CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Theed Palace, Naboo
“Well, this is a right mess you’ve found yourselves with.”
“Yes, Booster. Thank you for the reminder,” Leia sighed as she paced around the throne room of Theed Palace.
While the throne itself remained empty due to the incarceration of Queen Reneme, the surrounding seats had been filled by the deputies of the ministers and advisors that the Queen of Naboo had executed, having taken on the duties of their predecessors. Of course, without a Queen for them to advise, their only duty at the moment was to maintain order until a new Queen could be elected… however long that took. In the meantime, the Lieutenant-Governor of Theed—a woman from House Korden—had become the closest thing Naboo currently had to a leader, driving talks with Leia as they tried to figure out where to go from here. With Naboo’s Queen incarcerated and its senator incapacitated, Leia did not blame the Naboo Council one bit for being lost.
After what she had witnessed aboard the Supremacy, she was beginning to feel a bit lost herself. Honestly, she felt that Booster Terrik was being rather generous with his description of the predicament she had found herself in.
“I think we can all agree that we can forget about reaching out to the Galactic Alliance for help,” Lieutenant Governor Korden was saying, bringing Leia’s attention back to the here and now. “They are in no better situation than we are when it comes to vacancies in power.”
“I can assure you that the Resistance is more than capable of providing you with the support you need,” Leia assured the other woman.
The Captain of the Guard Vara Wendik raised a dark eyebrow at her. “What exactly is it you are ‘resisting?’”
“At first, it was Darth Taral and his followers, since the Alliance was refusing to deal with him themselves,” Leia said solemnly. “Now, however… it has become clear to me that the First Order has been the true threat all along. It was the power behind Taral, is most likely the power behind the Malvis Cabal, and I would not be surprised if it’s been manipulating the Alliance from within in order to have them turn a blind eye to its activities while tearing itself apart from within.”
“Do you have a plan on how you are going to bring down this First Order?” asked Korden.
“Not yet. Not until we have acquired enough intelligence on both the Order and the Cabal to figure out how they operate.”
“Well, I’ve got you covered on the latter part,” said Booster Terrik, large arms folded over his barreled chest. “Right before we got called here, we had a lead on one of the Cabal’s big players. Calls himself Drakmos the Despised and we believe he’s operating on Ord Talavos, in the Tashtor sector.”
“Then I suggest you follow up on that lead as soon as possible,” Leia said.
“What if the First Order comes back with reinforcements?”
“I have already called for reinforcements of our own. An old friend of mine should be bringing them here shortly.”
Booster nodded curtly and turned to leave only to stop to aim a cocked eyebrow at Korden and the other advisors. “You sure you won’t need my help here?”
Leia smiled wryly. “Don’t worry, I’ve got things handled here. Besides, this is more my area of expertise than it is yours.”
“You know me too well, Your Highness.”
“More like I know your type well. I’ve been married to a smuggler for nearly forty years, after all.”
* * *
“Zarin, I believe it’s about time we talk.”
Zarin Kal continued walking towards the hangar bay where the other Renegades were waiting for him, pretending that he had not heard Toah Jarsan call out to him. He knew it was useless to put on such a facade, seeing as how they both had the Force, and he could already sense Toah’s frustration at being given the cold shoulder in such a way.
“I can’t say this is very Jedi of you,” Toah muttered as he managed to catch up with the Kiffar and walk alongside him.
“That’s because I’m not a Jedi,” Zarin curtly replied. “Not anymore.”
“Yes, I believe you’ve said as much by now. But I want more of an explanation. No one’s seen you since the attack on Ossus. Many of us even thought you were dead.”
“In a sense, I was,” Zarin said quietly.
Toah sighed, turning his head away to hide his exasperation. “I’m really not in the mood for vague, cryptic allusions. Just tell it to me straight. I promise I won’t judge you.”
Zarin said nothing at first, walking on with his dark eyes fixated on nothing in particular. Finally, he came to a stop and turned around to focus his cool gaze on Toah.
“You know about Odan Murk, yes?”
“I’ve heard that he was one of Darth Taral’s Sith infiltrators, if that’s what you’re referring to,” Toah replied.
Zarin nodded. “I saw him kill Master Nakil and… I lost it. To have someone that I had respected and trusted for so long turn out to be a Sith drove me to the edge. I chased him into the woods and I… I gave into the dark side. I let my feelings control me and I… and I killed him. That was when the Sith attacked and they captured me.”
Toah raised an eyebrow. “And they turned you?”
“Not until after the Battle of Mandalore. They brought me and Natia to a planet in Sith space where they gave us… these.” Zarin gestured to the tribal tattoos that marked his face and body. “I followed them only for a year or so until I met Valrisa and her crew. That was when I turned my back on both the Sith and the Jedi, and I haven’t looked back since.”
“And the Sith? Are they still out there?”
Zarin hesitated. “That I am not sure about. Before I met Valrisa, they had sent me to track down this artifact that she had found. There were also these two Givin—one of them a former Sith himself—and they used the artifact to do… something to the Sith. I’m not sure what, but I didn’t exactly stick around to find out. I’m pretty sure it killed them.”
“Pretty sure?” Toah echoed ironically. “When it comes to Sith, ‘pretty sure’ is never good enough. Vorath should be proof of that by now.”
“Evidently,” Zarin said wryly. “In any case, I haven’t felt the desire to return to the Jedi any more than I want to return to the Sith. This path I’m following right now… it’s the one that feels right for me, at least for now.”
“If the Force guides you so, then who am I to argue with it?” Toah rested a hand on Zarin’s shoulder. “Thank you. That’s all I wanted to hear.”
“You’re not going to try to bring me back to the Order?”
Toah shook his head. “It’s not my place to do so. In my opinion, it’s not anyone’s place but yours.”
Zarin smiled, the first genuine smile he had offered anyone in a long time. “Thank you, Toah. It’s good to know someone who understands you.”
“Believe me, I know that feeling.” Taking his hand off the Kiffar’s shoulder, Toah stepped back to regard him one last time. “It was good to see you again.”
“That it was,” Zarin replied. “May the Force be with you, Toah Jarsan.”
“And with you, old friend.”
With that, the two men went their separate ways, returning to the separate paths they had already been walking down.
* * *
“Took you long enough,” Typha remarked as Zarin Kal stepped into the Renegade’s main hold. “I think Kyla was just about ready to take off without you.”
“Sorry, I got held up,” the Kiffar replied. He sat at the holodeck table across from Typha and Valrisa. Kadar and Vessin were sitting nearby, cleaning their weapons and armor, while the rest of the crew were in the cockpit, preparing the ship for takeoff.
“So,” Zarin said after a moment. “Where are we headed next?”
“Ord Talavos,” Valrisa said, her tone grim. “Booster has a lead on one of the Cabal’s leaders and Remar’s confirmed that they’re operating on Ord Talavos.”
“You sound excited,” Zarin remarked.
“You know what happened there,” Valrisa said sharply. “You killed Hahgalor Mos, another one of the Cabal’s head honchos, and now we’ve all got bounties on our heads. There’s no way we’ll be able to show our faces there.”
“Then that’ll give us a good excuse to stay on the ship and let the others handle things.”
Valrisa scoffed and shook her head but said nothing further, instead glaring at the empty space of the main hold. Zarin glanced at Typha, who was eying her partner with a wary look of concern.
“You two weren’t arguing before I got here, were you?” he asked.
“No,” Typha sighed. “Val’s just upset about this whole Charge Matrica thing.”
“Oh. Right.” Zarin shifted his gaze back to Valrisa. “How did your talk with your sister go?”
“About as well as I could have expected,” Valrisa muttered. “Which was not well at all. She gave me some vague names and locations for the other siblings, but that was pretty much it. Oh, and some veiled threats towards my own personal safety. As if my entire life was already dedicated to constantly looking over my shoulder….”
“I think you should just give up on this whole thing,” Typha said, resting a hand on Valrisa’s shoulder. “Between Tagge getting assassinated and now this whole mess on Naboo, your mother’s other children do nothing but cause problems for themselves and other people. I think it would be best to just avoid them and lay low while they kill themselves and each other.”
Valrisa sighed, slumping lower in her seat. “Yeah. You’re probably right. I was hoping it would give us some insight on the Cabal’s activities, but… obviously that wasn’t the case.”
“Well, if all goes to plan at Ord Talavos, maybe we won’t need to worry about the Cabal for much longer.” Typha squeezed her partner’s shoulder. “Just… try to keep your head up, okay? We’ll get through this.”
Valrisa offered her Pantoran girlfriend a weak smile but Zarin could sense the wariness lying beneath it. He couldn’t blame her for having a pessimistic outlook. After everything that had happened the past several weeks—nay, the past couple of years—one would have had to be incredibly naive to think that anything could go right. But that was not an excuse for giving up; certainly not at this stage. As Typha said, they would get through this.
It was just a matter of if they would get through this alive or not.
* * *
The Millennium Falcon
After sixteen years, it was good to finally be in a familiar place.
The main hold of the Millennium Falcon appeared to be unchanged from the last time Luke had been aboard the old Corellian freighter. While he was not at all surprised given Han’s stubborn nature, he could not help but reflect on the irony of it all given that one of the first things he had heard about the Falcon was all of the modifications Han had made to it. Clearly his old friend had reached a point where he had decided that the Falcon did not need any more modifications and was good enough as it was.
Luke smiled to himself as he shook his head, sitting crossed-legged on the floor of the main hold, in the same spot where he had first used his lightsaber—his father’s lightsaber—against a training remote droid. He found it comforting to know that not much had changed in the years that had passed since his “death.” He still wasn’t sure if that was even the proper thing to call it seeing as how he was clearly not dead anymore. He also knew that he had not come back as a Force ghost the same way Obi-Wan Kenobi or Master Yoda had, considering he was still able to interact with the physical world and feel everything around him, both through physical touch and through the Force.
Closing his eyes, Luke allowed his mind to clear itself, giving himself into the Force as he prepare to enter a meditative trance….
“I am sorry, son.”
Luke’s eyes snapped open at the sound of his father’s voice. He knew that it was not Kane, as the clone was back at Theed Palace to have his injuries tended to. Even then, the presence he felt in the Force was far stronger than any he had felt before; a sensation he had only ever associated with his father in the few times he had communicated with him through the Force after Endor.
“I tried to stop him,” the voice of Anakin Skywalker continued. “Tried to turn him away from the path he was headed. I thought I had gotten through to him, but… clearly I was wrong.”
“What are you talking about?” Luke asked.
“Your nephew. My grandson. Ben. Snoke has twisted his mind too far; I’m afraid there is no hope in bringing him back to the light.”
“I was able to bring you back,” Luke said.
“Yes, but his situation is different from mine. Similar, yet different. Before Palpatine turned me to the dark side, I had been shown love and light for half my life. Ben, on the other hand, has virtually no memories of his childhood under his parents’ care. He has only known Snoke. Nearly his entire life has been consumed by darkness.”
Luke shook his head. “I still refuse to believe that he can’t be redeemed. There has to be a way.”
“Maybe there is. But it will have to be up to you and your sister to find it. I have done all that I can.”
“Thank you, father. That is more than I could ever ask for.”
“Don’t mention it,” Anakin replied. Already Luke could sense him drifting away. “Oh, and by the way… it’s good to have you back.”
It was not until after his father’s spirit had departed that the thought crossed Luke’s mind to ask how he had been brought back from the dead and why he had no recollection of ever actually being one with the Force, united with the spirits of his father, Obi-Wan, and Yoda. But by then, it was already too late. Once again, Luke was alone in the main hold of the Millennium Falcon, left with nothing but his own thoughts to keep himself company.
* * *
Theed Palace, Naboo
“How are you feeling?”
Finn glanced at Rey, looking slightly taken aback by the question. The two of them were wandering through the halls of Theed Palace, waiting for General Organa to finish deliberating with the Royal Advisory Council and give them their next tasks. Toah had gone off to speak with Zarin Kal while Han and Chewbacca had decided to hit up a local cantina for some refreshments. Neither of them had any idea where Luke Skywalker or the mysterious clone of his father had gone, though Rey was confident that Leia was keeping them safe somewhere.
After a moment, Finn finally answered her. “I’ve been better but I’m getting by. You?”
“Same,” Rey replied. “I just thought I should ask after… after what you’ve told me back on the Supremacy.”
“Yeah.” Finn nodded and looked away, avoiding eye contact with her. “Yeah, I’m… I’m getting through it. It’s a never-ending struggle, but….”
He trailed off, leaving the rest unspoken. Rey decided that it would be best to leave it that way and instead changed the trajectory of the conversation.
“You know, all my life I had never seen so much green in the galaxy,” she said, casting her gaze out a nearby window to the gardens that surrounded the palace. “And now, in the span of less than a year, I’ve been to more planets than I could have ever dreamed.”
“Were you born on Jakku?” Finn asked.
Rey shook her head. “No. At least, I don’t think I was. My earliest memories were being on a spaceship with my parents. I don’t remember what we were doing or where we were going… I just remember us all being together, and that was all that mattered.”
“And they left you on Jakku?”
“I’m not exactly sure what happened or why it happened. I’ve been suppressing the memories since I was six years old….”
Finn stopped to fully turn around and face her. “You want to find your parents.” He said the words as a factual statement rather than a question, and it was Rey’s turn to look down and avoid his gaze. “That’s what this is all about, isn’t it?” he continued. “You don’t really care about being a Jedi or fighting for the Resistance. You just want to find them.”
“Of course I care about the Jedi and the Resistance!” Rey retorted, a bit too defensively for her liking.
“Do you, though? I’ve seen how you act around Toah; how you don’t really listen to what he says and just do what your instinct tells you. That’s not a criticism, by the way,” Finn clarified when Rey opened her mouth to issue another retort. “In fact, I admire that about you. I would do the same thing if I were in your shoes.”
Rey raised an eyebrow at him. “You admire me?”
Finn’s face darkened with a blush. “No, no. I meant that I admire that trait about you, not that I… not to say that—”
Suddenly, Rey raised a hand to quiet him as she caught movement in the corner of her eye. Hovering her hand over her lightsaber, she looked over to see the same multi-armed droid that she and Toah had seen earlier. It was approaching her and Finn slowly, its primary arms raised as if in a calming motion.
“My apologies for intruding,” the droid started to say. “I was merely—”
“You.” Rey walked over to the droid, keeping her hand on her lightsaber hilt but not removing it from her belt yet. “Who are you? What are you doing here in the palace?”
“My designation is OneOne-FourDee. I am merely performing my routine protocols—”
“I’ve spoken with the Captain of the Guard and he said that medical droids aren’t authorized to move outside the infirmary.”
“You misunderstand,” 11-4D replied. “I am not here on behalf of the Royal House of Naboo but on that of House Pallopides. The Queen herself has given me a special assignment.”
“Well, the Queen has been taken into custody, so I’m not sure your presence here is going to be taken positively.”
The droid tilted its head, its photoreceptors blinking. “Has she? Interesting. Well, in any case, it does not matter much now. I have already completed my directive.”
“And what directive is that?” Rey asked.
Suddenly, 11-4D extended one of its many appendages and grabbed Rey’s hand. She felt a tiny needle prick the tip of her finger before immediately retracting. As the droid started to withdraw, she grabbed the droid by its shoulder and ignited her lightsaber, holding it up to 11-4D’s neck.
“What did you just do?” she demanded.
“I was fulfilling my directive,” the droid said simply.
“What directive involves poking people with needles?”
“Not just any people,” 11-4D said. “You, specifically. Your name is Rey, correct?”
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “How do you know my name?”
“Because I know who you are. I know who your parents are.”
As she slowly, unconsciously lowered her weapon arm from the droid’s neck, all Rey could do was gape at her own reflection in 11-4D’s optical sensors.
“And I know where to find them.”
