COMMANDER JERJERROD
As the green beam of Commander Skywalker's lightsaber announced the rebels' arrival, Jerjerrod allowed them to fan out on either side of the AT-ST to round up the officers and stormtroopers and he gave Veers a strict warning to keep his head down as they passed to not draw attention to himself. As Commander Skywalker and General Solo brought up the rear of the party, the Jedi suddenly had to hold General Solo back since the latter was marching forward with the intent to commit murder in the most gruesome fashion at the sight of Veers. Leia had to intervene by placing herself between General Solo and Veers, but unlike the men behind her, she had disapproving understanding on her face.
"I found him by chance," Jerjerrod explained as he also moved between the two generals with a cautious hand extended to calm the situation. "And I am ordering that he be treated as he was before but with more caution and less interaction."
"Ordering?" repeated General Solo. "Tell me where you get the gall to give orders, pal?"
Jerjerrod opened his mouth to respond, but had to pause, for he had never been referred to as something as familiar but also lowly-respected as "pal" before. It was a term of endearment among friends, but he and the general were not friends, and he knew it was not meant to be taken as such.
"You gave me my Imperial rank and I am making decisions based on my seniority. Aboard my battle station, I would outrank all of you, but here, I am your equal and am deferring to your command solely because you were chosen as the leader of operations for rebel ground forces, General. I found the general and another soldier outside of their walker and captured them without knowing who they were. I successfully captured and held this outpost and we now have control over one outpost when before we had none, thanks to my efforts. We are able to establish communication with the Death Star where my men are being held. While we wait to open communications, this man is to come to no harm, receive limited rations, and be left alone by my authority. He will only be in this camp for a day or two until an exchange can be made."
"An exchange?" repeated Leia. "For who? Vader's not going to give up your friends for him."
"Yes, he will, at least for one of them."
He knew that the Skywalker siblings would sense that he was not being entirely truthful with his intentions, but they had no say in how he chose to settle terms with the Sith.
"That pile of shit you're protecting got my people killed after we saved his sorry ass," said General Solo insistently. "And if you think that I'm not gonna have some say on what happens to him–"
"You will not have a say because your say would end in his death, which I cannot allow," said Jerjerrod sharply. "As difficult as this is for you to accept, I am putting my foot down on this matter. I respect you, I respect the decisions you make for your people, and I understand your need for justice for them, but this man's life is mine and he must not be harmed for Conan and Firmus to stand any chance. It pains me to say so, but I need him alive and whole."
"He isn't though, is he?" discerned Commander Skywalker with a nod at Veers's bandages.
"Capturing him required some violence, but once that bit of business was over, I was able to subdue him easily enough, and neither of his injuries prevent him from walking. I knew that to secure the outpost, I needed the men to trust their commanding officer, and so I allowed him to speak to his men to disarm them. They put up no fight and the outpost was taken with no bloodshed."
"He must be something special within Imperial ranks if he can make twenty-five men give up without a fight," said Leia thoughtfully.
With his arms crossing, General Solo gave Veers a once-over and said, "You've hidden his name from us for long enough. If you aren't going to let us touch him, you're going to tell us who he really is."
"I'm afraid that that information would only give you further inclination to do him bodily harm."
"I am General Maximilian Veers of the Imperial army," said Veers loudly, and though he did not sound proud of that fact, he did project himself in a manner that was expected of a man of his position. He was taking full responsibility for who he was and what he had done.
Judging by the way all three rebel leaders' eyes widened at this news, they all knew Veers's reputation.
"I take it you've heard of me," said Veers with a hint of complacency.
"The most decorated army general with some five dozen awards and counting for the massacre of hundreds of innocent lives, yes, we've heard of you," said Commander Skywalker darkly.
"Can't be that competent of a general if you've managed to get yourself captured twice in less than a month on the same moon," said General Solo with a wry grin.
"I was fished out of the river the first time after giving my life for my men, you insolent toerag," Veers retorted.
"If you'd have died like you should have, we could have avoided all of this."
"Han, this isn't helping," Commander Skywalker reprimanded.
Chewbacca made a growl of protest and to the surprise of all, Veers said, "I agree with the Wookie in this instance that my past transgressions mean little by way of what is happening now."
Wondering how he had missed the fact that Veers spoke Shyriwook, Jerjerrod intervened here. "I believe that I have been more than reasonable with my conditions and the ideal captive in obeying rules and even putting the safety of your people before my own, General. I have proven that I am to be trusted, and I would appreciate your acknowledgment and acceptance of that fact. I have no ulterior motive; I just want my men back."
"But as Leia already said, Vader won't trade both of them for just him," said Commander Skywalker with a scowl at Veers. "And we've nothing else to trade that he would think is valuable enough."
"I'm aware of that," said Jerjerrod, though he did not elaborate on his backup plan. "I will be making contact with Vader later, and I need the room empty of all personnel except for the general and myself."
"Well, that's not gonna happen," said General Solo doubtfully. "You realize how suspicious it looks if you and that weapon of mass destruction want to talk to your former master alone?"
"Nothing is to be gained if you or anyone else is in the room with me. You would only antagonize him and interfere with my ability to control the situation. I will need to focus on the task at hand and as capable as you are, your communicative methods are distracting."
"You'll have the room," Leia promised, though she gave General Solo a glare as if to make him promise to stay out of it. "But if Luke senses anything, he's coming in. Agreed?"
"Agreed, though I would hope it won't come to that."
The rebel leaders dispersed to help assign tasks for escorting the Imperial troops back to camp, but Jerjerrod made a point of thanking Chewbacca for whatever he had said to help dissuade General Solo. Once he and Veers were alone, he brought up the subject that piqued his curiosity, even though it had no relevance to their situation.
"To what extent did you understand what Chewbacca was saying?"
"It used to be a requirement that all men looking into officer positions had to speak another language. Firmus learned Huttese, but the practice was suspended by the time you arrived," said Veers, and it was odd to have such a normal conversation with him, almost as if they remained friends and had not held weapons on each other.
Jerjerrod locked Veers to a pipe running along the outside of the outpost with a binder extender and then secured some provisions for both of them. He could not rest, for he knew that by taking such a firm stance on Veers's safety, he had the responsibility of staying awake to protect him. Veers tilted his head back against the exterior outpost wall and closed his eyes for a time, but Jerjerrod could not say if he was sleeping. He had never actually seen Veers in a position of rest before, but even off guard, his brow was furrowed in an unconscious look of concentration. It seemed that the man had never had a peaceful moment in his life.
An hour or two had passed during which Jerjerrod was trying and failing to ignore the increasing urgency from his bladder, but when he could hold it no longer, he quickly stole away to the back side of the bunker to relieve himself and then upon returning to the front, saw that Veers was gone and the binder extender had been cut. He glanced around at the few fires where rebels had gathered for the night, but no one was looking his way, which meant that either Veers had slipped away unseen, or been taken, and the former seemed highly unlikely.
His ears were attuned to sounds out of the ordinary and though snapping twigs, rustling, and swaying branches of flighty creatures moving about were all sounds he had grown accustomed to hearing, enormous splashes were not common, and he heard such a thing now. He raced off toward the shallow stream the AT-ST had crossed earlier, only to discover that the water levels had risen a foot or two to create a small river.
Jerjerrod had been blissfully ignorant of the horrors the Empire committed to interrogate their prisoners and what he saw happening was not nearly as awful as the great majority of them, but it was still torture. The rebels had lost good soldiers and good friends due to Veers's actions and they wanted retribution for it. Perhaps two of them had thought that they could enact some vengeance upon Veers and return him to his place before Jerjerrod realized what had happened, or maybe they didn't care one way or another, but they had taken the chance to grab Veers, haul him out here, and try to slowly drown him. They each had a hold of one of his arms as they stood in shin-deep water and were forcing his head into the river at growing increments of time. They could not have been at it for very long, but given that Veers was already wounded, he was not in the best condition to fight back and was clearly struggling to hold his breath, for he gave a greedy inhalation as the rebels pulled his head up and choked despairingly when they shoved his head back under.
"That's enough!" Jerjerrod hollered, and the speed with which the rebels released Veers was incredible and only due to a shift in the way they viewed him. He was not an Imperial in their eyes any longer, but one of them. They had claimed him, respected him, and to an extent, feared him now that they knew what he was, but even that was not enough to stop them from trying to make Veers pay for his actions.
Veers had toppled headlong into the river once he had been let go and his legs had come up over his head to land him flat on his back in the shallows where he was gasping for breath. Jerjerrod sloshed out to where he lay with his blaster in hand and ordered Veers to come up onto his knees. As the rebels stood nearby, he put on his authoritative persona as if these were men caught slacking in their work that would mean some sort of scolding from Vader that could in turn mean anything from stern words to death.
"This man is my prisoner and as such, I choose to have him treated fairly despite his crimes for reasons I do not have to explain to anyone. Seek your vengeance elsewhere."
"He got our men killed," protested the more seasoned-looking rebel, a man named Wraygen.
"He got mine killed as well, but I have a chance to save two of them and I will not have that chance ruined by vigilantes. No one has the right to take this man's life but me and I will readily do so if he gives me a reason to, but unless that happens, I am posing a warning to all to not touch him."
"You wouldn't happen to be sparing him because he's your friend?" asked the younger of the two rebels testily. He was quick to anger and slow to heed advice and orders, dangerous traits in a young man who could not afford to make mistakes, lest he risk the entire rebel cause. Unlike the majority of the rebels who went by their surname, Jerjerrod knew this one only as Ollick.
"If ever he was my friend, he hasn't been for some time and certainly isn't now. He is a body that I have to trade to secure the safety of the two friends I do lay claim to. Do not question my decision again, soldier."
"I will not question your decision again," agreed Ollick, suddenly with a passive expression on his face. "We'll go now."
Jerjerrod managed to hide his confusion at Ollick's unexpectedly agreeable nature, but he didn't question the rebels' motives as both Ollick and Wraygen moved on with the older one looking as confused as Jerjerrod felt.
"Get up," Jerjerrod told Veers who was still retching on his knees, but Veers did not do as commanded as easily as Ollick had, which made Jerjerrod suspect that he had just succeeded in unintentionally employing a mind trick on the young rebel. The youth had seemed to go along with whatever was happening around him, feeding off of the emotions of those with more experience, and he was therefore more susceptible to persuasion, even if Jerjerrod had been unaware that he was attempting to influence Ollick's mind.
"Vigilant bunch, these rebels, to have pounced on the opportunity to torture me for the two minutes it took you to urinate," Veers observed scathingly.
"Whatever is done to you, however much you think you are suffering, it will never be enough to compensate for what you've done already," said Jerjerrod without sympathy. "Stand up and prepare yourself; you have a report to make."
As a warning to any other rebels who may have heard of Wraygen and Ollick's attempt on Veers, Jerjerrod kept his hand close to his lightsaber as he steered a still sopping wet and spluttering Veers inside the bunker where they descended a spiral staircase to the control room that had been abandoned with haste by its former occupants, for the screens were flashing various updates and warnings and the alert siren was blaring overhead. Jerjerrod had Veers disable the lot of it and then ordered him to make the call to contact Vader.
"You do realize he could strangle you over a hologram projection as soon as he sees you?" said Veers with his hand poised over the coordinates pad.
"If you're referring to Admiral Ozzel, I have no fear of that. The man was an underqualified, bumbling oaf, whereas Vader has made it abundantly clear that I am of value to the Emperor. He tried to kill me when he realized he could not control me himself, but that act also might have been born of jealousy that another younger Force-sensitive being might be more promising to the Emperor. Either way, they'll willingly trade to get their hands on me."
"You aren't seriously considering trading yourself?" said Veers incredulously. "I admire and admit that you possess more critical thinking than many military strategists I've known, but dumb bravery is not a trait I hold in high regard."
"Lucky for me, I neither require nor ask for your opinion on this matter. Place the call."
Shaking his head forebodingly, Veers dialed in the corresponding connection and stepped back so the screen could pick him up from his waist upward.
The semi-transparent blue image of the Sith lord appeared before Veers, but he was no less intimidating when cut down to a quarter of his original size. "Itrust you have a good reason for the delay in your report, General?"
Stepping out from behind Veers, Jerjerrod answered, "A good enough reason."
Jerjerrod had never known Vader to appear uncertain, but the Sith was most definitely caught off guard at the sight of the devastating cut across Veer's face and as Jerjerrod elbowed Veers aside, he stepped into clear view of the holographic projector.
"Before any terms are discussed, I want to see Admirals Motti and Piett, or I will cut the signal and you will not receive another negotiation proposal. You have ten minutes."
He surprised himself with his ability to state his demands when he had never spoken to the Sith in such a manner. If he had even dared to be so blunt before, he would have found his larynx crushed under Vader's hand, but he could afford to be daring now when everything depended on him keeping his composure.
"You have grown bold in your absence, indeed, if you think that you can demand such things, Commander," said Vader.
"Interesting, isn't it, what a person is willing to do once they discover that they're no longer valued? You rule with an iron fist and expect nothing but absolute loyalty and submission, and yet when you toss out those who serve you, you act surprised. I have stated my terms. You now have nine minutes."
The feed picked up static and Vader's image distorted before being replaced with a view of what had to be the Emperor's throne room. Jerjerrod had never seen it in person, but he had designed it, so he knew what he was looking at and knew what he was about to see. The recording panned over to a figure on the floor and though there were no guards to prompt him to look, Piett's eyes found the projection lens as if he knew that Jerjerrod was there.
It was a close thing, but Jerjerrod managed to swallow the gasp that was sitting in his throat at the sight of his friend. Piett's wrists were chained to the floor on either side of him tightly enough to stretch and make it impossible to rise even an inch off of the ground but also impossible to slump over. He had been fitted with a muting contraption that was affixed to the lower half of his face so that he could not speak distinguishable words, but could still make unintelligible sounds of protest, which he did now. He had always had deep, dark circles under his eyes as a result of a lack of sunlight, but he looked positively skeletal and malnourished while also alarmingly alert. They had to have been injecting him with something to keep him awake, unable to sleep, unable to take the rest his body so desperately needed. His pale blond hair was plastered to his scalp in a cold sweat and his skin now took on a sallow appearance.
For the first time in what seemed like years, Jerjerrod felt Piett's presence in his mind, but it was sharper, jagged, almost painful to experience as if Piett did not recognize him and was trying to fight him off. Before Jerjerrod could try to calm him, the image shifted to the other side of the room where Motti was secured to the wall with his arms spread out crucifixion style and his neck was held up by a strap that prevented him from resting his head on his chest. He had lost weight as well, but not nearly as much as the time he had found out that the Emperor was to oversee his trial, which told of his defiance this time around. His skin bore signs of burns, though Jerjerrod could not imagine why this might be. His eyes had more presence than Piett's, and they were full of rage. He too made eye contact with the lens and there was no mistaking that he knew Jerjerrod was watching and knew what Jerjerrod was about to propose as he shook his head once.
Left with only the sight of his friends in such awful positions to behold, Jerjerrod stood there for several minutes before he saw Vader lead a host of troopers all with a red streak on their helmets into the room. At the back of the procession came the stooped figure of the Emperor and Jerjerrod could not help the shiver that prickled at the base of his neck as the Sith approached the lens.
"I understand that you wish to discuss terms, Commander, though I suspect that you already know what we will agree to and what we will not," said the Emperor in that sickening manner that suggested that he wanted Jerjerrod to beg for his friends.
"If you suspect that, you must already know what I will barter for," Jerjerrod returned. "If you cannot guarantee that my terms will be met, we have nothing further to discuss, but I have a feeling that you want what I have more than the other way around."
"You assume too much," said Vader. "You place a high value on your own life."
"As does the Emperor, which was why you tried to have me killed. I may not be of use to you, Lord Vader, but the decision is not yours to make. You want only your son, but there are three Force-sensitive individuals who hold great value for your master."
At the Emperor's command, one of the specialized troopers pressed a button on the side of Piett's jaw and the gagging device released its suction from him, falling away.
"Your friend has come to rescue you, Admiral," the Emperor told Piett, but Piett made no indication that he had heard. His body was present, but his mind had gone. Jerjerrod was chewing into his lower lip to keep it from quivering as he considered that they may have tortured Piett into insanity and that all that remained of him was an empty, desolate shell.
"You wish to make an exchange for this?" asked the Emperor with a grand wave at Piett in his diminished form.
"How long has it been since you last saw him in person?" Jerjerrod asked Veers quietly. "You said they were using that damnable droid on him every day, so how long has it been?"
"Almost three weeks," Veers answered, though he sounded hollow and Jerjerrod could tell that he had not expected Piett to look so drastically altered either.
The Emperor beckoned to something in the darkness behind him and the very droid Jerjerrod had spoken of came to the forefront with a syringe at the ready to subject Piett to further torment. Piett was amazingly still cognitive enough to recognize that the droid meant pain, and he dissolved into hysteria as he tried to avoid what he knew was coming. He leaned as far away as he could, but he was still immobilized and the droid simply hovered over him and inserted the needle at the base of his neck. It was but the work of a moment and Piett's veins were bulging, his throat muscles stretching as he pitched his head back and screamed. Jerjerrod bit down on the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood to not visibly react to what he was seeing, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Veers look away from the scene in front of him, Though it angered him, Jerjerrod took Veers's action as the perfect excuse to peel his eyes off of Piett. Grabbing Veers by the back of his neck, he steered him back around to face the screen as he barked, "You're the cause of this; you're going to watch."
If Jerjerrod could have opened up his chest to view his heart, he was sure he would see it bleeding, aching for Piett and knowing there was nothing he could do to help him. It was worse than seeing him lead the troopers away, worse than watching Motti's retreating back as he did the same, worse than knowing that Needa was suffering and having to put him down like a wild animal.
On the other side of the room, Motti had not moved. He made no sign of acknowledgment that he was aware of Piett's distress, which told Jerjerrod he had seen this happen too many times and knew that fighting to get to Piett was useless. That, or he, too, was damaged beyond repair and could not find the strength to react at all.
The Sith knew where he was, and there was nothing to be lost in establishing a connection with his friends now, and so Jerjerrod projected his strength and his comfort to Piett, battering down the walls Piett had put up to protect what little remained of his sanity.
I'm coming to get you, Jerjerrod promised. I'm going to get you out of there and put an end to this, but you have to hold on. They won't touch you ever again, but you must hold on, Firmus. Tell me you hear me.
Foam began to pool at the corners of Piett's mouth and Jerjerrod could feel him straining to break through the hold the pain had on him.
I'm here. Hold onto me, Jerjerrod offered, extending the hand of his mind to grasp Piett's, if Piett would only take it. The lost, wounded soul that looked back at him through forlorn eyes was slipping away, unable to summon the strength to accept his help.
Take his hand, Firmus.
It was not Jerjerrod's voice that he heard in his head, nor in Piett's. It was not Commander Skywalker's and it was not the Emperor's, but it was strong, and astonishingly, young-sounding. It offered Piett courage and a promise as if it knew what the Emperor had done, as if it had experienced this sort of outcome before.
Piett's voice broke and the scream cut off as if he had suddenly been silenced. The Emperor quickly turned his head to watch him, but he gave no acknowledgment that anything had happened.
Tell me you hear, Firmus, Jerjerrod urged.
Silence, and then…
I hear you.
Jerjerrod could not let the relief show on his face, but there would have been no time for it as Motti's binders released them as if of their own accord and he fell forward with just enough sense to catch himself on his forearms to not break his nose for the tenth or eleventh time. His silencer was also deactivated, but far from Piett's reaction when the same had been done to him, Motti immediately spouted a dire warning.
"Cut the transmission, Tiaan. Don't you dare negotiate-"
Curdling blue currents of electricity sprouted from the Emperor's fingertips and shocked Motti into a twitching silence as the currents ran up and down his body for several seconds before ceasing and leaving him in spasms upon the floor. Smoke rose from his body and though he could not physically smell it, Jerjerrod could imagine that it had to have an acrid odor of burning flesh.
"Their fate is in your hands, Commander," the Emperor proposed.
Those hands had balled into fists at his sides and he felt himself trembling as pressure built in his midsection. He was either going to scream or spew and at the moment he was unsure which. In response to his demands, the Emperor had seen fit to taunt him by making his friends suffer while knowing that Jerjerrod could do nothing to stop him, and then watching Jerjerrod struggle in the aftermath.
Steady, said Luke Skywalker's voice in his head. Hold steady, Tiaan. I'm coming in.
"The next time you see them, there may not be anything left to salvage. State your terms now."
He's baiting you. Hold firm, don't give in to hate, Skywalker encouraged.
Jerjerrod had not even begun to compose a response when the Emperor struck again and Jerjerrod knew the sight of that electric current crackling across Motti's body would be forever burned into his eyes.
He wasn't certain, but he thought he felt Veers kick him in the back of the leg to prompt him to respond.
How Jerjerrod would have liked to kill the Sith now. He never wanted for anything as badly as he desired the chance to cut the Emperor in half and then stab him until a sea of red ran from those black robes. It would satisfy every need he had to hear the Emperor scream, but Jerjerrod would need to keep him alive to pay him back in kind for the atrocities he had committed.
Then Skywalker was there, taking hold of the fabric at his shoulder and yanking him around to shake him. Jerjerrod saw himself reflected back in the Jedi's eyes and not purely from the reflection but from within, from the sight of the Force. He saw himself lost and with loathing as a brilliant pair of speckled red and yellow eyes glared back at him. He saw a shadow fall upon his face and a darkness latch onto him that would never come to light.
Stay with me, Skywalker told him.
A third wave of electricity rippled over Motti and Jerjerrod heard him sobbing in his mind.
"Look at me!" Skywalker thundered, clasping Jerjerrod's face in a firm hold. "If you give in right now, you're condemning them. This is the same way the Emperor manipulated my father to turn to the dark side. If you give into the hate you feel on account of your friends, you are ensuring that they'll die. Keep a clear mind, put aside your hate, and make a decision for yourself. Make a decision based on what is right, not what you feel."
The rush of hatred Jerjerrod felt toward the Jedi for stopping him from doing what his mind was telling him he needed was overpowering. The small sense of logic that he could maintain a grip on told him that he was being irrational, that an outside force was driving him to feel such anger out of nowhere for this man who had done nothing but help him navigate this uncharted expanse of space that was the Force. But the pull of the dark side was so incredibly strong as the Emperor fueled it from the other side of the hologram, and Jerjerrod knew he could not harm the Emperor, so he had to find some other outlet.
Steady, Skywalker told him.
Steady, said that same unidentifiable voice that he had heard talking to Piett.
Steady, said the strongest voice of all, coming to him from Veers who was watching him from beside Skywalker with such intensity that all thoughts of vengeance and bloodlust were driven from his mind.
He should hate Veers more than anyone, and he thought he did, but Veers was taking a great risk in trying to calm him where the Sith could see because he could not stand to watch Jerjerrod struggle. This inner turmoil and duel between Jerjerrod's warring sides of morality was a territory that Veers had never navigated before and as much as Motti hated the Force for not understanding it, Veers hated it for being able to see what it could do. He was fascinated by the Force working through another individual, but only as far as demonstrating superior abilities, not morphing that individual into whatever Jerjerrod was threatening to become. This infinitesimal, hairline fracture in Veers's stoic military persona was what broke the spell that the moment held over Jerjerrod and he set his hands softly upon Skywalker's to let him know that he was once again in control of his emotions.
That was too close. He had lost control before, but never so harshly, never to such an extent that he had been in danger of completely giving himself over to the dark side with no hesitation. It spoke to the power of the Force and how easily he could be tempted to the dark side when his intentions had been good. He loved these men, his friends, too deeply, and their pain had almost been his undoing. This was what Skywalker had meant when he warned of how the Jedi trials had been designed to prepare an individual for the temptations of the dark side.
Addressing the screen to see the Emperor's disappointment, Jerjerrod state, "I will settle for no less than the safe return of both admirals to me within the next forty-eight hours."
"Admiral Piett is of no further use to me, but I will not hand him over without payment," said the Emperor with no mention of how he had almost succeeded in gaining an apprentice in Jerjerrod with hardly any effort.
"My terms are this: the return of Admiral Piett for General Veers at a pre-set location of my choosing."
"I require a significantly more substantial prize if you wish for me to release Admiral Motti to you, Commander. As valiant his efforts are in opposing my influence on him, I still believe there to be something salvageable to me within him, and so if I am to cease my efforts, I must have something of greater value in return."
As he knew it would happen, Jerjerrod proposed his final plan, aware of how this act could be the very fabric of the rebels' undoing if he did not play his cards correctly.
"You may have my full surrender on the sole condition that Admiral Motti be securely delivered to the rebels at a location of your choosing. No further harm is to come to him or Admiral Piett and they are to be treated for any and all injuries sustained before the exchange. They are to be released to me and then I will hand myself over. You have my word."
"We require more than your assurance, Commander. Young Skywalker there is also to surrender at the time of the exchange."
"That's not my decision to make and not a part of this negotiation. The rebels have nothing to do with this interaction. This is about me, the admirals, and the general. I know what you're trying to do with Admiral Motti and I am confident that you won't succeed, and so your efforts are being wasted. You will lose nothing in relinquishing him to the rebels and gaining me in his stead."
"I can speak for myself," said Skywalker as he glared at the screen as if in disappointment. "I don't believe that you approved of this torture, Father. I don't believe for one second that you wanted this to happen to your men. If you have men like General Veers who have served alongside you with such respect, you can't also be this evil incarnate who enjoys seeing men suffer. I know you respected at least two of these men, yet you allowed this to happen to them."
"I cannot delay the callings of the Force when and if it calls for someone, even if I do not believe them worthy of the gifts the Force provides, Son," said Vader with some weight to his words. "The Force calls to you to join me, and if it calls the commander as well, so be it."
"I will not hand myself over," said the Jedi strongly, now addressing the Emperor. "I will fight to get Admiral Motti back, but I will not exchange myself for him when I can feel him resisting every attempt you've made to break him. He's stronger than you think, and you won't turn him as you did my Father, and neither will you turn the commander or me. You can't fool us into believing that this is for our benefit because none of us desire power. You have nothing that we want that would make us stoop so low as to turn our backs on what we already have. So if you will trade Admiral Piett for General Veers and trade Commander Jerjerrod for Admiral Motti, accept the terms and name the location of the second exchange."
Jerjerrod was ever-grateful to the Jedi for expressing such faith in Motti to Vader, who was the one who held the most doubt. Skywalker had vouched for Jerjerrod and his men as if they were his own, and that dedication to men who had only weeks ago been his enemy had to resonate in the Sith lord somehow. Seeing that his own son chose these random officers over a life of servitude alongside his father had to have given the Sith something to consider.
At a signal from the Emperor whose bulbous yellow-red eyes were promising swift retribution for their defiance, Vader spoke. "The terms are accepted. Name the first location."
Jerjerrod, who already had the spot in mind, sent the coordinates over the dial pad and said, "Midday, fifteen hours from now, which will give Admiral Piett time to be examined by your meddroids and returned to the state he was captured in."
"You may surrender on the summit overlooking the shield generator twenty-four hours following the first exchange, Commander. See that you arrive on time; tardiness will not be tolerated."
Scowling at Vader's need to give one last order, Jerjerrod nodded and then the screen went dark.
He rested his knuckles on the control panel and hunched over, counting in his head to calm his breathing.
"You shouldn't have spoken to them alone. I was almost too late," Skywalker chastised.
"I didn't expect that temptation of the dark side to happen," Jerjerrod admitted sheepishly.
"Of course you didn't, but you see how easy it was to be swayed? You see how quickly a man with good intentions can fall to the call of the dark side? You wanted to get your friends back, and there's not one act more noble than that, but the Emperor hurt them where you could see, and you became angry and wanted someone else to hurt to compensate. My masters told me that my father fell to the dark side because he was trying to save my mother, but when she died, he had nothing left to fight for, and allowed himself to be consumed by the dark side. If you lose yourself to the point that your friends no longer recognize you, what's the point?"
"I won't," Jerjerrod promised. "They won't have anything to tempt me with after the exchange."
"You had no business proposing yourself."
"You agreed to it in front of them. Why didn't you stop me if you thought it was an ill-conceived idea?"
"Because once you had put it on the table, I hoped you had another plan in place."
"I do, but you don't seem keen to trust me on it."
"I don't really have a choice, do I?"
"You do if you trust me."
Skywalker sighed with his hands on his hips in contemplation. "You're taking a great gamble with everything we've achieved, Commander."
"If I have your support, the only thing you'll lose if this gamble doesn't pay off, is me."
"And are you prepared to suffer the consequences of your actions? Are you prepared for what limits you'll have to be pushed to before the Emperor is finished with you?"
"I don't know," answered Jerjerrod truthfully, "but I don't intend to find out. If you would put your faith in me, spread the word and prepare for the second exchange."
He could not say more on the matter with Veers listening in, but then again, Veers may be exactly what he needed to ensure the success of his plan. It would all depend on what sort of welcome Veers would receive upon being returned to the Sith.
"How do you believe you will be received once the exchange takes place?" Jerjerrod questioned as he finally acknowledged Veers.
"I am not worth that trade to them, and they are aware of it. They won't honor it," said Veers, and it was a defeated tone, one that spoke of resignation that he finally realized how little his life was worth. "They'll lay a trap for you."
"Yes, they will, which is why we are doing two separate exchanges in two locations. The first is of our choosing, so they can't take us by surprise. The second being at the bunker will be a ploy to gather the rebels, come at us from behind, and wipe us all out at once. They'll cut off our escape. We will have to find some way to not let that happen."
"I don't suppose you're going to tell me what this grand plan of yours is?"
"Why would you imagine I would ever tell you that? I'm about to hand you back over to the beings you apparently love more than anything in this universe, so why in the hell would I tell you what plans I have, if any, to avoid honoring the exchange on my end? I know they won't honor it, but it's the closest I can get to Conan, and I have to take that chance. What I want to know is, do you think you'll be able to convince them that you did your level best to not be taken by me? Do you think they will believe you if you tell them that I overpowered you, wounded you, and forced you to bring me to this outpost? Or do you think you can hide most of the truth from them?"
"I think that they'll see this second capture as a failure that cannot be forgiven despite my many years of service," admitted Veers mournfully. "I think that they will allow me to live only long enough to make use of my command over the men stationed on this moon and then do to me what they did to the eighty-four prisoners."
"Exactly," said Jerjerrod triumphantly, to which Veers blanched. "Your men are loyal to you. They put down their weapons once you gave the command in their best interest. You gave your life for them and came back from the dead to continue to lead them. The Emperor knows that the rebels will counter-attack if he tries to surround us during the second exchange, and he needs you and your command over your men to guarantee a victory. Your men would charge into battle with you or lay down their arms and refuse to fight. Of what little free will they possess, they do understand that you would and have sacrificed much for them, and they will honor that by doing as you say."
"Even if they did, the Emperor has a host of soldiers who do not recognize my command. Not even Lord Vader can direct them. They're called the Red Battalion," said Veers in an allusion to the troopers with the red marked helmets.
"What are the chances of him bringing that entire host down here? Why would the Emperor personally put himself at risk by exposing himself to our attack when he could just send Vader?"
"I can't answer that, but I know that if I were to turn on the Emperor and call every man under my command to action, we would be evenly matched with the Red Battalion, and so it would be a needless loss of lives just for me to save myself. I'm not so selfish as to ask several battalions to lay down their lives for me."
"But they fight out of respect for you while the Red Battalion fights out of fear of the Emperor. Fear is a strong motivator, but not as strong as others."
"I wouldn't know," said Veers proudly. "I've never been motivated by fear."
"Nor do you even recognize good and evil since it appears that it's all a big mass of indifference to you," snapped Jerjerrod, frustrated at Veers's lack of moral vision.
"I have always led the line of gray morality. I cannot see pure good or evil, and the line of right and wrong is blurred because every man is right in his own mind."
"And the fact that three of your friends–four if you count Lorth who would have told you the same if he had lived–told you that you were wrong never struck you to think that perhaps you were wrong? Did we ever mean anything to you? Did you ever feel for us what we felt for you? I can sense many things in you, but I have never felt the emotions of affection and care. Perhaps you've managed to hide it from me, as you've hid many things from the Sith, but I would hear you tell me the truth now."
"If I ever harbored any platonic affection for any of you, only to cast it aside in the name of the Empire, telling you the truth would just wound you more deeply," said Veers carefully.
"Knowing that you only ever saw us as men wearing a uniform who meant nothing to you would hurt more. To have wasted a large portion of your life caring for another individual who never reciprocated your commitment would be a devastating blow, but you already know that, don't you?" Veers's permanent frown line etched deeper as he realized what Jerjerrod was telling him, and Jerjerrod did not care one bit that this was a forbidden subject.
If memory served, Motti's family never visited him after paying a sizable contribution to cover his tuition. Piett enrolled to support his family and both of his parents had since passed, leaving only his younger sister. Needa was the middle of five children, all of whom entered into the family business and who disowned him after he was assigned to the Death Squadron. An entire generation separated Piett from his sister, and his communication with her had never been as that of siblings, but of distant acquaintances occasionally writing to check in on the other. Piett was the only one with living family who acknowledged his presence, for Veers's mother, wife, and son had no part in his life and Motti's family erased him from their history after the shame his court martialing had brought to them. They were all of them alone in this universe, but Jerjerrod did not see how this had been the catalyst for Veers's warpath.
"I kept contact with your mother while she still had her wits about her," Jerjerrod explained, almost apologetically since Veers would have been irate if he had found this out as a schoolboy. "She told me from her perspective what she observed to be an unloving relationship between you and your father. You never spoke of your home life before the Academy besides what happened to your father and brother, but to dedicate your life to avenging a man whose respect you always wanted but never earned makes little sense to me. Your life's work has amounted to what, for what?"
"Is it that important to you to know?" asked Veers in exasperation. "You're an incessant, pestering meddler, do you know that?"
"I only want to understand why. I know why Conan, Firmus, and Lorth did the things they did, but I've never understood you. Not your reasoning for selling us out, not your reasoning for taking the fall for Conan on the bridge, not your reasoning for speaking to me not ten minutes ago when you saw the Emperor trying to seduce my mind with the temptation of the dark side, and don't deny it," he said with a stern finger as Veers opened his mouth to do that very thing. "I can feel your conflict, but I don't know what it centers on. You knew what was being done to Firmus and Conan and had seen it firsthand, but you couldn't even look at Firmus just now. You say you have unwavering dedication to the Empire, and yet you chose to support me over doing nothing."
"I didn't–"
"You did if I say you did." Jerjerrod tapped his temple. "You know I can hear you when you're trying to talk to me. It worked on the bridge, it works now. You saw the dark side manifesting in me and what you saw frightened you more than anything ever has because you risked exposing yourself to the Emperor just to reach me even though there was a chance that he would catch you in the act. Admit that you wanted to help me, consciously or not. Even if you weren't actively trying to make me hear you, you knew that I might, and I did. And I didn't understand why you would do that, which is what pulled me out of that trance I was stuck in."
He would hear Veers admit his faltering assiduity to his duties before the Empire. One way or another, he would hear Veers admit to it.
"You're determined to find goodness where there is none to be had. Some men are just born unbothered by the happenings around them, but none of us can predict if that's how we will turn out. I had no way of knowing that my life would lead to this, but I wouldn't change how I came to be at this point, because I don't see that it would have made a difference."
"I don't hold to that belief at all; I think that if things had happened differently than they had, it would have greatly impacted how we came to be here. I killed one of my childhood friends, watched two others give themselves to the Empire to protect me, and now wear a different uniform from the fourth. My father squandered what little money he had left after sending me to the Academy and died a broken man some ten years back. My mother left him after my third year of studies and I had no siblings. The boys I met in school were the only family I had, as was the case for many of us, but not all were so lucky as to be able to continue to communicate with each other and work together. If we all had had supportive families growing up, our lives would have shaped into something entirely different and all or none of us might be here right now."
True, if they all had had families that cared about them as families should care for their children, they might never have been tempted to join the Academy to begin with, but there was a reason, a driving force to set them on this path, and if they had not taken it, fate would have dealt them very different outcomes.
"I had no way of knowing all those nights I sat across from Lorth at the canteen table that I would one day be firing a blaster shot into his head as he foamed at the mouth. I didn't know I'd one day be holding you at gunpoint, fighting for the rebels and confronting the Sith as I spent hours pouring over the notes you'd taken of military strategy. You were just my friend then, and war wasn't real. As a boy, I didn't know the horrors that awaited me, but I don't regret forming those attachments in my youth. I would rather have lived a hundred lifetimes of this pain in my heart than to have lived one and never knew what it meant to feel at all. The Empire missed four crucial officers when it set out to eradicate independent thought and human emotions from its soldiers. But I don't know if it missed you or if you made yourself that way."
Veers examined the broken nails on one of his bound hands. "I am an enigma to myself. If I knew what I was and what I wanted, I would not tell you, because that is not what I learned to do. To react with feeling rather than thought was discouraged well before I entered the Academy where it was only reinforced. I don't know what would have had to happen for my life to turn out differently, but it's far too late to change the course now. If you kept communication with my mother before she was diagnosed as senile, you would have known that she was a loveless woman who leeched off of the money I was able to send to her. If you had spoken to my wife, you would know that she had hopes of a meaningful marriage that were quickly dashed once she realized that little time could be afforded to spend with her, but that divorce would mean rumors and cutting off financial support to raise our son. If you met my son, you would know that he has been raised to resent me for dedicating my life to serving while sparing no time for him. And if you had met my father, you would understand that I was doomed from birth to live a meaningless life. I made my peace with that fact long ago. What keeps me going is the verity that I know I am gifted in this field and that so long as I am still breathing, I have earned my right to be proud."
"So you are content with the fact that the Emperor might kill you and might wipe your name from Empirical records, leaving you as a nameless general who shamed the cause he fought so valiantly for? If you died right this instant as a result of failing to avoid capture twice, would you be at peace knowing that your life meant nothing to anyone?"
At last, Veers had no verbal answer for him, but Jerjerrod felt the effect that his words had on him, felt how everything Veers thought he knew could come crashing down. If there was one thing Veers could not tolerate besides disloyalty, it was being ignored, treated as if he had never existed. To be nothing, to have meant nothing, was not something he could stand.
"So do you want to be remembered, or to pass into obscurity, Maxim?"