Star Wars: Heir to the Sith (Part 3)

Chapter 47: Pain and hatred and anger were imposters in life.

"All ships have moved to a safe distance from the Assassin, Captain Pina," Bauhaus said flatly. "Our gunners have locked onto their designated targets, and the Assassin's shields are down. We are ready to commence firing."

"I take sole responsibility for this order," Pina said in a dreamlike haze.

"You don't have to do that sir," Bauhaus whispered.

"Thank you commander, but I will. Before I do so, what is the state of the survivors we rescued from the Assassin?"

"A third of them are already dead Captain Pina. And these were those with the best survival chances."

Pina swore. The high death rate reinforced his decision that he was doing the right thing, but he hated that he had to rely on such grim news to give him the moral victory.

"How many people are still aboard her?" he asked quietly.

Bauhaus made an uncomfortable face. "Life sensors can't be certain sir. But our analysis would put it at about fifteen and a half thousand. It's going down by the minute."

Pina couldn't bring himself to speak.

"Sir?" Bauhaus prompted.

"If our duty forces us to become evil men, is there any chance for us to make a better galaxy?"

"You are not an evil man sir."

"I think that's something only a good man can judge, Levron. Very well."

Pina turned to the bridge and issued his order.

"All gunners. This is a direct command from Captain Pina. You have your targets. Standby to fire."

Lieutenant Janus nodded. "All batteries acknowledge captain."

"Very well. Fire."

By the time Captain Pina turned back to the view screen, the Assassin was aflame.

***

Tayre tried desperately to turn herself away from the sight of the Assassin as the first green bolts hammered into its hull, burning their way through the surface and setting the ship ablaze.

She choked and pitched forward in her seat in Pina's quarters, weeping into her arms, hiding herself from the violence.

You have to watch! she shouted to herself. You have to see it!

"It's a mercy," she stammered to herself. "It's a mercy!"

And then another thought formed in her mind, birthed from mixed emotions and delivered into her conscience by both despair and hope.

Pina had made the choice to end their lives. He had taken that from her. He had taken her pain and made it his.

Why would he do that? Why would a man make the choice he hated when he didn't have to?

"Oh Captain," she whispered. "What have I made you do?"

There was only one reason her mind could fathom for why he would have done so.

Princess Tayre of Farsalt, who had for an instant been a queen, lowered her face into her hands and wept. She could have lived with her own guilt. She would have hated herself, but she would have survived.

But she wasn't sure she could live with herself knowing that a good man had ruined himself for her, to take her guilt and to make it his own, all for the most noble emotion of all.

***

With each impact of the turbolasers, Neerada felt the pain from the Assassin fade. She watched in a sober fixation as the initial blasts tore through the ship's tapered hull, targeted to where the survivors were trapped in a deliberate strategy to end their misery as quickly as possible.

She had been raised not to empathise. She had been brought up by cruel hands that had driven sentiment and empathy from her with harsh punishments and a tortured routine.

Weaknesses she had come to despise. Mercy, empathy, love, all these emotions she had regarded as being weak, a chink in the warrior's armour.

She had been brought up to kill, told that she and those like her had a sacred mission to preserve the Empire and to prevent the return of the Jedi.

She had believed in a destiny. A destiny that she would perish in battle for a righteous cause.

As the pain from the Assassin started to vanish from her own feelings, she knew that all of what she had been told had been a lie. Pina, Tayre, and most of all Ella, even Mahon in his final moment, had shown her a new truth, where pain and hatred and anger were imposters in life, a sudden unwelcome surge that would threaten the fabric of a normal existence.

Where balance was upset.

Neerada had never known a balance. She had never known her real name, could not recall anything before she had been found by Vader save that she had once had a sister, for thoughts of childhood had been driven from her mind by pain and abuse.

And such despair had provoked a backlash. The balance had sought to right itself.

She had sought Ella out not for power, but for the need for family.

That was the truth she only now perceived, as the Assassin's flames spread and the explosions begun.

Her destiny was now her own.

***

Ella kept the Nova on the same heading, watching through the cockpit window as the final blaster bolts tore through the remains of the exploding ship. It had taken less than twenty seconds since the Reaver had commenced firing.

"Zero life signs," Chip muttered from behind her seat. Sal made a merciful growl.

The feeling of cold that had chilled Ella's body and mind faded as the Assassin blew itself apart, yet she couldn't shake the horror of what she had witnessed.

Was this what being gifted with the Force meant for her? Did it mean that she would have to fight and likely kill again?

If it was, then it was no gift at all. It was a curse.

Farsalt had paid dearly for that curse. Her home, her friends, and her family had suffered horribly.

Cor leaned closer to her from the back seat.

"Ella dear, are you okay?"

"I don't know," she answered. She took a breath and glanced over the controls. "Everything's looking good," she said. "Has the Nav computer made the calculations?"

"We're ready to go home," Cor confirmed. "If the Nova's up to it?"

"She can do it," Ella said. "Though it might be the last one she does for a while."

Ella Malquet put her hand on the light speed ignition lever and guided the Nova onto the right course. The ship fought back, but Ella compensated and held to the heading.

The Nav computer confirmed they were cleared to make the jump.

"Here we go," Ella said. "Let's see what waits for us on Farsalt."

With thoughts filled with trepidation and anxious fear, Ella pulled the lever back.

And the Nova leaped into hyperspace.

THE END

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So, we come to the end at last. There are plans for a sequel to this, though I have yet to decide if I can spare the time to do so - but so far they are looking like very exciting plans that would see our four main characters return.

It's been a great experience delving into the world of Star Wars - even better as all these events and instances in this novel have been of my own making and enabled us to have a greater look at the Star Wars universe as a whole, whilst keeping to canon.

And as always, please let me know what you think of this as a final chapter.

Thanks. Tom.