Chapter 15: You Aren't All Powerful
Tranx rubbed at the new prosthetic arm that had replaced the one that his Lord Nefarion had taken in his rage over the disaster of Bellalt. He had been awarded this replacement because of the great success in the first wave of battles against the Yuuzhan Vong. He knew that their inside man, Representative Zorel, was effectively manipulating his fellow Separatists, and it would not be long before the Devotees and Separatists were unified once again. As a smokescreen for another one of Nefarion's operatives, Tranx was preparing for a second assault wave against the Yuuzhan Vong.
He stood aboard the large Mon Cal flagship, outside the emerald world of Naboo, sat weighted in the black velvet backdrop of space. The Refugee Relief Movement had welcomed several thousand Vong after the long war against the extragalactic travelers, and many still lived amongst the Gungans and the Naboo themselves. If Ithor had raised anger and questions, then Naboo would finish the job.
"Initiate second wave," he ordered over the link that corresponded with the rest of his fleet, positioned just a short hyperjump from the other planetary systems that he and Nefarion had settled on. Now, the fate of those other worlds rested on the commanders of Nefarion's Black Clad army.
Rubbing his arm where flesh met metal, Tranx was thankful that Naboo was a peaceful planet, it would make its destruction a minor trial.
hr/hr
Anakin was on pins and needles. He felt the danger, yet he could not identify it. It seemed to be all around him, emanating from the serene beauty of Naboo, and yet he felt that the Naboo were the ones in danger. For a moment he wished for Ben's ability, to be able to see the future, to know what was ahead of him. But Ben was also tortured by what he saw, tortured to know that no matter what he did he could not stop it from coming.
He was in the throne room with Queen Pernillia, her regal manner making her very much like his mother; beside him were Analsa Vinn and Dorsca Cherrz, and gleaming as his metallic body shifted in the overhead light was protocol droid See-Threepio.
The Queen was amused by Threepio's antics, relieving Anakin of the always messy job of trying to dissuade Threepio from the very events he had been designed to attend. The golden droid had always held a special place in Anakin's heart, one of his earliest memories was of old 'Goldenrod', and Anakin counted him as one of the family. Ironic that he could speak more freely with a machine than with his own brother.
As the two Jedi, Yuuzhan Vong, and protocol droid studied the information that the palace volunteer security had gathered for them, Queen Pernillia worked at her desk, her long auburn hair loosened from the intricate weavings of her place of state, trailing down her shoulders over a cream jumpsuit. It surprised Anakin how informal the Queen was when alone with the tiny, if incredibly strange, group. She had taken a special liking to Analsa, asking for many audiences with the girl during their stay here in the palace at Theed. Analsa had graciously accepted, but Anakin did not need the Force to see that she did not do it out of joy for the Queen's company.
The more he got to know the mysterious Analsa Vinn, the more enigmatic he found that she was, a puzzle inside a puzzle inside a puzzle. There was a deep-seeded hatred and love for the planet of Naboo imbedded in Analsa, yet she fiercely tried to deny both. She was heavily secretive, and yet if Anakin asked she would recite an answer without even a pause. The kiss they had shared aboard the Falcon had only served to complicate the odd relationship they had developed. He had taught Analsa to sense the Yuuzhan Vong through the Force, had subconsciously wanted to train her to Knighthood, he could admit that now, but he could not abandon Ben.
Glancing up from the datapad he caught Analsa's eyes on him. "You're tense," she said without a doubt. "What's wrong?"
How can she do that? She shouldn't be able to do that. Not even Tahiri could read me this well, Anakin thought to himself. "I can feel a disturbance in the Force," he answered.
At the other end of the rectangular table, Cherrz nodded his sloped forehead furrowed in concern. "I too, feel the disturbance," Cherrz reiterated.
Why doesn't she feel it? Anakin wondered. It had amazed him that Analsa's ability to sense certain things was so selective. She had not been able to sense the Yuuzhan Vong in any great detail until Bellalt, when that large group of Yuuzhan Vong had been killed and they had followed another Vong group linked to Nefarion and his plans. Perhaps it took a large disturbance in the Force, such as the one they had felt upon their arrival on Naboo, to jar her sensitivity. And yet she can read you like a datapad.
From her desk, the Queen noticed their discussion, her green eyes bouncing from Anakin to Analsa and back again. "Is there a problem, Jedi Anakin?"
"There is a disturbance in the Force, Your Highness," Anakin revealed the truth. This Naboo Queen was too quick to give her the truth from a certain point of view, and Anakin had never liked to lie about things. Avoid permission - yes, but lie - no. "I feel that Naboo might be in danger."
At this Queen Pernillia stiffened. "In what sort of danger, Anakin?" she asked, using his first name in her fright.
Frustration struck Anakin and he shot up from the table, knocking over his chair in the process. "I wish I knew!" he exclaimed. The Force brought you back from the dead, and all you can do is sit here and try to find a way to help. You couldn't stop Uncle Luke's death, you let Ben go out into the very danger that Uncle Luke died to protect him from, and now there is something that threatens Naboo and you can't identify it.
Of all the things that Anakin had needed to get used to, there was still the one character trait that had passed on to him through his parental genes - he could not stand being helpless. If only he had Ben's sense of strategy! But you have your own gifts, Solo. Use them.
Belatedly he noticed the startled glances from his two companions and Queen Pernillia, even Threepio's unaltering eye sockets looked wider, as if the droid could gasp in surprise. Flushing furiously at his own ill discipline, Anakin reached down and righted his fallen chair. It gave him the time to compose himself, focus his thoughts and feelings.
Rising, he turned to face the beautiful Queen. "I'm sorry for my behavior, Your Highness."
"You have had a rude awakening," Queen Pernillia said.
iHow astute she is/i Anakin thought. But he could not keep relying on his resurrection as an excuse for every instance of bad behavior. He had used it to allow himself to kiss Tahiri, to further the breach between himself and Jacen even more. He could no longer rely on the past to make up his future. Not only would it hurt the people around him, but it would hinder his continued growth and learning.
"Regardless, I cannot use this as an excuse. I am a Jedi, trained to control and discipline; my outburst goes against each of those. I ask your forgiveness, Your Highness," Anakin said with a deep bow.
"Of course any sincere apology is accepted, Jedi Solo, forgive me for the demands I place upon you," the Queen returned in kind.
"You only wish to protect your people," Anakin assured her. "It is my wish as well."
Even as he tried to alleviate the Queen's fears, Anakin searched his mind, reached through the Force, pulled on every aspect of his training, trying to divine the disturbance he could feel increasingly stronger. Then it hit him. The disturbance in the Force when they arrived - yes he had felt this edginess, the skin-crawling feeling that had always been the sign of danger to a Jedi, and then the deaths of the Yuuzhan Vong ripping through him as though they were his own.
As this thought solidified in his mind, another one struck out at him. Naboo, wondrous, beautiful Naboo, the kind giving people who had opened their world to those who had once sought to destroy the galaxy, the very Yuuzhan Vong who were being hunted by Nefarion to start the war that the Sith would need to rise in power.
Anakin rushed forward, towards the Queen's desk. "Can you get a transmission from the Naboo Flight Control?" he demanded, all propriety leaving him as he came up behind the Queen's desk. "We need to know what's circling in Naboo space."
From behind him, he heard the click of Cherrz's toenails as they came across the tile in a fast trot. "You think another attack against my people?" the Yuuzhan Vong asked, following Anakin's lead and dashing to the other side of the Queen's desk. Only Analsa and Threepio seemed unable to move in this response.
With deft movements, the Queen worked the control panel inset in the deep rose wood. Anakin admired how her fingers did not even tremble. In the wake of a threat to her people, Queen Pernillia acted on reserved instinct, a serenity that mimicked the Jedi's. iHow come I no longer have that serenity/i
Instead, he answered Cherrz's question. "It makes sense. The Refugee Relief Group has opened the hyperlanes to Naboo for any who need relocation. I heard that some of your people opted to come to Naboo rather than rebuild. Nefarion is smart, and he has an inside line on everything." At this Analsa jerked, finally showing some sort of emotion. "If he wanted to permacrete the war he is propagating, he would rehit those that have already been wounded. The more personal the better." iWhen did I start sounding like Ben/i
"Who's Nefarion?" the queen asked, even as she finished the last of the connections.
Before Anakin could answer, an ear-shattering hiss filled and echoed in the Queen's throne room, and Anakin's heart sunk. "They've already taken out your aerial patrol," he deduced.
The Queen went pale, as though she were wearing the makeup of her state, fear clouding her green eyes in stormy confusion. "How is that possible?"
"The other attacks against Yuuzhan Vong worlds were instigated by a fleet responding to New Republic transponders," Anakin answered quickly, his mind moving like a hyperdrive overloaded. "Blast! How fast can you get your grounded defense force in the air?"
"You are speaking of a war I cannot condone," Queen Pernillia objected heatedly.
Anakin's ice-chipped eyes grew avid. "Would you rather have every Yuuzhan Vong on this planet slaughtered?" He could not help but feel as though he were arguing with Jacen; his brother had always felt that there had to be deliberation before action, as though Jacen had forgotten the Force's guidance even as he claimed to search for it.
The Queen bowed her head in defeat. "I will protect the innocent."
"Good, call them out," Anakin ordered.
While the Queen worked to get her Volunteer Defense Fleet called, Anakin rushed over to the datapad he and Cherrz had been poring over, searching for any clues that might lead them to where Ben had gone after he had left Naboo. It struck the older Jedi that he did not feel the same sort of urgency to find his cousin as he had back on Coruscant when Ben had left, there was however a stirring in the air as though a decision point was being made, and Anakin knew it rested on the battle that was about to take place. Was Naboo to be the added weight to finally push the Separatists back into bed with their Devotee brethren?
Snatching the datapad, he jacked it into the nearest communications relay. Hopefully, the Sith Lord's secretive fleet hadn't jammed communications yet, as they had in the first wave against the Yuuzhan Vong. The attacks were so close together - it had only been a week since Anakin had landed on Naboo, and already Nefarion was moving. He was bold, Anakin could give him that much. Subconsciously, Anakin wondered if Ben had predicted this, if his knack for strategy or his visions in the Force had given him a foreknowledge of these attacks. If so, could the son of Skywalker not act when innocent lives were in danger?
Anakin didn't have the time to ponder this, especially with the growing urgency he could feel in the Force, but it assaulted his mind regardless. He did not know what he would do if Ben knew of this attack and had remained underground, if his cousin was really becoming lost in his sorrow and thus open to the Dark Side. Did Ben not see this as the first steps of the path he feared?
Shaking his head to dispel the distracting thoughts, Anakin keyed the datapad to get in contact with the Temple on Coruscant. His fingers flew over the keypad, entering the codes that he had learned upon his rebirth and return to the Order. He put in the urgent notification, and pressed the send sequence. His breath caught in his chest as he waited for verification.
"Blast," he hissed. Nefarion's fleet worked fast.
Queen Pernillia was moving away from her desk and walking with fear-laden steps. "Pilots are heading to their ships," she reported.
Sarné was abruptly by her side, all mother-like characteristics gone and in their place came the hard visage of a warrior. Her hand rested lightly, but nonetheless threateningly, over the blaster holstered at her hip. "We must get you to safety, Your Highness."
"Yes, go. There's nothing more you can do here," Anakin agreed, seeing the battle play over the Queen's beautiful face. He understood the battle all too well, having seen it play on his mother's face a number of times. "You need to be there to secure Naboo after this is over." The Queen nodded, but with great effort. "I also need you to okay a ship for me."
That brought the emerald-green eyes fast on his face. "You're going to defend Naboo?"
"It feels right," Anakin told her. "If you have a fighter to spare, Analsa too."
"What of me?" Cherrz demanded. "These are my people."
Anakin hadn't forgotten about Dorsca Cherrz, but although the Yuuzhan Vong were no longer as averse to technology, that didn't mean that all of them were able with the technology, and sadly Cherrz was a terrible pilot. "Cherrz, this isn't your greatest strength. Stay with the Queen and protect her. There will be another time."
It was a long while before Cherrz nodded, reconciled with the thought that he could not help in this instance. He bowed his head towards Queen Pernillia. "If Her Highness will permit it."
"That would be greatly appreciated, domain Cherrz," the Queen said, after a nearly telepathic exchange with her handmaiden.
No sooner had she said it then the whole palace shook with the impact of turbolaser fire, bringing chunks of permacrete crashing down from the roof. Anakin and Cherrz managed to dodge them with ease, but the Queen was not as agile as a Jedi Knight or a Yuuzhan Vong warrior. Thankfully, Analsa was in motion even before the shattered roof began to tumble - she bypassed a surprised Sarné and slammed into the Queen, shielding her with her body. Anakin reacted on instinct and threw out his hand, fingers splayed, in a display of Force manipulation. Most of the shattered roof hovered over them, but Anakin hadn't been able to get all of it and a rather large hunk slammed into the Queen and Analsa.
Anakin was moving towards them even before the dust cleared, shoving his already Force-captured pieces to the side, and removing the others that had landed on the two women. His heart was inexplicably pounding in his chest, and he moved with a speed that would have surprised him if he weren't so worried.
His eyes adjusted to find Queen Pernillia trying to get out from under an unconscious Analsa Vinn. Quickly Anakin knelt next to them, and levered Analsa into his arms. Putting a hand to cushion her limp head, he felt the sticky warmth of blood and knew that the large hunk of peremecrete had left a laceration. The Queen was helped to her feet by Cherrz, and Sarné nearly bowled the larger Yuuzhan Vong over in her attempt to get to her Queen.
"Are you alright, Your Highness?" Sarné asked, brushing the dirt and grime off of Queen Pernillia's smudged cream unisuit.
Harshly, Queen Pernillia pushed Sarné's hands away from her and turned her attention to Anakin, whose eyes had fallen closed in a Force trance, sending tendrils through Analsa's physical mind, checking for any permanent damage. "Is she alright, Jedi Anakin?" Queen Pernillia asked, brushing a lock of recalcitrant hair away from Analsa's forehead.
"She's given herself a concussion, and I've helped her into a Jedi healing trance," Anakin answered. He was a little shaken, he had sensed a core of good surrounded by a shadow of evil in his student. Was Analsa to follow the path that Ben feared?
Standing up in one fluid motion, Analsa still cradled in his arms, Anakin crossed to Cherrz and levered the unconscious Jedi student into the Yuuzhan Vong's awaiting arms. "Take care of them," he told Cherrz, gesturing his head first to Analsa and then to Queen Pernillia and Sarné. He faced the two women. "Your Highness, I'll need that ship."
Queen Pernillia nodded. "You'll have it. Go!"
It was a physical effort for Anakin to leave things the way they were, and he nearly turned back a number of times as he felt the palace raked by other rounds of turbolaser fire. Did Nefarion have a spy in Naboo to know enough that Cherrz was not the only Yuuzhan Vong working in the palace?
When he reached the palace docking bay, there was an officer waiting for him, a Colonel by his insignia, and he hurried Anakin to one of the sleek T-seraphed fighters. He noticed the Artoo unit jacked inside, and wished it was his Uncle's, the Artoo he had known since childhood. He wished for anything that was familiar - his parents, Uncle Luke, Aunt Mara, Jaina, even Jacen he would welcome with open arms, as long as his brother helped him through the tangled weave that represented the upcoming battle in the Force. He was lost, a newborn Calamari flopping on dry land.
As much as he tried to pretend that the world he had woken up to that day on Tatooine was not so unlike the world he had left, Anakin still found himself lost in the changes, petrified in indecision, even as old instincts kicked in. Piloting a fighter - that he could do, leading a group of Jedi in battle, anything but this limbo he felt. Caught between two worlds, each he needed to remember and adapt to.
Keying the autopilot, he let it guide him to where the rest of the Queen's Defense Force had already engaged the faked Republic Fleet. He could tell the Queen of Naboo that and be believed, but what about the Yuuzhan Vong that were specifically targeted? Would they be so willing to swallow a stolen transponder that the New Republic couldn't trace? Anakin had contacted the High Council and had been informed that his father had been sent to Mon Cal to discover how this information had been divulged to the Sith Lord. He hoped that his father worked quickly, or there was a terrible and long war ahead of the Republic.
Approaching the battle, Anakin tried to still his mind and let the Force flow through him, but he kept seeing Analsa prone in his arms, couldn't help but remember the core of light surrounded by the aura of darkness that he had touched in her mind. He knew that the kiss she had initiated between them on board the Falcon was not the end of their relationship, confusing him even further. Up until a while ago, he had still loved Tahiri, his friend from the childhood he had missed. He had jumped from seventeen to thirty-two in a matter of days, and he was hastening to catch up.
The first lance of laser fire brought the instinctive stillness he needed, forced him to push aside all his worries and cares and focus on the here and now, or else he would end up very dead, a place where even the Force wouldn't pull him from.
hr/hr
iYuuzhan Vong lay at his feet, rusted blood pooled around them from open wounds that had been cauterized by laser fire, the wounds torn open by their impact with the ground. Ben shivered as he saw more struck down by bolts of laser blasts, quickly he ran to each of them, trying to use the Force to heal those he could, but their essences slipped through his mental fingers like Tatooine sand. He closed his eyes against the torren,t but the smell of blood caught in his lungs and the taste of the dead lasted on his tongue. No matter what he did, he couldn't avoid the darkness that had fallen.
Forcing his eyes open, forcing himself to accept what he could not stop. As he took in his surroundings, a part of him remembered that this was but a vision, a Force-produced dream that either held the present or the future. Swinging wildly, he felt a shock as he recognized it as the planet of Naboo. The place where his grandfathers had fought side by side against the Trade Federation, a happy outcome before the devastation that the Emperor would precipitate in both their lives, Anakin Skywalker accepting it willingly, Obi-Wan doing everything in his power to stop it.
He realized how much he was like his mother's father in this instance, mindlessly doing everything he could to stop a darkness that came regardless of their actions. Obi-Wan Kenobi had been forced to wait out the passage of time to see his destiny; his grandson, Ben Skywalker, already knew his destiny. Where Obi-Wan had hope, Ben had none.
Then the scene shifted in his mind's eye, and he once again stood in the moonlight of darkness upon the Temple's tower, facing his future self. He did not need to see the face behind the cowl this time, to see his features aged with time to maturity, nor would he verbally refuse to accept this. What he did do was the answer to his dilemma. With long strides he ran off the top of the Temple, his body arching through the air for a moment before gravity took over and drove him down towards the earth of Coruscant. "Skywalker..."/i
Ben rocketed out of his bed in the quarters that had been provided to him by his surrogate uncle, sweat dotting his forehead and his exposed chest. His breathing was harsh and ragged, hitching on strained lungs. Above him, Keorra Cereaslean stood, looking taken aback by his abrupt waking and more than slightly concerned.
"Naboo's been attacked," she told him, turning away so that he could get out of his bed and dress. "Karrde sent me to tell you."
Ben fumbled with his pants, his tired mind trying to think straight from his sudden alarm. "Is the attack still going on?" He had gotten the feeling that the Naboo part of his vision was not of the past or future, but of the present.
"That's what our sentries said. Karrde thought you might like to know," Keorra said, explaining her presence over her shoulder.
Ben quickly shrugged into his tunic and grabbed for his boots, pushing his stockinged feet into them. "Does Uncle Talon have any sort of defense fleet that we could send for aid?"
She faced him, and Ben was surprised how her concern made him feel better in the wake of his terrible visions. "Most of it's with Shada, but we have a skeleton crew."
"Then call it out," Ben said.
"We can't leave Karrde so unprotected," Keorra argued. "It's my job to secure his welfare."
He frowned. "It's my job to secure the welfare of every member of the Republic," Ben countered, feeling anger rise despite its futility.
"You really believe that, don't you?" Keorra demanded. "That you have to save the galaxy, just like your parents." She scoffed at him. "You should worry more about saving yourself."
A scowl marred his smooth boyish features. "A Jedi thinks not of himself, but of the group at large."
"Perhaps if the Jedi had thought more about themselves, Palpatine wouldn't have razored them down, and your father wouldn't have had to pay the price he did, nor your grandfather," Keorra countered haughtily. "A person must save themselves before they can think to help another."
Ben blinked at her in surprise. "And if you're unsaveable?" he asked, stutteringly.
"I do not see an unreachable being before me, Ben Skywalker," Keorra said, her tone that of a Upoi Soulreader.
He gazed at her, mesmerized by the violet hue of her eyes. "Is that your professional, or personal, opinion?"
"Professional," she said, uncomfortable under his scrutiny. "Come on, Karrde's waiting."
Just as they were about to activate the door, Ben felt a shift in the Force and he pulled Keorra to the side wall, silencing her with a cupped hand over her mouth. With the Force, he pushed the door actuator; no sooner had the door swished open, than a silver armor-clad bounty hunter bounded through, his blaster pointed where he had expected Ben Skywalker to be.
In one swift motion, Ben shoved Keorra behind him and thrust a kick to the outstretched blaster-armed hand, his booted toe catching the bounty hunter's wrist, numbing it enough for Ben to Force-yank the blaster. But the bounty hunter was no amateur - he flipped backwards, drawing a second blaster in the process.
I should have caught that, Ben thought as the blaster trained on him. He pushed Keorra back against the wall with his body, shielding her further. I've grown so tired that I'm missing important precautions.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
"And how did you get into this building undetected?" Keorra continued from behind him, her tone none the less commanding.
Bounty Hunter's weapon did not shy from its target, another sign that this was no green hunter they were dealing with. "I am known as the Slayyer."