Far From Home

Chapter 13

At Endor the group of travelers discovered Jinn's ship was in pretty good condition, but there was no one insight. The place was completely empty, but luckily Jinn's astro-droid, R9 was left behind and explained that Vader and Luke had gone with a team of stormtroopers back to Central Command on the Death Star 2.

"Jinn," said Kiya. "What do you think Vader will do?"

The warrior rubbed his chin in thought and hadn't noticed that Ben was doing the exact same thing. Jinn sat next to the Jedi Master and saw this and consciously removed his hand before speaking.

"Kiya, I have no idea. I don't know Vader. I think Obi-Wan or Scorn would have a better clue than I. Do you two think Vader will succeed the Emperor and take his place? Or will he stay true to his betrayal of the Dark Side and help us dissolve them?"

Scorn shook his head and answered, "I'm not sure. Lord Vader had always wanted to someday defeat the Emperor and rule the galaxy. He wanted me to rule by his side, but I have no taste for governing or law. At heart I don't think Vader has it in him either. He's too short tempered to be a king. And Luke doesn't strike me as the kind of Jedi to take power."

Ben nodded. "Yes, Scorn is right. Luke would not betray the ways of the Jedi. Vader will not be able to persuade him to turn. Though, honestly I don't know what Vader will do."

"Then I will speak to him. Perhaps he will listen to me," said Scorn.

Han said, "And what are the rest of us suppose to do? Just sit on our hands and wait?"

Kiya replied, "No. You and the others should take control of that shield generator. We can't afford to be naive about the Empire. They maybe a snake without a head, but they are still a dangerous foe. It shouldn't be a problem now that you have a younger Ben, Thrice and Jinn here to help the Princess."

Han shook his head. "And besides being counted as chop liver, but do you plan to do sister?"

"I plan on going to the Death Star with Scorn."

Jinn frowned and grabbed Kiya by the arm. "No, Kiya. I came here to get you home safe and sound. Not to help you aid a rebellion. This is not our fight."

Angered, Kiya broke free from her brother's hold and shouted, "Shame upon you, Jinn! I know you don't believe those words. We are Jedi and it is our duty to help those in need."

In response, the warrior fumed. "No, Kiya. Don't feed me lies. I know why you're doing this. You're doing this because of Scorn. That Sith is your real reason for staying. Don't confuse duty with matters of the heart."

Kiya turned away from Jinn and closed her blue-gray eyes. "So, what if that is the reason? You also do things out side of your missions all the time because of your heart, Jinn. It's one of the best things I love about you. Now please, don't ask me to choose between you and my heart."

Solemnly, Jinn shook his head in defeat. "I only want what's best for you, little one. But, you're right. I can't make your decision for you. You're no longer a Padawan and I do trust your judgment. Your feelings of the Force have always been better than my own, but I have always been better at premonition and I must warn you that I have a bad feeling about this mission."

Ben then stepped towards Jinn and asked, "What do you mean by premonition? You mean like a vision?"

Jinn replied, "Yes, like my father, I am very good at sensing the Unifying Force. I have a habit of always thinking about the future while Kiya is good at sensing the Living Force because she is more like our mother and can channel the Force at will. As a result, she can judge a person's character very quickly."

The Knight frowned. "But, shouldn't you be more mindful of the present? The future isn't concrete."

Jinn smiled and replied, "No, but I have learned to trust my feelings. And the power of premonition is highly prized at the Clan. None of my mother's people can sense the future. My mother always trusts my father's feelings."

Kiya rushed to her brother and grabbed him by his robes. "And I trust your feelings too, Jinn. Won't you help me? It will be like our old training missions together, Kenobi and Kenobi. The two biggest brats in the entire Order."

The warrior gave his sister a smile and said, "Yes, the heir and heiress of the Clan. I remember Kiya. And yes, I'll help you. I will do as you say. It will be your mission, Lady Knight."

Kiya beamed and gave him a hug. "Oh, thank you, Jinn."

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After sometime, Kiya told Leia that she, Han, Chewy, Ben and Thrice should contact the Rebels and take down the shield generator on Endor so that the Death Star 2 would be unprotected from attack. Meanwhile, she, Jinn and Scorn will take their brother's ship to the Death Star itself and confront Vader. They will try and persuade him to stay on the path of Light and help them deactivate the Death Star and end the war. And thus, the group split up and went their separate ways.

Though, on Jinn's ship, the Nomad found it's way safely into the enemy's enormous battle-station. They didn't have problems getting in, but Jinn worried on how they would manage getting out. He still couldn't shake his feelings of unease and he hoped with all his heart that nothing went wrong.

Yet, he's thoughts were interrupted as Scorn spoke to him. "Thank you for trusting Kiya and giving me a chance. She trusts you. She admires you. I admit I envy how much she looks up to you, Jinn."

"Let me be clear, Scorn. I don't know you, but I know Kiya. And if you think I'm hard to win over than you have no idea what you're in for once you meet my father. He has an opinion about Siths that isn't as flexible as mine."

"Flexible? Isn't Kiya's father Obi-Wan? He seems like a trusting person to me."

Jinn smiled slyly, "Yes, but not this Obi-Wan. Our father is a bit more crafty than this Obi-Wan. And he sees Kiya as his little girl. He will not give her up to a suitor so easily."

Scorn frowned. "If your trying to scare me, Jinn then you're going to have to do better than that. And I take my relationship with Kiya very seriously. I don't care what stands in my way, but I won't give up on her. And if you find my sense of attachment are too intense for a poor Jedi like you to take than you're just going to have to get use to it."

Jinn laughed. "Oh, I have no problem with your feelings of attachment. You forget, Scorn, that I am not a traditional Jedi. I happen to think attachments are good. In fact, I long for the day that I would grow such an attachment, but love cannot grow without trust. You must learn to trust Kiya. You must have faith in her and her abilities or she will grow to resent you."

"Is that why you're helping me? Because you think if I smother her and she'll resent me like she might you? I'd hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not as stupid like everyone thinks I am. I love Kiya, but I also happen to care about my Master too. I won't betray her trust."

Jinn then turned and steeled Scorn with his eerie amber eyes that seemed to pierce his soul and said, "Good, because I will be counting on you as well."

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Location: Death Star 2, Central Command

"Lord Vader," said the Commander. "What's happened to the Death Star? We've lost communications."

Vader strode into the conference room with a newfound ease since his operation with the strange-Jedi's med-droid. He felt so much better. And his appearance without his helmet seemed to shock the war-commanders into silence.

He smiled confidently and announced, "The Death Star is no more. It was destroyed by the Rebels along with the Emperor. I will now take command and become the new Emperor."

Stunned, the war-commanders all rose from their chairs in disbelief. "You? Why should you become the new Emperor? Why not one of us?"

"Because, my dear Commander, I was the late Emperor's apprentice and therefore I should be the new Master. And if there are any objections I will be more than happy to address them—personally. Do I make myself clear?"

The group of war leaders all gave each other a glance. They knew full well that Vader could kill them easily with his Force-powers or with his lightsaber. They didn't want to die, so they all kept their objections to themselves. The Commander then gave Vader a nod and the Sith Lord smiled.

"Good. Very good. Now, the first order of business I'd like to address is—"

"Not so fast, Lord Vader," said a voice from the doorway.

Vader frowned and turned to look at who had interrupted him and was shocked beyond measure at what he saw. He looked and saw that it was the Emperor standing at the threshold with a witched smile plastered on his shriveled face.

"Master! How can you still be alive? I thought you were dead."

Sidious laughed and paced quietly into the room. "No, my apprentice. I am not dead. Though, it's no thanks to you that I was injured, but I survived my brush with death. Yet, I am not surprised to hear you name yourself the new Emperor. I always knew you'd wouldn't return to the path of the Light."

Luke then stepped froward and said, "No, that's not true. My father wants to change the Empire, not continue to spread evil in it like you, Sidious."

The young Jedi swiftly lunged at the Emperor and activated his lightsaber to cut him down, but Sidious was faster and he used his Force-lightening to blast Luke back and he collided into a wall.

"Luke!" shouted Vader.

The evil-apprentice then turned on his own saber and tried to duel his Master into submission, but he too was knocked aside with the Emperor's mighty powers. Sidious chuckled and said, "You alone are no match for me, Lord Vader. And you and your son will both suffer for betraying me."

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When the three entered the battle-station they were surprised to see that no one had tried to question Scorn or stop him. Tentatively he looked around and said, "I guess they hadn't learned about what happened on the Death Star. Come, if we take the main elevators we can enter Central Command. Once we make it to the Command Center we can dispose of the war-commanders and seize the Death Star 2."

"Agreed," said Kiya. "But, I'm also sensing a bad omen about this mission. Jinn, I think we ought to split up just in case."

The warrior nodded. "Right, I will go alone while you two head to the Command Center."

Scorn said, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to look for Vader and Luke. They ought to be here somewhere."

"But, I want to find my Master to convince him to stay on the path of Light. It should be you who will handle the Command Center. Vader won't listen to a near carbon copy of Obi-Wan. He'd probably try and slay you."

Jinn sighed. "Right, you do have a point. Come along, Kiya."

Mentally, the lady-knight would have rather gone with Scorn and face Vader, but she promised her brother they would be a team and it was more important to the mission to disable the Death Star then confront a friend's personal agenda. And besides, her feelings were telling her that trouble was just around the concern. Though, she had to trust Scorn. She had to believe in him. He didn't need her to watch over him.

Kiya approached the young Sith and held his head in place as she gave him a quick kiss on the lips. She then looked into his handsome dark eyes and said, "Be safe, my Dark Knight. Promise me you'll return."

Scorn smiled and without hesitation and complied, "I promise, Angel."

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TBC

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Jedi Angel001 - thanks again for a supportive review. I know it is kind of funny that Han is running a love boat, but I thought a little fluff would fit in just right in that chapter. And yes, Vader does have to choose good or evil all over again, but I thought what Luke revealed did add a twist along with the Emperor not being really dead. Yeah, blowing up in your own Death Star isn't as cool as a sword fight.

pk4jc - thanks for the review. I'm always happy to hear that people are reading my stuff. If you can, don't be afraid to write me some more.

As always, please keep reading and reviewing. Thank you.