Chapter 25 - Escape
Kshhhhhh
Every soul stood still, rooted in place, as Darth Vader took a step through the destroyed wall. A moment ago, the Partisans felt as though they were on the edge of victory. They'd brought the Imperials down at the eleventh hour, right in the heart of their operations, and then the Republic's great enemy burst onto the scene, killing a man as casually as one might toss aside rubbish.
The members of Black Squadron and Gaunt's team, those still conscious at least, looked up at the Sith lord through cracked and broken armor. Their protective gear took the brunt of the explosive's concussive power, but they were still in a bad way. And that was nothing compared to Gaunt himself, bleeding out where Saw Gerrera left him.
Kshhhhhh
Turning to the opposite side of the room, Vader saw the Mothma family seated and bound to simple metal chairs. He gave the barest of nods to them, then faced the Partisans again and said, "I have come for Tanis Mothma, and her family." Vader's words carried the weight of the Force and his own tremendous will behind them. For a moment, the Partisans felt their wills waver, despair seeping into their hearts like a poison.
"No!" Saw roared. "Stand firm!" It was enough to shake his troops and the spell Vader's entrance seemed to weave over them fell away as they trained blasters on him.
"A charismatic leader, as ever, Saw Gerrera." Vader seemed truly unconcerned with the other rebels and whatever weapons they pointed at him. Even in his current state, armor battered and ragged cloak covered in dust and dirt, his aura of absolute confidence in his own strength remained. His voice and demeanor betrayed no hint of worry, even with a dozen or more enemies aiming at him from all angles. "But there is no hope for you."
Sweat beaded on Saw's forehead. He glanced back and forth between his forces and Vader. Loyal to a one, they all knew what taking on the Empire meant, but he hesitated. The way Darth Vader spoke left a question hanging in the air. "You speak as if you know me?"
Kshhhhhh
"A cautious foe would assume I know everything."
The cryptic answer only left more unsolved mysteries to gather at the back of Gerrera's mind, but he had little time to ponder the enigmatic statement the Emperor gave him.
"Don't be a fool, Saw," came Tanis Mothma's voice from the very back of the room. "The republic needs you! Escape while you have the chance!"
Vader inclined his head to the matriarch of the Mothma family and said, "Siding with your captor, Governess? If I had not already crippled the Comarc household, your political rivals might use such words against you."
Tanis glared at Vader and responded, "Even if I find his methods repellent, I trust him more than a Sith."
Whatever Darth Vader thought of her answer was hidden behind his mask. Rather than give a response he returned his attention to Saw Gerrera and took the hilt of his saber from his belt, although he did not activate the weapon. "What is your decision, Gerrera?"
"Seems my hand is played," Gerrera said at last. "I'm honored to have striven against you" he added looking at the Partisans.
"Sir?" one of them asked.
Gerrera sighed and said, "I'm not ready to throw all your lives away on the merest chance of overcoming Vader. You hear that, Sith?" he asked turning to the Dark Lord. "I want my Partisans treated well, whatever happens to me."
Kshhhhhh
"Surprising. You did not strike me as such a man to give in so easily. Perhaps, since Onderon you have grown soft. So be it, this doomed rebellion is at an end." Darth Vader's tone was one of resignation and disappointment. Those who knew him might even suspect he wished for a foe to strive against. One to challenge him.
Worried looks crossed his subordinates faces, until the closest to Vader glanced away from the Sith and said, "We need you and Master Infil'a. The rest of us are expendable." A sad smile crossed his face and he turned back to Vader. "I've seen Jedi deflect lasers, how about a building?" The human pulled out a small device and his thumb slammed down on the button.
"NO!" Gerrera screamed, but he and his hostages were on the far side of the room when his subordinate activated a final trump card. Explosives, well hidden in key structural supports, went off with a crack and the basement roof fragmented. Saw Gerrera dived backwards to avoid the rubble at the last second. In all this, Darth Vader barely moved, merely watching the exchange as though it were no concern to him. As the roof gave way and tons of rock, stone, and steel fell into the basement, the last thing anyone in the clear noticed was Vader lifting one hand, then the rubble came down.
###
Crackling to life with a burst of hateful red light, Vader's lightsaber hummed in the darkness. He was in the middle of a cavity, surrounded by collapsed debris on all sides. At his feet, Black Squadron and the diplomats groaned and tried to stand. By the Power of the Force, Vader pulled them to his position, clear of the destruction and safe in a small sphere of protection. Any Partisans were now under the very stone and metal they attempted to use against the Emperor.
Kshhhhhh
"Those who can move, see to the wounded."
Captain Mithel sat upright and clutched his broken arm with a grunt of pain. "Lord Vader? Why did you let them bury us?"
The Dark Lord's helmet turned slowly to look upon Black Squadron's leader, regarding him for an uncomfortably long moment before finally answering. "These rebels have been disjointed. They had no clear, unified plan. As though they were desperate to try anything that might work."
"Why?" Ada asked from beside on of Gaunt's men. She and Neel were busy applying bacta and bandages to the wounded officer.
Kshhhhhh
"To uncover a weakness. They did not intend to secure victory, but rather reveal a stratagem to defeat the Empire, and myself. They referred to a Master Infil'a. Perhaps the Jedi behind not only this, but even Jocasta Nu's activities on Coruscant. It is irrelevant. In the end, they have accomplished nothing more than to secure my ire." Continuing to hold the ceiling of rock, stone, and steel above them with the Dark Side, he pointed his saber at the collapsed wall of rubble in front of him. "Clear a path to the rest of the basement. Major Gaunt is on the other side, and I do not intend to lose a valuable subordinate."
Cive crouched next to Mithel and tied a quick splint to his arm, while the others slowly rolled to their feet, despite injuries, and sought out those too weak or disabled to fend for themselves applying what aid they could. Packing wounds with anti-coagulants, the least incapacitated quickly moved on to digging out a small tunnel to reach Gaunt. Mithel struggled to get upright, grimacing and holding his broken arm in the least painful position he could manage.
"Apologies, Lord Vader, for not securing the site for you."
The Sith Lord turned to face Black Squadron's Captain and leader in his absence. "Upon our return to Coruscant, I will oversee Black Squadron's new training regimen. Personally."
Mithel shuddered, but limited his reply to a nod and a quick , "Yessir."
Meanwhile, Neel managed to pull the broken architecture away and create a tunnel to the other side. Just enough to squirm through, he crawled along his belly until the others heard his voice from the far side. "I've got Gaunt, but he's not breathing!"
Kshhhhhh
"Move."
At his word, Black Squadron went into the tunnel, dragging the injured behind them as necessary. When they were all out into the wider basement, Vader walked forward. In front of him, the wreckage parted, while at his back the ceiling he'd held up fell, crushing the space the Imperials so recently occupied. Without stopping, Vader continued until he stood next to Gaunt. A pool of dark blood spread out beneath the Major and Neel, Ada, and Rosh were all kneeling in it as they tried to patch the injured man. His face was pale, going to gray, and whatever breath might still be in him was faint to the point of non-existent. Vader extended his left hand, palm down and fingers open. "His life wanes."
"Can the Force help him?" Neel asked.
"If he has the will and strength to survive," Vader began, "but if he lacks either, then it means Tarkin was mistaken in his assessment." Turning his attention from Gaunt, Vader looked at the empty chairs where Tanis and her family were recently secured. His helmet's sensors told what unaided eyes could not. Thermal imaging reveled the faint heat of footsteps vanishing into a wall behind one of the consoles. Reaching out through the power of the Force, he shunted the machine aside in a single gesture. As for the metal wall, his lightsaber flashed back and forth, and the panel fell away in pieces. A long dark hallway stretched on and up towards ground level.
Mithel stood, clutching his blaster in one hand while the other hung useless in its splint.
Kshhhhhh
"You are of no use to me. I will deal with Gerrera and his Partisans myself."
Without another word or even a backwards glance, Vader stalked off into the inky black.
###
With his allies out of the picture, Vader set off after the Partisans alone, lightsaber hilt in hand. Some small part of the Sith, for all his anger at Gerrera's temerity in thinking to rebel, felt a rush. Although the Onderonian may not know it, they'd once been allies, and Vader knew full well the Partisan leader's skills and talents in running guerrilla campaigns. The chance to hunt him down was an appealing thought.
However, he'd taken a hostage in the form of Tanis Mothma. For the future of his Galactic Empire, Vader couldn't allow that. As he marched down the secret hallway leading out of the underground, he used one of his helmet's sensors and his eyes followed several sets of footprints heading straight onward. Vader's HUD displayed a map of the Mothma estate and, although the secret basement was not part of it, he could see that this hall, rising at a slight, almost imperceptible angle, would emerge just inside the walls at the rear of the property. A few clicks away, amidst the farmlands, Vader's map marked a small landing pad. Not big enough for any major trade, it would only be useful for the agri-workers when they needed to send or receive supplies.
Or a small starship.
Kshhhhhh
"So, they've avoided the starports from the beginning."
As Lord Vader progressed onwards, he noticed a light far ahead. Increasing his pace, despite the creaking protest of his joints, Vader soon realized it wasn't artificial, but rather daylight streaking into the underground passage. It would seem he'd found the exit, as he expected. Rather than a ladder or steps, the ceiling of the hall simply split apart and the ramp came even with the ground. Upon emerging into the bright day, Vader found himself stepping onto a small walkway along the back wall and, as took his bearings, the Sith heard only the rustle of leaves and the sound of local wildlife. For the briefest of moments, memories of Naboo flooded his mind.
Roaring to life, engines shattered the peace. From the far side of the wall, Darth Vader recognized the sound. He'd heard it often enough during the Clone Wars. Speeder bikes.
Kshhhhhh
"Useless." The Sith gathered the Dark Side around him and crouched. In one colossal leap, he landed atop the wall, cracking the cement with his impact. At the sound, Gerrera and his few surviving subordinates turned from the speeder bikes they were mounting. Strapped down behind Saw's seat, Tanis Mothma locked eyes with the lenses of Vader's helmet.
"Forget the others! Move!" Saw Gerrera ordered as he threw himself onto his speeder and shot off. His men left the rest of the Mothma family where they were, on the ground, and made to follow Stoneface. Their fear was like a beacon in the Force and all too apparent to Vader. Every bike rocketed off for the shuttle. All but one.
Its rider tried, however, no matter how she gunned the engine her speeder wouldn't accelerate. Finally, realization dawned and she looked back. Vader was on top of the wall, lightsaber in one hand, the other outstretched in a grabbing motion. The Sith dropped to the ground and walked forward. Before she could say anything, curse the Emperor, or even think to run, a flash of red ended her. Sparing little more than a glance for the rest of Mothma's family Vader swung onto the seat and returned his weapon to its place on his belt. His prosthetic fingers wrapped around the handles and he leaned forward. The engine growled, then Darth Vader was a blur of motion barreling towards his prey.
A memory, long in the past, another world, another life, flashed through the Emperor's mind, but he dismissed the Boonta Eve Classic. There was only the here and now for Vader. He pushed the speeder to its limits and the Partisan at the edge of the pack was soon mere meters away. As he closed in, another, from further a head, fell back and together the pair of rebels drew blaster pistols. Whether they actually believed they had any chance or only hoped to slow Vader down would never be known. The Sith reached out with an open hand and closed his fist with slow, deliberate intention. The two speeders drifted towards one another before either rider could get a shot off and though they tried to pull away, the nose of one bike tangled into the wiring of the other. In a flash of violent motion, they were end over end. An explosion sent them flailing through the air in a cloud of metal and fire.
Speeding past the destruction, Vader didn't bother to look back. Instead he focused on the final three, particularly Gerrera, with Tanis Mothma tied to the back. The Dark Lord had no intention of losing, but a part of him, maybe the very core of his being, wanted more. A challenge, a test to overcome, and so far, Chandrila had not offered him what he wanted.
As he closed in on his targets and they all approached the shuttle, a thought occurred to Vader, one which might satisfy his own desires and serve his long term goals in one fell swoop. An enemy as tenacious and cunning as Saw Gerrera, disappointingly rare, would not be found again. And when the Partisans were eliminated, any new rebel factions would inevitably be drawn towards the only remaining option. The moderates, most likely led by those who aligned with the Mothma's and Organa's of the galaxy.
But, if there were a group of extremists, willing to go farther, strike harder, it would give Vader a chance to test himself and push the moderates away from dedicated rebels and into the Imperial grasp.
Making his decision, Vader pushed his bike to its utmost and rapidly gained ground. Using the Force to guide every movement, flying across the landscape far faster than the Partisans dared to go, they would be barely a length ahead by the time they reached the shuttle.
When they swung onto the landing pad, Vader used the momentum of his speeder to throw himself forward, and he hit the ground in a controlled roll. As he stood, he felt the metal of his joints grinding. An artifact of the battles he'd already survived. The part of the Emperor who engineered and repaired his prosthetics knew they were rapidly approaching the structural limits of their durasteel construction.
Kshhhhhh
"You cannot escape."
"Don't try anything, Sith. We have Tanis," Gerrera threatened. He was holding her over one shoulder, her wrists bound behind her back, feet tied.
The red burn of Vader's lightsaber burst to life, humming ominously in the shadow of the small spacecraft. "Harm your hostage, and you lose the one thing staying my hand. Surrender her to me, and you may leave with your lives." Punctuating the threat, Vader lifted his left hand high, curling his fingers in. As he did, Gerrera's two subordinates grasped and clawed at their throats while their feet kicked wildly. In horror, the Partisan leader watched his men rise into the air. Suspended, they could do nothing, other than die slowly. "The choice is yours, rebel. Die now or live to fight again." Suffusing his words with the Dark Side of the Force, Vader pushed at the edges of Saw Gerrera's mind. Deep in the shadows, there was fear, an old wound that never healed. The loss of his sister, Steela. "How many allies will the Hero of Onderon watch die?"
Vader's finger's closed ever so slightly.
Saw's eyes snapped to his men hanging helpless in the air. Their bodies spasmed and twitched as they vomited their last breaths, dribbling down the front of their armor. He flashed back to the fight on his homeworld and the three Jedi who helped him take it back from the Separatists. What would they do?
"Enough, let them go!" Gerrera set Tanis on the ground gently. "Please," he added sadly. For the first time, Tanis heard the exhaustion in his hard voice.
Darth Vader's hand dropped to his side, and the two Partisans fell likewise, hitting the ground coughing and gasping for air. Around their throats, the two human's skin was red, swollen, and bruised. A mark of how close they'd come.
Without another word, they crawled into the shuttle. Gerrera never looking away from the figure of the tall Sith cyborg said, "We'll finish this sooner or later." Then he was in the ship, the ramp closing behind him. Vader watched it lift off the pad and pick up speed as it vanished into the sky.
Although he suspected it was capable of camouflage, Vader nonetheless contacted the Imperial Fleet in orbit and instructed them not to fire on any ships leaving without his direct authorization.
###
Vader's red blade flashed and Tanis' bindings fell away. The governess of Hanna City rubbed her wrists and watched the Partisan shuttle recede into the blue sky. The wind from liftoff still stirred the Emperor's cape and Mothma's robes. As the noise receded, they stood in silence, watching as the cause of all the days trouble ran to fight another day.
"Was this wise, Lord Vader?" Mothma questioned.
Kshhhhhh
"That question cannot be answered. Not yet."
"You don't strike me as the sort of man who acts without a goal. So why save me?"
"Do not mistake my actions for sentiment or empathy, Governess. Your daughter is now in my debt. Nothing more, nothing less. I will crush these Partisans soon enough, but they are not worth the loss of Senator Mon Mothma's loyalty, however thin it may be."
Tanis nodded slowly, rolling things over in her mind. Her ruminations might have continued, but for the sound of voices behind them. Vader's forces and the guards loyal to Mothma were running down the path towards them, waving and hollering. The Emperor strode towards them, his legs creaking as he walked. "Status report," he demanded.
"Sir," Cive Rashon saluted. "Gaunt will make it, but one of the other diplomats wasn't so lucky."
"Ensure he returns to Coruscant with full military honors."
"Aye, Lord Vader," Cive said with a bow.
The black helmet turned slowly, heavily, back on Tanis. "One of my officers died to rescue you and your family, Governess. I look forward to the send-off you will no doubt, prepare when I return to my flagship and depart for Alderaan. Tomorrow." At those words, Darth Vader stomped away, dust and dirt grating inside his prosthetics with every step.
As Governess Mothma watched the receding figure and considered what she'd seen of him during his visit to Chandrila, she gained a newfound respect for what her daughter must deal with in the Imperial Senate. Alongside that feeling was a quiet dread. She couldn't read the Sith. Hidden behind the macabre mask, his expressions, perhaps his very humanity, became inscrutable. Yet her political instincts, honed over decades, told her the Emperor, wherever he came from, was cunning beyond his time in politics and must, under no circumstances, be underestimated. Not if there would be even the whisper of hope for the Republic's resurrection. For now, Vader had the limelight. He rescued Hanna City's governing family, lost a man in the doing, and it would only push more towards the Empire if she didn't play her part. For the rest of the day, rather than spend time recuperating, she and her aids put together a farewell parade for the Imperial envoy.
The following morning, as Vader stood, a monolith, at the head of the soon to depart diplomats, people thronged the streets cheering. Confetti, soaring fighters trailing colorful smoke, enthusiastic displays of exuberance from every quarter, petals raining from the rooftops, and flowers flung from windows by cheering citizens were lost on Tanis. She instead, saw only the effects of Vader's visit. And it was an unmitigated defeat as far as she was concerned. After everything yesterday, the assault on the military academy, the attacks in the streets, and Lord Vader's actions in the rescue, no one could gainsay the Empire without looking like a rebel.
"He played the game perfectly," Tanis grumbled under her breath. Despite the reports she received from Coruscant, the holo-vids, and even her own daughter's messages, the Mothma matriarch failed to grasp how truly terrifying the Dark Lord of the Sith could be as an enemy. Now she understood. He wasn't merely a capable warrior or strong in the Force, although he was undoubtedly both those things. The careful observer would note of his actions, from the moment he first appeared on the political scene. Like the halting first steps of a titan, they lacked subtlety. Yet the Emperor showed himself a quick study, and soon had much of Coruscant on the back foot. Decades of political deadlock meant the Senate wasn't ready to deal with a leader who acted not in months and years, but days, or even hours. By the time a subcommittee or task force was being formed in the political sphere, Vader already had the issue by the throat.
As in battle, he never stopped walking forward.
Tanis blinked and realized the entire parade had passed her by. Now they were at the starport. Vader's fighter squadron and the diplomatic shuttle, already powering up, awaited.
"What is it you want, Lord Vader?" Tanis asked abruptly.
The Emperor inclined his head down towards the much shorter human. She'd realized it before now, but once again faced the cold, hard reminder of how unnerving it must be to face the Sith on both the political and literal battlefield. The sheer physical presence he commanded, standing head and shoulders above almost everyone else, was a quality all its own.
Instead of answering directly, Vader stepped forward, resting both fists on his hips and looking down over the gathered crowd from the raised lift-off platform.
Kshhhhhh
"The rebels, these Partisans, failed. They failed to take the Governess hostage, they failed to kill me, and they failed to capture this planet. Escape is temporary. The Empire will hunt them down. I will hunt them down. Let them run and hide."
The Sith paused, and Tanis could almost feel the gathered populace lean in closer.
"There will be no escape. They do not know the true Power of the Dark Side of the Force. In time, I will find them. And then, there will be order and justice, across the galaxy."
Vader turned in one quick movement, cape flaring out behind him to the cheers of the crowd. As he passed by Tanis, she felt a gloved hand fall on her shoulder. The grip tightened. Not so much as to cause pain, but enough to be felt.
Kshhhhhh
"My answer is this, Tanis Mothma: I was once a slave. Now, I am the Master. What do I want? You cannot give me what I want. None of you can." Vader removed his hand and continued walking, but whispered, "and so, you can do nothing to stop me."