Chapter XVII – Soldier: Battle on the Peak
The blockade runner skimmed low over the blazing city, the smoke and flame cloaking it from the eyes of those operating the cannon. I kept a firm hand on the controls, cautious of sudden bursts of fire and back drafts. Upon reaching the lower slopes of the mountain, I pulled back hard, and the ship's engines groaned in protest as the runner ascended the incline.
Tuck looked over my shoulder out the viewscreen, his entire body tensed as if about to spring. "Closer," he urged. "Closer… Luke, we need you to man the guns…"
"Copy," Luke replied.
Less than a minute later we reached the peak. Squatting in the frost-crusted stone like some mechanical predatory beast was the gun turret, a cruel behemoth that launched fiery missiles at the defenseless city below. The muzzle of the cannon was nearly glowing with the heat of its fire, and the snow and ice had melted in a wide circle just around it. Even as we watched, the entire contraption rumbled, lurched like a retching creature, and belched forth another foul round.
My blood boiled at the sight of this depravity. If the weapon had been firing upon an invading army, it might have been one thing, but the only thing that lay below the mountain was a city of defenseless farmer folk. Never mind that I was guilty of immolating entire cities myself – that seemed a lifetime ago. Before I might not have cared, but now, to watch as a few conspiring, uncaring men slaughtered hundreds of innocents to further their own agendas was sickening.
Those manning the cannon must have seen us, for the entire contraption swiveled to take aim at our ship.
Luke fired upon the gun turret, and sparks rained down its sides from each impact. Black blotches marked impact points, but from the brief look I obtained before I was forced to evade a missile, I could see no damage inflicted.
"That armor's too thick!" Luke shouted in frustration.
"Try a torpedo!" Fett advised.
"This ship is not equipped with torpedoes!" I replied.
"Then we'll have to switch to Plan B," Tuck told us. "Vader, fake a glancing hit and land the ship."
I jerked the controls once to simulate a malfunction, then brought the blockade runner down. The seven of us hurriedly disembarked, rushing toward the doors allowing access to the interior of the weapon.
"Now what, genius?" demanded Jessa.
"Now we infiltrate," Tuck replied, unfazed by the cyborg girl's sarcasm. "Luke, Vader, one of you anyway, your lightsabers might be just the thing to cut through the doors."
I ignited my blade and plunged it hilt-deep through the iron doors, dragging it through the metal to slice the barrier apart. The doors collapsed, and we picked our way through molten-edged fragments and entered.
Two guards jerked their weapons from their holsters and took aim. Ash glowed red-gold for an instant, and the blasters burst into flame. Startled, the troopers dropped the melting weapons and raised their arms in surrender. Fett ordered them into a supply closet and locked them in, and we continued on our way.
"Are you going to explain your plan?" asked Luke.
"We need to get to the control room first," Tuck replied.
Nightwind squawked in dismay. "Can't fit through the door!"
"That's all right, you're needed outside anyhow," Tuck assured him. "It's your job to keep anyone else from getting in. Understood?"
He nodded. "Can I eat them?"
"No," I ordered.
"Just one?"
"No!" Despite my ability to communicate with the acklay and the peculiar friendship we had established, he was still not human but an animal. And once an animal acquired a taste for human flesh, there was no breaking them of it. The beast would continue to hunt humans until it was slain. If I permitted Nightwind to devour a stormtrooper, it would be his death eventually.
We left him outside and continued on, climbing a spiral staircase that clanged metallically with every footstep. So much for sneaking in…
The control room was packed with over a dozen troopers and several technicians. A technician whirled in his chair and spotted us, and he shouted an order. The troopers drew their blasters and took aim.
"Luke, Vader, in front," hissed Tuck. "Block as much of their fire as you can!"
I stepped forward and ignited my saber again. Luke stood at my side, his own weapon ready.
"They're Jedi!" exclaimed a technician, blanching.
The troopers opened fire. I felt the Force engulf me, sink into my muscles and bones, take control of me as it had countless times before. I did not resist, allowing it access, letting it direct me rather than attempting to direct it. The weapon in my hands moved almost of its own accord, deflecting the shots as easily as if I had been swatting flies.
On my left, Luke was doing much the same, blocking blaster fire and shielding Fett and Tuck as they exchanged fire with the troopers. Jessa and Ash took advantage of the troopers' distraction to make their way to the controls. The technicians fumbled for blasters, but a flicker of Ash's power destroyed their weapons instantly.
The last trooper fell to the ground, a smoking hole in his chest. Tuck stared at his fallen brothers for a long, tense moment, then he pointed his weapon at the technicians. "Do you surrender?"
"We do," replied one who had reluctantly assumed the role of ringleader.
"Fett, Ash, stand guard over them," Tuck ordered. He turned to where Jessa had appropriated a chair. "How's your aim?"
"Never shot a gun in my life," she replied.
"Then out of the chair," Tuck advised. "We're taking command of this cannon."
"I'm afraid that won't be possible," the tech leader replied in a cool voice.
Tuck turned to regard him. "Why not?"
"There's the matter of the password," he replied. "A password must be entered every time the cannon is fired. It slows things down a bit, but it ensures that the gun cannot be misused if it falls into the wrong hands." He gave a triumphant smile.
"Wipe the grin off," Fett advised, raising a fist to the man's face, "or I'll do it for you."
"Hit me," the tech dared. "Do what you will. It won't help you."
"If it helps us get the password out of you, why not?" Jessa asked, raising her own fist.
"Jessa, we're not going to torture them," Luke told her sternly.
"I wasn't going to torture them, just smack 'em around a little…" she shot back.
"Jessa…" Luke said warningly.
"Yes, Father," she grumbled, slinking away.
Tuck turned to me. "This puts a hitch in our plans, but if you were to show them your true nature…"
For the first time since I had discovered the ring's illusionary power, I was more than willing to drop the disguise. I felt the illusion abate, like a cloak suddenly falling from my shoulders, and I stood before the men in my true form.
Every face drained of blood, and a man in the back gagged fearfully. The ringleader opened his mouth, but no sound emerged.
"The password," I said simply.
The leader opened his mouth once or twice before he could gather his voice and respond. "Two-two-three-eight-see-dee-oh," he said in an unusually high register.
"Thank you." I turned back to Tuck. "You may fire when ready."
Tuck sat in the chair, operated a few dials to adjust the aim of the cannon, and punched in the password. Then he brought his hand down on the fire button.
The entire turret shuddered with the power of the launch, and a blazing comet arced over the ruined city. The sight of yet another flame-carpet missile must have terrified the citizens, but this time the target was not their town… but the Imperial base at the capitol. The missile dropped steadily to the ground and impacted over five hundred kilometers away with a fountain of brilliant flame.
Luke whooped. "Show the Imperials how it feels to play defense!"
Tuck fired twice more for good measure, than turned to Ash. "How close to something do you have to be to set fire to it?"
"I can easily ignite an object a kilometer away," she replied. "Any farther than that and it takes more energy. I have never attempted creating a fire farther away than five kilometers."
Tuck made some swift calculations. "Okay then, back to the ship." He waved a casual hand at the technicians. "Bring them along as prisoners."
We exited the turret, herding the dazed technicians along. Tuck made us pause a moment while he retrieved the two troopers we had locked in the closet, insisting we bring them along as captives. Once we had boarded the ship and were a good distance away from the cannon, Tuck turned to Ash.
"Whenever you're ready," Tuck told her.
A flash of red-gold… and the entire mountain trembled as the cannon's entire stock of ammunition ignited and detonated. For a terrible moment the mountain's peak was crowned in golden flame shot through with the silver fragments of the turret's plating. The cannon was destroyed.
But the battle was far from over, and it was a long and messy night we spent in the city upon our landing, fighting alongside the resisting villagers against the Imperial menace, routing the stormtroopers and their commanders from the streets. The entire ordeal was one long, senseless series of explosions, slashes, and deaths, ending only when the last of the troops had surrendered, fled, or died, and I promptly collapsed from exhaustion.
Break…
The morning sun cast pale light upon the devastation that was once a thriving farm community. The entire city was a sea of blackened, charred wreckage, dotted here and there with damaged but still-standing houses that stood out like islands. The surrounding farmland was pocked with great black scars and craters from missile impacts, and the heat of the flames had wilted and killed virtually every field, elio and otherwise. Citizens walked through the ruins, dazed, some weeping, others staring blankly at their shattered homes or the cloth-draped body of a loved one.
Had I still been a Sith, this scene would have left me entirely unmoved. But now my heart was breaking for these people. All they had worked so hard to build, all they held dear, was lost to them. Some now had nothing but the clothes on their backs. And as for those who had lost far more than possessions and property, who had lost loved ones, parents, children…
I wept, silently and unseen, for these people.
We helped where we could, digging through the burned husks of buildings to find bodies and vital records that might have survived the inferno, distributing food and water and blankets to the survivors who gathered in the havens of still-erect buildings, and treating the wounded. I found myself inside a large house that had been converted into a makeshift hospital, tending to those who had been burned or shot or injured by collapsing buildings. I suppose this was for the best, as I wore the healing ring. Still, it felt a little odd that I, who had been known as a destroyer all my life, should now be a healer to these people.
Tuck would prove to be an invaluable asset. His Finding ability was put to great use in unearthing valuables, bodies, and the like. In fact, the townspeople kept him so busy that I feared he might burn himself out if he was not careful. And when he was put to work locating the remains of three missing children, only to find them injured but alive in a garage that had only partially caved in, he became an instant hero.
But in the back of my mind I knew that these people needed so much more than what we could give them. There was nothing left for them here…
"They can take our ship," Luke suggested. "They can go to the Alliance and request sanctuary. They'd willingly take them in as refugees."
"No," barked a sun-weathered man from where he sat on a soot-blackened crate. "This's our land, son. Our home. We don't leave it. A few bastard Imps can't chase us off."
"Everything has been burned," I pointed out. "Can you hope to grow again?"
"Hope?" The farmer laughed. "Damn well we can grow again! Fire's good for the soil, especially when it comes to growing elio. The ashes fertilize the soil."
"And your homes?" I countered.
"Can be rebuilt." He gestured about him with a calloused, broken-nailed hand. "Take time to clean up and set up, sure, but come back in a few years and you won't recognize this place."
Strangely enough, the old man's words would be repeated by many others. I had been looking for pain and suffering, and of course I had found it. But beneath that, I found hope – hope for a better future, hope for the rebirth of their lives, hope for a better tomorrow. And even the flames and cruelty of the Empire could not incinerate or crush that hope.
"Still, take the ship," I told them. "You will need supplies from offworld to rebuild here." I paused, thinking, and spoke on with a smile. "On your way out for your first load of supplies, take the Imperials we captured to the nearest Rebel outpost – they should be easy enough to find now that the Alliance no longer needs to hide."
"If we take your ship, how will you get home?" asked the old farmer.
That question was easy enough to answer. The Imperials were gone, but they had left many vehicles behind in their hasty evacuation. Among them was a fuel tanker, unmarked, that I felt was the next vehicle to take on our journey.
We said our goodbyes, then boarded the tanker. Tuck was the last to go in, pausing to take a long, forlorn look at the remains of the city.
"What is it?" I asked him, concerned.
His gaze did not waver. "My brothers… I killed my own brothers…"
"They would have killed you, Tuck," I reminded him. "You did what you had to do to save your life."
Tuck shook his head. "It's not that simple, Vader. I had hoped to rejoin them. I had hoped to complete this journey, return to the Shadow, and have my gift stripped from me so that I could become a stormtrooper, an Imperial, again." He gave a bitter sort of chuckle. "Can you believe it? I wanted to be part of THIS again, part of an organization that could do this…" He swept his arm in the direction of the destroyed town. "…without the slightest provocation or remorse. And back when the stormtroopers killed the hotel manager – who had done NOTHING wrong – I realized what I had almost done."
He folded his arms across his chest as if hugging himself against the cold, though the day was growing hot and muggy. "And yet, the Empire is the only place I really feel like I belong. Except for with you guys, I suppose… but that can't last forever, can it? The Empire was my family. And when I shot down my clone-brothers… I as good as divorced myself from my own family forever." He sighed deeply. "I should feel some kind of triumph or pride that I've done something right… but I don't. I feel… lost. Empty. Alone."
I clasped Tuck's shoulder, not having the words to express the pain I felt on his behalf. Empathy was something I had not felt in a long time, and I was still getting used to it.
"We had better go," I told him at last. "We have a long way to go yet."
"Yeah," he replied distractedly. "We'd better." He turned to board the tanker.
"Hey, wait!"
We turned to see a cluster of figures approaching – two adults and three children. The children, two gangly boys and a tomboyish girl, dashed forward to greet Tuck, throwing their arms about his legs and talking excitedly as if he were a favorite uncle come for a long-anticipated visit. The adults approached at a more leisurely pace, though their eyes shone with gratitude.
"Kids!" the father barked, though he wore a smile. "Don't maul the poor man. What do you say?"
The three children backed off slightly and said at once, as if reciting a line in a play, "Thank you, sir, for saving our lives."
Tuck smiled. "You're welcome."
"We thank you too," the mother added, voice thick with emotion. "We would never have found our babies in time without you. We hope luck always goes with you."
"Hey, I made something for you!" The oldest boy held the object up. "Put it on, please? Please?"
Tuck took the item from him and held it up for closer scrutiny. It was an oblong fragment of bright chrome, probably salvaged from the ruins, fastened to a length of green ribbon. Etched into the surface of the metal in a child's hesitant, crooked penmanship was the word "HERO."
"Well, put it on, Tuck," I advised, suppressing a chuckle. "You deserve it."
Tuck slipped the homemade medal over his neck. "Thank you. I'll wear it to remember you by."
"Have a good trip!" the girl yelled loudly as if we were hard of hearing. "Come back and visit! May the Force be with you! Peace out!"
From the sound of that last exclamation, it sounded like she had been in the company of Jessa for far too long.
Together we boarded the tanker, and I took my place in the pilot's seat.
"Took you long enough," Fett remarked.
"Tuck had some admirers that required his attention," I replied, activating the engines.
"Well, look at that, Tuck's already got a fan following," Jessa teased. "Better watch out, boy, or you're going to have some rabid fan girls stalking you before long."
Whatever that meant. I had grown accustomed to the cyborg girl's strange remarks by now…
"Hey Luke, Darth," she piped up suddenly, "you realize that we three are the only ones who haven't completed a quest yet?"
Luke and I exchanged looks of apprehension. Four quests were behind us – Ash's plot against the governor of Kruvex IV, Nightwind's defeat of the Great Red on Tatooine, Fett's orchestration of our escape from the griffons on Mandalore, and Tuck's heroism during the battle on Wayland. That left three quests – and Jessa, Luke, and myself to face those quests and succeed… or fail. It was not a comforting thought.
