Jump 171: Star Wars: The Original Trilogy

Jump 171: Star Wars: The Original Trilogy

Location: Mos Eisley, Tattooine
Age: 22
Identity: [-200] Force Sensitive Drop-In
Drawbacks: [+300] Return Of The Jumper, Frozen Work Of Art

[Free]      Less Than 12 Parsecs
[100/1100]  Can't We Convince You To Stay?
[300/1100]  He's Dead Right?
[500/1100]  I've Altered The Deal
[900/1100]  You Will Join The Right Side
[1100/1100] Tutaminis

"There are not enough words for how much I hate this place. Tattooine. I hate the desert. I hate the Tuskens. I hate the sand itself."
"Quite, it's coarse, it's rough, it gets into everything. We'll be getting sand out of our garments months from now. So tell me, Anakin, why did you have me meet you here?"
Anakin Skywalker, the Jedi Exile who chose his wife over the Jedi Order, smiled at his former brother-in-arms, initially clasping hands with the armor-clad figure before pulling him into a hug. The smile on the face of Obi-Wan Kenobi matched his own. "A promise to keep to an old friend," came the exile's reply.
Kenobi snorted, trying to avoid laughter; they were already sticking out too much in Mos Eisley, drawing more attention would be best avoided. "Oh, so he's a friend now, is he?"
Anakin rolled his eyes. "Well, he stopped me from making some stupid decisions in hindsight. And saved my mother from the Tuskens after she was captured, even if he wiped all of that tribe out. More importantly, it's probably our best path to upsetting the Emperor's rule."
A look of distaste crossed Kenobi's face. "I've been on Tattooine enough to know that the sand people are murderously xenophobic. I may not be able to condone it, but they would never have let her leave alive. But let's speak of brighter matters, perhaps over a drink before you tell me your plan?"
Anakin grinned. "Oh, it's a Skywalker plan, as you used to say, so there's not much to tell."
"...oh dear."

Six hours later, the two of them stood outside the burning rubble of Jabba the Hutt's former palace. A third stood nearby, shivering, but stoic despite the perceived cold.
Obi-Wan muttered under his breath, "Yes. A Skywalker plan. How could I forget."
"Hey, I TRIED to negotiate! It's not my fault that Jabba doesn't repay his debts. Saved the slug's kid, what does that get me? A trip to the karking rancor pit," Anakin groused. "How he managed to destroy my ship, I'll never know."
The third of their group coughed, before commenting in a rapsy voice, "I may know of someone we can hire. I may have been... frozen... but that doesn't mean I was not paying attention."
---
On the trip back, Anakin was busy filling in the Sith Terminarch of what had transpired over the course of the last half-dozen years. The Clone Wars had drawn to a conclusion before then, but there was much more. The Jedi Enclaves, across three different planets, had ideological differences and each had split from the others. And of course they were still trying to avoid the notice of the Empire, though occasional defectors made that difficult to say the least. The Inquisitors that worked under Darth Vader were a frightening opponent under the best of conditions.

There was brighter news; Obi-Wan was technically a Mandalorian, hence the armor, and was the clandestine consort of its ruler. Mandalore was itself neutral, if only because they would make the Empire bleed too much to make a forceful subjugation worthwhile. Anakin and Padme may have only had two children, but both were gifted in the Force and were quite powerful and frightfully smart. Leia was active with the Rebellion, while Luke tended to go where the Force dictated as a troubleshooter in between helping the rebels. Padme was doing well, still serving as a senator who was above suspicion due to being from Emperor Palpatine's home world, but also helping the Rebel Alliance on the side. Though sadly Anakin's mother had passed a few years prior. And that, unexpectedly to the Jedi, made the Sith flinch and look away.

Perplexed, the Jedi Exile asked, "What? She lived a full life, and a happy one ever since she attained her freedom when I was a child."

The Terminarch smiled sadly, shaking his head a bit, a realization having struck him. "Oh, Anakin... Shmi never told you what happened to your father."

At first he looked confused, then annoyed. "She told me enough," he answered. "She told me there was no father."

Gently, the Sith responded, "No, Anakin. I am your father."

"That's not true... that's impossible," he spluttered.

"Search your feelings," he answered, even as his face began to shift. "You know it to be true."

Obi-Wan remained silent, looking between the two, eyes widening. The Sith's features shifted; red faded to a pale color, his distinctive facial tendrils disappearing. Leaving a face that both Jedi had seen a hundred thousand times before. A face that only now was Obi-Wan realizing bore a strong resemblance to Anakin Skywalker. The same face that every clone from Kamino wore. The same shape, but in a youthful human instead of the crimson skin of an old man. And the Force practically sang with the revelation, even if there was an underlying feeling of this being a cliche, somehow.

The three were silent for several long moments, before the silence was broken once more by the Sith. The words from his mouth the last thing anyone would have expected from a Sith.

"I'm sorry," he spoke, before taking a few long moments to compose himself. "It wasn't safe for me to do more than win your mother's freedom and see to her security... and by the time I realized I had a son, it would have been far worse for me to interfere in your life."

"Oh, no, that would have gone swimmingly," came the blithe comment from Obi-Wan. "I can just imagine it now. 'By the way, Masters, the student I shall train is half Sith.' The Jedi Council would have simultaneously combusted."

The three of them grinned, before the mood sobered a bit again. Anakin looked surprisingly fragile, before his father reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I always tried to watch over Shmi when I could, and I have no doubt that your mother was proud of you in her every moment." He paused, withdrawing his hand, shaking his head a small bit. "I have no right to interfere in your life, and frankly it may be too dangerous for anyone beside the three of us to know about this. But you've grown into a fine man, Anakin Skywalker, as I always knew you would. I know we're not far from Naboo now, but until we get there... will you tell me more of my grandchildren?"
---
The three force-sensitive individuals shuddered simultaneously as the Force radiated a massive wave of fear and pain. Any conversation they were having ground to a halt.

"I sense a great disturbance," Obi-Wan muttered.

The Sith spoke next. "I don't suppose that, while I've been spending my hours as modern art, that the Empire has constructed anything particularly insane? Such as a world cracker?"

Anakin shook himself from his reverie before he answered, "Yes. They call it the Death Star, behind closed doors."

The Sith swore, a muttering of words in a dead language. "I would hazard a guess that this is what just happened."

When their ride exited hyperspace, they found an asteroid field rather than a placid emerald jewel waiting for them. And a moon-sized battlestation. This ended predictably; the freighter was captured, its occupants hiding from the stormtroopers until they could lower the Death Star's shields.

The only twist was Anakin realizing his wife was being held prisoner as a Rebel spy, having been intercepted with the plans to the Death Star in the aims of taking them to the Rebel Alliance. Unfortunately, her status as a senator helped nothing as the imperial senate had just been dissolved.

Naturally, a plan was hatched to free her. Naturally, a Skywalker plan. Naturally, this ended up spiralling out of control, although everyone fled the Death Star intact.

Everyone, that is, but the Sith Terminarch, who was last seen facing off against the force of nature that was the black armor clad form of Darth Vader.

It was a somber crew that ended up fleeing to the Rebel base on Yavin IV, where they provided the plans and aimed at taking down the Death Star. And though there were some casualties, eventually the Rebel pilots - led by Anakin's son, in fact - were able to destroy the space station. The only apparent survivor was seemingly Darth Vader, whose distinctive variant TIE fighter sped away from the battle station rather than joining the fight. Fleeing directly toward the Rebel base itself, as a matter of fact, at a breakneck pace that none of the attacking fighters could intercept.

When it reached the base, it dodged all the defensive fire that was thrown at it, instead landing in the hangar... where it was confronted with a whole army's worth of firepower pointed at the cockpit. But when it opened... a durasteel helmet was thrown out, having been slashed into two pieces, all the distinctive signs of a lightsaber having done the deed. A grinning red-skinned man leapt out shortly after, the Rebels all breathing a sigh of relief and lowering their weapons.

"Ladies and gentlemen," spoke the Sith Terminarch, "Lord Vader sends his regrets, as he won't be able to attend life today."
---
The Sith joined the Rebel Alliance, as did the crew of the ship that had gotten them safely away from not only Tattooine but the Death Star. A Corellian and a Wookiee, both who found that the Rebels were willing to pay surprisingly well for useful talents. And despite this, the Rebels met with unexpected problems. The Empire had an iron grip on the Holonet after all, and it was not easy to distribute positive propaganda as widely as they did.

Especially when Darth Vader was out there searching for them, and more specifically for the pilot and Jedi Knight that had managed to destroy the Death Star.

Now, the Rebels were quite certain he was dead. They had his body and armor, though his face was rendered unrecognizably scorched due to how he died. And yet there he stood. The possibility came about that he might be an impostor, but the current Vader seemed to act and fight absolutely identically to the one who had been slain.

The answer to this riddle was found during an attempted capture of both of Anakin's children at Cloud City - not only was the attempt unsuccessful, but it  saw the end of Vader (again) via decapitation thanks to the twins' teamwork. And the answer was surprising: Vader was a clone. Examination of his corpse showed it identical, down to the fingerprints.

"Wait, that doesn't make sense, clones go mad if they're Force-sensitive," Obi-Wan Kenobi observed once the body had been delivered to them for verifiication. "He should have been an out of control animal, slaughtering his own men as often as... oh."

Anakin Skywalker had more to weigh in with; "The suits were carefully constructed. They breathe for him, they dose him with mind altering substances, they're made to cause constant suffering to whoever is wearing it. They practically reek of the Dark Side, so there's probably Sith alchemy involved. But at least this time we got to see the face of Darth Vader."

Mace Windu, long thought dead after a confrontation in the Supreme Chancellor's office - one that happened mere minutes after Order 66 was issued, and hours before his ascent to self-proclaimed Emperor.
---
There was once a man who compared history to poetry - it rhymes, he said. Whether or not that is true, it proved itself somewhat, with the discovered construction of a second Death Star. And so in what was likely the most audacious plan ever made, a Rebel cell was inserted onto Endor to create an opening while the Skywalkers (plus a few friends) permitted their capture.

The Emperor, being absolutely and completely intoxicated on ̶m̶i̶d̶i̶c̶h̶l̶o̶r̶i̶a̶n̶s̶ the Dark Side, took this opportunity to bring the captured Jedi to his throne room aboard the fully-operational battlestation. His goal? To seduce them to the Dark Side, to use them to subvert what Jedi he could and forcibly retire those he could not. After all, with the raw power of the Skywalker bloodline in the father and twins, the hidden passions of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the wisdom of Grandmaster Yoda, and the lost knowledge that the Sith Terminarch held... they would be unstoppable.

"The alternate, of course, would be... unfortunate," Palpatine spoke, before giving the order to demonstrate the firepower of his fully armed and operational battlestation. And so the Rebel fleet that had arrived with intentions of ambushing and destroying the Death Star found itself besieged on all sides, their retreat cut off, though as they fought the Imperial fleet they fought bravely.

"Understand now, I do," Yoda spoke, eyes opening as a revelation came to him. "Darth Vader. Clones, they were." And rather than an answer, the Emperor gave a sickly gleeful grin; a second Darth Vader came in from a lift as if on cue, a third from the lift on the opposite side of the room. And Yoda continued, looking at the assorted crimson-clad guards throughout the room, "Clones they ALL are."

The yellowed grin looked as though it would split Palpatine's face. He snapped his fingers, and the Vaders removed their helmets. At the same time, all of the guard also reached up to unsnap their helmets. Some set them down, while others tossed them to the side; one threw it at Anakin. They all glared, with expressions that ranged from annoyed to amused to outright murderous.

"He really was my master work," Palpatine confessed, as all two dozen lit crimson lightsabers. "Master Windu, the incorruptible, the paragon of the Jedi order, who could touch the dark side and master it to fight as no other. A man who loved no one, not even the Jedi Order, so much as he loved his precious Republic. He swore that nothing could destroy that link, that he would never fall. But oh, did I prove him wrong. Over, and over, and over."

As the Vaders advanced, and the Jedi lit their sabers to fend them off, the Terminarch walked through the fight that began to engage the Emperor in dialog. "I must be honest, that truly is some groundbreaking work you've done. I saw how you constructed their suits, I hadn't seen their like since the era of the New Sith Wars. And now to hear you're rejecting the heresy of Darth Bane... that's simply logical. Honestly, there is only one question that even comes to mind at the moment."

Palpatine smiled, inclined his head to acknowledge what he thought of as a compliment, only to hear something that chilled his bones:

"Tell me, have you ever heard the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Unwise?"

As the red-skinned man told him of the tragedy, from start to finish, the Emperor grew increasingly more angry. Beyond them, the Jedi fought the clones; flashes of red clashing with blue and green and gold. Every last detail of how his master had been set up to fail, how the Great Plan had been weakened, how the sabotage ensured that the Clone Wars put the Empire in a quagmire that weakened it in its infancy. And that brought them to now; with a calm Sith from the ancient days telling the man who thought he was the apex of the Sith that not only had this all taken place by his own design, but that the only reason he was telling him any of this was because it was inevitable.

"I wish I could hate you to death," Palpatine spoke, before he raised his hands and lightning poured forth. The Sith Terminarch was launched across the room, a cackling Palpatine shouting, "Oh wait, I can!"

The Jedi and Vaders fought, the clones clearly on some sort of cocktail of combat drugs propping them up, but neither that nor superior numbers were enough to stop the Jedi from their gradual and inevitable victory as they began to be cut down one at a time. But the Emperor had no such interest in this nonsense; his attention was focused strictly on the ancient Sith Lord, who had begun to meet lightning with lightning, even as the Death Star rumbled.

"You young fool," barked the Terminarch, laughing. "Everything that has transpired has done so according to MY design. Your empire is a sad parody of the Sith empire of old. It exists because I allow it, and it will end because I demand it!"

Palpatine hissed denials, his lightning increasing in intensity, but having less of an effect. His opposite continued streaming lightning from one hand, the other unclipping a saber from his belt to use as a lightning rod; Palpatine dropped a saber hidden within his sleeve and did the same, the both of them beginning to move about the room as they crossed sabers. A Vader was fool enough to try to assist Palpatine, only for the Sith Lords both new and old to electrocute him to death in very short order. The remainder were mopped up by the Jedi, who retreated near the elevator as the two remaining combatants steadily damaged and destroyed more parts of the room as they battled. They struck at each other with sabers, with the Force, with their limbs until they were both bloodied and bruised.

And then the doors of the lift slid open, the final trump card revealed. A scarred old man with dark skin, no hair... and a silver hand holding a saber. One that lit with an amethyst blade. The Sith Terminarch's final trump card.

"It doesn't matter how many of you there are! I'll kill you all!" Palpatine shrieked as he backed up, all the Jedi now approaching with lit sabers. "Even if you kill me you'll never be rid of me! The Force is mine to control!"

"At least face the end with dignity," Anakin replied wearily.

"No!" Sheev screamed, launching himself over to his lightning-damaged throne, slamming a fist down on a button. "Commander! Target the planet! Destroy it!" But only hissing and electrical popping answered him.

Luke looked at the other Jedi, then back at the Emperor. "Did you really think that we were the only ones who were able to board this station?"

A cold smile grew on Windu's face. "They brought me here. I stopped by the command deck on the way. You must have been distracted, or you would have felt the explosions."

Palpatine opened his mouth to shriek another denial, before abruptly twisting to prevent a crimson saber from impaling him. But the other Jedi had closed in as well, and he found himself abruptly dodging more sabers. He dove between blue and green slashes, ducked under red and yellow, but each got closer. His saber swung out, only for a violet light to swipe through his hand, the blade clattering to the floor.

"Farewell, 'my lord'," stated Windu coldly, his saber pointed at Palpatine's throat, before his hand twitched. A moment later, the Sith Lord's head met the floor, his body falling following after.

The remaining red lightsaber was extinguished, and the ancient Sith Lord - now the only one left in the galaxy - clapped his hands. "Well! It's been a fantastic career, but as the final Sith, I think now is a fantastic time to retire. I hear the Jedi Order has openings and I should like to apply."

He was answered with assorted tired groans.

"We'll talk about it AFTER we get off the station," Obi-Wan Kenobi muttered, before they all started heading to the lift.
---
In the days and weeks that followed, the news of the Emperor's death spread across the galaxy. Any number of factions vied for control, and the Empire itself shattered. The core of the Rebel Alliance, comprised of former members of the Empire's military and senate, was one of those factions - and with the Emperor's actions uniting so many worlds against him in clandestine resistance, they were seen as a legitimate group to form a government around.

And thus rose the New Republic.