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Author Topic: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter Twenty-Three/Epilogues 17/08/2006. Complete)
_JM_  1806 posts
Registered: Jun '01
6324_Porkins
Date Posted: 3/15/06 11:44am Subject: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter Twenty-Three/Epilogues 17/08/2006. Complete) - Date Edited: 8/16/06 5:25pm (24 edits total) Edited By: _JM_
Title: Return of a Jedi
Author: _JM_ with acknowledgements to Timothy Zahn for the original plot bunny.
Timeframe: RotJ +
Characters: Vader, Emperor Palpatine, Leia Organa, Admiral Piett, Gilad Pellaeon, others.
Genre: AU multi-part
Keywords:
Summary: Darth Vader collapses on the bridge of the Executor as visions through the force overwhelm him. He realises his son has been killed and Palpatine is responsible for ordering this.
Notes: When reading the Return of the Jedi: Infinities comic I enjoyed it but felt that an older idea for how Return of the Jedi could have changed, as invented by Timothy Zahn in the Thrawn Trilogy, would have been more interesting in some ways. Once my mind started working on how the consequences of the scenario could play out I ended up with enough ideas and notes for it to be worth taking further.
Hopefully I will be able to keep a reasonable posting schedule with this. I had intended to write most or all of the story before posting any of it but given how much personal problems have delayed work on this I'm taking a chance and starting posting before I have that much of a buffer.



Part One

Chapter One.

Heat.

Twin Suns.

Desert.

Tatooine!

Movement.

Somersault.

Confidence.

Confusion.

Fighting

Pain.

Death!

LUKE!

"My Lord?"

Vader slowly realised where he was. He was on the bridge of the Executor, one knee resting on the deck where he'd been forced down by the power of the visions that had burned through his mind. He was acutely aware of his prosthetics, as he hadn't been for years, as they were the only parts of his body that were not aching in sympathy with the mental blow. Standing over him was Admiral Piett, one hand twitching slightly as he hesitated whether to dare touch the Dark Lord of the Sith.

"My Lord," Piett repeated, trying to decide how to ask if Vader needed help without insulting him, "are you... do you..."

Vader stood, one gauntlet pressing to the brow of his helmet, and loomed over Piett silently for a few moments as he gathered his thoughts. Piett's nervousness increased as Vader remained silent and the Admiral began to wonder if he, and the rest of the bridge crew, were about to be killed to hide the Dark Lord's moment of weakness.

"Thank you for your concern Admiral," Vader rumbled, "you may go about your duties."

"Ye-es My Lord," Piett replied in surprise before hurriedly retreating.

Vader turned back to gaze at the partially completed second Death Star and the greenness of the Forest Moon it and his flagship orbited. Waking visions were rare for any Force sensitive and those of the strength of what had flooded his thoughts were almost unprecedented. Two things only were certain. The first was that the images did not have the feel of something that was yet to happen, the events he'd seen had occurred and could not be changed. The second was that this meant that his son was dead and nothing he did could bring Luke back.

He needed to learn more, to mediate on the images and try to bring them fully into focus rather than being blurred impressions. Vader turned and strode from the bridge, noticing even in his distracted state how Piett glanced up nervously as he passed him. Piett's expression showed his fears and Vader realised suddenly just how appropriate that fear would normally be. Surprise nearly broke his stride as he realised just how strange his immediate reaction had been. As a Sith he should have crushed Piett's throat for his insolence in noticing his collapse, not felt actual gratitude for his subordinate's concern. Something very strange had happened and the sooner he reached his quarters to meditate and restore his mental balance the better.

The hyperbaric chamber often seemed like a prison as its thick walls closed and cut him off from the outside world but today it was more like sanctuary. Vader felt like he had shed a shell that had been growing increasingly tight, relieved at no longer being confined but vulnerable until his new defences hardened. Ignoring the automated systems as they did their tasks he turned his attention inwards, enhancing his short term memory and seeking more insight from the Force.

Meditation had always been difficult for him. For most Jedi it was like gazing into an open fire to see shapes in the flames but for Anakin Skywalker it had been like looking straight at a sun. For Vader it was different, he could see more subtleties now when he meditated but the fact his inner sight was no longer so overwhelmed reminded him of how his connection to the Force had been dimmed, and brought back remembered hate and resentment over his injuries. The irony that he had only gained the level of mastery he'd have required to filter his inner sight when this was no longer so necessary was not lost on Vader.

What also was not lost on him was how much he had loved his son and how much he desired revenge. They had barely met but their matched strength in the Force had let them know each other on a deep instinctive level. A bond had been formed and through that bond the visions had flowed and through that bond he had felt Luke die as powerfully across the light years as he had felt his mother die in his arms. A small voice of caution reminded him though that it had been feeling his mother die and avenging her with the slaughter of the Tuskens that had led him here to Vader's armour. Releasing his rage, however justifiable that rage was, had been one of the first major steps from the man he had been to what he had become.

Vader's meditation broke as he realised what he was thinking, behind his mask his jaw dropped as he noticed that the part of him that was Anakin Skywalker, that he had been trying to purge and suppress for decades, was no longer skulking in the recesses of his mind. For a brief moment Vader had known his son's mind and felt the goodness and compassion resonate with parts of him he had thought lost.

He was not Anakin Skywalker but, somehow, he was not Darth Vader any more either- he was both. Anakin would have tried to control his desire for revenge, even if this control failed as with the Tuskens, rather than being filled with a grim determination. Darth Vader would have denied his grief and the love he'd felt for Luke and justified revenge through supposedly wounded pride rather than admit his true feelings.

For the first time in decades he felt whole, no longer split between a public persona and his inner self. Between the hard invulnerable shell of Darth Vader and the wounded soft flesh of the man within. Even as a Jedi he had felt a separation between the image of calm detachment he was meant to project and how much he cared about those around them, be they people, animals, or even droids. This separation had only worsened with his acceptance of the Sith ways and the strain had begun to tell as the years passed. Dormant feelings had made themselves known, like gases released from a long stagnant pond, as Luke had disturbed Vader's delicate balance and they rose.

Vader clamped down on his mental shielding. It was probably too late and had probably been far too late even when he was still kneeling in shock on the Executor's bridge, but until he knew what he had become he did not want his master, the Emperor, to learn of the change in him. The priority, for now, was to learn more of the circumstances of Luke's death. Vader was sure that his son had been on Tatooine and that the only thing that could have taken him there was concern for the smuggler in the same way as that concern had drawn him to Cloud City.

That meant that disgusting corpulent slug Jabba had probably been involved since he had been given possession of the smuggler. Vader nodded to himself as this suspicion was confirmed as he recovered more of the images and recognised Jabba's sail barge. That did not answer the most important question though and seeking the answer Vader tried to concentrate on the parts of the vision coloured by surprise and confusion. If he could see those in more detail then he might discover just how such an unworthy opponent, so pitiful a foe, had defeated Luke.

'Yes,' Vader thought, as more came into focus, 'Luke was over the Sarlacc pit, the signal was given, and suddenly his new lightsaber was arcing towards him and Luke had turned and was somersaulting over the guards to meet it.'

Pride at his son's grace and at his accomplishment in constructing a new lightsaber disrupted the vision for a moment, but then Vader felt his son's shock as the lightsaber changed direction. Another Force grip, weaker but more skilled, slipped between Luke's and his weapon and took hold. Luke tried to regain his grip but the other Force user deflected his attempts, parrying them aside or making the lightsaber slip through Luke's mental fingers as if it had been oiled. Timing had been crucial, Luke would only have had a moment to catch his lightsaber before the guards turned. Now he only had that same moment to glance across to follow the lightsaber's path before he had to attack the guards bare handed and hope to catch them off balance.

Vader felt fresh pride in Luke, even an experienced Jedi of the Old Order might have wasted more time in shock rather than adapting so quickly to the situation, but this pride was buried under his other feelings. Where Luke had felt puzzlement at why his Force grip had slipped and surprise at what he saw Vader felt a rage like he had not felt since Mustafar when he'd thought Padmé had betrayed him. Luke had not understood why or how that redheaded woman had diverted his weapon but Vader knew both. He recognised Mara Jade, the Emperor's Hand, and he knew she would not have acted other than on orders from her master. Without Jade's actions, Vader could feel intuitively, Jabba could not have succeeded so the blame was clear.

The Emperor had killed his son and now the Emperor must pay. It would be wise to take a cautious approach, to explore the changes Luke's death had wrought in him, to build his strength and prepare himself. Charging headlong into a confrontation with his former master would have little chance of success...

'Kriff,' Vader thought as he surrendered to the inevitable and opened an audio channel to the bridge to order Piett to prepare a shuttle.

===

Yoda opened his eyes and looked around what had been his home for more than twenty years. Something strange had happened, Luke was dead but somehow the Force was telling Yoda that Luke had fulfilled the role it had written for him. Something had happened, something that meant he did not need to stave off death for a few extra months, maybe a year, in the hope that the other twin could be drawn to him for training. His task was complete.

He could rest, forever sleep, allow himself to become one with the Force and its mysteries. Yoda could feel that transcending the crude matter of his existence was the right thing to do as well as being what he had wanted for many years. Calmly Yoda shuffled across towards his bed, to settle down and wait for the death he had not feared on a personal level for decades. To finally join the other Jedi and feel their presence, and to apologise for how his decisions had led to their deaths.

===

The doors slid open and Vader stepped into the throne room on the second Death Star, struck afresh by how this resembled the General's Quarters in which Palpatine had supposedly been held hostage on the Invisible Hand. Like then Palpatine was alone and unguarded, unlike then Vader knew that did not make him vulnerable as he knew Palpatine for the Sith Master he was.

"I have been expecting you," Palpatine sneered from the shadows of his hood, adding when he felt Vader's slight surprise, "you did not truly think you could succeed in hiding your intentions from me?"

"You know why I am here," Vader stated.

"Of course," Palpatine said with a sniff of contempt, "though you have no chance of success. A slave you were born, and a slave you will remain or you will die."

Vader declined a verbal response, instead simply snatching his lightsaber from his belt and throwing it backwards. The blade snapped into existence as it flew and Vader guided it with the Force in a tight arc across the join of the doors, melting and welding them together. As the lightsaber returned though it stopped, it didn't divert and wasn't deflected, it just stopped. One pale withered hand had risen from the arm of the chair and the Emperor had seized it in a Force grip that was as strong as it was lacking in subtlety.

"That," Palpatine chided, "my once apprentice, is the weapon of a Sith. Something you are no longer worthy of."

The grip tightened, metal designed to resist the worst Vader's bionic grip could inflict crumpled like flimsiplast, and with a flash of discharge the power cell ruptured and the lightsaber exploded. Small components and the focussing crystal sprayed from either end of the grip and the Emperor dropped the mangled remains. Vader had not paused to watch this but instead had started forward towards the still seated figure of his enemy.

Almost casually the Emperor made another gesture and Force Lightning crackled across the gap still separating them and into the advancing Vader. Pain ripped through the former Sith as he tried to deflect and absorb the attack as he had the smuggler's blaster bolts on Bespin. Energy crackled across the surface of his skin and his armour and through Vader's prosthetics.

But the critical words were surface and through. Vader had long anticipated this confrontation and had carefully crafted his armour and artificial legs to provide easy paths for energy to follow. It was not as effective as he had hoped but enough of the Emperor's attack flowed harmlessly down into the deckplates for Vader to only be staggered rather than instantly incapacitated.

Vader could feel the pressure building inside him as the energy he was absorbing from the Emperor's attack built up, so he released that into a telekinetic counterattack. Almost any other opponent would have been smashed back and through the window into space but the Emperor had enough power to counter those thrusts and still redouble the intensity of his Force Lightning. There was a muted clanging like metal on metal as air was compressed between Vader's thrusts and the Emperor's shield.

The pain was immense and part of Vader simply wanted to give up, to curl up on the deck and die, but pain was something he lived with every day. It was no stranger and nothing to be feared. He let his pain fuel his rage, if he was to die here then it mattered little if the glimmer of light he had discovered within himself was extinguished again. More lightning flowed into him and Vader launched more and more telekinetic attacks, his preference was a direct attack but now he switched tactics.

Each thrust now came in from a different angle, with a different power, and in different combinations of attack like the darting arms of a demon squid. The Emperor disdained subtlety and simply created a wide shield rather than trying to parry individual thrusts, but however sufficient his power he grew weary of this conflict. If Vader wished to absorb his Force Lightning and throw it back at him then the Emperor saw no need to help him in this.

A tingle of warning gave Vader just enough time to gather his own defences before a massive telekinetic attack slammed into them. As with his defence the Emperor saw no need to be elegant, his attack was a simple direct one but incredibly powerful in its simplicity. Vader barely managed to deflect the incredibly powerful attack, he knew he had little chance of doing more than turning the thrust aside, and deckplates crumpled as they took the diverted impact. The Emperor thrust again and again Vader managed to send this aside to spend itself on the material of the Throne Room. Another attack and yet more metal tore with a screech.

Within the shadows of his hood yellow teeth gleamed as the Emperor smiled in satisfaction and gave a low cackle of glee at finally having a chance to face a personal challenge again. Dominating the Galaxy with your armed forces and political machinations was all very well, but he'd been anticipating this fight for decades. Palpatine smiled again as he sensed how hard pressed Vader was, deflecting his attacks was taking all his former apprentice's power and concentration.

Suddenly Vader took a step forward, the sort of lurching stride he'd not taken since the days following his installation in the suit. Puzzlement creased the Emperor's already deeply wrinkled brow as he tried to sense how this was possible, but then realisation dawned. Vader had programmed his bionics to carry him forward and into striking range. The Emperor felt no desire to see what else Vader had programmed his limbs to do, it was time to end this farce and show Vader how little chance he had truly had.

The attacks ceased and Vader felt a moment of hope that the Emperor was tiring before he felt the shift of focus to behind him. With casual ease the doors he had welded shut ripped free of each other and their frame and thudded to the deck. Almost before the way was clear two Royal Guardsmen, the same two that would have normally been in the throne room, rushed through the doorway and at Vader. For all their speed and training though they were only human, by the time they reached Vader he had turned with surprising agility and was ready for their attack.

One Guardsman swung his bladestaff low at Vader's legs while the other leapt into the air to swing down at Vader's neck and head. His battle with the Emperor had only been brief but it had been very intense and Vader found it hard to gather enough concentration and enough of the Force to do more than anticipate the Guardsmen's attacks and enhance his own speed and strength slightly.

One black gauntlet stabbed upwards and with his Force-enhanced reflexes Vader caught the shaft of the second guards bladestaff before the blade could descend. Simultaneously he stepped forward into the other attack so that impact also came from the shaft rather than the blade of the weapon. As a tactic both would have been unwise for most people as even a Wookie or a Trandoshan would have suffered a broken leg and a shattered hand. Vader's prosthetics were more durable though and there was a muted clang as metal struck the metal within the leather. Even so the power of the blow to his leg was, if nothing else, enough to sweep Vader's feet out from under him.

Vader had anticipated this though and used the extra impetus the blow and his fall gave him to help throw himself to the left. He whipped the bladestaff in his right hand and the Guardsman holding the other end of it around, adding extra power to the momentum of that Guardsman's attack. The Guardsman lost his grip, thudding to the deck and tumbling in a swirl of red robes. Even as his comrade fell however the first Guardsman had continued the motion of his own bladestaff and stabbed the other end down towards Vader's back, which he had exposed in twisting his body.

The bladestaff made contact, but so did the one in Vader's hand and with more effect. Stabbing back past his own body Vader had driven the bladestaff he held into the Guardsman, robbing the Guardsman's attack of power and precision. With a savage motion Vader tore the blade free and the Guardsman collapsed with a hole torn through his armour and abdomen.

As Vader stood so did the second Guardsman, for a moment they faced each other until the Guardsman dove to the attack again. Vader disdained to use the bloodied bladestaff, instead with the speed and precision only the Force could provide he twisted away from the Guards attack and smashed his left gauntlet into his opponent's faceplate. There was a crack as the faceplate, and the Guards neck, broke under the impact. Vader whirled and threw the bladestaff with all his strength and as much of a telekinetic boost as he could manage straight at the Emperor. The blur streaked across the throne room as if the bladestaff had been fired from some cannon.

Suddenly there was no blur, no bladestaff, instead there was a cloud of tiny metal fragments hanging in mid-air. The Emperor took a moment to savour the situation and smile complacently at Vader before the fragments reversed course. Vader felt like he had been caught in a Tatooine sandstorm as the fingernail sized chunks of razor sharp metal pelted against him, scratching his helmet lenses and biting into the padded outer fabric of his armour. He fought the disorientating effect of this barrage, but too late as the control panel on his sternum flattened under an impact powerful enough to break some of his real ribs and bend the metal of his artificial and sparks erupted from his chestplate. Vader flew backwards onto the floor, he coughed and could taste blood in his mask as the backup systems of his respirator tried to compensate and help him breathe again.

"You pathetic fool," the Emperor sneered down at Vader, casually reaching out with the Force to crush the spines of the Guardsmen and kill them for their failure. "You have always been weak, but I am glad that you have weakened enough to care for others. This gives me another way to inflict pain on you for your treachery."

Vader tried to speak, to rage at the Emperor over who had been treacherous to who, to ask what the Emperor expected when he had killed his son, but all he could do was wheeze impotently. Palpatine smiled again, relishing this helplessness before he pressed a button on the arm of his throne.

"Open a channel to the fleet, save for the Executor, Moff Jerjerrod," the Emperor commanded.

"Ah, yes my lord," Jerjerrod replied, "channel open."

"Treason has infested even the highest reaches of the Empire," Palpatine began, enjoying the chance to make a speech and watch his captive audience react. "Those who we could consider the most loyal have sought only their own desires, have betrayed the Empire for nothing better than personal motives rather than any greater ideal. This will not be tolerated, all traitors shall be burned out like the disease they are..."

Vader realised what the Emperor intended, how he was going to punish the supposed treachery, and lost a moment in shock and then a moment more in surprise both at his own feelings and surprise that anything the Emperor did could actually still shock him. Vader focussed through the pain and lack of oxygen reaching his ruined lungs through his damaged respirator and cast his mind outwards.

===

The bridge of the Executor was quiet, Imperial discipline keeping and discussion of Lord Vader's strange behaviour until after the end of the shift. Admiral Piett was dealing with some of the thousand and one routine matters a ship the side of his threw up each day when in mid sentence he faltered. A strange distracted expression came onto his face as he straightened away from the console he'd been leaning down towards.

"Sir?" said the puzzled Lieutenant that Piett had been talking too as Piett's expression changed to one of horror.

"Helmsman, maximum rate yaw to port, clockwise roll, full reverse," Piett shouted, emotion tingeing his voice rather than professional calm.

"Sir?" replied the helmsman, echoing the Lieutenant.

"Now!" Piett snapped.

"Aye sir"

"Engineer, concentrate maximum shields starboard dorsal."

"Aye sir, maximum shields starboard dorsal," confirmed the bridge engineering officer, thankful that the Admiral had given the helm order first so the next set of orders wasn't such a surprise.

The bridge crew had just long enough to wonder what was going on, to wonder if Admiral Piett had cracked, when a brilliant green beam the width of a small starship lit the bridge with its sidescatter. The more alert of the bridge crew realised the Death Star had fired on them, the less alert wondered what was going on as the ship bucked and those not seated and strapped in acquainted themselves with the deck.

The yaw to port had swung the Executor away from the beam, the clockwise roll had reduced their target profile by making them more edge on, and the full reverse had slowed them so the strike was further forward where the ship was narrower. What could have been a direct hit was converted to "only" a graze but to the power of a Death Star the shields Piett had ordered concentrated were as insubstantial as mist. Effortlessly the superlaser beam pierced them and sliced deep into the SSDs hull. A great mile long flaming wound was ripped from the Executor's flank, pushing the whole mighty ship sideways in reaction to the expanding cloud of rapidly condensing vapour that had been solid armour and spaceframe only a fraction of a second before.

All around that wound secondary explosions rippled across the Executor as the tiny fraction of that superheated cloud that had forced its way back into the ship rushed through corridors and passageways. Even as it cooled and the metal vapour re-solidified it was still hotter than a furnace. Doors warped and gave way, decompressing yet more of the ship and letting the fury of the explosion devour yet more of the crew. Walls melted, exposing power conduits that fused and exploded. Turbolaser capacitors and missile magazines over heated and added their destructive force to the devastation.

Piett picked himself up off the deck and looked around the bridge, pleased to see his people already resuming their stations.

"Helm, engineering, prepare for emergency hyperspace," Piett ordered.

The engineer half turned as if to protest, but seeing the look on Piett's face thought better of this and turned back to his console. Damage control reports began to come in, the Executor's crew reacting with impressive speed to the almost totally unexpected attack. Piett felt a moment of pride in his crew, followed by sadness at how many of them must have just died. They had not been on alert so the blast doors, which would have helped contain and minimise the secondary damage, had been open and none of the emergency teams had been prepared.

A Lieutenant, the one Piett had been talking too before all this, offered him a datapad. Piett accepted it and looking at the initial estimate of the damage had to control a wince at how much had been caused by such a glancing blow. They couldn't take another hit like that, and it was unlikely that a second attack could be as nearly evaded. More likely it would be a direct hit and that would be the end of the Executor.

===

The Emperor stared out with hatred at where there was still a Super Star Destroyer where there should be nothing but debris. He had decreed that ship should die so why it hadn't was a mystery until he heard Jerjerrod's justifiably nervous voice stammering an explaination.

"My, my lord," Jerjerrod was saying, "the Executor carried out last moment evasive manoeuvres. We are recharging for a second shot."

The Emperor leaned down towards the audio pickup, an even sourer expression than usual on his ravaged face. "It had better be more on target," he almost snarled.

"Yes, yes my Lord," Jerjerrod replied, his fear of the Emperor waxing higher than ever.

The Emperor though for a moment and then realised that Piett could not have anticipated the attack. He must have been warned and there was only one possibility for who warned him. Not only had his apprentice sought to kill him, and not even for reasons worthy of a Sith, but now he had further defied the desires of his master. This insolence would be intolerable were it not for the fact that he planned to kill Vader slowly anyway. Suddenly the Executor leapt away into hyperspace and the Emperor's rage reached a peak.

"You did this!" the Emperor said accusingly, turning his throne to face back into the room again. Vader declined to reply as having regained some control of his breathing he was too busy crawling away.

The sight of Vader on his hands and knees was sweet to the Emperor and he enjoyed it for a long moment before standing from his throne and bringing his hands up. His fingers curved into claws and Force Lightning again joined them, but this time the Emperor could sense it hurting Vader more. With his injuries and fatigue Vader's ability to absorb or channel the energy of the attack was low and one leg began to spasm as the control circuits failed under the barrage.

"You pitiful wreck," the Emperor sneered, stepping forward to get a better view. "You proved your weakness by wasting your time and energy warning Piett. Crawling is a very appropriate thing for you to be doing, slave."

Vader suddenly dropped from his hands and knees and rolled sideways. Force Lightning crackled harmlessly into the deckplates. The Emperor shifted his aim but before he could resume the assault he saw Vader vanish over the edge of the reactor shaft and plummet out of view. That did not seem survivable but as the Emperor moved cautiously forward, wary of a trap, although he could no longer sense Vader's Force presence neither had he sensed his death. Whether Vader was concealing himself, despite his injuries, or had managed to die quietly the Emperor was not sure but he was not going to assume Vader was dead until they'd found, forensically tested, and then dismembered the body.


EDIT: Glad I decided to use the RotJ novel for reference for alternate Battle of Endor. Now I know I should have typed Jerjerrod not Jerrojold and Sarlacc not Saarlac. Shame I noticed those at different times rather than being able to do both corrections in one edit. silly

 

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Return of a Jedi. http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/23421597
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SHADOW_MASTER_W  156 posts
Registered: Jan '05
17804_Jedi
Date Posted: 3/15/06 12:12pm Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter One 15/03/2006)
Now this is good writing!! I like a realistic depiction of a fight between Vader and the Emperor!

I wonder if Leia will be in on this at some point?

PM me for update if you please.

 

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Tych_sel  3920 posts
Registered: Nov '01
48895_Luke Skywalker (71909)
Date Posted: 3/15/06 5:26pm Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter One 15/03/2006)
Excellent beginning, _JM_. So it took Luke's death in this AU to bring about Anakin's rebirth. It's interesting, since I think it was Luke's near-death that brought Ani back in the films. Loved the battle between Vader and Sidious, especially the detail you've gone into on how Vader had prepared for just about everything Sidious could throw at him. I'm just waiting to see what the Dark Lord's plan was, falling off the bridge over the reactor shaft.

Force be with you,

Tych_sel

 

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LadyLunas  545 posts
Registered: Aug '05
19077_Princess Leia
Date Posted: 3/15/06 8:14pm Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter One 15/03/2006)
This is a most auspacious beginning to a most interesting AU.

Now all I have are questions. happy Questions are good. It means I want to read more.

I look foward to reading about the different reactions from those on the Rebel side. I guess Vader went down the reactor shaft to try and escape somehow to get to a shuttle bay and get to Tatooine to find out what else happened there.

I look forward to your next chapter.

 

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astarael  652 posts
Registered: Jan '05
23549_Anakin Skywalker
Date Posted: 3/15/06 9:06pm Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter One 15/03/2006)
Great begining!

I can't wait to see what happens next. please post again soon!

 

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Elana  427 posts
Registered: Jun '05
42078_Bail Organa
Date Posted: 3/15/06 9:28pm Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter One 15/03/2006)
Oh, what an interesting AU. I like this. I'll be eagerly waiting to read more.

 

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padawan lunetta  12397 posts
Registered: May '99
39909_Jack Sparrow
Date Posted: 3/15/06 9:45pm Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter One 15/03/2006)
Ooh nice start JM Though...though...YOU KILLED MY LUKIE???? sad NIce twist but but...:'( Wonderfully written though...

excellent work! happy

Need.More.NOW!!!

 

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_JM_  1806 posts
Registered: Jun '01
6324_Porkins
Date Posted: 3/17/06 7:37pm Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter One 15/03/2006)
SHADOW_MASTER_W: Leia will only be making cameo appearances for a while but (as most people will have anticipated) will be important to the second half.

Tych_sel: One of Vader’s complaints in Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader was how badly designed his prosthetics were so it seems fair to assume that over the twenty plus years he’d have done to his bionics what Han did to the Falcon, externally almost identical but with a lot of special modifications. happy

LadyLunas: Tatooine? Why would Vader, with what he knows, go there? He knows Luke is dead and he knows who was responsible. What else is there on that sandball that he could possibly care about enough to go there? tongue

Or to put it another way we know why Vader should go there, but he doesn’t.

astarael: I was going to try to keep to a weekly schedule rather than possibly having a flurry of posts and then a dry spell. Depending on progress on Chapter Three (everything is planned out, some chapters in more detail than others) I might post Chapter Two before the 22nd.

Elana: I thought it was an interesting AU when I read Luke’s vision in Heir to the Empire of Mara snatching his lightsaber, I just hope I can do it justice.

padawan lunetta: I didn’t kill your Lukie, that was Mara (or Timothy Zahn, depending on your point of view). I did kill a lot of other people though, even excluding the tens of thousands of nameless Imperial extras.

And I may as well say this here, since the only witnesses in the story would be Jabba’s guards and they can’t be relied on for accuracy. Luke is dead, and is staying dead. I know Boba Fett survived the Sarlacc in RotJ, but he went in like a wimp. Luke on the other hand, even without a lightsaber, is rather less simple to defeat.
Whatever Jabba's taunts about the ease of the execution by the time Luke, and the others, went into the Sarlacc’s maw they were too badly wounded for even the Sarlacc to keep them alive for a thousand years feeding on their minds...so it just finished them off and made a future appointment with the business end of a turbolaser cannon.

 

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VaderLVR64  30945 posts
Title: Manager Emeritus
 Registered: Feb '04
49060_Obi-Wan Kenobi (811092)
Date Posted: 3/17/06 8:13pm Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter One 15/03/2006)
Wow! What a great idea for an AU! grin Please PM when you update if you are keeping a list.

Loved how Luke's death has impacted Vader. I love a good Vader fic, and you've got yourself a treasure going here! applause

 

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Chewie-Fan  537 posts
Registered: Jul '05
17461_Millennium Falcon
Date Posted: 3/18/06 10:59am Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter One 15/03/2006)
Luke is dead? shock

Interesting... very interesting...

 

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[link=http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=26803741&brd=10477&start=27383794]Lost in the Stars[/link]
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_JM_  1806 posts
Registered: Jun '01
6324_Porkins
Date Posted: 3/20/06 12:52am Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter Two 20/03/2006)
VaderLVR64: Coming from the Lady Vader herself to call this a treasure is quite a complement.

Chewie-Fan: Yes, Luke is dead…though from your user name I’d think you’d care more about another member of the rescue party.

Managed to get Chapter Three (Battle of Endor) done, so here is Chapter Two. Next post might be the 22nd or I might leave it until the 23rd to space things out a little more. Depends on how much progress I make on Chapter Four.


Chapter Two

"Captain Antilles?"

With an effort Wedge dragged his attention back to the meeting and away from his private thoughts. Shifting slightly in his seat he met the calm gaze of the leader of the Rebel Alliance Mon Mothma. He hoped she hadn't had to speak more than once to get his attention, but once he'd finished his very minor part of Admiral Ackbar's presentation he'd let his mind wander.

"Yes ma'am?" Wedge asked.

"Has there been any word from Commander Skywalker or Princess Leia?"

Wedge blinked in surprise. He knew Luke as the first of the New Jedi and Leia as the daughter of one of Mon Mothma's oldest allies and a leader in her own right were important to the Rebel Alliance but he hadn't expected their absence to be raised at such a high level meeting. They were discussing a full-scale attack by the majority of the Alliance's fleet on a Death Star and the Emperor, something that could break either the Empire or the Alliance or both. Luke especially was such a nice guy and so modest it was hard to raise him up to such an exalted level of importance.

"No ma'am," Wedge replied, wondering whether to say more.

"Should we be concerned?" Mon Mothma asked, picking up on Wedge's expression.

"I don't know," Wedge said, picking his words with care, "I don't know the details of their plans."

"But?" Mon Mothma pressed.

"But," Wedge admitted, "we should have heard from them. If their plans had hit a delay they'd have let us know. More likely they'd have come back to the fleet, they know what is at stake and...as much as I wish I could have helped rescue Han, Captain Solo, he has been frozen in carbonite for months so another week or two of it wouldn't change things."

"You seem to have given this a lot of thought Captain," Mon Mothma said, a subtle reproof in her tone over the fact he'd been giving a lot of thought during the meeting rather than listening.

"Yes ma'am"

"The situation is intolerable," General Cracken put in suddenly, "possibly the most critical engagement of the Rebellion and we are denied the services of some of our top people."

Wedge stirred, but before he could make a career ending reply Admiral Ackbar placed one restraining flippered hand on Wedge's arm. "Are you suggesting they should have abandoned their friend, General?" Ackbar asked.

"Not at all Admiral," Cracken replied, "in fact quite the opposite. I'm suggesting that had we supplied a commando team or other force to help them secure Captain Solo we would not now be having this discussion."

"You understand the reasons General, Admiral," Mon Mothma turning to Cracken and Ackbar in turn who each made a very similar grumble of agreement despite the species difference. "Let us hope our fears are unjustified, and may the Force be with them as well as us."

Wedge also understood the reasons, though he found them hard to care about compared with the safety of his friends. It was important to not make an enemy of the Hutts by making it an officially supported Alliance operation, both because of the Hutts themselves and how it would affect relations with other fringe elements. The smugglers in particular had become more and more wary as the influence of the Mon Calamari in the Alliance had increased.

That didn't stop Wedge from having a brief and pleasant daydream of landing a Corellian Corvette on Jabba's Palace though.

===

Vader probed the insides of his right calf with his remaining fingers and the Force, testing, adjusting, tinkering until it felt right or as right as it was going to get without a full rebuild. Experimentally he rotated the foot, he lacked fine control but it would support him and it was past time that he needed to get moving again. Vader pulled the boot back on over the prosthetic, which felt even more like clumsy lump on the end of his flesh than normal, and ran a quick assessment of his state.

The Force told him he was exhausted, injured, and near to collapse. His armour systems told him a similar tale of his mechanical parts. The only part of him, flesh or machine, which was working anywhere near normal was his right hand. Even as he started to fall Vader had realised he would need to keep that relatively intact if he was to have any chance of repairing his other prosthetics. Looking at the mangled wreck that decision had made of his left hand, the bare metal glinting through the shredded gauntlet and all but the thumb and little finger ripped away as he'd dug the strong artificial fingers into the wall of the shaft to slow his fall, Vader did wonder if he'd been right. If using both hands would, by spreading the strain, have prevented either hand from being nearly destroyed or if they'd have both ended up in that condition rather than just his left.

Quietly Vader moved out into the shadows and almost seemed to merge with them. If he stepped too loudly then those that heard dismissed it as unimportant, if he was glimpsed out of the corner of an eye then he was not noticed, if he needed to cross a corridor then somehow nobody was looking that way. The crew of the Death Star knew they should be looking out for Darth Vader, but Darth Vader never crept through the passageways like that. Darth Vader strode down the middle of the corridor, head held high, cloak swirling, respirator announcing his approach and woe to any that did not clear from his path.

Vader seized on that difference and amplified it so that it became almost inconceivable for the two images to be reconciled. As he got closer to his destination though this became increasingly difficult as the security level increased and the minds became more alert and focused. Vader dared not draw too deeply on the Force or the Emperor would sense his location, and he was reluctant to test his new found balance by dominating minds too strongly. Influencing the easily suggestible was one thing, making those around you puppets of your will was another.

It was with some relief that Vader finally slipped into the hangar bay and behind some crates. The guards at the entrance had not noticed the extra person following the group of technicians, and the technicians had not noticed that their group had grown and then shrunk. He'd needed to skirt the edge of what he could and would do so Vader took a few seconds to run through a mantra, centre himself, and confirm he hadn't made too many ripples. That done he looked across the hangar bay to make his choice.

There were many small ships in different stages of readiness. The easiest to steal would be one of the alert TIEs but, lacking a hyperdrive as they did, that would be pointless unless he planned to hide on the Sanctuary Moon. With orbiting above it an Imperial fleet capable of sterilising the surface, a Death Star capable of fragmenting the entire moon, and an Emperor capable of ordering either action that did not seem like a good plan or destination.

Vader reached out through the Force towards the technicians moving about, soothing their minds with the Force, calming them down so they began to feel bored, began to do their various tasks with only part of their attention. It was all routine, they'd done this all a hundred times before, nothing to worry about, when does the shift end, what's the mess hall serving today?

Gradually more and more technicians wandered across to work on a Skipray Blastboat. Panels were removed and pre-flight checks made. Deckplates slid to one side so fuel hoses could be extracted and connected to the ship. Life support systems replenished, laser and ion cannons given their initial charge, missile and torpedo launchers examined...

"What are you doing?" a petty officer asked, finally noticing the activity.

The technicians stopped and looked at each other. They looked at the tools in their hands, two of them looked at the repulsorlift pallet they were dragging with concussion missiles on it ready to be loaded. What were they doing? This wasn't the ship they were supposed to be working on. They weren't even all on the same work team so why they'd all been working on the same ship as well as the wrong ship was a mystery.

Before any of them managed to come up with an answer Vader moved. The technicians around the Blastboat collapsed as he used the pathways he'd already established into their minds to render them unconscious. The petty officer turned, one hand scrabbling for his commlink as he saw Vader emerge from behind the crates. There was a thud as a small hand tool launched itself from the deck and into the back of the petty officer's skull and then another as the man joined the others on the deck.

The other technicians who Vader had not been influencing so strongly were already rushing away to escape and he knew he could not deal with them as easily. Three options presented themselves. He could strike them down but that would require him to draw deeply on the Dark Side, revealing his location and tainting his soul again. He could let them escape but that would require him to fight at least the guards outside the door and probably their reinforcements. Or he could reach out with the Force and prevent their escape but, although he could use only the Light Side for this, that would still reveal him to the Emperor.

Door control panels exploded as telekinesis did more precisely what blaster bolts could crudely do. The technicians skidded to a halt, a couple of the faster runners having to twist to only bounce off the unresponsive doors with their shoulders rather than their faces. Vader ignored them as they wasted time in pointless chatter and in hammering their fists on the doors, spending his time instead in seizing a few of their unconscious colleagues with the Force to move them to where they would not be injured in his take off.

As the hatch of the Blastboat sealed Vader could feel the Emperor's mind narrowing its focus towards him, tracking down the scent of his mind now the Emperor knew where to look. Now he was safely sealed away inside the ship some of the braver technicians had moved back a little closer and were peering in at him or examining their friends on the floor. Trusting in the preparations he'd watched the technicians make and in the Force to warn him of danger Vader ran very quickly through the pre-flight sequence. The Skipray lifted, the rear fin rotating to the vertical flight position from the horizontal as the landing gear retracted, and with an exquisitely judged burst of power accelerated across the hangar towards the exit and space.

===

The Emperor drew himself up straighter on his throne as he felt hints of success colour what he could feel of Vader's mind. His former apprentice was proving troublesome and displaying how much he had learned from his master about the art of subtlety. Palpatine knew he'd have been killed by, or had to kill, Vader long ago if not for the marvellous favour Master Kenobi had done the Sith. An uninjured Vader in his impetuosity and raw power might have moved before he had learned all he should and, by killing his master so early, caused vital knowledge to be lost.

The fact that was no longer a problem, that he'd been able to teach Vader so much thanks to Kenobi giving him the means and ability to control him, was now irritating rather than reassuring though. The techniques Palpatine had used to conceal his power from the Jedi Council, that he had taught Vader to use to conceal himself from the Jedi he was hunting, had proved annoyingly effective even against Palpatine himself.

"Moff Jerjerrod, are you ready?" the Emperor demanded.

"Yes my lord," Jerjerrod replied.

"I want no mistakes this time," the Emperor snarled, cutting the channel before the Moff could reply.

Gazing at the stars with no appreciation of their beauty but just satisfaction their worlds belonged to him the Emperor muttered to himself. "There'll be no escape for you this time my still so young and foolish apprentice."

===

The Skipray Blastboat streaked from the hangar but, rather than flee direct, it immediately changed course to skim the surface of the Death Star. Hull plating and surface towers blurred beneath and around the fighter until they were replaced by open girderwork. Vader pulled back on the controls to curve away into space, hoping he was right that where so little else was complete so would the tractor beams be. As seconds passed without him being flung forward against his console by a sudden deceleration he knew he could relax slightly.

Of course that still left the problem of the TIEs swarming towards him. Some were dropping down towards the Death Star from the fleet while others were launching from other hangars on the surface of the station. Although durable, well armed, and long ranged the Skipray had the disadvantage of being relatively slow. At least there were no advanced model fighters amongst those moving to intercept, and the majority were standard TIE Fighters with only a few of the faster and more heavily armed Interceptors mixed in.

Vader changed course in what was either the worst piece of flying he had ever done, or was a masterfully unpredictable turn. Smoothness was wonderful for display flying but in this situation he'd rather be wobbly and jerky and harder to anticipate. The navicomputer was working hard on an escape course but it needed more time, which Vader hoped he was about to give it. Ahead of him a Star Destroyer grew as he headed towards it on an erratic course. Laser fire began to hiss around him as the lead TIEs came into range but the Star Destroyer weapons remained quiet.

The Star Destroyer he was approaching did not want to risk hitting the TIEs and the other Star Destroyers did not want to risk hitting it. Using their tractor beams was also a problem. Vader was too close to his chosen Star Destroyer for her tractor beam operators to get a good lock, and too close to her for the other Star Destroyers to grab him without also snagging their friend.

Vader wove across the surface of the Star Destroyer, laser fire zipping past him to paint the shields of the starship with virulent green impact smears. The TIEs' speed advantage was of less use to their pilots flying this close to a ship and they found that even in a Blastboat Vader was an incredibly hard target to hit. With the sheer volume of laser fire pelting down around him like a green Hoth blizzard though Vader couldn't avoid it all, gradually his shields were weakening and this would only get worse as more and more TIEs managed to close with him.

The same manoeuvres that were keeping him alive were also confusing the simple mind of the navicomputer but it was making progress and soon it would be time to make the break for hyperspace.

===

Deep in the bowels of the Death Star it was quiet and the two gunners were more than a little bored. There had been the excitement of firing the superlaser but that had been near the start of their shift and the excitement had long since worn off. Now they just wanted to get off duty, get something to eat and drink, and find out what it was they'd been shooting at. Even isolated in this duty station as they were the rumour had reached them it had been the Executor, but that seemed unlikely and...

"Are you alright?" one gunner asked his friend, noticing the strange expression that had come onto his face.

The gunner did not reply, he just sat bolt upright in his seat rather than comfortably slouching and turned to look at his questioner with an almost mechanical jerkiness. There was a blankness about his eyes and an immobility to his expression that was quite frightening. Suddenly the other gunner felt something moving about inside his skull, his thoughts disconnecting from each other, and the same lack of expression and life came to his face as it had to his friend.

The two gunners leaned forward in their seats and began running through their practised routines. All across the Death Star a similar scene repeated, crew members stiffening and then going into action like automatons. Moff Jerjerrod tried very hard to clamp down on his thoughts, his protest at having his command usurped, as if anyone had a right to do this it was the Emperor. It just hadn't been what he'd expected when the Emperor had said he was going to take personal control to deal with the situation.

For a second time the brilliant green beam linked the Death Star to a Star Destroyer but, where the Executor had mostly survived a grazing impact, the smaller ISD was almost vaporised by the direct hit. The explosion of her own reactors added virtually nothing to the violence of her destruction, instantly she was reduced to a single massive fireball that consumed everything around her and within her. Her crew didn't even have time to realise they were being attacked, let alone get to the escape pods. The TIEs found themselves engulfed by something which for a moment was as hot as the surface of a sun.

As the fireball dispersed and tiny fragments of the very toughest components such as turbolaser barrels and reactor shielding sprayed outward the Emperor's expression became even sourer. It was beneath him to care that he had just personally killed 40 000 loyal servants, but he did care that he still hadn't killed the one disloyal servant he'd been aiming for. A second time Vader had vanished, and a second time the Emperor had not had the pleasure of sensing his death.

===

Gilad Pellaeon exchanged a look with his Captain as they stood at the front of the bridge of the Chimaera. They understood each other, both were men of an older ideal and not long after Pellaeon had been assigned as first officer the Captain had extracted, over drinks, the story of why someone with Pellaeons skill and experience did not have a command of his own.

The attempt to destroy the Executor was justifiable, if barely, as it was possible that the officers and crew of Lord Vader's personal flagship would be loyal first to him and only then to the Emperor and Empire. The casualties that would have resulted from a fight between the Executor and the rest of the fleet could have been immense. The deaths on the attacking Star Destroyers greater than the number of loyal Imperials that would have survived from the Executor rather than being killed by the superlaser strike.

Turning the Death Star's firepower on a loyal ship though was abhorrent. Every member of the Imperial Fleet had made some sacrifice to be there, to serve the Empire, to uphold the rule of law, and enforce the peace. They had offered their oath and their loyalty to the Empire and now that loyalty had been repaid with death. It had been increasingly hard to reconcile the principles the Empire had supposedly been founded on with the atrocities that had been committed but always there had been a plausible explanation. Always these actions could be explained as those of misguided servants rather than those the Emperor would wish.

Having a second Death Star constructed had shaken that idea, but when concerns were raised the Emperor had been effusive in his reassurances that a Death Star under his control would not repeat the madness of Grand Moff Tarkin. That the superlaser was almost an irrelevance, something easier to leave in place in the design than to extract from it, and that the purpose of this new Death Star was to provide a mobile base. Its capacity for millions of troops and millions of tons of supplies and munitions allowing Imperial power to be projected without long vulnerable troop and supply convoys.

Now though the Emperor had shown exactly what a Death Star under his control would do. Moff Jerjerrod would not have dared to take any action without the Emperor's express permission so the chain of responsibility was clear and no longer deniable in where it led.

"Message coming in," reported the CommScan Lieutenant, "we're to move, with the rest of the fleet, to the far side of the Forest Moon."

"Acknowledged," replied the Captain, "helmsman, set your course. Gilad, we need to talk."

Pellaeon nodded and followed his Captain from the bridge, neither of them paying attention to the shifting scene outside as the fleet deployed and neither of them noticing the rather nondescript crewman whose eyes followed them with an intelligence at odds with his menial position.

===

Fragments of ice hit each other, releasing a glittering spray as they did. Under other circumstances the way these tiny particles reflected and refracted the distant sun's light would have been pretty but Admiral Piett had no attention for such distractions. Whether the Executor's surroundings were attractive or not was irrelevant, what was important was that hiding within this ringed planet's ring would conceal them from long range scans. They were in reduced power mode, as much to expedite repairs as to hide, and Piett did not like either aspect.

To skulk like some Rebel was an insult to the Executor, but his ship was grievously wounded and all commands were on alert for them. They had been declared traitors to be fired upon without warning or mercy, had gone from the pride of the fleet to the target of it. Somehow this had something to do with Lord Vader's strange behaviour and his visit to the second Death Star. Piett didn't know what Lord Vader had done, or what he'd have done if Lord Vader had shared his plans with him before his departure, but that seemed the only explanation.

Piett considered the damage and the state of repairs and wondered what to do. His engineers and technicians were good but there were limits to what could be done without the facilities of a full spacedock, and those limits fell far short of what would be needed to let them survive a coordinated fleet assault. It might be better to take the Executor out into Unknown space and trust there were no enemies there as formidable as the Imperial Fleet, carve out a new home for themselves now they could never return to their old ones.

Before anything else though they needed to complete their survey of the damaged areas. A full five-percent of his crew was unaccounted for and they needed to make sure they were not still trapped in sealed compartments. Five-percent did not sound a lot but with a crew of more than a quarter million that was twelve and a half thousand people to mourn or to rescue. Survivors were unlikely, Piett expected the best they'd find were corpses and precious few of those that hadn't been flung into space or incinerated into almost nothing.

This was going to be tough on the crew carrying out the survey but it needed to be done.

===

Slowly Leia woke, the pain in her bruised and battered body rivalling that in her heart. After they had dragged her away from Jabba he had taken almost as much pleasure in the beating his guards had given her as he had in later telling her with relish how her friends had died. There was some consolation that Jabba had learned this second hand, that even if she had not succeeded in strangling him she had at least prevented him from watching and enjoying the execution.

The obscene slug had done his best to make it sound like it had been easy but Leia had felt the truth behind Jabba's words, even with one eye puffed shut it was easy to see where he was lying. Even with a pain in her head that made it feel it was going to split apart it was easy to notice the discrepancies in his version of events. The result had been the same though, however hard they had fought and however many of Jabba's Guards they had taken with them they had been eventually driven down and into the Sarlacc.

Leia didn't know how she knew they were all dead, how she knew the Sarlacc had simply finished and eaten them rather than divert them alive to its second stomach to be absorbed and psychically fed upon for the thousand years Jabba had threatened, but she did know. Grief for Luke contested in her soul with grief for Han and both contested with guilt that she was feeling so much more grief for them than for Lando or Chewbacca.

There was a slight clatter as Jabba's medical droid approached. Now she had suffered the punishment of the beating and of a night trying to sleep with her pain, with her bruised flesh pressing against the hard cold floor of the audience chamber, she was to be treated. Jabba did not want his prize covered with unsightly bruises, he wanted her to inspire lust rather than pity when he displayed her to his rivals. He had made it clear though that would not stop him from ordering her beaten unconscious and healed as many times as it took to ensure her outward obedience.

 

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_JM_  1806 posts
Registered: Jun '01
6324_Porkins
Date Posted: 3/22/06 12:40pm Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter Three 22/03/2006) - Date Edited: 3/22/06 12:44pm (1 edits total) Edited By: _JM_
Seems like nobody noticed Chapter Two, but then I'd not remembered to send PMs and if I had then I'd have got two replies at least so I've learned my lesson about that. Here is Chapter Three, expect Chapter Four on the 29th.

Chapter Three

The Sanctuary Moon turned serenely, uncaring of events, the Death Star seeming to hover over the surface as it maintained its position above the surface shield generator. All seemed peaceful, only detailed sensor scans would reveal the diffuse clouds of various materials that had once been tens of thousands of lives and the ships that had sheltered them. The trap was set and like the lush green meadow that was actually quicksand all that remained was for it to engulf the unwary.

There was a blur as hundreds of fighters and dozens of Cruisers and smaller starships reverted from hyperspace and slowed as their speeds had to conform to the “normal” laws of physics. Ackbar checked his displays and shifted the position of his command chair to make the less accurate but instinctive visual check of his fleet’s formation. Everything appeared as planned, no starship was obviously out of position and the fighters were already spreading out ahead to screen the main body of the fleet.

Ackbar listened as the elements of his fleet reported in and confirmed their status. There was something bothering him, something missing, and then he realised what. If the Emperor himself was on this Death Star then how had he travelled here? Would the Emperor have risked his life by travelling all the way here from Coruscant in anything more vulnerable than a Star Destroyer? Would the Emperor have the patience to not require that Star Destroyer remain on station to further carry him the moment he decided to depart?

In the briefing for the commando team they had sent ahead they had told them to only send an abort code if there was a substantial Imperial fleet present, that a few Star Destroyers were to be expected and were not a problem. The absence of even one Star Destroyer patrolling the area against wayward smugglers, who could sell the information of the Death Star’s existence and location, or other minor threats was suspicious.

“Rogue Lead,” Ackbar said, opening a private channel, “this is Home One, what reading on the shield?”

===

Wedge tapped one finger on the cockpit screen, even though he knew it would have little effect on a well maintained fighter compared with a cranky freighter. Stubbornly the screen refused to clear or to settle on one set of readings. It was if his sensors were being fed false information, but since this was a surprise attack that was unlikely.

“Home One, this is Rogue Lead,” Wedge said, realising he’d been so lost in thought he’d not responded instantly to the Supreme Commander of the Alliance Military, “I get no reading.”

“You should get some reading at that range,” Ackbar replied, “unless they are jamming you?”

“They can’t be jamming sir,” Wedge said, trying a different sensor band, “they don’t know...unless they do! Recommend emergency turn.”

“Agreed,” Ackbar said, “fighters are yours.”

===

Like spray from a fountain the stream of Rebel fighters broke and curved back on itself. More ponderously the starships began their own turns, the smaller ships restricted to the agility of the larger as they maintained their relative positions. The Imperial ships Ackbar had expected to see, and more, appeared around the curve of the Sanctuary Moon and accelerated to block the Rebel fleet’s escape. Two massive groups of Imperial warships pincered in from each side, the groups spreading into curving walls to envelop the smaller fleet in a hemisphere whose base was the moon and the Death Star.

“It’s a trap,” Ackbar said, thinking aloud before continuing silently ‘but why are they trying to trap us, rather than engage? This seems a strangely unaggressive manoeuvre considering their advantages.’

“TIEs coming in Admiral,” reported the sensor officer.

“Acknowledged,” Ackbar replied, putting aside the puzzle in favour of immediate concerns, “coordinate our fire with the fighters, deploy fleet for anti-fighter defence.”

“Aye sir,” replied the communications officer.

===

Wedge’s astromech beeped as it displayed the paths the cover fire from the starships would take, and which all friendly fighters should therefore avoid passing through. That was a mixed blessing, the starship fire could be very effective and especially against fighter squadrons still in relatively tight formation but it was also one more thing to keep track of. In a dogfight of the size this was shaping up to be it could be one thing too many for some of the less experienced pilots.

He noted the smaller starships were also moving out to screen the Cruisers against the fighter attack, but not moving so far as to be unable to retreat back into the safety of the main fleet when the Star Destroyers entered firing range and could otherwise start picking them off.

“Rogue lead to Rogue group,” Wedge said, contacting Rogue Squadron and the two other X-Wing squadrons under his temporary command, “break high-low on my mark, one squadron pass on the lead Squints then break by flights and engage the Eyeballs and Dupes.”

The range dropped. “Mark”

One X-Wing squadron curved up, the other down, while the Rogues stayed on their head to head path with the TIE Interceptors. Each Rogue entered his or her own version of the “Weave”, spiralling and rolling around their base course, but somehow their different versions meshed so the squadron never lost coordination. Green laser fire began to spill from the Imperial fighters quad cannon, the Rogues holding their own fire to avoid startling the enemy pilots into starting their own evasion.

Then Imperial fighters were exploding as the crossfire of ninety-six heavy cannon took effect on their formation. The Rogues began to add their own fire to that of the other two squadrons, a less intense fire since they were more scattered and still having to evade but a more accurate one. X-Wings and TIE Interceptors hurtled past each other and then the chaos descended as the formations dissolved into dozens of individual fights.

===

The Rebel commando team glanced upwards as they heard the shift in the conversation of the Imperials around them. It was hard to hear words, distorted as the voices were by the helmets, but there was a definite note of excitement and satisfaction in the chatter.

“Eyes down Rebel Scum!” one of their guards said with enjoyment, it was something he knew he’d never tire of saying, gesturing with his blaster carbine.

The commandos obeyed, the corpses of their less obedient comrades had shown them these Imperials were happy for any excuse to reduce the number of prisoners they had to spend time and effort on guarding. They had seen enough, they had seen the flashes of laser and turbolaser fire in the sky, they knew the Alliance fleet had arrived, and they knew they had utterly failed.

With the number of troops the Empire had deployed in and around the shield generator though they didn’t see how they could have succeeded. A legion of Stormtroopers and Scoutroopers with at least one AT-AT and several AT-STs versus a single commando squad? To destroy the shield generator under those circumstances would have taken a regiment, and where on this Forest Moon they could have found that level of help none of them could imagine.

In the undergrowth an Ewok watched with interest, wondering if the corpses would be left behind and if he could convincingly pretend that he had killed one of them to provide the tribe with one of their favourite meats. The flavour was not as good if it was already dead when you started cooking it, but it would still impress the females.

===

The fighters swirled around the Rebel fleet and the Emperor smiled as the hemisphere of Imperial ships closed and completed his trap. For a moment he almost wished he had not sent his Hand to eradicate young Skywalker. This victory would be even more complete if his vision had come true and he had been able to savour the “hero’s” despair as he watched the Rebellion end in fire. He would still be able to appreciate the wonderful death he was about to order bestowed upon so many, but it would not be the same.

“Moff Jerjerrod,” the Emperor said slowly, “you may fire when ready.”

There was a pause which heightened the Emperor’s anticipation and then the brilliant green beam flashed outwards again. A Rebel Cruiser vanished with as little difficulty and as much abruptness as the Star Destroyer had before. The Emperor closed his eyes in satisfaction as he felt the surprise and horror spread through the Rebel forces, their distress was sweet music to the Dark Side.

===

“All craft prepare to retreat,” Ackbar ordered over the command channel as the remains of what had been the Liberty dispersed, “Navigation, get me an escape route.”

“Aye sir,” replied the officer, diagrams of enemy deployments and gravity wells flashing across his screen as he explored their increasingly unattractive and limited options.

Ackbar cleared his mind of irritation, he’d seen the enemy fleet closing into their englobement formation but he hadn’t realised what they were planning. If the Imperials had wanted to disperse their forces over such a wide area he had been happy to let them. His own ships were still concentrated in a tight mutually supportive battle line, but that very tightness now made them vulnerable as it placed more of them within the Death Star’s firing arc. Too late he had realised the wall the Imperials were forming with their ships was not a wall, it was an anvil for the Death Star to hammer against.

“Sir, all our options are bad,” the navigator reported after what seemed like an age but was under a minute, “but I’d recommend this route. It’s not the most direct but it will allow us to build up more speed and try to minimise the time we spend fighting Star Destroyers.”

Ackbar nodded, at close range they wouldn’t last long against those enemy Star Destroyers. Mon Calamari ships were tough but the Star Destroyers were larger, more heavily armed and armoured, and were purpose designed warships rather than being based on “illegally” modified civilian designs. Then again however little time they’d last against the Star Destroyers it would be longer than against that Death Star, and if they moved fast the few Imperial ships that could block them would be outgunned.

===

Pellaeon watched as the Rebel fleet rapidly approached. Whatever their Admiral had hoped they were not going to escape unmauled. They had turned with impressive coordination but the Imperial fleet had responded with the same skill. Like water beading into a droplet the wall of Star Destroyers had thickened ahead of the Rebels. The closer they got the smaller the area within which the two fleets would meet became and the more the Imperial fleet could shift position to concentrate.

Fighters were already killing each other between the two fleets and Pellaeon was feeling unaccustomedly uncertain of what to do. The Rebels would grant the Chimaera no special favours even if they knew of the doubts the Emperor’s actions had awoken, if the Chimaera was to survive they would have to fight as hard as possible.

But, even if the Rebels were traitors fighting for the restoration of a Republic that had become a byword for self-interest and corruption, did they really want to kill them? However unconvincing Pellaeon, being old enough to remember, found their idealised propaganda version of events the more enemies the Emperor had the more chance their plan had of success.

“I think there is an opportunity here,” the Chimaera’s Captain mused.

“Are you sure?” Pellaeon asked, turning more to face him.

“No,” the Captain admitted, “but we are going to take it anyway. CommScan, transmit code Ulic. Helmsman, sixty second countdown.”

The history of the Jedi had not recently been considered a fit subject to study so how many of the younger crewmen, who had come of age under the Empire, knew the story behind the code word was unclear. They did know what they needed to do though and they set to their preparations with a will. CommScan was confirming the code had been received and coordinating the countdown, Helm and Navigation were entering commands while Engineering diverted the requisite power, and from behind him Pellaeon heard an out of place noise. For a moment, a moment he would regret for a long time, Pellaeon felt nothing but mild puzzlement until this was replaced by alarm as he realised a possible explanation for the sound of metal on leather.

===

Ackbar fretted as his fleet grew closer to the Imperial blockade. The Imperials lacked flexibility, they followed established procedures and instructions rather than react with more inventiveness, and this had let the Rebellion outmanoeuvre them on many occasions. Give them a more clear cut tactical problem though and that very lack of flexibility could become an asset, when they knew what to do they did it with the ease, and speed, of long practice.

As they had drawn away from the Death Star it had continued to fire, they had lost more Cruisers including Home One’s sister ship, but at least that had stopped. Engaging a well-positioned unbroken fleet of Star Destroyers would be just as deadly though, even if that fleet’s combined tonnage was dwarfed by that of the uncompleted Death Star. In a way Ackbar was glad the Empire had invested so much time and effort in building another Death Star, however difficult it would be to kill it would be easier than facing the hundreds of Star Destroyers that could have been built instead.

There was little Ackbar thought he could do now but ride his flagship into the flames and trust in his people to carry on through, to not falter under the assault and in faltering lessen their chances. Even as Ackbar thought this one eye swivelled as he noticed, he couldn’t think of a better word, a “twitch” in the smoothness of the Imperial fleet. The perfection of their coordination wavered, and then several Star Destroyers actually broke formation. As Ackbar watched in disbelief they turned in unison and entered hyperspace with a swiftness that showed this was a pre-arranged manoeuvre.

This seemed so inexplicable that all Ackbar’s instincts screamed suspicion. The withdrawal had opened gaps in the Imperial fleet, weakened the crossfire Rebel ships passing through those sectors would suffer, and there was one place where that might be enough to be significant. A few seconds of rapid thought failed to come up with any reason why those Star Destroyers would be better used for any other purpose then remaining where they had been. There seemed no advantage to the Imperials in the manoeuvre, and it seemed to have been as unexpected to their commanders as it had to Ackbar.

‘Flexibility,’ Ackbar thought, appreciating the disarray the Imperials were falling into as they tried to close up the gaps. “Helm, change course to 320 mark 30, maximum speed,” he ordered, “I want a fighter strike on the following targets...”

===

As Wedge shifted position he grimaced at the smell of the sweaty air that wafted up from the collar of his flightsuit at this movement. For all the losses the Imperial TIEs had suffered there had never seemed any slackening of the intensity of the dogfighting since the first shot had been fired. Wedge could feel his reactions beginning to slow, could feel his hands beginning to cramp up on the controls, could feel the effects of the unrelenting concentration begin to take their toll. Normally you had a moment to relax during a mission, but this was far from normal.

Wedge checked Rogue Group’s status, forcing down his grief at the missing pilots, and switched modes on his targeting computer as their assigned Star Destroyer came into range. The mixed group of Y-Wings and B-Wings, cobbled together from the remains of other bomber groups, they were protecting salvoed their torpedoes and then changed course directly for their escorts.

“Rogue Group, break one,” Wedge ordered, bringing his X-Wing around into a head to head pass with a trio of B-Wings.

The other X-Wings did the same, the enemy TIEs taking the opportunity to drop in on their tails but then, if lucky, having to go evasive as the Alliance bombers opened fire. Red and blue laser and ion cannon fire streaked past Wedge at his attacker as he approached and then passed the B-Wings. Y-Wings rolled to fly inverted relative to each other, not all of them were the two man variant with a movable dorsal turret but those that were could cover their wingman’s underside and those that weren’t the Imperials would have to treat with the same caution as if they were.

Bombers were not designed to fight fighters for long, but they could still be dangerous foes and it would take the TIEs some time to wear down their shields. With luck that time would be more than long enough. The X-Wings moved into formation, determined to show they could fly as precisely as any Imperial or, more to the point, as any Y-Wing or B-Wing jockey.

“Feeding targeting information,” Wedge said, letting his focus narrow to his screens, “fire on my mark. Three, Two, One...mark!”

Wedge’s X-Wing jolted slightly in reaction as a pair of torpedoes hurled themselves from the tubes under its long nose. Their drive trails were almost lost among those of dozens of other torpedoes charging in to compound the damage done by the bomber salvo. The effect was quite spectacular but there was no time to waste in watching the barrage’s progress.

“Good shooting Rogue Group,” Wedge continued, “break two.”

Matching action to words Wedge brought his X-Wing around and back towards the embattled bombers. There was a pair of determined looking TIE Interceptors harrying a lone B-Wing so Wedge settled his sights in on them, hoping they were as fixated on their target as they looked. The first quad-burst from Wedge’s cannon was a clean miss but the second punched a pair of holes through one Squint’s lower port panel, sending it wobbling out of position as the pilot fought to regain control. Seeing this Wedge shifted target to the other Interceptor, which was still burning away at the B-Wing’s shields. For a few moments Wedge held his fire, letting himself fall into the rhythm of the other pilot’s manoeuvring, and then the unshielded TIE disintegrated as Wedge’s third quad-burst sent three heavy laser bolts straight through its ball like fuselage.

Wedge’s astromech beeped in congratulation, adding, a moment later, a whistle as it scrolled fresh text onto the screens. Wedge glanced down to absently note the success of Rogue Group’s salvo, but his main concern for the moment was doing to the intact TIE Interceptor what he had done to the other.

===

The torpedoes hurtled in at the Star Destroyer in two almost simultaneous strikes. The first few were more than enough to collapse the weak shields that were all the Imperials had been able to bring up over the damaged areas. The rest, arriving a split second later, widened the holes in the armour or plunged down through the holes the bomber salvo had torn and exploded within the ship. Atmosphere vented as decks and walls split, but internal partitions and blast doors greatly limited the affected area.

Then turbolaser fire began to snap in as the Alliance starships entered firing range. At that range had the Star Destroyer’s shields and armour been intact these would have been almost wasted but without that protection the distance-weakened bolts were able to burn into the weaker innards of their target. As the wounds were chewed deeper and deeper the Star Destroyer began to lose power, its remaining shields fluctuating and its weapons falling silent. Something exploded, sending a gush of fire out through some of the holes, and the Star Destroyer began to drift.

Another Star Destroyer hadn’t even been that fortunate. One explosion fed another until the ship’s structure could take no more and it broke apart. Escape pods began to eject from the larger portions as the pieces of ship tumbled away from each other.

Under other circumstances the destruction or crippling of several Imperial Star Destroyers might have been hailed as a major triumph. Entire operations had been carried out by the Rebellion with less damage as their aim. As it stood it was almost an irrelevance, a minor success on the way to trying to salvage a disaster. The other Imperial starships opened fire and even Home One jolted under the impacts despite her size and shielding.

Calamari Cruisers began to lose their shields. The Alliance fleet actually had a slight edge in the number of capital ships that could engage but, with the exception of Home One and her sisters, their ships were much smaller and weaker shielded. Fortunately they were also faster and this was probably the better trait to have when escape through a gauntlet of fire was the aim.

A Nebulon-B Frigate splintered as a few stray shots sliced into the long spar of its central section. The engines burned brightly as their thrust bent the entire ship like a twig into an increasingly less shallow U shape. For a moment the Frigate began to spin as the now off-centre thrust took effect but then its abused fabric finally gave way, letting the engines and forward pod go their separate ways.

TIE Bombers began to launch from one of the Star Destroyers for a point-blank assault. At that range the Imperial pilots would be able to dumb-fire their torpedoes and without the signature of active guidance systems those torpedoes would be much more difficult to destroy. A Corellian Corvette shifted position, moving outside the protection of the Cruisers to interpose itself between them and the bombers. Its lasers and turbolasers struck out at the TIEs but its success served to draw the attention of the Star Destroyer gunners. In barely a heartbeat it was nothing but debris as they avenged their bomber pilots.

Ackbar could see flame erupting from his flagship’s hull as her size, more than double the length of an Imperial Star Destroyer, marked her out for special attention and the enemy fire began to penetrate her shields. Incandescent green turbolaser bolts pelted down like rain and with horror he saw one and then another strike home at the base of the fin supporting one of the teardrop shaped pods that were arranged along the upper surface. The pod wobbled for a moment like a loose tooth and then tore free, a stub of the fin still attached to it and a stub still protruding from the Cruiser’s hull.

As the pod fell astern Ackbar thought he saw movement in its windows. If the emergency doors had shut it was possible there were survivors, though they’d be restricted to the air they already had. It was hard to not spend precious time speculating on their fate- or on dwelling on how easily it could have been the pod housing the bridge that was severed.

The jolting slowed and then ceased. Ahead of them there were only stars rather than Star Destroyers and Ackbar had a moment to appreciate the peace.

“Sir, we’re through,” reported the Helmsman, confirming what Ackbar had realised.

“Ships reporting in,” added the communications officer, pausing as he listened to the reports, “...all ships report...clear for hyperspace.”

“Start the countdown,” Ackbar said, “intensify shields aft.”

Imperial turbolaser fire hammered the aft sections of the Alliance ships as the Star Destroyers turned. Their sensors had picked up that power was being diverted to their enemy’s hyperdrives, so they in turn diverted power. The Imperial’s concern was not escape but preventing escape so they diverted power to their weapons, trying to intensify their attack and do enough damage in the brief time they had left to prevent at least some of the Rebel ships from entering hyperspace.

One more Cruiser fell out of formation, explosions wracking its engines, but the rest of the Alliance fleet streaked away. They had left too much blood behind for their liking but, even as the wounded Cruiser was finished, far too little blood for the Emperor’s taste. Palpatine scowled as he blamed Vader for this as well, if not for his apprentice provoking him the Rebels would have had to face a Super Star Destroyer and somehow he knew the deserters were Vader’s fault as well.

===

Pellaeon looked down at the body of the Palpatinist that had killed his Captain. When he’d realised he was hearing a blaster being drawn he’d shoved the Captain to one side and let the force of his own shove move him as well. The blaster bolt had passed through the space between them, just where the Captain had been standing, and had splattered against the metal between two viewports. With horror Pellaeon had seen the crewman correcting his aim even as a loyal officer drew his own weapon. The Palpatinist had fired moments too soon to be stopped, his blaster bolt striking the Captain in the heart maybe a couple of seconds before one of the trio of hurried shots from the loyal officer hit him in the neck and nearly blew his head off.

The Captains body had been removed with great care and respect a few minutes ago. He’d be given a funeral befitting his status and his honour, a dignified final ceremony for a man Pellaeon was proud to have known. Thinking of this reminded Pellaeon of a task that needed to be done.

“Throw this sack of filth out the nearest airlock,” Pellaeon ordered, deciding to not let it befoul the bridge any longer.

“Aye sir,” replied the officer whose eye Pellaeon had caught, a certain lack of enthusiasm for the task apparent in his voice.

Pellaeon had considered simply dumping the body with the rest of the garbage but on reflection it seemed better to eject it while they were in hyperspace rather than contaminate normal space with its presence.

“What is our status,” Pellaeon asked a moment later, dragging his thoughts back to practical matters.

“Lockdown has been successful sir,” the security chief reported, “processing areas are being set up for initial screening of loyalties, but we don’t have enough interrogation equipment for more than a few.”

Pellaeon nodded, that was what he’d expected to hear. He didn’t like having to distrust his crew but what had happened on the bridge had given extra weight to this being a necessity for now. He couldn’t disagree with the Captain’s decision to take the opportunity, but this would have been a lot simpler if they’d had more time to prepare and investigate the crew before they’d had to commit themselves so irrevocably.

 

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Seeming unable to just say "Nice post, I enjoyed it" nerd
Sometimes amazed at how "I'll reply tomorrow" becomes "I should have replied last week"
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Return of a Jedi. http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/23421597
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Tych_sel  3920 posts
Registered: Nov '01
48895_Luke Skywalker (71909)
Date Posted: 3/22/06 5:35pm Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter Three 22/03/2006)
Couple of great posts here, my friend. The idea of Vader skulking his way through the bowels of the Death Star was certainly interesting, if only because of the change of pace from the way we're used to thinking of Vader. You description of the battle was excellent, and I loved the little in-joke for those who ready your Ewok story.

I have to admit, I'm not sure what to make of what you decided to do with Leia. I'm assuming that she'll be making another appearance later in the story, especially if Vader decides to return to Tatooine and bring the full power of his justice upon Jabba and the Hutt's assorted scum.

I'll be checking in on the 29th for the next developments.


Force be with you,

Tych_sel

 

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"I had a dream I was a Jedi." - A. Skywalker
"I am a Jedi, like my father before me." - L. Skywalker
A Last Jump: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=28296734&brd=10476
Destiny's Heir: http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/27819347/p
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VaderLVR64  30945 posts
Title: Manager Emeritus
 Registered: Feb '04
49060_Obi-Wan Kenobi (811092)
Date Posted: 3/23/06 1:08pm Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter Three 22/03/2006)
You write action so well! I'm jealous. I can't write action, but I certainly love reading it. I got TWO chapters, what a treat! Looking forward to more. grin applause

 

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R.I.P John, Alex, Jason, and Christian flag Never forgotten
Soldiers' Angels http://soldiersangels.org/
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_JM_  1806 posts
Registered: Jun '01
6324_Porkins
Date Posted: 3/25/06 5:53am Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter Three 22/03/2006)
Tych_sel: Glad you liked the battle. I wasn’t trying for an in-joke, I just needed some reason for the Ewok to be there to (perhaps needlessly) underline where they could have got the help from under other circumstances.

As I said to SHADOW_MASTER_W Leia will be making cameo appearances for a while until she becomes a major character for Part Two. She’ll “only” spend about a week in the bikini, made even less pleasant by the smell coming from the Rancor pit (Jabba likes the smell, reminds him of the stagnant decaying swamps of home, and likes how fat his favourite snack-frogs are getting on the maggots and flies).

VaderLVR64: You write everything so well I have to resist the urge to bow and say “I’m not worthy! I’m not worthy!” Fortunately I can resist this as Mike Myers is no relation (and nor is horror movie Michael Myers). Sorry about not sending the PM last time (slipped my mind as this is the first multi-post I’ve done), though at least you seem just as happy with finding two at once.

 

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Seeming unable to just say "Nice post, I enjoyed it" nerd
Sometimes amazed at how "I'll reply tomorrow" becomes "I should have replied last week"
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Chewie-Fan  537 posts
Registered: Jul '05
17461_Millennium Falcon
Date Posted: 3/26/06 1:44pm Subject: RE: Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter Three 22/03/2006)
Oh, No, They're all dead???? cry

 

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1977 was a very good year.
[link=http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=26803741&brd=10477&start=27383794]Lost in the Stars[/link]
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