Darth Vader looked upon Korra and Mako, who'd just set their children down. Naga had been intimidated by the Sith Lord's entrance, while Pabu yiped and wrapped himself around Harou in a protective embrace, with the Polar Bear Dog sitting close by.
"Relax, Naga, Lord Vader is a friend, not a threat," Korra reassured her animal guide. Her faithful pet relaxed a little, but Pabu was still intimidated by Vader's mechanical breathing.
"I was always better with machines than animals," the Sith Lord noted to his two apprentices. "Any animals on Tatooine were either something to eat or to avoid. And the only creatures on Coruscant were parasitic, to both the people and the city. But I could always count on machines I'd handled." Looking at Korra and Mako, he gave them an inquisitive look. "Have you handled your mentors and Sato?" Korra, noticing two of her students outside, stepped out to speak with them while Mako stayed to report to Vader.
"Tenzin and Lin understand that our world needs protection," Mako answered. "Even Katara knows you will have to be part of that. And Asami is very eager to learn how space technology works. She will be happy to learn from us. Trust me, none of them will be a problem."
"And your new relationship with her?" Vader asked, surprising Mako. "I knew she wanted the two of you in her life, and I saw her love and longing enhanced when she held your children for the first time. And that she never returned to her hotel room last night."
"Well, it was certainly a surprise, but a welcome one," Mako sheepishly smiled. "Korra feels the same, and the children also love Asami."
"How you handle your lives in private is at your discretion," Vader told his apprentice. "But it is on you if your work is jeopardized."
"It won't be, Master," Mako affirmed. Just then, Vader's comlink started beeping.
"My lord, there was an attack on the Western Air Temple," Lieutenant Jir reported to Darth Vader.
Korra was overlooking Jonah's Firebending and Koko's Waterbending. "Great work, Specialist Partagaz," Korra complimented the young woman. "Your Waterbending is excellent, especially that with that ice shield." Koko had encased herself in ice via Waterbending and sped across the ice she'd created in front of her. The ice shield had been very effective at dispersing blaster fire, without sacrificing speed.
"Thank you, Master Korra," the chalk-white young woman replied. She'd inherited her appearance from her mother, an Arkanian Offshoot. Long ago, the Arkanians, a pale-eyed, four-fingered race of Near-Humans had experimented on themselves to create a race of miners. The Offshoots, as they were called, had pale-white skin, hair, and blue eyes along with five-fingered hands. Most had normal ears, but others had sharp, pointed ears, as another Near-Human race, the Sephi, had been used to create them. For almost two hundred years, the Offshoots had been persecuted and used as disposable labor. But almost four thousand years ago, an Offshoot named Jarael and her ex-Jedi husband, had managed to overthrow the purist government. Over the course of the next several thousand years, the Offshoots and Pureblood Arkanians gradually intermingled, to the point that, by the time of the Clone Wars, there was no clear distinction between the two. Most Arkanians now had the appearance of their Offshoot ancestors. And Koko clearly took after her mother.
"You are doing fine, as well, Jonah," Korra complimented the young Firebender. Jonah had become quite skilled, having been Mako's first Firebending student. He'd learned how to conjure lightning and erect flame barriers.
"Thank you, Colonel," he answered, clutching Koko's hand as she kissed him on the cheek.
"Indeed," Korra said. "But there is something I need to ask you about." She then proceeded to question him regarding three-way relationships in Zeltron society. He'd come to love Zeltron culture and traditions far more than his native Qreenan identity and had studied them extensively.
"Polymances are somewhat rare but hardly unheard of," the young man answered. "Triangular relations can be codified into marriage and are no more likely to break down than any other union." Before he could ask about her inquiry, Korra asked him how he felt about them personally. "Well, we can't choose who we love," he said turning at Koko with a smile. "For most of my life, there's only been one person I love like that." Koko pulled him close and kissed him lovingly.
"I love you, too," the young woman said before kissing him softly. "But I'm willing to try out new things. So, who's your second love?" Jonah scratched his head nervously, looking hesitant to say so in front of Korra.
"I'm...not sure I have one," he said nervously. "And I don't want to jeopardize us. In addition, how do you think your dad would feel about that?"
"He's mostly concerned about my safety and happiness," Koko smirked, pulling Jonah close and kissing him. "That's what's most important to my dad." Just then, the Avatar's comlink started beeping.
"Korra, we need to see Tenzin, now," Mako said through it. "Something has happened." Korra headed with Mako to where Tenzin and his family were.
"Korra, it's good to see you again but I didn't think it would happen this soon," Tenzin said after they arrived. "But I wasn't expecting to see you again, so soon."
"We just received news that can't wait," Mako stated. "Cad Bane, the blue-skinned, red-eyed alien who somehow became an Airbender, was seen at the Western Air Temple." That news shocked everyone in the room.
"How bad is it?" asked Tenzin, rather disturbed by the news.
"It appears that everyone at the temple, and the Fire Nationals who fled there to escape the volcanic eruption, were abducted," Korra answered, looking rather hesitant to continue. "There is something else: Bumi was injured and had to be taken to a Star Destroyer's medical wing after an Imperial shuttle rescued him. The Imperial response team managed to stick a tracking device onto the transport Bane and the other attackers took, as well." With that, Katara demanded to know what had happened to her son. "He had an injury that you can't help with, but the doctors will save him," Korra reassured the people in front of her. All of a sudden, the phone started ringing. Before anyone could pick it up, Mako waved his hand and, with the Force, turned on the new speaker function.
"Hello?" asked a familiar voice in an urgent tone.
"Zuko, it's Katara," the elderly Waterbender said. "Korra just arrived and told us about what happened at the Western Air Temple. Korra's...friends are bringing Bumi here now. Tell Izumi she'll be able to see him soon."
"It's not just that," Zuko said frantically. "Iroh was with him, and Mizuki went there, as well. The aliens took them with everyone else."
"What!?" exclaimed Tenzin, as everyone else in the room was shocked by the news. "How did that happen?!"
"Iroh's plane went down, and he had to hitch a ride on Bumi's bison," Zuko said. "As for Mizuki, it seems she flew a plane to tell Bumi that Korra had kidnapped her mother. And was abducted along with her brother shortly after arrival."
"Not how I would have called it," Korra interjected, noticeably angered by the description. "The important thing is that Bumi is on a Star Destroyer being checked over for injuries. I'll bring him back down, along with the intelligence for the attackers." Korra then shut the phone before Zuko could respond. "The intelligence on the abductors will be here, soon," Korra stated to the Airbender family. "I need to review it." Before she and Mako left, Jinora grabbed her hand.
"What exactly happened to Uncle Bumi?" she asked, worried about her uncle. Noticing how everyone else was waiting for her answer, Korra explained.
"He was stabbed right here," Korra said, pointing to her right side. "Bane used a Vibroknife. Its blade keeps vibrating until it's turned off or the battery runs out. It was inside him for at least twenty seconds, at which point your uncle tore it out before it could do more internal damage. He lost over a quart of blood before the Stormtrooper medic managed to inject him with a hibernation drug to slow the blood flow. The Imperial doctors on the Devastator have been racing to save his life since." Any displeasure at Korra was pushed aside when Katara heard how her eldest son had been injured.
"Take me to this ship," Katara commanded. Korra briefly hesitated but relented upon seeing her old master's concern for her son.
"Okay, but you NEED to let the doctors work on him," the Avatar said. Katara and her other two children followed Korra to a nearby Lambda shuttle. This wasn't how Korra planned to introduce them to spaceflight, but it would have to do.
"How did they manage to do this?" asked Suyin when she heard of the Western Air Temple abduction.
"It seems that this Bane had another client, in addition to Durga the Hutt," Kuvira explained. "He'd been planning this for a while, as evidenced by how he'd infiltrated the Air Nomads." Then another beep came onto her datapad, causing her to look rather surprised.
"Err, I'm sure it's surprising, Kuvira, but I don't know this alphabet," Wei said, looking over her shoulder at the datapad she was holding.
"It says that General Iroh and Princess Mizuki are among the abducted," Kuvira answered, shocking the family. "It appears that Commander Bumi and his son were there to help the people running from the volcano, and that his daughter went to join them later."
"Probably panicking over how her mom was dragged down south," Baatar noted. "Too bad Izumi didn't listen the first time she was told to come."
"It sounds like you blame the Fire Lord for her daughter being kidnapped," his father noted.
"Well, Izumi was explicitly told to come instead of her father, that the Avatar herself had commanded it, and she still sent her tired old father in her place, thinking she could ignore it," Kuvira explained. "Yeah, the only reason Korra showed up and scared her at all is because Izumi thought she could ignore the Avatar and the Galactic Empire."
"Leaving aside that reasoning, it was extremely rude of you and Korra to approach the situation, that way," Suyin told her two eldest children.
"It was pretty rude of Izumi to ignore this summons from the Imperials and the Avatar, as well," Wing spoke up in defense of his siblings.
"Thank you for noticing that," Baatar Jr said to his brother. "And after how the Earth Queen tried to blow Korra off with a request to help collect taxes, I don't blame her for having no patience for another ruler's nonsense."
"And what about your nonsense, Junior?" Huan challenged his big brother. Before Huan could continue, Baatar responded to the challenge by pinning him against the wall, using the Force.
"Let your brother go," their mother commanded, before turning to her middle son. "But you shouldn't talk down to him like that, either." After a moment, Baatar Jr released his brother, at which point their father spoke up.
"I think it's time you have a more private conversation with your mother and I," he told his eldest son. After Baatar Jr followed his parents into another room, his mother looked at him firmly.
"Whenever you hear the term 'Junior' it looks like you're gritting your teeth in anger," Suyin noted to her son. Given his change in hair and clothing style, to the point where he no longer wore glasses, it was clear her eldest son was trying to differentiate himself from his father.
"My whole life, it feels as if, whenever we meet someone new, you say the same thing," Baatar told his parents. "'This is Junior, the eldest, he's just like his father' as if that's all there is to me. You give flowering praise to everyone else regarding their talents while introducing us but not me. You never gave me a chance to introduce myself, meet new people, or do anything I wanted. Whenever the others wanted something, did something, or were crying, you were there. But never for me, though. And whenever I accomplish something, you just say 'that's nice, you're just like your father.'" He then looked at his namesake, Baatar Sr. "As if all I am is a copy of you and nothing else."
"I never thought of you as an extension of myself," his father said, knowing not to use the Junior title. "I thought of you as what I wanted to be at your age: a brilliant young engineer whose talent was nurtured instead of disregarded. And no one thinks of you as just a replica of me."
"Kuvira never did," his son replied. "Opal and the twins learned not to. Everyone else has always acted that way until now. The only reason Korra and her friends didn't is because Kuvira made sure to give me an opportunity to introduce myself after you did so for me."
"I never thought of you as less important than your siblings, Baatar," Suyin said. "But I am sorry if that is how I came across. Still, you can't slam your brother into the wall for teasing you."
"When you call me 'Junior' you are being ignorant of how I feel," her son noted as he scratched his head with his prosthetic. "When someone else calls me that, they are really saying 'you are nothing.' And Huan has been doing it longer than most." Suyin didn't directly refute that, knowing that the only reason Huan would have called his big brother that would have been to antagonize him.
"Is that why you showed off this offworld style of bending to assert power over him?" his father asked.
"I'm demonstrating that he can't use his bending to mess with me any longer," Baatar answered. "In fact, bending my door shut, shifting the ground beneath my feet, or otherwise messing with me is the only thing he ever uses his bending for aside from his brand of 'art' that, for some inexplicable reason, you think is impressive."
"I'm aware of your opinion on his work," Suyin said. "I hoped you would grow to appreciate his talents but even if not, he shouldn't do such pranks. But what about your own admiration for Darth Vader?"
"I appreciate what he can do for our whole planet, and what he can do to our world if he is antagonized," her son explained. "We'd be better off as his friend than his enemy. Still, I want to explain something: when I met him, he was commanding an operation to rescue a bunch of slaves and to destroy the mine they were working in to ensure it would never be reopened with new tortured souls. This was his brainchild, and it involved going into a place that, for much of recorded history, others were unwilling or forbidden to go to avoid antagonizing the Hutt Domain. When he learned Kuvira and I were in trouble, he started a new mission on the fly, just to save us and our followers present. This made his own mission far harder, both to accomplish and conceal. And he did it anyway. Are these the actions of a truly evil man?"
"Based on that information, no," Baatar Sr answered his son. Suyin, despite her own father being killed by Vader, couldn't fault her son's logic.
"I get what you are saying, and based on what you said, rescuing those people abducted from the Western Air Temple needs his help," the Zaofu matriarch said to her son.
"Exactly," Baatar Jr confirmed. "I'm sure that Commander Bumi will be learning this even now."
Tenzin, his mother, and sister were half terrified, half exhilarated by the feeling of flying off into space. Korra was accompanying them, while Mako had stayed behind. The elder Waterbender and her daughter both felt their powers shift when they exited the atmosphere. Korra explained how, initially, Waterbending in space was a bit confusing, as you were no longer directly under the moon's gaze that empowered you. But in time, it became easier.
"Bumi will be under anesthesia as the Imperial doctors' work on him," Korra looked to Katara and Kya. Safely anesthetizing a patient was still a tricky process on Elementia. "They aren't simply closing a wound, first they need to fix all the cuts inside of him. Most of these injuries are invisible from the outside. If this isn't done right, he'll bleed out internally."
"I'm sure you've had time to heal injuries inflicted by alien weapons," Kya said to the Avatar.
"Mostly on blaster wounds," Korra clarified. "The one time I did a vibroweapon injury, I lost the patient. I haven't had time to experiment since then, so I'll let the Imperials work on Bumi here. And so will you, if you want him to survive." Katara clearly didn't like the idea of putting her son's life in the hands of Darth Vader's medical team, but she knew she didn't know enough to effectively help him. And with her Waterbending feeling somewhat unfocused, perhaps because she was no longer on an actual planet, she was wary of using it for the moment. As the shuttle landed, they lifted their safety harnesses and Korra led the way out of the shuttle and into the Star Destroyer. Korra, knowing the way, led Tenzin, his mother, and sister to the corridor. Despite focusing on the matter at hand, all of them were clearly in awe of what they saw within the Star Destroyer hanger. The floor was polished and gleaming, TIE Fighters hung from racks in the distance, and various Astromech and Security Droids loaded and unloaded crates.
"If they are trying to look scary, they failed," quipped Kya upon seeing four Navy Troopers walking past them, noticing their round, open-faced helmets that looked like something worn on a bicycle.
"They are not soldiers, but the ship's security detail," Korra briefly explained. "As they reached the hallway, Katara was surprised to see a black cube on wheels roll up to them.
"Are you delivering anything, little guy?" Korra asked, to which it briefly squeaked. "Well, you should lead us to the closest elevator." It squeaked more positively as it turned around, and Korra began following it. The trio following her was surprised but still followed her to the elevator, at which point the tiny black machine sped away in a different direction.
"What was that?" Tenzin asked completely baffled.
"That was a Mouse Droid," Korra explained as the elevator ascended. "Sometimes they carry sealed messages to a destination and other times they lead squads as fast as possible to where they have to go through these winding corridors. And the rest of the time, they polish the floors."
"And here I thought everything to do with Darth Vader was scary instead of cute," Kya remarked. The elevator stopped and Korra led them to the Medbay, where Bumi was asleep in his hospital bed, wearing a patient's gown, to the surprise of everyone except Korra. The Doctors walked out and looked to Korra.
"He'll be fine, Colonel," the lead doctor said. "We replaced his lost blood and sealed the wound. He'll wake up in an hour, plenty of time to transfer him to the Southern Water Tribe."
"Why did you take my brother's clothes off?" intruded Tenzin. The Imperial doctor looked at him somewhat puzzled, before realizing who he was.
"Well, Councilor Tenzin, in an injury like this, you are racing against the clock to save the patient's life, so we cut off his clothes to reach his injury faster," the doctor explained. "Also, given the bloodstains and tears his clothes had sustained, they were ruined anyway." Surgery was rather uncommon on Elementia, especially outside the Water Tribes and URN, as Waterbending healing had become so common it was rarely used. Most of the time, Katara would treat a stabbing with a bandage and her own healing techniques.
"Well, guys, I think it would be best if Bumi woke up in familiar surroundings, as opposed to on a spaceship belonging to the man he fears most," Korra reminded Tenzin, Katara, and Kya. The three of them couldn't fault her logic, so they wheeled Bumi's gurney back to the shuttle.
After using the radio of the Fire Nation Airship to let her mother know she was safe, Fire Lord Izumi and her father, Ambassador Zuko, arrived at the home of Katara. Korra had very rudely cut off their call to the house, prompting them to head their themselves. When they arrived, five Stormtroopers stood in their way, along with an Imperial officer wearing armor and a curved, open-faced helmet.
"Let them in," the officer ordered his troops. "They aren't a threat to our charges." At which point, the Stormtroopers stood aside, to which the Firebenders warily entered the house. As they walked in, they saw Pema, her children, and Mako inside, but not Tenzin, Katara or Kya. Asami Sato had gone to visit her father while awaiting Korra's return, while Lin was helping her blind mother find her way back here.
"Where is Katara?" Zuko asked.
"Getting Bumi down here from one of the Imperial 'Star Destroyers' as I hear they are called," Lin answered. "Korra went with her, and Bumi's siblings, to show them the way." At that moment, a shuttle landed outside, and Korra soon marched through the door as Bumi's family wheeled his bed in. Izumi rushed over to her husband's side, to which Korra pulled her back as the trio moved him to Katara's healing chambers.
"He's resting from his operation," Korra said. "He'll wake up shortly."
"What did you do to him?!" an angered Izumi asked Korra.
"Nothing, the Imperials saved his life today," Korra answered calmly. "They are also working on tracking Iroh and the others, so all will be well."
"I have a hard time believing that," Zuko stated. "Especially given the company you keep."
"The Galactic Empire, and Darth Vader in particular, is our world's greatest ally," Mako bluntly stated. "And if you want your grandchildren back, you will accept their help. Maybe they will teach you two the meaning of Gratitude."
"Gratitude?" Izumi asked in disbelief.
"Yes, I've realized that gratitude is a virtue lacking on our world," Korra stated. "For example, I save the world from Vaatu, and President Raiko threatens to arrest me if I don't leave Republic City. I surrender to a bunch of fanatics who want to murder me to save over two hundred hostages, and when I return, the husband of one of them refuses to come to the summit I explicitly told her to attend."
"So that makes it okay to break into my home and threaten myself and everyone else there to make me attend?" Izumi asked.
"As Director Krennic explained, everyone would have come out no worse for wear," Mako stated.
"That you would kill them as opposed to knock them unconscious," Izumi retorted. "That doesn't make it okay."
"Neither does blowing off the Avatar's summons," Korra dismissed. "Until you start respecting me, you can forget about being called 'your highness' much less anything else." Before they could continue their argument, Ikki shouted that her uncle was waking up.
Bumi felt a pain in his side, and realized he was in a hospital bed. Looking around, he recognized it was his mother's healing chambers that she so often used on those in need. Looking around, he saw his siblings, his nieces and nephew, his wife, and Avatar Korra coming into the room. After Izumi hugged him, relieved he was alright, he spoke.
"Zumi, they took Iroh and Mizuki," he frantically said. "I don't know what happened after. One moment I'm bleeding out, the next I'm here."
"My allies saved you," Korra told the URN commander. "Thankfully, they have a way of tracking the people who took them." Bumi processed everything quickly, including how Korra was now in league with Darth Vader. He wasn't happy about it but he knew that if he wanted to get his children back, he'd need the help of this Empire.
I decided to add the Zeltron idea of Triangular Relations because it sounds like something their species would come up with, and Jonah's openness to them to add to his character. Mizuki has been learning how to fly planes from her brother Iroh. I hope I captured Korra and Baatar's frustrations well. Next chapter, we see a bit of what Iroh and his sister are going through, and the rescue mission has some surprising additions to it.