Chapter 52: The Prodigal Son Returns

It had taken a whole year of work, and now Darth Vader was ready to make his move.

He stood on this bridge of his commandeered Super Star Destroyer, the Vengeance, overlooking the officers that were loyal to him. They were used to his altered appearance, that of flesh merged with metal, though they still averted their gaze whenever possible. Vader's hair had started growing shortly after his transformation, now long enough to reach halfway down his neck, covering up much of the metal that permeated his scalp. He wore black clothes that covered most of his skin, having long since discarded the broken armor he used to wear, now that he didn't need to protect fragile cybernetics.

At first the imperial officers hadn't believed that he was still Darth Vader, many of them having only ever known the face of his old helmet. A demonstration of his power in the Force convinced them, and with his power greater than ever many chose to serve him instead of the Emperor. A few of the older officers remembered his time in the Clone Wars, when he was still called Anakin Skywalker, and the restored resemblance had them checking the historical record. They had discovered that Vader had been Anakin all along, further proof being the second lightsaber he now carried, the same one he had used as a Jedi.

"Take us out," Vader ordered.

The Vengeance made the jump to hyperspace, along with all the other ships Vader had assembled. Losing the Executor had been a setback, with it he could have been ready months ago, but he had replaced that ship and gotten plenty more as well. He had spent the year turning admirals and captains to his cause, often using force to do so, taking a considerable portion of the imperial navy under his command. A hundred Star Destroyers, three Super Star Destroyers, several hundred supporting freighters, and the tens of thousands of fighters contained within them, all loyal to Vader.

The ship's captain, a dark-skinned bald man named Sysco, reported directly to Vader. "We will arrive at Coruscant in approximately five hours."

"Excellent," Vader said. He had waited a long time, he could wait a little longer. "I will return in four."

He turned around and left the bridge, heading back to his personal quarters for the duration of the trip. When he arrived there was a meal waiting for him, freshly prepared and placed by very punctual servants. Even now, after having a year to get used to it again, the primal pleasure of eating real food was still intoxicating. Half of his being had spent the previous two decades subsisting on nutrient fluids fed directly into his blood, while the other half had never known taste to begin with, and Vader didn't want to spoil his reputation with displays of enjoyment from eating.

After enjoying his meal, succulent Corellian pork with Rylothian sauce and Mon Cala spices, Vader spent the rest of the trip in meditation. It helped to calm his thoughts, a final preparation for the task ahead. He was certain his former master knew he was coming, there was no way to hide his presence in the Force, not that he wanted to approach by stealth anyway. Vader wanted the Emperor to know he was approaching, so that when his task was complete Palpatine would know he never had a chance, for the student was ready to become the master.

But this plot of usurpation was more than just the Sith code at work, but a personal vengeance as well. For years he had suspected Palpatine's hand in the death of his wife, having manipulated him and events into making that happen. But the existence of another Skywalker was proof that Padme had survived long enough to give birth, despite Palpatine's claims that the unborn child had died with her. Vader had turned to the Dark Side of the Force in an effort to prevent those deaths, yet it had been that choice at Palpatine's manipulations that made his prophetic dreams come to pass.

Emperor Palpatine was going to suffer for that deception.

At the proper time Vader ended his meditations and returned to the bridge, overlooking the officers making the final preparations for their arrival. They all had second thoughts about what they were going to do, one didn't need the Force to tell that much. There was a very real possibility of escalation, which would leave a lot of people dead. It wasn't that they had no problem with killing people, aliens or otherwise, but this time it would be imperial citizens that would die. They had to believe that Vader could prevent unnecessary casualties, or at the very least keep them to a minimum.

"We will be exiting hyperspace in a moment," Captain Sysco reported.

Vader nodded to him, and turned his attention back to the forward window. "Proceed."

The Vengeance emerged from hyperspace, followed by all the other ships in this fleet. Directly ahead was Coruscant, the glittering jewel hanging in the void. The planet was surrounded by imperial ships, too many to count and constantly in motion. One Super Star Destroyer, the Arbitrator was already on an intercept course, shields raised and blasters ready to fire. The Vengeance matched the Arbitrator's orientation and flew toward it, bringing the two Super Star Destroyers as close as possible to a face to face encounter.

"We are being hailed," one officer reported.

"Put it through," Vader ordered. A hologram activated in front of him, and the blue coloration didn't change much for this individual. "Thrawn, I see the Emperor is keep you close to his chest these days."

If the blue alien was disturbed by Vader's altered appearance, Grand Admiral Thrawn didn't show it. "Someone has to safeguard the Empire. We can't all abandon it to serve our own interests."

"Loyal to a fault, as always," Vader noted. "But I've always wondered, is your loyalty to the Empire or to the Emperor himself?"

"The Emperor is the Empire," Thrawn reasoned. "Without him the order this galaxy knows will crumble within the year."

"Not if a stronger leader takes command," Vader said. "He rules through strength and fear of that strength. But he is not the strongest anymore, and few still fear the strength he wields. His reign as Emperor is coming to an end, whether he wills it or not."

"It is not your place to decide when he steps down," Thrawn said. "And it is my place to eliminate threats to him and the Empire. If you do not retreat now, I will have to eliminate you."

"You will fail," Vader warned. He reached out with one hand, to grasp something out of reach. "It's a pity. You were the only one that ever dared object to his orders. I had hoped you would join my cause."

His eyes glowed bright red, the power of the Avatar State amplifying the power of the Force. Vader reached for the Arbitrator, imagining his fingers clasping around the bridge of that Super Star Destroyer. Inside that ship the bulkheads shook and twisted, screeching so loud that its crew were covering their ears. Power conduits burst with electricity as they were torn apart, and the lights flickered as power surged and shorted. The shaking intensified and the bulkheads crumpled, slowly crushing the bridge and upper decks of the command tower.

Then Vader reached with his other hand, and the Arbitrator's bridge was crushed further. He spread his hands apart, and watched the bridge begin to tear itself apart. Multiple hull breaches formed, while the emergency bulkheads were too warped to close, and thus all the officers on the bridge were sucked into space. The bridge was torn in half and ripped from the command tower, left to float away with shredded debris and bodies trailing behind. The rest of the Arbitrator simply floated in the void, its crew thrown into chaos with the loss of all commanding officers.

The hologram of Thrawn remained, his eyes wide with shock at what he witnessed from elsewhere. "So it begins..."

The signal was cut and the hologram vanished, for the time for talk was over. The imperial fleet over Coruscant opened fire, with the exception of the decapitated Super Star Destroyer, and were assisted by anti-orbital defenses on the surface. Vader's fleet opened fire as well, though with care taken to focus their aim on the ships and other military targets. He wanted to keep collateral damage to a minimum, since he was going to need Coruscant once he replaced the Emperor. There would be considerable damage regardless, this was an orbital battle after all, there would be falling debris destroying buildings.

Both sides deployed their squadrons of TIE Fighters, tens of thousands of them quickly filling the void between the fleets. Millions of blaster bolts were fired, both from fighters and from Star Destroyers, filling the night sky of Coruscant with flickering green lights. Hundreds of fighters were destroyed in the first volley, their debris smashing into each other, or colliding with the shields of larger ships. They swarmed around the Vengeance, attempting to overwhelm its shields with an unrelenting assault of blaster bolts and crashing debris.

Vader wasn't allowing that. He kept one hand held toward the battle, eyes closed as he focused on the Force, using it to divert debris away from his ship. There was little he could do about the blaster bolts, they were far too numerous to effectively stop with the Force, but the ship's shields could withstand that assault. Vader's other hand was held down, toward the majority of his ship, subtly influencing the crew through the Force. It enabled the crew to anticipate the actions of one another, enabling far greater coordination than training alone, acting as one instead of individuals.

So despite being outnumbered by the opposing fleet two to one, Vader's was fighting well enough to match. Star Destroyers on both sides were taking damage, after their shields were depleted, but they kept firing for as long as their weapons remained functional. Vader had his fleet focus on one Star Destroyer at a time, until the target was damaged to the point when it could no longer shoot, and then move on to the next. He didn't need to destroy these ships, just get them out of the way so that he could continue on to the planet.

"Additional forces are inbound!"

"I'm aware," Vader said, not caring who made that report. "Finish up here and turn to port."

Another fleet was coming around the planet, opposite of Coruscant's rotation, coming to reinforce the planet's defenders. The Vengeance unleashed one more volley of blaster fire, then turned in accordance with Vader's command. The ventral side of the ship was turned toward the incoming fleet, and the rest of Vader's ships followed suit, the bulk of each Star Destroyer used as barriers to protect the command towers. The shields were still holding, but additional blaster fire was a further strain, and if the shields failed the ventral hull could absorb plenty of damage.

But that wasn't the entire reason for this maneuver. It allowed Vader to maintain the Force connection with his crew, and then extend it beyond the Vengeance and out into space directly beneath the ship. Through the Force he touched the minds aboard the arriving Super Star Destroyer and its escorts, and he felt a familiar presence among them. It was the Emperor, using the Force to assist this fleet, no doubt the reason why it had responded so quickly. Battle meditation was one of the Emperor's preferred tactics, enabling him to turn the tide of a battle without risking himself.

Vader opened his eyes, glowing bright red, and trust his presence into the other Super Star Destroyer. He overpowered the current connection between that ship's crew, severing his former master's influence over them, and mass confusion erupted aboard that ship. At the same time Vader ordered the Vengeance to open fire on that ship, and the rest of his fleet fired as well. They quickly overwhelmed the shields of that ship and started blasting holes into its hull, all before the opposing crew could recover from the sudden loss of the Emperor's assistance.

By now the fleet directly ahead was in complete disarray, and the reinforcements' flagship was disabled, making the Vengeance and its escort the dominant fleet above the capital. Wreckage from several shattered Star Destroyers was falling into the atmosphere, burning as they plummeted toward the global city below. Some of the debris was being blown apart by the turrets on the ground, specifically the ones that might damage military facilities, incidentally revealing their locations to anyone paying attention.

The red glow left Vader's eyes as he turned toward the Sysco. "Captain, deploy the aerial assault. I want those ground defenses destroyed before we send in the bombers."

"It will be done," Sysco said. He relayed the order through the bridge crew, who in turn relayed it to the pilots of the ships being deployed. "I don't care how much debris is in the way. Tell them to use it as cover wherever they can."

Vader liked this captain. He really hoped he wouldn't have to terminate him for failure.

Meanwhile, an emergency broadcast was transmitted across Coruscant.

The Emperor would not stand to have the people in panic, not while he was still in command of the planet and its defenders. He stood in a broadcast studio deep within the palace, normally where he would issue decrees to the populace, whenever the mood struck him. His visage was sent to every holographic projector on the planet, complete with the black robe and hood that obscured most of his face. He knew that the typical person didn't want to see his wrinkled and scarred skin, though he personally didn't care about his appearance one way or the other.

Looking into a recorder, Emperor Palpatine spoke to the people. "Citizens of the Empire, I will not lie to you. We have not seen a crisis this severe since the Clone Wars. This blatant attack on the Empire will not go unpunished. Darth Vader has betrayed the Empire and seeks to rule in my place. We must not allow him to succeed. His new rebellion will be put down and order will be restored to the galaxy!"

The recording stopped and an attendant gave a hand signal. "We're good to broadcast, my Lord."

"Do it," Palpatine commanded.

That was when the doors opened, and Grand Admiral Thrawn entered the room. "My Lord, we cannot remain here."

Thrawn had been taking measures for Palpatine's personal safety, since the loss of the Emperor would be devastating to the Empire. Although the palace was built like a fortress it was certainly a target as well, and no structure on the surface could survive orbital bombardment for long. Thrawn wanted to get the Emperor into the fortified bunker beneath the palace, and he had an entire squadron of elite soldiers ready to escort him there. But it seemed that his efforts were in vain, for Palpatine had his own plans to put into motion.

"Yes, the palace will either be overrun or rubble by sundown," Palpatine said. "Have your men prepare my personal transport."

"Sir, the emergency lift can get you to the bunker in minutes," Thrawn said. "If you will just let my men escort you there the enemy's forces will not be able to reach you."

"Vader is after me, and he will lay waste to the entire planet as long as I am present," Palpatine said. He walked into the hallway with Thrawn, but refused to go to the emergency lift. "And I will not be brought low here, not while my work remains unfinished."

There was no convincing the Emperor of anything he didn't like, Thrawn knew that from many attempts. "Fine. But at least accept the escort."

"They are not needed, but I will take them," Palpatine conceded.

Thrawn knew that was all he would get from the Emperor, so he turned his attention back to where it belonged. The battle wasn't going to be won by itself, and his place was in command of the defense fleet. There was a command center between the throne room and the bunker, with enough armor to withstand bombardment but still close enough for effective command of imperial forces. Thrawn went there immediately, and he received an update from the officers present there. A lot had happened during his brief attempt to convince the Emperor to take shelter, but that was to be expected.

There was a wide hole in the planetary defense fleet, and the enemy fleet was sending TIE Fighters through it to attack the anti-orbital defenses. It appeared that Vader was trying to overwhelm them with sheer numbers, before the ground defenses could be concentrated along their approach vector. Vader's Star Destroyers were holding off the fleet from all directions, while the Super Star Destroyers were bombarding specific targets on the ground. So far they hadn't targeted the palace, but Thrawn was sure that would change once the anti-orbital defenses were destroyed.

"Recall the first and fifth patrol fleets," Thrawn ordered. "Tell them to approach from behind Vader's fleet and attack his flank."

One officer relayed that order, and replies were sent back immediately. "The first is fifteen minutes out, the fifth is half an hour."

Longer than Thrawn would have liked, but he was going to have to deal with it. "While we're waiting, concentrate fire on one Star Destroyer at a time. Each one we destroy will buy us time."

All things considered, Vader was satisfied with the pace of this battle.

With the Star Destroyers' defensive formation keeping the planet's defense fleet at bay, the Vengeance and other Super Star Destroyers could pummel away at the surface. The TIE Fighters were eliminating the anti-orbital defenses on this side of Coruscant, clearing out the main threat to the TIE Bombers that followed after them. The Emperor's announcement to the citizens had been intercepted and reviewed, and while it would galvanize the populace Vader wasn't too concerned about that. Once the Emperor was dead the people would not mourn for long, and they would soon fall under his rule.

"Fighter pilots are reporting eighty-four percent destruction of targets," one officer reported.

"Good enough," Captain Sysco said. "Begin the bombing run and deploy the ground forces."

With the anti-orbital defenses sufficiently softened, the TIE Bombers were sent in to clear the landing zones. Hundreds of bombers flew through the skies of Coruscant, dropping their payload directly into the cityscape. They were assigned various military targets, primarily to deny their use to the Emperor, keeping civilian casualties to a minimum being a secondary concern. Entire buildings were bombed into oblivion, and surrounding structures were heavily damaged, leaving giant piles of rubble where military installations once stood.

After the bombers passed the TIE Fighters swarmed over the demolished sites, securing the airspace over these landing zones. Troop transports followed next, each carrying over a hundred stormtroopers loyal to the cause, landing safely and deploying their men. The stormtroopers marched from the landing zones into the streets of the city, seizing any vehicles they could take intact, shooting at anyone that dared to fight back. As more stormtroopers were deployed they seized more of the city, fighting block by block when they needed to.

Vader let his subordinates manage the ground invasion, while he kept his attention on the orbital fight. "Reinforcements are arriving…"

Another fleet emerged from hyperspace, directly behind Vader's fleet to pin those ships between them and the planet. But Vader had anticipated the maneuver, and with his eyes glowing red and his hand reaching toward the new ships, he called upon the Force once again. There was a Super Star Destroyer amongst that fleet, and through the Force Vader made that massive ship drift off course. There were two regular Star Destroyers just off the starboard side, which the Super Star Destroyer was now moving toward, despite all attempts at course correction.

The edge of the Super Star Destroyer cleaved through both of them.

Both command towers were destroyed entirely, only the top thirds surviving the destruction. The main sections of both ships drifted away, decapitated and effectively disabled. The Super Star Destroyer's starboard side was damaged, exposing dozens of decks to the vacuum of space, but remained operational. Vader reached for that ship with both hands, calling upon all the power he had to muster, and the damaged hull was peeled apart like sheet of thin tin. As the hull was stripped away the interior of the ship was exposed, venting thousands of lives into the void.

With that Super Star Destroyer effectively disposed of, Vader let the red glow leave his eyes, exhausted from the effort. "That should hold them off until more reinforcements arrive."

Palpatine could feel the battle turning against him.

By all accounts, it shouldn't have been that way. If the invading fleet had been commanded by anyone else, it would not be that way. The defense fleet around Coruscant outnumbered the enemy fleet, and the ground defenses had superior firepower, so the battle should have been over very quickly. Instead the battle was proceeding in the enemy's favor, and Palpatine's forces were losing ground quickly. It was Vader's impressive displays of power in the Force that were responsible, greater than anything Palpatine had ever encountered before.

He didn't share this insight with the security detail escorting him, since it would have been a waste of breath and needless distraction. They were here to do his bidding, not to think about what they had no ability to change. They walked with him to the main hangar of the palace, where his personal transport waited for him to board. Palpatine had no intention of staying in the palace throughout this battle, since even with its defenses in place it would not last long under orbital bombardment. There were better places to make a stand against a renegade apprentice, and Vader would surely pursue him anywhere.

"Wait," Palpatine said, stopping at the threshold to the hangar. "Secure the area first, then prepare my ship for takeoff."

The guards didn't question the order. "As you command."

Palpatine watched the guards proceed into the hangar, blasters raised as they rushed forward to secure the transport and prepare it for takeoff. Once the last one was in the hangar Palpatine turned around and walked in the other direction, sensing that he would be in danger if he continued going forward. He was certain he wouldn't see any of those men again, and they were forgotten as quickly as their lives would be extinguished. It didn't matter that he was traveling alone now, for nothing would stand in his way short of Darth Vader.

That confrontation would be happening much sooner than Darth Sidious had foreseen.

Once his ships had acquired total air supremacy over the imperial palace, Vader left the Vengeance to handle matters personally.

He took a state-of-the-art personalized TIE Fighter, a replacement for the one that that had been stolen from him on Earth. Vader indulged in some ship to ship combat on the way down, destroying some foolhardy pilots that believed they could even scratch him. He didn't even need to use the Force in those dogfights, for those pilots he faced were pathetically underprepared for the task. After a few minutes of fun he flew down to the imperial palace, surrounded by his invasion force but the palace itself remained untouched.

An energy shield had been raised over the palace, coating it in a shimmering blue light. At best it would withstand orbital bombardment for about five minutes, but Vader wasn't willing to resort to that just yet. The shield could repel ground-based artillery for hours, provided that it had sufficient power. But the forces on the ground hadn't begun an assault yet, for Vader had informed their commanders that such action wasn't necessary. They just had to secure the surrounding area and watch the skies, just in case the Emperor tried to leave.

"I will be going in alone," Vader said, telling his forces that through the ship's radio. He held one hand toward the palace. "Hold the line until I am finished."

With his eyes glowing bright red, Vader called upon the Force to open the path forward. A rift formed in the energy shield, creating a gap in the defense that grew large enough for the TIE Fighter to fit. It was placed right over the palace's hangar, and the Force peeled open the closed blast doors like a tin can. Vader fired proton torpedoes through the hole, bombarding the hangar interior with massive explosions, destroying all the small ships trapped in there. The fighter flew through the hole and the rift in the shield closed behind it, allowing Vader to land amidst all the burning wreckage in the hangar.

As he exited his TIE Fighter, Vader spotted the wreckage of the Emperor's favorite transport. There were also the charred and dismembered bodies of stormtroopers, who appeared to have been about to prepare that transport prior to being slaughtered. Vader sensed the Emperor's presence nearby, clearly having foreseen the destruction and avoided it. The presence was moving away from the hangar, no doubt heading toward another exit. Vader walked across the hangar and into the halls of the palace, removing blast doors with the Force when they closed in his path.

It only took a minute for Vader to encounter resistance, though it didn't matter to him in the slightest. The palace guard was responding to his intrusion, with hundreds of elite soldiers filling the halls directly in Vader's path. They fired their blasters with such ferocity that the bolts filled the halls from floor to ceiling, impossible to avoid and impossible for even a lightsaber to deflect them all. Vader simply held a hand forward, using the Force to make the blaster bolts move out of his way, sending them around him and walking through the halls unscathed.

Vader scowled at the annoyance. "The Emperor has thrown your lives away."

He clenched his fist, and every blaster was instantly crushed. The blasters currently firing exploded, taking out the soldiers holding those weapons. Vader opened his hand and pulled it back, triggering every thermal detonator they carried, creating a cacophony of explosions that echoed throughout the palace. The path ahead was cleared, but littered with the fragmented remains of the dead. Vader ignored the smell as he walked through the carnage, more concerned with the minor delay than anything else.

Eventually he reached a grand hall, where formal galas and private events were often held, the wide-open space capable of holding thousands of people at a time. But there was only one person here today, standing at one end of an enormous table, the Emperor watched as Vader tore open a set of blast doors to enter the grand hall. The walls were decorated with murals of the Emperor's life, from his lowly beginnings as a Naboo senator to Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, culminating in his self-appointment to Emperor of the Galaxy.

Vader stopped at the opposite end of the table. "So this where you decide to make your stand."

"It does not have to come to this," Palpatine said. He waved a hand at one of the murals, which depicted Darth Vader in full armor standing behind the Emperor. "You were my best apprentice. There is still so much more for you to learn."

"I have learned all I ever needed from you," Vader said. He took out one lightsaber and ignited its red blade. "The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but a learner. Now I am the master."

Palpatine drew his own lightsaber, threw back his hood to reveal his scarred scalp, igniting the red blade in the guise of Darth Sidious. "Then prove it."

Vader struck first, using the Force to lift and propel the table at Sidious. Swinging his lightsaber faster than the eye could see, Sidious sliced the table into tiny pieces that were flung away from him. Vader closed in on Sidious, their lightsabers clashing in between, swinging at each other again and again. Neither of them could get a hit in, though that was to be expected, they had only just started the battle. At this point it was a test of each other's skill, and to see who would break away from lightsaber combat first.

Sidious leaped back and got atop a large chair, and reached forward with his free hand. Force lightning shot out from his fingertips, meant to fry the cybernetics that had to still exist within Vader's body. He blocked the Force lightning with his lightsaber, ensnaring the blue electricity around the red plasma and magnetic field of the weapon. Sidious kept up the Force lightning for a moment, wanting Vader to make a mistake, but it wasn't happening. When the Force lightning stopped Vader swung his lightsaber, flinging off the last of the electricity harmlessly.

Then Vader reached with his free hand, and unleashed his own Force lightning. "Let's see you take it."

Before his transformation this technique was too dangerous for Vader, as conjuring Force lightning would have fried his cybernetics and left him vulnerable. His current technorganic nature did not possess that weakness, and this confirmed it to his former master. Sidious leaped off the chair and dropped to his left, holding one hand toward the Force lightning, pushing with the Force to deflect the attack. Vader simply adjusted his aim, shooting more Force lightning at Sidious, enjoying using his foes preferred attack against him.

Sidious shot more Force lightning at Vader, and their attacks clashed against each other, all that power meeting in the middle. Electricity arced away at random, some of it going into the floor and warping the metal, some of it going up into the ceiling and exploding the lights. The grand hall was instantly shrouded in darkness, but with dark light from the Force lightning and the lightsabers illuminating the two Sith. Both of them stopped at the same time, and without the Force lightning it was just the red glow of the lightsabers remaining.

That was until Vader clenched a fist and punched at Sidious, igniting a plume of fire that shot at his foe. "Courtesy of the earthlings…"

The firebending surprised Sidious, and he stepped back to avoid being burned by the flames. Oh he knew about firebending, having seen the reports about Earth, but it had never been duplicated by scientific means. Clearly the Force was responsible for Vader having this power, though the exact method was to be determined later. More plumes of fire were shot at him, requiring Sidious to keep moving to avoid them. Stray flames quickly set the sliced remains of the long table ablaze, and an uncontrolled inferno began to spread through the room.

Unable to get close because of the inferno, Sidious switched to another long-range attack. With the Force he tore the murals from the walls and hurled them at Vader, not caring when they were set ablaze and kept on going. Now simply large slabs of burning wood, the murals were crude projectiles, only to shatter against the floor as Vader avoided them. But shattered fragments of burning splinters were scattered everywhere, and Vader needed to divert a portion heading at him with the Force, which consumed a few seconds of precious time.

Sidious reached for the ceiling, and brought it down on top of Vader. "Catch."

A giant slab of metal tore away and fell, with new light from the floor above flooding in as the ceiling fell. Vader threw his lightsaber at the falling slab, cutting it in half with a single throw, and the pieces fell apart to hit the floor on either side of him. He moved his hands in a circular motion, electricity crackling around his fingertips, different from the kind created by the Force. This was a firebender's lightning, bright blue instead of Force lightning's violet light, booming with thunder when Vader pointed at Sidious to unleash this lightning.

That lightning was met with its Force counterpart, and the different forms of power collided head on. But where Force lightning was a collection of thin arcs of electricity, the firebender lightning was a single thick bolt, and it pierced the Force lightning with some resistance. Sidious realized this, concentrated his Force lighting into his hands, creating an electrical barrier as foreign lightning closed in. It was enough to keep the foreign lightning at bay, until all that power burst in a brilliant flash and booming thunder, hurling Sidious away from Vader.

By then the thrown lightsaber was coming back down, and Vader caught it without bothering to look. "You are going to need some new tricks, old man."

Sidious put his lightsaber away and held his hands close together. "You mean like this…"

He made the Force focus into the gap between his palms, filling it with a violet light akin to Force lightning. Sidious thrust his hands forward, unleashing the concentrated energies of the Force, appearing as a solid beam of dark energy. Vader braced himself, held his free hand forward, using the Force to push against this attack. The beam splintered just inches from Vader's fingertips, and he was pushed back, nearly reaching the far wall before the dark energy ran out. But Vader was still standing, albeit further away from Sidious than he would have liked.

"That's your new technique," Vader said. He put his lightsaber away, and then his eyes glowed bright red. "Here's mine."

Vader's voice reverberated with a deep power, different from the Force and dwelling within him. It amplified the power at his disposal, and he maintained it now instead of the brief bursts in orbit. Vader floated above the floor, which tore apart as the Force rent it asunder, and the sharp metal fragments whirled around him as a sphere of shrapnel. Plumes of fire erupted from Vader's hands, feet, and mouth, which joined together into a single large ring of fire spinning at his waist. Force lightning sprung from Vader's hands next, joining together into a second ring of power spinning vertically.

Sidious had sensed this power from afar before, but this time he felt it up close and personal. Now he could understand the true nature of his former apprentice, and what it had required to achieve this power. There was a spirit dwelling within Vader, merged with his own essence to the point where they were one and the same now, and this spirit was like a personification of the Dark Side of the Force. Vader was now an avatar of this dark spirit, and in this Avatar State he was at his most powerful, for all intents and purposes he was one with the Force.

Staring at this display of power, Sidious drew his lightsaber and a second one, igniting both red blades and holding them crossed. "Your power has improved, I'll admit that. Let's see if you can handle it."

Vader surged forward, held aloft by the Force, and closed in on Sidious in the blink of an eye. Fire, metal and lightning converged upon his foe, hitting the crossed lightsabers, creating an eruption of smoke and fumes from vaporized matter. The twin lightsabers barely withstood the strain, losing cohesion as the metal and lightning were held at bay, and the flames passed through to scorch Sidious. With his robe burning and his skin sizzling, Sidious was forced to leap away from Vader, sporting a few new burns that filled his body with fresh pain.

Invigorated by the pain, something he hadn't needed in a long time, Sidious drew upon the Force to leap high above Vader. He passed through the big hole in the ceiling, entering one of the corridors higher in the palace. Vader soared out of the grand hall to chase after him, and once in the corridor he tore it apart as he went along, adding more material to the debris field of shrapnel around him. Sidious filled the corridor with Force lightning, only for it to be seized by Vader and added to the ring around him, and then sent back at Sidious with flames and shrapnel beside the lightning.

Narrowly avoiding the counterattack by dashing into an adjacent corridor, Sidious retreated further into the palace. Vader cut the corner by destroying the walls in between, closing the distance and bearing down on Sidious. He held back the assault with his lightsabers, though the flames and some of the lightning got through, singing and shocking him while he continued to move. More and more of the palace was destroyed as the chase went on, with Vader getting closer and Sidious taking more damage every moment.

"You can't run from me forever!"

Hearing that statement reverberating in his very soul, Sidious didn't dare look back. "I don't have to…"

Directly ahead was the main reactor for the palace, currently at maximum output powering the energy shield that enveloped the building. It was behind a set of blast doors, which Sidious opened with the Force, and leapt through at his fastest pace. As he passed through the large room he fired Force Lightning at the massive reactor, instantly overloading it and setting off a chain reaction. Sidious was already out the other side when that reaction detonated, and Vader was passing through when the entire reactor exploded.

The massive explosion obliterated the reactor room and everything around it, creating a hundred-meter void in every direction, as well as inflicting severe damage for the next thousand meters. Sidious barely outran the shockwave, and even then he was pushed forward with the blast at his back. Vader was struck at point blank range, but used his debris field of shrapnel as an improvised shield to withstand the explosion. Knocked off course and falling down several annihilated floors, Vader lost sight of Sidious and felt his presence moving away very quickly.

Certain that this delay would not last long, Sidious hurried to the nearest backup hangar. With the main reactor destroyed the energy shield was down, and the palace was already under attack from ground forces outside. He entered the hangar and boarded the fastest ship there, a slim silver ship that could outrace anything in the imperial fleet. It had no shields or weapons whatsoever, but Sidious was certain his skill in the Force would ensure it would not get shot down. What he needed now was speed, and this ship shot out of the hangar at maximum acceleration.

Vader had resumed his pursuit, but only reached the backup hangar in time to see that ship jump to hyperspace in atmosphere, the kind of reckless maneuver only a Force-wielder could perform reliably. He set foot in the center of the hangar, letting the red glow leave his eyes, while flames and lightning dispersed and metal shrapnel clattered on the floor. Exhaustion set in from the effort of maintaining his Avatar State for so long, but the anger of watching his former master escape kept him focused on the matter at hand.

"Bring a shuttle to my location," Vader ordered through a personal comm unit, sending the transmission directly to the Vengeance. "The Emperor escaped, but there is only one place he will go. Withdraw all forces still in transit and prepare the fleet for travel to Endor."