CHAPTER NINE
Chommell Minor
Luke stared at the woman who claimed to be his and Leia’s mother. She stared back at him, watching him and his sister expectantly.
He had no memory of his real mother—he had said as much to Leia back on Endor a year ago. Leia, however, had told him about having some memories of their mother, vague as they were. He glanced over at her, studying her expression to see if there was any sign of recognition, any indication that this woman was telling the truth.
Instead, Leia simply stared in bewilderment at the woman before shaking her head. “No,” she murmured. “It’s not true. It’s impossible.”
The woman who called herself Amidala smiled back at her, patient in an almost patronizing way. “And why is that, my dear?”
“My real mother—our real mother—is dead,” Leia replied, her tone cold and hard. “That much I remember, even if everything else is a blur. You must be an impostor.”
“Am I?” Amidala spread her arms. “You have the Force, Leia. Like your father before you. Search your feelings and you will know it to be true.”
Leia continued to shake her head, but she closed her eyes and Luke could sense her reaching out with the Force, tentatively and carefully as she was not as experienced with it as he was. Luke closed his eyes and reached out as well, guiding Leia along as they both touched the mind of the woman in front of them.
Whoever this woman was truly believed that she was Padme Amidala and the mother of Luke and Leia. That much was certain. But just because she herself believed it didn’t necessarily mean it was true, as she could have been brainwashed to believe those things. Indeed, the further Luke reached into her mind, the more murky everything became, and he could not detect any detailed memories that actually verified her claim.
As he perused her mind, Luke could sense Amidala’s growing nervousness and she abruptly spoke, perhaps to break his concentration. “Luke,” she said softly. “Please listen to me. There is a way for you and your sister to end this war against the Empire.”
“How?” Leia asked, her eyes open again to stare at the other woman. “By taking control of it?”
Amidala nodded. “I was against it at first, but I realize now that the Empire is the only chance the galaxy has to attaining peace. Palpatine’s only mistake was exposing his true evil nature, but under a benevolent ruler, the Empire can truly prosper. Your friends in the New Republic will even side with you; Mon Mothma was a dear friend of mine and if I have a chance to speak with her, she will surely hear the truth in my words.”
“No,” Luke said, finally opening his eyes. “She won’t.”
Amidala stared at him, frowning. “Why not?”
“Because you are not Padme Amidala.”
The young woman scoffed, her composure faltering. “And what makes you think that?”
“Your memories only go back so far,” Luke said. “You’ve only been alive for a year at most.”
Leia looked at him in surprise. “What does that mean?”
“It means she’s a clone,” Luke said, his gaze still on the woman. “If our real mother had indeed survived after all these years, she would look much older than she does now.”
“Some people age better than others,” the clone of Amidala said weakly.
“Maybe so. But that’s not the case here.” Luke shifted his gaze from the copy of Amidala to Lady Greejatus, who was scowling where she sat. “Nice trick, milady, but I’m afraid it is one that has failed.”
Lady Greejatus continued to glower at him before smiling darkly. “I didn’t need it to work, young Skywalker. I just needed you here to see this. Inquisitor Rarnok?”
From where he stood, the Zabrak lifted a hand and the clone of Amidala gasped as she staggered back, a hand reaching up to her neck as she struggled for air.
“Do you know how your mother died?” Lady Greejatus asked.
Luke and Leia stared in horror as the Zabrak curled his fingers closer together, and Amidala grabbed her neck with both hands as she fell to her knees. Her face started to turn a sick shade of purple as air escaped her lungs.
“Do you want to know how your father killed her?”
“Enough,” Luke demanded. “Let her go.”
“Oh, so now you care?” Greejatus said mockingly. “I thought she was a clone.”
“She is but she’s still a living being. You can’t just kill her like this!”
Greejatus laughed. “Watch me.”
Rarnok twisted his hand. There was a sickening snap and the clone of Amidala fell lifelessly to the floor. Luke held back an anguished cry from escaping his lips and didn’t even notice as the stun cuffs around his wrists unclasped and clattered to the floor, along with Leia’s.
“I can feel your anger,” the Zabrak growled from the shadows. “Give in and unlock the true potential of your power.”
Luke shut his eyes. “I’ve heard this before. I will not be turned.”
“I was not talking to you, Skywalker.”
Luke’s eyes snapped open and he turned in time to see Leia reach out with her hand. A silvery lightsaber hilt flew from the Zabrak’s belt and into her hand. She pressed the ignition switch and a crimson beam of energy sprang out from the emitter. A fire burned in her brown eyes.
“Leia, no!” Luke exclaimed. “He’s trying to turn you! Don’t give in to the dark side!”
His words seemed to get through to her as Leia moved as if startled and she dropped the lightsaber as if it were a dangerous animal. The weapon powered down and Rarnok summoned it back to his hand, reigniting its blade as he stepped out from the shadows.
“A pity,” he murmured, before moving in for the kill.
Luke reached out with his hand and released a burst of energy that sent Rarnok flying off his feet, crashing into the wall. Greejatus let out a panicked shriek and she slammed her fist on her desk, prompting an alarm to go off throughout the palace. Luke set his eyes on her and reached out with the Force again. Greejatus screamed as she scrambled out of her chair, but it was not her that he was targeting. With the Force, he tore her chair out of the floor and hurled it at the window, shattering it and causing a gust of cool wind to blow into the room.
Realizing what he was planning, Greejatus cried out to Luke. “Are you insane? You will die if you jump out that window!”
Luke ignored her as he turned to Leia and extended his hand. “Do you trust me?”
Leia did not give it a second thought. She clasped her hand over his. “Always.”
Hand in hand, the twins ran for the window and leaped out into the city below, letting the Force carry them.
* * *
Shara was still being escorted to her cell when the alarms went off. The stormtroopers at her side immediately stopped but Lieutenant Halmers urged them to keep walking.
“Ignore it,” he growled. “It’s probably another drill.”
“Doesn’t sound like a drill to me,” one of the troopers muttered.
“Did I give you permission to speak?” Halmers snapped. “Shut up and keep walking. We can’t afford to be distracted.”
As they turned a corner, Shara saw at the end of a corridor a tall eyepatch-wearing Cerean speaking with another Imperial officer. In the Cerean’s hand appeared to be a lightsaber hilt, and Shara had seen enough footage to recognize it as the lightsaber of Luke Skywalker.
Shara’s mind raced as her escort brought her closer to where the Cerean and the officer were. She had an idea on what to do, but the chances of it working were incredibly slim and would likely cost her her life. But she had to take the chance; otherwise, she would be thrown into a cell at best and onto a torture chair at worst. Even if Leia managed to escape and found a way to rescue her, Shara wasn’t intent on becoming just another prisoner.
As Halmers and his party approached the other officer and the Cerean, the former turned and saluted to Halmers. “Lieutenant,” the young man said. “This bounty hunter has delivered the Jedi’s weapon.”
“Great,” Halmers grunted. “I’ll get back to you later.”
He led the troopers and Shara past the other two and that was when she took her chance. Jolting herself back and away from the stormtroopers, she swept her leg at the Cerean’s, catching him off-guard. The bounty hunter staggered and the lightsaber fell from his hand. With her wrists bound in front of her, she was able to get a grip on the hilt—if a bit awkwardly—as one of the stormtroopers grabbed her shoulder and tried to pull her back up. Meanwhile, the other one got in front of her and tried to grab the lightsaber still in her hands.
“Let go of that, rebel scum,” the stormtrooper growled.
Shara gritted her teeth as her thumb managed to find the activation switch and a green blade fired from the emitter and impaled the stormtrooper straight through his chestplate. The action startled Shara and she dropped the lightsaber, just as the stormtrooper she had stabbed fell to the floor. The one behind her released her shoulder as he instinctively moved to his partner’s aid, only for Halmers to move in and grab her instead.
“Did you really think,” the lieutenant growled into her ear, “that would work?”
Shara responded by jabbing her elbow into his gut, causing Halmers to lurch back and release her. She then got up and spun around, throwing her arms over his head and wrapping the durasteel chain connecting her cuffs around his neck, choking him. The remaining stormtrooper raised his blaster, as did the other officer. The Cerean bounty hunter was back on his feet and recovered the lightsaber, but he did not ignite it nor did he do anything to aid the Imperials.
“Here’s how it’s going to go,” Shara said to them. “Release me from these cuffs and let me go, and I won’t strangle your lieutenant here to death.”
“Don’t… listen to her,” Halmers gagged out. “Just… shoot her already!”
Shara used the connector around his neck as leverage to hoist him higher up, so that she was completely behind him. She proceeded to move the both of them around, changing angles to prevent either the trooper or the officer from getting a clear shot at her.
“Try that, and you’ll probably end up killing him as well,” Shara warned.
The Imperials kept their blasters raised but hesitated in pulling the trigger, even as Halmers continued to urge them to shoot. Shara kept a frown from forming on her face as she realized that she practically gotten herself into a corner. As long as the binders were still on her wrists, the only thing she could do was choke the lieutenant out, at which point the stormtrooper and officer would immediately open fire on her. The alarms that were still blaring meant that the base was on full alert and thus probably on lockdown; even if she did manage to get out of the corridor by taking Halmers hostage, where would she be able to go? And if reinforcements were on their way, that would be the end for her.
The only wild card was the Cerean bounty hunter. He continued to watch the scene unfold from the side, his expression unreadable. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw as he closed his one good eye, appearing to be in thought for a good long moment.
Then, almost without warning, he ignited the lightsaber of Luke Skywalker and proceeded to cut down the remaining stormtrooper and officer. He then swung the blade at Halmers, cutting through his chest and barely missing Shara behind him. The lieutenant’s body went limp and fell out of Shara’s hold. The chain of her binders were still taut and the Cerean cut through it with the blade, causing the cuffs to fall to the floor.
It took Shara a moment to process everything that had just happened. She then looked up to the Cerean in shock. “Why did you do that?”
“You are with Luke Skywalker.” It was a statement rather than a question.
“I mean, I didn’t know he was here until just now, assuming that’s his lightsaber….”
“He knows the ways of the Force,” the Cerean continued, and it sounded more like he was talking to himself than to Shara. She also noticed that he still hadn’t shut off the lightsaber.
“He will teach me.” The bounty hunter then brought the green blade to her face and she saw the wicked gleam in his good eye. “Or you will die.”
Oh, great, was all Shara could think.
* * *
“Where’s Tarr?”
Cad Bane sat at the controls of the Justifier as the ship departed from Chommell Minor. His question hung in the air and Todo 360 swiveled his cube-shaped head before looking back up at Bane.
“Oh!” the droid said. “Were you talking to me?”
Bane growled at the droid before raising the other Snatchers on the comm. “Has anyone seen Tarr’s ship take off yet?”
“I haven’t seen it,” Dengar replied.
“That’s a negative from me,” responded Kerran.
“Zuckuss has not seen his ship,” joined in Zuckuss.
The others gave similar responses and Bane was left there scowling in his seat. “The Boss won’t be happy if we return to him minus one without a good explanation.”
“We could just tell him he died,” suggested Dem Hazon. “Not like anyone would miss him.”
“I know Dan’wal. He knows lies when he hears them.” Bane gnawed on his toothpick, his frustration growing as he realized what they would have to do. “We need to go back for him.”
“Aw, blast, do we really need to?” groused Kale Karsa. “I don’t sign up to play babysitter.”
“I don’t like it anymore than you do,” Bane said. “But the alternative means a lot worse for us in the long run. Let’s just get back down there and find him. Then we can finally leave this whole mess behind us.”
The other Snatchers chimed in with their grudging acceptance. Bane then pulled the Justifier into a reverse course as he headed back to Chommell Minor, now joined by the others’ ships.
Bane gritted his teeth as he gripped the steer yoke of his ship. “When I find that Cerean,” he muttered to himself, “I’m going to put a blaster bolt through that thick skull of his.”
* * *
“Please tell me,” Leia panted as she tried to catch her breath, “that we won’t be doing that again.”
Luke didn’t respond, as he was a bit winded as well. He had used the Force to propel themselves from the window of Greejatus’s office to a platform that happened to be several feet below it. It had been the first time Luke had done anything of the sort while trying to carry another safely with him, and the act had exerted a lot more energy from him than he had expected. Still, he knew they had to keep moving and he was already peering over the platform to figure out where to head to next.
Coming up beside him, Leia said, “We need to find Shara. I brought her with me and she was captured by Imperials.”
Luke nodded. “I also need to get my lightsaber. We should find a way back into the base then.”
His eyes then drifted up. On the horizon, he saw an Imperial Star Destroyer stationed over some sort of loading platform. Several transports and fighters were being loaded onto the Star Destroyer, which he knew to be a standard procedure. What wasn’t though were the large containers that were also being loaded. They were far too large to be carrying simple supplies or anything of the sort.
Leia followed his gaze to the Star Destroyer. “That’s the Torment,” she breathed. “Moff Panaka’s ship. I was just speaking to him at Hosk Station.”
“Is he the reason you’re here?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t realize he was on Chommell Minor. We came here to get a message out to the Queen of Naboo.”
Luke nodded absently before saying, “I wonder what’s in those containers they’re loading.”
Leia frowned. “Probably not anything good.” She then touched his shoulder. “Come on. We need to find Shara.”
“No need, for I have found you.”
Luke and Leia froze before turning around to see Shara standing in a doorway at the other end of the platform. However, it was not her that had spoken but rather the Cerean bounty hunter standing behind her, holding the emerald blade of Luke’s lightsaber to her neck.
“My name,” the Cerean called out to Luke, “is Tarr-Nar-Mal.”
“I remember you,” Luke called back. “You’re one of the bounty hunters that captured me.”
“Yes, but I have since seen the current of the Force change.” The Cerean grinned. “Oh yes, Skywalker, I know the Force. And if you want your friend here to live, then you will teach me all that you know.”
Luke exchanged a glance with Leia before looking back at Tarr and nodding. “Very well. Just let her go and return my lightsaber to me.”
Tarr let out a harsh, cold laugh. “Oh, no. I’m not going to make it that easy for you. I have foreseen the coming storm and the role you play in it. You will come with me, or else thousands will die. Including your friend here.” As he said this, he brought Luke’s blade closer to Shara’s face. While the dark-haired woman’s eyes were filled with defiance and courage, Luke could still sense a small hint of fear. Regardless, he knew he could not allow the Cerean to kill her, and he knew Leia felt the same way.
Grimacing, the Jedi Knight bowed his head. “As you wish. Lead us away.”
Tarr gave him a toothy grin. “That’s more like it.”
* * *
Lady Greejatus picked herself up from the floor and stood in the shattered remains of her window. Down below, she saw the Skywalker twins on a platform, where they had been cornered by another one of Bane’s bounty hunters, a tall-headed Cerean. She watched as the Cerean held one of their rebel friends at swordpoint before forcing them to follow him.
She let out a heavy sigh before aiming a cold glare at Rarnok, standing in the shadows beside her. “It would appear the bounty hunter was more successful than you were in apprehending them.”
“You assume that his motives still align with ours,” the Zabrak Inquisitor replied. “I sense that the bounty hunter is now acting on his own accord.”
Greejatus gave him an incredulous look. “Why would that be? Their contract is with me!”
“The contract was fulfilled the moment they delivered Skywalker to you,” Rarnok pointed out to her. “It is no longer relevant to the matter at hand. Besides, their other contract is still active, and even you do not know the full details of it.”
Greejatus grimaced as she eyed the clone of Amidala, lying dead on the floor. “I am aware of that,” she muttered. “So what now?”
“You could alert Moff Panaka and inform him of the situation.” Rarnok stepped forward and poked his head out of the shattered window, looking towards the Torment in the distance as it was armed with the climate disruption arrays. “However, it might be worth letting things play out as they may. I have a sense as to where the bounty hunter may be taking them, and interfering now may provide a setback to Operation: Cinder. And we wouldn’t want to have that now, would we?”
Greejatus glared at the Zabrak before throwing up her hands in defeat. “Fine. We’ll do things your way. But if it doesn’t pan out, then I will see that you are punished appropriately for your failure.”
“Oh, don’t worry, milady.” Rarnok grinned and Greejatus felt a shiver run down her spine. “You will not have to concern yourself with meting out punishments any time soon.”
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