AN: I'm back people with a new chapter I hope you all enjoy.
Disclaimer: I only own my ocs and species.
Chapter 12 (Old Wounds)
Vega was sitting in the lounge sketching something on a piece of paper, When Aaron walked in, "You're alright!" Vega shouted gleefully and stood up to hug him.
Aaron chuckled and returned the hug, "The doctors aren't going to be happy when they found out but I was never one to just stay in bed." Aaron told him, then he saw the sketch, "That looks interesting." he commented, Vega quickly broke away and hid it much to Aaron's surprise, "uh is something wrong?" he asked
"It's... not fin..ished yet." Vega stammered while holding the drawing close to him.
"Really?" Aaron asked with a raised eyebrow, "It looked complete to me from what I saw." Vega just swallowed nervously, "What's the matter?" Aaron asked an almost fatherly concern entered his voice.
Vega showed him the sketch and Aaron's breath hitched, "Vega that's amazing, where did you learn to draw?" Aaron asked in amazement, indeed the drawing had four people one Man one Woman, and two children a boy who looked to be in his teenage years and a girl who was also reaching her teenage years, the Man who Aaron assumed was the father looked an awful lot like Vega if he was an adult, the woman had long hair that flowed down over her shoulders and an angelic face that would sway any man, the boy had a small scar where his eyebrow would be and short hair, and the girl looked like a smaller version of the mother.
"My father taught me." Vega answered and pointed to the man in the sketch, "that's my father." he told him, "and the rest of my family."
Aaron nodded in understanding, "where are you?" he asked puzzled, at not finding the young boy in the drawing.
"I only draw those in my family that are dead." Vega told him, Aaron did a double take.
"I'm sorry, how did they die?" Aaron asked cautiously.
Vega felt tears well up in his eyes, "My family was hunted down, my father and mother framed for a crime they didn't commit, when I was five we took refuge on Coruscant and for two years we were safe, but that safety didn't last long we ran through the city and sent our pruser though several loops but he was relentless, we came across a Jedi and she offered to help us get to the temple for sanctuary, we went through the industrial district, however our speeder was shot down and we had to continue through the industrial district on foot." Vega started, "we were ambushed by several thugs the Jedi fought them off and so did my father, mother, and brother than the bounty hunter showed up he took a shot at my father and my brother pushed him out of the way and took the hit right through the chest, but it was for naught he shot again and my mother went down, then he shot my father, in my grief, rage, and fear I sent out a push and threw the bounty hunter so far with my raw force power, I didn't even know I had it, I just wanted to protect myself and my sister." he recounted as tears fell down his face, "the Jedi did what she could but she was held up by the thugs, turns out they were from Black Sun." he added, Aaron nodded in understanding the Black Sun were one of the most dangerous crime syndicates in the galaxy, "by the time she took care of them it was too late my Fath...er, Mo...ther, and B...brother were dead." he sobbed.
With that Aaron embraced the boy tightly, as he cried, the memories of that day still hurt, "I am so sorry I didn't mean to bring that up." he apologised.
"You didn't know." Vega sniffled, "my sister and I were brought to the Jedi temple I was allowed to become an initiate and my sister was allowed to work at the temple, I actually have no idea if she is dead, she was at the temple when order 66 was executed."
"Perhaps she made it out." Aaron told him optimistically.
Vega shook his head slowly in despair, "I want to believe that she's still alive, but I don't want to get my hopes up."
"But…" Aaron started
"NO! Don't give me false hope!" Vega bellowed.
"Okay." Aaron agreed, then he pulled the boy into another hug, "it's going to be okay." he assured the boy.
"... I wish I could believe that." Vega murmured, hearing the hopelessness in the boy's voice broke Aaron's heart.
"Vega, where is this coming from?" Aaron asked.
Vega just looked away, "every single family I have had has been ripped away, first my parents and brother, than the Jedi and my sister, how long will it be before you all are ripped away from me?" he asked the ranger.
"Vega, Death comes for everyone it has no sympathy, all you can do is be thankful for the time you had with your family, but Vega, I will do all I can to make sure I am not ripped away from you or the others." he told the boy.
"What if it's not enough?" Vega asked.
"Than it isn't enough." Aaron told him, Vega appreciated his honesty.
"Aaron, I want to be the best man that I can be, I want to make my parents proud of me… and I want to let go of this fear, doubt, anxiety, and darkness, but I don't know how." he admitted.
"I will do what I can to help Vega, all of us will all you need to do is ask." Aaron told him and held him.
Vega nodded in understanding, the comlink on the table pinged and Vega answered, "Vega," he than cleared his throat upon realizing that his voice sounded broken, "Vega here." he repeated much more smoother.
"Daniel is on his way back he'll be here within five minutes," Micah said.
"Thank you." Vega said into the communicator, then he turned to Aaron, "Don't tell Daniel?" he asked him.
Aaron pitied the boy, he had given up a long time ago and was scared to tell his brother, he hid his fears and insecurities behind a mask of confidence and fake hope, "Vega you should tell him." he urged the boy.
"How can he help me?" Vega asked.
"I don't know Vega, but just trust him you love him like a brother don't you?" Aaron asked the boy, he nodded, "then trust him like one, and he'll do what he can to help you." he told him, Vega still looked uncertain, "you told me you want to be the best man that you could possibly be, there is no shame in asking for help, go to him."
Vega nodded, "Okay I'll talk to him." with that he left the room and went to go meet Daniel, meanwhile Aaron stared at the sketch of Vega's family for a moment when an idea hit him.
"Who ever you are I hope that you're alive." Aaron said as if he was addressing the girl in the sketch.
He than took the sketch and walked down the the tactical room with the hope that what he had planned would reap the desirable outcome.
In the training area Blaze was trying out his new suit, it was a hulking piece of equipment, equipped with a high powered jetpack and flame projectors, this was the Blaze Trooper Gear meant specifically for taking care of infantry in close quarters combat, he was currently testing his equipment against a simulated Dramon, to say the least Blaze was impressed by the improvements to the design that Alpha made it was allowing him to physically match the warrior easily, he grappled with the Dramon and brought his knee into its stomach, and then activating his flame projector into it's face thus burning it and ending the fight.
"Good job!" he heard the crippled Alpha arc call from behind him.
"Thank you sir." Blaze answered, "can I help you sir?"
"No thank you, I just wanted to see a fight." Alpha 17 sighed sadly.
"Sir there are cybernetics so that you can walk again." Blaze pointed out.
"I know but I still won't be ready for battle by the time the enemy gets here five days from now." Alpha bit out.
"Than with all due respect sir, don't sit here and mope go get the damn cybernetics the sooner you do that the sooner you can get back in action." Blaze told the crippled arc trooper.
"Don't you think I haven't talked to him about that?" Alpha asked incredulously, "he doesn't have the necessary component to make what I need."
Blaze muttered a curse, "I see." he sighed.
Suddenly Ju who was on the wall near by let out a series of excited noises and pointed into the sky Blaze and Alpha looked up to see a speck in the distance that was getting closer, Blaze activated the zoom function and found that it was Daniel riding on the back of a Dramon dressed in armor, they were heading to the courtyard, "it's the commander and he's brought back a friend." Blaze reported.
Alpha nodded, "let's go see him than." Alpha suggested as they made their way to the courtyard to meet Daniel and the new commer.
The group all went to the courtyard and in about thirty seconds the Dramon landed in the center of the courtyard the metal of the armor gleamed in the sunlight and the Dramon stood to its full height Daniel then climbed down off its back.
He then waved at the group "Hello there." he said cheerfully, Micah approached him.
"I take it, that the negotiations were a success?" the chiss asked as he looked at the dramon.
"That depends, can we move a population of 300,000?" Daniel asked seriously, Micah's eyes widened.
"You better have not made a promise we can't keep!" he growled.
"I can make it so that we aren't if you can get in contact with Rarok." Daniel stated.
"We should be able to, let's do that now." Micah ordered.
"Wait, this is Tanssi she's one of the warriors that the Marquis promised us."
'A pleasure to meet you all' she bowed.
Micah nodded in greeting, "The pleasure is all ours." he smiled, with a bow, "I am Micah." he introduced himself.
Blaze waved "I'm Blaze."
"Alpha-17" the crippled arc trooper said with a wave.
Vega smiled, "I'm Vega Ryal." he bowed respectfully, Daniel felt that Vega wanted to talk to him when they got the chance.
"Where's everyone else?" Daniel asked having seen that most of the crew wasn't their.
Micah sighed, "Caleb took Asajj, Saber, A'den, and Swift north to take care of the northern Urku tribe." Tanssi stiffened in surprise.
'Are you sure?!' she shouted surprised.
"Yes, why?" Vega asked concerned.
'Those tribes produce some of the most deadliest warriors the Urku species has ever produced and they are fiercely loyal to the Dark Master they despised the sages so much that they took the opportunity to obliterate them when those dark creatures showed up.'
"Those men have fought in one of the most if not the most destructive war our galaxy has ever seen tell me have these 'pale skins' fought a war recently?" Alpha 17 asked.
'No but they shouldn't underestimate them.' Tanssi retorted.
"They know better than to rely solely on their experience." Daniel reassured her, Tanssi nodded.
'As you say.' she said.
With that they made their way to the ship however Tanssi found that she wouldn't be able to enter the ship so Micah made arrangements to set up a tactical display in the courtyard.
(Location Varon. Northern Tundra, the Northern Urku strong hold.)
Caleb, Asajj, Swift, A'den and Saber all laid prone on the roof of one of the building overlooking what appeared to be a duel taking place, but Caleb and Asajj knew better the two participants were body guards to one of the warchiefs and he set up an ambush little did he know Caleb had spent a good deal of time converting random urku warriors he could tell which ones were under his control with the bright aura surrounding their heads, to them they couldn't tell the difference until he enters a fight with them than their eyes would glow bright blue and when the fight was over the glow would go away and they'd carry on, Caleb turned to the clones, "You remember the plan correct?"
"Aye sir." Swift answered.
Caleb smirked behind his helmet, "Then let's go." with that Caleb and Asajj dropped down into the middle of the urku and they all turned to face them, "Hello there."
The two walked in till they were in the center and they stood back to back they Urku surrounded them and pointed their pikes at them, "so you two are the ones stirring up trouble." one of the Bodyguards accused.
Caleb smiled behind his helmet, "with pride," he said and bowed, "my friend here and I are trouble makers just can't help stirring up trouble wherever we go, isn't that right love?"
"You ever call me that again I will tear your tongue out." she hissed.
"For answering that honestly we'll kill you quick." one of the urku said somewhat disappointingly.
"I think not," Caleb said, "let me tell you what's going to happen about five minutes from now," he started, "I will defeat your warchief and bring him under my control." he said his tone showing no evidence of the bravado from a moment ago it was so serious that the urku didn't know how to respond at first.
One by one the urku began laughing, "Oh yeah you and what army?" one of them laughed.
Caleb raised his arm into the air, "This army." he answered, then he clenched his fist and brought his hand down all the while it glowed, several urku started to have seizures and their eyes glowed brightly, the urku looked among themselves for a moment then one of the bright eyed urku struck another, it was then that they realised who it was they were fighting.
"SAGES!" they shouted, then an all out brawl began urku turned on urku.
"Remember the guys with the bright eyes are ours don't shoot them." Caleb stated over the comms as he fought with one of the body guards armed with a glaive, using Lapsi's scimitar.
"Understood sir." the clones answered as they rained down fire on the enemy the ones with armor fared better than those without, but continues blaster fire made short work of them, Asajj was fighting the other Bodyguard who was armed with two sickles.
Caleb parried the slash and punched the captain in his helmeted face, his armored fist bent the metal onto the warriors face effectively blinding him, with that Caleb disarmed the captain and forced him to his knees he looked back over and saw the headless corpse of the other captain with Asajj standing over the body victorious, he turned his attention to the captain he just defeated who had removed his helmet revealing a face decorated with tattoos and blood was coming from his nose, "Why are you attacking us?" the captain asked scared for his life.
"Considering that this tribe participated in the near total annihilation of my order, I'd say that this was a long time coming," Caleb answered menacingly "that and the fact that you're at the beck and call of the dark master is another reason." he added.
"This tribe may have done that but I wasn't around back then most of us weren't the warchiefs were, but not us, look I get your angry with us and you have every right to be." the captain pleaded, much to Caleb's surprise.
"It's thanks to this tribe that the sages were nearly destroyed!" Caleb shouted, "men, women, and children, no one was spared!" he added, the captain began to whimper, "they are all now hiding and sleeping in cryo pods because of this tribe!"
"Please don't hurt me." he begged, "please don't do to me what you did to them either." he said indicating the warriors that Caleb had taken.
Lapsi manifested slightly behind the ranger, "he is genuinely terrified." mentally told the ranger.
"I don't want to scare him I just want to lure his boss out into the open." Caleb responded, as he held the blade at the captain's neck, "I am not going to kill you, I just have business with your boss."
"You want Moz?" the bodyguard asked, "he's one of the most skilled warriors in the tribe."
"Yeah and he's the least of the warchiefs that's why we're after him." Caleb told the warrior, only for Asajj to grip his arm.
"What?" she hissed, "you mean to tell me that we're going after the weakest link first?"
"I thought such a tactic made sense to someone like you?" Caleb asked confused.
"At least you're not stupid." Asajj stated, only adding fuel to his confusion.
"Wait what's the problem?" he asked, then sighed "never mind." he accepted that he'd never truly understand Asajj, "Is Moz coming here?" Caleb asked the downed body guard.
"He shou-" the captain started to claw at his throat, Caleb turned to Asajj and saw that it wasn't her, without wasting another moment he used the force to push the air into the captain's lungs and relieve the pressure on the warrior's neck.
"Come on don't die on me now." Caleb growled, the warriors that surrounded them looked around for the perp.
"There he is!" one of them exclaimed pointing at the elevated platform some ways away, upon seeing him the warriors all rushed with abandon.
"Really?" Caleb asked disbelievingly, "Asajj can you go with them?"
"I can as in I am physically able to." she said coyly.
"Please go help them and make sure they don't kill themselves." Caleb growled not in the mood to play games.
"Alright, alright, I'll go." she assured him and took off running to the Warchief her twin saber's activated.
Caleb still focused on keeping the captain alive till Asajj broke Moz's concentration, "troopers try getting big bad and uglies attention please." he ordered over the comms.
"You got it sir." Swift answered than a rain of blue fire fell upon the warchief, who dropped the captain and turned his attention to the new threats, he drew a pike that had two blades either side of it, first he redirected the shots using his hands, and snarled baring his fangs in contempt, and he reached out with telekinesis and pulled the clones off the building only to block an incoming strike from Ventress.
With the connection broken the captain dropped to the ground gasping for precious Oxygen, "You all good?" Caleb asked the him.
He nodded affirmatively, and Caleb turned to the action, Ventress was on the defencive with the big urku warchief delivering such powerful blows with such speed that she had no choice but to dodge the strikes rather than block them, Caleb had an idea and he formed a dagger with his new found powers and threw it at the warchief, the ethereal dagger hit the warchief and caused him to stagger, Asajj took the opportunity and tackled him off the platform and took a bit of snow and placed it in his eyes to temporarily blind him.
Moz screamed in rage and slammed his fist into Asajj's temple her helmet did it's job in protecting her head but she got off anyway by rolling with the blow, Moz then threw a telekinetic punch at the dark jedi, which threw her into a supporting beam and caused the platform to fall on top of her and bury her.
Moz stood up and rubbed his eyes for a bit, then he felt an armored fist hit him in the face, and a hand grab his face, "You will obey!" Moz heard as his mind was overtaken by the light.
Caleb released the warchief and he stood up, "I serve you now." Moz proclaimed, and walked off, Caleb stood their for a moment and looked down at his hand.
"I am no better than the sith." he said to himself in disgust, "I am turning these sentient beings into slaves."
"Would it be better for them to serve you or our enemies?" Lapsi asked.
"I am creating a slave army!" Caleb shouted at Lapsi, "And I hate it!"
"I hate it too, even if they were responsible for my culture's near total annihilation I can't stomach this let's not do this any more and just kill off the leadership like we were originally going to do." Lapsi cried.
"If we gain control of the tribe we have more troops to throw at the dark master they can buy us a few days." Asajj stated as she dug herself out of the debris.
"ARGH!" Caleb screamed and kicked a helmet in his frustration, he turned to the clones who were guiding the captain that he saved towards him, "What should I do?!" he asked them.
"Sir?" Swift asked.
"I don't want to enslave these people anymore but if we take over the tribe we'll have an army that'll buy us a few days, or we can do what we were originally planning and kill the leader ship and have no delaying force whatsoever."
"Uh… I don't know sir." Swift answered honestly.
"Why are you asking them?" Asajj asked incredulously.
"I am looking for everyones opinion." Caleb growled.
"You don't get it do you?" Asajj asked.
"Get what?"
"These clones don't have opinions, they are meant to be disposable they are droids in flesh." she explained, "No matter how much they pretend other wise."
"That isn't true!" Swift shouted as he pointed his blaster at the former assassin of Dooku, Ventress wasn't fazed by the move at all.
"Oh stop deluding yourself, I know for a fact that while you may be great soldiers you have no capacity for compassion, I remember that Obi-wan quite literally had to order an arc trooper to save a bunch of civilians after he said that, 'they're acceptable losses.' here's a small tip never say that to a Jedi especially one like Kenobi."
"That was at the beginning of the war, we have learned since then!" A'den growled.
"Tell that to the Jedi!" Asajj retorted.
"That's not fair we weren't even there." Swift stated.
"I know for a fact that you would have gladly followed that order, Swift, if your behaviour around our Jedi comrades is any indication." Asajj smoothly countered.
"He tried to pin that on us of course I was angry."
"Can you blame him! I'd say that his initial reaction to you was very normal, believe it or not the Jedi are still sentient beings and feel things a lot more deeply than you can comprehend or will ever experience, he has every right to be angry at the clones, chip or no chip." Asajj retorted, "and despite that, you still would have followed that order even if you say that you wouldn't, I know that you hate the Jedi a lot like you claim he hates clones."
"I… hate you!" Swift then threw his blaster on the ground in frustration unsure of what to retort with.
"The feeling's mutual." Asajj retorted calmly without batting an eye.
"What makes you think that our brothers wanted to do that, the chip…" A'den started.
"Ah yes the chip, continue to blame that for the actions of your 'brothers' even if they didn't want to do that as you claim then why did they if we for the moment ignore the chip and it didn't exist what would you tell me now?" Asajj asked, A'den closed his mouth not sure what to say, "that's what I thought."
"Why do you care?" Saber asked "you were the enemy of the Jedi a while ago so why do you care?"
"Because I was trained by a Jedi, than I lost my way and became what he would have considered a monster, it was a Jedi that saved me and as soon as I saw the two jedi and learned of their fates I decided that I would do my best to protect them… even from you, and myself." Asajj answered.
"You are just as guilty as us." Swift growled.
Asajj nodded "Yes I am but unlike you, I take responsibility for my own actions and don't blame it on a chip or whatever else."
"We didn't partake in the massacre." he bit out.
"No you didn't but you could have and probably would have as well."
"You don't have a lot of faith in them don't you?" Caleb asked.
"No I don't." Asajj answered simply, "and I never will."
"At least you're honest." Caleb muttered then he turned to the captain who watched the argument for the last minute, "What's your name?"
"Oh uh… Juar from the House of Mon." Juar answered nervously.
Caleb frowned thoughtfully, 'Lapsi? Wasn't the House of Mon responsible for saving your children's' lives?' he mentally asked his counterpart.
'That and many more I have already traced his bloodline he is indeed the son of the Urku who saved them.' Lapsi confirmed.
Caleb nodded and smiled in gratitude, "I wish to thank your father, do you know where he is?" he asked.
Juar's nervousness increased "Why would you want to see my father so you can do what you did to them?" he asked and gestured to the urku in bright eyes.
"Because he saved the lives of my children." Lapsi stated as he manifested next to Caleb, Juar's eyes widened upon seeing him, the clones couldn't see him because they weren't force sensitive but they could hear him and they looked around for the source of the voice.
"He's dead, he was executed because he refused to kill those Sages many years ago." Juar answered.
Lapsi and Caleb closed their eyes, "That is unfortunate to hear." Caleb sighed, "I'm not going to turn you, infact I have no intention of turning anymore we are killing the rest of the warchiefs and the urku chieftain." he said in a tone that left no room for argument, Asajj just shrugged indifferently she didn't care, she just wanted to get the job done and out of this place as soon as possible, the clones he could tell had different reactions ranging from indifference to understanding and even respect.
"I may have another option for you." Juar started, "if you can find some urku captains who favor the sages and replace the warchiefs with them you can have an army loyal to you and you might not die a little trying to make it."
"How would that work?" A'den asked.
"The Urku value strength in their leaders, in many ways they are similar to the sith only the strong are allowed a place at the top, if a captain becomes powerful enough they can challenge the warchiefs place." Caleb explained, Jua nodded to signify that was correct.
"I see." the clones nodded in understanding.
"Where can we find these captains?" Asajj asked curiously.
"Oh they're all over." Juar answered nonchalantly, "Some however will want to test you to make sure that you are telling the truth about your intentions."
Caleb nodded in understanding, "Very well than," Caleb grinned. "let's get started."
(Location the Sages Fortress.)
Micah explained it would take a few hours to set up the communication system outside so the group went to do their own thing for a bit, Daniel had the distinct impression that Vega wanted to talk to him, so he asked Tanssii if she would be alright mingling with everyone else, she nodded and did so by talking with the crippled Arc Trooper.
Daniel went looking for Vega and found him on top of the keep overlooking the field that would be overrun with the legion of the Dark Master, the sun was setting lighting the sky red and orange, "That's quite the view." Daniel said trying the start a conversation.
"Yeah." Vega agreed half heartedly, Daniel could tell that something was horribly wrong.
"Vega?" Daniel started, "Are you okay?" he asked concerned, Vega's body began to shake and Daniel could hear that he was sniffling and on the verge of sobbing, he walked up to him and gently turned the young boy around to face him, Daniel was taken aback by the amount of fear and grief the boy was radiating this grief was so deep that Daniel was sure that not even the massacre at the temple was the cause of all of it.
"No I'm not okay." Vega admitted, "Daniel how much do you know about my past?" he asked him.
"Only what you've told me, which isn't much, but I respect your right to privacy if you wish to tell me anything I'm here, we all are… I'm not sure about Auron and Asajj but everyone else is here." Daniel answered him.
"It's time I told you the full story." Vega said as he wiped the tears away but those were replaced by fresh ones, and so Vega told Daniel everything from how his mother and father were framed for a crime they didn't commit how they were on the run from bounty hunters, to that fateful day on Coruscant where his father, mother, and brother were killed by a bounty hunter in mandalorian armor, Daniel listened intently and never interrupted once, "and then she led us to the temple and I was allowed to become an initiate, and my sister was allowed to work at the temple." Vega finished.
Daniel pulled Vega in for a fierce hug after that, "I am so sorry for what you had to go through." Daniel said as he embraced his brother.
"...You remind me of him." Vega said after a moment of silence.
"Remind you of whom?" Daniel asked curiously.
"My brother." Vega answered quietly, "I think that you two would have gotten along well."
"I'm flattered," Daniel responded unsure of how to respond to that, "Vega we may not be related by blood but you and I are brothers don't let anyone tell you otherwise." he stated
Vega could only nod not trusting himself to speak, "Was the Jedi who rescued you my mother?" Daniel asked having remembered something.
"Yeah she was." Vega answered.
"I remember that day, it was one of the days she didn't want to tell me about." Daniel stated, "it makes so much sense now."
"What does?" Vega asked as he pulled away from the embrace
"...Mom felt like she failed that day, like she didn't do enough, it explains the intense feeling of guilt I felt along our bond every time she saw you or that temple worker around."
"She did her best, I don't blame her she was trying to stop the black sun mercenaries from capturing us." Vega explained, to hear that Naomi felt upset about not being able to protect all his family shocked him.
"When we rescue her I imagine she would love to hear that from you." Daniel gently
"I will be sure to do that." Vega said determined.
Daniel felt his brother's signature, it was brighter now, much brighter, he smiled Vega was healing now, "feel better?" Daniel asked.
"A little, thank you for listening."
"Anytime." Daniel told him, and looked out over the field the sun barely peaking over the distant mountains descended.
AN: I hope you all enjoyed this one, I will get the next chapter out soon but I'm not going to focus on the mission up north anymore in this story you will see the outcome of it towards the end of this arc, I may do a short story about that mission but I will focus more on what's happening with the group at the fortress as I want to get this arc over with as soon as possible.
Please be sure to leave reviews they are helpful and leave constructive criticism it only helps my writing.
See you next time.