Acquiescence: Chapter 1
Just a day earlier, Luke and Ben Skywalker began their journey via the Jade Shadow to retrace the path that the late Jacen Solo took in his own galactic sojourn, which took place following the Yuuzhan Vong War. The purpose of this journey was to discover what ultimately led Jacen down the path of the dark side of the Force and into his ultimate destiny as the tyrannical Sith Lord Darth Caedus. The reason that the Skywalkers were taking this journey was because Luke had to prove to the Galactic Alliance's current Chief of State, Natasi Daala, that Jacen's fall to the dark side wasn't the Jedi's fault. The first location of the Skywalkers' journey was the planet Dorin, homeworld of the Baran Do Sages Force sect, which was taking surprisingly longer to get there than the Skywalkers first checked in their navigation systems.
That became no wonder when the Shadow finally came out of its first hyperspace jump and the two men piloting her found that the planet through the viewscreen wasn't Dorin, but another unrecognizable world.
Both Jedi tried their best to regain control of the Shadow through the ship's instruments, but they weren't responsive, and the ship continued on its possessed course for the mysterious world. Immediately afterward, recognizing that something was wrong, Luke and Ben tapped into the Force, and they both felt a dark presence that knocked them out of their seats. As a result, the Jade Shadow accelerated in its course for the planet up ahead.
Luke and Ben climbed back up into their seats, and the only thing they saw through the viewscreen now was the all-encompassing view of the planet's barren, ugly surface. The Shadow then made an unexpected lurch in its trajectory, and Luke noticed from the sensors that the ship just lost its engines from a mysterious explosion.
He looked at his son, who stared back at him with the same dumbfounded expression. The only thing Luke was able to say at that point was, "I guess, when we land, we're gonna have to check what happened to the engines."
Ben nodded without reply. So he sat back and stared out the viewscreen just as his father did.
By the time the Shadow landed on the planet's surface, the Skywalkers headed to the back and climbed down the open ramp. They walked back to check on the engines, but they were suddenly pulled away from the ship by several meters through the Force. They landed, their bodies skidding across the ground before they stopped, and they both looked up at the source of what pulled them away from the Jade Shadow.
It was a tall, muscular, imposing dark-skinned human male dressed in black robes who stared down at the Skywalkers with dark, red eyes blazing.
Black and red. The colors of the Sith, it occurred to Luke.
As the Skywalkers pushed themselves to their feet, wary of the individual who stood before them, the latter said, "Welcome, Skywalkers, to Ambria, home of the Rule of Two–the true rule of the Sith."
"And I take it that you yourself are a Sith Lord, Mister...?" Luke asked as he and Ben dusted themselves off from the particles that accumulated on their robes when they skidded across the ground.
"I am Darth Bane, creator of the Rule of Two," the Sith introduced himself. "And you, Luke Skywalker, were the one who destroyed it, when you convinced Darth Vader to redeem himself and kill Darth Sidious aboard the second Death Star so many years ago."
"Ah," Luke said without inflection. "Well then..." He trailed off as he snapped open his lightsaber, and Ben immediately followed suit. "Prepare to die then, Darth Bane."
Bane smirked. Then he laughed. Both Skywalkers were confused at what was so funny before the Sith said, "I have been dead for more than a millennium, Skywalker. There is nothing you can do to me."
Suddenly, the blades of the Skywalkers' lightsabers deactivated, and the handles themselves fell apart to pieces on the dusty ground. The crystals of the sabers fell as well, and when the Skywalkers reached down to pick them up, both crystals immediately dissolved into dust, joining the contents of the ground itself. Luke and Ben looked back up to Darth Bane in horror as the Sith said, "But there is so much I can do to you."
Luke then collapsed to his knees in pain as he was electrocuted from the power source in his artificial right hand. Despite his want to help his father, Ben backed away from him in order to avoid being electrocuted himself. He looked back at Bane and yelled, "Stop it! Stop it! Leave my father alone!"
Smirking again, Bane complied with Ben's demand, though it was clear that he wouldn't have followed it had he made the decision. After a moment, Luke regained his bearings and wearily returned to his feet to comment, "What an interesting use of the dark side, Bane. How are you so powerful?"
"As I said, Master Jedi, I am no longer bound to the physical limitations of the Living Force," Bane said. "And as a spirit who has resided here in the dark side potential of Ambria for so many centuries, I have been able to increase my own powers to become something of a god here. More than ten years ago, I had sensed your presence after you had achieved oneness with the Force during the final battle of the Yuuzhan Vong War. Ever since then, I have trained myself, with vital help from Ambria's dark side energies, to hone my abilities in such a way so that when the time came to finally bring you here, I would be ready. Your departure to discover the cause of your late nephew's turn to the dark side provided me with the perfect opportunity to finally confront the great and legendary Luke Skywalker, and his potential son."
"So what do you want from me then?" Luke asked in seething contempt.
Bane tilted his head in mockery. "What do all Sith want from the Jedi, Skywalker, aside from trying to turn them to the dark side when they can?"
Luke's eyes widened in shock. "Their deaths, just like the Jedi want from the Sith."
"Exactly," Bane confirmed. "And I was hoping that your death would indirectly lead your son to willingly walk down the path of the dark side himself. His presence here is something of a minor problem, but one that can be easily remedied."
"And how do you suppose that would happen even if I weren't here?" Ben asked.
Bane smiled viciously. "For you, it matters not, young Skywalker. But whether or not you do fall to the dark side makes no difference in the long run. It is ultimately the fate of your descendent that concerns me most, for that descendent, the one who will be called Cade, will determine the fate of either the Jedi or the Sith. Or both, for that matter."
"What do you mean?" Luke asked.
Bane waved Luke's question away. "Like I said, it matters not. What does matter is that I complete this task."
Suddenly, Luke collapsed on his back, moaning and groaning in agony, as Ben rushed over to find out what was wrong with his father. Then, as Luke's eyes and mouth opened, dark beams of energy shot out from many places in his body as he outright screamed from the pain. Ben had to back away again as he watched in horror at the site before him.
After another moment, Luke Skywalker simply disappeared.
And so did his life energy in the Force, as Ben felt.