Bolin and Opal had transferred over to the scout ship that would take them to where Kuvira and the others had been taken. In addition to Vader, they were joined by a green-skinned alien woman Korra had called Hera Komad, because she was qualified to operate the Hutt transport, as it was unlike the scout ship would be sufficient to rescue everyone.
"Commander Piett?" Vader said, intruding on their thoughts.
"Yes, Lord Vader?" the vessel's commander asked his superior.
"Be sure to keep our cloaking device activated and watch for Hutt warships," the Sith commanded. "This is the Boontana Hutta, the one place where they are a common sight."
"What's the Boontana Hutta?" Bolin asked Hera.
"A private swath of space where only the Hutts and a select group of servants can go," she answered. "No one else is allowed in except what slaves they bring."
"What do they do, here?" Opal asked.
"There are only rumors but given how the Hutts behave everywhere else, it can't be anything good," answered Hera.
"Well, good thing that the Empire is stopping it," Bolin said, not noticing how her head-tails twitched at that. Opal had a question herself to ask Hera.
"I heard that many of the Hutt's guards are slaves themselves," the young Airbender noted.
"If they are a Nikto or Klatooinian, probably," Komad replied.
"Then why do they fight for the Hutts?" Opal asked. "Why not overthrow them?"
"Three reasons," Hera answered. "One, it's all they know and are allowed to know. There have been plenty of Nikto and Klatooinians who've escaped their Hutt masters, and do the exact same things elsewhere because being thugs and enforcers is all they are allowed to be, so it's all they know how to be. Second, they've been under the Hutts control for so long many have a hard time imagining a life without such rule. Third, I need you to answer a question of my own: what is the greatest privilege a slave can hope for?"
"Freedom?" asked Bolin.
"A whip," Hera answered, to the young couple's shock. "A whip to use on others. People like your friends, they are slaves but not like the Nikto. The Nikto are the ones who whip them for stepping out of line or to vent their frustration. Such a privilege means they rarely complain when their Hutt does the same to them. When you oppress others, you don't realize you are oppressed as well." As Opal and Bolin reflected on that, a stormtrooper walked over to Bolin and Opal and informed them that Vader wanted to speak with them. Following the white-armored soldier into another room, the door shut behind them as they saw Vader staring out the window into space.
"I never told Tonraq or Senna that it was proper to call me Lord Vader," the Sith Lord said to Bolin. "How did you know?"
"It was a few months ago," Bolin told Vader and Opal. "Somebody was offering Tonraq a clue to find Korra, and it was a bit more credible than a scarf that looked like Mako's."
"What was it?" asked Opal.
"Have you ever wondered how Ghazan could Lavabend?" he asked his girlfriend. "Or how Amon and his family could Bloodbend during the day? Well, we found the answer: a magical teaching device called a 'Holocron.' It once belonged to Yakone and then to Ghazan. It taught them their advanced bending techniques, just as it had taught the crooks who tried to rip us off."
"What did the gatekeeper teach you?" Vader asked.
"Is that what the ghostly image inside talking to us called?" Bolin asked in surprise. "Well, it taught Baatar how to "Use the Force," as I think it's called. Enough to break free of the Dai Li. And it taught Kuvira how to shoot lightning. As for me, I hadn't made much progress until now, when Opal was in danger and only the Force could save her." Opal smiled at him for that.
"Most intriguing," Vader replied. "What else did it teach you?"
"It taught us that Darth Vader wasn't your original name," Bolin answered honestly. "That 'Darth' is an honorific of a 'Sith Lord' and that the name afterward is original. How it symbolizes you have become more than who you were before."
"At least I won't have to teach you and Kuvira everything from the ground up," the Sith Lord said, surprising them. "But that is a conversation for another time. Before we begin this operation, it is best that we understand each other completely. You have questions, ask and I will answer." Opal decided to start first and asked why he didn't approach Aang with his side of the story after Unalaq framed him. "Unalaq was prince of the Water Tribe, I was the stranger who'd been forced to kill hundreds of Waterbenders who set out to avenge their king," Vader answered. "On top of that, he was technically family of the Avatar. The only friend I had was a banished prince who, while he'd sworn friendship in gratitude for saving him and his family, didn't entirely believe my story."
"From what I've heard from Tenzin, and Aunt Malina, they didn't think well of Unalaq even then, but you couldn't know that," Opal replied, admitting his reasoning was logical.
"Why did you tear up Republic City looking for the crystal?" Bolin asked.
"I planned to retrieve the crystal unnoticed," Vader replied. "But I had to take precautions. I still made sure that what my forces did as a distraction would have minimal casualties, while delaying any hope of reinforcements to Air Temple Island. That way, I wouldn't be forced to kill as many as I had in the North Pole."
"I understand that but there is something else," Opal said, thinking of something. "You could have gone to Avatar Aang first for help. Why didn't you?"
"Apart from being a stranger from a world he couldn't begin to comprehend?" Vader asked. "I consider the Air Nomad philosophy to be foolish. Detaching yourself from the world means you never see danger from the wider world. Perhaps that is why they failed to survive Sozin's onslaught. Valuing your enemies ahead of yourself is self-defeating. Pursuing absolute freedom means disregarding the wellbeing of everyone around you. That is what I understand of Air Nomad philosophy."
"It's not quite that simple," Opal replied. "Just as I am sure the Sith philosophy isn't simple. Still, you didn't trust Avatar Aang? It's not like he upheld every aspect of his own culture."
"I have encountered far too many people like him in my life," Vader replied. "If they did not destroy themselves with their own foolishness, they would come to blows with me. Because they think that practicality is the same as villainy." Pausing for a moment, he asked if they had any problem following his orders for this mission.
"No," both Opal and Bolin said, knowing that he was the expert and there had to be something good about him if Korra and Mako trusted him as much as they did. "What's the plan?"
"Right now, we are acquiring the weapon necessary to destroy the ships guarding the planet, and the communications satellite connecting them to the wider galaxy," Vader said. "Or rather, the creature." He then looked outside the window they were in front of, toward what looked like a storm cloud. He then commanded them to stay quiet for the next few minutes. After such a length of time, Opal and Bolin saw what looked like a gargantuan black squid come out of the 'nebula' as they heard the cloud was called.
"What is that?" Opal asked after the creature had gone on its way.
"A Summa-Verminoth," Vader answered. "It is an exceptionally powerful creature that, like most animals, is quite suggestible to the Force. I have commanded it to deal with the two corvettes and the communication satellite of the system."
"You can do that?" asked Opal, a bit unnerved to learn that mind control was possible.
"Far more, but this is sufficient," the Sith confirmed. The cloaked scout ship followed behind the cephalopod as it made its way to Kor Besadi. As it reached the planet, the two Hutt vessels fired upon it but the Summa-Verminoth evaded their attacks, grabbing one of the CR90 corvettes and tossing it into the other, causing a large explosion that destroyed both ships. It then grappled onto the main satellite, crushing it between it's tentacles. Soon, the construction buckled and a massive explosion erupted, destroying both the creature and the relay, cutting off the planet from the rest of the galaxy.
"Commander, make our way to the surface, close to the main comm hub," Vader commanded over the intercom. "As soon as our squad is on the ground, proceed to the secondary objective and await confirmation."
"Yes, my lord," Commander Piett answered. As they descended, Bolin and Opal stood with the squad. In addition to Hera, who Bolin heard was called a Twi'lek, there were ten stormtroopers.
"My lord, the items you requested," one of the stormtroopers reported as he handed Vader what looked like a toolbox.
"What's that for?" Opal asked.
"The mission of Korra and Mako is happening because we've taken steps to cover our tracks at Ylesia," Vader stated. "This will cover our tracks here."
"What exactly are me and Opal doing?" asked Bolin.
"How many of your friends there know I can be trusted?" the Sith asked. The young Earthbender winced as he thought of the answer.
"Well, Kuvira and Baatar know the full story about you, that's it," Bolin replied. "Varrick has heard your name but he has no idea who you are."
"Then you will have to inform them that the Empire is their only way out of this," Vader stated. As the ship set down, Vader's party proceeded on foot through the forest toward the Besadi clan's summer palace.
Kuvira and her companions were dragged into the strange alien building, Baatar and Varrick were simply handcuffed while Kuvira and the other Benders were encased in some sort of energy field.
"We've studied you, we know how to contain you," one of their captors, a green-scaled being with antenna on his head with round black eyes taunted them. Kuvira stared at him and the others in contempt for murdering her sister Opal and Bolin. As Kuvira was taken down one passageway, everyone else was dragged down another.
"If only Zhu Li was here, I'd have us out of here, by now," Varrick said as he was locked in the cell with the nonbenders, their restraints removed. The Earthbenders were in an opposite cell trapped in their force fields. Upon hearing the name of Varrick's assistant, their alien captor looked over in an expression akin to surprise, before turning to what looked like smug satisfaction.
"Would this be Zhu Li?" the alien asked as he pulled out a small device. It projected an image of Zhu Li in handcuffs to Varrick's shock. "We picked her up along with a few others a week ago. You humans are so full of yourselves, thinking you own the galaxy. It is always a pleasure to watch that notion disappear from you."
"What have you done to her?!" Varrick exclaimed with surprising seriousness and fear for his secretary.
"Oh, she's digging for spice on Ylesia, now," the green-scaled alien taunted. "She's rather spirited for a slave. It would be so gratifying for you to see her addicted and ruined but I don't think you'll last long enough for that. I'll just take a holo of the Nexu ripping you to shreds, that should break her." With that, Varrick stuck his arms through the cage's gate in a rage, grasping for this alien, only to be shocked backward. "Oh, looks like the dumb human can't get through the electrified cage," the alien mocked before walking away. Baatar, who normally bickered with Varrick, actually sympathized with him over his worries. "As for the rest of you," the alien continued. "I've heard you call your metal queen 'The Great Uniter.' On that screen," the alien pointed, "you'll get to see her united. With the Rancor's mouth!" At that, Baatar lost his temper and, using the Force as the holocron called it, yanked their captor closer and into the electrified gate, holding him in place. The creature screamed in pain before dying and slumping to the ground.
"What just happened?" asked Varrick, shocked at the sight. "Can you actually live up to your bragging about how awesome you are? Then get us out of here!"
"Shut it, I hear someone coming," Baatar replied. As one of the dog-faced aliens from the ship arrived to investigate the sound, he thought back to another lesson the holocron had given him and Kuvira. It talked of how the Force could easily influence those of weak minds. He and Kuvira found that many governors and leaders of various Earth Nation provinces were of weak minds, persuading them to accept Kuvira as their leader. Unfortunately, Varrick wasn't weak minded, just annoying, so Baatar's attempts to make him shut up had so far failed. As the alien said something in its own language, akin to surprise, Baatar focused on the being.
"You will let us out," he commanded. At that moment, the guard relaxed, repeated what Baatar had said, and opened the door to his and Varrick's cell, before doing the same with the Earthbenders. "You will take us to where Kuvira is," he commanded again, and the alien led them down the hallway as both Varrick and the others looked in amazement, even as they followed. As they moved for the exit, their saw a woman with blue hair, tan skin, and blue eyes in a cage. Realizing that they needed someone more willing to help, Baatar had her released.
"Thank you," the woman said as she was let out. "I know my way around here. I know where your friend is." At that, Baatar shoved the guard into the cell.
"Thank you," replied Baatar as she took the lead. "What is your name?"
"Mira Bridger," she said. "If I help you get out of here, will you help me get my husband and son back?"
"Of course," Baatar answered, sympathetic to her plight.
Kuvira's energy cage was brought into the middle of an arena. The guards left her in the middle, her hair unbundled from the bun she'd been trying for the last month. Looking around, she saw the that most of the people in the stands were the leatherfaced, dogfaced, scaled with antenna, or one of the horned green or red-skinned thugs. But toward the top, there were a set of green, pig-like creatures in leather armor with bits of metal stuck on holding axes. They were standing to the sides of a collection of slug people, some fatter than others. The one at the center slid to the front of his box and spoke, his voice in a bizarre language echoing throughout the stadium as if there were a microphone in front of his mouth.
"Oh, I'm sorry my friends, our guest doesn't understand the magnificence of Huttese," he joked in a booming voice before turning toward her. "I am Aruk Besadi Aora, head of the Besadi Kajidic. You might be wondering what you are doing here. Well, I've heard many tales of Benders, and I have been eager to see what they can do. Hopefully, you will do better against my pets than the last contestants." At that, Kuvira was released from the force field, even as similar ones covered the stands and extended high above her. Before she could think on how to escape, one of the gates opened, with the shield in front of it being briefly lowered. Out came a pair of feline-esque creatures with white and black fur, four eyes, sharp teeth and claws, and spikes coming out their backs. "I wonder how you will do against the Nexu," Aruk stated.
As the Nexu charged, Kuvira propelled herself into the air with her Earthbending. She bent a boulder out of the ground and smashed it into the first Nexu, causing it to shriek before dying. As she landed, she knocked the second into the air with an Earthbending shockwave before bending a rock spike through its underside.
"Well, that was short," Aruk said as the crowd below him booed. "Let's see how well you do against a Reek." Another gate briefly opened and out charged a large, horned creature with two tusks coming out of its jawbone. It was mostly brown skinned, with a large patch of red in the middle wearing a nose ring. Noticing the ring, Kuvira used her Metalbending to rip it off the creature's face. As it howled in pain, she reshaped the ring into a small spike and sent it flying through the monster's eye and into its brain. Again, the crowd booed, but Kuvira wasn't interested in entertaining these savages. "Okay, let's see how you do against the Rancor!" shouted a frustrated Aruk. At that, a door in the center of the arena revealed itself, opening out of the ground as an elevator raised the giant, brown-skinned monster to the surface. It roared, and then, Kuvira knew she was in trouble. The Rancor grabbed her in one of its hands, pulling her close as its mouth opened. She sent one of her flechettes into its eye. The projectile bounced off but the pain was enough to make the monster release her. Rushing over to the elevator in the middle of the arena, Kuvira immediately realized she could bend it and began to do so.
She'd already caused the platform to sag to the side when the Rancor charged onto it, causing the platform to fall. As they crashed below, Kuvira got up first and, using her Earthbending, sank the ground beneath the monster. Seeing a doorway, she charged toward it when the dogfaced thug behind it pressed a button and activated a force field. As the Rancor climbed out of the pit Kuvira had made, Kuvira felt something strange about the dogfaced being. It was like he was made of copper. Out of ideas, Kuvira bent the copper she felt, and the thug moved as she wanted. She was Bloodbending him, not by controlling the liquid the way a Waterbender could on a full moon, but the metal within his blood. The typical human didn't have enough iron for her to even sense but this alien had a tremendous amount of copper.
Returning to the task at hand, she forced the creature to place his hand on the panel he'd just touched, deactivating the force field. Charging into the room, she hit the panel herself before the Rancor could reach after her. Noticing more guards had charged in, she bent the dogfaced thug in front of their weapon's fire, turning him into a shield. Tossing one flechette into the throat of a pig man, she restrained another of the dogfaced beings with two flechettes. Turning the bendable accessories on her right arm into a sword, she cut the throat of a leatherfaced guard before wrapping it around the leg of a red-skinned horned one and tossing him into the force field. Safe for the moment, she turned to the dogfaced being.
"Where are my people?" she demanded. When he didn't respond for a moment, she bent the copper inside him, clearly inflicting pain upon him. At that, he desperately spoke in the same language Aruk had briefly spoken to his crowd of sycophants. "If you can't talk to me, you are no use to me," Kuvira stated, hearing more guards charging down the hallways beyond. "Actually, that might not be true." She grasped the copper inside him and ripped it toward her. He groaned in pain as his skin broke, the metallic liquid emerging out in a misty green cloud. As the being died, Kuvira stretched his blood out into solid shapes, specifically, four metallic orbs. Proceeding down the hall, she saw more guards, so she sent out tiny metal balls from the larger orbs at them as fast as possible. They screamed in pain, one or two of them dying to her tiny projectiles, but the others fired back. She turned the fourth orb into a shield that absorbed their weapon attacks, and then tossed it at her enemies. The sharp edge was enough to behead three of the guards before pinning one of the pig men to the side of the wall.
"Kuvira!" she heard Baatar's voice, as he ran toward her followed by their subordinates. After reaching her, she looked and saw their various underlings, Varrick included, alongside a human woman with blue hair.
"This is Mira, she's going to help us get out of here," Baatar explained as the older woman led the way to what looked like a train station.
"I know how to operate the hover tram," Mira stated as Varrick grabbed her arm.
"These weapons they have, how do we use them?" he asked, holding one of the smaller weapons in his left hand. Taking it, she gripped it and pointed as she explained how a 'blaster' was used. After hearing it, the other captives grabbed the weapons of their fallen foes and fired on the reinforcements haphazardly as Kuvira shielded them with her Metalbending as they got on the train. As Mira began to operate it, the train sped away. At first, it seemed they were getting away but one blast from a larger cannon hit the middle of the car, breaking the back half off with Varrick and the others inside, hitting the ground and sliding down the mountainside. Kuvira was about to fall out herself as well. She was already Metalbending a cable in the car toward herself to grab, but Baatar leaped forward and grabbed her ankle, almost falling himself before the train descended, sending both of them flying back in with Kuvira landing on top of Baatar.
"I can't stop!" yelled Mira. "We're going to fly off this corner!" As the car did go sailing off the tight corner, Kuvira encased herself, Baatar, and Mira in a shell with her Metalbending. As they landed, they smashed through a dense forest onto the ground. Kuvira and Baatar were unharmed, if rattled, with one of the lenses of his glasses knocked out and crushed, but a long branch broke through the shell, piercing Mira's side. As Kuvira dispersed the shield around them, she and Baatar ran over to the woman's side. The branch was long and sharp, and had already pierced something important given how much blood there was.
"Find Ephraim and Ezra," she choked out as blood came from their mouths. "Tell them that I love them, and that I wish I could have seen them again."
"I will," Kuvira promised the dying woman who made their escape possible, even though she had no idea how to achieve it. After burying her body as best she could with her Earthbending, Baatar explained that Ephraim and Ezra must be the husband and son she wanted them to help her find. As she and Baatar tried to find shelter, they noticed the sun was falling and it was about to rain. Erecting a makeshift tent with her Earthbending, Kuvira shielded herself and Baatar from the elements on this strange world. "Why did you do that?" she asked.
"Why do what?" he asked back.
"Jump out to grab me," she replied. "I was bending a cable toward me but you almost flew out to your death."
"I didn't see that," he answered. "I just saw you falling backward from a great height rather fast."
"Dammit it, Baatar!" she yelled. "This is just like you to charge into danger without thinking. Against those bandits, the Red Lotus when they attacked, and now these freaks! You know almost nothing about fighting, even with what the holocron has taught you, and you keep charging into danger!?"
"Our country can't lose you!" he yelled back rather forcefully. "Whenever you charge into danger alone, I can't help but worry."
"I am the fighter, you're the engineer," she stated, trying to remain calm, even as her emotions broiled under the surface. "You're the one who will build the nation back up when we are victorious. You took time out of your day to teach me, an orphan no one cared about, how to read. The nation can't lose. I...can't lose you. You mean too much to me."
"And I can't lose you!" he yelled back. "I love you, Kuvira. I always have and I always will." At that moment, years of unspoken attraction and the stress of everything they had gone through, losing Opal and Bolin, being kidnapped by aliens, and almost being eaten by wild beasts, broke through the wall Kuvira put around herself. She kissed him fervently, surprising him for a moment. Then he responded rather passionately, kissing her back as she reached for his shirt.
The Summa-Verminoth is the monster Han Solo lured into a black hole in his own movie. Hera is talking about the Empire as well as the Hutts when she explains the hierarchy of oppression but in a way that sounds Imperial, preserving her cover. Kuvira will meet Ezra and take an interest in teaching him Metalbending, on account of his mother's death helping her.
I got the idea of Kuvira Metalbending an alien's copper blood from Magneto's escape in X-Men 2. Baatar and Kuvira mind-tricking various rulers into accepting them as their superiors is how they are speeding up the unification here.
Next chapter, Bolin and Opal find Kuvira's party and introduce everyone to Darth Vader. Vader finds a new pair of apprentices, and destroys another Hutt world, while Kuvira and Baatar meet Korra and Mako, planning on how to best help their world.