Hi guys! Just wanted to do a short Star Wars tribute for May 4. It will be going over Emperor Palpatine's final moments and will contain some names and information only found in the Expanded Universe, which I still consider canon unless Disney can somehow surpass it. Enjoy and May the 4th be with you!
Where had he gone wrong?
Palpatine couldn't believe it. Vader had betrayed him. He had been tossed into this pit like trash. As though the past twenty years as his Master and even the years before that as his friend had not mattered at all. Vader had traded it all away for some boy.
His greatest, favorite weapon had been turned on him and had been just as deadly as he had envisioned all those years ago. Vader had been greater than the Star Destroyers, greater than Death Star, even greater than the countless armies Palpatine had formed since he had created the Galactic Empire. Even in his half-life cyborg state he was still the most powerful Sith, even more powerful than Bane, Revan, Plagueis and even himself. He was supposed to be the Sith'ari, the one who brought them to victory and ended the Jedi. And he had been all Palpatine's, his to use as he pleased.
Where had he gone wrong?
Somehow Vader had found the will to betray him, to lift him into the air and toss him down this shaft like garbage. Palpatine had no idea where Vader could have gotten the nerve, seeing as he had seen fit to crush it long ago. The only answer seemed to be that Palpatine had underestimated the family bonds he had with his son, young Skywalker. Somehow, Vader had chosen the boy over his master over twenty years. Palpatine sighed. He had felt in his gut that he should have separated the two and handled Skywalker himself from the beginning. He should have listened to that instinct.
He chuckled as he plummeted. How was it, after the decades of planning, deceiving, and killing, that he was undone by such a simple thing as love? It was utterly ridiculous.
He wondered now if it would have been wiser to hold onto Dooku instead. Vader had surely been more powerful and more ruthless, but maybe that was the very reason why he had been Palpatine's undoing. Perhaps Dooku or Maul, who had been less powerful than Vader by a great degree, would have been easier to control in the end.
But alas, Anakin Skywalker had been too great a prize to pass. Palpatine had known he would have to be careful in raising him to be the great Dark Lord that had filled his dreams, and he had done what he could to control him every step of the way. He had cut off Skywalker's connections with everyone the boy had known over time. First his mother, then Master Jinn, then the other Padawans. He had only kept Kenobi and Amidala, the two closest to him. They would be the ones that Palpatine would use to guarantee Skywalker obeyed him and behaved as he wished. Unfortunately, they had both disappeared from his life far too soon, leaving him angry and powerful but uncontrollable.
Palpatine doubted Vader ever realized how close he was to matching his own power, how easily his leash to the Emperor could be broken. Honestly, it was amazing that their relationship as master and apprentice had lasted as long as it did. He had to credit that to his manipulative charm that had taken him so far. But no matter how easily their relationship could have broken Palpatine had still controlled his Dark Apprentice in the end
Where had he gone wrong?
He barely noticed that he was bouncing from wall to wall, still plummeting to his death. It seemed so insignificant, compared to what happened before.
All he could think about was that this ruined everything. With Palpatine's immanent death and Vader's betrayal the Sith would be no more. Everything that Darth Bane had put into motion two thousand years ago and countless others had continued since would be ending in vain. All of that work, all of that planning... in the end it would be undone by one single moment. The Sith, great keepers of the dark side of the Force, would go extinct. All because he wasn't able to mold Vader into the great Dark Lord he was meant to be. The only comfort was that even if the Sith died the Empire would live on. They would crush the Rebels soon enough, and continue to prepare for the Yuuzhan Vong invasion as he had planned. The Death Star, as he had always intended, would be the galaxy's savior. There was nothing that could stop it. If nothing else, Thrawn, Isard, and Pestage would not lead it astray. The Empire would win in the end.
But even if the Empire survived, the Sith would fall. He had failed. But perhaps Skywalker and Vader would die as well. It was likely considering that they had to get through an entire Death Star and half of the Impirial Navy to escape. Maybe the Jedi would die too and this war that had lasted millennia would end. Maybe. But it still wouldn't stop what had happened. Nothing could erase Vader's betrayal and his own death.
Palpatine suddenly collided into a large chunk of durosteel, one of the large braces that held the Death Star II together. In that split second his life was ripped from his body, and with it the tremendous amounts of dark side energy he had accumulated over the years. It spread out as a massive wave of light, and thus Darth Sidius, Intergalactic Emperor and Dark Lord of the Sith, was no more.
Where had he gone wrong?
That's it! Let me know what you guys think in the reviews and be sure to leave a favorite or follow. This is intended to be a one-shot, but I might think of some way to continue this if you guys want me to.
Be sure to check out my other stories if you liked this one, as well as checking out my friend Solo Gamer, who has some amazing stories.
If you want to chat or anything I welcome any PM's you want to send my way and I will be sure to answer, even if you just say "blue" or something. Hell, I would welcome that.
Lastly, I must pressure you to join the dark side (we have cookies!).
-Darthlane