The Last Will of Darth Vader
Summary: The battle of Endor might be over, but the Force still have one more twist of fate in store for Luke Skywalker. After the death of the Emperor and his official Heir, the Last Will of the Dark Lord of the Sith are found. What they contains will change the face of the Galaxy forever. MASSIVELY AU!
Disclaimer: All rights to Star Wars and its characters belongs to George Lucas and LucasFilm LTD.
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi, Drama, Politics, Action and maybe some Romance.
Characters: The whole crew of the original trilogy plus some OCs here and there.
Author's note: This fic is co-written with my best friend. Since she doesn't have an account on FFN, I'm taking all the credit gladly, with her blessing! We are betaing each other, so if there is any mistakes remaining, they are fully ours and we take full responsibility!
Prologue
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
The Battle of Endor was over.
The Emperor and Darth Vader were dead, and the Rebel Alliance had been victorious. However, despite the demise of their Emperor, the Empire itself was far from destroyed, despite the rebel's most fervent wishes that it was to be so easy. The death of the Emperor had had a very interesting effect on the outcomes of the battle. The moment that the evil Sith Lord was destroyed, the fleet had gone into complete chaos, and was easily picked out by the Rebel ships.
Making the victory all the more easy... Even too easy in some minds in rebel High Command. So the rumor that the Emperor was mind-controlling his troops during the battle seems to have been true. To an extent at least. However, on Coruscant, that effect was far less present, since as powerful as the evil Emperor had been, his hold couldn't extend to such a large scale and so far a distance. Hence why the Imperial High Command had been in complete shock, trying desperately to find a way to restore order throughout the newly spread chaos through the Galaxy, right down to the very core of the Imperial Center.
Someone suggested at last that a new Emperor must be set on the throne, and soon. Voices were raised and heads rolled in the following power-play, but something was very clear: without an Emperor to lead that Empire, it will soon fall into an even deeper chaos and be destroyed from within. Many didn't wanted that to happen. They had way too much at stake to let that happens. A solution must be reached that wouldn't include a complete war between the Grand Moffs and Governors to decide who had the more rights to be the New Emperor. It would take years, most likely, years that they knew they didn't have. The rebels would be all too happy to use the confusion of the many small-scale conflicts to root themselves deep in the Empire core and generate even more fire to feed the heat.
No, an Emperor must be found, and it has to be very quickly. The best solution was to check if Palpatine himself hadn't designated another Heir in case Darth Vader died. To the (not so great) surprise of the High Command, it wasn't so. The man's paranoïa ran too deep to allow for that kind of trust. Besides, the Emperor intended to rule forever, so in his mind, an Heir wasn't even necessary. Vader was only accessory and would, in Palpatine's opinion, never be emperor, anyway.
So the next logical step was to check if Vader had named an Heir for himself in case of his demise. As it turned out, the Dark Lord of the Sith did in fact had had his Last Will put down and registered by an official, renowned Notary. A visit was paid to said man, and the old scholar could only confirm what the High Command already knew: Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, left a Last Will only a week before the battle of Endor.
**=**two weeks earlier, Coruscant**=**
Enselm Dano was a wise man or he wouldn't have such a shining reputation. The Corellian wasn't typical for he was mild-mannered, polite, the perfect image of gentlemanly and courtesy. His line of work wasn't typical for his kind either. Correllians in general seemed to think that any scholarly work was either too boring, or beneath them. Nice for him though, because he made his name in his birth system first by being one of the only skilled Notary and Lawyer on Coronet. For the 45 years of his practice now, never had he failed a case or disappoint a customer.
He was the best, it was that simple. It was probably that reputation that brought his newest customer to his door that day, in his temporary Practice on Coruscant while he was helping Imperial Security with a particularly tricky case implying a fellow Correllian. The old Notary didn't expect his quite ordinary day to turn into the most frightening, nerve wracking day of his entire existence when he woke up that morning, and went to his office like ever since he was merely 25. A long time ago.
His intercom beeped at him and he answered in a automatic manner, having done this thousands of times. Valriis, his Zabrak secretary, sounded very tense when she spoke up, he thought.
"Sir, you have a visitor. He insists to see you immediately for a matter of great urgency."
"Send him in Valriis." He replied, sensing her distress in her tone, wondering who that visitor could be to cause such fright to seep in her usually cold as ice voice.
"Right away Sir." She definitely sounded relieved there. he frowned, not really liking it.
And he was right to feel like it for the moment the door open and he saw who exactly his visitor was, he sat immediately upright, tensing and opening his mouth in complete surprise. Darth Vader was even more imposing in person then in the Holos he seen of him. He seemed to fill the room entirely with his mere presence. And he meant business, for he stepped right up to his desk and Dano stood as protocol said he must in the presence of such an important figure.
"Lord Vader! Wh-what can I do for you?" he cursed the slight waver of his voice, eyeing the Sith Lord very warily.
"Master Dano, I have had words that you are the best in your line of work. I require your expertise for I wish to put down my Last Will. It has to be done to my specifications to the very last detail. I believe that you are up for that kind of work?"
Darth Vader sounded just as imposing as he looked, and the smaller Correllian gulped down nervously and nodded firmly. That was easy enough. He had put down thousands of last Will throughout his career. This one shouldn't be any harder, should it?
"Of course my Lord. All that you have to do is put down on a datapad all that you want included on that Will, and I will officialise the document and rewrite it in a proper form if needed be." The old Notary said, relieved that this was right up his alley at least.
"You will not read the Will, Master Dano. You will not touch and rewrite the document itself in any ways or forms. It is to be sealed and kept under your care, under locks, from until two weeks after my death. Then, you will have to unseal the document, and read its content out loud for the entire galaxy to hear. I also have a list of peoples I want to be in this office when you open the document. All the details are on the pad, along with the Will." Vader replied, his tone leaving no room for arguments of any kind.
"But... This is highly unusual my Lord." Dano carefully said, watching for any bad reaction to his words. He sure didn't wanted to incur the rage of the Dark Lord.
"Unusual it might be, but I trust you to make it possible, master Dano." Vader rumbled, and the implicit or else did not go unnoticed by the aged scholar, and he gulped, nodding quickly.
"O-of course, of course, my Lord. It will be done as you order! The Will will be iron cast and impossible to contested even in front of a Court of Justice. I assure you, I will leave nothing unchecked." Enselm Dano quickly replied, fearing for his own continuing existence if he didn't please the Sith entirely.
"Good." Was Vader only replied, and he reached under his cape to fetch a datapad and hand it to the elder Notary, the man taking it with surprisingly steady fingers, considering his level of stress. "Here are the Will. Follow my instructions to the letter, Dano, for if you don't, there will be dire consequences."
"All will be as you want it, my Lord. I can assure you that my professionalism is unmatched." The man managed to say despite feeling his throath constrict with too much tension.
"I would not be here otherwise. I will come back tomorrow to make sure all is well."
And with that, Darth Vader left his office and the old man could slump in his chair with a deep, relieved sigh. That was... not fun. Not by a long shot. He took the time to gather himself before getting to work on Darth Vader's Will. Curiosity about what the document contained was eating at him, but he dutifully kept to his work and held on his word not to read it or temper with it in any way. It was going to be as much of a surprise to him then to the rest of the galaxy when he finally can read the damn thing...
**=**Now, Imperial City, Coruscant**=**
"This is ridiculous!" Hissed a very infuriated, very annoyed female voice.
"Maybe so, but do we have a choice? Neither you nor I want to see the Empire sink into utter anarchy. It would be pretty bad for both our affairs, Commander Isard." The male replied, a little smirk playing on his lips.
"Shut up, Pestage! I will not be thwarted by some nobody popping out of nowhere! That Will... if I could have had my hands on it! I will be the next Empress!" She raged, very out of her mind with anger at that very moment.
"Assuming there IS something like an Heir mentioned in that document." The older man replied, narrowing his eyes a little at her. He had never really trusted the conniving, way too ambitious Commander of the ISB.
"Of course there is! If there wasn't Vader wouldn't have had this document made in such secrecy in the first place! It's the only logical conclusion." She stated, not to be deterred from her rightful outrage. "Had I known... Blast that Vader! Even in death he manage to thwart my plans!"
Pestage wisely decided not to comment on that particular point. Who knows, maybe dead Sith Lords can still exact vengeance... Better not to take any chances. After all, in a way, Vader was about, in five minutes, to figuratively speak from the grave. He spent the remaining time looking at all presents in the room. There were ten peoples here, including himself and Ysanne. Sate Pestage was important enough to figure as witness to the reading of Darth Vader's last Will, as well as an assortment of High Ranking officers and politicians.
This was bound to be highly interesting.
-TBC-
