CHAPTER THIRTEEN
When General Hux had stepped out of the Governor’s office after making sure his ‘renovations’ were well underway, the last thing he had expected to see was a panting orange-skinned alien standing in front of him, clutching a mask with one hand while wiping sweat from his hairless brow with the other.
Wrinkling his nose in distaste, Hux said, “Ochi of Bestoon. I was wondering when you were going to finally show up. What took you so long?”
“There’s… there’s something…out on the edges of the city,” Ochi replied, still panting. “Someone… wearing Darth Vader’s armor. Has the map.”
Hux raised an eyebrow. “What map?”
“The one we’ve been looking for. The Jedi are here as well; I don’t if he’s given it to them already or—”
Hux cut him off with a sharp raise of the hand. Turning away from the assassin, he unclipped a comlink from his belt and raised it to his mouth. “Captain Phasma, this is General Hux. I want you to gather a platoon and prepare to head out of the city. Ochi of Bestoon here says he has found our map.”
“I don’t know if it’s still there,” Ochi protested. “They may have already taken it and gotten off-world by now.”
Hux sneered at him. “Unlikely. Any ship leaving Lothal at this point will be greeted by a blockade. The fleet has already been instructed to capture any departing ships rather than destroy them. Regardless of what these Jedi decide to do, the map will be ours.”
Ochi rolled his eyes. “One of these days, Hux, your arrogance will be your downfall. Just like it was your father’s.”
Hux glared at him. “I suggest you join Captain Phasma and her platoon in apprehending these Jedi, Ochi of Bestoon,” he said icily. “Especially since you’re already familiar with them.”
The assassin returned the glare before sliding his mask over his face and turning away from the General, marching back down the way he had came.
* * *
The moment Toah and the others arrived in Lothal’s capital city, they were greeted by an army of stormtroopers that immediately opened fire.
One blast took out the thruster of the landspeeder they were riding in, causing the vehicle to swerve and crash into an abandoned market wagon. In an instant, Toah, Rey, and Nira had sprung out of their seats and ignited their lightsabers, deflecting the blaster bolts as they came. Poe, Finn, Snap, and Jessika quickly found cover and returned fire, while Chek Urhed and BB-8 found somewhere safe to hide.
“Not exactly the welcome I was expecting,” Snap quipped as he shot down two stormtroopers with his blaster rifle.
Toah focused on deflecting the incoming blaster bolts with his saber, redirecting some of them to hit the troopers that had fired them. In his peripheral vision he saw Nira and Rey doing the same, although he couldn’t help but notice Rey being more… aggressive in her deflections than he would have normally expected from a Jedi. Something was troubling her, that much was obvious, and fueling her anger against these stormtroopers. However, there was no time to dwell on it and he instead focused on the conflict at hand.
Suddenly, a harsh voice rang out from the platoon of stormtroopers they were facing, screaming the word “TRAITOR!” From the group of white-armored soldiers, a trooper wielding a riot control baton and shield came charging out, spinning the baton as he set his sights on Finn.
The ex-stormtrooper spotted the charging trooper and fired off a few shots from his blaster, though they were blocked by the trooper’s shield. The trooper in question moved to quick for anyone to shoot or cut him down and he swung his baton at Finn, sending the ex-trooper flying with the shock of the force.
As Finn crashed back down onto the ground, the trooper cried out, “We thought you were dead! We all saw you die!”
“Nines,” Finn coughed out, struggling back onto his feet. “Don’t do this. It doesn’t have to be—”
“You should have stayed dead,” the trooper snarled as he moved in for another attack. He was held back as Nira Maren seized him with the Force and started to pull him towards her. However, before she could cut him down, Nines swung out with his baton and struck her in the face, hard enough to knock her down and cause her to drop her lightsaber. After reorienting himself, Nines set his sights back on Finn. Tossing aside his shield, he charged up the baton and broke into a run towards his former comrade, raising the weapon high above his head.
Toah saw a glint of silver flash before his eyes as the lightsaber Nira had dropped suddenly lifted off from the ground and flew straight into Finn’s awaiting hand. An emerald blade sprung from the emitter and ran straight through Nines’ chest. The stormtrooper let out a gasp as a bewildered Finn quickly shut off the lightsaber, watching with mouth agape as his former friend crumpled to the ground.
All of the stormtroopers stopped firing, no doubt caught off guard by what had just befallen their comrade. Before either they or their targets could resume fighting, a gleam of light caught everyone’s eye as a chrome-armored figure stepped out onto the battlefield, black and red cape flowing behind them.
“FN-2187,” a crisp woman’s voice spoke out from the newcomer. “What a pleasant surprise.”
Toah saw Finn tense up as he glowered at the armored woman. “Can’t say the feeling’s mutual, Phasma,” he retorted.
“Don’t you mean ‘Captain Phasma?’” the chrome trooper icily responded. “Or have you already forgotten your discipline?”
Before Finn could fire back, Poe interjected and said, “What exactly brings you all the way out here to Lothal? I wouldn’t think there would be anything here for you wannabe Imperials.”
Phasma inclined her head towards him. “I think you already know the answer to that, scum. It is the same reason why you are here… and why you are at our mercy.”
“We don’t have the map, if that’s what you’re talking about. Your guess is as good as ours as to where it is.”
“That’s not what I’ve been told. I was given the impression that you know exactly where it is.”
Toah glanced over at Nira, who was getting back onto her feet. Her eyes briefly met his as she silently summoned her discarded lightsaber back into her hand, though she did not ignite it.
Turning back to Phasma, Toah said, “I’m afraid you’ve been misinformed. We do not know where the map is. You would be wasting your time in trying to interrogate us.”
“I beg to differ,” Phasma replied. “Even if you do not know the map’s location, you may still have valuable information regarding your little resistance that would be useful to the First Order.”
She made a sharp gesture and the remaining stormtroopers raised their blasters again, preparing to resume the firefight.
“If you do not comply,” Phasma said coolly, “then you will suffer the price.”
Toah and Rey raised their lightsabers as Nira ignited hers. Poe, Finn, and the others readied their blasters, bracing for the inevitable as Phasma gave the order to her troops.
What none of them were prepared for was for a violet blade to come spinning out of nowhere, weaving its way through the crowd of stormtroopers and cutting through their blasters. As the troopers cried out in alarm, Phasma pointed her blaster at the spinning lightsaber and tried to shoot it down to no avail. Seizing on the distraction, Toah called upon the Force and released it in a burst of energy, pushing Phasma off her feet and sending her flying into an alleyway. She crashed against the side of a building before crumpling to the ground, unconscious.
“Fall back!” another trooper cried. “Fall baACKK!”
He was cut off as the purple blade cut straight through him before coming back around to bring down two more. The surviving troopers, now deprived of their blasters, had no other option but to retreat and they fled down the streets of Lothal, some of them screaming into their communicators for reinforcements. Toah and the others made no move to stop them, instead watching the lightsaber blade as it flew straight into the hands of a red-haired woman as she stepped out of the same alleyway Phasma had fallen in. She shut off the lightsaber and came to stand before the Jedi and their companions, her jade green eyes moving from one to the other.
After a moment of tense silence, the woman said, “So, who speaks first? You speak first or do I speak first?”
“I was just going to say that,” muttered Poe.
Deactivating his lightsaber, Toah took a step forward and regarded the woman curiously. Something about her struck him as familiar, but he could not for the life of him put his finger on it.
“My name is Toah Jarsan,” he said. “Jedi Knight.”
“I know who you are,” the woman said. “I don’t blame you if you don’t remember who I am. It… has been a long time.”
Toah frowned. “Perhaps if you gave us your name….”
“My name is Mara Jade Skywalker. I believe you once knew my husband.”
Toah’s eyes went wide as recognition finally dawned on him. His expression of surprise spread across Rey and the others; even BB-8 was warbling in awe as he and Chek emerged from their hiding spot.
“Wait,” Poe said. “You mean… are you saying that you’re the wife of Luke Skywalker?”
“I’d like to think I’m a bit more than that,” Mara said wryly. “But yes. I am… we were married in a private ceremony about six years before the Sith revealed themselves. I don’t believe our union was ever made public.”
“That would explain why none of us knew,” said Snap Wexley. He glanced over at Toah. “Did you know about this? You were trained by Skywalker, weren’t you?”
Toah shook his head, still bewildered. “No. I mean, I was trained by him. But he never… he never told me about this.”
Mara smiled sadly at him. “Believe me, it pained him to keep such a secret from you. But it was for the best.”
“What do you mean by that?” asked Rey.
Mara shook her head. “There’ll be time to explain later. First, I need to know why you’re here.”
Toah quickly explained to her their mission to find the map to the first Jedi Temple, telling her about how it was in the possession of Kane Skywalker and that they had been about to retrieve it only to come to the city when the First Order arrived. He also told her about Ochi of Bestoon, which had brought a dark cloud over Mara’s emerald eyes.
When he was finished, Mara took a moment to respond, contemplating over his words. When she finally spoke, her words took them all by surprise.
“We need to get off Lothal.”
“What?” Poe exclaimed. “What about the map?”
“It’s already in safe hands, at least for now. But if Ochi of Bestoon is here as you say, then we all have to get the hell of this planet.” Mara’s eyes fell on Rey and narrowed. “Especially you.”
Rey’s eyes widened. “Why me especially?”
“If I told you, you would think I’m crazy. Now let’s go!”
Without waiting for them, Mara Jade turned and ran back down the way she had came. Seeing no better option, Toah and his party went after her, running past a still-unconscious Phasma.
“If you ask me,” Snap muttered under his breath, “I say she’s already crazy.”
* * *
Ochi of Bestoon had watched from the shadows as Mara Jade had brought down Captain Phasma and her platoon of stormtroopers. He had no idea what the Emperor’s former Hand was doing here on Lothal, but he knew better than to try and confront her. Now she and those Resistance fools were heading for their respective ships, preparing to depart from Lothal. He thought about trying to stop them, but he knew there would be little point. The blockade that the First Order had formed around the planet would apprehend them in no time.
That only left the map itself. He was familiar enough with Darth Vader to know that he would be no match for someone who appeared to be the Dark Lord’s clone… but would a clone of Vader be a match for an entire squadron of TIE fighters and maybe a couple of Star Destroyers? He found the prospect highly unlikely; laughable, even. It would simply be a matter of getting General Hux to pull through.
Raising a hand to his mask, Ochi spoke into his built-in comlink. “Ochi to Hux. Captain Phasma and her troopers have failed. The Jedi and their friends are going to try and get off Lothal, though I already know that’s not gonna work out for them.”
“What about the map?” Hux said sharply.
“I already know they don’t have it. It’s still at the place I told you about. Listen, I’m gonna need you to commandeer a Star Destroyer or two to help me deal with the person guarding the map.”
“You can’t do it yourself?”
“If I told you who it was guarding that thing, you would understand. I doubt you would believe me though.”
Ochi heard Hux sigh dramatically on the other end. “And if I refuse to do as you ask?”
“Then the burden of failure will fall on you. If the Supreme Leader learns that we failed to get the map because of your own stubbornness….”
He allowed his words to trail off and waited for Hux to respond. After a moment of silence, the General said, “Fine. I’ll redirect the Fellfire to your position. Your plan had better work, Ochi of Bestoon.”
“Trust me, General,” Ochi chuckled. “It’ll be foolproof.”
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