Nothing is Ever Truly Over
Chapter Thirteen
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A storm was descending on Coruscant: a literal thunderstorm, as well as a more figurative one as the remnants of the Final Order arrived in earnest.
A sizable number of the venerable Atmospheric Assault Vehicles streaked across the thundering skies down to the urban surface of the planet, each carrying a couple squads of Sith troopers. Some of them had a squad of Sith jet troopers hitching a ride on their sides, until these elite squads got close enough to their targets to disembark and activate their jetpacks.
One such squad dismounted from their AAV near the 500 Republica, a sector of Coruscant that historically housed the senators and higher-ups of the Republican and Imperial governments. While it wasn't as populated as it once was, recent information told the Final Order that the area still fulfilled the same purpose.
Hence why Gustav Squad flew over to one of the skyscraper housing complexes with intent.
Once they touched down in the outdoor patio, they were all at the ready.
"Remember, our orders are to find Senator Bonteri's family and detain them," the squad leader reminded. Then, he signaled to continue on with his hand. "Spread out and search, but stay sharp."
The four-man squad split up into pairs and began sweeping the residence, their distinct G125 projectile launchers at the ready with safeties off. Though it was small, the weapon was incredibly powerful, some might say even overkill, able to fire normal blaster shots that were strong enough to have area-of-effect damage as well as having three extra barrels surrounding the first that could launch powerful high explosive impact rounds, each with the strength of a thermal detonator. All of that power came in a remarkably small package that didn't compromise a jet trooper's mobility.
Because of that small size, yet incredible power, it presented a slight dilemma when using the weapon in close quarters combat, as Gustav Squad faced now: though it was small enough to use in close quarters, its launcher abilities could not be used due to just how large the blast radius was for the projectiles. Ultimately, it made little difference since the blaster function still worked just fine, though even the blaster function could be potentially risky in close quarters due to it effectively firing small explosive shots.
Both pairs meticulously made their way through the residence separately, each tackling different sections. The first pair took a path that led them to the front door, while the second pair took the other side and the center. The only sounds echoing throughout the area were their own footsteps and repeated utterances of 'clear' whenever a room was cleared.
When the second pair came upon the center area of the residence, they meticulously swept the room as they had done with the previous rooms, before one said, "Clear."
"No sign of the family," the other noted clinically. "Our intel must be off."
"No, intel was correct," the first replied. "This is the place we were told the Senator's family resided."
"They must've cleared out then, before we couLD-!"
He was cut short as both troopers felt their heads wrangled to expose their necks. Both of them tried to resist, but they weren't quick enough before two mystic green blades pierced the exposed weakness in the gap in their armor, killing them instantly.
Their bodies collapsed on the ground. Green trails of ichor then materialized into Ana and Nat respectively as they became visible.
The Kestis sisters shared a look, both of them on the same page. Without a word, they made their way to the front door as they ignited the other ends of their double-blade lightsabers, a mystical ignition sound clueing in to its very different construction compared to a Jedi's lightsaber. Though they both followed the same train of thought regarding construction, the two Nightsisters' weapons did differ individually from one another in the detailing: Ana's paid greater tribute to ancient Nightsister culture, while Nat's, though still recognizably designed by a Nightsister, was more modern.
Shots fired told them they had been beaten to the other pair. They entered the foyer to find Mika and Jacen crossing up the Sith jet troopers, having gotten the jump on them. Jacen's emerald blade dealt one swift, surgical swipe down one trooper's chest, while Mika's brilliant blue blade brutally cut off the other's hands followed by his head.
Jacen extinguished his blade and went to the two Nightsisters. He gave a quick kiss to his wife before sharing a brief hug with Ana.
"Are you okay? Where are the girls?" he asked quickly.
"We're fine, and so are they," Nat returned. Then, she looked behind her. "It's safe now!"
In response, four green trails of ichor briefly flew about the residence before they eventually materialized as the new generation of Nightsisters. All of them shared very similar features, particularly regarding facial structure and the paleness of their skin. Where they differed were in eye and hair color. Three of them were instantly recognizable as being Jacen's and Nat's daughters, as there was nowhere else they could've gotten that green hair.
The odd one out was Mika and Ana's only daughter, Trilla Bonteri. Though sharing the same typical Nightsister appearance as her whole family, the teenager differed with having her father's brown hair and bright blue eyes. Unlike her cousins, she had facial tattoos. The markings themselves were incredibly similar to those worn by her mother, her aunt, and her Babushka.
Jacen gathered all of them into a hug. "Oh thank Force you're all okay."
While he fawned over his three daughters and sole niece, making sure they were all unharmed, Ana noticed Mika hadn't joined him. When she looked over, she noticed he was still standing above the body of the Sith jet trooper he had just slain, lightsaber still lit.
She walked closer. As she closed in, she noticed he seemed to have tunnel vision. He hadn't noticed her approach. This was very unlike him. Normally, he would be right behind Jacen regarding greeting his family.
She touched his arm gently. That seemed to snap him from his trance.
"Everyone's okay," she told him.
Her gentle, reassuring tone got through to him, and he gave a shaky nod before he extinguished his blade, stepping towards the combined family. While they didn't explicitly live together, the two families visited one another so often they might as well be.
"What happened?" she asked next, right beside him.
Something had to have happened. She knew her husband was very hard to crack. There was very little he truly feared. He wasn't afraid of the Dark Side at all: the fact that he married her, a Nightsister, was proof of that. Hence, she was stumped on what could possibly make her husband this afraid.
He gave her a nonverbal signal, one she understood to mean he wanted to tell everyone. She returned a nod.
"That Jedi woman the Resistance had has now turned against them," he began, mainly speaking to Ana and Nat. Jacen already knew everything, and he wasn't too bothered with the kids hearing this. "Unlike them, she has no interest in returning the galaxy to a democracy. She's set on taking all that power for herself.
"She's a problem on her own considering she's just as powerful as Kylo Ren was, and we all know how difficult it was to drive him away."
The two Nightsisters and Jacen nodded. They could never forget.
"She's an even bigger problem now that she has an army," he pointed back over his shoulder towards the two dead Sith jet troopers.
Because the Dark Side was in their nature as Nightsisters, none of the kids were disturbed enough by the sight to look away. However, that did not mean the gruesome scene had zero effect on them. Neither Trilla nor the three Syndulla sisters felt comfortable speaking.
"So what do we do?" Jacen asked.
"It's simple," Ana answered. "We take her down."
Nat shook her head. "Of course we do, but how? We need more detail."
"I mean that literally," Ana retorted. "We need to go for the jugular. If she goes down, then her army goes down too."
"There's a small problem with that," Jacen intervened. "Mika just said she's as strong as Kylo Ren was."
Both sisters looked to Mika, who nodded back. Had it been a less serious situation, he might've cracked a wry smile at them not even hearing him.
"That means it'll take all four of us just to even have a chance at her, and unlike last time we don't have the option of sending the girls to Babushka's and Papa's."
Ana and Nat made the realization instantly that Jacen was right. They couldn't just send their girls off to Cal and Merrin this time. It would take way too long for them to get all the way to Coruscant from Dathomir.
Both sisters looked upon their daughters; their own flesh and blood, born from their own bodies. They were conflicted on what to do. They knew that Rey had to be stopped, but for that to happen, they both had to leave their kids vulnerable. Vulnerable enough that the troopers could overwhelm them. Even then, there was no guarantee they could even stop Rey, and neither of them dared to think of what could happen if she got her hands on their girls. It made them sick to even think about it.
Ana desperately looked to Mika, hoping he would say something to stop this.
"I might have an idea," he debated to her.
Curiously, there was a hesitation to his proposal. She wondered why. In response, he shot a poignant look towards the split saber on Trilla's belt.
Now she knew why.
"No," she immediately denied, without hesitation.
"Ana," he tried, only for her to shake her head emphatically no.
"No, no, no! You can't seriously believe I would allow that!"
Mika performed a fed-up eye-roll before he grabbed her hand and pulled her further away so the kids couldn't hear.
"Let go of me!" she swatted at him. She was angry with him for even suggesting that idea.
"Do you think I'd propose that if we had a choice in the matter?" he furiously whispered to her. "I don't like the idea either, but the fact of the matter is we don't have a choice!"
Deep down, Ana knew he was speaking the truth, but her love for her daughter blinded her to it. She continued to glare at him, trying to stay angry at him.
Mika noticed, and took a deep breath, calming himself down. He couldn't fight a fiery Nightsister temper with a fiery Jedi temper.
"Ever since she knew what a lightsaber was, we've been teaching her how to fight," he told her, keeping his tone low and comforting. "We taught her just in case there was a time she ever had to stand and fight. Now is that time."
Ana looked away. She knew this, but still didn't want to acknowledge it. The idea of her daughter being exposed to danger, and being unable to do anything about it, made her feel awful.
"Believe me, I don't like her fighting any more than you do." He gently turned her head back to him. She could see the sincerity in his eyes. "But I can tolerate it. Do you know why?"
She shook her head no.
"Because I believe in her. With everything she's learned from us and our parents, how could I not?"
A small part of her did envy him in how he could talk her into seeing this the way he did. How dare he use his eloquence that way.
But she could see his logic. Trilla had learned so much not just from the two of them, but also from her parents as well as Ahsoka. With that knowledge, she felt more assured at Trilla being fine in a fight. She still didn't like it – she didn't think she ever would – but she could let her baby go.
She reluctantly nodded in acquiescence to her husband's risky idea, begrudgingly giving her permission.
Finally, the two returned to the rest of the family. Jacen and Nat were respectful of their implied request for privacy, and didn't allow any of the kids near them. That didn't stop the younger generation from being silently curious.
"Trilla," Mika said seriously.
The fifteen-year-old Nightsister froze. Her senses were tingling with dread. She didn't have a good feeling about what her father wanted of her, especially when taking into account how vehemently her mother had objected.
Mika noticed, and made a conscious effort to appear less intimidating. "Come here, princess," he beckoned gently.
He always called her 'princess' when she was a little girl. According to her father, the name came about when she was very young, after she had openly complained about her Grandpa Lux not being the King of Onderon even though he was effectively in charge of the planet. She didn't understand the intricacies of galactic and planetary government and the difference between a senator and a monarch. As a result, Mika caved and began to call her his little princess, just going along with her childish conclusion that she was actually royalty. And the term of endearment just stuck.
Whenever he called her princess, it had always made her feel like everything was okay. Even now, when it felt like the world was about to end, just him calling her by that made her feel better.
With trepidation, she padded over to her dad.
Mika took her split saber from her belt. "Do you know why you have this?" he asked her.
Trilla took another look at the weapon her father held between them. Her weapon. There were many uses she knew for a lightsaber, which was one reason she was attracted to the idea of a split saber like her Papa Cal. She found the versatility of such a design more attractive than other designs.
One purpose that she thought of was for protection. Her father and her Grandma Ahsoka had always told her this was the Jedi's way: to use it for defense. After what happened at Onderon earlier that year, she was certain that was why she was taken to forge one for herself.
"To defend myself," she replied aloud.
"Right," her dad nodded, smiling briefly in pride before returning to seriousness. "But also to protect others."
He then extended the lightsaber out to her.
"Your cousins don't have any way to defend themselves from danger. That's why I'm asking you to protect them."
The gravity of what he tasked her with really hit her. He was asking her to fight.
Mika saw the panic grow in her and gently grabbed her shoulder. "Listen to me, Trilla." Once he had her attention, he released her and continued. "You see anyone in that color of armor come in here," he pointed behind him to the dead Sith jet troopers, "you kill them, before they can get you or your cousins. Understand?"
It was a scary proposition to Trilla. Having her home be invaded by elite soldiers specifically ordered to capture her and her family was enough to shake her. Being asked to fight them was even more rattling.
She looked over to her three younger cousins.
Isabel, just a year younger at fourteen, had always held a slight resentment towards her solely because she was older than her, leading to many a moment resembling a sibling rivalry, including recent times. Most recently, she was jealous of her getting her tattoos and lightsaber first. She never openly whined about anything, but her resentment was still obvious to those paying attention.
Erika, eleven, was kind of the opposite, preferring her over her own older sister because, as a middle child, she felt she wasn't anyone's favorite. She believed her older and younger sisters were the ones her parents loved the most. Hence why at the very least she wanted Trilla to like her more than Isabel, just to get one over and be at least one person's favorite.
Lastly was Rosalina, the youngest at eight. Because she was the youngest, she was always doted on, and could be considered everyone's favorite. As a consequence, sibling rivalries were completely unknown to her. There was an unspoken agreement between the two elder Syndulla sisters to keep such things away from their littlest sister, to make sure it stayed that way.
As of now, though, Trilla saw none of that. All she saw were her cousins – girls who were like sisters to her – all uncertain and afraid of what threatened to come. She loved them all dearly. They were her family, and in this family, everyone looked after each other. That was why she was willing to lay down her life for them, and even kill to ensure their safety.
Turning to her father, resolved, she took her lightsaber back from him. "I understand."
Mika couldn't help but feel proud of his little girl. She chose to put her cousins' lives ahead of her own. It was incredibly selfless of her, a trait he valued highly.
He embraced her one more time. "You'll do great," he whispered to her. "I believe in you."
As her head rested against her father's chest, Trilla blinked back tears. It was so validating to hear that he had such faith in her. It also served as further resolve to not let him down.
Finally, Mika released her, only for Ana to swoop in and nearly smother Trilla with love. He let his wife and daughter share a moment together before he put a hand on Ana's shoulder, a silent cue that they were still running on a time table and had to go.
"Stay safe, my sweet," she said as she reluctantly released her.
Mika looked over to Jacen, then over to his daughters poignantly, a nonverbal suggestion to him and Nat to have a moment with them.
Both obliged, with Jacen taking the lead and addressing their three daughters first.
"You listen to every word your cousin tells you, understand?" he drilled into them.
Isabel nodded, lost for words amidst the crisis.
"Yes, dad," Erika said.
"Yes, daddy," Rosalina's young voice promised.
Jacen then spread his arms out. "Come here."
All of them shared an embrace, including Nat. It was something all of them needed, just to feel safe for one moment amongst all the uncertainty.
"No games, you two," she warned her two eldest, fully aware of the complex dynamic between them and Trilla.
Both Isabel and Erika gulped at the tone of their mother's voice. Testing her was a bad idea. If they even tried to, Nat would bring the hammer down on both of them.
That fear made them both very aware that this was not the time for trying to one-up one another. Both answered with an obedient, "Yes, mother."
They then split apart, the kids and the adults with their own ilk, each with a plan of what to do next. Trilla was going to protect her cousins, while Mika led Jacen, Ana, and Nat to go fight Rey.
"Let's go," Mika said. "We've got a revolutionary to catch."
The four adults ran towards and Force-jumped off the balcony into the brewing thunderstorm.
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"Finn!"
He heard the scream through the ringing. He was disoriented. He felt himself being dragged along the floor. Half his vision was blurry, the other half was completely red, he couldn't distinguish where every sound was coming from, and he was heartbroken.
He couldn't believe Rey just attacked him. He thought he was her friend. Did everything they share suddenly mean nothing to her? Or did he inadvertently hurt her so badly that she willingly forsook him?
"Finn!"
He tried to focus his vision, but such a task proved difficult considering his right eye had been completely gouged out by Rey. A massive scar was all that remained where an eye should've been.
Eventually, though, he could make out Rose right in front of him, trying to get a response from him. She was crouched over him, so concerned and afraid for his well-being.
Behind her, he could also see just what she was shielding him from: Rey's madness and chaos.
No. Not Rey. This wasn't the same desert scavenger he remembered. While the Rey of old was perhaps a little pushy with her attitude, she was still ultimately an incredibly loyal friend.
This Rey, however, was not. At least, she wasn't loyal to him or her friends among the Resistance. As of now, she could only be seen as a glowing red blur as she deflected blaster fire and slayed those she once considered friends, but now considered enemies.
He didn't want to call this person Rey. It just didn't feel right.
The self-declared Empress Palpatine took the passion of Rey and raised it to a higher, darker level. He had seen Rey ferociously fight enemies before, but now she did it with deadly precision and no remorse or hesitation.
From a pragmatic point of view, it made him realize that they had no hope of putting a stop to her. She was just so absurdly powerful compared to them. It was like she was merely playing a game while everyone else was fighting for their lives.
He was placed against the wall, slouched, but knowing he had to say something, he weakly lifted a hand to hold Rose's. That made her stop and look at him.
"We gotta get out of here," Finn groaned.
It was something neither he nor Rose ever expected him to say, or rather, they never thought the implication being hinted at would ever arise. But things had changed.
"We need to get this door open!" Kaydel said to her.
"I'm on it!" Rose answered, letting Poe take over in guarding Finn as she moved over to the electrical panel beside the door.
The plasma slashes and screams of death behind her were incredibly effective at placing pressure on her. It was completely laid bare to her that her technical skill was what would determine whether or not she and her friends would live or die.
But Rose took well to working under pressure. She was used to it, with the typical Resistance lifestyle involving living day to day not knowing if that day would be the last.
Much to her surprise, however, the door opened up without any input from her.
"How many times must I tell you, R2? It is improper to intrude on a private meeting!" C-3PO's voice scolded.
Well, color her surprised. R2 – plus 3PO and D-0; she always gave credit where it was due – came to help when he was needed most and opened the door from the outside. Somehow, the level of awareness droids possessed always ended up amazing her.
"Let's go! Move it!" Poe ordered.
Swiftly, the people left alive and able after Rey's rampage ran out of the doors.
But Rey extended a hand out towards the doors and pulled. She wasn't aiming to close the doors, but rather to ensnare those trying to escape by using the Force to pull them back.
It worked, but doing so had also pulled R2 away from the door socket he had actuated with his scomp link, which resulted in the doors slamming back shut.
"Sound off!" Poe requested from everyone who had made it as they all regained their footing.
"Here!" came Zorii.
"Here!" Kaydel.
"Here!" Jannah.
"Here!" Rose.
"Here!" Finn painfully gasped out.
R2 beeped out his own response.
"Oh, how rude of you, R2!" 3PO retorted. "You should be grateful they still tolerate you after your barbaric manners!"
"And he made it," Poe muttered, not particularly pleased at the idea of the annoying protocol droid still being there. But that was quickly forgotten when he recalled there were some voices he didn't hear. "Wait, who's not here?"
All of them looked back to the shut door. They feared for anybody who was still alive on the other side.
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On the other side, Empress Palpatine held up D-0 before her with the Force, observing him with disdain. He was the only thing that managed to slip back through the doors her way.
"H-hello, nice lady," the small, innocent droid chirped naively with his incurable stutter.
She answered by closing her fist, crushing the droid mercilessly and tossing the scraps aside. He meant nothing to her anymore. She was frustrated that she had captured such an insignificant piece of junk instead of a real target like Zorii or Rose.
She was also frustrated with herself. She had been baited by her own bloodlust, her own desire to murder every Resistance member and former New Republic official she could reach. Those six former friends, now traitors to her, had slipped out while she was distracted.
She looked around, taking in the room. It was a bloodbath, with so many disfigured corpses littering the floor and small fires burning around the edges. It reeked of death.
It was well deserved, though. If these people were dumb enough to stand up to her, then they would suffer the consequences. Such stupidity was unworthy of taking leadership.
As she observed, she noticed something off. Taking a closer look, she noticed there was someone still alive. Whoever he was, he was weakly crawling away.
She stalked over, and upon reaching him, forcibly turned him over with her boot. It was Captain Doza.
From what little she had heard of him, he supposedly used to serve the Empire, but left after falling in love with a woman who was part of the Rebellion.
She found it touching, but at the same time, she felt hatred towards him. How was it this man got to live a happy life with someone who was on the other side of the war but she didn't?
It was no surprise that the first thought to come to her mind was to kill him. If she couldn't have that, then no one else could.
With a flashy twirl of her lightsaber, she aggressively plunged the blade through his heart, snuffing out the remaining life within him.
It surprised her that he was still alive after her massacre, so she reached out to check if there was anyone else who had survived.
Her head snapped in another direction, like a predator sniffing out their prey. There were other survivors.
She first focused on the Twi'lek. As she stalked her way over, she noticed the older woman struggling to unholster her blaster.
She was a fighter to the end, it seemed. Even when injured heavily and unable to even roll off her back, she still tried to fight back.
Hera finally managed to get her blaster out, and aimed it at the murderess.
It was ultimately futile, though, as the dark Empress's harsh boot sole slammed her hand back down to the ground before she could pull the trigger.
"Ah!" she cried in agony. Her wrist was broken from the younger woman's stomp, forcing her to let go of her weapon.
Having holstered her lightsaber, Empress Palpatine then clamped a hand around Hera's neck, hoisting her up so she could look her in the eye.
She struggled for breath while under the ruthless iron grip of the younger woman, but despite that encumberment, her eyes still burned with brave resistance. She gasped out, "I'm not afraid of you!"
Her rebellious spirit, though courageous, meant nothing to the younger woman. Her golden eyes burned with malice in return, right into the older woman's soul. "Then you will die braver than most."
She then lifted her other hand over the older woman's face, and then began sucking the life force out of her.
The ability to take away someone's life force required a very specific mindset. While healing – the opposite ability, wherein it restored someone's life force – required a deeply caring mindset, to take away someone's life force needed a very malevolent one. It required a desire to cause harm.
It was a mindset that came naturally to Empress Palpatine ever since she shed the skin of Rey.
For Hera, it was torturous, feeling her life slowly drain away and unable to do anything about it. The dark shadow that was Her Imperial Highness was simply too strong.
At last, Empress Palpatine felt the life completely drain out of the older woman. With a smirk of satisfaction, she released her body, now nothing more than a corpse, and brutally kicked her back to the ground.
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Jacen felt a sudden disturbance, distracting enough to cause him to faceplant instead of continuing to Force jump across Coruscant's top level.
Mika and the two Kestis sisters halted, at first unaware of why Jacen collapsed.
But one look at his despair-filled face, and Mika knew. He knew, because it was the same way he had felt when he sensed his parents' deaths.
Jacen could only process one thing at the moment: his mother was dead.
He was a fool for ignoring a threat in favor of being courteous. Next time he saw that toxic woman, he was going to murder her.
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Empress Palpatine's wicked elation soon turned sour when she turned on the final survivor.
The wookie.
The injured Chewbacca rested on one knee, defeated. His bowcaster was broken, just as his spirit was.
"I never thought you capable of betrayal," she said, her voice low.
He chose to say nothing. He had nothing to say to her.
That peeved her. "You have no right to judge me! You should be on my side. You should understand, better than anyone else. What I don't understand is why you don't?"
His response came in Shyriiwook. With how familiar she was with the language, he knew he didn't have to hold back on anything he said.
After hearing what he had to say, she was outraged. "No, YOU didn't know him! I knew him better than you ever could!"
She immediately followed by unleashing Force lightning onto him. It was excruciating to the wookie. Any strength he may have had left collapsed upon exposure to the power from her hands.
Soon, she let up on the torture, only to deliver a different kind of pain through words.
"Maybe he would still be here if you weren't such a terrible uncle!"
That hurt Chewie more than the lightning ever could. As much as he would like to claim he was a good uncle, he still felt like he could've done more. He loved Ben, but for some reason that still eluded him, it seemed he didn't do enough. That made him really second-guess how he treated him. Was he really a good uncle if his nephew went on to become a murderer and a loyal servant to tyranny?
Meanwhile, the dark Empress's anger had long since boiled over. She held no reservations regarding Chewie anymore. If he didn't stand with her now, then he never would.
She drew on that rage as she created swordfingers with her hands, only having her index and middle fingers extended together. She then began to draw circles through the air with them, generating lightning from her fingertips. Then, she brought her two swordfingers together, bridging the energy she had generated in both of them and focusing it. Finally, she lunged as she extended one arm forward and released the lightning bolt ahead of her, with her other arm in perfect alignment pointing the other way.
There was no more powerful form of Force lightning than this one. Though it wasn't a constant stream like traditional lightning, a hit from this form of lightning meant instant death with no chance of survival. It was completely overkill.
And it was aimed directly at Chewie.
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Ben's eyes snapped open.
He had chosen to meditate in the back of the Mantis to gain some insight as to what Rey was doing, but he got shocked out of it by her murdering Chewie in cold blood.
He forced himself to calm his panicked breathing and bowed his head. "I'll never get to tell you now, but I still want you to know I'm so sorry, Chewie, for everything I did."
It was yet another blow that was personally hurtful to him, the third one to be precise, all at Rey's hands. First with killing his uncle Lando, then with destroying his home world, Chandrila, and now with eviscerating his other uncle Chewie.
He spared a moment to mourn him. It was for only a moment, though, as dwelling on what had already happened was counterproductive. Letting himself fall victim to despair and hopelessness would not make things better. He couldn't change the past.
But he could learn from it and change the future.
"I love you, uncle Chewie." He wiped a solitary tear from his eye. "I'll miss you."
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"Breach it," a Sith jet trooper ordered.
One of the squad of Sith jet troopers stepped forward and prepared to launch a high-explosive round from their G125.
"Breaching!" said trooper warned before firing.
The projectile crossed the distance to the door, exploding on impact.
The troopers, having left a generous distance to the door to stay out of range of the blast, used their jetpacks to quickly boost across the space quickly. They were very focused and on high alert as they set to clear the breached room.
What they didn't foresee, though, was two crimson red, crackling blades spitting to life.
It caught the squad off-guard for a moment. Confused, they instinctively registered the person wielding said weapon as an enemy, but recognition quickly dawned when they looked around the rest of the room.
It reeked of death and despair. Bodies lied across the floor in varying conditions, all of them lifeless. Small fires burned hauntingly. The most peculiar thing, though, was that there was a small section of the floor baked in ashes. Such a thing was usually a good sign that someone was vaporized.
"My Empress!" one of them acknowledged in surprise, kneeling to her in deference.
The rest of the squad followed suit.
Empress Palpatine looked upon them, a little miffed that they didn't recognize her at first. But it wasn't anything to worry over. They still demonstrated unquestionable loyalty.
"Get up," she commanded.
They all obeyed and stood at attention. Like perfect, obedient soldiers.
"What's happening out there? Give me a sitrep," she demanded.
"The entire building has been cleansed of any resistance," one of them, presumably the squad leader, detailed. "Our commander has ordered us to subjugate the surrounding districts next, but should you request us, Dora Squad is yours to command."
"For now, stay with me," she replied, leaving room for flexibility regarding their mission. "What else?"
"We've lost all contact with Gustav Squad. Their last known whereabouts are the 500 Republica."
She deliberated on this for a moment. "That means they must've failed in their mission." She shrugged it off, though. "It doesn't matter, though. Their success was never the main objective. They were only meant to scare a prominent foe with just their presence alone. Anything else?"
A few of the troopers exchanged looks. She was certainly ruthless, but they were still low-key impressed with their Empress's cleverness. "We clocked a group of Resistance members fleeing out the west side, but we were unable to intercept."
"It doesn't matter." Her lips turned up in a smirk of self-confidence. She knew from past experience that the Resistance never simply fled. They always fled so they could fight another day. But not this time. Her knowledge of the Resistance would serve her well in crushing them. "They'll be back."
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Boom-boom! Another one done and dusted!
Yup. I went there. I'm not afraid to kill a character of Chewie's caliber. Let's not forget that I'm far from the first to do it. They did it way back in Legends as well. If they can do it there, then what reason do I have to not do it now?
Anyone who's followed me for a few years will recognize two of the names I gave to Jacen and Nat's kids. For those that don't, Isabel and Erika come from an old project of mine that unfortunately never got fully off the ground. They were also sisters in that, just like in here, though their personalities were different. I just thought I'd have a bit of fun and reuse their names here.
I've sincerely enjoyed getting to further develop this combined family into something that feels more real, even though it only started as just a way to demonstrate my love for Merrical and Luxsoka. I never imagined I'd fall in love with characters that originated from my dumb brain. I always thought I'd want to just forget them altogether, but here we are. I particularly enjoyed developing Mika. I like to think that he fights similarly to how Anakin would, as Ahsoka would've taught him everything she knew, and most of what she knew came from Anakin.
I chose to play with lightning a little more, just to make it something to take more seriously. The way Rey uses lightning to eviscerate Chewie is more akin to the way lightning is portrayed in Avatar. Personally, I prefer Avatar's lightning over Star Wars'. In Star Wars, lightning doesn't really have a practical use. It's mainly used either to stun an opponent, or as a torture tool. But in Avatar, it's extremely lethal and deadly, a true weapon. Lightning in Avatar is far more terrifying than lightning in Star Wars.
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