The Death Star 2

In orbit around Endor

"As you can see, my young apprentice," Emperor Palpatine pronounced in his most oily, irritating tone, "your friends have failed. Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station!"

The black cloaked monarch pushed a button on his throne and ordered, "Fire at will, Commander!"

Luke Skywalker sucked in a horrified breath and looked with terror out into space, where the Rebel Fleet was being decimated by a far superior Imperial Fleet. He had hoped that Leia and Han would get the shield generator down and destroy the Death Star while he, Darth Vader, and the Emperor were on board, but the whole thing had been a trap. And now the Death Star was operational?

There was a tiny tremor in the great station and a moment later, a giant laser tore through space to hit Super Star Destroyer Executor amidships. In one giant explosion, the ship blew into a million trillion particles.

Luke stared in stunned disbelief where the Imperial ship had been only a moment before, then turned a puzzled gaze on Vader and Emperor. Huh?

Based on the furious expression on Palpatine's face, and the wave of incredulity emanating from his father, this was not entirely to plan.

"Commander!" Palpatine shrieked into his com. "What is the meaning of this?"

A few seconds passed before a filtered, but strangely familiar, male voice responded, "Oh, sorry, your Highness. Your commander is too dead to come to the com right now."

Palpatine's eyes flew wide with outrage and Luke actually shuffled back a step. The man was obviously very powerful in the Force, and his rage was like a black vortex of fury and bewilderment. He was even more unsettled when the yellow eyes fixed on his own countenance.

"So," the Emperor rasped, rising to his feet and taking a few menacing steps closer to him, "your precious Rebels managed to infiltrate the command center of the battle station. Very clever."

Luke did his best to keep his face calm and his mind shielded but Vader, who had been silent thus far, said, "He knows nothing of it, my Master."

"Well, of course he doesn't," a new voice announced, and all three whirled back toward the elevator. A large screen had dropped into position and was suspended a few meters away, revealing a most familiar face along with the background of a room filled with instrumentation and a few random dead Imperial bodies.

Luke felt, briefly, as if he was going to vomit.

"You ... you cloned me?" he gasped, shooting an outraged glance at his father.

"No, though I can imagine why you might think that," the other Luke on the screen said cheerfully. "No, I am you from the future, like almost a decade at this point. We messed with a holocron a few years back, and now the Force sends us here and there to sort things out in other timelines."

"We're ready, Luke," a familiar feminine voice announced from out of range of the holocams.

"Ok, go ahead," the Older Luke said. "Avenger?"

"Yes."

Again, the Death Star trembled and the two Siths turned toward the window along with Luke; seconds later, the green laser beam decimated Star Destroyer Avenger.

Palpatine screamed in fury, literally frothing from the mouth. "Time travel is impossible!"

"Everyone always says that," Older Luke said in a sunny tone, "but we've done it so many times that it is almost, but not quite, boring. Father, it's good to see you again."

Luke's mind was whirling with a mixture of relief and confusion but he managed to ask, "So, I ... you, actually survived today?"

"Oh yes, though with a fair amount of pain..."

"Show him your scars, Luke," a sultry voice suggested off screen.

"I am not showing them my scars, wife dear," Luke retorted, looking quickly to the right. "How are you getting on?"

"Great. I think just a couple more minutes," the unknown woman commented.

Older Luke turned back to the screen and met Luke's gaze reassuringly. "So yes, I survived, but Father and the Emperor died. Oh, and everyone on Endor is fine. Right now they are busy kicking Imperial butt."

"Impossible," Palpatine squealed. "An entire legion of my best troops awaits them there."

"Yeah, well, your best troops are no match for the power of the small furballs. I will say, younger me, that we are screwing up the timeline here and there is no guarantee you will survive the rest of the day, but I know you are mostly Ok with that. I mean, you're a very self-sacrificing person because I am, and you'd far rather die and have everyone else live."

"Absolutely," Luke agreed fervently, feeling as if a giant weight had lifted from his shoulders. Han and Leia were all right!

The Emperor had recovered enough to scurry back to his throne, and was now giving a multitude of orders to his underlings, to retake the command center, to order the Imperial Fleet away from the Death Star...

"Ok, I got it!" the unknown feminine voice exclaimed off screen. "How much time, do you think?"

"I think thirty minutes, maybe, to give prisoners and minions a chance to escape?" Luke suggested.

"Better to make it twenty," older Leia announced, appearing within range of the holocam. "Hi, younger Luke."

"Leia?" he repeated in awe. His amazing sister was as beautiful as ever.

"Yes! Oh, hello, Alter Father."

Vader stared at the screen, then at his son, then back. "Huh?" he rumbled intelligently.

"I'm your biological daughter, kind of!" Older Leia explained patiently. "See, Padme had twins before Palpatine killed her..."

"What!" Vader shouted, a wave of fury and disbelief exploding from the cyborg Sith. He turned an enraged stare on his master, who realized that the danger in his command center was of far less importance than his currently maddened apprentice.

"That is not true, Lord Vader," he declared, standing up and gazing directly into the taller man's eyes. "You know that it was you who, in your anger, killed her."

"You killed my mother?" Luke demanded in horror.

"No, he didn't," Older Luke said reassuringly, "though Father has thought he killed our mother for twenty plus years because Palpatine convinced him he had. Father did attack her on Mustafar, right before he got burned to a crisp in a lava field, but actually Palpatine killed her by following the bond between them and draining our mother's life Force to sustain Vader's life – he was dying, you see, because of the lava. Kenobi whisked Mother off to Polis Massa where she gave birth to you and Leia, and in the original timeline, she faded away right after. We've gone back a couple of times and saved her, but obviously it is too late for that in this timeline."

"You murdered Padme!" Vader howled, lighting his red saber and taking a furious step toward his master, who retreated a step. The Emperor realized that had been an idiot not to carry his own weapon, but had planned to tempt the young Skywalker into fighting his father and being unarmed seemed kind of cool. Of course, he had Force Lightning but Vader could repel it with his saber.

"I did not kill Amidala!" Palpatine insisted passionately. "It is a lie."

The speakers in the throne room suddenly switched on and a grave male voice of the mechanical variety stated. "Attention! Attention all personnel! The Death Star has begun the self-destruct sequence and will explode in twenty minutes. All personnel should evacuate the station in an orderly fashion..."

"Impossible!" Palpatine screamed in horror, and most of the speakers crackled and sparked and died in the wake of his rage.

"Not impossible," Mara Jade Skywalker declared, popping into position next to her husband and putting an arm around him. "You made the mistake of giving the Hands too much information, Palpatine. I have had the self-destruct codes for the entire Fleet and the Death Star in my head all these years, and now that I am married to Luke Skywalker, all those codes are being used by the Alliance."

"Jade!" Palpatine hissed, spit dribbling down his chin. Luke, eyes wide, stiffened as he felt the elder Sith reach out through the Force to strike...

Only to be pushed back easily with a wave of tremendous power.

"That's adorable, your Highness," Older Luke commented. "Seriously, Leia and I are the children of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, and we are really well trained, and you are not touching my wife. Father, if I may, I suggest you stick a laser sword through his gullet and get off the battle station."

"You killed Padme!" Vader moaned in anguish, staring at his master as if he had never seen him before. "You killed her!"

He began marching toward the man, repeating numbly. "You killed my love. You killed her..."

The Emperor lifted up his hands and began throwing Force Lightning at his apprentice, even as he pushed the button on his throne using the Force and ordered. "Royal guards, return to me immediately! I am under attack!"

"Won't work," Mara commented sunnily from the command center. "I've locked down the elevators and side doors of the Throne Room.

"You killed my angel..."

"You might want to help Vader wipe out old Wrinkles," Mara suggested to a wide eyed Young Luke. "The Emperor is pretty tough even if he looks all decrepit."

Luke nodded and turned to the throne, where his lightsaber was innocently resting on the arm. It leaped to him, igniting as it came, and he circled behind Palpatine, who threw darts of lightning toward him with his left hand while he kept his right focused on Vader.

Luke grunted as one sliver of electricity slipped past his saber. "Ok, that hurts!"

"Watch Father," Older Luke said helpfully. "It isn't that hard to block the lightning but you have to know how."

Luke very sensibly retreated a few steps, watched Vader's technique for five seconds, and then leaped back into fray.

Fifteen seconds later, the Emperor was down one leg.

Five second after that, he was down an arm.

Three seconds after that, Vader removed the old man's head from his body.

Palpatine was dead.

Again.

"You'd better get out of there!" Older Luke suggested.