Chapter 2 Battle of the Black Gate

Okay, first of all I'd better clear up a few things first. In Star Wars this story takes place just before the battle of Yavin, during the time of the original Star Wars movie. In Lord of the Rings it takes place way back in the past during the first war of the rings before Isildur cut the Ring from Sauron's hand and defeated his mortal form. Oh, and don't worry, this story will have plot outside of them just battling each other, remember the last alliance between men and elves? Oh, and I probably should point out why I submitted this as a Star Wars fanfic instead of a LOTR fanfic. This is because this is an action story that I think will appeal more to Star Wars fans than to LOTR fans, plus while most everyone can enjoy the LOTR trilogy not everyon can enjoy Star Wars half as much as a Star Wars fan.

Darth Vader ignited his lightsaber in a single motion as his stormtroopers looked around warily for the next attack.

"Here they come," Darth Vader warned.

The sound of hoofbeats filled the air as a dark rider appeared on the horizon. Darth Vader reached out with the force into the mind of the Dark Figure. Suddenly he touched on something cold and empty. Darth Vader drew back suddenly, before venturing forward again. This time a searing pain shot through his skull when he reentered the creature's brain, causing him to stumble backwards while holding his skull in his hands.

"Lord Vader," Trooper 115 said. "Are you alright?"

Darth Vader rightened himself again as the Black Rider descended upon them.

"Kill the Black Rider..." Darth Vader said.

The Stormtroopers opened fire, as the Black Rider suddenly leapt off of the back of his black horse, drawing a wicked looking blade and stabbing it straight through the chest of the first Stormtrooper. With a deafening scream the Nazgûl tore the blade straight out of the Stormtrooper's chest and swung it through the neck of another Stormtrooper.

'Impossible!' Darth Vader thought. 'No normal blade could pierce a Stormtrooper's armor!'

The Ringwraith slew another Stormtrooper before one of them fired a blast into its chest. The Black Rider fell backwards and lay still as if dead. The Stormtroopers walked over to the dead Rider's body and began examining it closely. Darth Vader just stood still, sensing something. A shrill scream filled the air and he whirled around. Four more wraiths stepped out behind them, with their swords held in front of their faces. They screamed again.

The Stormtroopers turned around and trained their blasters on the Four other wraiths. Then suddenly the Nazgûl that they'd thought was dead leapt back to its feet and cut down another Stormtrooper. Chaos erupted everywhere as the other four wraiths ran in and attacked the hapless Stormtroopers. Darth Vader dove backwards as a Ringwraith sprung after him, swinging its deadly blade.

"You my friend have just made a big mistake," Darth Vader said, swinging his lightsaber.

The Nazgûl caught Vader's lightsaber against its own blade and pushed back against his attack. The Sith Lord was amazed. How could a mere sword hold back his lightsaber. He reached out with his mind to the sword. The dark empty feeling filled him again as he felt a strong shadow energy within the sword. Weakened by the energy, he stumbled backwards disoriented. The Ringwraith drew its sword back to stab Darth Vader, but then a red bolt of plasma hit the wraith, burning its robe, but nothing more.

The Nazgûl turned to see that the other four had left, having slew all of the Stormtroopers, all except one. A wounded Stormtrooper lay on the ground feebly aiming his blaster towards the wraith, as if that would protect him. The Black Rider marched up to him and kicked his hand, causing the trooper to shriek in pain and sending the blaster flying out of his reach. Then the Ringwraith stabbed its blade straight into his leg. The Stormtrooper screamed in agony as the wraith pushed its blade in, and then yanked it back out.

Darth Vader pulled himself to his feet as the Nazgûl grabbed the Stormtrooper by the neck and pulled him to his feet. The Sith Lord reignited his lightsaber. The Ringwraith released the Stormtrooper and swung his blade out in defense. Darth Vader struck the broken wraith's blade, knocking it out of the way quickly, before plunging his lighstaber into the Nazgûl's nonexistent face. Searing with dark energy, the Ringwraith screeched once again, before falling backwards, dead. Its robe crumpled to the ground as its body disappeared.

The Dark Lord then marched onward, leaving the wounded ST-115 to die. The Stormtrooper slowly pulled himself up from the ground and slowly began crawling back in the direction of the Imperial Shuttle.

"Sauron's forces are preparing to take all of Middle Earth," Elrond said. "There is only one thing we can do. Join together and defeat him."

Isildur nodded.

"But you do know that we are not as strong as we once were," Isildur said. "The nation of Gondor is all that is left. The nine other nations of man fell apart when the nine kings were taken by the evil of Sauron."

"Never the less we must work together," Elrond said. "It is our only hope."

"What of the dwarves?" an elf in the corner suggested. "Why don't we try asking for their allegiance."

"Yes," Isildur agreed. "The dwarves are strong."

"I'm afraid the dwarves will not wish to fight alongside us," Elrond said. "It has been long since we the elves have had friendly relations with them."

"But we as men do not have anything against them," Isildur continued. "Why can't we fight with them?"

"The dwarves are content within their mountains," Elrond replied. "They do not feel the wrath of Sauron down there."

Isildur sighed.

"Then what can we do?"

"We can fight as men and elves," Elrond said. "We can work together."

Trooper 115 slowly dragged himself back into the Imperial Shuttle and applied bacta to his wounds. Then he packed some up with him before his attention was caught by the Speeder bike that had been stored in the back of the transport. He dragged it out of the ship and mounted to fly back towards Mordor to find Darth Vader. But then the Stormtrooper glanced up and saw a Dark Rider standing before him, its armored hands holding its blade calmly as if it had been waiting for him. Then it drew its blade back and screamed loudly. ST-115 immediately jumped onto the speeder bike and blasted away in the opposite direction, leaving the angry Black Rider in the dust. The Nazgûl screamed again, as if calling out for aid.

The Stormtrooper blasted on across Middle Earth, daring not to turn back or remove his foot from the gas pedal. He sped on all afternoon until the skies began to redden as dusk began to set in. It was then that he realized he was being followed. The black dot in the skies behind him rapidly grew larger and larger. The Stormtrooper looked ahead to see that he was approaching a forest. He looked back as the dark flying shape grew larger and larger. Suddenly a shrill screech filled the air, the Ringwraith had followed him.

"Impossible!" he whispered.

A massive creature descended from the reddening sky, roaring as it swooped down matching the speed of the swoop. Its massive dragon wings drew it downwards towards Trooper 115 as the Ringwraith on the back drew its sword once again. It swooped in close and the dragon creature snapped at the back of the bike, causing it to jolt forward. Then it drew up on the right and snapped again. The Stormtrooper drew the bike quickly to the left to avoid the blow. The creature swung to the side, slamming its mighty bulk into the swoop, knocking it almost off balance. The Stormtrooper immediately drew his blaster and fired a bolt at the dragon creature, but missed. The dragon drew back and took its position behind his bike again.

ST-115 looked forward. He was almost to the forest. The back of the swoop lurched again as the beast sunk its teeth into the cold metal before swinging its head to the side sending the speeder bike spinning out of control. The Stormtrooper was thrown from the craft, where he tumbled safely to the ground. The swoop crashed into a tree where it exploded, right on the very edge of the forest. Ahead of him the Stormtrooper saw the creature swoop back around and come in towards him. He raised his blaster and waited. The Black Rider screeched again as his mount swooped in for the kill. The Stormtrooper fired, sending a bolt of red plasma slamming into the head of the monster killing it instantly.

Trooper 115 immediately jumped out of the way as the beast crashed into the ground where he had once been, the Black Rider leaping free from its steed and landing on its feet in front of the Stormtrooper. It drew its sword before charging towards the soldier, there would be no mercy this time. ST-115 raised his blaster and opened fire, his bolts slamming against the shadowy cloak that shrouded the Nazgûl. The Ringwraith ignored the bolts, and continued running, raising its sword to deliver the final blow. When in range the Nazgûl swung its sword, hacking the Stormtrooper's blade in half before stabbing the blade into his shoulder. Trooper 115 screamed in pain as the shadow blade scarred his soul. Then, in a single motion the Ringwraith snapped its blade back out of his shoulder, tearing the blade from the tip which it left embedded in the soldier's shoulder. ST-115 slowly fell to his knees, breathing heavily as the dark energy began to cloud his soul. Then he slumped forward and lay still, twitching from the pain.

The Nazgûl, seeing that it had completed its mission turned to leave. Walking back in the direction of Mordor it disappeared into the growing darkness. As the sky darkened the Stormtrooper slowly lifted his head from the ground and looked forward into the dark forest.

'The world is changing...'

Had he not been already wounded the Stormtrooper would have pinched himself to see if he was dreaming. Had he just heard a voice in his mind.

'A great evil comes to our gates...'

A bright light suddenly filled his vision as an angelic figure stepped out of the forest towards him.

Am I dying?

'The world is dying. A new evil has come, but there cannot be two Lords of the Ring.'

The Stormtrooper lifted his hand towards the beautiful girl who walked slowly towards him, her brown hair cascading down her shoulders.

Save me...

'Welcome John Espara of Coruscant.'

"Impressive."

"I thought you'd be pleased Lord Vader," Admiral Dugal replied, looking out over the army of Stormtroopers that he had brought through the Wormhole to help Darth Vader. Four AT-PT's marched down from the ramps of the Imperial Shuttle.

"This is just what I needed," Vader said.

"More units are on the way Lord Vader," the Admiral continued. "I've been thinking that while we're here we might as well expand the Empire into this world. My scouts have indicated that there are weaker countries to the west that would be easily taken."

"Good," Vader replied. "See that this is done. As for me, Admiral Niem and I will take this army and attack Mordor."

Darth Vader then turned and began marching towards Mordor, with his army following closely behind.

Sauron paced back and forth at the top of Barad-Dûr. Below him his armies were readying themselves to enter the Gateway, and perhaps fight with the white creature's who had stepped through the Gateway. Suddenly his gaze was caught by an approaching army far off in the distance, marching towards the Black Gate.

"Sir!" he turned to see the Goblin General again. "The enemy marches upon our doorstep. What are we to do?"

"What enemy?" Sauron's eyes flashed.

"Darth Vader," an Orc said, walking up behind the Goblin. "That's what he told our commander before he killed him."

Sauron gazed out over the balcony.

"Don't let them get through," he said. "I want Goblin archers on the gate firing volleys into them, Orcs waiting at the entrance in case they do break through!"

Then he chuckled sourly.

"Why bother, there is no way that they will break through the Black Gates of Mordor."

Suddenly several loud blasts were heard as strange bolts of light began flashing below on the Battlefield.

"What is going on!" Sauron grabbed a telescope and looked at the gate through it. Blasts of light erupted from in front of the Gate.

"Send out the Trolls!" Sauron commanded.

The five AT-PT's marched towards the Black Gate, firing a steady stream of laser blasts into the iron structure. The Goblin archers had given up firing upon the metallic beings and had now taken to hiding in wait with the Orcs. Darth Vader watched silently as the gate slowly began to crumble under the steady barrage of blasts. Then finally, it fell apart.

"At last!" Darth Vader said in triumph.

As the gate slowly crumbled to the ground a mighty roaring erupted from inside, causing the legions of Stormtroopers to shrink back from the gates in fear. Then, six mighty beasts came barrelling out from inside Mordor. Trolls! The Stormtroopers immediately opened fire, but their blasts did not seem to penetrate the hard skin of the gray monsters. Swinging their brutal clubs, the Trolls sent soldiers flying through the air with every blow.

The AT-PT's opened fire on the first one, their stronger and more penetrable bolts searing through its flesh and sending it to its death. Six more trolls charged out from inside the gates towards the AT-PT's. The armored Imperial machines continued firing on them, picking them off one by one, but there were too many of them.

The trolls reached them, and began battering them to pieces with their mighty clubs, for each Troll was almost as large as the AT-PT's were. Within moments the AT-PT's were completely destroyed, but only five trolls were still alive. The number was quickly lowered to four when the Stormtroopers all opened fire on the most wounded of the five.

"How could such a primitive culture..." Darth Vader murmured, watching the trolls turn on his stormtroopers again.

After a while the Trolls were destroyed, but then the armies of Orcs charged out to do battle with the remaining Stormtroopers. Darth Vader ignited his lightsaber and walked out to join the battle. Cutting down anyone in his path, Darth Vader made his way through the Black Gate and into the army of Orcs. His Stormtroopers pushed forward, driving the Orcs backwards, until they had passed into Mordor.

"I am coming for you Sauron!" Darth Vader said, as he used the force to send an Orc sprawling away from him.