Chapter Text
Disclaimer: Not mine
Chapter 37
Luke paced his office, unable to focus on anything other than the attack that was about to happen. He wanted to be there, to fight beside his Father and Father-in-law, but no one in the family would allow it. He was not the General anymore, he was Emperor, therefore he had to remain out of the fighting. Isard was a dangerous opponent, she had proven that over the last few years and he had never liked the woman the few times they had met in the Court under Sidious. She had been insanely loyal to the Sith and it was no surprise she had been entrusted with the third Executor-class Star Destroyer. What she had done to the prisoners in her ‘care’…it made him sick. He had always treated any prisoners he had taken with dignity and compassion, but he knew few Imperials at the time did the same, and he had signed the orders that had put many on trial for war crimes. It was his hope that soon they would have true peace and could move on from the horrors of Sidious’ rule.
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Anakin blocked the flurry of blaster fire, protecting his men as they swarmed the ship. They had to take it quickly, before they could attempt to launch or worse. Ahsoka was at his shoulder, just like during the Clone Wars, Rex and Appo nearby. They were entering as close to the bridge as they could. Obi-Wan was leading the invasion near engineering while Andor was hitting the detention levels. Troops were also stationed in every secret tunnel they had found on the planet to cut off escape that way. they moved as quickly as possible, lightsabers cutting through bulkheads and blast doors when the way was blocked.
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Obi-Wan sank his blade into the massive door standing in their way. He was breathing heavily, uniform damp with sweat. He’d been working hard to get back into shape but that didn’t change the fact that he was not a young man anymore. He began working the lightsaber in the door until he sliced through the locking mechanisms, the doors groaning apart, and he quickly brought the saber up to block incoming fire. The men behind him returned fire even as Obi-Wan Force pushed the doors further open and they spilled into the room, Obi-Wan blocking but also pushing forwards to reach the engine controls. He still had nightmares from the war of times when he faced and had to kill sentients rather than droids and this battle would add new ones as his lightsaber sank into a corporals chest. He quickly moved on and sank his lightsaber deep into the control panels, destroying them. Anyone wanting to activate the engines would be unable to without massive repairs, or doing it by hand, but that was their next stop.
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Isard clenched gloved hands into fists. How had they found her? No one living knew of this place outside of her people and they were all loyal. The Empire had been declining ever since that brat had been found and declared Prince and General. He was too soft to rule the Galaxy and bring Order. If they planned to rescue captives, she would ensure they failed. “Prepare for launch,” she ordered only to have a pale lieutenant turn to look up at her from the pit at her feet.
“Director we can’t. Engine controls have been destroyed,“ he swallowed as he told her, terrified to be giving her such news.
“What?”
“We have detected three groups of infiltrators, one entered close to the engine control rooms and began immediately ensuring we cannot lift off. Another group is near the prison and the third…” he trailed off as they all heard a noise at the back of the bridge.
Isard turned to see a molten circle in the blast doors protecting the bridge. She had never seen a lightsaber in action, but it did not take a genius to realise one was cutting through doors that could hold off heavy fire.
How had this happened? There had been no warning, no hint. Her agents within the Empire had found nothing even hinting that Imperial Intelligence dreamed of Lusankya being on planet. How had she been discovered? And now she was trapped on her own bridge, cut off from the many escape tunnels. Her men looked resigned, there was no way out…but they could take their attackers with them. “Activate the self-destruct.”
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“General!” Jesse called in alarm and Obi-Wan quickly joined him.
It was strange to be addressed by rank again, but Luke and Cody had managed to talk him into taking Luke’s old position, at least temporarily. He looked at the display and swore in Huttese, something he had picked up from Anakin when he was his Padawan, and then the decades of exile on Tatooine. “Get this deactivated!” he waved the techs forward and they went to work even as he contacted Anakin and Andor, warning them. If the ship blew it would take millions with it. They had quietly evacuated those they could without alerting Isard but too many still lived above their heads and an explosion would be far worse than the ship taking off, it would take out a massive section of the planet.
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Anakin’s lightsaber came to rest at Isard’s neck, the threat obvious, even as he struggled to keep his emotions under control, fighting the urge to simply finish the strike and kill her. He felt Luke. And Ahsoka reach out to him, helping to ground him, and the murderous rage faded away. “Surrender,” he ordered, and she glared at him.
“You think you’ve won? You will die here with us,” she sneered. “I wonder what your precious Emperor will do with half the planet destroyed, Vader?”
Ahsoka stepped forward, to his relief, and addressed the bridge crew. “Is this what you want? To die for a madwoman’s ideas? Surrender disable the self-destruct and you will be treated well. You will receive fair trials, we understand that you were following orders.” Her words were laced with a small amount of Force, not enough for a mind trick but enough hopefully to push someone into doing the right thing. To her relief it worked and a young man, he looked to have barely graduated, began typing furiously at his station until the alert fell silent.
“We have the bridge Obi-Wan.”
“Good, we have control down here as well.”
“Andor?”
“We need medical, counsellors…anyone you can get,” his tight voice answered over the comm and Anakin could feel his emotional turmoil from the bridge.
Once his men had everyone cuffed and ready to go, he nodded at Ahsoka who went to back the Commander up, Rex at her side as always. The prisoners were led away, and he moved with the computer teams to begin looking the bridge over for any boobytraps. The sound of blaster fire had him running only to see Isard dead on the ground, binders loose and a blaster being kicked away by Appo even as one of his men was helped to sit as a medic rushed to his side. That was one less trial and one he would be glad not to have, the horrors she had perpetrated on sentients did not need to be brought under that much scrutiny.
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Luke watched from an observation room as Isard’s victims were treated. Everyone agreed it was too dangerous for him or Leia to be physically present among them, not when they didn’t know what would activate the mental programming or how many of these poor souls had succumbed to it. The group was an odd mix of Rebels, Imperials and those who had been neither but had run afoul of the woman. They had been kept in truly deplorable conditions and it would take a long time for them to heal. He wished they had access to Jedi Mind Healers but Ahsoka was the closest they had to one. These people would be given all the help they needed to heal.
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Corran Horn watched as those who had been corrupt within CorSec were arrested and led away. Seeing Loor being led away in binders….it wouldn’t bring his Father back, but it helped him feel better. Bossk being dragged off with him made it even better. He had no doubt the Imperial Intelligence Liaison and had hired Bossk to take out his Father and while part of him would have preferred to shoot both men, this was better. He turned away and blinked as he found himself face to face with the Togruta he had seen in holo’s beside the Imperial family. “Ma’am?”
Ahsoka studied the young Corellian and then smiled. “Hello,” she offered her hand and he took it. “I’m Ahsoka Tano and I have an offer for you.”
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Luke couldn’t stop grinning as Padme crawled towards him, scooping her up and kissing her cheek. “Well done! I’m so proud of you,” he cheered, and she giggled. The door opened and he set her down. “Go on, show Grandpa,” he encouraged, and Anakin smiled as she crawled over to him, picking her up to praise.
“She’s growing up so fast,” Anakin bemoaned, and Luke laughed.
“Pretty sure you said the same about me,” he said as he stood. “So, how’s Ahsoka’s new student fairing?”
“Corran Horn…turns out he’s Nejaa Halcyon’s grandson. His Father was adopted by Rostek Horn who also married his Mother after Nejaa’s death to protect his family. Graduated from the CorSec Academy with excellent marks and was working in the Smuggling Interdiction Division with his Father. He saw the man gunned down by the Bounty Hunter Bossk while he was on the monitor in another building, by the time he got there his Father was dead. He hunted Bossk down and arrested him only to have the Imperial Intelligence Liaison release him. Both have been arrested and Loor stripped of his rank for arranging Hal Horn’s assassination,” Anakin answered, and Luke ran a hand through his hair.
“We’ll get them all eventually, right?”
“You can’t save everyone Luke, but massive inroads have bene made into corruption. There will always be those who seek to use others and profit from it but the new laws will help curtail such actions,” Anakin assured his son who sighed but nodded and then Padme squealed for attention and they left the talk of heavier things to play with her.
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Anakin grinned as Piett was invested as his replacement. It was time for him to retire and focus solely on his family. Luke and Leia were kept busy running the Empire and that meant he got to play doting Grandfather.
Obi-Wan was desperate to follow in his footsteps but was having issues getting someone to agree. Cody had turned down the position, again. Ahsoka had just glared when Obi-Wan tried to bring it up, she was busy with teaching Corran and a young woman they had found, Mara Jade. She had been badly indoctrinated by Sidious and was taking a lot of work, thankfully Corran was happy to help while also focusing on his own training. A few Force sensitives had joined Yoda on Ossus, others had come to Coruscant. Most of the options for General from Luke’s men were better fits in the Navy like Commander Solo. Even among the ex-Rebels there weren’t many candidates.
Since Isard’s defeat the galaxy had been relatively peaceful, the armed forces dealing mainly with the Hutt’s, Black Sun and other criminal organisations that did not want to disband peacefully. They’d found quite a few Hand’s, though none as powerful as young Mara, as well as Dark Acolytes. The Inquisitors had been ended when Luke blew up the Grand Inquisitor to save Ahsoka. But the Sith were ended for good now.
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Padme stood on tiptoes, staring down at her new baby brother, utterly unimpressed. “He’s tiny and wrinkly,” she announced, making the adults stifle their laughter.
Luke picked his daughter up and settled her on his hip. “He’s a baby Padme, he’ll get bigger and less wrinkly. You were just the same.”
“Nah uh,” she denied, shaking her head, sending small dark braids flying. She had her Mother’s rich dark hair but the Skywalker eyes. So far, little Bail, had the Skywalker hair and his Mother’s eyes but either could change as he grew. At six, Padme was a precocious little thing, always asking questions and wanting to learn. She’d even begun lessons with Grandpa Obi-Wan after levitating some toys she’d wanted. “I wanted a sister, can’t we swap?”
The laughter couldn’t be held back at that question.
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Luke smiled as young Hal Horn danced with Padme, the boys cheeks tinged slightly pink. Corran and Mara’s eldest was as Force sensitive as his parents and had been one of Anakin’s last students before he stepped fully out of public life. That had been two years after Obi-Wan had passed into the Force and it still hurt to not have him with them. Padme had been struck particularly hard by his death as they had always been close. At sixteen she was as beautiful as her Mother and Grandmothers before her although she seemed to have inherited a bit more of Anakin’s height then Luke or Bail.
Hal was two years younger than her and had his Father’s dark hair but his Mother’s bright green eyes and not his Father’s softer shade of green. Luke liked the boy and had no problem with them being close at all. Padme was his heir and Hal would make a good husband for her if that was what they wanted one day.
He glanced at his wife and she smiled back at him, agreeing with his opinion. One good thing about having been so young when they married and had Padme, they had plenty of time for her to finish growing up before the crown was passed to her. She would not be forced to deal with governing the Galaxy as young as they had.
While there had been peace for the most part there had also been loss as one by one the surviving clones succumbed to old age, brought on by the growth acceleration used to speed their creation. The rapid aging had been stopped after the Clone Wars, but the damage had been done. Cody had lasted longer than most, but he had passed away eight years ago. Only Rex was left, and no one asked how Ahsoka had managed that, knowing it couldn’t be used to save anyone else.
Admiral Yularen too had eventually retired and then passed away six years ago, he hadn’t been a young man during the Clone Wars let alone by the time Sidious died. Piett was still going strong as Head of the Navy and Han had eventually been roped into taking Obi-Wan’s place with the Army, despite his love of flying, leaving Biggs in command of the Blades. General Solo had even married eventually, to a distant cousin of the Naberrie family, shocking everyone who knew him and was now the proud father of twins, Jacen and Jaina Solo. As a further surprise, young Jaina was Force sensitive and was training at the Ossus enclave. Master Yoda too had passed into the Force three years after beginning work at Ossus, thankfully two surviving Jedi had come forward to take over the Temple there.
Leia’s confidant Winter had married Tycho, something they had seen coming from the start and they had three children, all of whom wanted to join either Intelligence or the Navy once old enough. They worked closely with the people of New Alderaan who still saw Leia as their Princess. Biggs had shown no interest in marriage while his friend Wedge had married a fellow Corellian he had known from his pre-Rebel days.
Owen Lars had also died, three years ago, aged by the harsh Tatooine conditions. Beru remained on Naboo and they made sure she received plenty of Holo’s of her grandniece and nephew as well as visits when they could get away to the planet. Luke had never grown close to his Aunt and Uncle after being reunited, too much time had passed, and he was a very different person to the boy they had raised. That did not mean he didn’t care about them, the whole reason he’d stayed with Obi-Wan and not run was too keep them safe.
They had done what Sidious had promised when he had first proclaimed the Empire, they had brought peace and security to the Galaxy. The Sith were ended and the Jedi completely reformed. Luke knew he could never have done it without Leia at his side.
The End.