DARTH VADER
Darth Vader swept into his private quarters on the Executor, idly brushing little bits of melted snow from Morvolo that still clung to his cloak away. One of the officers on bridge duty had informed him that the Emperor wished to make contact with him immediately, and he was heading to do so now.
He turned on his transmitter, kneeling before the disk on which his Master's image would be projected. A moment later, the precise viewing filters in the lenses of his mask picked up on the transmission.
"Lord Vader," the hooded Emperor croaked, addressing him by his Sith title. "What news of Maul? Has he been... taken care of yet?"
"Yes, Master. His apprentice – Shima, I believe he chose to call her – betrayed him, killing him while he meditated. I showed her the same courtesy when I made her acquaintance myself."
"Excellent," he murmured. Vader could feel the Emperor gently probing his mind for any lies, but he knew that his Master wouldn't find any. He had no reason to deceive him this time. After all, that was the short version of his memory as to how his visit to the planet Morvolo had progressed.
Suddenly the Sith Lord's eyes narrowed. "And what of the Rebels in the Japrael system? Has their insurgence been suppressed?"
"Their destruction is forthcoming, my Master," he replied carefully avoiding a direct negation to the question. "They are far more skilled and better equipped than we first anticipated."
"Yes..." Darth Sidious gazed at him with his eerie, heavy-lidded Sith eyes. "Onderon is tenacious, its people are in possession of a strong will. There are years of dissent and treachery in its history. I do not believe they will fall easily."
"I concur, Master Sidious," he said. "I sense a certain strength in them that have not often seen elsewhere. They are one of the largest and most influential of the cells in the Empire, and their hope of overthrowing the reason and justice of the Imperial Doctrine is inspiring others to follow them."
"If this situation is not handled correctly, then the Rebels we strike down will only be replaced by more of their kind," Sidious mused quietly. "Let them have this one victory. In time, they will grow overconfident. Overconfidence leads to weaknesses we can exploit."
"Then I should move the bulk of our forces elsewhere?"
"Yes. Make for the Savareen sector. The Grand Moff stationed near Rodia requires aid in tracking down a local terrorist group. Leave a dozen ships in the area to prevent the bulk of their pitiful fleet from escaping." He paused for a moment, an evil smile coming to his face. "Soon, they will fall, as all traitors must."
"Yes, Master. It will be done."
SHIMA
As the planet-wide shield on the Morvolo Base became penetrable from the underside, unknown to the Rebel forces, a custom-designed Fanblade starfighter left the atmosphere. Once it was free of the planet's gravitational pull, it executed several near-lightspeed accelerations around ships and natural satellites, heading towards the planet Onderon.
Shima, who was piloting the small vessel, glided smoothly around the Imperial Star Destroyers and secluded outposts in Onderon's atmosphere. Hitting the accelerator, she fumed silently.
She had felt the Dark Side cry out at the death of her Master, sending powerful waves towards any other Darksiders that happened to be nearby. But she did not lament the loss of her mentor directly. She was more in mourning of the fact that there was no longer anyone help her abilities stemming from the Dark Side grow into veritable powers to be reckoned with.
And Shima knew who was to blame. For along with the shockwave had come a message from her Master, who had used the energy that his passing released to project it to her. His last determined cry for revenge:
YOU WILL KILL AHSOKA TANO
As she landed her starfighter in a secluded patch of forest, not far from the old Bonteri estate and the Rebel Base, she smiled. That Jedi scum had taken a beautiful opportunity for greatness away from her. And now Shima knew that she would kill her if it was the last thing she did.
*The Empire has taken on a new strategy. But will it prove to be an effective one against the growing sympathy for the Rebel cause? How will Ahsoka and Lux survive the flight through space? And what could Shima possibly be planning to do, and how will she accomplish it? You'll find out in the next thrilling chapter of The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano!
Okay. This is just my opinion, but I think I've struck some sort of a vein of gold where I usually find the rock of my regular writing. These last few chapters have been GOOD.
Things about this chapter: The whole YOU WILL KILL AHSOKA TANO thing is a reference to the Thrawn Trilogy, which I am currently reading (I'm on the last book). It's EPIC and if you haven't read it yet then DO IT NOW.
So yeah, next chapter is coming in the next 12 hours (as almost always). Bye!
Realize that you have a Sith apprentice on your tail who's planning on killing the people you guard and may the Force be with you,
Sharron
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The Unchronicled Adventures of Ahsoka Tano, Book Eight
FanfictionTo be read as the eighth book in the series. Ahsoka Tano has come far. She has faced three Sith Lords and still escaped with her life. She has broken in and out of top secret facilities without receiving a single scratch. She has overcome every hurd...
