Chapter Six:

Interludes in the Galaxy

Barry Allen sat in the mess hall with J'onn on theResolutethat was now en route to Coruscant. They were eating and catching up on what they were doing since arriving in the galaxy.

"…so that's what I'd been doing, J'onn. Helping the Jedi defending the people on Christophsis. They'd been telling me a lot about this galaxy, and the war."

J'onn nodded, "And so far, we're the only ones have found each other. With the other Paragons out there, who knows where they are."

"Back there at the Dawn of Time… I'm not sure if my head was clear before we ended up here, I heard the voice in my head…telling me that we were needed here. That this galaxy needed us."

J'onn mused, "It seemed that we all heard that call. You said it didn't happen the way Oliver planned it?"

Barry shook his head, "He was looking up at that thing in the sky, then…something happened. Something he clearly didn't expect to. Something changed."

"Well, obviously, our priority should be two things, finding our friends—plus Lex—and finding a way home. This war, it isn't ours, Barry."

Barry sighed, agreeing with J'onn.

"So what do you think the Separatists want?"

"It could be a lot of things, Barry," J'onn answered, "Greed, land, freedom from perceived tyranny. You know I've experienced all too well the realities of war on Mars. And why I'm one of the very few Green Martians in existence."

Barry poked at his food, "I know we shouldn't have gotten involved, J'onn, but what was I supposed to do? Innocent people were dying. And I couldn't stand by and do nothing."

J'onn agreed, "As I could not stand by and let another father experience the same loss I did. Even if he was a gangster and a murderer who caused that kind of loss in others."

Barry nodded. In the month since arriving on Vanishing Point, they'd gotten to know one another. Barry learned of J'onn's life on Mars, and what he lost there. And He'd told his friend the same things, even down to the daughter he knew he would never have now, having been wiped out of existence from changing the timeline in order to stop Cicada, only to find out that Thawne had manipulated them all just to save his miserable skin.

Just then, Barry heard a beeping sound from the comlink he'd finally been given by the Jedi. He pressed a button, "Hello?"

"We're about to exit hyperspace in a few minutes, Allen, "Anakin's voice echoed from the comlink, "If you and your friend want to see Coruscant, now's the time."

"On our way, Anaki," He grabbed the trays and put them away, with J'onn following him.

As they walked through the hallways, J'onn looked around at the troopers they passed by, frowning at the same face they all had.

"Something the matter, J'onn?" Barry curiously observed J'onn's reaction.

"It's the troopers. They're clones. Bred for this war. It feels…wrong, Barry, that they don't seem to have a choice in this."

Barry nodded, "Yeah, I've been wondering the same, but didn't get to ask with Christophsis and then Jabba's son keeping me busy."

"Kara told me a bit about Krypton's history, specifically, its history with clones. It's not my place or history to tell, but what I can tell you is that Krypton had a similar clone war," he leaned toward the speedster, whispering, "though the circumstances were different. I don't imagine Kara taking this well when she finds out."

Barry nodded, as they approached the lift, which took them to the bridge.

They entered the bridge, where Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka were present, looking out at the blue tunnel.

They turned at the sound of the door opening and saw their new arrivals.

"Ah, gentlemen," Obi-Wan smiled, "Excellent timing. We're about to emerge from hyperspace. I think you should find the sight quite different from the planets we've been to."

"Yeah, I've noticed that those planets seemed to have only one biome, like Tatooine and Christophsis," Barry commented.

The Jedi turned to the duo, "And your planet has more than one, you are implying?"

They both nodded, "Yeah, deserts, topical places, jungles, you name it, we got it." Barry thought for a moment, "Except for that crystalline biome on Christophsis. Don't think we have that."

"That doesn't mean that the planets we've found so far aren't impressive, of course."

Anakin smiled, "Well, I'm sure you'll find Coruscant as impressive."

They all turned to the windows, as the blue tunnel of hyperspace first became streaks of stars, then, from their perceptive, a planet surrounded by venator ships seemed to appear of nowhere, when the opposite came true.

Both Barry and J'onn widened their eyes, as they saw for the first time the lights of the planet, and they couldn't tell if it had any areas that had flora from here.

"What kind of planet is it?" Barry asked, "I don't see any oceans or flora. It's like one big…I dunno…machine world."

Anakin chuckled, "Yeah, I guess that'd be the word for it. But no, this is a city planet. As in the whole planet is the city."

Barry and J'onn were shocked to hear that. "B-but what about plants, ocean, food? How do you…?"

"We have all of that on the planet, Barry," Obi-Wan interjected, "Whatever it had been before it became the planet it is today is one of the galaxy's greatest mysteries."

Anakin nodded, "Far as we can tell, Coruscant is what it's always been. It's the capital of the Galactic Republic."

"And where the temple of the Jedi Order still stands today," Obi-Wan added, "Speaking of, gentlemen, it's our destination so we'd best be on our way. Follow us, please."

They reached a hangar where a gunship was waiting for them.

All five of them entered it, and grasped handholds, as Anakin ordered the pilot to take them down to the surface.

It left the Resolute, headed for the planet.

Upon having entered the atmosphere, Anakin had the pilot open the doors so their guests could see the sights.

Barry and J'onn were definitely impressed by the structures and the architecture of the city planet. As far as they could see, it was indeed a planet that was one big city. They couldn't tell whether there were cities within a city or not. Skyscrapers that seemed to almost literally reach the sky itself, as lanes of flying vehicles went around them.

Eventually, they approached a building that had four towers, one in each corner, and a fifth tower in the center.

Anakin nodded at it, "The Jedi Temple. Not someplace you can miss."

Barry nodded before looking at the domed building in the distance, "That domed building isn't hard to miss, either. What's that?

"That is where the Galactic Senate meets," Obi-Wan answered, "to discuss many issues and legislation around the galaxy."

"Huh. Makes our own Senate building in Washington back on Earth look less impressive," Barry observed.

The gunship eventually came to a stop at the building's hangar bay.

They were greeted by a group of Jedi, led by Yoda who had returned to Coruscant ahead of them.

They were also accompanied by another group, this one made up of people in more fancier-looking clothes than the Jedi, headed by an elder man with a pointed nose and a smile. Barry also recognized Senator Organa, who granted him a warm smile, as well as the woman from the hologram in Jabba's palace. She also gave them the same warm smile.

Barry noticed J'onn tense up at the sight of this man, but then hide it behind a face void of emotion. He did notice the alien next to the older man, and leaned closer to J'onn, whispering, "That guy reminds me of the Blue Devil, you know, the movie series with Dan Cassidy?"

J'onn's lips turned upward, breaking the tension, as they approached the Jedi group. Yoda moved closer to them, "Barry Allen, J'onn J'onzz, welcome you, the Jedi do, to Coruscant."

He frowned at Palpatine's group, apparently not having expected them to show up.

Before he could say anything, the elder man beat him to it, "Well, you must be the two heroes I have been hearing so much about. I am Sheev Palpatine, Supreme Chancellor of the Republic."

He offered his hand to Barry and J'onn. The former took it in a firm grip. Though he didn't know how he knew this, but he got the sense that this man was not what he seemed to be. Maybe he didn't have as much experience as J'onn and Oliver did in dealing with politicians, but he did have experience with people who weren't what they seemed to be, thanks to Eobard Thawne and Hunter Zolomon, the two bastards who murdered his parents. Also, another factor was that the changes in the Speed Force because of its mixing with the Force, his instincts were becoming sharper, more focused. And right now, they were telling him not to take this man at face value.

"Um, it's nice to meet you, sir. My name is Barry Allen, the Flash."

Palpatine chuckled, "The Flash, hm? Quite an interesting title."

Barry shrugged, but didn't elaborate on it, as the Chancellor turned to J'onn, "And who might you be, sir?"

The Martian was stone-faced, as he took the older man's hand, "I am J'onn J'onzz, the Manhunter from the planet Mars."

He didn't add any more to that introduction.

"Mars, hm?" Senator Organa asked, "That's a planet I've never heard of."

"You probably wouldn't," Barry replied, "It's in a system in a galaxy far, far away from here, from what I've been able to gather."

That they didn't expect to hear, from the stunned looks on their faces.

"Perhaps we should adjust to a place where you would explain that in more details," the dark-skinned Jedi next to Yoda suggested.

Barry and J'onn looked at each other, then nodded, "Lead on, then."

They all went up to a lift that led them to the fifth tower they'd seen from the gunship. Barry could tell from the four towers.

While they were in the lift, Palpatine then introduced the rest of his group, beginning with the Blue Devil lookalike with the staff, "This is Mas Amedda, my Vice Chairman." The now named blue alien bowed his horned head in greetings.

Palpatine then gestured at Bail Organa, "I believe you know Senator Organa, Mr. Allen."

Organa nodded with a smile which Barry returned, "It's good to see you again, Mr. Allen," he turned to the Martian, "I am Bail Organa, representative of Alderaan, Mr…J'onzz, was it?"

J'onn, sensing the goodness in him and the woman beside him, smiled as he accepted the offered hand, "It was. Please, call me J'onn."

The woman then stepped forward, smiling, "I am Senator Padme Amidala, from planet Naboo. It's a pleasure to meet you gentlemen. Senator Organa was telling me about extraordinary things, especially you, Mr. Allen."

Barry was bashful, as Organa turned to his friend, "she wouldn't have believed me if I hadn't brought along the proof of it, Mr. Allen."

Finally, the lift had arrived at a chamber, and the Jedi, including Obi-Wan to the newcomers' surprise, all went to their seats, with Yoda taking his place at the head of the chamber, as holograms of other Jedi appeared in the open seats began to appear.

"Introduce the Jedi Council, allow me to," Yoda began. At his left, the dark-skinned Jedi nodded, "I am Master Mace Windu. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, gentlemen."

An alien with a breathing mask and goggles nodded, "I am Plo Koon. An honor to meet you."

A cone-headed elder Jedi smiled beneath his beard, "Master Ki-Adi-Mundi. Please call me Ki."

A horn-headed being was next to introduce himself, "Saesee Tinn."

Another horned man with his hair covering most of them nodded, "Eeth Koth."

Another one of the same species added, "Agen Kolar."

The holographic image of a woman who looked like she was the same species as Ahsoka bowed her head, "I am Shaak Ti."

A green-skinned alien with big eyes and unusual lekku gave them his disarming grin. They both decided they liked this one, "Kit Fisto. A pleasure."

A woman with an unusual headdress smiled, "I am Adi Gallia. Greetings to you both."

The holographic image of a diminutive man with long ears and a scarred left eye grunted, "Even Piell."

The most unusual alien being they've ever seen: an alien being with a long beard and a serpent's tail introduced himself: "Oppo Rancisis."

An alien being called himself, "Coleman Kcaj."

And finally; a holographic woman who reminded them of the Muslim people back on Earth bowed her head, "I am Depa Billaba."

Barry waved at them, "Hi, um, my name is Barry Allen, the Flash, of planet Earth."

J'onn bowed his head, "And I am J'onn J'onzz, of the planet Earthmen call Mars."

Yoda began the briefing, "Master Kenobi, tell us, he did, in his reports, as well as Jedi Knight Skywalker's, of your extraordinary abilities, as well as the circumstances that brought you here."

Many of the Jedi were looking skeptical, not that Barry could blame them. They'd never seen anything like him and J'onn before, and, before his first experiences with another Earth, Barry would never have believed in the evidence of a multiverse.

J'onn seemed to agree with the sentiment, as he said, "Quite understandable, Master Yoda. But what my friend here has told you is indeed the truth. If you will allow me, I can allow you to access our memories via telepathy, though, I'm afraid for those not physically present, I cannot connect to your minds over long distances."

The Jedi looked at each other, apprehensively, before Windu spoke, "You have telepathic powers, would you read any of our thoughts?"

"No," J'onn shook his head, "Even among my people, privacy is a virtue to be respected. Besides, as Master Kenobi had demonstrated, I cannot easily penetrate your shields so easily."

Behind him, Palpatine narrowed his eyes for an instant before returning to his false visage, but at the same time, increasing his own mental shields. He had a suspicion that this being was not as trusting of him as he appeared to be.

"Besides," J'onn continued, "What I intend to do is to only show you a mental slideshow, or a holovid, to use your own terms, if you would allow it."

The Jedi turned to each other in silent conference, before the grandmaster spoke, "Show us, you may, J'onn J'onzz."

The senators also gave their consorts.

J'onn nodded, before his eyes began glowing red, and before his audience, the scenes changed from the Council Chamber to the images of the beginning of the Crisis, and the heroes' efforts to stop the Anti-Monitor to Oliver Queen's sacrifice the first time, to their attempts to rescue the populations of other Earths to Barry's witnessing his older doppelganger's sacrifice.

Then Harbinger's betrayal, and their being stranded in Vanishing Point,

To their attempts to prevent the Anti-Monitor's birth, and finally their final battle at the Dawn of Time.

The Jedi as well as their guests all gasped, except for those not personally attending, not seeing what their fellow Masters are seeing.

They all saw Barry and J'onn fighting alongside other people with extraordinary abilities.

And they saw them battling beings made of shadows, which Barry had called "Shadow demons."

Barry introduced them to the Jedi one by one, until they came up to the one called Batwoman.

Padme's eyes widened in recognition, "That's her!"

They all looked at her in confusion, with Anakin speaking the question for them to his secret wife, "Uh, you know her, Padme? How?"

"When I was trying to negotiate with Ziro the Hutt, I had found out the plot with Dooku regarding Jabba's son, I was captured, and this woman freed and helped me stop and capture Ziro. She vanished after that. I don't know where she went. But I can only assume that she's still somewhere on Coruscant."

Both Barry and J'onn's eyes widened at this turn of luck at finding one of their friends so soon. Unfortunately, it was a big planet, and even with Barry's speed, it would take a very long time to cover the entire world, level by level until they found her. But they at least had hope that they would meet her soon.

Palpatine secretly smiled, it would be an easy task to hire bounty hunters to find her before her friends did. If she could be turned…the information she had on the rest of those... "Paragons" would be very useful.

He turned his eyes on the one called "Supergirl," who was clearly the most powerful of all of them, except for this Oliver Queen, who seemed to be more so.

J'onn allowed the image of the fight to continue, and they watched as the Paragons debated a strategy, which Lex Luthor had provided with Supergirl's help.

It ended with Oliver dying, but then...they saw the unexpected red lightning striking from the sky, and they were all knocked out.

"And then that happened," Barry finished as J'onn ended the display and the scene returned to the Council Chamber, "And the next thing I knew, I woke up on Christophsis."

"And I, on Tatooine."

"And who knows where the rest of our friends are."

The Jedi all looked at each other, having seen the extraordinary abilities they displayed in J'onn's memories.

"Interesting, to say the least," Obi-Wan began, "And it does open up more questions, as well as more possibilities."

They all noticed, still shocked by the events they'd seen, and the existence of a multiverse, as well as an enemy that was more dangerous than they'd seen.

"This 'Anti-Monitor,'" Windu asked, "you're certain that he's dead?"

Both Barry and J'onn opened their mouths…then closed their mouths, looking at each other.

"Honestly? I don't know," Barry confessed, "It all happened too fast, even for me."

J'onn frowned, "All this time, it hadn't even occurred to me that he might be still alive."

The Jedi all looked at each other, more concerned than ever.

"Then, followed you, this enemy of all life may have," Yoda observed grimly, "An enemy we face even more dangerous than the Separatists, and their masters."

Even Palpatine was alarmed at this new enemy's possible survival. The Sith had ever wanted to rule the galaxy. This Anti-Monitor was a greater threat, if he did indeed survive, to his plans than even the hated Jedi.

Windu was as grim as the grandmaster, "Then it's imperative that we must ascertain that this Anti-Monitor is indeed dead, as it's imperative that we find the rest of your friends."

Barry and J'onn were as concerned as the rest of them, so they nodded.

Windu continued, "You may stay at the Temple until we find the rest of those…Paragons."

They were hesitant to accept their hospitality. "Well, we don't want to put out anyone—"

But it was Palpatine who interrupted, "If you wish, I would be happy to arrange for accommodations while we look for your friends."

Before Barry could reply, J'onn cut him off, turning to Windu, "We accept your hospitality, Masters."

Barry was confused, particularly by the message he got in his head,"Don't say anything, Barry. I'll explain later, but I don't trust this Chancellor Palpatine."

Barry frowned, and he turned to Palpatine. It was quick, but Barry, ever the speedster, caught it. It was a brief look of rage. A smile that was almost a snarl, before it vanished.

Maybe J'onn was right. They didn't know enough about those people, even this galaxy to really put any stock in trust yet.

Scene cut

Deeper in the dark levels of Coruscant, Batwoman was running through the constructs, avoiding blaster beams coming at her, before landing feet first on the face of a blue-skinned alien with two tails, apparently, on his head, and throwing out two batarangs at two other thugs, one of them looked like a humanoid bug, and the other, a weird humanoid with what looked like a pig's snout. She'd been investigating missing people, people who no one would give a damn about.

The pig-faced human was Doctor Evazan, and his bug-faced partner was Ponda Baba. From what Kate could tell, they had been kidnapping people for Frankenstein experiments Evazan had been doing. She'd been following them in the shadows, hoping to find their labs. She'd seen them approaching a couple, obviously intending to abduct them. Batwoman wasn't going to let that happen, so she had to come out of the shadows, halting their progress.

She saw the couple run the other way. Good.

She heard the bug-faced creep approach with a big wrench-shaped stick, and she ducked, before kicking him away, and, catching the stick, she knocked him out. But while she was focused on Baba, Evazan pointed his blaster at her, and shot. She was hit hard in the back, but the armor Bruce had designed held. She threw the stick at his face, which impacted and threw him against the wall, where he hit his head and went down. She saw the third one running. She pulled out her grapple gun and aimed carefully at him, and switched its setting, and fired…bola ropes at the blue tail-headed goon, who went down hard.

She walked over to him, and turned him over, making sure he was conscious. He was. Dazed, but still awake.

She gave him a moment to get lucid, which was confirmed when his eyes widened in fear.

"Where is the lab?" She growled, "Where were you taking these people?"

"I…I don't know! The boss never told me. We'd just catch them and then, the doc and his pal would pay me and take off with the people."

Batwoman growled and dragged the goon over to the edge of a nearby ledge and, tying a rope to his ankle, threw him over, where he screamed as he fell a few feet before coming to a stop, and dangling in the air, upside down, cursing in an alien language she hadn't learned yet.

"Where?!" she snarled out.

"LEVEL 18! The doc got the coordinates on his datapad!"

Kate didn't bother with pulling the blue scum up. She just went to Evazan, who was still unconscious, and went through his pockets, until she found the pad. A sixth sense she'd developed at Point Rock Academy warned her of approaching danger and reacted rapidly as Evazan's bug-faced partner tried attacking her, but Batwoman grabbed him by his right arm, and twisted it behind him, slamming him face-first against the floor, "I wouldn't."

Typing him and Evazan together, she left the scene quickly, as the sound of sirens approached. She didn't know who to trust on this planet's police system, so she'd go after the lab herself. But first, she needed to check in with her new friend.

She made her way to the base she had established in a nearby level and entered.

Kate took her cowl, and the wig that was attached to it, and called out, "I'm back! You still here?"

"Not so loud, Kate! At this size, your volume is deafening!" A very diminutive Ryan Choi appeared on what was a crudely made lab table with equipment Kate had "borrowed" here and there.

"Sorry," Kate winced, lowering her voice, "How is it going?"

Ryan sighed, "I'm trying to figure it out. Whatever happened to me at the dawn of time, it seemed to give me shrinking powers, but I haven't figured out how to—"

Suddenly, he grew back to his normal size, and lost his balance, and fell off the lab table with a groan, "Control it," he finished.

Kate helped him up, "Well, you're a genius, I'm sure you can figure it out."

Ryan sighed, "I just—I got a newborn daughter, Kate. From what we could figure out, we're in a whole different galaxy, which apparently is at war. And I want to go home to my family."

Kate smiled sympathetically, "I have family back home I'd like to get to, too, Ryan. My dad is in jail, and my sister—God, I don't know what she's doing without me there to stop her."

In the month at Vanishing Point, Kate had told him and the others about her life, which led to her twin sister being an evil psychotic bitch who had framed their father. She'd been in the middle of tracking Alice down, when she was pulled—unwillingly at the time—into this crisis, and now they were who knows how many lightyears away from their home planet. And the rest of her friends—plus Lex Luthor—seemed to disappear, probably scattered elsewhere in this galaxy.

Ryan didn't say anything. He just turned back to his worktable.

Scene cut

On Teth, clones were patrolling around the monastery, cleaning up some leftover droids. They were chattering among themselves.

"Still can't believe the things I saw," the clone called Ding, mostly because he took one too many hits to the head in basic training, "How a guy could run so fast. I've seen how fast Jedi moved, and even they couldn't move that fast."

His friend, Kicker, nodded, "I know, Ding. I've seen Jedi a lot of things, but never like that."

"Heard from the other guys that this Flash guy got fast by getting hit by lightning."

"And from the scuttlebutt I got, there are other guys like him out there."

"If there are, then we got this war all sewed up. Could be this might be over soon."

"Yeah—ACCCKKK!" The clone choked as a strange tentacle made of muscle suddenly came out of nowhere and around the poor trooper's throat.

The other clones didn't have time to react, as more tentacles came out of the shadows, and began choking or snapping their necks.

Then out of the shadows came a slowly reforming Durge.

"If there are others like this 'Flash,' clone scum," the unmasked Gen'Dai hissed, "they will not save him, and I'll kill them after I'm done with him, too."

Durge spotted his helmet and picked it up, with an elongating arm. And then, he made his way, slaughtering other clone troopers in his way.

He found what he was seeking: a fighter. It might be cramping, but it would get him off this mudball and out of this system.

Durge got in and the fighter lifted off, into space.

By keeping his distance from other fighters and venators, he was able to pass by them. When Durge was satisfied that he'd gotten enough distance, he made the jump into hyperspace.

It would take time, but Durge would have revenge on the Flash for the pain he had caused him. He would recover and then get in touch with Count Dooku for an opportunity to have that revenge.

Scene cut

Kara Zor-El woke up with a headache. She looked around at her surroundings. She was in a strange red forest. She stood up shakily, and tried to lean onto a tree, only to recoil in pain from the thorn she accidentally cut herself from. She was more surprised by the fact that it actually hurt, as she saw her hand bleeding from the cut. She looked up for the first time at the red sky…and saw the red sun blazing in the sky.

Great, Kara thought, of course, I end up on a planet with a red sun.

Kara was from a planet with a red sun, and her people had evolved so they would gain powers under a sun of a different color. Under Earth's yellow one, Kara and other Kryptonians gained powers that made them, well, super.

But under a red sun, Kara was an ordinary person.

But this planet felt different.Like—

Kara's train of thought was cut off as she saw blurs in red jumping down from trees. They surrounded her, and Kara could see that they were women who wore red clothing that were a little skimpy, but they had hoods over their heads, and masks that showed only their eyes. They were all aiming energy bows at her.

If the sun wasn't red, Supergirl would be less bothered by those bows. She knew those were energy bows, as Krypton had developed weapons that fired energy arrows in place of the bow and arrow from thousands of years before, when technology was just starting to develop.

They spoke in an unknown language, jabbing their bows at her.

Kara raised her hands, "I don't understand your language, but I mean no harm."

They seemed to understand her, as the leader spoke, "Who are you? Why are you here?"

"My name is Kara…as for why, it's kind of a long story. But I somehow ended up here."

Just then, a strange green fog began to make its way. All of the women seemed to recognize it, as they immediately knelt, their weapons down. The green fog shaped into a figure, before becoming more visible, and Kara could see that this was a tall woman dressed in long, red robes, her endings floating in the air. She was wearing a headdress of some sort. Her lower face was covered with what seemed to be black paint, or tattoos. But her eyes revealed power.

"Greetings, young one," the tall one said, "I am Mother Talzin," and she extended her long fingers to the kneeling women, "And these are the Nightsisters."

Kara nodded, "I'm…Kara," she replied tersely.

Talzin bowed, "Well met. I have had a vision of your arrival here on Dathomir through yet unknown means."

"Dathomir?" Kara never heard of it in all her studies of the 28 known galaxies. But then, so much of the universe was unexplored, with so many galaxies unknown.

Talzin gestured behind her, "I believe we have much to discuss, Kara. Let us move to more comfortable accommodations, shall we?"

Kara nodded, as she followed Talzin and the Nightsisters, feeling their glares on her.

Supergirl could only wonder what she landed into. And where her friends were.

Sorry for the delay. Motivation had gotten away from me. And it's been a busy half year. Anyway, as you can see, I have not abandoned this work. And I will continue to update it as I'm able.

But before I go….

Omake

In another place, in another time…

On a world called Vaal, in a high grass prairie area, white-armored soldiers were surrounding a damaged fighter. Other workers were inspecting it.

But the black-armored tall figure paid them no attention.

Instead, heralded by the mechanical sound of his breathing, the dark man walked through the prairies, following a strange sensation…until he came upon a strange rock foundation, surrounded by strange species of animals.

They seemed to be mourning a loss. He could feel it in the Force. It was a feeling of loss he had not experienced in twenty years, since…her.

Even the hyenaxs that had accompanied him felt that loss.

They had lost something important. Someone important.

He should feel apathetic to their loss. It should mean nothing to him.

He then saw a strange apparition in the clouds…forming the shape of a catlike creature with a mane.

He could almost hear this creature speaking.

"The Great Circle of Life continues, Darth Vader. Loss is part of that Circle…as it is of the Force. We all must join it one day."

From Darth Vader, there are no words. Only the sound of his breathing.

For several moments, he pondered those words, then he turned his back on the mourning herd.

He began to make his way back to the fighter site, unaware that a strange monkey began to make drawings on the stone wall of the rock platform of Darth Vader, as well as his king, and symbols representing the Circle of Life, as well as the Force.

And That's my tribute to James Earl Jones, the great voice of Darth Vader and Mufasa. While I'm deaf, and I couldn't hear his voice, I know the contributions he made to Star Wars, as well as the Lion King franchise

But other movies must not be discounted. I greatly enjoyed Fields of Dreams and I loved his guest appearance on Big Bang Theory.

Rest in Peace. May the Force be with you in the next world you go to. And may you continue to entertain those who have passed on.

And in the living world, may the Force be with you until the next chapter.