Climax of the Story! Who's excited?? Fair Warning: This chapter is much longer than the others.
Nur – Fortress Inquisitorius
Shaden's legs hurt from standing at the entrance to his cell for so long. He had watched as four of the remaining acolytes get dragged away and felt minutes later as they screamed in pain, more so than ever before. Five acolytes, if you included Ezra, but Shaden didn't because Ezra had never screamed. Now Shaden was all alone in the prison room.
Whatever had happened to those other students, Shaden could tell they were alive, but they were not taken back to the prison. The blast door hissed open; two familiar figures strode into the room.
"My turn." Shaden chuckled to himself with no amusement. They reached the ray shield and turned it off, "I don't suppose you guys could not drag me? I'm happy to walk by myself, thank you very much."
Saying nothing, the inquisitor's iron grip clamped mercilessly around his upper arms and they began dragging him off to wherever their destination was. Shaden had promised himself he wouldn't beg for his life so the trip was silent.
When the trio was about halfway to the chamber, flashing red alarms and screaming klaxon sirens filled the hall. The Thirteenth Sister threw Shaden at the Twelfth Brother and activated her commlink.
"What's going on? Status report!" She ordered.
"Several ships just dropped out of hyperspace! They're making a run for the surface."
"Rebels?" Twelfth Brother asked.
"Looks like, sir. They seem to know where they are going, that's not a usual trait of idiot pilots who jumped into the wrong system." He paused for a moment, "They jumped too close for the fleet to stop them! Charging ground-to-air turbolasers now." The link went dead.
"What do we do? Bring this one to Vader or defend the Fortress?" Twelfth asked the scarlet skinned inquisitor.
"Let's hurry him to Lord Vader, then we'll get our orders." She wrapped both her hands around Shaden's biceps; that was a mistake. Because her hands were preoccupied with holding the boy up, they never were in a position to defend against Twelfth Brother's wide swing. His gloved fist hit the side of her skull hard and she was out instantly.
Shaden didn't move for a minute.
"Get up," Twelfth Brother hissed. Shaden complied.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"I always did hate this place. Come on, we have to hurry if we want to get out of here!"
"Wait! What's the plan?" Shaden still couldn't wrap his mind around what was happening.
"We need to go back to the prison room for something important, then we're going to the armory, where the other acolytes are being outfitted with gear, to rescue them, then we're hauling ass out of this system!"
That was enough to get Shaden moving. They sprinted back into the prison; the trip went a lot faster when the inquisitors weren't dragging Shaden behind them.
"What now?" Shaden called after Twelfth, who was running up towards... Sevrina's cell?
"I gave Sevrina two lightsabers. I was hoping Vader would spend an hour or so trying to break Ezra before starting the tests, giving the Rebellion the time they needed to get here, and then Sevrina would use the sabers to defend herself and the weakened Ezra. Unfortunately, Vader had other plans. But we still need those sabers cuz my duel-bladed one isn't going to be enough to get all of us out." He dashed into the cell and dashed out holding two small cylinders.
Twelfth looked down at Shaden, "Can I trust you?"
"Yeah. What about Ezra though?"
Twelfth internally said something along the lines of 'whatever', only much more inappropriately worded, and tossed one of the cylinders down to Shaden, who caught it and attached it to his belt. "Ezra will probably be fine. Right now, we need to focus on getting to the armory."
Shaden used his arm to make a 'lead the way' gesture and the pair ran through the halls once again. They reached the armory minutes later.
Twelfth stopped Shaden, "Stand flat against the wall next to the door, they don't know what I've done... yet." Shaden nodded and obeyed.
Twelfth opened the door and rushed in acting like he was winded, "What's going on here?"
Shaden couldn't see inside, nor could he hear the response of the inquisitor in charge of arming the newly minted inquisitors, but he did hear the metal-on-metal smacking sound, followed by, "Shaden! Get in here!"
Shaden walked in and gained a sympathetic expression. All the other acolytes, still in their prison fatigues, were missing a body part; Katiara was down a leg starting at the mid shin, Sevrina was clutching her new nub at the end of her left arm, and the others showed similar loss of appendage.
The Twelfth Brother raced over to Sevrina, "Hey, not to bother you but you still have a mission to complete, can I still count on you?"
She sent him a look of utter hate born of pain, and annoyance, but she said nothing. He reached to his belt and pulled out the second cylinder. He held it in front of her, she took it with a strong grip. Satisfied, Twelfth Brother rose to full height and removed his helmet before the stunned faces before him.
He addressed them, "My name used to be Petro, and I was a jedi padawan before the Empire. Until today, I was a slave here almost as much as you were. But today, it's time for all of us to go to the place we belong. Ezra and I got the Rebellion to attack, they are fighting now to get all of you out, but there is little time. Shaden and Sevrina here have lightsabers, they will defend you as you move to escape. Go out to the landing pad, the rebels will meet you there."
"What will you do?" Katiara's sweet voice rang. It was a weird sensation, Petro thought, he had only ever heard her voice before will she was screaming from torture.
"The rebels will have a lot better chance getting in and getting you all out if the ground based turbolasers weren't working, so I'm going to go shut them down." He paused for a moment, feeling a familiar presence approaching, "Aaaaannd I'm going to take care of my Sister. Now go!"
The five teens sprinted out the door Petro and Shaden had entered. The door closed behind them right as the door on the opposite side opened and the Thirteenth Sister walked inside, crimson saber ignited. Petro could feel her steely rage directed at him almost physically.
"My name, dear Sister, is Petro." They lunged at each other.
******
"Come on! This way." Shaden called back to the four injured teens. This escape wasn't going to be easy, not with Katiara missing a leg and the others just too drained of energy. One of the students Shaden had never learned the name of had slung his now single arm around Kat to help her walk, smartly leaving Shaden and Sevrina free to swing their sabers if they needed to. When they needed to.
Then Bren Mindar stopped walking behind them. The group turned to look at the teen who was so often consumed with rage. "I'm not leaving." No one responded, "I've worked too hard and suffered through too much to simply give up and run away now."
He turned to run back deeper into the Fortress, then he thought of something and turned back, "I might be ordered to hunt you traitors down one day, sorry in advance for killing you." He ran back into the dark.
Sevrina ignited her red blade and got in position to chuck it into Mindar's back when Shaden stopped her, "Woah, Sev, wait! We don't have time to deal with him, we have to go!" She regained her sense and the group of four hobbled as fast as they could manage towards the landing pad.
******
Hera Syndulla sent the Ghost into a barrel roll to avoid the piercing green turbolaser shot that raced up to slice her ship down the middle.
"Kanan! You four ready to jump? I won't able to land."
The intercom replied in Kanan's voice, "Yeah, we're ready!"
"Three... Two... go!" She called back. The Ghost's loading ramp flew open and out charged four battle hardened rebels. Sabine, Kanan, Kallus, and Zeb hit the metal of the landing pad's surface and opened fire into the troopers outside.
Sabine turned to Kanan, "Nice of them to wait outside for us!"
Kanan didn't like it though, if the troops were out here, who was inside with the students? Kanan's Force intuition told him he didn't want to find out. "Let's make this quick."
The four sprinted over to a collapsed TIE fighter, where the rebels from Cyclops Squadron had made their tiny command center. Now there was one rebel ship on the ground (Cyclops Squadron's) and fighters from two other rebel squadrons.
The intense fighting had stopped all advancing of troops on either side. The rebels were getting antsy, they all knew they couldn't withstand a drawn-out battle.
"Okay, everyone, here's the plan." Sabine began, "First chance we get, Kanan and I will enter the Fortress, grab the students, plant a couple explosives, and get out of there. When we go in, cover us."
Kanan perked up, "I don't think we need to, Sabine."
"What? Why?" She asked before she turned her head and realized why. Behind the troopers, two red lightsabers had appeared and were making short work of their jailors. When only a few troopers remained, the rebels stopped firing and just watched. Watched as one of the troops appeared to have a massive seizure and the another rise into the air and get crushed into a ball like he was an empty water bottle. None of the rebels would ever forget the sounds his bone made as he was crushed.
Sabine saw four really beat-up teens standing before them. They were covered in bruises and most were missing a body part.
"You our ride?" The boy holding the lightsaber called.
"Maybe. Depends on if you give up the lightsaber." Sabine called back.
He chuckled; it was the kind of chuckle a broken man made when he was given more even bad news. Then the boy chucked the saber over to Kanan. "I'm just ready to get out of this place. Don't worry, we won't cause any trouble."
The leader of Cyclops Squadron stood up and gestured over, "Come on, I'll give you a ride." The four teens shuffled over towards the rebels. Sabine still had her blasters in hand but Kanan didn't feel any malice from these kids, they really did just want to leave. He shook his head at Sabine.
Three of the teens boarded the Cyclops' ship, but the fourth, the girl who had held the other saber stayed with the Phoenix teammates. She was missing a hand and it looked freshly cut but she wasn't making any indication that it hurt. The Cyclops took off and made for orbit, then the other rebel squadron's ship arrived and picked them up moments later.
"Do you know where Ezra is?" Sabine asked the girl.
"I can feel him now. He's in space..." She furrowed her brow in concentration, "And he's heading towards Mustafar, the red planet. We have to get to him before they arrive."
"Glad you aren't going to try to make us abandon him." Sabine said under her breath.
Kanan frowned, "How can you feel him? I can't even feel where he is right now."
The girl shrugged, "Shared trauma, I guess, I don't know. By the way, is your ship coming? We need to go."
Zeb saw the Ghost in the sky approaching them, "Yeah, she's on her way," he laughed.
The girl whipped around, falling into a fighting position, Kanan drew his lightsaber and ignited it. Sabine turned to see what they were worried about and she saw it right away: Darth Vader. No one was coming with him but Sabine knew he didn't need backup to win a fight against the four rebels and the girl.
"Mr., may I have that lightsaber back real quick?" the girl asked. Kanan reached for his belt and tossed her the lightsaber. "Thanks." The blood-colored blade buzzed to life.
Neither the girl or Kanan got the chance to fight Vader. Vader's breathing became deeper, became more sporadic, the eye holes in his mask glowed red. He thrust his hand forward and all heck broke loose. Metal from the landing pad screeched in protest as Vader pried shards of it out of their place and flung the shards at the rebels. Kanan and the girl found they couldn't breathe or swallow. Sabine, Zeb, and Kallus fired at the devilish figure but all the bolts changed direction in midair and flew away from the Dark Lord. Shards hit the rebels and cut fairly deep into the muscles of their arms, sides, and faces.
Then, as suddenly as the furious attack began, it stopped. Vader hadn't meant for it to stop. Even the full body suit couldn't hide his confusion and surprise. Then, he remembered. Turning around, casting his hate filled eyes on the helmetless Twelfth Brother, confirming his assumption. It clearly was the first time Petro had seen the light in years.
"When you see Ezra, tell him the other reason I wasn't allowed to leave the Fortress was because of my special ability. My ability to temporarily negate the powers of any Force sensitive. Great for teaching dark side students, dangerous around Vader and Emperor though." Petro drew his saber and got down into a fighting stance. "Go." Both sides of the saber ignited.
The Ghost stopped over the landing pad and hovered just off the ground, the rebels and the girl rushed to jump on; there was nothing Vader could do this time. The ship pointed its nose upward and made the mad climb to escape the gravity well that surrounded the moon and the planet to make the jump to hyperspace. Good thing I got the padawan out of here when I did, Vader thought to himself, not realizing his shuttle hadn't reached his castle yet.
He turned to the annoying inquisitor, "Even without my powers, I am still more than a match for you, inquisitor. Surrender, and I will kill you in a way that you will not feel it." His saber came to life.
"Oh, I've always loved your options, Anakin. Unfortunately, I'm not playing your game today. Never again, in fact. But... if I were you... I'd get clear of the Fortress." Petro turned off his lightsaber and Force sprinted back inside. The security doors locked behind him, making sure Vader would never get back in.
Vader's helmet scanners picked up the Fortress' defense systems activating, most notably: the self-destruct protocol. Vader turned and marched away from the doomed building, seething to himself.
******
Petro jogged through the building, now nearly devoid of life. He didn't have to worry about running into anyone since he'd killed them all in a spectacular display of red swings and jumping through walls and floors. Thanks to his other special ability, he didn't have to worry about the other inquisitors who had tried to kill Petro, including the student who developed Force rage and thought it would save him. It didn't.
But he did have to get to someone before the self-destruct happened. His eyes caught sight of her injured form and laid against the dark wall next to her.
"I'm sorry," he said not sure what else to say.
"Don't be, you saved me." Thirteenth Sister replied. Or as Petro once knew her, Malani Sundown, fellow jedi padawan, and the object of his love, in a different life. "Why didn't you save yourself?"
"We're the past, Malani. The galaxy doesn't need broken jedi like us anymore, plus I'd rather be here with you."
"So that's why you did all this? To save the boy?"
"He's someone worth fighting for... and his cause is just." Petro turned to her, "I'll be glad to become one with the Force next to you."
They smiled at each other, then didn't see anything anymore. The explosion was so forceful it brought the entire Fortress down in one shockwave. Nothing was left of the evil Imperial Inquisition, and that's the way that Petro wanted it.