Tournament - Vin vs. Darth Vader

[Nesh]

Philadelphia, Earth, 2383:
 

Vin Marek stepped out on to the flat roof of the apartment building her particular resistance cell was occupying. It was a misty night, mist used to be comforting to her, but the mist here wasn't like the mist on her home planet of Scadrial, it didn't twist an curl and accept her as a part of it. This was just normal mist. Simple weather. She wasn't out here to enjoy the mist though, she had another purpose tonight. It didn't take her long to find the person she was looking for.


“Katie, how many times have I told you not to come up here, it's dangerous, people could see you,” Vin said. She smirked a little as she saw the five year old jump. Her daughter loved these excursions despite being admonished about them on numerous occasions.


“Mom, I'm sorry. I just wanted to be outside, I don't like hiding all the time,” Katie said quickly. Vin laughed a little and sat next to her daughter. Katie looked a lot like her, but there was plenty of Galen in those pale-faced features as well. Her blue eyes were a bit of an oddity given that she and Galen both had brown, but that was just a genetic quirk.


“I know, sweetie, I know. I just want to keep you safe. You're the most important thing in the universe to me. I never saw myself becoming a mother, but now that I have you... Well, I'd do anything to protect you,” Vin said. “Why don't you go down and play with the other kids?”


“I don't want to play, I want to fight like you and Daddy. I want to help, every time you go out there I'm afraid the bad guys will get you, and you won't come back,” Katie said.


“I know you want to help, but I don't want you to have to fight. I want to give you a better life than I had. One day I promise I'll teach you about your powers. Hopefully the bad guys will be gone by then.”


Her daughter still didn't look entirely happy about this answer. “Okay, since you promised. I think I'll go help Mr. O'Brien,” the little girl said before running back into the building. Vin followed, but took a different route, Galen wanted to talk to her.


Her husband was waiting for her in the living room of the family apartment, sitting on the couch. The furniture was not in the best shape and a mismatch of colors and patterns, purples, oranges, blues, and blacks. It was the best they could get under the circumstances. “Katie was on the roof again,” she said.


“She wants freedom, and to be useful, she's too much like us for her own good,” Galen mused.


“Tell me about it,” Vin perched on a plush purple chair, it was a habit most Mistborn had, “I just don't know what to do with her. At least she's got her interest in engineering to keep her busy.”


“Yes, about that, have you read the reports from O'Brien?” Galen asked. Miles O'Brien was a rather talented Federation engineer who handled most of the technical stuff for this resistance cell.


“It seems she has quite the aptitude for it, it's good that she'll have something to do once the war is over,” Vin said.


“Vin, honey, I know you're still pretty new to all this, but an almost six-year-old shouldn't be nearly as good with machines as our daughter is, now her high intelligence probably has a lot to do with it. Katie may even be a genius, but I think there's more to it than that,” Galen said, “Part of it may be a manifestation of her Force powers. There's a power called Mechu-deru that gives a Force User an intuitive understanding of machines, it's rare, but I think Katie has it.”


“And she's already snapped and burning trace Allomantic metals, as much as I don't want to, we're going to have to train her to use her skills properly. “I wanted to avoid getting her involved in the war, but it doesn't look like it's going to end any time soon. If only we could call in Trunks, he could blow the blockade away, and let Earth reconnect with the rest of the Federation, but he and Tali have their own timeline and family to take care of.”


“We'll have to make due without them. We really need to train Katie, as much as we don't want to. She'll probably end up more powerful than either of us. I can start her on basic Force training,” Galen said.


“I'll start her Allomancy training tomorrow night in the safe zone.”

 

Kathryn “Katie” Marek looked her droid friend up and down. He was a bit worse for wear. “Don't worry, PROXY, we'll get you fixed up no problem. “How'd you get so roughed up anyway?”


“I was helping Juno fight off some Imperials, Mistress, I got hit by a couple stray blaster bolts,” PROXY explained.


Katie chuckled slightly, “PROXY, I've told you, just call me Katie,” she placed a hand on the droid and immediately knew what was damaged ad how to fix it. She wasn't sure how she did it, but she was glad she could. “It doesn't look like anything too serious. We'll need to repair some circuits in your left arm and patch the holes, but that shouldn't take more than a few minutes.” Katie walked over to the toolbox to grab the required tools for the job passing Miles O'Brien who was working on another repair. It looked to be an older model of phaser, she'd have to ask about it when the repairs to PROXY were done.


“I hate to say it, but I don't know how I'd repair the droids if you weren't around, Katie. It's a bit embarrassing to know that a little kid does something better than you. Robotics never was my specialty, Geordi was the one who did all the maintenance on Data when I served aboard the Enterprise.” The Irishman was showing a little gray around the temples now that he was halfway through his fifth decade, but he still had plenty of life left in him.


“I'm glad I can help, Mr. O'Brien,” Katie said as she pulled a sonic driver out of the toolbox to begin the repairs on PROXY.


“I feel more like it's the other way around. Sure, I'm teaching you the tricks of the trade, but you've got a knack for this stuff like I've never seen. You're going to be one hell of an engineer when you grow up,” O'Brien said.


“I'm not sure I want to be an engineer,” Katie mused, “Sure I enjoy it, but I want to be like my mom and dad, out there fighting and protecting people.”


“There's no reason you can't do both, once this war with the Empire is over and you grow up a bit I'm sure Starfleet Academy would love to have you. You'll have to work hard, but if you play your cards right, I may even be one of your teachers.”


“Really, Mr. O'Brien?” Katie beamed at the possibility.


“Yeah, Lord knows I want to get back to my old life. I took a teaching job here on Earth after the Dominion War so I wouldn't have to fight anymore and then the Empire happened. We're lucky we haven't been overrun yet, we would have been if it weren't for heroes like Batman and the Flash, and the Digimon.”


“We'll win, the good guys always win in the stories.” Katie tinkered away at PROXY, putting the finishing touches on the repairs.


O'Brien gave her a sad smile. “I hope you're right, kid. We're almost done here, what do you say I make some hot chocolate, the old family recipe? Molly and Yoshi have been wanting to s you anyway.”


Katie's eyes lit up; she loved that homemade hot chocolate. “I'd have to ask my parents, first.”


“I can inform them, Mistress, I'm sure they will have no problem with you spending time with the O'Briens.” PROXY said.


“Thank you, so much, PROXY,” Katie squealed.

 

 

Katie stood on the roof of the apartment building with her mother. Apparently her mother had something special planned, Katie had a good idea what it could be, they were starting her Allomancy training, she was practically giddy with excitement.


“Hey, Katie, I've got some presents for you,” Vin said before tossing her daughter a drawstring pouch. Katie caught it deftly, though she might have used a bit of trace pewter to pull that off. It clinked and was heavy.


“A coin pouch? Isn't that kind of redundant in a city like this?” Katie still dutifully tied to her waist.


“A time may come when you find yourself not fighting in a city like this one and you'll need coins to use iron and steel to jump, not to mention having easy access to projectiles is always a good thing,” Vin said. “Now I know you've been dabbling with the metals, and we came out here to give you the proper training. You're going to need it, Thanks to those damn Yellow Lanterns he took over Palpatine found Scadrial, and well, he's been making a different kind of inquisitor now... The power that ring gave him makes taking him down an even more daunting task than it would have been, but it also gave him access to the Yellow Lantern Corps and their knowledge of the universe.”


Katie shuddered. She knew about Steel Inquisitors from her mother's stories of her home world, inhuman monsters with spikes shoved into their bodies that gave them Allomantic and Feruchemical powers. Hemalurgy was the most abominable of the Metallic Arts, it's power came with a gruesome cost: Human sacrifice.


“Shouldn't Sazed be able to take control of the new Inquisitors now that he's Harmony?” Katie asked.


“Normally, yes, but from what we can tell Palpatine is getting help from the Parallax entity to counteract that; a rig chose him practically as soon as the wormholes that connected that galaxy to the Milky Way and the Cosmere opened, the same with Vader. Since Sazed is new to his godly powers, he doesn't really have the experience to be able to fight off something like that. Plus, these new Steel Inquisitors are also Sith Acolytes, so they're more powerful than anything I faced back on Scadrial, and trust me, the ones the Lord Ruler made, and Ruin upgraded were bad enough. One day you may have to face one of these monsters and your father and I want to make sure you're ready.”


“Alright, Mom, you know more about then than I do,” Katie said.


“That's not the only gift I'm giving you,” Vin said as she held out what looked be a clothing box. Katie ran over and opened it. She pulled out a charcoal gray cloak. It was sewn together at the shoulders and cross the chest, but then turned into individual ribbons.


“A mistcloak? I thought I'd have to earn this somehow,” Katie said trying to hold back her excitement. She raised an eyebrow as her mother laughed. “What?”


“I said the same thing when Kelsier gave me mine. I also have this for you,” she handed Katie a vial of metals. Katie gulped it down as her mother stepped away.


“Couldn't we do this training in a holodeck?” Katie asked.


“We probably could, and future, more advanced lesson may even be in a holodeck for safety, considering that we have a limited amount of training space thanks to the Imperial occupation, but outdoor training is still the best option when possible. Especially since I'm not sure how well holodeck training will work with iron and steel. It may not work at all since the holodeck only creates facsimiles of matter that most likely wouldn't fool Allomantic senses,” Vin said, “Now pick a metal and burn it. I've only given you the metals that will be useful in combat to start you off, and even then, just the basic ones; I don't want to overwhelm you. We can deal with the others later.”


Katie nodded and did as she was told, reaching out mentally to one of the stores of metal stores she felt. She felt a burning in her chest, it wasn't uncomfortable though. She looked up at her mother who now seemed to be moving in slow motion. Panicked, Katie extinguished the metal. “What was that? Everything slowed down, Mom.”


“Bendalloy, the alloy of cadmium. Burning bendalloy pushes on time around the user, causing time to pass more quickly in a bubble roughly five feet across around them. Events outside the bubble appear to move much slower to someone inside. Cadmium does the opposite, and thus it isn't very useful unless you are in specific circumstances,” Vin said.


“That could be very useful, you could pepper an enemy with multiple bullets before they had time to react,” Katie mused.


Vin shook her head. “Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. Objects entering or exiting the bubble are thrown wildly off-course, most likely because different parts of the object are moving at different speeds during the transition,” Vin said, “In other words you can't really shoot coins or other solid projectiles out of them. If you were to use an Imperial blaster or other energy weapons though that would work because they function on different principles of physics.”


“I'm surprised you understand all this, Mom,” Katie said, “Scadrial was pretty primitive, right?”


Vin nodded. “Compared to Earth and all these other world, yes it was primitive. My time with the Legends of Tomorrow, and the years I've spent here on Earth forced me to adapt quickly to strange and advanced concepts. Your father, even with his rough upbringing knew a heck of a lot about technology than I did.”


“I guess I should pick a different metal now,” Katie said. She reached out to another metal and burned it. Suddenly everything became brighter. She looked up and the night sky seemed as bright as noon day. She could feel her clothes, well she could always feel them, but now she was keenly aware of how they were ill-fitting in places.


“What happened now?" Vin's voice seemed criminally loud now.


“It's bright and loud,” Katie said.


“That's tin, the internal physical Pulling metal. As you can see it greatly enhances your senses. Be careful not to flare it too much. It does some strange things to your body if you flare it too much. My friend Spook did that. Flaring metals stretches the body, and if you stretch things too far, they break, Tin is one of the slowest burning metals, so it's good to leave it on when you're out at night,” Vin said.


Katie nodded. Suddenly, her mother cried out. Katie was forced to cover her ears in pain. “What was that for?”


“With Allomancy and life there are consequences. A good part of surviving on the battlefield is keeping those consequences in mind. Tin enhances your senses to a great degree, but it comes at a price. A sudden loud noise or bright light can stun you. This is just a reminder to be careful.”


“Okay, Mom, I get it,” Katie said.


“Good, now you should be able to notice a kind of pairing between metals, find the one connected to tin and burn it,” Vin said.


Katie reached out to her metals and did as she was told. Her body felt more solid, her muscles strong and eager. It wasn't just her muscles though, everything about her body felt tougher. “This is pewter, right, Mom? It enhances your physical abilities.”


“That's right, now like I said Allomancy has consequences, what are pewter's?”


“Well, if you run out of pewter while carrying something heavy, you'd drop it and possibly hurt yourself. Pewter can also help you shrug off grievous wounds, but once you run out...”


“You know a lot already, Katie,” Vin mused.


“I pay attention to you and Dad.”


“Well, I suppose I don't need to tell you about copper, then?”


“No, Mom, Copper hides our Allomancy from Seekers, people wo burn bronze. Unless they Hemalurgically enhanced and are able to pierce Coppercoulds. Copperclouds also protect the Allomancer who generates them from emotional Allomancy.”


“That's my girl,” Vin said, smiling, “I'd run you through the finer points of iron and steel, but I have a meeting to attend, so we'll have to do that later.”


“I understand, Mom.”
 

Vin stepped into the conference room as Galen set up the holocall. One by one holographic images of people appeared. Vin counted them all. Captain America, Master Chief, Liara T'Soni and and Wonder Woman who were a couple, Tai Kamiya, Dawn Allen, Linda Park, Terry McGinnis, Martian Manhunter, Skystrike, the leader of the Cybertronian presence on Earth, and Sondar the leader of the Treens, a species native to Venus. Everyone was here, that was good, it meant nothing catastrophic had happened. Vin often wondered how many of these people actually belonged in the same time or even the same universe. This whole universe had been twisted by the Time Lords to turn humanity into a weapon they could use against their enemies, the Daleks in their Time War.


“Well everyone, how are things?' Galen asked.


“The Africa front is going well. Even after all this time the Imperials are using antiquated ground tactics. The white armor of the stormtoppers sticks out like a sore thumb. It makes it rather easy to pick the bastards off,” Master Chief said. Vin had never seen the man's face, he never took of his Spartan armor as far as she knew. He was a strange one.


“The Soviet front has stalled, unfortunately the Imperials are well-equipped for fighting in winter,” Captain America said.


“Don't worry, things in Japan are going great. They're just no match for Digimon,” Tai Kamiya said. The poor man was pushing ninety years old at this point and was still fighting on the front lines with his partner Digimon, Agumon. Vin had some serious respect for the man. “I've sent Rika and a couple others your direction, Cap. Make sure my wife comes back safe. Times like these, I'm glad our daughter moved to ARC3-US all those years ago to be with her now husband.” ARC3-US was the world that Pokémon were native to. Hanka Kamiya had moved there to be with Satoshi Ketchum, the son of Ash and Dawn Ketchum. The Pokémon had given the Empire enough trouble that the Empire had stopped trying to invade it.


“You and I both know she can handle herself,” Tai. Renamon would never let anything happen to her anyway” Captain America replied.


“Gotham's fallen, they haven't found the cave, and the subway systems mean we can keep up the fight, but it;s little more than an annoyance at this point,” Terry said.


“Well keep it up, the more forces they have to send here the better it is for the rest of the universe,” Vin said.


“We've managed to keep them away from the fields here in the Great Plains, so we should be able to keep providing you with grain,” Skystrike said.


“How are your Energon stores?” Galen asked.


“We could use another shipment if it can be managed,” the Maximal said.


“We can send a ship to Japan to get some and bring it to you,” Liara informed them.


“Venus is still fighting. We've done a lot to root out the lack of initiative since the Mekon was taken out of power. Plus it seems like the Empire considers us a low level threat compared to Earth and Mars,” Sondar said.


We Rangers have them pinned down on the West Coast of the US. Never thought, I'd be doing this. I just wanted to be a reporter, not a Ranger like my adoptive mother or grandparents,” Linda said. She then turned toward Dawn. “How are things in Europe?”


“Wally's fine, Linda, and we speedsters have been taking down Imperials left and right, with the help of normal resistance. I'll send someone to Gotham to help Terry out,” Dawn said.


“The Imperials have been sending more units to Mars, probably because of people like M'Gann and I, we're running low on supplies because of the more intense fighting.”


“We'll send a Conspiracy blockade runner, with more supplies,” Diana said.


“We're lucky Thrawn disappeared years ago or we'd be in a much worse spot,” Galen mused.


“What about you guys, anything to report in Philadelphia?” Master Chief asked.

"We've started to train Katie, as much as we hate to groom her for war," Vin said. “Unless there's anything that needs to be brought up we'll meet again next week.“

Has there been any word from the Doctor?" Liara asked.
"Last we heard he was looking for a way to enter Fluidic apace to try and get the Undine, Species 8472 to our side, " Galen said.






Katie sat down in the lotus position and closed her eyes as she listed to her father speak. “The Force is all around us. It is the energy field that binds the universe together. It has many names: The Seven Connective Energies, the Morphing Grid, some would even claim that it is a layer of subspace. It can be accessed and used in many different ways. We are Jedi. We tap into the Force in its purest form. It grants us many powers if we can use it properly. We meditate to make contact with it. Can you feel it, Katie?”


Katie took a deep breath and focused. She could feel it. It was hard to describe, it was like being connected to everything. She nodded slowly.


“Good, I have an exercise for you to help you develop your powers. Katie opened her eyes and saw her father holding something in his hand.


“An unsolved Rubik's Cube?” she asked.


“Your goal for right now, is to solve this cube with your eyes closed with the Force. This will help you focus and teach you finesse with your telekinesis. It won't be easy.”

 

 

Philadelphia, Earth, 2386:
 

Katie Marek, soon to be nine years old burned tin as she stood out in the hallway. Her parents were having a conversation that they likely didn't want her to hear. Tin's Allomantic power was to enhance the user's five basic senses, so with it she could hear what they were saying. Her parents were familiar with Allomantic tin, of course, they were both Mistborn. They probably just didn't expect her to spy on them.


“Vin,” her father Galen Marek, formerly known as Starkiller said, “We've gotten word from our Changeling informants inside the Empire. They say that Darth Vader is coming to Earth.”


“If the Dominion would send more than spies to help us we may won this war by now. Between the occupation, watching the Mutual Defense League on the borders, and the Rebel Alliance back in your home galaxy they're stretched thin. A major player like the Dominion taking action against them could be enough to turn the tide,” her mother growled. Katie wasn't an expert on astropolitics, but she had studied history as part of her education. The Dominion had once been an enemy of he Alpha and Beta Quadrant powers. They originated from the Gamma Quadrant and were originally discovered via a wormhole in the Bajoran system. It made sense that they would act against the Empire only in subtle ways they'd lost the war with GaTO, the Pact of the Raptor and Shield Alliance, and any power who could occupy those three wouldn't be someone they wanted to go toe to toe with.


“Can you blame them, we don't even have the Kryptonians and Tamaraneans anymore. The Empire is threatening to glass planets if they make a move; I wouldn't want to cross someone who willing to do that. We're lucky the Founders are doing this much, even with Odo's perspective they don't trust us 'solids',” Galen said.


“Maybe if someone other than that Dukat guy went, we could have gotten more out of them, but the Bajoran system is on lock down tighter than Earth because Sidious wants to study those Wormhole Aliens. From what I understand Odo had a soft spot for a particular Bajoran, but Dukat was the only person we could get access to who actually knew Odo,” Vin said.


“It went better than our overtures to the Mutual Defense League,” Galen mused, “but that's not surprising given who some of its members are.” The Mutual Defense League was the alliance of all the minor powers in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. It was led by the Continuum of Makers and the Grasskan Empire, but given the threat of the Galactic Empire even the Tholians and the Empire of Kahless had joined. They were likely hoping the insurgency would defeat or weakened them enough that the League could finish them off without spending too much blood and treasure.


“You know we have to strike when he arrives. It has to be one of us, we're the only ones who stand a chance against him with that damn Red Lantern Ring. I do have a score to settle with him...”


“No, it should be me, you know more about the Empire than just about anyone on Earth,” Vin said, “I'll do it.” Katie gasped. Her mother stepped out of the room and smiled. “You're just like me, always sneaking around, eavesdropping. How about we do some training?” Her mother led her to the roof.

 

Katie stood on the roof across from her mother. She knew this training was simply a way to distract her from what she had heard about her mother's upcoming mission, but Katie couldn't help but get excited. Training meant being outside, it meant freedom. Not to mention the chance to learn Allomancy from one of the greatest Mistborn in history, probably the greatest, if you left out the Lord Ruler because of his special circumstances.


Katie watched quizzically as her mother unclipped one of her shotos from her belt and tossed it to her. “Mom, a lightsaber?”


“Give me everything you've got, kiddo, Allomancy and the Force, even lightsaber combat. I want to see what you can really do. You're my daughter, I think you can handle a little all out sparring. I'm sure your Dad has trained you just as well in the Force as I have Allomancy.”


“You don't think you're going to come back from fighting Darth Vader, do you?” Katie asked. Force powers were usually banned from their Allomancy training, other than small bits of practice combining singular aspects. Something was different tonight.


“Honestly sweetie, it's very likely that I will die. Fighting an experienced Sith is one thing, if they were just a Sith my Allomancy would give me a large physical advantage. Darth Vader is more than a Sith now, though, he's a Red Lantern, and that makes him far more powerful and dangerous.”


“Why do you have to be the one to fight him, Mom? Why not one of the Digimon, or one of the speedsters? They're more powerful than you or Dad,” Katie said.


“They have more power, that's true,” her mother admitted, “but they aren't as well-equipped to fight this enemy as your father and I or even you are. Tell me, Katie how do Lanterns use the power of their rings?”


“Emotion and imagination,” Katie said.


“That's right, which means we can use our Emotional Allomancy to weaken their constructs or in extreme cases stop them from using their ring,” Vin said, “but as Jedi we also have tutaminis, which will allow us to absorb energy blasts form the rings, or again weaken constructs, though we'd have to touch them in that case. Just don't try to use tutaminis with a Red Lantern, their constructs and blasts are made of highly corrosive blood that can burn through anything.”


Katie understood all of that, but logic wasn't what she needed right now. Tears began to roll down her cheeks. “I don't want you to go, Mom. I'm scared. I don't want to lose you. Stay with me and Dad, please.”


Vin placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders and made Katie look her in the eyes. “Katie, believe me, if I had a choice, I wouldn't do this. I'd love nothing more than to stay with you and your father. I love you more than anything in the universe, but that's why I have to do this. Darth Vader is going to come for us first. If dying is what it takes to keep that monster from you then I've made peace with that. I've already died once. I'm not afraid of it; in a way I've been on borrowed time since I appeared on the Waverider.” They'd never managed to figure out who had brought her back to life and put her on the time ship of the Legends of Tomorrow, the leading theory was Q.


“But I need you, Mom,” Katie pleaded.


Vin smiled. “I'll always be with you, sweetie, no matter what happens. Even if I don't make it back, I know the cause is still in good hands because you'll be here to continue the fight. You have the potential to be more powerful than me or your father, especially when you combine Allomancy and the Force. You're the backup plan, well half of it.”


“Half?” Katie asked.


“I can't tell you about that yet. Your father is dealing with that part. Now, let's spar.” Katie fought back tears at the fact that her parents were putting so much faith in her. She activated her mother's lightsaber eagerly, but with the reverence due the weapon. The blade was short, the lightsaber equivalent of a dagger. In the stories of her home world of Scadrial her mother had explained that glass daggers were the go to close range weapons for a Mistborn, because they couldn't be affected by Allomancy. Naturally her mother had gone back to a familiar style when constructing her lightsabers, even if with their metal hilts they were vulnerable to any Coinshots or Lurchers the Galactic Empire could conjure up.


The blade was a blue-white color. As far as Katie knew, these were the only lightsabers in the universe to ever be this color. That had to do with their unique focuses. Instead of using a Force attuned crystal like most lightsabers, at the heart of her mother's shotos were beads of Lerasium.


Lerasium was the God Metal of Preservation, one of the Shards of Adoalsium, and one of the two that had created Scadrial. Preservation was the source of all Allomancy. While it and Ruin had been combined by her mother's friend Sazed he had been able to gift her these beads for her shotos. As such using these weapons had the bonus effect of enhancing one's Allomancy.


A bead of Lerasium had given her father the powers of a Mistborn back when her parents worked with the Legends. Her family had a long history with this metal, and to Katie its light felt warm and accepting of her. She switched the blade into a mode made for sparring, it would only sting instead of removing body parts. Her mother did the same. Katie began burning her combat metals and copper to hide her Allomancy. That was paramount the Galactic Empire had taken Scadrial and through cloning had Allomancers and Feruchemists of their own, including Seekers. Mistings who could burn bronze and detect the Allomancy of others.


Not that the copper was a one hundred percent solution, with Hermalurgy and infinite clone stock they could create Allomancers that could pierce copperclouds. Her mother used to have a Hemalurgic spike in the form of an earring that let her do it. Still, any protection was better than no protection.


As one mother and daughter SteelPushed off the metal roof of the building and into the air. Translucent blue lines of varying thickness surrounded Katie pointing from her chest to sources of metal, and in a city like Philadelphia those lines were myriad. Most Allomancers would have had trouble distinguishing one line from another in the tangle, but her parents had mastered it, and Katie had be raised in this city and trained by them, so she had no trouble. In a city like this a Mistborn never needed to touch the ground so long as they had iron, steel, and pewter. Katie and her mother rushed at each other using SteelPushes, their shotos clashing. With this much metal around and the right SteelPushes and IronPulls, it was easy to use the more acrobatic moves of Form Iv: Ataru, the style of lightsaber combat they both favored, even in midair.


The ensuing acrobatic dance would have impressed just about anyone if they'd been able to see it. Neither one could score a hit on the other, not that that meant much, her mother was clearly holding back. That made sense though, this was a test to see what Katie could do. If her mother went full bore, she wouldn't stand a chance, and so accurately gauging her current skill would be impossible.


Suddenly, Vin disengaged and took off like a shot. She wants me to chase her. Katie followed using her iron and steel to move quickly through the cityscape, it was a lot like the horseshoe trick her mother had used to quickly get back to Luthadel for a major battle. Her mother saw her coming up behind and let loose a hail of coins. Katie knew of course that she was in no real danger. Her mother would never allow the coins to actually hit her. This was just a test to see how she would deal with the attack. She couldn't Push on them, iron and steel were all about weight, and her mother obviously weighed more than her. Even if she anchored herself to a building as a way to increase her Pushing strength her mother could do the same, canceling it out. She could dodge it with her Allomancy, but she had a feeling that wasn't what her mother had in mind.


She reached out her hand and pushed on the coins with the Force. It stopped their momentum, sending her mother flying backward. Since the coins could no longer move, the SteelPush moved her instead. Her mother had the ability to overpower Katie's Force Push if she really wanted to, but that would likely make the coins too fast to stop and kill Katie.


Both of them stopped their Pushes and the coins clattered to the ground. Her mother rushed her, and they engaged in another flurry of lightsaber combat. Katie let a small growl of fustration. This wasn't going to get her anywhere. Her mother was too good, and midair lightsaber combat was alien to her. The forms were optimized for having your feet planted firmly on the ground. Katie extinguished her tin, and burned duralumin, Pushing off a building behind her. Duralumin was a powerful metal; one her mother had discovered. It consumed any other metal you were burning all at once for a massive flare of power. That was why she had extinguished her tin before using it: to avoid sensory overload. With the Push she shot off at tremendous speed past her mother. Katie downed another vile of metals, even as the force of her Push felt like it was going to tear her apart. She reflexively burned iron, steel, pewter, and copper, With iron and steel he kept herself aloft and breathed a sigh of relief. If she hadn't been quick enough that could have ended badly. Without the durability boost from pewter... No, Mom would have saved me. Her mother was no doubt worried about her, so she signaled she was fine, and ready to continue. She'd probably still get an earful when they were done.


Katie took off using iron and steel again, this time her mother was trailing her. The pair tried pelting each other with loose objects, with both Allomancy and the Force, but both of then were skilled enough the attacks.


Katie dove toward the ground, her mother following. Landing lithely on her feet she got into a lightsaber stance. Not Ataru which she was most familiar. No, this time Katie took on the stance of Form II: Makashi, the form that was most like Earth fencing.


Her mother came in for an attack and using the deft bladework of Makashi Katie parried. With the short length of the shoto's blade her technique was far more like knife fighting than classical fencing, but it was also worlds away from the acrobatic Ataru her opponent had been expecting. Her mother seemed to be taken off-guard by her sudden shift in style, but she was far too experienced to let Katie take advantage.


“You switched lightsaber styles to throw me off,” Vin said, “Clever girl, but it's going to take a lot more than that to beat me.” Despite all the exertion neither one of them was winded. Jedi were made of sterner stuff than normal humans, and with pewter's enhancements on top of that. Well, they could keep going for some time.


“You shouldn't be surprised, Mom,” Katie said with a chuckle, “Dad trained you in all the forms too.”


“You've got a point,” Vin said, “I just didn't think you were comfortable enough with the other forms to actually employ them in combat. Now, let's continue, I'm not done testing you yet.”


The pair moved apart and got into their stances, both Ataru this time. Now that they were on the ground they could employ the full range of the style's acrobatic movements. With, the Force, pewter, and the boost from a lerasium shoto each they were literal blurs of motion as they attacked, dodged, and counted each other's strikes. Katie was reaching her limit though, and she knew it and so did her mother. You could only push a human body this far for so long. Sure, pewter dragging was a thing, but afterwards you were so wrecked you could barely move, if you were lucky. Not to mention most Mistborn or Thugs weren't also using the Force to push their body even harder. If she was going to win this she'd have to try a different approach.


She focused on the Force and expelled it out violently in a Force Repulse, a technique her father favored. and one she also had an affinity for. Her mother was shoved backward several feet, but thinks to the improved balance and durability pewter provided she remained standing. In response Katie felt the shoto ripped from her hand. That wouldn't happen if the hilt were aluminum. Then her mother shot a torrent of lighting from her fingers. The sudden light was blinding to Katie's tin enhanced senses.


The pain in her eyes stunned her, but she reflexively burned benalloy. That made time pass faster in a bubble around her, giving her more time to react to the lightning. She still couldn't see, but that wasn't a problem. As Jedi were fond of saying your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them. She stuck her hand out, trusting in the Force to guide her. She felt the lightning make contact and absorbed it with tutaminis. When the attack finally stopped Katie extinguished her bendalloy, her eyes recovering.


“I give,” she said, puffing, “stopping the lightning really took it out of me.”


“But you managed to stop it, which is impressive. Your father has done a good job training you in your Force powers. Not that I expected anything less,” her mother said smiling.


“Not good enough, I still can't use Force Lightning,” Katie said sourly.


Vin put a hand on her shoulder. “You just haven't had the right emotional trigger, sweetie. In a war like this it's only a matter of time before you find it, sadly. My first time using Force Lightning was when the Legends went to Scadrial and your father was nearly killed by a Steel Inquisitor. I roasted that bastard.”


“I guess you're right,” Katie said. She tried to put some enthusiasm into her voice, but failed so I was clear how much she doubted that.


“I know I'm right,” her mother said, “Now let's go home. We could both use some rest.”

 

Galen Marek relaxed slightly as he finally found what he was looking for. He'd hoped that he would never have to use this, but right now it was looking like they didn't have much choice. In his hand was a temporal communicator that could plug into his omni-tool. This was a device created by the Doctor as the Legends of Tomorrow, a group he'd put together to fight Faction Paradox. parted ways so they could contact each other if they ever needed help. Some members were harder to contact than others.


Galen pressed a few buttons on the device. He just hoped the person he was trying to call would pick up. It took a few moments, but a holographic image of Rip Hunter was projected from the top of the device. “Galen? What can I do for you?” Rip asked.


“Things have gone pretty bad in the time period that Vin and I are in. Earth is being occupied by the Galactic Empire from my galaxy. We're still fighting on, but things aren't looking good. We're trying to hedge our bets. If things go bad here... well, we're worried about what that would do to Blackarachnia and Silverbolt's timeline.”


Rip nodded. “What can I do to help you?”


“Do you still have those 3-D schematics you made of Trunks' time machine? If we can duplicate that we can send somebody back in time and prevent this whole mess from happening. We'd ask Trunks directly, but with him and Tali being in another timeline makes them much harder to contact than you,” Galen said.


“I could bring the Waverider to your time period, and help you handle this directly,” Rip offered.


Galen shook his head. “I wouldn't dare ask you to do that. It's too risky. If the Empire got their hands on the Waverider the results would be catastrophic,” Galen said.


“I understand, I'll transmit you those plans,” Rip said. A few minutes later the data for the plans were downloaded to Galen's omni-tool and the call ended.


Soon Vin walked into the apartment carrying a sleeping Katie in her arms. “Rough training session?” Galen asked.


“No, she just pushed herself really hard.” Vin placed Katie on the couch and pulled a blanket over her, “She's got more potential than I realized. Did you get the data?”


“Rip came through, now it's just a matter of building the thing. I'll get our best engineers on it.”


“It's going to need a code name or something to keep the Empire from finding out about it, and make sure they add a Flux Capacitor or the thing won't do us any good, ” Vin said. A Flix Capicitor was a piece of technology that allowed a time traveler to overwrite a timeline rather than just creating a new one, something Trunks hadn't known about before he joined the Legends.


“I already have that covered. I took a name from Earth's Greek mythology: Project Atlas. Atlas was a Titan who stopped the celestial sphere from touching the Earth by holding it on his shoulders, much like Katie will have to do if she goes back in time.”

 

Katie stepped into the docking bay and shipyards for the local branch of the insurgency. She wandered toward a certain ship, the Rogue Shadow. It was her father's ship from back when he served Darth Vader, it had briefly belonged to her Aunt Juno back when her parents were with the Legends and everyone in his home galaxy thought he was dead.


Speaking of her Aunt Juno she stepped out of the ship with PROXY following close behind. Katie was very close to the beautiful blonde woman, they weren't actually blood related, but they were very much family in all ways that mattered. Katie was even named for the woman, her middle name, Eclipse, was Juno's last name. “Mistress, what brings you here?” PROXY asked.


Katie gave the holodroid a weak smile. “Hi, PROXY, I need to talk to Aunt Juno for a bit,” she said.


Juno led her into the ship and they sat down in the pilot and co-pilot's chairs. “What's wrong, Katydid?” Juno asked in in accent that on Earth was considered British and addressing Katie by hr personal nickname for her.


“My mom is going to fight Darth Vader,” Katie said. She tried to keep her voice level, but failed. Her emotions were boiling over. She was normally a happy child so her somberness was obvious.


Juno nodded slowly. “I've seen firsthand how powerful and ruthless Darth Vader can be. I can understand why you're worried. Especially with the bastard being more powerful than ever. I wouldn't give up hope yet though, Katydid, your mother is one of the best fighters I've ever met. If anyone can put Vader down, it's her or your father.”


“I don't want her to go, I love her. I don't want her to die,” Katie plead hoping that someone could talk her mother out of this course of action.


“I understand your feelings, Katydid, and I'm sure your mom does too, but she's doing what she feels is best. There's no talking her out of something once she's set her mind to it.”


Katie felt a flash of irrational anger. No one wanted to help keep her mom alive. “Maybe you want my mom to die so you can get back together with my dad!” She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. Her Aunt Juno's previous relationship with her father was no secret, and had initially caused some friction between Juno and her mother, but they'd long since buried the hatchet and become best friends.


Katie started to apologize, but Juno stopped her. “You're scared, emotions are running high. You're bound to say things you don't mean. Besides, it's a fair question. The truth is that I have no desire to get back together with your father. True, I loved him once, part of me still does, but I thought he was dead for years before Mavick showed up, and once I found the real Galen he was already with your mom. What I'm saying is I got over him a long time ago.”


Katie shuddered at the mention of Mavick. The insane clone of her father made by Darth Vader who posed as her father to get into Juno and PROXY's good graces. He'd come to Earth to kill her father and failed, dying in the attempt. Katie had been two at the time so she didn't remember, but she knew the story.


Wanting to get off such dark topics, Katie changed the subject. “So, what are you doing to the Rogue Shadow? You just did a maintenance check.”


At the mention of working on the ship Juno brightened. “Oh, we managed to cobble together an interphase cloaking device. PROXY and I were installing it. These Milky Way engineers are geniuses. A cloak that not only hides the ship but also puts it out of phase so it can pass through solid objects, and can't be hit by weapons fire even if detected. With this the Rogue Shadow can leave the system with impunity.”


Katie listened with rapt attention. She'd always been interested in starships, and the Rogue Shadow in particular was close to her heart because of its history with her family. “With all the upgrades you've given it, it's almost an entirely different ship in terms of its systems.”


Juno laughed. “That's what happens when you have the technology of two galaxies to play with. I wish she'd had all this stuff back when I was piloting for your father. Tell you what, Katydid, when you're older I'll teach you how to fly her.”


Katie beamed. “Really?”


“Yeah, as Galen's daughter, you're the rightful heir to the ship.”

 

 

Executor, Entering Sol System:
 

Darth Vader sat in his meditation chamber, focusing on the Force. Doing so had been more difficult after the Red Lantern Ring had chosen him, as the excess rage had clouded his mind, but he had long since mastered it, as a proper Sith should. They would soon be approaching Earth. Vader had been tasked by the Emperor to eliminate the resistance there, and he would do so, but he had an ulterior motive.


He could sense three Jedi on the planet: His old apprentice, the woman the clone had said he'd taken as a mate in the reports, and their daughter. All three also possessed the power of Allomancy native to the planet Scadrial, though his old apprentice had acquired it by some unknown means. For that matter it was unclear how they had even gotten to Earth. Scdrial hadn't even developed primitive spaceflight when the Empire invaded the planet, and his apprentice had been thought killed on the Death Star before the clone sensed him.


The combination of Allomancy and the Force was powerful, perhaps powerful enough for what he needed. It was time for his master to die. It was the way of the Sith, the student always killed the master, if the student failed a new one was chosen.


Vader knew he could not fight the Emperor alone. He had tried shortly after this ring had chosen him, and he had failed miserably. The Emperor had a ring of his own. A Yellow Ring fueled by the fear he generated in others. That combined with his might in the Force had been enough to cow Vader for a time, but he still chafed under his master's rule. So he would do as he had done only once before and take an apprentice of his own. His old apprentice and his mate were out of the question, they would never join, but the child... he sensed much untapped potential in the child.



 

Philadelphia, Earth:
 

Vin watched from a safe distance as the new Imperial forces landed. Stormtroopers began to file out, but that wasn't what she was here for. The rest of the insurgents here would take care of them. No, she had a much more important target to deal with. Slowly, menacingly, Darth Vader stalked down the ramp.


Vin had seen pictures Vader before and heard stories from Galen. The Sith did look imposing, and his sheer aura was oppressive, but she'd faced worse. She'd once fought thirteen Steel Inquisitors, one Sith, Lantern or no Lantern shouldn't be a problem.


I had the mists then. It was important she stayed on guard. She had the Force to go along with her Allomancy now, but the odds were she wasn't going to make it out of this fight. She certainly wouldn't if she were overconfident. She'd left instruction that if she died her mistcloak and shotos were to be delivered to Katie no matter what.


She took a deep breath and stepped forward, igniting her shotos and burning her metals. In addition to the standard combat oriented metals Vin also burned brass and directed it at Vader, Soothing his rage. This would make his Lantern Ring less effective, weakening his constructs and other abilities. It would also weaken his Force powers as the Dark Side was fueled by emotions like rage. Darth Vader had lucked into some impressive synergy there.


Vin stepped forward defiantly and Vader spotted her immediately. For a moment all that could be heard was the sound of his respirator. “You must be my old apprentice's mate. I have no interest in you. Where is your daughter?”


Vin paled. He's here for Katie. “You won't touch her!” Vin snapped.


“You underestimate the power of the Dark Side,” Vader said igniting his lightsaber. The pair took off into the sky, Vader under the power of his Red Lantern Ring, and Vin with her Allomancy. 

[Callisto]

Learn More About
Vin
Read more about Vin at Wikipedia
Official Site: Brandon Sanderson Links: Wikipedia The Final Empire wiki Allomantic powers

Darth Vader
Read more about Darth Vader at Wikipedia
Official Site: Lucasfilm, LTD Links: Wikipedia: Darth Vader The Star Wars Wiki: Darth Vader Starwars.com: Darth Vader

[Nesh]

Sorry guys, I know that's a lot to read and take in.

[SSJRuss]

Love the lore of your universe and stepping back into Vin and Galen's life. I love their little family.

Great writing and the fight feels natural to the narrative. I think this is one of those instances where the hero loses in round one though. Vin has what it takes to keep Vader at bay, even overwhelm him a little. But I think Vader's rage will get better of her and she'll either be defeated or be forced to flea.

Sorry to say Vin, but Vader might have this.

[Nesh]

5 hours ago, SSJRuss said:

Love the lore of your universe and stepping back into Vin and Galen's life. I love their little family.

Great writing and the fight feels natural to the narrative. I think this is one of those instances where the hero loses in round one though. Vin has what it takes to keep Vader at bay, even overwhelm him a little. But I think Vader's rage will get better of her and she'll either be defeated or be forced to flea.

Sorry to say Vin, but Vader might have this.

I mean, not that the vote is really that important in this case, but Vin has powers that can mitigate Vader's anger, specifically brass, something I called out in story, about emotional Allomancy being a somewhat effective counter to Lantern Rings.  Combining it with duralumin can just make him feel numb inside.  How it all ended when I wrote the fight was that Vin did just that momentarily shutting down his Red Lantern powers and stunning him, she then zapped him with Force Lightning, but he used the last of his strength to snap her neck with the Force.  Basically, it ended in a draw.