"Crossroads of the Force" [PG-13] - Chapter Eighteen
"CROSSROADS OF THE FORCE"
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
BLUE JEWEL SYSTEM
Padme covered Master Olin’s quivering form with a blanket. His body laid stretched on one of the Alberforce’s two bunks.
“. . . Rasche,” the former Jedi muttered feverishly. “He’s here. Anakin must ki . . .” He broke off with a low groan.
Anakin? Padme frowned, as she tucked the blanket around Master Olin. “Anakin must . . . what?” she softly asked.
More groans escaped from Master Olin’s mouth. Then he added, “Kill Rasche. He . . . This . . . is my . . . my fault. If only I . . .” He ceased his mutterings with a sigh and lay still.
Bail loomed before the bunk. “Is he dead?”
“No.” Padme shook her head. “Just unconscious.” She allowed the Alderaanian prince to help her stand. “His wound is serious, Bail. He needs medical attention, immediately.”
Nodding, Bail replied, “I’ll inform Captain Sen.”
An object struck the Alberforce’s hull, causing the ship to rock. Padme would have fallen if Bail had not grabbed her arm. “What was that?”
The two colleagues raced to the cockpit. They found a grim-faced Voranda at the helm. “I should have known!” she muttered angrily. “Imperials!”
The view window revealed Imperial TIE fighters zooming toward the Alberforce. Beyond them loomed an Imperial destroyer. “That’s the Devastator,” Bail commented. “Lord Rasche’s ship.”
A blast from one of the fighters rocked the starship for the second time. Padme clung to the doorway’s frame. “Is it possible that Lord Rasche might be on that ship? Alive?” She and Bail exchanged fearful looks.
“If he is then Set . . . or whatever he’s called might be dead,” Voranda replied brusquely. “Then again, they still might be fight . . .”
A voice crackled from the Alberforce’s subspace radio. ”This is Captain Wermis of the Imperial ship, the Devastator. Stand down your weapons and prepare to be boarded.”
Padme’s fear that she might end up as a prisoner of the Imperials returned.
“Not if I can help it,” the red-haired captain muttered. Grabbing the lightning gun’s trigger, she fired a few shots at the TIE fighters. Two of them blew up instantly.
Bail eased into the co-pilot’s empty seat. “I don’t mean to be pessimistic Captain Sen, but the Devastator can still capture us with a tractor beam.”
Voranda shot a cocky smile at the Alderaanian, reminding Padme of Anakin. “Don’t worry, Your Highness. I know what I’m doing.” She maneuvered the ship to avoid more blasts from the fighters. “We have enough anti-matter pods for one lightspeed jump. Where to?”
“Alderaan.”
“Of course.” Voranda entered coordinates into the ship’s computer. Another blast struck the ship’s hull. Voranda fired back, hitting one fighter. Padme realized that the redhead was clearing a path. “Hang on, everyone!”
Captain Wermis’ voice returned. “This is your last warning! Stand down and prepare to be boarded! Or we will . . .”
Voranda leaned forward and pressed a button on the Alberforce’s cockpit panel. Seconds later, the starship jumped into hyperspace and safety.
---------
WORLPORT, ORD MANTELL
A helpless Darth Rasche swayed precariously on his knees, until the weight of his torso forced him to slump on the ground. He could hear the remaining stormtroopers firing at Skywalker’s starship. When it finally left the hangar, the troopers rushed to his aid.
“My Lord!” one of them exclaimed. Three of them hovered above him like mindless banthas. “Are you well?”
Do I look well? Rasche raged inwardly. He wanted to kill the stormtrooper for asking such a stupid question. But common sense overrode him and he answered between ragged breaths, “Con . . . contact Tom. At . . . at the . . . uh, . . . at the Im . . . per . . .” He sighed. “At the Im . . . perial Li . . .”
The stormtrooper finished for him, “The Imperial Liaison Officer? Yes, my Lord. Right away.” He retrieved his com link and contacted Liaison Tom.
Meanwhile, Rasche felt himself grow weak and dizzy from the loss of blood and his hands. A pair of haunted blue eyes hovered in the back of his mind. Why did Skywalker spare him? Did compassion get the best of his former colleague? Or something . . .?
“The Liaison Officer is here, my Lord!” the stormtrooper announced.
Several more troopers entered the hangar with the dark clad Liaison Tom. The latter assumed a horrified expression, as he stood over Rasche. “My Lord! What happened?”
The Sith Lord opened his mouth to speak, but he could barely say a word. The pain and his dizziness made it near impossible. “I . . . Anakin.” Then darkness overwhelmed Rasche, as he finally became unconscious.
---------
CORUSCANT
The Emperor had anticipated danger from the Blue Jewel System before the message arrived. Danger for his apprentice. Then a holographic image in the form of a black-clad man appeared above the holographic emitter inside his throne room.
“Your Highness,” the man announced with a deep bow. “My name is Kalen Tom. I’m the Imperial Liaison Officer for Ord Mantell.”
Palpatine regarded the man through narrowed eyes. “Ord Mantell, you say? And where is Lord Rasche?”
Looking slightly nervous, Liaison Tom continued, “I regret to inform you that Lord Rasche has been seriously wounded.”
“By whom?” the Sith Lord demanded.
Tom hesitated. “I believe that a smuggler trying to avoid arrest had wounded him. He decapitated Lord Rasche’s hands.”
Decapitation? With a blaster? Palpatine frowned. No smuggler should have been able to defeat someone with Lord Rasche’s powerful connection to the Force. Unless . . . The Emperor inhaled sharply. Had Rasche encountered another Force user? A former Jedi?
“Your Highness?” Liaison Tom continued. “Did you hear . . .?”
The Sith Lord barked, “I heard you clearly, Master Tom!” With a sigh, he added, “Did Lord Rasche say anything before he fell unconscious? Did he say a name?”
The liaison shook his head. “I’m afraid not, Your Highness. Lord Rasche never spo . . .” He paused.
“What is it?”
A slightly abashed liaison finally said, “My mistake, Your Highness. Lord Rasche did mention one name.”
Palpatine demanded, “And what was that name?”
A brief pause followed before Tom continued, “Nothing much. Just . . . Anakin. Someone named Anakin.”
----------
BLUE JEWEL SYSTEM
The moment the Javian Hawk zoomed out of Ord Mantell’s atmosphere, Han spotted trouble in the form of three Imperial TIE fighters. “Great! We have trouble!”
“Yeah, I see,” Anakin replied in his usual terse voice. “Time to jump to lightspeed.”
“To where? We can’t take the senator back to Maldare!”
Anakin opened his mouth to respond, when a voice over the subspace radio crackled, “This is Lieutenant Profer of the Devastator. Identify yourself.”
The two partners exchanged uneasy looks. Anakin quickly replied, “Uh, . . . Ric Olie of the Cyrian Star. Is there a problem?”
“Do you have authorization to clear Ord Mantell space?”
At that moment, Senator Dahlma burst into the cockpit. “Captain . . .” Anakin immediately shut off the comlink. “. . . Horus! There are three Imperial fighters out there!”
Anakin retorted through clenched teeth, “We are quite aware of that fact, Senator. We can’t take you back to Maldare. Is there another . . .?”
The Imperial pilot’s voice returned, “Captain Olie of the Cyrian Star, did you receive authorization to leave the Worlport spacepo . . .”
The senator quickly added, “The Telos System. Telos IV.”
Han immediately recognized the name. According to Anakin, it used to be the site of the old Jedi Academy, centuries ago. Anakin nodded. “Telos IV it is. Hold on!” He entered the coordinates for the lightspeed jump.
Once more, Lieutenant Profer’s voice crackled on the radio. “Cyrian Star, stand down your weapons and prepare to be tractor. Or we will fire upon you.”
Han saw two of the TIE fighters flank the Javian Hawk. “Great! They can shoot us down before we can even make the jump to lightspeed.”
“Then outfly them,” Anakin ordered. “I’ll help.” He grabbed the laser cannon’s trigger.
Han grabbed the helm’s control and maneuvered the Hawk to the far right, barely missing one of the TIE fighters. As he flew the starship around the fighter, it fired at the Hawk. Anakin fired back, destroying it. A grin stretched across Han’s face. “Telos IV, here we come. Punch it!”
Anakin pressed a button on the console and the Javian Hawk jumped into hyperspace. Everyone inside the cockpit sighed with relief. “Okay Senator,” he added. “Where exactly on Telos IV do you want to go?”
Senator Dahlma coolly replied, “Thani, the planet’s capital. Why didn’t you mention that you were a former Jedi?”
Han shot an uneasy glance at his partner. Whose face resembled a mask. At that moment, both Chewbacca and Miss Colbert appeared behind the senator. “What’s going on?” the younger woman demanded. “Are we in hyperspace?”
“We’re on our way to Telos IV,” Senator Dahlma replied. “And Captain Horus was about to explain why he had failed to inform us that he was a former Jedi.”
Anakin glared at the senator and climbed out of his seat. He brushed past the two women and the Wookie, as he made his way out of the cockpit. They followed, as Han put the ship on auto-pilot. Then he followed the others to the weapons locker.
“Captain Horus!” Senator Dahlma continued. “You had never answered my question.”
After placing his lightsaber and blaster inside the locker, Anakin whirled upon the older Maldarian woman with flashing eyes. “Of course I didn’t tell you!” he retorted. “The Empire has been hunting down the Jedi for the past decade. What did you expect?”
But the senator was not finished. “Then kindly explain why you had failed to kill Lord Rasche. It is believed that he is a Sith Lord. Why didn’t you kill him?”
A sigh left Anakin’s mouth. Han noticed that he could barely keep his emotions in check. “Because the man was unarmed,” Anakin finally answered. “I had chopped off his hands.”
“That is your excuse?” The senator looked outraged. “You had allowed one of the galaxy’s most deadly enemies to survive, because you had bested him in combat without killing him?”
Anakin snapped back, “I had chopped off his hands, Senator! He no longer had a weapon. And I’ve had enough of killing those unable to defend themselves!”
A heavy silence enveloped the cabin. Han wondered if most of the oxygen had seeped out. He held his breath as Senator Dahlma, Chewbacca and especially Miss Colbert regarded Anakin with wide eyes. Han’s partner leaned against the locker.
Miss Colbert’s soft voice pierced the heavy silence. “Did you say . . . you’ve killed . . . those who were unarmed?” She regarded Anakin with disbelief.
Han jumped in to defend his friend. “Look, who cares whether Rasche is still down there or anything about Set’s past. We’ve got out of Ord Mantell alive. I think we should be thrilled.”
“Set?” Miss Colbert warily approached Anakin. “Did you . . .?”
With a sigh, Anakin whirled around to face the others with hard and cold eyes. “Before the end of the Clone War . . . about two or three days before the end, I had betrayed the Jedi Order and became Palpatine’s Sith apprentice. That’s right, Senator. The Emperor is also a Sith Lord. I suspect that very few people know this. As Darth Vader, I had led the assault on the Jedi Temple and helped kill a good number of Jedi. And I was the one who had killed the Separatist leaders on Mustafar.” He hesitated and continued in a heavy voice, “My former Jedi master found me there and we dueled. I tried to kill him. But . . .” His eyes softened. “. . . I guess you can say that I had an ephininy, so to speak. I left. I left Mustafar and the Emperor’s service. I became a smuggler.”
“Anakin and I had met a year later on Corellia,” Han added. “We helped that senator from Andalia named Yeb and his sister escape from the Imperials.”
Senator Dahlma frowned. “Solipo Yeb? He knows about you two?”
Anakin sighed. “His sister had recognized me.”
Silence enveloped the cabin. The two Maldarian women continued to stare at Anakin. Senator Dahlma’s eyes projected shock and amazement at his revelations. Miss Colbert’s eyes, on the other hand, mingled with disbelief and a little fear. As for Chewbacca . . . Han noticed that the Wookie’s eyes shifted back and forth between himself and Anakin.
Then Han’s stomach rumbled. He realized that none of them had eaten breakfast, yet. Breaking the silence, he said, “Uh . . . is anyone up for a bite to eat? I’m starved.”
Anakin’s mouth twisted into a sardonic smile. “I’ll see what I can do. Ladies, if you don’t mind returning to your seats.”
The Maldarian women quietly made their way out of the small cabin. The younger woman shot Anakin with an uneasy glance, as she walked past him. At that moment, Han realized that a chance for a developing romance between the pair may have ended. Figures, he thought. Since when has love ever last forever?
As he started to walk away, Anakin called after him. "Han?"
The younger man faced his partner. "Yeah? What is it?"
Anakin hesitated before he continued. "During that fight in the hangar, did you . . . did you see a woman . . . a petite woman appear . . ."
"Oh that!" Han nodded. "It was uh, the senator's aide. Miss Colbert."
Surprise illuminated Anakin's eyes. "Igraine?"
Han continued, "Yeah." He shook his head in disbelief. "Crazy lady! She ran smack into the firefight in order to get Senator Dahlma's data chip. Nearly got her head blown off. Why?"
Anakin shook his head. "It's . . . nothing. Just my mind playing tricks on me."
Huh? Han stared at the older man. Whom exactly did Anakin see? And why did his friend seem disappointed that the woman in question turned out to be Miss Colbert? Realizing that he would never fathom Anakin's mind, Han gave his shoulders a brief shrug and left the locker room.
END OF CHAPTER EIGHTEEN