Hi, I know time travel fics aren't exactly the most original fics when it comes to Star Wars but I just finished The Force Unleashes and thought it would be interesting sending Galen Marek AKA Starkiller back to the past.
I want to tank Vonh, deaththewolf32, Shanarchy, and havegoodtime for reviewing chapter 1.
Hope you enjoy this story, feel free to give any tips and advice. I have a general idea of how this story will go but I'm more than happy to listed to any suggestions.
On the outskirts of Theed, Starkiller watched as battalions of droids marched into the city in convoys supported with tanks, while it would be relatively easy to dispatch all the droids first and then make his way to the palace, Starkiller knew that doing so would only bring more droids here. So, he had to play this stealthily, luckily stealth was something Vader had been keen to drill into him from his early training. A gap soon appeared between the battalions and Starkiller slipped into the city, keeping to the shadows to avoid being seen.
From what Starkiller could tell the droids were incompetent to say the least, a definite downgrade on the stormtroopers he had been killing in his own time period. They also appeared to be very poorly constructed, several weak spots were clear to him, but they moved and could fire guns so that was probably the only two criteria that needed to be filled.
He had managed to slip through Theed unseen, he was right outside the palace when he noticed a few sniper droids set up on a nearby building, aiming their rifles at the building. While he'd been more than happy to leave the majority of the droids alone to keep his cover, he wanted to remove the threat of these snipers before he freed the queen. Using the shadows of a nearby alleyway to his advantage, Starkiller moved behind the snipers post and using the force he leapt up onto the building and before the droids could react to the new presence the Sith lord quickly dispatched the snipers, the crimson blade turning the droids into piles of scrap.
The Sith lord stared at the nearest pile of scrap and thought about his old friend PROXY and found himself missing the droid even more than before his death at the hands of the Emperor. Starkiller let out a sigh at the thought of the people he cared about either not existing here or not knowing who he is. It was a lonely thought, the idea of being all alone for over ten years, he'd been lonely during his training under Vader but at least he had PROXY back then.
Now he had nothing, no PROXY, no Kota and no Juno, the latter leaving a gaping hole in his heart. A sigh escaped Starkiller as he thought about the people he had come to love and leapt down from the sniper post, he quickly surveyed the area and once he was sure it was safe he snuck into the palace.
As he entered the palace Starkiller finally took notice of the two Jedi on the planet, like him they were entering the palace but from the other side, which would, for now, delay any aggressive negotiations. The two Jedi didn't worry Starkiller, he'd defeated Darth Vader and had nearly killed the Emperor. No, it was more about making a good first impression to Queen Amidala. If the Jedi find her first and convince her that he's a threat, then that would seriously complicate the already difficult task he had.
After a few minutes stealthily moving through the rooms of the massive palace Starkiller heard the clanking of metallic feet joined by the soft padding of boots along the floors of a nearby corridor. He ran down a parallel corridor to cut the group off and maybe get the Queen without a fight. Starkiller rounded the corner and came face to face with the Queen, her entourage, and the group of droids escorting her out of the palace. The battle droids quickly took formation in front of their prisoners to question the stranger. "Halt! Identify yourself."
"I'm an agent of the Trade Federation. I've been sent to take the Queen from you and bring her in."
"On who's authority?" the droid commander queried.
The droid's response surprised Starkiller, he wasn't expecting any of these droids to question him considering the ease he had had getting into the palace. All he could do was hope that this was as far as their competency would go. "Direct orders from the head of The Trade Federation?"
The group of droids glanced at one another and then raised their blasters at the Sith lord. "Blast him!"
The entire battalion opened fire at the armored man, a small smirk formed on Starkillers' face as he activated his lightsaber and deflected the first round of blaster fire, taking out half of the droids. The Sith lord then charged forward at the droids, his lightsaber tearing through the remaining droids in a blur of red. The vicious strikes clove the droids in half and left piles of scrap where the droids had once stood. The last one standing was the commander whose head crumpled as Starkiller used the force to crush it.
With the last of the droids destroyed Starkiller placed his lightsaber back on his belt, this wasn't exactly how he had hoped to introduce himself but saving the Queen from capture was probably the next best thing. Starkiller watched as one of the men picked up one of the blasters and then placed himself slightly in front of the Queen. The blaster wasn't being aimed at him currently but was being held in a way that that could easily be changed into a firing position.
The Sith lord had to admit that he admired the man's bravery and dedication to the Queen especially considering the show that he had just made of dismantling those droids. Everyone there knew that if he wanted to he could eviscerate them all and there would be nothing they could do to stop him.
"Greetings Queen Amidala, my name is Starkiller." The Sith Lord announced, bowing slightly in respect.
"Starkiller? That is a rather curious name." the man protecting the queen stated, his distrust evident in his voice.
The Sith lords fist clenched in anger as he thought back to his old master who had given him this name. "Not one of my choosing I can assure you." Starkiller replied bitterly.
A tense silence filled the air, the two men almost waiting for the other to make a move. This was quickly broken by the Queen stepping forward after glancing out the corner of her eye at one of her handmaidens and placing a hand on the man's arm. "Stand down Captain Panaka, I don't believe Lord Starkiller is here to cause me harm."
There was a slight hesitation from Captain Panaka, after what he had just seen he was almost certain the Queen was correct, but he was still concerned about a man that powerful appearing out of nowhere to protect the queen. At the end of the day Panaka had to play the part as the loyal guard for the queen so he stepped aside. "As you wish, your majesty." Panaka replied, still reluctant to trust the armoured man.
The queen then stepped forward, Starkiller noticing that she had once again quickly had another glance at the same handmaiden as before. "You have my gratitude for assisting us Lord Starkiller."
"You can thank me once we get you off Naboo and on to Coruscant. Do you have a ship that we can use?"
"I will not flee! I cannot abandon my people and allow them to suffer." The queen immediately replied defiantly.
Starkiller sighed in annoyance, he was beginning to wonder if any part of this crazy quest he was on would be simple. While he respected her dedication to her people it was irritating to see a ruler be so short-sighted. "Tell me, Queen Amidala, what exactly are you planning on doing on Naboo to help your people? With the Trade Federation invasion, you are powerless. The only way to help your people is to get to Coruscant."
The look of defiance remained in queen Amidala's eyes but was joined by a flicker of doubt which soon turned into an almost defeated look as she knew Starkiller was right. "Very well, Lord Starkiller. I shall plead my case to the senate."
"I'm glad to hear that. Now, do you have any transport?"
"There is a ship in the hangar that we can use." Captain Panaka replied. "Though we'd best hurry I suspect the Trade Federation will have it heavily guarded.
The Sith lord gave the captain a quick nod and then started leading the group towards the hanger hoping that they'd get there before someone noticed that the droids he'd just destroyed were missing. Those hopes were soon dashed as a mini troop carrier appeared behind them and trio of ball-shaped droids that Starkiller had never seen before rolled out.
"What are they?"
"They're Droidekas, they have a lot of firepower and shield generators to protect them." Captain Panaka informed the Sith lord.
Starkiller watched at the droids quickly uncurled themselves and aimed their blasters at them all. "Go! I will meet up with you at the hanger." Starkiller yelled as he placed himself between the queen and these strange droids.
Almost all the group quickly ran towards the hangar leaving Starkiller to fight the Droideka, the only exception was the handmaiden that the queen kept glancing at occasionally who had stopped briefly, seemingly torn at leaving him to fight alone. After a few moments she sighed and then joined up with the queen as they fled. The Sith Lord activated his lightsaber and prepared himself to fight these droids, he was quite excited to fight them, these seemed a lot more dangerous than the tin cans he had fought not too long ago.
The shields then activated around the droids and they opened fire, a rain of blaster rounds shot towards the Sith Lord who was a little disappointed now as he easily blocked the opening salvo. These Droideka didn't seem too special to him, their shots were easy enough to deflect, the first few hitting the masonry and breaking chunks of the palace off. It was when he started directing the blaster fire back at the strange droids that he saw the problem, the shots weren't affecting them because of the shields.
It was obvious that using their own blasts against them was not an option and getting up close would not be particularly easy. Starkiller then spotted what appeared to be some grenades in the transport that was still sat behind the droids. This reminded him of some of his missions, so he fired a powerful burst of force lightning at them causing them to explode, bathing the droids in flames. Starkiller wasn't about to wait and see if that did the trick and quickly sprinted after the queen and her entourage hoping that they hadn't gotten into too much trouble while he'd been dealing with the Droideka.
Meanwhile, the two Jedi who had infiltrated the palace stopped as they felt a huge surge of power in the dark side of the force. The burst of force lightning used by Starkiller had revealed him to not only the Jedi on Naboo but every force wielder in the galaxy. The new presence making younglings, padawans and even some knights collapse at the magnitude of dark side energy flooding the force that they had only ever known to be pure light.
On Naboo, a padawan was handling slightly better though he had fallen to his hands and knees as he broke out into a cold sweat. "Master, did you sense that? So much dark energy just revealed itself, it's overwhelming Master. What are we going to do?"
"Yes Obi-Wan, I did sense that a dark side user has shown himself, we'd best be wary."
"Could he be working for the Trade Federation? Or could he be behind the entire invasion?" Obi-Wan suggested.
"No, the force is telling me that this man is not our enemy, for now at least." Qui-Gon helped his padawan to his feet and started to lead him towards the queen. "Do not worry Obi-Wan, we shall find the queen and get her to safety. We will deal with the dark side user if the situation calls for our intervention."
Obi-Wan simply nodded and followed his master, trying to ignore the dark presence now existing in the force. They had visited planets tainted by the dark side and classes they'd been told what to avoid in the force but seeing a corrupted planet and hearing a lecture from a Jedi Master was one thing. Being on the same planet, in the same building as an actual Sith lord was another. He knew that this right here was the real deal, and the power was overwhelming. It felt as if all the light around him was fading and he was being consumed by the darkness. Obi-Wans hand moved to his lightsaber on instinct, he had to stop this Sith before he harms anyone.
A hand soon clamped down on Obi-Wan's stopping him from drawing his lightsaber. "Calm down Obi-Wan, I promise you this Sith will not harm you, do not give into your fear, and trust in the force. The last thing we need to do is be reckless, we need to be patient and focus on finding the queen."
Obi-Wan took a few deep breaths as he felt his masters calming presence comfort his own in the force. "I'm sorry master."
"It's quite alright Obi-Wan, I doubt anyone is taking the appearance of this dark sider well. I imagine Master Windu is already preparing to wage war with him." Qui-Gon's attempt at lightening the mood a little worked as Obi-Wan chuckled imagining Master Windu charging through the Jedi Temple, lightsaber at the ready to dispatch this dark sider.
With the mood now considerably lighter and with his nerves calmed Obi-Wan quickly caught up with his master, even stepping ahead of him a little. As long as Qui-Gon was here he knew he was safe, his master would do anything in his power to stop the Sith should they come to blows. This new-found confidence still didn't prepare him for what they found around the next corner… the dark sider whose presence had now flooded the force.
Alright and there is chapter 2, I'll admit that right now not much is changing but it obviously can't, events have to follow a similar path until we reach Coruscant. That's where the fun will really begin.
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you'll stick around for another chapter.