The Legion Renewed

Prologue

The Empire was dead.

The Emperor was dead.

Luke Skywalker had seen him fall into the bottomless shaft at the core of the now destroyed Death Star, knew there was no way he could have survived the fall, knew there was no way he could have survived the explosions that ripped the Death Star apart.

But something troubled the young Jedi in his sleep. Luke woke up in a cold sweat feeling queasy, slightly sick. He'd had this dream before, ever since the Battle of Endor, but he'd always felt he was dreaming of something past, and dismissed it as a trick of his subconscious. But this time, it was different. It wasn't the past he was dreaming of. This time he knew he was dreaming of the future.

Luke reached out through the Force, touching, searching for the disturbance that had troubled him even in sleep. It wasn't even a real dream. It was vague, only a feeling. Cold. Like a dark cloud coalescing, forming somewhere. He didn't know where. But it chilled him, frightened him, because he recognized the feeling even through its vagueness.

Palpatine.

Still alive.

Searching.

A bodiless entity looking for a place to re-form. Looking for a host body in which to solidify its own evil. Luke knew that it would need a Dark host, something or someone as dark as Vader had once been. Darker, even. A host willing to carry this evil along with its own.

And through the Force, Luke knew that Palpatine would find that soul.

Palpatine would find it within Luke himself.

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The Legion Renewed

Chapter One

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Leia Organa sat behind the desk in her private office and looked up at her brother with eyes that were confused and a little hurt.

"But why, Luke? I don't understand. Must you leave now? The ceremony is only a few days away. Can't it wait until then, at least?"

Luke tried to explain, knowing that she wouldn't understand. He wasn't even precisely sure of the reasons himself. There was a single word he'd gotten from his dream, the name of a world, a place to look for the answers he knew he needed: Dagobah. "I have to, Leia. There are...questions to which I need answers, and I won't find them here."

"But, Luke, just a few more days?"

"I'm sorry, Leia. I just can't." He knew how much his attendance meant to her, but it could not be helped. Something was calling him away from this place, to Dagobah. He could sense a coldness in the wash of the Force. It was like a dark river. It swirled near him, allowed him brief glimpses into its murky depths before spinning away again. Its images were elusive and refractive, and he needed a place where the waters ran a little more quietly.

The Princess didn't give up. "Luke, you're the only family I have now. I really wanted you to be there."

Skywalker shook his head, a little sadly. He had discovered a single piece of a puzzle in the spinning currents of the dream-vision from the night before, and it had to be solved. "I really wish I could, Leia, but-"

At that moment, the door to Leia's private office opened, and Han Solo, scoundrel-at-large, made a grand entrance.

"I'm here!" the Corellian announced unnecessarily, adding a flourish. "Hi ya, kid," he said to Luke. He went to give Leia a warm kiss, but she presented him with her cheek instead. Annoyed, he didn't kiss her at all.

Luke smiled to himself. He was still amazed that a relationship between these two had developed at all, much less come this far. Princess and Pirate, soon to be married. Even the Force could not have predicted that.

"Luke says he has to leave before the wedding," Leia informed her future husband.

"Yeah?" Han said. "Well, clear skies, kid." It was a traditional spacer's farewell.

"Aren't you going to help me convince him to stay?"

"Why?" Han asked, genuinely surprised.

They started arguing. Luke didn't hear what they were saying. He was distracted by thoughts of the vision. He wondered for a moment if perhaps Leia was the answer to the puzzle. Dagobah was a training ground. Perhaps that was why he had seen it in his dream. If he could train Leia in the ways of the Force, perhaps the two of them together could find a way to defeat Palpatine. But as soon as he asked himself the question, he realized that he already knew the answer. Leia would never become a Jedi Knight. It wasn't because she lacked the potential-Luke knew that he had inherited the same Force-sensitivity that he had-but just the same, she wouldn't.

She would never learn to use the power, because she didn't want it. Deep inside, she was frightened of it.

The Princess Organa had courage, there was no doubt about that. She had faced situations that would have made many brave men run in terror. But always her actions had been motivated by a clear understanding of circumstances.

The Force, however, was not an easily understood phenomenon. And Leia tended to avoid things she didn't understand.

Suddenly, Luke's head snapped up. He felt something in the Force, something very near. Not directly linked with Palpatine, but tied into the dark puzzle somehow. Unconsciously, he moved to the large sliding doors that led to the balcony beyond.

"So, Luke" Han was saying, "do you know how many Crimian dancers it takes to fill a turbo-flush?"

"What?" Skywalker asked, startled.

"Han!" the Princess protested.

The Corellian grinned. "You looked like you were sleepwalking. Just thought I'd wake you up."

Luke would smiled. But right now...he felt drawn, somehow, to the window, to the street below. He opened the glass doors and stepped outside.

For the first time, Leia seemed to realize that her brother was troubled. "Luke?" she asked softly.

He didn't answer her. He was busy scanning the scene on the ground. A parade of Imperial prisoners-of-war was just coming turning a corner to pass by their building. The prisoners were being marched toward holding areas where they would wait until transport could be arranged to take them to other places, where they would again be held until their individual trials could be arranged. The war was over, but the effects of the war were not.

"Luke?" the Princess said again. She tried to reach him through the Force. Such a timid reaching out, but Luke answered it anyway to reassure her.

"Hey, kid, you all right?" the Corellian called, concerned.

"I'm fine," Luke replied aloud. He continued to gaze at the street below. There was something about the prisoners there, a presence...

Leia joined him on the balcony. She touched him lightly on the shoulder, and he automatically put an arm around her, but he did not take his eyes off the procession.

"Luke, what's the matter?"

The Jedi didn't answer right away. He was studying the troops below. Now that the war was over, the Aliance sympathizers were no longer the Rebels. Now it was the few tenacious Imperials who were the outlaws and rebels. Was it so different from the way it had been, he wondered.

"Leia, those prisoners down there..." he began finally.

"Yes? What about them?"

"Nothing. I just...wonder how many of them are really guilty, and how many were just following orders out of fear, or because they thought it was the 'right' thing to do."

"I'm sure they'll all be treated fairly, Luke. Most of them will probably be released. Just think if it was us down there, and Imperials up here."

Luke nodded. He knew that if things had turned out differently-if it had been the Empire that had won-there would have been no trials for the Alliance supporters. Luke, Leia, Han, and tho others would have been summarily executed without even the pretense of a trial. But there were too many angry feelings towards the Empire, too many possibilities that the feelings might get in the way of impartiality.

The Princess sighed. "Luke, the Empire has committed too many atrocities, killed and tortured too many innocent people to let it go unpunished. The responsible ones will have to pay. The others will be allowed to return to their homes and families."

"I know, Leia. It's just that...there are too many members of the Republic who might be more interested in meting out revenge instead of justice."

Leia squeezed him gently. "Just remember which side you're on."

Luke smiled. Leia was so certain about what was right and wrong. But Luke knew that choice was the only thing that separated good from evil. Every person had dark areas in his soul, and also the potential for good. But every thinking-being had the freedom to decide between them. Even Palpatine.

But Palpatine had made his decision, and Luke knew that he would not turn from it.

Palpatine needed someone who was strong with the Force; that much was clear. It was also clear that he needed someone who would accept him willingly. Luke had felt the temptations of the Dark Side, had nearly been seduced by them. The black corners of his own soul had nearly corrupted him before-could corrupt him still, if he wasn't careful.

If Palpatine were still alive, then only a fully trained Jedi Knight could defeat him, and Luke was the only fully trained Jedi Knight.

Yet the vision...

Luke had passed his test in the confrontation with Vader. He had come very near to giving in to the Dark Side, but he had resisted. Was he to face a similar test, with a different result?

"You know, Luke, I've been thinking," the Princess said. "What you need is someone to take your mind off things. I've got a few friends I could introduce you to. Some of them are really quite charming..." she left the invitation open.

Luke smiled to himself. Was Leia trying to play match-maker? "I'm a Jedi Knight, Leia."

"So?" she pressed. "What's that got to do with anything? There's no rule that says you have to be celebate."

The words of an old teacher floated back to Luke now. A Jedi Knight must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind...

"I'll think about it," he promised half-heartedly. Then he added, "when I get back."

Leia sighed. "What can I do to change your mind?"

"Nothing," he said. "Please understand that it's not you, Leia. You know how much I want to be there. It's just that I-"

Suddenly Luke stiffened. The presence he had felt in the Force suddenly grew stronger. At the same time, he heard a name being called. A strange presence, one that he had never felt before, but his own name.

"Skywalker! Son of Skywalker!" The shout came from below, from one of the ranks of prisoners. It was half-challenge, half-plea.

Luke found the face that went with the voice. The prisoner had stopped and was regarding Luke levelly from beneath the cap of an Imperial Colonel. The P.O.W. gave Luke a quick little salute before being prodded along by one of the guards.

The Princess squinted, trying to make out the features of the prisoner. "Do you know that person, Luke?"

Luke shook his head, puzzled. He had never felt that particular disturbance in the Force before and was sure that he would remember if he had. And he had never even seen a colonel of the Imperial Fleet in person before. How had that prisoner known who he was?

But what puzzled Luke even more was the salute the prisoner had given. Although Luke recognized it immediately, it was not an Imperial gesture, nor even one of the Alliance. It was a secret signal Luke thought he would never see again in his lifetime.

It was the signal of recognition among Jedi Knights.