Greetings, prospective readers! Yes, indeed, I have decided to give Across the Divide another chance in the sunlight! For those you who don't know, I came up with this little idea after finding some fan art of Ezra and Kanan facing down Starkiller, clad in his Dark Lord's armor, plus the fact that Starkiller was considered for a member of the Imperial Inquisition. And now, with a few tweaks to the overall plan, I think I'm onto something this time! Well, let's not waste any more time, and let us start the game!
UPDATE: Good grief, I can't even make up my mind on wether or not I want this filed under the crossovers with Star Wars Rebels... but, after thinking about it, I think it's best suited here, under straight-up Star Wars. I mean, the Rebels category does have characters listed there that aren't listed here, but I think, since Starkiller presence causes the Rebels storyline to become altered in a number of different ways, I think it's more of a fit under pure Star Wars.
Prologue
That's Not Vader!
A powerful storm raged across the Imperial Homeworld of Coruscant. Humans and aliens alike ran across the streets at the very bottom of the towering city-planet, seeking out shelter from the storm, while those in speeders merely activated their canopies to shield them while they made their way to their destination, desperately praying to whatever gods or deities that had not already forsaken them that they would arrive safely. While some had their wishes granted, others were not as fortunate, and were smited by lightning and sent crashing down to the city-planet's bustling streets in a firey wreckage.
Within the depths of ruins that was once the ancient Jedi Temple, Imperial Inquisitor Kha'ell, a human male with slicked back dark hair and a scar on the right side of his face clad in the standard black and dark grey robes, black gloves, and black leather boots found on those who served the Imperial Inquisition with a standard Inquisitor's lightsaber mounted on his back, paced back and forth across the floor of the command center that had been installed in case any surviving Jedi had decided to come calling home. As he scowled down at the technicians as they typed commands into their stations, the recently-appointed Inquisitor couldn't help but think that this posting was nothing more than a waste of time, and that he should be out there with his brothers and sisters, hunting down the few Jedi that had survived Order 66 by what amounted to nothing more than a fluke or dumb blind luck, if such a thing were to exist, and seeking out these Children of the Force Lord Vader had spoken of. Not babysitting a bunch of technicians, officers, and Stormtroopers, abandoned and forgotten in some derelict ruin.
And yet… was the Temple truly as empty as it seemed? On more than one occasion, Kha'ell had felt like someone or something was watching him, following him. Furthermore, there had been times where he had felt an unexplainable sense of sadness and deep loss, and could've sworn he heard the mourning of some kind of ghostly choir and voices whispering in the wind, indistinct. And on top of that, despite the fifteen years that had passed since Order 66 and the Great Jedi Purge, quite a few training devices were surprisingly intact, despite several training chambers having become death traps. Kha'ell still remembered how Triton Squad had been wiped out by a small squad of Training Droids, and how a pair of Blue Robes had been murdered by a simulacrum of a long forgotten Sith Lord. Still, these unexpected surprises had been great opportunities for training in both lightsaber combat and Sith arts.
Kha'ell was pulled out of his musings by the voice of one of the technicians.
"Sir, unidentified ship on approach. Shall I scramble the squads?" the technician asked the Imperial Inquisitor, who promptly made his way over to the technician's monitor to get a better look at the approaching ship the technician had picked up. The Inquisitor couldn't help but let out an impressed whistle. From the looks of things, the ship appeared to be a prototype Star Fighter, armed to the teeth with the latest and greatest of Imperial star craft weapons, and if the technical data was anything to go by, it was equipped with the most advanced shields on the market, a prototype self-repair system, and a cloaking device.
I wonder… could that be Lord Vader? thought Kha'ell, closing his eyes as he reached out with the Force to get a feel for the signature of the approaching ship's pilot within it. Mere moments later, the Imperial Inquistor's eyes flew open, a look of sheer terror within them that the man quickly changed into anger and rage as per his training in the Dark Side of the Force dictated, even as the man's heart raced faster than a Pod Racer on Tatooine, or perhaps even Malistaire.
By the Force… whatever the Hell is flying that ship is far, far from being Lord Vader. It's someone even worse… no, someTHING worse, thought the Imperial Inquisitor as he struggled to convert the terror that had crept into his heart. Whatever was flying that ship… there was no other term for it. It was the ultimate evil, and for all he knew, an avatar or vessel for the Dark Side of the Force itself, hellbent on killing everyone and everything that got in its way, and intent on burning the entire galaxy to ashes.
"Scramble all squads! Kill whatever demonic creature is flying that ship at all costs! Kill it yourselves if you have to, just do whatever it takes to destroy that monster!" Kha'ell ordered the technicians before he ran out to await the creature near the Jedi Archives, despite knowing full well that any encounter with that horrific being that was flying the ship would most likely be fatal. But, there was no way in Hell he was going down without a fight.
And whatever was flying that ship was going to get one. Kha'ell was going to make sure of it.
In The Skies Above The Jedi Temple...
Hovering above one of the Jedi Temple's landing platforms was a sleek metallic black and red prototype Imperial Star Fighter known as the Eclipse. The ship had originally been meant for the personal use of Emperor Palpatine's right-hand man and enforcer, Darth Vader. That is, until the current pilot got his hands on it first, and left a trail of bodies and destruction in his wake.
Flying the ship was a being who donned an outfit not dissimilar to the life-support armor that encased the broken body of Darth Vader, to the point that one could easily mistake this individual for the Sith Lord from a distance. Upon closer inspection however, it could be quickly discerned that this being was not Darth Vader in the slightest. Noticeably missing from the chest of this lookalike's armor was the control panel found on Vader's armor. Also missing was the flowing black cape that Darth Vader wore, replaced instead by a smaller, tattered one that wrapped around the lower half of the dark warrior's body. The belt on this warrior's waist held no less than ten different lightsaber hilts, some a bit more intact than others, as well as a number of other grisly trophies taken from the Jedi and enemies he had slaughtered. Each of this warrior's fingers was infused with a metal talon that looked sharp enough to cut through solid steel like a hot knife through butter, or perhaps rip out someone's heart. But, the most obvious difference between this warrior and Darth Vader was perhaps the helmet he wore. Although it made a similar mechanical breathing noise to Vader's helmet, this warrior's helmet more or less seemed to resemble a modified Mandalorian helmet, if the T-shaped visor was anything to go by.
Starkiller couldn't help but give an evil smile underneath his helmet as a large squad of Imperial Stormtroopers, led by what seemed to be a pair of Imperial Officers, three Blue Robes, and a pair of Red Robes, were making their way towards the landing platform he was hovering over. Ever since he had somehow survived being pulled into a black hole, the Sith Lord had launched several one-man assaults on Imperial Archives across the galaxy, hoping to learn all he could about this strange, altered version of the past. And now his search for knowledge had come to a head, leading him to the old Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where it seemed the Empire still maintained a sufficient presence, despite it having been fifteen years since the Great Jedi Purge and the execution of Order 66, as the Sith had come to understand it. And it seemed as though the Imperials had been alerted to his presence, and were rallying to try and capture or kill him.
Let them try, thought Starkiller. Punching in the commands to put the ship on cloaked autopilot, Starkiller opened the cockpit and leapt from the fighter, free falling towards the landing platform below and using the Force upon landing, softening the impact of the landing and cracking the ground beneath him as a small shockwave emanated from him.
Not even a few seconds had passed after Starkiller's landing before the Sith Lord heard the cocking of several blasters in his direction, causing the Sith Lord's concealed smile to grow as the delicious rush of power from his irredeemably deep connection to the Dark Side of the Force raced through him.
"This area has been declared off-limits by the order of the Emperor. Surrender now and prepare to be detained, or be fired upon," one of the Imperial Officers commanded.
Starkiller reached for one of the lightsaber hilts at his side and ignited the crimson blade, holding the weapon in a reverse grip as he entered a combat starting stance. However, before either of the Imperial Officers could give the command to attack, Starkiller held out his hand and called upon the Force.
"The Empire is a lie," Starkiller said, his helmet making his voice sound deep, booming, and intimidating. Almost instantly, the eyes of one of the Imperial Officers, one of the Senate Guards, a Red Robe, and, although it was only apparent to Starkiller due to the soldier's helmets, several stormtroopers glazed over as Starkiller's words became their sole and absolute truth.
"Death to the Empire!" yelled the Imperial Officer before he and the other brainwashed soldiers opened fire and attacked their allies as Starkiller threw himself into the frey, gripping the other Imperial Officer in a telekinetic chokehold before unleashing a torrent of purple lightning upon the gripped Officer and throwing him into the warring mob of Imperials, where the man detonated like a grenade, taking out a few of the other stormtroopers along with him as Starkiller cut his way through the remaining Imperials with a ruthless and lethal combination of bladework and Force Powers.
By the time the smoke cleared, Lord Starkiller was the only fighter left standing. Deactivating his lightsaber, Starkiller made his way towards the Temple entrance, only to stop as a blaster bolt came from behind, missing the Sith Lord by a decent margin. Reaching out with the Force, Starkiller was able to sense that the Imperial Officer he had previously brainwashed was still alive, but he was losing a lot of blood from his injuries. His hand wandered towards one of his lightsabers, but the Sith Lord paused for a moment. There was no need to strike the Officer down and waste more of his time.
Without so much as turning around, Starkiller once again called upon the Force. "It is time for you to go," he instructed the Officer, whose eyes glazed over almost instantly.
As Starkiller continued walking away, the dying Imperial Officer whispered, "It's time…" and pressed his blaster pistol against the side of his skull before pulling the trigger.
A Short While Later...
As Lord Starkiller ventured deeper into the Jedi Temple and made his way towards the Jedi Archives, he quickly found himself under attack by a small squad of Jump Troopers with Flame Troopers acting as backup.
Child's play, thought Starkiller before he unleashed a massive torrent of Force Lightning, overloading the Jump Troopers' jetpacks, sending the soldiers into an uncontrollable flight before their jetpack exploded, killing the troopers, while causing the tanks on the Flame Troopers' backs to explode, obliterating them in the process.
The opposition removed from his path, Starkiller made his way towards the door of the archives that he had been searching for. Upon entering the archives, however, Lord Starkiller quickly found that he was not alone.
"Quite a mess you made out there," a human male with slicked back dark hair and a scar on the right side of his face, clad in black and dark grey robes, black gloves, and black leather boots, holding what was unmistakably a lightsaber hilt in his hand, a fact that became even more obvious when a crimson blade emerged from the hilt. "Whoever or whatever you are, you've got a lot of explaining to do."
"So, you're what passes for a Shadow Guard in this place," Starkiller said as he and Kha'ell began circling one another, their crimson blades filling the chamber with their humming.
"Afraid I don't know what a Shadow Guard is supposed to be. I am an Imperial Inquisitor, trained in the Dark Side of the Force under the tutelage of Darth Vader himself," Kha'ell said, pointing his crimson blade at Starkiller as he spoke. "Speaking of my Master, they may say imitation is the sincerest form of flatter, but I rather doubt Lord Vader will be flattered in the slightest by your costume."
"An imitation, you say?" Starkiller said before he scoffed. "Don't make me laugh. Darth Vader merely adopted the darkness. I was born into it. Molded by it. I did not see the light until I was already a man. And by then… IT WAS NOTHING BUT BLINDING!"
As he spoke those last five words, Lord Starkiller unleashed a powerful surge of Force Lightning, which Kha'ell barely managed to absorb and redirect with his lightsaber into a nearby wall as Starkiller entered a lightsaber combat starting stance, making an inhuman and animalistic growl as he did so, that set off all sorts of alarms for the young Inquisitor.
That's a Form VII starting stance! Kha'ell thought in alarm as he pressed a button on his lightsaber that caused the half-circle that went around the grip of his weapon's hilt to open up into a full circle, allowing a second crimson blade to emerge as the Inquisitor entered his own starting stance.
A few tense moments passed by in the archive chamber as each of the Dark Siders stared each other down, waiting for their opposites to make the first move. Then, as though someone had spoken a command, Starkiller and Kha'ell charged at each other, their red blades appearing as though they were nothing more than blursas they clashed with one another.
However, despite wielding a double-bladed lightsaber and a rotating hilt, Kha'ell was having an immense amount of difficulty landing a solid blow on his opponent. Whoever or whatever this creature was, he was probably one of the best Juyo stylists he had ever laid eyes on. Then again, it wasn't that difficult of a feat, considering that Kha'ell had never actually seen anyone who could use Form VII.
As their blades clashed once more, the two warriors found themselves in a saber lock. Normally, Kha'ell would just hit the button and cause his lightsaber to spin rapidly, staggering his opponent and creating an opening with which he could strike his opponent down, except for some reason, his lightsaber's hilt didn't seem to want to rotate.
"You have fought valiantly. If it's any consolation, your lightsaber will make a fine addition to my collection," Starkiller growled.
"You want my blade? You're gonna have to pry it out of my cold, dead, hand-"
Before Kha'ell could finish talking, a bright aquamarine lightsaber impaled him through the stomach, the business end of the blade emerging from his back, causing the Inquisitor to drop his lightsaber and fall to his knees, gasping for breath before Starkiller beheaded the helpless Inquisitor with a single strike of his crimson lightsaber.
The battle finished, Lord Starkiller deactivated both of his lightsabers and reattached one of them to his belt. Spotting the fallen Inquisitor's deactivated and collapsed lightsaber on the ground near its former owner's headless corpse, Starkiller called upon the Force to bring the weapon to his hand before examining it.
Hmm… very interesting design choice… I'll have to test this out another time, however. Right now, I must learn all I can about the history of the Jedi and the Sith who hail from this distorted version of the Empire, thought Starkiller before attaching the weapon to an open space on his belt.
As he walked away from the headless Inquisitor, Lord Starkiller tossed and caught his lightsaber, apparently feeling a sense of ease, while humming what sounded suspiciously like the Imperial March.
And thus concludes the prologue! Hopefully I did a pretty good job here. Also, in case you were wondering, the lightsabers on Starkiller's belt include both his old and new lightsabers, Darth Vader's, Rahm Kota's, the broken piece of Kazden Paratus's saber-pike, Shaak Ti's, half of Darth Maul's, Anakin Skywalker's (obtained after defeating Luke Skywalker on Hoth and turning the son of Vader into his Sith Apprentice), and Obi-Wan Kenobi's (obtained after vaporizing Kenobi with the Millenium Falcon's afterburner, then "defeating" Kenobi's Force Ghost.) And now, he has an Inquisitor's lightsaber. With that aside, if you liked what you saw here, then be sure to fav, follow, and review, and I'll see you guys next time as the Spark of Rebellion begins to ignite, and Starkiller begins his hunt for Children of the Force to mold into his students! See you then!