TATOOINE
Luke gazed up the rocky pathway to find an obscured figure standing near the cliff summit, waiting for him at the top of the canyon.
The presence of Ultor felt no different in Luke's senses than it had on Ossus, or on that fateful last day in the Coruscant Jedi Temple.
Luke took a brief moment to absorb the silhouette of his former adopted son and protege before approaching. Ultor did not move, but waited as Luke climbed up to the canyon top.
"So, you've finally come to meet your match," Ultor said, staring blankly at the Grand Master. This was the first time in more than ten years that Luke had a clear look at the younger man's face, he realized, and it chilled him to the bone.
Those yellow eyes, the pale skin, the hatred within. Skyler had been consumed by a monster.
"You have escaped my powers for far too long, Skywalker," Ultor continued, "No longer. Tonight, I shall prove the resilience of the dark side over the light. I'll bet you're sorry you ever found me."
His lightsaber hilt was already wrapped in his gloved fist.
Luke drew his own saber, but did not ignite it. He began to pace the rocky surface overlooking Beggar's Canyon, while Ultor circled around him.
"I am sorry," Luke replied, "Sorry that I didn't see the trouble brewing, and guide you on the right path. Maybe if I'd acted sooner, you'd still be a Jedi instead of this twisted thing."
"Well, it's too late now, isn't it, Luke?" Ultor asked, activating the blood red blade of his lightsaber, "You know as well as I do that there is no alternative to what is about to come."
"I refuse to believe that," Luke replied, "The light never goes out for good, not in the galaxy, and not in our hearts. This does not have to end in violence."
"Maybe not, but it will," Ultor snarled, "Goodbye, Luke Skywalker."
The Dark Master let out a roar as he dashed at Luke, who finally ignited his green blade to defend himself.
He pushed Ultor back with his lightsaber, but the young Sith counterattacked with a harder strike, keeping Luke on the defensive.
Ultor struck hard at his Jedi foe repeatedly, with red and green dancing around one another in the Tatooine night.
Spinning around, Ultor crouched low and aimed a kick at Luke. Luke backflipped in the opposite direction and widened his stance as Ultor charged again.
Their blades clashed and each duelist pushed hard, bringing their lightsabers close to the other's face.
Luke stared hard into the hateful eyes of his ward, determined not to back down.
Once again, Luke broke away from the impasse, carrying himself high into the air and aiming for a slightly higher ledge.
Ultor did not advance towards the boulder Luke was standing on, but instead used the Force to grab it.
Consequently, Luke lost his balance and stumbled, before rolling onto the main cliff once again.
Ultor lifted the rock high into the air before slamming it downward with his hands, directing it towards Luke.
Luke saw the boulder falling in his direction and used his lightsaber to slice it in half. Both pieces of the rock collapsed with loud thuds on the canyon ledge.
Ultor sprang in Luke's direction with a deadly spin.
Avoiding his young opponent, Luke jumped onto one of the halves of the sliced boulder and used the Force to levitate the slice into the air, with him standing on it.
Ultor glared with hatred at the Jedi Master, raising his lightsaber with one hand and flicking it in Luke's direction with bullet speed.
Luke used the Force to accelerate the speed of his airborne platform, causing it to hover around the space above Ultor with himself retaining his balance on it.
Ultor's lightsaber instead cut into the rock behind Luke, before the Dark Master summoned it back to him.
"You choose to retreat rather than strike me down," Ultor observed with a growl, "You are weak just like the rest of the Jedi. Like the ones who died and will die once I am through with you."
Luke ignored this remark, hovering on his mobile platform further away from Ultor, towards the edge of the canyon.
Luke began to slowly glide downwards as Ultor rushed to finish him off. Luke was too fast, floating down towards a lower ledge.
Ultor reached with his hand towards the other half of the boulder, pulling it in his direction before jumping on.
In the fashion of his old mentor and father figure, Luke began to glide himself down the canyon after Luke, striking at him as soon as he reached the platform Luke was floating in midair with.
Luke blocked Ultor's saber attack, using his half of the boulder to retreat as the latter advanced.
Finally, Ultor stepped from his rock onto Luke's, striking harder against Luke's defenses.
Once Ultor was off of his rock half, it fell fast towards the canyon floor and out of sight.
Luke stepped back and off his platform as Ultor climbed onto it, falling until he landed ten feet below on the next ledge surface.
Ultor jumped from the rock onto the ledge after Luke, who had resumed circling around him.
"Come back, Skyler," Luke pleaded in a soft, solemn voice, "Don't continue down the path of inevitable self-destruction."
"Look where it has gotten me," Ultor retorted, widening his stance in preparation to charge, "Look at the power I have gained."
"You have gained nothing but chaos and betrayal," Luke replied, "but your soul is not gone. As long as it lives, there is a way back to the light."
"What do you know about my soul?" Ultor replied, "After everything I've done, you still try and salvage whatever you think is left?" He was still consumed by his fury, but Luke detected a hint of uncertainty in the young man's voice.
"Yes," Luke replied, "You may not be able to escape from your actions, but you can still escape from the fate that is in store. I won't stop trying to save you, I can't."
"Why?" Ultor hissed, as confused as he was enraged.
"Because that's what the light is," Luke replied, "it serves as an eternal beacon, calling you to it. The light side always believes in redemption, no matter how far you've gone. I believe in it, just as I believe in you, Skyler I believe you can come back."
Ultor stood upright, pacing slightly. He deactivated his lightsaber, to Luke's surprise. The Grand Master did not hesitate to switch off his own saber in response, as Ultor turned away from him to face the moon and stars.
The fire went away from Ultor's eyes, for just a moment, as he considered the words of his adoptive father.
Luke had once believed in his father's redemption, and he could not surrender the principles he had lived by then, even when the stakes were highest.
"Come back with me, and you can have a fair trial when the crisis is settled. No matter what else happens, you will be free of the darkness that has consumed you. But you can still shed yourself if it. Come home with me, my son."
Ultor trembled in his boots, his knees wobbling. He could feel the temptation inside him, the weakness starting to revive within him.
With a snarl and a twist of his features, Ultor growled, "To think I almost fell for your trickery!"
He backflipped in Luke's direction, forcing the Master to launch himself backwards against the wall of the gorge.
Ultor charged at Luke with his blade aimed horizontally forward. Luke switched his own lightsaber back on and swatted the weapon of doom aside, before aiming a kick at Ultor's ribs with a heavy heart.
The battle in space raged on, with the crime syndicates continuing to exchange maximum firepower with the Republic vessels and fighters.
For miles surrounding the planet's orbit, Dor'bullas, skyhooks, and Dreadnoughts were lit on fire by enemy bombs, while pilots continued to evade and fire at one another. It was an explosion of color, with lasers flying in almost every inch of space between the factions.
"Target their bombers first!" Trix Azer said as she led a unit towards the Dor'bulla commanded by Grappa the Hutt, who was slithering with a host of Neimodian and Trandoshan bodyguards towards the trembling hangar.
Rotta and Gorga commanded additional forces from their hideouts on Tatooine, while Yerrin Serri and his fellow Vigos gave orders to Black Sun ships. The Pyke Syndicate had also joined the fray, with their specialized missiles curving until they struck holes in the Republic Dreadnoughts.
There was no end in sight.
Down in the ruins of Anchorhead, Kira moved her blade diagonally in the hopes of deflecting Plagueis's lightning, but it was coming at her in heavy doses.
Nothing Kira could have done would have prepared her for the pain that the lightning brought on her upon making contact.
She screamed as a million holes were drilled inside her, and a thousand fires raged in her arteries. Kira collapsed in a twitching fit, discarding her lightsaber.
Plagueis, however, suddenly stopped his attack and stood over his former protege.
"This power, these abilities beyond compare. They could still be yours, if you'll join me."
Kira could not speak, but merely gasp for breath as she turned her head weakly to the tall, thin Muun, the sand digging into her messy hair.
Plagueis reached for Kira and extended a hand.
"I know you still hate Darth Ultor. We could destroy him together, and you could have access to all the power in the universe."
"Never," Kira managed to say, still fighting heavily to breathe.
Together, Luke and Ultor tumbled down the rocky canyon slope, venturing whatever blows they could at one another.
Luke's robotic hand dug into a spear-shaped rock before slipping down the terminally steep surface, pointing his green blade at Ultor with his other hand.
In turn, Ultor jabbed his lightsaber into a flat surfaced grove to keep himself from falling even further. He used the momentum of his lightsaber to propel his legs towards Luke's aiming a kick.
Luke swung his entire body up so that his legs and middle were parallel to the ground below, then sliced downward in an attempt to disarm Ultor.
The Sith Lord caught the small ledge with his elbow before pulling out his lightsaber and jabbing low.
Luke pulled himself backwards before losing his balance, continuing to tumble downwards.
He cut his lightsaber into the rocky cliffside so that it gently glided down the treacherous slope with Luke still holding onto the hilt for dear life.
Finally, the Grand Master reached another surface, albeit a narrow one. He was now about two hundred feet above the sandy sea level.
Ultor quickly climbed down to pursue Luke, hopping from rock to rock as he descended.
When he was about twenty feet above Luke's level, Ultor began to grab chunks of rock with the Force, hurling them at his opponent a fast succession.
Luke used the Force to catch each rock that flew his way, rearranging them into a revolving circle so that they spun around in harmony over his head.
Then, he sent each one of them flying back at Ultor one at a time, aiming to knock him off his footing.
Ultor leapt the rest of the distance to Luke's level, posing to charge.
By this time, Luke realized that he was needed elsewhere, looking in the direction of Anchorhead, where flames were visible from the adobe ruins and residents and their eopie and speeder mounts were still fleeing into any direction they could.
Ultor swung hard at Luke's head with his blade, and Luke was naturally quick enough to block the strike with his own saber, backing away from the repeated attacks.
Ultor struck again and again at Luke, before the Grand Master suddenly parried low and sliced into Ultor's leg and dragged his blade through it before Ultor could strike Luke down.
Ultor screamed in agony and staggered away from Luke, allowing him to pivot a sizable distance away and raised his free hand.
A powerful wave hit Ultor's body, knocking him into the wall of jagged rock with enough force to shatter his spine.
Ultor, however, was only mildly stunned as Luke turned and began to run down the narrow pathway, where his speeder was docked.
Still badly injured, Ultor began to stagger after the older duelist, careful not to trip and fall down the canyon into the sand- which have Luke the time to leap downwards in a projectile motion.
Ultor followed suit until Luke reached the surface from which he had climbed the Jundland Wastes cliff, sprinting towards his speeder.
Ultor might have caught up to his elder, if not for his injury.
He seethed with a bare of his teeth as he used the Force to propel his speed, chasing after Luke's disappearing landspeeder towards the wreckage around Anchorhead.
"You had such potential," Plagueis was saying, circling around the still-weakened Kira, "I did not want to give up on you so easily. But if you will not cooperate, you will leave me no choice."
Kira's arm fumbled through the sand until her fingers touched the cold surface of her lightsaber hilt.
Damask raised his wrinkled hands in preparation to unleash more energy on her, but then sensed activity nearby and turned his cylinder head.
"Now, the real battle begins," he said.
Luke's landspeeder came to a sudden halt as soon as the sound of the engine became audible, and the Jedi Master leapt out of the driver's seat with his green blade ignited.
"So, Luke Skywalker comes to the rescue ," Plagueis snarled, "You knew that she couldn't last against my dark power. Neither will you."
"Your kind won't be corrupting another generation," Luke replied, "The teachings of the Sith have inflicted too much harm on the universe."
He began to circle around Damask as he gripped his lightsaber with both hands, dipping it slightly forward.
Damask drew his own weapon, igniting its yellow blade.
"Let us hope this is a duel worthy of the ages," Plagueis said.
Luke knew from experience that old and frail opponents could be far more powerful than they appeared, and Plagueis did not disappoint.
His first strike nearly vivisected Luke in half, forcing him to retreat with his saber held diagonally in front of his chest.
Kira felt her strength returning as the burns finally began to heal.
She slowly rose to her feet, picking her lightsaber up from the sand as Luke worked hard to keep Plagueis at bay, drawing him away from the city's borders
Kira was about to charge at Plagueis to join the fight, but halted her feet in the sand as she sensed another presence drawing closer, one that filled her with hatred.
Ultor was here, and it was time for her to finish the job.
She darted back into the main avenue of Anchorhead and
"Your masters have taught you well, Skywalker," Plagueis growled, "but the dark side gives me power that you will never understand."
With that, the Muun Force-leapt away from Luke and tossed his lightsaber aside with disinterest, raising both his bony hands as if to surrender.
As Luke paced around with his lightsaber slanted in anticipation of Plagueis's next move, the Sith Lord began to call out to the midichlorians inside Luke, many thousand snapping to life.
Luke felt his breathing starting to slow as Plagueis began to kill him, but he immediately deactivated his own lightsaber and tossed it aside.
Plagueis frowned in confusion as Luke sat down in the sand and began to meditate.
He continued to control the Grand Master's midichlorians as Luke began to form an invisible bubble, blocking his enemy from penetrating his bodily functions.
His breathing and heart rate resumed their normal pace as Damask frustratedly continued to attempt to shut him down.
"What?" Damask snarled, "How are you resisting?"
Luke opened his eyes and stood back up.
"I don't need to know any dark secrets," he replied, "The light side can resist anything with enough power."
Plagueis raised his hands again and this time sent two separate streaks of lightning from each of his pale, clammy palms.
The magnitude and speed of the bolts were enough to instantly kill a target, but Luke raised his remaining flesh hand to absorb both jets.
The lightning streaks connected into one as they reached Luke's hand and disappeared into his palm.
Plagueis fired another web of lightning, the most intense possible, determined to destroy his Jedi target.
Luke once again held out his hand as if telling the Muun to stop, and he absorbed the blue and violet lightning without a hitch.
Kira lurked through the vacated streets of Anchorhead with her lightsaber at the ready, illuminating the otherwise dim adobe alleyways.
"I know you're here somewhere," she said, "Come and meet your destiny."
An invisible voice that had remained in Kira's nightmares for seven years replied, "With pleasure."
Kira looked up and scanned the buildings and structures to find the direction from which the voice had come. She saw nothing, and backed away into the middle of the avenue, fear starting to creep in.
"Where are you, Skyler?" Kira asked, "Come on out and fight."
Suddenly, Kira's throat began to close, and her knees lifted into the air.
She struggled and kicked, but the lock was tightening around her neck, and she was losing air.
Her lightsaber dropped to the ground as Ultor appeared, his own red blade of hell adding a new hue to the night.
"You have been a nuisance to me for too long," Ultor said, glaring at her with his yellow eyes and snakelike pupils, "It's time for you to die."
As her vision began to blur, Kira saw a deep cut on Ultor's leg and hip. He was weaker than before, she had a good chance.
With her remaining strength, Kira reached for her lightsaber in the sand. At the same time, she concentrated her Force push on Ultor's bad leg, causing him to howl as he tripped into the sand.
Kira gasped for breath as she fell onto her hands and knees, gripping tightly to her lightsaber as she rose to her feet.
Ultor regained his balance quickly, immediately lunging after Kira, who raced towards him at the same time as he did.
She struck hard to mow him down, and Ultor matched the position of her blade with his own.
Red and blue formed an X, with each young duelist pushing against the other's lightsaber. Kira's robotic hand dug into her blade and left the smallest of dents as she glared into Ultor's eyes, made brighter by the glow of their plasma rods.
Kira tried to lower her lightsaber to cut deeper into Ultor's wound, but she had to lean far back as he jabbed his own saber into her face, swaying to narrowly avoid a terminal strike.
Losing his patience, Plagueis once again attempted to hijack Luke's midichlorians.
And once again, Luke entered a meditative bubble that blocked any attempt to penetrate it.
Plagueis reached for his askew lightsaber and rushed. Luke used the Force to grab his own and immediately met Plagueis's blade. Green clashed against yellow with rapid motions as they made their way into the city.
Ultor took advantage of Kira's loss of balance and kicked under her knee with his good leg.
Kira cried out as his boot struck her and knocked her to the sand on her side.
Kira tried to ignore the pain as Ultor gripped his saber with both hands and swung it down like an executioner. She looked at his leg wound and used the Force to peel at his skin, tearing it open ever so slightly.
Ultor stumbled and blindly swung with a yell of rage, causing the sparks from his blade fly less than an inch from Kira. She closed her eyes and looked away before reaching for Ultor again. She concentrated on the high midichlorian count inside him, willing the microscopic life forms to sleep.
Ultor staggered again, panting for breath. Already wounded badly, he dropped to his knees as his bodily functions began to fail him.
Kira stood up from her lying position and approached her helpless opponent with her lightsaber ready to strike him down.
Kira paused, eager to savor the ultimate victory. It was not enough to cut him down. No, he needed to suffer.
"This is for Ben and Winter," Kira said, raising her lightsaber to slice Ultor's head off.
At that moment, Ultor screamed with animal fury and raised his gloved hands.
An unexpected web of dark energy came from his fingers and caught Kira square in the chest. It was weaker than Plagueis's lightning, but still enough to send a ripple of agony though her and knock her onto her back.
Ultor laughed as he struggled to rise onto his feet, leaning on the adobe cantina entrance for support.Recovering his lightsaber, Ultor asked, "Did you really think I would be as easy as those test subjects?"
Still weakened from the shock, Kira considered herself lucky that Ultor was still wounded, or he would have made up the distance to kill her in no time. She weakly rolled against the wall and used to to climb to her feet as Ultor staggered through the sand, his the hate in his expression multiplied by the red glow of his blade within the shadows of night.
As the two masters reached the portion of Anchorhead that had been damaged by the battle, Luke managed to break away from the elderly Damask's onslaught long enough to jump onto a taller adobe structure, which happened to be an abandoned inn.
Plagueis's first move was not to pursue Luke onto the rooftop, but to use the Force to pluck the nearby satellite dish from its socket.
Luke naturally expected Plagueis to hurl the electrical device at him, and was not disappointed as it flew in his direction.
Luke's green blade sliced the dish in two, causing it to explode in a burst of electricity.
Luke pointed his blade down towards Plagueis, redirecting the electrical energy in his direction.
Plagueis caught the lightning on his yellow lightsaber, then reached with both of his long, skinny arms to collect several dozen pieces of wrecked structures.
The rubble rose from the ashy sand where it had fallen, high into the night sky.
Luke waited as Plagueis threw all of the chunks at a time in his direction, dousing them with Force lightning as they surrounded Luke.
Luke created an air wave with the Force in response, causing the airborne pieces of adobe to fly in every direction away from himself and his opponent.
Plagueis finally launched himself after Luke onto the inn rooftop, lightning emerging from all of his fingertips.
Luke saw no advantage in standing his ground. He turned and jumped with everything he could summon from the Force.
His body carried him over the distance between the rooftops onto the next one, which housed a dealership with tons of ship and speeder parts still sitting untouched.
Plagueis landed right behind Luke on the roof of the dealership, immediately blasting him with a lethal dose of Sith lightning.
Luke reflexively blocked the crackling energy with both his flesh hand and his lightsaber, gripped by his gloved robotic fingers.
Plagueis was tiring along with Luke, but his fury only grew. The Sith Lord intensified his attack, spreading out the crackling bolts in a wide circle as he targeted several locations on Luke's body.
The lightning immediately blasted a gaping round hole in the roof of the abandoned dealership, and Luke disappeared in a flash of smoke and crackling energy.
A surprised Jawa looked up and whistled as the Jedi Grand Master tumbled through the roof and into a pile of broken down droids and ship parts.
"Utinni!" the Jawa uttered, running for cover as Luke landed on his back in the pile.
Plagueis peered through the hole in the roof and glowered down at Luke.
He raised his hands and once more fired a dose of lightning, this time, aiming for the metal equipment surrounding Luke.
Luke immediately hopped up and landed on the floor, telekinetically grabbing whatever wired parts he could as they were doused with electricity.
Luke hurled the parts back at Plagueis as he tried to use them to fry the Grand Master.
Plagueis was hit by a jolt of lightning and snarled as he fell into the shop and into the parts. He hurled the pieces of a defunct protocol droid at Luke as he zapped it with furious lightning.
Luke returned the blow with a flying power converter that nearly missed Damask's cylinder face.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Luke hurried out of the shop into the street. Plagueis thundered after him as Luke raced towards the dueling Ultor and Kira.
The two of them were nearly ready to finish the other off.
Panting, Ultor went in for the kill, while Kira aimed again at his bad leg. A green blade appeared between Ultor's and Kira's as Luke joined the fray, pushing Ultor back.
Luke had the upper hand by far over the younger duelist, despite his own weary state. Luke struck hard against Ultor's lightsaber without tapping into any internal aggression, forcing the Dark Master to retreat.
Luke cut into Ultor's black-clad sleeve, causing him to cry out again and drop his blade.
Ultor could not fight anymore, with one bad arm and one bad leg. Bleeding, he dropped his lightsaber and seethed with rage and hatred.
"You failed," he gasped, "You'll have to kill me before you convert me."
Before Luke could reply, he sensed something terrible happening behind him.
Kira was on her knees, gasping desperately for air. Her heart rate and blood flow were slowing as Plagueis soothed her midichlorians to sleep.
The Muun Sith looked very calm and calculating, with his eyes closed as he concentrated on taking the life force out of Kira.
Luke moved to Force-push Plagueis away from Kira, but the Muun briefly broke his concentration and sent a light stream of lightning that forced Luke to catch it on his lightsaber.
Ultor raised his injured arm and unleashed his hatred towards his former father figure, letting out another jet of lightning.
As Luke concentrated on keeping Kira alive, he was not prepared for the blast. Ultor caught him in the back, causing Luke to cry out as the lightning tore through him.
Kira weakly gazed towards Luke, then at Plagueis, who continued to kill her with his powers.
Resist, the voice of Anakin urged, you must resist!
"I can't..." Kira gasped, barely able to speak. Her face was pale white, and she was unable to move any of her limbs.
Let go of your hate it's the only way to stop what's happening, Anakin replied from thin air.
Luke finally reached Plagueis, attempting to dismember him to put him out of commission.
Plagueis finally was forced to respond, launching another torrent at Luke, who was still aching from the pain of Ultor's lightning.
Ultor was still too injured to stand and fight, but he continued to project his hatred into his bursts of Force energy. The lighting crackled into Luke's spine and bones as he advanced determinedly towards Damask.
Finally, Plagueis brought up his own lightsaber to clash against Luke. Ultor was not letting up, firing burst after burst into Luke, who had now gone from wincing to crying out in pain, but he still continued to duel Plagueis.
Finally, Luke dropped to his knees, unable to stand from the lightning tearing into him.
He was in too much pain to reflect on how badly he'd failed Kira, failed Han and Leia, failed Ben and Skyler both, failed Obi-Wan and Yoda who had trusted him with the legacy of the Jedi.
Ultor smiled as he finally slinked against the wall onto his feet, slightly increasing the bursts of lightning.
Plagueis quickly deactivated and sheathed his lightsaber, hurling additional the torrents of energy into Luke.
Luke was now beyond feeling pain. He laid against the sand as both of the Sith Lords blasted him to death.
He could see the Netherworld now, beginning with the Stream of Life where the midichlorians were born, departing from the souls of the beings in the Netherworld.
Stay strong Luke, his father Anakin was saying, Just a little longer.
Use your will, Luke, Obi-Wan chimed in, The teachings of the Jedi depend on you.
Stay alive, you must, Yoda said, for the girl.
Luke began to regain a hold of himself, despite the massive bolts of lightning burning his skin.
Ultor and Plagueis paused their stream of lightning, with Ultor savoring the sight of his old Master in pain and near death, and Plagueis turning his attention back to Kira, who also lay still in the sand.
"I'll finish off Skywalker," Ultor declared, "You can have the girl."
The lightning was still visible as it rippled across Luke's robes and his limbs.
Plagueis turned his attention back to Kira, who was barely stirring.
Use the light to block him out, Anakin said to Kira, whose vision cleared enough to see Plagueis' concentration returning to her. She tried to will his manipulations out of her body, but could muster nothing but hatred.
"I'm dying," she gasped, "Anakin, help, I'm dying."
Luke began to weakly crawl onto his feet, kneeling in the sand.
Ultor resumed his lightning attack, ripping into Luke as he stumbled and fell once again.
Luke could see the abyss beyond, he could now feel presences that were not able to travel to the physical realm.
He heard another voice call his name, a voice he had not heard in over fifty years, but a voice that he remembered speaking his own name.
Luke, the voice of his mother Padme said., Hold on, Luke.
He could hear Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru along with his mother,urging him to resist death, at least until the future of the Jedi was secured.
Luke got onto one knee, then planted his other foot on the ground, all while his bones crumbled under the weight of Ultor's lightning.
He trudged through the sand to the spot where Kira was lying near death.
Still under the onslaught of Ultor's Sith energy, Luke knelt beside his dying niece and placed his good hand on her forehead, willing her to revive.
Plagueis stopped at the sight of Luke using his powers for good, to protect someone he loved, in spite of his massive injuries.
Plagueis then looked at Ultor's lightning and saw a different scene, a scene from his own past.
Ultor's face was replaced by another one, by one of a man who slightly resembled him. Damask saw a young Sheev Palpatine standing over his bedside, waking him with a lethal dose of lightning. He remembered his own feeling of betrayal as the young Darth Sidious ignited his lightsaber to strike, thinking he was about to kill his master.
Then, in the present, something shifted inside Damask.
He halted his manipulation of Kira's midichlorians and allowed Luke to heal her bodily functions.
Ultor did not notice this at first, continuing to blast Luke with his small jets of crackling energy.
Luke could only power through the intense pain that only grew worse, using the power of healing to bring Kira back around.
"Luke," Kira said as she took in the sight of her uncle, kneeling before her. Kira kicked her feet in the sand and found that she could move them.
"It's okay, Kira," Luke whispered, "I won't let them hurt you any more."
He then fell face-first onto the sand as Ultor advanced, finally overwhelmed by the brutality of the younger man.
Kira climbed to her feet, feeling her strength gradually returning. She looked over to her abandoned lightsaber, once again summoning it back to her. Before she could begin to attack, something else struck Ultor in the chest and knocked him down.
As Ultor growled in rage and began to return to his feet, Hego Damask stepped forward and said, "Kira, get out of here. I'll hold him off as long as I can."
Kira briefly stared in confusion at the old, towering Muun, but as Ultor grabbed his own lightsaber and prepared to strike, she ducked and took her uncle's arm, grunting from the strain of hoisting him up.
Ultor charged with a yell, but Damask once again pushed him back.
Ultor cried out as he landed against the wall of the dealership with a crack of his wounded arm and leg. Once again, he could not stand up, left to roll in agony.
Kira dragged the heavier Luke through the street, towards the landspeeder that awaited.
Luke was barely conscious, the Sith lightning still tearing through his body and clothing. Nevertheless, he tried his best to keep himself up as he allowed Kira to guide him.
Luke weakly climbed into the back of the landspeeder, aided by Kira. He curled up ont the seat like a small child about to take a nap.
"We have to get you help," Kira said, beginning to panic as she realized the terrible condition that her uncle was in.
"Shelter...top...of...Jundland...Wastes..." Luke gasped, "Go..."
Kira hurried into the driver's seat and pulled the lever, blasting them both out of Anchorhead towards the canyon beyond.