Chapter XIII:
Revenge
By the time they reached the surface, the city was burning in flames. Kyle flew through the shield, and – in their surprise –, they were quickly followed by the Reaver. The two ships landed near the palace with a loud thud, pointing their docking ramps towards the stairway.
As Mira left the ship, she hoped to see everyone she left behind in Odessen; however there were only two figures coming out of the Reaver. Still, a joyful smile came to her face as she glanced at Ariss. The young woman approached her with tears in her eyes, hugging her with her slander arms.
"Don't leave me again, you hear me?" Ariss raised her voice a bit.
"No promises," Mira answered, and turned her glance to Ahsoka. "The others are on the Raddus, right?"
No answer came to the question.
"Where are the others?" Kyle asked instead of her.
"We are all that's left," Ahsoka answered.
"What about Mara?" Kyle asked.
The togruta shook her head in silence.
Mira expected Katarn to burst out in rage, but he did no such thing. He went pale, and began to shook his head violently. Mira wanted to calm him, but there were no words that could ease the pain.
"Luke is in there," Ahsoka continued. "He lost his mind after they took Mara," she explained, trying to figure out why did they let Luke go this far out of his way. "We tried to do something, but Khoris followed him, and…"
"It's okay, we will deal with them," she nodded, and turned back to Kyle. "Come on, we still have a job to do."
"I know," Kyle nodded, stopping for a moment.
"What about Rey?" Ariss asked a moment later, letting go of Mira. She must had felt her presence in the ship. Hence the question was more about their immediate actions then her whereabouts.
"You should keep watch, we don't know what Snoke could do to any of you," Mira answered after a moment of thinking.
"You got it," Ariss nodded.
"Then shall we?" Mira asked, pointing towards the entrance with her good hand.
Ahsoka nodded instantly, and went forward, Kyle followed soon afterwards. Mira took a glance back to Ariss, who strode towards the Reaver, and continued her way inward.
Dead stormtroopers and red-coated guards paved the way to the battleground. Some were crushed to death by brute force, others simply died without any trace of harm. For a moment, she looked at them in dismay, then she heard the vicious cries of the battle coming from the inner chamber.
She glanced at the others, and began to run as fast as she could. One dreadful corridor followed the other after the other, only to be accompanied by a thick security door. She tried to use the Force to shut it open, but at no avail.
She took a deep breath, and tried again – this time with the others. The three of them could open it – but barely –, only to see the devastation and the horror inside the chamber.
Luke fought a vicious battle against the one they knew as Snoke. The Sith launched vicious rays of lightning out of his hand, colliding with Luke's bare hands. Both men shouted at the other in their desperate grasp of power, tormenting each other for a time that seemed an eternity for the both.
Snoke glanced at Mira, only to be zapped by the lightning directed back to him by Luke. The Sith hit the wall within the blink of an eye, his bones shattered on the surface, his body was still tormented by the lightning. By the time the storm reached its end, the Supreme Leader was nothing more than the smoking shadow of himself. A weak, crippled husk, fit for no one – let alone for the mighty Tenebrae.
Mira strode through the room, she knew exactly what Luke was about to do. The Jedi aimed a horizontal attack at Snoke – only for his blade to be countered by Mira's lightsaber.
"Enough!" she yelled at him.
Luke turned at glance at her. From his point of view, Mira was good as dead.
And for a moment neither of them knew what Luke was going to do.
Then Kyle broke the silence.
"What are you doing? Get away from her!" he raised her voice, grapping his lightsaber threateningly in his hand.
Luke finally came to his senses, and deactivated the saber in his hand.
Mira glanced at Snoke, then took a step back, just to be sure.
"I found Rey, she is alright," Mira said. She knew this was the only thing that could calm him.
"You found her?" Luke asked, not knowing anything about the events unfolding at the other side of the galaxy.
"Thrawn took her, but she is safe now. She is waiting for you in the ship," Mira answered. She calmed down a bit, these words would be enough in themselves for any parent.
"Then why stop me?" he asked, fear, anger and relief mangled in his mind.
"Because he wants Rey to be his next host," she snapped. "I know it sounds..."
"You can't lie to me," Luke answered. "I see that you are saying the truth," he added with a grin on his face. He looked down at Snoke, and spat at him.
The Dark Lord gave out a laugh.
"So the pawns ruin it all," he answered, only to be silenced by a kick in the face.
Luke kicked him a few times more. He stopped only when he was satisfied with the result.
"Good luck inhibiting that body," Luke said, although he doubted Snoke was still awake to hear his words. He glanced at back the others afterwards, took a deep breath, and began to continue. "I didn't want this to end this way."
"Yes, you did," Ahsoka answered.
Luke opened his mouth for an answer, but he was quickly cut off by the togruta.
"Don't say a word," she warned him. "I'm done with you, and with your so called Jedi Order," she added, and turned away from him.
Luke looked at Ahsoka for a moment, then turned back to Mira.
"We were supposed to be peacekeepers, not your private army," she said sharply, before Luke could say anything.
"How else would you stop the First Order, huh?" Luke raised his voice, pointing at Snoke's body.
"Maybe they are not meant to be stopped," Mira answered.
"What are you talking about?" he asked with rage.
"I will tell you on the way out," she darted. "We have a run to make," she added, and strode off towards the exit.
Luke and Kyle followed him after a moment of silence.
By the time the Moldy Crow and the Reaver broke through the atmosphere, the New Republic was already on the retreat. Once the two ships hastily docked with the next-to-crippled Raddus, the enormous ship ignited its engines, and sent them to hyperspace with a dying roar.
Most ships managed to escape, the fourth cruiser was the only one that didn't make it.
The First Order didn't follow them. The Raddus almost had to be abandoned – and if not for Kuat's dedicated engineers, it would surely have been scrapped. The time in the docks gave some time for the team to think through their future decisions.
Mira explained her plan to the others, then Luke debriefed them about his future plans as well. The team was surprised to hear what he had to say, but they ultimately accepted it. After all: it was the only logical step to make.
After the third day of the battle, Luke stood near the infirmary, where Rey was prepped for the intervention. Mira stopped next to him on the corridor, quietly watching the young girl thoroughly examined by the doctors. She sat before them happily, not knowing anything about what was about to happen to her. Sometimes, she looked back at her father, and he smiled at her briefly in pretension.
"You should say something before they do it," Mira broke the silence.
"I don't know what to say," Luke admitted.
They watched her quietly for a moment. Luke looked at Mira a few times, took a deep breath, then let out a question.
"So your decision is final?"
"Not just my decision," she answered. "There were countless Gray Jedi before, some are still among us. It's time for us to have our own Order, where we can watch out for the balance."
"You think it will make a difference?" he asked. "You know how powerful they are. That's why the Jedi intervene at the first possible chance."
"We will a find way," she nodded.
"I suppose all the others are with you on this."
"Ariss and Ahsoka are, Kyle wants to go his own way. He was always one of a kind," she answered, and looked back at Rey. She had never seen a girl so happy before a surgery of this magnitude. "What about you two? Any chance you changed your mind?"
"You were right about Tenebrae," Luke shook his head. "If we kill him, he goes to Rey, and he goes back with her to the First Order. We cannot let that happen."
"She won't remember anything after this. Not even her name."
"If she can so much think of that name, Snoke will find her. And that crippled body of his won't live forever," Luke added, and gave out a sigh. "As for me, I failed as father and a master alike. There is no place for me among the Jedi."
"You are the last though."
"Perhaps it's time for the Jedi to end."
Mira nodded. The door opened on the corridor a moment later, she recognized Kyle merely by his footsteps.
"You didn't tell him, did you?" Kyle asked as he walked near them.
"I thought I might leave it for you," Mira admitted.
"What are you talking about?" Luke asked, although at this point, there was little doubt about what he was about to say.
"I'm afraid the Jedi are far from ending."
Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! :)
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