"Emperor Valkorion talks to you, right? He have any advice," Koth asked almost off handedly. Brooke saw Maj. Horner tense out of the corner of her eye.
"He's giving me the silent treatment," she answered, watching the major to ensure she didn't do anything reckless. They left Lana and Vik's gang holding the choke point to give the Jedi and soldier a chance to release the docking clamps.
"I'm sure he's got a lot on your mind," he said wryly. "The Emperor's a great man. If anyone can help you take down Arcann, it's him."
"You hero worship a monster," Brooke said, unable to keep completely silent on the matter. She respected Koth, but disagreed with his blind allegiance of the man.
"He was always good to Zakuul," he replied with a shrug.
"At the expense of my people's lives," Maj. Horner snapped back. "I promised to keep my temper in check, you promised to not bring him up around me. For your crew's sake, you may want to drop this for now."
He grudgingly did so and landed the shuttle. HK had just finished clearing out the knights in the landing zone when they got there.
"This sky car will take you to the main controls to release the ship. HK and I will keep them off you," Koth said as he started placing charges.
"Stay alive, no heroics," the Battlemaster ordered as she followed Maj. Horner into the vehicle.
"Hey, that's my motto," he answered with a smile as they took off.
"What are the odds this will be completely deserted and we'll take this without a fight," the soldier asked as she checked her blaster rifle.
"Considering what our luck's been so far, not likely," Brooke responded with a smirk.
"That's what I figured," she sighed.
To their combined surprise, the control tower was completely deserted.
"I would have thought there would at least be a token force left here," Brooke said as she cautiously made her way to the controls.
"I don't like this," the major replied, scanning the room as she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. "Let's make this quick."
"No objections," the Jedi answered as she undid the clamps securing the Gravestone. She was just turning around when she was thrown across the room into the major, sending them both to the ground.
Both quickly rolled apart and stood to see Arcann where Brooke had been standing.
"We have unfinished business," he threatened as he stalked the Battlemaster. He barely made a move in her direction before she hit him with a Force push. He stumbled back a step, but quickly recovered.
"YOU DON'T TOUCH ME," Arcann thundered in response.
Maj. Horner rose an eyebrow seeing how easily rattled he was while Brooke smirked and said, "Just promise you'll be more of a challenge than those knights you've sent after me. I've trained padawans with more skill than them."
Before he could respond, HK rushed to the Jedi's side and shouted, "Request: Die meat bag!"
Between the suppressing fire from HK and Maj. Horner, Brooke was able to keep Arcann off balance. Just when it looked as if they were about to take him, he let out a massive Force push, sending all of them flying. Brooke and Major Horner were slammed into the wall behind them. The Jedi had the wind knocked out when her back made contact with the wall, and she fought to recover quickly once she landed on the ground. She had pulled herself up on her hands and knees when she looked over and saw Maj. Horner on the ground, unmoving. She tried to crawl over to check on her when she saw Arcann approaching out of the corner of her eye.
"Enough," he shouted as he built up some sort of energy at his hands, targeting them both.
HK had dodged the force attack that had thrown the other two into the ground. He saw Arcann's intended target and jumped in front of them, firing his weapon, shouting, "Self-sacrifice!"
HK took the brunt of the hit, instantly destroying him, but some shot back, destroying the paneling and supports of the wall behind him. Out of instinct, Brooke rolled out of the way of the falling debris. Once clear, she watched in horror as pieces of the wall fell crushing the major.
She was about to run to check on her, when Arcann started moving towards her, arrogantly taunting, "I can't wait to meet all your friends."
The Battlemaster was just about to charge Arcann when everything froze and Valkorion appeared. "My son is too strong," he said as he approached the Jedi. "You need my power. Only together can we strike him down."
Brooke looked at HK and the debris blocking her view of Maj. Horner, and was just about to accept when Master Orgus appeared.
"Think about what you would be agreeing to," he cautioned.
"Destroying a monster," she answered angrily, doing her best to ignore Valkorion's smug look.
"At the price of becoming one yourself," her master countered. "Look inside yourself, see what how he intends to stop his son."
"We don't have time for this," Valkorion protested. Ignoring him, she did as Master Orgus said and saw a vision: purple lighting practically exploding from her and shooting at not just Arcann, but everything around her.
"Take a close look," Orgus said before Valkorion could speak. "Look at what he doesn't want you to see."
To her right, there was a ship carrying people fleeing the battle getting caught in the lightening. Their engines gave out and they were sent crashing, taking several other ships with them, inflicting an incalculable number of casualties.
"They don't matter," Valkorion dismissed. "My son has already killed thousands of your people. Allow him to live and he'll kill millions more, starting with your friends."
Brooke didn't want to admit it, but he was right. She could tell by the Emperor's smile he knew what she was thinking. Orgus' frown also showed he could sense her thoughts.
"What about her," Master Orgus asked, pointing to where Maj. Horner had fallen. The area was completely vaporized, leaving only charged remains. "Lana and Koth are already on their way, is this what you want them to see? Do you think Lana would ever forgive you for this? Could you ever forgive yourself?"
"She's already lost," Valkorion dismissed. "The dead are unable to render an opinion on the actions of the living."
"We're both examples of a counter to that statement," the Jedi Master shot back. "But ignoring that, you don't know she's dead. Would you condemn her just because you're angry?"
"She was crushed," Brooke pointed out.
"Not completely," Orgus said. "See for yourself."
Again, Brooke did as he said over Valkorion's objections, shaking her head to clear away the vision. She moved until she had a good view of the major. Aneira was unconscious and the paneling had fallen around her and on top of the lower half of her body. Her left leg appeared to have dodged any significant damage, but it her right leg was trapped and it appeared her abdomen had taken a significant injury. It was hard to tell for sure, but it didn't look as if there was any spinal damage.
"From your angle, it appeared she had been completely crushed, but as you can see that wasn't true. She could survive this if you give her the chance."
"A life as a cripple at best," Valkorion dismissed with a sneer. "That is no life."
"That's not up to you," Master Orgus snapped before turning to Brooke and saying in a gentler tone, "or you for that matter."
"You must decide," Valkorion demanded, "the galaxy or one individual."
Brooke looked between HK's smoldering frame and the major's prone body before igniting her lightsaber and taking up her initial position in front of Arcann. "Once I've taken out your son, you're next."
"So be it," Valkorion thundered before disappearing. Orgus gave her a small smile before he also vanished and time resumed.
Valkorion hadn't been embellishing his son's strength. She held him off as long as she could, but without the suppressing fire he was able to fight her off.
Lana and Koth arrived in time to see Arcann pull the Jedi Battlemaster to him and impale her on his lightsaber. Thinking quickly, Koth shot a piece of machinery on the ceiling, which came crashing down and sent Arcann over the ledge with its impact.
Brooke could barely think through the pain as Koth ran up and grabbed the arm of her uninjured side and put it over his shoulders to help her walk. She looked to see Lana had rushed to Maj. Horner and force blasted away the panel supports that were crushing her. The Sith then knelt over her, terror and grief clouding her face as she scanned her.
"How is she," Brooke forced out of her dry throat. The ability to breathe was becoming more and more difficult. "Is she…?"
Lana slowly closed her scanner and put it away, before making eye contact with Brooke. Fighting back any emotion from showing, Lana whispered, "She's alive."
Brooke had barely made it back to the Gravestone before she collapsed from her wounds. She was rushed to the med bay by Koth and Senya where Master Kor and Cipher 9 were fighting to stabilize Aneira. Lana was already there, having been watching over her soldier. A part of her felt guilty for staying there instead of going to the bridge, but she'd reasoned that she would have been no use and only gotten in the way.
"I got Brooke," Cipher told the Master Kor as she approached the bed Jedi had been laid on. "What happened?"
"Lightsaber to the abdomen," Koth answered.
"And why wasn't she brought here right away," Cipher demanded with a huff as she started scanning the Jedi. "Time is a factor in these kind of injuries."
"Things were a bit hectic," he replied sarcastically.
"It's a miracle she's still alive. That wasn't a shot at you," Cipher quickly added as Koth glared at her. "A wound this extensive should have killed her shortly after being inflicted."
"Unless an external influence is keeping her alive," Lana pointed out from her corner.
There was a heavy silence that lasted only a moment before Cipher ordered, "Don't just stand there, Koth. I'm going to need your help if she's going to pull through."
He bristled slightly at being ordered around, but did as she asked.
It was after three frantic messages from Theron, two reassuring messages returned, and a stiff neck from sleeping in the chair Lana had dragged into the med bay that Brooke finally woke up.
"Tell me it hasn't been another five years," she groaned as she tried to sit up.
"Two days, give or take," Lana replied, rubbing the tender muscles in her neck. The Jedi made it about halfway up before her injury caused her to fall back again. "Easy," Lana cautioned as she helped her to a sitting position, "your body went through quite an ordeal."
"It could have been worse," Brooke replied with a wince, her right hand automatically going to her stomach.
"I don't know, not many people can say they took a lightsaber to the gut and lived," Koth joked.
Lana saw the self-loathing in the Battlemaster's eyes and said, "Koth, go check to see how much longer until we enter orbit."
"You know how long," he argued, eyes narrowed. "It's what I came in here to tell you."
"Please, Koth, I need you to take a walk," Lana asked, glancing at Brooke pointedly.
"Fine, have your girl talk," he huffed as he left.
"He's hurt you keep disregarding him," Brooke said emotionlessly, "and angry at being so easily pushed aside."
"He'll get over it," Lana dismissed. "What's wrong?"
"Valkorion wanted control, during the fight," Brooke answered. She swallowed hard around the lump in her throat before making eye contact with Lana. "What's worse, I almost gave it to him. HK was destroyed and from where I was, it looked like Aneira had been killed… I was angry and not thinking clearly and he took advantage of that."
"What stopped you?" Lana's eyes held no judgement, something the Jedi was grateful for.
"He let me see too much," she explained. "I saw a vision of what he planned: a massive burst of energy that wouldn't have hit Arcann, just thrown him off the ledge. I can't know for sure if that was unintentional or if he wanted Arcann to get away. But the energy wouldn't have been one quick burst, it would have shot out in all directions, taking out ships trying to escape, vaporizing everything in the room…" Her voice caught as she glanced and the unconscious soldier. "How is she?"
"Master Kor is confident she'll make a full recovery," Lana assured. "It was touch and go for a while with some internal bleeding from a lower abdomen injury, but he and Cipher 9 were able to stabilizer her after an emergency surgery. She'll be forced to make some adjustments, due to the leg they were unable to save, but fortunately there were no spinal injuries so she'll retrain her mobility."
"'Life as a cripple,'" Brooke whispered, seeing Lana tense in the corner of her eye. Facing her again, she saw the anger swelling up and explained, "That was what Valkorion said as a justification. He declared that was no life and the best thing for her would be to let her die. As for everyone else it was a numbers game: thousands die here so millions live later. Even seeing all that I almost gave in."
"What stopped you?" The anger was gone from her eyes, only curiosity remained.
Gingerly, she swung her feet over the side of the bed and put her weight on them. With Lana's assistance, she stood and started pacing. "In the vision, I knew you were close. I knew you would have known what I had done, both to the people fleeing and Aneira. Imagining your anger and mistrust, but mostly your hurt at what I'd done… It started to cut through the haze of anger Valkorion was manipulating. I'm not a monster," Brooke said with conviction, facing Lana. "I won't become one."
"I know," Lana soothed, gently placing her hands on the Jedi's trembling shoulders. She idly wondered if Brooke knew she was crying. "I'll help however I can. Even if it's just you imagining my glare," she added with a smirk.
"I didn't want to tell you any of that, but if I didn't he would have just caused my shame to fester and used it against me. It would have made refusing him that much harder the next time."
Lana could hear the panic in her voice. "You did tell me," she insisted, squeezing Brooke's shoulders lightly, "and you did refuse him. Any of us in that situation would have been tempted. Just because you're a Jedi doesn't make you immune to temptation."
Brooke took a few calming breaths before saying, "You're a good friend. Who would have seen that coming," she asked with a laugh, placing her right hand on the one covering her left shoulder.
"I can think of a few stranger partnerships," Lana replied, glancing quickly at the major before refocusing on Brooke, "but I will always be grateful for our friendship."
Smiling for the first time since she woke up, Brooke let go of Lana's hand as she removed them from her shoulders. "I should probably go unruffle Koth's feathers," she sighed. "Let me know if there's any change with Aneira."
Lana nodded and said, "There is something you should know before you head out."
"Please tell me Koth didn't blast Senya out of an air lock…"
Laughing in surprise, she answered, "No, but not for lack of trying. While you were unconscious I heard from my contacts in the Empire and Republic. Something good has come out of all this, the Battle of Asylum has become a rallying cry for any who have wished to oppose the Eternal Empire. My operatives informed me key allies from both the Empire and Republic are convinced we are the best chance at removing Arcann from power after proving he is not invincible. They've agreed to all meet on neutral territory to discuss an alliance."
"Sworn enemies banding together to stop a mad man from destroying the galaxy? Sounds familiar," Brooke said, amusement in her eye. "We made it work once, we can do it again."
She walked out as Lana resumed her vigil. She was relieved to finally be able to send Theron good news, for once and hoped that would stem the tide of messages from him demanding an update. She had just sent off the message when Cipher entered the med bay, holding a set of crutches.
She placed them next to Aneira's bed and explained, "Dax and I found enough scarp to piece these together. They should hold until we find a more permanent solution."
"Thank you," Lana replied as Cipher started running scans.
"Everything seems to be healing well," she announced. "I would expect her to regain consciousness before we reach Odessen."
"I'll be here if I'm need." It didn't need to be said, everyone knew where Lana was.
Cipher nodded in response, face neutral. The only show of empathy she allowed was gently placing her hand on the Sith's shoulder for a moment before slipping out quietly.