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Star Wars Triumphant Return Part 13

Deviation Actions

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Elsewhere on the mountain slope, the 11th sister dug her out of the snow effortlessly, as she looked around to gain her bearings, she saw a Mirandan Nighthawk fighter approaching her about to do an attack run.
“Jaspar Strasley”, she said to herself.
As the fighter began to open fire on her, she ignited her lightsaber to try to block the incoming hail of fire. But as she tried to block defensively, it quickly became apparent that no amount of blocking would do her any good. The fighter wasn’t using blasters or ion cannons. It was using projectile-based ammunition. The projectiles were coming in a lot faster than blaster fire too.
“So primitive”, she thought to herself.
As she ran for cover, Jaspar put on his parachute and bailed out of his ship, leaving it to circle overhead on autopilot. As he reached the ground, he drew his swords and furiously charged at the 11th sister. The 11th sister barely being able to block all of his strikes. She had never expected someone with no connection to the Force to have such prowess.
“Where is she!?” Jaspar asked the inquisitor demanding to know where Zonia.
The 11th sister didn’t reply. She just laughed. Jaspar saw that she had dropped her attention, and took full advantage of it. In one swift move, Jaspar thruster both of his swords with all his strength at the hilt of the 11th sister’s lightsaber, quickly disarming her. Jaspar didn’t hesitate. He pulled his blaster out and pointed it at the inquisitor’s head.
“Tell me where she is!”, Jaspar demanded.
The 11th sister calmly stroked her hair to the side.
“Wow… what a threat”, replied the 11th sister calmly, “Well, since you want to know sooo badly, I’ll tell you…”
Jaspar kept his blaster pointed towards the Inquisitor
“She wasn’t all that crack, and it got boring…”.
Jaspar’s heart raced at the thought of what she was going to say next.
“SO I KILLED HER! NICE and slow”.
Jaspar quickly became filled with rage and anguish.
“She had so much faith that you’d come rescue her, but you were too late…”
Before Jaspar could respond, the 11th sister swiftly extended her hand and Force-pushed Jaspar away from her. Jaspar landed meters away in the soft snow, while the inquisitor recovered her lightsaber and ran back to her TIE fighter. Jaspar almost chased after, until he saw Zonia’s nightsister energy bow lying in the snow, knowing full well she was still alive. She saw the inquisitor’s TIE take off. Instead of going after, he resolved to search for Zonia instead.
Elsewhere on the glacier, Zonia quickly recovered consciousness and tried to look around. She could see that massive stones had been thrown down into the crevice as well. But stones were not all that were thrown down there.
Just meters away from where she was, she could see a large white mass with thin black stripes lying motionless on the floor of the crevice. As Zonia looked closely, she became horrified by what she saw: it was a Corinthian Sabertooth Cat. The largest terrestrial predator on Miranda. Zonia was astonished by its size. It was larger than a Nexu from Cholganna, and it could certainly make a meal out of one too. But what really horrified her were the giant canine teeth that gave it its name. The two giant saber teeth, longer than her forearm that could easily take down any prey it pleases.
Zonia backed away slowly, unsure if the cat was dead or if it was temporarily knocked out by the avalanche. But as she stepped slowly, she stepped on a piece of ice that cracked underfoot Zonia closed her eyes as she saw the Cat’s eyes dark soulless eyes open in her direction. The cat let out a spine-tingling roar that echoed in the narrow confines of the crevice. It also tried to lunge at Zonia, letting out more of its spine tingling fears. Zonia’s heart raced as she stood at the back of the cave, her eye locked onto the cats. She much preferred to be stuck in the cave with the inquisitor than with this apex-predator.
But as she looked on in fear, she noticed something odd: the cat wasn't attacking her. As much as it tried to lunge towards her, it wasn’t attacking. It quickly became apparent why. One of its back paws was caught under one of the boulders that had fallen in during the avalanche. Zonia looked around to see if she could find a way out. Her leg was too injured for her to force-jump out of the crevice, but she could use the force to stack all the boulders that were down in the crevice to make an improvised ladder. But there was one problem. She needs all the boulders, including the one keeping the Sabertooth Cat pinned down. Zonia reached for her lightsaber, intent on killing the cat. The Sabertooth let out another spine chilling shriek as Zonia’s green-bladed lightsaber lit up the whole crevice. Zonia walked slowly towards the Cat. She had expected it to try to put up a fight, or try to attack her as soon as it was close enough. But that didn’t happen. Instead, it cowered away from her, raising the hair on its back and curling up.
This was a Mirandan creature, completely outside the Force, so Zonia couldn’t sense its intentions. Couldn't so much as make a connection with it if she tried. She can't do so with most Mirandan creatures. It she could tell from the way it was acting, it was just as fearful of her as she was of it. As she was about to make the killing blow and realized this, she relented. The cat looked at her curiously.
“I can’t do it”, she said to herself, “I just can’t do it. It isn’t right”.
Zonia looked at the cat, it had its head to the ground. She also saw that the back paw caught under the boulder had been injured.
“But I know what to do…” she said to herself.
Zonia approached the cat cautiously. It started growling at her when she started getting too close.
“It's okay”, she told it calmly, “it’s alright”.
As she got close enough to its paw, she got down on her knees and began to breathe in and out, to strengthen her connection to the Force.
“I can do this”, she said to herself.
She held her hands over the cat’s injured paw and began using the Force to heal the cat of its injuries. When she opened her eyes, she saw the cat’s paw was fully healed and she began to slowly lift the Boulder with the Force.
As soon as the Sabertooth Cat felt that it was free, it lunged outwards and turned around towards Zonia. Zonia, in fear of her life, tried to grab her lightsaber quickly to defend herself. But in her rush to activate it, she dropped. Before she could pick it up, the cat put its front paw on it and inch closer and closer towards Zonia. The Cat began growling and showing its teeth. Not just its two massive canines, but all its teeth. It even began raising the hairs on the back of its neck, just as any cat would to show its aggressive nature. Zonia was pinned to the wall of the crevice, completely certain that it was the end for her.
Suddenly, without warning, the Sabertooth let out one final roar just inches in front of Zonia, and leaped out of the crevice, leaving Zonia behind in a state of shock.
After she recovered from her nearly traumatizing ordeal, she stacked all the boulders she could find in a vertical column and began to climb her way out. Once she was outside the crevice, it was far from warm and sunny. The blizzard had really picked up. The blizzard was so strong, Zonia could barely see her hand in front of her face. Her flight suit was no longer keeping her warm. She limped across the frozen face of the glacier, unsure of what direction she was headed in. All she knew for certain is that the Imperials knew she was shipwrecked, and injured. And what’s worse, that inquisitor knew it too. But she ignored all that, determined to find cover from the storm. She tried to push on, but the biting cold and powerful wind kept her from doing any such thing. She felt lost, hopeless. Soon she felt herself succumb to the cold, and she collapsed.
It might have been hours, it might have been days. But when Zonia woke up, she wasn’t on the face of the glacier. She was in a small cabin, lying on a sofa-turned-bed. Outside the windows, she could see the peaks of the Corinthian Divide; still covered in snow as always. But inside, it wasn’t cold. It was warm. She saw a fire burning in the fireplace. She saw heads of animals mounted on the wall, undoubtedly trophies taken from hunts. She also saw grainy pictures on the walls. Only one person in all those pictures was the same one. It was a young man, a Mirandan by the look of his uniform shown in one of the pictures. The uniform was unlike any Mirandan uniform she had ever seen. It even had the emblem of the United Titan Republic, the Mirandan intergalactic super-civilization that had existed centuries ago. In another picture, it showed the same Mirandan with a young woman and a small child, which could only be his family. She also saw the Mirandan, posing with others in another picture. They all had the same uniform.
It became clear that this was the house of a soldier. But something didn’t seem right. No Mirandan soldier wore the uniform that this one wore. In the last 300 years, any Mirandan that did military service served in the Republic, Separatist, or Imperial Militaries. None of them ever wore a uniform like his. If that woman and child were his family, where were they? And more importantly, where was he?
“I see you’re feeling better already”, said the same strange man from the pictures as he walked into the room. He carried a bowl of warm soup as he sat on a chair right next to Zonia.
“How long was I out?”, asked Zonia as she rubbed her eyes.
“Not too long”, replied the strange man, “a little over a day. What’s your name?”.
Zonia sat up on the couch so she could properly introduce herself.
“Zonia”, she said, “my name is Zonia”.
“Crowley”, he replied, “Staff Sergeant Julien Crowley”.
“Which military did you serve in, staff sergeant?”, asked Zonia. I’ve never seen the Republic, Separatists, or Empire use a uniform like the one in your pictures”.
Crowley looked down for a few moments and looked into Zonia’s eyes. Zonia could see that while he seemed lively, he was holding back a lot of pain.
“Get some rest Kid”, said Crowley as he handed her some soup, “you’ve had one heck of a night on that glacier. You need your rest”.
Zonia sensed something off about him. Like he wanted to hide something. Not hide because he planned on betraying her, hide because it was causing him a lot of pain.
Zonia finished her soup quickly, and went outside to meet with the alleged Staff Sergeant.
Zonia saw him stand outside in the snow. He wore a coat made with Totank fur and leather, as were his boots and trousers. His head cover didn't match the rest of his outfit, however. It was a black beret, and it seemed to cover most of his head.
The Mirandan paid no attention as Zonia walked up to him.
“Is something wrong, Staff Sergeant?”, asked Zonia, “you seem troubled”.
Crowley looked down for a few moments and looked back up.
“Imagine this”, he replied, “you have everything. You have a steady job, a home, and people who are always there ready to greet you with open arms”.
“What happened?”, she asked.
“It might have been obvious to you when you woke up, but I am not from here…”
“You’re not a Mirandan?”
“No, I’m a Mirandan, I just wasn't born here. I wasn’t born on this moon, or even in this time period”.
Zonia looked at him confused. How could he be from a different time period?
“I was born in the Pozona solar system, in another galaxy, a colony of the United Titan Republic. In my youth, i volunteered to serve in the Army of the UTR. We had gone to war with the Tromvoyans, the most uncivilized creatures you can imagine. They raided our merchant ships, and killed everything they saw that wasn’t them. We went to war with them to stop the attacks on our people. When the war began to escalate, I requested that I be trained as a Commando, the most elite soldiers and marines our military could produce. We had a total of 4 billion active service members at the time throughout our collection of galaxies, but we had only less than 40,000 commandos at any given time”.
“You must be very proud”, said Zonia, “so you fought in the war, and what happened?”
“Well”, replied Crowley, “obviously we won the war, otherwise, you would have never ever met a Mirandan. But shortly after the war’s end, I was diagnosed with a terminal disease. A disease we had not been able to cure. The doctors told me that a cure would not be available for decades. I couldn't’ wait that long, I only had months to live at best. I could feel my body weaken with each passing day. My family look at me with sorrow knowing I was going to be gone soon. But the doctors told me that they had an idea. They wanted to freeze my in hypersleep until a cure could be discovered, and I agreed. Everything went wrong after that”.
“What happened?”, asked Zonia.
“Our great civilization collapsed, brought by some cataclysm of astronomical proportions. From what I was told, only a small pocket of survivors made it through. About 20,000 out of well over a trillion that did not make it. We practically went extinct. Centuries after that fall, we had lost the ability to travel in space until we were discovered by the Galactic Republic when our system drifted close enough to your galaxy so that contact could occur. And about 20 years ago, my casket containing me still frozen, was discovered buried underground on Miranda and it was brought to Coruscaunt. They told my people that a cure for my affliction had been available, next thing that happened, I woke up in the Jedi Temple. I woke up to a green-skinned creature with tentacles on its head healing my afflictions and injecting me with he cure via IV fluid”.
“He sounds like a Noutolan”, said Zonia.
“A twi’lek I later found out, after i recovered, they explained everything while I was out. Everything that happened. All my friends I had served with, they were all gone. The entire culture I had known, gone too. My planet of birth, I knew I would never see again, lost among the specks of light out there. My wife, I never got to grow old with her. My son, I never got to see him grow up. My whole life was gone, left behind almost two thousand years!”.
The commando finally collapsed in anguish in the snow, tears rolling down his face.
A single tear went down Zonia’s face too. She would have never expected such a strong man to break down emotionally.
“After I was cleared from the Jedi Temple”, he said struggling to retain his composure, “I returned to Miranda and built this cabin to isolate myself from everyone and everything. Not long after I returned, the Clone Wars began and Miranda joined the separatists. I was so isolated, so cut off from the world, I didn’t even know about the Clone Wars until 5 years after they ended”.
Zonia sat next to him in the snow.
“I don’t know how much you’ve been through”, said Zonia, “some of those things you described, I could never imagine them myself, but i know what you’ve been through. I lost my entire family in the Clone Wars, my whole clan was wiped out by General Grievous and the Separatists. And the Empire took me in so they could turn me into a living weapon, but when i learned for myself that it was wrong, I escaped. In spite of everything that happened to me, I survived. Maybe I was meant to survive when all my fellow nightsisters perished. I don’t know the reason why, but I have refused to give up. Maybe you made it through all that because you still have purpose. You were meant to survive for a reason”.
Crowley smiled at Zonia.
“You’re a Jedi, aren't you?”, he asked her.
“How do you know?”, he asked her.
Crowley reached into his pouch and pulled out her lightsaber and handed it to her.
“Obvious reasons”, he replied as Zonia recovered her weapon.
“Staff Sergeant Crowley”, said Zonia, “come with me. We have a hidden base in this system. Your people are once again under oppression”.
“Really?”, asked Crowley.
“Remember in History when Jabor oppressed the ancient tribes of Erisil? This is a lot worse”.
“You know our history well, Jedi”.
Zonia smiled.
“Will you please come with me?”
“I don’t know”, he replied, “I’ve already had my share of one war. I don’t know if I can handle another”.
“You can at least inspire them to fight”, replied Zonia, “tell them of all your war stories. I’m sure you’ve got plenty”.
“I’m sure the Empire is very powerful, can you tell me how many ships we’ve got?”
“A good number. We have some A-wing fighters, several dozen XK-31 fighters, two Corellian blockade runners, and an ELJ-300 light cruiser.
“Please tell me that the cruiser isn’t the biggest thing we’ve got”.
“It is”, she replied.
“Kid”, said Crowley, “the ELJ-300 was mainly used for orbital patrols only, to catch smugglers, and you want to use to take on the Empire?! You need better than that. I got to serve on a battleship back in the Tromvoyan war. In my first battle, we almost lost because our idiot skipper, Captain Drumpf, couldn't work under pressure. It was thanks to our second-in-command that our ship was able to win the battle and live up to it’s name: Triumphant”.
“Wait”, said Zonia, “You were on the Battleship Triumphant, Hundulasiliah-class?”.
“Yes, how’d you know?”
“Staff Sergeant, we have reason to believe that the ship is hidden somewhere on Kelma. It's been said that it carries destructive secrets on board”.
Crowley’s eyes widened when he heard Zonia say ‘destructive secrets’.
“You have no idea”, he replied. If the Empire finds that ship, you can kiss your rebellion good by. I’m sorry but I can’t help you. In fact, I think you should leave”.
“But Staff Sergeant…”
“Go! Now!”.
Zonia didn’t hesitate to take off. She gathered her things and ran away from the Commando’s cabin.
While Zonia ran through the mountains, Barriss and General Loughly, along with the rest of the squadron, had finally returned safely back to Cossava after their failed mission to wipe out the Mine. They were still trying to raise Jaspar via radio. Barriss and General Loughly sat patiently in the tent acting as the command center while technicians kept trying to raise him.
“Are you certain he find Zonia and return home?”, Barriss asked the General.
“Yes, Master Jedi”, he replied as he sat down next to her.
“How are you certain?” She asked.
“Do you doubt your apprentice?”, he asked her.
“No, I just didn’t want her going on this mission”.
“So you do doubt her”.
Barriss didn’t respond.
“We can only train them as best we can, Master Jedi”, he replied, “eventually, the time will come when they’re ready to go alone. When they’re ready, they’ll let you know”.
“How do you know about this General?”, Barriss asked him inquiringly.
General Loughly turned around slowly and looked her in the eye.
“Because Lieutenant Strasley is my son” he told her.
Barriss looked away calmly. She knew that trust he gave Jaspar wasn’t lightly given, and that he put a lot at stake by letting Jaspar go rescue Zonia.
“He took the last name ‘Strasley’, from his mother’s side. My eldest son carried my name”.
“You have two sons?” Barriss asked Loughly.
“No”, he replied, “just one. The other died in the Clone Wars when Republic Cruisers bombarded Miranda”.
Barriss looked down in shame.
“I’m so sorry for your loss”, she told him.
“I don’t blame you, Master Offee”, he told her, “But I do ask that you have faith in your padawan just as I have faith in my son”.
Barriss nodded in agreement.
“Come Master Offee”, said General Loughly as he stood, “let’s go find our missing children”.
While Barriss and Loughly tried to search for Jaspar, Zonia kept running through the mountains until suddenly, she was ambushed by blaster fire. She ignited her lightsaber to block the blaster bolts flying in her direction. Not long afterwards, she heard the sound of a lightsaber igniting behind her. A sound she knew all too well.
“Troopers!”, shouted the 11th sister, “stand down. This one is mine”.
Right away, stormtroopers in black armor stood up from under the snow, obeying their leader.
“I see you got new minions”, said Zonia, “the regular stormtroopers not good enough for you?”
The 11th sister laughed.
“You are right”, she replied, “these deathtroopers are so much better. Now, I think it is time for you to stand down”...
“Like that’s ever going to happen”, Zonia replied mockingly.
“Don’t forget just yet”, said the 11th sister with an angry tone, “I OWN YOU! Your master belongs to me now and even she admitted it!”.
Zonia ignited her green bladed lightsaber and held her ground.
“I am not my master”, she said defiantly, “Zonia. My name is Zonia. That is who I am”.
Infuriated, the 11th sister ignited her crimson lightsaber and charged at Zonia. Zonia struggled to keep up with the inquisitors unrelenting attacks, being forced to keep stepping back and back. As the 11th sister noticed that her opponent was struggling, she ordered her 4 deathtroopers to open fire on Zonia, intent on finishing her off once and for all. Zonia kept stepping further and further back and swung her own weapon around frantically to avoid being struck by lightsaber and blaster bolt. Before long, one of the deathtroopers found an opening, and made Zonia pay dearly for it.
Zonia was soon struck by crippling pain as blaster bolt went through her side. She laid on the ground, crippled with pain.
“Looks like I do own you after all”, said the 11th sister.
As the inquisitor prepared to make the lethal blow, her lightsaber was suddenly ripped out of her hand by an unseen force, followed by the sound of a gunshot. Seconds later, one of her deathtroopers was shot down too.
“Enemy Sniper, take cover!”, shouted the 11h sister.
As the deathtroopers tried to take cover on the open face of the glacier, the mysterious sniper took another shot. The storm had died down, the wind was practically zero and visibility almost unlimited: perfect conditions for a sniper.
“Zonia, take cover!”.
Zonia looked up and was astonished to see Staff Sergeant Crowley up on a cliff face on the far side of the glacier, sniping at the enemy soldiers. It didn’t take long before Crowley neutralized al the deathtroopers and made his way down to Zonia.
“Zonia!”, he shouted as he approached her, “are you alright?”
Before he could answer, the sound of a lightsaber caught his attention and saw the 11th sister staring at him curiously.
“So the rumors are true”, said the 11th sister “a UTR commando has survived, and he has come out of hiding once again”.
“Well… I guess I wasn't ready to leave the fight just yet” he replied as he started reloading his rifle.
“What do you think you’re doing old man?”, asked the 11th sister.
“I’m not that old, it’s only been two thousand years!”.
“Well”, said the inquisitor with a  mocking tone in her voice, “I’ll have you know that your bullets will do you little good against a lightsaber. How about you drop your weapon and join the Empire? You could wear a uniform with pride again”.
“I already served my nation, the United Titan Republic”, he said defiantly.
“Well, sorry to be the one to tell you this, but the UTR is gone and only the Empire remains. If you resist, I will show you no mercy. You are no match for me soldier”.
“My dear”, said Crowley calmly, “these are full metal jackets, how else do you think i took out your men so easily?”.
The 11th sister laughed.
“You don’t think those flying pieces of lead and steel will be absorbed by my lightsaber?”
“Oh I do”, he replied, “but just specially for you, I brought explosive ammo”.
“What?”
Before she could do anything, Staff Sergeant Crowley took aim at ground right beneath the 11th sister and opened fire. The 11th sister flew through the air and landed on the ground hard with the wind knocked out of her.
“Lets get out of here”, said Crowley as he helped Zonia back up.
“Wait!”, shouted Zonia, “I’m hit! I can’t move!”
“Don’t worry about that”, said Crowley as he swung her over his shoulders, “I just hope you have a back-up plan because I don’t think going back to my cabin is an option!”.
“Keep a look out for an XK-31 Nighthawk!”, shouted Zonia, “Just keep running!”.
The Commando grunted and started running as fast as he could carrying the crippled Dathomirian over his shoulders. Suddenly, they reached a dead end: a massive cliff face. The cliff was so deep, they couldn't see the bottom. To long afterwards, the 11th sister caught up to them.
“Well, well”, she said to them as she ignited her lightsaber, “any last words?”.
Before they could respond, they could hear the roar of engines coming from the bottom of the cliff. Suddenly, they saw a U-wing gunship fly right next to them with its cargo doors open. In the cargo door stood two men, one of them holding a WESTAR blaster rifle. The rifleman began firing on the 11th sister while the leader held out his hand to help them onboard.
“GET ON!”, he shouted, “Let’s go!”. The Commando complied and soon they were on the U-wing, leaving the enraged inquisitor behind on the glacier.
As the ship took off, the Commando put Zonia down on a stretcher.
“Are you Zonia Landala?”, asked the leader.
Zonia nodded yes.
“Rebel Command”, he replied, “My name is Cassian Andor. It’s good to have you on board”.
“Thank you sir”, Zonia said weakly as a medic operated on her.
“Don’t thank just me”, replied Cassian, “we would have never found you guys without him”.
Right at that second, Jaspar stepped out of the cockpit and didn’t hesitate to hug and kiss Zonia.
Tears streamed down Zonia’s cheeks now that she could be reunited with her companion.
“Lieutenant Strasley”, said Cassian, “I hate to break up your reunion but we need you to help us land on Cossava”.
“Go”, said Zonia, “I’ll be Okay”.
Jaspar nodded and headed up to the cockpit. There, he could see Cossava just outside the windshield.
“Artonis Base”, said Cassian over the commlink, “we have an injured casualty on board, we are requesting permission to land”.
“We don’t have you in our systems, what is your call sign?”
Cassian looked to Jaspar confused.
“Well”, said Jaspar, “go on…”.
“Rogue”, replied Cassian, “this is Rogue One Requesting permission to land”.
“Rogue One? We don’t have you in our systems. I cannot clear you to land.
“Artonis Base, this is Lieutenant Strasley, believe me, they are cleared to land”.
Another chapter. I managed to write two in one day :D . hopefully the dual chapter submission makes up for the complete silence these last few months. But I'm glad to be back to it. 
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