Star Wars: Heir to the Sith (Part 1) (#Wattys2018 shortlist)

Chapter 53: The whole galaxy was quiet.

"No," she told her. "There is nothing you can do, Ella. Trust me, you don't need to see."

Ella shook herself free and ran to the front of the fighter. With a breath, she peered around the edge.

Jish lay, face down and still. The brown cloak hid her face and body, but her right hand was outstretched and empty . . .

Her lightsaber rolled free, gaining an unnatural speed as it neared Ella.

Ella fell to her knees. Jish was dead. She knew it. She didn't need to see what the damage of the fall had done to her beautiful teacher.

She put her hand over her mouth and felt her heart beat faster and harder. She felt Cor come to her and grab her by her collar, to try and drag her away. She heard Mahon talking but didn't understand the words, and somewhere in the hangar a door slid open and many booted feet moved in.

The cylindrical object came to a stop against Ella's knee.

"We have to go. Now!" Cor was saying, pulling at her collar harder.

Ella took the lightsaber in her hand and let herself be pulled back to her feet.

"You cannot escape," Mahon said. He moved to the edge and stared down. His face was badly burned. Abruptly he sank to one knee and held himself upright with his hands on the platform's edge. "Surrender to me," he told her. "And I will be merciful."

Ella met his gaze and was satisfied when he flinched.

"When we meet again," she said, "I will not be. I promise it!"

She hastened after Cor toward the open hangar door and for the first time saw the damage the bombing had done to the ion cannon. A crater, pouring black smoke into the air, was all that was left of the shielded dome. In the blue sky above she saw numerous TIEs and Imperials shuttles, some of the fighters coming in low to strafe the city with indiscriminate fire. As she reached the bay doors, the last of the Farsalt fighters was shot down, sending up a plume of smoke and fire as it crashed a kilometre away.

Chip and the Imperial officer waited for them, watching over Lance Dare who lay on his back, shivering uncontrollably. He gave her a sad smile.

"Look up, your Highness," he said. "See what we've done."

"Endless skies!" Cor whispered in awe.

The sight that greeted Ella's eyes was one she had never imagined to see. The Onslaught laboured a mere kilometre above them. Clouds of black smoke were billowing from its port side. Debris continued to fall from from the widest part of its belly, and immense electric bursts erupted and died from across its length. Ella felt her hair tingle as the static built up.

And then she saw something that she did not know what to make of. A tiny figure in the white armour of a stormtrooper leapt from a blazing platform and fell, choosing to fall to his death rather than burn. Two more figures followed, the grey drab uniforms of officers coming into view as they spun toward the ground and were finally, dreadfully, lost from her sight.

A heart beat later, and the platform they had leapt from erupted in an blaze of flame.

She felt a dark savage joy at forcing her enemies into that position, a strength so powerful she couldn't help but smile.

But the thought lasted no longer than a single second, to be replaced by an appreciation of the terror that they must have felt to have chosen to end their lives that way. And a sense of shame and deep guilt that she had been partly responsible. Someone else, far away in the galaxy, would have lost a son or a brother in those moments.

"They might not make it to orbit," Chip observed. "Its engines are badly damaged. Its power supplies are out of control." He gazed at Ella thoughtfully. "One more hit from the ion cannon would probably have brought it down."

The pale blue lights of the Star Destroyer's engines flared up. The entire ship rumbled and slowly gained altitude. An immense flash of electricity burst across the hangar's entrance on the ship's underside and caught a passing TIE in the discharge. The fighter spun out of control, a blue cage of lightning engulfing it as it fell like a stone and vanished with a 'crump' beyond the palace walls.

"They're evacuating all non-essential personnel," Chip said, tapping his headpiece. "They've–"

Chip froze, his eyes looking back into the hangar bay. Ella turned.

At least a dozen stormtroopers had them covered.

Behind them, slowly descending a stair, came Mahon.

He gestured toward her.

"Bring her to me," he said.

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