Saga Ring of Fire - The Final Story in Anakin's Saga - Author's final replies and goodbyes 2/23

Soooo cool.. so very cool.. marvelous between Dooku and Anakin. But Now.. palpy on the scene is not good at all. I assume Anakin is planning to blow up the ship.. excellent Geo3

 

I am an idiot and I hate you all.

Of course I come back and read the thing, and find it maybe one or two posts from the finish. I feel like I'm on the edge of losing my balance, or someone just played seven notes of an octave and left me hanging without that last, perfect eighth.

Or in other words: AHHHHHHH!

I'll get over it. Maybe. Eventually. And yes, saying that I hate you and all the rest is a compliment, I promise. It means you have those seven notes hanging in the air, in perfect tune. But it sucks more than that cause I can't sing the eighth note.

Bah. I'll stop giving out backhanded compliments and keep my pouting to myself. 'Tis beautiful, Geo. I'm merely screaming in my head because I still have no CLUE whether Anakin will fall, as you claimed in the beginning, or if you are going to give in to temptation and save him.

Which of course, means you have done your jop perfectly. Darn it.

The best authors are the ones you love to hate.

 

I get to catch up with two chapters at once, this time! Twice the posts, double the pleasure!

Finally, as the signal representing Anakin?s ship drew closer to the Victorious, Obi-Wan stopped trying to raise him. He was back on old familiar territory ? chasing after Anakin; being left to guess at Anakin?s intentions and motivations.

I feel for Obi-Wan, I really do! I think it was those long years with Anakin that filled his deep wells of stoic Jedi patience.

V'ar smiled. "I'm sorry. I never asked your name. I was remiss, considering all that we have been through together."

He nodded politely. "Carlist Rieeken."

<-- That's my inner geek doing the happy dance.

Destroy him, Anakin, he urged impulsively, hardly aware that he was doing it. Destroy the Sith. End this.

Yes! Yes! To Obi-Wan you listen!

This is why I trust you so much as an author - while the outcome of the story itself may not be happy, as a reader, I know I will be. I know I'll love it, despite the fact that I have no idea what's coming. Now that's good!

QFT.

A thing of beauty that gave him a very ugly feeling.

Spot on! I'm reminded of Frodo's comment about how servants of the Enemy "seem fairer and feel fouler."

Unlike a true Jedi, who never would allow outside concerns to alter the purity of his focus, Anakin fought with an agenda, a sense of hurry and the growing dread that he would not be equal to the task.

What a beautiful and concise way to illustrate Anakin's mindset as well as the gulf that exists between him and a "true" or traditional Jedi. I'm taken back to when V'ar first feels the gulf between herself and Dormé and realizes, in a moment of crystal clarity, that this, then, is what it means to truly be a Jedi. (To quote LotR again, "To be a Ringbearer is to be alone..." I guess I'm in full geek mode tonight!)

While reading the post, I SAW the same lighting and the same shadows, the same coloring, the same camera angles, as we were shown at the beginning of RotS on Grievous's ship in the pre-throneroom. It was actually pretty darn cool. I mean, the picture was painted very vividly and just like that geo3's story LOOKED VERY prequel.

I agree, it was very vivid, although I found myself hearing things, as well---the small sounds of ships, the soft hiss of the hangar door---as well as visualizing a generally dark, foreboding-looking sort of room. I was instantly minded of the tense, dark, cat-stalking-mouse scenes of the carbon-freeze chamber where Luke fought Vader in ESB. Woohoo! Great imagery here.

I loved the duel. Anakin exemplifies bravura---here and throughout the story---as few others can.

I like the cereal commercial! I'd be delighted to see "a word from our sponsor" more often!

And I 100% support the restoration of the banana peel "deleted scene"---only, I think it actually ends with Anakin lopping off the Emperor's head as he writhes ignominiously in those ominous black robes he loves to wear. (Now I'm hearing that old Chiquita banana song from the 50s or 60s..."I'm Chiquita Banana and I've come to say/A Sith Lord has to be killed in a certain way...")

Speaking of deleted scenes, I enjoyed the vignette by Darth_Breezy. Although, I think maybe it references characters from earlier parts of the saga, which alas, I have not read---I did not recognize some of the names. Beautifully written, though. It's awesome to see more stuff in the GeoFFA!

Anakin burned with righteous rage ? with the determination not to be thwarted ? with a sense of urgency and haste. It was the haste that sent him hurtling toward Dooku; the hurry to dispense with an obstacle in his path, however dangerous. It was determination that brought his Jedi-blue blade against Dooku?s Sith-red one with a series of violent slashes that sent the older man reeling backwards a few ungainly steps. But it was rage ? pure, indignant rage ? that had to s

 

And so, all hangs on one man's actions....

I must say that I did like the set-up with Dooku. He shouldn't be so surprised. After all, he must know that he's expendable...

 

UP...

 

All my fingernails have been bitten to the quick......it's time for another edition of our favorite story....but wait! Will the holiday season thwart our favorite author? Will Anakin's ship be hijacked by a cloaked turkey? Will Dooku look down and find a nice pair of pilgrim shoes on his own feet? Will Padme's gravy have lumps in it? Was Palpy's whole plan about getting everyone together for a nice family meal?

Tune in, fellow travellers, and we'll surely find out......

 

[Obi-Wan voice]Well, hello there![/Obi-Wan voice]

Apologies for having been AWOL for a while. DRL escaped from the closet where I thought I had it firmly imprisoned and created a little mayhem. However, I?m fighting the good fight. I think I?ll get a stouter lock this time once I?ve finally wrestled the beast back inside.

LOL!!! Well, as it happens, the whole American Turkey-day celebration happened early at my house (the only time we could get everyone together), so the coming week looks like smoother sailing for your humble author. While my American friends will most likely be traveling, cooking and/or eating, and then lying comatose on the couch this week, I shall be in a lighter, freer state, which should allow me to continue to [strikethrough] torture [/strikethrough] work with our characters and move the tale along.

In the meantime, hugs and thanks for all of your comments on the last installment! Thanks also to those of you who commented on my little ?ah? commercial. If this story doesn?t write itself quickly, I may have to fill in the time with a few more? any suggestions for products?

VA_Parky WOW!!!! The confrontation between Dooku and Anakin was SO COOL! Not only was there a physical battle going on but the mental one being waged was equally fascinating.

Thanks! I confess to not caring THAT much about who held his lightsaber thusly or about all the athletic details of the actual duel. I wanna know what it feels like when wills collide!

How in the world do you do it, geo? Every chapter is so unique and breathtaking, I go back and read them again and again - just to make sure I have fully appreciated every nuance.

Thank you Considering how long this tale has gone on, and how many former readers have faded away, I can?t tell you how happy I am that you?re still enjoying it!

I also loved the description of what was going on back on the ship with Padmé, V'ar and company. That is such a neat group there. The dynamic between the characters is so wonderfully illustrated - I swear, my anxiety over their safety is practically palpable! I want them to succeed SO badly!!

I love them, too ? some of my favorite people are on that ship. So hang in there!

Have I told you how much I love this story??! Because it is just absolutely amazing! My enjoyment level is off the charts - as is my gratitude to you for writing such a masterpiece!

Thank you!!!

dietcokeani YIKES! Palpy on the scene...he just is soooooo creepy.



Anakin and Dooku... What an intense bout! At his core, I think Dooku is a whiner. He just always seems to lose it in the end for some juvenile reason. I loved how Anakin read the situation and handled him.

Dooku a whiner??? He would have at you with his red saber for that!!!! I sort of imagine the whole encounter along the lines of noble-warrior-with-a-lifetime?s-training-in-style-and-form-meets-guerilla-who-doesn?t-give-a-toss-about-any-of-that-stuff. Or something along those lines, anyway.

What a sad, rude awakening this must be for Anakin...not that he has the time right now to delve into the topic...but it is sad to have been at the top of your game and then face not being there anymore because you've widened your horizons. He has other things and skills now, but it is a bit of a bite to have been at the top of your game and be there no longer. I like how you included that.

In some ways I?m sure it was a shock for

 

Oops! This is not the post you're looking for. Move along. Move along.

 

*alert...brief thread hijack in process.....alert...*

Happy Thanksgiving!

*...now back to our regularly scheduled program...*

 

Palpatine Facts, anyone? Not that I'm trying to UP the thread or anything....

Palpy drinks napalm to quell his heartburn.

Most people fear the Reaper. Palpy considers him "a promising Rookie".

Some people ask for a Kleenex when they sneeze, Palpy asks for a body bag.

There are no such things as tornados. Palpy just hates trailer parks

For Palpy, every street is "one way". HIS WAY.

 

Greetings and Salutations to all my patient readers!

Many apologies for having been missing in action for a while. I?ve had some minor health issues which resulted in minor surgery, from which I am now recovering, albeit more slowly than I had imagined. I?m a lousy patient. Lousy! And now my sides and stitches ache from laughing because I found this priceless piece of prose buried in the introduction to this very thread?

Those of you who followed the story ?A Singular Touch of Grace,? that leia_naberrie and I began but never completed, will recognize the time frame, setting, and some of the newer characters. What I have done here is to take that story, which threatened to become a sprawling epic, and given it a smaller, tighter focus...

ROTFL!!! Ow!! Ow!! Ow!! I really believed that, too!!!

As soon as I feel less woozy I?ll go back to work on finishing the next post, I promise. In the meantime, maybe I?ll lie on the couch and dream up some more notes from our sponsors. dietcokeani *hugs * and thanks for keeping the thread afloat!

Apologies again, and as always, thanks so much for your patience!

 

Best wishes for a swift recovery, geo. Feel better soon!!

 

Get better soon!

 

Need another commercial idea, huh?

I'm thinking water slide fun park!!!


(Get better, geo3)



Edit: Oh Sure! THIS posts!!!

 

Those of you who followed the story ?A Singular Touch of Grace,? that leia_naberrie and I began but never completed, will recognize the time frame, setting, and some of the newer characters. What I have done here is to take that story, which threatened to become a sprawling epic, and given it a smaller, tighter focus...

ROTFL!!! Ow!! Ow!! Ow!! I really believed that, too!!!


Can I join in? <points and laughs>

Thanks for being so focused geo!

GET WELL SOON!

 

Get well soon, Geo! I hope everything heals as it should.

But in the mean time......lets play a game.....

While I was travelling through the GFFA the other night, I found a scrap of paper on the floor. Lo and behold, it was one of Palpy's "Notes To Self"! I could only read the top 3 lines as the rest was torn off...perhaps one of you can find another piece and let us know what was on the rest of the list.

Mine said:

1. Pick up floor length red brocade/velvet gown at the cleaners before noon.
2. Make appt with Dermatologist re: bothersome fleshy folds that keep appearing on face.
3. Find that pesky Anakin.

 

I'm feeling very much better - thanks for all your good wishes!

I've also been writing. Not much longer now until the next post... a few days at most... I can feel it... I can feel it...

In the meantime, I seem to have stumbled onto a similar piece of paper on the floor. How remarkable! It contains the following cryptic lines:


4. Create mass hallucinations in the Force to make the fashionistas believe that Sith black is the new pink.

5. Let them eat cake.

6. Put ground up firestones in Sly Moore's tea so fire comes out her nose.

Ok, ok, not funny. But at least I tried! *slinks off to write more melodrama, for which she is better suited*

*hugs to dietcokeani*

 

Fun game, dietcokeani.

My scraplet of paper is rather smudged with what appears to be some sort of sauce, so I can see only a few words here and there. The legible portions appear to read,

"Buy bananas"

as well as, farther down,

"...flowers ... Tarkin"

Very odd.

I'm glad you are feeling better, geo3. May your recovery be swift and sure! Be well.

 

* Send flowers to Naboo for funeral - doesn't matter which one... there'll be so many.

* Take Dooku down a notch, or maybe a head will do (can't stand an uppity apprentice).

* Be sure Emperor Palpatine Emergency Medical and Reconstruction Center is ready for grand opening...

 

Palpy's note to self:

1) Make dentist appointment to whiten black teeth.
2) Put batteries on charger so Force Lightening machine works next time I need it.
3) Look into this 'Botox' thing.

 

A bit o' Palpy's appointment list.

-Racquetball with Thrawn
-Look into membership rates of new "Essence of Nkllon" tanning salon
-Find out how much it would cost to get dietcokeani as image consultant

 

So, there I was, dilly-dallying, reluctant to face the music, when ELDRITCH got wind of what was going on in the story and with me and locked me --- at the point of his lightsaber!!! --- into my ivory tower and didn't let me come out until I was done.

Then he looked it over and made me do it again until it was right!

I suppose I should be giving him piles of roses for his trouble, but instead I named a character after him without his permission.

(He's not a BAD character...)

So this is my sheepish, storytellerish way of sidling onto the thread to present you with a post that was really, really hard to write.

If you hate it, spare me.

Blame ELDRITCH for making me get through it.


Chapter 39. The One Point II( Part I)


General Kenobi read the heavily encrypted message slowly and carefully ? unusually so, his XO, Commander Bren Eldritch, thought. Normally the General absorbed information faster than anyone he?d ever known. But the General was staring at this one as though he could hardly make out the words ? or maybe he didn?t want to?

Eldritch backed away and went to stand in front of the large scanner screen. There was the Victorious - twice the size of the Intrepid, and twice as dangerous. Her Captain was taking his time about replying to the General?s order. It was nerve-wracking for everyone on the bridge to see two Republic commanders face off like that.

He glanced back at the General. The Jedi looked frozen in place, like a jammed Holovid image. Eldritch sighed and rolled his shoulders to ease the tension in them. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Comms. officer watching the General intently, waiting for orders.

When General Kenobi finally did move, it was to point to the comms. console. The Comms. Officer jumped to activate the link to the Victorious.

?Well, Captain Tarkin?? Kenobi announced. ?Your time is up.?

All normal activity and chatter on the Intrepid?s bridge ceased. The officers and crew strained to hear the conversation. The General spoke quietly and yet so forcefully that the XO could imagine his voice pulsing across the airless void between the two ships unaided.

?I?m sorry, General Kenobi, but I am unable to comply,? Tarkin replied uncomfortably after a distinct pause. ?Our? passenger? is unavailable to speak with you.?

Kenobi didn?t show the slightest flicker of emotion. ?Very well, Captain. Release the captive ship from your tractor beam.?

?Sir, that is ??

?An order.? The General?s tone brooked no argument.

?But??

?You have already disobeyed one direct order, Tarkin. Are you going to do it twice??

A little shiver sprang into life among the Intrepid?s bridge crew, leaping from one tense soldier to the other.

?General, I cannot?? Tarkin sounded strained, as though his collar sat too tightly.

The General turned around to face the bridge crew. ?Battlestations!? he ordered distinctly while the link to the Victorious was still open, and then he quickly mimed that it should be shut down with the classic ?cutthroat? gesture. The Comms. officer complied instantly.

After that, the General seemed to sag. He reached out to place a hand on console beside him. His arm tensed. It looked as through it might be all that held him upright.

?Target all tractor beam arrays,? The General ordered flatly. ?Short bursts only. All we want to do is to disrupt that beam.?

?Aye, General.? Eldritch moved off in the direction of the weapons console, but General Kenobi grabbed his arm and pulled him closer with such strength that he winced. Immediately he regretted having reacted that way. The General?s grey eyes were stormy, but he hadn?t meant to hurt. It was a bad situation all around. Everyone was feeling it.

?Sir??

?Bren, prepare the following firing sequence,? Kenobi murmured so quietly the XO had to lean close to hear. The General pressed a small piece of flimsiplast into his hand. ?It is to be executed on my order only, at a second?s notice.?

?Aye,

 

absolutely, capitvatingly brilliant

 

Oh no! V'ar! *sniffle* I am so bummed, but wow... what a beautiful sacrifice.

Gosh, geo... I was on the edge of my seat throughout this entire chapter. The way you described V'ar's state of mine was gorgeous. As sad as the end result was, I did find comfort in the fact that she was surrounded by the light of her fellow Jedi.

This story is utterly captivating. I love the way you write these characters. It's so clear that you know them very well, both inside and out. They always come across even more 'real' than they did on the movie screen.

Speaking of movie screens, is there any way we could turn this story into the real thing? Do we happen to have any millionaires out there? *looks hopeful*

Congrats on another out-of-this-world chapter, my friend. I'm in awe, as always!