Chapter Twenty-One: Undermined
When the shaking stopped, and Vader was sure that the tunnel was stable enough that no more debris would fall to injure them, he retreated his Force shield.
"What happened?" Diya said, coughing through the debris that came through.
"An ambush," Vader growled in angrily. "This was a trap. There is no Jedi here."
"Can't say I'm surprised. There are definitely a lot of people in the galaxy that would like to kill you."
Vader ignored Diya as he inspected the tunnel to see if there was a was way to free the debris without causing the tunnel to cave in on them. One thing he was learning from his master was how to categorically let non-threats be. His master's obvious ad apparent dismissal of the dissenting voices was part of the reason that the rebellions rising across the galaxy currently got such bad press in the broader galaxy. Not only did he not think of them as a threat, him ignoring them made them less of a threat. He didn't always agree when his master ignored matters, but it helped with his perception among the Imperial leadership.
"How much air do you think we have in here?" Diya asked.
"We will not be here long enough for it to be a concern," he replied as he used the Force to help him safely shift the rocks.
"So, it's okay to make a comm call?"
"We don't need rescuing."
"I know that. But it's time for me to check in with Ahsoka. If I don't, she's going to assume I did something stupid like start another revolt with no concrete plan on how to fight off the Empire again," Diya grumbled.
So Ahsoka did have the forethought to put conditions on this mission she gave to the reckless girl...
Vader didn't answer her, but Diya seemed to take his silence as permission because a short time later, he heard Ahsoka's voice come through the comm.
"You were supposed to check in an hour ago."
"I know. But when you're trying to talk Darth Vader out of killing you, things tend to slip your mind."
"Vader?"
"Yes. It's been an unfortunate honor spending time in his company. How the hell do you put up with him? Has he always been like this?"
Vader heard Ahsoka sigh and then say, "Diya, try not to antagonize him. There's only so much I can do to try to keep him from killing you if he decides you're more trouble to him than you're worth."
"You're defending him. Seriously?"
"No. But I really do not want to spend the rest of the week arguing with him about why he can't just go around killing my agents, especially kids, because they said the wrong thing."
"I'm seventeen. I'm not a kid," Diya insisted.
"Diya. Don't give Vader any leverage by saying that."
Vader finally found the way to shift the rocks so he could go further into the ruins without collapsing the tunnel and did so, creating a large enough opening for him to get through. And if he could get through it, so could Diya.
"If you want to get out of here safely, I'd advise you keep up," Vader said, turning to the girl and getting a glimpse of a holo of Ahsoka's insignia coming out Diya's comm.
"Do I even want to know, Diya?"
"I'll brief you when I'm out," Diya assured.
The comm cut off after that. Vader had already made it through the crevice and into the rest of the tunnel, but hey weren't out of danger yet. And seeming to understand the gravity of the trap they'd walked into, Diya didn't fall back into conversation.
"Be vigilant," Vader warned as he slowly continued into the hall. "And if you have a weapon, I advise you to draw it now. Those explosions were only the beginning of the trap laid for us, and just because I'm resisting the impulse to kill you does not mean I am inclined to extend my protection toward you from other threats."
"I don't need your help," Diya snapped as she took out her blaster and held it with both hands. "Says the girl who started an ill-fated prison riot."
Her Force signature flared some with her indignation at his mocking.
"A slaver like you doesn't get to lecture me about taking a stand to stop the slave trade on my planet!"
Vader rounded on her, all thoughts of trying to practice any restraint vanishing, what little patience he'd been trying to practice gone as the temperature in the tunnel dropped from him dropping the shields that restrained the full magnitude of his power in the Force.
Diya shivered from the cold, trepidation coming off her through the Force at what Vader hoped was the realization that she'd pushed him too far.
"I dare you to say that again, child," he said in a deathly silent, even tone.
She silently stared him with a wide-eyed look that was both cautious and confused before she huffed, narrowed her eyes, looked him straight in his mask and began, "A slaver like you—"
He didn't allow Diya to finish. He grabbed her in a Force choke and slammed her against the wall.
"I'm no slaver," he growled, tightening his grip around her throat.
Diya somehow managed to still take in a strangled breath and then choked, "Most… would… disagree."
"That's because they want anarchy instead of the peace and order I've brought to the galaxy," he insisted.
"If that's what you really think, then you're going to be no better than the Emperor. And I have every intention of sending every slaver straight to hell. Even you, whether Ahsoka likes it or not."
Vader paused a few breathing cycles, trying and failing not to remember a long-forgotten promise made out of naïve sentiments, before the realization that cruelty and greed weren't just exclusive to Tatooine. Lost in his inner conflict, he nearly forgot he still had Diya in his grip until through the red tint of his mask, he saw her lekku were dangerously pale.
He let go of his grip on her. He had intended to scare her, not kill her.
She gasped in choking breaths and fell to the cavern floor.
"Kriffing psycho," she managed, reaching for her fallen blaster.
Vader ignored her as he continued through the tunnel, though he was quietly impressed that she was still brave enough to talk back to him after he'd gotten so close to killing her. She was unrefined and needed to learn when to keep her mouth shut, but he and Ahsoka could use fearless people like her in their fight against Palpatine. Vader wasn't going to encourage the girl though.
She caught up with him eventually, blaster back in her hands. She was wisely keeping her distance but wore an indifferent expression on her face despite the pain and fear he sensed coming from her.
He paused right before they were about to enter a cavern, holding up his hand to halt Diya. No sooner than he sensed something amiss did the room begin to fill with white smoke. He used the Force to disperse the smoke, but the shooting had already begun. He and Diya retreated into the tunnel while he pulled a heavy slab in front of them to give them cover.
"I'm going to kill the entire town," Vader growled.
"I understand the sentiment," Diya managed, her voice now strained. "How many do you think there are?"
"Not enough," Vader said and then turned to her. "If you wish to live, I'd advise you to stay behind me."
"You didn't care about that when you tried to kill me a few minutes ago,"
Vader answer as he stood, pushing the slab out the way and exposing himself to the blaster fire of the insurgents. He immersed himself in the power of the dark side, feeding his hate and anger with every blaster bolt he deflected back on the enemy, every person he choked, whose heart he crushed; taking sadistic pleasure as he sensed the hope that they might have cornered him drain away and be slowly replaced with the horrifying realization that there had been no hope, to begin with. Diya meanwhile proved herself useful by picking off those he didn't get to immediately with her blaster. When she ran out of fuel, she used throwing knives. Vader had to grudgingly admit that for all she had a grating personality, she knew how to keep her cool in a firefight.
Once the cavern was clear, he made his way two by two up a high and wide set of stone stairs. Diya ran to keep up with him while at the same time trying to change the fuel rounds of her blaster. She eventually stopped to do the latter as he continued up the stairs, but she was ready by the time they got to the ground floor and met with more insurgents.
They both ducked behind large statutes as one of the insurgents aimed a long thin canon over his shoulder and fired right where they'd come off the stairs. It exploded behind them, causing the temple ruins to shudder and debris to fall behind them.
"A bazooka? Are you kidding me?" Diya growled.
Vader sorely wished as he jumped from behind the statute and cut the bazooka in half with his lightsaber and began making quick work of the insurgents with Diya coming in behind him and picking off those he didn't get to fast enough. By the time they got to the entrance, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake, the inquisitor was already there, taking cover behind a large stone column avoiding the fire of more insurgents.
"Lord Vader," the inquisitor began, no doubt to inform Vader of what he'd discovered.
"It's fairly obvious what has happened. I have no need for your report," Vader growled, jumping over the column to deal with the threat. He landed amongst the bulk of the insurgents, relinquishing most of the careful control he had over the dark side, keeping just enough so that the dark side's own chaotic will didn't override his own.
Though he had no need for their assistance, he was vaguely aware that his inquisitor and Diya had joined him on the perimeter of the fray. Debris from the ruins began to fly in the air, taking out some of the insurgents and causing a suitable distraction so that he could effortlessly cut down, crush the windpipes of, and mangle the bulk of the insurgents. Diya and the inquisitor got the ones out of his reach. When he stopped sensing blaster bolts come after him, he turned to face the inquisitor and Diya, who were standing a few meters away.
"That was all of them," Vader declared. The fighting force anyway. He would head right back to the town that had no doubt had sheltered the insurgents for this ambush and slaughter ever official in charge.
"Nope," Diya contradicted. "I missed one."
Before Vader could inquire what she meant, Diya, who still had her blaster cocked, turned it on the inquisitor in front of her and shot him three times in point-blank range. Vader outstretched his hand toward her to pulled the blaster away. By the time it had flown into his outstretched hand, Diya had taken out another device. He barely got a warning in the Force before she activated the device, sending an electromagnetic shock through the vicinity that short-circuited his suit and temporarily brought him down to his knees. In the seconds it took for the emergency systems in the suit to bring it back online, the wind around them picked up. By the time Vader got to his feet, a ship was lifting into the air with Diya speeding up the ramp and into the ship.
He reached out with the Force to try to pull the ship back but seeming to predict this, Diya threw a detonator down toward him. It began to explode in midair, a few feet in front of him, forcing Vader to direct his attention to using the Force to contain the explosion and not pulling the ship back.
By the time the detonator had finished expending its energy, Diya's ship was far out the reach of Vader's power, much to his mounting fury. Not at the insolent brat who managed to kill his inquisitor and flee, but at one of only two people presently alive clever enough to know how to incite such rage from him. Only one would try to interfere with his hunting down the remaining Jedi.
"Ahsoka," he growled.
He wanted to go to his ship and comm her immediately, but unfortunately, Imperial duties came higher on the priority list than dealing with his co-conspirator outmaneuvering him. Even interrogating and killing the local officials who no doubt had something to do with the false Jedi lead and the resulting ambush didn't quell his anger. And the first thing he did upon getting on his ship, before even leaving the atmosphere, was used the heavily encrypted comm that was one of a pair to contact Ahsoka.
She answered almost immediately, almost like she'd been waiting for him to contact her. She confirmed as much with her greeting words.
"I was wondering how long it would take you to contact me."
"You set me up," he accused.
She rolled her eyes, "I didn't set you up."
"Your little protégé tried to kill me."
"I heard you formally met Diya," Ahsoka said chirpily with a grin on her face. "You know, if you hadn't become a Sith and obliterated the Order and I hadn't renounced being a Jedi, and she'd been discovered and brought to the temple, I think she would have fit right in with our lineage. You think the Council would have let me train her?"
"Ahsoka."
She rolled her eyes. "She didn't try to kill you. She escaped from you. If she'd been trying to kill you, she would have failed. Rest assured. She's been reprimanded."
"Yet, you sent her here to spring this little trap of yours anyway."
"I didn't even know you'd be there. Whatever rebel faction you ran into, they weren't affiliated with me. Besides, I'm not stupid enough to think that a group of a couple of hundred fighters with some top-grade blasters and a couple of bombs is anywhere near enough to take you out even if I wanted to. If I needed to make it look like you were being set up, I would have warned you. For all that we disagree, I wouldn't do that to you. I wouldn't do that to Luke and Leia." When he didn't let up his dark glower, she sighed and said, "Give me a little credit. I have no intention to betray you."
"So you don't consider sending your little protégé around the galaxy to kill inquisitors a betrayal," Vader snapped.
"You hate the inquisitors."
"They serve a purpose."
"A purpose I don't agree with," said Ahsoka, the set of her lips turned to show how solemn and determined she was. "You and I are never going to agree on what to do about the Jedi. But I figure if you can go around hunting them down with your special task force, I can have a special task force that brings them to safety and gets your inquisitors out the way."
The finality in her tone told Vader he wasn't going to be able to talk her out of anything. She'd set her mind to do this knowing he'd be furious.
"Stooping to murder?" he growled. "Oh, how the supposedly former, mighty Jedi knight has fallen."
"No. I'm giving the inquisitors a chance to stop hunting Jedi and turn that anger on the Emperor instead of their former fellow Jedi," Ahsoka argued. "Diya made the call to skip that part. Her excuse was that you were there."
A pitiful one at that. Based on looks and mannerisms alone, Diya and Ahsoka were definitely related one way or another. But Diya had a steely viciousness to her just looking for an outlet, and with the bare minimum reason, she took it. Ahsoka had the same viciousness when pushed, but her kindness and forgiving nature heavily tempered it. While part of Vader admired it, he had every intention of killing the girl the next time they unwittingly crossed paths.
"So, you stoop to murder unless they decide to join your cause," Vader stated.
"It's not murder. It's defending innocent people from becoming further victims of a genocide," Ahsoka said bluntly, not mincing words about what she thought about his Jedi-hunting activities.
"Some would disagree with you about how innocent the Jedi are. You don't even think they're completely innocent," Vader pointed out.
"They're innocent enough that they don't deserve to be eradicated."
"So you think."
"So I know," Ahsoka said evenly. "Doesn't matter either way. My task force is discreet enough that it won't interfere with our plans for the Empire. Equal partners, remember? As long as I'm not interfering with your part of the plan, this is free game."
Vader didn't immediately reply, caught somewhere between fury and eager anticipation. Fury because partners that they were, Ahsoka still decided through her rebellion to find a way to personally undermine him. Ahsoka was foolish to think that just because she had no qualms about helping him conquer the galaxy that other Jedi wouldn't. When they found out what she was really up to, they would betray her—again.
On the other hand, part of him couldn't help the excitement at the prospect of a good challenge, especially against Ahsoka, who would no doubt come up with creative ways to hinder him and respond to the obstacles he put in her way. He'd be forced for once to do more than just go through the boring motions. It might even be fun.
"Are you sure you really want to do this, Tano?" Vader asked, not even bothering to try to hide his anticipation in the Force as he decided to rise to her challenge.
Ahsoka didn't bother to hide her own anticipation as she smirked, raised an eye marking, and said, "I've already started, milord." Then she added, "I'll let the twins know you said hi."
AN: This chapter literally kicked my ass. I wrote it two months ago and have been tweaking and editing it ever since. I'm still not happy with it. Hence why it's late. But whatever. It is what it is. This is the last time Diya shows up in the story for a very long time. In addition to her communications work, she leads Ahsoka's task force to save the remaining Jedi. Contrary to popular belief, she's not going to be playing cupid between Vader and Ahsoka. She despises Vader. She actually thinks Ahsoka should cut her ties with him and speculates about their relationship just because from the outside, it's exceedingly odd. And she's not the only one who will. Over the course of the story, many are going to speculate in a series of interludes from lesser supporting characters.
Currently, I'm writing the fortieth chapter of this story, and that's only the halfway point. I might have to split this into two stories. Maybe three. I'll have to examine the story for where it naturally kind of breaks off and actually figure out how long this story is going to be.
Anywho, hope you enjoyed. Review please!
