by Murasaki99
Gorseth marched up the trail that marked the western approach to the high valley, carrying his broom like a blaster rifle over his right shoulder. He had found a few shadow crawlers on the edges of the lowest part of the trail and had swept them off into the depths of the gorge. By the time they had worked their way up to the path again, what was left of them would be able to walk upright at least. He felt sorry for their condition, but as the Lady had explained some time ago there was nothing he could do for them except to let the Force salvage whatever it could. It had been a relief to discover in the morning that the Admiral and Shir had both gone, which meant they had returned to the physical world. The fact that he and his men were still here did not trouble him at all.
“Uncle Anam!” The happy shout made him pause and look back to see Anakin charging up the trail. The boy caught up to him in several long strides and walked alongside, smiling up at Gorseth.
“Hello, Anakin. You’ve gotten taller,” Gorseth observed. The boy seemed to have nearly doubled in height since the last time he’d seen him several days past.
“I’m just-turned-nine,” Anakin declared with a wide grin. “Dad says I’m growing like a gundark.” They scaled the last steep section of the trail and emerged into the meadow. “Is Frith up?”
“No, she left a few days ago. There’s a new boy here now. His name’s Toki.”
“Howcome Frith is gone?”
“I guess the doctors on Coruscant were able to cure her illness, so they revived her.” He waved at the field of grass and wildflowers. “Remember, Frith came here because she was sick. They put her in cryofreeze to keep her alive till the doctors could find a cure. Her family wanted her back as soon as possible, I’m sure.”
“I forgot. I just thought she lived here with you and the Lady.” Anakin stopped suddenly and looked at Gorseth as if seeing him for the very first time.
“Uncle Anam?”
“Yes?”
“When did you become a storm trooper?” The boy carefully touched the black fabric of the sleeve of Gorseth’s uniform.
“I’ve been in the Imperial military for eight years, Anakin. I went to the Academy on Carida when I was seventeen.”
“You wanted to serve the old Emperor?” Anakin looked at Gorseth unhappily. “I thought he was evil, a darksider.”
“I suppose he was, but we were soldiers. We were expected to serve, not to think about who we were serving.” He shook his head at the memory. “We were just supposed to perform our duties. The Emperor died before I began active duty. I served under Grand Admiral Thrawn and his fleet. I commanded a platoon of cloned soldiers on the Victory-class cruiser V-23 - the same ones who are here with me now.”
“But why are you here? If Frith was here ‘coz she was sick, an’ now she’s gone home, why are you still here? Were you all sick, too? When will you get to go home?”
“No, we weren’t sick.” Gorseth walked slowly toward the forest and the house that had become a second home. “We were wounded and taken prisoner by the Rebel Alliance…”
“It’s called the New Republic now,” Anakin said helpfully.
“Whatever it’s called. They captured us and the High Council decided to imprison my men and me by placing us in cryofreeze. As for when we get to go home, I really don’t know. I suppose if we are ever revived, we’ll leave here someday.” Gorseth plucked a flower and placed the sweet stem in his mouth, nibbling at it without thinking.
“My Dad was frozen once, in carbonite. My Mom an’ Uncle Luke helped to rescue him.”
“I doubt very much that the Empire can rescue us. We’re on Coruscant and no one from the Empire goes there to fight anymore.”
“I don’t mean the Empire should rescue you, but someone must! You can’t stay frozen forever!” The thought seemed to offend Anakin’s sense of fairness.
Gorseth reached out and rumpled the boy’s hair affectionately. “I hope not.” He stepped up to the door of the Lady’s house and opened it. “Forever is a long time.”
***
That statement stayed with Anakin after he woke the following morning. It took him two days before he could finally get his mother alone. “Why are Uncle Anam and all his men trapped in the Force? He says they’re prisoners of war. They’re frozen like Dad was. Can’t we get them out?”
“Uncle Anam?” Leia looked at her son in confusion, trying to remember when he’d added to his list of relatives, either blood-kin or honorary. The name sounded familiar to her.
“Yes! He’s in the Force - with the Lady. He says they’re all frozen back on Coruscant. Nobody is getting them out. They’re stuck!”
“Anam Gorseth, the storm trooper lieutenant?”
“Yeah! That’s him! It’s funny, I never noticed he was an Imperial before, but it doesn’t matter. He’s good; him and his men are all lightsiders. They shouldn’t be stuck. We can get ‘em out, can’t we?”
“Oh… they’re still there, aren’t they?” Leia felt again that odd twinge of guilt as her memory helpfully began to fill in the details. The High Council had roundly rejected her proposal to release the prisoners five years ago, and once again the troubles and trials of daily life had conspired to push their plight out of her awareness.
“You’re not gonna make Uncle Anam and his men stay frozen forever, are you?” He gave her a worried look. “They haven’t done anything wrong. We gotta help them!”
“Being a storm trooper isn’t wrong?” She had far too many bad memories of the soldiers of the Empire.
“Mom, lots of Uncle Luke’s Jedi are from the Empire. Look at Kam Solusar and Aunt Mara!”
Leia sighed. Her son was right, of course. They were currently on the moon of Yavin 4, at the Jedi Praxeum. She had been brought here after she had been rescued by her brother from the clutches of a renegade Imperial Moff. Ordinarily, releasing the troopers would have been difficult without her first being on Coruscant to twist political arms, but she was now a former President of the New Republic with the authority to make treaties on behalf of her government and to press for diplomatic solutions to problems. Several months earlier she had presided over the signing of the first peace treaty between the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant. The timing was right for conciliatory gestures. There only remained her willingness to commit to the effort.
Leia scowled internally as she sorted through her thoughts on the matter of clones. Ten years ago, she had been convinced that all clones were dangerous and mindless servants of the Empire. Her meeting in the Force with Gorseth had made a chink in the armor of that idea. Recently, the Devist clones, Carib and his brothers, had risked their lives, their families, everything, to aid Leia and Han in their battle against a corrupt Imperial official’s plot of revenge and conquest. The only reward Leia could offer the Devist brothers was anonymity, since feeling against clones still ran dangerously high. But the Devist families were at least free to pursue their dreams as peaceful farmers.
Free. Leia relaxed as she finally acknowledged to herself that Gorseth and his men deserved to be free to live their lives and make their own decisions, whatever they were.
That thought planted in her mind the germ of an idea. She rose and held out her hand to Anakin, who had been patiently waiting for her. “Come along, let’s find your Uncle Luke and talk to him. We really ought to be able to do something for your friends now.”
*****
Soft light glowed somewhere above his head. Gorseth blinked, trying to bring the ceiling above into focus. Something moved into his field of vision, a silhouette looming beside the place where he lay. He squinted, and the dark form resolved into an older woman with unkempt gray hair and a heavily lined face. She smiled at him.
“Here, he’s starting to come around now.” She said this to a nearby medical droid and gave Gorseth’s shoulder an encouraging pat. “Take it easy, son. You’re with friends. You’ve been asleep for a long time.”
With an effort, he rolled his head toward the woman. She was wearing the uniform of an Imperial ship’s medical officer, a comforting sight, and a bright glow suffused her entire frame. Gorseth smiled at her. “Oh, you’re so very beautiful,” he said hoarsely. His tongue and jaws felt stiff.
The doctor laughed delightedly and clapped her hands. “I win! I win the bet! He did it too!”
“So he did, Doctor,” said the droid.
“I beg your pardon?” Gorseth asked in some confusion. He began to realize with a sense of growing wonder that he had awakened in the physical world and was no longer in the Lady’s house. Now that his eyes could focus somewhat better, Gorseth could see he was in a ship’s treatment room, lying on a bed covered with several blankets. The middle of his chest was patched with a bandage.
“Sorry my boy,” said the doctor with a broad grin still on her face. “I forgot you’re not caught up. I’m Elianne Lije, chief medical officer of the Star Destroyer Firedanse. You’re the last of your platoon to be revived and every one of them has told me I’m beautiful practically the moment they woke up. It got so I had a running bet with my staff as to whether or not you’d be of the same opinion. We had to wait a bit to get yours, since you needed some delicate surgery to close up the holes the New Republic people made in your heart. That’s why we did you last.”
“But you are beautiful, anyone can see that.” Gorseth looked at Doctor Lije in puzzlement. The beauty of her spirit was as obvious to him as a lamp in a dark room. She fairly glowed.
Lije chuckled and patted his shoulder again. “I’d love to get my hands on the people who put you in cryofreeze, but even more I’d love to know what drugs they gave the lot of you that you all see me as beautiful.” She sighed gustily. “It must be good stuff.”
“I don’t remember being given any drugs,” Gorseth said with a slight frown as he tried to recall. The entire event seemed very far away even though to him it had happened only several days ago. “My injuries are the fault of a New Republic officer, not the doing of their medical people. The folk at the hospital didn’t mean us any harm.”
Doctor Lije made a low growl of disgust. “They did harm enough. You don’t poke holes through the hearts and jugular veins of perfectly healthy people and then freeze them for years. That’s a trick worthy of the old Emperor himself.”
“But we’re all right,” said Gorseth, trying to soothe the doctor, whose aura flared alarmingly red-orange as she became angry. A new thought made him ask, “We are all right, aren’t we? Are all my men revived and safe? Are they well?” He felt a moment of alarm over the thought that not all of them may have made it. Without waiting for the doctor’s answer, he reached out into the othersense. It felt comfortably solid. He could detect no pain or grief. Those feelings were confirmed a moment later.
“Don’t worry yourself, Lieutenant. Your men are all fine and revived without complications. Those clones are as healthy as banthas, it’d take a lot more than a little cryofreeze to harm them. You’re the one we were most worried about. As a matter of fact, I suppose I ought to let a few of your men in now that you’re awake and coherent. They’ve been practically piled up outside the doors ever since we went to work on you.”
Doctor Lije quickly opened the door of the treatment room, causing Tenno to nearly fall in over the threshold. Khefret caught his shoulders from behind and kept his comrade from plunging flat on his face. Tef hovered impatiently behind them, but they waited respectfully at the doorway. Lije shook her head at the sight, making a ‘come in’ motion with her right hand. “Come on; come on, the pack of you. He’s awake now and you can talk to him, but don’t tire him out, you hear? He needs to lie still and rest for at least the night.” She stepped aside to allow the men to enter and Khefret gave her a salute as the others trooped into the room.
“Thanks, Doctor. We’ll be careful.”
Lije looked at her droid assistant. “C’mon, ‘Bee, let’s go check on those idiots in ward 6 who tried making that fermented Corellian dish. Stars, I hate treating food poisoning cases,” she grumped.
“Oh, Doctor?” called Tenno as she left the room.
“Yes?” She paused at the door and glanced back at the trooper.
“You’re still beautiful.”
“What?! Even after everything has worn off?” she laughed in delighted disbelief and left, dragging the droid with her. For some moments after, they could hear her laughter even through the closed door.
The door reopened and little by little the rest of the platoon filtered into the room.
Gorseth looked at his men with a sensation of deep gratitude. They gathered about the bed and touched his face gently.
“You’re still freezing cold, Lieutenant,” said Khefret with a worried frown. “You feel almost like the Grand Admiral did.”
Gorseth held out his hands and his men grasped them firmly, sending a wave of welcome warmth into his body. “That’s ok,” he said with a smile. “Just hold on to me for a little and I’ll warm up quickly enough. You feel so very alive.”
“There’s other ways to get warm, but Doctor Lije would have a fit with we tried them here. You’re supposed to be resting, after all,” said Tef with a chuckle and a bright look.
“You’re incorrigible,” Gorseth laughed, shaking his head slightly. “Why should I be surprised that that is the first thing you’d think of after being revived?”
“Was not the first thing!” Tef protested. “I wanted something to eat first!”
Khefret and Tenno all growled in irritation. Tenno spoke first. “Some of us were concentrating on the fact that we were awake in the real world again.” Khefret nodded.
“Hey, the other is important.” Tef looked a little embarassed. “Besides, I did think of other things too.”
“Eventually,” said Khefret in a light tone which proved he was joking.
“Well, with any luck we’ll have time for whatever we’d like to do later.” Gorseth paused for thought. “Time. Time to do things. That sounds strange, doesn’t it?”
“It does, a little,” Tenno agreed. “Wish we could’ve said good-bye to the Lady. Seems kind of rude to just leave like we did with no warning.”
“I’m sure she knows all about why we left,” said Gorseth. “Actually, she probably knows a lot more about the details than we do.” He smiled again at his men and took a closer look at the entire platoon, who had managed to pack their way into the room now that Doctor Lije had gone. “What’s this? You’re all dressed like refugees.”
The troopers to a man were wearing rather well-worn civilian-style pants and shirts in faded colors, none of which matched. Some of the clothing didn’t quite fit the stalwart frames of the soldiers, and some was downright threadbare. This lent the platoon the air of spaceport laborers down on their luck.
“Sorry, Lieutenant. It couldn’t be helped,” said Tenno with an apologetic shrug. “We got woke up a day ago and the Doctor wouldn’t let us hike down to Stores and get proper uniforms issued.”
“She threatened us with all sorts of awful things if we didn’t rest for a whole day.” Osman sounded quite impressed with the Doctor’s forceful personality.
“Right. You saw the glow on her, didn’t you? We believed her. Everyone on the ship believes her.” Tenno tugged at his faded green workshirt. “So this is what the ship folks donated for us to wear till we could get discharged from sick bay. I think our uniforms have been requisitioned, at least.”
“Ah, requisition glitches. We’re definitely back in the Service.” Gorseth uttered a patient sigh, but he felt quite happy. The minor annoyances of dealing with the Imperial military bureaucracy seemed like a vacation when compared to facing the New Republic High Council.
“The New Republic cut up all our clothing back on Coruscant and sent it to recycle,” said Tir Buian, sounding more aggrieved over the loss of his property than of his time.
“I guess they felt obligated to return us, but our uniforms weren’t part of the deal,” added Korion Osman.
“Yes… the deal. What happened?” The Lieutenant’s smile faded a bit. “More importantly, who are we with? Is everything all right?” Once the questions started, Gorseth found he had an almost infinite supply.
“We’re on the Star Destroyer Firedanse,” said Tef. “It’s an Imperial ship, right enough.”
“And get this, Lieutenant, Firedanse belongs to the fleet that serves the Grand Admiral!” Khefret’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
“The Grand Admiral? The clone of Grand Admiral Thrawn we rescued? Are you sure?” asked Gorseth.
“That’s what they tell us, sir,” said Tef.
“As for the deal, we don’t know much about that,” said Tenno. “They - the officers - wanted you to be awake first. There must have been some sort of bargain struck, especially for the New Republic to put us on an Imperial ship, but I don’t have the details as to how it came about.”
“I hope they’ll tell us something soon. I can’t imagine how this happened. I kind of thought we’d be stuck for a very long time.” Gorseth did not use the word ‘forever’, but his men caught his feelings and understood what he meant. He yawned hugely. “Stars, I’m tired. You’d think after sleeping for so long I wouldn’t be tired for weeks.”
“Doctor Lije said something about cryofreeze not really being restful. You don’t sleep, you don’t heal, you just sit till you’re thawed, and all your ills sit with you.” Khefret pushed into the othersense and his eight clone-brothers began to file out, followed by the rest of the troopers, leaving him alone with the three representatives of the series. “You should rest for the night, sir. Its ship’s evening anyway. When you wake up in the morning you’ll be in line with ship time.”
“We’ll take turns sitting here with you while you sleep,” said Tef. “Not that we’re paranoid…”
“But we’re paranoid,” Tenno smiled. “Do you want anything to eat or drink, sir?”
“Some water, I think, for now. I’m so dry it feels like I’ve been in a desert.” He sat up with some help from Tef and accepted the cup of water Khefret fetched for him.
“I guess we have been in the desert, sir,” said Tenno thoughtfully.
“Mmm. I think you’re right. Can you feel how this place is different from our prison on Coruscant?” Gorseth moved a hand through the space before him as he settled himself back down.
“It feels lighter. It’s easier to breathe here. The air isn’t so heavy,” Tenno replied, turning about as if he could see through the ship’s bulkheads. In a way, he could. Senses honed in the Force enabled all of them to ‘see’ patterns of energy with hyper clarity.
“They don’t hate us,” Tef added. “That’s the difference. Feels much better than Coruscant.”
“You’re right, Bu! You got it.” Khefret clapped his friend on the back. “I could feel something, but I just couldn’t figure out what it was.”
“That’s a good sign,” said Gorseth, closing his eyes. “It means we’re out of the desert.”
*****
Gorseth adjusted his uniform, glad of the familiar feel of the cloth against his skin. He’d dictated a short debriefing into the ship’s database first thing that morning, knowing it was important that his superiors have an initial account of his platoon’s adventures. More paperwork and debriefing awaited him in the days ahead, but that was part of the expected routine. He squinted at himself in the mirror. Externally he looked normal, at least: an Imperial officer, a little on the thin side. Somehow he’d lost weight during his incarceration. A sharp, light knock sounded on the door of his small stateroom. “Come,” he said, touching the door release.
The door slid open and a small human figure bounded into the room. “Uncle Anam! Here you are at last!” Anakin Organa-Solo threw himself into Gorseth’s arms with such enthusiasm that the lieutenant was rocked back on his heels at the impact. Gorseth steadied himself and embraced the boy gladly, struggling with the slight sense of displacement in his mind that occurred when he saw the boy here rather than in the usual setting of the Lady’s meadow or house. A sudden thought made him clutch Anakin tightly and the boy sensed his distress.
“What’s the matter?”
“You - you’re not a prisoner on this ship, are you, Anakin?” All Gorseth could assume was that somehow the boy had been kidnapped and used to secure the release of himself and his men. That was a scenario which made him sharply aware of the only honorable answer: Gorseth would have to be sure the boy had his freedom safely. The thought that he might be at odds with his superiors chilled him, but did not cloud the correct course of action from his mind.
“Me? Uh-uh. I came here with Mom an’ the others to help get you free.” As Gorseth tried to get his racing heartbeat under control, Anakin tugged at his arm. “Come on, Uncle Anam, Mom sent me down to find you. Everyone wants to see you.”
‘Everyone’ could have meant anyone, but Gorseth decided that he’d much prefer to know the truth as quickly as possible. The boy seemed undisturbed by being on an Imperial ship, but he was too young to understand much in the way of politics, so Gorseth was not entirely sure that everything was safe for the child. Hopefully the adults would explain things and Gorseth could decide upon a course of action then. He swallowed past the tightness in his throat. The absolute last place he wanted to return to was Coruscant, but if he had to rescue the boy and flee the ship, that would be his destination. Death did not frighten him, but facing the potential of once again enduring the painful ritual of cryofreeze did. The thought made him shudder.
“It’s all right, Uncle Anam. You’re safe here,” said Anakin, trying to calm his friend’s fears. He put forth a bubble of warmth around them both. Gorseth felt his shivers ease off.
The door chimed, then popped open to reveal his entire platoon standing in the hall, their faces reflecting various levels of concern.
“Sir, is everything ok?” asked Osman.
“We felt your alarm, is something wrong?” said Tenno, then he noticed Gorseth’s small visitor. “Hey, it’s Anakin!” Tenno stooped, caught up the boy and placed him on his right shoulder. “Where’d you come from?”
“Maybe he can teleport?” wondered Tef, patting the child on the back fondly. “Hi, kid.”
“No, no, I came on the ship, with everybody else! Hi, Uncle Buian, Uncle Osman, Uncle Rui.” He recited their names without stopping, grinning broadly at them.
“Everybody?” asked several voices in unison. The troopers were all back in uniform and presented a tidy appearance.
“Anakin was sent down here to bring us to a conference where things will be explained. At least, I hope that’s so. You may as well come along; our commanding officers may have our future orders.” He looked at the boy. “Where are we to go, Anakin?”
“That way.” Anakin pointed down the corridor and Tenno turned and marched off in the direction he indicated, Gorseth and the rest of the platoon following in close order.
***
The boy directed the soldiers into the upper regions of the ship, far into officer’s territory, places the average storm trooper rarely visited. Soon they arrived at the entrance to one of the larger rooms on the level just below the main bridge, a place normally reserved for combat planning. The doors slid silently open at their approach and Gorseth led his platoon into a room populated by a few Imperial officers and two civilians, three if he counted Anakin. He halted at a proper distance away from the officers and gave them a salute, which was returned at once. His men formed up behind him as if at inspection, eyes front. “Lieutenant Anam Gorseth, commanding the 35 th Platoon of the 5 th Batallion, reporting as ordered.”
The first thing he noticed was that the officers were a mixed set. One was a storm trooper commander, a powerful blond man who looked fit and alert. Gorseth caught a thread of sensation that told him the commander was a clone, although he did not recognize the man’s series. Next to him was a taller, more slender man with an angular face, aquiline nose, and ebony hair frosted with a metallic gold shine. This man was a colonel and had the same feel to him as Shir Kinoha, enough so that Gorseth knew the man was a Harlekki. The appearance of the last officer gave him a start.
She caught his eye, smiled, and said. “Lieutenant Gorseth, welcome aboard the Firedanse. I am Captain Aed Dun, commanding officer.” She nodded at the tall officer to her right. “This is Colonel Dakia Azraf, CO of our fighter wings.” She indicated the man to her left. “And this is Commander Bern Farlowa Five, who is in charge of the Firedanse’s trooper brigades.”
“Captain,” said Gorseth, filled with wonder at the vision of a female captain of an Imperial warship. He’d seen female and alien crew on some of the Imperial ships before his capture, but they had never been of high command rank. Things had obviously changed during his time in cryofreeze. Dun was a woman of average height and middle years. Her short-cropped hair stuck out in rebellious swatches from under the confines of her uniform cap. Her hair was also strangely parti-colored, being blonde at the roots shading to dark brown at the ends. The Captain had a bright shine to her aura that at once put Gorseth at ease. Here was someone he could trust. Actually, all of Captain Dun’s people had that clear, trustworthy feeling, an even better sign. Dun, however, also had a different look to her aura that made Gorseth wonder about her not-very-slender waist. Scarcely had the thought entered his head, when from behind Gorseth could hear Tenno whisper in his ear.
“Lieutenant, are my eyes going bad, or does Captain Dun have two sets of energy?”
“Tenno,” Gorseth muttered, trying to suppress his soldier’s curiosity without much success. All the rest of the troopers had noticed the same thing and it was impossible to sit on all of them at once; it was like one person trying to hold a litter of poom kits in an open box.
“Two of me?” asked Dun, whose hearing seemed to be quite good. Her expression was one of wry humor, as if she were contemplating some joke privy only to herself. She looked directly at Tenno. “Two, Corporal?”
“You have two sets of energy that I can see, Captain,” said Tenno, suddenly noticing that his statement sounded very strange when spoken aloud. “Everyone else has only one, but you’ve got two. Never seen that before, Ma’am.”
“Well, most people don’t see others as having - energy - anyway, Corporal,” Captain Dun said with a smile. “But for your information, you are correct. The Jedi brought it to my attention some months ago that I was carrying a child, so there are two of us, so to speak.” Captain Dun nodded at the two civilians. Gorseth had noticed their brightness, but everyone in the room looked bright to him and so they hadn’t caught his attention. He looked at them now with his eyes as well as that part of him that saw energy. The woman at least was familiar to him and to the men with him. She and the man now approached Gorseth and his platoon. From his perch atop Tenno’s shoulder, Anakin waved at her.
“Hi, Mom. Here they are,” he chirped.
Captain Dun withdrew to stand and speak casually with her officers. From the snatch of conversation Gorseth overhead, the subject concerned the matter of making a smooth exit from the Coruscant system.
Gorseth turned his attention to the woman before him. “Princess Leia Organa-Solo.” He straightened and bowed formally. “I understand you had something to do with our release, although I do not know the details. For whatever you have done, my men and I thank you.”
To Leia, the lieutenant looked even younger than the last time she had seen him, as if he had somehow magically youthened during his time of suspension. Seeing Gorseth in the flesh suddenly brought home how much time had passed. He and his men had not aged at all while in cryofreeze and so now seemed paradoxically younger to her.
“You should give your thanks to Anakin. He’s the one who kept reminding me of my obligation to secure your release.”
“My thanks again to all of you.” Gorseth bowed again to her, calm and composed. “May I ask how it came about that we were released?”
“I’m a former President of the New Republic. When Anakin reminded me recently that you were still trapped in the Force, I was finally able to pull enough political strings to get you all transported to this ship, where your own people could revive you.”
“Yes, this ship. I must confess I am amazed at waking here. How is it you are on an Imperial ship, Princess?” He cast an anxious glance at Captain Dun and her other officers, who had walked away a discreet distance to allow them to talk. “You don’t seem to be prisoners, but appearances can be deceiving. Is everything all right?”
Leia looked at him in surprise. “Are you saying you’re concerned about us?”
“I must be. It is a matter of honor and correctness. It’s no use to secure our freedom if the price is your own or your son’s safety.” He was utterly sincere; Leia could sense it without effort. Her surprise grew.
“And what could you do, Lieutenant, if we were prisoners?”
Gorseth quietly collected himself, preparing for the worst. “Princess, we will try not to harm our Imperial comrades, but we will do what we must to see to your and Anakin’s freedom.” His mouth made a stubborn line.
Leia found she had to ask the next question. “Lieutenant, you are aware that you would in all probability get yourselves killed if you were to try to rescue us?” To her amazement Gorseth’s face relaxed into a smile.
“Princess, we’ve been dead, or so close it makes no difference. It is quite impossible for me to be personally afraid of dying any more. I can fear for your and Anakin’s safety, but not for my own life.” He looked at his men, who had broken ranks to talk to the boy. “They are in the same place as I am, and will do whatever needs to be done.” He regarded her calmly. “Do you require rescue, Princess?”
Leia felt what a powerful and delicate thing his existence was, held in such a fine balance that at her mere word he was willing to throw away the life he had just regained without regret. She cleared her throat softly and shook her head. She still found his honest, absolute directness uncomfortable. “No, Lieutenant. We’re not prisoners at all. We came with the Firedanse willingly to guide her to Coruscant, and to prevent any misunderstandings between the governments of the New Republic and the Empire. Now that you are safely aboard, we are to return to Yavin 4.”
“Very good, Princess.” Gorseth relaxed a little, relieved he didn’t have to prepare for an immediate rescue mission. “Why Yavin, if I may ask?”
“Among other things, it is where the Jedi Praxeum is located, and many Jedi students as well,” said the blond man next to Leia, who had been listening in silence to them all this time.
“This is my brother, Luke Skywalker,” said Leia, touching him on the arm.
“You are Anakin’s Uncle Luke, then? He spoke of you often.” Gorseth smiled and bowed to the Jedi.
“And Anakin spoke highly of you and your men to me. He’s quite persistent, which is all for the best. I’m glad to finally be able to meet you.” Luke approached Gorseth and clasped his hands, feeling the energy of the lieutenant. “It’s a good thing we’re returning to Yavin, you and all of your men have the Force and will need some training - ”
A strange sound made both Luke and Gorseth turn. Tenno had left off talking with Anakin and was now staring at Luke, his face gone chalky-pale under his tan.
“What’s the matter?’ asked Gorseth, feeling only a sensation of sickness from his trooper. Tenno’s clone-brothers were all manifesting the same reaction. Gorseth turned completely and grabbed Tenno by the shoulders. “Talk to me. What’s wrong?”
“He killed me,” Tenno choked out, bobbing his head at Luke. “I wasn’t sure at first, but now that he’s come closer, there’s no mistake. He killed me, I remember.”
“Killed you?” Leia and Gorseth asked the question in unison.
“Yeah. Killed my clone-brothers. On the Chimaera. I, this body, wasn’t there personally, but we all got the bleed-over when the others died. He killed us with his lightsaber.” Tenno looked as if he were about to pass out from the sheer strength of the memories, and the rest of his series looked equally as bad.
“What’s going on?” asked Cornel Osman, supporting Jeshin Rui with an arm around his shoulder.
“Bad memory trigger,” said Gorseth. “Bring them all together and help me recall the Lady’s room where we stayed the first night. You remember the one by the sea?” He supported Tenno and half-walked, half-dragged him into the group of his men. There were six clones of Rui, all of them ill from the sudden flood of dire memories. Gathering his men and ignoring the others in the room, Gorseth built up in his mind the image of that amazing room on the sea, the sound of the surf, the feel of the salty breeze, and the utter peacefulness which drained away pain. Osman and Buian, who were less affected by Rui’s trauma, joined in with their memories of the place, completing the scenario and finally easing their comrades.
Rui, closed his eyes and sagged in relief. “That’s better, thanks,” they sighed.
“What did you just do?” asked Luke softly.
Gorseth pulled himself gently out of the quiet space they’d constructed to speak to the Jedi, giving Tenno into the hands of Buian. “We put them in the healing place we first stayed in when we were with the Lady.”
“The Lady?” Luke seemed puzzled.
“Yes, the Lady who keeps a house in the forest in the Force. She shelters the children who come there, and she sheltered us as well.” Gorseth thought a moment and added. “She’s very wise and knows how to treat injuries of the spirit like this. I had wounds of a similar nature when I arrived, and she helped me to heal.”
“You must be speaking of a guardian spirit,” Luke mused aloud. “I have never seen a healing technique like this. You have learned and grown during your time in the Force, Anam Gorseth. You’re no longer exactly a storm trooper.” He looked beyond Gorseth to the group of his men. “Neither are they. It’s very strange, but I’ve never been close to a clone until just recently, nor have I ever been able to simply talk to cloned troopers.” He sighed unhappily. “I’m sorry about his brothers. Of necessity, most of my contact with storm troopers, cloned or not, has been brief and deadly. There was never time for negotiation.”
“Come and meet them now,” said Gorseth, drawing Luke closer to his men. “As I told your High Council once, they are human beings and deserve all the rights we accord naturally-born humans.”
“Wait,” said Leia, giving Gorseth a confused look. “You just said ‘they’, not ‘we’. I thought you were a clone as well?”
“That’s what I told the Council, to be certain,” said Gorseth with a smile. “I also told them ‘clones can’t lie’, which is normally the truth, but since I wasn’t a clone I resorted to a lie to be sure I could stay with my men.” His smile broadened at the memory of the successful deception.
“You had yourself frozen even when it wasn’t necessary?!” Leia stared at the Imperial officer in disbelief.
“Oh, Princess, you misunderstand. It was absolutely necessary. I could not have lived with myself otherwise. They were my men, my responsibility. What sort of officer would I have been if I’d abandoned them to their unjust fate?”
Leia looked down, embarrassed by his intensity. She had been about to say, “The sort of storm trooper officer I have come to expect,” but the words died on her lips and she felt a sudden shame at wanting to say them, wanting him to be something far less than what he was.
“Here,” said Gorseth, continuing as if he’d never been interrupted. He nodded at his men. This is Buian: Tef, Keni, Tir, and Goric.” He indicated the blond troopers. The four of them looked at Luke curiously.
“So that’s the famous Jedi, huh?” said Tef. “He’s way smaller’n I thought he’d be. Brighter than fire, so I guess there’s more to him than his height?”
“This is Khefret Osman and his brothers Korion, Labra, Tene, Cornel, Kristof, Fiden, and Cano,” Gorseth continued his introductions.
Osman, eight strong, saluted politely. “You’ll have to excuse Buian, he likes to speak first and think later,” said three of them.
“When he thinks at all,” added Tenno, opening his eyes and perking up a little.
“Hey!” Buian objected and was ignored by his comrades.
“This is Tenno Rui,” Gorseth added, touching the nearest of Rui on the shoulder. “The others are Haru, Akki, Shoki, Koze, and Jeshin,” he finished his tally. “You feel better to me. Will you be ok for now?”
Tenno nodded. “Um. Think so. It’s not nearly so bad, thanks, Lieutenant. The memories caught me by surprise. Sorry I caused a scene.”
“A bunch of my set have died, but I don’t have problems with the memories,” said Tef with a worried frown at his friend.
“Oh? And how did yours go?” Tene Osman asked.
“Blown to bits the lot of ‘em. Real fast.” Tef snapped his fingers.
“No wonder you don’t remember. There’s nothing to remember.”
“How can you stay sane?” asked Leia in awed horror over the thought that they had shared the deaths of their clone brothers.
“Dunno, ma’am,” said Tenno Rui calmly. He looked at her shyly, careful not to stare directly at Luke. “It hurts to suddenly remember like I did, but thinking of the Lady’s place helps a lot. It’s as if things can hurt me here, but remembering I once lived there makes the pain lose its grip and sort of fade away.”
“You all have a rare and wonderful talent,” said Luke, speaking very quietly so as not to further startle Rui. “When we reach Yavin, if you are willing, I would like to learn from you.”
“Learn from us?” The question came from so many of the men it was impossible to tell who originated it.
“Yes, of course. That’s why the school for Jedi is called a Praxeum - it is a place where things are put into practice and use, rather than just the study of theory.”
“Well, I can handle that, then,” said Tef. His comment produced a chorus of chuckles from his comrades. POW Part 5
------------------
See Vision of the Future, by Timothy Zahn, for the complete story.
Fanfic Main | POW Part 1 | POW Part 2 | POW Part 3 | POW Part 5