A Jedi's Redemption
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Kali awoke to find Vader slumped against a railing missing a hand, while Luke was staring defiantly at the Emperor as he advanced down the stairs towards him. Palpatine was absolutely furious. "If you will not be turned... you will be destroyed!" he snarled, raising his arms towards Luke.
Blinding bolts of Force lightning burst out of the Emperor's hands and struck the young Jedi with such speed and power that he fell to his knees. "LUKE!" Kali screamed in horror. Vader meanwhile struggled to his feet and moved to stand at his master's side.
"Young fool." Palpatine sneered at Luke. "Only now, at the end do you understand." And he unleashed another salvo of lightning at Luke, who clutched at a canister to keep himself from falling into the bottomless shaft as the bolts tore through him.
"STOP IT!" Kali screeched at the Emperor, but the evil Sith Lord paid her no attention.
"Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Dark Side." he taunted Luke as he continued his barrage of Force lightning. "You have paid the price for your lack of vision."
Luke was now writhing on the floor in unbearable pain, reaching weakly towards where Vader stood watching. "Father, please!" he begged. Palpatine all the while continued his assault, revelling in the young Jedi's pain. Vader looked between his son and his master, torn between them both. "Help me!" Luke cried. "Aah!"
Kali shifted her attention to Vader. "How can you just stand there and watch your own son suffer?!" she challenged him.
Palpatine paused his attack. "Now, young Skywalker... you will die." he crowed, a cruel smile on his revolting face. He then renewed his attack, the outpouring of bolts from his fingers increasing in intensity. Luke screamed in pure agony at the onslaught, his entire body writhing from the pain.
Vader continued to look between Palpatine and Luke, his son's screams echoing in his helmet. Then Vader made his choice. He grabbed the Emperor from behind, fighting for control of the Sith Lord despite only having the use of one hand. Palpatine struggled in his apprentice's grip, his hands still shooting Force lighting, but now the bolts were arcing back to strike at Vader, sparks ricocheting off his helmet and through his armour. Undeterred, Vader held his evil master high over his head and walked over to the edge of the abyss at the central core of the throne room. With one final burst of strength, Vader hurled the screaming Emperor into the bottomless shaft. Palpatine span helplessly into the abyss, still firing Force lighting from his hands. When he was far enough down the shaft, his body exploded in a burst of electrical energy. Emperor Palpatine was no more.
His clothes still smoking, Luke staggered to his feet and struggled up the stairs to where Kali was imprisoned and he deactivated the ray shields binding her. Once she was free, the young woman threw her arms around Luke and hugged him tightly. "Oh, Luke." she breathed. "Are you alright?"
"A little cooked, but I'll be ok." Luke reassured her, burying his face in her hair. "It's over now, Kali." he said as he could feel Kali shaking in his arms.
A laboured artificial breathing sound echoed throughout the room and the two Rebels broke apart to see Vader hunched against the railing. Palpatine's lightning had damaged Vader's life-support systems and now he was fighting for his life. Luke went over to him and helped him to stand, knowing that they needed to get away from the battle station and fast.
Kali was just joining them when she saw the Emperor's guards returning, their vibro-pikes raised ready to kill. Something landed in Kali's hand and she glanced down to see that she was now holding Luke's lightsabre. She wasn't sure how it ended up in her grip, but seeing that the guards were almost on top of them, she ignited the lightsabre's blade and engaged the guards in hand-to-hand combat, managing to dispatch one by impaling them through the stomach, then she severed the other guard's weapon in half. "You've lost." she told him. "The Emperor's dead, and in just a few more minutes, this planet killer will be destroyed. It's over!"
The guard seemed to see sense and backed down, deciding that saving their own skin was more important than being a hero.
~8~
"Sir, the Rebel fleet is moving to the unfinished portion of the station." a technician in the Death Star's control room reported.
"Concentrate all firepower on that sector." Jerjerrod ordered, realising that if the Rebel ships got through the defences, there was a very real risk of them destroying the station.
~8~
A handful of Rebel fighters weaved and dodged their way past turbolaser fire towards the Death Star's construction access tunnel. Wedge and Juno's X-wings led the charge. "Well, this looks as good a way in as any." Juno commented.
"Alright, we're going in." Wedge announced as he plunged into the tunnel, Juno right behind him.
"Here goes nothing." Lando commented as the Millennium Falcon dived into the tunnel, closely followed by an A-wing, a Y-wing and a third X-wing. Three TIE Fighters and two TIE Interceptors pursued the Rebel ships. "Now lock onto the strongest power source." Lando ordered the fighters. "It should be the power generators."
"Form up. Stay alert." Wedge advised as the ships weaved through the maze of exposed girders and conduits. "We could run out of space real fast."
"The Force will guide us." Juno said as she expertly maneuvered her fighter between a honeycomb of girders. A TIE Fighter foolishly attempted to copy her, but only succeeded in ping-ponging between the walls a few times before exploding.
One of the remaining TIEs opened fire on Keir Santage's X-wing, destroying it. "Split up and head back to the surface." Lando ordered his remaining wing mates. "And see if you get a few of those TIE Fighters to follow you."
"Copy, Gold Leader." Jake Farrell acknowledged.
"Good luck, General." Norra Wexley added, and the A-wing and Y-wing peeled off and headed down another tunnel, which led back to the surface, while the Falcon and the two remaining X-wings continued along the main tunnel towards the reactor core. The pursuing Imperials split up, with the two remaining TIE fighters and the first Interceptor going after Farrell and Wexley and the remaining Interceptor continuing it's pursuit of the X-wings and Falcon.
~8~
"Rebel ships have entered the superstructure." a control room techician reported
"Open the power discharge gates." Jerjerrod ordered. "Flood sectors 304 and 138. That should slow them up a bit."
~8~
As the two X-wings and the Falcon continued their way through the superstructure, Lando suddenly saw a very low set of pipes ahead. So low were the pipes that Wedge and Juno had close their S-foils slightly to get through. The larger Falcon had no such luxury and all the crew could do was brace themselves. Miraculously, the ship made it through the narrow gap, but not without losing it's sensor dish. "That was too close." Lando breathed, knowing that Han was going to do his nut when he found out about the damage.
~8~
"Point 03 to moon target." a control room technician reported. "Point 02 to moon target. Point 01 to moon target. Moon target in range. Sir, moon target in range now!"
Jerjerrod steeled himself, then gave the order, "Commence firing."
~8~
As the battle outside the Death Star began to wind down, Admiral Ackbar suddenly noticed that the battle station was turning to fire on Endor, then he noticed that the Executor was orbiting very close to the Death Star's superlaser and he had an idea. "We've got to give those fighters more time. Concentrate all fire on that Super Star Destroyer." he ordered.
And so the Rebel fleet turned it's firepower on the Executor, with the cruisers blasting away with all weapons, while four B-wings made an attack run on the Imperial flagship's bridge deflector shield domes, destroying them with well-aimed salvos of proton torpedoes.
The Executor's bridge shuddered violently from the explosions. "Sir, we've lost our bridge deflector shields!" an officer hollered
"Intensify the forward batteries." Piett ordered. "I don't want anything to get through."
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Green Leader's A-wing was hit by enemy fire and as a last defiant act, he steered his fighter onto a collision course with the Executor's bridge.
"Intensify forward firepower!" Piett yelled, realising what was about to happen
"Too late!" the first officer screamed, and he and Piett dived into the crew pit as the A-wing smashed into the bridge and exploded on impact, taking out the bridge and everyone inside it.
At the same time as the bridge was destroyed, intense bombardment by the Rebel cruisers took out the Executor's engines. With no bridge and no engines, the ship went out of control and crashed into the Death Star's superlaser dish, resulting in a huge explosion that destroyed the flagship and disabled the battle station's superlaser, preventing it from destroying Endor.
~8~
Kali Marek never thought that she would ever be helping Darth Vader, but now, she and Luke were carrying the deadweight of Vader's weakening body into the hangar where the shuttle Revan was waiting. The situation aboard the station had deteriorated into chaos. With the superlaser out of action and contact with the Emperor lost, Moff Jerjerrod had decided to abandon his mission and ordered an evacuation. Alarms blared throughout the station as personnel clamoured to abandon the doomed super weapon. In the chaos, no one paid any attention to the two Rebels as they helped Vader. As they reached the shuttle, Vader's legs gave way and he collapsed onto the boarding ramp. "Luke..." he gasped weakly. "Help me take... this mask off."
"But you'll die." Luke protested.
"Nothing... can stop that now." Vader panted. "Just for once... let me look on you... with my own eyes."
Luke nodded and carefully removed Vader's outer helmet, then he gingerly peeled off the face mask and he and Kali found themselves looking at the true face of Anakin Skywalker. Anakin's skin was ashen pale from 23 years of being encased in the helmet and he was covered in decades-old scars, but both Rebels could recognise the same blue eyes that Luke had. Kali found it almost hard to believe that this pathetic-looking figure was the same monster who had caused untold pain, misery, death and destruction as the Emperor's right hand.
Anakin managed a weak smile at Luke. "Now... go, my son." he croaked. "Leave me."
"No." Luke said desperately as he leaned in closer to his father, "You're coming with me. I'll not leave you here. I've got to save you!"
"You already have... Luke." Anakin replied weakly. "You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister... you were right." His eyes shifted to Kali, who was standing beside Luke. "I am so sorry." he rasped out to her, then he managed another weak smile at his son before his eyes fluttered closed and his head fell back against the ramp.
"Father. I won't leave you." Luke said, desperately checking his father's neck for signs of a pulse but finding none. The reality then hit Luke; Anakin Skywalker was dead. Luke tearfully ran a hand down his father's body and bowed his head in respect.
"Luke, I'm so sorry." Kali said, putting a hand on Luke's shoulder in comfort. While she was still trying to come to terms with everything that had happened, she knew that Luke needed her support right now.
~8~
Red Leader, Red Three and the Millennium Falcon reached the end of the reactor access tunnel. "There it is." Wedge said as he saw Death Star's enormous hypermatter reactor ahead.
"Alright, Wedge, go for the power regulator on the north tower." Lando ordered. "Juno, you take the south tower. We'll take the main reactor. We're carrying concussion missiles, should penetrate. Once I let 'em go, we won't have much time to get outta here, though."
"Copy, Gold Leader." Wedge acknowledged, heading for the top of the huge reactor. "I'm already on my way out."
"Going in now." Juno said as she headed for the bottom of the reactor, then she and Wedge destroyed the respective power regulators with their proton torpedoes, causing a series of small explosions to break out. Task completed, the two X-wings peeled around and began to go back the way they'd come.
The Falcon headed for the main reactor and when it was dangerously close, Lando fired a salvo of concussion missiles which struck home directly at the centre of the reactor. "And now for the hard part." Lando muttered as he swung the Falcon round and retreated back up the tunnel, while the reactor exploded behind them in a huge ball of flames.
~8~
News of the reactor's destruction reached Home One. "Move the fleet away from the Death Star." Ackbar ordered, and so the Rebel fleet all retreated to a safe distance.
~8~
The shuttle Revan began to lift off from one of the Death Star's hangars as the battle station began to fall apart around it. Sitting in the pilot seat was Luke Skywalker, with Kali Marek sat beside him in the co-pilot's seat. Luke skilfully swung the shuttle around and they sped away from the hangar just seconds before it was engulfed in a fireball.
"Whoo! Would ya look at that." Kali remarked as that entire section of the Death Star was engulfed in flames.
~8~
Wedge and Juno's X-wings reached the end of the tunnel and tore out into open space at full throttle. "Now this is speeder racing." Juno remarked flippantly as they joined the rest of the fleet.
The Millennium Falcon wasn't far behind, keeping ahead of the chain reaction from the destroyed reactor. The flames overtook and destroyed the remaining TIE Interceptor, but before they could engulf the Rebel ship, it reached the end of the tunnel and shot out into open space. "Yee-ha!" Lando cheered.
"Yaaa!" Nien Nunb agreed
The Rebel fleet regrouped and watched as the Death Star flared, then exploded into oblivion with an enormous fireball.
~8~
The explosion was visible on the surface of Endor. The Ewoks all whooped and cheered at the destruction of the metal omen of doom. R2 had now rebooted and he beeped in delight at the successful completion of the Alliance's mission.
"They did it!" 3PO exclaimed in relief.
Han was bandaging Leia's arm when they saw the explosion. "I'm sure Luke and Kali weren't on that thing when it blew." Han reassured Leia.
"They weren't. I can feel it." Leia murmured.
Han swallowed, thinking that Leia had feelings for Luke. "You love him. Don't you?" he probed
"Yes." Leia shrugged as if it was obvious.
Han felt like he'd been slapped in the face. "Alright. I understand." he said quietly, trying not to show his hurt. "Fine. When Luke comes back, I won't get in the way."
Leia realised what Han was thinking. "It's not like that at all." she told him. "He's my brother. And besides, he's in love with Kali."
Han looked at her with wide eyes, processing all of this information. Leia just smiled at him and leaned up to kiss him. When she broke off, Han's face lit up with a massive grin. Wicket then popped up from behind the tree trunk they were sat in front off and cheered as he watched Han and Leia kiss each other passionately. Elsewhere in the forest, Ewoks sounded their bugle horns in victory, the sound echoing through the trees as everyone celebrated the victory.
~8~
Night had fallen on Endor. Carrying a lit torch in his hand, Luke approached a funeral pyre he'd built for his father. He put the torch to the pile of kindling and stepped back as the kindling caught light. The flames spread throughout the pyre and licked up around Anakin's body. Luke watched stoically as his father's body was consumed, thinking about Anakin's life. Between everything Obi-Wan had told him and information on a data disk stored in R2's memory bank, Luke had found out that Anakin was certainly a tragic figure. He had once been a slave boy on Tatooine before being freed by a Jedi Master with the promise of a better life as a Jedi. Alas, it hadn't worked out that way and poor Anakin was treated with suspicion and cold distrust by the Jedi Council, forcing him to seek solace from Palpatine, who had been only too happy to bend Anakin to his will. Luke took comfort from knowing that Anakin had managed to break his chains and was now finally at peace.
Presently, Luke felt a feminine hand take his own left hand and he turned to see Kali standing next to him. She'd decided to keep her friend company while he cremated his father. Luke was grateful for his friend's company and they stood together hand-in-hand. As Kali watched Anakin's body burn, she had mixed feelings about the man. As Darth Vader, he had committed terrible atrocities that she could never forgive him for, but she was grateful that the final act of his life was to redeem himself and save Luke.
Then, a third figure joined them; Juno Kosem. Luke and Kali had told her everything that had transpired on the Death Star. It was certainly quite a tale. Together, the trio stood watching the pyre burn. High in the sky above them, Rebel fighters launched antimatter spreads, lighting up the Endor sky with spectacular light displays.
~8~
News of the Emperor's death had spread far across the galaxy. On Bespin, fireworks lit up the sky as thousands gathered in Cloud City's central plaza to celebrate the news that they no longer had to worry about the Empire breathing down their necks.
In Theed, capital city of the planet Naboo, Humans and Gungans alike celebrated in the streets. Naboo was where Emperor Palpatine was originally from, and the planet's citizens were only too happy to hear that the evil monster they'd bred was gone.
There were even celebrations on Tatooine, with huge crowds gathering in the streets of Mos Eisley, while a T-16 Skyhopper performed celebratory aerobatics overhead.
On Coruscant, capital planet of the Empire, crowds were ecstatic at the news that Palpatine was gone and the Empire was crippled beyond repair. Stormtroopers were lynched by people who were no longer afraid of the thugs in fancy armour, while statues of Palpatine were toppled and smashed to bits.
~8~
Perhaps the biggest celebrations of all were on Endor, where Rebels and Ewoks alike rejoiced in the warm glow of a bonfire, singing, dancing and laughing in the communal language of victory and liberation. When Lando and Han reunited, the two old friends hugged each other tightly. Meanwhile, 3PO was dancing with an Ewok, much to R2's amusement. Presently, Luke, Kali and Juno returned from the funeral pyre. Leia hugged her brother and friend tightly, while Lando enthralled Chewbacca with the story of how he navigated the Millennium Falcon into the Death Star's superstructure and fired the kill shot. Luke, Kali and Juno all received hugs from Han, then Luke approached Wedge and they shook hands warmly. The Ewoks all the while continued to dance merrily, with Wicket choosing R2 as his partner.
Presently, Juno tapped Luke on the shoulder and they looked off to the side to see the Force spirts of Obi-Wan and Yoda watching proudly from the shadows. Suddenly, a third Force spirit appeared; one of a middle-aged man with brown hair, a kind face and unmistakable blue eyes. This was Anakin Skywalker. Anakin shared a deep look with Obi-Wan's spirit, both old friends coming to terms with their past together, then Anakin turned to look at Luke and gave his son a warm, proud smile. Kali came over to led Luke back to the festivities as Anakin, Yoda and Obi-Wan all watched proudly. Luke and Kali then shared a dance together, while Juno enjoyed a drink with Wedge, everyone joining together in celebration. The Emperor was dead, the Empire was crippled beyond repair and balance had been restored to the Force. All in all, better times were on their way.
Author's notes: And so we come to the end of this story. I was originally going to split this chapter into two, but I ultimately decided to merge them into one. I've given Vader's redemption scene a little extra flourish with a hint that Kali may be Force sensitive. I guess Luke and Juno have found their first recruit for the new Jedi Order! Juno herself gets to play a part in the destruction of the second Death Star and she even gets an Anakin Skywalker-eques one-liner. I'd like to thank everyone who's favourited and followed this series over the last few months and I hope you've all enjoyed it. Goodbye for now!
