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Chapter 16
Darth Sidious.
Luke took in Sing's decaying visage, looking sickeningly like a pale old visage. Corrupted by the darkness that loomed over her, Sing no longer had a voice of her own. Instead, the champion of the Dark Side decided that enough patience was warranted and wanted to test his future opponent.
Luke stood, poised for combat across. That manipulator Sidious had gone another step further, proving why Luke had to eventually put him down like the sick animal he was when the time was right. This woman was yet another mindless servant to Sidious's cause, promised power and revenge against the Jedi for what they had done to her, only for Sidious to loop in. And she did not even know it!
While Luke was never a slave, he had witnessed what the Hutts had done to people he knew. Nevertheless, life on Tatooine wasn't easy. Growing up without biological family on Tatooine, Luke often wondered about his lineage and where he came from. Hearing Shmi was a slave who showed tremendous courage in raising Anakin alone, Luke felt an affinity for her strength and resilience. He admired how she persevered against immense hardship, helping shape the man his father became.
But this... was different.
At least slaves in the Outer Rim were allowed to do things they wanted from time to time. After all, corpses without much food or liquid wouldn't be useful at all, as repulsive as those thoughts were. Darth Sidious, however, promised her things that would have remained undelivered and was now conquering her mind with the Force.
It all extended even further. Exar Kun. Naga Sadow. Kueller. So many Dark Acolytes and more. This was the perfect Sith. The embodiment of the Dark Side. And the Sith would have control over the Republic. As an Apprentice, he was almost as powerful as when he was a Master. Equally as despicable and disregarding human life.
He stepped around, slow and robotically, keeping the same look on his face. The same glint...
"Oh yes, I couldn't resist that long without observing a threat to the Grand Plan. I would so love to have encountered you in person. Unfortunately, other things prevented me."
Luke stared with disgust. "You've been using her this entire time."
"Oh yes," Sidious affirmed without guilt, his tone full of malice. "She is just a foolish girl with wasted midichlorians. But at least, she gave me a chance to observe you." The creature laughed yet again. "I was aware that you knew of Maul, and I knew you would have conquered him in battle. I did want to thank you for presenting a powerful Force Adept back on Coruscant, but I didn't have the opportunity to do so without spilling the beans. When I destroy you, I can at last."
An icy chill went down Luke's spine.
"Your Apprentice, Anakin Skywalker." Sidious tsked. "You know all I have to do is kill the mother? Yes, yes, their bond runs deep. I have no doubt that the boy would feel it. The moment his mother's life is pathetically snuffed out. Fitting for a wretched slave who has no meaning in the universe..."
How dare he refer to someone like Shmi Skywalker in that wa- "You will never touch her," promised Luke coldly, glaring at Sing-Sidious.
"Hahaha, watch yourself, Jedi, attachment leads to the Dark Side."
The floor tilted once more, and a large chunk of the ceiling broke free, flying at Luke. Luke held it in his hand as it crumbled around him.
The Sith's eyes flashed dangerously. "You see, you're going to have to play my little game if you're going to want to save them..."
"Them?" Luke blinked. The Force was screaming at him. Frustration bubbled in him.
Sidious's daunting smirk egged on his irritation. Normally, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker would have been able to shrug this off. After the... loss of his remaining loved ones after being tossed into the past, Luke struggled to deal with his emotions at the loss of everything he'd loved.
"I deserve to be taken alive, except you will kill me if given a chance, wouldn't you?" Sidious prodded.
"Not even a cell is worth your stench, Sidious," Luke said icily. He already knew what he would do. Sidious being tossed into a cell simply wouldn't work. He was officially the Supreme Chancellor, with friends and allies in high places, going back to even when he was a Senator of Naboo. Kriffing contingencies and kriffing Cosinga Palpatine forever to this sick creature who called himself a man.
"Is that a threat? If so, it's misplaced." Sidious shrugged. "You see, Sheev Palpatine is a legally elected official. Kill him? Arrest him? That would enrage the Core and courts."
Yep, an unfortunate reality. Luke knew that he couldn't do anything against Sidious. He was as helpless as the rest of the Jedi in that regard. He could still hamper some of his plans, even though removing him from Chancellor looked more and more like a pipe dream.
Sidious cackled. "You have nothing! Nothing to threaten me with! Nothing to do with all of your strength and power! You have to choose! Stay here, and your friends die, or go after and save them."
Suddenly, Luke heard a ripple through the Force. A warning, he realized! Subsided thumps vibrated through the palace, shaking the building to its foundations!
"Luke!" His comm beeped. It was Padmé. "Are you there?! We have secured the palace! Haako is dead! They're bombing the planet!"
The feeling of foreboding set in, just seconds before screams echoed in the Force, and hundreds of lives were snuffed out.
"You manipulative bastard!" Luke lost his temper and snarled in pure rage.
"Dubious morality, wouldn't you say?"
Luke felt Obi-Wan in deep agony. Padmé was in far more turmoil. This battle wasn't the worst Luke had ever faced, but what was happening to Naboo was a travesty.
Darkness lured into his soul.
'Let me in. No more people has to die.'
Luke closed his eyes, feeling the addiction digging itself into his spine and traveling through his entire body. If this had been him over Endor, Luke had no doubt he would have fallen. Many mistakes are made by sparing the enemy over justice. The Force allows killing. It defends defenseless opponents. But one has to be clear-minded to do it. To trust in the Force and allow it to support you as you support it. The Force isn't a curse. It's a blessing.
Sidious extended a hand and angled it at Luke, building together the full might of his hatred. Focusing it on his fingers.
Letting go.
Breathing in his revolting emotions, he allowed the mental storm to pass over, knowing that the Dark Side would lead to nothingness.
Passive, Luke raised his palm.
The Force conducted its energy and trapped it. Even if Corran was more elite in this ability than him, between the Force and the petty Sith's motivation to make it painful, Luke had resolved himself.
The Dark Side flowed through his hand, cutting through him. But it didn't leave the mark it craved. Merely, Luke absorbed it and pulled it back into the Force.
Expressing a chaotic calm, he regarded the briefly surprised Sidious, who regained his focus. "I pity you, Sidious, you don't understand anything outside of hatred and anger. In the end, all the Dark Side would ever do was eradicate, while eliminating most qualities that would have been enough to bring you back."
For someone like Darth Vader, he was considered a waste and it didn't care for doing much of such, for he was trapped in indefinite pain.
It was the duty of a Follower of the Force to save any people. Sometimes, they could measure one with absolution and give them a chance to redeem themselves, but they would have to be monitored closely.
Other times... it brought about doing what must be done.
He saw it as the Force sobbed while the Dark Side ripped apart Naboo. Naboo would never be the same after this. The Force approved militarism, but the death of an entire planet, or shaping most of it even disrupted the balance, allowing either a new one to be morphed or for the planet to continue into the path of darkness.
Grandmaster Luke Skywalker released his bemusement, fear, and indeed anger, and sought peace as the Force pulsated through him, and understood what must be done as he moved forward thematically...
Obi-Wan Kenobi breathed.
He heard the com from Qui-Gon who seemed torn between running up to him and remaining in place...
"Master Jinn! Padawan Kenobi! Get everyone you can and get out of-"
Too late...
The palace trembled.
Damn!
"What's that?!" one of the Handmaidens shouted in panic and fear.
"The palace is rigged to explode!" Gallia shouted from the comm. "Siri's injured! The bridge was bombed!"
Obi-Wan's body had frozen rigid the moment he heard those words. He knew what happened the moment he felt it.
Pure seething poured deep within the Jedi, like a raging sea. Hundreds of voices screamed out in terror before they were cut short in one swift stroke! An older Jedi would have been horrified but kept his emotions under control. Kenobi wasn't an older Jedi.
The look in Kenobi's faint golden eyes became cold and sharper than beskar. If there were someone present with the time to witness, one could witness as the Force itself pulsated angrily around him, his emotions unleashing.
He could feel the lives being snuffed out, and he couldn't deny the anger that came with it. Qui-Gon was on alert, closing his eyes and allowing the Force to travel through him. He was holding the palace together, but it wouldn't be enough. It was too late.
The venomous power of more. He only had to let go of his control...
Obi-Wan struggled with his emotions for years, a little-known secret. He rebelled against all of his other Masters before Qui-Gon, so Yoda handed him off to the man, so when Obi-Wan rebelled, he rebelled against rebelling. Deep down, he had thoughts and feelings that didn't line up exactly with the Jedi Code.
He'd thought about Siri, hurt and injured. His old friend. They had a bond that went deep. He felt her fear, her terror, her anger too, her... love for him. He'd thought about how he'd turned that away. His thoughts traveled to a woman so long ago, from a period he'd tried to forget...
Cerasi.
Shot and killed by one of Mawat's sharpshooters positioned on a nearby roof.
For the young Jedi, it felt strange; admittedly far more intense than when Cerasi died. He recognized now that he was never able to forgive Qui-Gon for leaving him behind all those years ago. He'd loved his Master. Would charge in combat for the man. But watching Cerasi die the way she did ripped into his heart. He was aware of the darkness burning around him, of the anger bleeding right inside of his heart, and tempting as it was, he didn't go in a mindless rage.
Obi-Wan screamed in agony when he saw more than sensed something hit the right side of Siri's face, and she collapsed to the ground with a spray of blood. Surrounded by a bunch of unsuspecting victims and leaving an incredible taint.
As the explosion came ever closer, Obi-Wan's mind was made up, and for the first time in ages it was clear.
Kenobi decided to cease hiding and just tell the truth. It was time to stop lying. To be upfront. To make a choice that he'd wished he made a long time ago.
The poison shifted, murmuring seductions he no longer ignored. He gripped at it with his determination. A shudder went through the Force when he consciously ordered the... Dark Side for the first time. The power he felt was incredible, addictive. But he fought to keep his mind full of as much clarity as possible.
The doors shuddered at the faint of his vision. Kenobi dashed to the doors, sensing it straining. Jinn's concentration was failing.
The Force unleashed, he gripped at the doors and resisted, willing to keep the fierce inferno out. The flames that desired to consume them all.
The terrified people stood afraid.
The Naboo's governing body was fearful. None of them wanted to die. Yet, that fueled the darkness, giving him more power. Just this once! Just this bloody once! None of them could die today!
He was containing an immense amount of the Force like a jar of water wanting to combat the flames.
Kenobi groaned as he drew even more of the Force to himself. His yellow-tinted eyes burnt in pain but only briefly. For that pain fueled him, allowing him to keep it back for a second.
He shouted when his barrier was connected by the power of the flames. He came to a revolting recognition. He and everyone in here would be dead, or badly wounded, without his newfound power.
He was able to halt the unmerciful explosions. Mostly. His shield buckled and was partially breached in a few places. Nevertheless, he prayed to the Force that it would be enough.
Shots of flames arched down against Kenobi, and he felt as if his entire body was on fire and he shouted in agony until he blacked out.
In Aurra Sing's body, electricity exited from Sidious's hands; Luke raised a hand and tore a bit of the wall, throwing it at Sidious who launched over it. Luke noticed with a frown that Sidious was being careful. The Force itself was a tidal wave of back and forth through the atmosphere, it took him a moment to realize that the Sith Lord had performed this act scarcely and didn't want to risk exposing himself to the Jedi. The entire Jedi Temple would have descended on Sidious if this act hadn't been perceived with caution.
Sidious was channeling his lightning at Luke with great intensity. The time traveler held out his hands and avoided the attack, catching it in a swirling bright, and intense maelstrom that resulted in the entire area shaking. Then...
The energy exploded, disintegrating all light within the room. Luke and Sidious were tossed away from each other. Luke noted that Sidious had not yet mastered the full power of the Dark Side the same way he did in the throne room on the Second Death Star.
But it couldn't be said Sidious was completely out of his element here. While Luke had reigned superiority over him, he took advantage of the death, destruction, and intensity in this battle to increase his power. The Dark Side of course would respond to this gleefully as it did everything, all the while concealing Sidious - the vindictive bastard - from detection.
Sidious leapt overhead, stabbing down with his saber. Luke caught the attack and retaliated. The Sith twisted as he landed, proving him an impressible duelist as he swung his lightsaber at his head. Unlike Sing, very few flaws could be detected in his form. He angled his lightsaber up, using his right ankle while extending the left, sending demolishing attacks. Luke caught his blade with Soresu, absorbing each of his attacks with precision.
Luke extended his hand forward, and Sidious cringed, dropping his lightsaber and clutching his chest. Luke intended to break his focus through the Force, a move dangerously close to the Dark Side without giving in to it. But, of course, this failed. Sidious roared and tossed nearby wires at Luke, causing him to drop his attack.
Sidious was lunging forward the next moment, lightsaber extended forward. Luke parried all of Sidious's attacks and countered. The Sith's eyes widened briefly in astonishment, taking a step back and then another as Skywalker was no longer holding back.
Down and down, Sidious was brought. Skywalker slammed the possessed Palliduvan down, knocking the blade to the side, his lightsaber angled at the possessed throat.
"Let her go, Sidious," Luke said, his voice reinforced by the Force itself. "Let her go."
Sidious looked panicked. "Never. You have a ultimatum here. Try to save her. Or, save your friends." Sidious retorted, the Dark Side trembling at his fingertips as it reignited his power.
Sidious lunged forward, swinging for a strike at his throat yet again. Luke dodged under the red blade, frowning in sadness.
He'd wanted to save her...
But he'd known that taking too much time here could doom the entirety of Naboo...
Skywalker knew what he had to do. As Sidious's blade came around again, lightsaber spinning to Luke's green blade, he shoved her petite form back with his body, his lightsaber battering against the possessed hunter with far greater intensity and brutalization. Sidious fell back on his knees once again, teeth gritted, lightsaber barely sustaining against Luke's advances.
The Dark Side flooded from the posses in red waves. Sidious reacted just in time as Skywalker swung the last devastating strike-pulling his essence away from Aurra Sing. At the same time, Luke impaled her through the thigh. She gasped and toppled forward, dead before she hit the floor. He breathed in and out, allowing the guilt to wash over him.
The remaining anger that lingered in his heart didn't fade, not instantly. It was far too righteous, far too deep, for it to be removed, and the Force allowed him to have it. Luke reached his snapping point. As he fumbled into the Force, it was only due to years of familiar sensations through the Force that he was able to prevent a shout of frustration. The Republic, Old or New, was not a nation or even a state. It was a confederation. Too many factions within have clashing interests. They could have avoided all of this!
Later, Luke decided at that moment, as the point where any chance for him to fight and preserve for a Reformed Republic, instead of a benevolent Empire, died, betrayed by the Senate. Once, he would have been horrified at that. He would have felt ashamed, and to an extent, he still did. Now...
After everything.
Now, Luke was done looking through rose-colored views that weren't reality. Democracy and morality were a sweet thing. They were also unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Images of Anakin Skywalker, Anakin Solo, Chewie, of the death toll of the Vong War, flooded his mind, and his face flashed with determination.
But of course, there were hindrances.
Like Sidious...
Maul too.
Even the Jedi if Tiin, Mundi, and Rancisis were anything to go by.
Nothing kriffed over the Sith quite as much as a victory. Without some opposition to keep him on his toes, since the Jedi were destroyed, and Vader was a broken tool unable to challenge him, Palpatine let himself go until he became the one who stagnated, who was indulging the Tarkin Doctrine, among others which decreased the Emperor's reputation...
Sidious at this point was different. He had not yet been in a position of power. It was heading that way with the corruptible mess of the Republic's politics, and now this Naboo crisis to fuel his popularity. But, at this time, the Sith had thousands of enemies.
But it would not be without consequences. Far too many times, Sidious violated the Force, violated peace and harmony, and corrupted even the brightest of souls with his darkness.
Luke would bring peace to this karking galaxy, would prevent this version of his family and friends from suffering in the long run, would save as many lives as possible, only to build something new among the ashes of the Republic and this Jedi Order...