They do not deserve the mercy others would give them. They may just be following orders, but Alora doesn't care. They wanted to hurt the Child—no one hurts Alora's Child. A grin spreads over her face as the stormtroopers in front of her collide into each other, their shouts of pain music to hear ears even as Moff Gideon enters with a frown on his face.
"Set to stun—"
"Wait."
Alora sneers at Moff Gideon before letting the troopers go, not watching them catch their breath. "I can do this all day, Gideon."
She pants in front of him, her hands still unbound. In the few days since being abducted, Alora has yet to stop fighting, to sleep and eat or recharge. They can never get close enough to restrain her, though they managed to get her to her cell somehow.
Her muscles and mind still ache from the seeing stone, but she refuses to think back to that time—to the Child's face, Luke's promise, and Mando's shout. She can't afford to think of them right now, not with the Empire tirelessly trying to take her blood.
"Oh, I know." Gideon steps further into the room with a smirk that makes Alora's skin crawl. "You've gotten very good at that, but I can tell it makes you tired. Why don't you rest, High General? It will make everything so much easier for both of us."
"Bite me."
He chuckles, shaking his head. "You know, it looks like you could use a nice, long nap—"
Alora jumps forward, kicking Gideon into one of the four guards standing in the cell. Before the others can stun her, she waves her hand and says, "You will not stop me."
As she walks out of the cell, hearing the troopers repeat her order with a dazed tone, she can't find the strength to smile as she knocks out the two guards outside, taking their blasters to take care of the troopers now approaching from down the hall. Each of her shots hit with deadly accuracy as she turns the corner, happily getting as far away from the Moff as possible.
She begins to race down the grey walls, picking up more blasters as she goes, following the big deep tug in her heart. Her saber is on this ship somewhere—she knows it. If she can get it, great; if she cannot, she's trained enough to know what she has to do. Alora will not be a prisoner of the Empire anymore.
For years, they dictated her every move. Every action she took was because of them. Every training exercise, every strategy meeting, every battle was because of them. No more. She will not act because of the Empire anymore. Alora acts for herself and only herself.
She refuses to give another moment of her escape over to finding her saber. Feeling the weight of the past few days on her shoulders as exhaustion settles in her soul, Alora fights her way to the hanger, red lights blasting along with an alarm. The large hanger stands heavily guarded by troopers, but Alora easily takes care of them before hopping into a ship only to find the controls completely busted.
With a growl, she looks around but finds that each ship in the hanger is broken in one way or another. Not a single ship works. Cursing to herself as she gets out of the pilot's seat, she realizes she is in the wrong hanger—this must be for repairs.
Luckily, there is still a way out of this hell hole. Only one small barrier between her and the openness of space.
She can hear Moff Gideon shouting at his troopers as she makes a break towards the edge of the ship, the stars glinting in her eyes. There is no other way around this: she will not give them what they want.
As she told Mando all those months ago: she will fight to escape or die trying. This situation calls for the second option.
Her mind flickers with images of Grogu and Mando. She hopes they are safe out there in the vast void of space, but she won't be alive to confirm it. Perhaps, this is what her life was always meant to be—sacrificed so the real heroes can survive.
An explosion knocks her off her feet. Alora flies to the side, just a few yards away from the openness of the hanger. Her ears whine with pressure as her vision blurs; her mind remains on her one, singular goal of preventing the Empire from getting what they want.
Though pain radiates in every limb, her head threatening to shut her body down, Alora finds the strength to grip the cool metal ground and pull herself forward, her gaze flickering up to the opening. What she sees makes her stop, every muscle tensing and every thought disappearing.
Master Yoda stands before her, his normally wide eyes soft and concerned as he stares down at her. A woman Alora can't remember stays back behind Yoda. A pang of pain echoes in Alora's limbs as she meets the woman's saddened gaze. The cane she came to know is nowhere in sight as Yoda kneels before her, tilting his head and letting his ears flop to the side. "My young Padawan," he says, reaching forward. "Strong you must remain. Not finished is your path."
She doesn't know when she started crying: it could have been seconds, minutes, or hours ago, and she wouldn't know. Tears slip down her cheeks as she stops pulling herself to the edge, instead basking in Yoda's gaze. "I-I can't do it," she whispers, instinctively glancing at the woman. "I can't let them have me."
"Bide your time," he instructs. "Coming they are. Do not give in—not to the Empire and not to the Dark Side. Resist you must."
She shakes her head but the shouting begins to creep into her mind. Moff Gideon's boots pound against the ground getting closer and closer. "How?" She asks.
"Fight."
She opens her palm, her fingers tingling as a rough hand throws her onto her back. Yoda remains visible beside her, but she sneers at Gideon as he stands before her, a lightsaber full of darkness masking his expression. "Now, Alora," he coos. "Don't make this difficult."
A familiar texture sits in the palm of her hand. She smirks back up at the Moff, her tears shining on her cheeks. "Always."
Purple meets black as her lightsaber springs to life in her hand. She bats Gideon away, happily noting his inexperience with the weapon. Troopers take aim, but Gideon waves them off, ordering, "Don't! She's mine."
A feral grin spreads over her lips as they fight, their sabers clashing with bright lights flashing. Stormtroopers watch with their guns drawn as Alora lunges, throwing Gideon back towards the corridors with a push of her palm. As he scrambles to his feet, Alora wills the broken ships to crash into the troopers before she stalks after Gideon.
She isn't surprised to see him retreating further into the ship.
"Go." Yoda's voice echos in her ears. "Survive you must."
Gideon scrambles to meet her strikes, but he is quickly outmatched. Alora slashes her saber across his chest plate, happily watching as it sparks. Even without the saber, she could incapacitate him, but with her mind still on the brink of collapse, she suspects the weapon keeps her grounded as she manages to trap the both of them in a corridor, willing the opposite doors to seal them in.
"Nowhere to run, coward," Alora snaps as Gideon's expression drops in realization. "You thought you could win?"
Dark thoughts creep into her mind. She knows they are dark, but she does not care. Gideon harmed the Child and killed thousands with no consequences. Maybe this is karma's way of punishing him—sending him straight into her hands. In this moment, Alora is simply a messenger of death, not a person.
He trips over his own feet, his saber deactivating as he tries to crawl away. Alora lets out a low chuckle before pressing her bare foot against his chest, her saber beneath his chin. "I think your time might be up, Gideon."
"Even if you kill me, this isn't over," he snaps. "The Empire will rise again."
"The Empire will never rise again." Allowing him to live would be a mistake. There is no room for error this time around. She has spared the lives of so many, and for what? Innocents still died, and her friends suffered for her mercy. No more.
Gideon manages a smirk to cover his fear as he says, "You won't win."
"I will this time." Her lightsaber buzzes in her hand as she pulls back a few inches, readying herself for the final blow.
Something stops her—a hand shrouded in blue light takes her own and stops her finishing blow. Anger rises up in her chest as she looks at the man. Her lightsaber clatters to the ground as she gazes upon his scarred face, stumbling back.
"Don't become me," Anakin Skywalker says, his voice one she's only heard once: the voice of that broken, lonely man she wanted to kill. "Don't let the dark side in. Resist it, Alora."
Gideon's hand wraps around her ankle, effectively startling her. A shock of electricity runs through her body as she cries out in pain, the image of a long-dead man disappearing from view while she flops to the ground, her body twitching from the jolt.
"There, you see?" Alora flinches against the ground as Gideon stands. "Much better."
As she drifts into the nothingness, she wishes the man who became Darth Vader hadn't stopped her.
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Only two more chapters and then I'll start publishing the prequel :)
Hope you enjoyed!
-L