Disclaimer: Disney owns it now and I don't care what they're up to; I will continue to use Legends.
The dark is generous, and it is patient.
It is the dark that seeds cruelty into justice, that drips contempt into compassion, that poisons love with grains of doubt.
The dark can be patient, because the slightest drop of rain will cause those seeds to sprout.
The rain will come, and the seeds will sprout, for the dark is the soil in which they grow,
and it is the clouds above them, and it waits behind the star that gives them light.
The dark's patience is infinite.
Eventually, even stars burn out.
Chapter 8:
The Sanctuary Moon commonly called Endor was the second and furthest moon of a gas giant by the same name. Much of Endor was a blue-green forest—verdant, wild and primeval, with trees that stretched a thousand feet high, some as big around as a house while others were as thin as a leg. Light filtered through their canopies as a gentle golden ichor and gave life to a wide array of flora and fauna.
The stolen Imperial shuttle sat in a clearing on a hill miles from the Imperial base, it's stark and white appearance incongruous in the forest. The Rebel strike was slowly making its way down the hill through the woods. Wearing camo over their normal clothes, or none at all in Chewie's case, Leia, Chewie, Han, Luke and Mara led the way, followed in single file by Major Derlin and a squad of scruffy-looking commandos—these were the elite of the Rebel Alliances SpecForce, each hand-picked for their initiative, cunning and ferocity, and all possessed of a hatred for the Empire that exceeded self-preservation. All of them knew that this was the most crucial raid of the war and that if they failed, the Rebellion was doomed and there would be no second chances; and so as they moved silently through the forest, they were alert to all of their surroundings.
Up ahead, the leaders reached and paused at a ridge above a glen. Chewbacca raised a paw to signal the rest of the group to stop. All at once the forest seemed much more silent. Through the ferns, Luke, Mara, Han, Chewie and Leia could see two Imperial scouts in the glen; they'd set up a temporary camp and their two speeder bikes were parked nearby.
"Shall we try and go around?" Leia whispered.
"It'll take time," Luke replied.
"This whole party'll be for nothing if they see us," Han said.
"This whole party'll be for nothing," Mara retorted, "if the base goes on high alert after one of their patrols goes missing."
"Good point," said Han, "Okay, we'll go around." The fleet wouldn't arrive until tomorrow (local time) anyway.
The corridor outside the throne room was filled with courtiers, all waiting on the merest chance that the Emperor might deign to grant them an audience. Pompous toadies clad in gaudy overpriced clothes, with painted faces and heavy perfumes, bent low from the weight of jewelry still warm from its previous owner.
Behind his mask Vader curled his lip at them; had no patience for such filth and passed without a nod, though many of them would have paid dearly for a favorable glance from the Dark Lord.
Vader found the door to the Emperor's private turbolift closed, with red-robed royal guards flanking it.
"Halt!" One of them commanded as they crossed their force-pikes in Vader's path, "the Emperor does not wish to be disturbed at this time."
Vader did not waste time with words; he merely raised his hand, lifting up both guards and hurled them off to the side. Vader stepped into the turbolift without another word and when the doors opened again, he walked past two more royal guards, up the stairs and approached the throne.
The Emperor was gazing out into space and did not turn at Vader's arrival.
"I told you to remain on the command ship," the Emperor said sternly.
"A small Rebel force has penetrated the shield and landed on Endor."
Now at last the Emperor did turn his chair to face Vader,
"Yes, I know," the Emperor said without any surprise in his tone.
Vader noted this for a moment, then continued, "My son is with them."
The Emperor's brow furrowed ever so slightly, then said very coolly and with only a trace of curiosity, "Are you sure?"
"I have felt him, my master." In Sith terms, and especially coming from the apprentice, this was almost a taunt; for though he would never openly admit it, Vader knew that the Emperor feared young Skywalker and his power.
"Strange that I have not," the Emperor murmured, his eyes narrowing into slits. "I wonder if your feelings on this matter are clear, Lord Vader."
"They are clear, my master." Vader knew his son's presence, it was both galling and fueling, a lure beckoning to him with a howling voice.
"Then you must go to the Sanctuary Moon and wait for him," the Emperor said simply.
"He will come to me?" Vader asked skeptically; he felt drawn, almost compelled.
"I have foreseen it," The Emperor assured him. One could not be coerced into corruption, you had to be seduced, an active participant; in order to accept the darkness, you had to crave it, "his compassion for you will be his undoing." Compassion had always been and would always be the weakness of the Jedi. "He will come to you, and then you will bring him before me."
Vader bowed. "As you wish." He turned and strode out of the throne room.
Night had almost fallen by the time Rebels reached the overlook. The fading light was still barely adequate to let them study the installation from the ridge; at the base of the generator was a landing platform and several walkers were docked there.
"The main entrance to the control bunkers on the far side of that landing plaform," Leia said and frowned. "This isn't going to be easy."
"Hey don't worry," Han said, "Chewie and me got into places more heavily guarded than this." Chewie countered with a dismissive question. Han thought for a second, "Well, the spice vaults of Gargon, for one." Chewie shook his head and voiced his disagreement. "Of course I'm right," Han said, "now if I could just remember how I did it…" Han scratched his head, poking at his memory.
Mara spoke up: "Something about this set up feels very wrong; I mean, they've got AT-AT's out even though those clunkers would be barely able to maneuver in terrain like this. For that matter, how did we even get this close?"
Han frowned as a memory from his Carida days poked at him. "You may be onto something; as I recall, standard procedure would be to burn off a large area of the forest all around the generator precisely in order to prevent people like us from getting this close. Especially if they're deploying heavy mechanized units like those walkers."
"And the only reason they would violate that procedure," Mara continued, "is if—,"
"—is if it's a trap," Leia finished, bitterness creeping into her voice, "And we walked right into it."
"Not yet," Luke said, "There's gotta be more than one way into this place."
Han suddenly perked up and snapped his fingers, "That's it! That's how we did it, a back door."
"We need to hurry," said Leia. "The fleet will—," she suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky; so did Luke and Mara. Han wondered what was going on, then spotted a shuttle coming in for a landing at the platform.
Luke, Leia and Mara exchanged worried glances and all at once began speaking:
"It has to be—,"
"But why—,"
"He must have—,"
Irritated, Han said: "Would one of the members of the Jedi Hive Mind please translate for the rest of us poor mortals."
"Vader's on that shuttle," Luke said quietly.
"Great," Han said sarcastically, "as if this mission wasn't hard enough already."
With night falling, the Rebels withdrew a short distance and made a cold camp. And there Han was faced with a most bizarre situation.
"No, absolutely not," Han declared, staring incredulously at Luke and wondering what could have made him think this was a good idea. "Luke, if you just go up and surrender, then they'll know that we're here."
"Vader already knows that we're here," Luke replied, "he can sense my presence, as well as Leia's and Mara."
"Even assuming that we find another entrance," Leia continued, "what do you think will happen if Vader is present when the team attacks?"
"So deal with him," Han said, "I may not know much about the Force, but it'll be three-against-one; I like those odds."
"Vader has faced worse," said Mara softly, "And against Jedi who had been trained all of their lives. We don't have a choice."
"You support this idiocy?" Han asked her incredulously.
Mara sighed. "I don't like the idea anymore than you, but we have to remove Darth Vader from the equation if the strike team is to have any chance of completing its mission."
"And how do you know that he won't just kill you?"
Luke just shrugged. "He won't."
"But how can you be sure?"
"He won't," Leia repeated. "Just trust me on this Han, it's a…Jedi thing."
Han crossed his arms for a moment, glaring at all three of them; then he threw up his hands with a sigh. "Fine, I can't stop you from going, even though I think that this is ridiculous."
"Han," Leia said, softening her tone and touching his shoulder. They shared a single, long and tender kiss. Then the three Jedi discarded their blasters and camo, then disappeared into the forest.
Darth Vader stood in the corridor, looking out into the verdant forest surrounding the landing platform as an AT-AT walker approached in the darkness. The Force was alive with anticipation as they drew ever nearer. Finally the door swung aside; an Imperial commander and a half a dozen Stormtroopers stepped out with Luke, Leia and Mara. The young Jedi gazed at Vader with complete calm as they approached.
"These are Rebels that surrendered to us," the commander said, "Although they deny it, I believe that there may be more of them, and I request permission to conduct a further search of the area." Vader turned from the Jedi to the commander as he continued, "They were armed with these." The commander held up a hand with three lightsabers; Vader held out his own hand and commander placed them in it.
"Good work, Commander," Vader said, "Leave us. Conduct your search and bring their companions to me."
"Yes, my lord," the commander said with a respectful bow. Then he and his soldiers withdrew, leaving Vader and the three Jedi alone.
"The Emperor has been expecting you," Vader said.
"We know, Father," Luke said.
Vader glanced at Luke for a moment, then at Leia. "So, you have accepted the truth."
"We have accepted the truth," Leia said, "that you were once Anakin Skywalker, a great Jedi and—,"
"That name," Vader said, turning to face her, "no longer has any meaning for me."
"It is the name of your true self, you've only forgotten," Luke said, "I know there is good in you. The Emperor hasn't driven it from you fully. That's why you couldn't destroy me." Luke rested his cuffed arms on the railing. "That's why you won't bring us to your Emperor now."
Vader almost smiled through his mask at Luke's use of Jedi voice-manipulation; he clipped Leia and Mara's lightsabers to his belt and examined Luke's in more detail, finally igniting it. "I see you have constructed a new lightsaber." Vader shut it off, attached it to his belt and then gave Leia's a similar examination. Both, Vader noted, bore a strong resemblance to Kenobi's old weapon. "Your skills are complete. Indeed, you are powerful, as the Emperor has foreseen." Vader clipped it to his belt and turned to Mara. "And you, Jade, the Emperor is most eager to have his Hand back at his side."
Neither Luke nor Leia even blinked. So they did know who she was.
"Nice try," Mara said with a huff as she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her ample chest. "But we both know that if the Emperor is eager about anything, it's to give me the Bevel Lemelisk treatment." Bevel Lemelisk was the chief designer of both Death Stars and the Emperor had killed him seven times—each time in a different way—using the Dark Side to transfer his consciousness to a new clone body right before his last one expired. All to punish him for the loss of the first Death Star at Yavin.
Vader turned away from her, not bothering to argue the point; especially because she wasn't wrong.
"Come with us," Luke asked.
"Obi-Wan once thought as you do," said Vader, "You don't know the power of the Dark Side. I must obey my master."
"I will not turn," said Luke.
"Nor will I," Leia said, "And you will be forced to kill us."
Once again, Vader was struck by just how much Leia was like her; so passionate and full of life, so idealistic and unwilling to buckle in the face of pressure. "If that is your destiny…" That was not his wish, he did not want to destroy the last bits of her, but they were strong and if it came to blows…he could no longer hold back as he had on Bespin. If they would not turn, then they were of no use to him.
"Search your feelings, Father," Luke said, "You can't do this. I feel the conflict within you. Let go of your hate."
"It is too late for me, Son," Vader replied. Then he signaled to some distant Stormtroopers. "The Emperor will show you the true nature of the Force. He is your master now."
"Then my father is truly dead," Luke said. Leia just glared at Vader, her own feelings on the topic obvious from her silence. Vader turned back to face the forest as the Stormtroopers arrived to take them away.
In deep space near Sullust, the Rebel Fleet stretched as far as the eye could see; onboard the Millennium Falcon, Lando led a group of Starfighters out to the tip of the fleet.
"Admiral," Lando said over the comm. "We're in position, all fighters accounted for."
"Proceed with the countdown," Ackbar replied, "All groups assume attack coordinates."
Lando's Sullustan co-pilot, Nien Numb, said something to Lando in his native language.
"Don't worry," Lando reassured him, "my friend's down there. He'll have that shield down on time." But then muttered to himself, "or this'll be the shortest offensive of all time." So far the Rebel Alliance had survived because it had acted like a guerilla force, and now they were about to do the very thing that a guerilla force was never supposed to do: engage the enemy like a traditional army. The Imperial military had so far only won when it had been able to force the Rebels into a conventional engagement like at Derra IV and Hoth; otherwise, they had been always losing. The Rebels, except for such battles like Derra IV and Hoth, had been always winning; but now they had been drawn into the open to fight a battle on the Empire's terms and if they lost this battle, they lost the war. But they had no choice for the war would be lost anyway if the new Death Star was completed.
"All craft," Ackbar announced on a fleet-wide broadcast, "Prepare to jump into hyperspace on my mark."
"All right, standby." When the signal light flashed, Ackbar's mark, Lando pulled a lever and the Millennium Falcon jumped into hyperspace, followed quickly by the Starfighters, Home One and the rest of the Rebel fleet.