Legacy of the Jedi

Chapter 4: A Disruption in Communications

The Death Star's shuddering grew so violent that it sent everyone, even Master Yoda, sprawling across the brig. Han and Chewie crashed into eachother, while Luke got knocked against a wall control for the doors, which swished shut. Thrawn tried to crawl over to his communicator, which had rolled out of his pocket holder.

With one last bang, all the lights went out.


Using the Force as if he were clawing through solid darkness, Vader tried to find Han, or Luke, or even Yoda. But there was nothing! That terrible panic enveloped him, the kind that made him unable to think at all clearly. In fact, when he was able to fucus on the room in front of him again, he thought for sure he saw Sidious!

The ghostly image chuckled coldly, glaring at Vader from under his hood. "You are indeed such a fool, my apprentice. When I think of all you did to try and save that boy...from me, from himself. You should have been trying to save him from you, but it's too late."

Vader hissed. Surely Palpatine did not know how to retain his identity in the netherworld, did he? Now he'd never be rid of him! He clenched his gloved hands into fists, and said to the spectral figure, "Now, I finally understand the legacy of the Sith. It's a legacy of pain and loss as one acquires nearly limitless power. Power for what? What good is power if you cannot use it to fix what's broken? Oh, if only I had done what my son had always wanted me to do! Give up the title of Darth, renounce the Dark Side of the Force, become a Jedi again. It would have make Luke happy."

"Well, now, that chance is blown for good," Sidious taunted. "How you must absolutely hate yourself at this moment! How useless, how pathetic! You are a Sith! Face it, you will never see your son again!"

Vader didn't answer. What was the point? He's right, isn't he? His sins, so numerous it would take years to recount them all, had finally produced the payback he'd been trying in vain to avoid. My son is dead... Vader tried to turn away, was about to tell Leia that her brother and her space-bum boyfriend were dead, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw...no, it couldn't be!

There was another netherworld denizen in the room. It was Qui-Gon Jinn, and he was shaking his head, as though trying to silently communicate something without Sidious hearing him or noticing him. But Vader had thought he'd never seen Qui-gon again after all the horror he had caused over the years. He shook his own head, blinked, and Qui-Gon vanished.

But Sidious was still there, cackling. "You want me to think I've lost him, but I'm not giving up hope. Get out of my sight, you son of a bitch! I can't even stand looking at you!" Eventually, Sidious faded away, still cackling madly.

Leia came into the room. "Who are you talking to?"

"The only one we need to talk to is your brother. If only we could..."


Obi-Wan Kenobi, aboard the Phoenix, suddenly got a vague sense of deep grief. He opened his eyes, which had been lightly closed as he meditated. He could see that the ship was in hypserspace. His companion at the moment, one Wrenga Jixton, was busy catching up on whatever news he had downloaded onto his datapad before they entered hyperspace.

"You know, Vader's not gonna have an easy time of it. There's a load of people who would have pulled a Thrawn if only they had a Death Star," Jixton joked.

Obi-Wan replied dryly, "Since Thrawn beat them to it, Vader will have to make a good example of him to the rest of the galaxy. And the Rebel Alliance will never tolerate his rule, I can assure you of that."

"Hmph, the Rebel Alliance. You know, if anything happens to that Skywalker kid, I have a feeling the Alliance is finished. I for one, will not be sorry to see them go, either," Jixton frowned.

"They are the only hope for freedom in this galaxy, Jixton. I wouldn't be so eager to see them leave," Obi-Wan warned him.

Jixton turned his dark eyes onto Obi-Wan in a rare moment of seriousness. "You know, I trained a lot of those guys myself. I used to be a combat trainer at the Academy, and I remember a lot of those jerks who went and took what I taught them to fight for something I don't beleive in. It pisses me off to think about it."

"Well, then you certainly understand how I feel about Vader," Obi-Wan snapped.

Jixton didn't seem to hear him. "Especially morons like that Solo! You want to talk about wasted potential, he should be a walking poster boy for how you should not go about life! He had it all, and lost it. Over what? Some stupid dispute over a Wookiee? It's unreal!"

"He was fighting for an ideal. But fear not, Mr. Jixton. I think Han Solo had lost his idealism..." Obi-Wan said darkly.

"Not if he's aboard the Death Star, he hasn't. As for Vader, he's just crazy," Jix sighed.

"Yet you serve him," Obi-Wan observed.

"Yeah, well, he and I, we've got a deal going. As long as he keeps his end of the deal, I keep mine. Although, if he's actually going to be the Emperor, then his deal with me is kind of a moot point. He's supposed to keep a certain place secret from the Empire. A certain planet. But, he is the Empire now. Maybe he'll just forget about it. I'm sure he's got a million and one things going on..." Jix trailed off. Obi-Wan's concentration trailed off as well.

That grief I sensed was from Ani. Has something happened? Obi-Wan reached out with the Force, trying to sense Luke, his other former Padawan.


Points of light. For a few moments, that was all Luke Skywalker could see. He felt like he was floating. What were the lights from? His eyes were making an adjustment, so soon, he could see the contours of control panels. But why were they below him?

He brushed against a smaller sized living being. "Huh?" he gasped, as he could barely make out a set of glinting sharp teeth set in an alien face. Oh, no, it's that Noghri that Master Yoda had warned us about before! Luke began to manuever away from him, even though all the creature seemed to be doing at the moment was sniffing. As Luke backed away, the Noghri pursued.

"I'm warning you, I don't want trouble. We've got to get out of here," Luke said. "Master Yoda! Are you here?"

"I smell...Vader? But how?" the Noghri asked.

Luke was about to stammer out some sort of lame excuse when Master Yoda called out, "Luke, here, I am."

"Are you floating too?" Luke asked as he struggled to cross the dark divide between himself and Yoda's voice.

"Lost many system controls, we must have. But not all," Yoda explained. Of course, Luke realized, that's why there were still some lights on the control panels.

"Master, let's try and find everyone else. Han, Chewie? You around here?" Why aren't they answering? A lone "Ugh," came from somewhere to Luke's right, but it didn't sound like Chewie or Han.

And then, Luke sensed Obi-Wan's presence in his mind. /Luke, are you alright? What's got your father so upset?/

/What's he upset about? I'm the one floating around in the dark! Master Yoda's with me, and so's Thrawn, but I still don't have any contact from Han or Chewbacca./

/Was there an accident?/ Obi-Wan asked.

/Well, let's put it this way. We're out of hyperspace. But I don't know where we wound up./

/Luke, you need to get contact to someone, anyone, who can trace where the Death Star is now!/

/Right. Let's see if I can get to the control panel and try to make contact; I don't think I'll get a signal on my comlink over here, this deep in the Death Star. We're all in the brig, by the way./

/Good work Luke, just keep reporting to me. May the Force be with you./

Luke focused on the control panels. During his training with the Rebel alliance, back when he first joined up, he was taught how to manuever even under zero-g conditions. Luke began a few careful flips. Soon, he crashed right into Thrawn. "Oops! Excuse me, Admiral."

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Thrawn demanded.

"I'm going to contact either the Rebel Fleet or the Phoenix if I can," Luke answered.

"Like hell you are!" Thrawn growled, grabbing out toward where Luke stood suspended in midair hovering over the control panel. A growling Nogrhi emerged suddenly from behind Luke, catching them both off guard.

"No, Thrawn, you will obey the son of Vader!" the Noghri announced.

"Karbarakh! Have you lost your mind?" Thrawn gasped as the Noghri launched himself from Luke's back to Thrawn's midsection.

"No, you will stay back, Traitor! Son of Vader, make your call," Karbarakh told Luke.

Thrawn's red eyes glared through the virtual darkness. Luke tried valiantly not to squirm, but only managed a weak, "Um, right..." Hot under the collar, Luke began pushing buttons, trying to find anyone friendly to whom he could reach out...


Sorry I took so long to update. SOS..LOL