Dynasty
by Valerie Vancollie and Rebecca Thomson
(valeriev84 at hotmail dot com) & (zekkers at juno dot com)
Disclaimer: Rebecca and I do not own Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader or any other of the "Star Wars" characters, items or situations. Rebecca and I only lay claim to the original aspects of the fic.
Note: Sorry that this
part is two weeks late, but I was left without internet access at
home and was thus unable to get this chunk out.
Just one more
chunk after this and it's all done! I will warn you now that there is
quite a bit of time between the end of this chunk and the start of
the next one. For more info on the last chunk check out the teaser on
my site.
Chunk Forty-Four
Prince Vader grinned, looking at the latest datapad that Captain Polis had delivered. The last few days had been a flurry of activity. He looked up, eyes scanning the molted view of hyperspace that could be seen from the bridge. "Admiral, how much longer till we get to the next base?"
"Two hours, my Prince."
"Tell the fighters to get ready, and prepare for attack. I want to see if we can beat our arrival to engagement time from our last battle."
"Yes, my Prince."
"And when we drop out of hyperspace, send a message to the rest of the fleet- we haven't captured General Ragorsh yet. I want him alive, if possible. I want to have a little chat with the man." Prince Vader looked out of the viewport, eyes cold as they scanned the insanity of hyperspace.
"Yes, my Prince." Darth Vader could feel the Admiral's bloodlust for the General. He could feel the bloodlust of the entire ship. One easy battle after another for these past few days, Rebel base after Rebel base had fallen under their guns, and the guns of the rest of the fleet. It was actually stunning at the sheer number of bases this General had. Sure, most of them contained less than a hundred men- over half had less than twenty- but still!
"Prince Vader?" The Admiral worriedly asked, and Darth turned, with a swish of his jeweled cape.
"Yes?"
"We have been engaging in more than normal levels of activity lately, and we will have to refuel and re-arm after this attack- or we will be dangerously low on ammunitions for the bombers."
"This ship is supposed to carry a sufficient supply for months of activity."
"Yes, my Prince. But we've had six attacks in three days, and we were due for re-supply when the Rebel transmission came."
"And this is our last scheduled attack from the list." Darth finished, thinking. He had divided up the list between half the entire fleet- assigning groups of ships to work together- and they were finally running low on known bases. "Very well. Determine the nearest re-supply station, we will go there when we are done."
"General Ragorsh, there can be no other explanation. She must have sent a complete listing of all of our bases to the Imperials." Major Harq gestured at the readout. "We're loosing contact in record numbers. Communications are blacked-out, and then- nothing. We've sent a couple of X-wings out to scout, and only half have returned. They report that nothing is left of the bases but smoking remains."
"Send out an emergency message. Order everyone to move, to find new locations. Contact us in forty days, we'll regroup then."
"I can't believe-" Major Cole said.
"Believe what?!?" The General hissed, "that she betrayed us? Well- she did. She went straight to the Imperials. I don't know how she managed to rationalize it to her men, but she did it."
"No General, I mean I don't believe she knew where all of our bases where." Major Cole said, looking at the readout. "I think that this means that we have spies- spies for Mon Mothma, who gave away our location. I know some of the men regret leaving the Alliance- they say that we should have just kept sneaking around behind Mon Mothma's back. Some of them were probably fooled into giving us away." He shook his head, while the room broke out in murmurs. "And now they are paying with their lives, for trusting her."
The General licked his lips nervously. "Send the message. Send it now, before-" The alarm broke out, tearing through the words the general would say. Almost instantly, bombs began to pound the base.
"General!" Shrieked an aide, rushing in, "It's the Executor! With two other unidentified Star Destroyers!"
The room was quiet, and frozen for a second, as everyone digested the news. Major Harq coughed, and fingered his breast-pocket. General Ragorsh nodded, knowing what the Major kept in his pocket. Poison was always a way out. In fact, he better warn Nate Clay. That man had the most to loose out of any of them if he was captured alive.
"Fight." The general said. "We will fight to the end."
"Admiral, scans indicate that this base is larger than we originally thought." A technician spoke up on the bridge.
"How large?"
"About double."
Prince Vader nodded, "Admiral. I believe some of this Rebel group's command has relocated to this base, after the attack on their last base. Continue with bombing runs, but I want the stormtroopers to take the base soon, weapons on stun."
"Yes Sire, I will inform our General to have the troop carriers loaded."
"We need to move our base."
"Mon Mothma, we can't. There are Imperial ships everywhere- we can't relocate yet. We have to wait until everything dies down, or we will run into one of their patrols." General Rieekan replied.
"But if they capture anyone who knows our location-" she left the threat hanging.
"I know. Just a few days. I'll send out scouts, to pick a new location."
"Very well."
Prince Vader stood on the bridge, back to his men, looking down on the ruined base. It had only taken a few hours, and the whole base had fallen. The doors swished open, and four stormtroopers marched in, dragging the struggling General between them. Darth Vader's chin lifted as he probed the man's mind. This was delicate work.
"General Ragorsh," Prince Vader purred, "you are lucky that my son wasn't the one to find you. He's rather upset with you right now."
No answer. He didn't expect one.
"Attacking a man's family. I'd almost call you a coward."
"We couldn't get to him, so we had to settle." The General growled through clenched teeth.
The Sith shrugged. "I understand. You do realize, don't you, that we found you because General Rieekan and Mon Mothma told us where you were? You were one of the last bases on our list, actually." The Prince turned, facing his Admiral, "Admiral, how many bases did we destroy?"
The Admiral turned to another bridge crew, who murmured something back. "Almost a hundred, Sire." The Admiral calmly announced. General Ragorsh flinched.
"That should be all of them, shouldn't it General?" Vader asked, walking over. The thought was clear in the man's mind, the Imperial forces had taken all his bases. "It's over, General. I have your men. I have you. And you are far more trouble than she ever was, for all her scheming."
The man smiled. "I try."
Vader smiled back. "She didn't like your tactics. She publicly disowned you, attacked you, and then betrayed you."
The General frowned, Vader leaned in, brushing the man's mind with a little delicate nudge. "Perhaps you would like some level of revenge?"
The Rebel's eyes narrowed. "What revenge?"
"I want to find her. You know where she is."
The General looked up, catching Vader's eyes. "You don't? Your little lap dog?"
Darth stepped back, quickly scanning the man. Mon Mothma? An Imperial Agent? He would have to work with this... "She isn't my lap dog... not anymore. I'm afraid she hasn't reported in for years. Well, except for that last transmission." He couldn't lie and say that she had been working for him the whole time, because he didn't know where she was now.
The General glared. "Oh, and now you want to reward her?"
"Reward her? No. I want to drag her screaming for forgiveness onto the parade ground in front of the Imperial Palace to be executed as a gift for my father." The Prince smiled, a little bloodthirsty look in his eyes. "I'm not about to reward her for giving me your location. She's been disobeying my last orders for years. And I don't reward traitors."
The General looked away, obviously thinking. The Prince waited, before continuing. "You have two choices. Either tell me everything you know, now. Or we torture you, and find out anyway. Even if you do manage to keep your secrets, do you really want to go through all that pain for her?"
"No. Not for her. For the Rebellion." The General replied.
"Those ineffectual fools?" Vader hissed, "I can't believe you would want to suffer just so they can continue to hide in pitiful little bands, pretending to defy me."
"And," the General continued, "so that I can keep living. I will fight to the end. The Rebellion must continue."
Prince Vader smiled sourly. "Perhaps a deal. I can feel your need for revenge, you know. It bubbles up inside you, but you see no way to avenge your comrades' deaths. It is simple, really." Darth Vader walked over, leaning to stare in the Rebel's eyes. "You tell me where she is, and I won't torture you. And, you will live to see her death."
"Her location is on the base computers," the Rebel General replied, clearly warring with himself, trying to make up his mind.
"They were undamaged. Your code-word would give us the information I need."
"And access to all my cells as well." The General growled.
"Which I have already destroyed. Your code word- now, or later- while you scream in pain. And you will never know if you have had your revenge." Again, Prince Vader delicately nudged his mind. The man was surprisingly weak-minded for a leader.
The General looked away, "Very well. It's 'A-8, honey-berry wine.' "
"Not that hard, was it?" The Prince replied, motioning to the guards. "Take him away. Have him feed, and bathed, and put back in his cell."
"You have Ragorsh?" Luke asked as he looked at the life-size holo before him.
"Yes," Vader confirmed. "But you can't have him."
"Why not?" Luke questioned, his anger shining bright in his eyes. The man deserved to pay for what he had done to Anjaleen and for all his other crimes.
The mere thought of how devastated Anjaleen had been at the funeral when she had looked down into the glass covered caskets of her dead parents was enough to put Luke into a blind rage. She had looked so broken that he had wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and lead her out of the docking bay to their rooms where she could feel safe and not have to control her emotions as much. The fact that she had also been wearing a very simple and very plain dress for practically the first time since their marriage made the whole thing worse. He was used to seeing her in lively outfits with a multitude of colors. But then she had looked so... dead. It had also been eerie to see all the other guests, who were normally so dressed up, in plain, gray clothes with only a few white pearls here and there as jewelry.
"Because I made a deal with him," Vader explained and hurriedly continued when he saw the new anger this brought to his son's face. "In exchange for letting him see her death, Ragorsh gave me Mon Mothma's location. Now we have the location of the last two leaders of the Alliance. Without them this rebellion will wither and die away as is the case with any organization if you cut off the brains."
"And then what? We let him go?" Luke asked, trying to control the black maelstrom that were his emotions.
"We kill him," Vader corrected. "He knew that no matter what he did, he would die. It was simply a matter of dying after he had had his revenge for what she and Rieekan had done to him, or dying before it. Naturally he chose afterwards. Once Mon Mothma and Rieekan have been publicly executed we will do the same to Ragorsh."
"The people will like that," Luke commented as a small smile graced his lips. "What of Mothma and Rieekan? Have you captured them yet?"
"No," Vader admitted. "The Executor is currently re-supplying, but after that we will attack the base where they are hiding."
"If they are still there," Luke said. "It could well be that they have moved since Ragorsh left them."
"True," Vader agreed before he moved on to other matters. "Although you can't have Ragorsh, there is someone else whom you can have and I think you'll like him better."
"And who is that?"
"Nate Clay," Vader announced.
"Clay?" Luke asked, confused. "But he died a year or two ago. He was the one who was in charge of the Alliance's failed attempt to free Leia."
"This one's his distant relative," Vader informed his son. "Ragorsh's computer files say that he was blacklisted in the Alliance and considered a time bomb. He was behind the raid on the spaceport that resulted in the hospital fire among many other incidents. Most importantly, however, is the fact that it was he who was in charge of the mission to kill your in-laws."
"He will regret the day he ever heard of that assignment," Luke promised as his face hardened. "Is he in the detention center now?"
"No, the medical center," Vader replied. "The stormtroopers that captured him prevented him from committing suicide, but he was still able to inject himself with a small dose of poison. The doctors have treated him already and say that he should be in near perfect condition by the time we return to Coruscant."
"Good," Luke declared as he began thinking of just what he wanted to do to the man.
"Another highlight of this evening's news report will be the complete details behind Grand Moff Zimmerman's arrest and removal from office," a reporter announced.
"Oh my," Nastalia exclaimed, recognizing the Grand Moff mentioned as the one who was in charge of several systems including the one she and Nathaniel now lived in. "What happened?" she asked her father as she turned down the volume of the holoset.
"Seems he was taking bribes in return for looking the other way whenever suspicious events occurred in his systems," Grand Moff Bel-Zessa replied. "Turned out that it was Rebels who were paying him."
"Did he know that?" Nastalia inquired.
"Perhaps," the Grand Moff said. "But whether he did or not, he didn't carry out his duty and will thus probably be killed as an example."
"Good," Nastalia stated. "Who will be taking his place?"
"I don't know," Bel-Zessa admitted. "But at the moment I've been given temporary control over Zimmerman's systems. I'll tell you as soon as I know who the Emperor will replace him with."
"Thanks."
"Anja, what are you doing?" Luke inquired as he entered the sitting room he had left several datapads in only to find his wife reading them.
"I just saw them laying here and wondered what they were," Anjaleen replied as she looked up and Luke couldn't help but notice that she looked better than she had since her parent's death. "I can take care of this work if you want."
"Are you sure?" Luke checked knowing that if it had been any other time he would have asked her to do so. After all the datapads contained information on things that his grandfather wanted arranged for the funeral and coronation that he didn't trust the Palace Ceremonial Planners to handle. For the most part they were small but crucial decoration details concerning their family relationship.
"Yes," Anja confirmed as she smiled at him. "Simply sitting around with nothing to do is driving me crazy. I need to get my mind off of what has happened for a little while. This would be perfect for that."
"Very well," Luke said as he approached and embraced her. "If you want to do it than that's fine with me. I didn't really want to do it myself, the whole funeral business is too depressing for me. I don't want to think of that."
"I understand," Anja stated with an ironic smile. "Death is always a nasty business."
"On the topic of death, we can expect a lot less of it in the near future," Luke declared. "Father captured Ragorsh and knows where Rieekan and Mothma are as well. Soon this whole rebellion will be over and we can finally go to peace."
"I can hardly wait," Anjaleen responded, feeling a weight lifted off of her shoulders knowing that the man responsible for her parent's death wouldn't be hurting anyone ever again.
"Talking about having peace, is everything arranged with Fifi?" Luke questioned as he looked around and couldn't find the mutt in the room. Shortly after having arrived the chiwani had taken to following his wife around wherever she went.
"Yes," Anja confirmed with a relieved sigh. "I found the perfect family to take him in and he'll be on his way tomorrow. Although I don't hate him, I would be lying to say that I will be sad to see him go. I only put up with him because Mother loved him so, I can't stand the little thing. He only gets in the way and yesterday he pulled one of the bloodstones off my dress; probably thought that it was his ball."
"The dress can be repaired. But its a good thing he'll be gone before Father returns," Luke commented and chuckled as he tried to image the Prince putting up with Fifi.
"Indeed," Anjaleen agreed as she laughed.
"Having gone through all the possible locations for our new base to be, these seem to be the best selections," Rieekan stated as he put a chip into the holoprojector and called up a list for Mon Mothma to see.
"A reasonable number," Mon Mothma commented as she glanced at the names, recognizing some of them. "Are we sure that there is no strong Imperial presence in any of these areas?"
"As sure as we can be," Rieekan replied. "My suggestion is that we move to Vaopin IX. The planet is half way between the Core and the Outer Rim and thus would put us in a nice position to receive information from all our remaining cells in both sections. The whole system is uninhabited by sentient life forms due to unfavorable conditions."
"What kind of conditions?" Mon Mothma demanded.
"Extreme heat and frequent sandstorms," Rieekan said as he brought up various holos of the desert planet in question. "Our ships can be adapted to handle the sand and the storms will wipe out any signs of our presence there."
"What about our radars?" Mon Mothma questioned. "Won't the sandstorms play havoc with them?"
"Not if we adjust for the interference," Rieekan responded. "It won't be perfect, but better than what we've had on some previous bases."
"Good, we shou--" Mon Mothma began when the base alarms went off, interrupting her. "I don't believe this!" she moaned as her heart sank.
"General Rieekan, Mon Mothma," a Rebel over the intercom began, his voice frantic. "We have six Star Destroyers in orbit above us as well as the Executor and an as of yet unknown number of Interdictor Cruisers."
"Deploy our fighters and begin evacuation," Rieekan ordered as Mon Mothma crumbled in on herself.
"What's the point?" she demanded as she looked at her longtime friend. "With Interdictor Cruisers we can't enter hyperspace and our escape ships will be sitting targets. We can't defend this base indefinitely and we can't get away with hyperspace blocked."
"We can't just give up!" Rieekan exclaimed. "Without us the Alliance will be disorganized and die off. We must fight. For Freedom."
"How?" Mon Mothma inquired softly. "Send out our few pilots against all the TIE fighters of six Star Destroyers and those of the Executor? They'll be slaughtered, as will our ground troopers when the stormtroopers are sent down."
"Mon," Rieekan pressed as he edged towards the door, knowing that he needed to get to the control center and take command of their fight.
"It's hopeless!" Mon Mothma declared with a finality that sent shivers up the general's spine.
The throne room was only mildly warm today, Luke noted as he climbed the stairs to the throne itself. Grandfather still looked a little pale, but he was obviously getting over that minor bout with whatever he had. Luke smiled, nodding to the courtiers who where walking down. Grandfather motioned to the guards, dismissing everyone else. Luke reached the top, and sat at Grandfather's gesture.
"So, young Luke, you're in a good mood."
"Yes, Grandfather." Luke replied, watching the last of the courtiers leave. He could feel their flutter of surprise at him sitting down, but he ignored it. "Father told me that he's bringing the man who planned the strike against Anja's parents back here. I've been planning what to do to the man."
"Heh. The joys of the young. I wish I still had the time." The old man sighed. "Well, that pitiful rebellion is almost gone. I'm sure you almost regret it- no more running around in warships hunting the criminals down."
"Yes, Grandfather. I'll almost miss that part."
"There is still corruption in the government, you know. I trust you've read the report about that Grand Moff taking bribes?"
"Yes, your Majesty." Luke frowned, glaring at the far wall. "Disgusting."
"Recommend anyone as his replacement?" Luke turned to Grandfather, seeing the old man's eyes half-closed, measuring him from under his cowl. Luke nodded, realizing that the old Sith knew exactly who Luke would be thinking of.
"Admiral MacNelly. He's already living in that sector- the citizens feel better being supervised by someone local. He's considered a hero for that long-range mission he went on some time back. He's capable. And we know that he's absolutely loyal."
"And well-connected."
Luke smiled. "Yes."
"I will think about it." The Emperor wryly continued, "Because I can't have you associating with a lowly Admiral forever. After all, you'll be a Prince someday."
"Yes, your Majesty."
The water splashed over the fountain in the Grand Moff Bel-Zessa's entryway. Two women were walking around it. One in a bright green dress, the other was wearing a plainer gray dress with multi-colored stones on the hem.
"So, Anjaleen, what do you think? Do you think the fountain's too much? Father had it installed yesterday, but I'm not sure I like it."
"I think it's fine. It's not too big for the space, and not too small. It sets off the crystal carvings on the wall. Not a bad choice. Besides, it's your father's house. You can't exactly change it."
Nastalia laughed. "I suppose not."
"Speaking of redecorating, I'd like to change our plans, and go out to eat for lunch in five days, instead of eating at the Castle."
"Oh, why?"
"Luke's had the servants rip up all the rugs in the main sitting room. The floor's down to the marble, and he's had most of the furniture removed as well. We won't be fit for company for at least a month, if Luke gets his way. Not that I mind- but the main sitting room? I don't understand why he couldn't pick some out of the way place." Anjaleen groused.
Nastalia gave her friend a strange look. "What are you talking about?"
Anjaleen gave her best friend a smile while rolling her eyes. "Prince Vader managed to capture the man who led the attack on my parents. He's bringing him back to the castle so Luke can work on him."
"Oh my." Nastalia said. "That's... wonderful." She couldn't figure out if Anjaleen was happy or disgusted that the Sith would be torturing the attacker.
"Now, don't get me wrong, Nastalia. I'm perfectly happy that Luke will get our revenge on that... that... foul creature." Anjaleen's eyes narrowed, thinking about what he had done. "I might even watch, for awhile. Even if it isn't lady-like for me to do so. But," she turned back to her friend, "I just wish Luke would find some other location to work on him. I asked, but he just said something about 'tradition' and 'symmetry,' if you can believe it."
"The main sitting room?" Nastalia said, wrinkling her nose in distaste.
"Yes." Anjaleen sighed. "It is a bit much, don't you think?"
Nastalia looked at the splashing water. "I think I can live with the fountain."
Smoke stung Mon Mothma's eyes as she searched her things in her quarters. It had to be in here somewhere. She knew she had put it in here, back when they had issued them to all the Council Members. Where was it? The blasters sounds were getting closer- and that particular twang meant that the standard issue stormtroopers' riffles were set on stun. She didn't want to be taken, to be made into 'an example' like those two pilots.
There was pounding on the door. "Open up!" Someone barked. Mon Mothma just looked harder, praying the door would hold. They banged on the door, heavy thumps with an armored fist shaking the door frame.
"It's here somewhere, oh Force, please help me..." Mon Mothma whispered. The door cracked, broke, and fell to the floor as Mon Mothma's hand closed around the small plastic bag. She tore at it with her teeth, trying to get to the contents.
Stun blasts rang out, and the head of the Rebellion slid to the floor, suicide pills falling from her mouth.
"Reconfigure the base's shields around this control center!" General Rieekan ordered.
"But that will leave the rest of the base undefended!" One of the techs said, even as his hands flew over the controls.
"We have no choice." Rieekan grimily replied.
"We've lost contact with our last X-wings. I don't know if they made it to hyperspace."
"I ordered them to leave." Rieekan sighed.
Thunderous blasts shook the floor, the technicians grabbing the consoles. "I said strengthen the shields!"
"I did Sir! More than one ship has opened fire on our location!"
"Narrow the-" Rieekan shouted, as a huge blast tore through the walls, sending the ceiling down upon the hapless Rebels.
"Sir!" A technician coughed, "Sir?" The man climbed over the broken struts, trying to pry the beams off the older man.
Prince Vader snarled, looking over the wrinkled man in the bacta tank. "Doctor?"
"He'll live. He just cracked a rib, some internal injuries. I can patch him up, so you can drag him in front of the Emperor."
"That's all I ask." The Prince replied. "From you. Now, from the Admiral who disobeyed my orders, I asked a little more."
The Prince walked out, leaving the doctor to deal with the body of the Admiral who had opened fire on the Rebel command center against orders.
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Remember, there is a far amount of gorgeous art that illustrates this fic and all of it can be found on my site (the link for which is in my profile)!
