Author's note: Hey everyone. First things first, I deeply apologize for the months long delay on this chapter. When I began writing it, I meant to finish and release it sooner; but within the last few months of 2020, a lot of unexpected things came up in my life that took a severe toll on my mental health. As a result, writing became harder and harder; and since I wanted this chapter to turn out the best it could possibly be, I decided to slow down so I could regain my strength and clear my mind of what was upsetting me.
After months of on again-off again writing, I finally summoned up the strength to focus on this chapter fully and get it finished. Once again, I am truly sorry for making all of you wait so long. I understand how it feels to enjoy a story and not see it get updated for a long time, but I thank you all for being patient with me. I realize however that I may have been gone too long without notifying my absence; so from now on, should I ever fall into a low state like this again, the first thing I will do is post an update on my bio to explain what has happened.
The Redemption
Han and Chewbacca watched on from the surgical suite's window as squadrons of TIE fighters swarmed out of the hangers of the Accuser and its accompanying Acclamator ships. As the TIE fighters began engaging various X-wings and Y-wings, Chewbacca growled at the sight of it.
"You said it, Chewie" said Han "I've got a bad feeling about this" At that moment, a pair of rebel honor guards rushed into the room.
"Chief-of-State Mothma, the Imperial ships are surrounding us" said one of the honor guards.
"It could be just a random attack; this is a medical frigate, after all" said Mon Mothma.
"But in the event of an emergency, we've been ordered to escort you to an escape craft" said the second honor guard "As Chief-of-State of the Rebel Alliance, you are a prime target for Imperial kidnapping"
"I am aware of that" said Mon Mothma "Very well, take me to where I need to go"
"Yes, Chief-of-State" said the first honor guard. As the two honor guards turned back to the door and began escorting Mon Mothma out, she turned back to face Han.
"Captain Solo, Chewbacca, stay here and watch over the soldiers" said Mon Mothma "Per protocol; more security should be on their way to secure designated areas, including the infirmary. I'll need you two to watch over the area until they arrive"
"You can count on us, ma'am!" smirked Han. Chewbacca growled in response and nodded his head.
"With all due respect, Chief-of-State Mothma, we're not helpless" said one of the soldiers as he rose from the bed he was sitting on "We can still fight—" Abruptly, he held onto his bandaged side and hissed in pain.
"You are in no shape to engage in combat" said 2-1B "If you choose to fight in this condition, you will surely be killed"
"That doesn't matter…" breathed the soldier "I will—" Mon Mothma walked over to him and placed her hand reassuringly on his shoulder.
"You have spirit, soldier; and I have no doubt that you have a lot of fight left in you" said Mon Mothma "But for now, save that spirit and regain your strength; we'll need a good soldier like you for the coming battles" She turned back to the honor guards and followed them out of the door.
Meanwhile on Socorro
A herd of druyza stood beside the river and drank from it, with some browsing at the nearby scrubs. Suddenly, an orange hand in a black fingerless glove burst out of the river and grabbed onto the riverbank. As the druyza groaned and backed off, Ahsoka pulled herself up onto the riverbank whilst carrying an unconscious Luke behind her. Placing Luke beside her on the riverbank, Ahsoka looked down at him and noticed that he was not breathing.
"Luke…" uttered Ahsoka. Suddenly, R2 burst out of the river and landed just in front of them, beeping worryingly as he looked down at Luke. "He's still alive…but barely…I have to…I have to…" Mustering up all of her strength, she attempted to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Luke to awaken him. R2 beeped again. "He can't die…I can't let him die…" Finally, Luke coughed out some water and regained consciousness. "Luke!"
"W…Where are we?" asked Luke.
"We're down river from the base" replied Ahsoka "From the looks of it, we're far away from it now" Luke leaned himself upwards and looked off at the Imperial base in the distance.
"The others, where are—" started Luke.
"Still inside the base, if they haven't already been killed or…" said Ahsoka. She was about to continue, but she realised that Luke already had enough on his mind to deal with.
"First thing's first, we need to warn the rest of the army" said Luke "They have to know this was a trap. General Rur, do you read me; this is Commander Skywalker" No reply came from his comlink, only static. "This is Commander Skywalker, do you read me? Nothing, it must've got damaged from the river"
"Hello?" said Ahsoka into her comlink "General, do you copy?" There was no response. "Mine too"
"We have to find a way to contact them" said Luke as he tentatively pulled himself up with Ahsoka's help.
"Let's take it one step at a time" said Ahsoka "We don't want to land ourselves in another trap"
"Well; the sooner they know the truth, the better" said Luke.
"Now you're sounding just like Anakin" smirked Ahsoka "Don't worry, I know we have to warn the others too and I'm worried about it; but if we spend all our time worrying, we won't get anywhere" At that moment, she sensed a dark presence hiding in the river behind them. "Can you—"
"I sense it" said Luke "Get away from the water!" As the two of them stepped back from the riverbank, Afanc Scylla rose from the water and stepped forward onto the land in front of him.
"Your escape was inventive, but short lived!" said Scylla as he began slowly walking over towards Luke and Ahsoka. Luke reached down to his belt to grab his lightsaber, only to find that it missing. "Looking for this!?" Within his webbed hand, the Mere held Luke's lightsaber in a firm grip. "You should keep a tighter grip; after all, this weapon is your life!" Luke peered back at the desert landscape behind him. "You would only be wasting your time should you retreat; I can sense your exhaustion and the desert is long and perilous, you won't last long before I hunt you down" He began walking over towards Luke and Ahsoka slowly. "You have nowhere else to turn, you may as well submit while you still have breath" Ahsoka stepped forward and stood in front of Luke in a protective fashion.
"You won't take either of us!" said Ahsoka "We won't surrender to you or your Sith Lord!"
"You're ashamed of your Jedi heritage, yet you sound just like one of the Order's pawns" said Scylla "I am all too familiar with this mentality. I heard it from every Jedi I have ever killed. Lord Vader will show you the price for such naivety, I look forward to presenting you to him…" Suddenly, an ascension cable shot forward and attached itself to Luke's lightsaber. While Scylla was preoccupied with cornering Luke and Ahsoka, R2-D2 had snuck out of sight and hid behind a nearby group of rocks where he waited for the right moment to strike. Before the Inquisitor could react, R2 jerked the lightsaber so hard that it was pulled from his hand and into R2's clutches. The astromech droid beeped desperately as he rushed over to Luke and Ahsoka, using his rocket boosters to propel himself forward into their direction. Seeing this, Scylla extended his hand forward and pulled R2 back to him using the Force.
"R2!" exclaimed Luke. As the astromech droid hurtled back, he beeped as he desperately threw Luke's lightsaber into his direction. Dashing past Ahsoka, Luke leapt forward and just managed to grab a hold of the weapon. Taking notice of this, Scylla turned his sights away from R2, ignited both blades of his lightsaber, and pointed them towards Luke.
"You're a persistent little Jedi, aren't you?" said Scylla.
"You'll find I'm full of surprises!" said Luke. Without warning, he let out a groan of pain and clutched his ribs.
"Looks like that trip through the river has not improved your condition" said Scylla "But if you are too stubborn to admit defeat, then I will grant you one last fight before I hand you over to Lord Vader!" Letting out a thundering battle cry, he charged towards Luke.
Meanwhile aboard the Accuser
As Captain Piett overlooked the ongoing battle from the bridge of the Accuser, he felt a weave of different emotions and thoughts began to surge through him. He felt both honoured and pressured by the task he had been given. Should he succeed, he could very well be remembered in history as the man who helped bring the Galactic Civil War to an end by capturing the Rebel Chief-of-State; that is, if Darth Vader did not take all the credit. But should he fail, he knew Vader would place all of the blame on him and would personally oversee his punishment.
But his greatest anxiety was that the most intricate and important part of the operation laid in the hands of a bounty hunter. Boba Fett might have been deemed "the best bounty hunter in the galaxy", but he was still a bounty hunter nonetheless and Piett strongly believed that anyone who's allegiance was based around money and money alone could not be trusted with such a pivotal task. As he contemplated the situation, the comlink on his belt buzzed to life.
"What is it, bounty hunter?" asked Piett as he picked the comlink off his belt and activated it.
"Slave I's prepped and I'm heading out" said Boba Fett out of the comlink "See you on the other side"
"Remember your instructions, bounty hunter" said Piett.
"As long as I get paid; consider the job done, Piett" said Fett.
"It's Captain Piett to you!" said Piett.
Meanwhile
Within the hanger of the Accuser, Boba Fett sat in the cockpit of Slave I as it lifted off and flew out of the hanger
"With all due respect; I'm neither an Imperial officer nor a stormtrooper, so I see no reason to "refer to you by your title"" smirked Fett into the comlink on his wrist. As Piett groaned silently in response to the bounty hunter's remark, Slave I made its way towards the Redemption using the surrounding battle as a smokescreen.
Meanwhile
Han paced up and down in front of the medical suite's window before finally stopping to look at the battle outside.
"Something bothering you, Captain Solo?" asked one of the rebel soldiers.
"This battle just doesn't feel right" replied Han "If they wanted to destroy us, you'd think they'd have unloaded more on us by now. But if they're here to board us, where's the craft for it?"
"I didn't take you for the tactical type, captain" said the rebel soldier "Uh; no disrespect intended!"
"None taken" smirked Han "When you're stuck in a strategy room all day listening to the "professionals" discuss tactics over and over again, you pick up on a few things" As he peered out at the ongoing battle, he caught notice of a small but recognisable ship making its way through the crossfire. Recognising it as Slave I, Han gasped and took a step back in surprise. "You've got to be kiddin'! Not him, not now!" Hastily, the smuggler pulled out his blaster and turned to the door. "We've got trouble on our hands; Chewie, with me" Chewbacca growled in response and walked over to him.
"Where are you going?" asked one of the rebel soldiers "Don't just leave us here! Chief-of-State Mothma ordered you to stay and guard over us"
"Don't worry" said Han "It's been long enough; the reinforcements should be almost here. Besides, she wasn't counting on him being involved"
"I don't understand, Captain Solo" said 2-1B "Who are you referring to?"
"The most dangerous bounty hunter in the galaxy, of course…" said Han "…Boba Fett!"
Meanwhile
The Alliance Army stood its ground against the Imperial forces, but they showed no sign of relenting and continued to pour out of the base like an insect colony protecting its nest.
"How long will Skywalker take?!" snarled Rur "We can't hold out like this forever!" Suddenly, a large TIE fighter soared down from the sky and began firing wildly towards Rur's AAT.
"General, watch out!" exclaimed a nearby rebel soldier. As Rur looked upwards at the incoming TIE fighter, one of the laser blasts successfully hit his tank and destroyed it. As the Shistavanen general was sent flying back from the flaming wreckage and landed right behind it, the TIE fighter flew away only to get shot down by an X-wing. "General!" The rebel soldier ran up to the downed Rur and knelt beside him. "General, are you…" Rur slowly opened his eyes and managed to form a small smirk.
"Don't count me out yet!" smirked Rur before letting out a guttural cough.
"Here, let me help you up" said the rebel soldier as he gently pulled Rur up and slung the general's arm over his shoulder.
"We need to get back; we'll be in firing range within seconds" breathed Rur.
"Right" said the rebel soldier as he moved himself and Rur away from the battlefield "Do you need medical attention, general?"
"Nothing an evening in a bacta tank can't fix" said Rur. As he looked back at the flaming wreckage of his AAT, he let out a sigh of pain. "If Commander Skywalker doesn't take that base soon, we might be forced to retreat. Without the base, the lives lost today will have been sacrificed for nothing"
Meanwhile
As Scylla fought Luke and overwhelmed him with his superior strength and skill, the young Jedi found himself tiring and unable to keep up with the Inquisitor's attack.
"You should have heeded my warning!" said Scylla as he struck forward with full force. Ahsoka stood on the side-lines and observed the duel carefully. Seeing how much Luke was struggling, she wanted to jump in and help him; but she knew she had to be cautious, otherwise she might prove to be more of a liability than an asset. But as Luke struggled to keep up with Scylla's attacks, he quickly found himself cornered between a rocky outcrop and the Inquisitor's vicious blades.
"Is this all that remains of the Jedi?" said Scylla "A weakling boy and an outcast?"
"And what would you know about the Jedi?" said Luke.
"More than you ever will" said Scylla "I was once a Jedi Padawan, not unlike your companion" Hearing this from the side-lines, Ahsoka's eyes widened and she gasped under her breath. "And like her, I once blindly followed the Order without question"
"You…You were?" stuttered Luke as he regained breath.
"Did you really think Lord Vader was the only one who chose the dark side over absolute doom?" said Scylla "After the Clone Wars, I tried to survive by clinging to the Jedi Code and trusting in the light side of the Force; it was what I was taught, after all. But after seeing the truth with my own eyes, they were opened and could never be shut again: against the might of the Galactic Empire and the Order of Sith Lords, there was no victory"
"So you betrayed the Order to save yourself!" said Luke with an almost repulsed tone.
"You are young, you could never conceive of what the dark times were really like" said Scylla "The Jedi Order failed long before the Clone Wars even began and all of us payed the price for it" At this point, Ahsoka's mind was racing and she was frantically looking around for a way to help Luke. Eventually, her eyes turned to a large rock near her and she thought of an idea. Extending both her hands out, she slowly and steadily lifted the rock using the Force and aimed it at Scylla (cautiously making sure that it would not impact Luke). "You may talk all high and mighty about how I was weak and that I should have accepted death instead; but if you knew what the Sith were truly capable of, I doubt you would choose any different in those same circumstances. Hmm, I guess we'll see soon enough…" Abruptly, Ahsoka launched the rock forward. Unfortunately, the Mere sensed it coming almost instantly and caught it in mid-air using the Force. With a sadistic smirk, he quickly aimed the rock back at Ahsoka and launched it towards her.
"Oh no…" said Ahsoka. As the rock hurtled towards her and was about to hit her, she swerved to the side and only just missed it. Seizing the opportunity, Luke launched himself forward and attempted to strike Scylla with his lightsaber; but the Inquisitor blocked his attack and pushed him back down to the river bank. Luke tentatively pulled himself back up, but he was finding it more and more difficult to summon his strength.
"Careful; if you push me too far, I might just kill you by mistake!" smirked Scylla.
Meanwhile
From the cockpit of his X-wing, Wedge shot down every TIE fighter in his path. But as the space around him seemed to clear of enemy craft, a single TIE fighter appeared from behind and approached him. From within the TIE fighter's cockpit, the Imperial pilot locked onto Wedge's starfighter with his targeting system and readied to fire. But before he could fire a single shot, another X-wing swooped in and shot his TIE fighter down. From the comlink of Wedge's starfighter, Nien Nunb's iconic laugh emerged.
"Him again?" said Hobbie in an irritated manner "I appreciate the support he offers, but there's no need to be such a show-off about it" Nien Nunb responded in Sullustese. "Really? Wanna' put that to the test?!"
"Cut the chatter, you two; and save your aggression for the enemy" said Wedge "I'm Rogue Leader in Luke's absence, and I won't let the squadron fall apart just because you two can't work together" Hobbie sighed in response. Suddenly, Nien Nunb exclaimed something in Sullustese.
"What is it now?" asked Hobbie in a somewhat annoyed tone.
"Look, down there!" exclaimed Wedge. As the squadron of X-wings approached the river, they took notice of the battle raging between Luke and Scylla.
"What's happening?!" exclaimed Hobbie.
"I'd recognise that blade anywhere, that's Luke!" exclaimed Wedge.
"What's he doing out here?" asked Hobbie "And who's that he's fighting?"
"I don't know; but they have they have a red lightsaber, that's never a good sign" replied Wedge.
"What are we going to do about this?" asked Hobbie.
"If we open fire on the attacker, we might hit Luke by mistake" replied Wedge "And if we get too close, the attacker might target us and we'll only make things worse; if they're anything like Vader, we can't approach them" Nien Nunb asked something in Sullustese. "First, we should—" Before Wedge could even finish his sentence, a barrage of lasers descended upon them and blasted one of the nearby X-wings out of the sky. Nien Nunb gasped.
"Now what?!" exclaimed Hobbie. In the skies above; a TIE Avenger flew overhead and turned back to them, which brought out a nervous beep in R2-A3 (Wedge's astromech droid).
"Stay on guard, an advanced TIE fighter has entered the vicinity!" ordered Wedge. From within the cockpit of the TIE Avenger, Tuk'ata smiled a malicious grin as she targeted another X-wing and opened fire.
"That thing is thinning out our numbers!" exclaimed Hobbie as the X-wing next to him was blasted out of the sky. Nien Nunb said something in Sullustese.
"We won't be of any help to Luke like this" said Wedge "All pilots, fallback and—" Before Wedge could even react, Tuk'ata aimed her cannons at his X-wing with her targeting computer and opened fire with full force.
"Got ya'!" smirked Tuk'ata as she pulled her weapons' trigger. The shots she fired blew off the upper part of Wedge's left S-foil and the lower part of his right S-foil, causing the starfighter to spin out of control. R2-A3 screamed.
"Calm down, A3; and stabilize what you can!" barked Wedge "This is going to a rough landing!" His X-wing descended rapidly as it spun out until it finally crashed onto the same side of the river as Luke and the others.
Meanwhile
Scylla struck forward and pushed Luke away. The young man tried to land on his feet, but he was too fatigued and beaten down to do so and collapsed onto the ground instead. Smiling maliciously, Scylla began making his way over to the downed Luke in a slow and confident fashion. Breathing heavily, Luke extended his hand forward in an attempt to grab a hold of his lightsaber, which had been knocked from his hand and was lying a few inches away; but before he could reach it, Scylla lifted his webbed foot and used it to pin Luke down by the hand. Luke breathed in pain as Scylla knelled down to face him.
"You fought long and hard, but your lack of lightsaber finesse and experience with the Force is what separates you from a Jedi Knight" said Scylla. Unbeknownst to either of them, Luke's lightsaber began trembling in a subtle but vivid way. "Without a master or proper training, you're barely even a padawan!" Abruptly, Luke's lightsaber flew away and disappeared from sight.
"At least…At least I didn't abandon the Jedi way!" breathed Luke.
"You should be more thankful for the offer before you" said Scylla "If Lord Vader wants you alive, it is because he sees potential in—" As he was about to finish his sentence, he sensed something coming from behind and opened his eyes wide in response. Acting swiftly, he swerved to the side as an orange and white flash with a blue streak slashed through where he was standing. Standing before him was Ahsoka, armed with Luke's lightsaber and ready for battle. "Hmm, so much for not being a Jedi!" A stern look befell Ahsoka's face and she pointed her blade at him.
"Stay away!" snarled Ahsoka.
"That is not an option" said Scylla "I have a mission to complete, and everyone in the Empire knows how unwise it is to fail Lord Vader" Ahsoka turned to the downed Luke, kneeled down, and pulled him up to rest his back against a nearby rock.
"You alright?" asked Ahsoka.
"Yeah" replied Luke before coughing roughly "Coughing's generally not a good sign though" Ahsoka smiled at his worded response.
"How's the hand?" asked Ahsoka.
"Could use some resting, but at least he didn't cut it off" replied Luke.
"Stay put, I'll try to hold him off" said Ahsoka. As she stood herself back up, Scylla began approaching her slowly.
"Although you do not remember our last encounter, I will let you know that I have been waiting for this rematch ever since you slipped through our fingers!" said Scylla "I guarantee you, that won't happen again!"
"Don't be so sure" said Ahsoka. As Scylla chuckled in response, he increased his walking pace until he was basically sprinting at her and lunged with a powerful strike.
Meanwhile
As the Redemption's alarm rang, Mon Mothma and the two honor guards traversed their way through the halls of the immense medical frigate. Alongside them, rebel pilots rushed to the hanger and rebel soldiers rushed to their designated posts.
"All personnel to their posts!" yelled a voice on the intercom "Pilots, clear the hanger bay!"
"This way, my lady; come, we're almost there" said the first honor guard as they made their way to the ship's hanger. As they reached a turn in the hallway, they stopped to find themselves facing a silhouetted and armoured figure. Before any of them could react, the armoured figure stepped out of the shadows and revealed himself to be Boba Fett.
"Consider yourselves relived from duty" said Fett as he rose his blaster rifle towards them "I'll be taking the politician from here!" Responding to this, the two honor guards stepped in front of Mon Mothma with their force pikes poised.
"Stand down, intruder!" said the second honor guard "As long as we live, we will not let you anywhere near her!"
"Poor choice of words" said Fett. Abruptly, the bounty hunter shot his fibercord whip forward and wrapped it around the ankle of the first honor guard before pulling him down, dragging him towards him, and bombarding him with a barrage of blaster bolts.
"No!" exclaimed Mon Mothma. As Fett retracted his fibercord whip and turned to approach the frightened Chief-of-State, the second honor guard stepped in his way and swung his force pike towards him. Fett however was quick to react and grabbed a hold of the pike with his two hands before it could make contact with him; and using all of his seasoned strength, he held the guard back.
"Hurry, my lady; get to the hanger, I'll hold him off!" exclaimed the honor guard as he seemingly trapped the bounty hunter by holding him against the wall. Nodding in response, Mon Mothma rushed to the side of the dead honor guard, grabbed the blaster from his holster, and rushed off towards the hanger. But as she disappeared down the hallway, Fett began to gain control of the pike and slowly moved it back. Before the honor guard could even react, Fett pushed the force pike forward and bashed it into his face. As the honor guard staggered back in pain and disorientation, Fett pulled the weapon from his hands and impaled it into his chest. Turning back to the hallway in front of him, he activated his jetpack and blasted forward until he reached Mon Mothma and landed right in front of her.
"I expected better" said Fett.
"You can kill me right now, bounty hunter; but it will not falter the Alliance morale" said Mon Mothma as she raised her blaster and pointed it towards Fett.
"If I were here to kill you, you'd be dead already" said Fett. Without warning, he fired a stun blast from his blaster rifle which rendered Mon Mothma unconscious almost immediately. "That'll keep you quiet for a while" He picked up the unconscious rebel leader, slung her over his shoulder, and carried her off down the hallway. "Time to collect my contract!"
Hellman76: I intend to include lots of Legends characters in this story, but I'll introduce them gradually.
scottusa1: Thank you! I hope you enjoyed the new chapter.
multyfangirl21: I'm unsure on what you mean.
Guest: Thank you for the review! Don't worry, I intend to include some Lukesoka moments in the following chapters; but I'll have their development be gradual and fleshed out so the payoff will be rewarding in the long run. I still intend to finish Galactic Civil War season 3, but it may take a little while since I'm still piecing myself together.
TheEmeralking: I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter, sorry if I made you wait too long.
Martin: I apologise for not updating sooner, but I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter.