On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter CXXIII

"What in the name of the Force is wrong with this blasted ship?!?!" Luna half shouted at no one in particular in pure annoyance. The Lunar Shadow, the one ship in this whole blasted base that should have been in pristine condition, wouldn't lift an inch off the ground!

"Luna!"

The girl stopped what she was doing and wondered if she ought to respond. Considering the likelihood Vader would flip or something if she disappeared off the planet, she probably should.

Though the girl had been hoping Ahsoka would deliver the message. Luna was going to come back this time. At some point.

She wasn't abandoning Cerberus. Luna may be evil, but not that evil. Also, she was still rather adverse to stealing.... At least when it came to people she knew.

"Why won't any of your blasted ships fly?!?!" the girl shouted, itching to do something. "The Pearl is out of commission. The Tantive won't even turn on. What the hell did you do to these poor machines?!?!"

"Make sure you weren't going to fly off in one of them, as you seem to be trying to do," the Sith's voice rumbled even as she heard him come up the ramp.

"I'm not going to steal your kriffing ships, Vader! Surely you don't think that poorly of me."

"Then what precisely are you doing?"

He was standing above her now, shadow falling over both her and the machinery she was working with.

"I had an idea," Luna responded gruffly. "Now make it fly."

"Perhaps after I hear this idea of yours."

"Go jump into a sarlacc pit."

"That is not the way to convince me."

"Who said I needed your permission?"

"The fighters are still in fully functional order," Vader stated, clearly hinting that there were other options. Ones that did not involve hyperdrives.

"I don't want a fighter; I need a ship."

"I need a why."

The girl groaned, coming to the understanding that it was rather unlikely the Sith was going to let her do so much as leave the atmosphere, let alone the gravity well, without an explanation. And, likely, supervision of some description.

"What if we recruited Thrawn?"

A beat of silence. "He's still missing. And even if he were around, he is loyal to the Emperor," Vader stated.

"He went missing with a Jedi who had the help of some whales who could hyperjump," Luna stated, climbing into the hold to stand up and face the masked man. "A skywalker who knows his presence may be able to track him. As for the Emperor, he is loyal because it is logical. Do you really think he'll remain on Palpatine's side if he knows the Empire is destined to fall? At the very least, it's worth a shot."

"Whales? Like Cylo's...."

"No. I.... Ask Ahsoka. Rebels isn't something I've caught all the way up on, she would know more about the whales. Probably."

"I believe the correct term is purrgils, young one. And you plan to try and track him and this pod down?"

"That would be the idea."

"There are better things to be doing than chasing down purrgils and a wayward chiss."

"But—"

"How long do you think it would take? Could the Rebellion survive that long, especially with what Mothma has just done? And if you did find Thrawn, you would learn he never approved of the Republic. What if you cannot convince him otherwise? How will we ensure he doesn't find his way back to the Empire?" Vader asked. Luna opened her mouth and then closed it for a moment.

"Keep him in the detention block?"

"He would escape."

"How could—"

"All you need to know is that he would. An interesting idea, but not an applicable one. If you really want to bring in strategists, perhaps we should start calling upon the Inner Circle."

"Why haven't you already done that?" Luna demanded. "I was shocked when I heard Veers was still campaigning against the Rebellion."

"It was not yet the time."

"Then when will it be time? What was the point of forming an Inner Circle if you aren't going to use it?!"

"Eyes inside. I didn't send Astarte back to the Emperor for no reason."

"YOU DID WHAT?!?!"

~*~

"....Vader ticked off Luna again," Luke noted, pausing in his forms, looking at nothing in particular, fully distracted by the Force. Ahsoka only hummed in acknowledgment, bowing her head further down as though to create a bubble of serenity and block out what the Nabooian could only assume counted as noise to the Grey Jedi.

"Should I go mediate?" Padmé questioned, looking at her son, figuring he would likely be the best judge of the situation from afar. She had made progress with both master and apprentice so far, but it likely wasn't wise to push her luck.

"....Yeah. I'll go with you," he answered, lightsaber hissing off before he clipped it to his belt. "It would be really unfortunate if they accidentally broke one of the ships or something."