Chapter 25: Reverse Polarity

"Ben!" Ben I need help!"

Luke's call for aid echoed through the forest, and in response the ethereal blue form of Kenobi appeared before him. "What troubles you Luke?"

"Sokka's gone!" Luke answered, eyes still looking for him anywhere. "Spirits took him! I don't know where they went!"

Kenobi nodded, closed his eyes, and focused on the Force. Through his connection to Luke he found the emotional bond to Sokka, and used that to search for him. Kenobi shook his head and opened his eyes. "I'm sorry. I do not sense this Sokka anywhere."

"It was only a few minutes ago!" Luke yelled, now wondering how someone could just disappear like that. "Where could they have gone?"

"These spirits may have returned to their own realm," Kenobi suggested. "If they brought your friend there, it will be very difficult to find him. Not unless he has a spiritual connection, or is sensitive to the Force."

"Pretty sure he's neither," Luke said.

"Then there is nothing we can do," Kenobi said.

"Not here anyway," Luke said. He started walking out of the forest, lightsaber in hand to see the way, and Kenobi remained beside him. "Can you send word to Aang for me? Tell him what happened down here?"

"I will," Kenobi said, and he disappeared.

Luke moved a brisk pace, wanting to get out of this forest before the spirits returned for him. His eyes stayed on the path as he moved, lightsaber lighting the way through the forest. Along the way he thought he saw more spirits in the trees, as if they were waiting for an opportunity to strike. The spirits were staying just far enough away for him to be uncertain if they were even there or not, like a trick of the light that dared to fool his eyes. Yet he felt their presence all around him, following him all the way out of the forest.

Soon Luke spotted light up ahead, coming from the airspeeder's headlights, revealing the end of the path. The vehicle was still right where he left it, beckoning for him to come and get out of this dark place. Once he was out of the forest he shut off his lightsaber and put it away, then climbed into the airspeeder as quickly as he could. Once inside he turned the engine on and the airspeeder lifted off, heading into the air and through the storm. It took a while to pass through the storm again, but soon enough Luke was flying in a clear blue sky.

Now that he actually had time to think about what had happened, one particular thought crossed his mind. "Leia is not going to be happy about this…"

"Of all the times for Luke to be away…"

Leia was not at all happy with the situation, having multiple problems to deal with. Luke having taken off with an airspeeder was the least of it, and not knowing where he went was a matter that would have to wait. Currently alone in a small room aboard one of the landed ships, Leia was reading classified reports of rebel activities across the galaxy. Ships were in retreat on every front, the inevitable outcome from the galaxy-wide distraction. They would not be in position for another offensive for some time, which was going to cause problems in the short term.

In times like this, simply having Luke around seemed to make things better. She wasn't sure if it was his belief in the Force or his optimistic outlook, whatever it was he had always took the edge off a bad situation. Leia would have to do without it for now, and would have to deal with someone else's more cynical attitude. After finishing the latest report Leia made a decision, made a call to another part of the ship, and waited for someone to get up here. Leia took a moment to make herself look more presentable, even if it was wasted on this smuggler.

When the door opened Leia watched him come in, putting on a smile even though she didn't mean it. "Han, glad you could come by."

"What do you need?" Han asked. He took a seat next to Leia, thinking he might be here for a while. "I was in the middle of something."

"I'm sure you were," Leia said. She got straight to the matter at hand. "It's likely that the Empire we be back sooner than we thought. We need to start ferrying benders up to the fleet immediately. Is the Falcon ready for that?"

"She will be in a couple of hours," Han answered. "Chewy is working on the engines right now. He needs to repair a few parts before putting it all back together."

Leia sighed. "Figures…"

"Don't you have other ships to ferry people?" Han asked.

"They are ferrying people," Leia pointed out. "But we need as many as we can for this. Even one more ship would help a lot."

Han threw his hands up. "Sorry princess, my hands are tied. The Falcon isn't going anywhere until Chewy is done."

"I think I can spare a repair team or two," Leia suggested.

"They'd only slow Chewy down," Han said.

"Fine," Leia said, knowing better than to challenge Han's faith in the wookie's ability. "You go back and help him then. Let me know when the Falcon is ready."

"Will do," Han said. He got up and headed for the door, but stopped just before leaving the room. "By the way, when we finally leave this rock, I might need to borrow some of these benders for a personal matter."

"We'll see," Leia said, waving her hand in a dismissive manner. "You can go now."

Han left without another word, leaving Leia alone in the room. She went back to the computer terminal in here, pulling up the schedule of transports moving between the planet surface and orbit. Each record was attached with a list of locals carried aboard that particular ship, detailing identities and specific bending abilities. The vast majority were earthbenders, followed by a small amount of firebenders, and then a mere handful of waterbenders. Already there were reports of sickness from those earthbenders, which they had been told to expect on the way up.

Leia leaned back and closed her eyes, wishing that the day was over already. "This could have gone a lot better."

In the city of Gaoling, Katara watched the people prepare to leave.

The rebels had given the message to the entire city, telling the populace that they would be taking people off Earth before the Empire would return. But it would not be a mandatory evacuation, for there was not enough room for everyone. Those that wished to remain here would be allowed to stay, and the rebels wished them luck with resisting the Empire in the future. Of those that wished to go with the rebels into space, preference was given to those with bending abilities. They and their families would be boarding the first transports out, and were forewarned about the effects of traveling in space.

Katara watched the first transports land outside Gaoling, sent from the larger ships in orbit for this task. She saw entire families get moving, heading for the transports to leave the whole world behind. It was the start of an exodus unlike any seen on Earth, the people leaving their homes to travel farther than anyone from this world had ever gone before. She felt sorry for those that had to be left behind, either for asking too late or simply choosing to stay here. There wasn't anything she could do about it, though that thought didn't do anything about the guilt.

She couldn't help but wonder where most of the people would end up, as she had no idea which planets the rebels would send civilians to for safety. She knew they wouldn't send everyone to the base on Hoth, it being one of the most inhospitable places imaginable, and no place to waste resources on people that wouldn't be any help there. Katara imagined various other planets the rebels could send people to, places without bases that needed to be kept secret. The galaxy was bigger than she could possibly imagine, with planets beyond count, and it was comforting to think about that.

It was the middle of the afternoon when Katara walked into the center of Gaoling, where she found Ty Lee taking messages from a courier. "Hey, are any of those for me?"

Ty Lee flipped through the handful of envelopes, checking the names of each one, and did not find Katara's. "Nope. Sorry."

"Oh," Katara said. Then she remembered another matter, something that she wished she had asked about upon her return to Earth. "Have you heard anything about Toph? I thought she would have been involved in the fighting here. But I haven't seen her anywhere."

"No idea," Ty Lee answered, adding a shrug of her shoulders. "As far as I've heard, no one's seen or heard from her in a while."

"Oh," Katara muttered, disappointed and wondering where her friend was. "It's just that I've never thought she would skip out on a fight."

Ty Lee settled on one particular envelope, knowing that the recipient was nearby. "Excuse me, I've got to deliver these."

"Yeah, sure," Katara said. She watched Ty Lee leave, and she resumed her walk through Gaoling. It wasn't long before she spotted someone else she knew. "Hey Aang, what's going on?"

"There you are," Aang said, running up to Katara after being in a hurry. "We've got a big problem. Sokka's been abducted by spirits."

"What?" Katara blurted out. "How? Where? Why? When?"

"Not sure, at the South Pole trespassing I guess, and about half an hour ago," Aang answered. "Kenobi just told me."

"Your ghost friend," Katara said, remembering when Aang described Kenobi to him earlier. "He's certain about this?"

"He is," Aang said. "Apparently Luke was there and saw the whole thing."

"And he didn't stop it!" Katara yelled.

"Kenobi says he tried," Aang said, having just his word to go on. "Spirits aren't the kind of thing he's used to dealing with."

"Aren't spirits your department?" Katara asked.

"Spirits and I are not on the best of terms," Aang admitted. "Believe me. I tried to ask them for help. It did not go so well."

"There's got to be something we can do," Katara said.

"I'm sure there is," Aang said. He was silent for a few seconds thinking about it. "I just don't know what that is."

Katara groaned. "We should go tell Leia about this right now. Maybe she can do something about it. Maybe."

"Come on work this time!"

After his meeting with the royal pain in his backside, Han had gone back to the Millennium Falcon to work on much needed maintenance with Chewbacca. Naturally, the attempt to make something work ended up making it worse, resulting in a power regulator malfunctioning for no apparent reason, adding to the list of problems with the Falcon that needed to be fixed. Han had spent ten minutes trying to make it work properly, having trouble with it the entire time. After the fourth attempt the power regulator started working again, only for something else to break down and require repair.

"Of course…" Han grumbled. He moved to the rear end of the ship, took off a panel on the wall to uncover some parts, and stuck his head and arms in to deal with the problem. "Knew we should have replaced you last time…"

A third hand and completely worn out junction box was the culprit, blue smoke coming out of cracks in the metal, smelling of fried wires and singed circuitry. Han opened it up and pulled out the bad parts, which were most of the parts, and replaced them with whatever he had on hand. The end result was a convoluted mess of wires too big for the junction box, and Han had to stuff it into the wall while he put the panel back into place. Afterwards Han flipped a switch to send power through the junction box, and was relieved when nothing else broke down.

"Alright Chewy, fire it up," Han said. He heard some systems come online, and they sounded better than usual. "Okay, let's move on to the weapons."

Chewbacca grumbled something from the cockpit.

"Fine, you can have the dorsal guns," Han said. He headed to the ladder between the two sets of blaster turrets, saw Chewbacca go up, and Han went down to the bottom. But when he glanced through the windows he saw something unexpected. "Huh…"

On the other side there was a group of locals, each individual looking at one part of the ship or another. Han made the turret swivel around, surprising and frightening the locals, which got most of them to scatter. One local in particular did not leave, and she looked like the kind of person Han would like to look at a while longer. Tall, beautiful, wearing plenty of leather, and she was winking at him through the window. Unlike the others that left, she seemed more interested in Han than the ship, judging by the toss of her hair while she looked at him.

Han pointed towards the entrance ramp, and the woman nodded before walking that way. Han then climbed back up the ladder to the main part of the ship, and then he walked to the entrance and got there before the woman did. Han saw the woman flip her long hair back, though the bangs still covered most of one eye. Now Han noticed the whip she was carrying, and it looked like it saw plenty of use for various purposes. She smiled again, and Han smiled back, and they met halfway down the ramp, getting to see each other up close.

"Hello ma'am," Han said. "I don't believe I have had the privilege, miss…"

"June," she said, with a very slight curtsy. "I didn't realize aliens would be so handsome."

Han laughed. "Alright, what do you want?"

"Excuse me?" June asked.

"I see what you're trying to do," Han said. He crossed his arms and smirked. "Charm me out for some tech, expecting me to just hand it out, but I won't be falling for it."

June pushed some of her hair back. "Okay… let's say that's right, what then?"

"Well…" Han said, thinking about the matter. He did like listening to June's voice, and could imagine all sorts of sounds she might make. "I'm sure I can find something for you to do."

The tone of his voice was universal, and June liked the way he said it. "Whatever you have in mind, I'm game."

Han smiled, waved his hand toward the inside of the ship, and walked in with June beside him. "Come on, let me show you around…"

After a brief interrogation, Kori was thrown back into her cell.

For the most part she wasn't harmed, aside from a few bruises here and there, among other aches and pangs in various places. The imperial officer had been in a hurry and only asked the essential questions, and he hadn't been willing to wait for her to break. Kori got the feeling that he didn't want to do that job, and only put in minimal effort because of that. The officer did make it clear that there were harsher methods available, and promised to use them at a later time, when they could take all the time in the world.

Now she was back in her cell next to Haru's, thrown into it by the stormtroopers without a second thought. The fall on the floor hurt more than the halfhearted torture, and it wasn't hard to make the pained groan sound worse than it actually was. Kori stood back up as the cell door was closed, locking her back inside again with nothing she could do about it. She put her hands on the bars as the stormtroopers moved on, certain that the imperials would do the same to Haru, and wondering how he would deal with the interrogation.

The imperial officer scoffed and shook his head, heading to the next cell to look at Haru sitting in there. "I do hope you will be more forthcoming than her."

"Somehow, I doubt it," Haru said. He saw one of the stormtroopers made a very slight nod, and he wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. "But, do what you will."

The other stormtrooper opened the cell door and went inside, grabbing Haru by the arm to lift him up. "Come on, let's go."

However, the first stormtrooper had other plans. The blaster was raised and aimed at the officer, much to his shock, and the stormtrooper pulled the trigger. Stun setting took out the officer instantly, and a second shot took out the other stormtrooper. The stormtrooper nudged the victims with a boot, made sure they were properly stunned, and then put away the blaster. Haru was surprised and very confused, while Kori couldn't see it and was wondering what was going on. The stormtrooper grabbed the keys from the fallen officer and went back to Kori's cell, unlocking the door and letting her out.

"Did I miss something?" Kori asked. She stepped out of the cell and watched the stormtrooper enter Haru's cell. "What is going on here?"

The stormtrooper took off the helmet, revealing the face of Suki underneath. "You know, it is really easy to impersonate those guys."

Not knowing who this woman was or what she wanted, Kori was even more confused. "Okay, who are you?"

"It's Suki," she answered, and she passed the blaster to Haru. "Come on, we've only got a minute before others come up here."

"I trust you have a plan?" Haru asked. He switched the blaster from stun to kill, and then aimed it at the only stairwell out of here. "One blaster and no earth to bend aren't going to cut it."

Suki crouched and put one hand on the floor, surprising Kori and Haru again when her palm started to glow. "Check this out."

She fired a small energy blast from her hand, which blew open a person sized hole in the floor. Kori was surprised by this feat, and Haru was more than impressed by it. The noise also alerted imperials throughout the building, and the stormtroopers already on their way quickened their pace. Suki dropped down to the next floor below, Haru and Kori were right behind her. She blasted through a few more floors, confusing and infuriating the stormtroopers showing up at the top floor. Then Suki blasted a hole in the wall, letting in the sunlight to brighten this room.

Through the hole Haru saw the next building over, its roof one floor lower than where they were standing. "Let me guess, we have to jump."

Suki already got a running start, leapt through the hole, and made it across the gap to the next building over. There she looked back and the others. "Come on!"

Haru made the leap next, got across the gap, barely making it to the edge of the building. Kori was right after him, but her foot barely reached the edge, and she slipped off completely. Haru caught her by the arm and stopped her fall, and Suki helped him lift Kori back onto the roof. They got moving again just in time, as there were stormtroopers coming up to the hole on the wall. Suki led the run to the far side of the building, while the stormtroopers started shooting stun shots at them. At the far side there were stairs leading down the side of the building, intended for quick escape during a fire.

At the bottom of the stairs they set foot on solid ground, a welcome relief for the two earthbenders. They needed to put it to use right away, as another detachment of stormtroopers was approaching on ground level. Kori raised an earth wall to block one end of the alley they found themselves in, and shots from stormtroopers on the other side hit the wall harmlessly. Haru made little holes in the wall for his blaster to shoot through, taking out a few stormtroopers that got too close. Suki fired more energy blasts the other way, taking out stormtroopers that tried to flank them.

"Any ideas on where we go from here?" Suki asked.

"I thought you had this planned," Haru said.

"Had to put it together in a hurry," Suki admitted. She shot down another stormtrooper. "I thought we could get farther on the roofs."

"Well we don't have to," Kori said. She raised another earth wall in front of Suki, blocking off that end of the alley. "I know this city. We can get to one of the hidden paths from here."

She demonstrated by earthbending a shaft into the ground, pushing all that dirt and stone into the bedrock below. All three of them jumped down into the shaft, Kori picked a direction to go, and she started earthbending a new tunnel. Haru moved enough rock to cover their entrance, making the alley look as smooth as it had been before. That put them in total darkness, which did not bother any of them. Kori earthbent a path forward, Haru put the rock back after they passed through, and Suki stayed in the middle trusting that the earthbenders knew what they were doing.

Soon Kori's earthbending breached another tunnel, and light from dim lanterns came in. "See, one of the hidden paths, as promised."

Suki entered that path after Kori, impressed that it had been here all along. "Alright, where does it lead?"

"Away," Kori answered. "That's really all that matters right now."

Haru finished filling in the tunnel Kori had made, doing his best to conceal their passage. "This trick isn't going to fool them. We really need to get moving before they start dropping bombs."

"Yeah," Suki said. She turned toward Kori. "Lead the way."

Hurrying through the tunnel network beneath the Fire Nation capital, Zuko made his way across the city. He could feel the bombs hitting imperial installations, most striking the palace and the defenses there. Along the way he saw other people using the tunnels, all seeking shelter from the assault above. Zuko made his way to one particular passage, which led to the dragon catacombs in the eastern part of the underground. From there he took a stairwell up to the surface, activated another firebending lock here, opening a false floor above the stairwell.

Zuko emerged inside the capital's Fire Sage temple, the largest temple in the entire Fire Nation. There he took in the view, and he did not like it. "By Agni, all over again…"

One bomb had knocked down the outer wall of the temple, and he could see most of the city through it. Much of it had been bombed into oblivion, undoing most of the work done to rebuild the city. He saw the rebel ships flying over the city dropping more bombs, destroying every place that even looked like imperials controlled them. The palace was holding up better than everything else, a testament to the imperial engineering put into the construction. Large chunks of it had been destroyed, but the base and middle levels were still mostly intact.

Zuko walked up to the hole in the temple wall, took in the sight a little longer, and slammed his fist on the broken wall. "All that work for nothing!"

The rebel ships in the sky finished one more bombing run, and then they flew away from the capital back to wherever they came from. They were not replaced and the sky was quickly emptied, leaving Zuko thinking that the attack was finished. Looking at the city it seemed like every imperial installation had been hit, and there was nothing left for the ships to attack, aside from the damaged palace that was somehow still standing. Zuko was surprised by the lack of imperial ships responding to the situation, nothing coming down to replace the ones destroyed during the bombing.

When he had seen enough Zuko turned around and headed into the temple, the part that was open to the public. Within a grand hall there was a shrine to the sun spirit Agni, flanked by statues of mighty dragons facing him. There were Fire Sages tending to the shrine as always, even with everything going on in the city. They saw Zuko walking in, knew why he would come here, and they quickly got to work. Three of them put their hands on different dragon emblems on the shrine, firebent some flames into them, and the shrine slid back to reveal another hidden passage.

"Thank you," Zuko said. He walked down steps into the hidden passage, entering a large room kept underneath the temple. "Is this really all we have left?"

About thirty people were in this large room, some of whom had been living in here for some time, the few things they possessed being scattered around the place. They were all that remained of the original firebender inhabitants of the capital, the rest either long dead or long deserted. About half of them only had the clothes on their back, and had arrived not long before Zuko did. The Fire Sages had offered this place to shelter those that needed it, particularly for those that needed to remain hidden from the imperial occupation. Now Zuko needed them, and they all knew it.

"We're ready," one firebender said. "Whatever you need us to do, we're at your service Fire Lord."

"Do not call me that," Zuko insisted. He walked up to the firebender who did, slightly taller than he was, and looked him in the eye. "Everyone knows that title is nothing more than a sham."

The firebender nodded. "Understood, Zuko."

Zuko nodded, and walked in front of the group, silently admitting that this would have to do. "Alright everyone, the attack seems to be over. The imperials are at their weakest, and we're only going to have once chance. We need to hit them hard, and we need to hit them fast."

The whole group nodded, knowing that Zuko was right. This was the time to fight, and they knew that not all of them would make it back.

Staring at the red sphere before him, Darth Vader got to work.

He turned on his lightsaber, its glow a deeper red than the sphere, and stabbed the surface with the blade. He buried the blade all the way to the hilt, and then pulled the lightsaber out. But the sphere was completely unmarked, as if he hadn't stabbed it at all. Next he swung the lightsaber back and forth, seeing it do no damage whatsoever. It left him quite impressed by the sphere, as there were very few materials that could withstand a lightsaber. Now knowing that the lightsaber was useless here, Vader shut it off and put the lightsaber away.

He held his hands toward the portal, focused on the Force, and spread his hands apart. There was resistance against him, something pushing back through the Force, unlike anything he had felt before. A ripple passed through the sphere, followed by a vertical line appearing down the middle. The sphere began to split there, a few centimeters at first and growing to a meter deep divide. But the splitting stopped there, and the resistance through the Force became insurmountable. No matter how hard Vader pushed, the sphere would not split any further.

Vader relented, his hands dropped, and the sphere became whole again. "One is not enough."

Unable to do anything more here, and nothing more to learn about the red sphere, Vader turned around and walked back out of the forest. He returned to his TIE Fighter where he left it, got inside, and flew it away from this place. It only took a few moments to get back into space, trading the darkness of the night for the darkness of the void. Yet while his body left the Earth his mind remained in that forest, his thoughts focused entirely on that red sphere and what lay within. It was like something inside called to him, and he needed to know what it was.

The situation in space brought his mind to the present reality, finally taking the time to notice what was going on around Earth. He saw the distinct lack of imperial ships in orbit, and the rebel ships that had taken their place. Rubble from a destroyed Star Destroyer littered the space around the equator, already starting to settle into a temporary ring system. He figured the others had left at one point or another, giving up this backwater planet rather than risk losing more ships to the rebels. Although certain imperial ships would return, Vader felt the need for a little more encouragement.

Vader opened a hyperwave channel, using his personal encryption codes, and made contact with an admiral on Coruscant. "Admiral, there is a bad situation at Earth."

"I'm aware," the admiral reported. "The fleet is gathering as we speak. It will be ready to deploy by tomorrow."

"What is the status of Death Squadron?" Vader requested. "Which ship was destroyed?"

"That would be the Conquest," the admiral answered. "In addition to the vacant spot left by the Stalker, two Star Destroyers are needed to restore Death Squadron to full force."

Vader checked a list of Star Destroyers, their commanding officers and crew compliment, and made a decision. "Assign the Nemesis, Stormhawk, Thunderflare, and Relentless to temporary service. Whichever ships perform better will be given permanent places on Death Squadron."

"Understood," the admiral said.

"Over and out," Vader said, and he cut the transmission. Then he engaged the hyperdrive, starting the trip back to civilized space.