Chapter 75

Revelation

Before she left to go back to her bunk in the Whipclaw for the night, Ahsoka also realized something else. In the flickering of the fire light, she could see for the first time that Yoda, who had always looked somewhat elderly, was getting genuinely old.

He caught her looking at his wrinkles, and his tired eyes. Somehow, he knew exactly what she was thinking. "True, it is. Nearly nine hundred years old I am, and one last task I have before me."

Ahsoka couldn't think of anything to say to that, so before she left, she chose to grab the tiny Jedi master and give him a warm hug.

"It is difficult to imagine a galaxy without Master Yoda in it," Ylenic said.

"An end to all things must eventually come," Yoda said, laying his head on Ahsoka's shoulder as she hugged him. "Move on, all things must. Our duty, it is, to plant the seeds for tomorrow. Tell you, I should, as a safeguard."

Ahsoka let go of Yoda and rocked back so that she was squatting nearly at eye level with him. "Tell us what?"

"Safe, the children of Skywalker are. With friends, for now. The future, they will be."

"Wait, they're alive?" Ahsoka asked. "And I thought Humans only had one at a time, just like Togruta."

"Twins. Rare in Humans, but not unheard of." Yoda nodded. "Believed, Obi-Wan did, that the one who will bring balance to the Force was indeed the Son of the Suns. But if fail he does, then another Skywalker, there is. After all, only one of many translations of the prophecy the Son of the Sons is."

"It appears that the clone of Sifu-Dyas was correct," Ylenic said. "There is another Skywalker."

Yoda nodded. "Watching over the boy, Obi-Wan is. But no Jedi teacher could I find to watch over the girl. With a trusted friend of Senator Amidala, I left her."

"We will assemble the fleet outside of Brentaal. Keep them out of sensor range from anyone passing through Brentaal on the major routes." Admiral Tarkin handed a datapad to Ensign Dailey. "We cannot have our fleet detected. Secrecy is our main obligation here. We will travel along the Commenor Run to our target. Our first priority is to wipe out any and all sensor and communications relays. That is essential."

"What about the planetary shields?"

"They will not be an issue. I have agents standing by, ready to disable them at a moment's notice." Tarkin pointed to the datapad's screen. "Give this information directly to the gunnery crews. It cannot be put into the ship's computer, for security reasons. They must prepare and practice these patterns for when we arrive."

The young Ensign skimmed over the information. "Is this... really what we're doing? All of the major cities... and then... sir, is this..."

Tarkin cut him off, "Yes, Ensign. This is a Base Delta Zero effort. As soon as we have taken down their spaceports, communications, and sensors, we will focus all fire on major population centers. Then we will spiral outward from each city, with low-powered blasts, to incinerate any cultivated farmlands, and spread wildfires through any uncultivated land. We are not only to wipe out the aliens who live there, we are to wipe out the planet itself. It is our duty to make it uninhabitable."

Dailey swallowed nervously. "Yes sir, I'll deliver these to the gunners."

"I understand your trepidation, Ensign. What we do here will not be pleasant. You may never understand why we do it. But those who are planning for a stable, secure future for the Empire are willing to do whatever it takes to secure that future. As difficult and painful as it may be, sometimes distasteful things must be done for the greater good."

"Yes sir," Dailey said. He did a quick about-face, then headed for the nearest turbolift that would take him down to the primary gunnery officer's station.

After Ylenic and Ahsoka had gone back to their bunks in the Whipclaw for the night, Yoda activated the ancient Jedi holocron. An image of the long-dead Jedi Master appeared.

"Greetings, Master Lestin," Yoda said.

"Forgive me, I do not know your name," the hologram replied. "For a moment, I almost mistook you for Master Vandor."

"Yoda, my name is. About a student of yours, many questions I have. Fallen to the dark side one of our own has. Unsure, I am, if saved he can be."

The hologram blinked and tilted its head in curiosity. Yoda knew that the holocron, as fantastically advanced as the Force-powered technology was, was merely stalling for time as it scoured its optical memory banks. Finally, it responded. "Revan. You wish to know about Revan."

"Yes. Turned to the dark side, to the Sith he was. But returned to the light, he did. Ashamed to admit, I am, that this era in history I did not study greatly. Before the fall of the Jedi Temple, a dozen holocrons I could have consulted from that time. Now, the Force brings yours to me."

"Then I will tell you the full story, with no historical bias. I was there when he disobeyed the council and left for the Outer Rim. And I was there when he returned with a Sith armada at his command. But rest assured, his conversion back to the light could not have happened without the deep love and connection he had with the woman who would one day become his wife, Bastila Shan."

"Hmm. Feared as much, I did. Such connection, I fear, is lost to my former comrade. Passed from this life, the two women he loved the most did. Turned on his teacher and closest friend, he has." Yoda closed his eyes and looked down. "Still, hope I must keep. The tale of Revan and Bastila, please tell."

"Are you kidding?" Lieutenant Cathkiss said. "This isn't even a military target. The only worlds we ever did this sort of thing to were uninhabited ones where the CIS were holed up underground. This is... crazy!"

"It's our orders," Dailey said. "I don't like it either, but this is a top secret, high priority mission. From the Emperor himself."

"Then our former Chancellor has gone utterly mad," Cathkiss said. "Top secret or not, this is the sort of thing that gets people convicted of war crimes. This is an inhabited world, and a peaceful one at that. I'd just as soon attack Alderaan, at least they had a military once or twice in their history."

"These are direct orders, from the highest level. We can't disobey them." Dailey insisted.

"I won't take part in this. And I'll be filing a formal complaint with Intelligence. How do we even know that this is from the Emperor himself? The Admiral could have just made this whole thing up. He's from a family that's practically royalty on his homeworld, you know. There's probably some political agenda behind this."

Admiral Tarkin sighed. "A waste of a perfectly good officer."

He switched off the listening device he'd planted in the datapad. One or two of the gunnery officers were bound to have an issue with the situation. It was just too bad that it turned out to be one of the more talented rising stars in his chain of command. With a flick of another switch, he summoned the two squad of commandos he'd had on call.

The four of them walked in, all wearing regular trooper armor. Tarkin could see that these men were a bit broader around the shoulders than an average trooper. Commandos were genetically nearly identical to regular clone troopers, but they were engineered to gain muscle mass slightly easier, since they were often tasked with going into combat while carrying and wearing much heavier gear than their infantry counterparts.

"Axon squad, reporting for duty, sir."

Tarkin almost couldn't tell which one spoke. The commando's helmet barely moved.

"I am afraid," he said, "that one of our own is guilty of treason. Your orders are to go down to deck six. Find Lieutenant Cathkiss, and escort him quietly to one of the aft cargo bays. Stun him, then put him in one of the emergency airlocks. When we enter hyperspace, the airlock will be blown."

This time the helmet moved in a definite nod. "Yes sir. Any other orders?"

"Try not to let him make a scene. Let him believe whatever you must for him to keep from panicking in public. Fear is a powerful motivator, but right now I need men who won't question orders at the controls. After we have razed the planet Caamas, I will allow rumors of his treason and subsequent execution to be circulated. Not before."

"Yes sir," the faceless trooper said. As one, the four commandos marched out of the room.

Wilhuff Tarkin closed his eyes and massaged his brow. "What a waste."