I'm still alive! None of my fics are abandoned, but with college and some health struggles, I haven't been able to work on these as much lately. Nevertheless, I will keep plugging away. It may be awhile between updates, but they will still keep coming! Just slowly.
A grating laugh broke into Ferus's haze of pain. He slowly pulled himself out of unconsciousness.
He was lying face down on a grating. He tried to push himself up, but pain stabbed through his shoulder and metal dug into his wrists.
Booming Huttese filled the room. After staking out the palace for a couple weeks, Ferus had no problem figuring out where he was.
"I can't understand you, Jabba," he said. Currently, he couldn't see the rancor Jabba liked to feed people to, but that didn't mean anything. Bound, in pain, and surrounded by guards, his best bet was to make Jabba think he'd get more profit holding him for ransom than he would get enjoyment in killing him.
"His excellency says that he is shocked that the Jedi would dare to invade his domain. How can you explain this outrage?" a protocol droid said.
Ferus swallowed. Negotiating with a giant slug while face-down on the floor was not his favorite thing to do, but here he was. "I was tracking a wanted criminal. Tatooine is still nominally part of the Galactic Republic, so the Jedi do have jurisdiction here, Jabba."
Jabba spoke again. The protocol droid translated. "The Mighty Jabba protests that statement vehemently. You will certainly pay for your crimes."
"That would be a mistake, Jabba," Ferus warned. "My master knows I was in Jenna Zan Arbor's lab. She knows everything I know about my mission so far. She'll know what happened to me. Her husband is Obi-Wan Kenobi, war hero, who's close to the chancellor and to the senator of Naboo. When they find out you are responsible for the death of a Jedi knight pursuing a known criminal, the Republic will not tolerate it. Or would you like to explain your connection to Jenna Zan Arbor in the Galactic courts?"
There was a long pause. Pain swirled through Ferus. He struggled to stay awake.
Jabba grumbled in Huttese.
"The mighty Jabba was unaware you were a close friend of one of the Jedi instrumental in saving the life of his beloved son. He is sorry that some of his renegade guards injured you and hopes you will not hold the mistakes of people that used to work for him seriously. The mighty Jabba wishes to remind you that he had nothing to do with Jenna Zan Arbor, but that some of his underlings will be investigated for their role in this heinous act by the notorious criminal Jenna Zan Arbor. The mighty Jabba also wishes you success in rescuing Tatooine's finest son, the Jedi who saved his son, Anakin Skywalker."
A chill ran through Ferus's blood. This slug claimed gratitude towards Anakin and was helping Sidious abuse him? He popped his stun cuffs with the Force and painfully climbed to his feet. Forget his life. He had to do something about this. He stumbled forward until he wasn't standing on the grate. "If you truly care about Tatooine's finest son, Anakin Skywalker, you will help find Palpatine and bring him to justice. If that horrible man is not stopped, Anakin Skywalker will be destroyed, and if my suspicions are right, you will be partially responsible because of your endorsement of Jenna Zan Arbor and her research. Do you know what her serum can make a man with that kind of power into? The actions of a Sith are death and destruction, anger and vengeance, murder and hatred. That's what Palpatine will turn Anakin into if he gets his hands on that serum. And you think Anakin will look favorably on this planet, on you, if Palpatine succeeds in his mission? He won't. His memories of this planet are of anguish and pain because of the misery he's suffered under slavery. If Palpatine succeeds, Anakin will come for you. He will come for every one of you and you won't be able to stop him, and you won't be able to reason with him, because with that serum, Palpatine will have driven him insane. If you endorse that, if you encourage that, you are only inviting your own destruction."
Ferus struggled to stay on his feet as Jabba rumbled his reply. He could pass out after he convinced Jabba to help Anakin.
"The mighty Jabba declares you have made a great point and has decided he will help you find Anakin Skywalker. Unfortunately, Jenna Zan Arbor and her memory-erasing serum have already left the system to head to Palpatine. The mighty Jabba is infuriated that Zan Arbor is trying to cut him out of rightfully-earned profits from the memory serum and help Palpatine destroy Tatooine and hopes the Jedi will be able to help him take vengeance."
Ferus groaned aloud as he passed out.
Rex scanned his com for the hundredth time that day. Ever since the news of General Skywalker's abduction had broken, his com had been blowing up with messages. Half of the 501st and a third of the 212th had made their way to Coruscant to ask him how to deploy to help find the general. Many of the rest were scouring the galaxy for any word of him.
He had received multiple false leads that he'd been able to identify immediately as false and some false leads he'd wound up sending Jedi to investigate. It was hard not to be discouraged by every negative report.
"Anything?" General Kenobi asked from the chair where he was sprawled in the comms center in the Jedi Temple they had taken over as a command center for the search for General Skywalker.
Rex shook his head. "Not yet." He pulled up the next message.
Echo appeared in small holographic form, the Bad Batch hovering behind him. "Hey, Rex. We were on an extended mission for CorSec, but just got your message. On our way to Coruscant now. If there's any way we can help the general or his family, just let us know. We're here to help. See you soon."
"Echo and the Bad Batch are on their way," Rex said, though General Kenobi had likely already heard.
"I'll put them on the list." General Kenobi sat up and began typing. "At this rate, we'll have the whole 501st and 212th looking for him."
"I just hope it's enough," Rex said. When he'd taken the job as a Temple guard, it had been with the understanding that he'd be able to protect General Skywalker and the little ones and the other Jedi in their home. But that demagolka Palpatine and the bounty hunters he'd recruited had been able to slip by him and steal his general. Even though Skywalker technically wasn't his general anymore and Rex wasn't his captain, he still felt as if he'd utterly failed his commanding officer. More than that, he'd failed his brother. And he wouldn't rest until he made up for it by getting his general back.
Rex turned to the Temple comm and activated the next message waiting.
The pirate Hondo Ohnaka appeared, a lizard on his shoulders. "Good evening, Jedi! Such a terrible thing I heard on the news a couple weeks ago. So sorry for your loss. However! I have the offer for a deal I believe might help you! I have no desire to have that dirty Sith running around the galaxy anymore. Bad for business. Unfortunately, I have no idea where that Skywalker is. But! I did find something you can use to help capture the former chancellor Palpatine. They're called ysalamiri. I've got this little pet on my shoulders now. They repel the Force. Might come in handy against that dirty Sith, eh? Contact me at this number and we can work out the business details." The hologram deactivated.
"General!" Rex straightened.
Kenobi leaned forward. "I heard, Rex. I'll call him back. If this is true, it'll do wonders for us."
Anakin didn't know it was possible to be this tired.
The endless cycle of torture, healing in bacta, and fighting Sith compulsions had ended none too soon. Anakin's very soul was tired. Too tired to muster a defense against any more Sith compulsions, should Palpatine choose to attempt them again.
For some reason, he had been taken out of the bacta tank, but wasn't back in his cell with the mask on. Instead, he was still in the dubiously-named medbay, which was dark like everything else in this horrid place, strapped down flat on a table, sporting only one arm and a lovely IV. Palpatine wasn't in the room with him. He would have rejoiced at this wonderful opportunity if he had the strength to move. Even staying awake was an effort. But, even with his utter exhaustion, he could feel in the Force something was wrong. Besides the whole being-captured-and-tortured-by-a-Sith-Lord wrongness.
Anakin didn't want to be defenseless when Palpatine tried his next trick.
The door to the medbay hissed open. Palpatine strolled in, cackling.
"Good evening, young Skywalker."
"Hello," Anakin allowed, squinting suspiciously. Someone was walking in behind him, someone he knew. Was that… "Jenna Zan Arbor?"
"Skywalker." Zan Arbor placed a case on a table near his head and opened it. "You're looking better than ever."
Anakin swallowed down the fear rising in him. If she was here, whatever Palpatine's next move was couldn't be good. "Same to you. I've missed seeing your ugly face around."
Zan Arbor snorted. She removed a syringe from the case and shot a bit of the substance in it into the air. "Well, lucky for you, you won't remember seeing my hideous face anywhere very soon." She turned to Palpatine. "Which memories do you want gone?"
No. No. Anakin tried to tug at his restraints, but all he managed to do was lift his head. "Don't you dare. Leave my memories alone. Leave them be!"
"Every memory of our time spent together here," Palpatine said. "Take away every memory of his friends, his family." He almost spat the word. "No—wait. Let him remember his mother. But not that she was bought from slavery. And let him remember her death."
Anakin prepared himself to shout again, but his breath left him in a huff. He needed to save his strength. Padmé, Luke, Leia, Ben, Shmi, Jinn, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Owen and Beru, the Jedi… He was going to lose them all. He had to gather his strength. Maybe, somehow, he could resist them. Hold onto at least some of his memories as they tried to strip them away.
"Take away his memories of everyone and everything else except for me. But erase his memories of me after the Invisible Hand."
"All right, got it." Jenna Zan Arbor disappeared beyond his field of vision. Two slim, feminine hands pulled a breath mask over his nose and mouth. "Sweet dreams, Skywalker."
No. He wouldn't be awake to hold onto his memories. He was going to lose everything, and he wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. "No, don't, please, don't do this, let me have my memories, don't take them away, please… Palpatine… don't… do it… please…" Anakin's eyelids drooped and fell, everything fading away.
Notes:Next, Anakin wakes up very confused.