Chapter 53
Confrontations
Author's Note: I think I'll respond to a couple of reviews, yeah Ahsoka saved Aaron again, but with a couple in the middle of a war, you would think that this would happen from time to time. Also thanks for liking the fight. Also STOP ASKING ABOUT AND FOR CHEIF! IF I HAVEN'T TOLD YOU IF HE WAS COMING IN 53 CHAPTERS, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I WOULD NOW! Sorry about that enjoy the chapter. Also thanks for breaking the 500 review milestone.
Ahsoka's grip tightened on her light saber as she glared at Vader, cold fury in her eyes. She couldn't help but feel that this was different from when Ventress had stabbed Aaron. She had felt boiling rage at that point, but now she felt cold fury, possiblely because Aaron wasn't critically wounded.
"Aaron," she said softly, not taking her eyes off of Vader. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Aaron said, getting to his feet and picking up Ramore's energy sword. "It's just a scratch," he said, rubbing the slash on his face. Ahsoka resisted the urge to grit her teeth in anger as she saw the mark out of the corner of her eyes.
There was a loud roar, and all three of the combats looked up. A massive amount of drop ships were flying towards the planet's surface, the second wave of the invasion had been launched. Unfortunately, a volley of Imperial AA fire was launched in their direction, and several dropships were hit. Some of them exploded, while others began to spiral towards the ground, including a Pelican spiraling directly towards where they were standing.
"AHSOKA GET BACK!" Aaron shouted. Ahsoka didn't need to be told twice, as she threw herself out of the way, just in time to avoid the Pelican slamming into the ground, creating screen of smoke and dust separating Ahsoka and Aaron from Vader.
"Alright," Ahsoka said, looking at Aaron. "Aaron you need to get out of here, Vader is more than you can handle."
"And leave you alone with that crazy son of a bitch?" Aaron asked "I don't think so."
"Aaron please," Ahsoka said, a pleading tone in her voice. "I can't stand to see you get hurt, please get out of here."
"You think I like seeing you getting hurt?" Aaron asked. "When I saw Ventress torturing you I thought someone was twisting a knife in my heart. I'm not leaving you to fight this shadow of a Human being by yourself, we're going to do it together."
"And people say I'm the stubborn one," Ahsoka said, but there was a small smile on her face. "All right, but let me take most of the heat, I've got more experience with sword techniques, I can block him better than you. One more thing," she said. She leaned in and lightly kissed Aaron on the lips. "Just in case," she said softly.
"Right," Aaron said, his face turning slightly red. "Hold on a second," he said, looking at the wreckage of the Pelican. Aaron walked forward to the wreckage, a good deal of it had been propelled outward, bodies included. Aaron sighed as he kneeled by the body of a Marine whose face had been half burned off. Aaron closed the Marine's eyes and clasped his hands over his chest. As Aaron was doing this, he noticed the Marine's weapon, a Spartan Laser. "Rest in piece," Aaron said, as he deactivated Ramore's energy sword and placed it on his hip, before taking the Spartan Laser. "Wonder if a light saber can block this?" he muttered, as he placed his hands around the grip and trigger of the weapon.
"Aaron," Ahsoka said, walking forward and standing next to him. "Get ready, the smoke screen is fading." Aaron looked forward, and sure enough the screen was thinning, revealing Vader, holding his light saber with an angry look on his face. "Let's do this," Ahsoka said determinedly, Aaron nodded as Vader let out a roar and charged at them.
XXXXX
"Are you sure this is a strategically sound move?" Shaak Ti asked. She was standing in the passenger section of a Phantom, which was heading for the surface of Mustafar. Thel and the rest of the survivors of the Jedi Council were also present in the Phantom.
"The location we are heading to is the center hub for communications on the planet," Thel said. "Most likely it is the main Empire HQ, if we destroy it their chain of command should be crippled, throwing their forces into a state of disarray."
"It isn't like we have a better plan," Obi-Wan said, looking at the other Jedi.
"We are landing," Thel said, as the Phantom began to level out. The side doors opened, and Thel and the Jedi leapt out, light sabers and Thel's energy sword alight. "Very well," Thel said, looking at the large metal building in front of him. "Let us make this quick, the faster we destroy this, we faster we can-" but Thel was cut off as a bright red light saber that flew over his head, heading straight towards the Phantom. The light saber sliced through the center of the Phantom, causing the dropship to explode in a blaze of purple fire.
"Palpatine," Shaak Ti said, as the light saber flew back to the hand of the Sith Lord, who was walking forward, his long black robes flowing in the wind.
"Please," Sidious said "Call me Darth Sidious."
"Sidious," Obi-Wan said angrily "You have much to answer for. Thousands of Jedi are dead because of you actions."
"Master Kenobi" Sidious said "I must ask you this. Did I commit a horrible crime, or did I perform a public service?"
"What madness is this?" Plo Koon said in a disbelieving voice.
"You Jedi," Sidious said, in the same tone that suggest he had found something unpleasant on the heel of his shoe. "Are an order of arrogant, dogmatic, stuck up and self absorbed fools. You think yourselves to be all knowing, peaceful and well intentioned, where as nothing could be farther from the truth."
"Referring to what, are you?" Yoda asked warily.
"For starters, there is the expulsion of Ahsoka Tano," Sidious said.
"Ahsoka Tano broke the Jedi code by forming an attachment with an Allied Species soldier," Shaak Ti said hotly "Attachments lead to the Dark Side, we had every right to do that."
"Did you?" Sidious said sharply. "You are all so narrow minded, love does not lead to the Dark Side. Did you see a woman that was married to Dooku? Did you see a man that was married to Ventress? Do you a spouse waiting at home for me with a hot meal, no you don't," he said nastily.
"That is a superstition, so old and so widely believed by so many it makes me sick, you have never experienced the Dark Side, do not pretend to understand it. Your Code, designed to prevent the Dark Side from tempting you, is the high point of your ignorance. Your code forbids the expression of emotion, the very thing that defines a man for who he is, for better or worse. Simple emotion is not enough to lead to the Dark Side, but you Jedi believe that you are so special, so above ordinary people, that you believe a special set of rules apply to you, when in reality you are no different from a commoner."
A Force sensitive that experiences frustration will not turn to the Dark Side, because an ordinary man the experiences it will not go on a killing spree, it simply does not work that way. You cut off these basic parts of yourself, these basic rights, out of paranoia and for the illusion of safety from the Dark Side, where in reality, if the Code did not exist 1% of the Jedi would turn to the Dark Side, at the very most. Ahsoka Tano is currently in no position to turn the Dark Side, nor has she ever been, in fact the second I heard about what she did at Halo, I knew that she would never turn. It took years of Anakin experiencing mental and emotional stress, a good deal of which was caused by him being forced to hide his marriage, for him to turn to the Dark Side."
"He was married?" Plo Koon said in a shocked voice.
"Yes," Sidious said. "He was plagued with dreams of his wife dying, yet he could not turn to you, out of fear of the repercussions that would follow. He took a large risk and told Master Yoda about his dreams, didn't he Yoda?" he asked, looking at the Jedi Grandmaster, who was staring at the ground sadly. "He told you about his wife dying, and what did you tell him? You told him to be GLAD that she would die. Any normal person in his situation would have been driven mad a long time ago, but it drove Anakin to the Dark Side." A smirk grew across Sidious' face "You could have prevented Anakin's betrayal if you had just been a little more open minded, if you had not expelled his apprentice, and perhaps if you realized that your little policy of not showing emotion, will cause it all to bottle up until it destroys you."
"You talk too much," Thel said angrily, as he stepped forward, energy sword in hand.
"Councilor 'Vadam," Sidious said "The only person here I truly respect. I must ask you, why are you here?"
"Is it not obvious?" Thel growled angrily "I am here to rid the universe of you and your disgraceful Empire."
"Yes, of course you are," Sidious said coolly "But why are you here with the Jedi, don't tell me that you helped them did you? My, my Councilor, I had heard rumors that Allied Species soldiers were helping Jedi escaped, but I did not know that the order came from you. I must ask you this, what have the Jedi done to deserve your help?"
"What do you mean?" Thel asked uncertainty in his voice.
"When the Extremists attacked Coruscant, the Jedi attempted to arrest your soldiers," Sidious replied in a relatively calm and level voice. "When you asked for assistance in fighting the Extremists, and by extension destroying Halo and the Flood, the Jedi refused to help you. When you helped repel the CIS invasion of Coruscant, did they thank you, no they did not. Ever since you joined this war, the Jedi have done nothing but criticize you for the tactics that you used against the CIS, despite the fact that countless lives were saved by your deeds. Who knows how many of your soldiers have perished fighting the CIS and my Empire, and the Jedi do not care, they view them has numbers on a piece of paper. You sent your men to die for nothing Councilor; every soldier that died protecting the Jedi died a pointless death."
"I have a proposal for you Councilor, withdraw your forces and return to your territory. I will not persecute you, I will make no move to conquer the Allied Species. Simply turn over all Jedi that you have rescued, and the Allied Species and the Empire will rule side by side."
Thel was silent as he stared at Sidious, it was impossible to tell what he was feeling by looking at him, to tell if he was at a lost for words for was merely thinking. "Aren't you going to say anything?" Shaak Ti half shouted.
"What do you want me to say?" Thel said quietly. "That he is wrong? Much of what he had said has a ring of truth to it. You Jedi have done nothing but condemn us since we entered this war with a handful of exceptions. You view us as demons for our tactics against the CIS, and I doubt that some of you cared for any of the fallen Allied Species soldiers that died fighting in this galaxy. But that is not the point!" he shouted, turning to face Sidious. "While it is true the Jedi are guilty of many sins, they are forgivable ones, the Sith on the other hand, their crimes are much greater."
Thel raised his energy sword in front of his face, clearly ready for a battle. "It will take more than words to clear your slate of the smears that cover it. You have committed genocide and the slaughter of children, you are establishing an Empire that will no doubt have an iron grip on every last living thing in it reach. You have little right to accuse others of misdeeds, considering your own standing. I would sooner go into voluntary exile than stand alongside you! Now either fight me or surrender!"
A cold look covered Sidious' face. "So be it Councilor," he said in a very dangerous voice as he raised his light saber. Thel let out a roar as he charged forward, swinging his energy sword at Sidious.
Author's Note: I know that it's short and I know that I took awhile to update. I had to work the entire weekend and I had had a lot of other stuff going on. I promise that the next chapter will be much better and longer. Now then, I'm going to go play Call of Duty Black Ops.
