—•—
All named characters with the exception of Risè the pretty Twi'lek, Susie, Knucklehead, Gerrard, and Acham are the property of Disney/LucasFilm.
For this chapter, imagine that the 'Brothers of the Broken Horn' and 'Legends of Lasat' episodes didn't happen.
—•—
"Go With Me."
"Stay With Me."
Chapter 5
—•—
From the previous chapter:
Vizago started to look a little worried. "What are you going to do with me?" he asked in that state.
"Hold up your end of the deal, Vizago," Hera replied to him as she came up to him. "You're going to bring Commodore Bonteri to the Relentless; to Kallus."
"Oh," was the smuggler's only response. He didn't see how he would do that since he was on his knees, not knowing when his last breath would be.
—•—
Later, with the wrists of the smuggler bound, they made their way to The Broken Horn. Then they hid the Phantom and all the troops inside. When they took off, they had the corvette trail behind at a good distance—but close enough to be quickly there if needed for a quick evac.
During this time, with Vizago now under heavy guard, while Hera and Ahsoka and Lux and Saw paired off and were examining Vizago's 'contributions' to the fight, Kanan was meditating with Ezra in a comfy and relatively clean room. The boiling stew of Ezra's mind was nothing compared to Kanan's. 'How had I failed?' was his main thought, next to, 'What did I do wrong?' Not much of a difference between the two, but all-mattering to Kanan. He kept coming back to the start of the travail his mind was in now. He would never forget the moment this started as long as he lived—
•
He and Ahsoka were talking in a room about how General Gerrera conducted operations on a planet's surface. They, along with the rest of the Ghost crew, were to be given a tour of the ship later by Commodore Bonteri. This was supposed to be their last day on the ship. General Gerrera was explaining some strategies; mentioning how much he and the Commodore worked together, when a sudden beep interrupted their talk. When that beep came in, Saw looked very worried. He then touched a button on his left gauntlet and saw an image that shocked him as well as all those in the room—fortunately then only the two from the Ghost.
Kanan was sure that to the end of his days he would never forget seeing the image of Ezra holding the lightsaber he had made to Commodore Bonteri's chest. What else shocked him was the look of despair on Ezra's face. It was a look as if Ezra was in great pain in doing what he was doing. For himself, the Commodore was rather poised considering the situation. Saw could see some signals his friend was making and what medallion he touched.
The three of them then went very quickly, running to the door of the Commodore's quarters, all the while the General informing an engineering officer something about lights and him being able to control them from his left gauntlet. Kanan and Ahsoka were in such a hurry that they didn't get all of what the General was saying. Then, outside the door, they wanted to burst in, but Saw held them back. He was steadily looking at the Commodore in the holoimage that was now coming from his right gauntlet, all the while holding a finger poised over a button on his left. Then, he saw Ezra close his eyes. 'That's it!' he smiled to himself; and the next thing the three knew, they were bursting into the room, turning on the lights, and looking at a determined, but not mad, Commodore Bonteri, manhandling the boy, with his right hand holding the boy's saber in his own hands, and the left holding a specially modified Naboo blaster to Ezra's temple.
••
Later, after Ezra had been subdued and bound, the four adults talked about what to do.
"I think we should attack this Vizago," Saw voiced, "And put him out of his misery."
"Yes, let's do that," offered Ahsoka. "But there is something more. What is in it for this Vizago? I think we need to find that out. Ransom? Slavery? Empire? I think this path may lead to something beneficial."
"Beneficial?" Saw retorted. Lux smiled at the idea from Ahsoka. "How could we benefit from dealing with a smuggler?"
"I think Ahsoka's right," the Commodore offered. "Let's see what Vizago has to say before we give him his just rights. If Ahsoka thinks there may be something more to this, I am willing to follow this to the final end. But we cannot involve the crews of other ships in the fleet. They must think something else has happened. The Empire may have moles with us. It may even be behind all this."
"All right," Saw gave in, "I'm open to suggestions."
The room was silent for a while. Soon, Lux had the look of someone who had pieced together a plan.
"Let's try this. Saw and Ahsoka, you go to the bridge, but don't say where I am. If someone asks, just say I may be resting. Signal us when you get there."
"Ok," responded Saw slowly.
"Then, Kanan and Ezra will force me to the Phantom. One of you needs to hold an unlit lightsaber to my throat, in view of the crew who happen to pass by, so they are convinced."
"Just as long as it's Kanan and just as long as he holds the butt-end against your throat, if you don't mind," interjected Ahsoka. "I don't want any mistakes."
Lux smiled at that precaution from Ahsoka, but then got back into the business at hand, "I hope we don't see any soldiers."
"Mm," thought Saw, "Maybe I should have the ones on duty go to a part of the ship where we 'think' there may be a stowaway with a hangover from last night."
"Not too far, though, since you will need to call them back when you see Kanan and Ezra forcing me to the Phantom. Kanan? Ezra?" The two responded, although one was in binders. "We need to be quick, very quick."
"All right," responded Kanan.
"Saw, you and Ahsoka see me being abducted and call in the troops to follow. Get Gerrard's Rancors and the 12th Zabracks. Then, arrest the Ghost crew and bring them and the troops on the Zett Jukassa. Don't forget to pass command of the fleet over to the Shaak Ti, and Saw . . . put Acham in charge of the Plo Koon."
The General nodded his head significantly. He didn't know the meaning of this but decided to follow his friend's idea.
"Then, Saw, follow us out, and give chase out in space. Make it look good, but not too good. Then, after we are out of subspace comm frequency range, we pass signals, the Phantom docks with the Jukassa and we go to where this Vizago is with a full platoon."
Suddenly, Ahsoka came in; "I should go to the Ghost crew. It'll look better that way. I can calm them down as well."
"All right, Ahsoka," Saw said quietly, "I'll send the MPs when you get there." He nodded to her, but Lux was worried.
First, Ahsoka left. But before she did, she saw some residue on Lux's cheek from the bright blast of light from the medallion. She then took out a small and soft handkerchief, wetted it a little with water from the sink close by and rubbed off the residue from his cheek. They were very close and Lux was smiling down at her from his slightly taller height. The others in the room could see this intimacy and looked away. Then, Ahsoka left for the room with the remaining Ghost crew members.
When Saw was about to leave, Lux held him back for a second. "Saw, tell the MPs not to be too rough," the Commodore said to him very quietly.
"Sure, Terry, sure." Then he left. (What Lux couldn't see was the smile on Ahsoka's face.)
Kanan had grabbed Ezra, but the Commodore held him back. "Kanan, let me get these," he said as he released Ezra's binders.
"Are you sure, Commodore?" asked Kanan.
"Kanan, I could see Ezra up close, and how much he didn't want to do what he was doing. What do you think Ezra?" Lux asked as he removed Ezra's binders.
"If I could take this back I would. I am so sorry for what I did. I am willing to make it up to you—if you will let me."
"And that I shall. And you, Ezra, rest assured and be at ease. You will fulfill your promise to Vizago and be free of any debt you may owe to him. You did it for a good cause, Ezra, to save Kanan. But, next time think of the consequences before you commit yourself to something."
"Yes, sir, I will."
Kanan wanted to say something. "If this is what it cost to save me, Ezra, then the price was too high. However, I do think you have learned a lesson." Then Kanan turned to Lux, "What do we do now?"
"For one, Kanan, you can call me by Terry or Lux. You brought Ahsoka here. I owe you that." Then he set to thinking what to do next. "Kanan, we need to mess up the room a bit; make it look like there was a struggle."
They then started to turn things over while Lux mussed up his uniform a bit; but made sure not to rip anything. Lastly, Kanan was about to overturn a picture of Lux, one where he was quite young and in what seemed to be a jungle. His expression was stunning, Kanan noticed, very soft and looking into the distance, off-camera. However, before he turned it over, Lux stopped him and this person himself gently overturned the picture.
"It's the only picture of Ahsoka I have," Lux explained. Kanan had a look as if he didn't understand, so the older man explained. "I didn't notice it when it was taken, but when it was, I remembered I was looking at Ahsoka. I will never forget that moment as long as I live. It was one of the happiest times of my life."
'Oh,' thought Kanan with sadness, 'How lonely the Commodore must be.'
"Kanan, I'm sorry the Ghost will have to take the brunt of this."
"Me too, but it can't be avoided."
Then the signal came in from Saw and they made their move.
•••
And that is how Kanan got to where he was now, meditating on the smuggler's ship. Running through the corridors on the Plo Koon; they fortunately met very few and with a threat from Kanan, they held back. They got as far as the hanger bay where the Phantom was when a loud horn resonated throughout the bay. In the short run from the entrance to the hanger bay to the ship, they were noticed by most all of the crew then in the hanger bay, Kanan manhandling their commander and Ezra riding guard. It was only nanoseconds before they were charged—many with only their bare hands or the tools they happened to be holding at the moment. They were just barely able to get into the Phantom before they were rushed. There was even a burly, one-eyed, one-horned Togruta hunk who jumped on the front view screen and was pounding on the front glass. They were able to shake him off as Ezra flew the ship. As the little ship made its way out, there were even some shots by a turret but it was quickly ceased as they were afraid of harming the Commodore. However, the silence in the hanger bay was short-lived as there were cheers throughout when they saw the Zett Jukassa give chase to the Phantom.
At the same moment Kanan was remembering this horrible time while meditating on the Broken Horn, Hera, for her part, while she was with Ahsoka looking over the cargo of The Broken Horn, was calling back in her mind what happened to her and her crew a few short hours previously. She had never been so afraid for her life or the lives of her crewmates than she had at that time. It all started with Ahsoka entering their little meeting room. They were discussing their tour that was to take place on the ship. When Hera saw her, however, she feared for what was to come, Ahsoka looked so scared—
•
"Everyone," Ahsoka said calmly, "Get away from any kind of weapon. Zeb, put your bo-staff far away from you. Rex, unholster your blasters and put them on the other side of the room."
"Ahsoka, what's going on?" Hera asked.
"A nightmare come to reality. Where's your Blurgg? Sabine, you too."
Hera put her Blurgg onto the counter behind her, but then Ahsoka took it and moved it on a desk next to the door. Sabine gave her her blasters and Ahsoka put them in the same place as Hera's. She then put her lightsabers next to Zeb's bo-staff.
"Commander," Rex started, "What—"
"They are coming. Whatever you do, do not look to your weapons or they will shoot you. Look into their eyes without challenge."
"But who?" asked Sabine, "And why would they shoot us?"
"No time to explain," returned Ahsoka. "It's the ship's MPs. And—"
"And it is because it is what I would do," answered Rex. There was silence, only to be broken by Ahsoka looking towards the door she thankfully locked—
"They are here."
Just as she said that, a loud knocking was heard. "Open up in there," said a very gruff voice. Hera was about to open it but Ahsoka stopped her. Again, that very gruff voice ordered even more loudly, "Open up in there now!" Then, Ahsoka motioned for Hera to unlock the door, but not open it. When Hera got back to her original position, Ahsoka then motioned for her and Sabine to move away from the center of the room—off to the side from the door.
"It's unlocked!" Ahsoka shouted.
They immediately found out why Sabine and Hera were moved. Those outside didn't try to open the door, they blew it open. The door itself flew into the room and would have hurt Hera badly if she had been where she was before.
But the flying door was their least concern. In a flash, six strapping human men and an officer with rifles pointing at them and death-dealing on their faces rushed into the room. The ones Hera could see she noticed had the safeties off. 'This is bad; real bad,' she feared for her mates. Her next thought was to Kanan.
"Get down now! Now!"
"Traitors!"
"Go for it Mando! Make my day!"
"Let me see hands! Now!"
"On your knees old man!"
"Double-aim on the Togruta!"
Zeb started to fight back, swinging at some of the humans and roaring. Ahsoka had to rush to him.
"Zeb, no! It'll be all right! I need you now. We need you now," Ahsoka ended more calmly, seeing the big Lasat calm down. "We all need you now, even the one who found you."
Zeb knew exactly who she was talking about. He immediately calmed down and got on his knees, with a little help from one of the MPs. "I can do it myself," he gruffed.
Soon, all the crew were bound in manacles, even Ahsoka, and still on their knees. Zeb was starting to rock a little from his aching knees.
"Safeties on, men. Now!" came a loud voice from outside the room. Just then, General Gerrera entered the room, his hands behind his back. He then motioned for the MPs to get the crew to their feet. Zeb had a relieved look on his face.
"Do you have their weapons?"
"Yes, sir. Right here," one of the MPs motioned to the desk where all the weapons were. Saw could see Ahsoka's sabers. He looked at them a little, admiring them. They were elegant and deceptively delicate for those who didn't know the power behind one of them. Very fitting for Ahsoka, he thought.
"The traitors had these blasters. One Blurrg-1120. Two Westar-35s. One Lasan bo-staff, modified. And two DC-17s. The Togruta was armed only with these," this MP said pointing to Ahsoka's lightsabers. Saw had to smile at the ignorance of the weapons expert.
Hera spoke up. "General Gerrera. We have a right to know why we are being treated like this."
Saw nodded to Hera. They did have the right, but how to say it to them without hurting them was an impossibility now. He decided just to get to the straight truth.
"Captain Syndulla. Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger just abducted Commodore Bonteri at the point of force."
The shock that went through the crew was palpable to all. Even Ahsoka seemed stunned. Zeb, with his big heart, was stunned to disbelief. He could only say, "No it can't be. No it can't be."
Saw could only barely hold on with this charade—but he had to. "They did!" he shouted. "Look at this!" He then showed the holoimage of Kanan holding his lightsaber to a disheveled Lux, holding it up against his throat, pushing him (a little too hard from Ahsoka's perspective), with Ezra running guard. Hera whimpered at the sight of Kanan. Her heart dropped to the floor. One of the MPs growled like a beast and was just seconds away from opening fire on the prisoners. Saw became very mad at the MPs and ordered them to stand off from the prisoners. This at least gave him the chance to signal to Hera to stay calm. Just then, an officer came in and informed the General that his Zabrack and Zouave forces were ready to board the Zett Jukassa. "You will come with me," he informed the Ghost crew. As he did so, he winked to Hera, a signal to follow along and don't worry. "We may need you to try to talk the two backstabbers to cease and desist." He then turned to the MPs. "You men will be responsible for the safety of the prisoners." There was murmuring amongst them. "That is an order!"
The humans then all stood at attention. "Sir, yes, sir!"
Rex couldn't help but think, 'Dang. If we could've had studs like these, we'd've won the war in the first five minutes.'
But the worst was yet to come for Hera, Sabine, Ahsoka, Zeb, and Rex. Outside, a hum of voices, angry for the most part, started to filter into the room. The din soon became louder and louder. Inside the room, the prisoners were put in the center of a ring of the MPs and the General put himself at the head and the MP officer bringing up the rear. Then, with an order, they moved together out of the room.
As soon as they did, dead silence faced them. It was not a silence like most. This silence was fraught with a building of anger. Human, Twi'lek, Mirialan, Rodian, Sullustan, Togruta, Weequey, Nikto and others of both sexes looked as if they would kill, but were only being held back by the presence of the General and the Human MPs around them. Hard were the looks the crew got, as if they could cut stone only with their eyes. More and more gathered along the route the prisoners were to take.
It wasn't long before loud insults, invectives, epithets, even threats were hurled at them chockablock. The MP officer bringing up the rear was starting to worry; not for the prisoners, but for his own safety. A one-eyed, one-horned Togruta grunt of a man then threw something at them. He would have hit Ahsoka, but she was able to duck just in time so the missile went between her two montrals and hit the MP behind her.
"Aktay!" General Gerrera shouted but didn't let up the pace. "You will be on report!" Then, "Everyone. Double time! March!" The troops and the prisoners were doing double time through the ship. As they were going, Zeb saw something he would never forget. He saw Susie, the cook, next to Knucklehead, looking very, very sad and disappointed. She looked as if she didn't know what think. She trusted Zeb, and yet, he betrayed her and her shipmates, she thought. Zeb had never felt lower in all his life.
Soon, thankfully due to the double-time they were doing as well as going to the nearest landing bay from their room, they reached the corvette, the Zett Jukassa. Then they boarded the small ship, the marines and Zouaves forcing the prisoners on their knees again for show (but they didn't know that; only Ahsoka, Hera and Saw did), as they closed the hatch and went to chase after the Phantom, boosted on by the cheers of the crew of the Plo Koon.
••
After a while, as soon as they were sure they were out of subspace frequency range, General Gerrera, with some help from Commodore Bonteri, explained the situation and Hera and the crew—and the crew and soldiers in the corvette—calmed down. All Hera could say was that she was going to whoop some boy's behind with her belt real nice after the transmission was finished.
The Phantom then docked with the Jukassa. Lux was quick to enter the corvette to see how everyone was doing. He was specially worried about Ahsoka. He could see she was safe, and promised to punish a fellow Togruta for almost hurting her. She asked him to let it pass. The Commodore proffered his apologies for what happened and not being able to inform them of what was going to happen.
"Commodore Bonteri," Hera replied, "It is us who owes you the apology. I had always feared this promise of Ezra's. I am so sorry it turned out like this after all your hospitality towards us."
"It's all right Hera. Let's just see what this Vizago wants from me. Ahsoka said it could be something significant. In the meantime, could you tell us what all of you know about him?" Just then, the ship headed towards Lothal after entering hyperspace.
"Yes, Commodore, right away," was the response from Hera. So, she proceeded to tell everyone what she knew of the smuggler, his droids, his ship, his weaponry, his tactics, and, especially, his deviousness.
•••
Kanan and Ezra, however, decided to stay in the Phantom during this time. Kanan wanted to talk more with Ezra, and he could also feel the searing hate coming from some of the soldiers. Hera did visit them and agreed with them. She too could feel the tension from some of the men from the Plo Koon. But she did insist that they would eventually need to talk with the men to inform them what they knew of Vizago—Ezra especially since he had had some dealings personally with Vizago.
It was during this time as well, as the crew were being herded towards the Jakkusa and everyone knew of what happened, that someone on the Plo Koon was going through some deep regrets and remorse.
Risè was pacing back and forth in her quarters. She too had seen what had happened. 'What have I done? What have I done? I thought they were going to take Ahsoka, not the Commodore,' she thought to herself, and 'What have I done?' She felt deep regret for what she did before the dinner party, and what she saw there cured her of her passion towards the Commodore. 'How like a stupid girl I had been,' she thought of herself. She remembered back to what happened that changed her so suddenly and shook some sense into her. It was after Commodore Bonteri, General Gerrera, and Kanan (she had come to like the crew now) had played a short tune—
•
Saw had returned to his seat next to his little girl when Lux did something unexpected. Facing directly towards Ahsoka in his chair, who was now turned towards him in her chair after that little ditty, he then played a lyric-less tune on his twelve-string guitar. He was playing directly to her, and she knew it. But, she didn't mind as she turned fully towards him.
Soft and sweet was the tune. For some reason, the room became quiet. All who were there were looking at the scene. Here, before them, was a love song they would remember. So yearning and passionate, in a good way, was the song. All were looking, but the two, Lux and Ahsoka, didn't notice. This time was only for them. So Lux played the sweet melody on his twelve-string guitar, ending it softly and then looking back up to Ahsoka. The look they shared spoke volumes silently. Kanan and Hera were holding hands and looking at this, deeply affected, as well as happy for Ahsoka.
••
Someone else was affected too. Risè, pretty Risè, had come to see the damage she had done. No one, not even the gods of Ryloth, could interrupt this she saw before her. Instantly, she saw the folly of what she had done. Instantly, the scales fell from her eyes, and the green-eyed monster jealousy had no more sway over her life. 'What have I done? What have I done?' were her only thoughts—and how she could possibly remedy what she had done, even if it were to cost her her own life; which she surmised it probably would.
•••
Risè then made the decision, even if it were to cost her her life, to rectify what she had done. She had come to see Commodore Bonteri not as someone to die with, but as someone to die for. So, with a determination that had escaped her recently, she decided to contact Agent Kallus.
There was barely any free room on the corvette with all those people, but Kanan was, after a time, able to meditate with Ezra. And now, on Vizago's larger ship, he was able to be more concentrated in his meditation with Ezra. Kanan's and Ezra's thoughts were interrupted when the four who were looking over Vizago's 'contributions' returned. Saw and Lux had the best news.
"We didn't find much, Terry," Ahsoka informed those gathered. "He must be a pretty poor smuggler if that was all he had."
"Sounds like Vizago," replied Kanan, "Just a local villain."
"Yes," broke in Lux, "But we found something that may help you to get your Rebel base, Hera."
"What was that?" she replied.
"A full crate of Tevarki whiskey," informed Saw with a smile.
"How can that help us find a base?" asked Hera. The Commodore was about to respond when the captain of corvette, now piloting The Broken Horn, entered the room.
"Sir," he said to Commodore Bonteri, "We will soon exit hyperspace, close to the Relentless—that is, if that smuggler is telling the truth," he finished the last with a nod of his head to Vizago's brig, where the smuggler was. The Commodore knew Vizago was telling the truth because he asked both Kanan and Ahsoka to help with the interrogation. There was no roughing around, but they did know when he was lying. Vizago could see everything was a lost cause and gave up all he knew, confirmed by the Jedi and a 'part-time' Jedi as to its veracity.
"He's telling the truth, captain. Get the Devonian up to the cockpit. Get him ready to bluff us in."
"Yes, sir, " was the salute and response in return.
Soon, the bound smuggler was brought to the command center of his own ship. He was released from his binds and forced to sit on his own command chair. Then, he was warned of the consequences of lying.
"Smuggler," started General Gerrera, "You will complete your contact with Kallus. We can tell when you are lying." The General then motioned a pair each of the marines and the Zouaves to kneel down out of camera angle, but aim their weapons at Vizago, sitting in his chair. "Ahsoka and Kanan will be connecting with your thoughts. If there is a hint of a lie . . . ." He then motioned with his eyes to the kneeling quintet of soldiers. Ahsoka and Kanan got into their places and focussed on the Force. All of the sudden, the blue of hyperspace ended and with a small jolt—one not enough to be of advantage to Vizago, they exited hyperspace.
"I could still get away with it!" Vizago surprised those there with his defiance.
"Yes, you could," responded Commodore Bonteri, "but if we get any blast from the turrets, there will be two anomalies to my plan. The first is that we will have to force our way into the hangar bay of the boomer."
"And the other?" was the curious question from Vizago with furrowed eyebrows.
"You'll be dead."
Vizago could see these people were serious but that they still had no intention of killing him—yet. So he relented. Soon, they were picked up by the comm captain of the Star Destroyer.
"Unidentified ship. State your business or be destroyed."
"I am here with a package. Inform Agent Kallus that the bag is full," Vizago responded.
"The bag is full? What do you mean—just a minute." There was a pause for a few seconds. "Smuggler, you will proceed to docking bay three. Repeat, docking bay three."
"Confirmed, Relentless. Proceeding to docking bay three." After a few minutes, The Broken Horn softly touched the deck of docking bay three. Just as that happened, Vizago got a call on his holocomm device.
"Vizago, I assume you have my package," came the unmistakable voice from the unmistakable image of Agent Kallus, coming from Vizago's holocomm device.
"Yes, Agent. I do."
"Good. Good. I will be sending some troopers to recover the package. You wait there. No tricks, smuggler."
"No tricks, Agent. Vizago out."
Then, Vizago was re-bound and put back into his own brig. All those on the smuggler's ship waited for the stormtroopers to enter. These were quickly subdued by the Ghost crew—who seemed to have a lot of experience doing that—so that the Commodore and the General gave leave over to Hera to complete the task. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough armor to disguise themselves and they were so many, so they decided to infiltrate the ship as silently as possible. Sabine was given free rein to plant explosives, but to not detonate them unless ordered to by one of the three officers; one of the two from the Plo Koon or Hera.
The group was able to make it quietly through the docking bay in good time. This group only included the Ghost crew (both the General and the Commodore wanted them along as they were excellent in stealth tactics and they knew the inside of these Star Destroyers better—as well as the tactics of Kallus), and Ahsoka. Colonel Gerrard and his Rancors and the 12th Zabracks were still in the Broken Horn, close at hand in case something went wrong—which usually happens.
The small and silent group made it as far as a large set of blast doors in the bulkhead leading from the docking bay into the bowels of the ship. However, before they were about to cut through the control panel, it suddenly opened on them. Before they knew it, they were faced with a dozen stormtroopers, half with pauldrons. They were lead by an Imperial officer.
"Well, well, well. Commodore Bonteri and General Gerrera. In the flesh. I expected nothing less."
Saw knew immediately who this was—
"Kallus."
—•—
Thank you for reading this chapter. Please leave a review for this chapter and how you liked it. I hope you don't mind if I left with a cliffhanger.
I am so happy I could get this up during May the Fourth (fanfiction time).
In the last chapter, in the author's notes, I said I wanted to ask you for your opinions about this chapter and the one before it combined. I was going to put these two chapters into one. (For some reason, I have gotten into the habit of writing very long chapters.) What I wanted to ask was this, should I have ordered the two chapters differently?
Chapter Three ended with Vizago telling Ezra to bring him Lux. For impact (and to relieve some reader's worries) I decided to start Chapter Four with Vizago's subjection, i.e., Chapter Four started with Vizago saying, "I hate children." (From 'Brothers of The Broken Horn' episode.) However, getting to where this chapter ended with the appearance of Kallus required many flashbacks.
I feel the problem with flashbacks is that they confuse readers and the flow of the story. Were you able to follow the story with little effort as a reader (very important for a writer) with the chapters as they are written with so many flashbacks? or, should I have reordered (or from now, reorder) the story so that it starts with Ezra's capture, then to Kanan, then to Hera, then to the escape, then to Risè, then to defeating Vizago, and then to meeting Kallus? The flow is more chronological that way. Do you get where I'm coming from? I would like to hear your opinions as readers as to the ease of reading this story.
I will probably not be able to update this until mid-June at the very earliest. (That said, I will be cooped in airplanes next week for about 24 hours over five days, so that may give me incentive to write the next chapter sooner.) I am not giving up my other stories on FanFiction. I will be giving this one priority, however, as it fits the series today as it has shaped up to now. I will definitely try to finish it before Season 3 and the Ahsoka book come out.
Thank you,
johnt
PS. In the fifth paragraph after the two dots (••), I changed:
""I think Ahsoka's right," the Commodore offered. "Let's see what Vizago has to say before we give him his just rights. If Ahsoka thinks there may be something more to this, I am willing to follow this to the final end."
to:
"I think Ahsoka's right," the Commodore offered. "Let's see what Vizago has to say before we give him his just rights. If Ahsoka thinks there may be something more to this, I am willing to follow this to the final end. But we cannot involve the crews of other ships in the fleet. They must think something else has happened. The Empire may have moles with us. It may even be behind all this."
Otherwise why have the abduction plot? (johnt on March 1st, 2021)
