I stared at the console of the prototype stealth ship. I set a hand down lightly over the controls in front of the pilot's seat, inhaled deeply, and let it out slowly. I could go home right now. No one on the ship to stop me. I let out a dejected sigh as I sat myself in the pilot's chair and started the ship, only to fly it out of the hangar and head back down to Mekkef. I couldn't leave these people. Not yet. They were far from free.
The battle for the airfield still raged on as I raced towards it. Some of the fighters had managed to get into the air and were fending off the rebels. I zoomed forward and shot a few fighters down, grabbing the attention of the rest of them. They peeled off the rebels and rushed after me as I rose back into the atmosphere. Dodging their fire, I found a mountain chain up ahead. I blasted towards it and didn't bother slowing down as I began weaving and swooping between mountains and rock formations. They continually shot at me as I evaded them and their fire. A shot from one of the fighters flew past me and hit a rock formation that I was approaching. It broke the rocks, and I tilted the ship sideways to make sure they didn't crush me as I went under them. As I went past, a rock collided with the top of the ship, throwing me around a little. A console next to me beeped angrily at me, telling me my shields were damaged.
Great. I grunted as I pulled on the controls, righting the ship and skyrocketing to the clouds above. I reached forward and began cloaking the ship as I reached the top layer of clouds. Slowing down, I did a large loop as I waited for the fighters that had been following me to break the surface of the clouds. It only took a few seconds for them to determine they couldn't find me and turn back to the airbase. I took my place behind them and prepped the guns. Deactivating my stealth generator, I locked on to the first ship and destroyed it, then quickly took aim and shot the second fighter down before either of them had time to react. The third was a little smarter, immediately diving back down into the mountain and rocky range once he had seen his friends blow up. I tried his own move against him, blowing a rock formation he was coming up to. He dodged it, but I saw another opportunity as he veered to the right to avoid another mountain. I surged forward and took the left side, catching him with his pants down as he came around his side. His ship blew up in a fantastic display of sparks and fire as I flew past the spot. I pulled up on my controls and flew back to the airfield.
The rebels had begun advancing on the airfield as I started the landing sequence. Touching down in a clearing not far from the rest of them, I opened the ramp and ran through the ship to the exit. It didn't take me but a few minutes to reach the rebels and start pushing forward with them.
The resistance at the airfield was strong. People were at the tops of the gates firing down at us as we advanced along with people on turrets on the corners of the area. I quickly took my lightsaber off my belt and began deflecting shots as we pushed forward. Something I noticed very quickly were all of the bodies that littered the ground around us. There were too many for them to have just began their advance through the tree line.
"General! Those turrets are too big of a problem!" I heard Commander Daerk's voice call out from behind me. I stopped my advance and let him catch up. "We couldn't beat them before. They shred us apart." He said as he aimed and shot at the people on the tops of the gates.
"I'll take care of the turrets! Don't push forward anymore until I clear them!"
"I'm coming with!" I heard Morek call out and join us from the left. I deflected shots as we shouted at each other over the commotion of battle.
"No, it's too dangerous! There's no cover up there!" I rejected.
"I can take care of myself! It'll take you too long to take out all the turrets by yourself!" We came up on a giant rock and ducked down behind it with our back toward the airfield.
"Morek is one of the best fighters we have." Daerk offered as I turned to him, holding my saber close to me with both hands. "If anyone can do it, he can."
"Alright. We're gonna have to rush and jump." I said, turning back to Morek. A large explosion next to us that kicked up dirt made the two of them cover their faces. "Run and get a good leap off that rock over there," I started to explain while jerking my thumb over my shoulder. "And I'll give you a boost." He nodded and pulled a vibroblade off his belt, getting ready to run. "Commander, when the gate goes down, charge the field. Until then, stay in cover!" I ordered and he nodded as well. "Ready, Morek?" I asked, turning around, holding my lightsaber out in one hand, holding myself off the rock with the other.
"Ready." He affirmed with another head nod.
"Go!" I barked, jumping up on top of the rock we had just been taking cover behind, deflecting shots and drawing attention away from Morek. He scrambled up onto the rock and crouched down to leap into the air. As his feet left the rock, I reached my hand out and up and concentrated on getting him to the wall. Once he had enough air, I let go and began deflecting shots again as I jumped off the rock and began rushing the wall. As I got close enough, I crouched and launched myself into the air, well above the height needed. Looking down and scanning the top of the gate, they all of the guardsmen had started focusing on Morek. I threw my hand out and let a flurry of ice go towards Morek. A wall of ice came up and blocked his back from enemy fire. This startled some of the attackers and they turned abruptly and started firing at me. Blocking the shots, I landed on the wall with a roll and popped back up, charging them. Deflecting their shots away from me, I cut their weapons down once in range and deactivated my lightsaber to kick and punch my way through them, hopefully not injuring them too badly. Just enough to incapacitate them. After all of my attackers were taken care of, I swept my hand in a downward motion toward the ice, dissolving it. Morek was finishing up with his attackers. He saw me and ran over, sheathing his vibroblade.
"What's the plan now?" He asked, barely at a loss for air. I pointed to the turret on the corner behind him that was still firing at our people in the tree line.
"We each take a turret. Use them to destroy the other two. Then we'll give them the all-clear signal to push forward." Morek nodded at my plan and turned to run to his turret. I watched him for a second before turning to run towards mine. I opened the door at the bottom and immediately had to punch a guard quickly a couple times. He fell to the ground, and I looked up. A tall ladder led to the top of the turret where a hatch sat. I climbed up the ladder quickly and twisted the hatch lock to push open the door. The guard in the turret's seat turned around quickly, obviously startled. He jumped out of the seat and reached for a gun. I ignited my saber and cut it down before he had the chance to get a shot off. I deactivated my saber and jumped around the seat, grabbing the back of it to swing myself around and kick the guard back. He fell back and down the hatch. I held my hand out and used the Force to close the hatch and lock it back before climbing into the gunner's seat. The HUD glowed orange as it showed the targeting system still aimed at the forest. I brought the turret around and took aim at the turret still firing at our people in the forest. It went up in flames. I clicked the comlink on my wrist and spoke into it. "Morek."
"I'm here. I've just destroyed the other turret." He relayed through the small communication device.
"Good, go ahead and send the signal." I ordered.
"On it." He answered. I aimed the turret down to the airfield to see what we would be up against once the gate came down. I didn't have much time to analyze before a warning flashed up on the screen. A missile was locked onto my turret.
"Oh boy." I muttered before jumping out of the seat and wrenching the hatch open with the Force. I jumped down through the hatch, not bothering to use the ladder as I felt the heat from above and felt the explosion's shockwave. I landed in a crouch and looked up to see debris falling fast. I used the Force to slow the debris with one hand and used the other to seal it in with ice. As soon as I let go of it with the Force, it began cracking. A large piece of debris smashed through it, making everything fall, but I was already throwing myself out of the door at the bottom. I put my hands up and swatted the smoke and dust that billowed out of the doorway.
"Please, help me!" A pained voice called out from behind me. I quickly stood up from my crouched position and turned around to find the guard who had fallen down the hatch. He was crawling away from the turret on his forearms. "Please! My legs! They're broken." He pled. I rushed to his side and knelt down.
"It's okay, I'll get you help. Stay here for now." I said calmly, trying to soothe his pain through the Force as I put a hand on his shoulder.
"Okay." He muttered as he laid his head on the ground, his face contorted in pain. I wished I could help him in that moment, but I had a job to do. I stood back up and headed for the back of the wall. Looking down, the immediate coast was clear near the gate, so I jumped down and keyed the control pad to unlock the gate. It began sinking into the ground slowly as I heard shouting behind me. Blaster fire towards me made me draw my lightsaber and deflect shots away from me. The rebels yelling and charging through the gate caused me to rush forward with them. I sliced through weapons and threw ice around guards' feet so they couldn't move when rebels surrounded them. It only took a few more minutes to take the base as people started surrendering once they saw how many rebels had charged through the gates. I slowly stood up straight and lowered my saber from the defensive stance I stood in. Looking around, I deactivated my lightsaber. Taelo was nowhere in sight as Daerk approached me from my left.
"Where's Taelo?" I asked as I clipped my lightsaber to my belt and he holstered his pistol, stopping next to me as we watched the scene in front of us.
"I'm not sure." Daerk said as rebels took up the dropped rifles from guards and crew mates from the airfield. "Last time I saw him, he was watching the turrets as we advanced on the wall, trying to find a weakness to exploit." Anger surged through me as I whipped around on my heels and stalked towards the gate. Kriffing trying to find a weakness. I flounced through the gate, past rebels coming in. They moved quickly to the side, clearly not wanting to get in my way. I saw Taelo walking up with a group of rebels, so I set my sights on him and B lined to him. He slowed as I approached, and the rebels stepped away from him.
"Kemara-" He didn't get another word out as I planted my fist in his gut. He doubled over as I ripped his helmet off at the same time as mine and threw them down the hill behind us towards the tree line. He quickly sobered from the punch and brought his hands up to block the fist that was coming up quickly to make impact with his face. While his hands were occupied, I kicked my leg out and hooked it behind one of his and wrenched it out from under him as I spun my body, throwing my shoulder into his chest. He lost his balance and fell onto his back, so I moved forward quickly and planted one foot on his chest and the other next to him on the ground all while grabbing my lightsaber in a reverse grip and starting to plunge it down towards him. I stopped it right at his neck, breathing heavily out of anger. He looked slightly disturbed and had thrown a hand up.
I knew how wrong it was for me to want to just plunge my lightsaber into the ground for what he did, but something inside of me was just chanting for me to go ahead. I could get justice for all of my men he'd hurt. All the times he'd attacked Anakin and I and left my best friend injured. For what he did to Obi-Wan. But a chill creeped up my spine and made me stiffen ever so slightly in realization. It wouldn't be justice. This is revenge.
After he realized I wasn't going to kill him, he slowly moved his hand from out in front of his face. He was staring up at me as I was glaring down at him with my face contorted in anger. His face started to morph into a grin. He let out a laugh and dropped his hand above his head.
"Look at this. The Jedi sparing a life. Typical." He spat the last word.
"Oh, you're making it real difficult. After what you did, I should make sure you can't lead anyone else to their death." I challenged, moving my lightsaber to right next to his jaw. His smile actually turned into a bit of a snarl, and he tilted his head away from the heat of my lightsaber.
"All I did was test their defenses." He sneered as he looked back up the me.
"With their lives!" I roared. My grip on my lightsaber only tightened as I stared down at the murderer below me.
"Kemara!" I heard Morek's voice yell from behind me. "What are you doing?" He asked as he slid to a stop next to me, holding his hands out in front of him slightly. I held my lightsaber at Taelo's neck for just a moment longer before setting my shoulders back and pulling my lightsaber away from his face. I stepped back and deactivated my lightsaber. I glared down at Taelo for another moment before turning and walking away, not even acknowledging Morek.
—
I paced behind the chairs in the cockpit of the stealth ship. How could I have been so stupid? Leaving Taelo in charge of a force of rebels? Of course he'd find a way to cause as much death and destruction as he could. It didn't matter if it was the enemies or the rebels.
I let out a frustrated groan. Dwelling on it wouldn't help. I inhaled deeply before letting it out slowly, staring out the viewport. The wood line was beautiful despite the broken and burnt trees from the battle that had happened earlier today. Now dusk was approaching and the remains of battle had been cleaned up for the most part.
I turned around and walked into the medbay where a royal guardsman slept in a bacta tank with burns and two broken legs. I crossed my arms and sighed. Too much time was spent in a medbay after a battle on the front lines or to check up on wounded clones. Or to check up on Anakin. He was always getting himself into trouble. I smiled sadly as my thoughts drifted to my best friend.
I furrowed my eyebrows as a thought came to mind. Pressing my lips into a thin line, I turned and walked to the captain's quarters of the ship. I took the robes I had been wearing to Vandor and set them on the bench at the foot of the bed. I took my lightsaber off my belt and held it in my hands, looking down at it. Very few Jedi used dualsabers. I was one of the few. While I wielded one, I sometimes only utilized one blade.
Lowering myself to my knees, I laid one hand on the robes and gripped my lightsaber tightly to my chest in my other hand, reaching out through the Force. I searched for the familiar presence of my best friend and Master. Obi-Wan reached back and his presence felt like a wave of relief washed over me. Only a moment later, I felt Anakin there with him. And with me. A pang of guilt ran through my chest as I could feel their worry and confusion. I wish I could explain to them. Tell them how sorry I was. Explain what was happening here. Honestly, I wasn't even sure I knew what was going on here. Something about this place was unsettling. All I knew was that I had to get back. And soon.
—
The next day was spent preparing to retake the city. The hard part. First, the outer defenses had to be taken down. Next, the supplies depot had to be destroyed. The fewer weapons they had to fight with, the better. Following the supplies, the energy grid had to be disrupted. Not destroyed, just disabled. While we were trying to overthrow a corrupt tyrant, we had to do damage control. We didn't want to just destroy the civilization with the throne. Finally, the infiltration of the Palace. Most of the guard will have been recalled to the Palace at this point. It will be all out war as the guards loyal to the throne come into conflict with the guards loyal to the rebels when we march in. The first three phases have to be executed consecutively. And the sooner, the better. The less time the tyrant and Palace guardsmen had to regroup and recuperate, the better. While it would be a strain on the rebels as well, the majority of them have been waiting their whole lives for this moment.
"The assault groups are almost ready, General." I looked up from the holomap of the Palace. Commander Daerk stood to my right at attention.
"Good. How is everyone holding up?" I asked as I turned to face him. He nodded backwards and we turned to leave the room.
"They're eager to take back the Palace. We all are. But we need to discuss the actual taking of the throne." I paused before reaching the door.
"What is there to discuss? I'm not staying to be the Queen so why not let Morek take leadership?" I crossed my arms and turned to face him more directly.
"Well, as I told you before, prophecy states you have to be the one to seize the throne." He reiterated. Not in a condescending way, just as an advisor would.
"What about after?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.
"Morek isn't old enough to be King. He's only 17. He can't be coronated until he's 18. He would have a regency council until he was of age." He explained. "Taelo could -" I brought up a hand to stop him.
"Taelo will only be another tyrant. Trust me. He is power hungry and a dangerous man." I uncrossed my arms and dropped them to my sides. "What is he getting out of all of this, anyway?" I questioned, putting my hands on my hips and leaning to one side.
"He knows that you must be the one to take the throne. He has no objections to it. He only wants a sizable reward after we retake the planet, which has been agreed to." I nodded slowly at his words. That didn't seem like Taelo, but I didn't feel the need to explain to the Commander how evil he could be. It would only grow distrust. "Are you ready?" He asked after a brief moment of quiet.
"I'm ready for this to be over." I answered honestly. He nodded solemnly and bowed his head.
"17 years… that's how long this rebellion has been growing. Planning. Waiting." He seemed happy, but also anxious. He worried for what the future held. I put a hand on his shoulder which brought his head back up.
"Change can be scary, but it can lead to good things." I offered. He smiled softly, his age lines showing. I nodded and we turned and left the planning room.
The assault groups were being briefed. The large room held a sizable portion of the rebellion, and everyone was packed in here like sardines. We walked up to the stage where the leaders were briefing the rest of the audience. Commander Daerk took his place among the others while Taelo, Morek, and a couple other assault group leaders were standing off to the side. I took my place next to Morek, who was shifting from side to side on his feet. "Nervous?" I asked him with a small smirk. He felt a little worried but radiated excitement.
"I'm ready to be free." He told me confidently. My smirk turned into a smile.
"With your help, taking the throne will be a breeze." His expression also morphed into one of joy. As the briefing came to a close, Commander Daerk told everyone to go to their group's meet point. Morek and I turned to each other and grasped hands. Giving a single shake, we nodded and went our ways. As I left the lifted stage and headed out to meet my team, I felt Taelo approach from behind me.
"Getting friendly with everyone here, aren't you?" It wasn't a friendly tease. He was being snarky. I huffed out an annoyed breath and just kept walking as I spoke up. He kept pace.
"Yes, because unlike you, I know they won't stab me in the back at any chance they get." I replied, matching his attitude. I felt a wave of anger from him.
"I'm not here to sabotage you taking the throne. I want my due rewards." I let out a genuine laugh as I stopped and turned around.
"Your 'due rewards'? These people shouldn't give you a penny." I seethed. "They owe you nothing."
"I got you here! I got the only person who could free them back!" He countered. His face was contorted in fury.
"With deception and murder!" I hissed quietly as to not alert anyone passing by. "You almost killed Obi-Wan, and you are going to pay for it." Without waiting for a response, I turned my back on him and stomped away. I swear he'll never hurt my friends again.