Chapter 8

"They are falling back. They know we have them."

"Have them? Are you kidding me?" Han scoffed, standing up and reaching his hand out to Leia to help her up. "What the hell just hit us?"

"That was the Emperor. He has the power to shoot electricity at an enemy." Luke thought for a moment. "I suppose he could probably do that to a friend also, not sure why-"

"The Emperor did that?!" Han yelled at Luke, taking a step closer. "I didn't know we were here to fight him!" Chewy barked an agreement.

"What did you think I was doing out here, Han, chasing wompas?"

"I knew what you were doing, kid, what I'm saying is I didn't know that I had to fight that crazy bastard. I figured you would take him out before we got here."

"It's not that simple…"

Han sighed. "It never is." He ambled over to where the commander was and sat down next to him, leaning against a pillar and motioned for Chewy to join them. Leia looked up at Luke.

"What should we do now? This complicates matters. The B'omarr don't exactly make their strongholds or temples easy to get into. Once taken, they are usually gone permanently."

'The Hutts took this temple over from the B'omarr, and then it was also taken from them. There is a way.'

Leia and Luke both looked up to see Obi-Wan standing beside them. Leia all but dropped her jaw at seeing the Force ghost, especially where they were.

'Princess, I regret that we were never able to meet in person. I respected your father, General Organa, a great deal, and I've watched you enough to know that you are just like him.'

Leia blushed, which was very unusual for her, and she stammered a quick thank you. Glowing praise from a Force ghost you've never seen before was too much for her.

Sensing her discomfort, Obi-Wan turned to Luke. 'There is a way to get into the temple center, Luke. Remember your path?'

"Leia, there is a side door. Through that door on the side of the plaza you can get into the tower where I was held. There was an interior hallway into the main temple chamber." Luke looked back to Obi-Wan while Leia ran over to Han and the commander, pointing to the side door. "I see you decided to help me after all?"

In a rare moment, Obi-Wan smiled. 'I don't seem to recall telling you that we wouldn't help.'

The Republic fighters ran toward the door, Luke, Han, Chewy and Leia in tow, entering the hallway near the tower. The hallways were wide allowing many of them to run alongside of each other. One of the fighters next to Luke stopped suddenly, causing the rest to stop as well.

"Listen!"

Faint murmuring was coming from a chamber to their right. They were still in the middle of the hallway, not near the temple center at all yet. The fighters leaned closer and heard a sob, and the murmurings of a child behind the door. Disturbed, several fighters stayed behind to investigate, while others went on ahead to continue the fight with the guards.

Luke and Leia stayed behind and helped to get the door open. To their shock, there were four children inside the room. Small, scared, and dirty, the children were huddling against the far wall away from the door. They looked to be about four or five.

"Hello young ones. My name is Leia, we are going to help you."

"Will-will you take me to see my mommy?" one small child asked, peaking their head around the bed to look at Leia.

"We will certainly try." Leia held out her hand toward the children, and Luke ran out of the room and started opening all the doors. After all the doors were opened, they ended up with around 20 children. Leia took charge of them, getting them back to the New Republic's ship that was still hovering next to the Mesa, waiting for the fighters.

Luke turned to rejoin the fighters once he was sure Leia and the children were safe. Han and Chewy had gone ahead with them, so Luke joined him. As Luke explained what they had found, Han's face was fierce.

"Those child stealing bastards," he swore, walking along the corridor. "Leia take care of them?"

"Yeah, she was taking them to the ship off the mesa when I left. I knew the Empire did this, I just assumed, naively, that it wasn't something I would ever see…I don't know, but now I am even more angry about this situation." Luke walked along side Han, remembering what Master Windu had said about the Jedi taking children also.

'It wasn't the same, Luke.'

"Oh, no? Did you not take children from their parents?"

Han looked at Luke, muttering something about "Force-users", and motioned for Chewy to follow him up to where the commander was standing.

'We did with the full consent and knowledge of the parents and the children. They chose to come with us. Some even brought their children to us for training.'

Luke lowered his voice, to not incite stares from the others around him. "If – when – I get my Jedi school, I will never take children from their parents."

'How do you propose to get students then?'

"I'll only take ones that bring children to me."

'Luke, not all parents will be able to identify Force-sensitivity in their children. They may fear it, if any powers show themselves. You must do what you must in order to build the Jedi up again. We are all needed.'

Luke stopped, facing Master Windu, and let the fighters pass him by. Once he was mostly alone in the corridor, he asked, "We? What do you mean by that?"

'I have said more than I should have.'

"Yeah, maybe, but I want to hear the rest of it. Look, I'm not going to do anything stupid if you just tell me."

Master Windu looked right at Luke, with a stern expression. 'And if I told you that you were heading into your death, fighting the Emperor again. What of that? What would you do if I gave you the secrets of the galaxy?'

Luke leaned closer to him. "I would give my sister, Chewy and Han a farewell, and head to my death. If it means stopping the vision that I saw, I would do it gladly. I thought I told you – all of you! – that already."

They stared at each other for a few minutes, before Luke turned to catch up with Han and Chewy. They were all sitting outside of the entrance to the great hall that Luke had been in earlier, where the Emperor had been. Peering through the cracks in the door, the chamber appeared to be empty.

Chewy murmured a growl.

"You said it. I've got a bad feeling about this," Han said, looking through the crack again. "Where could they have gone?"

"There are many levels to this temple. In reviewing the plans originally from the Clone Wars, the Federation fighters indicated strongholds above the main temple chamber where they would keep extra droids in the larger rooms, as well as additional sleeping quarters for guests. The B'omarr apparently don't sleep? There are no rooms for them specifically." He was reading through a schematic holocron, about as small as his hand. He flipped through the projection for a few minutes. "Here. Look at this."

The holocron looked to be displaying an anti-chamber above the main temple, almost directly above where they were sitting. There were several side entrances, opening into a room with tables and a kiln at the back. That room had a back door that appeared to go right into a large retreat area, that had an overlook of the back side of the mesa.

"Even if they aren't in that room, that gives us access to the rest of the guest quarters, as well as that retreat and balcony area," Han said, looking at the holocron closer. "If we go into this side room, and make a hole in the ceiling, we can climb into a small kitchen area. That gives us access to the main corridors, to where we can encircle the guard, and maybe the Emperor, and surprise them."

"Why not just go up here into the corridor above us?" The commander asked, pointing to a spot on the holocron. "That gives us the same advantage."

Chewy growled an answer while Han shook his head, but Luke was the first to speak, "We don't know where the guards are. If there is a small group in this kitchen area, we can surprise them and take them out quickly using Han's idea. If they are stationed in the corridor, then we lose the surprise attack and they will all come down on top of us. Better to do a smaller room first to be safe."

"Damn, I wish we had brought some droids. We could have used their scanners right about now." Han laughed a little. "Never thought I'd say that!"

The group assembled in the small room to their right, and, in the far corner by the external windows, made a very small hole in the ceiling of the stone building. Chewy reached up to inch the hole bigger, and then slowly stuck his head through.

Chewy growled down to the group, and Han whispered, "It's empty."

Quickly, he made the hole bigger and hoisted himself up. Once secure, he started helping the Republic fighters up, Han and Luke last. Once they were inside the small kitchen area, they made their way to the door into the corridor. Looking through the small cracks in the door, they saw the legion of guards lying in wait for them, surrounding the anti-chamber.

Closing his eyes, Luke concentrated on moving the guards and knocking them over, stunning them to give the fighters an edge. Rushing out of the room, they began to fight, eliminating the guards on their side of the corridor easily.

'Luke!'

He heard Leia's voice and turned quickly toward the kitchen. He ran back into the room and helped hoist her up. He looked at her questioningly.

"I thought you were staying with the children?"

"I turned them over to the sergeant on duty in the infirmary, and Anakin told me that you needed me. So, I came to find you."

"I don't though, I mean we can always use your help, but I don't have an immediate need. I wonder-" Chewy howling stopped him in mid-sentence.

"Luke, get out here!" Han yelled from the corridor. They both raced out to join him, just to stop short. With open mouths they gazed up on a creature in the corridors that was growling with his head lowered staring at the fighters. Luke thought that it looked like a womp rat, but about five sizes bigger.

"What the hell is that?" Han asked Luke quietly, to not cause the creature to pay closer attention to them.

"I don't know, Han. It looks like a womp rat from Tatooine, but way bigger."

"I've seen womp rats, kid, and that's not it." Chewy growled, turning to Han. He kept his crossbow aimed toward the creature as it stirred toward them a little.

"Can we discuss this later, after this thing is dead?" Leia shouted, just as the rat began to run toward them. Fighters turned to run the opposite direction, running straight into the remainder of the guards. While a fight broke out between them, the rat slowed its pace and began walking slowly down the corridor, with its eyes on Luke.

"There is something off about this creature," Luke said, backing away slowly, with everyone sticking close by.

"You mean besides the fact that it shouldn't exist?" Han scoffed.

"No, it's…something of a memory. I can't quite place it…" Before Luke could finish his thought, the rat started running toward them again. Getting out his lightsabre, Luke attempted to swipe the creature and it pushed past them, but he only succeeded in taking a piece of skin off the top of its ear. "It's too fast!"

"Nice shot, kid," Han said dryly, pulling out his blaster and aiming it for the rat. It evaded every blast, though, causing Han to pocket the blaster in frustration. Chewy tried next with the same result. He howled in frustration.

Luke reached his hand out and tried to immobilize the creature. Thinking back to his training with Yoda on Dagobah, he tried to clear his mind and lift. Unfortunately, it felt like it weighed more than his X-wing, and he was unable to even budge it. "I can't move it. It's too heavy. I can't focus enough to calm my mind to raise it."

'Leia, like we discussed,' came his father's voice next to them, though he didn't materialize.

Swiftly, Leia grabbed Luke's hand and closed her eyes. Focusing all her strength, she pushed it into Luke. Feeling like he could fly if he wanted to, Luke reached out his hand again and Forced the creature to levitate slightly. Realizing the opportunity, Han reached for his blaster again; he and Chewy both shot at the same time and this time made a direct hit, causing the creature to go limp. Leia dropped her hand from his, opened her eyes and smiled.

"How did you do that?" Han asked. "I thought it was too heavy?"

Luke sat down, leaning against the wall. When Leia let go of his hand it was like all his energy was gone, which made him feel weary. "Leia. She added her power to my own, so I was able to move it."

Han looked at Leia. "How did you know how to do that?"

"Training," she said, smiling at Luke. He smiled back, but quickly lost it to a new voice behind them.

"Fast work you made of my creature, Jedi. Now see how you fair against me."

A/N: So, first, sorry I missed yesterday! The day got away from me.

Second, remember - liberty-taken zone. Don't forget, as that is important! I'm also happy to report that I am half done with Part 3 already. It's been a ride, so far, that's for sure!

Thanks again to my beautiful and awesomesauce beta Zombiefied419!

Chapter Sources:

wiki/Battle_of_Teth

. /qdUTSsCjHCWEQzX2A

Star Wars Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force