Saga Return of a Jedi (RotJ AU. Chapter Twenty-Three/Epilogues 17/08/2006. Complete)

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.

---

[b]
Part One

[u][/b]Chapter One.
[/u]
[i]Heat.

Twin Suns.

Desert.

Tatooine!

Movement.

Somersault.

Confidence.

Confusion.

Fighting

Pain.

Death!

LUKE!
[b][/i]
[/b]"My Lord?"

Vader slowly realised where he was. He was on the bridge of the [i]Executor[/i], 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

 

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.

 

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

 

This is a most auspacious beginning to a most interesting AU.

Now all I have are questions. 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.

 

Great begining!

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

 

Oh, what an interesting AU. I like this. I'll be eagerly waiting to read more.

 

Ooh nice start JM Though...though...YOU KILLED MY LUKIE???? NIce twist but but...:'( Wonderfully written though...

excellent work!

Need.More.NOW!!!

 

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.

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?

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.

 

Wow! What a great idea for an AU! 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!

 

Luke is dead?

Interesting... very interesting...

 

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.

---

[u]Chapter Two
[/u]
"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. Experimen

 

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.

---

[u]Chapter Three

[/u]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 [i]Home One[/i], 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.

?[i]Home One[/i], 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 [i]?but why are they trying to trap us, rather than engage? This seems a strangely unaggressive manoeuvre considering their advantages.[/i]?[i]

[/i]?TIEs coming in Admiral,? reported the sensor officer.

?Acknowledged,? Ackbar replied, putting aside the puzzle in fa

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

Oh, No, They're all dead????

 

Chewie-Fan: Actually I did say that in the replies before your last post (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).

But yeah, with the exception of Leia, they are all the Saarlac?s Snacks.

Poor Lando, if he?d kept his helmet/mask on just a few moments longer he might have been able to keep pretending he was a guard while watching the other?s die. Was tempting actually to have him manage to do this and then have Leia hunt him down, but seemed nicer to give him a heroic death.

 

So nice and intriguing. Glad I found this. Keep up the good work.

 

Very interesting story! I think I'm addicted, now. Please keep posting!

 

Jedi_BMK: Glad you?re intrigued and that you found this.

Sonya_Antana-Sky: Pleased you?re finding this interesting, though there are tablets you can get for story addiction.

Here's Chapter Four. I'm not sure if it is still the 29th on Board time or whether my nap has made me miss the "deadline"

Chapter Five in a week, and I think I'll change my plans for where to put Chapter breaks again and make Five a long one rather than splitting awkwardly or having a very short Chapter Six.

---

Chapter Four
[/u]
Piett awoke as he recognised the chiming of his comm. It felt like he had barely fallen asleep but a glance at the chrono showed he had been out for hours. Despite the abruptness of the awakening he did feel more alert now than he had before he?d been driven from the bridge by gentle reassurances that everything was under control, his officers had been right that he needed rest. One hard blink drove the sleep from his eyes as he reached out and thumbed his comm on.

?Piett,? he said.

?Admiral, CommScan here,? came the reply, ?we?re picking up something, could be a small ship.?

?Acknowledged,? Piett said, ?keep tracking it. I?ll be on the bridge shortly.?

Minutes later Piett strode onto the bridge, nothing about his demeanour or appearance showing he?d been soundly sleeping so short a time ago. It took a brave Lieutenant to disturb the sleep of an Admiral and Piett was sure the CommScan officer would not have done so without good reason. He was an experienced officer, he?d have neither raised a false alarm stupidly nor wasted too much time on pointless checking and rechecking of the data while dithering over giving the alert.

?Show me,? Piett said, as the CommScan Lieutenant straightened to attention.

?There sir,? the Lieutenant said, pointing at the screen past the operator?s shoulder. ?It keeps sliding behind chunks of ring ice, and not coming out where we expect, but definite metal and energy readings.?

Piett nodded as he watched the replay. If that was some natural phenomena then it was doing a good job of pretending to be a scout ship.

?Gunnery officer, do [i]not[/i] power weapons yet,? Piett ordered, turning away from the screen, ?but be ready to do so on my command.?

?Aye sir.?

?There it is again sir,? CommScan exclaimed.

Piett turned back to the screen where the reading was just vanishing. The operator anticipated Piett?s wishes and replayed the crucial seconds. Piett felt certain this was a small ship playing sneak-and-hide with them, but the question was what to do. With the density of the ring the manoeuvrability of the smaller craft would be severely limited. It would have little chance of evading the [i]Executor?s[/i] fire and the same icy chunks and particles that would hinder it would provide little hindrance to the passage of the turbolaser bolts.

The problem was that the [i]Executor?s[/i] sensors were as hampered looking out of the ring as any other ship?s sensors were looking in. For all Piett knew there could be an entire fleet in the outside system, a fleet just waiting for the [i]Executor[/i] to reveal herself and the energy of a turbolaser barrage against the scout ship would do just that. They?d be able to carry out a blanket barrage of the general area without coming close enough for the [i]Executor[/i] to be able to target them to return fire and before the [i]Executor [/i]would be able to get clear.

If they let the scout ship go though then their location would be even more compromised. Once the scout got clear of the ring it would be able to contact any ships in the system or even hyperspace away if there were not actually any ships within range. However it would take time for the scout to get clear, time in which the [i]Executor[/i] could shift position rather than being vulnerable to an immediate attack.

It all depended on whether there were enemy ships in the system to witness the weapons fire. If there were then it would be better to let the scout escape and report and take the few minutes this would require. If

 

_JM_, I've been reading for a bit but been short on time to respond. It occurred to me that you've posted quite a few chapters with no response from me and that's simply unacceptable. I'm still short on time so I'll just give you an overall response.

Wow! I'm genuinely impressed.

I loved your moment on the bridge of the Executor. Wonderfully written and an excellent discussion of the connection through the Force between father and son.

Are you an engineer, btw? I think I got that sense from one of your earlier posts on another thread but I'm almost positive you are based on what you write. The detail is amazing! I was genuinely amazed by references to the classes of ships and the movement of the different units in the battles!

Oh! And speaking of battles! Great action sequences!! The space battle was great. Perfect amount of detail and I could feel the frenzied, harried, disorienting, effects of battle! Well done!!

What I love most, though, is the slight fracturing that you wrote into the Empire. A single death causes a crack in Vader's connection to the dark side and that creates a fissure, that seems to be expanding. That's a brilliant approach and you've made it remarkably believable and interesting.

I'm really looking forward to more!

Please PM me when you update.

 

Can you PM me updates also?

this is a very interesting story

 

Ooh nice few updates! Your action scenes are excellent, and I love your interpretations of Vader, Piett and Wedge! Poor Leia though! She needs rescued.

Loved it!

Need.More.NOW!!!!!

 

Wow.




Amazing.





Wow.





Did I just say wow twice?





I am extreamly impressed. I cannot actually begin to put together my response. Just that having also read the comics you used for inspiration, you are dead on with the spirit of the comics, and probably how they would go about laying out the story.

Just one request: Don't have Vader get white armor, that picture still haunts me to this day.


Anyway, I promise that I'll do better post replies on the rest of them, I am just too much in awe of the masterpiece that you have begun here.


Great post and keep `em coming. Oh yeah, please add me to the PM list, although I'll probably do what I do with all the other stories I follow and just look in every few days.

 

Sounderwan: I?m not an engineer.

Glad I judged the level of detail for the AU Battle of Endor well considering how much I have managed to burble on with smaller fights in the past. I was a little concerned that I was dealing with the entire battle in about a third as many words as I?d used for an earlier story.

Piett didn?t have much choice about leaving Imperial service but it did seem that if people like Pellaeon and Soontir Fel (who I don?t plan to have appear) exist in the Imperial Fleet then so might others. They might not want to join the ?Rebel scum? and certainly not want to restore the Republic since (for example) they want to respond to a planetary invasion rather than have the matter examined in committee (like in TPM), but if they can get a ?cleaner? Empire they will fight to create that.

More will come on the 5th.

DarthVaderette: Glad you are finding it interesting. Consider yourself added to the PM list.

padawan lunetta: I don?t think it is a spoiler to say that Leia will be rescued but it will be a few chapters. Nice little bit of confusion planned for that Chapter (which is the last one of Part One, and along with the previous two Chapters is ?planned? at almost full detail).

Jedi_Rike: I didn?t use the comics from inspiration. As I?ve said I enjoyed the RotJ AU but decided I just preferred the idea of ?what if Mara had managed to get onboard the sail barge and succeed?.

?Don't have Vader get white armor, that picture still haunts me to this day.? ?what is worse is when you?ve seen the ?Behind the Scenes? DVD extra on them making the Vader suit for Hayden. Before the plastic was painted to make it the nice glossy deep black it was beige (and so was the fabric of the suit, not sure if they dyed that cloth or if that was cheap cloth for them to tailor to Hayden before they used that as a pattern for the proper suit).

The resemblance between the Beige Hayden and the White Vader was remarkable.

EDIT: The plastic was actually bluish, and the cloth does look temporary.

As Hayden says in the DVD extra (trilogy bonus disc)?

?Originally starts out as this beige suit, which isn?t very intimidating at all??

?and I agree.

[image=http://www.btinternet.com/~jmdare/IMAGES/tempics/bluebeigevader.jpg]

DARTH VADER'S TAILOR SOON LEARNED THAT THE DARK LORD DIDN'T CARE IF "BLUE AND BEIGE ARE SO THIS SEASON'S COLOURS, DARLING" (OR IF THE TAILOR THOUGHT HE LOOKED "SIMPLY DIVINE, SWEETIE")