While this is technically not an alternative universe story, I have always believed some of the Jedi you see get shot down during Order 66 somehow survived. This story is from the POV of Darth Vader who is hunting down one of these masters. This is a one shot, which might become a series of one shot stories set in the expanded universe.


Dark Deeds

The Dark Side is my Ally.

Through it I feel the Pain,

The Truth,

Of What Life Is.

Darth Kwan-Sing, 22,021 BBY

Robed in black, I walk through the forest. The rotten leaves of the fall still lying thick on the ground. Animals scurry by me as I walk, but I pay them no heed.

I know this place. The place that haunts my dreams. The place where the masked warrior awaits for me. Never have I walked here in the waking world, but, I know it well.

Into a dried canal bed I go, the rocks churning underneath my feet. He is near now; so very near. I can lick the presence from the air like I would sweat from my arms.

I cock my head and begin to laugh. The sound is like the voice of an ancient warrior, invincible, behind my helmet, shaped as a skull. Into which many Jedi had seen the fear of their own eyes being projected back towards them.

"General Plo Koon," I laugh, "I knew you had not perished."

"Lord Vader," the Kel Dor Jedi Master says, stepping out of the trees, his mask providing him something the Dark Lord always cherished, life, "I knew I had not seen the last of you."

"Seven years have passed without even a sight of you," I retort, taking my fists and placing them firmly on my waist, "And now, I have you."

"I revealed myself to you," Master Koon chortled, "Do you think I am so old that I cannot still be a swift prey? I wanted you to find me?"

"So you could die at my hand?" I retort, "Hundreds have made those threats and died. Hundreds more after you shall perish as well."

Plo Koon swept out his lightsaber and flicked it on, the cold blue light finally coming to life after so many years of inactivity. He held it in one hand high, the other hands clenched to his side.

"No," he said, "So you may know that the Jedi will fight until the last breath."

"Then breathe your last," I said, "Old man."

He drops his lightsaber blade down and holds up a hand. I feel the Force rush past me, but, I just watch. He could not push me down, not at that distance. If this is the best he has, I think to myself, I have already won.

He charges now, swinging his blade as hard as he can. It is so wild a swing and so far off still, I do not even bring out my lightsaber. But then, he holds up his hand, and propels the force of the swing at me. I am hit harder than I thought possible, and sparks fly off my chest plate as I am lifted off the ground and arching up into the air, I fall hard on my back, back into one of the few puddles of water in this dry ditch.

He comes at me, but I back flip off the ground and Force run into the forest. I hear him let out a triumphant yell and pound after me. The fool only thinks he is winning. But, I am allowing him that gasp of hope. That wisp of victory, before I spring my trap.

I lead him to a small garbage heap, left by the civilization that once ruled this planet. I run between the piles and then stop and wait. Wait for the moment. Wait for him to open himself up to a mistake.

I feel him rush to the edge of the garbage dump, then slow from a run to a cautious walk. I hear him deactivate his lightsaber. The fool, I smile to myself, he is opening himself up to me.

Then, I suddenly hear a roar, and I feel a disturbance. I spin around and to my shock; one of the pile heaps is shuddering as it rises. Then, suddenly, in an explosion of dust and garbage, an ancient Jedi Starfighter comes shooting out straight for me. I jump and spin out of the way, and hear the cockpit open then a couple seconds later close.

I spin around and am facing the laser guns of the starfighter as it turns towards me. I do not think. I feel. I do not control. I allow the Force to be free. Three of the mounds of refuse rises and launches itself at the starfighter before it has time to open up, and the fighter is thrown backwards, to crash through some trees.

I am done playing with my quarry now. He has proved himself much more fighting a foe then I had once realized he could still be. I will finish him, and I will not give any mercy, for I expect none.

I run out to the ruins of the fighter. No blood, no flesh. He is out there still. Running, drawing me to where he thinks I cannot defeat him.

I follow him closely to the ruins of an ancient building. The ruins are crumbling with time as all things must. The doors are no more, and the carved stone has worn away, to the point one cannot any longer distinguish what the sculptors had in mind.

There the Jedi Master stands, holding his blade up to me. He does not wish to run anymore. This is where he stand shall take place. He shall live or die here.

"I know who you are," he taunts, "I know your anger. I have felt it before. In the High Council Chamber. Obi-wan spoke very highly of you, despite your faults."

"Obi-wan was a fool!" I snort and I advance slowly, lightsaber turned on, both of my hands gripping the hilt tightly, "I offered him an alliance on Mustafar. He turned it down. He will pay for his foolishness. You shall see."

"How can I see something when I am dead?" the Jedi Master asks with a laugh.

"We do not have to fight," I say as sweetly as I can through my confounded helmet, "The Jedi Order is gone, but, it can be remade. Where both Dark and Light combine. We can join forces, overthrow the Emperor. Create a new Order."

"You must be mad," Plo Koon says and I can almost imagine him rolling his eyes through his protective goggles.

I close the distance and am on top of him. I slash with my lightsaber, bashing away at Plo Koon, who gives ground as he deflects the blows and turns them aside. He fights defensively, never going on the offensive, leading me towards the building. I know Plo Koon's style. He works best in closed spaces, and I refuse to give him that opportunity.

I thrust out my hand and he flies back as I hit him with a tremendous amount of Force power. He twists around and falls into the opening of the building. He lifts his free hand, and rocks begin to lift from the ruins and with a swish of his hand they are flying towards me. I swing my blade but despite my faster than light movements, one still gets through and smashes into the fin of my helmet, snapping a piece of and whipping my head back.

I roar out in rage and thrust my own left hand out, and the roar seems to amplify the Force around me. The ground around Plo Koon explodes and for a second everything but the top of his head vanishes in the explosion. Plo Koon is thrown through the first stone wall in the ruins and disappears from sight.

I advance cautiously as I pass under the roof of the ruins, and into the darkened hole that appears in the wall. The darkness surrounds me, gives me strength. Focuses me. Any man would be blind in this dark.

But I am not a man, I remind myself, I am a Sith. And to be a Sith is to be a God.

My helmet's infrared sensors begin to pick up shapes and shadows. A few books here. An unturned table there. Some broken plates and cups over there. And yet further, a plant pot with the withered stem of a plant still inside, preserved through all this time. I do not see the Jedi though.

That is fine, I smile to myself, He will come to me.

At that moment a shadow lungs forward and blue light of a lightsaber blade snap-hisses to life. I catch the blade and push back, and I drive him back under the power of my attacks. He begins to bob and weave in and out of range of my lightsaber. If he had been rusty, he is no longer. Each time he comes, he lunges forward with his blade, and I smack it aside with a stroke of my own.

"Join me," I say, holding out my hand in friendship, "It is the only way."

"Never!" he shouts and leaps forward, blade held high.

I sidestep and slash, and his torso and hips separate, falling in different directions. I sneer at him and think to myself, All too easy. I walk up to him and nudge the body, and watch it vanish before my eyes.

"And to think Senator Amidala thinks you can be saved still," Plo Koon snorts, much to my shock.

I spin around "What?"

"What does she have to do with this?" I ask, rage rising in me like bile at his daring insolence.

"She talks about how you could return and do good," Plo Koon laughs out loud, much to my chagrin.

"She cannot talk to anyone," I spit out, closing the gap between us rapidly, "She is dead. I killed her. I offered her a chance to rule the galaxy, and she turn it down. Folly I say! Folly!"

"She lives you witless creatant," Plo Koon snaps out viciously, not backing away, "Yoda saved her life."

"Wait!" another voice says, and from a corner comes another Jedi, this one must obviously be a Padawan learner, "Vader had a girlfriend? I don't believe it."

"Enough!" the words bellow from me and I come at both of them, each trying to flank me.

My blade swings right, swings left, right again. One Jedi tries to leap over me, and I try to slice him through the air. But he is on the ground, and out from the trees comes a militia soldier of the outpost here. He sees me, I hear him scream in hatred at me and pulls his blaster pistol out on me. Before he has even drawn it though, it flies from his holster and I grasp it in the air.

"We would be honored," I say silkily, "If you would join us."

I don't even look as I aim the blaster and shoot him between the eyes. I can feel the vacancy in the Force as he dies, adding to my own resevior of strength. At the same time, I feel the Jedi weaken by the loss of one life, one who stumbled by accident into our duel.

I throw myself at the Jedi. They are unable to hold me back as I drive them forward. They slash, and I parry. They thrust and with ease I parry the blow. It almost doesn't even seem worth my while as I literally tear them apart.

Finally, Plo Koon grows desperate. He lunges at me, over-extending himself. My blade is swift and accurate. I cut his arm off at the wrist, and his blade falls with a clatter to the ground. I thrust out a hand, lifting the boy off the ground, and throw him against the nearest tree. I then swing my hand around and the fallen lightsaber activates and flies forward, and Plo Koon screams as the blade plunges into his chest. And now indeed I know he is dying. As he falls backwards, I can feel the sudden grip of fear as he knows he is dying. Then, with a snuff, he is gone.

The boy screams in rage at the loss of his master. And now, he pulls out a second lightsaber and connecting the handles, ignites the two blades. How little this boy realizes that I am more than a match for him. I call the second blade, still activated, out of Plo's body and into my hand. And now, with two blades, I prepare to engage the youngling.

"Why fight me?" I ask.

"Because of all the evils you have done," the boy snarls, leaping at me, blades twirling, all of which I easily parry.

"There is no good and evil," I inform him, as I simply dodge his blows with grace, "There is only power. And those too weak to seek it."

"You killed my parents!" he snapped, with some technique knocking aside my lunge, "I will never join you."

"Bravery," I laugh, "Your parents had it too. Tell me, would you like to see your mother and father again?"

The question halts him, blades high over his head, ready for a strike against me. I can see the mind in him working.

"Can you do that?" he asks quietly.

"The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some to consider unnatural," I say, deactivating my lightsabers and clipping them onto my belt, "Together, we will do extraordinary things. Just give me your alligence."

"Liar!" he screams and stabs downward.

My hands are on my hips, and I glare at him. Suddenly, he steps back, as if taken a blow to his face. He keeps jerking back, as if he has been struck. Blood flies from his mouth and nose with each successive strike and I keep following him, and he keeps stumbling backwards from the blow. Then, he collapses onto a drybed, falling backwards.

"Join me," I say, standing over him, on top of the creek bed, "And together, we can rule the Galaxy."

The boy calls his blade to him, turns it on and crying, "Never!" stands up and lunges at me. I swing my blade and his head goes flying from his body. As the body strikes me then falls back into the drybed, I say, "Such a waste."

As I turn around, I ponder the words of Master Koon. I know he is not given to lying. That is not the Jedi way. I signal the commander of my shuttle.

"Set a course," I say.

"To where?" he asks me.

"Alderaan."