Chapter 6

Luke was dragged, pushed and finally carried into the Emperor's encampment, whohad taken refuge in what looked like a castle on the top of a mesa just outside of the jungle. The pointed roof on the towers near the main building looked to have guards stationed on top of them, which seemed quite strange to Luke. Why would you position guards on top of a roof?

The guards took Luke up to one of the towers and threw him in to what looked like a regular room. It was certainly not used as a jail cell, as there were no bars. Looking out of the open window, Luke estimated that he would probably die if he jumped, considering he couldn't even see the ground from where he was, but it was a worthy consideration if nothing else went right.

Now that he was caught, Luke became more determined to do what he came here to do – or was pushed into, really. The Jedi want him to fight the Emperor, so be it. He would fight for the good of the galaxy!

'Don't be so dramatic, child.'

"You don't think that is the fate that I am fighting for, Depa?"

She materialized and was sitting on the cot in the corner of the room. She had a dry look of humor on her face as she stared back at him.

'I used to tell my students to make sure they lived today, not tomorrow.'

"What does that mean exactly? Make themselves martyrs?"

She barked a laugh. 'Oh, I like you, child. You would have made a wonderful padawan and would have definitely gotten along with the others.

'No, I mean think of what must be accomplished today, not what has to be done tomorrow.'

Luke shook his head, a smile playing on his face as well. "Why are you here?"

'Do you wish me to leave?'

"No! I just meant, why aren't the others here?"

'Oh, those old prunes. They think you are angry with them, so they are letting you cool off. I told them that children your age run off at the mouth but are over it shortly after.'

"But you came anyway?"

'Well, child, I have given you no reason to be mad at me.' She smiled up at him.

Luke went to sit next to her. "What else did you want to tell me, Depa? You were saying things and I assume faded away because of the guards. It sounded like you weren't quite done.'

She waved her hand off. 'Later. Listen, Luke.'

Muffled sounds were getting closer to the door to his room. It sounded like guards.

"-and then I asked him how stupid he was."

"I'm sure that he liked hearing that."

"He's a moron! We were told to stand guard outside of the door, and this idiot decides to take a lunch break. So, that's why I grabbed you to head up here. If someone is going to get in trouble, let it be him and not me."

"How long do we have to stay here?"

"I don't know. I just know that he told us to remain vigilant, that the prisoner would try to escape."

"I don't see how, the door is locked, it's at least a 500 metre drop from the window. He'd be crazy to try."

Luke looked at Depa, who had an amused look on her face. 'Oh how well they don't know you, child,' she said quietly.

Luke grinned back at her and walked to the window again. The sun was still up, so it would be foolish to try and escape now. However, if he managed to land on the rock ledge below him, he could easily do this at night. Even if they had the same amount of guards surrounding the castle that they did now, it would be an easy drop. From his window, he could almost see the main part of the castle, but he could definitely see the plaza area in front of it. That is where most of the guard was, along with the Emperor's Lammda shuttle. He would have to be extremely careful, though, and make sure he hit the ledge. He shuttered to think about how far down that went.

Settling back down on the cot, Depa reached out and took his hand. He felt something like warmth seeping into him from her as she closed her eyes. Luke followed suit and began to meditate with Depa's help. Focusing on his surroundings, he pushed out with his feelings. He purposely did not think about the future, the past, or his present situation, but focused on just being in the room with Depa. He was sure that this was her intent, as her understanding and approval was practically shining out of her.

As he focused on what she directed him to, he began hearing voices around them. Snippets of conversations being had all over the castle. She stopped directing him, allowing him the opportunity to hone in wherever the Force steered him.

"-waiting to get off. I want to see that guard posted inside who had some dice game set up in his quarters at night."

"-if they would let me take a break for a minute? I barely slept last night…"

"-conquer the galaxy, just as the last time. This time, though, the plans are more focused."

Luke focused on the last person, who appeared to be a general of some kind speaking to others of similar rank.

"The Jedi army is not created yet, but the Emperor is sure that they will be soon. We must continue to focus our efforts on gearing up toward that battle. He believes that we will not be able to stop them ahead of time, so we should plan for the future."

"How many more men do you think we need for this?"

"The Emperor said that we need hundreds of legions, so as many men as we can get. My direction to all of you is to focus your troops on villages scattered within the outer rim. Try to get them at age 5 or younger; that way they are still trainable without worrying too much about their own will."

"When do you want us to start? Are we needed here, or can we begin now?"

"Once this meeting is over, that side of the table will head out. The rest will remain here."

There was murmuring of agreement, and Luke pulled back and looked up at Depa. She smiled at him and looked up to see there were several more Jedi in the room. Luke looked around at the familiar faces, some he did not recognize of course, but he was getting used to that.

"They take children?"

'Since the cloning center on Kamino was shut down by the Empire, that is how they gather new troops.'

"Obi-Wan, he is talking about taking children around the age of 5 or smaller. If they are focusing on that age, surely that means that the war is way in the future. It would take years to condition and train children." Luke shook his head. "All those children! This is horrible!"

'Master Windu?'

'It's an old habit of the Sith, stealing children so they can make sure they grow up into who they want them to be. The Jedi did something similar. I was given to the Jedi when I was just a child because of my Force abilities, and I was a participant in many screenings of young ones to determine if they belonged in the Jedi temple as well. Obviously, the Jedi are just and good, where the Sith are not. Nevertheless, it is something done for many millennia.'

"This does not make it right!"

'Indeed, child, it does not. This is what you fight for. Depa leaned toward him again. 'More, Luke. Dive in deeper.'

Luke was about to close his eyes when a thought occurred to him. Looking to Depa, as he figured she would be the only one to actually answer his question, he asked, "You are not here to guide me through the future, are you? You are guiding me through the past?"

She smiled broadly. Thought she didn't answer first.

'Difficult to see, the future, as I have always said. Much to learn from the past there is.'

"I get it now! Why Father is telling me about his youth, Depa explaining the padawans she had, Obi-Wan and this planet…you are guiding me through learning what has happened so that I am prepared for what will happen!"

Depa continued to smile at him. Anakin joined her, though Mace, Yoda and Obi-Wan did not.

'You have much to learn about the Force still, Luke. You cannot move forward without this knowledge.'

"Why did you not tell me before? I have always been ok with being taught."

Yoda barked a laugh at this. 'Impatient, are you. Reckless. You want the answer to each problem as it happens. Diving into the past does not interest you.'

"Master-" Luke was cut off as the door opened and two armed guards came in and roughly grabbed him.

"Let's go!"

"Where are you taking me?"

"Shut up! No talking!"

The guards kept to the interior of the castle as they escorted Luke; he didn't have a good look outside. He was hoping to be able to see more of the surrounding area to determine how he could get away later that night. Without being taken into the courtyard, though, he would have to wing it as always. The guards didn't say anything as they were moving him, but that was fine with Luke. He wasn't certain where he was going, but he had a horrible feeling that he wasn't going to be happy about it.

Eventually they stopped and threw him into a large chamber. There was a clay fireplace toward the back, and at least two legions of guards lining the walls. Luke picked himself up from the ground and looked around the room. Outside of the guards, he couldn't see anything else. None of them moved, but he was handcuffed; so, they were probably not worried about him running away. As he was looking around, four of them broke off from the rest and walked toward him. Two went to secure the door, while the other two grabbed his arms roughly and began pulling him toward the fireplace.

"Hello, Jedi," came a very familiar voice, from behind the guards next to the fireplace. "You have been busy."

"I should have known that pure evil would never be able to die," Luke said, standing his ground. If he was going to die by the Emperor's hands, then he was going to do it standing up to the man!

"Your father was a fool to think he could stop me, and so are you. Your failure before just means that you will fail even worst this time. I am stronger and more powerful than you can imagine." He stepped out from behind the guard and Luke was taken aback.

His hands were sort of shriveled a little, but the damage to his face was worse. If Luke hadn't seen any visions of the man and knew who it was, he would have thought it was a walking corpse and not someone to fear.

"The gravity of your situation is not realized, is it, Jedi?"

"Oh, I know what I've gotten myself into, your highness. But I will not back down. I will not let you complete your plans."

The Emperor roared a laugh. "Foolish child! My plans are already complete! You have stopped access to the boy, but that is not of consequence. We have worked around that minor snag and I have continued to build everything I wanted. You have stopped nothing!"

Luke smiled slightly, which seemed to irritate the Emperor even more. "I know that Snoke and your army are on Exegol; I know that your troops are kidnapping children to build your army up because you know our numbers will grow, and I know that you are here because you know that the New Republic will not allow you to stay alive. You feel that being here provides you an edge in battle, since they will have a hard time getting up at the top of this hill to attack you. You are defeated already, your highness, you just don't realize it yet."

The Emperor's already twisted face conformed even more in anger. He raised his hands and pushed the lightning through them at Luke. Luke was expecting this and didn't fight it. He knew the Emperor would lash out.

"We've beaten you, your highness." Was all he would say. His body jerked as he was electrocuted, but he did not call out. He was ready to die.

A commotion from the front of the room caused the Emperor to stop what he was doing. The guards began running out of the room, weapons raised, while the Emperor began to retreat into a chamber behind him.

"Take him back to his room."

Luke was unable to stand as the guards grabbed him and hoisted him back to his room. The commotion was louder outside of the room, but he was in so much pain that he couldn't tell what was happening.

"This is from the Emperor," sneered the guard, who roughly shoved a knife into Luke's stomach as he was laid on the cot in the room.

Pain enveloped Luke as the guards left laughing. His mind shrieked out to Leia, warning her of the Emperor and Snoke, and that she must continue what he was doing to ensure the safety of their family. Luke felt the Jedi appear around him and felt their strength. He knew that they would help Leia to be able to win, so he started fading in and out of consciousness knowing that all would be well eventually.

In his pain filled state, he felt the building shake. He vaguely saw crumbles of the room begin to fall, and he realized that he needed to get out. He wrapped the blanket around his stomach in an attempt to stop the bleeding as much as possible while he walked to the door. Miraculously, the guards had not locked it.

He peered out into an empty hall and crept out. The pain in his stomach was stopping him from making great progress, but he still inched out as quickly as he could. By the time he made it to the courtyard, he was actively stopping himself from passing out in pain.

He saw the Emperor's red-clad guards fighting other soldiers in the courtyard, which was full of blaster shot sounds and yelling. He couldn't quite focus on the battle and he found himself falling to the ground unable to stand any longer.

Pain engulfed him, and in a fit of clarity, he saw that the soldiers around him were from the New Republic. Anger at the Emperor and causing more loss of life accompanied the pain now. The last thing he wanted was more death.

Something hit his leg, causing him to look down. A small piece of the castle had fallen on his leg, causing no pain but indicating that the castle was being damaged. His blanket was soaked in blood, so he averted his eyes. The courtyard had falling debris among the fighting, and he could feel the fear from the soldiers around him.

As he began to lose consciousness, most likely for the last time, he felt someone touch his hand. He didn't have the strength to open his eyes, but he knew who it was. Her love and acceptance began seeping into him, filling him and healing his wound. The blanket began to clear as he felt the Force shine from the inside out.

As he regained his strength, he looked up into the eyes of his sister and smiled. "About time you got here."

A/N: So, I am super excited to announce that Part 2 (Episode VIII) has been officially finished and was sent off for editing! That means that when I am done posting this part, I can slide right into the next one. More to come on that!

After this, we slide into what I like to call the "liberty-taken" section (as if I haven't been doing that already). I did build upon things already in the EU relating to Star Wars, but I also decided to really make it my own. So, as you read on just remember this is where I take liberties with existing lore.

Thanks again to my beta and friend Zombiefied419 for all of her help and encouragement! I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter Sources:

wiki/B%27omarr_Monastery_(Teth)

wiki/Battle_of_Teth

Movies:

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (movie)