CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Naboo
This was all too easy in Valrisa’s honest opinion.
She and the other Renegades (plus Remar and Sharbrook) had been following Boss Binks through the halls of the palace for some time now, all without encountering a single Royal Guard or handmaiden. She knew they were there; she could sense them, as could Zarin. Yet somehow the Gungan elder had managed to evade them all in the route he was taking them through. It had to be the sheerest, purest form of dumb luck, although Valrisa knew some of her former teachers would tell her that there was no such thing as luck.
Whether it was luck or the will of the Force, they eventually reached their destination: the Queen’s throne room. However, as soon as they stepped in, they saw that the throne itself, as well as the surrounding seats, were completely vacant.
“Fierfek,” she heard Kadar swear. “She must have retired to her personal chambers.”
“Yeah, I’m not exactly in the mood for breaking into a lady’s bedroom,” said Bedo. “If you guys want to, more power to you, but….”
The Ortolan trailed off as Boss Binks kept on walking, making his way towards the empty throne. Upon reaching it, he pressed a control panel on one of the armrests which opened a compartment. He reached inside and grabbed something from it before returning to the Renegades. He then held out what appeared to be some sort of datacard to Valrisa.
“Take dis up to big bombad ship,” said Boss Binks. “Dis will make them let you in.”
“How… how did you know that was in there?” Valrisa asked.
The old Gungan merely smiled at her. “Dare isn’t much time. Yousa should be goen now.”
“This is too easy,” Remar muttered. “This has to be some sort of trick.”
“You are partially correct there, bounty hunter.”
Everyone turned to see another door to the throne room open, revealing Queen Reneme and a squad of Royal Guards. The maroon-garbed officers rushed in and drew their blasters, pointing them at the intruders, while Reneme gracefully made her way to her throne.
“I should have known you would try and circumvent this occupation,” the young monarch said. “Ever since you became Boss of Otoh Gunga, you’ve had a remarkable history of being supportive of not just the New Republic but especially Princess Leia. It shouldn’t have surprised me that you would go through such lengths to rescue her.”
While the Renegades raised their own weapons in defense, Boss Binks merely regarded the Queen with a calm, even expression. “Meesa owe it to her family for all the wrongs meesa have done. It was because of meesa that da Empire came to power in da first place.”
Queen Reneme scoffed. “Unfortunately for you, your actions here will not prevent the Empire’s restoration to power. The necessary steps have already been made. Both you and your Princess’ precious Resistance will be helpless to stop it.”
Slowly sitting down in her throne, Reneme cast her gaze to the lead officer, a dark-skinned woman. “Arrest them, Captain Wendik. Including Boss Binks.”
The captain frowned, neither lowering her weapon nor carrying out her orders. “Will that not stir controversy with the Gungan society, milady?”
“We have been at odds with them before,” Reneme said dismissively. “Now do as I say.”
Still Wendik did not move, nor did any of her fellow officers. Valrisa could see the apprehension on their faces; none of them looked as if they wanted to follow the Queen’s orders but they also did not seem keen on disobeying them, fearful of the repercussions they would incur.
When a moment passed by without any action being taken, all warmth vanished from the Queen’s expression and her gaze immediately went cold. “Did you not hear what I said?” she snapped. “I said arrest them!”
Captain Wendik swallowed hard. Although her eyes were still fixated on Valrisa and the others, her words were directed towards the Queen. “My father,” she said quietly. “He fought in the war against the Empire. He was a pilot, just like his father.”
Reneme glowered at her, baring her teeth. “Now is not the time for this. Arrest them!”
“He flew at Endor,” Wendik continued, undeterred. “Right alongside the likes of Wedge Antilles and Lando Calrissian. I hadn’t even been born yet when his fighter was blown up during a strafing run on the Executor. He died trying to take down a Super Star Destroyer… and now one is hovering over my very home.”
“Enough of this,” Reneme hissed. She directed her attention to another officer, a tan-skinned man. “Lieutenant, arrest them while I—”
Without warning, Captain Wendik spun on her heel and aimed her blaster at the Queen. The other officers, after a fleeting moment of confusion, quickly followed suit, surrounding Reneme.
“Your Royal Highness,” Captain Wendik said coolly, “you are the one under arrest. By executing the members of the Royal Advisory Council, you have assumed absolute power over the planet of Naboo, a violation of Section Eleven, subsection Thirty-Eight of the Royal Constitution of Naboo.”
Reneme sneered at her. “The constitution has been rewritten before.”
“Yes, but only with the approval of the Advisory Council. Without them or their approval, you have no power.”
“I am the Queen of Naboo! I have unlimited power!”
“You only wish,” Wendik replied before pulling the trigger of her blaster. A blue stun bolt shot out and struck Reneme square in the chest, knocking her out cold. The other officers immediately moved in to apprehend her while Wendik turned around to face the Renegades, who were all staring with gobsmacked expressions (save for Boss Binks, who was unfazed by the turn of events).
“A word of advice,” Kadar muttered. “Maybe don’t elect teenagers to serve as your head of government.”
Wendik smiled thinly. “I’ll pass the word along. Now then, don’t you have a Princess to rescue?”
Valrisa opened her mouth to offer her thanks when her eyes happened to move to the window behind the Queen’s throne. Although it was difficult to see past the Super Star Destroyer looming over Theed, she was still able to detect a brightly colored ship slowly coming down from the sky, its crimson color scheme a sharp contrast from the dark hull of the Super Star Destroyer.
“Uh, guys?” she said. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but… Star Destroyers don’t usually come in red, do they?”
Everyone followed her gaze and gawked at the sight they were all beholding. Bedo was the one to break the silence by letting out a quiet squeal.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited and scared in my entire life.”
The Supremacy
“I hope you’ve got a plan for getting us out of here, kid, because I’m out of ideas.”
Han Solo leaned against the wall of the dark cell he and Toah Jarsan were in, looking down at the Jedi Knight. Toah was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his eyebrows knitted in concentration as he tried to use the Force or whatever it was Jedi did when they were in that cross-legged stance. Han had seen Luke do it plenty of times and, more often than not, they led to him pulling off some miraculous trick that helped them save the day.
Then again, Toah wasn’t Luke. He had been trained by Luke, Han knew that much, but ever since the kid had become a Jedi Knight he had always been difficult for Han to get a read on. Even more so after he had defeated Darth Vorath and gone off on his own. When Toah had returned to join the Resistance, after having been missing for sixteen years, he had come off as… lost. As if he wasn’t sure of his place in the galaxy.
Han honestly couldn’t blame him for that. Especially since he himself had been faced with that dilemma more times than he would like to admit….
After an excruciating long time, Toah opened his eyes and sighed. “I can barely feel the Force. I think this cell has some sort of dampening effect.”
“Guess these guys came prepared to deal with Jedi,” Han muttered. “I just hope Leia and Chewie are okay. And the new kids as well.”
Toah nodded slowly, though his mind seemed to be elsewhere as his eyes fixated on the door. At first Han thought he was trying to will the door open with his mind until the Jedi spoke.
“Han, I have a confession to make.”
Han’s eyebrows shot up, caught off guard by the statement. “That sounds serious. What about?”
“Do you remember when we encountered your… when we encountered Danielle Kieran, back at Ord Mantell?”
Han shifted his feet awkwardly and looked away, avoiding eye contact with the Jedi. “How could I forget?”
“That wasn’t the first time I had met her.”
This got Han to look back at Toah, his eyebrows raised. “You know, I had a feeling you two knew each other,” he muttered. “Just based on your body language.”
Toah nodded solemnly. “I had first met her during my apprenticeship to Master Skywalker, a year before the clone Emperor emerged. We… we developed a close connection during that time, one I had never really formed with anyone before. When we met again a few years later, after I had been knighted….”
Han closed his eyes and sighed. “Stop. I already know where this is going.”
“You do?” Toah sounded genuinely surprised and Han could tell he was staring at him.
“I might not have that Force stuff you Jedi have, but deep down….” Han pinched the bridge of his nose. “That whole time on Ord Mantell, I knew something was off about the whole thing. Not just with you and Dani but with… her as well. And I just know that Leia knew about this the whole time, because when I told her about Dani….”
He paused to take a deep breath. Then, he opened his eyes and slowly looked back at Toah, who was still staring at him intently.
“Why?” he grunted. “Why are you bringing this up now, of all times?”
“Just in case we don’t make it out of this alive,” Toah replied. “I don’t think I would be able to rest easy holding onto that little secret.”
“I probably would have been fine,” Han muttered. He directed his attention back to the sealed door. “So, got any other bright ideas?”
Toah did not answer him, and when Han looked back, he saw a grim expression had fallen onto the Jedi’s face.
“What is it?”
“Vorath,” was all Toah uttered. And in Han’s opinion, it was the most sufficient answer he could have given.
* * *
“Is this truly the man you want to subject yourself to, Ben Solo?” Darth Vorath spoke from the mouth of Varon Sendor as he lunged at Snoke. The Supreme Leader scowled as he flicked a hand to banish the former Sith Lord away with the Force, only for Varon to land gracefully on his feet. “A mere pretender to the throne?”
“I am no pretender!” Snoke roared. “I am the rightful ruler of the First Order! My power is absolute!”
“If that is the case, then why did you wait until I was dead before assuming control?” Vorath asked through Lysira Naris, cutting down one of Snoke’s Praetorian Guards as they lunged at her with a pair of vibro-arbir blades. “Even then, you waited fourteen years before absorbing the Imperial Remnant into your Order.”
“I do not need to explain my actions to you.” Snoke unleashed another barrage of lightning at Lysira, which she deflected with her lightsaber. “You are nothing to me.”
“The feeling is mutual.” While Lysira withstood Snoke’s attack and Varon dealt with the remaining Praetorian Guards, Vorath’s third host body—that of their son Kalon—slowly paced around the chamber, ignoring the speechless gazes of Luke and Leia as he made his way over to the stoic Kylo Ren.
“I realize your master has poisoned your mind against the Sith,” Vorath said. “But do you not realize you have walked the path of one? Your story is nearly the same as that of your grandfather’s, just as I had designed. I wanted my own Vader, one unrestrained by the hindrances of a mechanical suit.
“Had I not perished, you would have long since surpassed me by now. My Sith Empire would have been yours! The galaxy in your grasps! All would bow in servitude to the true Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Caedus!”
Kylo Ren stared blankly as the boy spread his hands, grinning widely.
“You can bring an end to all of this now! Strike down your master in one swift blow and everything will be yours!”
“Ben,” Leia spoke up quietly from where she and Luke were standing, away from the turmoil unfolding between Snoke and the Dark Lord. “Don’t listen to him. You don’t belong here. You belong with us.”
“Oh, yes,” Vorath said mockingly. “You belong with the people who abandoned you—”
“We didn’t abandon you!” Leia cried to Kylo. “They took you from us! We thought you were dead!”
“Lies. The favorite tool of the Jedi, even when their lies create the very enemies they fear.” The boy whom Vorath controlled shook his head. “Perhaps I should tell you how I fell to darkness as a result of the Jedi Order’s ARGH!”
The ancient Dark Lord let out a cry of pain just as a Praetorian Guard slashed at Varon with a long vibro-voulge, delivering a long, deep cut across the son of Vorath’s chest. As Varon fell to his knees, Vorath’s control over him and Lysira momentarily broke. Disoriented by both this and her husband’s mortal wound, Lysira’s defense faltered and she was immediately overwhelmed by Snoke’s barrage of lightning. As her screams filled the chamber, the Praetorian Guard drove the blade of his vibro-voulge straight through Varon. Moments later, Lysira’s screams ceased and Snoke cast her body aside, letting her join that of her husband’s.
“And just like that,” Snoke said with a mocking grin, “two heirs to the legacy of Darth Vorath have been finished. All that remains of that legacy now….”
He pointed a bony finger at Vorath’s sole remaining vessel.
“…is you.”
Whether the fear in the boy’s eyes were his own or that of Vorath’s, no one present in the chamber could determine. Desperately, he turned to face Kylo Ren.
“This is your chance, Ben Solo! Take the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith or forever be a slave! You must choose!”
“Indeed,” Snoke said calmly. “Strike the boy down, Kylo Ren. Prove your allegiance to me.”
“He is but a pretender! All of his power is in fact mine! I built the empire that he now controls. I was the one who laid the foundations for the First Order!”
Snoke sneered. “Revising history will not save you. Finish him, my boy, and bring this farce to an end.”
Kylo Ren stared down at Kalon Sendor, his face still vacant of emotion. “I know what I have to do,” he said coldly.
“Ben,” Leia whispered as Luke wrapped an arm around her. “Don’t do this….”
Silently, Kylo Ren extended a hand and lifted the child up with the Force, suspending him in the space that separated the Knight of Ren and the Supreme Leader. Snoke watched him with cold blue eyes, a cruel smile twisting onto his face.
“Do it,” the Supreme Leader commanded.
Activating his lightsaber, Kylo Ren cast the boy aside and swung his blade at Snoke, cutting through the Supreme Leader’s golden robe and the rotting skin beneath. The bisected halves of Snoke dropped to the floor like dead weight.
Everything in the chamber went silent. The remaining Praetorian Guards stood there in shocked silence, unsure of how to react. Before any of them could make a move, Kalon Sendor got back onto his feet and raised his arms.
“The Supreme Leader is dead,” Darth Vorath declared. “Long live the Supreme Leader!”
The guards exchanged hidden glances with each other before dropping to their knees and bowing their heads in reverence to their new ruler. Kylo Ren paid them no heed as he directed his attention to Luke and Leia for the first time since he had arrived.
Speaking to the Praetorian Guards, the Knight of Ren said, “Take them to the detention center. I will deal with them later.”
“Ben, don’t do this,” Leia pleaded. “It’s not too late for you to come back.”
“Oh, but it already is,” cackled Darth Vorath. “It is too late for all of you.”
As the Praetorian Guards moved to apprehend Luke and Leia, Kylo Ren moved to the Supreme Leader’s vacant throne and pressed a control panel on one of the armrests to access the comm.
“Captain Yago, this is Kylo Ren. The Supreme Leader has been gravely wounded and has put me in temporary command as Executor of the First Order. I want you to relocate the Supremacy to the Mustafar system and—”
“Ah, a slight problem with that, Executor,” Captain Yago replied. “Resistance forces have just dropped out of hyperspace in Naboo’s orbit and are descending upon us now. How would you like us to handle them?”
Kylo Ren was silent for a moment, his eyes briefly glazing over as he stared at nothing in particular. He quickly recomposed himself and spoke with chilling resolve.
“Crush them. Crush them all.”
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