Disclaimer: I have never really been into the Jedi/Sith mythos. I've always liked Star Wars for the fighter battles n' shit. So I anticipate that my Yuna vs. Vader sucked.


The group exited the Farplane in a dead run, moving straight toward the southern exit out of Guadosalam. Rikku and Gippal led the group, followed closely by Baralai and Nooj, who could make good time when he had to, despite his mechanical leg. Tobli and Tromell were right behind them, followed themselves by Paine, Arren, and Kimahri. Braska, Jecht, and Auron were next, and a short distance behind them were Lenne, Shuyin, and Tidus.

Suddenly, two full squads of stormtroopers came running up from the Thunder Plains exit of Guadosalam, directly between the group and freedom. The stormtroopers turned toward the group, bringing their blasters to bear. "Stop where you are! You're under arrest!"

The majority of the group skidded to a quick halt, some of them almost running straight into each other. Auron, Braska, and Jecht, however, kept right on running, their weapons already drawn.

"Cut the ones that matter!" Auron called. "Don't stop moving!"

With that, his sharp-edged Masamune flashed down from over his shoulder, cleaving open the nearest stormtrooper from shoulder to hip as the stormtroopers' return fire passed harmlessly through him.

A series of high-level Firaga spells erupted in the midst of the troopers as Braska gestured with his hands, still moving forward. Jecht dashed forward, swinging his sword brutally, and a still-occupied white helmet flipped up into the air.

As Shuyin raced forward with sword in hand, Lenne stopped for several moments, casting Protect on everyone in the group who was still among the living. After finishing, she looked around, knowing by her count that she had missed someone.

Then she found Tidus at the front of the lines, keeping pace with Auron, fighting unprotected against the soldiers of the Empire. His clothing spotted a few burn marks, but he did not look as though he had been hit. The blue blade of the Brotherhood flashed and swung through the air faster and more viciously than Tidus had ever fought before.

The others, Tromell and Tobli excluded, quickly joined the fray. Rikku's daggers flashed lightning-quick into the exposed joints of the stormtroopers, tearing at tendons, muscles, nerve endings, and blood vessels, disabling rather than immediately killing the stormtroopers. Paine swung her longsword with brutal power, crushing helmets, removing whole limbs, and leaving deep scores behind where her blade struck armor. Without his spear, and not dexterous enough to handle a blaster, Kimahri settled for picking stormtroopers up bodily and smashing them into the ground, a nearby wall, or even other stormtroopers if nothing else was at hand.

Nooj, Gippal, and Baralai all scooped up the discarded blasters of dead stormtroopers, returning fire against those still living with less-than-perfect accuracy. Despite this, a large number of white-armored corpses fell to the ground with blackened holes adorning their armor.

Standing nearby, Arren picked up a discarded E-11, then turned and held out his BlasTech DL-44 pistol toward Lenne. "Here!"

Smiling gently, she shook her head and drew out her summoning staff in her left hand. With a single gesture, she cast Haste upon herself, then took off into motion, her form blurring to everyone watching her. She shot past Rikku just as the thief's dagger swung out into her path, the blade passing harmlessly through her body.

She slammed into the last surviving stormtrooper with a bodycheck that took the man off his feet, shoving him back against the rough walls of Guadosalam. Before he could regain his bearings, she drove her summoning staff through his shoulder where the armor protecting his upper arm met with his torso plate, pinning him to the wall behind him.

Her right hand came up, a powerful open-palm blow that struck the stormtrooper on the chin and popped his helmet clean off of his head. Just as the trooper's vision began to clear from the blow, her left forearm came around and drove his head back into the uneven wall with bone-crushing force.

The last thing the stormtrooper saw before the back of his head split open was the flower poking out from the curtain of her dark hair, his last thought being a question as to how something so beautiful could kill so quickly and effortlessly. In the next second, all his thoughts and observations were little more than a grease stain on a rough-hewn rock wall.

Stepping away from the dead stormtrooper, she pulled her summoning staff out of his shoulder, letting the corpse clatter noisily to the ground. She flicked her staff to one side, and the still-wet blood slid from the sharp blade and splattered against the rocks.

As she turned, a blaster bolt shot through her back and sparked against Baralai's Protect spell. She completed her turn to find another group of stormtroopers coming up from the Thunder Plains. "Looks like trouble," she said.

---

The snapping sound of lightsabers clashing echoed throughout the depths of the Farplane.

Yuna brought her humming blue-green blade up over her head, deftly catching the blow from the Dark Lord of the Sith, then quickly dropped the blade down to her side to parry another pair of blows.

"Impressive," Vader said, a hint of respect apparent in his deep voice. "Most impressive." He underscored his statement by bringing his red-bladed lightsaber around in a punishing blow to Yuna's side. The young summoner easily blocked it with her blade inverted, her body angled away from the clashing blades.

Their blades contested again in a dizzying dance of light, casting multicolored shadows across her face and his helmet. She rolled under a powerful horizontal swing and came up on one knee a double dozen feet behind him. The Dark Lord turned slowly, his mechanical breathing not having accelerated one bit.

"The Force is strong with you, young summoner. Give yourself to the Dark side, and become more powerful than you could ever imagine."

"No," Yuna answered, sucking in deep breaths. "I will not turn to evil. I will never join the Dark side."

The only answer to her statement for several long moments was the mechanical pumping of air in and out of Vader's body. "My patience with you is growing thin, young one. If you will not turn, then you will be destroyed!" Without warning, Vader suddenly reared back and hurled his lightsaber at her, the red-bladed weapon whirring as it arced end-over-end toward her.

Yuna panicked for a split-second, then focused her power of the Force and readied her lightsaber. Despite himself, Vader found himself impressed. Even he would have preferred to dodge such an attack entirely rather than try to block it. Now was the time he would see if she was truly as strong in the Force as he had forseen.

Moving so fast that even he barely caught her action, she brought her lightsaber up, holding the grip over her head and angling the blade toward his incoming weapon. Her move succeeded; his blade impacted against hers with another bright flash of light. However, her move was not as smooth as it should have been.

The tip of Vader's flailing lightsaber came around, striking Yuna in her right arm and instantly slicing away a triangular portion of her flesh. Yuna cried out in pain, dropping her lightsaber to the ground and clutching the throbbing wound in her arm as Vader's lightsaber landed benignly nearby.

"The Force is indeed strong with you, High Summoner," Vader said. "Join me, and we will put an end to the corrupt Empire. We shall create a new empire with you at its head, and Spira itself will become the center of the galaxy."

"No!" Yuna cried vehemently, gritting her teeth past the pain in her arm as she pushed herself toward the edge of the platform with her feet. "Spira doesn't want to be the center of the galaxy! We were perfectly fine living here in peace until you showed up!"

Vader seemed to ponder that for a moment, before replying, "If peace is what you desire, then peace can be given to you. Come with me, and the Empire will leave Spira alone forever. We will leave this planet and never return." He reached out to her with one gloved hand. "All you must do is join me."

"You'll…leave Spira alone forever?" she repeated.

"My word is as good as law in the Empire. If I say that Spira is to be left alone, then Spira will be left alone."

Yuna, no! Lenne's voice rang through Yuna's head, as their connection allowed Lenne to hear what Yuna was hearing. The songstress was not fooled for a minute by Vader's words. Don't go with him! You will become a servant of evil!

Despite herself, Yuna found her trembling right hand start to lift up, reaching toward the hand outstretched by the Dark Lord. She wasn't sure if she wanted to stop herself or not. She had been willing to die to keep Spira safe from Sin for a mere ten years. Could serving the Empire really be that much worse?

Yuna, think of Tidus!

Those four words snapped something within the former summoner's mind, her thinking suddenly clearing up as though she were returning to the surface of Besaid's seas after another exercise in holding her breath underwater. If she went with Vader, she would never see Tidus again. And she knew, despite anyone's argument to the contrary, that Tidus would not be able to love her if she sold herself to the devil in this way. That love was something she could not live without.

Spira would just have to fight.

"NO!" she screamed at Vader, leaping to her feet and reaching her left hand toward her lightsaber, reaching out to it through the Force in order to draw it back into her hand and strike Vader down while he was still unarmed.

But the Dark Lord was faster than her. Just as her hand wrapped around the grip of the lightsaber, she felt a powerful force slam into her body, lifting her up and throwing her over the edge of the platform on which she stood.

Twisting in midair, she tried to get a grip on the edge of the platform, failed, and plummeted into the Farplane. Below her, off to her right, she could see the glen. Reaching deep into the Force, she pulled herself in the direction of the glen. Seconds later, she landed on it in a heap, the force of the landing expelling the breath from her body.

Pushing herself to a kneeling position, she looked up and saw the black form of Vader drifting down toward the glen. Standing up fully, she pressed her thumb against the activation switch and brought the newly-restored blade up just in time to intercept a swing from Vader that would have neatly bisected her head. She stepped back quickly as Vader pulled his saber away, holding her own blade ready for a parry.

"It is useless to resist," Vader said, slowly stalking around her in a circular pattern. "You are only prolonging your own demise."

"I don't care," she answered, circling in the opposite direction. "I'm not going to back down."

Instead of responding, Vader moved in, the blade of his lightsaber humming as it sliced through the air, only to meet Yuna's blue-green blade. Using his greater strength, Vader began pulling his lightsaber up and across as though he was tracing the edge of a clock. Just as though it seemed like he was going to force her blade aside and be able to strike at her, he sensed a sudden surge of power through her and she successfully held his crimson blade at bay, the weapon casting angry red shadows across her face.

"Ah, the Force is not the only thing strong with you, young summoner," Vader said. "Love is also something that is strong in you."

"Yes," Yuna answered, her voice even despite the physical exertion it was taking to hold the Dark Lord's lightsaber at bay. "I fight to protect those that I love and care about. As long as I stand between you and them, they will not have to suffer."

Vader did not answer. Instead, he reached out into the Force, searching out the individual life forces that were bound to the one that he was in conflict with. Finally, a minute or so later, he finally spoke. "But are you aware, young summoner, that the choice you have made will lead directly to suffering for them? You must know by now that you cannot defeat me. Your death will only make them suffer."

Yuna blinked her eyes slowly, drawing in a painful breath. "I know. But it is all that I can do. The suffering you would cause is far greater than any that my own death would."

Once more, Vader reached out to read that one particular life force that was inextricably bound with Yuna's own. When he spoke, the softness of his voice surprised Yuna. "There is…one person who would disagree."

She nodded haltingly, a single tear freed from the corner of her right eye and sliding down her cheek. "Yes, I know. It is for him, that I fight you."

"I knew that sort of love once," Vader said, his mechanical breathing slowly slightly.

"Then you know why I do this."

"Yes, I do." Shockingly, he stepped back from Yuna and lowered his lightsaber to the side, the crimson blade still humming idly. "I also know the pain of losing such a love. I would not desire to inflict it upon another being. However, my Master has made it clear that he wants you eliminated."

"I understand," Yuna said quietly, lowering the lightsaber to her side. "Please, make it quick."

---

Dashing directly at the last stormtrooper in their way with fire in his eyes, Shuyin drove his blade through the chest of the white-armored soldier and then reared back, kicking the man off of his sword. He turned around toward the others, who were following behind him.

Nodding, he turned and led the run down the forested path toward the Moonflow, running as fast as he could to lead his comrades to safety before the Empire's forces broke through the Guado and fiend defenders. He turned the corner on the north bank of the Moonflow and started toward the shoopuf waiting area, only to skid to a halt, the others similarly freezing in their tracks.

Between them and the dock stood two Imperial AT-ST scout walkers and three dozen stormtroopers, all with weapons trained on the small group. "Drop your weapons!" one of the stormtroopers called.

Shuyin looked to those around him. Finally, Braska nodded. One by one, they dropped their swords, blasters, and summoning staffs and raised their hands over their heads.

Suddenly, Lenne looked into the sky and pointed. "Look!"

From beyond the curve of the Moonflow came three familiar sights. To those who had been with Yuna on her pilgrimage, the huge shape of the Al Bhed Airship was easily recognizable. Rikku and Gippal quickly recognized the shapes of two of the gunship transports they had salvaged from the sunken ship flying escort of the airship.

Closing at rapid speeds, the two escort gunships opened fire, green laser beams lancing out instantly from the ball turrets on the wings and to either side of the cockpit, cutting down the Imperial stormtroopers while doing little real damage to the walkers. To correct for this, fire blossomed from the missile launchers mounted atop both vehicles as a pair of missiles shot toward either walker.

The first walker detonated brilliantly, spraying flaming shrapnel in all directions. The second didn't explode right away, but the concussive force of the explosions knocked the walker forward. It attempted to shuffle its feet to correct for it, but the vehicle was already far too overbalanced and collapsed forward, the impact with the ground crushing its boxy cockpit.

As Airship hovered in midair and one of the gunships orbited around it, the second gunship angled in and came to a hover a mere foot off the ground on the bank of the Moonflow, its right side turned toward the group. As it came to a hover, half a dozen Al Bhed soldiers wearing cannibalized portions of the armor discovered with the ships jumped out, firing stolen E-11 blaster carbines at the surviving stormtroopers.

Buddy appeared standing in the transport area of the gunship, wearing a white armored chest plate. He waved to the group with one hand, the other held tightly to a rope strung near the ceiling. "Come on, get in!"

The group was only too happy to oblige, leaping into the gunship with assistance from Buddy and the other Al Bhed soldiers inside. Arren immediately moved up to the cockpit, asking the Al Bhed at the controls to turn the vehicle over to him. After explaining that he was familiar with the technology of the gunship, the Al Bhed nodded and turned the controls over to the Rebel pilot.

As the others leaped onto the gunship and held onto the ropes mounted above their heads, Tidus stopped, looking back toward Guadosalam. "What about Yuna?"

Lenne laid her hand on Tidus' shoulder, pulling him toward the gunship. "Tidus, we have to go. Come on."

A blackened burn mark appeared on the hull of the gunship as a nearby Al Bhed providing cover fire flew backwards, smashing into the deck of the gunship before falling flat, a smoldering crater through both sides of his white chest plate.

Tidus looked back at her as an Al Bhed moved between him and the advancing stormtroopers, firing his DC-15 heavy rifle, a task he wouldn't have been able to manage without the strength enhancements built into the armor he wore.

"Where's Yuna!?" he demanded.

Lenne's heart broke at the pain she could hear in his words. "Please, just trust me that everything's going to be okay. We have to go."

Sighing, Tidus jumped up into the waiting gunship and grabbed the overhead rope. The Al Bhed who had been standing before him backed up until his legs hit the edge of the deck, then scooted up and back to sit on the deck, still firing his weapon into the oncoming stormtroopers.

At a signal from someone in the transport bay, Arren gracefully rose the vehicle into the air on its repulsorlifts, rotating it midway and engaging the engines, cruising out to meet with the other gunship and the Airship."

"Alright, kids, we're headin' back to Bikanel," the gruff voice of Cid came over the gunship's short-range comlink system. "We're gathering our weapons and armor there that we salvaged from that sunken ship before the Empire blew it up, and we think we've found another set of ruins just like it near Bikanel."

Arren reached forward and activated the comm system. "Keep your eyes glued to your sensor screens. The Empire has to know that we now have a presence in the skies, so they'll be sending eyeballs to come play tag with us."

"'Eyeballs?'" Cid repeated. "What the hell are those?"

Laughing, Arren shook his head as he kept his gunship steady in its position to the right and behind the Al Bhed Airship. "Sorry, that's a Rebel pilot term. Eyeballs are what we call the Empire's TIE fighters. Fast, nimble, hard to hit. But they come apart under one shot, because they've got no shields."

"Right." Cid sounded skeptical. "Well, you heard the man. Everyone keep your eyes peeled. I want to know the second we have unfriendly company."

The next several minutes passed in silence. Within a short time, land had vanished beneath the ships and they were flying over the ocean. Standing at the edge of the gunship's deck, Tidus stared down into the blue waters below, wishing that Yuna was beside him. He couldn't stand the thought that she could be hurt somewhere, or even dying, and he was miles away, the distance growing with every second.

Suddenly, a riot of noise sparked the comm waves. "Eyeballs, coming in!" That was the thickly-accented voice of Brother, no doubt piloting the Airship, as he attempted to use the slang that Arren had imparted to them. "Six fighters from the left!"

"Republic LAAT/i transports and unidentified repulsor vessel, you are transporting fugitives of the Empire. Surrender and prepare to be boarded, and no harm will come to you."

"Gunners," Cid called to the Al Bhed manning the guns on the gunships, "give 'em our answer!"

At once, the port-side laser gunners turned their turrets out toward the approaching enemy fighters and fired. One beam struck dead-center of a TIE fighter's spherical cockpit, detonating the fighter brilliantly. The other five instantly scattered, none of the beams coming remotely close to hitting them.

Coming off of their evasive maneuver, the TIEs quickly reoriented and fired, green beams of energy streaking through the skies and impacting against the armored hull of Airship. Two of the surviving five TIEs peeled off and came after the gunships, spiraling and juking to throw off the gunners' aim.

Tidus watched as the transport doors of the gunship locked into place, to keep them from falling out of the ship. "Hold on, everyone!" Arren called from the cockpit, just seconds before he threw the gunship into a dizzying spiraling dive, making the shot of the TIE fighter that had been setting up in their rear arc miss wide.

Hauling up on the controls, Arren turned the gunship toward the TIE fighter that had been dogging the other gunship. He knew that there was no way the bulky LAAT/i's could outmaneuver the much smaller and more agile TIE fighters. Their only hope in defeating them would lie in attacking the ones that were concentrating on each other.

Finding the controls of the forward light turbolasers, Arren sent five paired green bolts screaming through the air at the TIE fighter dancing around in the other gunship's rear arc. The TIE's pilot, having seen the LAAT/i fire on him, juked straight up, a maneuver no other ship in existence could duplicate. The move carried him well away from Arren's fire, but took him straight into an errant burst of laser fire from the other LAAT/i's rear gunner.

"Good shooting!" Arren called over the comlink.

"Thanks for spooking him into us," the pilot of the other gunship said in accented Basic. "Come around to zero-two-zero. We'll take care of your riffraff."

"Copy that," Arren replied, swinging his gunship around to the assigned heading and dipping the nose slightly to pick up airspeed. Like a baby duckling trailing its mother, the TIE fighter on Arren's tail obediently followed, implementing enough evasive maneuvers to give his tail gunner fits.

Unfortunately, the TIE pilot was so focused on turning Arren's vessel into so much debris that he never saw the second LAAT/i bearing down on him. Simultaneously, all four turret gunners as well as the pilot opened fire, their deadly energy beams intersecting on the luckless TIE fighter at the exact same moment, resulting in instant detonation.

"Good work," Arren said, then looked over toward Airship, which was still suffering the strafing runs of the other TIE fighters. There were burn marks all over its deck and sides, but the TIEs' lasers hadn't seemed to have penetrated hull yet.

Airship was not taking that assault laying down. Heavy anti-aircraft machine gun turrets had slid out from their concealed positions within the ship, and were supplying a heavy barrage of fire into the two remaining TIE fighters. One had obviously fallen victim to Airship's gunners.

Switching his weapons control over to guided rockets, Arren swung the targeting crosshairs over a TIE fighter that was looping around before the Airship, preparing to make another strafing run. With a squeeze, the Rebel pilot loosed a pair of rockets to arc out on blue flame toward the TIE.

Spotting the incoming rockets, the TIE pilot inverted his craft in preparation to dive away from the death lances. Unfortunately for him, his maneuver came too slowly. Just as he started to dive, the first missile clipped his starboard solar array, ripping the hexagonal wing off and sending both wing and fighter plummeting to the ocean below.

The last TIE pilot quickly assessed the situation and, determining survival to be highly unlikely, stood his fighter on its tail and blasted skyward, moving at a pace no vehicle on Spira could match. It was heading directly for the eddy in Spira's gravity well that would allow it to escape up to the orbiting Executor.

---

Darth Vader strode down the boarding ramp of his shuttle, looking toward the captain of the Super Star Destroyer as he did so. "Captain, I will be leaving the Executor immediately to oversee the Emperor's new Death Star project. I am going to make one thing clear to you, and I expect to be obeyed in this regard. Do not launch any more orbital bombardments on the planet. If rebel activity intensifies and it does not look as though we are going to be able to hold the planet, then you are to execute Base Delta Zero."

The captain paled visibly, but did not argue. "Understood, my lord. I shall follow your orders to the letter."

"See to it that you do, Captain. Or else." With that, Vader turned and strode back up the boarding ramp, which closed behind him.

Taking his seat in the passenger compartment, Vader stared out at the rotating planet below them as the pilot of his shuttle sent the Lambda-class shuttle soaring through space. He was most certain that the summoner was dead; he had watched her fall until he could no longer see the distant black speck that was her body. Even still, he could not help but think that he had unfinished business on Spira.

Then the stars suddenly elongated as the shuttle jumped to hyperspace, and Spira vanished into the distance behind him. Inwardly, he was already preparing the intimidating speech he would deliver to the commander of the new Death Star upon his arrival…

---

Yuna coughed and sputtered as consciousness suddenly returned to her, gagging up a mouthful of water. She flailed her limbs in panic as she realized that she wasn't in contact with the ground, splashing more water onto her and around her.

Reaching deep into the Force to calm herself, Yuna stopped flailing and looked around. She was floating in a small pool of water fed by an underground channel, surrounded by rocks and sand. She knew right away where she was. The oasis on Bikanel Island.

How did I get here?

She remembered fighting Vader, remembered him throwing her off the side of the Farplane glen. She had fallen for what seemed like hours, until she had felt a familiar presence beneath her, folding her up in its protective embrace and halting her descent.

Blinking her eyes, Yuna looked up and behind her to see the winged aeon Valefor hovering above the oasis' cool waters, watching over her. She smiled at the creature, knowing that it had to have been Lenne that had summoned the aeon to save her life.

"Thank you," she said, bowing out of habit and respect, before looking around her.

Her lightsaber was floating in the water a few feet away from her. She swam over to it and plucked the cylindrical weapon from the jostling water, holding the weapon in her hand as she made her way to the shore. Once there, she stood on the desert sands, water dripping from her body as she tried to remember which way to the Al Bhed excavation camp.

Turning around, she looked up at Valefor, who was hovering a few feet above her to provide her shade from the burning sun. "I guess I'll just start walking, and you can see what's up ahead of us, huh?"

Before the aeon could make any indication of a reply, Yuna's attention was drawn behind her by the distant sounds of explosions. Without thinking, she dashed away from the oasis at full speed, easily maintaining her balance in the shifting sand as she ran toward the highest sand dune she could see. Dropping to her hands and knees, she crawled up the steep slope of the dune until she reached its top. Once there, after catching sight of what laid beyond, she imagined that she would have fallen to her knees were she not already down on them.

For as far as she could see, war had overtaken Bikanel. Hundreds of the Empire's white-clad stormtroopers ran across the dusty desert, their blasters spitting hot red light. Closer to her, Yuna could see an equal number of fighters, presumably Al Bhed, wearing components of much older-looking armor, firing large blaster rifles that shot blue bolts back toward the stormtroopers.

In the distance, she saw four huge, hulking quadrupedal shapes making their way toward the Al Bhed lines. She knew they were more than a mile distant, but they still loomed high up on the horizon, and she knew that they had to be absolutely gargantuan. Imperial AT-ST walkers were already mixing it up in the battlefield, firing their deadly double-blasters down into the oncoming Al Bhed lines, who answered with guided missiles and stationary blaster turrets. Even as she watched, a scout walker exploded under the combined assault of four different missiles and three turrets.

The skies above Bikanel were also torn asunder with war. In a dazzling aerial display of piloting skill and sheer ability, the Empire's TIE fighters were mixing it up with dozens of LAAT/i transports and other vehicles that the Al Bhed had salvaged, small triangular-shaped one-man fighters that were every bit as nimble as the TIE fighters.

Looking down at the lightsaber in her hand, she slowly raised her bi-colored gaze to the battle happening before her. She hadn't beaten Vader, would probably never beat Vader. But with the Force at her side, the Imperial military was mere cannon fodder to her.

Pushing to her feet, she took off running toward the battle, using the Force to increase her speed.

---

Airship and the two LAAT/i transports crested a hill and saw the battlefield unfolding below them. Thousands of blasters bolts zipped back and forth across the desert, augmented by the heavier bolts of Imperial scout walkers or the mounted turrets that the Al Bhed were using. Already there were heavy anti-aircraft bolts arcing toward the approaching ships from the Imperial lines.

As they approached, a pair of heavy turbolaser bolts slammed into the second LAAT/i, detonating the nose section and killing the Al Bhed riding in it. Trailing smoke and flames, the failing engine of the gunship rose in pitch as the vehicle's nose angled up and then rolled down, the leftmost missile launcher peeling off the falling gunship like the rind of a fruit.

"Arren!" Lenne called. "Land in that assembly area!"

The Rebel pilot nodded back at her, keeping his eyes on the anti-aircraft barrages surrounding them. "Right away!"

Scant moments later, the LAAT/i came to rest on its landing gear directly in the middle of the Al Bhed excavation camp, the cargo doors sliding open to allow the occupants to jump out.

An armored Al Bhed approached Gippal as soon as the blond man had set foot on the sand. "Fa ryja veja cbaleym commando ihedc cdyhtehk po. Crymm E namayca dras du oui un caht dras yrayt fedr dra General?"

"Dra General?" Gippal repeated, confused. "Fryd General?"

"Dra Jedi," answered the Al Bhed, motioning off to one side. "Ylluntehk du dra naluntc fa vuiht eh dra ruins, dra Jedi Knights fana ymm generals eh dra Grand Army uv dra Republic."

Gippal looked in the direction the Al Bhed pointed to see Yuna standing with about twenty Al Bhed armed and armored differently from the rest of those on the battlefield. She was talking to them. It looked to Gippal like she was giving them a pre-mission pep talk.

"Caht dfu uv dra cxiytc uid du tacdnuo draen walkers," Gippal finally said. "Gaab dra nacd haynpo du tavaht dra camp."

"Oac, cen!"

Finished talking to the special forces surrounding her, Yuna looked toward where the gunship had landed and smiled to see all of her friends disembarking. She was grateful that her duel against Vader had allowed them all to escape. Then she saw Tidus step off the deck and lean against the side of the vehicle, a sad and distant look in his eyes.

Grinning mischievously, she circled around to the back of the LAAT/i and then stepped up onto the deck, sneaking slowly across to the side against Tidus was leaning. Once she had reached him, she leaned out carefully until her head was only a few inches from his.

"Wanna scream?" she asked suddenly.

Tidus must've jumped three feet into the air. Those among the group that had watched Yuna sneak up on him laughed at his reaction. The blushing blitzer made threatening motions at them, then it struck him exactly who had spoken in his ear.

"Yuna!" he cried, turning to her with an expression that was at once shocked and extremely happy. "You're okay!"

"I told you she would be," Lenne said smugly.

Tidus ignored her, jumping back into the transport area of the LAAT/i and pulling Yuna into a bone-squeezing hug. She returned his hug with just as much enthusiasm, laughing despite herself. "Did you miss me?" she asked.

"What happened?" he asked at almost the same time, pulling back from her and placing his hands on his shoulders. "Nevermind, I don't care. You're okay, so everything's fine."

She smiled and nodded at him. "Vader is gone."

"You killed him?"

"No. But I can't sense his presence anywhere near Spira. He's left us. We have a chance now."

Lenne walked up to the edge of the LAAT/i's deck and leaned forward, resting her hands on the metal surface. "He thinks Yuna's dead. He threw her off the side of the platform in the Farplane, and I summoned Valefor to catch her and bring her here. So Vader left on whatever errand the Emperor had for him, and he's not going to be back before we take back our world."

Yuna looked over Tidus' shoulder at the songstress and smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Lenne. For saving me."

The older woman smiled in return. "You're welcome."

"Well, what are we all just standing around for?" Gippal asked. "We've got a battle to win!"

Yuna grinned infectiously. "Right! And I have a plan…"


Translations:

"We have five special commando units standing by. Shall I release them to you or send them ahead with the General?"

"General? What General?"

"The Jedi. According to the records we found in the ruins, the Jedi were all generals in the Grand Army of the Republic."

"Send two of the squads out to destroy their walkers. Keep the rest nearby to defend the camp."

"Yes, sir."

A/N: Yay, more cliffhangeriness. I actually figured that cutting it off right here would be the intelligent choice, as it was already 11 pages in Word. Well, look forward to the Battle of Bikanel (which is modeled heavily off the Battle of Geonosis, as you can see) to be the majority of next chapter.

Oh, and to those of you who were like "WHAT THE HELL!?" when I had Vader just up and leave, tough shit. I suddenly decided that I wanted to make this able to largely slip into the canon Star Wars storyline, save for the fact that Executor won't be at the Battle of Endor now.

And now, on to shout-outs.

Master and Chief: Well, as you can see, I didn't think too highly of my Vader vs. Yuna. Oh well. I already changed it once. It was originally much shorter. Yeah, I know. You're thinking "How can it get shorter than THAT?" but it was. In any case, I'm probably going to catch a lot of flak for Vader going soft on her at the end, but remember this is pre-RotJ, so that little spark of light still alive in Vader is beginning to manifest. So now whenever you watch RotJ and Luke says "I know there is still good in you, I can feel it!" you can be like "Yeah, Luke's talking about when he didn't kill Yuna!"

madmaz: Hah, let me tell you that when chapters largely consist of battle after battle after battle, I tend to end them on cliffhangers, just to keep my readers coming back.

Morgaine of the Fairies: Oi. Ya, Shadows of the Empire should be read when you can fully concentrate on it, else you'll miss out on some of the random subtle nuances I leave in there occasionally. And yes, Jecht is largely standing by for comedic relief in my fic, though he does have his fair share of stormie ass-whooping. And don't think I've forgotten about Lenne's little prank plan. ;)

Wolfy16: That's okay if you look for updates everyday. I check for updates on my favorite fics several times a day. In my opinion, when someone is always looking for an update, that means that the work in question is really good. So thanks for the compliment. And yes, dude. Bevelle is going to be the be-all, end-all battle of the millennium. Sin and Vegnagun will have NOTHING on this.

SevenTowers: Of course Yuna's not going to lose any limbs. XD I lurve her too much. She lost some skin, but that's nothing bacta can't heal! Oh? What's that? No bacta on Spira? x-x Shit. Oh well.

Rik: Thank you. Since battle isn't your thing, you may not enjoy the next x number of chapters.

Furitaurus: :3 It's great to know that my work is loved. In any case, the reason why I didn't introduce Paine before is because I really couldn't figure out a place to put her. If you'll notice, you haven't caught sight of the Leblanc Syndicate anywhere, have ya? It's not intentional, I swear. I just have no idea what to do with certain characters, so I leave them out entirely.

Well kids, that's about it for now. I leave you all foaming at the mouth and anxiously awaiting the first major battle of the war for Spira.