Beyond - Legends Episode VII: Revenge of the Jedi

Over the past few months I have been cooking up concepts for a sequel trilogy. When the news broke that Disney bought LucasArts and that the real Episode VII would be due in 2015, I decided to redouble my then-languishing efforts. I welcome all constructive criticism and commentary.

I pay no attention to post-ROTJ EU continuity outside of references to it that I have heard on forums and the Kyle Katarn PC game series (Dark Forces II in particular), so I am by no means an EU connoisseur. The only existing elements of Star Wars that would be canon with this are the Original Trilogy films. Any similarities with EU plotlines, settings, characters, or ideas are coincidental.........-ish.

To start things off, I have made the assumption that the Rebels form a government called the New Republic soon after the Empire's defeat at Endor. Its primary opponents are rogue Imperial warlords, isolationist planets, and bloodthirsty collections of pirates, mercenaries, and other cutthroats. Despite a slew of potential threats being present on many fronts, most of the Republic has become peaceful under the new democratic system of government.

Our heroine is Jeni Solo. She is the only child of Leia Organa and Han Solo, born in 4 ABY. Han's death in 8 ABY was the first seed of unrest in Jeni. Though she excelled in her Jedi training at the hands of her uncle and mother, she never could settle into the duty-driven, monastic life Luke had devoted himself to, nor could she stand the thought of spending her life in politics like her mother, a member of the New Republic Senate. Jeni always had a rogue streak about her, partly having to do with the suspicion that her mother was lying to her when she told Jeni that Han died in his sleep.

On the crystal-covered planet of Isis, a meeting with her father figure Lando Calrissian reveals the truth about Han's death. This sets Jeni off on a journey of revenge against those who killed her father, filled with twisted intrigue, shattering revelations, and powerful new allies. But as Master Skywalker is apt to warn Jeni, revenge is one of the many fangs with which the Dark Side can poison the mind of a Jedi...

Twenty years after the Battle of Yavin, the new trilogy of Star Wars begins.

How do you folks like the idea? There is more to come if you are interested!

 

The film opens on a pirate cruiser belonging to the syndicate called the Talon Striders. In an interrogation room on the vessel, Hossk, the Trandoshan leader of the Talon Striders, interrogates Magah, owner of a crystal mine on the planet Isis. Magah pleads for his own life as Hossk beats out of him the reason why he has skimped on protection payments. Just after executing Magah with a blaster pistol, Hossk gives an order to his second-in-command: the Talon Striders are to raid Magah's mine on Isis for any and all crystals.

Cut to the planet Isis. In a subterranean cave, with glittering crystals jutting out at odd angles on all surfaces, Luke Skywalker, stands besides Jeni as she telekinetically pieces together her lightsaber. As the final piece locks into place, Luke congratulates her, telling her that she has taken a great step forward in the path of the Jedi. He is about to knight her with his own lightsaber, when suddenly a tremor reverberates through the walls of the cavern and many crystals are seen shaking. The sounds of blaster fire are heard in the distance.

Two of Hossk's agents, Dagman (a greedy prospector and merchant of the Talon Striders) and Tyrhevius (a tough-as-nails mercenary employed by Hossk), lead a group of Talon Strider mercs into the crystal mines, gunning down any opposition they find and stealing valuable crystals. The pirates use their vibro-weapons to strike down any New Republic troopers in melee range.

Tyrhevius receives a message on his commlink from Hossk: a New Republic battle group has been dispatched to deal with the Talon Striders. The time has come for the Striders to leave with whatever they have taken. Dagman stuffs his knapsack with valuable crystals when he and Tyrhevius and their escort confront the Skywalkers. Dagman immediately cowers off and runs away while Tyrhevius orders his escort to deal with the threat.

The two Jedi dart about between crystal formations, expertly gunning down pirates with their blaster pistols. The pair enters close combat range. Luke chokes a Duros mercenary with the Force and kicks him at his comrades with a burst of incredible strength, knocking several Striders out cold.

Jeni charges the leader of the pack, deflecting blaster bolts with her lighsaber. She leaps at Tyrhevius, her blade clutched in her right hand, but Tyrhevius swiftly whips out a sonic rifle and fires a full-power burst. Jeni misses her opponent upon landing, clutching her head in deafened agony. Taking advantage of Luke running over to attend to his niece, Tyrhevius beats a hasty retreat.

Soon after, Republic guardsmen enter the area, securing a way for Luke and Jeni to exit the caves.

 

Later, in Isis' capitol building, Jeni and Luke are healing in the medical center when they are greeted by Lando Calrissian. Being the governor of the Anoat Sector (the area of the galaxy containing Isis), Lando has come to oversee the recovery efforts from the Talon Strider attack. After a warm greeting from his old friend Luke, it is revealed that the Talon Striders have been stepping up their efforts in the sector. Jeni is able to use her developing Force abilities to sense that Luke and Lando have a strangely specific apprehension of the Talon Striders. With recoveries complete, Luke tells the two that he will be on Corellia, where he will continue his own meditations as well as Leia's training in advanced telepathy.

After Luke leaves, Jeni asks Lando if there is anything in particular she ought to know about these bandits. Following careful deliberation, Lando reveals the truth to Jeni. Her father Han did not die in his sleep of Verdanthian Splitroot disease...as her mother Leia had told her twelve years previously. Rather, he and the other three crew members of the Falcon fought against and were all killed by Hossk's Talon Striders.

For a few moments, Jeni is unable to process the gravity of what Lando has told her.

But it is not long before her spirit develops a fiery and vitriolic thirst for revenge, the first tinge of the Dark Side.

 

Lando tells her not to pursue the Striders, out of fear that she will encounter the same fate as her father. Jeni nods assent, actually intending to pursue the pirates and destroy them down to a man. Later she goes to the capitol building’s command tower and obtains information regarding the location of one of the Strider vessels. During the battle above Isis, a Republic starfighter had attached a tracking beacon to one of the pirates’ ships shortly before it jumped into hyperspace. It is Jeni’s only lead.

She downloads the information into her droid agent “Zero”, pointing her to the planet Raxus Prime. It is listed as a junkyard planet, mainly used as a refuse bin by other wealthier worlds. Jeni docks Zero into the back of her fighter, a vessel she acquired during her training as a Jedi apprentice, and enters the coordinates for Raxus Prime into the navcomputer. The glint of Isis’ crystal mines can be seen even as her craft breaks atmosphere. She jumps into hyperspace.

Meanwhile, on a lush jungle world, Tyrhevius sets his personal gunship down on a landing pad of a spaceport. Tangled masses of vines and nests of local fauna can be seen on the outside of the structure. The brigand greets his superior Hossk in the master's quarters. The reptiloid boss bares his razor-sharp fangs in elation at the news that his men have obtained a large batch of Isis crystals. He tells Tyrhevius that their long-pursued plan is finally coming to fruition.