Saga Something to Fear (Boba Fett, Mara Jade, Quinlan Vos)

A/N: So in the recent trend of authors juggling more than one story at a time, probably against their better judgment , I've decided to do the same. This story idea has been floating around my desktop for a while and I just can't get it out of my head. So I went ahead and wrote a few paragraphs as a plotline, but then it snowballed into what is now the prologue. FYI my other story Children of Mandalore: Red Fang is the priority story, so I'll update this story maybe every two or three weeks, compared to Red Fang's more or less weekly updates. The Prologue was becoming a bit lengthy so im going to break it up, no one likes sitting at a computer reading a twenty-page chapter, talk about eye strain I hope you guys enjoy it.



SOMETHING TO FEAR

Dramatis Personae:

Boba Fett, Bounty Hunter (male human)
Darth Vader, Sith Lord (male human)
Emperor Palpatine, Sith Lord (male human)
Khaleen Hentz, Wife of Quinlan Vos (female human)
Korto Vos, Force-sensitive (male Kiffar/human hybrid)
Mara Jade, Emperor's Hand (female human)
Quinlan Vos, Jedi Master (male Kiffar)



Prologue – Part One


ATZERRI, SIXTEEN MONTHS AFTER ORDER 66

Rain pelted the transparisteel window in thick and greasy globs. The city was home to hundreds of killers and assorted criminals who would easily turn on their mother if the price was good enough. Sadly for Quinlan Vos, the price for Jedi was at an all time high. The Empire was gradually eliminating the survivors of the Purge at a disgustingly increasing rate. He could feel the tremors in the Force each time another Jedi was killed by Imperial agents.

The tremors were distant though, not strong enough to indicate the death of anyone he'd had a strong connection with. The painful ripping he had felt when his former Padawan, Aayla Secura, had been murdered by the clone troops under her command was still as fresh today as it had been sixteen months earlier. That he hadn't felt another sensation like it told him that others may have survived. Obi-Wan, Master Tholme and Master T'ra Saa hadn't been located by the Imperials yet and that was an encouraging thought.

There was little he could do to contact them though. If indeed any were still alive the likelihood that he would be able to locate any of his old allies were almost as a slim as his chances of surviving in the Empire's new galactic order. Master Tholme and T'ra Saa had separated from him and Khaleen four months earlier. They had all agreed that the less Force-sensitives there were in one area decreased the chances of detection by the Empire greatly.

Staying on Kashyyyk had been removed as an option as Imperial troops began landing battalion after battalion and rounding up the locals as slaves for reason Vos couldn't ponder, that he didn't want to ponder. He and his family had relocated to Atzerri because it was a haven for galactic underground types, the type of people who didn't like government interference. Vos had a lot of experience operating in that world, as did his wife. But even so, Atzerri wouldn't be their home forever and that was something he and Khaleen had known since her contact had set up their safehouse five weeks ago.

It was only a matter of time before one spice user or an Imperial spy discovered their presence and sold the information for whatever they could get for it. Vos had the unlucky curse of being a rather easy individual to spot, that was the problem with facial tattoos; the thin, pale yellow line that ran across the entirety of his face, and his son's face, made it very easy to identify who he was. Once he was identified it wouldn't be too much longer before Stormtroopers began swarming into the underbelly of Atzerri, possibly led by the Emperor's new lackey Darth Vader. The man who people said was responsible for the sacking of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

Five weeks had passed since the Vos family had moved into the cramped apartment in what appeared to be the seediest part of the city and Vos couldn't help but feel his anxiety grow with each passing day. What was worse, his foreboding feelings were easily felt by his young son Korto. Korto was strong in the Force and all of the tense feelings he could sense from the people around him were taking their toll. Until Vos could relocate his family to a planet where the Empire would never look and where he wouldn't be betrayed by a spice user or discovered by an Imperial spy, there wasn't anything he could really do to shield his son from those feelings.

Both he and Khaleen knew what the Empire would do if they ever got their hands on Korto. Their son would become an agent of evil, twisted and warped by the seducing powers of the Dark Side. Tainted by the Emperor. Vos would die before letting that happen, the Empire would feel the true power of Quinlan Vos. A final desperate act the ensure the escape of his wife and son. Vos would keep the vow he had made to his son in that cave eight months earlier. Darkness would never touch Korto, even if it meant Vos had to let the darkness back into his heart to stop it.

Korto stirred in his bed, his cries pulled Vos from his dark thoughts and he looked over his shoulder at the child. Vos could feel the distress in his son and sadly realized that his bleak thoughts had been the source of that distress. Vos pushed his feeling away and focused on radiating soothing calmness into the Force. It was the only way anyone could calm the child when he became upset, no matter how much Khaleen rocked him in her arms and sang to him she just couldn't put the boy at ease.

Vos knew that it bothered her on almost every level and he had to admit that he found it amusing and sometimes smiled sympathetically at her frustration. It was a miracle at all that he could smile in a galaxy where there wasn't anything to smile about. He enjoyed the special connection he and his son share, but it was a dangerous connection. Vos knew that he would have to teach his son how to control his abilities, abilities that would both serve as good and bad in the coming years.

His training would have to start sooner rather than later, Korto was already having Force tantrums. He would sometimes levitate objects and hurl them in random directions without any kind of warning. That was behavior that couldn't continue, rumors of a Jedi hiding out on Atzerri would be bad but rumors of a Force-sensitive child living on Atzerri would bring the Empire down on them within a day. Vos was limited to his teaching tools though, Korto was just over a year old and still too young to receive traditional Jedi training.

Though the training Korto would receive would be hardly anything like traditional Jedi training. It would be designed to build Korto's powers but also teach him concealment, restraint and discretion. Those three words would ensure Korto's survival in the new regime. Lightsaber training was also something that Vos was considering teaching his son when he was old enough, most of the material needed to create one were readily available in most places. The trouble would be getting a power crystal and the Empire was sure to have planets harboring those gems under watchful eyes.

Vos no longer wore his lightsaber on his belt but instead had it strapped to the inside of his right forearm. The weapon was a clear indication of what he was and openly displaying it would only do more harm than good. Khaleen appeared from around the corner and leaned against the wall next to Korto's bed.

"Should I pick him up and try to calm him or are you already on the case?" She asked with a perfect mix of goodhearted sarcasm, bitterness and sincerity.

Vos shrugged. "You can if you want to, it might work this time. You never know."

Khaleen looked down into the bundle of blankets and saw her son had passed back into the realm of sleepiness that so avoided her and her husband lately. Khaleen looked at her husband sadly as he resumed his vigil, staring out into the darkness of the night.

"You know I knew you would be in here with Korto, even if he hadn't been crying."

Vos didn't reply.

"Quin you can't stand watch all night and day." She said. "What good would it do for Korto if both of us are too fatigued from worrying about the Empire all the time?"

"I have the Force to draw from."

"But I don't." Khaleen said. "I understand the threat that the Empire poses just as much as you do Quin, but I'm worried about you too."

"Don't be." he said softly as he wrapped his arm around his wife and gave her a tired smile. "I'm sleeping better than I was and daily meditation helps to keep me centered."

Khaleen sighed as she rested her head against her husband's muscular chest. She didn't need the Force in order to tell he was lying about how calm and centered he was. She could see the worry on his face just as plainly as the traditional Kiffar tattoo.

"Have you felt anymore tremors?" She asked tentatively. She knew it was a sensitive subject, but she worried about Tholme and T'ra Saa just as he did and she wanted to know if they had survived these last few weeks.

Vos nodded solemnly. "Three this week, but they were far and vague feeling. No one I knew personally." He looked at her with a small half-smile. "Tholme and T'ra Saa are still out there."

"What about the Empire, have you felt any sign that they're onto us?"

"I haven't felt anything that indicates an imminent threat, just the heaviness of the darkness of the future."

"Our future?"

"The galaxy's future."

The room fell silent for a few moments as they both watched the polluted rain lash against the crud covered window. Khaleen knew that Jedi had the limited ability to see off into the future, just how far Quinlan could see he wouldn't reveal to her but he always said that whatever he did see was dark and bleak. She hoped that her son would be able to grow up and experience joy and happiness, but with each passing day she knew that Korto would grow up with some degree of paranoia, he would be untrusting and cold to the people around him.

It was the only logical way that he would survive the Empire, it was they only she and Quinlan would survive the Empire.

"Do you think we'll see Tholme and T'ra Saa again?"

"Not anytime soon, the danger is still too great."

"Maybe once things are safer for all of us then?"

"Like I said, not anytime soon."


STAR DESTROYER VIGILANCE, ATZERRI SYSTEM, SIXTEEN MONTHS AFTER ORDER 66

Sweeping his eyes across the troopers of Commando Squad 91, Koma couldn't help but feel that the chance of success on this mission was all but assured. He was in command of a unit that was one of the few remaining that consisted of Kamino clones, not the newer Spaarti batch. Twelve soldiers, three squads, all of them former Republic Commandos or Advanced Recon Commandos.

Koma himself was a finely honed weapon of warfare, the Emperor's Hand. Trained in secret over the years by the Emperor in the use of the Force, and by others in advanced hand-to-hand combat training, weapons training, flight training, tracking and counter surveillance training. He could do everything the commandos he was leading could do and then some.

After all the years of intense and often tormenting training, he was about to undertake a mission that would truly put his hard-won skills to the test: killing Quinlan Vos. Koma pulled his black robes tighter around his black bodysuit and armor plating as Squad 91 began piling into the transports that would take them into the city. From there Koma would lead them on foot into the underbelly where Quinlan Vos was suspected to be hiding. The rogue Jedi Master would no doubt have people watching for Imperials as an early warning system.

That was why they weren't taking the transports into the underbelly, they would stick out like a sore thumb, as would the white armor of the commandos, who were all wearing blacked-out gear now to counteract that drawback. The plan was to move along the rooftops of the apartment buildings that populated the underbelly until they reached the location their source had pinpointed. Once there it was simply a matter of breaching through the roof and hunting down Vos.

Koma stepped off the observation deck he had been standing on and fell fifty-meters to the deck. Using the Force to slow his descent he landed gracefully on the polished durasteel and casually strolled over to his transport. The clone standing outside of the troop bay saluted him as Koma reached the craft.

"Captain Talyc." Koma said flatly as he acknowledged the clone. "Are the troopers squared away?"

"Lord Koma, all personnel and equipment are ready to be deployed sir."

"Your men are aware of who the target is?"

"Squad Ninety-One has been fully briefed sir."

"So they understand there can be no mistakes? That the Emperor will not tolerate failure?"

"My men don't fail, my lord." Talyc said bluntly. "I served under Quinlan Vos during the war sir and, if I may say so sir, I'm looking forward to killing him."

"Your determination is admirable, but sadly it won't be enough to kill Quinlan Vos." Koma said.

It wasn't by chance that he had selected a commando squad that was made up of exclusively Kamino clones. It was well known throughout the clone ranks of the Grand Army that Quinlan Vos wasn't very caring of the soldiers under his command. The feeling was mutual, especially amongst the special forces clones, though they had still served him because that was what they had been conditioned to do.

But Vos wasn't a Jedi General anymore. He was a fugitive and now the clones would have the chance to get even with their hated general. Still it was going to take more than some bad blood and determination to take Vos down. That was why he was there, his swordsmanship was unmatched by any any of his instructors, his mind never stopped thinking, calculating what the enemy was going to do. He watched, and memorized and executed. He was counting on Vos to be a bit preoccupied with the potential danger his family was in, more than one intelligence source said he had a wife and some even said he had a small child.

Those reports had interested the Emperor greatly and Koma had orders to kill the parents and bring back the child, if there was one, alive and unharmed. Koma was an intelligent man and was certain he knew why the Emperor would be interested in the child. After all he had been a child himself when the Emperor had come calling and taken him away for his training. If the Jedi Master had a child it would strong in the Force, a potential threat to the power of the Emperor or a potential tool to enforce the Emperor's will. Koma began to wonder if the Emperor had been truthful when telling him that he was the only Hand.

If there truly was a child with Vos, and it truly was as strong in the Force as some believed Koma began to think about whether or not he should take the child as is own apprentice, the Shadow of the Hand. If the Emperor had lied to him then Koma was willing to play that game, as dangerous as it was. Koma stepped into the troop bay of the transport, crammed full of black-clad clones as it was. Talyc stepped in beside him and nodded to the pilot.

"Take off when ready pilot." Talyc said as he grabbed the handhold over his head.

Koma removed his dark robe and let it fall to the floor. One of the clones handed him an equipment bag and in it was a blaster rifle, a bandolier of stun grenades, a helmet identical to the ones the clones around him were wearing and a high powered blaster pistol. He casually slipped into the gear and instantly became another anonymous soldier on his way to do the bidding of his superior.

Koma exhaled slowly and pulled his Force presence as far inwards as he could, making his footprint in the Force nearly undetectable. Not doing so would have been a surefire way to blow the mission before it had ever began. Quinlan Vos would have known the second another Force-sensitive was bearing down on him. There was no doubt that he would sense the twelve identical presences of the clones, but that couldn't be helped.

As used to working alone as he was, Koma needed men who had years of training and battlefield experience to take down Vos. None of the Spaarti clones had that level of expertise yet, and the fresh recruits into the Stormtrooper ranks had even less. It was already accepted that Vos would feel that something was amiss, and Koma was actually hoping for that. Fear could be a powerful ally and a dangerous handicap.

He hoped that it would cloud the Jedi's mind and cause him to make mistakes, mistakes that would then be capitalized on. The death of Quinlan Vos would be one of Koma's greatest achievements and would surely gain him more favor with the Emperor as his favored Hand, if there truly were more than he had been lead to believe.

If there were more Hands then Koma would have to discover who they were and then...well then the Vos child would make a great tool to one day thin the herd.

 

This is a really captivating start! I liked very much your characterization of Quinlan Vos, especially the don't-mess-with-me trait. And after all the pro and fan fics where Force-sensitive mothers have a special bond to their child, with the father feeling left out, I find it refreshing to see the situation reversed Your Emperor's Hand also comes across as intriguing and treacherous, in true Sith fashion. He must have been taught well Looking forward to more!

 

Interesting start. I don't think I've read a fic before that dealt with rivalry among the Hands. The isolation Vos feels as each of his comrades is snuffed away...

 

Both he and Khaleen knew what the Empire would do if they ever got their hands on Korto. Their son would become an agent of evil, twisted and warped by the seducing powers of the Dark Side. Tainted by the Emperor. Vos would die before letting that happen, the Empire would feel the true power of Quinlan Vos. A final desperate act the ensure the escape of his wife and son. Vos would keep the vow he had made to his son in that cave eight months earlier. Darkness would never touch Korto, even if it meant Vos had to let the darkness back into his heart to stop it.

I like stories that are about the ancient struggle between the light and the dark. About parents who do not give up on their children and personal choices that have to be made.