Before the Saga Better to Light a Flamethrower (Vernestra Rwoh and Imri Cantaros High Republic Oneshot)

Title: Better to Light a Flamethrower

Author: devilinthedetails

Characters: Vernestra Rwoh; Imri Cantaros; Nihil.

Genre: Action; Adventure.

Timeline: Before the Saga-High Republic Era. Set after Test of Courage when Imri is Vernestra’s Padawan.

Summary: Vernestra teaches her Padawan that sometimes it is better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness.

Author’s Note: Written for Kit's very creative Discworld Challenge for the Mini Games Event. The quote I received is Terry Pratchett’s: “Sometimes it’s better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness.” Thanks to Kit for being my muse!

Better to Light a Flamethrower

“Sometimes it’s better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness.”--Terry Pratchett

Vernestra had been in worse situations than this--pinned down by a ruthless Strike of marauding Nihil in a dark corridor where all the light fixtures were destroyed by the blaster fire she and her Padawan Imri Cantaros had redirected from the family of horned Zabrak crouched behind them for cover--but she could count them all on one green-skinned Mirialan hand.

The family of Iridonian Zabraks had been looking to relocate to the Outer Rim Colonies when their vessel had fallen victim to a characteristically random as lightning Nihil attack. They had managed to send out a distress signal before the gases that were the nasty trademark of a Nihil raid had knocked them unconscious. A distress signal Vernestra and her apprentice had heard on one of their routine patrols of the sector.

They had managed to arrive before any of the Zabraks had perished and before the Nihil could escape with their loot. Thank the Force for the speed of hyperspace travel when its unpredictable vagaries weren’t causing catastrophes that wrecked large scale destruction as at the Hetzal System.

Upon boarding the ship, Vernestra and Imri had fought their way through the narrow hallway to the cockpit where the unfortunate Zabrak family was being held hostage. They had shoved breathers like the ones clenched between their own teeth into the mouths of the Zabraks, and Vernestra had been able to revive them with a gentle Force brush of her mind against theirs while Imri stood at her back, protecting her from hostile fire.

Now they had battled a path out of the cockpit with the Zabrak family sheltering behind the weaving glow of their lightsabers and were trying to retreat to their own craft, where the Zabrak family would be safe. If they could capture the Nihil and drag them back to face the justice of a Republic that loathed violent criminals like these, all the better.

Being able to capture the fiercely-fighting Nihil seemed like a wild hookah dream at the moment, however.

A sentiment obviously shared by her Padawan for she felt a storm of anger wash like a tsunami through Imri before he gave furious vent to his frustration: “How can I defeat an enemy I can’t fracking see in this blasted dark corridor?”

Vernestra, grimly deflecting another volley of enemy blaster fire, wondered with all the mental energy she could spare amidst the mayhem of the present engagement how she should deal with Imri’s sudden surge of anger and outburst of cursing.

Her own Master, she was sure, would’ve told her calmly but sternly to watch her language and her temper, but Master Stellan was considerably older than her, while she was only a couple of years Imri’s senior, and he could be prickly about her expressing authority over him.

Better to inject a flash of levity into the proceedings to ease the tension, she decided. That had been another favorite tactic of Master Stellan, she remembered with real fondness for the wise, patient man who had taught her so much about what it meant to be a Jedi in service of peace, justice, and the Republic.

As she had this thought about injecting levity into the proceedings, her gaze fell upon a flamethrower that had been dropped by a Nihil who had been wounded in the fray. Inspiration blazing within her, Vernestra sheathed her lightsaber, used the Force to turn away any blaster bolts that came in her direction, and leaped forward to seize the flamethrower.

“Sometimes it’s better to light a flamethrower than to curse the darkness.” Vernestra shot her apprentice a crooked grin, white teeth shining in the blue luminescence of Imri’s lightsaber. “Observe, my Padawan.”

She ignited the flamethrower. The narrow corridor was abruptly flooded with overwhelming, blinding light and flames hot enough to singe a H’nemthe in the throes of love.

“Brilliant, Master.” Imri answered her grin with a lopsided one of his own, the anger ebbing from him. Vernestra could feel it evaporating into the Force as if it had never been.

Focusing the flames on the Nihil who began to break and retreat under the burning assault, Vernestra shouted over her shoulder to Imri, “Take the family back to our ship! I’ll see if I can arrest these Nihil!”

As Imri hurded the rattled family down the hallway to the airlock where they could board the craft the Jedi had arrived in, Vernestra dropped the flamethrower, lunged forward to kick the blasters from the hands of three Nihil, and drew on the Force to send the blasters from another two Nihil flying into her palms.

Pointing the blasters at the only remaining Nihil with a weapon, she ordered, “Drop your blaster.”

The Nihil did so, weapon spilling from what looked like limp fingers.

Vernestra had enough experience with the Nihil to know that appearances could be dangerously deceiving, however. Reaching out to touch their minds, which were surprisingly malleable and susceptible to manipulation, with the Force, she said in a soothing, sweet, and eminently reasonable voice, “You don’t want to resist me. You want to come quietly and submit peaceably to Republic justice.”

Her words echoed back to her in a rugged Nihil chorus. “We don’t want to fight you. We want to come quietly and submit to Republic justice.”

They really were so simple to shape and influence. Maybe being so weak-willed and open to suggestion had been what had brought them to a life of crime in the first place. It would certainly not be difficult to lead such beings down a dark, violent path, Vernestra mused. Perhaps she should have pitied them for that, but after the Nihil had blown up the diplomatic Steady Wing vessel, she didn’t want to sympathize with or understand any of them. She didn’t know if that made her a bad Jedi or just a more decisive one than she had been prior to boarding the Steady Wing.

Vernestra removed the stun cuffs she kept hooked to her belt during peace-keeping patrols for when trouble arose with such scum as the Nihil.

She slid the cuffs over the now unfighting wrists of first one Nihil and then another. Once all the Nihil were bound, she guided them, still docile from her mind trick, along the corridor to the Jedi’s ship, which they entered through the airlock.

After they stepped onto the ship, Vernestra took her prisoners to the small cell at the rear of the craft where they would be locked up until they could be brought to a proper jail to await trial.

Once she’d posted Imri as guard over the Nihil in case they regained their belligerence when the effects of her mind touch wore off, she went to the ship’s cockpit, where she noticed that the Zabrak husband and wife had already claimed the navigator’s and co-pilot’s chairs, leaving the pilot seat vacant for a Jedi to claim.

“That ship was all we had.” The husband stared at the flaming husk of the ship that had been ruined by the Nihil raid. “We poured all our life savings into it.”

“And now it’s gone,” whispered his wife, tears shimmering in her eyes as Vernestra separated their vessel from the one that was sadly damaged beyond repair.

“I’ll bring you to the nearest Temple outpost,” Vernestra reassured them, wishing that she didn’t know her words would offer cold comfort to this family that had lost everything but their dreams for a better life in the Colonies because of the Nihil’s vicious attack. “There we can provision you, equip you with transport to the Colonies, and connect you to all the resources you will need to start a better life.”

All the Temple outposts from the Mid-Rim to the Outer Rim Colonies were by now well-versed in providing such services to victims of unprovoked Nihil aggression. It was a sadly routine matter for the Jedi even if it was a life-shattering crisis to the victims they assisted.

“Thank you.” The wife’s eyes sank to her folded hands as Vernestra input the coordinates for the nearest Temple outpost into the navcomputer and prepared the ship for the jump to lightspeed.

“And the Nihil?” demanded the husband in a tone hard as a meteorite.

“They’ll stand trial and face the Republic’s justice,” Vernestra vowed because that was all she could promise in exchange for all the family had suffered and lost.

After that, the husband and wife had no further questions, and Vernestra did not force the conversation. Instead, she let silence fall in the cockpit, hoping that in the quiet the husband and wife would somehow find peace after all the chaos that had uphended their lives and hopes for the future.

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha As always, thank you so much for your kind comments!I really got a chuckle out of this quote, and it inspired an instant burst of inspiration, so I'm so happy that you found this to be a marvelous use of the quote. It was a pleasure to write about Vernestra and Imri having a battle against the Nihil, rescuing a family of settlers, and working together as a team like this, so it is wonderful to know that you found the characterization spot on. Plotting was probably the thing I struggled most with this fic and it took me a little while to figure out how I wanted to end this story, so it is awesome to hear that you found the resolution so satisfying and that you appreciated seeing the capture of the criminals. It was really nice to be able to write about the Nihil being brought to Republic justice

And I like to think that the Jedi would be in a position to help the refugees and civilians harmed by the Nihil when they can. So my headcanon is definitely that the Jedi are using their outposts to set up a system for aiding the victims of the Nihil attacks!