Force of Wills: A Duel of Fates Story

by Shadowsnake89

Chapter 11

"I'd say it was good to see you again Sunny, but I think we both know that would be lying." Flurry Heart said as she strolled over to the woman. "I have to say you look much worse for ware."

"You're...alive?" Was all Sunny could muster as she did her best to keep her jaw off the ground. "I..."

"Hardly recognize me? I'm sure. It's been what, five or six years since we last saw each other? Just before you stabbed us all in the back and wrestled control for yourself."

"It wasn't like that!" Sunny defended. "We needed everyone onboard for the reforms to work. If not, there would have been an uprising anyway."

"And all this around is what, exactly? Your 'reforms' dwindled down to you putting yourself and a few chosen others on top while everyone else got to sacrifice for the 'greater good'. When my parents and a lot of others felt differently, you shut them up for good."

The queen of Kentoph bowed her head for a moment. "I never wanted that."

Flurry's harsh gaze softened for a brief moment as she walked over to Sunny Flare and place her right hand on the left side of her face and spoke in a soft tone that was just loud enough for Sunny to hear. "The dead don't need or want your apologies and neither do I." She separated from her and marched over to Patchwork. "Get her out of my sight. Alright doctor, what do you have for us."

The guards took Sunny Flare away, she and Indigo trading glances as Patchwork clapped her hands together in excitement. "Something you'll love, I'm sure of it." She brought up several diagrams on a holo terminal in the center of the room which Flurry, Indigo and the remaining sirens gathered to. "I'd like to draw your attention to the model here." She pointed to a canister that took center point on the terminal. The model began to release a cloud and digital blaster fire was seen hitting it and dissipating. "As you can see, the blaster dispersion nanites are working well within acceptable parameters. All but heavy starship fire has any chance of penetrating effectively through the cloud these canisters generate and they are well under the acting commanders full control from the full safety of a command ship, able to move up with any advancing force or ship. Speaking of which..." She brought up a diagram for a fuel carrier. "We've also modified the fuel carriers in our fleet as well to ferry our remaining cargo off-world.

"Off-world? I don't understand." Indigo questioned as the duo turned to her.

"It's simple really." Flurry explained. "We're taking the remaining gas stores and taking them back to my fleet for further uses."

Indigo looked dumbfounded. "What?! You told me you'd destroyed the remaining supplies!"

"Why would I have done that?" Patchwork said with a smile. "It's one of my greatest creations."

"You....you did this!" Indigo's eyes widened in realization. "You killed Lemon!" She quickly drew her blaster pistol as the guard droids drew on her in defense of the doctor and the two sirens prepared their weapons. "Why?!"

"Because I want Sunny Flare and her forces crushed." Flurry said. "I entrusted you with that goal and gave you everything to that end. What I got was a slog and so you've forced me to handle things on my own. So it's with that in mind that I put my faith in the good doctor here to pull out all the stops for my plan. I had her work her magic in chemistry and she created this gas. The tunnels she's been constructing will provide the perfect ventilation system to pump it to the majority of the planets surface. It will rid me of all my enemies...and my untrustworthy allies."

"You're planning to kill everyone?"

"Of course not. True, Flare and Hisan will pay for what they did to my family, the others will pay for turning on them and you and yours will pay for your gross incompetence. I'm certain Hisan's forces will mobilize to attack soon and they'll end up right where I want them when the gas is released. With the royalists and your rebels out of the way my droids will march on the capital city and all the planets resources will be mine. Then we'll move on and take the fight to the Republic with our new alliances we've forged over the last few years. With our combined might, they won't stand a chance. As for you..." She gestured quickly as one of the droids fired a blaster bolt through Indigo's left shoulder that sent her flying across the room and into a terminal before she collapsed to the floor. This caused Flash to look back briefly as he unfortunately locked eyes with Patchwork who snapped her fingers.

"Right, last loose end. You'll get a kick out of this. Wallflower, come in here." The doors on the opposite side of the room opened as a tall, skeletal droid like figure with bronzed armor and a disturbing bug-like face plate emerged and walked toward Patchwork with it's pair of clawed feet. Flash as well as Adagio looked at the mechanical creation in horror as it approached the former. "I hope you like the new and improved Wallflower Blush. Put a lot of advanced features in her and I know it's a big change but the original is still in there...somewhere...I think. Anyway, Wallflower get rid of him."

The now mechanical being charged forward with lightning speed and grabbed Flash and lifted him off the ground above her towering head. "D-don't...please." Flash pleaded as he looked into her still human eyes under her face plate in the hope of still reaching her somehow. She blinked several times as she seemed to hesitate before tossing him across the room as he slammed into a wall and his limp body rolled down a ramp and into a large pit area under the station.

Patchwork clapped with excitement as Flurry gave a simple nod of approval. "Excellent. Let's move on, shall we? There's much to prepare before our departure. Though we will have to give an announcement to the troops on how Indigo died bravely in an unfortunately successful royalist assassination." The group walked off with the droids in tow. Adagio stopped and looked back to the fallen Indigo as she contemplated all of this. This entire operation was orchestrated by her old self and she knew she had to be the one to stop it. She was certain she was the only one who really could. Unfortunately, Sonata was watching her with suspicion before the two continued on with the others.

In Kentoph's capital city, a large group of soldiers and pilots had amassed inside the massive main hanger of the primary military base. Vapor Trail and Sky Stinger, along with a collection of other senior pilots had gathered anyone that would listen to formulate a plan and the former was the most outspoken in the matter. "We can't just sit around and wait. We should be out there fighting those rebels and rescuing the queen." She urged as some agreed and others murmured in doubt. "Thanks to Master Tempest Shadow we can do just that. Her tracking device is still active and it's transmitting the location of what could be their main headquarters. So I say, why not mount an all out attack and finish them off and rescue Sunny Flare. We owe it to her and everyone that gave their lives to defend this place?"

"Vapor's right," Sky stood up and said. "The queen has done more for us than anyone. She's kept this city and our territories safe for years. If not for her, where would we all be?" Many of them began to agree with them. "We should mount up with every vehicle we have, rally our allies and go and take the fight to them!"

"Wait." A young main with violet skin and a mop-top head of hair a darker shade of purple stood up. "I want nothing more than to stick it to those rebels but Pharaoh Hisan will never allow this. We can't make a move without his direct orders, not even the senior commanders can."

Vapor stepped up, visibly infuriated with this line of thought. "You want to wait around for him to make a decision? The hardest thing he's ever had to think about was what to have for breakfast! It's his queen that's in danger. He knows where she's being kept and yet he's shut himself up in his chambers. I say: Screw him! If he won't be man enough to rescue her and end this...well I guess a woman will then!" She received cheers from the others only for them to quickly die down as the large collection parted down the middle. Walking among them, looking much less regal than his usual joyous self was Hisan, flanked on either side by his guards and followed by Jedi Knight Fluttershy.

"Screw who now?" He said threateningly as he stepped to the front of the group, standing in the first row near the makeshift stage that had been constructed. Vapor's face went slightly paler than usual, though she still stood tall and kept her composure.

"With all due respect of course, sir..."

Hisan smiled and looked up to her with understanding. "No, you're right. You are completely right. For years I have played at being a leader, I've allowed others to take center stage, make the greatest of sacrifices. That ends today. Now those who I relied upon need my help and I must answer the call. I have been a coward and a fool but today I will make this all right. We will ride out and we will end this...under your leadership, Air Commander Vapor Trail." Everyone, Vapor included, was awestruck at the declaration.

The woman was amazed as every lower ranked trooper and pilot around her, Sky included, saluted her. "I won't let you down sir. Alright everyone, time is of the essence. Rally everyone. We'll need protect the city but anyone else that can still hold a rifle or pilot a ship is coming along. We need as many dropships and speeders as we can get our hands on. Pay any civilian in full for any vehicle we can use. We can't bring everyone but we will need the most battle hardened units that are here. Any units close to the rebel position who are not currently in an operation will be mobilized to aid our attack." The group scrambled as an alert was made throughout the city to every unit outside the designated defense force to prepare to mobilize. Vapor ran alongside Hisan as he headed out. "Thank you sir. I'm honored."

"Sunny always spoke highly of you and I have every reason that you'll exceed the expectations she had. I must prepare myself."

She slowed her steps slightly but quickly picked up her pace. "I don't understand."

"I've sat on the sidelines my entire life. It's high time I change that and lead by example. When Sunny was able, she always took the field and I should do no less."

"But heaven forbid, the worst does come to pass, we can't lose you both."

"Let's look on the bright side. Kentoph can't do worse than me." He said with a smirk as he left her and the others to prepare. A short distance away, Daisy and Garble had already agreed to make a detour in hopes they could drum up more hitting power for this strike force before it was too late. They had hopped aboard Garble's ship and soon made their way to the Zebra clan village. The ship touched down outside of the village and the two disembarked to a settlement full of activity as many of the clan's warriors scrambled around the camp, weapons in hand as many hopped on the few speeders and pack animal mounts, some piling on three on the same mount.

"Looks like they got the memo." Daisy said as the two walked, doing their best to avoid any rushing clansmen going back and forth.

"Greetings." An older woman with faded orange hair approached. "Forgive us. Things have gotten rather exciting in the last few hours. It's good to see you again, Garble." She bowed slightly as did he.

"Ms. Zecka. We came to find..." Garble said before Zecka gestured to a large hut behind her about a hundred yards back.

"She's back there. I've tried to speak with her but...maybe you'll have more luck. Excuse me." She moved on to help where she could while the two visitors made their way to the structure, a thick dark cloth acting as a door. They enter to find Roseluck knelt down before the remains of a funeral pyre, what smoke that had come from the dying light was escaping through a hole in the cone shaped roof.

Rose didn't open her eyes but acknowledged the new arrivals. "I can't hear her anymore." She said plainly, not turning to face them. "I've tried...but I can't hear her." Her voice cracked slightly as she continued to try and focus.

Daisy was the first to speak. "Rose, I know things are tough now after...what happened, but we need you now. Everyone is going out to try and rescue Sunny Flare and end this once and for all."

"Then shouldn't you be there?"

"Not without you."

"I ruined everything. People died because I unleashed that...thing again, just so I could have revenge. I betrayed the code, the order, Sandalwood." Garble decided to step up and speak.

"Rose, come on. You made some bad choices, we all have. But you can't live thinking about what you can't take back. I'm living proof of that. When I stole from my clan, they banished me, cut my wings off so I'd never fly again. If not for people like you and Tempest I'd have been dead a long time ago because I pitied myself, I just wanted to die and I did everything imaginable in the hopes that I'd get my wish." Rose looked at him slightly, the stump of his left arm in her sight. "Eh, don't worry, it grows back. My point is, you can't stay like this, things will only get better for you If you see the good you can do now and not what you could have done in the past."

Rose looked back to the pyre that slowly burned itself out and then back to her two companions as she got to her feet. She made her way to Garble and embraced him, the two sharing a passionate kiss as Daisy did her best to look away. "That's my girl. Come on, we need to get to the capital before they take off in a few hours." The three headed to the Shock Jackal. Along the way Rose saw Zecka standing among the rushing throngs of the tribe as the two shared a brief glance and a nod, silently saying their goodbyes for what might be the last time. The ship was soon speeding through the sky as Rose was still somewhat hesitant to head back to the place she'd ashamedly fled from a few days ago. Despite her internal objections, she knew that this was where she needed to be to make some semblance of amends. She lay on the bed in the cabin she had originally stayed in during the ships first travel to the planet and tried her best to relax until they arrived at their destination, with little success. Rose suddenly jumped up as she sensed something nearby and raced towards the hangar bay. She rushed over the manual override for the door controls and opened it as the craft was still in mid-flight. The walked to the edge of the ramp and hung on to the ramps hydraulic mechanism as she peered out.

The alarmed voices of Garble and Daisy were mostly drowned out by the stiff wind that blew passed Roses face and the rest she simply ignored as she stared towards the ground and found what she was looking for. A distance behind the ship was a lone speeder bike racing across the plains, it's rider opening it up full throttle as if fleeing for their lives. Luckily for the Padawan, the freighter's pilot had dropped the altitude to set the ship down for an emergency landing so as to save the passenger from harm. This was all she needed and after igniting her saber, Rose raced off the ramp and leaped in the path of the ground vehicle. Her swing missed the riders head but managed to glance the vehicle as it careened out of control and the single occupant was sent tumbling away from the soon burning remains. The Padawan for her made several tumbles to cushion the impact of jumping from such a height and made sure to shut off the blade of her weapon only a moment after it made contact.

It took Rose only a moment or so to gather her senses as she re-ignited her weapon and immediately advanced on her target who removed their helmet to reveal to her Adagio Dazzle, who had her hair combed back completely and in a single long pony tail instead of it's usual puffed up style. The siren looked in confusion at the angered Jedi. "Rose?" Adagio scrambled to her feet before she could speak further as Rose attacked with fury forcing the former to pull out her own laser sword to defend from the attacks that pushed her back each and every time. The two locked blades as Rose was pushing back with all her might as the siren did her best to hold her ground only to be forced back, bit by bit. "Rose, stop. Listen to me!" An enraged Rose released a primordial roar that shook the ground surrounding them and pushed with all her might, the resulting force knocking the weapon out of Adagio's hand.

A follow up attacked was stopped by the orange haired girl as she threw out her hands, holding back the weapons deadly blade with the force as she did her best to keep it where it was while her attacker was giving her all to push it toward its target. "Enough!" Adagio shouted as she force pushed, throwing the blade a distance away. The former padawan breathed heavily having just saved herself but being surprisingly exhausted from the effort. She'd never found herself this winded before and she was not too thrilled about the sensation in her chest as she placed a hand to the area just above her breasts. Being disarmed did nothing to dissuade the angered Rose who simple leaped forward and began to punch, elbow and backhand the other girl wherever she could before elbowing her to her head that caused Adagio's nose to bleed. She promptly threw her to the ground as Adagio attempted to crawl backwards, holding up one hand to halt the assault.

"Please, stop..." Adagio's pleading was met with a hard kick across the face from Rose who proceeded to jump on top of the siren and punched her repeatedly, screaming all the while. All the orange haired young woman could do was put her hands up in a futile attempt to protect her face. Rose only halted once she felt something placed against the back of her head and heard the sound of a mechanism.

"Rose stop! Please." The pained voice of Daisy said as her hand was shaking. "Don't do this."

"She...she needs to pay for what she's done." Rose said calmly, slowly raising her hands.

"Not like this. She'll get justice, I promise." Daisy placed a hand on her shoulder and Rose got up from her beaten opponent who lay there, bruised and bloody. "We'll take her back to base and they'll find out what she knows."

"Not like it'll be of much use." Garble said as he walked up. "The forces are already mobilizing, if we haven't already missed them yet."

"Have to....warn them." Adagio uttered as she coughed, trying to get up. "It's-It's a trap."

The three looked down at her before Rose spoke. "What?"

"Poison gas...set to go off in the midst of the fighting...will kill everyone. Had to warn them."

Rose was not convinced in the slightest. "And why would you want to stop this?"

Adagio managed to roll on her side and lifted herself up. "When I helped to start this war, it was so my sisters and I could feed. Fluttershy...I spent so much time with her when I was...not myself. It changed me, made me realize I didn't want this anymore until..." She looked up briefly at Rose who averted her gaze. "Even after I changed back I knew this was wrong. I tried to stop it, tried to alter the plan but my sister and my old allies are hellbent on moving forward with this. The Loyalists are walking into a trap. This has all the information needed to stop what my sister has planned." She pulled out a data drive from her jacket.

"They have enough of this gas to kill half the planet. You can't screen it through any type of mask and no known species is immune to it. They will make more and they will use it against anyone that stands in their way. Rose, I know you don't trust me and I know that I've done horrible things to you and so many others. I'll take whatever punishment you deem fit when this is over but don't let this world suffer any more than it already has because of me."

The Padawan looked down to her with a mix of confusion and anger as she walked and stood over her, picking up her saber along the way. Daisy began to raise her blaster slightly, only for Garble to stop her halfway. "I'll never forgive you for what you've done," Adagio winced as she closed her eyes and prepared herself for whatever came next. "but I can't forgive myself for what I've done either. I'm worse. You were right, my master gave everything to help you. You're his legacy and I spat on it, on you, because I let myself be blinded by my own anger and selfish thoughts." She leaned down and offered a hand to her. "I won't make that mistake again. I will help you and we will stop this." Tears welled up in Adagio's eyes as she took the girl's hand and got up, surprising Rose as she wrapped her in a tight hug.

Rose lightly returned the gesture as they separated and turned to the others. "Alright, let's hurry. Even if we can't catch them in time, hopefully the communication channels are still open." Rose said as they raced back to the ship and departed the area, hopefully able to catch the main force so as to warn them of the imminent danger.

In space, the invading fleet sat in it's position over the planet. A distance away a scout fighter clung to a asteroid before it detached itself and opened a set of solar sails as it silently headed off. It eventually reached it's destination which was the remainder of the Kentoph fleet which had fled from the surprise attack. The pilot eventually landed in the Somnambula's hanger and reported his findings to admiral Semalir on the bridge. "Well they don't seem to be moving from the position of sending anymore troops to the surface. They're waiting for something, retrieving something. Fortunately, we've gotten an encoded message from the surface. They've taken the queen but the Pharaoh is planning a counterattack. We have a timetable and if the fleet makes any type of move or anything leaves orbit, we'll move to engage them."

"I'll make sure everyone is on alert and ready to sortie." Juniper said as she left to prepare, leaving the Chiss admiral to formulate a new strategy.

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

Ooh dang. And here we go. Heading into a major battle... the climactic one, perhaps? I'm wondering...

And also, dang, Flurry Heart is willing to go to scarily monstrous lengths here. And what Patchwork reconstructed Wallflower into... yikes. That is a scary thought for sure.

And boy, I was on the tips of my toes watching that sequence between Rose and Adagio. Man that felt like a close call. XD

On a side note, I quite enjoyed the character insight we got into Garble when he gives Rose a much-needed talking to. That was nicely done.