(AN: Okay boys so the next chapter is over 20k words so I'm breaking it up again. The chapter after that is 10k so gonna be kinda long. Anyway this is the finale of the arc, enjoy.)
"SD8 bring up the main temple compound again, maybe there is something we missed," Jaden asked as he stared at the holographic projection before him. He'd landed on the planet an entire day ago and had fully scouted out the compound that Eislo was hiding in, yet he was not any close to coming up with a full proof plan that would get him in there and allow him to take out Eislo. The walls started to tremor under Jadens power; despite his calm demeanour Jaden was unhinged, he was angry, he wanted to kill and kill and punish those responsible. Everytime he thought about Eislo he thought he might explode, every waking moment was spent dreaming about how he was going to kill him. He'd even been doing some special training in his spare time in order to make sure Eislo did not have an easy death.
Jaden looked down and realised his hands were bleeding. He'd clenched his fists so tightly that he'd drawn blood with his nails. Jaden channeled his anger and hate, and sparks emitted from his hands burning away the blood. He'd experienced force lightning a few times before, so it hadn't taken him too long to figure out how to recreate it; though his was noticeably weaker than the ones he experienced. But at this level it should work as a much more effective torture device than anything Jaden had on him.
'But first I need to get to him,' Jaden thought as he looked over the compound once more. Every single entrance was sealed tight and had multiple turrent placements as well as dozens of mercenaries and droids. They even had some heavy armour on them, a tank of some sort that Jaden didn't recognise. Each entrance had also been cleared of any obstructions so in each direction an enemy could be seen coming for a few miles. While Jaden could use his cloaking device they had a sensor that initiated a sensor sweep every minute. It was looking more and more that Jaden would have to fight his way through. He didn't want to do that, not because he didn't want to kill anyone, but because he didn't want to alert Eislo to his presence.
There was also the issue of Eislos time stopping ability. While Jaden had thought he'd have to kill him in one strike he decided against that. In the end what would it matter if a man could stop time if he has no arms or legs. Jaden just needed to get a good hit in before he realised he was there, then Eislo was his.
Looking back to the compound his frustration started to build up, each of his plans to infiltrate became less and less viable the more he thought about it. Even if they were no longer being supplied by their capital ship they seemed to have a decent stock of supplies down here, so he couldn't wait them out—though even if he could he wouldn't. There was also the massive shield dome that they'd set up, it meant using the vengeance redundant, none of the weapons he had on board would be able to pierce that shield, plus they had a large anti-air artillery placement in the temple; he believed his shields would hold should it come down to it but he had to be careful.
Things weren't looking good, it was looking more and more like he would need to directly assault the temple and hope for the best. He had a decent stock of weapons, so he could outfit himself well, but even he was dubious about taking on so many people out in the open.
*Crack*
The metal cracked and bent under the power of his rage. SD8 moved back as it even started to warp the metal making up his chassis. Seeing this Jaden stopped. "I'm sorry..." he said before he looked back up at the map. 'Full frontal assault it is...' he thought to himself before he turned around and walked directly out of the cockpit. He walked through the corridor, his ears picking up the sound of talking as he approached the lounge.
"When are we leaving?!"
"Why are we on this dastardly planet?!"
"Do you know who my father is!?"
"Let me speak to the Captain right now!"
Jaden was starting to regret saving these people, they had been nothing but a problem since he landed on the planet. In a way he could understand; they'd been prisoners for who knows how long and wanted to go home. They couldn't. It was as simple as that. He was here to kill Collan Eislo and not even they would be safe if they tried to get in his way.
Luckily Vaylin had taken it upon herself to deal with the prisoners on his behalf; her experience as Padmè's assistant really shone through here—dealing with people who think they're the most important thing in the galaxy.
"Please calm down," Vaylin said, holding her hands up as she tried to speak over the numerous shouting people. "Jaden is here on an extremely important mission."
"What kind of mission?" One of the crowd asked. An old man dressed in fine clothes that seemed to be ragged and dirty now—suggesting he'd not changed in a long time.
"I'm afraid I can't say," Vaylin said.
"What!?"
"Come on!!!"
"Tell us now we deserve to know!"
"All I can say is that it's important to republic security!" Vaylin said once again attempting to speak over the crowd. "We can't leave the planet until the mission is complete, the very war could hinge on its success!" Despite Vaylin trying to appeal to their patriotism, she underestimated their ego and own self preservation.
"If it's so important then there must be other republic ships in the area willing to continue the mission!"
"You can't expect us to stay here!"
"I won't have this I won't!"
Vaylin was at a loss, she didn't know what else to say that might appease them. They'd just been rescued from near sure death, and yet they showed no gratitude at all; they just wanted more. Vaylin tried to be understanding, they'd just been rescued from a prison cell and wanted to go home. But even she—who had been tortured and broken—didn't push Jaden to take her home, she understood how important this was to him so she wouldn't get in the way.
Before Vaylin had the opportunity to say anything else she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped slightly, but relaxed when she smelled the familiar scent of Jaden. Her heart fluttered slightly at the contact, but she quickly composed herself. Though it was hard not to keep the smile off her face when she saw him, especially when he went out of his way to save the prisoners—though admittedly she was starting to regret asking him to do that.
"I'll handle them," he said in a blank tone.
This wasn't going to be good.
Jaden strode towards the group of people half of whom were gorging themselves on his rations; while the other half were shouting at Vaylin, and now him.
"Are you the captain?! Your officer here has been entirely unhelpful in accommodating—"
"Shut up," Jaden said blankly to the man.
The man was taken aback, clearly he was not someone who was used to being spoken to this way—despite being a prisoner until recently.
"Excuse me! I won't take such—"
"Shut up," Jaden repeated, this time backed up with a slap to the man's face. The sound of his hand hitting his cheek echoed out through the lounge and silenced everyone who'd just been complaining. Everyone stared at Jaden with concerned expressions on their faces; some even started to believe that perhaps they were not rescued at all.
"I am sure all of you have things you want to say," he said looking around at everyone in the lounge. "I'm sure all of you are very important people," he added, specifically looking at the man who had tried to speak to him. "I'm sure you're all wealthy and I'm sure you have powerful friends in the capital."
"I don't care," he then said abruptly. "I don't care who your friends are I don't care how many credits you have, I don't even care what your names are."
"I don't want to hear anymore complaining, I don't want to hear anyone talk about wanting to go home," he said, his anger dripping into his voice. "We are staying on this planet until I have finished my business here, and during that time I expect total silence from everyone here, is that clear!?"
"You can't treat us this way!" A woman cried out.
"You're more than welcome to leave my ship, or better yet I'll drop you off where I found you, though I think you'll have a bit of trouble breathing," he said before walking past them.
"Listen here you!" A man said as he grabbed Jadens shoulder.
Jaden turned around, his hand clenched, lifting the man off the floor with the force. "No you listen here! I didn't have to save you and if you keep getting in my way I won't have any problem killing you!" He spat
The man flailed his legs and clawed at his throat as he gagged and sputtered. "I-I-I'm s-s-sorry!" The man stuttered out as the unseen force continued to put pressure on his neck. Jaden continued to glare at him as he tightened his grip and the man started to shake. The temptation to kill this ungrateful waste of air was ever rising inside of him. He had saved them and they complained he couldn't take them home faster? 'Maybe he'll never reach home again,' Jaden thought as he watched the man spit and drool all over himself.
"Jaden!" Vaylin said as she grabbed his arm. "He's had enough, you're about to kill him!" She tried to push his arm down, but being unsuccessful in doing so.
Jaden looked at Vaylin and then the man one last time before letting go of him. He plopped to the floor the man's rolls of fat bouncing upwards as he hit the deck. A few of the other prisoners went to check on them as he regained his breath Jaden just walked past them and continued down into the cargo bay.
"All of you need to be more grateful, Jaden didn't need to save you and he certainly doesn't need to take you home, he could just as easily leave you on this planet with a transponder and a few rations," she said, which made a few of them go pale. "Don't provoke him anymore... just stay out of the way," she added before following Jaden down into the cargo bay.
When she got down into the cargo bay she saw Jaden was already arming himself with various blaster rifles, pistols and numerous other gadgets and grenades; he even readied up an actual rotary blaster canon. When she stepped into the room he didn't indicate that he'd taken any notice of her, but Vaylin knew that he did. "Jaden... are you okay?" She asked tentatively as she walked closer to him.
"You don't need to talk to me like I'm a bomb about to go off," he said with slight annoyance.
"I'm sorry..." she said tilting her head down as she rubbed her arms.
Jaden looked over to her and sighed. "I'm sorry for shouting at you..." he said as he out down a Heavy repeater. "I'm grateful to you for dealing with all those spoiled shits... I don't think I would've been able to handle it... well obviously not," he said thinking back to the moment he'd nearly snapped that man's neck.
Vaylin smiled sweetly at him as she continued to rub her arm. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help... people like them are quite hard to deal with even in the best of circumstances."
Jaden nodded as he continued to get his equipment ready, if he was going to go with a full frontal assault on the temple then he'd need to use everything in his arsenal. Vaylin saw this and was able to infer what his plan was just from the equipment alone. Worry started to flood through her; she'd thought that Jaden had an actual plan for getting into Collans base. He was an honest to gods war hero who defeated the separatists on Jabiim. "Jaden... what are you doing?" She asked tentatively.
Jaden looked up to her. "Getting my equipment ready, I'll be moving out in a few minutes," he said with a grunt as he lifted a heavy blaster cannon from a crate. "I've got to scout out which checkpoint is the weakest before I attack," he added.
His words only confirmed her fears, he was going to attack a heavily defended base full of hundreds of mercenaries and droids. Probably even more. 'Maybe it would be better to just leave,' she thought to herself. Jaden would hate it but at least he wouldn't be throwing his life away like this.
"Jaden?" Vaylin said as she moved closer towards him.
"Yeah?" He replied as he strapped the heavy repeater to the magnetic holster on his back.
"I'm worried about you..." she said.
Jadens expression lightened slightly. "Don't worry, I have enough equipment here to attack the senate, I'll be fine," he said.
Vaylin looked at him for a moment before shaking her head. "It's not just that..." she said a little awkwardly.
Jaden frowned. "What is it then?" He asked as he looked at her. He could see she was tense, he could even feel it through the force. She moved from one foot to the other as if trying to find the words to say.
"You're not yourself Jaden!" she abruptly said before pausing once again. However before Jaden could reply she spoke again. "You've been completely different from the person I met... and I know there is a reason behind it..." she said.
"Vaylin..." Jaden said warningly.
"I know Velea... meant a lot to you, but she wouldn't want to see you like this," Velea said, her crystal blue eyes staring up at his.
"Like what..." Jaden said almost growling.
"So suicidal!" she cried.
"The Jaden I remember... the Jaden that saved everyone on Jabiim wouldn't run headfirst into a fight he couldn't win," she said. "He'd find another way, he would wait for back up he wouldn't just do something so reckless..." Vaylin knew it was low of her to bring up Velea, but at the moment she wasn't thinking clearly. Whether Vaylin realised it or not what happened to her at the republic prison had changed her deeply; at the moment it was merely suppressed, but sooner or later the realisation of the sheer horror she had experienced there would erupt. Subconsciously she might know this which was why she desperately wanted Jaden not to put himself in any danger. He was her anchor, her saviour, someone who kept her safe.
She needed him.
Jaden almost scowled at her as he turned away. "Don't ever bring her up again..." he said in a voice so low, so rage filled, that Vaylin felt all the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. "There is no other way, I've already tried to find one," he added.
Jaden got the rest of his things ready before activating a small speeder he'd fixed up and loading his equipment onto it. "Collan won't escape from me... even if it kills me!" He said as he turned back to her, only this time his eyes glowed a sickly yellow.
"Jaden... you can't," Vaylin said as her eyes started to tear up.
Jaden activated the speeder and pressed the console that lowered the hanger door.
"Jaden please!" Vaylin said desperately. But he just got onto the speeder and zoomed out the hanger doors into the jungle ahead.
Vaylin stood there helplessly, he was gone, he wasn't going to come back. Vaylin wanted to run after him tell him to come back, that she needed him, that she'd do anything. But in the end all she could do was stand there. "Jaden..." her voice croaked out, as she started to pant. Her breath quickly started to get faster and her heart started to beat out of control.
He was gone.
Vaylin turned and started walking back through the ship, her vision starting to blur.
No one is here to protect her.
'No no no no no!' She thought as she kept walking.
She's going to be found.
She's going to be taken back.
'Come on Vaylin... smile for me,'
'Aww don't cry, it was only a finger... now smile for me,'
'Maybe me and the boys will come in later and have a little fun with you... you'd like that wouldn't you? Now smile for me,'
'Shame... the warden doesn't want us fucking you... said he wants the first taste for himself, after that though you're ours... that make you happy? No? I guess I could get out the special tools again? Hehehe that's a good girl, now smile for me.'
Vaylin fell against the corridor wall as she almost ran back towards her room. She had to get there, she had to get somewhere safe she couldn't stay out in the open. Of course this path took her into the lounge with everyone still inside. Vaylin almost threw up in her mouth when she saw everyone; in her state of panic they were all merely enemies, people who might hurt her or try to take her back to that horrible place. She did her best to ignore them and quickly move through them.
"Miss Vaylin I've spoken with everyone and I believe we, as you say 'got off on the wrong foot' and I would like to take the chance to rectify that mistake," the Fat man who Jaden had joked said as he approached her.
Vaylin merely ignored him and continued walking towards her room muttering to herself. "Miss Vaylin?" the man said once again only to he ignored again. Feeling indignant the man stepped forward and grabbed her shoulder. "Listen here woman—"
Vaylins eyes widened, a well of fear and anger and pain erupted from within her. "DON'T TOUCH ME!!!" She screamed at him. Accompanied by that scream was a wave of force so powerful that it knocked down everyone in the room onto their backs. Despite being shocked Vaylin didn't stick around to try and understand what happened she just ran back to her room and locked the door behind her.
Sinking into her bed she tucked her knees into her chest and started to cry.
(AN: Poor Vaylin she must've had a real hard time in that cell. Anyway Jaden is off to do something stupid as usual. Hope you enjoyed.)
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