Chapter 52
The Beginning of the End
Author's Note: I want to say this, this chapter will not cover all of the main characters during this battle, it will take awhile. All main characters will show up at one point over the next couple of chapters, just be patient.
Vader stood on a cliff overlooking a flowing river of lava that was flowing beneath the harvesting facility that the CIS had used as a base. Sidious had arrived hours ago and since then had begun to set up all sorts of defenses on the planet, AA guns, bunkers, mounted turrets, among the fortifications. There was also the 300 ship Imperial fleet in orbit above the planet, standing guard.
There was a beep from within his robes, and Vader reached into them and took out his holographic projector, activating it. "Lord Vader," a clone said as the hologram activated "A small skiff has entered the system, the passenger requesting to see you. What should we do?"
'Padmé,' Vader thought. "That skiff is not to be fired upon," Vader commanded. "Transmit the coordinates of the platform that I landed on to it, and tell it to land there."
"Yes my lord," the clone said, as the projector was deactivated.
Anakin looked at the platform where he had landed his fighter and saw the skiff land. He began to walk towards the platform, and saw the door of the skiff open. As Vader reached the platform, he saw Padmé exit the skiff and step onto the platform. The moment she saw him, Padmé ran across the landing pad and threw herself into Vader's open arms.
"What are you doing here?" Vader asked, a small smile on his face. "Can't you see the fleet?"
"I had to see you," Padmé replied. "I was so worried. Emily Colton, she told me...terrible things."
The smile slid off of Vader's face. "What did she tell you?" Vader asked coldly.
"That, that you had turned to the Dark Side," she said, stuttering slightly. "That you lead the assault of the Jedi Temple, that you killed the children there," she said, her voice cracking slightly. "Ahsoka even told me that it was the truth."
"The Allied Species are trying to fill your heads with lies," Vader said "They're trying to turn you against the Chancellor and the Republic. Ramore 'Altre stood against me, they want the downfall of the Republic."
"Anakin please," Padmé said, she wasn't asking anymore, she was begging. "Don't do this, I don't want any of this, I just want your love."
"That won't be enough Padmé," Vader said in an chilling voice. "Love can't save you, but my new powers can." A slightly insane smile spread across his face. "I am becoming more powerful than any Jedi ever dreamed of becoming. I'm doing this to protect you Padmé, I won't lose you like I lost my mother."
"Anakin please don't," Padmé said desperately. "I'm begging you don't do this. Please, leave all of this behind, we can go far away, away from all of this."
"Don't you understand?" Vader said, clearly not listening to a word that his wife has said. "We don't need to hide anymore. The Republic is at peace, I can kill the Chancellor, we can rule the galaxy together."
Padmé took a step back, disbelief on her face. "I don't believe it," she said softly "Ahsoka was telling me the truth. You're not the same anymore."
A look of anger crossed Vader's face. "I don't want to hear about her anymore," he said dangerously. "The Jedi betrayed me, the Allied Species betrayed me, don't you betray me too."
"What happened to you?" Padmé asked, her voice breaking, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Anakin what have you become? You're going down a path I can't follow."
"Because of Ahsoka?" Vader asked coldly.
"Because of what you've become, please leave it all behind, I love you, please don't do this," Padmé begged.
Vader was about to reply when his holographic projector began to beep again. "What!" he snapped, looking at the hologram of the clone.
"My lord!" the clone shouted in a panicky voice "It's the Allied Species, they're attacking us in full force. They're already deploying infantry to the planet's surface using their HEV pods. We must contact-GAH" there was the sound of a large explosion and the hologram flicked off. As it did so, HEV pods slammed into the ground in the distance, some rather their current position.
XXXXX
Aaron let out a sigh as the door to his HEV pod opened. Much to his surprise, Gray Team, along with the 51 SPARTAN IVs that they had, had been scattered among the planet, with the hope of maximizing damage and increase their chances of finding Vader and Palpatine. In addition to them, thousands of Allied Species soldiers had been deployed via HEV pod to weaken the Imperial defenses for the main invasion force. "Remember," Emily's voice said over the Battle-Net "Vader and Palpatine are our top priority targets, but you are free to eliminate any high value target you encounter. Let's make this fast and let's make it hard."
"Amen," Aaron muttered as he unholstered his sniper rifle and climbed out of the pod. He noticed what looked like some sort of refinery in the distance and began to dash towards it, activated his active camouflage as he did. Thanks to his new SPARTAN genes, it didn't take very long for him to get there, no more than three minutes, but then again it hadn't been that far away to begin with.
"YOU BROUGHT THEM HERE!" a voice roared, coming from the direction of the refinery.
"I know that voice," Aaron muttered, lighting his hand to his com unit. "Everyone I have a positive ID on Vader's location, he's at what looks like form sort of lava refinery not too far from where I landed."
"Copy that," Emily said "We're converting to your position, we should all be there in around fifteen minutes. Keep an eye on Vader, and don't engage him if you can help it."
"Got it," Aaron said, as he crept up to the edge of a cliff that gave him a good view of the refinery. "Whoa," he said, as he reached the top of the cliff and saw that there was a flowing river of lava below him. "How the Hell did life develop on a planet like this?" he muttered as he raised his sniper rifle and looked down the scope. On a landing pad not too far away, Aaron clearly saw Vader and..." Padmé?" Aaron said in a stunned voice. "What's she doing here?"
"YOU BROUGHT THEM HERE TO KILL ME!" Vader bellowed at Padmé, as he raised his right arm, making a clenching motion. The second he did this, Padmé began to clutch at her throat, she couldn't breath.
'What the fuck is he doing?" Aaron snarled under his breath, as he lined up a shot with Vader's head and his finger tightened on the trigger of his rifle, but he did not take the shot. Emily had told him not to engage Vader if he could avoid it, and he knew from past experiences with Ventress that if he took the shot, it would do nothing but give away his position.
'That doesn't make the idea of Vader's head exploding any less appealing though' Aaron thought angrily, his hand tensing on the trigger. 'Mom told me about Padmé and him, how the fuck can this bastard strangle his own wife?' It was then that Aaron noticed something about Padmé. Her belly was bulging. 'She's pregnant,' Aaron thought softly. 'Wait,' he thought, as his mind put two and two together. 'Padmé is pregnant...AND THAT BASTARD IS STRANGLING HER?'
Aaron threw logic to the wind as his finger slammed down on the trigger of his sniper rifle, his active camouflage faltering. Almost mechanically, Vader released Padmé, who fell to the ground, and ignited his light saber, blocking Aaron's bullet. 'Fucking figures,' Aaron thought, not surprised that the bullet had been blocked. Aaron didn't bother firing again, it would be a waste of ammunition, the point of him firing in the first place was to get Vader to release Padmé.
"YOU!" Vader roared at Aaron, glaring at the now revealed sniper. "You people turned her against me!"
"We told here the truth!" Aaron shouted at Vader. "It's not our fault she finds children slaughtering Sith to be bad husbands! You've got a lot of balls to act like you didn't see this coming, what the Hell did you expect, why did you even do this in the first place?" Vader didn't know it but Aaron was actually stalling for time, every second he kept the Sith talking was a second closer the rest of Gray Team got to his position.
"She dies!" Vader roared, pointing at Padmé. "I see it every night, the Force shows it to me, she dies in childbirth. The Jedi are shrouded in lies and treason, they can not save her, only Sidious can. He opened my eyes, he showed me the Jedi for who the really are."
"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" Aaron shouted. "You turned your back on everyone and everything you ever fought for!"
"Don't lecture me Colton!" Vader shouted.
"No I think I will!" Aaron retaliated. "Because you've given me a whole list of reasons to be pissed off at you! You struck my wife to be across the face for a piss-poor reason, you slaughter an entire temple full of children, you ripped out the heart of my best friend when he stood in your way, you strangled your own PREGNANT wife, and to cap it all off, YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO ACT LIKE IT'S JUSTIFIED!"
"You fail to see through the shroud of lies the Jedi have cast over her head, along with the rest of the Allied Species!" Vader said in a zealotic voice. "I have brought peace, freedom, and justice to my new empire."
"Your new empire," Aaron repeated. "Is that what this has become? Nothing more than an insane desire for power?"
"Don't make me kill you Colton," Vader said in a dangerous voice. For a split second, Aaron remembered fighting Ventress, and he barely repressed a shiver of fear, then the moment had passed.
'It doesn't look like he'll be talking for much longer,' Aaron thought. 'If I'm going to fight him I'm going to have to think out of the box if I want to stay alive, let alone beat him. Let me think,' he thought, glancing at the equipment he had. "I've got a sniper rifle, a submachine-gun, an energy sword and two plasma grenades. How can I kill him with what I've got?' "Sorry Vader," Aaron said out loud, as several half baked plans began to form in his head. "You're everything I despise. You're a murdering, genocidal monster."
"If you're not with me," Vader said slowly "Then you're my enemy." As he spoke, he raised his light saber, ready for a fight. With inhuman strength, Vader propelled himself forward with the Force, towards where Aaron was standing. Moving quickly, Aaron crouched down and neatly slid to the bottom of the hill, reaching the bottom as Vader landed.
'All right,' Aaron thought, as he dropped his sniper rifle and drew his SMG. Vader began to charge towards Aaron, and was halfway down when Aaron opened fire at him. Vader stopped as he began to wildly swing his light saber, deflecting Aaron's bullets with ease. 'Let's try this!,' Aaron thought, as he took one of his plasma grenades, activated it, and threw it. It landed right where Aaron had aimed, which wasn't Vader, but the ground around Vader's feet. Vader saw the glowing ball, and threw himself out of the way at just the right time, but he was knocked on his back by the shockwave.
Aaron quickly aimed his SMG at Vader and fired, but the Sith quickly kicked the ground, propelling him further down the hill and causing the bullets to harmlessly hit dirt. "Damn it,' Aaron thought as he ejected his empty magazine and replaced it with a fresh one. "For a second I thought I had him."
Vader quickly got to his feet, and threw his light saber at Aaron, who dived out of the way of the spinning blade. "Wait a second," Aaron muttered as the light saber flew back to Vader's hand. "If I can get him to do that again..." Aaron raised his SMG and sprayed more bullets at Vader, who managed to block them with ease as Aaron took the time that Vader was occupied to put more distance in-between them by gradually stepping back. "One more time!" he grunted as he threw his other plasma grenade at Vader. Once again the grenade landed by Vader's feet, but this time Vader was quicker to throw himself out of the way, and he landed on his feet.
Vader was actually smiling as Aaron fired at him with his SMG, only to have his bullets blocked again. "Why do you even bother?" Vader gloated, his anger at Aaron clearly gone. "You can't even hope to win."
'If I can get him to throw his light saber again,' Aaron through, as he discarded his SMG's empty clip and loaded his last one 'I might be able to get him. But I do I get him to-' a thought struck Aaron as he remembered something Ahsoka had told him about Vader when he was still Anakin, causing an idea to form. 'If this doesn't work,' Aaron thought 'It sure as Hell will kill me.'
"I'm still fighting you because I have forgotten what it's like to have a mother!" Aaron yelled.
Vader became as stiff as a board, his face slightly white. "What did you say?" he whispered.
'Oh I am so going to die,' Aaron thought miserably. "Ahsoka told me what happened with the Sand People," Aaron said "I know all about it."
"Shut up," Vader said softly.
"She told me about how she was dehydrated, malnourished and died in your arms," Aaron continued, a sense of dread filling him.
"Shut up," Vader said, this time more firmly.
"I can't help but wonder what she would say if she could see you right now," Aaron said in a taunting voice. "I imagine she would be very disappointed in her little Ani."
"SHUT UP!" Vader roared, as he threw his light saber as Aaron as hard as he could. Aaron was shocked at how fast Vader had thrown the weapon and barley ducked in time, the light saber cutting his SMG in half as he did.
'I've got one chance,' Aaron thought, as he dropped to one knee and grabbed his sniper rifle, lining up a shot. He fired a shot had Vader barley dodged by strafing to the side with the Force. Aaron fired a second shot that managed to burry itself in Vader's mechanical arm, causing Vader to stumble back as sparks flew from it. Aaron was about to line up a shot with Vader's heart, when he heard a humming voice from behind him. There was a brief fraction of a second, when Aaron realized what was going to happen before it actually did. Vader's light saber came flying back and sliced Aaron's rifle in half...and slashed him across the face.
Aaron let out a roar of agony as his visor shattered, and the blade flew back to Vader's hand. Aaron quickly discarded his damaged helmet and stood up, panting and looking at Vader. The light saber had created a slash that started above Aaron's left eye, and traveled diagonally down, to bellow his right eye. 'Damn it,' Aaron thought 'It didn't work.'
"You are not leaving this planet alive Colton," Vader said in a dangerous voice.
"You know," Aaron muttered to himself, as he activated Ramore's energy sword, it being the only weapon he had left. "If lived past this day, this slash would probably leave a scar. Wonder what Ahsoka would think about it." He gave a dry chuckle. "I'm about to die and I'm wondering if Ahsoka has a thing for guys with scars. Aw well, maybe I'm so scarred I can't think straight."
Vader extended his left hand, and Aaron felt like a sledgehammer had just hit him in the stomach as he was forced onto his back, causing him to drop the energy sword. "DIE!" Vader roared, as he charged forward, light saber at the ready. Aaron felt panic flow threw him as he saw the bright blue of Vader's light saber heading for his face. Instinctively he put his arms in the way, but he knew it would do him no good.
But just when he thought he was about to die, there was a flash of green and another light saber stopped Vader's in it's path. The Sith had just enough time to look up before a booted foot kicked him squarely in the face, causing him to stumble backwards. Vader rubbed his nose as he looked at his attacker. "Ahsoka," Aaron managed to croak out, as the Trogrutan woman stood between him and Vader.
"Tano," Vader said in a stony voice.
"Vader," Ahsoka replied, her face etched with cold fury. "Get the Hell away from my future husband."
Author's Note: I personally think that that came out very well, the fight between Aaron and Vader I mean. I would think that Aaron would be smart enough to realize that when you fight a Sith and you are not a Jedi or a SPARTAN IV or the Arbiter, you need to think outside the box and attack them indirectly. Well be sure to tell me what you think.
