For a long, shaken moment, no-one moved. Every royal guard lay dead. They all paused, staring at the being behind the chaos.
"That's...creepy." Han said, staring at the body and comparing it to Anakin.
"You think?" Anakin sagged, still grimacing. "I want to go home." Mara turned and stared at him at the blatant admission.
"Is it over? With him dead?" Han was eyeing Mara, hand still on blaster.
Kabarakh eyed her too. "Is this one enemy or ally?"
Anakin cocked a brow at her. "That's up to her."
I think whether it's over depends on whether this guy started it, or if he was just a tool." Ahsoka sighed.
"Someone released him from that lab." Anakin said.
Leia came up alongside and gave him a long, searching look. "Are you all right?"
"I've been better. And worse."
"We need to get out of here." Han said, standing and looking out the window. Artoo beeped a warning. They could hear footsteps on the stairs. The surviving noghri reached them before the footsteps, utterly quiet.
"We must go. There are too many in pursuit." One told Kabarakh, who turned and looked questioningly at the others.
"Chewie." Han called on the comlink. "We need a pickup and fast!"
"Where's Scout?" Ahsoka asked.
"Couldn't get the door open. We promised to go back." Han said regretfully.
"We certainly will."
The ship did not appear right away. But suddenly it rushed in at high speed, weapons firing on the enemy ships that were zeroing in on them. Then it halted, hovering by the window.
"Everybody back!" Han yelled.
They all dove back as Chewie rammed the front of the ship through the already shattered window. Han led the way but then paused to help Leia and the others in. Mara still stood, frozen. Luke turned back. "Coming?"
"I don't know that I'm ready to join your Rebellion." She said gruffly.
"Are you ready to be imprisoned and interrogated? Because that's probably the only option you'll get from the other guys." Luke pointed out.
Scowling, she hurried to the ship and leaped on the ramp, ignoring his helping hand. Han was the last one up. Chewbacca was in the copilot seat, Ahsoka in the pilot's and Han, trying to scramble forward, had no chance. The ship was twisting and rising in a steep climb, avoiding the ground cannons aimed at them and dodging patrol ships. They gained some distance and headed for the lab, setting down right by the wall. Blaster bolts chased them and sent duracrete, durasteele and glass shattering everywhere. Foul steam and liquid poured out.
"Luke, Leia, can you get Scout? Artoo and I are going to download files." Han and Kabarakh were busy with the ship's guns.
Luke and Leia hurried to the chained woman. Luke's lightsaber sliced through the locks and made short work of her chains. "We're here to help you."
The woman eyed them warily, but her gaze moved passed them to Anakin with fire in her eyes.
"We don't have time to explain, but he came back. He came back to the light and killed the Emperor."
The girl was shifting away when a brief blast of stun light hit her. Luke whirled on Leia.
"There wasn't time." She shrugged apologetically.
He sighed and picked her up, knowing Leia was right.
Anakin meanwhile, called out to Artoo. "Get downloads of any data you can access on Scout. Do you read any other Jedi or viable life in here?
Artoo chirped a negative.
"Set the timer to give us a few minutes and release all the safety locks. Let everything else."
"Ready!" Leia called.
Ahsoka lifted off and Han and Kabarakh opened fire blowing the place up. Hybrid creatures shambled loose from the foul smoke and multi colored explosions.
Up front, Ahoska finally let Han take over and hurried to check on the found Jedi.
Enemy ships and even a giant patrol probot raced to intercept as they headed up. Chewie roared at Han. "I know I know!" Han veered the ship left and right, looping around buildings and through clouds. "We have to hit the cloak when no-one is looking or they'll detect the magnetic signature." Luke leaned forward in the seat behind him. His eyes slid half shut. "How about I say when?"
"I don't have any better ideas." Han's eyes were wide.
Luke breathed deeply, focusing. Han kept dodging blaster bolts, flying an insane course...
"Now."
Chewie hit the cloak and ship vanished into the darkness. Han pointed the ship's nose heavenward and gunned it. He sucked in a breath when they neared the planetary shield. "I'm going to have to pin the tail on one of these freighters."
Han flew right up on it's tail, invisible, squeezing through the gap in the shields. His eyes were wide and so were Chewie's. They were so close they could lean out and touch with hardly room to maneuver. Behind them, the other freighters were being diverted as the whole place went in lock down and the shields locked tight. Flying right above their shuttle, so close they could reach up and touch, TIE fighters whipped past.
They all gasped, and Han was pale and silent as he shot the shuttle toward the surrounding Imperial fleet.
Anakin's eyes were half closed. He was surprised when Ahsoka grabbed his hand firmly. "Hey, Skyguy. Stay with us."
"Working on it." He was very pale and covered in micro cuts and blisters.
"What happened? Before the fight?"
Anakin just shook his head. "Artoo saved me."
"Oh. The...well, we felt it."
"Fire. Smoke. He knew just what would hit me hardest."
"I'm sure the medics can fix you up."
"Right." If they could get that far.
Obi-Wan was staring at the fleet as if in silent communion. Padme had chewed a knuckle until she drew blood, she was so afraid for Anakin and her family. She hated feeling helpless. Lando had grilled Piett on every ship out there. The Admiral peered at Amidala in genuine surprise and sympathy.
"If anyone had told me, that the man I knew as Vader had family that loved him so much, I would not have believed it."
"We love Anakin. Vader is just the shadow that swallowed him whole."
"But you've forgiven him."
She nodded slowly. "He's sorry. Not like someone who just says it to get out of trouble. But someone who act sorry and tries to make things right and take responsibility." She sighed. "And I don't want to lose him again."
Obi-Wan spun, robes swinging. "They're coming."
"Where?" Lando hurried to his side.
"That direction." Obi-Wan pointed. "And hot."
"Great. Under fire? What about the cloak?"
Obi-Wan remained silent. A flurry of movement near the fleet, buzzing around the planet with increased intensity. "Yes. Cloaked now. They haven't been discovered, but it's tight. So much traffic someone could bump into them."
"Can we get in to pick them up?" Padme asked, urgent.
"They'll have to get to us. If they're having a hard time in a shuttle, someone is sure to notice bumping into a ship this size!"
The next few moments were very tense. Padme and Lando...and, for that matter, everyone else, seemed to be staring at Kenobi. His expression was tense, but a smile flickered and he glanced at Padme. "One bit of good news. They're all there. Anakin included."
She smiled in relief.
A small spark some distance away as a TIE fighter, shifting course slightly, bumped into an invisible something.
"Uh oh. Got that hyperspace course plotted? Get ready for a fast landing and exit."
Sure enough the Imperial fleet wondered about a TIE hitting an invisible something. They turned to look, the nearest two star destroyers, angling in, while a whole fleet of TIEs shot ahead.
"Clear the landing bay! They're coming in cloaked!" Obi-Wan's eyes were wide. He could feel them getting closer, closer... "They're in!"
The landing bay confirmed a moment later and the big ship swung around. "We are so out of here!" Lando said, "Take us out as fast as you can!"
They shifted around, compensating for directing the hanger to the shuttle, and the ship picked up speed.
"The TIEs are gaining...what happens if..."
"Should we open fire?" A mon calamari crewman was alarmed.
"If we fire they'll see us." Obi-Wan stated.
"If we don't fire they'll ram us!" Lando blinked.
"Not on purpose..." Padme said.
"I don't think the ship will care if it's on purpose!"
"Oh dear." Threepio chimed in.
The first TIE passed so close it clipped antenna on the hull. The second... "Can't this thing go any faster!" Padme wrung her hands. The ship sped up again, but the TIE was gaining.
"Evasive maneuvers!"
Most of the TIEs were being left as they circled the area. But a TIE Interceptor was getting closer.
"Hyperdrive ready, course plotted." The navigator called.
"Go!" A slight bump hit them as the ship leaped into hyperspace. They didn't see the TIE slammed back, solar fins spinning away or the other ships turn to investigate. They were already racing starlight.
Anakin had his head buried in his hands when he felt the bump of landing. He glanced at the strapped in Jedi. Slowly he rose and left the ship. Padme flung herself into his arms and he buried his face in her hair.
"You're hurt."
"In every way."
Medics hurried up the ramp and came off carrying the rescued captives. Ahsoka was talking to a medic, who was carefully looking at her injured lekku.
Obi-Wan hurried in, paused to give a long look at the injured Scout and Anakin could feel his shock.
"Well. You never did do things half way."
Anakin hadn't let go of Padme. He shuddered.
"Obi-Wan, he's hurt. I can tell."
"Not as bad as the others."
Obi-Wan's lips were a thin line. "You were tortured. You should be checked out...your head is bleeding."
"What?" Padme pulled free and looked up. "Let me see."
He didn't feel up to arguing.
"Is that a bite mark?" She was incredulous. "I hope it wasn't venomous."
"I'd call it venomous. It was a clone experiment splicing my DNA with Palpatine's." He let his eyes slide half shut, observing Mara talking to Luke. "In all my years of fighting, I can't off hand ever remember being bitten by a human."
"Let's get you to the med center. You should be right there when the chief medical droid has a moment."
"I want to see it. Your proof." Mara said gruffly.
"I'll be happy to show it to you."
"I have experience spotting fakes."
"Good. Then you'll know it isn't faked." Luke replied.
The medical droid, 21B-C was carefully examining the data Artoo had downloaded and the condition of the patient. Scout was just starting to stir with to consciousness. She jolted upright.
"Stay calm, Esterhazy. You are among friends."
She stared at Obi-Wan then Anakin, nostrils flaring.
"I know what he did. And it can never be undone. But he is seeking to make amends. You are safe."
Ahsoka touched Scout's wrist. "We're making a come back, Scout. You will be all right."
Anakin went back to his quarters and cleaned up. Nonetheless, he couldn't sleep and felt tears coming to his eyes as he rose and stared at the ceiling.
"Father. We need you in on the command deck." Luke's voice came over the comlink. "We're working on a plan to rescue the noghri."
"Be there in a minute." Anakin replied. He rose from the bunk in the quarters he shared with Luke and Obi-Wan and hurried into the refresher. He sighed as he looked in the mirror and washed his face to clear away the tear marks. He went back out and sat back on the bunk, meditating for a moment. Suddenly Yoda was there, studying him.
Anakin stared at him. "You might've understated what I'd be facing."
"Always in motion is the future and strong is the dark side on Byss."
Anakin blinked back tears again, he'd only just washed them away.
"Let go your personal feelings. Turn outward. Need you others do. To focus on self is the path to selfishness." Anakin glared. "I don't see grief as selfish."
Yoda cocked his head. "In itself, wrong the emotion is not. But focus on them you must not. Help those lost it will not. Distract you from helping others, it may." He softened. "A time and a place there will be, for grief."
Anakin blinked, noting a difference in that. No admonition not to mourn or miss, just put it aside until current crises were dealt with.
"Was Scout the treasure you meant?"
Yoda gave him what might've been a nod.
"I better go." He muttered, retreating from the small and yet gigantic Jedi's spirit.
He hit the command area at a swift walk.
"Where's Obi-Wan?"
"Still in the infirmary, checking on the others." Ahsoka's voice was subdued. Her arms were crossed and her eyes glued to a holographic world floating over the console. Her lekku wore a white bandage.
Anakin refrained from asking how they were. It would take time to discover that.
"Okay." Calrissian said. "This is Honoghr. We're on our way there now. Looks pretty drab." "It was not always so." Kabarakh told him.
Leia frowned. "I can't see us shaking free the resources to protect it…do you have any idea how to do this?" She asked Anakin. He chewed his lip, thinking. It flitted across his mind that it was a relief to have a problem to solve. He dismissed the thought to meditate on later.
Han observed, "How many people can we be talking? Surely not many could survive there!"
"Many of our people are off world, in service to the Empire. We have sent the word out of the betrayal and they will seek to desert. Those who are there, live in this area…the Clean Land."
"Not a big area." Ahsoka noted.
Anakin finally glanced at Leia. "Can you get transports there? Evacuate them?"
Kabarakh looked dismayed. "Abandon our home world? Can it not be saved?"
Anakin reassured him, "The Empire doesn't have resources to blockade it either and there isn't a whole lot left to destroy. If we could evacuate you now and get some samples, get scientists working on it.."
Luke finished, "Then when the Empire leaves, and they will, we'll have a restoration plan in place."
Kabarakh nodded slowly. "Yes. I see." He considered. "What of our dukhas?"
"Your what has?" Han blinked.
"They are our heritage, our history and genealogy. The Empire knows how important they are to us. When we first were approached by the Empire, Lord Vader had all our dukhas brought to the Clean area and so our history was preserved."
"You want us to transport buildings?!" Han gasped.
Chewie rumbled something.
"Chewbacca says family history is very important. It is bad enough to lose one's home world, one should not have to lose that too." Threepio helpfully observed.
"We aren't talking a holo scrap book Chewie!" Han gaped at him. "Buildings? How big?" He turned to the noghri. The noghri thought for a moment and then gave the specifications.
"Well it's not a Coruscant skyscraper, but that's still a good size…and with one per clan…" Lando was shaking his head. "We'll never get enough transports for the people and those too."
Anakin was staring intently at the world. He tapped a holo control and zoomed in, studying features. "This area here might be big enough."
"For what?" Luke asked. He blinked. "You mean…move the dukhas in there?" He asked slowly.
Anakin nodded. "The cliffs would hide them. We know we can't lift them out, not right away. But the Empire doesn't know that. As long as they're out of sight, they won't be targeted."
"We'll need some pretty big lifters. Fast ones too." Lando murmured. "The attack speeders might do it if they're rigged. Take some mighty fine tandem flying to do it though."
"I guess that means calling in the Rogues." Luke said.
Obi-Wan paused outside the door. "How's the plan coming?"
"Well, at least we've got one." Lando observed.
"How is the former prisoner?" Ahsoka asked, troubled.
"Scout is in and out of consciousness. They seem to have experimented on boosting their midichlorian count. As for the other, that one hasn't awakened at all. We are unsure if it's another clone or just a captive."
"Like the way they did on Vjun that drove the populace mad?" Luke asked, wide eyed.
Obi-Wan nodded.
"Scout, she's the one who won the last padawan tournament? The one who everyone said was weak in the Force and would wash out for sure? I recall the Emperor wanted her because she was found studying science. I guess he wanted to break her and use her science abilities. Using her as the object of an experiment was probably a bonus."
"Ah. Yes." Obi-Wan was amused. "She may not match your Force strength but for sheer stubborn willpower she could probably give you a run for your money."
"I'm going to go see what luck Padme has had getting the fleet on the com." Lando said. "Get our backup to Honoghr."
"I'm with you." Han said, leaving the Force sensitives to discuss their situation.
"Obi-Wan..." Anakin hesitated. "She's been down there suffering since before Endor. Treating the physical effects is one thing..."
Ahsoka crossed her arms and winced as she brushed the wounded lekku. "He's right. Of course, there are the drugs affects too."
"And Scout was a padawan. I should mention that everyone of the agricorp Jedi was taken to Byss. And they all broke."
"If there was hope for you, there is hope for her."
"Of course."
Anakin wandered to a window as the group broke up. This ship lacked the grand views of a Jedi Cruiser or Star Destroyer. But nonetheless, his old habit of wanting to stare out at the stars would not be denied. He stared out, watching the whirl of hyperspace. If ever there was a physical view of the unifying Force it was there. Stars and planets whizzed past, not just in space, but in a sense, in time. He stood silently, meditating, looking for balance. He got it and lost it as stray thoughts kept demanding attention.
Ahsoka came up alongside, standing silent and sharing the view for a few minutes. Finally she said, "I'm not sure how I feel about any of this. Scout was so determined to be a Jedi. It makes me thing back to when I left."
Anakin didn't turn. "I always wondered if they would've cast you out if you had a different master. They didn't trust me, did that distrust rub off on the view of you?"
"Do you really believe that?"
"Yes." Anakin considered, for a moment, if he might be paranoid or self centered to think it. Then he shook his head. "If they didn't have confidence in me as a Jedi, how would they have confidence in a student I had taught?"
Ahsoka folded her arms quietly, careful, this time, to avoid her wound. "I agree. They're distrust of you just pushed you away...right to Palpatine. You hadn't done anything to deserve it at the time."
Anakin ran a finger along the window frame. "I hope we can make it right."
to be continued