A Life Not His Own: Chapter 21

Luke stands on the bridge of the Errant Venture, Booster and Kam are there beside him staring at the screen in front of them. It is a holomessage from Coruscant, giving details of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the Republic’s capital, and requesting assistance from any ships close enough.

Kam Solusar is there, and Luke can feel the desire to help the capital boil in the Jedi Master. Luke turns to his friend. “I know you want to be there Kam, but we can’t. Not with the trainees on board.”

Kam nods his head. “I know Master, but it hurts for us to lose the capital. I don’t know if the Republic can stand it.”

“Does it truly matter?”

Kam takes a step back, his eyes widening as if Luke's words were a physical blow. “Of course it matters Master. How can you say otherwise?”

Luke sighs and lowers his head. “I’m sorry Kam; I just can’t seem to work up the energy. Corran and Tahiri dead, Jacen captured, Anakin Force knows where and…and…”

Luke turns away, shutting down his Force presence, pushing away his grief and pain. Kam drops his hand on Luke’s shoulder. “It’s all right to grieve Luke.”

“I know Kam; I just never really expected that I would have to. I never thought she’d die in childbirth.”

Kam nods his head, giving Luke’s shoulder another gentle squeeze as he turns to look out at the stars. “I can understand that.”

“But I do guess Corran was right.”

“About?”

Luke makes a short sound of almost amusement. “Back before I sent him on the mission to Belkadan, I was standing in the grove where we placed the plinths to commemorate the dead. Corran was there and told me that we wouldn’t be putting one for Mara there.”

“Luke, I think you should watch this.”

Luke and Kam turn back towards Booster, and the new message. It is a news broadcast from the Corellian System.

“To recap our top story, it has been reported that the Centerpoint Station has once more activated itself. The cause of this reactivation is currently a mystery, as Centerpoint has remained inoperable since the New Republic Debacle last year.” The picture changes, displaying a blocky Corellian freighter, as it heads towards Centerpoint. “Our sources in Corellian Defense supplied us with these images of an VT-888 light freighter named the Tachyon Flier, which was reportedly seen entering Centerpoint’s hanger.”

The image changes again to display Coruscant. “Also, we have been receiving reports that the Yuuzhan Vong have finally moved against Coruscant. If the Capital-”

With a wave of his hand, Luke has turned off the transmission. His face is stony and guarded as he looks between Kam and Booster. “We need to go to Centerpoint.”

“What? Why? Besides, if going into Coruscant is too dangerous with the trainees onboard, how much more so is going to Corellia, where there’s a weapon that can destroy us with barely any effort?”

“Because, there’s a reason why Centerpoint has been inoperable since Anakin last visited it, and why it was inoperable between Anakin’s visits.”

Understanding causes Booster’s face to twist into a frown and a scowl. “Anakin controls Centerpoint?”

Luke nods his head. “Anakin is the only one who is able to operate Centerpoint, which is why NRI had him go out there. Which means, if it has suddenly become operable again…”

Kam breaks in. “That means we know where Anakin is at right now.”

“Exactly.”

Booster turns towards the crew pit. “Helm, flank speed to Centerpoint in the Corellian System.”

With a subtle shudder, the giant starship flashes into hyperspace, the stars replaced with the swirling blues. Luke can feel his features hardening, as they drive themselves closer to Centerpoint. He looks between Kam and Booster.

“When we arrive, I’ll take the Jade Shadow in, so that the Venture can pull up and get back into hyperspace, wait for me in the Sacorran System. If I’m not there a day after you, move on. I’ll either find you later or I’ll be dead. Kam, I need you and Tionne to take care of Ben and the students for me.”

“Master, let me go-”

Luke holds up his hand. “No Kam, I need you to stay with the students, they are the future of the Jedi. I just hope that we can still count Anakin among them.”

Kam nods his head, realizing that there is no point in arguing with Luke over this.

“Fifteen minutes until reversion.”

Luke glances once more out at the swirls of hyperspace. “May the Force be with you.”

With a swirl of his robes, he has turned and is taking long strides from the bridge. A weight pressing against him, as he calmly walks forward. He rides the turbolift down towards the Jade Shadow; this will be the first time he has set foot on the craft since Ben was born. Since she died. He wonders what ghosts will haunt him there.

He wonders if he will be able to see through his grief, to help Anakin see through his.

Inhale, exhale. The simple mechanics of being alive have suddenly become a chore to him.

The doors slide open, and he steps out onto the bustling hanger. Lubricant and fuel, the smells of a lifetime ago, when he was just some farm kid from nowhere, pulled into events to large for him to comprehend. As he breathes deeply of those smells, he wonders if life would have been better if he had stayed on that ball of dust all those years ago.

He shakes his head, dispelling the wanderings of his mind and looks for the Jade Shadow. He sees her in her usual landing place, having been pulled up from deep storage moments ago. She is a beautiful craft, sleek, graceful, and deadly. Like her owner.

He sighs as he trips the hatch, walking up the ramp, with a confidence on his face that he doesn’t feel. He settles into the pilot’s station, a glance behind him shows him that Artoo has appeared as if from nowhere, and is happily plugged into the astromech station.

The faithful droid tootles a greeting, and Luke turns back to the pilot console, activating the ship. He closes his eyes and exhales as he can feel the craft waking up around him, powering up. A slight shake from the main generators coming online. The whine from the repulsers and ion engines warming up. Sounds he used to love, but which remind him now of her.

A deeper, subtler shake and Luke looks out the magfield, his eyes once more seeing the cold pinpricks of stars. The comunit crackles to life. “Master Skywalker, you are green for launch.”

He gives a double-click in reply, and smoothly lifts the craft from the deck using the repulsers. The slight resistance of the magfield, and then he is through, once more surrounded by space. He punches the ion engines, and the Shadow jumps forward, speeding towards the ever looming Centerpoint.

A crackle from the comunit again, this time it is Booster’s voice saying, “We’ll be waiting for you at the rendezvous Luke, hurry up and join us.”

Luke can’t help but smile, a memory of another sad time flickering through his head, as he unconsciously balls his artificial hand into a fist. “I expect to see you there, with our lost bird in tow.”

“Copy that Luke.” Then the Errant Venture, shifts course slightly, and her engines flare into life, driving her forward. Then she seems to stretch into infinity, and is gone, disappearing once more into the safety of hyperspace.

Luke turns his attention from where she disappeared, back to Centerpoint. Back to the coming confrontation with Anakin.

As he watches, the center sphere glows brighter, and a flash of energy flies out of the station, heading to deep space. Horror rushes into Luke, as he realizes that the Centerpoint weapon had fired. “Anakin, what have you done?”

He slips the craft into the hanger, and calmly walks down the ramp. He turns to the side, and sees the freighter which Anakin came in on, and beyond that another freighter which Luke recognizes, the Lucre, the ship which Anakin, Corran and Tahiri left on so many months ago.

Luke closes his eyes, and reaches out, brushing Anakin’s Force presence.

His probe slams against the durasteel walls of Anakin’s shields.

Sighing, Luke enters the giant space station, using the Force to guide his steps. He steps into a corridor, and feels a surge of pain and grief, one so powerful and unexpected, it causes him to stumble. He turns right, and continues walking down the corridor, following the path which Anakin took. He arrives at a doorway leading towards a medcenter, and steps through. Hoping his youngest nephew is uninjured.

Without troubles he finds the medcenter, and enters, a solid tone sounds throughout the room. Within the medcenter is a bacta tank, one which is activated with a green light shining through the bubbles. Floating in the bacta is a young girl, around Anakin’s age, a deep cut on her cheek, and shoulders. He walks around the tank, and see the wounds on her back. Long jagged slices ripped into her flesh. He finishes the circuit and checks the life signs monitor. A frown comes to his face, as his hand hovers over the power button.

He checks the motion, and instead deactivates the alarm. Then he turns from the room, going back to the corridor he was in. He once more follows Anakin’s presence, searching for him.

“Go away Uncle Luke.”

Luke spins around, searching for Anakin.

“Just get off the station, and leave. We don’t need you here.”

Luke laughs at himself, as he looks up at the security cam. “Well I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere.”

A door opens somewhere ahead of him. “Please Uncle Luke? I didn’t want to do this.”

Luke hears the shuffle of metallic feet against steel floors. “Then don’t Anakin. Come back with me.”

“I can’t. Not until I’ve had my revenge.”

The stomp of metallic feet draws closer, and Luke turns back the way he was heading. A frown appears on his face at the sight of the twenty Phase II Dark Troopers stretched across the corridor. He ignites his saber, a green beacon in the dim corridor.

Luke laughs. “Do you really think that they’ll stop me?”

The troopers lift their carbines, the click of twenty safeties being removed is almost deafening. Luke cocks his arm back, holding his saber at the ready.

“Just leave Uncle Luke. Let me finish what I’ve started.”

“I can’t do that.”

A sigh sounds on the intercom, and the click of it being shut off. The troopers begin firing, a rain of deadly red bolts which Luke starts sending back towards the droids. The whoosh of a missile sounds and Luke sees it flying towards him. He grabs it with the Force and twists it around, sending it back towards the Dark Troopers.

It lands amidst them, the explosion shaking the corridor they are in.

More of the red darts fly out of the smoke and fire, and Luke bats them back towards the droids. The smoke starts to settle, and a thump shakes the ground.

Standing in the hallway is a Phase III Dark Trooper, Luke recognizing the bulky battle armor from a debriefing of Kyle Katarn. He raises his saber back up into a guard, and jumps forward. The Dark Trooper jumps as well, his jetpack bursting quickly, sending him hurtling towards the Jedi Master.

As they pass one another, Luke slams his saber into the Dark Trooper. At the same time the droid slams his fist into Luke. Luke slams into the wall at the same second which he realizes that his saber had died.

A puff of the jetpack, and the droid lands in front of Luke, its assault cannon pointed pressed against Luke’s head.

Luke lifts his saber, pointing it towards the droid’s chest, and then activates it. To his horror the beam comes out until it connects with the armor, at which time it sputters and dies.

“Cortosis?”

There is no reply, and he sighs. Luke hears the droid’s assault cannon whirling up to begin firing, and he presses a Force wall to the muzzle. Then he pushes back against the droid, sending it tumbling.

The droid fires, the explosion ripping apart the assault cannon, sending shrapnel slicing through the droid’s armor. Luke jumps up, and ignites his saber, slamming the blade into one of those cuts, wiggling it around, vaporizing the droid’s innards.

The explosion when his saber pierces the power supply lifts him and throws him further down the hall. Luke lands and rolls to a stop against a closed door. He lifts himself off the ground, gingerly touching his head, pulling the hand away and sees blood.

He straightens, and continues walking down the hallway once more.

The purple glow in the distance tells him that his journey to find Anakin is nearly at an end.

---------------------------------------

Kyp and his Dozen flash into existence above Coruscant’s ecliptic. With a feral grin, he orients his X-Wing towards the thousands of yorik coral vessels that are attacking the planet. He flicks on his com to the squadron channel.

“All right Dozen, we’re here to take care of Coruscant and kill some Vong. Any questions?”

He gets a couple nervous chitters of laughter, but no responses beyond that. With a grin still on his face, he clicks off the com.

“Zero-one?”

His astromech tootles sound over the starcraft’s speakers, even as words appear on a monitor. “Yes Kyp?”

“Get me a course to the nearest furball.”

A jagged line appears on a screen, as a directional arrow appears on the head’s up display. The line flows downwards, and heads into a mass of flickering lights in the distance. Kyp pushes his X-wing down, following the direction the arrow indicates, even as he flicks a switch, prepping his fighter for battle.

His craft arrives in the mass of coralskippers and New Republic fighters, and he aims the fighter towards a group of three skips. His engines flare into life, and his craft jumps forward, his Dozen spreading out behind him. He glances to starboard, and sees the blonde that pilots that craft watching him. Her name is Lora Tiff, and she is one of the survivors of the Dantooine massacre. He tosses her a salute as she waves at him, and he can’t help but smile.

A chime sounds over the speakers, and Kyp turns back to the front, just in time to see a trio of skips flash past his canopy. He growls low in his throat, and twists his ship back around to follow them. He falls in behind them, a glance at his monitor shows that Lora is tucked in close beside him. He squeezes the secondary trigger for his laser cannons and watches as the ruby darts flicker out towards the skip.

The low energy darts pepper the hull of the skip he’s aiming for, causing little puffs of coral to vaporize out into space. With a grin, he pulls the primary trigger sending a full powered blast towards the skip.

And nothing happens.

Kyp’s eyes widen, as he checks his monitor again, and it shows what he knows already. The skip placed a void in front of his full energy blast.

An explosion on his starboard aft, slews his craft around, he glances back just in time to see an orange flightsuit flash past his canopy. He looks down, and sees the icon which represents Lora is gone.

“Zero-one, peg me the skip who got Lora.”

His lips tighten, and anger flashes in his eyes, as he fires a few more full powered blasts at the skip he was originally aiming for. As that skip explodes, an icon blinks on his HUD and a circle appears around one of the moving rocks that dot his view.

The skip dives, and Kyp follows, firing the stutter bolts at the skip in question.

“This is for Lora.”

After a moment more he sends the full powered blasts, and snarls as they are once more absorbed by a void. He sends more full powered blasts until they rip through the clear canopy vaporizing the Vong who sits within it.

Zero-One flashes a warning, and a look of horror crosses his face as a cruiser analog suddenly decelerates, coming to a near stop, and sending bursts of plasma out towards Kyp and his Dozen. Kyp’s warning sense screams, as he dodges the balls of superheated matter, and arms his proton torpedoes.

He flips on his com, as he targets the cruiser. “All right Dozen, I’m sending coordinates now.”

He doesn’t hear any com-clicks in reply.

He only hears static.

He looks down at the monitor and sees all the icons which represent the Dozen are gone except his. His mouth drops open in shock.

“They’re all dead.”

His hand convulses and sends two torpedoes flying towards the cruiser. Kyp grits his teeth, and slams his fist against the console. “They’re all dead, and I lead them to their deaths.”

Zero-One sounds an alarm, just as the X-Wing rocks from an impact. Kyp turns towards the coral vessel, and his eyes flash yellow for a second.

“Enough!”

He stutter-fires at the cruiser, and with the Force grabs the Void which absorbs the bolts. With a snarl, he exerts pressure in the Force, moving the void back until it touches the hull of the coral vessel. As he releases his control, he watches as the cruiser rips itself apart as it is pulled into singularity.

Exhausted, he leans back in his crash couch, and pulls his starfighter up, and away from the battle, even as the first of his tears start to flow.