Disclaimer: All non-original characters and ideas mentioned here is SW material, not owned by me. Like countless others, I'm just playing in the Lucas Universe, inspired by Episode 3. Only the five Forgotten characters were created by me, along with the planets Ichosar, T'Gottok, and Whrede.

-

Nine: Revelation

-

The taste of the world of Jomark filled Vader up the moment he set boot upon it, from the acid red glare of the sky to the rugged dirt and crags underneath him. It almost felt like Mustafar all over again.

He'd been to primitive worlds before, many times trying to save the denizens of said worlds from some cosmic disaster or murderous party of individuals. The Republic explorers, while diligent, had always been outnumbered by the worlds that lay outwards from the core, still undiscovered. Last he'd heard, a full half of the galaxy remained uncharted, composing a 'sector' collectively referred to as the Unknown Regions.

This planet, for example, had built itself up from the primordial soup into a monarchist community while the Republic had slumbered not more than three Hyperspace jumps away. But life on such a world would undoubtedly be hard, as evidenced by the prior execution of Jomark's sole king.

And now, he mused, kingship comes to whomever can help these people survive a little easier. The fact that Lon the Wise can perform what they see as miracles would help him on the way.

The High Castle was impossible to miss- it towered over the flat settlements scattered on the wastelands, architecturally impressive despite its extreme state of decay. They had landed some distance from it, knowing that Jomark's new God-king was not technologically hampered the way his servants were- he could have installed Turbolaser turrets in the ancient castle's parapets for all they knew of the place.

Out of the corner of his vision, Vader saw his new apprentice flip out of her own ship, ascending nearly ten feet straight up before landing on her feet, poised to strike.

He swiveled to face Asajj, once again fighting the sense of weariness he'd hated so much from Obi Wan when he had been training a young, brash student. "Save your energy, Ventress. Our enemies wait in the castle, not here."

She knew better now than to bark a harsh retort, and momentarily switched her saber off. "Can't be too careful, Skywa-"

Her voice cut off, interrupted both by Vader's seething tones and the sudden need for air. "I have told you again and again not to refer to me by that name. Did I not win our bet? Am I not your master because the difference between our power?"

She glared back, still filled with the insolence that Vader- to his horror- had known all too well from his days as a Padawan. I, however, can back up my reprimands with strength instead of empty words. "I was under the impression that a kill that avoids getting half your memory zapped away was better than yours."

Her biting words called attention to the gaps still remaining in his mind. Small, undetailed ones, but gaps all the same. "Enough of your mouth. We have one final Jedi to kill."

She seemed spurred on by that, and set off at a pace down through the village towards the castle. Even here, he noticed, the young female was trying to outstrip his walking speed to show that she had more energy than he did. Any order to slow down and conserve her rage would only bring her contempt back to the surface.

Stubborn, he thought, stalking down the dusty streets at a lesser speed. But then, she would be. The difference between our powers and ages are not as great as, say, Count Dooku. Her strength has increased since then, and I don't doubt she watches me daily for any sign of weakness, like a vicious predator turned into a pet.

While part of him- most likely the older part- was a bit intimidated by the idea of having an apprentice that would only obey him until his back was turned, another part accepted the challenge with a kind of satisfaction- this was, after all, meant to be a test. The Emperor had long since described the cuthroat cycle of the Sith that had allowed them to survive the purge from 3,000 years ago to him.

There would always be a minimum of two- a Master, and an apprentice. The Master's job was to locate a candidate with passable potential, and pass down to them the most important teachings of the Sith. The apprentice only had to listen and train, and they would eventually surpass- and most likely kill- the master and take their position, passing on what they had learned.

Gradually, as the cycle progressed, he felt certain that the prior Sith Masters would have edited out parts of the code they saw to be weak and unnecessary fluff. It could have continued that way, on down to Darth Plagueis, gradually becoming a more efficient code, like a weapon sharpened and improved by each new generation.

He looked at Asajj's slender form again, understanding her role better. She cannot be faulted- she understands the code and it's tenets. Like her, I wait for the day when my powers surpass the Emperor, only to take his place… and to have my apprentice take the position I currently hold- right hand to the ruler of the galaxy.

Of course, he was getting ahead of himself. Like it or not, he owed Palpatine more than what any Sith code decreed, owed him enough not to rush his training in the Dark Arts just to catch up, but at the same time he needed to stay strong in front of his own apprentice. A critical balance of power, it was.

To his surprise, the gate of the High Castle was wide open for them when they arrived. Both Asajj and Vader stared up at the high parapets for just a moment, then Vader nodded. "Let us go. As you said, one Jedi left. It could be he was not expecting us."

Alert for any signs of a trap, he ignited his own personal saber- the one he'd created in Sedriq Uso's shop way back when. Fuelled by a crystal of sea coral from Chandrila's oceans, the new weapon burned forth in a geyser of deadly red light alongside the old saber that he'd given to Asajj. Nearly back-to-back, they sidled into the keep.

Inside, they had an up close view of a black hooded figure, flanked by four tall, muscular Schintians sitting so still they could have been gargoyle statues. The slightest probing of this crowd confirmed his suspicion. It's not Lon, he sent to Asajj.

But he sensed she had already perceived that. What was even more shocking to her was that neither of them could feel anything in the Force of the black-hooded figure in the center. He wasn't a Sith Master- not even the Emperor could block both of their Force senses at once. He was merely a void, a creature somehow empty of the Force altogether.

From Asajj, Vader sensed something more than the surprise he felt- it was almost as if she had expected to see such an abnormality here. Whatever the case, the leader didn't waste any time in taking off for a large spiral staircase in the center of the large castle foyer, leaving Vader and Ventress alone to face four guards, who had subtly encircled them at the four corners of the chamber while they had been probing their leader.

He wasn't worried yet. The four Schintians might have been capable of flight and physically strong, but lightsabers would shred their weaponless arms like paper. He couldn't understand why it was the four looked so confident, fangs jutting from their reptilian faces…

Then, as one, both of the red beams projected by the pair's weapons faded, flashing on and off with greater and greater frequency, then fizzled altogether. Vader was the first to hit the button again, and to discover that both of their weapons had been disabled.

He found out something else, as well- he could not longer hear the steady beat of his respiration unit, nor feel the cool air it had always pumped into his ruined lungs. All at once, his mechanical suit had been disabled, making him collapse to the floor like a cripple.

"Then again", he managed to pant weakly, kneeled beside a bewildered Asajj, "underestimating one's enemy is a fatal flaw."

The guards moved in, ready to kill.

-

Asajj Ventress saw Vader collapse to his knees, nearly completely bent over with pain. She didn't even have to try her indimitation factor- an animal snarl that would have done Trasshk proud- to know that it wouldn't work against these gargoyle-like opponents.

Improvise, she decided, spinning around to catch sight of all four corners while summoning more of the Dark Side to her. Remember our training.

Her heart so filled with focused rage that she thought her heart would burst, Asajj moved her left arm- the mechanical one- around in a circle to clear some space for the both of them. The first three backed off, while the fourth, a grim-jawed adversary that looked to be the leader, caught the swipe without blinking.

She had had quite enough of sharp animal talons piercing her skin for one lifetime. Using the momentum of the swipe, she leaped up and kicked the titanic Schintian in the head, hard enough to stagger him for a moment, then spun all the way around to leap for the next guard over.

She wasn't surprised to see him block as well, but was very surprised when he snapped his left wing out at her, slashing a furrow along her cheek. She rolled with the blow and, using both legs, twisted the guard into a spiral that made his wings so much ballast. Midway through that maneuver, the two closest statues in the foyer, both of them artistic renditions of armored gladiators, pounced upon the two guards advancing on her crippled master.

It wouldn't hold them long- it was clear to her now that these four creatures could touch the Force to a limited extent, but it didn't have to. Before she could think of anything else, the leader angled in with a midair jab, using his wings to adjust his flight.

Flipping back to her feet in an instant, she faced the four guards anew. So they really can fly. This makes things difficult. Skywalker had better get up soon, or we won't even live to see the last Jedi die.

-

Lon the Wise could not sense the fight, not in the sense that would have been possible for others of his talent. The mere act of looking at the assassins through the eyes of his Schintian guards would be to invite physical and mental exhaustion. Clearly, his venture into the Unliving Force had been more taxing than he'd given it credit for.

Gran Lassau watched intently by his side now, along with the two remaining guards flanking the throne, one of them holding the device he had used at Lon's command to short out all electronics in the vicintity… including itself.

Instead of depending upon sight for a gage of the senseless violence he knew was occurring two floors down, he focused concentration on the mind and body of the Sith Lord, Darth Vader. As he had expected, the Electronic Scramble-Wave emitter had deprived him of the artificial support he had needed to breathe- only the oxygen being force-fed telekinetically into his lungs was keeping him alive, even as it prevented Vader from taking any other action.

Gran Lassau, of course, was blind to all of this, had no idea what was going on after he had run from the central foyer in an attempt to lure Vader and his disciple to the throne room. He did, however, look strangely eager for an agent who had claimed on more than one occasion that he owed allegiance to no one.

"Tell me", Lon said, his eyes closed so as to focus his concentration, "what is your conflict with our guest?"

He could not read the emotions or actions of the agent without surrendering the focus he had on Vader, so his ears were the only avenue for Lassau's reluctant reply. "I merely intended to finish the job I had begun on Chandrila. As I have said, I don't claim to understand why it is you are trying to lure him to your chamber. Won't he simply kill you when he arrives?"

Lon fought back a chuckle. "That assumes he survives the fight before him. But yes, you are right to assume that that was a diversion. I want him to come here, but weakened enough so that I'll have time to talk to him."

Lassau's voice grew even more surprised. "You think that your words can make him veer from his task after all this?"

As if stirred from afar by his words, Vader's consciousness took a sudden pulse, just enough to block the claws of one guard that Asajj hadn't been able to stop. Invigorated, Lon reclined, trying to relax his mind. "Oh, it's far better than that. Once I have said my bit- once I have cut through the Emperor's lies- he will have a far bigger target to destroy. In this, I shall make him my instrument."

Lassau still wasn't convinced. Lon imagined he could feel his raspy breath on his skin. "And what about the girl? Chaos incarnate, she is. You can't expect to tame her easily."

Cutting away from the vision of Asajj Ventress making one of his guards cry out in pain, he agreed. "You are right on that account. Once I am done speaking with Vader, you may kill her. My gift to you."

-

GET UP. I must get up…

Vader's vision was hazy, but he had far better senses to serve in that regard. Even so, the picture that those senses offered was as confusing as it was haphazard.

What he got from it was a scene of devastation in the hallway. Every one of the statues had been pulled down from their perches, as a means to either crush their attackers or distract them. Several of the walls were sporting new gouges. The floor looked black with blood. Whose blood?

GET UP. You must help Ventress.

Why, though?

More than the terrible lack of oxygen stunning him into submission, it was the despair that had now come flooding back. His memories were regained, pieced back together, and most of them were unhappy ones. Once again, the mechanical suit he wore felt more like a filthy trap from which he could never escape. Reyne A'kla's final blast had almost done him a favor- it had removed the hole in what was left of his heart that was Padme's demise.

Pain ate into this thoughts, twisting them. Was it really worth going on like this? No matter how powerful he became, the hole would never heal. And it was my fault. If only I hadn't…

Time cannot be reversed. Now that was a Force power worth pursuing. If only he could relive the past few months, things would be different. Isn't that what everyone desires- the chance to relive their lives, avoiding mistakes?

Jedi training had once convinced him that the power of the Force had no limits if one could open themselves to it completely. Just another lie- not even Reyne A'kla could make him unsee what he seen, reverse the events that had brought him to this.

Enough self-pity, came the rebuke, almost as though from outside his mind. You still have enemies to destroy. You still have a great debt to repay to the Emperor. You did not survive Mustafar simply to wallow in pity, as Anakin did.

Another guard had fought his way through the debris, aiming for Vader's neck. He caught the claw, twisted it until he heard a soft crack, and tossed the creature into a wall.

He could not undo what had transpired, or fight the pain of memories. What he could do was pretend, was see the reflections of the past in the present and future. On some level or another, he could still believe everything would be all right.

For one, he could pretend Asajj was Padme. Padme, as she might look without hair or garment, with pasty white skin, and every bit as warped by the Dark Side as he had been. He had never realized up until now what an easy leap of imagination that was to make- Padme was not a Force-user, but if she had been a Sith, this was what she would be like. The illusion gathered unrestrained passion in his soul, something he hadn't felt for months now. It was every bit as powerful as he had said.

Hold on then, Padme, or Asajj, or whoever you are. You won't die today, if I can help it.

-

His distance from the fight lessened the pain, but Lon still snapped his head away and winced when he saw Asajj Ventress push one of his guards- his wings already lacerated by sharp rocks she had levitated earlier- out the window of the second floor. The fall would not be fatal, but that guard was out of the fight and out of consideration.

Just like the leader, who was now dead, impaled through the chest by a spear the young Force-wielder had pilfered from one of the stone warrior statues in an area of the castle best referred to as a cathedral.

What surprised him the most was the way Vader came stomping into the fight, suddenly choking the life out of a guard who had been moments away from decapitating young Ventress at the time. Just as his connection allowed Lon to share strength among his guards and himself, so was their pain shared.

He, however, had recovered enough so that he could see Gran Lassau's expectant gaze. He was doubtlessly eager to learn how the battle was going.

"Two guards are down", he told Lassau emotionlessly. "Vader and Ventress have improvised weapons from their surroundings."

Lassau seemed awestruck, even behind his cloak, causing Lon to wonder just how experienced an agent he was, having accidentally let slip a few things to him already. "Vader? But I thought you disabled his abomin- mechanical devices. How does he still live?"

Lon curled his lip, thinking that the answer should be obvious. "The Force. The Dark Side, to be precise. Vader has a newfound source of passion- an obsession that has allowed him to fight on even with limited oxygen supplies. It's really quite clever- he's turning Force energy into electrical energy for brief periods, allowing him to fight at a reduced pace. Now they are both approaching the second floor of this castle."

He turned to the two guards near him and barked curtly in his native tongue. "Go now. Stop them."

Two minutes after that, he sighed loudly. "They are now battling their way up the stairway you used to get here. Three of my guards remain. I suggest you retreat to the shadows."

Lassau's eyes bulged a bit, unable to conceal his surprise now that he was so close up. With luck, neither of the assassins would even detect his presence. They certainly would be unable to using the Force.

Two guards left- the two he had just sent away to their deaths. Silly of him to try and procrastinate the fateful confrontation by throwing them away- the team of Vader and Ventress was obviously more than a match for anything he threw at them, even with their lightsabers disabled.

He felt another guard go out, this one with his throat cut by a makeshift dagger wielded by Vader telekinetically. He caught one last, fleeting vision of red light springing forth from a metal cylinder, and knew that the scrambler wave had worn off.

The next few moments would depend largely on his own eloquence, acting ability,and luck to determine whether or not he would live to sit upon the Empire's throne himself… or be destroyed by Palpatine's lackeys. Lon cleared his throat. This is it. No going back.

The doors burst open.

-

The two advanced, sabers lit, once again covering each other's backs perfectly. What they saw, alone on the castle throne and bereft of protectors, was another creature that mirrored a figure of Vader's forsaken past closely enough to make him hesitate.

He was inwardly amazed. If the brutal Asajj Ventress was a dark-side reflection of his beloved Padme, then Lon the Wise was undoubtedly the Yoda of the Dark Side. Besides the wings, which he had learned were often an unconscious indicator of a Schintian's emotions, Lon was every bit as small and rumpled in appearance as thehead of the old Jedi order, small enough to have plenty of spare room on the throne on which he sat, claws grasping the armrests tightly.

The main difference besides that, of course, was his eyes. Whereas Yoda's eyes had oft-seemed perky and almost carefree before the dark days of the Clone Wars, Lon's slitted irises scarcely halted, so swiftly were they darting between targets. He seemed very relaxed and intelligent in his manner, but beneath that façade Vader sensed an unmistakable core of darkness and mistrust that Lon's light-side equivalent would neither carry nor abide.

Lon also did not speak like his wingless counterpart, but rather in an emotionless inflection from the best-educated officers from Coruscant. "Lord Vader and his new apprentice", he acknowledged politely as they stepped forward. "As you may have guessed by now, we have prepared for your arrival."

Taking a moment to remember that her saber was working again, Ventress angrily thrust her weapon forth. "Then you should have prepared for your death as well, lizard. From Lord Palpatine, to us, to you!"

Melodramatically, the old Schintian spread his claws. "I know much of your so-called Emperor and his plans. In fact, I am one of the few beings alive today that have met him in his early youth. Perhaps it is because of this that his threats do not frighten me."

Smelling a lie, Vader extended his own saber towards his target. "The Emperor's power is far greater than yours, son of Korriban."

Whatever happiness lay in Lon's face and voice vanished in an instant. "Only because he was the one that was chosen and not me." Following this, a more shifty expression came over him. "I see I have your attention, Vader. Tell your pet to stand down, and I promise I won't disappoint you."

He waited only a moment before signal to Asajj, who was profoundly grumpy at not being able to make her kill right away. Nonetheless, she slid back, saber ready only to prevent any attempt at escape. "If you ask me, he's dead already", she sulked.

"I regret the necessity of teasing you with information", Lon spoke up emotionlessly. "But I also believe you should hear this information, Vader. You've been a large part of the Emperor's schemes… and mine… for a very long time now."

Despite himself, his curiosity was peaked. "What do you mean, schemes? It was unfortunate fate that crippled me in the way you just took advantage of. The Emperor saved me, helped me survive the fires of the abyss. I owe him everything."

"Really", Lon replied dryly. "Then a trustworthy servant such as yourself would know the name by which he has gone for the past twenty years- Darth Sidious. Does that ring a bell?"

Nothing could stop his black frame from visibly stiffening at the mention of that name. Beside him, Asajj fought to conceal her own reaction. Darth Sidious. The Confederacy's secret bankroller. Master Dooku's Master… Palpatine? Impossible!

"I seem to have hit a nerve", Lon chuckled to their shocked silence. "Yes, that was a rather suitable title Darth Plageius awarded to him… when he made him his apprentice instead of me."

He made the last words a bitter scowl. "Yes, as you said, Vader, the Emperor, or I should say Darth Sidious, is more powerful than any of us because DarthPlagueis chose the first son of Korriban, instead of the second, to be his apprentice, to pass on the power and tradition of the Sith!"

"Impossible", Vader choked out, reeling. "Senator Palpatine is a child of Naboo, not of Korriban!"

While they had been stiff as bone when he had been scowling, Lon's wings now stretched to their total length, casting shadows over both of them. "Just another lie propagated by Sidious", he said with a mix of savage glee and jealousy.

"He might have been raised on Naboo, and then, on Coruscant… but anyone who has seen Reyne A'kla's handiwork with 'children' knows just how crucial the first few days of an infant's life are. Sidious and I, we are the only two ever born there, among the tombs of the ancient Sith legends. That darknessnever leaves you. From birth, it has imprinted us both with a darkness in our souls we can never escape! From a certain point of view, Korriban was a greater father to us than any flesh-and-blood being could ever hope to be!"

Regaining control, he stopped shouting, knowing that his revelations had shaken Vader to his very core. However, Asajj was not nearly as easily stunned by the implications. "So you think that makes you two brothers in a sick kind of way, huh. Hah… we'll give him your best regards from beyond the grave."

His wings now relaxed in a folded position over his frail frame, Lon gave a semi sane laugh. "I know this, because we were both compelled to eventually return to Korriban. I met him for the first time when he was a mere twelve years, myself ten And that is when DarthPlagueis came into the picture."

The current Sith Lord gave no further reaction to the mention of the former. He was still caught up in the shock, finding it impossible to picture a young teenager Palpatine, one shorter and devoid of the old age and deformities that now wracked his Emperor.

His Emperor, who was actually Darth Sidious, who had been well-known as the apex of the triad of entities behind the Clone Wars, who had barely escaped capture at his birthplace on Korriban!

"I can see the pieces coming together beneath that helmet of yours, Vader", Lon sneered. "Doubtless you've deduced that your precious Emperor ignited the Clone Wars in order to justify taking more power for himself, and creating the Clone Army that would answer to him and only him. Every atrocity and death caused in that war lies on his head!"

"Impossible! That would mean…!"

Finished with the last crushing blow, Lon smiled, showing his dull fangs. "Yes. No Clone Wars means no attempted 'Jedi Coup'. It means no dangerous mission to Mustafar. It means that your Padme might have lived."

No longer content to sit and listen, Ventress raised the weapon that had initially been Vader's. "That's enough of your lies. Time to die."

The saber was at Lon's throat when Vader shouted: "NO!", so loudly that even Asajj halted and looked at him, stunned.

He had no want for the power of anger now- a tide of hateful rage had filled him up once again, with a very different target from the one he had had in mind. "Let him speak. You mean to say that he orchestrated all of this, merely to gain my services?"

Trying to ignore the blade at his throat, Lon blinked. "Absolutely. Padme was just the catalyst. Dear 'brother' Sidious saw her as your pressure point- something he knew you would respond to."

Suddenly he was back there again. Not at Mustafar, but in the lab he had been brought to afterwards. Just like then, a shell of flesh and metal could not contain his rage. Just like then, everything that could break or shatter, did. Dust floated into the air over the noise of violently breaking stone.

"Fear not, Lord Vader", Lon said over the noise. "I have told you that you are not the only one to be cheated by Sidious. That worthless human cheated me out of the apprenticeship that should have been mine to begin with. You are not the only one who desires vengeance upon him, and revenge against the Emperor is not something anyone can achieve on their own. Understand me?"

Vader looked straight at Lon for the longest time, his true feelings masked both figuratively and literally. "You play the game well, wiseman. If my Emperor had not earned the title of Darth Sidious from his way with words, I have no doubt that you would."

Trying not to let himself be distracted by the hum of the blade or the ghostly beat of Vader's respirator, Lon tightened his gaze. "Is that a yes? Will you join me in avenging us upon Sidious?"

"This was your plan all along", Vader grated. "Maneuver me into a righteous fury directed at my Emperor, so that you might take the throne of the Empire for yourself. I have something a bit different in mind… but Sidious will die all the same, you can be certain of that. Ventress? Kill him."

The harsh command did more that set Ventress off. Gran Lassau, who had been watching the confrontation unfold from the upper balcony, heard Vader's words, and moved with lightning speed to stop her.

Someone else stopped her first. From the very moment that Vader and his ally had stepped into the proverbial throne room of Lon the Wise, the room had been shrouded in darkness tinged with the red light of the planet's atmosphere. It had not occurred to either of them until now that someone could actually hide amongst the slender shadows created by the throne. Judging by the way Asajj was violently thrown away from Lon's fragile neck, that someone was very strong as well as very stealthy.

Acting as though he had expected his rescuer all along, Lon the Wise stood up with his wings stretched to their full length. He remained a short figure, but still intimidating somehow. "It's no surprise that you feel no small measure of debt to Lord Sidious", he said to Vader formally, ignoring Asajj's groan as she struggled back to her feet. "Just as he orchestrated it- he has you dangling on a narrow thread of hope that the power of DarthPlagueis would save your loved one. I tell you now, he will never be able to make good on that promise!"

Vader's raised his own saber even as Lon's words tore awayat what was left of his heart. "Stop. Stop talking."

The Schintian ignored him as well, gesturing theatrically to his right with one claw. "I, however, can. Take a look."

Ahead, shrouded in luminous blue, the face that had dwelled Vader and Anakin Skywalker's dreams since before he could remember appeared. She was dressed in familiar formal robes and her face was not yet discernable, but the structure, the fairness of being he'd fallen in love with, that was unmistakable.

Padme. Even Asajj was stunned by her appearance here, of all places, when she should have been buried back on Naboo. Neither could retain full faith in their senses, seeing this.

Once again at a loss for words, he looked closer, cursing the restrictive lenses of his helmet with renewed vigor. "Impossible… Padme? Is that you?"

"This is my most unique talent", Lon told him, once again weaving his verbal spell. "It took a fair bit of effort to extract her essence from the Force, let me tell you that. Right now, she is a mind without a body."

This time, he made the connection instantly. "The facility on Kamino was destroyed, but cloning cylinders still exist. It would be possible to-"

Possible to return to Naboo, steal a corpse, make a clone from the sample?

"NO." Asajj's voice cut through the mental fog that had been gathering on him and Padme.

Ignoring the animalistic look Lon gave her, Asajj threw her saber directly through the image of Padme to prove her point. For once, she matched Vader's ragingfury at her with her own. "He's lying, Skywalker! You can't raise a dead consciousness and put it into a clone body! Dooku told me!"

Still not comprehending, Vader stepped between the two Dark Jedi, ready to lacerate either one or the other. "Explain."

She gave Lon the Wise a smug look before speaking, knowing that she was about to seal his doom with her words. "Remember, I fought with the Confederacy in the Clone Wars. The mission to Kamino was originally to capture the facility instead of destroying it, Skywalker. Those Nemoidian cowards were terrified at the idea that they might die in the war- they wanted the opportunity to create backup clones of themselves. But Count Dooku disagreed, saying that only those strong in the Force could transfer their essence to a clone body!"

He looked across from Asajj to Padme to Lon, still not sure of whom to kill. Would Padme want this? Even if Lon found a way, what would her existence be like, an unnatural one limited by the short lifespans of clones?

He looked back at the glowing blue spirit of his former lover, and saw his final answer. Padme's face had been indistinct before, the details difficult to make out in the glow. But the lenses he had cursed moments before could magnify his vision, could see the awful truth of Lon's deception.

Her face was twisted into an expression of the purest agony. Only once had he seen her like this in the flesh- right after he had used the Force to choke her in his anger and hatred. This time, through, her pain was not that of a broken heart, but simply of being torn away from the heavenly paradise she had willingly entered, escaping from the hell of Mustafar's revelations.

He could see everything so clearly now, how Palpatine had played Padme as his weakness, caused by his passion. He would never make such a mistake again.

Vader closed his eyes in the deepest of grief behind the mask, mustering his emotions. Very well then, Padme, he thought at the beautiful phantom before him.

The Force, or God, knows I miss you and the old days so much… but I care for you too much to hurt you further with my own desires. I will see you returned to where you want to go… even if that is far away from me. And I promise you… that I will never care for another as much as I do for you, in hopes that you can forgive me someday.

Straightening, he turned and faced Lon. "No, wiseman. She is clearly suffering in this state. Release her. Return her to the living Force. Now."

The shorter Jedi could not hide his own surprise in both his face and his leathery wings. "But Lord Vader, she is only an unstable essence! If I let her go now, if I let my concentration slip, she can never return from death!"

Amazing that he could feel a kind of macabre amusement at this statement, radiating at across to everyone in the room. "You won't to worry about that now- you'll be joining her."

For the second time that day, a red Sith lightsaber flew for Lon's neck. For the second time, it was deflected by another presence hidden in the room. Vader was reminded of the way his saber had stopped inches from killing Reyne A'kla, halted by a new power intruding upon him. This was not a mental power, however, but a shining blue lightsaber wielded telekinetically by an enemy even stronger than Lon the Wise…

He decided, then, that the two dark sons of Korriban had more in common than either would care to admit. They were both old, powerful Dark Side Force users that were both manipulative and completely two-faced. Lon had lost all control of the situation as well as any chance at stealing the galaxy away from Palpatine, and was now scowling in frustration even as he called his strongest protector to his side.

But just who that final guardian was, he could not yet discern...

---

M: So now all of the mysteries except the last are resolved. I am not violating any continuity this chapter that I am aware of- details of Emperor Palpatine's background are still sketchy, except for the fact that he was certainly Plagueis' apprentice, and the man who killed him. It was also reported in one of the prequel novels that he returned to the planet Korriban several times in the guise of Darth Sidious over the course of his life, for an unknown purpose.

Regarding Padme's brief appearance and Asajj's explanation, it was first implied in the multipart Dark Empire comic series that only Jedi or Sith can directly transfer their memories and personality into a clone body. The Emperor may be the only Force-wielder to ever successfully do so, and even then, his looks and style were changed noticeably from the original.

Last chapter is on the way. I hope to get at least two more reviews over this stack of crazy plot revelationsbefore posting the final conclusion.