12: THE TWINS
It was done. The final broadcast had been sent. The public had been stirred into turmoil. Chaos would inevitably ensue.
And now, they waited.
Hali Pavan stood on the secondary bridge of the makeshift vessel known as the Gemini. The massive ship was actually a fusion of two Imperial-class Star Destroyers that had been stolen a year ago from the Imperial Remnant, joined together by a newly-built superlaser cannon that was supposedly capable of destroyer entire planets. The Gemini’s design was admittedly cumbersome and impractical, but with limited resources it was the best the Children of Vader could do in order to create the weapon they had been tasked with constructing.
By now, Hali’s exposed image was all over the HoloNet. Of course, to the general public, the face they saw was that of Leia Organa’s, and even Hali could barely recognize herself whenever she saw her reflection. As soon as she had made it to Darropolis, she had rendezvoused with the rest of the cult and filmed the scandalous video, which had then been immediately transmitted through the HoloNet center on Hosnian Prime which the cult had managed to take control of. She was still wearing the Vader-esque outfit she had worn at the end of the video, and the replica of Vader’s lightsaber hung from her belt. From what she had been told, it was not a legitimate lightsaber, as the crystal that powered its blade was synthetic and nowhere near as powerful as an actual kyber crystal.
She hoped that it was all just for show and that she wouldn’t need to actually use it. She had no idea how to wield a lightsaber and would likely die in any duel she found herself in.
Standing in front of her on the bridge, their back turned to her as they gazed out the viewport of the Gemini, was the appointed leader of the Children of Vader. Known simply as Am, the young woman had been introduced by Ingo Wavlud with no indication as to who she was or where she had come from. From the few times Hali had glimpsed her face, she appeared to be as old as she was, if not younger, but she usually hid her blonde hair and blue eyes behind a mask that was evocative of Vader’s as was typical of members in the cult. Am also had a twin brother named Karre, whom Hali had not seen as much of, as he typically worked with the male members of the cult just as Am worked with its female members. The rest of the members who did not fall under either binary gender were evenly split and added arbitrarily to the twin’s respective numbers.
It had been Am who had selected Hali for the specific purpose of impersonating Leia for their propaganda videos, having likely noticed her preexisting resemblance to the Princess of Alderaan thanks to her stint as Lola. Hali had agreed to the role on the condition that she received monetary compensation. The money was intended for her family, as a parting gift in case either Am or the rest of the cult decided she was no longer of use after the mission had been completed. And with the final video having been filmed and transmitted, Hali was simply waiting for that moment to come.
For a long time, Am did not speak, and Hali wondered if the other woman was even aware of her presence. Then, the leader of the Children of Vader spoke, her voice coming as a mechanical hiss through her mask.
“You have done well, Hali Pavan.”
Hali stiffened, bracing herself. “Thank you,” she said, her voice as quiet as a whisper.
Am raised a hand to the viewport. In the distance, Hali could see the planet of Delaya, the only inhabited planet in the Alderaan system after its neighbor had been destroyed twenty-eight years ago.
“In time,” Am said, “the weapon will be ready and the rest of the system will be obliterated, completing what the Empire had started nearly three decades ago. The blood of billions will be on the Princess’ hands.”
A dozen questions were running through Hali’s mind, and she could not stop herself from voicing them. “What is this really about?”
Am turned around on her heel, startling Hali with the sudden movement. “What do you mean?” the other woman hissed.
“This seems to be more about spiting Leia than it is worshiping Lord Vader,” Hali said. “If Leia is the daughter of Vader, then shouldn’t we be honoring her as well?”
“She is too far gone to the light,” Am replied. “She has become a disgrace to the Dark Lord’s name. The only purpose she serves now is to bring the New Republic to its knees, which has already been accomplished now that the public knows the truth.”
Hali swallowed. “What comes after this, then? After we destroy Delaya, what happens to us?” She stopped herself from saying, What happens to me?
Am turned back to the viewport. “That has yet to be decided,” she said quietly. “The Dark Lord has not yet shown me what comes next. Perhaps he is waiting for our success before entrusting us with further instructions.”
Something about the way Am was speaking caught Hali’s interest, and she almost forgot about the worry she was feeling regarding her fate. “Lord Vader has been… speaking to you?” She tried her best to keep the incredulity out of her voice, not wanting Am to think she was crazy… even if she did.
Am bowed her head slightly. “I hear his voice every night, from the day I was born. He has shaped me into who I am now. Made me an extension of his will. My brother has heard him as well… and like me, he has a power that most of the others lack.
“If the Princess and her brother are the heirs of Anakin Skywalker, then my brother and I are the true heirs of Lord Vader. We are the ones who have been molded in his shadow and rejected the light. It is through us that the legacy of Vader shall continue… and a new Sith Order made in his image shall rise.”
Am turned back around to face Hali once more. She started to slowly step over to the other woman, the red heels of her black boots clicking against the durasteel floor.
“You are different from most of the others,” she said quietly. “I had the medical droids take your blood sample when we selected you to serve as our Leia. The results confirmed what I have suspected for some time now.”
Hali stared back at her in confusion. “And what is that?”
“That you wield the same power that my brother and I do. Granted, your connection is not as… strong as ours. But with the right training, you will be tap into your true potential.”
“You mean… I have the Force?”
“Correction,” Am said. “You have the dark side. The truest, rawest form of the Force, as manifested by the Dark Father. His shadow lives through you as it does through my brother and I.”
She stopped within inches from Hali and raised a gloved hand to cup her face—Leia’s face—and rubbed a thumb over her cheek.
“He has delivered you to us,” Am whispered. “You are his true daughter.”
Hali had no idea how that idea squared with Am’s claim of being the true heir of Vader; she was still reeling from the revelation that she had the Force. As Am stepped back, she motioned for Hali to kneel and she did so, bowing her head so that her long brown hair formed a curtain around her face.
“The woman you once were is no more,” Am declared. “The Dark Lord Vader has reshaped you into your true image. Henceforth, you shall be Lady Vader—the true incarnation of his daughter.”
Hali’s mind was racing. None of this was making sense. Am truly was insane if she believed anything of what she was saying. But she could not reveal her doubt; she had to bide her time.
By now, investigators should have found the clue she had left behind at her hotel room. The New Republic would be here any minute now. Until they arrived, she had to pretend to buy into Am’s delusions. At least her leader had decided to spare her after fulfilling her purpose….
“I have one last task for you,” Am then said. “This comes not from me, but from the Dark Father himself.”
Hali’s heart pounded against her chest as Am spoke the last thing she wanted to hear.
“You must kill Princess Leia Organa.”
* * *
On the other bridge of the Gemini, Karre, twin brother of Am, paced nervously back and forth.
The weapon was nearly ready and the planet of Delaya laid in their sights. The destruction of the Alderaan system was the last item on the agenda that Darth Vader had provided the twins, and it had been what they had been working towards for the last nineteen years.
Their plans had been slightly delayed due to the onslaught of Darth Vorath and his Sith Order, although they had proved to be a useful distraction for the Children of Vader to acquire the resources they needed. It also helped that they had secret benefactors hidden within the ranks of the Imperial Remnant, allowing them to retrieve the two Star Destroyers they needed to carry the superweapon.
Now that everything was nearly complete however, Karre was beginning to have his doubts.
He had not heard Vader’s voice in some time now. He and his sister had heard him consistently for every waking day of their lives, yet now the Dark Lord was silent and Karre felt… empty. It almost felt as if some sort of veil had been lifted from his eyes and he could now see clearly… but he wasn’t sure what it was he was supposed to be seeing.
Everything he had done for the last nineteen years had been at the direction of the Dark Lord. Whenever he tried to recall previous events, they always came back as a haze, almost as if they had been a dream. He could recall the moment of his birth, which he understood to be unusual.
In fact, everything about their birth had been unorthodox; he could remember floating in a tube of nutritional liquids, surrounded by mysterious cloaked figures. Their homeworld had been a planet of darkness and despair, one neither of them had returned to since they had been sent out to fulfill their mission. The voice of Darth Vader had guided them every step of the way… but now, it had gone silent.
Karre wasn’t sure if Am was having the same problem. The last time he had spoken to her, she still sounded determined on seeing this whole operation through. He wasn’t sure how she would respond to him telling her that he was starting to question their actions.
He heard a beep and he turned to see a pair of droids approaching him. B-20N and R-DUO had faithfully served the twins for all nineteen years of their lives and could always be counted on to be at either of their side.
“Master Karre,” said the protocol droid B-20N. “Construction of the superweapon is complete and ready for your inspection.”
“Has Am already been informed?” Karre asked, his voice modified by the mask he wore. It strangely felt heavier than it usually did.
“Not yet, Master Karre. She is preoccupied with other matters.”
“Very well.” Karre walked past the two droids, his cape sweeping behind him. “I will attend to it myself. Stay here on the bridge and await my return.”
“As you wish, Master Karre.”
* * *
Chandrila
The twin moons of Chandrila shone brightly in the night time sky, creating the perfect atmosphere for a romantic date. Chance Calrissian poured two glasses of Sacorrian wine as he admired his lover for the night, sitting across from him in a small, vibrantly red dress with a neckline that showed off much of her emerald skin. He looked forward to seeing the rest of her later tonight.
Handing her glass to her, he raised his own as he put on his best charming smile. “To us, madame.”
The Mirialan woman giggled as they tapped their glasses together. “Are you sure you’re old enough to drink this? You look so young….”
“Just good genes, my love.” The truth was that Chance was about four years younger than his date, maybe even more. But she did not need to know about that. Maybe he just had a thing for older women.
Liar, a little voice at the back of his head taunted him. We both know who you’re really saving your heart for.
Chance ignored the voice as he downed his drink. The rest of the date passed by in a blur, and before he knew it they were back at his apartment, passionately embraced on his couch. He ran his fingers through her black hair as he nuzzled her neck, lifting up the red straps of her dress with his thumb.
“You are simply looking ravishing tonight, Jaina,” he murmured into her neck.
The slap came without warning and the force of it sent him falling off the couch and onto the floor. His date shot up angrily to her feet, green face contorted with rage.
“My name’s Myra!” she practically screeched. “Who’s this ‘Jaina’ person?”
“Baby, it’s not what you think,” Chance said, scrambling back to his feet. “It’s just, uh, a term of endearment from where I’m from. Jaina is just another word for, uh, beautiful and, uh—”
She silenced him with another slap to the cheek. Not waiting for him to recover, she retrieved her purse and stormed out of his room in a huff, leaving him standing there dazed and confused… and alone.
Chance sighed heavily as he collapsed back onto his couch. Another expensive date ruined thanks to his own stupidity. Myra was not the first woman to unleash her scorn on him, and she probably wouldn’t be the last.
He already what it was he really wanted—or, more accurately, who he wanted. But he knew it was not meant to be. It never could. All he could do was desperately search for someone who could make him forget all about the true subject of his desires.
He knew he was going to be searching for a very, very long time….
A chime sounded from his comlink, still in the pockets of his pants. Chance tried to ignore it, but it kept on beeping and beeping. Giving up, he fished out the device and answered it.
“Who is this?”
“Chance, we need your help again,” answered Jacen Solo.
“I’m not in the mood, Jace. Call again another time.”
“This is serious, Chance.” There was an urgency in Jacen’s voice that stopped Chance from hanging up. “An entire planet is in danger and you have one of the fastest ships in the sector.”
“In the galaxy,” Chance corrected him, almost automatically.
“Whatever. This is your chance to prove it. Pick us up on Hosnian and then take us to the Alderaan system.”
Chance’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Alderaan system? What’s there? And why do you need me to—”
“Questions later. Don’t keep us waiting.”
With that, the line went silent and Chance was once more left in a spell of confusion.
A few minutes later, he was fully dressed and heading to his ship.
* * *
Hosnian Prime
Jacen Solo paced back and forth on one of the landing platforms in Republic City, repeatedly checking his chronometer while Jaina and Anakin watched him.
Captain Wallen Nix had just informed him of what he had found at Hali Pavan’s hotel room… but only after he had told Leia and Director Scaur. Perhaps knowing about the partnership he had with Wallen and what he would do after he had gotten the news, Leia had told him and his siblings to stay on Hosnian while the Defense Force dealt with the situation in the Alderaan system.
But Leia should have known by now what her children were like. Most of the time, a demand was taken as an outright challenge to defy it.
Chandrila wasn’t that far from Hosnian Prime, relatively speaking. If Chance’s ship was half as fast as he claimed it was, he should have been here in no time. Jacen had considered taking the Millennium Falcon, but he knew their father would likely side with their mother on the matter. Plus, he didn’t want to have to contend with Uncle Chewie….
The telltale sound of a Corellian freighter’s engines directed his attention to a sleek white YT-1300 model swooping in towards the platform. Thanks to a clearance code that Jacen had already transmitted to the ship, it was able to get past the lockdown that was still in effect following the Children of Vader’s attack on the theater. The ramp lowered and the three Solo kids wasted no time in boarding the ship. By the time they were in the cockpit, Chance was already piloting the freighter up towards the sky.
Once they were through the atmosphere, Chance began plotting in the coordinates for the Alderaan system. He then pulled a lever and the stars stretched into lines as the Best Chance jumped into hyperspace.
As soon as they were en route for the Alderaan system, Chance pivoted in his seat to face Jacen. “All right. Details. Now.”
Jacen proceeded to tell him about the attack at the Madera Starros Theatre, the message from the Children of Vader that had followed right after, and what Captain Wallen Nix had found at the hotel. When he was done, Chance leaned back in his seat and rubbed his chin in thought.
“So, what do you think we’ll find when we get to the system?”
“No idea,” Jacen said. “But we figure it must have something to do with the cult. Maybe it’s where they’re going to strike next.”
“Or it could be a trap,” Chance suggested.
“That’s what I said,” Jaina said with a wry smirk.
Jacen noticed Chance stiffen slightly but did not dwell on it, instead casting his mind back to the last time he had been to the Alderaan system. Nearly five years ago, he and his sister had ventured out to the ruins of Alderaan to retrieve a piece of the planet’s shattered core to give as a birthday gift to the mother. However, their adventure had been cut short when they were pursued by a bounty hunter claiming to be Boba Fett, although Jacen now doubted their claim ever since learning that Fett had become the leader of the Mandalorians during that time frame.
Back then, Jacen and his friends had not come across any signs of a cult operating in the system, even though the Children of Vader were supposedly operating around that time if not earlier. Either they had been well-hidden or they had not yet taken residence in the system. Regardless, he knew there had to be some sort of significance for the location; why else would so many of their recruits been taken from a planet named after the original Alderaan? That on top of the fact that they were clearly targeting his mother for a reason….
The rest of the trip went on in silence until the Best Chance came out of hyperspace an hour later. The Corellian freighter dropped out not far from the planet Delaya, the only inhabited planet remaining in the system following the destruction of Alderaan. Immediately, the ship’s console started beeping alarmingly and Jacen could already see why.
Just up ahead was a massive vessel that appeared to be two Imperial-class Star Destroyers fused together, with a round cannon connecting the two ships. The vessel was angled towards Delaya, its cannon no doubt pointed at the planet in preparation to destroy it. As the Best Chance had come out just on the edge of the vessel’s sensors, they had not yet been caught by its tractor beam… and Chance wasn’t going to wait around to see if it noticed them.
“Nope,” he said, already back on the navigational console as he plotted in another course. “Not doing this.”
Jacen grabbed his hand to stop him. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Saving our skins. There’s no way I’d go up against a regular Star Destroyer, let alone two hodge-podged together!”
“Your father destroyed the second Death Star,” Jacen said in a low tone. “And you’re afraid of Star Destroyers?”
Chance shot him a dirty look. “Don’t even go there, Solo. You wouldn’t want me comparing you to your old man, would you?”
Jacen opened his mouth to retort only for Jaina to stand up and push him away. He gave his sister a skeptical look as she leaned over Chance with both hands on his shoulders.
“How many escape pods do you have on this ship?” she asked, her voice uncharacteristically soft and gentle.
Chance gawked at her for a moment before swallowing. “Five. The standard. Plus the one extra in the front.”
“More than enough. Jacen and I will get into two of them and let them pull us in with a tractor beam. Meanwhile, you and Anakin stay behind and keep to the edge of their sensors until the New Republic fleet arrives. Let them know we’re onboard and be on standby to pick us up when we’re ready.” She looked back over to her brothers. “That sound good?”
Anakin nodded while Jacen shrugged. Jaina then turned back to Chance and offered him a smile—the most genuine one she had given him in some time.
“You can do this,” she said softly. “I believe in you.”
She then leaned in and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek. Jacen rolled his eyes while Anakin ran his palm over his face. Jaina then turned to head to the back of the ship, where the escape pods were located.
“You coming or what?” she called back to Jacen.
Shaking his head, Jacen walked after his sister, leaving behind Anakin and a starstruck Chance in the cockpit.
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