For Disclaimer, Synopsis,
etc. see Chapter 1. Addition: The characters of Thrawn and C'Baoth belong to
Zahn. The character of Arikka Tyane/Rogue Twelve belongs to me. Song:
"Over and Over" belongs to Emjay. "I want to spend my lifetime
loving you" belongs to Marc Anthony and Tina Arena. Author: Asyr Sei'lar
A New War Chapter 3: Dark
Fury
Sam Redbay woke to total
darkness. For a moment, panic overwhelmed him as memories from his time among
the Furies slipped through his mind. His conscious mind stepped in right then,
reminding him of his current ordeal.
He carefully felt his way
to the refresher, making sure he didn't trip over his unsteady feet. Slowly,
but surely, he made his way along the wall. Harsh lights suddenly flashed on,
blinding him. He dropped to his knees, covering his eyes to protect them. This
type of torture had been going on for the past two days, along with starvation,
dizzying holograms, and the occasional roughing up by the guards.
*I'm alive,* he told
himself whenever the pain became too much. *I survived the Furies, I can
certainly survive this.* He made his way stoically to the refresher, determined
more than ever to get out of there and back to the New Republic.
The bridge of the
Chimaera was extremely busy as the crew prepared for a hyperspace jump to the
Sluis Van shipyards. Joruus C'Baoth, the clone of the long-dead Jedi Master
Jorus C'Baoth, sat at one of the rear stations directly behind Grand Admiral
Thrawn. "I demand my Jedi," C'Baoth rumbled. "Your Noghri have
failed again and again, *Grand* Admiral Thrawn," he said, emphasizing the
title sarcastically.
One of the blue-black
eyebrows that covered Thrawn's glowing red eyes rose. "I assure, Master
C'Baoth," he said calmly, "you will receive your Jedi soon enough.
For now, your talents are required."
C'Baoth appeared to still
be smoldering, but he closed his eyes, drawing on the Force to contact the
other ships. There appeared to be some disturbance in the Force . . . C'Baoth
frowned. Whatever the disturbance was, it appeared to be located extremely
close. Searching, searching . . . Ah, there it was. It appeared to be someone
who was extremely strong in the Force, yet unaware of it. C'Baoth smiled
coldly. *Perhaps even stronger than Skywalker...* he mused. *This one could be
turned easily.*
Captain Pellaeon noted
the cold smile on C'Baoth's face amid the strain located there as well with
concern. In his opinion, C'Baoth would and is turning into too much of a
problem. He seemed to be enjoying his work *too* much. Thrawn noted Pellaeon's
glance at C'Baoth. "Leave him be, Captain," Thrawn said. "He's
doing what he enjoys most. Controlling people."
"The technology at
your command is nothing compared to the power of the Force," said the
other in a quiet voice. "As is the power you offer me." The Jedi was
clearly enjoying the moment. "Did you know, for example," he said
casually, "that there is a Force user on board this ship?"
Unconsciously, Pellaeon
sat up straighter. "Skywalker?" he demanded.
"Hardly,
Captain," the Jedi answered. "No, this one does not realize he has
the Force at his command. I could easily turn him to the dark side."
"Where is he
currently?" Thrawn asked.
"In the detention
center," the Jedi answered.
"There's only one
prisoner there currently, sir," Pellaeon informed Thrawn. "A Rebel
pilot. He's still in phase one of interrogation, but he's proving unusually
resistant."
Thrawn could see Pellaeon
was hesitating about something. "What else, Captain?"
"He was found with
some unusual devices. One appeared to be a communications device, but it was
rather small, and appeared to do more than just open a channel. Another
appeared to be a handheld sensor, but far more sophisticated than anything we
or the New Republic has. The last object appeared to be some type of weapon,
but it was shaped strangely. Also, we can see it fire, but we can't pick up any
type of ion residue, the way you would with a regular blaster. Unfortunately,
all the devices blew up before we could test them further."
"I see," Thrawn
said. He swiveled to face C'Baoth. "It seems as though your 'Jedi' is more
than he appears to be."
The Jedi smiled.
"Rest assured, Admiral, I *will* turn him to the Dark Side."
The Sluis Van battle went
badly for the Imperial troops, as Thrawn's plan to steal the Mon Cal Cruisers
was foiled by Lando Calrissian and Han Solo. Rogue Squadron was present as
well. Sam was only aware there was a battle being fought, a temporary reprieve
from the torture they had been putting him through. He sat on his bunk, trying
to keep himself in one piece as the ship shook from the multiple turbolaser
blasts it took.
He closed his eyes,
praying that he remained alive and able to get back to Rogue Squadron. *And to
Inyri. God, how I miss her . . . * He lay down and closed his eyes, oblivious
to the shaking of the ship.
He felt his mind reaching
out … for what? A strange sensation suddenly hit him. It was like he could
reach out and see the battle being waged. X-wings flew and shot up TIEs, among
them Rogue Squadron. *All right,* he cheered silently. *Go Rogues!*
Another thought struck
him. If the Rogues were here, why not find out if he could see Inyri?
Stretching his mind, he was startled when he could almost *hear* her thoughts.
*Inyri,* he called tentatively. *Inyri, can you hear me?*
Startled, Inyri nearly
got herself vaped. She flew out of the main battle before tentatively calling
back: *Sam . . . ?*
*It's me,* he confirmed.
*For some reason, I can talk to you, mind to mind.* A pause. *I miss you,
Inyri.*
*I miss you, too, Sam,*
she answered warmly. *Where are you?*
*Aboard the Chimaera,* he
responded. *I'm stuck in the detention center, no way out.* Another pause. *I
love you, Inyri.*
*I love you—* Their
connection was abruptly blocked as another voice insinuated itself in Sam's
mind.
*You will come to me,*
the voice said. *Who is this?* Sam wondered. *You will come to me,* the voice
repeated. *You will become my apprentice and you will learn great power.*
*What are you *talking*
about?*
The voice paused. *You
mean you do not recognize the Force within yourself?*
*What Force? What is this
Force?*
*Come to me,* the voice
repeated for third time, *and I will explain everything.*
Sam woke up abruptly,
sweat pouring down his face. Had he dreamed everything? No, a clear memory of
what had happened remained in his mind and didn't fade, unlike dreams usually
did. The contact with the unknown voice had left him feeling extremely cold. He
shivered, wondering, with this new factor in his situation, if he would ever
make it out alive after all.
"It *was* him,"
Inyri insisted. "He called to me somehow, maybe using the Force, I don't
know. But he did. We talked. He told me he was in the Chimaera's detention
center, with no way out."
"What else did he
tell you?" Wedge Antilles asked carefully. They were seated in one of Home
One's lounges, Wedge hoping the informal setting would put Inyri more at ease.
The other squadron members were scattered around the lounge, sipping drinks,
chattering happily after the victory. Inyri, however, had a serious look on her
face, matched by Wedge's somber one.
Inyri blushed
unexpectedly. "He . . . um . . . this is kind of personal, Commander.
Absolutely no relevance to the matter at hand."
"Inyri . . ."
Wedge warned.
"All right."
She looked away. "He told he loved me. That he missed me terribly. That's
basically it. Our contact was brief, and cut off when I was about to tell him I
loved him back."
Wedge saw the sudden look
of pain in her eyes. "I understand," he told softly. He nodded and
rose. A crooked half-smile appeared on his face. "I won't bug you
anymore."
Inyri barely registered
her commanding officer's departure, so caught up in her pain was she. *Sam,*
she called, *wherever you are, we're coming for you. Understand? We're coming.*
Inyri's call awoke Sam
from his light doze. That was not the only thing, however. He could hear
footsteps outside his door. Loud, rhythmic ones.
The door to his cell slid
open, revealing two of the white-armor-clad troopers, and a tall man in robes.
The man smiled, yet Sam could have sworn there was menace lurking behind that smile.
"You are he," the man said in oddly echoing voice. Odd because the
room didn't allow for echoes.
His voice struck a cord
in Sam's memory. "You're the one who spoke to me in my thoughts," he
blurted out.
Anger suddenly flared on
the man's face. "Do not speak of such things in front of lesser
beings," he bit out. Abruptly, he turned and headed out the door.
"Come." Sam shook his head in wonder. What was wrong with this man?
He didn't quite seem sane with such rapidly shifting emotions . . .
A trooper poked him in
the back with his blaster. "Move it, Rebel scum," the trooper said.
Sam moved obediently, following the man in the robes. He had a feeling of
impending doom, but he couldn't pinpoint anything specific.
Images of Inyri welled
up, as well as a profound sense of regret that he couldn't be with her. An old
song from Earth's twentieth century wandered through his mind, reminding him
how often Inyri's face cropped up in his thoughts.
"Over and over I see
your face Over and over I long for your embrace Can't stop thinking about you,
Thinking about you, Over and over . . ."
They entered private
quarters fit for a high-ranking visitor, then entered what Sam thought of as
the "inner sanctum." It was surprisingly spare, with only a couple of
mats in the center. The door slid shut behind Sam, leaving the troopers
outside. He watched the man nervously, wondering what was going to happen next.
The old man nodded at the
mats. "Sit," he commanded.
Sam found himself sitting
cross-legged on one of the mats. *What happened?* he asked himself. *How did I
go from standing to sitting without realizing it?* The old man fluidly sat
down, raising the danger rating Sam had given him.
"Now," the man
said, "we begin your training."
"Whoa, wait a
minute," Sam said cautiously. "What training?"
"Your
training," the man said, "as a Force-user."
"What's this
Force?" Sam demanded impatiently.
The man smiled. *Good, he
is impatient. Already on the path to the dark side.* "It is a field
generated by all living beings. It permeates the entire universe, from the
life-rich forest to the cold vacuum of space. The Jedi are the group of people
who can control and use the Force for their own purposes."
"Are you a
Jedi?" Sam asked warily.
The man smiled coldly.
"Yes," he answered. He stared intently into Sam's eyes. Sam was
startled. "Grand Admiral Thrawn has instructed that I extract all relevant
information from your mind, since you are proving resistant to standard
interrogation techniques."
Sam tried to get away
from him, but his body seemed frozen in place. His sight faded away as his eyes
closed and his mind focused on trying to keep this man from his mind. The old
man's mind slipped past his defenses. Sam fought a losing battle to shield his
mind against the intruder. The man rammed through his defenses as effortlessly
as a knife through water.
Sam finally gave up,
focusing on finding out as much about this man as he could. Because the man had
to open his defenses to reach to Sam's mind, he was as vulnerable to the same
sort of attack he had used on Sam. Sam dove through his memories, focusing on
the more recent ones. He also sorted through the information stored in the
man's brain. A name appeared to him . . . Joruus C'Baoth. Images of space
battles, memories of the long-range communications required to coordinate
battles for Thrawn. Information on what exactly the Force was, history of the
Jedi and their battles with the Sith, history of then Old Republic, the
Rebellion, and what he knew of the current new Rebellion. What he knew of Thrawn's
plans, and his own plans.
*Oh my God,* Sam
exclaimed silently. He had discovered Thrawn's use of the Spaarti cylinder to
provide enough crewpeople for the defeat of the Rebellion. The worse part was
the discovery of C'Baoth's own plans. Because the clones' minds were alike, and
C'Baoth knew how to control minds, he was planning to take control of the
clones' minds so as to provide him a personal army he could use against anyone,
friend or foe. *He is insane . . . I have to escape,* Sam thought desperately.
*Somehow . . .*
*There is no escape.*
C'Baoth's laughter echoed derisively in his mind. *I will turn you.*
Sam broke contact
forcefully, surprising C'Baoth before he could stop Sam. Free of C'Baoth's
influence, if only momentarily, he ran out of the room, hitting one of the
troopers and grabbing his gun. The other trooper fired, the blaster bolt
missing Sam by inches. Sam fired back, but not before he heard the other
trooper calling for backup.
He reached out with his newly acquired Force
senses, based on the information he had extracted from C'Baoth's mind on Jedi
techniques. He sensed where his astromech droid was being kept, a cargo bay
just off the main hangar bay.
C'Baoth's laughter
continued to ring in his mind. He came up against Force barriers, images of
C'Baoth in the corner of his eye, always mockingly dancing in and out of focus,
things that suddenly came flying at him. His hair was coated with sweat, fear
rising up in him. *I'm about to go as insane as he is,* Sam though grimly.
*This isn't a ship, it's a funhouse. A really warped one.*
He managed to reach the
entrance to the cargo bay and release his astromech droid, but his way to the
hangar bay was blocked by C'Baoth, wielding a lightsaber. "How *dare* you
disobey me!" C'Baoth shouted.
"You're not getting
me!" Sam shouted back defiantly.
A sly look slipped on to
C'Baoth's face. He tossed an extra lightsaber to Sam. "You must prove
yourself," he said, almost purring, "to be my apprentice."
Sam shuddered. C'Baoth
seemed to be becoming more unstable with each passing moment. It was only a
matter of time before he exploded and hurt somebody.
He ignited the lightsaber
and assumed a guard position that he had learned in some of the few fencing
lessons he had taken at his sister's behest. C'Baoth parried with an aggressive
stance. He immediately began attacking. Sam was barely able to block the blows
C'Baoth showered on him.
*He's too fast. Time to
change the rules.* Sam slipped into a crouch, and, in one fluid movement,
extended his leg out to swipe C'Baoth's feet from under him. C'Baoth fell to
the floor with a loud bang. Sam sprinted toward his X-wing. His astromech, Bat,
was already next to the X-wing. Sam levitated Bat into the astromech socket,
then leaped into the cockpit as Bat raised the canopy. There were shouts from
assorted techs and troopers, but nobody was fast enough to stop the agile
little fighter from blasting its way out. "Bye-bye suckers!" Sam
yelled in pure relief as his X-wing shot into hyperspace.
"So then I got my
X-wing into hyperspace. That's basically it," Sam concluded as he looked
at all his friends from Rogue Squadron assembled around his bed in the medical
center. Inyri squeezed his hand. He turned his head and smiled at her.
Corran rose from his
position across from Inyri, smiling mischievously. "Let's leave,
guys," he suggested. "I think they want some time alone."
Sam hardly noticed as the
rest of Rogue Squadron filed out the door. His attention was completely on
Inyri. "I was afraid I'd never see you again," he said softly, the
very idea threatening to choke him with emotion.
She stroked his cheek.
"Well, you're back," she said simply.
He laughed.
"Indeed." He grew sober. "I love you, Inyri Forge. I've never
really felt this way about anyone else before. I know I may never see the
Federation again for the rest of my life, but I'd like to have at least some
happiness in my new life. I know that I can have it with you. I'd like to spend
the rest of my life with you. Even if I do get a chance to go back, I won't.
Not without you, anyway."
She blushed. "I love
you, too, Sam. Ever since I first met you, you've intrigued me. I've . . .
never met anyone like you before. I was, well . . . sad, when I didn't get a
chance to tell you I loved you back. But now I'm telling you."
Sam sat up, embracing
Inyri. She smiled in pure delight, her emotions too overwhelming for
description. Swept up in their emotions, their lips met, everything else fading
into the background. When at last they let go, Sam sighed contentedly, Inyri
resting her head on his chest. They sat together in companionable silence,
watching the stars fly past them on the viewport in Sam's medical suite.
"Moon so bright,
night so fine, Keep your heart, here with mine, Life's a dream, we are
dreaming.
Chase the moon, catch the
wind, Ride the night to the end, Seize the day, Stand up for the light.
I want to spend my
lifetime loving you . . ."
La Fin!
