Chapter 12: Visions of a Dark Future
Location: The Great Pyramid - Interrogation Room A
Anakin Skywalker was well and truly trapped.
The plan, if he could even call it that anymore, had been ruined the moment the Zygerians took him. They were furious over Anakin's involvement in the Queen's death, and it seemed that they had believed Dooku and the Prime Minister's account of her death. After a very thorough search, they had taken his lightsaber and discovered his magnacuffs were unrestrained, seeing that it was a trap all along.
He knew he had to warn Obi-Wan, and get his lightsaber back too, but those were both things that couldn't happen at that moment. He was a little tied up, literally.
They had strapped him to an interrogation device while a torture droid hovered dangerously close to his head. He could even see his lightsaber on the table, but couldn't do anything about it with the Zygerian guards nearby.
In the distance, he thought he could faintly make out the sounds of explosions. Sounds like Obi-Wan had started the fun without him. He took just a small bit of solace in the fact that if the explosions continued, at least his friend and master was still alive.
Anakin was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of the doors hissing open and a nasty looking Zygerian entering the room.
"Skywalker." the torturer sneered. "When I heard that you had been captured, I jumped at the chance to be the one to torture you. Your actions cost me several slaves at the auction houses that day."
"I'm sure the Republic will give you a refund if you ask." Anakin quipped back. "If you let me go, I'll make sure to speak up for you."
A blow to his stomach by a guard shut him up quickly. Though he was shackled, he still hunched over as much as he could to stop the pain.
"That's just the opening course." the Zygerian chuckled. "The more you talk back, the more I have my guards inflict pain."
He motioned for the torture droid to move forward and Anakin could see that its needle was dripping with a clear fluid.
"Ah, I see you've noticed my truth serum." the torturer said, motioning towards the needle. "It's powerful stuff, and will have you singing like a bird by the time it's done. My superiors want to know what happened with the Queen, but I honestly don't care. All I want to see is you screaming in pain and out of your tiny little mind."
The needle felt strikingly cold when it entered his skin just below the neck. The solution was even colder and made him feel disoriented. It almost felt like someone else was in the pilot's seat of his body and he was a helpless passenger along for the ride.
"Can you hear me, Skywalker?" the Zygerian asked. "Is it working?"
"I think so." Anakin replied. "I have a bad feeling about this."
"I'm sure you do." the torturer chuckled. "Let us begin."
Location: The Great Pyramid - Main Hallway of Level 5
"I'll give you this, Kenobi." Hondo roared. "You know how to have a good time!"
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hondo Ohnaka stood back to back as they cut their way through the heart of the Great Pyramid. Most of Hondo's pirates had long since fallen to the onslaught, and the ones that hadn't had long since fled for areas less occupied by conflict.
"As much as I'm thrilled you're enjoying this, Hondo, we can't keep this up forever!" Obi-Wan shouted back, deflecting blaster bolts the entire time he spoke. They Zygerians were getting closer and closer, and Obi-Wan saw that there were guards with vibropikes and electro-whips were coming down the hallway. They would occupy his lightsaber for a longer period of time, and he worried that he wouldn't be able to keep on deflecting all the bolts were aimed at Hondo and himself.
"Ah, you are right Kenobi. I agree that this current location is no longer profitable for the time being." Hondo agreed, both of his blaster pistols firing as fast as he could pull the trigger.
"Alright then, hold on!" Obi-Wan shouted as he dropped to the ground and traced circles in the floor with his lightsaber. A hole wide enough for a man (or Weequay) to squeeze through soon appeared and Hondo jumped down followed by Obi-Wan shortly thereafter.
"Floor 6." Obi-Wan said, tracing a finger over a holomap embedded in the hallway wall. "This way, Hondo, I have an idea."
"This idea had better involve getting us a ship!" Hondo snapped, back, firing his blasters into the hole they just dropped from.
"As a matter of fact, it does." Obi-Wan replied. "From a certain point of view."
It turned out that Obi-Wan's plan had them fighting their way into the communication room that resided on that level. Most of the guards and soldiers were already out flushing the pirates from their hiding places, so resistance was light and Hondo made short work of them.
"Calling your clone troopers to this fight?" Hondo asked, visibly relieved for the incoming reinforcements. "I never thought I would say this, but I would be glad to see authority and the Republic right around now."
"Sadly, that can't happen right now." Obi-Wan said with more than a hint of remorse. "The clones cannot be counted on to support the Jedi, and the Zygerians have blocked all long range communications. Nobody from the Inner Rim can be counted on to help us. We must look elsewhere for our aid."
"Oh? Like where, Kenobi?" Hondo scoffed. "You seem to be asking for help from all sorts of friends that seem none too eager to be coming to your aide. Don't tell me I am the last true friend you have! I'm honored, but I'm also angry that you put all of your eggs in the basket from Hondo Ohnaka!"
"Theatrics have their place, Hondo, and that place isn't here." Obi-Wan replied as he hurriedly pushed buttons. "I do in fact have a plan, let's just hope this one works."
"Trusting in the Force again?" came Hondo's sarcastic reply.
"Yes." Obi-Wan answered, "but more immediately, in other people."
A flashing blue light in the center holoconsole indicated that they were live. Obi-Wan cleared his throat and pressed a TRANSMIT ALL button.
"This is Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi calling from the Great Pyramid of Zygeria." he said, far more calmly than Hondo could have managed in the situation.
"I am calling because I need your help. I am trapped aboard their craft in an attempt to rid the galaxy of this menace to society. The Zygerians think they have us outnumbered. They think that good people will do nothing because this isn't their business. What happens in the far corner of the galaxy is of little concern to them."
"Well I think they're wrong. I believe that there are still good people out there who will do the right thing because they can. Therefore I am calling upon all friends of the Jedi, friends of the Republic, and friends of Democracy to come to Zygeria and help us end a slaver empire before it even has a chance to rise. I shall be here, fighting until the very end. I hope that you will join me. I believe that you will."
"May the Force be with you all."
There was a silence in the room for a brief moment after the transmission ended. A small moment of respite before a pounding began on the door followed by sparks as the Zygerians started cutting their way through. Once more, Obi-Wan and Hondo found themselves back to back ready to face down their enemies.
"A good speech." Hondo said. "I would have joined up, if I were not already here. Well, that and my love of money more than anything else in the world. Still, a good speech, if you are into that sort of thing."
"Oh I am indeed Hondo." Obi-Wan replied with a grin. "Now let us see if anyone else is."
Location: tͣᶰhͣᵏeͥᶰrʷeͣᵏ ͤisͧᵖ ʸnͦoͧ ͬeᶠmͬoͥtͤᶰiͩˢonͣ ͬtͤheͥᶰreͩ ͣᶰiᵍsͤ ͬpeͣᶰaͣᵏcͥᶰe ͭtͪhͤʸeᶰrͤeͤ ͩiʸsͦ ͧnᵖoˡ ͤiͣˢgͤnˢoᶰrͣᵖanͦcͧeͭ tͦᶠheͥrͭe ͣᶰiͣᵏsͥᶰ ᵖkˡnͤoͣˢwͤlʷeͣᵏgͤeᵘᵖ
"I'll ask once again, why did you kill our Queen?"
"I… didn't kill your Queen." Anakin panted. "It was Dooku. He pinned it on me, that's all."
His head was swimming. He didn't even know where he was anymore. Anakin knew that Obi-Wan factored into this somehow, but he didn't remember anymore. Was Hondo here? No, there was a Zygerian here. He seemed to be torturing Anakin, but he couldn't remember why.
"That answer again." the Zygerian said with a savage grin. "Ah well, perhaps you need more of my concoction to make you spill the truth."
"Are you sure that's wise, doctor?" a disembodied voice asked from behind Anakin. "His mind is in danger of snapping as we speak."
"Even then, that gives us valuable information." this supposed Doctor replied. "Look at how strong he is. This shall give me excellent data to prove how much a person can take before their mind snaps."
"I… I'm going to kill all of you." Anakin said.
"Oh ho, are you now?" Doctor chuckled, leaning down to where he was eye level with Anakin who saw one of his eyes turn red, grow legs, and crawl out of its socket. "Tell me, young Jedi, how are you going to kill us all?"
"Well I'm going to get out of my bonds, and use the droid to stab you full of that fluid." Anakin said as Doctor kept laughing while he refilled the droid's syringe. "Then I'll slash my way out of here and link up with my master. Then we'll get to the engine room of this place and blow it up. Then I'll get on a ship and fly away to leave you all behind to die with your pyramid."
"Fascinating… fascinating. The subject seems to be having some vivid hallucinations or at least daydreams about their fantasies." Doctor mused to himself. "But you're tied to that chair. Tell me, Skywalker, how are you going to get out of that?"
Anakin couldn't lie, so he decided to tell the truth.
"You know my lightsaber?"
"... yes?"
"Well I'm using the Force to move it."
A hurried gasp was all the Zygerian was able to let out before Anakin was upon him. A flash of blue light signaled that Anakin had broken free and true to his word, shoved the droid and the syringe full of truth serum into the torturer's chest. The Zygerian was a drooling mess on the floor within seconds. The rest of the attendants followed suit as Anakan was a dazed and confused blur of destruction. Though conscious thought was beyond him now, years of training and instincts were taking over.
"Engine room… Engine room…" he muttered to himself, running down hallway after hallway that filled with murky mists and haunted visions.
"Ani, you look lost." his mother told him. "You should find Obi-Wan and get out of here."
"She's right you know." said the bantha she was riding. "He'll know what to do."
"Don't listen to them!" cried his podracer. "What you really need is your ligthsaber."
"I don't trust you." Anakin told his childhood project. "You spelled lightsaber wrong."
"Then don't trust it!" R2-D2 shouted. "And get it together, you have a plan to salvage."
"Quiet, all of you!" Anakin shouted, waving away the apparitions that vanished into the mist that also disappeared mysteriously.
A room off to his left was, for lack of a better term, singing to him. It was a song unlike any that he had ever heard before. It was deep, dark, and strangely enticing. When Anakin entered the room, it seemed like a regular office for some sort of high ranking official within the pyramid. The singing was coming from within the walls, and Anakin couldn't seem to think of anything else besides finding its source.
Two quick strokes of his lightsaber later, and the 'X' that the strokes formed caused the fake wall and the vault door behind it to fall at the Jedi's feet. The singing grew louder and louder as Anakin moved closer and almost drowned out all other noises as he reached his hand in and drew out the source.
It was a pyramid, glowing red and pulsing to the beat of the wordless song that seemed to vibrate within Anakin's very being. The dark side was rolling off it in curtains of energy, and seemed to be what was drawing him towards it in the first place.
A Sith holocron. Even in his delusional state, Anakin knew that this was. He had even considered using one to cure Padme before Ahsoka had brought him to his senses and made him realize just how stupid of an idea that was.
"What are you doing here?" he asked it, turning it over in his hands as he wondered how the Zygerians had gotten their hands on such an object. Sith holocrons were rare items indeed, and most were safely locked away in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. He needed to get this back there, and quickly. But first, he would discover what exactly this holocron did.
A simple nudge in the force was all it took for the holocron to vibrate slightly and open at its very top. There was a single second of peace, a small hesitation in the Force before thick, acrid clouds of dark smoke rushed out at high speeds, enveloping Anakin and forcing him to cough and swat in a vain attempt to push it away.
As soon as the smoke had appeared however, it vanished, leaving a dark, foreboding atmosphere in its place while leaving Anakin confused and slumped over on the ground.
Slowly rising to his feet and collecting his bearings, Anakin suddenly realized that he no longer felt alone. He rushed out into the hallway, ready to face whatever foe awaited him, only to find that it had become significantly darker, with Anakin unable to see more than a few feet in front of him.
The hairs on the back of his neck started to stand up, and somehow he just knew that whatever was in that holocron was waiting for him behind his back.
"Who are you?" he called out to the darkness, receiving only silence as his answer.
"Show yourself!" he cried, igniting his lightsaber as he issued forth a challenge.
That finally got the attention of whatever lay in the darkness. A red lightsaber shone forth from the gloom, revealing the outline of its wielder.
The helmet they wore seemed to be carved to outline the skull of the person beneath it while the top was a raised ridge that eventually merged back into the durasteel of the helmet itself. The bulbous optical lenses glared at him, and though Anakin could not discern the person inside, he could sense their rage.
He was tall, very tall, and the mechanical suit that he wore seemed to add to the height and intimidation, to say nothing of the flowing black armorweave cape that billowed ever so slightly behind him. In the center of his chest, there lay a control panel that seemed to regulate whatever kind of suit this was.
But by far, the most iconic feature was the eerie, mechanical, regulated breathing that filled Anakin with tremendous amounts of dread.
KHOOOOH PUUUHRR
KHOOOOH PUUUHRR
"There's something… wrong about you." Anakin said, backing away slowly, his lightsaber held up to prevent a sudden attack.
He tried to peer into the Force to see if he could find out who or what this person was, but all he felt was a growing sense of unease.
"I… I know you somehow." he said at last, his face growing more and more pale with each passing second.
"Yes, you do." the figure said, through a harsh mechanical modulator, advancing slowly, its lightsaber clutched firmly in their right hand.
"Search your feelings, you know what you feel is true."
"All I feel is… is... Me?" no, it couldn't be true. It was impossible. And yet…
"I am Vader." the figure said, "but I am also you."
KHOOOOH PUUUHRR
KHOOOOH PUUUHRR
"Gaze upon your destiny, Anakin Skywalker. Look upon me and despair."
Location: The Great Pyramid - Flight Control Tower
Obi-Wan and Hondo had been hard pressed to catch a breath since their plan went awry on the flight deck. Though they had been able to catch brief moments of rest in the time that they had been on the pyramid, none of those moments brought them any relief.
Though Obi-Wan had tried, he couldn't still his mind.
The chaos of their escape was still all around them. The dying embers of the life force Hondo's pirates still possessed were flickering and their last breaths screamed out to Obi-Wan through the Force. Though his companion was putting on a brave face, Hondo's worry was screaming out like a klaxon. And as for Anakin, all that Obi-Wan could sense of his friend and former Padawan was that there was an oppressive darkness upon him.
Death had been his companion before, but Obi-Wan had never felt closer than he did at that moment.
"I must say, Kenobi." Hondo said, leaning against the wall to catch his breath as he shot at the door controls to make sure their enemies could not open them. "You certainly know how to stay one step ahead. You would have made an excellent pirate. Under my training, of course."
"I don't think I would have been as apt of a pupil as you would have wanted." Obi-Wan replied with a small grin. "Much too honest for all of that."
"Ah, everyone says they're honest until they're in front of a pile of credits!" Hondo chuckled. "You'll be changing your tune soon enough."
Obi-Wan doubted he would get a chance to make a tune at all. They had made their way towards the flight control tower for the landing deck they had arrived on, but it was one of the last places they could find safety. He saw troops running across the landing platform towards the base of the tower he and Hondo were in. Doubtless there were soldiers at the bottom of the tower at that very moment trying to cut their way in.
A flashing light on the command console indicated that their Zygerian pursuers were wishing to hail them. No doubt for a small chat before killing them all.
"Kenobi, and whatever pirate scum you are with." came a harsh voice. "This is your end."
"Pirate scum?!" Hondo exclaimed with an indignant cry. "I am no such thing! A pirate, brigand, scoundrel, all of those things I am indeed. But scum? Oh they have done it now, Kenobi. Now they have gone too far."
Obi-Wan just shot him a look that told him to be quiet. He was glad that his friend had gotten his spirit back, but this wasn't the best time to be antagonizing their pursuers.
"Perhaps we can settle this in the old Zygerian tradition?" Obi-Wan asked ruefully. "Single combat to decide my freedom."
"You have proven your disloyalty once when you feigned your surrender." the Zygerrian replied while his soldiers laughed behind him. "The only thing I shall give you is a slow death!"
The flashing light on the console ended and Obi-Wan shared what he thought might be one last look at a friend before the end.
He was interrupted from his musings by the comlight blinking again.
"Have you reconsidered my request?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Well General, I can really reconsider that request if you want me to, but I don't think everyone that came with me will do the same."
It was a voice that he had heard thousands of times from millions of mouths. The new speaker was a clone, but his air of familiarity with Obi-Wan made him think that this was one clone in particular.
"Cody?"
"At the ready, General. And I'm not alone."
As Obi-Wan and Hondo looked out the window, two Venator-class capital ships were descending from the clouds onto the platform. Alongside them, Mon Calamari battleships, Wookiee cruisers, and a wide variety of ships from all sorts of people Obi-Wan and Anakin had helped in this corner of the galaxy. All had come to give aid to the ones that had given it to them before.
"Are… are you well, Cody?" Obi-Wan asked apprehensively. He was glad Cody had come to his aid, but the memories of being blasted from the sky on Cody's orders was still fresh in his mind, and the tenacity with which the clone had spoken when trying to search for Obi-Wan's body worried him.
"This is Admiral Yularen, General Kenobi." said the admiral with his crisp, Core Worlds accent. "Something was influencing these clones beyond their control. They appear to have shaken it off, and they are eager to make amends."
"This is Captain Ackbar of the Mon Calamari Navy." came a Mon Calan voice. "The Jedi freed my home planet and rescued our king. I will gladly fight for them!"
A Wookee's fearsome roar was next, and Obi-Wan couldn't help but smile.
"I appreciate the gratitude, Chieftain Tarfful, but I am the one who should be thanking all of you." he said, unable to stop the smile from staying on his face. "My friend and I are trapped in the flight control tower. I'm sending you the schematics for this pyramid right now. Avoid the gun batteries, and meet us at the coordinates I'm uploading. Anakin is missing and we need to find him!"
"Coordinates? What are you talking about?" Hondo asked, a cocky grin trying to hide his nervousness. "We are safe here. Have your new friends come swoop by and take me up to that safely distant cruiser!"
"There are slaves on this pyramid, Hondo." Obi-Wan said. "We need to find their control room and rescue these poor creatures. The soldiers are going to blow this place up, and I won't condemn those poor slaves to death because I am tired."
"Good for you, have them send one of your fancy gunships to pick me up I'm staying."
"Hondo, this is really more of a two person job."
"Save it, Kenobi. There is nothing you can say that will convince me."
"We might run by the treasury on the way there."
The change in the Weequay's attitude was immediate. In a flash, he was by Obi-Wan's side, arm around his shoulders with a chuckle on his lips.
"My friend, what are you waiting for!" Hondo said, pointing to the control panel on the door that he himself had shot to prevent the Zygerians from entering.
"It looks like you have some cutting to do!"
Location: tͩhͦᶰeͭrˡeͥˢ ͭiͤᶰs ͭnͦo ͪpͥaͫssͣᶰiͣᵏoͥᶰnʸ ͦtͧheͣrͬeͤ ˢiͭsͬ ͦᶰsᵍeͤrͬenͭiͪtͣᶰy ͭtͪhͥˢeʸrͦeͧ iͣsͬ ͤnoͭ ͦcᵇhͬaͥᶰoᵍsᵇ ͣˡtͣᶰhͨeͤreͭ ͦisͭ ͪhͤaᶠrͦmͬoͨnͤy
"This is some Sith trick!" Anakin shouted as he and Vader clashed blades once again. "It has to be!"
"Anakin Skywalker no longer exists." Vader retorted, each of his blows felt like a mountain falling upon Anakin's arms.
"He was weak, and I killed him. You would be wise to do the same."
"No. Nonononono NOOOOOOOO!"
Every single trick that Anakin tried was countered. No matter how fast Anakin moved, Vader was there to meet his blade. The hallways around them were alight with sparks as their lightsaber strokes were sent careening into the durasteel that could not take much more of their contest.
A feint there, a dodge here, Anakin was clearly outmatched. It was obvious that despite the heavy machinery, this Vader was a better swordsman than Anakin, something that he had not felt since that fateful day on Geonosis when Count Dooku had shown him he still had much to learn. Vader was power incarnate, each strike from his lightsaber was a blow aimed with lethal intention and backed by a power that only harnessed rage could bring. Every single time that their blades clashed, it seemed as though the entire pyramid shook from the force of Vader's blows.
It was only when he tried using the Force against this new enemy that he realized how true his realization was.
All Jedi are equipped with an extra 'Force sight' that allows them to channel the energy from all living things to see how things truly were. It could show them exactly where to aim a blaster to strike true, or reveal the inner feelings of a person. Anakin had decided to use it to see if he could find a weakness by getting a glimpse of Vader's true self.
Rage, suffering, despair, all of these emotions washed over Anakin as the black armored figure before him transformed into a mass of writhing reddish black tentacles of pure dark side energy.
The tentacles coalesced into a human torso and head with maliciously glowing yellow eyes, but the limbs remained a pure white light that didn't seem to Anakin to be filled with any sort of kindness or hope. They were merely placeholders, an absence of Vader that simultaneously made him appear broken and much more dangerous that he would have been if he looked whole.
As soon as he looked, Anakin withdrew from his Force sight with a scream and tried to push Vader away with the Force. The dark figure barely moved. His power was tremendous, far more focused than Anakin's was and it was backed up by an incredible rage that seemed to give Vader no end to the limits of his power.
With a contempt usually reserved for errant children, Vader blunted Anakin's attack with the Force and clenched his fist in front of him. Anakin felt his throat begin to tighten as he was lifted up in the air as if he weighed nothing. Only a desperate Force push of some debris laying nearby allowed him to escape, distracting Vader just long enough for him to break free.
"The Dark Side of the Force will soon welcome you." Vader intoned as he advanced towards the Jedi, his mechanical breathing never faltering in it's rhythm. "It is your destiny. Our destiny."
That was all Anakin could take. Grunting in defiance, he stood back up on his feet and summoned his lightsaber to his hand. Though bruised and bloody, his eyes showed that he was far from beaten.
"I will not give into you." he said, raising his weapon above his head in his classic Djem So opening stance. "Ever!"
"So be it." Vader replied, pointing his own lightsaber at Anakin as the young Jedi rushed forward, only to have his blade met once again by the Sith.
Every single move that Anakin tried was countered by Vader. Even moves that he had only practiced with Obi-Wan once or twice before were parried as if Anakin was a youngling learning at the feet of the Temple Battlemaster. Thinking that perhaps this dark version of himself had his memories as well, he tried to improvise. It did him no good. Vader was able to bat them away easily.
Far from starting to even the fight, Anakin found his situation growing worse and worse. It was as if Vader became more powerful as the fight went on. As Anakin weakened, Vader grew stronger
"You cannot win this fight. The Dark Side has made me stronger in every way." Vader said after an impressive move which sent Anakin flying across the hallway where he lay semi-unconscious. "Submit to me, and fulfill your destiny!"
Anakin didn't even dignify it with a response. He shook the cobwebs from his head and ignited his saber once again. No matter what it took, he would defeat this demon of his nightmares. Even if it took his life, he would conquer this demon of his nightmares.
For that was the Jedi way.
Location: The Great Pyramid - Central Control Room
"There." came Obi-Wan's voice. "I found them. Down a level, take a right at the hallway, and the third door on our right. They should be there."
Hondo Ohnaka was getting more out of this trip than he had bargained for.
He should have known better. Trusting Kenobi was good for the soul and bad for the health. What a stupid move on his part. Hondo wasn't even sure he had a soul left. He'd promised upon his soul's eternal peace that he'd return a speeder to his friend after telling him that a lovely female had blasted his face full of courting hormones. Of course he'd sold that speeder as soon as he was out of eyesight and used the money to buy passage to Florrum to work as a pirate.
Hondo had never looked back, but he'd always wondered if that broken promise, the first of many, really had done something to his soul.
And if that hadn't then this Jedi that he was following around was certainly doing the job.
A simple job. That was all this was supposed to be. Fly to Zygeria, deliver Kenobi and Skywalker so he could collect the reward, and then he and his merry crew would be well on their way to get more drunk than they ever had before.
But of course a plan involving Jedi had complications. First his plan had been discovered, then his crew had panicked, then they had died, and now the great Hondo Ohnaka, greatest shot in the known galaxy (and certainly in the northern hemisphere of Florrum) was going to free slaves and do so for free.
Hondo was almost glad his crew was all dead. He would never have lived this down.
"Coming, Hondo?" Kenobi asked with that trademark wry grin on his face that Hondo found both comforting and disquieting.
With a grumble, Hondo set off behind whom he would begrudgingly (and never openly) call his friend. Their trip was more chaotic than it had been before, what with all the clone troopers scurrying about and Wookiees doing their very best to remind the slavers exactly why they had stopped getting their product from Kashyyyk, but he was strangely more at ease. For one, it was much easier when you and your Jedi companion with his very bright and loud lightsaber weren't the only target. And second, it was much easier to shoot someone in the back where they couldn't defend themselves than in the front where they could.
The slaves were in a pitiful condition when he and Kenobi finally reached them. Emaciated, starving, and looking up at him as if he was their last hope. The sad part, realized Hondo, is that he actually was. It pained him when they gave him weak embraces and whispered words in their native tongue that he did not understand. Though he hadn't the slightest clue what they were saying, he still felt undeserving of their praise. It had been Kenobi's idea to save these poor wretches, not his. So why were they thanking him as well as the Jedi?
If he made it out of this, the Weequay pirate promised himself that he would never have anything to do with the slavery business ever again.
"This is Obi-Wan for Admiral Yularen." Kenobi said, speaking into the comlink that a passing clone had stopped to give him. "Come in Admiral, are you there?"
"This is Yularen, General Kenobi." came the reply. "How can I be of assistance?"
"We recently freed dozens of slaves from the bowels of this pyramid, but we need to get them out of here, and quickly. I can feel the structure crumbling around us."
"I see it too, General." Yularen said. "It seems like there is a hangar bay nearby where you can take several ships back to our fleet in orbit. It looks like you won't be able to return the way you came in time. There should still be several light freighters that you can use to pilot out of that wretched place."
"Copy, Admiral. Thank you for the information. Kenobi out." the Jedi said before ending the call.
"Well, Hondo?" he asked. "Can you fly one of their ships?"
"Can… Can I fly their ships?!" Hondo indignantly spluttered. "Kenobi, there is no ship yet made that can best the piloting skills of Hondo Ohnaka!"
"But I won't work for free!" he continued. "You promised me gold, Kenobi, and I have yet to see a single bit of it! I'll tell you this; I will pilot that ship, but it'll cost you triple- no, quadruple my usual rate! No more friends' discounts for you either!"
"Excuse me…" a timid Zabrak slave said, piping up for the first time. "Did you mention gold?"
"I did, my recently liberated friend. What of it?"
"I used to be the master's personal attendant before I displeased him." the Zabrak said. "He was a paranoid man. Never trusted his slaver friends. Always kept his gold on his ship in case he ever needed to depart."
"And… you know where this ship is?" Hondo asked, hoping against hope that it really was this easy.
A small nod was all that he needed.
"Hmmm, perhaps you were right about that trusting Force business earlier, Kenobi." Hondo mused, already pushing the slave forward to lead him towards the exit. "I could get used to this hero business."
"Come now, Kenobi, get that beautiful blue lightsaber up front and center. We have slaves to rescue, and more importantly: gold to liberate!"
Location: tͥhˡeͦrͮeͤ ʸiͦsͧ nͣᶰoͣᵏ ͥᶰdeͣᶰaͩthͦ ͧtͬhˡeͦrͮeͤ iͨsͣᶰ tͥᵍhᶰeͥ ͭfͤoˢrͭcͣeͬˢ
"You have grown, but not enough." Vader taunted him as he turned aside yet another blow from the Jedi's lightsaber
Anakin was starting to fare better now. The words that Dooku had said to him on board the Invisible Hand were ringing clear in his head right now, and it was providing him with his only source of victory.
"You have Hate. You have Anger. But you don't use them."
It was the path to the Dark Side, but it was the only thing that was keeping him from dying. He had to finish this. If he didn't, horrible things would happen to those that he loved. What if his death meant that Vader would take his place. What damage could he do to the Republic, to the Jedi, to Obi-Wan?
To Padme.
No, he had to use this power. If only for a little while. He could manage that. This wasn't his fear talking, Anakin assured himself of that. What he had envisioned would happen if he let it. This was the only way.
He would tap into his emotions. He would use the Dark Side little by little to win this fight. And only this one time…
"You shouldn't have made me angry!" he yelled as he kicked Vader right in the chest, drawing forth the first bit of emotion from Vader that wasn't anger as the hulking figure fell backwards with a surprised cry.
"The Jedi are lost. They were caught unaware and it was only your foolish actions that saved them. You will not always be there to be their savior." Vader intoned as he sent debris hurling down the hallway towards Anakin. "Do not share in their fate. Only one fate awaits you: mine."
Anakin Skywalker was no longer listening. Drawing both the Light and the Dark Side of the Force, he sent a telekinetic wave of pure energy rushing down the hallway that caught Vader unawares. The cyborg was sent stumbling back, only to find himself propped up by an invisible barrier that he found he could not move within.
Even after performing such a mighty feat as clearing the hallway of debris, Anakin was still able to create a wall of pure Force for Vader to stumble into. Now he had him trapped, caught stationary in the Jedi's trap.
"You brought this on yourself." Anakin snarled as he rammed his lightsaber through the lower part of Vader's abdomen. It wasn't a lethal wound, nor was it meant to be. He wanted to inflict as much pain on this horror as he could. He knew it wasn't the Jedi way, but these emotions felt good. It had brought him victory. What else could these new feelings bring him in the future?
"You… cannot stop your… destiny." Vader wheezed, his breathing becoming much more labored and higher pitched than before. Clearly the injury was working just as Anakin intended. "Do… it. Strike me down and embrace the full power of the Dark Side of the Force. It is the only way to defeat me."
Anakin raised his lightsaber up on high. It would be so easy. He could end this threat, right here and now. All it would take was one simple downward blow. Still, there was a momentary look of confusion in his eyes. It was almost as if there was something trying to get in at the furthest corner of his mind.
"DO IT!"
Vader's voice came like the crack of a whip. Before he could even stop himself, Anakin brought the lightsaber down in a killing arc, only to level it out at the last moment. He had taken off a part of the front of Vader's helmet, but he had done no serious damage.
There it was again! Almost as faint as the air that passed by him, a voice was calling out his name.
"Anakin!"
"Padme?"
"Ani, where are you?"
"No!" yelled Vader, rising to his feet with much more strength and vitality than someone who should have been at death's door. "Ignore her. She is beyond your help now. Strike me down and fulfill your destiny!"
Anakin ignored him, but for entirely different reasons than before. Padme's voice was like a light, drawing him away from his dark thoughts and back into the cool, calming embrace of those he loved.
The fears that had so recently dominated his mind seemed so foolish now. Of course Vader couldn't take over his body, he was nothing more than a phantom of a soul. A dark future that Anakin had avoided precisely because he had trusted in the ones that he loved. He shuddered to think what would have happened if he had given into his fear and struck Vader down in anger. There were some fates that were better left unspoken and unthought.
"Padme… the baby!" he shouted, completely coming to his senses. "They need me!"
"You cannot save them!" Vader screamed, more desperate than before, his one yellow eye glaring at Anakin with pure malice out of the opening the Jedi's lightsaber had just created. "You are too weak. Only through the Dark Side will you have the power to save those you love!"
"I heard that lie once before." Anakin said, turning around to face Vader, deactivating his lightsaber and kneeling on the ground in meditation. "It did not work on me then, and it shall not succeed now."
"If you are too weak to do what must be done, then you shall be destroyed." Vader said, stalking down the hall towards his younger self.
Anakin didn't even open his eyes. He simply knelt and tried to become one with the Force.
"Your hatred made you strong, Skywalker. Don't be weak and throw it away."
"There is no emotion, there is peace."
"Foolish boy, the Dark Side could give you power that you've never even heard of."
"There is no ignorance, there is knowledge."
Vader was getting closer now. His mechanical boots clanked loudly in the hallway and his rasping breathing was all around Anakin now.
KHOOOOH PUUUHRR
"There is no passion, there is serenity."
There was an unmistakable sound of a lightsaber igniting and the smell of burning ozone filled the air. Even with his eyes closed and at peace as he was, Anakin could still see the red glow filling up the hallway through his eyelids.
"There is no chaos, there is harmony."
"A weak man for a weak time. You cannot save the ones you love and you will pay the ultimate price for your lack of vision."
Anakin said nothing, for something told him it was not yet time.
"DIE!"
Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight, opened his eyes and within them was a bright and burning light.
"There is no death, there is the Force."
A brilliant glow filled the room and when it was gone, Anakin stood alone in a deserted hallway filled with carbon scorching of a lightsaber along its remained no sign of the titanic struggle that had just occurred besides those marks and the Sith holocron still clutched tightly in his hand. As he opened up his palm, he saw that somehow, during that fight while he was spiritually fighting off his own inner demons, he had been able to shove his lightsaber through the holocron and destroyed it, removing any and all knowledge that it had once possed from the galaxy.. Not that Anakin cared one bit about that. He had won far more than he had lost today.
Darth Vader had been vanquished.
Forever.
Location: Command Bridge of the Paladin- Admiral Yularen's Venator-class flagship
Obi-Wan Kenobi sat deep in thought.
The operation at the Great Pyramid was in full swing. The slaves had been freed and it looked like the Jedi's reinforcements were taking care of the rest. Hondo had taken off immediately, of course, but Obi-Wan thought that he saw a little glimmer of a conscience while they were taking their leave of one another. The entire time they had been saying their farewell, Hondo hadn't looked at his many chests of gold even once. It was small progress, but progress nonetheless. As he couldn't help but grin slightly at the memory of the roughish Weequay, he had the strangest feeling that wasn't the last he would see of Hondo Ohnaka.
He was still lost in that feeling when a chime at the door told him that someone else had arrived.
Anakin Skywalker stood in the doorway, covered in dust, looking like death itself, but still very much alive.
"I knew you would make it." Obi-Wan said warmly, ignoring all protocols to leap up and give his friend and brother a warm embrace. "I trusted in the Force that you would survive. I am sorry though, Anakin. I made the decision to save the slaves instead of you."
"No apology necessary, Master." Anakin replied with a smile, returning his friend's embrace with equal warmth. "Besides, I've been racking up all the glory recently. It was time I gave some back to you."
Obi-Wan chuckled a little at that and sat back to look at his former Padawan. Something had happened to him in that pyramid, and it didn't look like torture. The Anakin Skywalker that walked into that place had clearly not returned. There was something different about him now. He looked more sure of himself, calm despite all of the chaos that surrounded them. A mystery to be sure, but one that would have to wait. There was much to bring his friend up to speed on.
"Obi-Wan, there is something I should tell you."
"It can wait, Anakin." Obi-Wan said with a dismissive wave of his hand, gesturing to the holotable in front of them. "Cody, the rest of the clones, and the Wookiees are mopping up the streets of Zygeria right now. At any moment, the Mon Calamari will finish their bombardment of that horrid Great Pyramid and it will crash into the surface of the planet below. We did it, my old Padawan. The Zygerians will be broken for centuries now, and their ships will darken far fewer skies."
"Listen, Obi-Wan, that's great and all but I-"
"Oh yes, I'm sure you had your own little adventure down in the depths of the place. Is that a Sith holocron in your hands? How in the blazes did you ever find such a thing?"
"Obi-Wan, that can wait!" Anakin exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "That doesn't matter to me right now. We need to return to Coruscant immediately!"
"Why is that?" Obi-Wan asked.
"It's Padme. The baby is coming."
"Are you sure?"
"I felt it. Just… trust me."
And Obi-Wan did. His friend had earned that much.
"Admiral Yularen." Obi-Wan called out. "Have a shuttle prepared immediately for Anakin and myself. Our friend here is going to be a father, and I wouldn't want him to miss his own child's birth."
"At once, General Kenobi." the admiral said with a grin. "Best of luck with raising children, General Skywalker. I think you'll find it to be much harder than destroying a Sith."
"Noted, Admiral. And very much appreciated." Anakin grinned as he walked out the door.
"On the way there, you might be able to tell me the story of how you have that holocron." Obi-Wan said, motioning to the inert Sith relic in Anakin's hands. Not even a faint glimmer of life remained within it, but it still raised several questions. How had the Zygerians gotten a hold of it? Had they discovered it, long since abandoned and waiting for a new owner to claim it? Or had it been given to them by an outside party? Both possibilities were terrifying, but Anakin was as clueless about its origin as Obi-Wan was.
"Not much to say, I'm afraid." Anakin replied with an apologetic shrug. "I was… indisposed for most of the time I've had it. And with your permission master, I just want to get some sleep on the flight back. I don't imagine that I will be getting much in the days to come."
"No Anakin." Obi-Wan chuckled. "I don't imagine that you will."
AN:
Wow, that took longer than expected!
That last chapter just got away from me. I had originally planned on making this a two-parter, or maybe even three, but it was as if I was being guided along by the characters and they were the ones writing this story. One thing led to another, and here we are thousands of words later.
We're in the endgame for Star Wars: Heralds of the Force now. One more chapter, an epilogue, and then we're all done. They'll both come out at the same time, but that's all I got.
Not to fear though! I have plans. Oh yes… I have plans. There is a premise for an OT fanfiction set in this alternate universe that I can't wait to start writing. If that is something which interests you, please write a review and let me know. I do all of this for you guys, and your opinion matters to me.
If you have read this far, then I am truly grateful for the support you have given me since I started this journey in December of 2019. Almost 45,000 words later, and I feel like I still have so much to learn. Looking back on my earlier entries into this series, I wince at my poor formatting and horrible story structure. Ah well, such is life, and if I'm cringing at it, this means I've grown as an author since then. Thank you for being a part of that!
Don't hesitate to give me feedback, either good or bad. I'm just so thrilled that literally thousands of you have read and appreciated my work. That means the world to me, and I will never cease to be humbled by your outpouring of support.
Until next time,
- Klick