Chapter 3: Grave Discovery

Outskirts of Caleb's village, 18:30 pm

Roman could already see that things weren't good as he descended the ramp of the Empire's Bane. Looking over the large hill that currently hid Caleb's village from view, Roman could see a pillar of smoke rising directly above the area Caleb's village was. Tightening his fists, Roman was about to rush over the hill to investigate for himself, but a gentle hand found his arm. Turning, his heart lifted slightly as he found himself staring into the eyes of Ashley.

"Are you alright?" Ashley asked. Her blue eyes shone bright with concern for her lover.

Roman gave a hesitant nod to her question before saying: "Better than if I was here without you."

Ashley smiled. "Good to hear." She looked at the plume of smoke rising over the hill, and her face became a scowl. "Let's just hope that someone escaped alive."

"Not to sound selfish, but preferably Caleb and his family." Roman replied. Caleb had a young daughter in her early twenties who had a child of her own from a previous relationship. As well as Caleb, Roman had taken to those two as well, often amusing the child with Force tricks like levitating fruit and other food with the Force before giving it to the boy. Roman only prayed those two had made it out alive.

Ashley nodded agreement. "We can only hope." She said.

"But we can't get too hopeful." Sally said as she emerged. Her face fixated on the pillar of smoke and she sighed. "This already doesn't look good." She said.

"We know." Roman and Ashley said in unison.

"Let's just hope Caleb and his family survived." Sally said.

"My sentiments exactly." Roman said.

"Let's just get on over there, already." Seth said as he walked out, followed suit by Shatter and Tusk alongside Sonic. "We're not going to find survivors just by sitting here like a bunch of depressed Hutts."

Sally nodded agreement. "Seth is right. We can't do the village any favours if we just stand around hoping for the best. Let's just get on over there. And be ready for the worst."

Roman let out a heavy sigh as he joined the Freedom Fighters in starting their trek up the hill, readying himself for what he hoped wasn't the case.

On top of the hill overlooking Caleb's village, 18:35 pm

"Motherfuckers…" Roman remarked as he gazed upon the village. Or rather, what had been a village.

Caleb's village was nothing more than a smoking ruin, the smoke rising from the still smouldering buildings that had once been made of strong wood from the nearby forest. But wood burnt, and the Empire had clearly put that well known information to good use, leaving the village burning. The message was all too clear: Rebel against the Galactic Empire, and this is what would happen. Regardless, what really disturbed the Freedom Fighters was the apparent lack of any visible corpses.

"Where on Mobius are the bodies?" Tails asked, voicing the thoughts of all those assembled.

"I think the more optimistic question would be: Where are all the people?" Sally said, folding her arms.

"Likely they've been rounded up and taken to a prison camp." Sonic said.

"Sonic, that's the last thing I want to hear right now." Roman said.

"Sorry." Sonic replied apologetically.

Sally sighed at this. Already, Roman was taking this hard. He'd been almost silent ever since they'd started the trip to Caleb's village, when usually, he'd be the one keeping everyone's spirits up with a light-hearted joke or two. But Caleb had become a good friend of Roman's in the short time they had known one another, as had Caleb's daughter and her son. And Sally knew just how loyal Roman was to his friends. If the worst had happened, she knew Roman would take the brunt of the horror. The last time he'd lost a good friend, it'd been his former Jedi Master, Cain Roth. And on that journey from Artika Prison to Mobotropolis to participate in the battle going on there, Roman had not spoken once. He'd simply stayed in his room until they had reached Mobotropolis. And Sally knew that if Caleb and family had not survived this assault, it would be the same story all over again.

While Sally was mulling this over, Roman was scanning the village, looking for any sign of life.

And for a fleeting half-second, he saw something:

A small looking being, gazing out towards the assembled Freedom Fighters. And in that split second, the same being bolted.

Roman's eyes widened as he started forward. "I just saw something move, c'mon!" He shouted as he broke into a flat out sprint towards the village.

"Roman, wait!" Ashley called out, before sighing and following her long-term lover into the smoking ruin that had once been Caleb's village.

Village Centre, minutes later…

It wasn't long before they found Roman kneeling in the middle of something.

And that something horrified them.

Roman was currently kneeling in a mass gathering of corpses, all gathered in a circle like cattle. All of them bore numerous blaster holes in them, suggesting they had all been shot.

"Like cattle in the slaughterhouse." Sally observed while fighting down an outburst of tears. She was currently looking down at the bodies of a small family of cheetahs: A mother, a father, and their infant child, all dead. The eyes of the parents were closed, but the baby's eyes remained open, staring back up at Sally as if it were demanding: Where were you?

It was all Sally could do not to burst into tears as she looked away, seeing the Freedom Fighters all surveying the area, their expressions all showing signs of horror. The only ones whose faces were unseen at this time were those of the clone troopers and Roman, who was still facing away from the entire group.

The silence was then finally broken when they heard the loudest cry of anguish they had ever heard, coming right from Roman:

"NO!"

All of them turned to find Roman had picked up one of the bodies, and was cradling it in his arms.

Running over, Sally stopped in horror, and fell to her knees. "No…"

The body Roman was currently cradling in his arms was that of Caleb's daughter, now limp in his arms. Once full of life and happiness, she now joined the long list of friends Roman had lost in recent years, ranging from the Clone Wars to even now. Her eyes were mercifully closed, so at least the sight of her dead eyes would not haunt them for the rest of their lives, like so many did already.

Roman however, was a different story. Tears were dripping from his eyes as he quietly sobbed. Pulling the body closer, Roman held her close to him, muttering something over and over again. It took seconds for everyone to hear he was saying: "I'm sorry."

The entire group was gathered around that one body, all of them sorrowful at the sight.

Finally, Roman let the body go, and stood up. Looking up, his eyes met those of everyone around him. "Elias is going to pay for this." Roman snarled. "What he did to these people… I will visit back upon him tenfold." Suddenly, his eyes narrowed as he sensed something through the Force. Something was behind him.

Turning, hand on his lightsaber, he quickly let go upon meeting the eyes of the one behind him:

The eyes of Caleb's daughter's young son.

"By the Force…" Roman muttered as he gently once again knelt down, saying: "Hey, Eren… It's me. Roman."

The boy, whose name was indeed Eren, nodded recognition before quickly throwing his arms around Roman, wetting Roman's shoulder with his tears. "They killed mommy." He sobbed. "The white men… They killed mommy and took Grandpa."

"I know, Eren. I know." Roman said comfortingly, running his hand through Eren's hair. Breaking the hug, Roman said: "Trust me when I say this, Eren. Those white men, the Imperials… They will get what's coming to them. For taking your grandfather and killing your mother. I promise."

Eren looked at Roman, nodded, and just hugged Roman again.

Getting up, Roman held Eren as he turned to Sally. "Whatever the case, we need to find where they've taken Caleb." He said. "I'm not going to allow Eren to become an orphan just yet."

Sally nodded understanding as she took hold of Eren and said: "We'll need to bury the bodies of everybody. They at least deserve that much."

"It'll take too long to bury them." Roman said. "Pile them all up and burn the bodies. That way, their ashes will remain among the land they fought so hard for."

Sally nodded and said: "Good idea, as usual."

"Thank you." Roman said. With that, they got to work.

Later that night…

It had never been easy for Roman to say goodbye. And it had never gotten easier.

All of the former inhabitants of the village now lay upon a makeshift pyre of sorts, and all of them were burning. Atop the pyre was Eren's mother and Caleb's daughter, still as beautiful as she had been in life. She had not been touched by the flames yet, but the flames were slowly and steadily creeping up and up until finally, she too was engulfed by flame.

Roman looked away from the fire, feeling tears start to fall. He thanked the Force that Eren wasn't here to see it. He was back in the Empire's Bane being looked after by Ahsoka and Ashley. He likely enjoyed the attention. A firm hand found his shoulder, as he heard Seth say:

"She's at peace now, Rome. At least she has that."

Roman melancholically nodded. "Yeah. At least she's at peace now."

"Yeah." Seth said. Looking at his friend, he added: "On a less depressing note, you did pretty much improve her and Eren's life by simply being there. Eren hasn't had any father figure other than Caleb, so you being there helped her a great deal. You encouraged her to let loose a little bit and enjoy life. So in the end, you did make her life, and everyone's life here a bit better."

Roman nodded sadly as he once again looked up, watching the flames of the pyre light up the night sky. Soon, Roman hoped, he would see the Imperial presence on Mobius burning, just as the dead he currently watched were burning.

This is probably one of the darkest chapters I've ever written. Reason some of my earlier stories weren't as dark was because I had no idea how to use dark imagery. I guess my usage of the macabre image of all those bodies is a pretty dark image.

However, thank you all so much for taking the time to read this chapter. If you enjoyed it, then please, leave a review in the appropriate section to tell me what you enjoyed and what you think I could have done better, and in the case that you really enjoyed it, then favourite and follow this fanfiction, so that you will be notified whenever I upload a brand new chapter. Which will be daily with this fanfiction, so keep a lookout.

Regardless, thank you all again for reading, and I will see you tomorrow (Hopefully!), with the next chapter, where the Freedom Fighters discuss their next move.

T-Rock14