Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back(My version)

29

Coruscant

He put on his armor one piece at a time. First came the gauntlets that stretched from knuckles to elbow. Both were colored scarlet but one was plasteel, one cortosis. Next came the pieces over the abdomen, and then the chest, still scarlet, fitted firmly over black bodysuit. Then the double-layered shoulder pads, and the draping auburn cape. And, finally, the most important piece of all: the silver cylinder of a lightsaber, affixed at the belt.

Ganner Krieg, looking like the image of a perfect Imperial Knight, but he felt like a lie.

He stood among the line of two dozen Imperial Knights gathered in the secure hangar room within a government palace on Coruscant. Soon they would file into the waiting airspeeder and join Marasiah Fel at the inauguration of the Galactic Federations' new senate. The empress had insisted on having her most senior Knights present for the occasion and had explicitly invited Ganner. He appreciated her trust but was in no way eager to stand in front of the thousands of holocams that would record the event. He had the armor and the lightsaber but not the Force, and it was hard to think of himself like a real Knight. It was even harder, knowing that all this was his fault.

When he'd first lost the Force- when he'd had been kidnapped by Darth Maladi, injected with her midichlorian-deforming virus, and returned to Coruscant to spread the disease to all his friends and comrades- regret had consumed him. He's lost the desire to go on and nearly taken his own life; now he did everything possible to avoid looking back, lest he lose himself again in that despairing void.

Even with the Force, the man behind him sensed his thoughts. "Chin up, Ganner," said Antares Draco. "You can't look gloomy for Mom and, the Empress."

Your wife, Ganner thought. "I'll do my best to smile for the cameras," he said without humor.

"This is an important day. We need to be strong for both of them."

"I know that," he told his friend. "And I'll do what I need to."

Another voice said behind him, "What you'll need to do is stand behind the podium like a statue for a few hours. Nothing more."

Ganner turned to see Azlyn Rae approach. Like Antares, he wouldn't have been able to endure recent months without her. A former Jedi apprentice who'd found refuge with the Imperial Knights, Azlyn stood apart from the others both for her history and her appearance. A near-fatal fight with Darth Krayt on Had Abbadon had left were with scars on her face and a modified suit of red armor that included a respiration system to replace her ruined lungs. After Had Abbadon, Ganner had stood with her to help reshape her broken body and hurt mind. Lately she'd been returning the favor and helped him deal with the harm Maladi had inflicted.

Antares was a stalwart and true Knight, and he'd never fully trusted Azlyn for her mixed allegiances. Today, though, he seemed glad to have her present. "Master Rae is right, Ganner. We're essentially going to be decorations. Today is about Sia and the senate. As it should be."

"Exactly." Azlyn crossed arms beneath her respirator. "After facing the Sith, are elected senators really that hard? I doubt it."

"I'm sure Sia would say they're just as dangerous, but in a different way." Antares said. "Alliance sympathizers still outnumber our senators almost three to one. It's not something Sia would have allowed, but Stazi forced her hand when she was weak."