Chapter 23 – Imprisoned
"Ben!"
Having just arrived on the bridge of the Republic flagship NRS Skywalker, Ben was startled when the ship's namesake herself came barreling toward him and enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug.
"Oh, Ben, I was so worried!" his mother said in his ear as Ben struggled to breathe. "When I felt what happened…"
"I'm okay, Mom," Ben wheezed as he patted her back reassuringly. "Please let me go," he added, his cheeks flaming red as he saw dozens of eyes trained on him.
"I felt so horrible about the way I spoke to you the other day," Leia continued on without acknowledging his request. "I shouldn't have said those things, Ben. I'm so sorry."
Ben blinked a few times as his embarrassment faded away in the face of his incredulity at this heartfelt apology. As far as he knew, his mother had never apologized to anyone ever. "It's… it's okay, Mom," he managed to say. "It's alright."
He heard his mother sniffle before finally pulling away from him. Ben felt his ribcage decompress and he took in a deep breath as he watched his mother wipe at her eyes with the back of her sleeve.
"General Skywalker, I assume you have been briefed on the situation?" Zorq asked, startling Ben who had forgotten that he was standing right next to him.
Leia nodded as she reassumed a formal military posture. "I have, Your Excellency," she said, her voice firm once more. "Do you have any idea what weapon the First Order used to destroy Chandrila? Was it another Death Star?"
"We don't know," Zorq said as he began walking down the bridge. He and Leia fell into step as Ben followed a few paces behind them. Soldiers on either side of the bridge stood at attention as they passed. "But whatever it is, we have to destroy it as soon as possible otherwise our cause it futile."
"I agree, Chancellor," Leia said with a nod of her head.
"You should send the fleet to Chandrila to see if we can intercept this superweapon," Zorq suggested. "Then we can –"
"Chancellor Zorq, I will remind you that it is I who is the commander in chief of the Republic's armed forces, not you," Leia interrupted curtly. "I am in charge of all strategic and tactical operations. You do not give orders to me. Is that clear?"
Zorq stopped walking as his mouth fell open. Ben smirked, having been the recipient of comparable verbal reprimands in the past. It was quite refreshing to see someone else bear the brunt of his mother's ire for a change.
"I, um… yes, ma'am," Zorq stammered after glancing over at Ben who had covered his mouth with his hand so as to hide his smirk. "Very clear."
"Good," Leia said as she placed her hands behind her back and resumed walking away. Zorq hesitated for a few moments before following after her toward the broad curved window at the head of the bridge. "Your orders to launch an invasion of Alderaan without sufficient planning were brazen and out of line, Chancellor," she said with a frown. "Fortunately I was made aware of your instructions and had the operation cancelled. I hope we will not have any more hierarchical mishaps in the future."
"No, ma'am," Zorq said at once, wringing his hands awkwardly as he lingered a step or two behind her. Ben smiled subtly in appreciation for his mother's expedient demonstration of superiority. With the Senate gone along with the capital, Zorq's powers were effectually null. Leia had wasted no time in asserting her position. Zorq was technically Chancellor, but make no mistake, Leia Skywalker was the leader of the Republic now. While he sympathized with Zorq, having experienced a comparable fall from grace three years ago when he had been dismissed as committee chair for the CIH, he couldn't deny that he felt more at ease with his mother at the helm. If there was anyone who could perform the impossible, it was her.
"Let me go! Let me go! I have to speak with the General!"
"Shut it, Dameron! You're making a scene."
Startled by this sudden interruption, Ben spun around to see a man being restrained by two officers at the opposite end of the bridge.
"General Skywalker! General Skywalker!"
The man was abruptly silenced when a third officer ran forward and jammed a taser into his ribcage, causing his whole body to stiffen before he fell to the ground.
"What is this?" Leia asked as she marched passed him and over toward the scene of the commotion.
The officers dropped the man to the ground and saluted rigidly. "It's nothing, ma'am," the one on the left said hastily. "Commander Dameron is on suspension, ma'am. He's not supposed to be here."
"Please let me speak!" Dameron said through gritted teeth as he struggled to get back to his feet. "I have a message for you, general."
Leia arched an eyebrow at the man who was hunched over slightly as he rubbed his ribs tenderly where he had been tased. "A message from whom?" she asked him.
"From your daughter," Dameron said.
At this, Ben took a step forward so that he was standing next to his mother. "From Ania?" he asked. "Where is she? Is she alright?"
Dameron glanced up at him and cringed slightly. "I, uh… I don't know," he said haltingly.
"You don't know?" Leia asked ominously. "What happened?"
Quaking in fear for his superior's withering glare, Dameron swallowed hard before elaborating. "She coerced me into taking her to Jakku, ma'am," he said in a high voice. "I didn't want to do it, I swear."
"Jakku?" Ben asked, instantly thinking of Rey. "Why did she want to go there?"
"She wouldn't tell me, sir," Dameron said. "When we arrived, she went into a village to find a man named Lor… Lor…"
"Lor San Tekka?" Ben provided.
Dameron nodded. "I don't know what happened since she didn't let me inside, but she gave me a data chip which supposedly has some kind of map on it."
"Give it to me," Ben ordered at once, extending his hand. Dameron complied, producing a data chip from his pants pocket and handing it over to him. So Ania had succeeded! She had found the map leading to Luke.
"Where is she, Commander?" Leia asked once again. "Where is my daughter?"
Dameron's face blanched as he bowed his head toward the floor. "She told me to take the map to you," he said, his voice muted and difficult for Ben to understand. "The First Order arrived soon after we did, ma'am. I wanted to stay with her, but she insisted that I go. I… I don't know what happened afterward."
"You left her there?" Leia asked in a growl.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, she wouldn't let me –"
"You do not take orders from her, you take orders from me!" Leia bellowed, causing Dameron to flinch. He attempted to take a step away from his irate superior, yet the officers on either side of him grabbed his arms and didn't let him retreat. "You had no right to take her there without my permission and you had no right to leave her alone on that planet to die!"
"I'm sorry, ma'am," Dameron whimpered in a tiny voice.
"That is not good enough!"
"Mom, calm down –" Ben tried to say, but faltered when she turned on him.
"I don't want to hear it from you, Ben!" she screamed, pointing an accusative finger at him. "You are to blame for this as well!" Stunned, Ben's mouth fell open as he stared back at his mother in disbelief. What had happened to that heartfelt apology from five minutes ago? "Officers, cuff this man and take him to the lower decks," she ordered, spinning back toward Dameron. "I want him out of my sight and I never want to see him wearing a Republic uniform ever again."
"Yes, ma'am," the officers said in unison as they saluted once again.
"That's entirely unwarranted!" Ben exclaimed, regaining his courage as he leapt to Dameron's defense.
"I agree," Zorq chimed in. "You can't just be dismissing talented pilots in the middle of a war for trivial offenses."
"This is not a trivial offense!" Leia shot back, redirecting her wrath toward Zorq. "And do not question my authority in front of my troops ever again, Chancellor. My word on this bridge is final, do you understand me?" Zorq and Ben shared a look before nodding vigorously. Vein protruding from her left temple, Leia spared one last glance toward him before turning around once more and marching away down the bridge. "General Dune, instruct Admiral Ackbar to deploy the 7th Fleet to Jakku immediately," she called out. "And prepare a task force of droppers to sortie down to the planet's surface. I want eyes on my daughter within the next twelve hours."
"Yes, General Skywalker," he heard the familiar voice of his mother's chief of staff say.
"And somebody escort Chancellor Zorq off of the bridge," she ordered. "Solely military personnel are allowed here from here on out."
Zorq seethed at Leia's retreating figure for a moment before roughly pushing aside an officer who came up to him. "I can see myself out, thank you very much," he growled before marching away. Ben hurried after the disgruntled Chancellor, eager to get away from his mother's perceptive eye. Glancing up, Zorq saw him fall into step with him but otherwise didn't acknowledge his presence. No doubt he was immeasurably frustrated at the moment.
"Hey Zorq, do you –"
"What, am I just Zorq now?" he snapped, spinning toward him and point a finger at his chest. "Am I no longer the Chancellor?"
"Er –"
"Just because your mother obviously doesn't respect me doesn't mean you don't have to either," he said, razor-sharp teeth bared as he got up in Ben's face.
Refusing to be intimidated, Ben placed his hand on Zorq's Beskar-clad chest and pushed him away gently. "I'm on your side, okay?" he said calmly. "I understand why you're upset, but we all need to calm down right now. Emotions are running high, but even so we can't start fighting amongst ourselves. Nobody on this ship is your enemy, Zorq, including my mother. The only enemy you have is the First Order."
Zorq inclined his chin and gave Ben a contemplative look before nodding. "You're right, I'm sorry," he apologized, placing his hands on his hips and exhaling slowly. "I just feel so… useless."
"Believe me, I understand the feeling," Ben said as he too sighed loudly. "She makes you feel that way sometimes." Zorq nodded and glanced down the hallway when they heard footsteps approaching. "Come on," Ben said in a hushed voice. "We need to go to the lower decks."
"Why?" Zorq asked as he followed after him.
"I need you to do something for me," Ben told him.
Zorq snorted in sardonic amusement. "Did you not get the memo, Skywalker?" he asked him bitterly. "I don't have any authority anymore."
"Of course you do, Zorq!" Ben exclaimed, irked by his friend's defeatism. "You're the Chancellor of the Republic!"
"There is no Republic," Zorq said moodily.
Ben groaned in exasperation as they reached an elevator at the end of the hall. "Would you shut up and listen to what I want?" he asked with greater astringency than he had intended. Shocked, Zorq blinked a few times and didn't offer a retort. "Thank you," Ben said as the elevator door slid open. Stepping inside, Ben pressed the button for the bottom floor before turning back to Zorq. "I need you to pardon that pilot," he told him.
"The pilot? You mean the one who your mother had arrested?" Zorq asked. "I can't do that!"
"Why not?" Ben asked innocently as the lift began to descend.
"I have no jurisdiction!" Zorq said, gesticulating his hands at his sides. "You heard what she said! I have no authority when it comes to the military."
"But he's not in the military anymore," Ben pointed out.
"What are you talking about?"
"He just got kicked out, didn't he?" Ben asked, perplexed by Zorq's incredulity. "My mom said she didn't want to see him in a Republic uniform ever again. Doesn't that mean he's no longer in the military?"
"No, you idiot!" Zorq exclaimed as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. "He's been court-martialed, not fired. That's not how the military works."
"Oh," Ben said, feeling supremely foolish as he stepped off the elevator. "Well that's too bad. I guess I'm going to have to break him out now."
"What!?"
"Any idea where they took him?"
Zorq grabbed Ben by the shoulder and forcefully spun around. "What are you doing, Skywalker?" he asked. "What's so important about this pilot, anyway?"
"I need a pilot," Ben said vaguely.
"Clearly, but why does it have to be this one?"
"Well, he doesn't have much else going on right now, so I figured I'd offer him a job," Ben said nonchalantly, removing Zorq's hand from his shoulder so that he could resume walking away down the corridor. "Oh, there it is!" Ben said, pointing toward a sign. "Prison ward! He must be there, don't you think?"
"You've completely lost your mind," Zorq said, shaking his head as he followed after him. "Your mother is going to kill you."
"Oh, I doubt that," Ben said flippantly.
Taking a turn, Ben found himself walking down a narrow silver hallway. On either side of him were cells with a small glass peephole on the door. Patrolling the hallway was a dark-skinned female soldier wearing a typical cream colored uniform with a red insignia on her shoulder.
"Hey!" the soldier called out. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for a pilot by the name of Dameron," Ben disclosed freely. "Do you know where he might be?"
"Of course I do," the woman said stiffly. "They brought Poe down just five minutes ago. What do you want with him?"
"Just to talk," Ben said blithely as Zorq came to a stop next to him.
"What the hell are you doing?" Zorq asked in a whisper. Ben disregarded him.
"In case you didn't know, this here is Chancellor Zorq," Ben said, gesturing to his disenfranchised companion. "He'd very much like to speak with Commander Dameron as well. We have very important Republic business to discuss with him."
"Do you have authorization from the General for this?" the soldier asked suspiciously.
"Who? You mean my mother? Of course!" Ben said, chuckling nervously and giving Zorq a nudge in the ribs. "Right, Chancellor?"
"Er… yeah," Zorq said awkwardly.
The soldier narrowed her eyes and reached behind her back. "I don't care who you are," she said coolly. "I know for sure that you're not supposed to be here, so I'm going to ask you to leave before I'm forced to tase you."
Ben raised his hands and gave the guard a strained grin. "Hold on there, that's not going to be necessary," he said, eyeing her right hand warily when she produced the taser in question from behind her back. "Because… because you're going to take me to Commander Dameron's cell right now," he intoned, waving his hand in front of the soldier's taut face.
"Excuse me?" she asked.
Ben gulped audibly. That hadn't gone as smoothly as planned. To be fair, his mother had strictly refused to allow him to try Jedi mind tricks on a real person, so perhaps he merely needed more practice. Well, no time like the present!
"You will take me to Commander Dameron's cell," he said, more forcefully this time. "And you will release him into my custody."
"You're insane, Skywalker," Zorq grumbled in his ear.
"I agree," the soldier said. "You're completely crazy if you think that's happening."
"So…you won't do it?" Ben asked, tilting his head.
The soldier gave him an incredulous look before abruptly thrusting out and jamming the taser into his abdomen. His whole body froze as a current of electricity immobilized his limbs. All in all, the sensation wasn't terribly painful, however. It kind of tickled, actually.
"Oh hell!" Zorq exclaimed as he ran away back down the hallway.
Ben collapsed to the ground hard on his back with a loud thud. He felt the soldier lifting his legs and begin to arduously drag him away in the opposite direction from where Zorq had fled.
Things certainly hadn't gone to plan.
"You have a penchant for getting into terrible situations, don't you?"
Ania grit her teeth and didn't respond to her facetious grandfather's comment. She was strapped onto an inclined table in the center of a dark, pentagonal room. Having surrendered her weapon to Ren, she had been taken onto his shuttle and locked in this cell. It had been several hours now, and she was beginning to feel quite lightheaded from dehydration.
"So do you have a plan for getting out of this alive?" Anakin asked her.
"Would you shut it?" Ania said sharply.
"I'm sorry, I thought my presence would be appreciated in your time of need," Anakin said, sounding hurt.
Ania rolled her eyes. "Well do you have anything useful to say?" she asked.
There was a long pause. "Define useful," he said finally.
Just then, the door to the cell opened with a loud clang. The dark room was suddenly flooded with bright light from the hallway, causing Ania to squint as she saw a tenebrous figure walk in.
"Who are you talking to?" Ren asked as the door closed behind him.
"No one," Ania said automatically.
Ren considered her silently for several long moments. Ania looked away to her left, feeling uncomfortable with this level of scrutiny. Finally, Ren took a couple steps toward her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Ren was holding her lightsaber in his left hand.
"How did you come by this blade?" he asked her, his modulated voice sounding especially severe. Ania remained defiantly silent, prompting Ren to growl in frustration. "This weapon belongs to me."
"No it doesn't," Ania snapped, unable to stop herself. "It's mine."
Ren took another step toward her so that they were no more than a foot apart from one another. "Allow me to show you this," he said. Curious, Ania glanced down as Ren reached to his belt and produced a second lightsaber. As Ren raised it toward the single light in the room which was positioned directly over Ania's head, she was able to get a good look at the hilt.
"That… that's mine," she said, utterly bewildered. The two hilts in Ren's hands were completely identical. "Where did you get that?"
"From my master," Ren said.
"Your master?" Ania repeated. "Who?"
Ren set the identical hilts aside on a table to Ania's left. Returning his attention to her, he peered down at her for a few moments before finally speaking. "You know who," he said.
"Sidious," Ania snarled.
Ren nodded. "My master knows everything about you, Ania Skywalker," she said, pronouncing her name with a fricative hiss. Ania remained silent, her jaw clenched angrily as she stared back at her captor. "He once had great aspirations for you. He once thought that you would be the one to bear my title as Master of the Knights of Ren."
"It's a shame I wasn't interested," Ania said snidely.
"It is," Ren agreed as he began pacing around her, his heavy footsteps echoing softly in the room. "He learned quite quickly that you would be a failure," he said from behind her. "You were protected from him, you see. The blood of Vader shields you."
"It's Skywalker's blood, not Vader's," Ania retorted through gritted teeth. "The power of the light is greater than that of the dark, Ren."
"Is that so?" Ren asked as he returned to Ania's field of view. "Is that what your master taught you? Is that what Darth Vitrius wants you to think?"
Ania inclined her chin in defiance. "Yes," she said proudly.
Ren was silent for a few seconds before he resumed pacing once more, his hands rested behind his back as he slowly walked in front of her. "Snoke abandoned you on Tatooine the moment he found out that your mind was impervious to him," he said, resuming his story. Ania inhaled sharply, at once sensing the truth of these words. They had all suspected that Snoke had been the one to steal her from her mother twenty-one years ago, but this now confirmed it. "For years, Snoke sought to find a suitable host for the Sith, but he found no one. He became desperate. It seemed as if Sidious' death would be permanent after all."
"His death is permanent," Ania insisted. "My mother killed Sidious and she will kill him again!"
"Vitrius is weak compared to the full power of the Sith," Ren shot back. "When my master is reborn, he will destroy the last vestiges of Vader's blood and restore order to the galaxy!" Ania wanted to deny Ren, but she stopped herself before she could say something. There was no point in arguing with this maniac. She might as well learn all she could from him since he seemed so willing to talk. "The revival of the Sith would have been rendered impossible were it not for the exploits of one man," Ren continued, having completed a second revolution around her by now.
"Who?" Ania asked curiously.
Ren came to a stop directly in front of her. "Your father," he said, the bitterness conveyed in spite of the mask. "Han Solo."
Ania instinctively tensed up at the mention of her father. "He… he would never –"
"Snoke intercepted a message sent from Solo to Vitrius' brother," Ren interrupted. "He said that he had discovered a girl on Jakku who's midichlorian levels rivaled that of Vitrius herself. Certain that this was the host he needed, Snoke hurried back to Tatooine to collect you. He knew that you were the tool he needed in order to acquire this girl and bring her to Sidious."
"I… I didn't –"
"You murdered Han Solo and left that girl all alone!" Ren shouted. "You killed your own father so that that girl couldn't have him as her own."
Ania's lower chin began to tremble as the trenchant accusations bit at her core. "I d-didn't mean to," she stammered. "I didn't know –"
Ania ceased talking abruptly when Ren reached to his mask and removed it, the sophisticated device unfurling at the mouth grill with a hiss as he did this. Setting the mask down by the two lightsabers on the table, Ren turned back to look at her. Ania gasped when she saw those furious eyes staring back at her.
"Rey!" she said in a stunned whisper. The girl standing before her was taller and more mature than the one she recognized from Ben's office three years ago, but her countenance was unmistakable.
"I am the heir of Sidious," Rey proclaimed proudly as she glowered down at her. "And you, as the heir of Vitrius, are therefore my enemy."
Ania tried to speak, but Rey cut her off when she thrusted her fist directly into Ania's nose. The back of Ania's skull crashed into the back of the table and she heard a grotesque cracking sound as blood poured out her nose. Unable to reach up since her arms were strapped to her sides, Ania merely sagged her head forward and allowed the blood the dribble down her chin and onto her chest.
"You sicken me, Skywalker," she heard Rey's vitriolic voice say from over her. "You deserve to suffer as much as I suffered."
"Rey, I… I –"
Once again, Ania was cut short when she saw a flash of blue and she was suddenly engulfed in an all-too-familiar agony. Screaming in pain, Ania writhed against her restraints as the lightning wracked her body. She pleaded incoherently for what felt like hours as Rey refused to relent. The pain unbearable, Ania finally blacked out.
Author's Note: A little insight to my process here. I typically write about half the story before I post even the first chapter online. I am more or less done with this story now, I'm just wrapping up the final chapter or two. Since this story hasn't garnered much readership (as is the nature of sequels, I suppose) I've been considering just posting the entire story in one go. For those of you who are reading, could you kindly provide me with your opinion on this? Would you rather I keep posting twice a week or would you rather I just go ahead and post the whole thing when it's done? Fair warning, there's about 80k words and 18 chapters still to go.
On a side note, I believe it is time for some shameless self-promotion! I'm working on another story called Hunter which you should check out if you enjoy my writing. I'm having so much fun writing it and I honestly think it might be my best work to date.