Title: Republic Saga - Vengeance, Chapter Three
Author: Jonathan Evans
Author email: noggins@ic24.net
Summary: Plans are made on both fronts as Anakin and Leia arrange to meet the Mandalorian High Council and Emperor Thrawn discovers betrayal in his ranks...
Disclaimer: George Lucas owns everything and I'm not making any money off of this nor do I intend to (I'd like to but that's not the point). You can distribute this freely provided that it's complete with this disclaimer and give the writer credit where credit's due.
REPUBLIC SAGA
VENGEANCE
CHAPTER THREE
The first blast caught Leia by surprise but she managed to avoid
it with a leap into the air. She swung on the light placement, kicking
the first bounty hunter to the ground. She dived behind the sofa,
using it as a barricade as the other four took random shots at her.
She moved her hand under her cloak and pulled out her lightsaber, the
red blade extending with a loud buzz. The Jedi robes fell to the
floor to allow her to move easily.
Two blasts came towards her head but they were deflected with
ease, one going back and hitting its firer in the chest the other
creating a small hole in the wall. Leia held out her arm and two of
the mercenaries fell backwards onto each other. The princess Jedi
smiled. "You really should give up. It's not going to get you anywhere."
As she spoke those words a loud crashing sound came from above as
two heavily build reptilian creatures burst through the ceiling.
Leia jumped out of the way to avoid a piece of falling rubble. She
came down on her feet but was lifted into the air by the strong,
grey skinned thing. With a quick movement of her wrist, its arm
sliced off and the shoulder and fell to the floor with a thud.
The remaining bounty hunters had got their senses together by this
point and had their weapons trained on her as she backed slowly
into a corner. She may have been a Jedi but she was overwhelmed
by the numbers. The large creature with the missing arm was still
fully functional. The only thing she had done was to make it
even angrier.
With one final strike, Leia ran at one of the creatures in an
attempt to take it out of the battle but misjudged her opponent
and was send flying through the air, he saber rolling to the
floor on the other side of the room.
The lead bounty hunter, a scarred human with a cloth around
his head held his gun at the princess' head and grinned. "I've
always wanted to kill a Jedi," he said. "I was beginning to
worry I'd never get the chance..." Leia sensed the pleasure
flowing through him as his finger pulled down on the trigger.
A quick spasm went through his body as he fell to the ground.
Everyone turned to see the masked visage of the man they knew
as Boba Fett.
"What you boys doin' here?" he asked them calmly.
"Fett!" a short, dark grey droid exclaimed in its electronically
produced voice. "We thought you were dead."
"You thought wrong, droid," was the reply. "This here's my
target. Ain't no one gonna take that away from me..."
"This was a free bounty. Our benefactor said it was up to anyone
to bring her in. Dead or alive."
"Anyone? Last I heard she was wanted alive and I was the one to
do it."
A tall, green skinned Trandoshan Fett knew as Bossk looked down
on him, trying to instill fear in the heart of his rival. "What
are you going to do to stop us? You're old, weak. You have no
power. People aren't afraid of you as they used to be."
Fett looked up, standing as tall as he could and looking as
deeply into the alien's eyes as he could. "Do you want to try
me out?"
There was silence. Everyone looked at their fellow bounty
hunter in the Mandalorian armour. He looked back at each
and every one of them without moving his head. "I will kill
anyone who gets in my way. You know I will."
4-LOM looked down at the body of Dengar before turning to the
others. "I think we should, uh, leave him to it..."
Bossk and the others nodded. He looked at Fett as he made his
way to the exit. "We'll meet again, Fett. And you will die."
"Sure..."
The door closed behind them. Anakin, still with his armour on
looked at the two grey-skinned aliens who stood watching what
they considered to be a bizzare interchange. "Greeting, Noghri,"
Anakin said. "I am Boba Fett. I'm sure you've heard of me."
"We have. We are not afraid like those lower lifeforms."
"Maybe you should be."
The Noghri with the missing arm jumped at Anakin who pulled
a rounded blade from a holster on his back. He threw it at
his enemy and hit in in the chest. It fell to the floor, dead
upon impact as his heart was pierced. "Want to try anything
else?" The second of the two aliens pulled out a blaster and
shot the weapon out of Anakin's hand. He rolled along the floor
to avoid further hits as he took a blaster from his belt. His
first shot missed as he regained his balance and the second
scoring a hit in the Noghri's shoulder but doing no harm. He
tried again but the recoil was jammed. He tugged at the back
as hard as he could and pulled his pistol up to fire again
only to see the creature falling into two pieces thanks to
his daughter's lightsaber.
"Good work," he commented. "But I could have dealt with him."
"Hmmm..."
"Really."
"Is it just me or are you a little reckless for a Jedi Master?"
"Yoda used to think I was too reckless to be an padawan!"
"Maybe he was right," Leia smiled. After several seconds her
face became serious again. "But what I want to know is who
sent them here?"
"Perhaps the same person who sent a Sith apprentice to attack
me once I arrived on this planet..."
"A Sith? Like Vader?"
"No. Not that strong, but given training under a powerful enough
master she could have been..."
At that moment the door opened again. Anakin and Leia turned to
see Keylar watching them. Rage filled his body as he seemd to
recognise the man the princess was with.
"You...." he hissed and pulled out a Mandalorian blade and
diving at Anakin with it held above his head.
* * * * * * * * *
Mara Jade walked through the doors from the docking ring to
the starport itself. She looked around carefully around to
check for traces of her prey. An empty table stood before
her with two glasses that once held drinks. Mara picked up
the first and sniffed it. Juri Juice. Alcoholic, no Jedi
would drink that. The same for the second. She continued
to another empty one but a large alien slumped down on the
seat before she could get there.
"Hey, there pretty one," he smiled when he noticed her. "You
wanna sit her? There's room on my lap."
Within seconds his head had collided with the wall on the other
side of the room. Mara examined the cup that had not yet been
cleaned away. Blue milk, not the sort of drink your average
smugler or spacer would consume. Only a Jedi could have been
here. He picked it up and sensed Leia's presence. She had
been here only several hours before.
A group of three suspicious looking beings of various races
were coming her way. They kept looking back over their
shoulders obviously worried that someone or something was
after them. Mara walked in front of them. "Hey!" the first
one shouted. "Get outta the way."
"Not until you tell me what you're doing," the young woman
hissed.
"It's none of your..." The first of the aliens suddenly
recognised her. "You - You work for the Emperor, don't ya?"
"I've been known to," Mara replied coldly as she noticed
the fear growing in their eyes.
"Look, we - we tried to kill her... but Fett got in our way.
Said our orders had changed."
"You were told to kill her?"
"The Emperor himself s-said so."
"Did he?" Mara thought everything over. Thrawn said he wanted
to take his time in taking over the Republic. He knew she had
to kill Leia Skywalker to fulfil her orders from Palpatine
himself. If he did it for her she would have to keep working
for him. Anger filled Mara's entire body. "Come with me. You
have new commands."
The bounty hunters followed Mara into an alleyway just far
enough away from any prying eyes. "So, what do we do now?"
the first one, Bossk, asked.
"And what's the pay like?" Zuckuss continued.
"Oh, you may not like the pay," replied Mara as she pulled
out a blaster, taking all three of them by surprise. She
looked down on their smoking bodies with a grimace. It was
time she severed her links with Thrawn and did the real
emperor's bidding.
* * * * * * * * *
Anakin side stepped out of the way of Keylar, sensing the
exact time he would come down. The Mandalore got to his feet
and tried again but once more the attack was counteracted.
"You are scum Boba Fett! You are the nemesis of all the Mandalore!"
He swiped again and Anakin ducked, this time grabbing the blade
in between both of his hands and pulling it out of his enemy's
grasp.
"This isn't the way to go, ambassador!" he said.
"How do you know who I am? All that we Mandalore were to you
were targets for your sick games..."
"I am..." Anakin ducked a punch that Keylar threw at him and
blocked another. "...not who you think I am."
"Really? Who are you?"
Anakin took the helmet off to reveal his true face. Keylar
looked at him carefully. "Skywalker?" Anakin nodded. "Why do
you wear the armour of such an evil creature?"
"Because... because I used to be Boba Fett." He waited for the
next attack but it didn't come. He continued his explanation.
"It was a time of war. I had no choice but to do what I did.
It was the only way to protect the future of the Republic without
them knowing who I was. If they did I would have been a target
for the Empire..."
"And that is in the past now?"
"Of course. It is time we put old conflicts behind us and
looked toward the future."
Keylar nodded. "Then we set course for Yarori in five hours.
My ship is on docking platform thirty seven B."
He left the room as quickly as he had entered it. Leia looked
at her father. "Very good. Now get out of that armour before
we're shot down the moment we meet the High Council."
Anakin smiled. "I'll meet you before we leave. I'll need to
arrange my own quarters."
* * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, far away from all that was happening, Thrawn was
sitting in his throne on Coruscant. Several aliens had tried
to get on his good side, claiming that they had information on
the Republic bases but he knew they were lying. Not by his
usual means though. This time he could sense their fears of being
discovered. His new found abilities shocked him. He had been
noticing changes within himself since before he became emperor
but now they were becoming more and more visible. And he liked
it.
A Deveronian came into his room and bowed. "Hello Emperor man.
Villie is here as you ordered."
"Vilmargh Grahrk," Thrawn hissed. "Information has come into
my grasp that someone has betrayed me. I want her eliminated.
I feel you can do it."
"Ja. Villie not as old as people thinks. He can do it in
quick quick time."
"Her name is Mara Jade. She is powerful and in tune with the
Force. She could be a danger to you."
"No. Villie has taken out many Jedi in his past, yes yes. He can
do it."
"Good," continued Thrawn. "Use any means necessary."
"Of course. She is to be dead soon."
Grahrk turned and left the throneroom. Thrawn pondered his
situation. When he sensed Mara had disobeyed his orders he
did not want to believe it. He refused to, but the feelings were
too strong. She had to die no matter how much it hurt him before
she did something he would regret himself...
TO BE CONTINUED....
Author: Jonathan Evans
Author email: noggins@ic24.net
Summary: Plans are made on both fronts as Anakin and Leia arrange to meet the Mandalorian High Council and Emperor Thrawn discovers betrayal in his ranks...
Disclaimer: George Lucas owns everything and I'm not making any money off of this nor do I intend to (I'd like to but that's not the point). You can distribute this freely provided that it's complete with this disclaimer and give the writer credit where credit's due.
REPUBLIC SAGA
VENGEANCE
CHAPTER THREE
The first blast caught Leia by surprise but she managed to avoid
it with a leap into the air. She swung on the light placement, kicking
the first bounty hunter to the ground. She dived behind the sofa,
using it as a barricade as the other four took random shots at her.
She moved her hand under her cloak and pulled out her lightsaber, the
red blade extending with a loud buzz. The Jedi robes fell to the
floor to allow her to move easily.
Two blasts came towards her head but they were deflected with
ease, one going back and hitting its firer in the chest the other
creating a small hole in the wall. Leia held out her arm and two of
the mercenaries fell backwards onto each other. The princess Jedi
smiled. "You really should give up. It's not going to get you anywhere."
As she spoke those words a loud crashing sound came from above as
two heavily build reptilian creatures burst through the ceiling.
Leia jumped out of the way to avoid a piece of falling rubble. She
came down on her feet but was lifted into the air by the strong,
grey skinned thing. With a quick movement of her wrist, its arm
sliced off and the shoulder and fell to the floor with a thud.
The remaining bounty hunters had got their senses together by this
point and had their weapons trained on her as she backed slowly
into a corner. She may have been a Jedi but she was overwhelmed
by the numbers. The large creature with the missing arm was still
fully functional. The only thing she had done was to make it
even angrier.
With one final strike, Leia ran at one of the creatures in an
attempt to take it out of the battle but misjudged her opponent
and was send flying through the air, he saber rolling to the
floor on the other side of the room.
The lead bounty hunter, a scarred human with a cloth around
his head held his gun at the princess' head and grinned. "I've
always wanted to kill a Jedi," he said. "I was beginning to
worry I'd never get the chance..." Leia sensed the pleasure
flowing through him as his finger pulled down on the trigger.
A quick spasm went through his body as he fell to the ground.
Everyone turned to see the masked visage of the man they knew
as Boba Fett.
"What you boys doin' here?" he asked them calmly.
"Fett!" a short, dark grey droid exclaimed in its electronically
produced voice. "We thought you were dead."
"You thought wrong, droid," was the reply. "This here's my
target. Ain't no one gonna take that away from me..."
"This was a free bounty. Our benefactor said it was up to anyone
to bring her in. Dead or alive."
"Anyone? Last I heard she was wanted alive and I was the one to
do it."
A tall, green skinned Trandoshan Fett knew as Bossk looked down
on him, trying to instill fear in the heart of his rival. "What
are you going to do to stop us? You're old, weak. You have no
power. People aren't afraid of you as they used to be."
Fett looked up, standing as tall as he could and looking as
deeply into the alien's eyes as he could. "Do you want to try
me out?"
There was silence. Everyone looked at their fellow bounty
hunter in the Mandalorian armour. He looked back at each
and every one of them without moving his head. "I will kill
anyone who gets in my way. You know I will."
4-LOM looked down at the body of Dengar before turning to the
others. "I think we should, uh, leave him to it..."
Bossk and the others nodded. He looked at Fett as he made his
way to the exit. "We'll meet again, Fett. And you will die."
"Sure..."
The door closed behind them. Anakin, still with his armour on
looked at the two grey-skinned aliens who stood watching what
they considered to be a bizzare interchange. "Greeting, Noghri,"
Anakin said. "I am Boba Fett. I'm sure you've heard of me."
"We have. We are not afraid like those lower lifeforms."
"Maybe you should be."
The Noghri with the missing arm jumped at Anakin who pulled
a rounded blade from a holster on his back. He threw it at
his enemy and hit in in the chest. It fell to the floor, dead
upon impact as his heart was pierced. "Want to try anything
else?" The second of the two aliens pulled out a blaster and
shot the weapon out of Anakin's hand. He rolled along the floor
to avoid further hits as he took a blaster from his belt. His
first shot missed as he regained his balance and the second
scoring a hit in the Noghri's shoulder but doing no harm. He
tried again but the recoil was jammed. He tugged at the back
as hard as he could and pulled his pistol up to fire again
only to see the creature falling into two pieces thanks to
his daughter's lightsaber.
"Good work," he commented. "But I could have dealt with him."
"Hmmm..."
"Really."
"Is it just me or are you a little reckless for a Jedi Master?"
"Yoda used to think I was too reckless to be an padawan!"
"Maybe he was right," Leia smiled. After several seconds her
face became serious again. "But what I want to know is who
sent them here?"
"Perhaps the same person who sent a Sith apprentice to attack
me once I arrived on this planet..."
"A Sith? Like Vader?"
"No. Not that strong, but given training under a powerful enough
master she could have been..."
At that moment the door opened again. Anakin and Leia turned to
see Keylar watching them. Rage filled his body as he seemd to
recognise the man the princess was with.
"You...." he hissed and pulled out a Mandalorian blade and
diving at Anakin with it held above his head.
* * * * * * * * *
Mara Jade walked through the doors from the docking ring to
the starport itself. She looked around carefully around to
check for traces of her prey. An empty table stood before
her with two glasses that once held drinks. Mara picked up
the first and sniffed it. Juri Juice. Alcoholic, no Jedi
would drink that. The same for the second. She continued
to another empty one but a large alien slumped down on the
seat before she could get there.
"Hey, there pretty one," he smiled when he noticed her. "You
wanna sit her? There's room on my lap."
Within seconds his head had collided with the wall on the other
side of the room. Mara examined the cup that had not yet been
cleaned away. Blue milk, not the sort of drink your average
smugler or spacer would consume. Only a Jedi could have been
here. He picked it up and sensed Leia's presence. She had
been here only several hours before.
A group of three suspicious looking beings of various races
were coming her way. They kept looking back over their
shoulders obviously worried that someone or something was
after them. Mara walked in front of them. "Hey!" the first
one shouted. "Get outta the way."
"Not until you tell me what you're doing," the young woman
hissed.
"It's none of your..." The first of the aliens suddenly
recognised her. "You - You work for the Emperor, don't ya?"
"I've been known to," Mara replied coldly as she noticed
the fear growing in their eyes.
"Look, we - we tried to kill her... but Fett got in our way.
Said our orders had changed."
"You were told to kill her?"
"The Emperor himself s-said so."
"Did he?" Mara thought everything over. Thrawn said he wanted
to take his time in taking over the Republic. He knew she had
to kill Leia Skywalker to fulfil her orders from Palpatine
himself. If he did it for her she would have to keep working
for him. Anger filled Mara's entire body. "Come with me. You
have new commands."
The bounty hunters followed Mara into an alleyway just far
enough away from any prying eyes. "So, what do we do now?"
the first one, Bossk, asked.
"And what's the pay like?" Zuckuss continued.
"Oh, you may not like the pay," replied Mara as she pulled
out a blaster, taking all three of them by surprise. She
looked down on their smoking bodies with a grimace. It was
time she severed her links with Thrawn and did the real
emperor's bidding.
* * * * * * * * *
Anakin side stepped out of the way of Keylar, sensing the
exact time he would come down. The Mandalore got to his feet
and tried again but once more the attack was counteracted.
"You are scum Boba Fett! You are the nemesis of all the Mandalore!"
He swiped again and Anakin ducked, this time grabbing the blade
in between both of his hands and pulling it out of his enemy's
grasp.
"This isn't the way to go, ambassador!" he said.
"How do you know who I am? All that we Mandalore were to you
were targets for your sick games..."
"I am..." Anakin ducked a punch that Keylar threw at him and
blocked another. "...not who you think I am."
"Really? Who are you?"
Anakin took the helmet off to reveal his true face. Keylar
looked at him carefully. "Skywalker?" Anakin nodded. "Why do
you wear the armour of such an evil creature?"
"Because... because I used to be Boba Fett." He waited for the
next attack but it didn't come. He continued his explanation.
"It was a time of war. I had no choice but to do what I did.
It was the only way to protect the future of the Republic without
them knowing who I was. If they did I would have been a target
for the Empire..."
"And that is in the past now?"
"Of course. It is time we put old conflicts behind us and
looked toward the future."
Keylar nodded. "Then we set course for Yarori in five hours.
My ship is on docking platform thirty seven B."
He left the room as quickly as he had entered it. Leia looked
at her father. "Very good. Now get out of that armour before
we're shot down the moment we meet the High Council."
Anakin smiled. "I'll meet you before we leave. I'll need to
arrange my own quarters."
* * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, far away from all that was happening, Thrawn was
sitting in his throne on Coruscant. Several aliens had tried
to get on his good side, claiming that they had information on
the Republic bases but he knew they were lying. Not by his
usual means though. This time he could sense their fears of being
discovered. His new found abilities shocked him. He had been
noticing changes within himself since before he became emperor
but now they were becoming more and more visible. And he liked
it.
A Deveronian came into his room and bowed. "Hello Emperor man.
Villie is here as you ordered."
"Vilmargh Grahrk," Thrawn hissed. "Information has come into
my grasp that someone has betrayed me. I want her eliminated.
I feel you can do it."
"Ja. Villie not as old as people thinks. He can do it in
quick quick time."
"Her name is Mara Jade. She is powerful and in tune with the
Force. She could be a danger to you."
"No. Villie has taken out many Jedi in his past, yes yes. He can
do it."
"Good," continued Thrawn. "Use any means necessary."
"Of course. She is to be dead soon."
Grahrk turned and left the throneroom. Thrawn pondered his
situation. When he sensed Mara had disobeyed his orders he
did not want to believe it. He refused to, but the feelings were
too strong. She had to die no matter how much it hurt him before
she did something he would regret himself...
TO BE CONTINUED....