Saga - PT Night of the Sith - Darth Vader, Pre- New Hope

Title: Night of the Sith
Author: The Herald
Timeline: Somewhere between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope
Characters: Darth Vader
Summary: Darth Vader, tasked with quelling the rebellion that is growing across the galaxy, has arrived to personally take charge of Imperial forces with crushing the rebellion on Kashyyyk. In the midst of fulfilling his role as the Emperor's Enforcer, Darth Vader confronts adversaries never seen before.


The trees were enormous. Throughout the surface of Kashyyyk, forests that were the size of continents reigned supreme, with some even being used as the foundations of cities, the innards of thousands of trees the size of buildings hollowed out to become the homes for millions of wookies, their exteriors supporting huge gangways and bridges that connected the trees together. And ahead, stood the largest bridge yet. And it was there that the rebels had fortified their position.

Blaster fire filled the night air across the bridge, the rebels and their wookie comrades holding their ground as they fired at the advancing Stormtroopers, each side of the bridge possessing units at battalion strength. Where the Stormtroopers had the firepower and equipment, the rebels had the knowledge of the area, an infinite number of wookie reinforcements, as well as having prepared defences to choke the bottleneck of the bridge.

Lying behind a fallen branch the size of a galactic standard tree, Alhoe peered over the branch and gave a quick shoot with his rifle, taking down a rebel before getting back into cover, feeling the thud with return fire impact on the other side of his cover.

‘Something’s got to give,’ Alhoe said to himself.

‘Sir?’ asked Bhelo, looking at his unit leader as he knelt beside him.

‘Nothing trooper,’ Alhoe said, as he heard another explosion overhead. Looking up, Alhoe cursed as he saw a tie fighter spiral in the air and crash into a tree above, smashing into flames as he saw his killer fly through the raining debris.

Taking another shot, Alhoe saw another rebel fall back before retreating into cover, the return fire chewing up where he had been. Above the sound of the battle, Alhoe heard a new noise enter the fray.

Peering up again, Alhoe saw the descent of several Lambda-class transporters, drifting idly towards the rebel position as their cannons opened fire on the rebels. Returning fire, the rebels began shoot at the transporters.

‘Charge!’ Alhoe said into his communicator, leaping over his cover as his squad followed, forming the vanguard of the Imperial attack as they used the transporters’ distraction to their advantage.

The rebels continued to fire at the Stormtroopers, even as their numbers began to thin under the Lambdas’ combined firepower.
In the distance, Alhoe saw the Lambdas lower their ramps onto the ledge, Stormtroopers rushing out as they exploited the rebels divided defences, the reinforcements splitting the rebels’ defences in two.

Taking cover behind debris, Alhoe threw a thermal detonator towards the rebels, his throw rewarded by a shower of flames and screams of pain. Running ahead with his squad, Alhoe saw rebels lying on the ground in pain, with two wookies lying dead next to them.

‘Trooper Darlui,’ Alhoe said, indicating at the prisoners as he and his squad rushed past them.

Standing over the injured prisoners, Darlui ignited the end of his flamer, and immolated the injured rebels in front of him, the cries of pain and terror a familiar sound to his ears.

Reaching the end of the bridge, Alhoe and his squad were met with the dead bodies of rebels, lying face down as they had been shot. On closer inspection, Alhoe noted that some of the dead had limbs severed, with arms, legs, even necks that once had heads attached burning, their flesh cauterised.

It wasn’t the first time Alhoe had seen these wounds before, and as he looked to the side, Alhoe saw a dark, towering shape appear from the door of a bunker that overlooked the chasm that went under the bridge he had crossed.

As the shape left the bunker, Alhoe saw that it towered over him by one foot, wore a black mask with a grill on the front, with a helmet on top, and armour and cape as dark as space. In its hand, it carried the crimson blade Alhoe had seen it carry before.

‘Lord Vader,’ Alhoe said, as he and his squad mates stood to attention to the dark figure, as he approached them. ‘the bridge is secure,’

Vader held the red blade in his right hand, holding it firmly in his grip as he took in the group of Stormtroopers, watching as more crossed the bridge to join them from behind.

‘You led the attack?’ Vader asked, his black, bulbous eyes peering down at the Stormtrooper in front of him.

‘We did my Lord, once the transporters divided the rebels’ defences.’

Vader stared passively at the Stormtroopers, before turning to glare over his shoulder towards the rebel stronghold that led from the bridge.

‘The rebels are mustering at their stronghold. They seek to maintain their stronghold in this area,’ Vader said, addressing the Stormtroopers ‘they intend to fortify their positions, and we must not allow that to happen.’

As Vader was about to turn; leading the Stormtroopers, a line of explosions erupted overhead. Looking up, Vader saw the midriff of a tree being destroyed by explosives, followed by more. Weakened, the tree’s top half began to list to one side, leaning forward as its shadow crossed over to where Vader stood.

On instinct, Vader leapt into the air as the tree began to fall, the Stormtroopers behind him rushing to avoid the building size timber that was falling towards them. Flying in bounds, Vader got a meter away from the area he had been standing before the tree struck, crushing the Stormtroopers under its weight.
Striking the ground, the impact of the tree left a great shuddering that reverberated along the ledge Vader stood upon, with fissures forming under where he stood. About to move, the ground Vader stood upon gave way, causing him to fall with it. Calling out to the Force, Vader held the debris that he fell with back, preventing the worst of it from destroying him as he went down, heading towards the yawning darkness below.

Tumbling through the air, Vader held out his arm as he reached out to grab branches from the trees, their weak timber snapping under his immense weight as he kept on falling. Unrelenting, Vader continued to reach out for something to break his fall, his body smashing into the trunks of trees of various sizes as he went down, until finally, his hand gripped onto something firm and whole, hanging in the air as the rockslide rolled under him, his lightsabre still in his hand.

As the rockslide subsided beneath him, Vader let go of his perch and dropped to the ground, falling on one knee, leaving an impact crater from where he landed. Rising to his feet, Vader looked about, seeing that more than one tree had been ripped from its roots by the landslide, with trees lying on the ground or upon each other with mounds of dirt and rock smashed against them. Here and there, the white armour of dead Stormtroopers could be seen out of the dirt.

Vader heeded none of the destruction, scanning the area to work out his bearing and how to get back to the fighting above, which sounded distantly above the canopy of trees.

Placing his lightsabre back onto his belt, Vader made his way in the direction of where the ledge had been. Reaching the base of what he thought was the ledge he had fallen from, Vader saw a dark cave at its base, the interior dark to his gaze. Seeing no other way to reach the top, Vader ventured into the cave, climbing over rocks as he went deeper inside.

The cave was strange. As Vader went through, he felt as though eyes were upon him each step of the way. Reaching out with the Force, Vader probed the cave before and behind him and felt nothing, sensing no one was watching, and yet, Vader felt a presence that was observing him.
Good Vader thought. Let them watch what power is.

Clenching his fist, Vader looked up and said ‘let them fear me.’

Moving through the cave once more, Vader felt he was on an incline, beginning to ascend. Going higher, Vader saw the cave was leading him towards a larger section of the cave, the space higher and wider than before, the space dwarfing the Sith Lord that walked through its space.

Reaching the centre; heading towards the other side of the room, the Sith Lord stood still as he sensed something behind him. Igniting his lightsabre, Darth Vader whirled round on the spot and slashed behind him, his blade striking a wookie that was behind him.

Severed at the waist, the wookie split in two without commotion. As Vader watched the wookie, he saw that it wasn’t dead, that its face was snarling with rage as it began to move towards him again, using its arms to crawl towards the Sith Lord.

What is this? Vader thought, puzzled.

Slashing downward, Vader took off the wookie’s head, it rolling away at the neck as the wookie finally lay dead. Inspecting the dead wookie, Vader noted that the wookie suffered alopecia, its fur spotted with bald spots, and where they showed, Vader could see its skin was putrid and rancid with decay.

Sensing another presence to his back, Vader turned and took another wookie’s head off its neck, it collapsing with the same visage of decay. Looking to each way, Vader saw groups of wookies were appearing out of the cave entrances, each hobbling towards him with a look of rancidness, their claws outstretched as they seek to kill him.

His hand outstretched to a bolder that was next to them, Vader made to use the Force to lift it, to hurl towards the mass of wookies but the Force did not answer Vader’s call. Enraged at his inability to command the Force in this cave, Vader strolled towards one group of wookies and began hacking, eviscerating limb from stump with his lightsabre, the crimson blade sinking into furred torso without any cries of pain its accustomed to.

Pushing through the group, their numbers dividing up onto the floor around Vader’s ankles, the Sith Lord made through to the mouth of the cave exit, going into the tunnel opposite from where he had entered before, wheeling round to hack at wookies that came too close behind him as he advanced forward.

Their numbers were endless, seamlessly coming out of nowhere as they lumbered towards Vader’s blade, striking with his weapon as well as his fist, pummelling his mechanical knuckles into the snarling faces of the diseased wookies as he stood shoulder to shoulder with them.

For ten minutes Vader fought, a litter of bodies left behind him being trampled by the pack of wookies following as he killed them, before turning to hack a path through the wookies in front of him, until finally, Vader stood in open ground.

Lightsabre held in both hands, Vader back away from the cave he had just walked through, watching as the wookies skulked at its entrance, staring at him as he stood, unwilling to move while enemies still walked. Without a word, the pack of wookies turned to return into the bowels of the caves, leaving Vader standing alone as he held his lightsabre.

Scanning his surroundings, Vader saw that he had not reach any known Imperial posts, the sound of conflict above still being very distant from where he stood. Unwilling to lower his guard in this dangerous place, Vader walked with his lightsabre in his hand still.

Standing before a tree in front of him, Vader raised his hand and called to the Force, and as he felt it surge within him again, Vader heard the trunk of the tree splinter as it began to fall away, shaking the ground as it landed. The Force had returned to him.

Vader couldn’t understand the Force’s absence during the fighting, using his rage, cybernetics, and lightsabre to fight for his life.

‘Apprentice…’

Vader wheeled on the spot, looking around to search for the source of the voice that spoke to him, the voice distant, almost ethereal to hear, and yet it spoke as though it were inches from his head.

‘Unworthy…’

Vader gripped his weapon tightly, feeling the rage build inside at the insolence of the speaker.

‘Come out and face me if you think I’m unworthy,’ Vader said aloud, challenging whoever was haunting his steps.

‘Destroyer…’

Pointing his blade in the direction of the cave, Vader said ‘those rabid wookies would vouch for that,’

‘Weak…’

‘Said the coward who hides in the forest,’ Vader retorted, reaching out with the Force to try and detect the speaker.

Sensing something to the right, far beyond the line of trees, Vader began to walk in that direction, moving through the clearing in the trees, walking along an ancient trackway that led further into the forest with no end in sight, weaving left and right as Vader ventured further, undaunted to meet the challenge ahead.

As he went, Vader heard a snap of a twig to his left, and immediately turned to face the sound, his weapon raised as something pounced out of the cover of bushes. Slashing his weapon, Vader slayed what look to be a big feral cat, its body cut in half at the middle as it lay dead on the ground. With only a second to look at his foe, Vader was swinging his weapon from side to side as more of these animals appeared, snarling incisors seeking to rip him apart before his blade took the animals’ heads off.

Gathering the Force inside, Vader’s rage strengthened the Sith Lord’s attacks, tearing the pack of animals to ribbons until he stood alone, the dead animals’ guts and limbs lying inert on the ground.

‘More primitive animals?’ Vader said out loud, as turned to walk along the route again.

A bit further along, Vader saw that the darkness of the area gave way to more light from above, and heading towards it, Vader saw an open area within the forest. The grass was low, with the trees and bushes at it circumference. Vader noted how the area was unnaturally symmetrical to the wild forest he had walked through.

‘Reveal yourself,’ Vader demanded, his rage spilling out as he used the Force to push trees from where he stood, toppling timber that stood for millennia in a matter of seconds with indifference, seeking to find his phantom.

‘Here I am,’ said a man’s voice

Blade in hand, Vader turned, looking at a figure who stood before him. The figure was almost as tall as Vader, humanoid by the shape of his frame, wearing dark robes and hood. Inside the hood there was a mask. He wielded no weapon, and didn’t seem threatening to Vader as he looked down upon.

‘And I am not impressed,’ the figure added as he stood in front of Darth Vader, the Sith Lord walking towards him with his lightsabre in his hand.

‘Your insolence has brought you death. If you beg, I will grant you a quick death,’ Vader said, raising his weapon.

‘You cannot kill me,’ the man said.

‘Let’s test that theory.’

Lightsabre in hand, Vader lunged, and before his blade could connect to the man’s midriff, with a raised hand, the man pushed out against Darth Vader, and sent the Sith Lord flying. Acting instinctively, Vader called to the Force and helped land back onto his feet, blade still in hand.

‘A fugitive Jedi,’ Vader said.

‘Not one you have met,’ the man replied, his face passive.

‘Who are you?’ Vader demanded, pointing the blade at the man on the other side of the clearing.

‘Someone like you, someone who once tread the same path as you are,’

‘You’re nothing like me,’ Vader growled.

‘You wield that weapon as though I have not seen one. I had one very much like it,’ the man said, a smile on his face.

‘Who are you?’ Vader said, his anger growing.

‘I used to be a Jedi, but then I became the Dark Lord of the Sith,’ the man replied.

Darth Vader stood silently before the man, listening with interest as the man went on.

‘I know not what time I stand upon, for it was ago years since I came to this place, when I had an apprentice. I killed him in combat, and in doing I saved the galaxy from darkness, if only for a short time.’

‘A touching story,’ Vader said dismissively ‘and yet you don’t reveal who you are.’

The figure stood in silence for a minute, and as Darth Vader was about to approach him again, the man said.

‘I’m known to the galaxy as Darth Revan,’

‘Not a name I’m familiar with,’ Darth Vader said.

‘I stood as you did, millennia ago, destroying the Jedi and the Republic, with an Empire at my disposal as I conquered the galaxy,’

‘And yet you wallow in the abyss of this forsaken forest,’ Vader mocked ‘your Imperial designs are not with their limitations?’

‘I destroyed my empire. I knew the evil I was doing to the galaxy, and I sought to restore peace to the galaxy, as I did as a Jedi,’ Revan said.

‘From emperor to Jedi slave in one life time,’ Vader said ‘if the Jedi had you for an enemy, it’s no wonder they lived for so long?’

‘And that is why I come to you,’ Revan said, taking a step towards Vader ‘to warn you of the darkness you’re leading the galaxy towards,’

‘The power of the dark side gives me strength,’ Vader replied ‘your servitude to the Jedi, weak in all their teachings, only proves you were not worthy of its power,’

‘The dark side is indeed powerful, but it is also destructive,’ Revan ventured ‘there is only ruin in that path, for everyone. Only the light can protect,’

‘I don’t need protection,’ Vader said, as he began to walk towards Revan ‘the Jedi would know that very well,’

Blade in hand, Vader went to strike Revan. As his blade came down again, Revan ignited his weapon and held Vader’s blade with his, his blue clashing with Vader’s crimson.

‘Only combat will see if you’re right,’ Vader said as he attacked, his weapon smashing down onto Revan as his foe guarded strongly against his attacks, the flash of their strikes casting strange colours on their masks.

Using his strength, Vader forced Revan onto the backfoot, forcing him back towards the edge of the clearing. Nearing the edge, Revan raised his hand, lightning leaping from his fingertips.

Holding his blade up, Vader’s lightsabre took the brunt of the attack as lighting arched along it, the Sith Lord immobile as he weathered the storm coming from Revan’s fingertips.

Lifting from the ground nearby, Vader hurled a rock towards Revan. Lightning still coursing from his hand, Revan reached out with the Force to hold the rock in mid-air, the two battling each other as they tried to gain the upper hand through the Force, the rock moving back and forth in the air until it disintegrated, destroyed by the crush of power between the two.

Stopping his lightning attack, Revan leapt into the air, striking at Vader as he went over his head. Prepared for the attack, Vader struck back and deflected the blow aiming for his head.

Unrelenting, Darth Vader struck at Revan as he landed, the former Dark Lord countering as the two Sith Lords duelled.

Hearing the ignition of a lightsabre, Darth Vader saw Revan hold another lightsabre, holding his blade back while he wielded another in his other hand, this one red. Deflecting Revan’s blade, Vader struck Revan’s other lightsabre as he took a step back, Revan moving in as he wielded his two lightsabres, both red and blue.

‘I have mastered many forms of fighting,’ Revan said ‘I have devilled in the dark side, and the light, and I know many teachings that your master would dream of knowing,’

‘And yet he sits where you do not,’ Vader countered, his blade held directly in front of him with both hands, ready.

Standing on the spot, Vader turned as Revan circled him, holding his lightsabres as he considered his next attack.

Hearing the ignition of another lightsabre, Vader glanced to this right and saw another appear from beyond the clearing. A male human, the newcomer was nearly as tall as Vader was, the newcomer dressed in red, with a black cape flowing from his shoulders down to the ground behind him. The man was pale skinned and bald, and he regarded Vader with a look of hatred exuding from his eyes, but what took Vader’s notice was the metallic mussel he had for a jaw.

Watching the newcomer approach, Vader heard Revan switch off his lightsabres, stepping back to give room.

‘You are worthy,’ Revan said ‘but can you defeat my apprentice?’

‘The master is no match to my power,’ Vader retorted to Revan, who stood silently with his arms crossed in front of him ‘your apprentice will not survive,’

‘Perhaps. I bested him on the Starforge, and it took every iota of my power to do it,’ Revan said, as he glanced at his apprentice, who walked slowly towards Darth Vader with a red lightsabre in his hands ‘Darth Malak is not to be underestimated.’

‘We’ll see,’ Vader said, walking backwards as Malak followed him, with Revan standing behind where Malak was.

‘You will learn from your betters,’ Malak said, his voice a grating sound of distorted electronics ‘and you will die because of it,’

Launching forward, Vader flew at Malak, his blade high above as he brought it down, a thunderclap echoing as it hit Malak’s blade as the two began to duel, red blades swinging. Vader pummelled his weapon into Malak’s blade, unrelenting hatred filtering through his limbs.

Deflecting Malak’s blade to one side, Vader reached out and grabbed Revan’s apprentice by the throat, lifting him off the ground as he struggled. Swinging his weapon to Vader’s side, Vader merely held his own lightsabre up and severed Malak’s hand at the wrist, his weapon falling to the ground, it still ignited in the grip of the severed hand.

Crushing his hand, Vader saw the metallic jaw on Malak buckle under the pressure before he thrusted is blade into his chest, Malak’s eyes widening before rolling back into the skull, dead. Discarding Malak, Vader turned towards Revan as he stood with his arms still crossed before him.

‘And now the master will join his apprentice,’ Vader announced as he began to march towards Revan.

With the Force, Revan brought his weapons back into his hands, and with a flourish, Revan placed the base of the two lightsabres together, locking them into place. Thumbing the activation button, Revan now wielded a double-bladed lightsabre, each end a different colour of blue and red.

Holding it close to his waist, Revan look at Vader and said ‘there’s no schooling or training that I haven’t mastered,’

‘Whether you’re real, or some apparition made real by the will of the Force, it does not matter. I will best you, and only those worth of the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith will walk away from these woods,’ Vader promised.

Throwing himself towards Vader, Revan spun in the air with his blade held firmly against his waist, spinning like a dervish as he made to cut Vader in half.
Striking his own weapon out, Vader stopped the attack in its tracks with a sound of thunder, his weapon working back and forth as Revan brought his blades to Vader’s flanks, seeking to tear him apart.

Flicking his blade up at the right moment, Vader split Revan’s weapon in two, destroying one lightsabre while another still functioned, his red blade.

‘Only the master of the dark side will best this fight, and you’re nothing but a shadow to me,’ Vader taunted, remorseless in his ferocity as he pushed Revan back. His hand outstretched to summon lightning, Revan pointed his fingertips at Vader.

Seeing the forthcoming attack, Vader raised his blade again and walked forward, his weapon absorbing the attack like before, but this time, Vader kept walking forward, calling on his rage to empower his limbs and will as he took one step at a time.

Sensing Revan reaching out to attack him from other directions, Vader held or deflected those attacks with the Force as he continued his march, each inch taking every ounce of his command of the Force to accomplish it. Getting closer, Vader lunged his blade forward and severed Revan’s hand in half, ceasing the attack.

Taking the opportunity to finish it, Vader took Revan’s head off by the neck, his body falling as his head, still wearing the mask and cloth of the hood, rolled away towards the edge of the clearing.

Silence fell as the battle ceased, the only sound coming from the combat above to break the stillness of the moment. Vader regarded the two dead Sith Lords with passive interest. Taking his leave, Vader walked towards the clearing, making his way through the forest once more without any further attack. Along the way, Vader saw a strange object covered in foliage, a construct that looked ancient to his eyes, and as he tried to activate it, typing into the console, nothing happened. Noting the centre protrusion, Vader saw that it was a projector of some kind, broken by its lack of activity.

Dismissing the object with disinterest, Darth Vader left, taking hours to find his way back to higher ground, before meeting up with the local commander, re-joining the fighting against the rebels.

***​

‘An interesting tale, my apprentice,’

Sat in his throne room on Coruscate, Palpatine watched as Vader knelt before him, reporting on is encounter on Kashyyyk.

‘I cannot fathom the reason for their existence or attack,’ Vader continued, his eyes to the floor in front of him ‘they goaded me, calling us unworthy and weak,’

Palpatine sat in silence as Vader continued to recount his encounter, before rising from his seat, walking towards the still kneeling Vader.
‘Rise my friend,’ Palpatine said, as Vader rose, standing over him ‘walk with me,’

Walking out of the throne room, the two stood on a balcony that overlooked the city that covered the entire planet, endless lines of transporters and vehicles heading off into the distance that stretched for miles.

‘The Force, while it can be a valuable tool to command, is not without its own influences on the physical existence,’ Palpatine began, Vader turning to look at his master.

‘It exists in everyone and everything, but sometimes, there are places were its potency is stronger than others, and the manifestations of its will can translate into forms that once existed, or had a presence in its fold,’

‘And these two who I fought, were manifestations?’ Vader repeated.

‘Suffice to say, they are not the real ones from millennia ago,’ Palpatine said ‘but make no mistake, their power and existence lives on in the Force as footprints, and where they treaded in real life, an element of their power will remain, and in the right places, those same footprints could bring to life their power into a form that you fought yourself,’

‘So, what I fought were mere echoes,’ Vader said, following his master’s train of thoughts ‘so does that mean we are what they say we are?’

‘Far from it Lord Vader,’ Palpatine said, looking at his apprentice in the eyes ‘they were replicas of the very people you fought, even if their cloning came from a more ethereal source such as the Force. And their defeat at your hands is proof not only of their deserved fates, but that the Sith have reached their peak in us, for we stand here, and they did not.’

Vader nodded at what his master told him, pondering on what he said to him.

‘And the wookies?’ Vader said.

‘As I have mentioned, the Force reanimated the essence of deceased Sith Lords, perhaps those wookies had, as individuals or as a collective, had some link to the Force to prolong their physical existence? Whether they died or merely lingered I cannot say, but if the Force is strong enough to summon Darth Revan and Malak, the summoning of simple or dead lifeforms such as wookies, doesn’t seem impossible’

‘You are still my apprentice Lord Vader, and your training in the ways of the Force is still in its infancy, and until you have achieved a level greater than me, I still hold the mantle of Dark Lord, and until such time you can best me, you will remain as my apprentice. Before then, you have much training and learning to do. Leave me,’ Palpatine said, with a light wave of his hand.

Bowing, Vader left the Emperor in his Imperial palace, heading back to the transporter that will take him back to his star destroyer. The rebellion was not dead.

The End.​

 

Wow, wow, wow, wow...how did this not get any comments or likes? It's a very interesting story.

For one, Darth Vader's life has connections with virtual reality of sorts because he's a living machine and he doesn't see the world with his own eyes, as evident when he asks to look at Luke with his own eyes for one more time. That makes it ever so more cruel that Palpatine chose this to test him. And of course, the fact that Palpatine found a way to create Force clones (!) is worrying on so many aspects.

Revan and Malak were described perfectly, too!

 

Somehow I got the feeling that when Vader won, he didn't feel like he'd won.

 

Vader, Revan and Malak in one story.

And then you surprised us all with the ending.

Taking his leave, Vader walked towards the clearing, making his way through the forest once more without any further attack. Along the way, Vader saw a strange object covered in foliage, a construct that looked ancient to his eyes, and as he tried to activate it, typing into the console, nothing happened. Noting the centre protrusion, Vader saw that it was a projector of some kind, broken by its lack of activity.

You also gave us some very interesting Force philosophy to consider.

‘The Force, while it can be a valuable tool to command, is not without its own influences on the physical existence,’ Palpatine began, Vader turning to look at his master.

‘It exists in everyone and everything, but sometimes, there are places were its potency is stronger than others, and the manifestations of its will can translate into forms that once existed, or had a presence in its fold,’

‘And these two who I fought, were manifestations?’ Vader repeated.

‘Suffice to say, they are not the real ones from millennia ago,’ Palpatine said ‘but make no mistake, their power and existence lives on in the Force as footprints, and where they treaded in real life, an element of their power will remain, and in the right places, those same footprints could bring to life their power into a form that you fought yourself,’