"Star Wars: Legacy of Solo"

Chapter 2: "Tested in Combat"

Disclaimer: Star Wars in all its myriad incarnations does not belong to me. It belongs to George Lucas, Lucasfilms Ltd., and Disney. Furthermore, I make no money nor receive other material compensation for writing this story. The only thing I get out of it is the satisfaction that someone's read and hopefully reviewed it.

Author's note: Sorry for taking so long with this chapter. In truth, I haven't been in the writing spirit for a long time, but with the help of JOUNOUCHI-sama, I am getting back into that spirit. It's gonna be a long slog for me, but hopefully not for you all reading this. As such, I will let you go, and begin this chapter with Anakin Solo's decision, and the first step he will take into the new world he finds himself in.

"I accept your offer," Anakin started, "but I won't have anything to do with the dark side and I trust that your teachings won't steer me in its direction, either."

"Fair enough," Antares said. "Our way of harnessing the Force may not be the same as the Jedi way, but we take great care not to fall to the dark side. You will understand when we begin."

"When do we begin?" Anakin asked.

Antares just stared evenly at Anakin. "Now. Follow me."

Anakin did just that, Antares leading him into a sparse yet spacious room surrounded by hovering remotes. "These remotes will test your reflexes and skill level," Antares said.

"How many will I be facing?" Anakin asked.

"Five," Antares replied. "Together. Simultaneously."

Anakin steeled himself, his lightsaber at his side. Death had made him rusty. He would have to sharpen himself once again if he were to stand a chance against the servants of the dark side. The remotes moved into position, their lights turning on to signal their full activation. Anakin drew his lightsaber and at the exact moment the remotes began to fire, Anakin flicked on the blade and began moving in a flurry, rapidly dodging and deflecting the remotes' fire.

Antares watched the young Jedi move, darting between and around the five remotes, which were randomizing their own movements to keep Anakin on his toes. While the remotes fired in bursts, they moved haphazardly around Anakin, deliberately refusing to settle into a pattern that Anakin could predict. As such, Anakin was left dodging and deflecting their attacks by the skin of his teeth and the edge of his lightsaber. The remotes moved too fast for him to reach out and catch with the Force, so he had little choice but to keep on dodging and deflecting until he could spot a gap in their movements that he could exploit.

Making things even more difficult was that the remotes were adapting to and learning from Anakin's movements, intercepting him when he would dodge or try to deflect their fire. Quickly enough, Anakin realized that he would have to randomize his own movements as well, keep the remotes from being able to predict where he would go and how he would strike next. He cleared his mind, opened himself to the Force . . .

. . . and moved, only to cry out in pain as he was unexpectedly singed by remote fire, causing his eyes to snap open as he was barely able to dodge, let alone deflect, the rest of it. How . . . how did that happen? Anakin asked himself, utterly aghast and bewildered, but trying to center himself so he could at least stay alive. My connection to the Force, it must be even more strained than I thought.

Antares continued watching as Anakin struggled to rebalance and refocus himself amidst the oncoming fire from the remotes. To his credit, the young Jedi was quicker in mind than he was in body, but this would be a definite problem for his retraining. He could sense that Anakin's connection to the Force had been greatly imbalanced by his transit from the past, but to the point of almost literally walking into remote fire when he was trying to dodge? Yes, this would have to be dealt with and quickly, if Anakin was to survive against the Sith, Antares thought to himself.

Interrupting his observation was an Imperial Knight, Ganner Krieg, who rushed in frantically. "Sir! I've just gotten communication about the princess's location!"

"Really?" Antares asked. "Where is she?"

"On Vendaxa," Ganner replied.

"I'll inform the Emperor at once," Antares said. "He must know."

Of course, the reaction Antares got was not the one he had entirely expected. "No. Absolutely not."

"What?"

"It's me Krayt wants," Roan Fel answered pointedly. "This is a trap, and Sia is bait. There will be no rescue mission, Draco."

"But . . . Master?! This is your daughter!" Antares protested.

"I know who she is!" Fel snapped, dropping his composure. "I love my daughter, but the fate of the Empire – of the galaxy – is at stake! Not all of the troops loyal to us have made their way here yet. Krayt cannot be allowed to know we have taken Bastion – not yet!"

"You know that I would die before giving the Sith your location –" Antares pleaded, but Fel cut him off.

"No rescue! My word is final!" With that, he departed, leaving behind two loyal but frustrated Imperial Knights.

"Antares . . . I'm sorry," Ganner Krieg said. "I'm with you, but we have sworn an oath of loyalty – and the Emperor has spoken."

Antares contemplated Ganner's words for a moment before speaking. "I know, Ganner, but . . . is loyalty always the same as obedience?"

"It isn't," Anakin replied, finally speaking up. He had followed Antares after his training round had finished, and witnessed the argument between his new master and the Emperor. "An innocent life lies in the balance. We cannot simply do nothing. That is all that evil requires to win, for those who are good to do nothing, and I trust . . . that you are a good man."

Antares nodded. "Then you'll come with me, won't you, Anakin?"

"I will, Master," Anakin replied simply.

"Be on your guard," Antares warned. "I won't have you die so quickly after I began your tutelage."

Anakin nodded, as he and Antares began to prepare, along with Ganner. Emperor Fel would not be happy about what they were going to do, but Emperor Fel would have to understand. Leaving behind an innocent to suffer and die was not the way of any good person. Anakin knew this, and Antares knew this, though Anakin sensed far deeper and more personal motives behind Antares's fervor than mere righteousness. For the sake of respect, however, he would not pry . . . much. There would be time to ask questions later, or so he hoped.

It didn't take too long for them to reach Vendaxa, but Anakin had a pit of dread building in his stomach. It wasn't just nerves; he could sense danger ahead, as if a trap had been lain for them and they were about to rush into it. Not that they had any other choice, as innocent lives hung in the balance and to do nothing would be to condemn those lives to end at the merciless hands of the Sith. He turned to Antares, about to share his feelings with his new Master, when Antares held a length of cloth out toward him.

"What's this?" Anakin asked.

"Your cloak," Antares replied. "Wear it when you take to the battlefield. We don't want you being recognized just yet."

"Yes," Anakin said, about to take the cloak, and then . . . chaos broke loose.

It started with the Sith ships intercepting them as they were about to land on the surface of Vendaxa. In bursts and flurries of plasma bolts, the Imperial ships were felled and they had to perform a crash-landing, Anakin thinking all the while, It really was a trap.

Nonetheless, the two Imperial Knights and one Jedi-turned-Imperial Knight landed, springing from their downed vessels and crouching to disperse the force of their landing. They rose to their feet, facing a contingent of four Sith that mocked their willingness to fly right into their trap for the sake of Sia Fel, believing they had ensnared her father, whom they disdained as "the false Emperor." The leader of this Sith contingent was Darth Talon, a red-skinned Twi'lek woman with red-rimmed golden eyes, and black tattoos all over her body, which she had obviously honed into a weapon as deadly as it was beguiling. The male closest to her had charcoal-colored skin, his face painted mostly white like a deathly mask, and long black hair. The other two with them were not quite as distinctive, but they practically smoldered with the dark side, just like the Twi'lek woman and the death-masked male.

"And who's this?" Talon sneered, peering at Anakin as if she could see through his raised hood. Maybe she could, if her powers in the dark side of the Force were strong enough. "A new apprentice you've taken? Another knight for the false Emperor?"

Antares glared heatedly at Talon. "He's no concern of yours."

"Very well," she replied nonchalantly. "I suppose it doesn't matter. He'll die just like you will."

"The only ones who'll be dying . . . are you," Antares vowed.

That was when the white-faced Sith male spoke up. "Don't be so certain of that."

Then lightsabers flicked on, and the battle was joined, with a conflagration of red and blue flashes carving the air and illuminating the night. As they fought, Sia turned reproachfully upon Antares. "Antares, you're an idiot!" she called out furiously. "Coming here has just gotten us both killed!"

"Not by these three," Antares retorted.

"I know my father. He didn't send you on this mission."

"Actually, he forbade it," Ganner confessed.

"Wonderful," Sia grumbled. "You'd better hope these Sith kill you, Antares, so you won't have to face my father's anger. What were you thinking?"

Anakin was about to interject in his new master's defense, but Antares was perfectly capable of speaking for himself. "That the person I care about more than my vows as a Knight, than my fealty to your father, than my loyalty to the Empire, was in danger. I was thinking of you. I love you, Sia."

"I know," was Sia's calm response.

It was only Anakin's discipline that kept him from smiling. They remind me of my mother and father, he thought. Sadly, that moment of amused distraction gave one of the Sith, another red-skinned female, but with several small horns protruding from her scalp, the opportunity to graze his arm. Thankfully for him, he reacted just quickly enough to avoid losing the arm completely, and he repaid her with a slash of his own. Their lightsabers, blue and red, clashed against each other as they each sought purchase in the other's flesh, the Sith woman's eyes flashing with fury and bloodlust.

"You're no Imperial . . ." she whispered. "You fight like a Jedi."

"A Jedi? On the Imperials' side?" whispered one of the Jedi fighting alongside the Imperial Knights against the Sith. At that, Anakin was tempted to say that it was a long story, but he had no time to explain himself. To the Jedi, he would be willing to clarify things later, but as for the Sith, he owed them no such explanation or clarification, as he redoubled his efforts. However, he sensed a familiar presence, familiar in the sense that it felt like kin, like family . . . and that presence was about to be swallowed by a much darker presence creeping upon it. Realizing what was going to happen, he turned to call out a warning, seeing a man with shaggy blonde hair, beard stubble, and clad like a bounty hunter . . .

. . . and cried out in pain as he felt his own arm being severed at the elbow by the Sith woman's lightsaber. He heard Sia scream, "CADE! LOOK OUT!" He saw her fall at the hands of the fifth Sith who had been lurking in waiting. He saw the scruffy blond man, the man who had felt so familiar to him, felt so much like kin, the man apparently named Cade, pick up Sia's lightsaber after Sia shared what might have been her last words with him, determined to avenge her. He felt Antares's pain through the Force, as Antares sensed Sia's downfall, pain that quickly transmuted into rage, rage that would edge him towards the dark side if he wasn't careful.

As Anakin tried to focus on using the Force to staunch his own injury and keep himself in the fight, he could hear the exchange between Cade and the white-faced Sith, apparently named Lord Nihl. Piercing through the veil of his own pain was a very familiar name. Skywalker!? His name is Skywalker?! Anakin thought, stunned and surprised. Despite the familiarity of that name, despite the kinship he felt with Cade Skywalker, Anakin could also feel the dark side creeping into the other young man. He could feel it through Cade's anger at not just Sia's seeming death – as Anakin could feel her clinging to life, albeit on a thread – but also his determination to avenge his own father's murder by Nihl.

Speaking of vengefulness, he managed to find his new master holding Sia mournfully after forcing Darth Talon back from her. "Master Draco . . ." Anakin whispered, about to explain, when he could hear Sia's own voice, however faint.

"Antares . . ."

"She's alive!" Antares rejoiced. "The princess is still alive! We have to get her to the ship!"

"Do it," Wolf, a longhaired Jedi with small horns poking out of his hairline and one missing arm of his own, spoke. "I'll cover you."

"Anakin, with me," Antares ordered. "You're injured enough as it is. Perhaps I shouldn't have brought you in."

"You did what was needed," Anakin replied. "My connection to the Force, it's still distorted."

"Anakin?" Wolf wondered upon hearing that name, though he didn't have too long to ponder on it, as Cade lunged at Nihl with his borrowed lightsaber.

". . . I can hold him!" Cade shouted at the one-armed Jedi. "Get the princess on the Mynock!"

Must be his ship, Anakin thought.

"No!" the one-armed Jedi protested.

"This isn't Ossus, and I'm not running this time!" Cade snapped.

"The Force be with you," Wolf whispered, as he retreated to Cade's ship with Antares, Anakin, and Sia. Inside, they met others, whom Anakin presumed to be Cade's crewmates, though he could sense from the woman that she was more than just a crewmate, and much conflict from the man regarding Cade, who had apparently hidden his status as a former Jedi from them.

"Where's everybody else?" the man, dark-skinned with long dreadlocked hair, asked.

"Holding off the Sith," Wolf replied. "I'm going back . . ."

"No, Jedi!" Antares protested. "The princess must come first! She's dying! I swore an oath to her and her father to protect her at all costs!"

"I did not," Wolf retorted coldly. "Other lives are at stake as well, lives I hold dear! I'm supposed to sacrifice them for the daughter of the man who ordered the massacre at Ossus?"

"That's not how it happened," Anakin interrupted. "Roan Fel had no part in that atrocity. Neither did his daughter. Even so, vengefulness is not the Jedi way, nor is punishing others for the crimes, real or perceived, of their family."

"What do you know of the Jedi way?" Wolf rounded on him.

"More than you think."

"Enough," Antares interjected himself. "Do not give yourself away so easily, my apprentice."

Wolf relented. "I will do what I can. You do what you can, Imperial, to protect the ship. Go!" He aimed a searching gaze at Anakin, who gazed back.

"I'll do what I can, too," Anakin replied, moving to follow Antares out of the ship. To Anakin's slight surprise, the dreadlocked bounty hunter, Syn, was following them out as well.

"I may hate Jedi . . . but I'll take Jedi over Sith any day," Syn murmured to Anakin.

With that, they joined Cade and the Twi'lek Jedi Shado Vao in fighting Nihl and Darth Talon, Force-fueled acrobatics and strikes weaving a deadly interplay along with Syn's blaster bolts. Fortunately for them, Cade's crewmate (and maybe lover) Blue – named for her blue hair, though she had hot pink skin as well – was able to get the Mynock's engines going, and so they jumped on, kicking the Sith off when the Sith attempted to pursue. However, that didn't mean they were out of danger yet; for all the other Jedi's efforts, Sia was still dying, and there seemed to be nothing anyone could do.

"Set a course for Bastion!" Antares ordered.

"Bastion?!" Syn exploded in shock and horror. "We just escaped those Sith and you want to go to Bastion?!"

"Don't worry," Anakin said. "We took back Bastion."

"And it's the only secure place that has the bacta tanks and skilled healers the princess needs!" Antares added.

"Going to Bastion," Syn conceded. "But it's gonna take time."

"And we can only push the engines so hard," Blue added.

"The princess has no time!" Antares responded irately. "We'll help the Jedi. We'll do everything we can to keep her alive! You get every bit of speed this junk heap has, or I swear I'll kill you myself!"

"Man's a motivator, ain't he?" Syn cracked.

However, Antares's rage could only do so much against Sia's impending death, and Anakin could sense it, even with her words about uniting the Jedi and the Imperials. If they lost her now, it would mean losing Antares to the dark side, just like his namesake. Anakin was determined not to let that happen, advancing on Antares just as Antares was about to rather violently reject Cade's offer to help.

"If you know a way, then do it," he said.

"Anakin –!" Antares protested. "This filth is the reason she's dying right now!"

"And you are losing yourself to the dark side, my master," Anakin countered. "Giving in to your anger, your fear, and your hate – those will only make you lose what you hold dear, and I don't want to see that happen to you. Please . . . let him help."

"You speak madness, young Imperial," Wolf said. "Even if he can, he will be touching the dark side to do so, and that will lead nowhere good. We all must serve the will of the Force, not bend the Force to serve our own will."

"And how do you know this isn't the will of the Force, Wolf?" Cade protested. "How do you know it's not the Force's will that she lives? She's the one you've been looking for, not me. She's the one who can unite everyone to work together against the Sith. Who do you think they're more likely to follow, someone like her, or like me?"

"Cade . . ." Shado started to say, only for Cade to cut him off.

"Do you think I'm a monster?" he asked heatedly. "Is that it? Are you going to strike me down for saving her life? If so, go ahead, because I'm doing this!"

"I will not stop you, Cade," Wolf conceded somberly. "I cannot. Perhaps this is what you were meant to do, but doing it simply because you can is not reason enough."

"Then maybe it's because she saved my life," Cade retorted, focusing on Sia and channeling the Force through himself and into her. "No one dies for me! Never again!"

After several tense moments, Sia's eyes opened. "Antares?" she whispered as Antares held her close, while Cade staggered away. "I dreamed I was dead . . ."

Anakin found himself smiling softly, with relief. He'd still have to do something about his severed arm, but that could wait. He had to offer his gratitude to Cade, and perhaps talk to him as well about a certain lingering vision. In the process, he was interrupted by Wolf. "You should let him recover first," the one-armed Jedi advised him.

"Yes. I see," Anakin replied, understanding what he meant.

"Also, I have some questions about you," Wolf said. "You fight and speak like a Jedi, but you wear the vestments of an Imperial. How can you –?"

"It's a long story," Anakin said. "One I'll hopefully be able to explain after we get some breathing room."

Then he heard a familiar growl, albeit tempered by age. He turned around and saw . . . "Lowbacca? Is that you?"

The aged Wookiee growled in confirmation, and Anakin pulled down his hood to reveal his face. Lowbacca immediately swept him into a tight, strong hug, growling happily. "Missed you, too . . . how? Like I said, it's a long story."

"He was helping us with the engine," Blue commented. "He's actually quite good at that sort of thing."

Anakin smiled at that. "That's Lowie." Lowbacca merely growled contentedly at him. "At least I'm not completely alone here," he murmured to himself. That earned him another growl from Lowbacca, and Anakin nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"Master Lowbacca, how do you know this young man?" Shado asked, and Lowbacca growled his response, which made Shado's eyes widen in shock and surprise. "How is that even possible? Anakin Solo died a century ago. How is it that he walks among us now?"

"Like I said to Lowbacca, it's a long story," Anakin replied.

Shado's sister, Imperial Missionary Astraal Vao, looked at him. "What kind of power could bring you to this time?"

"I wish I knew," Anakin answered. "Antares Draco found me, so I'm grateful to him for that, and I believe, as Sia does, that Imperials and Jedi can and must come together to defeat the Sith."

"Thank you . . . Anakin . . ." Sia responded. Antares looked soberly at him, knowing that he had been in danger of losing himself to the dark side if not for the time-tossed Jedi's words cutting through the fog of his anger and grief. He had a lot to thank the younger man for as well, he realized, and as it was, Fel would not be all that pleased with their actions, even if the results had ultimately been good.

The Emperor said as much over the broadcast welcoming the crew of the Mynock to Bastion, with Antares, Ganner, and Anakin called out specifically. Upon landing on Bastion, Anakin was immediately taken to the medical bay to be fitted for a prosthetic arm that would replace the one he'd lost, something else that put him in common with his namesake. After that, he was not looking forward to Fel's reaction to finding that he, along with Antares and Ganner, had disobeyed his express orders, even if it had been for a good cause.

He sighed to himself as he flexed his new prosthetic arm. "This will take some getting used to," he mumbled. Then he looked up, and saw something he never expected to see. "Uncle Luke?"

The Force ghost of Luke Skywalker stared deeply, searchingly at him, but said nothing. Anakin knew he wasn't going insane, this was a manifestation of the Force, but why? Was Luke trying to warn him that joining the Imperials, even in this strange time, was a bad idea? That it would lead him to the dark side as surely as joining the Sith?

"Uncle Luke?" he repeated. Luke's specter still stared, and still said nothing. "Am I doing the right thing?"

There was still no answer.

Endnotes: Sorry for taking so long, again, with this chapter. Thank my friend JOUNOUCHI-sama for giving me a swift kick in the rear to come out and do this. Hopefully, the next chapters of this story won't take as long as this one did. For those wondering about Anakin seeing visions of Luke Skywalker, it's supposed to be a parallel with Star Wars: Legacy's protagonist Cade Skywalker. As for Anakin's decision to join the Imperial Knights, a lot of this story is also going to explore Anakin's inner conflict about where his loyalties lie and whether the Imperials, in fighting against the Sith, will be or maybe already are leaning towards the dark side. If so, will Anakin be able to pull them closer to the light, or will he be dragged into the dark as his brother Jacen was? For the answers to those and other questions, be sure to read and review!