgery now, the likelihood of her passing on during the procedure would be incredibly high." Lux shook his head.
"I think she would prefer that Doctor, go ahead with the surgery." The doctor nodded.
"I assumed you'd give that order; my colleagues are working on removing that mask now if you'd like to see her before we begin." Lux nodded numbly.
"I'd like that very much." The older man led them to one of the far walls and tapped a few commands into a nearby control panel. The wall next to it turned transparent, revealing a team of white coated doctors surrounding an operating table. Nyria lay on the table, a series of droids were already at work removing the crude cybernetic limbs the Empire had grafted to her. Lux's expression was unreadable, his emotions hidden behind the mask of a skilled politician. A slight crack appeared as a droid arm finished removing the Stalker's mask. The face underneath it had aged, deep shadows ran under her eyes and her skin had greyed and had taken on an odd waxy quality.
"I swear to you my friend." The Senator murmured to himself. "We will make you whole again."
Authors Note: Right, well, we clearly need to have a talk. I understand that some of you don't like Han and Sabine being together, I'm sorry that that's case for you. But there is a reason behind it.
This story has always been very personal to me, at first it was an externalization of the pressures I felt to be someone I wasn't in school, then after my sister died it became about overcoming the pain that defines you after you lose something you could never imagine living without, Remnous is a representation of that pain, his constant presence in Sabine's life is a metaphor for how grief follows you and how you see the person you've lost where ever you go. Her letting slowly letting Han in; to me is symbolic of the conscious choice you have to make to move on from that pain. It might not be strictly lore friendly but it serves the wider metaphor. We all have to move on at some point and sometimes we find the strength to move on in unexpected places. That's the kind of relationship I'm going to try and build between Han and Sabine. It might not be popular, but it's new and I find that exciting. I don't want to tell any old generic story where the popular tropes are played out and everyone goes home at the end of the day. I want to tell my story, and this is where my story is going where Sabine is concerned. If you're entirely opposed to it that's fine, it's but one piece of a much larger puzzle and I'm sure you'll be able to enjoy it even with that one piece you don't like. If it's a deal breaker for you that's OK, thanks for coming along with me this far. You're missing out on some really juicy drama.
Sorry for the long note, I'm not normally one to write blogs explaining the decisions I've made in this story but after reading the reviews that were left on the last chapter, I thought it was best to talk to you all about it.
Something else I've realised is that I want a more direct way to interact with you all, the single review per chapter system is quite limiting, to that end I've made a Nighttrek twitter account, it's not perfect but it's better than the system here, no pressure to follow me, but if you really hate what happened between Han and Sabine this chapter it's a more personal way to yell at me.
So, until we meet again.
Regards
Nighttrek