Fic - Star Trek: Rise of the Sith 13/17
Chapter 12
----------------
Present: Year 1
----------------
An endless field of bodies, all Jedi.
Lifeless eyes, staring up at him; accusing.
Palpatine, standing on a hill, overlooking the field, Cofoan by his side, emotionless as the Emperor laughed.
Shadow figure appearing from behind, blue lightsaber striking down Palpatine, joining Cofoan, staring at the field of dead Jedi.
Ghostly whispers surrounding him: liar... traitor... murderer.
The scene changed, he couldn't see anything; there was nothing but darkness around, but he didn't need to see them to recognise their voices. Chakotay, Lizia, and Jon. They were his family.
"You can't do this!"
"He will never let you get away with it!"
"You don't know him like I do."
Screams, followed by a sudden silence and nothingness that was horrifying beyond imagination.
"Lizia!"
Tom woke up screaming.
* * *
Lizia screamed as another bolt of Force lightning passed through her convulsing body.
"I really hate to see you like this, just tell me where he is and I promise you all this will end."
"I. Don't. Know." Lizia bit out defiantly.
A gloved hand yanked on her hair and pulled her head up from the floor where she lay. She stared rebelliously into brown eyes that had been friendly a lifetime ago.
"I used to find your stubbornness and your spirit charming, now I merely find it irritating."
Her entire body was in pain, she was bleeding from various wounds, but Lizia smirked. "Am I cramping your style, oh Great Sith Lord?"
Lizia thought she must have passed out from the force of her head impacting against the floor, but she couldn't be sure.
"One last time, Liz, where is he?"
Jon was already dead, killed by Cofoan in his efforts to make her disclose Tom's location. Han was missing in the chaos of the battle, most probably already dead. She had nothing to lose. Seeing the face in front of her again, she summoned all the energy she could muster and spat into his eyes. "Go to hell."
"So be it. Either way, he will come to me."
Lizia Jeanette Paris-Solo's last thoughts were of her missing son and consolation that she had not betrayed her brother.
* * *
"Tom, snap out of it, please."
To Tom, the words sounded as though being spoken under water and he barely registered them, drowning in a sea of pain and grief. He recognised Harry's voice, but the words were meaningless. Vainly, he reached out searching for Lizia's presence, but the fiery sprit of his sister was nowhere to be found, extinguished even as it burned its brightest.
"Pain. So much pain he is in." Another voice joined Harry - Master Yoda. "Gone through so much already he has, unfortunate that he is facing more. Too attached he is, feel too much he does. Leave us, Harry."
A familiar touch on his hand and he felt Master Yoda reaching out to him through the Force. Tom knew what Yoda wanted to do, he did not want to leave, he needed to find Lizia, he had to find Lizia.
Thomas, control your emotions you must. Vulnerable to the Dark Side you will be in this state.
I have to find her, Master, I have to.
Because it was impossible that she was gone, if he couldn't find her, he would just have to join her.
Let go you must. Part of the Force she is now.
An unknown amount of time passed in silence before Tom finally managed a strangled "Lizia." Blue eyes blinked, slowly coming to focus on the Jedi Master. "She's really gone, is she?" Tom's voice was quiet.
"I am sorry, Thomas. But give in to this grieve you must not. Close it is you are to the path leading to the Dark Side. Clearer it is to you than most the consequence of this."
"I will never join the Dark Side," Tom shook his head vehemently. It was the Dark Side that took Chakotay and now, Lizia from him.
"Not with intention, no. But seductive and secretive in many ways the Dark Side is."
"Master - "
"Seen it I have, Thomas."
"That's impossible."
"One possibility it is. One that will come true if you do not control your feelings. Exploit them the Dark Side will." Tom was still shaking his head in denial. "Seen it, have you not? The end of the Jedi."
"That doesn't mean I'll have a hand in it! Palpatine, and Cofoan - "
"Yes, started it they have, but finish it you will. Stop you your mind has from seeing this vision whole. It was you who wield the lightsaber with the power of the Dark Side, striking Palpatine down."
"No," Tom denied. Blue lightsaber striking down Palpatine. "It was just a shadow, only a shadow." But even as he uttered the words, Tom recognised the truth in Yoda's words.
"There is more Thomas, that you have not seen. Rule you will this universe with fear. Join him you will, if down this path of darkness you allow yourself to travel."
Figure cloud in darkness standing beside Cofoan. Tom would not allow it. "I won't allow it, Master, I won't."
Yoda shook his head. "Concern I am that a choice in this you might not have."
"There's always a choice, Master. Always. I will die before I allow this to happen."
It looked as though Master Yoda was about to reply only to be distracted by something.
"Master?"
"Rash is his action," the Jedi Master sounded frustrated. "Fear for young Harry's safety I do."
"Harry? What did he do?" Tom's concern for Harry snapping him out of his grief for his sister's death.
"After Cofoan he has gone. Rash, too rash his actions were." Yoda shook his head in sadness even as Tom stood up in alarm.
"We have to stop him!"
"Too late. Catch up with him you will not before he reaches Cofoan."
Clipping on his lightsaber to his utility belt, Tom headed towards the exit. "I lost my sister today, I'm not going to lose my best friend too."
* * *
It took Tom more than twenty minutes to recover the file Harry deleted. His friend had been careless in his haste. Harry was better at computers than Tom was, the younger Jedi could have made sure the file was not recoverable if he had the time. But despite knowing his destination, Tom knew it was impossible to intercept Harry; he'd already gotten a good head start. All Tom hoped to accomplish was to arrive in time to stop Harry from doing something stupid, like confronting Cofoan. It would be suicide.
"It's a trap, Harry," Tom muttered to himself. "Why can't you see it?" It was impossible for Cofoan to have been careless enough to leak the information about his reclusion.
"Damn it!" Tom cursed the moment he stepped into the hanger bay to find his starfighter, The Flyer, missing. "You have to take my ship too, don't you, buddy? Which just happens to be the fastest ship on this side of the known galaxy."
Scanning the rest of the hanger for a suitable ship, Tom's eyes came to rest upon a small one-man craft. Corellian design, not as fast as his own modified fighter, but faster than any other ships they had. "This will have to do."
"Master Jedi, this ship belongs to Madam Kira," a maintenance droid helpfully informed him.
"Well then, you can tell her that it's an emergency and I'm borrowing it."
"But - "
"Hey, you didn't stop Harry from taking my ship, you're not stopping me from taking this ship, got it?" Ignoring the droid, Tom powered up the ship, taking off before anyone else could stop him.
Be careful, my Padawan, and may the Force be with you.
I will, Master.
* * *
Caldik Prime; an out of the way planet that was sparsely populated and of no value to either side of the struggle for galactic dominance. It was also the planet Tom and Chakotay had been sent on their first mission together, the place where they had made love the first time. Tom would have laughed at Cofoan's choice if the events of the day had been different.
Tracking down Harry and Cofoan had been easy; Chakotay had always been fond of the ancient pyramid temple ruins they had found on the planet.
Hearing the hum and crackle of dueling lightsabers coming from what had been the main hall of the still partially standing building, Tom rushed in, taking the steps two at a time. The scene in front of him stop Tom cold in his tracks, Harry's lightsaber had been knocked out of his hands by Cofoan, Tom could clearly see various injuries on his friend who was scrambling for his weapon even as Cofoan moved in for the final blow, spurring Tom into action.
"Chakotay, no!"
Chapter 13