"The first recorded sighting of Darth Vader was at the Jedi Temple during Order 66. He was seen slaying Jedi, and he has since dominated every war front and has led his Clone Army to victory after victory against Jedi and rebel planets alike. No one knows who he is, where he came from, or how he became commander of the clones. But one thing is for certain: he has changed this galaxy forever. And as this new chapter in history unfolds, he will no doubt have pivotal role to play, whatever the future holds."
-Pollux Hax, from his newest book Reflections on Order 66
The Tale of Darth Vader, or the Chosen One's Tale
ORDER 67 Part III
Darth Vader had heard the news straight from the mouth of the Emperor. It was time. And so Vader amassed the armies of the Empire. He assembled the 501st Legion, loaded the starfighters and the Star Destroyers, and he even summoned the twelve Starkillers. He stood on a high balcony of the Emperor's Palace, and below were the vast armies of the Empire. A million clones were marching into Star Destroyer hulls, and their marching hammered slow and heavy like a great and ominous war drum.
Behind Vader were all the Starkillers, standing and waiting for his command. It was the first time the Starkillers had been together in one place, for they always did their work alone. And meanwhile Vader observed the great chess board of white clone helmets and raised black rifles, and Vader's cape fluttered and snapped behind him in the wind as he watched.
A clone commander appeared on the balcony and approached and saluted Darth Vader. The clone was designated CC-2224, though he was more commonly called Cody. He was the commander of the entire 501st Legion, and his armor had the Legion's blue markings. Cody was perhaps the most decorated clone from the clone Wars and he had never lost a battle.
"We are ready for launch, sir," Cody said.
"Very good, commander. Stand by and wait for further orders," Vader responded.
Commander Cody saluted again and left the balcony.
The 501st was ready, every last thousand and every last hundred and every last one. Every Star Destroyer was loaded up to the brim and their doors were sealed airtight shut, and their behemoth engines roared to flaming azure life. And Darth Vader left the balcony and descended down the Palace along with the Starkillers, and he and they boarded a Delta-class shuttle, and Commander Cody joined them.
As Vader sat in the shuttle, his holoprojector, a thin metal disk that fit neatly in the palm, chimed. He unclipped it from his belt and activated it, and there in the air above it appeared the icy blue hologram of the Emperor.
"Is everything ready?" the Emperor said.
"Yes, my master. The siege awaits your command."
"Then begin it, Lord Vader. Begin it."
The hologram evaporated, and Darth Vader told the pilot to lift off. The shuttle hummed and lifted and screeched into space. And in space they were joined by the Star Destroyers and the V-wings and the Y-wings and the Maelstroms and the ORC-1s, all bound for the planet Budestia.
'
From above Coruscant's atmosphere, Budestia was a pale green star. From up close, it was a green marble, softly glowing, and wrapped in the white swirling brushstrokes of clouds. It orbited a small yellow sun, and it had two frosty white moons.
Darth Vader's fleet had launched into hyperspace and just now arrived near the planet and was approaching it.
"Lord Vader, we have an incoming transmission," the pilot said.
"Accept the transmission," Vader said.
The pilot flipped a switch, and the blue hologram of a man flickered over the pilot's cockpit console. The holographic man was old but had all his hair, still thick, and just a few wrinkles around the mouth and near the eyes, and he wore a very simple and no doubt costly suit. He stood very straight, and his eyes had a youthful fire to them.
"This is the president of Budestia. Whoever you are, desist now, or we will send our fleet up to meet you."
"Then meet us. This is a siege, Mister President. I care little what you do."
"We have Jedi on our side. Thousands."
"I know. That is why we have come. The Empire has let your planet remain independent in good faith, and now you harbor thousands of war criminals. You have abused your freedom."
"We are free because we are strong. The Separatists couldn't conquer us, nor could the Hutts, nor could the Sith Armies of the ancient days. You will fail just as they did."
The transmission ended. Soon an armada of star cruisers rose out of the planet and towards Vader's fleet. Vader observed them, not saying anything, and there was only the sound of his robotic breathing.
"Your orders, sir?" the pilot said matter-of-factly.
Vader was quiet for a moment more.
"Get me to my flagship," he finally said.
"Yes sir."
The pilot maneuvered the shuttle towards Vader's flagship, the Phantom's Curse. The shuttle entered the flagship's docking bay, and the shuttle's wings folded up neatly like origami, and it eased onto the metal floor. The shuttle door opened, and out came Vader followed by Cody and the Starkillers.
"Commander," Vader said to Cody as they walked.
"At your command."
"Ready the fleet."
"Consider it done," Cody said, and he rushed off.
Vader stopped and turned to the Starkillers.
"And you know what to do. Don't fail me," he said.
The Starkillers bowed slowly, simultaneously, and they skulked away like grim dark spirits. It was just Vader now.
The docking bay was huge, and clones in white and blue-marked armor swarmed the place, and many were organized into neat formations that marched thunderous footfalls, and many scurried individually to their battle stations. And meanwhile an Imperial officer in neat gray clothes walked speedily up to Vader.
"Your interceptor is prepped and ready, sir," the officer said, and he led Vader to his Eta-class Actis interceptor. It was painted black. And beside the interceptor was a small astromech droid. "A new astromech, per your request. Custom-made, and incorporating schematics from the latest models," the officer added and gestured to the droid with a nod. The droid was black, like Vader's previous astromech, but this one was touched up with yellow, and blue pinstripes ran horizontally down one of its legs.
"What's its number?" Vader asked.
"Z1-OM."
Vader studied the droid. "Load it up," he finally said.
They did, and meanwhile Vader sat in the cockpit and fired up the engines. In a moment his interceptor was ready for war.
"Another fine day to fly," chimed a voice. It was Cody. His voice was coming from the internal comlink radio. He sounded excited.
"We are launching in sixty seconds, commander," was all Vader said.
"Copy that."
"And don't let them strike first. Obliterate them."
And the Empire did obliterate them. The sixty seconds passed, and the Imperial fleet launched into battle, and the battle was short and brutal. The Empire blasted holes into the Budestian starcruisers, they razed starfighters to metal shreds, and the warzone quickly became an asteroid belt of hurtling wreckage. And among the wreckage the Empire still continued to hammer Budestia's fleet. Of all the Empire's forces, Darth Vader was the deadliest. He had been long rumored the best pilot in the galaxy, and here he showed it beyond a doubt. His style was acrobatic and fast, but also refined and calculated, and against him not even the best pilots stood a chance.
It wasn't too long before Budestian starfighters began to retreat in hordes. It was then that the Starkillers appeared, piercing the vacuum of space like fiery chunks broken off a comet. They flanked the retreating starfighters from behind, and they piloted stark white Delta-7 light interceptors, and with them were the ORC-1s of Black Fang Squadron, though the Four Fangs were not among them. And not a single Budestian made it past them. And that was the end of the battle, over nearly as soon as it started. And next was the siege of the planet.
The Star Destroyers breached the planet's atmosphere, and below were the clouds and forested mountains of Budestia. It was a beautiful world, with an occasional old city nestled snuggly between mountains or in a valley. The cities were of an antiquated, hand-laid and hand-paved and hand-sculpted architecture, and the stone buildings were of browns and yellows and whites and grays. The Budestians themselves were all human, and their military uniforms were navy blue with polished black boots and shiny brass buttons. They were organized and spirited, and they shouted war cries at the incoming invasion in the skies, and they were ready to defend their homeworld to the very last man. In the capital city were many men and the best of them, and with them were a thousand Jedi, the last Jedi of the fallen Jedi Order, and their lightsabers ignited as a vast plain of green and blue fire.
And in front of them all, in front of the Jedi and in front of the Budestian soliders, was a hooded figure. The figure stood patiently waiting as the Star Destroyers landed and rested among the mountains like sleeping giants, and out of them came the million clones marching straight for the capital city. In the lead were Darth Vader and the Starkillers, and Commander Cody followed closely behind. And the hooded figure stood unfaltering. He removed his hood, and he was someone Darth Vader had not seen for a very long time. The figure had been a Jedi Master and a senior member of the Jedi Council for years, and he had been the best lightsaber duelist in the galaxy, and Vader hadn't seen him since the Jedi Order fell. It was Mace Windu, and when Vader saw him, he knew it could be no other. Master Windu had grown a beard, thick and black, and a hideous scar ran across his face from his ear down to his cheek on the other side. His hands were droid hands, all metal and wires. Windu grimaced darkly at Vader as the Imperial forces approached, and he revealed two lightsabers from under his cloak, and there were two snaps a single hiss, and two purple blades shone brightly.
It was the Siege of Budestia. It was the battle to end all uprisings, and it was the final stroke of the Jedi Purge. This battle would be remembered as the last gasp of the Clone Wars, the last breath of a time when Jedi were many and when there was still hope that things would get better, that the Empire wasn't forever. The Siege of Budestia was the slayer of dreams and the final brick in the foundation of an everlasting Empire. And it was a slaughter.
The Budestians put up a valiant fight, and the clones of the 501st Legion gave a cold and merciless one in turn. Clones and Budestians died in countless numbers, and among the fighting were the Jedi on one side led by Mace Windu, and on the other side were the Starkillers led by Darth Vader. For every Starkiller that died, a hundred Jedi perished, for the Starkillers were well-trained and well-experienced, and the dark side was strong in these days of the new Galactic Empire. And the most powerful warriors on either side were Darth Vader and Mace Windu. They butchered everyone in their path.
The battle raged, and night fell over the planet, and the surrounding trees were on fire, and buildings collapsed one after the other. Civilians were fleeing the city or screaming trapped under rubble. And V-wings fought the Budestian starfighters in dogfights high over the city, and whenever a ship was shot down it crashed down onto the building or onto the fighting Budestians and clones. And meanwhile the planet's two moons hung silently above the chaos as silver crescents, almost peaceful against the glaring fire and amid the frantic screams and rocket roars and blaster shots.
Windu and Vader were so devastating they cut a river of corpses through the battlefield. The Budestians and even the Jedi fled Vader, but the clones kept firing at Windu with an automated, droid-like fearlessness.
At last and perhaps inevitably, their paths crossed. They flowed into their duel seamlessly, and their duel was fierce and fast, and it seemed as if red and purple light swirled around them. Their clashing spat fiery sparks, and they scraped and gashed the ground. It looked as if Mace Windu was gaining the upper hand. Mace's style was a channeled savagery, aggressive and strong and edging on uncontrolled but still precise and exact. His eyes burned with hatred, and though he didn't say a word, he knew the face behind the mask of Darth Vader. He felt the presence of Anakin Skywalker, and Vader knew it. Behind the mask, behind the armor and the cybernetic implants, Vader was just a scared little boy standing before the Jedi Council for the first time.
The two men fought hard, and Vader's armor was falling to pieces, and his cape was shredded and riddled with holes. Windu was only faring slightly better, but they fought on and all the harder. It was then that Windu cut off Vader's right hand, and sparks spurted out. Vader shoved Windu aside with the Force to retrieve his lightsaber, still clutched by his severed hand lying on the ground. Windu rushed at him, and Vader grabbed his lightsaber and fought left-handed.
Many Starkillers had died now, and one of the surviving Starkillers rushed at Windu from behind, but the Jedi sensed it and without turning reached his hand back. With the Force, Windu tripped the Starkiller and then slammed him face first onto the ground. The Starkiller hit the ground hard right by Windu's feet, and he flailed and scrambled to stand back up, and Windu didn't let him and mid-fight with Vader he swept his lightsaber back and cleaved the Starkiller's head in half.
While Windu's fighting style was ferocious and feral, Vader's was robotic. It emphasized powerful wide strokes and unstoppable momentum. But he was at a disadvantage with only one hand, and he was losing. He was breathing fast, more gasping than breathing.
It was then that Windu made a slip during a combination of strikes. It was subtle slip, and Vader punished him for it. The Sith Lord slashed one of Mace Windu's lightsabers into two pieces. He then kicked Windu in the stomach, and the Jedi lurched back a few steps. Vader raised Windu off the ground with the Force, and he slammed the Jedi onto the ground several times. The Jedi dropped his lightsaber, and it lay there on the ground. Vader then hurled his own lightsaber at Windu like a spear, and the red plasma blade pierced right through the Jedi's gut. Windu screamed, then stared at the lightsaber lodged inside him, then at Vader with a malice that tinged his eyes red. He bellowed again, and he used the Force and ripped a blaster rifle from a dead clone's hands and fired at Vader, ignoring the lightsaber in his body. Vader deflected the blasts with his hand, then caused the blaster to crumple. And suddenly, though only to Darth Vader and Master Mace Windu, the world seemed to slow down.
The war still waged, men still killed men and discharged their grenades and shot with their rifles, and starships were still falling out of the sky and crashing around them, but for some odd reason, at this moment, the world seemed to hush. Mace Windu stared at the crumpled rifle in hand curiously, as if he just now realized he was dead. He studied it, and like a child no longer interested with a toy dropped it. He then gazed down at the lightsaber in his stomach. He pulled the lightsaber out of himself slowly, and he winced as he did it. Vader stood and watched, and the metal of his cybernetic limbs were visible, and his cape was now gone, and his helmet was cracked open in places. He just stood and breathed his heavy robotic breaths and watched. And Mace Windu seemed to be considering his own death. He felt the weight of the red lightsaber that had killed him, and he waved it around once or twice, almost playfully as he pondered it. The malice in his face was gone. He seemed pensive, deep in his thoughts, trying to make sense of how Darth Vader had killed him. And then he was gone. He vanished, and his clothes and Darth Vader's lightsaber dropped onto the ground.
And that was the end of Mace Windu. He was one with the Force, and he would never again be seen in this galaxy or any other as a mortal man.
Darth Vader retrieved his lightsaber, then the lightsaber of Mace Windu. He examined the hilt. Commander Cody was nearby, and his armor was charred with black spots and dinted and scratched, but he was otherwise perfectly unscathed. Cody saw Vader studying the metal hilt of some Jedi and ran up to him.
"Lord Vader. Victory is imminent. We expect Budestia to surrender within the hour."
"Commander."
"Yes sir."
"Have your men collect every dead Jedi and shoot them one by one in the head. Then pile and burn the bodies. Record each body you find. I don't want there to be any more chances of seeing ghosts."
"Yes sir. And the survivors?"
"I want them in chains and on the Phantom's Curse."
"It shall be done."
When the battle was over, when the Budestians surrendered and when all was said and done, the Siege of Budestia would be remembered as a pyrrhic victory. Hundreds of thousands of clones perished, and only four of the twelve Starkillers remained. Meanwhile Budestia's population had been decimated, its capital city in ruins, and nearly two hundred Jedi were rounded up and captured. The rest had all been massacred during the siege. The clones dragged Budestia's president out of his home and shot him in execution fashion, then did the same to his family. The planet was now an Imperial world, and its people Imperial citizens. A puppet president would need to be set up. But Vader's priority was the surviving Jedi, not politics. He left a standing force of one hundred thousand strong on Budestia, then left with the rest back to the Star Destroyers and back to Coruscant. He now had every Jedi in the galaxy counted, catalogued and, if alive, captured.
The hunt for the Jedi was over. It was now time for Order 67 to commence.