I'm going to complain to you readers for a quick second and say it war harder the heck to name this chapter because it cuts from one thing to another and there's no real MAIN scene, I called it Turning Point because this I guess is where the story turns from one direction, namely the rise of the Empire and the Sith, and the Rebel Alliance, to the potential Fall of the Sith and destruction of the Empire because of what happens to Tarkin…. This is also a pivotal chapter, thus it was beta read by me, but I guess you would not really call it beta reading then, proofing I guess.
Chapter 9: Turning Point
The Emperor watched eagerly over her shoulder as Mara pulled out her own personal, hand held computer and keyed in the corresponding frequency of the tracer she had thrown on Raz's ship. It would take a few moments for the beacon to be located, especially if Raz was far away from Coruscant, Sidious smiled sadistically as a percentage meter began to count up from one percent, to five, to nine and so on.
"It'll take a few moments to locate the planet." Mara said.
"Silence," Sidious snapped as the counter neared ninety percent, ninety five, ninety seven, ninety nine… one hundred. The computer screen flashed and then displayed a file footage picture of the moon of Nul Hutta, Nar Shaddaa. Mara couldn't help but roll her eyes, she should have known. The Emperor cackled evilly behind her, she wanted to cut out his tongue and then make him swallow it.
"You may yet have redeemed yourself my servant." Sidious croaked. "Go to Nar Shaddaa immediately and bring me Raz Vena."
I've got a better idea you ugly bastard, why don't I go to Nar Shaddaa and persuade her to tell me where this Siri Tachi is? Then I can go find her and tell Vader, he'll be so ticked at you then he'll join me while I cut out your intestines. Of course I'll provide you a bogus location on Siri's whereabouts. Mara thought, making sure to keep it guarded. Of course she could never say it out loud so instead she gave Sidious exactly what he wanted.
"Of course my Emperor," she said, she had to act like a good little servant, existing only to fulfill her insane master's will. "I will find Raz."
"Good, good, and Mara there can be no mistakes this time, for if you fail you will pay the ultimate price."
Looking at your face while it's not partially covered by that ugly hood?
"Of course master, I will find her."
When I find her I'll get Vader to side with me and hey, I guess the Rebel Alliance won't even have to do anything because we'll just kill you ourselves.
XxX
Tarkin now found himself facing the incredible crushing power of two Sith Lords and their wrath, he had assumed Sidious called his hound Vader down to his cell to help him question, Tarkin did not know how long he could hold out, he looked up into the deformed, monstrous face of the Emperor, and the masked unlooked upon face of his kath hound Vader. The shiny the round form of a probe droid hovered between them, waiting for orders to release its grip on that long syringe, filled with a system permeating venom that forced hallucinations and persuaded its victim to answer questions truthfully.
"Tarkin," Sidious spoke softly. "This is your final opportunity to cooperate, tell me why you betrayed me, and who is in league with you, otherwise you will force my hand and make me commit an act that you will deeply regret, much more than I. Now…?"
"I will not give in." Tarkin replied defiantly.
Sidious gritted his yellow and black teeth hard.
"Proceed with it, now." He spat through his rotting dentures, drips of saliva slithered through the gaps between his teeth and crashed into Tarkin's face.
"With pleasure," Obi-Wan said as he took the syringe from the droid. He had never liked Tarkin, never, and now… what he was about to do he… would not regret.
He stabbed the hyperbolic needle into the side of Tarkin's neck and with one swift stroke, injected the truth serum; Tarkin gasped as though he was being strangled when Obi-Wan pulled the needle out of his neck and clipped it back to the probe droid, which ejected a multifunction torture implement.
Tarkin fell off the cold steel bench and onto the floor, he felt as though he were about to vomit, a cold sweat ran down his face, he looked up at his two interrogators.
"Tell me what I want to know Tarkin, and all of this will vanish." Sidious said, his voice echoed loudly in Tarkin's ears. He winced and withered on the floor.
"NO!" he cried.
Sidious gritted his teeth and slammed his boot into Tarkin's gut, the former Grand Moff yelped in pain.
"SPEAK TARKIN!" Sidious's voice spat venom through his gritted teeth.
"I… I…"
Sidious snarled in rage and said something to the probe droid which sprayed a mild form of acid onto Tarkin's bare arms, if felt like molten rock had just contacted with his skin, Tarkin howled in agony.
"Yavin IV!" Tarkin cried incoherently.
"What about Yavin IV?" Obi-Wan asked, his curiosity whetted, could it be….
"On Yavin IV! They're all on Yavin IV!"
"Who is on Yavin IV? Who is working with you?" Sidious growled.
"YAVIN!" Tarkin screeched, the serum now taking full effect.
"I know the bloody moon, now who is on it?!" Sidious barked, his patience wearing thin.
"Admiral Mo…"
"What?" Obi-Wan asked.
"He's, the… on Yavin IV…"
Sidious snarled something as incoherent as Tarkin's explanation and grabbed the syringe off the probe droid again, he filled it up with the truth serum antidote and injected it into Tarkin; he was smart enough to see the mind probe was getting nowhere. Tarkin gasped again, as the effects of the serum wore off; he looked up at his questioners, fearing another dose of acid from the droid or another injection of that foul serum.
"Who is on Yavin IV?" Vader asked.
Tarkin gulped, and then coughed violently. He had to tell them, he couldn't handle anymore!
"The bloody Rebels, they're on Yavin! I wanted… to take over the Empire… I planned to use… them as a backup… plan."
"The… the Rebel Alliance…" Obi-Wan stated to himself, hardly daring to believe it. "On Yavin?"
"Yes!" Tarkin cried.
"We must move quickly." Sidious mumbled to himself. "The Rebels most likely know of Tarkin's capture, this intelligence may no longer be valid… Lord Vader?"
"Yes Master?"
"Report to the Executor. Bring your fleet to the Death Star; it is currently in orbit of Despayre awaiting final hull plating, it was due to become fully operational a week ago, regardless of whether or not it is you will attack Yavin IV, make sure to alert me to the Death Star's status and if I have any further orders for you I will tell you then. Go."
"Yes master," Obi-Wan said as he exited the cell. The Emperor turned his attention back to Tarkin who was regaining his strength, enough to stand up and look the evil man in the eye.
"You on the other hand will not be so fortunate; you will not be leaving this cell again, at least you will not know whether or not you do… farewell Tarkin."
With a swish of his robes the Emperor was gone; Tarkin watched as a storm trooper entered his prison domain and cocked a wicked looking blaster. He was about to die. He had to think quickly, the probe droid was still there… as the trooper disengaged the thumb safety Tarkin grabbed the full syringe of truth serum and stabbed it below the troopers neck. Surprised, the insignificant clone dropped his weapon which Tarkin grabbed from mid air and killed the man with the shot meant to execute him.
He had to move quickly.
It was irrelevant how much he disliked the task of stripping the dead man and putting his armor on, when he was satisfied with himself he picked up the blaster he had discarded, exited the cell and locked it. So far nothing seemed wrong. He walked down the cell bay and into the reception area and came face to face with the obese warden.
"Tarkin is dead," he reported, which seemed so odd to him since he himself was Tarkin, his voice filtered through the storm trooper helmet and came out in a bland, emotionless tone.
"Good, good," the warden replied distantly, and rudely. "I'll clean the mess up later; now get out of my sight."
Tarkin felt as though he should shoot this incredibly fat man, whose rudeness outweighed his blubber (though not by much). But he was too close to his freedom, so he stepped into the turbo lift and pressed a button for the floor where the landing areas were, now he had only one choice if he wished for his ambition to take over the Empire to become reality, he had to join with the Rebel Alliance, hopefully they wouldn't all be massacred by the time he arrived on Yavin IV, or worse, gone, it was nigh impossible to locate them.
XxX
Admiral Piett could sense that Lord Vader was in a good mood for once as the Sith Lord stepped onto the bridge of the Executor and strode up quickly to the admiral.
"Piett, I know the location of the Rebel base, set a course for Despayre, we are to check on the production of the Death Star, if it is fully operational it will accompany us to crush the pitiful rebellion."
"This is good news milord." Piett said.
"Indeed, set a course now, then we kill them all."
XxX
Nar Shaddaa was a foul pit in all senses; it was one large crime infested planet with a cityscape not unlike Coruscant's. However this planet housed those who did not wish to be found, rather than self absorbed, stuffy imperial diplomats. So it made sense for Raz to choose this place as her sanctuary. Although that left one question in Mara's head unanswered, before Raz had left Myrkr she had told the guard who forcibly took Mara back to her cell that she had left to see an old "friend", and that she intended to warn that friend. So was that friend Siri? Most likely, was she on this planet? Hell if Mara knew.
She guided her ship down onto the landing platform of an apartment, an incredibly junky, run down, graffiti covered apartment which reeked like a locker room, even on the outside, she could smell it as she exited her ship. She took a glance over the apartment once, and was tempted to check her findings again, according to the tracking device this is where Raz's ship was, indeed Raxor's Whip was sitting just a few meters away from Mara's, but who in their right mind would choose to hide here? This place was worse than most economically challenged, run down ghetto in Coruscant. Nevertheless she entered the complex and stepped into a lobby which was no nicer than the outside of the building, an old filing/teller droid stood behind a desk, it was covered in all kinds of dried substances, some resembled oil, others resembled baby vomit, it was also beat up with dents and nicks on practically every inch of its rusted body. Mara walked up to it.
"What can I do for you sir?" the droid asked, this took Mara back to her wonderful times on Tatooine, did every single third rate droid have to confuse her gender?!
"Hello idiot," Mara replied, the droid did not seem to notice. "I'm looking for Raz Vena."
"Are you a relative sir?"
"Oh yeah," Mara said sarcastically, though she was positive the droid was not equipped with the proper electronics to register her tone. "Yeah, I'm her sister Muriel."
"I see, and who are you looking for sir?"
"Raz Vena."
"One moment sir."
The droid typed a few things on a computer, was silent for a few moments and then directed its attention back to Mara.
"There are no matches sir, it seems a Raz Velia is registered."
Zara Velia… Raz Velia… not very creative. Mara thought. "Well that's my sister."
"I'm sure it is sir, however I will require identification."
Oh, it can't distinguish the fact that I'm a woman but now it needs ID?
Mara was getting irritated, she glanced around the room, searching for security cameras, and not surprisingly there were no functional cameras just one that was hanging by a blood red wire, obviously out of service.
Good.
She pulled out her blaster pistol and shot the droid directly where the chest of a human would be, oddly its head exploded and it fell to the ground. She hopped over the desk and faced the computer, the results for Raz Velia were still on display, written in huttese, luckily she knew enough to get by, Raz was in room 3489, top floor. That's where she was headed then.
XxX
Anakin and Luke stood on the bridge of the Danticore, a small Nebulon-B frigate which was floating in space right at the point where a stop on the Death Star supply route was located; they were accompanied by a fleet of more Nebulon-B frigates, the plan was to wait for a few transports to come out of hyperspace, then they would send X-wings out, armed with the customized torpedoes Admiral Ackbar had talked about in the briefing, the ones that released tracking devices onto the ship before hitting its hull and exploding, effectively fooling the enemy into thinking they were simply shot.
Father and son had been waiting for hours, both of them, and their crew were all on edge, everyone knew this was all they needed to do before attacking the Death Star, that was to find it. Soon they got their opportunity, three cargo transports shot out of hyperspace.
Two small cliffys, don't forget to review, and by the way I believe it was in chapter 3 that the taxi droid from Tatooine referred to Mara as "sir". I wanted to do that again, so I did, but I think it worked better this time, random comedy thrown out there usually doesn't flow to well (but I still do it), this I think was okay because it did not go on to long. Well now I'll shut up and let you review.