Disclaimer: Disney owns it now; but although they may have ruined canon, they don't care enough to ruin Legends.
The dark is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins.
It always wins because it is everywhere.
It is in the wood that burns in your hearth, and in the kettle on the fire;
it is under your chair and under your table and under the sheets on your bed.
Walk in the midday sun and the dark is with you, attached to the soles of your feet.
The brightest light casts the darkest shadow.
Chapter 9:
'Something is wrong', Luke thought. They weren't heading up to the Death Star. Instead Vader's shuttle was taking them towards the Imperial fleet; specifically towards one ship in the Imperial fleet, he realized, one that was painted jet-black and that was even more massive than the Executor.
"No," Mara whispered, suddenly overcome with dread, "It can't be—, it's not completed yet—."
"It wasn't completed at the time you defected, Emperor's Hand," Vader taunted her, "But your actions not only angered the Emperor, they also inspired him to make as much of your information out of date as possible; and so he ordered resources diverted to finally complete the Eclipse." The diversion of resources had delayed numerous other projects, including its sister-ship and the follow-up Sovereign-class, but it had paid off.
"The Eclipse?" Luke and Leia asked.
"The Emperor's personal flagship," said Mara, "it was under construction for as long as both Death Stars combined and kept getting delayed because of improvements in technology."
"Something seems odd about its apperance." Luke frowned
"The entire ship is built around a superlaser beam," Mara said with a sigh.
"Impossible," Leia said. "Not even that monstrosity could hold a weapon capable of destroying entire planets."
"It's not a planet-buster," Mara said, "it's not even as powerful as one of the component beams in the Death Star's superlaser, but it's still powerful enough to penetrate any planetary shield and sear entire continents; it might even be capable of cracking open a planet's crust, effectively rendering it uninhabitable."
Leia gasped. Even that reduced ability was still overkill for the purposes of the Tarkin Doctrine.
(*)
A small group of Imperial officers were gathered around the Emperor's throne, including Admirals Piett and Chiraneau and Captain Sarklin, but all attention was on the sole non-human in the group, a Chiss man who wore the white uniform reserved to the Emperor's Grand Admirals of which there were only ever twelve. After Zaarin's execution following his pathetic attempt at a coup, Thrawn had been promoted to take his place.
"Your Majesty," Thrawn said, "This plan of yours is extremely flawed."
The other Imperial officers looked at Thrawn with shock. No one spoke to the Emperor that way. They turned to Palpatine, expecting him to kill the man on the spot. But they didn't know that one of the reasons Palpatine kept Thrawn around was precisely because he was willing to be so blunt with his opinions...and because those opinions were very seldom wrong.
"You have backed the Rebels into a corner, and a cornered animal fights far more ferociously than one still capable of escape. As soon as the Rebels realize that this station's primary weapon is operational, they will move their entire fleet into point-blank range of the Star Destroyers."
"That would be suicide," Piett exclaimed.
"Under normal circumstances," corrected Thrawn. "But these are not normal circumstances. The Rebels have no choice but to launch this assault and with their retreat blocked by the Interdictors, it is far less suicidal to engage our fleet in a point-blank slugging match than it is to just sit there and be wiped out one by one by the Death Star. They will see it as buying time for their ground team to complete their part of the mission."
"The Rebel ground team is even more outmatched than their fleet," another officer said with a scowl.
"In numbers, yes," said Thrawn, "But the Rebels are very good at covert operations, they wouldn't have survived this long if they weren't, and they are quite willing to carry out a suicide operation if there is no choice. And there isn't any choice in this case because this is their only chance to destroy the new Death Star as once it is completed, it will be impervious to any known attack short of another superlaser or another weapon of equivalent destructive power, which they do not have."
And so what do you suggest, Grand Admiral?"
Grand Admiral Thrawn began to sketch out his own plan.
(*)
Luke tried to maintain his focus and composure but that was getting progressively harder to do the closer they got to the Emperor, for a black storm was raging within him, showing him brief murky images of possible futures both repugnant and compelling. Kill the Emperor, and then what? Destroy Vader and then what? Take up their power for himself? Who could stop them? Who could stop him?
Luke pushed the thoughts aside but they left a cold sweat on his brow.
The turbolift door opened and they walked out into the throne room; the Royal Guards took up station near the door while they walked across the ante-chamber and up the stairs to stand before the throne: Vader, Luke and Mara, all dressed in black, Leia in pure white, stood beneath the malignant gaze of the Galactic Emperor.
Vader bowed and the Emperor motioned him to rise. "Welcome, young Jedi," the Emperor said with a gracious smile. "I have been expecting you." They stared back him, brazenly and defiantly, and the Emperor continued, "You no longer need those." He gestured with his finger and their binders fell to the ground.
Luke looked down at his hands, free now he could reach out for the Emperor's throat, crush his windpipe in an instant, but the Emperor's behavior had him confused. The Emperor was unarmed, he could strike but aggression was part of the dark side. Could he use darkness judiciously and then put it away? Yoda and Obi-Wan's words came back to him. 'Do not be fooled by appearances' 'Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor'. 'Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny'.
His mind was once again awash with images of possible futures, taunting him: kill the Emperor, kill Vader, become Vader. The moment convulsed with possibilities. Mara grabbed Luke's hand, catching his gaze.
The moment passed.
This was not Leia's first time seeing the Emperor, she had first met him when Bail had introduced her to the Imperial court; even then Leia had been quite unnerved by the Emperor, as if something had been slowly eating him from inside. Now that she was a Jedi, she could see that this was not that far from the truth for every ounce of the Emperor's being was permeated with darkness, like a black hole. She fought the temptation to embrace the darkness—to end these abominations who had destroyed her world and so many other lives; she could set it all right, and in place of the old Emperor would rise a new Empress—not dark and wizened but beautiful and terrible, both feared and loved, striking despair into all who saw her…
Leia shook her head, pushing away the vision but it didn't vanish completely, only retreating into the dark corners of her mind.
"I am looking forward to completing your training. In time you will call me, 'master'." He turned to Mara. "One of you already has, and will again soon enough."
Mara felt herself buckling under the Emperor's gaze, but she refused to look away; she would not go back to that. Not ever.
"You are gravely mistaken," Luke said, "You will not convert us as you did Vader."
The Emperor stood and approached them. For the first time Luke saw the Emperor's face behind his hood, saw and could almost smell the decay and corruption on him. "Oh no, my young Jedi. You will find that it is you who are mistaken…about a great many things."
"Their lightsabers," Vader said as he held up the weapons. The Emperor took Luke's first and examined, then did the same with Leia's and finally Mara's.
"Ah, yes, a Jedi's weapon." He turned to Luke and Leia. "Much like your father's. By now you must know that your father can never be turned from the dark side. So will it be with you."
"You're wrong," said Leia, "Soon we'll all be dead." Any ship could be destroyed, even this horrid monstrosity.
The Emperor laughed a most sinister and horrible laugh.
"Perhaps you refer to the imminent attack of your Rebel fleet." Luke and Leia both briefly looked down, briefly and inwardly reeling, but then steadied themselves. "I assure you, we are quite safe from your friends, here."
The Emperor turned to walk back to his throne.
"Your overconfidence is your weakness."
The Emperor briefly turned back to face him. "Your faith in your friends is yours." And with that the Emperor returned to his throne.
Vader turned to them. "It is pointless to resist."
The Emperor continued his gloating, but with a trace of anger in his voice. "Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. Your friends, up there on the Sanctuary Moon, are walking into a trap. As is your Rebel fleet." Luke and Leia's faces visibly twitched. Seeing this, the Emperor pressed on. "It was I who allowed the Alliance to know the location of the shield generator. It is quite safe from your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops awaits them." The Emperor leaned forward in his throne, "Oh, I'm afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive." And then the Emperor started laughing again.
(*)
On the bridge of the Millennium Falcon Lando pushed the lever and dropped the ship out of hyperspace, followed by the rest of the Rebel fleet.
"All wings report in," Lando said over the comm.
"Red Leader, standing by," said Wedge, leader of the X-Wing contingent.
"Blue Leader, standing by," said the leader of the B-Wing contingent.
"Gray Leader, standing by," said the leader of the Y-Wing contingent.
"Green Leader, standing by," said the leader of the A-Wing contingent.
"Lock S-foils in attack positions," Wedge ordered. Every X-Wing and B-Wing in the fleet, almost as one, extended their S-foils.
From Home One came a broadcast from Admiral Ackbar, "May the Force be with us."
Lando and Nien Numb were puzzling over their sensor readings.
"That can't be right," said Lando, "We've got to be able to get some kind of reading on that shield, up or down." Nien Numb pointed at the control panel and shook his head, uttering reply in his language. "Well, how could be they could be jamming us if they don't….we're coming." Lando grimaced as the full implications sunk in and hit the comm. "Break off the attack, the shield is still up."
"I got no reading," said Wedge, "Are you sure?"
"Pull up!" Lando ordered, "All craft pull up!"
The Falcon and its fighters banked hard. Most avoided hitting the deflector shield but a few were slower on the mark and nicked it, spinning out of control and exploding. No one paused to look back.
The bridge of Home One was chaos; alarms blared as it and the other Rebel capital ships began swerving in a desperate attempt to halt their forward momentum. Ackbar spoke urgently into the comm. "Take evasive action. Green Group, stick close to holding sector MV-7—," Ackbar's flurry of orders was interrupted when a Mon Calamari controller turned away from his screen and called out:
"Admiral, we have enemy ships in sector forty-seven."
Ackbar's reply was as a simple as it was redundant: "It's a trap!"
"Fighters, coming in," Lando said. An armada of Imperial TIE Fighters, TIE Interceptors, TIE Bombers and even a few TIE Avengers, TIE Defenders, Skipray Blastboats, Assault Gunboats and Missile Boats engulfed the Rebel fighters.
"There's too many of them," one Rebel exclaimed. Pyrotechnic displays soon played over the shields of the Rebel capital ships as they took hits from concussion missiles and proton torpedoes launched by the Bombers, Avengers and Defenders.
"Accelerate to attack speed," said Lando, "Draw their fire away from the cruisers."
"Copy Gold Leader," Wedge replied and the battle was on.
(*)
"Come, Jedi," The Emperor sneered from his throne, gesturing at the viewport from which the raging battle was little more than pinpricks and flashes of light. "See for yourselves." Luke, Leia and Mara stepped forward to look through the window. Darth Vader moved with them and stood beside the throne. "From here," the Emperor continued, "You will witness the final destruction of the Alliance and the end of your insignificant Rebellion."
Mara took one look, then closed her eyes and looked away toward the floor. Leia could only stare in stupefied horror at the distant specks of the Rebel fleet. Luke tore himself away and caught a glimpse of their lightsabers sitting on the armrests of the Emperor's throne. Noticing his gaze, the Emperor began patting Luke's lightsaber.
"You want this, don't you?" The Emperor taunted him. "The hate is swelling in you now. Take your Jedi weapon. Use it. I am unarmed. Strike me down with it. Give in to your anger." Luke just stared at the weapon, breathing heavily. "With each passing moment you make yourself more my servant."
"No," Luke turned away back to the window.
"It is unavoidable. It is your destiny. You, like your father, are now…mine!"
Luke tried to center himself in the light…and instead drowned in the dark; he had never felt so lost.
(*)
"Watch yourself, Wedge," Lando said; the battle raged all around them. "Three from above."
"Red Three, Red Two," Wedge ordered, "Pull in."
"Got it," Red Two replied.
"Three of them coming in, twenty degrees," said Red Three.
"Cut to the left," said Wedge, "I'll take the leader." They did so and Wedge shot down one of the TIEs. The other two veered off. "They're heading for the Medical Frigate."
Lando put the Falcon into a complete flip, allowing his gunners to pick off the remaining two. As they came about Lando spotted the Imperial fleet, including the massive Super Star Destroyer Executor as well as another even more massive ship, and frowned. "Only the fighters are attacking, I wonder what those Star Destroyers are waiting for?" It did not make any sense in light of standard Imperial tactics.
Onboard the Executor Admiral Piett's officers were wondering the same thing. Piett himself was wondering why Grand Admiral Thrawn, even though he'd been placed in overall command, was in the auxiliary control room.
"We're in attack position now, sir," Captain Sarkli reported.
"Hold here," Piett replied.
"We're not going to attack?" Sarkli asked
"Our job is to keep the Rebel's from escaping," Piett said, "the Emperor has something special planned for them." Time to see if Thrawn really was as brilliant as the Emperor thought he was.
(*)
"As you can see," the Emperor was saying, "your friends have failed. Now witness the firepower of my fully armed and operational battle station." Luke, Leia and Mara all turned to face the Emperor in renewed horror as the Emperor pressed a button on his throne, "Moff Jerjerrod, fire at will!"
Deep within the bowels of the Death Star, Jerjerrod gave the order he had been waiting for: "Commence Primary Ignition." The gunners manipulated their controls and then finally reported back.
"We have primary ignition."
"Fire!"
From the concave dish on the completed portion of the Death Star came a series of tributary beams that met and formed a single beam which then reached out and destroyed the Rebel Star Cruiser Liberty.
Lando and Nien Numb were startled and caught off guard by the destruction.
"That blast came from the Death Star," Lando said, "That thing's operational. Home One, this Gold Leader—,"
"We saw it," said Ackbar mournfully, "All craft prepare to retreat."
"We won't get another chance at this Admiral," Lando said.
"We have no choice, General Calrissian," Ackbar replied, "Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude."
"Han will have that shield down," Lando insisted, "We've got to give him more time."
But then time ran out; the Eclipse fired its own superlaser, destroying another Rebel cruiser.
Lando got a crazy idea.
(*)
It took far longer than Han would have liked, but the Rebel strike team did eventually find the back door on the far side of the ridge. Unfortunately it was under heavy guard, with several AT-ST's and a mixed company of Stormtroopers, Navy Troopers and Scout Troopers.
"Kriff it," Han said with a scowl. This was exactly what he'd been afraid would happen when the Jedi just went and surrendered.
"We're out of time," Derlin said, checking his chronometer, "if the Fleet kept to its schedule, they should be here by now. We can't afford to mount a prolonged guerilla campaign against such a large garrison."
"We don't have to destroy the entire bunker to bring down the shield," Han noted.
"The projector dish," Derlin nodded. They'd seen it on the flight in. "But how do we get to it?"
"We use the shuttle."
"Even if we could get back in time," said Derlin, "We'd be lucky to get one pass with its weapons before it was shot down by the garrison's TIE fighters."
"I wasn't thinking of anyone being in the shuttle," Han corrected and Derlin's eyes widened as he finally saw the plan Han was considering.
(*)
It was very quiet in the Emperor's throne room, except for his gloating.
"Your fleet is lost," the Emperor said, "And your friends on the Endor moon will not survive. There is no escape, my young Jedi. The Alliance will die…as will your friends."
Luke was visibly shaking and trembling, having difficulty continuing to contain himself. Leia was standing absolutely rigid, still apparently engrossed in despair over the battle, while Mara's gaze was still toward the ground and away from everyone.
"Good," the Emperor said, "I can feel your anger. I am defenseless. Take your weapon. Strike me down with all of our hatred and your journey toward the Dark Side will be complete." Still Luke looked away. The Emperor pressed a button on his throne, "Commander Jerjerrod, should the Rebels manage to blow up the shield generator, you will turn the Death Star on the Endor Moon and destroy it."
"Your Highness?" Jerjerrod's voice came over from the receiver, "but we have soldiers stationed on—,"
"You will destroy it!" The Emperor hissed.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"NO!"
Leia abruptly turned and held out her hand; her lightsaber leapt into her hand; she ignited it and brought its blue blade downward towards the Emperors head…only to be blocked when Vader's crimson blade flashed into view an inch above the Emperor's face, bathing his grin with sparks.
Leia stepped back and turned to face her father.
Vader extended his own blade to face his daughter.
Father and daughter circled.
Luke was only a few seconds slower than Leia in reacting, calling his own lightsaber and igniting it. Now, Vader distracted, there was nothing stopping him from ending the Emperor. But Luke's emerald blade was halted when the Emperor raised his hands and shot out beams of Sith Lightning that Luke caught on his blade. But Luke could not bring the lightsaber any closer and was in fact being forced further and further away; suddenly he found himself flying across the room to hit the wall, which briefly dazed him.
Now Mara called her own lightsaber, only to have her own attack also blocked by Sith Lightning. But the Emperor's lightning quickly overwhelmed her defense and forced her to her knees as she screamed in pain.
The Emperor raised his hand in a signal and two more people, clad in black, jumped down from the gantry where they'd been concealed in shadows; a pair of lightsabers were ignited—both blue.
The new figures stepped out of the shadows…and Luke recognized both of them. One was held by Shira Brie and the other…was himself.
'No' Luke blinked. It had his face, but yellow eyes like the Emperor. Palpatine laughed.
"Yes, young Skywalker," he said, "He is your clone, grown from the hand you lost on Bespin and using the lightsaber you lost there."
Luke held up his green lightsaber, expecting the clone to attack him…but instead Shira charged him with a powerful slash that he was barely able to block. As he did he noted that Shira's eyes had turned yellow as well. But he didn't have time to think about that because she attacked again and again.
Mara held up her lightsaber just in time to block the clones's first attack but it almost unbalanced her, almost knocked her back down. Mara flipped over the clone and began falling back towards the other end of the room.
(*)
The Death Star and the Eclipse fired again and picked off two more Rebel cruisers.
"Yes, I said closer," Lando was arguing desperately with Ackbar over the comm., "Move as close as you can and engage those Star Destroyers at point-blank range."
"At that close range," Ackbar replied, "We won't last long against Star Destroyers."
"We'll last longer than we will against that Death Star," Lando pointed out, "And we might just take a few of them with us."
"And what about that new Star Destroyer?" Ackbar said, "It may still be able to fire at us even at that range."
"Not for long," Lando replied, "something that big doesn't turn on a decicred."
Seeing the point, Ackbar conceded the argument and began passing orders. The Rebel cruisers advanced headlong towards the Imperial Star Destroyers into point-blank range.
Deep in the bowels of the Executor, in the auxiliary control room, Grand Admiral Thrawn coordinated the battle; at his direction a squad of TIE Fighters intercepted a group of Y-Wings before they could launch a salvo of proton torpedoes at one of Star Destroyers. The Rebel firing patterns abruptly shifted and they began concentrating their fire on the Eclipse even as their cruisers maneuvered to get out of its superlasers firing arc while remaining at point-blank range. Smart of them, Thrawn conceded, for even without its superlaser the Eclipse was the most heavily armed ship present; still, it would not be enough. At Thrawn's order many of the Star Destroyers rotated slightly to both protect their vulnerable bellies and also to bring more of their weapons to bear on the Rebel cruisers. This maneuver had the added advantage of eliminating half of the advantages of the Rebel's tactic.