Star Wars Legacy: Family Ties
A/N: I don't own Star Wars. It is owned by George Lucas. Star Wars Legacy Comics are written and illustrated by Jon Ostrander and Jan Duursema. All Original Characters belong to me.
A/N: This fanfiction is dedicated to ChildofWinds over at JCC. This is also dedicated to SOS Save Our Skywalker Thread Members on JCC Lit and EU.
A/N: Thanks for the review, ZiGgYmYeRsOf22013. And this story is anything far from short. It's already 100 pages of typing and I've barely started. And I mean barely. Should I have longer chapters?
Chapter 6
A man observed as the Mynock dropped into pad nineteen-three-four, Corellia, Coronet City, just as predicted by the Council. Tarak looked through his macrobinoculars, through the viewport of the Shadow Drake as the ship landed.
As the ship put down its landing gears, Tarak withdrew his comm device and commed his cousin to come back from getting the supplies with the simple message, the Falcon has landed. He observed through his macrobinoculars the ramp lower and five step out, two male humans, a Zeltron female, and lastly two Jedi exit the ship along with another Twi'lek, force-sensitive, but not trained; that left the target and two Imperial Knights on board. That caught him by surprise. With the presence of Jedi and Imperial Knights, this mission called for extreme caution, and added extra variables that could prove decidedly dangerous.
Deziel arrived back at the ship, and they prepared to execute their retrieval mission, for the Council. When it was only one Imperial Knight and the Missionary with the Princess, it would have been a lot easier. They had spent the last week planning, and had come up with an audacious plan to execute both the retrieval, which was their primary objective. Now with the Jedi and other Force sensitives present, a secondary mission came into being; to entice the Jedi and other Force Sensitives to join the burgeoning Neo Rebel Alliance. If possible.
That required a very quick rewrite of the getaway plan. It would have to involve one of them staying behind and masquerading as the Princess instead of the doll they had planned to use.
Exiting their ship, with gear in tow, Tarak and Deziel crept over quietly to the next pad, Bringing his macro-scanners to his eyes, Tarak activated them, and saw the three occupants of the ship, all in the same room, the target and her two protectors. Next Deziel hacked the ship security systems, and the boarding ramp lowered, the hiss of the hydraulics hiding their quick manoeuvring up the ramp. As they neared the room where the target was residing, the cousins slowed down. Deziel drew out his grenade bag, cycling through the choices, there was a stun grenade, a flash grenade, and the new Fydirian Weapons manufactured, knock-out Grenade. He drew the third grenade out, and prepared to throw it into the room, where Tarak's heat-sensitive equipment had detected two life forms aboard.
One, Two, Three, Go, Tarak counted down as Deziel threw the grenade into the room, suddenly there was a flash, a hiss and the sound of two bodies crumpling to the floor. Deziel and Tarak took their masks off, the gaseous component of the grenade quickly changed into a harmless substance, but one whiff of it and it was lights out. They stepped inside the target's room aboard the ship, and saw two Imperial Knights, the two that they had knocked out with the grenade. Tarak recognised them straight away. Now that's going to throw another complication into the plan. It just had to be the kriffin' leader of the Imperial Knights. Why couldn't they have just been run of the mill Imperial Knights who the Jedi could easily take. Last they had been told, the Princess was travelling with Knight Elke Vetter who was only a Knight not a Master. Now I'll have to be especially careful with my story, Tarak thought, as they began to execute their plan, taking the unconscious target out of the room. Deziel then opened himself up to the Force and moved the target's body through the ship and down the hatch, being sure to be seen by the surveillance cameras. Meanwhile, Tarak was back upon the Mynock. He was busily tying himself up. With the aid of the Force, the ropes and shackles took a life of their own. Once he was tied up he banged his head against the wall for bruising, and then wriggled himself up under the covers of the bunk that the target had been lying upon. Pulling the covers over his head, he settled down and waited.
Deziel carried the target all the way back to the Shadow Drake. He began the power-up of the sequence for the ship, and prepared to launch off. It took about three minutes for the Spaceport Authority to clear his departure, another two and a half minutes to get to the hyperspace jump point. He put in the next co-ordinates into the Navicomp. Just before he jumped, he sent a quick missive through the Force to his cousin, wishing him the best of luck with the next part of the mission. The Shadow Drake headed into space, target now on board, destination, Fydir Star Cluster. A coded message made its way back to Fydir, simply stating;Phase One is done.
Astraal Vao was catching up with her brother just outside the spaceport. This was yet another unwanted delay. After Cade noticed something wrong with the ship they had had to put in on Corellia. Luckily, it was still neutral and not Sith-controlled. And they had come in with a false IFF. She was walking with her brother, when she was jostled by a human passing by. She felt him pass something to her inconspicuously. She fought hard to keep her emotions in check, knowing that Shado might pick up on something. She was sure that the man was one of them, one of those that had contacted her one year ago and had not said anything since, bar to wait for them. She had mostly forgotten about them, until now. While she was dedicated to the Mission, she also loved her brother and had no choice, when they had told her what would happen to him, and her if the Sith completely took over. She quickly gave an excuse to her brother, saying that she had to go check in with the local Imperial Mission office, just in case there were any messages for her. She made her way out of the spaceport and towards the Imperial Mission. She looked at what the man had given her, a message that read once decoded, Moff Rus is not to be trusted, beware. Leave the Mynock. More later. She went back in, to her brother, and said she had to leave, Imperial Mission work, she had said. Take care of the Princess she had added to the Jedi as she left. No wonder the Sith came back on Vendaxa, she realised. A flash of anger passed through her before she let it go. The Imperial Mission's core values were still applicable even if its leader was a traitor.
It was only later when, the crew of the Mynock began to return, that the two Imperial Knights awoke from the effects of the knock-out grenade, thinking that they had just fallen asleep in their tiredness. Their first thoughts immediately went to checking on the Princess. They quickly rushed into the room where she was supposed to be sleeping. They saw a lump in the bed and thought nothing of it, and exited once again, thinking that she was sleeping. The crew of the Mynock began to prep the ship for the trip to Bastion, to return the Princess to safe hands. Cade took his chair at the bridge, and powered up the ship. The launch sequence began, and the Mynock resumed its journey towards Bastion.
Three hours later, and still nothing, Tarak still lay under the covers, he was starting to sweat at the waiting. For goodness sakes,don't these people even bother to check everything carefully? It looks like I'll have to do something to draw their attention. He began to struggle, rolling around under the covers, trying to roll off the bed and produce some sort of alarm. However, it was hard given the gag and the ropes that he had been tied with. The stun cuffs didn't help either, but he managed to gain some momentum by rocking himself from left to right, left to right again and again, before he rolled off the bed and onto the floor with a thud. Now all he had to do was wait and come up with a good explanation.
The wait would last half an hour, before one of those dratted Imperial Knights came in to check on their 'beloved' Princess. Tarak could only imagine the surprise on the Imperial Knight's face when he had walked in on the scene, as he was facing the floor of the ship. Tarak threw in more struggling for good measure. The Imperial Knight went to undo his bindings, presumably to interrogate him. It was then that the Jedi walked in as well, and saw the scene. As the gag was removed from his mouth, Tarak waited for the litany of questions he knew would be fired at him. Hopefully, his carefully prepared story would fool them all. The priority was of course, the mission.
"Where is the Princess? Who are you? What are you doing here?" the Imperial Knight interrogated him, holding his still bound prisoner.
"What do you think?" Tarak spat out. "I'm a bounty hunter, you nerfherder, my bloody partner double-crossed me. Do you think I enjoy being tied up like this? Your Princess was one of the biggest bounties after all, besides her father." For that answer, he received a cuff on the back of his head from the Imperial Knight. "Owwww," Tarak said, still struggling, "You don't need to get all huffy like that just because you were outsmarted by a couple of bounty hunters. Then again, I shouldn't be one to speak," he paused, "bloody partner left me here."
Jedi Master Sazen got the distinct impression through the Force, that this "bounty hunter" was lying through his teeth. However, as he began to voice that concern, a sudden involuntary racking cough interrupted him. The Imperial Knight turned round to the Jedi Master who was now standing there. "Master Sazen," he greeted, suspiciously. "The Princess has been kidnapped by this Sithspit and his partner for her bounty. I'm trying to find out where she is."
Wolf was about to reply, "this man's story is entirely…" he coughed again, Why did I suddenly cough as I was about to blow this man's cover story, he thought, "true," he continued, after a brief hesitation. There was just a deep instinctual feeling that he should only reveal the truth in the absence of the Imperial Knight, almost as if it were a sending from the Force. "If you observe his body language and tone, you can surmise that he is telling the entire truth," Wolf spoke, truthfully, because if the conclusion was going to be based off the body language and tonal cues given in the prisoner's story, then one would conclude that he was telling the entire truth. But Wolf was no ordinary person, he was a Jedi Master, and he knew, through the subtleties of the Force that this man was lying, though it was very hard to detect, even for the Imperial Knight, because they were more martial in their ways as opposed to developing the full range of Force abilities. It was hidden well under layers of what appeared to be truth, but it was still a lie, he could tell.
The Imperial Knight continued to question Tarak, "You know where they are heading don't you."
"So what if I do, I know where he's headed but I'm not going to tell you," that earned him another cuff on the back of the head from the Imperial Knight. The Jedi Master he saw, stood by, as if he were waiting for the Imperial Knight to go. "Once I get out of here, I'm going to get him back for this," Tarak continued.
"I'm of a mind to kill you right now," the Imperial Knight threatening him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, he could see the man's eyes blaze in fury. Isn't that Dark Side behaviour? Tarak thought.
"You won't, because then you'll lose the only chance of finding her," Tarak replied, "oh and beware of the Dark Side, the Sith would love to add you to their ranks," he added, sarcastically. He spat at the Imperial Knight, the glob of spit landing on his uniform. He felt his head slam into the wall, as the Imperial Knight grabbed his blonde hair and sent his head into the wall where he was propped up against. He waited for the Jedi Master to speak up, hopefully because this sort of treatment went directly against what Jedi were supposed to stand for. But the Jedi Master stood impassive.
"The prisoner is right," Wolf said, ready to draw his lightsaber if need be, "he is the only chance that we can find her. He knows where she is. And he knows that you can't find her, his partner has one of the galaxy's remaining ysalamiri. This was a well-executed plan."
"But we weren't going to stop here, until Cade noticed the malfunction, they were waiting here for us," the Imperial Knight replied, challenging Wolf's explanation.
"Yes, that's why I think he's working with the Sith, they attacked us on Vendaxa as a backup plan they probably had bounty hunters stationed along each system on the way back to Bastion," Wolf replied, "no doubt we were just unlucky that we managed to choose the planet where this one and his partner were stationed." Again this was speculation, but one that he knew wasn't likely to be true. He tamped down on his feelings of regret in tricking the Imperial Knight even though they weren't his favourite people in the galaxy, but he had to get some time alone with this prisoner to find out the true story, and he felt that the Imperial Knight wasn't going to succeed without violating the man's mind or something bad happening. "I'll take over, it's obvious that hurting him won't give you what you want. I think I can provide the name of the place the Princess is headed to. If you leave. He doesn't trust you, that's clear enough without the Force, but I feel that he's undecided as to me," Wolf said, his tone almost subtly ushering the Imperial Knight out of the room. "And I think you are too emotionally invested in this to be able to make a proper decision. I can probably get the answer my way in half an hour."
Wolf quickly ushered the Imperial Knight out of the ships corridor, and closed the door. He felt Knight Antares move away down the corridor through the Force, and went over to the still tied up Tarak, who was now bleeding from a cut to the head. A small pool of red blood was on the floor, a small rivulet of blood was flowing down. Reaching into the Force, Wolf began to apply his healing powers to the cut, and then the cut was beginning to close, he felt a whiff of Force power. He felt that it was probably safer to let the prisoner stay tied up for now. He asked in a clear voice, "Who are you? Where are you from?"
Tarak replied, he would keep up the same story. "I told the other one already, I'm a bounty hunter after the Princess's bounty." Tarak was surprised as Wolf pulled his head close to him, and whispered in his ear, "I know you are lying, you aren't a bounty hunter at all."
"Yes I am," Tarak replied, out loud, continuing the story that he had invented.
Jedi Master Sazen pulled Tarak's head close to him again, and whispered, "Yes, you are lying. Don't try to deny it, you could fool the Imperial Knight, but you can't fool a Jedi Master. You hide it well, but not good enough to fool me. Of course, I could give you back to Knight Antares, who is coincidentally, in love with his Princess, if need be, I' sure he could get the information, but it would be a lot more painful for you."
"What can you offer me?" Tarak replied, out loud, "That is if I tell you the truth."
A/N: I'll leave off this chapter with a cliffhanger. Tune in for the next chapter, as the NRA begins to reveal itself to the galaxy at large.