First chapter = disclaimers
In response to the comment left: I appreciate your constructive criticism. I realized when I decided to go with the montage-long scene format that it was a bit tricky. To only have longer scenes when something really important was happening is not a normal style of writing.
You are, however, correct in that the last chapters have been a touch too choppy. I will attempt to remedy this in the remaining chapters.
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With a small flick of his wrist, Anakin Skywalker was plummeting towards the surface of a small planet. His adversaries followed suit diving into the atmosphere after him. Ani continued spiraling downwards into the planet's atmosphere before he jerked on his piloting stick and flew straight up, zooming between the two pursuers as he went.
One opponent copied Ani's move; the other was not so fortunate. The explosion of the craft set a small fire in the forest below. The other opponent's ship wobbled as the shock of the other's death reverberated through the Force. Ani, however, had experienced the death of a trained Jedi many times before. He had a half of a second advantage. It was all he needed.
His blasters sheared off a wing from the other craft. With the force of the planet's gravity pulling on the remaining parts of the ship, the pilot never stood a chance. The starship exploded in a burst of white sparks that showered down onto the already existing fire.
He circled around the crash site once before taking off to the other side of the planet. With a gentle thunk, he landed his craft down in a small clearing. The trees were different in this part of the world. Instead of the leafy green and blue deciduous hardwoods, there were hearty green and purple pines.
With a gentle push from the Force, Anakin landed vaulted out of his cockpit onto the squishy ground beneath him. It had recently rained and the earth was sticky from the mud. He would leave tracks. That did not bother him. He did not plan on being followed anywhere.
Determined steps led him into the large glade next to the clearing he had landed in. He walked for a few miles without any apparent purpose. If one had been watching him, one would have though that he was power hiking or had a mental disease. Yet Anakin Skywalker knew exactly where he was headed.
With a deep breath, he pulled himself on top of a small ledge. A beautiful blonde stood before him.
"Well, well, Knight Skywalker, what brings you this far from you jail cell?" Callista's throaty voice taunted him.
"Oh, I was simply searching out villainous scum, such as yourself," Ani replied as he stood to his full height.
"I'm hurt that you think of me as your enemy when I am you savior," Callista's face drew into a full feminine pout.
"My savior from what? I was content where I was. You are the one who could not abide the idea of joining the Force."
"You were never fully appreciated. You can't tell me you never wished for a second chance. You, Kenobi, and Jinn all escaped, but you are the one who grabbed onto your new life. You wanted this."
"I grabbed onto a chance for redemption. That is a far cry from asking to be ripped out from the natural flow of life. I lived in the moment, which is what any good Jedi would do."
"The operative word there is 'live' my friend."
"You twist my words, Callista."
"Perhaps, perhaps not. It will not matter in the long run. I will still come out ahead."
"I don't think so. Your little base in Hutt space is being attacked as we speak."
"I know. It will thin out the Jedi into the truly worthy. Don't you think?"
"What do you mean you know?"
"Oh, my friend told me. Didn't you Lando?" Callista said as she turned towards a figure standing behind her.
"Lando?" Ani's voice echoed incredulously.
"Oh, Lando has been a most helpful informant over the past few months. He is, after all, a very wise businessman."
"He won't be for long, and neither will you. You won't lead anyone when you're dead. Not even the Emperor could arrange that."
"Oh, simple, simple Ani. Do you really think I'm stupid enough to attempt to defeat the Chosen One by myself? You see, I've been eliminating my clones over the years. I needed only the strong, the rest are liabilities. I let you and Jinn and Kenobi escape. You were useful. You've outlived that usefulness."
Callista flicked her wrist and a small device filled her hand. Ani jerked as his nerve endings spasmed and he lost muscular control.
"You might be wondering how. You removed all of the implants, didn't you?" Callista nudge Ani with her foot, "But, you never thought to check your actual DNA did you? All of my clones have a genetic tag that responds to their unique Force signature. I simple send a shockwave through a sample of you midicholorians, and your body reacts with sympathy pains."
"Bitch."
"Oh, that isn't a nice thing to say, Mr. Skywalker."
"He didn't say it; I did," Lando said as he strode up behind Callista.
"Wha…" Callista never finished her sentence as a blaster bolt nailed her between the eyes.
Ani stared suspiciously at Lando, "Decided you could get a better deal?"
Lando laughed, "Yes, about the time I gave up the Bespin gig and joined the Rebellion. My spies ran into Callista's flunkies a few months ago. I had to earn her trust. Unfortunately, that meant being her virtual prisoner while making contact from her hidden house on this Force forsaken rock. Do you know I had to eat my own cooking?"
Ani shook his head as he pulled himself up off of the ground, "You mean all of those reports you sent us weren't coming in from the field?"
"Nope, they came straight from here."
"Then she knew everything we told you."
"Essentially, but then again, I didn't really know what was going on."
"I don't understand."
"A couple of weeks into this gig, Mara finally recognized some of the signals I was giving her from our time working together. She realized I was being held somewhere, so she started to filter the information I received. In turn, I tried to get as much to her as possible."
"All of which, I would have explained to you had you not gone off on your hero kick," Mara remarked as she came up behind Lando.
"Mara?" Ani asked.
"You thought Lando sneaked up on Callista without some Force assistance?"
"Well, no…"
"Look, I knew Lando was being held. I just didn't know where or by whom. When you started your big mysteriousness, I figured you knew something you weren't sharing and that that something would lead to Lando."
"So, you followed me."
"Yes. Now that we've answered that question, how did you know Callista was in Republic space?"
"I interrogated a few of the captured Jedi that had bad memories of Darth Vader. Then I simply used Obi-Wan's contacts to find out her exact location."
Mara sighed, "See, that is the thing. What contacts? We couldn't trace you."
"Ah, you obviously don't know everything about information gathering. There are three supreme office of gossip: the bar, the barber, and the restaurant. All of these happen to be favorite haunts of Obi-Wan."
"He has a hair thing?" Lando asked.
"Yeah, there's so much of it gets unmanageable. He doesn't like to talk about it."
Mara snorted ruefully, "You mean we spend billions on intelligence when we she be asking Francis the waitress?"
"Actually you would be better off asking Bour-Togh the cook, but, yes."
Lando smiled, "You know I hate to mess up this moment, but don't we have somewhere to be?"
"Indeed we do, Lando, indeed we do," Ani grinned as he started off towards his ship, "I have a trial to go to."
