Shadow's Odyssey 2: The Chaos Continues
Sidious returned to his ship after he was finished with his massacre. He contacted his commanders for an update on how his plan was progressing. They had successfully gotten the support of the Umbarans, they had taken control of Christophsis, and Utapau too. Unfortunately, they had lost contact with their troops on Bespin. They had sent reinforcements to investigate but they had never returned or responded.
Sidious wasn't concerned. The operation on Bespin was small and not worth very much. But the next piece of news was very concerning.
"The rebels have my scientist!?"
"Yes, sir. This strange droid showed up out of nowhere and-"
"I don't want your excuses! Find him! Bring him back or kill him."
"Right away, sir!"
Then Sidious received another transmission. He answered, and an image of Grievous appeared.
"Report, General."
"I have captured Target: Alpha."
"What about the other two?"
"Target: Gamma escaped. Target: Beta's location is unknown."
Sidious frowned, but accepted this. "One's good enough for now. Meet me back on Mandalore."
Greedo shot down another super battle droid. "Hurry up, Han!"
"I'm working on it!" Han spat back, continuing to manipulate the wires of the electronic safe.
"This is a stupid idea! Why do you always have to get us into these situations?"
Han finally managed to get the vault door open. He stepped inside and grabbed the two Emeralds before stuffing them in a bag. As he turned around to leave, two commando droids dropped from the ceiling of the vault. Both pulled out vibro-swords.
Han dropped the bag and pulled out his blaster. He shot the first one in the head, but before he could fire again, the second droid knocked the blaster out of his hand. Han backed up until he hit the back wall of the vault. The commando droid lunged at him. Han caught its arm and tried to push it away. But the droid was too strong, so Han was pinned against the wall.
Greedo finished off the super battle droids and looked back to see Han struggling with the commando droid.
"I could use a hand here!"
Greedo let out a groan and stepped into the vault. He glanced down to see the bag with the Emeralds in it laying on the floor.
"Any time now!"
Greedo picked up the bag and looked back at Han. "I think you've almost gotten me killed enough times."
"Greedo, what are you doing?"
"Starting my solo career." Greedo turned his back on Han and ran.
"Greedo!" Han howled.
As the various search parties returned to Lothal, everyone exchanged stories of their adventures inside the temple. But the piece of news that got the most attention was that Grievous was alive.
"That's not possible!" Petro protested. "I witnessed his death!"
"True, this is. Felt his death, I did. Grievous, that cannot be."
"I know what I saw. It was him." Rex insisted.
"Do you think Sidious might have found a way to bring back the dead?" Ezra asked.
"He did manage to bring himself back from the dead." Luke pointed out.
"Who cares about Grievous?" Knuckles exclaimed. "We're still missing two Chaos Emeralds!"
"He's right." Rouge agreed. "We can figure out what to do about the cyborg zombie later."
Kalani picked that moment to intrude upon their meeting.
Sonic waved. "Hey, we got some more Emeralds for our collection!"
"I'm afraid I must I inform you that the two Emeralds that were in our position have been stolen."
"Stolen!?" Knuckles roared. "By who?"
"A pair of scoundrels entered the capital building and claimed they were the proper owners of the Emeralds."
"And you believed them!?"
"Even Knuckles wouldn't fall for something that dumb." Sonic said sardonically.
"Of course not. They were obviously lying and when their deception failed, they took the Emeralds by force. One of them escaped with the Emeralds. The other was captured by my security team. He is being interrogated as we speak."
"Great. So now we have to find four Emeralds." Knuckles complained.
"I want to speak to him." Petro decided.
Petro stepped into the small interrogation room. There was only a table and two chairs with Han sitting in one.
He looked up at Petro. "Forget it. I'm not talking." As much as he would have loved to sell out Greedo for leaving him behind, Jabba had zero tolerance for snitches.
"That's fine." Petro raised his hand and Han felt a wave of pain course through his brain. "You work for Jabba the Hutt. Your partner, Greedo, abandoned you. And you're also trying to kill… Sonic."
Petro couldn't find any more useful information and left the smuggler's brain.
Han groaned. "What did you do to me?"
Petro ignored his question and left. He met back up with the others. "The Emeralds are in the hands of Jabba the Hutt."
"He's going to hand them over to Sidious." Boba said.
"Then we need to get to Jabba before Sidious does." Luke decided.
"Stealing from Jabba isn't going to be easy." Boba warned.
Lando grinned. "I think I have an idea. I going to need… you." He pointed at Sonic. "Omega, Boba, and Miss Not in the Mood."
"Alright." Petro agreed. "And while you're doing that, the rest of us will search for the remaining Emeralds."
"Well, I'm not going anywhere." Knuckles announced. "I'm staying right here and making sure that no one runs off with the Emeralds again."
"Right, because no Emeralds have ever been stolen while you were on guard." Sonic said sarcastically.
"Shut up!"
Rex and Ezra volunteered to stay and guard the Emeralds. The more Emeralds they had, the more likely it was that someone would show up looking for them. Luke, Tails, Chirrut, and Petro would go look for the remaining loose Emeralds.
Once the teams were decided, the two groups departed from Lothal.
Anakin meditated in his cell, because it was the only thing he could do to pass the time. But it was nearly impossible for him to focus. His mind was clouded with questions. What was Sidious doing? What did he want with him? And did he plan on doing with his family?
Each question made him more and more worried. He eventually gave up on meditation and started pacing instead. After what felt like days, he wasn't really sure, Sidious returned.
Walking behind him was General Grievous. Anakin wanted to say something, but his mind couldn't formulate any words.
Sidious grinned smugly. "Surprised?"
"…How?" Anakin finally managed. "He's supposed to be…"
"Dead?" Sidious said, finishing his sentence for him. "Yes, he was. But the General has become useful to me again. But if I were you, I wouldn't waste too much time thinking about it. You have… other concerns."
Sidious gave a hand signal to Grievous, who left the room. He returned moments later, dragging somebody. It was…
"Padme!"
Grievous held her out so she stood right next to Sidious.
"Yes. Here we are again. We went over this before. You disappointed me. And the price for disappointment…" Sidious hissed as he ignited the Darksaber. "Is suffering!" He viciously cut off Padme's leg.
Anakin screamed in rage and tried to Force Choke Sidious. But he Chaos Controlled into Anakin's cell and kicked his legs out from under him. He picked up Anakin's head and forced him to look at Padme as she writhed in pain.
"You are going to witness every single moment of her agony. You're going to watch as she dies in the slowest and most agonizing way possible. And after she dies, I'll do the same to your daughter. And then to your son. And then after a few years, I might be merciful enough to let you die with them."
Tears began to spill out of Anakin's eyes. Satisfied with this reaction, Sidious teleported back out of the cell and resumed Padme's torture.
He lightly touched his saber to her face, letting the skin melt. Padme's screams echoed throughout the entire room.
"Stop! Please stop!" Anakin begged.
Sidious continued., laughing at Anakin's misery.
"My son! Take my son!"
Sidious paused for a moment, not sure if he heard Anakin correctly.
"Take my son as your apprentice."
Sidious deactivated the lightsaber and approached the cell. "You want me to take your son as my apprentice?"
"Yes. The Force in him is strong. He'll serve you well. Just don't hurt my family."
"An interesting offer. But I have already selected my next apprentice." He gestured to Byph, who had been watching the whole display in silent horror. "And he has shown to be-" Sidious paused mid-sentence as he saw Byph choke. He glanced back towards Anakin and saw that he was the one causing it. Sidious watched, amused as Byph's lifeless body dropped to the floor. "Hmmm, very well then. Bring your son to me." The barriers of Anakin's cell deactivated. "If he can live up to my expectations, then your family will be spared. But… if he does not meet those expectations or simply refuses to cooperate…"
"He will. I'll make sure of it."
Sidious gave Anakin back his lightsaber as well as an Emerald tracker. "My agents tell me that he is out collecting the Emeralds. Find an Emerald, and he'll eventually find you."
Anakin started to leave.
But then Sidious said, "This wouldn't be you trying to kill me again would it?"
"No. I've learned from my mistake."
"Then I wish you good luck on your quest, Lord Vader."
