Out in the forest, the battle had descended into pure and utter chaos. Stormtroopers fired their blasters into the foliage, killing or wounding many Ewoks, but dozens more took their place, seeming to only grow fiercer every time their fur was scorched. They seemed to be everywhere, hurling rocks, leaping out of trees, and impaling on spears.
The Ewoks however, were soon forced to scatter as multiple AT-ST walkers lumbered forward, blasting away at the small furry creatures.
In response, another group of Ewoks quickly moved a primitive catapult into position, and fired off a large boulder, scoring a direct hit on one of the walkers. The huge machine wobbled slightly from the impact, but did not topple. Then, it turned and advanced on the catapult, laser cannons firing. Abandoning their catapult, the Ewoks fled in all directions
But then, just as the walker moved in to stomp the catapult between it's feet, another pair of Ewoks up in the trees chopped a mass of vines restraining two huge logs that proceeded to swing down, and smash the walker's head flat between them.
However, in spite of the ingenuity and sheer tenacity of the Ewoks, the Imperials kept on coming, and casualties were steadily mounting on both sides.
Back at the bunker, Ahsoka continued to cut through the blast doors as Han, Chewie, and Rex provided cover fire, as did the Rebel troopers taking cover on either side of the bunker.
"How's our entrance coming?" Han inquired even as he shot down another stormtrooper.
"I've almost got it!" answered Ahsoka.
But then, Ahsoka suddenly took a startled step backwards when, without warning, a SECOND blast door crashed down in front of the first with a loud WHOOSH.
"Oh, come on!" a frustrated Han exclaimed as Chewbacca howled his own irritation.
Ahsoka looked rather vexed to, but she quickly recomposed herself and undeterred, proceeded to plunge both of her lightsabers into the very center of the double sealed door.
Han and Chewie watched in amazement as within only a few moments, a fiery red glow began to irradiate out from the center of the blast door. Then, slowly but surely, chunks of metal began to melt and drop away...
High above, the battle in space was growing bleaker by the second as the Death Star fired once again, picking off another Rebel cruiser.
Driven by pure desperation, the rest of the Rebel fleet suddenly began to make a mad dash straight into the midst of the Imperial Star Destroyers, hoping that it would force the Death Star to hold its fire out of fear of hitting its own ships.
"Yes! I said closer!" yelled Lando as he steered the Falcon through the obstacle course of giant ships, "Move as close as you can and engage those Star Destroyers at point-blank range!"
"At that close range, we won't last long against those Star Destroyers." Admiral Ackbar replied from the Headquarters Frigate.
"We'll last longer then we will against that Death Star..." Lando pointed out, "And we might just take a few of them with us."
With few other options, the remaining Rebel cruisers followed Lando's lead and moved in nose to nose with the Imperial Star Destroyers.
The two massive armadas quickly began to engage one another while hundreds of tiny Rebel and Imperial fighters raced across the surfaces of both friendly and enemy ship alike, dodging flak and laser bolts as they zipped around the massive hulls.
Within just a few moments, the pitch of the titanic battle had augmented up another notch.
Beyond the window of the throne room, Luke watched with increasing distress as the Rebel fleet was slowly being decimated in blinding explosions of light and debris. Even far into the distance, he was able to make out a damaged Y-Wing plummet down to crash into the hull of one of the Star Destroyers.
But there was no sound of battle in here, and the deafening silence somehow brought a true sense of finality to it all.
Palpatine turned to Luke, "Your fleet has lost. And your friends on the Endor moon will not survive. There is no escape, my young apprentice. The Alliance will die...as will your friends."
Luke's eyes were filled of rage, reflecting his spirit. His father watched him closely, as did the Emperor. Suddenly, his lightsaber began to shake on it's resting place next to Palpatine even as his hand trembled, and his lips pulled back in a grimace as his teeth started to grind.
"Good. I can feel your anger." mused Palpatine, "I am defenseless. Take your weapon! Strike me down with all your hatred, and your journey towards the dark side will be complete."
Finally, Luke found himself unable to resist any longer.
In a flash, his lightsaber flew from the Emperor's throne and into his hand. Igniting the crimson blade, Luke instantly swung it downward with his full weight towards Palpatine's skull. Although his father had not prompted him to do so, Vader did not make any move nor make any whisper through the Force to stop him either.
What happened next however, defied all logic, leaving both father and son in a state of utter shock, as Luke's lightsaber sliced straight through the Emperor's throne...
But NOT the Emperor himself.
Palpatine had vanished, seemingly right before their very eyes.
Alarmed, both Luke and Vader's gaze darted about, but there was no sign of the Emperor anywhere in the throne room.
"Did I just disappear?" they heard Palpatine's mocking voice say, "Or was I never there at all?"
And then, Luke and Vader were suddenly plunged into an impenetrable darkness as though a black hole had devoured the Death Star, while Palpatine's maniacal laughter echoed all around them.
Leia knew she was on the right track. Allowing the Force to guide her, she'd fought her way through dozens of stormtroopers, pushed on through countless hallways and corridors, and now at last, Leia could sense that she was very close to her goal.
For not only could she feel Luke's presence through the Force, she could also feel Vader's, as well as another dark and powerful presence that she realized could only be the emperor himself.
But then, as she rounded a final corner, Leia froze dead in her tracks when she saw the entrance to the Emperor's throne room looming before her.
For standing guard over it, were a pair of red-robed Royal Guards...
The moment Leia had come into sight, the two silent crimson warriors immediately raised their Force pikes, and slowly began to advance, for they had absolutely NO INTENTION of letting her pass.
Taking a deep breath, Leia forced herself to concentrate, knowing the terrifying reputation of the Royal Guard, and knowing that she had to beat them in order to get to Luke. Raising her lightsaber in a defensive stance, she purposefully stepped forward to meet her opponents.
Down below, the slugfest that was the battle in the forest continued. The Imperials continued to fire away at the Ewoks with sophisticated weaponry, while the Ewoks bashed away at them with their primitive weaponry.
The Ewoks felled trees on the Imperials. They started rockslides. They lured Stormtrooper squads into ambush after ambush. They used clubs, spears, and slings, and made scary war-shrieks to unnerve and dismay their opponents.
At the same time, Imperial AT-ST walkers lumbered through the undergrowth, blasting Ewoks as they went. In response, two of the small, furry warriors jumped on top of one of the walkers from high branches, and poured pouches of burning lizard oil in the gun-slits.
Elsewhere, another group of Ewoks cut a pile of logs loose, causing the logs to tumble under the feet of another walker that was chasing some of their comrades, causing the clumsy machine to slip, and stumble until it finally toppled over with a great crash.
Two Imperial scouts darted through the trees on their speeder bikes, firing at the Ewoks and chasing them through the underbrush.
But then, as the scout raced past, one of them was lassoed by one of the Ewoks with a heavy vine tied to a tree, causing his bike to swing around in ever-tightening circles until it ran out of rope and crashed into the tree with a huge explosion. A few moments later, the other scout was knocked off his own bike by a vine tied between two trees.
All throughout the forest, the Ewoks began to cheer, for despite the odds, for it seemed possible that the battle was finally beginning to turn in their favor.
Meanwhile, Ahsoka was still working intently at the bunker entrance while Han, Chewie, and Rex fought to keep her covered. By now, the blast doors were glowing red hot from the plasma of Ahsoka's lightsaber blades and a jagged hole was rapidly melting in the frame itself, though it was still not big enough for them to enter.
"Just a bit more..." Ahsoka said, almost to herself.
Suddenly, she cried out in pain when a blaster bolt from one of the Imperials struck her in the shoulder, dropping her down to a knee as her lightsabers clattered to the ground.
"Ahsoka!" screamed Rex, immediately rushing to her side.
Growling in fury, Chewbacca didn't waste even half a second to raise his bowcaster and blast the stormtrooper who'd fired the shot as Han and Rex scrambled to attend to Ahsoka.
"Let me see it." said Han, trying to evaluate the wound in her shoulder.
"It's not bad." Ahsoka insisted through gritted teeth.
Looking back up at the blast doors, which were still glowing hot, Ahsoka slowly raised her uninjured arm with her palm held outward, and concentrated through the pain. Within only a moment, their came a low rumble, and then the fiery, brittle doors spontaneously shattered into pieces, finally clearing the way for the Rebels.
"General Solo, take the team and go on." urged Ahsoka.
"What about you?" Han inquired.
"Don't worry about me." insisted Ahsoka, "You have to plant those charges."
"I'll stay with her, General." Rex volunteered, " Go and complete the mission!"
Han nodded, and promptly signaled for Chewie and the rest of the Rebel strike team to follow him.
"You heard them, team! Let's move it!" he shouted.
As Han, Chewie, and the rest of the strike team all made their way inside the bunker, Rex ripped off a strip of clothing, and fashioned it into a sling for Ahsoka's arm. They would have little time to collect themselves however, for even as he pulled her back to her feet, they both saw another wave of Imperials advancing on the bunker. And this time, they were coming in force.
And the wounded ex-Jedi Padawan and the aging former clone trooper didn't know if they could stop them.
But without missing a beat, Ahsoka immediately called one of her lightsabers to her good hand. She could not, WOULD NOT quit just because she was wounded. They HAD to hold the bunker entrance until the charges were set even if it meant their lives.
There was no other way.
"What do you say, Rex?" Ahsoka asked her old friend, "Once more into the breach?"
Hefting his blaster rifle, an unhesitant Rex took his place at her side, "I'm with you until the end, Ahsoka. I always have been."
Smiling, Ahsoka ignited her lightsaber, and together, she and Rex turned to face the oncoming threat, just as they had done so many times before in past.
But one could only wonder if it could possibly be for the last time...
Meanwhile, high up on the ridge, R2-D2 and C-3PO had taken cover behind a log as the battle continued to rage all around them. However, even at this distance, the two droids could see the renewed Imperial assault on the bunker even as Ahsoka and Rex prepared to make what could possibly be their last stand.
Suddenly, R2-D2 let out a series of determined series of beeps and whistles.
"Going? What do you mean, you're going?" C-3PO asked.
Letting out a few more beeps, the stubby little astromech droid promptly shot off across the battlefield, much to the alarm of C-3PO
"But- but going where, R2?" the panicked protocol droid stammered as he chased after him, "No, what! R2! Oh, this is no time for heroics. Come back!"
The suffocating, unnatural darkness completely had enfolded Luke and Vader, trapping them with no escape. It was as though they had been transported into another dimension where logic no longer applied.
They both frantically looked around in the pitch blackness, desperately searching any sign of the Emperor's presence even as a cold, and horrifying sense of dread coursed through their very beings. Could it be that their plans had been discovered? But how could that be?
"Oh, Lord Vader..." Palpatine's condescending voice came from the surrounding darkness, "Do you take me for a fool? Did you truly think I was unaware of your feeble schemes to train your son in secret and use him to overthrow me? I might have actually been proud of these efforts, for such is the way of the Sith, had they not been so pitifully obvious. Instead, I merely used them to my own advantage. And now, you have brought me a younger, and far more powerful apprentice..."
Even as Palpatine's voice trailed off, a tendril of the darkness suddenly reached out to touch Luke. His free hand promptly flew up to grip his left temple as though his head were pounding. Slowly, his eyes turned jet black. He cocked his head, his body beginning to move in an erratic manner.
Sensing that something was very wrong, Vader turned to face Luke, "My son...?"
But Luke did not hear his father, for his mind had been transported to another place and time.
The next thing he knew, he was standing on some kind of landing platform on a planet that he instantly recognized as Mustafar. And on the other side of the platform, stood another man and a woman, and Luke quickly recognized them from the visions he'd received in the temple under his father's castle.
It was his father, Anakin Skywalker, as a young man, and his mother, Padme Amidala, who was heavily pregnant.
With me... Luke realized.
"Stop! Stop now! Come back! I love you!" Padme pleaded with Anakin.
"LIAR!" Anakin screamed in fury.
Padme suddenly turned around, and following her gaze, Luke saw a younger Obi-Wan making his way down the landing ramp of a nearby ship.
"No!" cried Padme.
"You're with him! You brought him here to kill me!" Anakin accused.
"No!" Padme tried to protest, only to find her words cut off as Anakin stretched out his hand and seized her by the throat with the Force.
"No! Stop! Leave her alone!" Luke screamed in a panicked rage as he raised his lightsaber and charged at Anakin.
Back in the darkness that had consumed the throne room, Darth Vader frantically ignited his own lightsaber as Luke suddenly lunged at him, but was too late as his son sliced off his outstretched hand. Before the weapon and severed hand had even hit the floor, Luke swung his lightsaber up, cutting right through the control panel on his father's chest plate, causing sparks to fly everywhere.
With a loud groan of pain, Vader dropped to his knees, wheezing as he gasped for air through his respirator.
Then, the fountain of shadow seeped out from Luke's being, and the darkness finally disappeared from his eyes. Looking as though he were waking up from a dream, and just now remembering where he was, and Luke stared in horror down at his father, who he had just struck down.
"Father!" he gasped out in shock, "F-Father, I... I didn't... What did I..."
But Luke would have little time to tend to his father as Palpatine's laughter again filled his surroundings. Gripping his lightsaber before him, Luke darted his gaze about trying to find something, anything in the enveloping darkness.
"Emperor Palpatine! Where are you?!" shouted Luke, "Come out!"
There came no reply. Instead, more tendrils of darkness reached out to ensnare him. Luke furiously lashed out at them with his lightsaber, but more and more of them came, and before long, they began to overtake him.
Suddenly, a voice, or rather, the memory of a voice came to him. The same voice that had come to him during the Battle of Yavin, when he'd made his final attack run down the trench of the first Death Star.
Use the Force, Luke. Let go, Luke... said the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke, trust me...
In spite of Luke's switched allegiances, and in spite of his resentment over not being told the truth about his father, in that moment, he listened to Obi-Wan's words.
Closing his eyes, Luke reached out with all of his concentration in an attempt to detect where Palpatine might be in the Force.
There he is!
With all the power he could muster, Luke Force-pushed at the floor, blasting away all the darkness trapping him within, and ripping the illusion aside as though he were throwing back a curtain.
Opening his eyes, Luke suddenly found himself back in the throne room, having just blasted Palpatine with the Force, sending the emperor flying across the room to land face down on floor in a crumpled heap.
Acting fast, Luke ran towards the fallen emperor. Leaping into the air, he prepared to plunge his lightsaber down into the Dark Lord's prone form. But at the last moment, Palpatine rolled over on his back and unleashed a powerful barrage of Force Lightning, blasting Luke back across the throne room.
Regaining his feet, Palpatine smiled as he casually stepped passed the incapacitated Vader, and towards Luke, who was struggling to recover his own bearings.
"Impressive, young Skywalker." commended Palpatine, "Few have ever gotten the better of me like that. Truly, you are to be the greatest of all my pupils."
"No! No, I'll never join you!" a defiant Luke shouted, then turned his gaze towards his downed father, "Father, get up! I need you! We CAN defeat him together!"
Hearing his son's words, Vader struggled to stand back up, reaching for his lightsaber with his remaining hand. But Palpatine simply turned around and casually struck his soon to be former apprentice full of lightning until at last, Vader could only fall back to his knees in submission, his suit's cybernetics and life support systems now barely functioning.
"Foolish boy; he was weak. Broken." the emperor taunted with a towering sense of authority.
Enraged, Luke raised his lightsaber and charged towards Palpatine. The emperor however, simply summoned Darth Vader's fallen lightsaber to himself, and without even taking it in his hands or lifting a finger, used the Force itself to activate the weapon and hold it out before him to block Luke's strike.
"But you, young Skywalker..." Palpatine continued through the blade lock, "Under my guidance, you could become more powerful than your father ever was."
Breaking the blade lock, Luke furiously swung at Palpatine again and again, but Palpatine easily parried each and every one of his attacks, moving Vader's lightsaber using nothing but the Force. In fact, the emperor didn't appear to be even trying.
Suddenly, Palpatine shot another stream of lightning downward, allowing it to ricochet off the conductive metal of the floor, and strike Luke, knocking him off his feet and into a nearby pile of cannisters.
"I admire your spirit, young Skywalker, but do not try my patience." warned the emperor.
Groaning in pain, Luke slowly pushed himself up to knee, but as he looked back up, he watched with alarm as Palpatine then sent Vader's lightsaber spinning through the air directly towards him. Rolling out of the way of the spinning projectile, Luke got to his feet and extended his hand to send a torrent of red Force Lightning at Palpatine, intending to give the emperor a taste of his own medicine.
But Palpatine simply fired back with his own lightning, causing the two streams of dark energy to meet in the middle and a deadly contest of strength ensued as the two combatants fought to overpower one another.
Drawing upon all of his anger and hate, Luke poured everything he had into his lightning barrage, and for a moment, it looked like he might, just might overcome the emperor's. But in the end, it just wasn't enough against the Sith Lord who had become the very embodiment of the Dark Side.
Before long, Luke's attack backfired and the emperor's lightning coursed over and into him like daggers of fire and ice. For all of his own power, Luke had never expected this. This was power like he had never experienced it before. And in the end, he could only shrink before it, convulsing with pain as he collapsed to his hands and knees.
Then, Luke felt himself being dragged across the floor by the invisible hands of the Force before he was finally brought to a stop directly at the emperor's feet.
"How long must you continue to resist, boy?" chided Palpatine, "This is but a taste of the Dark Side. You have such promise. You could become my successor. My equal. Just imagine, my star fleets, this very battle station, the Galactic Empire itself at your fingertips!"
"You promised the same to my father!" Luke shot back, "Instead you took everything from him! You tricked him into killing my mother!"
Palpatine laughed harshly, "Is that what father told you? Your precious mother's fate was HIS choice, not mine, and you would've died as well if it weren't for Kenobi."
Finally beginning to waver, Luke slowly shook his head in denial, "N-No! No...!"
"Search your feelings, boy. You know it to be true." Palpatine maintained, "And we both know that there is no other path for you. Will you accept my offer of true power? Or will you pay the price for your lack of vision?"
Then to Luke's amazement, Palpatine levitated his fallen lightsaber before his face, freely offering the weapon to him. After a long moment of hesitation, Luke took the lightsaber, and then stared as Palpatine turned and walked away from him with complete and utter confidence. For brief moment, Luke imagined himself charging forward to plunge the blade into the emperor's back...
No. he thought, It's too easy. He'd see it coming a mile off. He's effectively daring me to do it.
Slowly, Luke stood back up, but ultimately made no move towards Palpatine. At last, the emperor stopped and turned back to face him.
"Your father is a mere shell of his former self." Palpatine declared, pointing one bony finger at the fallen Vader, "Strike him down. Fulfill your destiny and take your rightful place at my side."
Every fiber of Luke's being yearned to resist the emperor's words and temptations. But what else was there for him now? He couldn't defeat Palpatine; he knew that now. He and father had never stood a chance, for the emperor had been one step ahead of them the whole time.
For his own part, Vader looked resigned, knowing that his master had out-gambitted him, that his carefully laid plans now lay shattered before him, and that his son had only one choice remaining to him. And Vader knew that choice all too well.
And so, Luke found himself right back where he'd started when he first began his journey into the Dark Side. Once again, he was left with little other choice but to serve a Dark Lord, and learn his secrets in the hopes of one day overcoming him. The only other choice was death, and Luke knew that he would be no good to anyone dead.
Igniting his lightsaber, he finally took a single, hesitant step towards his father...
"NO!" a new voice suddenly called out.
Startled, Luke, Palpatine, and Vader all turned to look in the direction of the voice. And there, standing just inside the door to the throne with lightsaber in hand was Princess Leia. And just beyond the door lay the bodies of the two Royal Guards who had not allowed her to pass without a fight.
But pass she had.
A flaming TIE fighter crashed into the conning tower of one of the Star Destroyers as the Millennium Falcon flew past.
"Watch out. Squad at .06." Lando warned as he led an attack on another one of the huge Imperial ships.
"I'm on it, Gold Leader." acknowledged a Y-Wing pilot even as he shot down one of the oncoming TIEs.
"Good shot, Red Two." saluted Wedge.
But then, the Millennium Falcon found itself being chased by at least four TIE Interceptors. Flak buffeted the ship as Lando went to evasive maneuvers, but before long, the Falcon began taking hits.
"Oh, come on!" groaned Lando, "I promised she wouldn't get a scratch!"
Suddenly, two of the TIEs exploded before the other two broke off their pursuit. A moment later, the modified VCX-100 light freighter known as the Ghost flew overhead Millennium Falcon's cockpit.
"Thanks, Hera. I owe you one." Lando expressed his gratitude.
"Actually Lando, you owe me two." Hera Syndulla's voice crackled from the commlink, "Don't think I've forgotten about that stunt you pulled with me and Azmorigan."
Lando let out an exasperated sigh, "Am I never going to hear the end of that?"
"Nope." the green Twi'lek smugly replied.
Bringing his attention back to the task at hand, Lando stared out the cockpit window at the battle raging all around him as the Rebel and Imperial fleets continued to duel at knife-fighting distances. In the distance, a heavily damaged Rebel cruiser abruptly proceeded to ram a Star Destroyer just before it exploded completely, taking the huge Imperial ship down with it.
"We're sure in the middle of it now..." Lando said seriously, "Come on, Han, old buddy. Don't let me down."
Han, Chewie, and strike team pushed on through the bunker, fighting their way through several stormtroopers squads in their desperation to reach the control room, and complete their mission before it was too late.
Finally coming to the control room entrance, they ran inside with explosive charges in hand, and quickly begin planting the timed devices at strategic points in and around the power generator.
"Throw me another charge." Han said to one of the commandos, who quickly obeyed, and the smuggler proceeded to plant the device on one of the control panels
All the while, everybody knew that once they were finished, they were going to want to get out fast.
Back outside, Ahsoka and Rex stood in the center of the clearing. They had fought just like old times, and by now, the area was littered with a large number of stormtrooper bodies. But still the Imperials came on with unwavering determination, and by now, Rex was down to the last few shots in his blaster rifle. They couldn't hold on much longer.
Then, a thermal detonator was suddenly thrown into the clearing and landed right in front of them. Despite the pain, Ahsoka tore her injured arm from the makeshift sling, and thrust her palm outward, just managing to shield herself and Rex from the brunt of the blast using the Force.
But doing so had taken the last of Ahsoka's strength, and at last, she and Rex finally knelt down in the center of the scene, completely exhausted.
"Don't move!" a voice shouted.
Looking up, they saw a large group of stormtroopers led by an Imperial officer standing before them, weapons leveled and ready to fire. Knowing that this was the end of the line, and that they'd gone as far as they could, Ahsoka and Rex silently gave each other a tender look, proud to have fought side by side once more.
"Hands up. Stand up." ordered one of the stormtroopers.
Slowly, Ahsoka and Rex did as ordered, but then, from the undergrowth beyond the clearing, there suddenly came a wild series of beeps and whistles.
"Hello! I say, over there!" a robotic voice shouted, "Were you looking for me?"
Turning to look in the direction of the voice, everybody saw C-3PO and R2-D2 standing off in the distance.
"Bring those two over here!" the Imperial officer ordered.
Needing no further prompting, five stormtroopers broke off from the main group and rushed after the droids as they ducked out of sight behind one of the huge trees.
"Well, they're on their way. R2, are you sure this was a good idea?" C-3PO asked his astromech companion.
Then, the stormtroopers came around the tree to find the two droids waiting to be taken.
"Freeze! Don't move!" one of them commanded.
C-3PO raised his robotic arms, "We surrender."
But before the stormtroopers could take the droids prisoner, a band of Ewoks suddenly jumped down from the overhanging branches and overpowered them with rocks and clubs. Barely a moment later, scores of more Ewoks, looking bloodied and fierce, emerged from the forest to surround the stormtroopers holding Ahsoka and Rex.
The Imperials wisely dropped their weapons and surrendered without a fight.
As the Ewoks took the Imperials into custody, Ahsoka smiled gratefully at the droids.
"Thanks; I knew we could count on you two." she commended.
"I...I never knew I had it in me." C-3PO replied as R2 beeped happily.
END OF PART 11 (TO BE CONCLUDED!)