Chapter 22
It was funny in some ways on how things could change. Suns ago, Ann Gella would have never considered that they would be standing against the minions in the mid of blaster fire, and her being the leader of it most of all. In place of the fearful obedience she once had to Jabba now stood respect and admiration to the man who rescued her.
It felt so good to be actual sisters with Tann instead of each other having to appease a lunatic like Jabba and having few sweet moments.
Once the last guard fell to the floor, Ann moved over to the dungeons, motioning for them to open them up. They do so, while a few assumed guard duty, blasters aimed at the direction they just walked.
To the captives of many different species, of many different ages, Ann said gently. "You are each safe now. We are here to help."
Obviously fearful of doing so but trusting these people, they all looked up, eyes going wide at the implications of what this could all mean.
"Trust me," Ann said, placing her blaster on the ground and moving over them cautiously. "We are not here to harm you."
Exchanging stares with one another, the slaves exited the cell, their legs momentarily giving out as they stumbled but continuing to move.
"We would need someone to lead them out," Tann said, looking over at Ann, along with the rest of them.
It only occurred to her that this time they couldn't turn to Vader for advice.
A blaster bolt sailed past them all, a sign of reinforcements.
"Get down!" Someone cried, causing them to duck behind the nearby corridors and reciprocating with blaster fire of their own.
Yet again, Ann couldn't understand when did so much changed.
Yet now, here they were, standing strongly against the thugs.
"Vader!" Hakyrr shouted above the chaos, reaching for his comlink, only to come up with static. He tried again, but eventually realized that something must have gone wrong. "Damn, we would have to get up there!"
"I hope the man is still alive!" Tann snapped, still firing her blaster at whatever threat.
Ann shivered at the thought of meeting Jabba's unfavorable wrath, of that metallic whip coming down on them; but she couldn't afford allowing her personal feelings to get in the way - unlike the slaves who promptly put their hands up, obviously believing that doom was coming for them.
Their fear gave Ann a moment of adrenaline, causing her to jump out and fire her blaster, taking down as many as possible.
Ann felt a few marked her armor, yet it didn't gave way. She wasn't going to allow all they worked so hard for to collapse here damn it!
"Ann, no!" Tann cried out for her sister, but Ann didn't relent.
Once the last one fallen, Ann checked to see they all were looking at her surprised, but it didn't last long.
One of their medics, Sheye checked, on someone who was shot in the head, the Mirialan scowling in sadness, before looking up, all previous bravery lost.
"Vader isn't leading us. What's the point in continuing with attack when we aren't surviving?" Sheye inquired, seemingly at a loss for confidence. "He might as well be dead."
Others murmured in agreement, shifting only slightly, ever the more nervous. The casualties that they had endured were clearly taking a toll on them all, and Ann couldn't find it within herself to fault the woman.
"We should just surrender," Sheye continued gloomily. "Maybe Jabba would give us a bargain."
Regardless, this did not please the Twi'lek, not when the thought of how Jabba would punish them if this rebellion failed was still fresh on her mind.
"Come on, that's no way to talk!" Ann barked, vowing to never quit, not until she was on her knees in submission of the Hutt. "We should go down fighting instead of risking that bastard continuing to enslave people. If Vader had fallen in battle, I would..."
She hesitated, not wanting to contemplate someone who had grew to be like brother to them dying, but she persisted.
"I would take Jabba and his allies!" Ann finished, glaring at each of them. "We have proven with our training that we could be much more! Vader has enlightened us about what we truly possess! Do you each want to become slaves again?"
"I agree," Hakyrr said coldly, not giving up either despite how it doesn't look good for any of them currently.
"Ann, Hakyrr," Tann replied, approaching slowly, obviously having lost faith that they could be success. "We don't want to become slaves again, but if we live, that's all that matters."
Hakyrr replied grimly. "These current slaves are depending on us!"
Ann glared at her. "And I'm going. If you want to surrender when we get there, you do that, but I'm going to continue fighting until we could kill Jabba, or I'm put down either permanently or in chains again. Probably even longer."
Tann's eyes widened before gripping her blaster tightly. "Very well, sister, I'm behind you."
The rest nodded in agreement, though their hopes were obvious.
They may have had their doubts about what they were going to do, but they knew they couldn't abandon one another - despite any disagreements that both may have.
They could hear the sound of marching, suggesting that reinforcements were on their way and in greater number. Deep down, Ann hoped that Vader's luck didn't ran out this time, but the lack of response wasn't good...
However, she decided she would focus on it when the time comes.
Waiting for them to charge forward and fire at them, they all embraced the calls of combat, gunning through whoever was in sight.
Ann thought. Come on, Vader, where are you?
Part of Vader couldn't help but wondered where did Jabba get a krayt dragon.
He pushed Cliegg behind him, glaring the dragon directly in the eyes, challenging one another.
The dragon closed in on them, hungry eyes and stiff posture making clear his intent. He had been taunted and locked away for weeks that the thought of eating someone who stumbled into his humble abode would be something that the creature couldn't satisfy.
In hindsight, it wasn't too surprising. Even Sidious found ways to deal with people who question his rule publicly in many ways.
Vader knew Sidious had wanted galactic control - desperate even - to dispatch him to deal with Clones who refused to follow Order 66. Ion Team was one who he'd remembered. Other few Clones who couldn't take what they'd done to the Jedi were also put down to prevent future rebellions.
It was best to deal with insurgents and put them down before they could pose a major threat.
"This is going to be fun recounting later," Cliegg said, running back, garnering no response from Vader who was merely staring down the tallest creature.
The dragon growled as he advanced onto the closest victim.
The participants above cackled at this display.
Razor-sharp teeth gnashed together as it lunged, its primal instincts driving it to attack.
Vader held his hand out to the direction of bones. Undoubtedly, the remnants of those who the dragon had taken his time feasting on for the past many weeks. He threw them at the creature, slamming them against it one by one.
Throughout the distraction, Vader knew that Cliegg would rather be armed instead of defenseless. An opportunity arose, but not in the way any of them expected.
and some took advantage. The side doors opened, and Vader's attention was stole, to jump in front of Cliegg, absorbing the blaster bolts sailing at his direction.
Jabba yelled in Huttese, earning Vader's scowl.
The dragon closed in on him. Vader recovered, dodging yet a blow from the attacking hand, despite the bullets coming painfully close to both men. Some even bounced off the dragon, but of course it didn't do any substantial damage due to being so engraved in getting its prey.
Thrusting his hand forward, Vader tossed the krayt dragon back again. He pulled one of his hilts over to his hand and began deflecting the bullets back up at the cowards, accurately cutting them all down one by one, their sharp corners failing to protect them.
When the last one was picked off, Vader saw that the krayt dragon had been staggering to get back up. When at last he gets back up on his feet and shrugged off the dust, his eyes appeared to dim in intensity, showing slight moments of weakness, before it was gone in seconds.
He reached into the depths of the Force with his left hand, pulling the cylinder of a blaster pistol belonging to one of them.
Bringing the weapon to him, he pushed the blaster to his direction.
"Cliegg," Vader said.
Once the dragon set eyes on both of them, Vader by now had called his lightsaber back in his hand. The dragon snarled and closed in, and they both dashed into opposite directions.
Cliegg took aim and fired, attempting to bring him down, but the bolts bounced off.
The dragon was moving fast so much that Cliegg couldn't get his proper aim, resulting in him having to take several steps back. Both men rolled away, his hand still tightened over the blaster, despite how it further pressured the wounds of being tortured by the Hutt and his minions.
Ducking away from the dragon yet again, Vader pushed him back. He extinguished his lightsaber as he finally got him where he'd wanted him.
He closed his eyes and pulled on the Force.
Time traveling back into the body of his younger self with no Jedi or Sith Holocrons have been limiting, forcing Vader to rely on a body that was unfamiliar to him.
When he was just a boy at the beginning of the Clone Wars, he had gained knowledge such as how to resist Force drain by Ulic Gel-Droma, using his assistance to defeat the Dark Reaper. That had been decades ago, but they had been a touch of him tapping one step closer to the Dark Side.
The ability he have been drawing on could fail and exhaust him. After all, there were limitations even with the Force, but at this point in time Vader had cared little. After all, saving himself and Cliegg and assuring Jabba's neck was no longer intact to his body were his top priority.
Vader held out his hand, delivering a powerful surge of the Force just as the animal was about to come.
He managed to reach the beast's mind and concentrated...
The Dark Side attempted to take control as always to bend the beast, and Vader would admit being tempted, but Vader used the Light to send gentle whispers and soothing energies to the creature's mind, taming it successfully instead of breaking his mind.
The creature couldn't resist, not against a trained user of the Force.
Vader couldn't help but wonder, wondering why turning away from it for long had been something he done.
As it turned out, the Force had its own gift. Perhaps a courtesy of the Light...
"Luke?"
The voice came softly but insistently. Pausing amid the familiar landscape of Tatooine — familiar, yet oddly distorted — Luke Skywalker turned to look.
Vader did too. What was this? He opened his mouth to call out to his son, but the Force ushered him to be quiet.
An equally familiar figure stood there watching him. "Hello, Ben," Luke said, his voice sounding sluggish in his ears. "Been a long time."
"It has indeed," Obi-Wan Kenobi said gravely. "And I'm afraid that it will be longer still until the next time. I've come to say good-bye, Luke."
The landscape seemed to tremble; and Vader looked at Luke. He seemed tired. But Vader knew it had to be a dream and nothing else. For Vader felt Obi-Wan perishing on the Death Star. There was no way he was still alive.
"No, I'm not a dream," Obi-Wan said, answering both his son and his own unspoken question. "But the distances separating us have become too great for me to appear to you in any other way. Now, even this last path is being closed to me."
"No," Luke heard himself say. "You can't leave us, Ben. We need you."
Obi-Wan's eyebrows lifted slightly, and a hint of his old smile touched his lips. "You don't need me, Luke. You are a Jedi, strong in the Force." The smile faded, and for a moment his eyes seemed to focus on something Luke couldn't see. "At any rate," he added quietly, "the decision is not mine to make. I have lingered too long already, and can no longer postpone my journey from this life to what lies beyond."
A memory stirred in Vader's mind by his own son: Yoda on his deathbed, and Luke pleading with him not to die. 'Strong am I in the Force,' the voice of the Grandmaster registered in his mind. 'But not that strong.'
"It is the pattern of all life to move on," Obi-Wan reminded him. "You, too, will face this same journey one day." Again, his attention drifted away, then returned. "You are strong in the Force, Luke, and with perseverance and discipline you will grow stronger still." His gaze hardened. "But you must never relax your guard. The Emperor is gone, but the Dark Side is still powerful. Never forget that."
"I won't," Luke promised.
Obi-Wan's face softened, and again he smiled. "You will yet face great dangers, Luke," he said. "But you will also find new allies, at times and places where you expect them least."
A fair skin, red hair, and emerald eyes flashed in his mind, one ever so familiar.
"New allies?" Luke echoed. "Who are they?"
The vision seemed to waver and become fainter. "And now, farewell," Obi-Wan said, as if he hadn't heard the question. "I loved you as a son, and as a student, and as a friend. Until we meet again, may the Force be with you."
It occurred to Vader that Obi-Wan served as Luke's father figure post the Larses deaths.
"Ben—!"
But the old Jedi turned, and the image faded... and both Vader and Luke knew he was gone. Then I am alone, he heard his son saying mentally. I am the last of the Jedi.
Vader wanted nothing more than to reassure his son. He even attempted to wrap his arms around Luke, only for his arms to travel through him.
They seemed to hear Ben's voice, faint and indistinct, as if from a great distance. "Not the last of the old Jedi, Luke. The first of the new."
The form of his son faded seemingly into oblivion, and Vader felt the vision slipping from his hands.
Someone moved behind him.
"Oh, what a tragic ending."
Vader tilted his head to the source's direction, seeing a woman whose Force signature he couldn't pinpoint. She appeared harmless. Wrinkled. Gray-hair. Her form appeared to be slump, perhaps a sign of her age. But her gray eyes were still so vibrant, full of life...
Had he not sensed the outlines of darkness within her, he may have dismissed her as an old woman in her final days.
Vader turned to face Cliegg who was standing seemingly motionless. "You needn't worry about your comrade. I cannot physically harm you, and even if I could you'll stop me with ease, Vader-or should I refer to you as Anakin Skywalker?"
Vader kept his gaze on her. He didn't feel any anger about being called his true name, but slight alarm that this person knew of his true identity. He couldn't hide his suspicion as his eyes narrowed.
"Oh, don't look at me like that," she chuckled, full of mirth. "For now, I come with... oh is it a threat or warning? You decide. But all that pain that you have felt in those two decades, well... it has to go somewhere. People who you hold dear perhaps." she shrugged.
A flash erupted from the woman...
What Vader first saw was himself in his younger days choking Padmé in a moment of rage, hand tightened up in a fist. The scene transformed, and he saw a young man looking at a female, before she dropped, many emotions blinding him as they did Anakin on Mustafar, reaching out in the feeble hope that he would be able to save her, sounds of blaster bolts, missiles, and the like, vibrating in the background.
It went back to himself on the lava bank of Mustafar, reaching up a feeble hand in a failed attempt to pull himself up. Then it changed. They were no longer on Mustafar but still a war-torn planet. Missiles and blaster shots came at someone from a distance. Seconds later, the person was screaming as Vader did so many years ago, rolling around as its body was cut through brutally.
The scene went to himself holding the corpse of Shmi Skywalker, her body cold and motionless in his arms. The scene flickered out and transferred to children, either preteens or adolescents holding the body of another individual. Sobs were pouring out of their eyes, as they tried and failed to awoke them.
Ahsoka walking away from him during the Jedi Temple with himself watching in grief and sadness, wanting nothing more than to pull her into his arms and hold her close. Yet again, the scene shifted. Another individual watching an old friend walking away from him in a similar place with a mixture of sadness and disappointment.
Vader's hands flexed as the visions stopped. He hadn't thought about it that way. Was he dooming others to go through the same amount of pain in the process of saving himself from suffering the hardships?
"Ah, you're finally understanding, but unfortunately that's all the information I have for you today. Goodbye, Skywalker, till we meet again."
Vader blinked. The woman appeared to dissolve, a mere laugh.
Something clapped on his back, and Vader turned to face the one responsible, feeling almost startled if he were being truthful.
The creature was on the ground, all previous aggression being ripped out of him, panting.
"Vader, are you alright?" Cliegg inquired, blaster aimed at the creature in front of him.
Vader shook his head and managed to find his voice, gesturing for him to lower the blaster. "I'm glad I got to you before they did something worse."
"It would take longer than torture to make me betray my friends."
Cliegg wrapped his arms around him at that moment, Vader surprised but returning it. He didn't have it within him to be distant.
"Thank you..." Cliegg said. "For coming after me."
Vader nodded, keeping him close. It felt like something changed in him for the better. Not everyone in the galaxy was the same.
He couldn't remember feeling this... different, and it felt good.
Fraternization through the military had been frowned upon. As Anakin Skywalker in the Clone Wars, he had often quipped with his soldiers, but they fell quickly from harmless bantering to daily risk of death. They were all ready to go into the battlefield and die if they had to. Obi-Wan were much of the same vein as the Council when it come to upholding the rules of no attachment, but they had embraced each other from time to time-not as much as him and Ahsoka but still Obi-Wan didn't seem to mind at the time.
As Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader, he had some regard for the troopers under his command, but praise from him grew to be a rarity if it happened at all. Many of the commanding officers would be glad if they left his sight alive. It had been partly due to this old military experience, the distance of it all, that Vader have been reluctant to allow Cliegg in. If the man die, would Vader have been able to ever allow another back in?
But now...
The fact that Cliegg was here, willing to stay, despite the dangers he represented. He was scarred after being intensely tortured, but it didn't seem like there was any fault. From Cliegg's perspective, he was protecting his brother, and he did so effortlessly.
The creature's gaze was not as intense, nor seemed to be intent on attacking either of them.
Vader pulled away and placed a hand on the creature who came up to him nose.
Now, the creature seemed to be enlightened and calmer. The Light Side got through to him.
A new pet...
Arthur's note: That scene from Obi-Wan and Luke saying goodbye was from Truce at Bakura.
"But all that pain that you have felt in those two decades, well... it has to go somewhere." Keep that in mind. I'm a ripple effect guy. Lol
Gardulla owns a krayt dragon in the EU. Felt like Jabba would "borrow" the creature for a while to use against Vader.
I'm having fun with this slave revolution arc tbh as it allows me to give character development for Vader and plays in the future plans I have for him. One more chapter, and we are going to see some actiony chapters and then it would all come to endgame at least this book's concerning then the sequel. Can't wait!
May the Force be with you all always.