Disclaimer: Final Fantasy and Star Wars copyright their respective owners.
Baralai looked up from his desk as the ornate doors yawned open and the two stormtroopers stationed in his office snapped to attention. He did not rise, nor did he offer a seated bow as Vader strode into his office, the heavy mechanical breathing proceeding the dark lord by several seconds.
"Lord Vader," Baralai said, just a hint of testiness creeping into his voice. "This visit is most unexpected. You normally schedule your visits at least a few days–"
Vader lifted up his right hand and clenched a fist, and suddenly Baralai found himself robbed of breath. "My patience is wearing thin, Praetor Baralai. The knowledge that we arrived two years too late to acquire your Sin is enough of an annoyance, and now I want answers. Where is the descendant of Juun Toral?"
As Vader loosened his fist, Baralai suddenly found the ability to breathe again. He took a deep breath, calming himself, before answering. "I do not know of any Juun Toral having ever lived on Spira. There are several reasons as to why this may be. Many of our recorded history spheres were stolen and destroyed by the former praetor. Or, there may never have been a record kept of this Toral you speak of."
"Do not play games with me, Praetor Baralai," Vader said ominously. "I can sense her presence in the Force. She is here on Spira, somewhere, attempting to learn the ways of the Jedi. I will ask you again, Praetor Baralai, and I shall inform you now that my patience is almost at an end. Where is the High Summoner?"
Baralai's head came up. "You believe that High Summoner Yuna is the descendant of this Juun Toral? And she has what? Some mystical powers? The only 'mystical' powers she's ever had was the ability to summon aeons."
His black-gloved fist began to tighten once more, and Baralai felt an invisible hand closing around his throat. "Don't tempt me, Praetor. She is the descendant of the Jedi Juun Toral, and she is trying to learn the ways of the Force. Tell me where she is!"
Through an inner force of will, Baralai managed not to gasp for air or claw at his throat. He kept his hands placed firmly on his desktop, despite the fact that there was blackness creeping in at the edges of his vision. "I don't know…exactly where she is. She lives… on Besaid Island…"
Vader suddenly opened his hand, and the force crushing against Baralai's throat vanished. Spinning with a flourish of his cape, Vader wordlessly turned and strode from the office. Only after the door had closed did Baralai allow himself to reach up and rub at his aching throat with one hand.
Dissenting groups are on the rise all over Spira, he thought bitterly. Act too rashly, and you'll have a full-blown rebellion on your hands.
Toward that end, he already knew that there were factions on Spira that were already preparing for that. He was dimly aware that a certain group comprised of a suspicious amount of Al Bhed had been sneaking weapons into Bevelle that they had salvaged from an underwater ruin. The weapons were set up in strategically-located caches throughout the city; set up, Baralai knew, in order to quickly arm and equip the maximum number of rebels possible in the shortest amount of time.
He hadn't paid too much attention to the smuggling activities; any extra attention paid by him to a certain area of the city would undoubtedly draw the Empire's attention soon afterward.
As he sat there pondering on the state of affairs in Spira, a group of pyreflies entered his office through a wall and began to coalesce around one another. Baralai, as well as the two stormtroopers, stared at them curiously.
Suddenly, the two stormtroopers froze in their place, just seconds before the pyreflies shimmered and faded, to be replaced by a familiar red-clad man that almost everyone in Spira knew.
"Do not worry about them," Auron said. "I cast Stop on them. They will know nothing of what we say here."
Baralai settled back in his seat, trying to wipe the expression of surprise off his face. "Sir Auron? Forgive me for being so blunt, but aren't you dead?"
The ronin chuckled. "Yes, I still am. But we of the Farplane are gathering our forces for the rebellion."
"The rebellion," Baralai repeated blankly.
"All of Spira must unite, using the weapons that the Al Bhed are gathering, if we are to regain control of our world. This is your warning. Tell your most trusted commanders of what we plan. When we have a time set, I will return and tell you what you are to do. Until then, you must continue to bide your time."
"I am afraid that even our finest soldiers are no match for the Empire's stormtroopers," Baralai said, spreading his hands helplessly.
"Believe," Auron replied. "Yuna is staking her life on having all of Spira united to fight by the time she is finished her training."
Baralai nodded slowly. "For Lady Yuna, every citizen of Bevelle would gladly lay down his or her life. I shall begin preparations at once."
"Good." Auron's image began to fade away. "Until we meet again."
With those last words, the ronin was gone. Sighing slowly, Baralai turned his seat toward the window, watching as Lord Vader's shuttle rose into the skies and headed south, toward Besaid. He ignored the confused utterances of the two stormtroopers, and rubbed his hands over his face.
Spira was in for dark times ahead.
---
"A Jedi can feel the Force flowing through her, guiding her actions."
"So…it controls…what I do?" Yuna asked, straining every muscle of her body. She had been standing on her hands for at least half an hour, and she was beginning to feel light-headed.
"Partially," Luke answered over the hypercomm. "But it also answers your will. You must find the balance between allowing it to guide you, and guiding it with your own thoughts."
"I understand…" she grunted, straining to remain upright.
Over the holographic image, Luke smiled. "Very good, Yuna. You're learning faster than I did. And now, the rocks."
On Luke's request, Tidus had gone hunting around the cavern for three heavy rocks of different sizes. He'd found good enough rocks; he and the Rebel pilot Arren had taken half a day to lug all three of them back to the small cavern where Yuna's training was taking place.
Without replying, Yuna closed her eyes and shifted her weight onto her left hand, allowing her to slowly raise her right hand off the ground in the direction of the rocks. Without seeing them, she could sense their presence in the Force that connected and bound everything in the universe. She felt herself get a solid grip on the largest stone, and slowly moved her hand toward the direction of the cavern's center.
Tidus watched in awe, his mouth dropping open, as the rock lifted slowly from the ground and drifted toward the center of the small room, wobbling slightly as it did so. He dimly recalled that it had taken him and Arren three hours just to get that rock into the chamber.
As he watched, Yuna lowered her hand slightly and the rock settled gently to the floor of the cavern. Moments later, the medium-sized rock lifted off of the ground, floating over to the larger one and balancing delicately atop it. Tidus knew that Yuna had to be holding it from falling over with the Force; the different shapes of the rocks ensured that they would not stack together in that way without being held. Within another few minutes, the smallest rock was also perched delicately atop the second.
"Very good, Yuna. Continue."
Suddenly, Tidus felt an invisible force take hold of his body and lift him into the air. He swung about, grabbing for something to get a hold of to arrest his ascension. "Hey! Whoa!"
"Don't struggle, Tidus," Luke's voice said, carrying with it a hint of amusement. "You'll disturb Yuna's concentration."
As he stopped his motions and settled for crossing his arms with a scowl on his face, he heard Yuna giggle from where she was positioned. "I'm so going to get you for this, Yuna!"
The sound of Luke's laughter echoed through the cavern. "That's good for now, Yuna. You can put him down."
Tidus watched as the three rocks lifted away from each other and individually set down on the floor of the cavern with barely a sound. Then Yuna lowered her right hand back to the ground before bending her elbows and flipping back up onto her feet.
"Uhh, Yuna? You gonna put me down?"
Yuna turned toward Tidus with a playful smile on her face, then she made a 'come here' gesture with her hand. As soon as she did so, Tidus could feel himself drifting through the air toward her, his height above ground lowering as he did so. When he reached her, she leaned up on her toes and kissed him softly, then released her hold on him, allowing him to drop back fully to the ground.
"I just wanted to play with you," she answered. Then she giggled and added, "The Force is fun."
"What do you feel, Yuna? Through the Force."
Turning in the direction of Luke's holoimage, Yuna clasped her hands in front of her and closed her eyes. She allowed herself to flow into the Force, the way that Luke had instructed her to. As she did so, a whole new world suddenly opened to her.
"I feel…Tidus," she said with a smile. "I feel his love for me."
"Very good. Focus on that. Let the love that the two of you share be your window into the Force. Peace, calm, and tranquillity. A Jedi best hears the Force when she is in that state of mind. When you reflect on your love, you are at peace. That is when you will have the most control over the Force. Try it now."
Nodding, Yuna turned her back toward Tidus and leaned into him. She felt his strong arms wrap around her waist and hold her against him. She smiled happily as a sense of utter calm washed over her, and suddenly she felt as though she could see the entire universe. Countless worlds with hundreds of millions of sentient species. In her mind's eye, she could see worlds of natural beauty rivaling anything seen on Spira. She gasped aloud, still smiling, loving what she was seeing.
"How is it?"
"It's wonderful!" she breathed. "I feel so alive."
Luke was audibly pleased. "Very good. You are making excellent progress, Yuna. You'll be a Jedi in no time. But now, we'll move on to lightsaber practice…"
---
The two stormtroopers whose job it was to guard the Besaid temple exchanged a glance as they watched Vader's shuttle slowly settle to the ground in the center of the village. They assumed a rigid position of attention as the Dark Lord strode directly up to them, his ominous mechanical breathing echoing harshly in their helmets.
"Have you found the High Summoner yet?"
"No, Lord Vader, we haven't," answered the stormtrooper on the left, TC-762. "We've searched the entire island and have found no trace of her. We are almost certain that she has escaped the island."
Silence answered the stormtrooper for several long moments; silence save for that rhythmic mechanical breathing. The other stormtrooper, the younger of the two, fidgeted slightly.
"Load your men onto the shuttles, Lieutenant," Vader finally said, slowly. "Leave the island and maintain a safe distance. Once the orbital bombardment is complete, return at once and search every square inch of this island. If the High Summoner does not want to be found, then she can find herself dead."
With that, Vader turned away and crossed the short distance back to his shuttle, stalking up the ramp with not a glance to the doomed villagers. Moments later, the ramp rose and the shuttle lifted into the air, its dorsal fins folding down as it hovered on its repulsorlifts. With that completed, the shuttle engaged its engines and disappeared beyond the temple.
Standing there in shocked silence, the two stormtroopers replayed what Vader had said to them just moments before. Finally, they turned toward each other.
"This is bad," the TC-762 said over their helmet comlinks, ensuring that none of the passing villagers would hear.
"I can't just walk away knowing that these people are all going to die," the other, JN-495 replied, also on comlink. "I've actually gotten to like these people."
"So have I. But what can we do?"
"Tell them what's going to happen?"
"Of course we're going to do that, stupid. But what good will it do them? They can't get off the island at all. The rest of the squad isn't likely to just let them board a boat and leave."
As the two of them turned back to their normal guard angles, there was nothing but silence over their personal comlinks, both of them trying frantically to think of a way to do their job without stamping the death seals of the villagers.
"Hey, I got an idea," JN-495 said after a few minutes.
"What's that?"
"Take them with us."
There was an audible pause as TC-762 turned bodily toward his fellow. "Run that by me one more time." His voice was flat disbelieving.
"No, no, seriously. Okay, it's like this. We stage some kind of fiasco here in the village, then 'arrest' all of them. We load them on our shuttle and take them someplace far away while the Executor bombards the hell out of the island. It sucks that they'll lose their homes, but at least they'll still be alive."
TC-762 turned away, nodding his helmeted head slightly as he thought that plan over. "It's a good plan, but a Lambda-class shuttle couldn't hold all the villagers. We should try putting them on a boat instead. That way they don't offload as one big group and they can go into hiding more easily. Maybe if we're lucky there'll be a boat leaving between now and the time the Executor commences bombardment."
"Hey yeah, that works even better. We make a pretty good team, you and I."
"Sure do. Hey listen, I'm gonna go tell Wakka what's going on. Hold down the fort, would ya?"
"Sure thing."
Glancing around as though to make sure that Vader really had left the island, TC-762 crossed the village toward the second hut from the temple on the left side. Shifting his E-11 blaster carbine to his left hand, the stormtrooper raised his armored right hand and knocked on the door frame.
"Come on in," Wakka's voice said from inside. "You don't gotta knock, ya?"
Without answering, the stormtrooper pushed aside the sheet of cloth that served as a door and walked into Wakka's hut. Inside, Wakka was rising to his feet, a surprised expression on his face. Lulu remained seated, holding their baby in her arms and looking at the stormtrooper curiously.
"Hey, somethin' must be up," Wakka said. "It's not everyday you guys make a social call."
"Lord Vader is pretty pissed off that we haven't found the High Summoner," 762 said without preamble. "He's ordered the garrison to pull off of the island long enough for the Executor to pound it flat."
If at all possible, Wakka's expression grew even more shocked. Lulu's face now showed anger, clear through. "You mean like what you did to the Ronso?" she asked coldly. "We are to be sacrificed to appease Lord Vader's anger at his own shortcomings."
"That's their plan, but it's not going to happen that way. Not as long as I'm around."
That statement managed to cut through Lulu's ice-cold glare, causing her to raise an eyebrow as she and her husband exchanged glances. "You… That's treason you're talkin', ya?" Wakka said, flabbergasted. "They'll kill ya for that!"
762 shook his head. "Let them try. But I'm not going to sit around and watch as innocent people get massacred for no reason."
"You have a plan," Lulu said simply.
"I need the village's help to stage some sort of uprising. Then we can 'arrest' all of you and put you on a boat leaving the island, claiming to be taking you to Bevelle to be thrown into the dungeon there. But we'll keep control of the boat, and let you get off wherever you like."
"That sounds like a good plan to me, ya," Wakka said. "But what about Yuna and Tidus? Won't they be left on the island when it gets blown up?"
"I don't think they're even on the island," the stormtrooper answered, shrugging slightly. "We've searched every cave on the island and haven't found them. They must've snuck off somehow without us catching them."
"Eh, I guess so," Wakka said. "Alright, I'll buy into this plan of yours. But if this don't work, you're in a lot of trouble, ya."
Nodding, 762 reached down to his E-11 and flipped the fire mode over to stun, then reduced the setting down to where a full-on hit would only stun him momentarily. As he did so, he relayed his plan to 495 outside. With that finished, he handed the E-11 to Wakka.
"This is how it's going to work. I run out of the hut, and you shoot at me. Don't worry about killing me; it's set for stun. But just to be on the safe side, don't actually hit me. Aim off to one side of me. I'll run in a straight line."
Nodding dully, Wakka looked down at the blaster carbine in his hands. "You sure this'll work?"
"It should. My partner out there is going to have to stun you full-on, or else the rest of the squad won't buy it. A stun bolt won't leave any permanent damage, it'll just knock you out for a while. Then once we're both down, he'll call in the rest of the squad, tell them that the situation is under control, but that we're going to have to arrest the entire village." He waved a hand dismissively. "We'll make up some kind of bogus story about the villagers planning to rebel."
"Except that that story isn't bogus," Lulu said.
The stormtrooper shrugged. "They don't need to know that. Let them think what they want. In any case, the rest of the squad will come and arrest everyone, then we'll take them down to the dock and put them on the next boat out of here. Hopefully, we'll be halfway across Spira before the order to bombard the island is carried out."
Wakka shook his head slowly, mindful of the blaster carbine in his hands. "I just can't believe it, ya? Here I thought you guys would pack up and leave once you figured out that we toasted Sin two years ago. And now you're up here about to turn all of Besaid into a burning cinder? The rest of the world ain't gonna take that sittin' down, ya. Rebellions will be poppin' up all over the place."
Nodding, 762 turned toward the door. "You can count me among their number. Ready?"
"I suppose so. Lu, get everything ready to go, okay? Don't worry about nothin' but my ball and your doll." Then Wakka turned back toward the stormtrooper and hefted the blaster carbine. "Okay, go."
762 wasted no time. He pushed open the flap of the hut and ran out into the village, heading directly toward the temple entrance. "Look out! He's got my blaster!"
Just as he finished that sentence, the blue-green stun bolt shot past to his right, making that whole side go numb. Playing his part, 762 let out a pained cry and collapsed to the ground with a clatter of his armor pieces, watching as 495 leveled his own E-11 and squeezed the trigger. An answering stun bolt spat out of the barrel, and 762 heard Wakka's strangled cry from behind him, before hearing the sound of a blaster clattering to the ground and the familiar sound of a stunned body following shortly after.
"Get the rest of the squad to the village, now!" 762 heard over his helmet comlink. "The villagers just tried to rise up against us, and we've got a man down. Only a stun shot; he didn't get all of it."
"Roger, we're on the way. Want us to scramble the TIE squadron for air support?"
"Negative, we've got things under control here. Bring enough binders for the whole village and a cargo speeder. We'll take them to Bevelle and toss them in the dungeon there for a good while."
"They can tell the rest of Spira what happens when you try to hide anyone Lord Vader might be looking for on the way. Alright, we're on the way. Estimate two minutes."
"Copy. Village out."
495 kept his blaster trained on the idling villagers, for appearances only, as he moved over and pulled 762 up to his feet. Keeping with the part he was playing, 762 leaned heavily on 495 after retrieving his blaster carbine.
Two minutes later, a large cargo speeder appeared at the village gates and a squad of stormtroopers disembarked, heading into the village with their blaster carbines leveled. Without having to be ordered by either stormtrooper already in the village, the white-armored soldiers fanned out and entered every hut, applying binders to everyone they came across and ushering them out toward the waiting speeder. Only once did they run into any trouble.
As the stormtroopers dragged a young girl toward the speeder by an arm, her dog lowered itself down and growled low in its throat, obviously a second from attack. Without missing a beat, another stormtrooper leveled his carbine and fired, the stun burst folding the dog over onto its side. That same trooper wordlessly picked up the limp dog and loaded it into the back of the speeder.
Once the feeling returned to his right side, 762 stood off of 495 and walked straight into Wakka's hut, taking the bag from Lulu that contained her Onion Knight doll and Wakka's World Champion blitzball. Receiving a nod from the black mage, 762 slung the bag over his shoulder and led Lulu out of the hut. Almost immediately, another stormtrooper came up and tried to take Vidina away from her. 762 immediately held up a hand to stop the stormtrooper.
"Don't. Let her carry the baby. She knows better than to try anything, after how we handled her husband." 762 nudged Wakka's slowly-stirring form with the toe of his boot.
Nodding, the stormtrooper instead pulled Lulu toward the speeder. Waving 495 over, 762 pulled Wakka to his feet, pulling one arm around his neck while 495 did the same with his other. Together, they dragged him back to the speeder and sat him up inside next to Lulu. The loadmaster walked over and silently put Wakka's hands in binders, then nodded to the two guards.
762 placed the bag behind Lulu's feet, set so that her dress concealed it, then turned and walked around to the front of the speeder, where a couple of stormtroopers were sweeping the village once more for anyone left behind. One of the stormtroopers walked up to 762 and nodded respectfully. "We've searched the village, Lieutenant," the stormtrooper said. "There's no one left."
"Alright, get your men on board and let's get out of here," 762 replied with a nod.
Nodding, the stormtrooper waved to his men, who all immediately made for the speeder. 762 waited until they were all aboard, then climbed into the back of the speeder and sat down beside Wakka, across from 495. After receiving a gentle nudge in his side, 762 glanced over to see a surreptitiously-delivered nod of approval from Wakka, who was still shaking off the effects of the stun beam.
Within minutes, the group had reached the dock at the beach, where a ship heading to Luca was waiting. 762 hopped out of the speeder so that the squad could begin moving the villagers out and onto the ship, grabbing the bag as he did so. He waved over the next ranking man in the squad and moved a few feet away from the speeder.
"You know the drill. Once we get everyone on the boat, we'll be taking off. JN-495 and I will go with the boat. You and the rest of the squad load up on the shuttles and get clear of the island. It'll be a smoldering ruin before long."
The other stormtrooper nodded, then motioned toward the bag. "Will do. What've you got there?"
"Just a few souvenirs," 762 replied, opening the bag and showing its contents to the stormtrooper. "That's a blitzball," he said, pointing to the World Champion. "It's the sport they play on this world for entertainment. And the doll's for my wife. She collects those things."
"Ah," the stormtrooper said. "Yeah, she'll like that." The stormtrooper nodded. "Well, good luck. We'll see you when you get back, I guess."
"Until then."
Closing up the bag, 762 followed the last of the villagers across the dock and onto the boat. The stormtroopers directing them guided them into the cabins below deck, then nodded to 762 as they left the ship and headed for the Lambda-class shuttles parked up the beach. Once they were all gone, 762 set the bag down on the deck and turned to 495.
"Tell the captain to set sail immediately."
495 nodded and headed off to do just that. For his part, 762 picked up the bag again and headed downstairs, looking in each of the rooms until he found the one that Lulu and Wakka had been put in. Walking in, he put their bag on the deck and removed Wakka's binders.
"I guess I should've given you a better warning about the stun bolt," he said to the blitzer.
"Nah, don't worry about it," Wakka replied, waving his hand in front of him as soon as he was released. "I've taken harder hits in the sphere pool, ya. I'll be fine."
762 nodded. "I'll have to see a blitzball game someday. Sounds interesting." He turned toward the door. "Stay down here for now until we're well on our way. That way the rest of the squad won't see you wandering around on deck."
The couple nodded, and 762 walked back out of the cabin and onto the deck. The captain had already gotten underway and was moving quickly away from Besaid. No doubt 495 had told him what was about to happen to the island and the captain had no desire to be caught in it.
About five minutes later, as 762 stood on the rear of the ship's deck toward the quickly-receding Besaid Island, the first of the heavy turbolaser blasts streaked down from the sky. Thick green bolts the width of a landspeeder crashed into the island, reducing its buildings to rubble, flattening geological formations, incinerating ruins, and lighting the forests ablaze. Obnoxious black smoke rose high into the sky as the first shockwaves and explosive sounds of the bombardment reached the boat, churning the seas and giving the captain quite a fight to remain on course.
In minutes, all that could be seen of Besaid was a little piece of land right on the water. Right above that were the angry red flames of the forest fires sweeping the island. And towering over all that, reaching high into the atmosphere, was the black cloud of smoke fueled from the destruction of so many peoples' homes.
762 watched the carnage silently, the red flames of the fire reflecting distantly from the black eye visors of his helmet. This was what the Empire brought to those worlds under its control. Clenching his armored hands around the deck railing, he swore to the gods of the universe that he would not allow the Empire to destroy this world the way they had destroyed that island.
A/N: Sorry for the update delay. Laziness slapped me in the face. Nothing really to say about this one, 'cept that the quick transition from village to beach to ship to out to sea at the end kind of irks me. But there are times when my descriptions run rather shallow so... Eh, you get the bad with the good, yanno. On to the shout-outs.
SevenTowers: Well, I've definitely got the slow build-up concept down. x.x I'd like it a lot more if I could come up with more build-up material to put in though. Y'see, when I scan for fics to read, I first look at the description, to see if I agree with the pairing/concept/yadda yadda. Then I look at the number of chapters. I figure, if a story's got 15 or more chapters, it's GOT to be worth reading. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if Shadows of the Empire will even make 15. x.x
Morgaine of the Fairies: Eh, heh heh. Yes. You will see lots of Farplane ass-kickage in this fic. Hah, I almost called it a game. X3 That'd be cool if they made this into a game. I have this one battle scene envisioned where Lenne and Shuyin lead an attack against the Empire's goons, and I just hope that I can do my vision justice.
Wolfy16: You're damn right the Empire's about to get beat ten ways from Sunday. And hey, what can I say? Even though they're dead, it's still their world too.
Furitaurus: AvPvFF is yours? xx I had peeked into that one once, but it looked to me like it was set up in script format, with descriptions of camera angles and all that. No offense to you, but I just don't like reading things that are set up that way. I want to read more along the lines of a novel, not a movie script.
And heh. You want action? Oh, you'll get all the action you can handle, and then some, soon. Don't know how soon, but soon.
