The Circle (AU futurefic) -- big question posted 8/1

Up!

 

Thanks for pushing it up, I would have missed it otherwise!

I liked the way Hal knew that there was something else to Solo than just smelly and drunk--I know it's the Force telling him that sort of thing. I also liked the way he was musing to himself that just when he thought he knew somebody, it turned out they were a bonefide Rebel. And the way Xinia couldn't pass up the chance to give the Emperor a headache. Good! I like the character development here, and the intricate interweaving of all the plot strands!

 

Just upping until Mondayish.

 

WOW!!!!!!! Great work!

 

Great post, Lisse!

 

Well, I'm glad Jane recommended this on the "Good Stories You're NOT Reading" thread because I had completely lost track of it.
When I started re-reading it I immediately remembered how much I enjoyed the beginning. Who knows how I managed to miss everything since then?

Anyway, I love it! And I can't wait to find out what happens next!

 

The hiss of the cell door opening was all the warning Malinza had. As she sat up and pulled her hood down to hide the fear she knew was on her face, a blank-faced guard marched into her cell. A step behind him was the Sith Darth Rage. Hidden beneath her robe's voluminous sleeves, Malinza's hands curled into fists. She knew a torture session when she saw one.

"Now, Governor," Rage said softly. His rasping hiss of a voice filled the tiny cell. "We will discuss your involvement with the Rebel Alliance."

A whine grated on Malinza's ears. Already knowing what she would see, yet unable to tear her eyes from the sight, she stared in utter horror at the small black droid that slowly entered the cell.

Perhaps she was mistaken, but for a moment she was sure that some modicum of sympathy flickered across the guard's face before he left the cell, leaving her completely alone with the Sith and the torture droid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The swamp world of Dagobah had served as a refuge for many Force-users throughout its long life. Now it provided a momentary haven for the last Jedi master, safely sheltering him from the Empire, if not from his own memories.

"I won't do it," he said to empty air. "Hal's all I have left."

_Trained Anakin you did. Now the same you must do for your son._

"Hal's not strong in the Force," Corran snapped. "And he's too old."

_You were older when I trained you._ The second voice was not gravelly and wise, as the first one was. It belonged to a tired young woman. _Please, Corran. Whether you like it or not, you're the last Jedi. Anakin is still an apprentice. We both know he isn't really ready._

Corran could imagine the young woman's face when she said that. "Look, Leia," he said finally. "I'll do what I can." He hid his face in his hand. "The last thing I told Iella was that I wouldn't let anything happen to Hal. Tell me I can keep that promise."

_I could. But I won't lie to you._ Leia Organa Solo hesitated for a moment. _This isn't just my family's fight anymore. There's too much at stake._

"I know." He pulled his green robes around him as if shielding himself from a sudden chill. "Anakin's waiting for me on Naboo."

_Returning to the beginning he is. Knows it he does not, but returning he is._

Whatever that meant. Corran made himself stand up and start for the Headhunter he had landed on the only bit of dry land for miles around. If his ethics had not gotten the better of him and Iella, they would never have helped the most wanted woman in the galaxy escape from a Sith during the Corellian Revolt. And he would not be here now, a widower estranged from his only child and hunted because he was, for all intents and purposes, the last of his kind.

"Come on, Whistler." He tapped his ancient R5 unit. "Let's get going."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leia Organa Solo watched the lights of the Headhunter disappear into the gloom. _I should have told him everything._

_If knew he did, spare his son he would._

_I know. Stars help me, I know._ She folded her hands and looked up at the sky from the shadows of her robe's hood. _It's starting again,_ she added softly. _I can feel it. And I don't know how to stop it._

 

It's starting again, huh? But how will it turn out this time? Interesting that Corran would be the last Jedi, and that Leia and Yoda would be talking to him. I wonder where Luke ended up. Not that I miss him, of course, I just wonder.

 

Just as in your WoT fanfic I have no idea where you'r going. But I don't mind though, I'll just lean back and enjoy the ride.
Great as always!

 

Glad everyone likes my little fic. Thanks for advertising it, Jane Jinn.

Up!

 

It's really a great fic, Lisse. The one complaint I have is that there is a small abandoned thread at the Scriptorium, called what-a-surprise The Circle. Care to update it too. *Please.*

 

Sorry, Ulrike. I've been neglecting my stories at the Scriptorium, haven't I? Ahem.

That should be fixed now. I'll be posting more at both boards soon.

 

Chapter 5 - A Beginning

"My lord?"

Alai hesitated for a moment, working past the irrational fear that the Sith apprentice produced in her. While she served the Emperor loyally and faithfully, she deeply resented the ways in which he sought to suppress others' believes. Service to the leader was necessary, but so was freedom of thought. How could a system improve unless questioned?

For all his many faults, Darth Rage allowed Alai to express her opinions. She respected him in a way that she could almost describe as paternal. And that disturbed her. He had, after all, slain her parents in cold blood simply because she could touch the Force. She remembered the smell of scorching flesh and the screams all too well.

But that was in the past. She stepped into the austere room that served as the Sith lord's private sanctum. It was not at all in keeping with how she imagined one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the galaxy would live. Simple and unadorned, it consisted of a Holonet projector, a straight-backed chair, and a polished but inexpensive table. That was all.

Her eyes locked on the two holos situated on the table. One was of a serious boy, the other displayed a bright-eyed, smiling little girl. Of course Alai knew that Rage had children - it was well-known throughout the galaxy - but the idea sent a chill through her. This cold, calculating man had produced a boy whom she knew to be gentle and a girl so full of vibrant life that it seemed she must take her energy from the stars themselves. It still puzzled her how a Sith could have such children - and, more significantly, how he could care for them so much without turning his back on his order's teachings.

He just looked at her from behind the table, watching and waiting. This was it, then.

"We examined the information you were able to extract from Governor Thanas," she said without preamble. She had no sentiment in her for the traitorous young woman rotting in her cell. While Admiral Archimedes had acted in what she believed to be the best interests of the New Order, Thanas had simply worked to undermine it. There was a galaxy-wide difference between those two views and anyone who could not understand that fact was blind and stupid. "There was nothing worthwhile. She held out against your torture droids, apparently."

Rage nodded once. "Obviously." He met her stare levelly. "If you have another suggestion, perhaps I might consider it."

Alai kept a smile from creeping onto her face. "My lord, I have examined some of the high-level records in hopes of finding another solution to the Governor's intractability. I came across a note from the Grand Moff Tarkin. Before he was killed, he threatened to destroy Princess Leia Organa's homeworld unless she revealed the location of the Rebels' base."

Something in Rage's face made her stomach turn. He seemed to withdraw from his own expressions, leaving only hard stone. "That method did not work."

"Yes, but Princess Organa was a Jedi. Governor Thanas is nothing of the kind." She met his inhuman eyes. "Unless you have a better idea, my lord?"

There was a moment when Alai feared that, Hand or no, she would meet her death then and there. Then Rage nodded once. "I will leave you to carry out your threat. Have the Avenger remain in orbit and order the rest of the fleet set course for Bakura."

"As you command, my lord." Alai turned sharply and marched out of the sanctum, glad to be free of the Sith's presence.

 

Up up up up up!

Shameless self-promoting, anyone?

 

Next post should be tomorrow.

 

Even though he knew it made him look like a dumb oaf, Ben could not help but gape at the sprawling mass that was Mos Eisley. He had never seen anything so big in his life. He had never even imagined that anything that big could exist. And even from this vantage point high above the spaceport, he could not see the end of it.

[Shay'll love this,] he thought happily. A moment later the pain, momentarily numbed after three chronos piloting a landspeeder through empty desert, came back in full force. [Or she would if I hadn't had to cremate her,] he corrected bitterly. His hand brushed the handle of the lightsaber - the tool he had used to carve a rough marker out of a duracrete chunk. At least it had served some good purpose, anyway. ["From the suns we came. To the suns we return."] The final farewell, as ancient as the desert itself, brought him a tiny measure of comfort.

"Mos Eisley spaceport," Jessa said softly, her eyes locked on the distant buildings. "Home of the galaxy's lowest forms of life." She glanced up at him. "You watch you back, Ben."

He nodded woodenly. "We should get going."

"Yeah." She patted him on the shoulder and steered him back to the landspeeder. Blue chirped and warbled something that sounded sympathetic. "Come on. I don't know how to pilot this thing."

Maybe she knew, maybe she did not, but the rhythm and feeling of flight soothed him and made some of the ache vanish for a while. He steered the bumpy landspeeder down the rocks and into the city, trying not to gawp at everything. If he took his eyes off the road, he would run someone over.

"What's that?" he asked as they went by a rusting lump of old machinery.

"Some memorial. I'm surprised those scavenger critters haven't stripped it clean." Jessa frowned suddenly. "Uh oh. Don't look now. We've got trouble."

A squadron of stormtroopers waited up ahead, checking everyone who came through. [Oh, stars,] Ben thought bleakly. [This isn't good.]

One of the stormtroopers marched up to him and Jessa. "How long have you had this droid?"

"Ten chronos," Ben said automatically. His mouth was working, even if his brain was having problems.

"You want to buy it?" Jessa asked eagerly. "Two hundred credits. Great deal."

The stormtrooper pointed to one of his underlings, who was carrying a sort of portable scanner. "Check it."

"Hey!" Jessa protested. "No examining the merchandise. Credits first!"

"We don't want the droid," the stormtrooper explained, clearly exasperated. "We're scanning for receiver hardware."

Ben was sure his hands were shaking. Jessa shook her head. "I don't buy it. Pay up or you're not scanning my droid."

"Let me see your identifications," the stormtrooper barked.

"You don't need to see our identifications!" Jessa barked. "I don't know who you think you are, but this isn't Imperial Center. This droid isn't the one you're looking for. We've got kriffing business to do. I'll report you to your superiors!" She started to stand up, nearly sending the whole landspeeder toppling sideways. "What's your operating number, huh? You're interfering in private transporation without probable cause, that's what you're doing!"

Ben tried to sink into his seat. She was poking the stormtrooper on the chest with her finger - poking him on the chest! That had to be worse than him hitting an admiral. [Oh, man! What if they recognize me?] His lightsaber seemed to weigh a ton. He probably had a Jedi sign stuck on his back, the way his luck was going.

Jessa was still at it. He had no idea if the Search and Seizure Act even existed, but she was yelling at the entire squadron about it. Her father supplied them all with the power packs in those oversized blaster rifles of theirs, thank you very much, and unless they wanted to embarrass themselves in front of the Emperor, they had better straighten up and behave. She had friends in high places, if they knew what she meant.

He did not have the heart to point out that the stormtrooper was already scanning Blue.

"Sir?" The scanner-bearer looked over at the stormtroop

 

Up!

 

The cockpit of the Chance would have been cramped with a single pilot - namely, Ghent. Melody had managed to squeeze herself into the copilot's seat, but she was afraid that if she moved, some of the ship's key components would fall into her lap.

With an effort, she ignored the control digging into her leg and jabbed a finger at the planet outside the cockpit. "That's where Solo is?"

"Yep." Ghent pointed to the small triangle dark against the planet's surface. "See that Star Destroyer?"

Melody nodded warily.

"It's letting people through, but it's checking their ship codes first. A while back I sold Solo a couple of slicer chips. As far as the Imps are concern, the Falcon's legit. But the codes stay in the system - "

"And you can track them in the databases," Melody finished. "Fine. I bow to your genius." She propped her chin on her hand as best she could. "So the million credit question is, why the frag is Solo on an Imp planet if he's a Rebel?"

"Might have an answer for that." Ghent tapped a button on the complex maze of consoles and brought up data lines on a screen. Even though the old code-cracker had been Melody's guardian for longer than she could remember, she still could not grasp any more than the barest fraction of the information flowing down the screen. "One of the ship's primary missions is to find a transmission made to a Tatooine settlement by a Rebel sometime yesterday. Solo might've dragged Hal here to pick it up."

"Great," Melody muttered. "I'm gonna strangle him with his own tongue and feed him to a Hutt. How do I find Hal?"

"Shouldn't be too hard. I've got a friend in Mos Eisley who'll take you two to the Falcon."

"Right." Melody stopped and glared at Ghent. He looked just a little too innocent to her. "Oh, no. No way in the ten hells am I bringing Goldenrod down there. That droid'll get me and Hal both blown to bits."

Ghent just smiled mildly. "Can you speak Wookie?"

She stopped mid-rant. "What's that have to do with anything?"

"My friend's a Wookie. Tall, hairy, growls, doesn't speak Basic."

"Let me guess," she said flatly. "Goldenrod's a translator."

"Right again." He patted her on the shoulder. "Don't look at me like that. He's a decent droid."

"Ghent, he wouldn't be decent *scrap*."

Ghent considered for a moment. "True," he conceded. "Don't worry, Mel. You'll be fine."

Melody glared. Not that that did any good. "Just take us down."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even Jedi could not fight the sun. [As much as they might like to sometimes,] Anakin added sourly as he shaded his eyes against the morning's brilliant rays. Despite the dust from constant Imp bombardment and the partial nightcloak stifling half the planet, the warm light could not be completely blocked.

[Corran's taking his sweet time.] He pulled his robe's hood over his head and tried to hide anxiety with irritability. But the treacherous thoughts still slipped through. [Or he's been shot down. I'd never know unless he had time to send a message. Stars and suns, I hate waiting!]

Lucéa's strangely muted presence warned him of her approach before she appeared from inside the duracrete bunker, but even then he had to stop and blink. Her jumpsuit was gone, replaced by a worn, knee-length dress in muted blues and reds. Matching ribbons confined her hair into two intricate - if slightly messy - buns, while haphazard white paint covered most of her face and neck. The dots and split lip were still there, accentuated by the paleness of her face.

"You missed a spot," he said as a greeting.

The Queen of Naboo rubbed her fingers over a bare spot on her cheek, spreading the white makeup more evenly. "You're looking slightly more morose than usual," she answered.

Anakin bit back a retort and did his best to get a grip on himself. Just because he was going to turn to the Dark Side sooner or later did not mean he had to help the process along. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap."

"Apology accepted." She settled herself beside him. "Any sign of your Jedi master?"

"N

 

Sorry I haven't replied in a while.

I'm really enjoying this, Lisse! These last few posts have been great.

 

Thanks.

 

Sorry, I've been under the weather lately. This is good! At first I thought it was a Jedi mind trick getting Ben and Jessa through the control, but then it turns out to be a mini jammer. Now that was a good twist! I liked the way Ben said,"I'm ready for anything." I have the feeling he'd better be! You've even introduced Threepio, sort of, and I loved the remark about fighting stormtroopers with atlatls. Everything is coming together, and I'm looking forward to more.

 

I'm glad you aren't under the weather anymore - although I'm starting to feel a little blechish myself right now. Next post might not be up for a couple days. I think sore throats scare plot bunnies.

 

Incredible! I loved the way Jessa cornered the sergeant and the parallels to old Kenobi in her speech. So many great posts in a few days, bravo!

 

Thanks, Ulrike. All my creativity went into my non-Star Wars fic (sitting in your Scriptorium, actually. ) More will be coming along soon. I hope.

*bats weakly at Darth Flu*

 

I hope you feel better soon! It's awful being attacked by Darth Flu, isn't it?