Beyond - Legends Saga - ST Beyond the Saga Saga - Legends The Legacy of Darth Caedus

Title: The Legacy of Darth Caedus
Author: Sinrebirth
Timeframe: Between 21 ABY and 41 ABY
Characters: Luke, Mara, Leia, Han, Jacen, Jaina, Anakin, Ben Solo, Tahiri Veila, Ben Skywalker, Vestara, Jagged, Abeloth, Palpatine, Snoke, Shawnkyr Nuruodo, Vergere
Genre: Adventure
Summary: When Darth Caedus fell, Kylo Ren rose. But what legacy did Ben Solo inherit? Let us see.
Beta Readers: @SiouxFan, @Delpheas, @Lady_Belligerent (with thanks!)

 

House Keeping!

1. Ben Solo is the fourth child of Han and Leia. He was born one year after Dark Empire: Empire's End, from Legends. This coincides with the Battle of Jakku in Canon. In that respect, all Canon post-Endor references begin from the Battle of Onderon, not the Battle of Endor. So anything set, for example, five years after Endor in Canon actually takes place in 15 ABY, such as Mandalorian season one.
2. The Yuuzhan Vong War lasted four years.
3. The Legacy of the Force novels take place in their original timeline placement i.e. 37 ABY, as mentioned in Betrayal.
4. Episode VII: The Force Awakens, takes place in 41 ABY.
5. The final death of a character in the timeline is considered their final appearance, so any contradictions will be smoothed out.

 

Tagging the usual suspects

@SWpants, @HMTE, @Kadar Ordo, @Noash_Retrac, @Chyntuck , @Chrissonofpear2, @Force Smuggler, @Darth Corydon, @Vialco, @earlybird-obi-wan

 

At the Massacre of Ossus, Ben Solo killed hundreds of Jedi students, and even Council members, Masters and Knights.

Luke Skywalker went into exile for his failure, and the Jedi Council disbanded the Order.

In the aftermath, Ben Solo joined the Knights of Ren, killing its leader and becoming Kylo Ren.

But with many Jedi Masters on the run, Kylo Ren is not yet done with the past...

... and it is not done with him, either.

For Kylo Ren is not just the son of Leia and Han, and the nephew of Luke and the late Mara Jade, the cousin of Ben Skywalker, but also the brother of Jaina and long-dead Anakin...

... and the fallen Darth Caedus, too.

 

Interlude Zero

Late 21 ABY

Ten years of peace.

Relatively, of course - the collapse of the Old Republic and subsequent Clone Wars and Galactic Civil War had made war and violence the answer to many questions which had, in previous generations, been solved by diplomacy and force of belief. Without ten thousand Jedi to keep the galaxy peaceful, there had been threats.

Rogues, and terrorists - Daala, Tavira, Roganda Ismaren, the so-called Praetor, Hethrir, and Gideon. A revived Sith cult determined to resurrect Marka Ragnos, and even Luke’s Yavin praxeum had birthed Dark Jedi. The Sun Crusher, Death Star prototype and Darksaber superweapons; the unification of various Deep Core Warlords and then the Outer Rim into the Imperial Remnant. Pellaeon, Nil Spaar, Thrawn and Disra. Plenty of victories, and nearly, now, a hundred Jedi.

They had, however, triumphed over them all, and in short order. It had been, regularly, peacekeeping rather than warfare. Skirmishes, not sieges. Admirals, not Emperors. Rogue Moffs, rather than sprawling armadas.

However, on the tenth anniversary of the Galactic Concordance - or, the Coruscant Accords, to some, and Pax Republica, to others still - Senator Leia Organa Solo, former head of the New Republic, decided that enough was enough. After years, Leia decided that it was time to embrace the peace. The one won at the Battle of Jakku, and then strengthened by the Bastion Accords.

To celebrate.

The New Republic had won.

All but a handful of sectors stood apart, having joined the Senate. A million member worlds, millions of others allied, trillions of sentients, and billions of species. True democracy, and a set of alliances and understandings with those worlds that stood apart.

The surviving Deep Core Imperials might still dream of a day when the New Republic collapsed, but Director Scaur and Admiral Ackbar were sure that they were no threat. Soon, her children would attend the Jedi Academy, and contribute to the future.

Which meant a picnic on Naboo.

Why not? It was said to be the world of her mother, and Leia had lost Alderaan, Corellia was barely home to Han, and Luke had no desire to go to Tatooine. Mara didn’t even know her homeworld, and Coruscant was home, yes, but Leia had turned the entire planet into her job.

They were overdue a sabbatical.

In a glen not far from Theed, Leia sat on a blanket, watching as Han napped in the sun. Mara was levitating a set of toys for Ben, who was chasing his favourite stuffed Bantha around. It was tatty, but then again, it was ten years old. Anakin was watching, thoughtful, daydreaming, as he was want to, probably using the clouds in a narrative. Animal-obsessed Jacen was playing with the Shaaks, followed by Chewbacca, and Jaina was tinkering with some project she had brought with them.

The Noghri maintained a watch, as did the New Republic Guard. They had a wider perimeter than the gray-skinned nonhumans, mainly because the Noghri didn’t like the involvement of outsiders in their personal mission to defend Lady Vader. Threepio and Artoo were nattering, peevish tones and musical blats.

“Peaceful,” Luke said, at the same time as Leia. She startled - it wasn’t as if she had sensed Luke was besides her, holding a pair of glasses of blue milk.

“Isn’t it?” Luke added.

Leia glared at him. “You made me jump.”

“I did,” he said, handing her a milk. She could see the picnic basket that Threepio had painstakingly packed, open. “You rarely lose yourself so much.”

“I was enjoying the moment,” Leia said, drily, accepting the drink. Luke loved the stuff, almost as much as hot chocolate. “Have we heard from Lando and Tendra?”

“They’ll join us later, they said,” Luke sipped. “Mara won’t be able to stay long, either.”

“She’s taking students out with Mirax and Iella again?”

A nod. “I want to get back to the Ossus Academy, too. Kam and Le’ung are doing well enough on Yavin, and Streen and Kirani Ti are on Dathomir, too.”

“And Corran is liaising with the Jensaarai,” Leia sighed. “Yes, I know. Lots of Jedi, and witches, and Defenders.”

“The reward of peace,” Luke said. “More and more little lights.”

“And hopefully no more shadows, Master Skywalker,” she said drily. He deadpanned, and Leia regretted saying anything.

Though, since Dolph fell, Luke hadn’t lost a student. Brakiss, Desann and Konur had been early falls to the dark side, and the deaths of Gantoris, Dorsk 81 and Strom weighed on them, but as of late, there hadn’t been the conflict to begin with. It was, well, peaceful.

The Galactic Civil War, ended a decade ago, had finally settled. Now Pellaeon was no more dangerous than the Hutts or Corporate Sector, and the Senex Lords were no more problematic than the Mandalorians or Centrality. The Hapans were as friendly as they could be, much like the Tion Hegemony and Commonality. Antemeridias simply wanted to be left alone, and, the one or two independent fortress worlds that remained, like Makem Te, kept to themselves. The Senate didn’t even discuss the Deep Core Imperials. It had been years since they’d looked at the New Republic threateningly.

The future was in the Unknown Regions - where the Nagai, Tofs and Ssi-Ruuvi had emerged from; where several Imperials had fled; where Thrawn’s people were said to be. Indeed, the fleet had recently found the wreck of the Intimidator, one of the last missing Super Star Destroyers - battered into submission. For the moment, though, Leia was merely a Princess, rather than a Senator and a General and Chief.

“Whatever comes, we’ll be fine,” Luke said, firmly. “After Thrawn, Palpatine -“

“Original, fake or cloned?” Leia joked.

“And ancient Sith defeated, we’re stronger than we’ve ever been.” Luke watched the children. “And we’ll grow even more so, together.”

There was a sudden disquiet; in the Force, to start, and from Mara, initially. Then the children stopped what they were doing, and even Han opened an eye. “Leia?”

“Mara?” Luke said, not yet moving.

“It’s nothing,” she said, walking Ben back to them. Han sat up, looking languid and yet impossibly poised to spring into action from even the most twisted pose. “Hey, Ben?”

“Yes, Auntie Mara?” The ten year old boy looked confused, almost to the point of nonplussed. Leia looked into the face of their child which favoured Han the most, and then eyed Mara.

“Could you repeat what you just said to me while we were playing with the Noghri?”

“What?“ More innocence, with a thread of denial. Ben knew when he was in trouble, even if it wasn’t couched as leading him to admit something.

“Ben, you’re not in trouble,” Han said, laying back down to make the point. “I’ve said worse, no doubt.”

“But you were a criminal, Dad,” Ben pointed out.

“Smuggler, and former.”

“Threepio says -“

“Ben,” Leia said a bit more firmly.

“I just said that I wanted the Noghri to call me Lord Vader,” Ben sighed. “Like they call you Lady Vader.”

Leia froze, ice.

“Mom?” That was Jacen, from his position in the glade. In fact, Anakin and Jaina had stopped what they were doing too. “You okay?”

“She’s fine,” Luke assured them.

“Jacen asked Mum,” Jaina bit back, not quite rudely, but she was nearly thirteen… going on thirty, according to Mara.

“I’m fine,” Leia said, automatically.

“And then what did you say?” Mara added gently, green eyes softening.

“I said that they should call me Lord Vader because my Mom beat Darth Vader and that’s why you call her Lady Vader.”

Han stiffened, and Luke’s peaceful face froze, only slightly. Leia felt warmth in her cheeks.

“Master Ben,” said Threepio helpfully. “That is not why Mistress Leia is called -“

Artoo screamed at him.

“That’s just right, Ben,” Leia said, and Mara cut her gaze to Leia. “But Darth Vader was a bad man, and we don’t want to remember him any longer than we have to.”

“But the Noghri -“

Han picked up that, sitting up again. “The Noghri used to work for Darth Vader during the war when he lied to them and they don’t now. They’ll stop saying Lady Vader any day now.” His eyes were leading.

“Yes, um, Lord Solo.” The Noghri shied away.

Han grinned. “Better.”

“Kids, go run and play with Artoo. Threepio, come here, would ya.”

“Oh dear,” the protocol droid said. Artoo tweeted musically at Ben and pulled out his buzzsaw to distract him.

“Um, Han -“ Luke said.

“I trust Artoo not to cut Ben,” Han said smoothly, before brandishing a finger at Threepio. “You don’t tell him a thing about Vader.”

“But Master Solo -“

“When we decide to tell Ben, it will be our decision, not your mistake,” his voice was firm. “Because if it is, I’ll melt you down.”

Chewbacca growled for emphasis.

“Oh my,” Threepio said.

“Goldenrod, do you understand?”

Threepio began to flap, and Leia stood, taking his arm. “Please, Theeepio.”

“Oh, of course, Mistress Leia,” he sounded defeated. “But when you decide, please do tell me -“

“If,” Leia said, and Han’s eyes widened. “If we tell Ben, we’ll tell you.”

Mara’s eyes were fairly wide herself. “If, Leia?”

Luke spoke up. “Let’s give Leia a chance to explain herself.” He smiled at his wife, who schooled her features.

Leia took a deep breath. “At some point, the lesson of Darth Vader will be lost on people. They’ll see a lifetime of evil, and a single act of redemption, and they will think that’s what they can do too.” She looked at her brother. “You nearly fell to the dark side, and came back.” Leia shrugged. “Kyp came back, too.”

“And I was the Emperor’s Hand,” pointed out Mara. Luke winced, but didn’t interrupt.

“Exactly,” said Leia. “If we start to give the impression that the dark side isn’t a one way trip, then Jedi won’t take it seriously. We’ll start losing them.”

“And so you don’t want to tell Ben about Vader?”

“There will soon be a generation growing up that never had to fear Darth Vader, Palpatine or Thrawn,” Leia said. “And it’s basically a conspiracy theory for most people nowadays.”

“But we shouldn’t forget the lessons they taught us -“

“And we won’t, but we won’t do ourselves any favours if we shade what Vader did,” Mara pointed out to Luke.

“I was expecting you to oppose this,” Han hazarded.

“I did, but Leia also has a point,” Mara replied. “Ben doesn’t know. I’d guess that a lot more people don’t know than do, and that number is growing.”

“But lying to Ben -“

“I don’t think you should tell him,” came a small voice, and Leia started. It was Jacen.

“Honey?” The worst thing about having children is when they turned into little adults that actually listened. You as a parent always forgot at the most inopportune moments.

“Yeah,” Jaina said. “I agree.”

Han glanced over. “Why?” His tone was even, considering he, too, had been surprised.

“Because of Anakin,” Jacen said. “You named him because of grandfather, but he knows he’s named after Darth Vader. That’s a lot of pressure on him…”

“And sometimes we feel it, too,” Jaina pointed out. “We’re the grandchildren of a butcher.” She looked apologetic. “Sorry, Uncle Luke -“

“No, it’s okay,” he said. “I had more time with him as Anakin than any of you,” Luke said.

“Well I never knew Lord Vader as anything but a deeply scary -“

“Threepio,” Han said, firmly. “Shush.”

“Yes, Lord Solo.”

“Goldenrod!”

“Han,” Leia said, softly, and he stopped.

She looked to Jacen and Jaina. They were as tall as her now, and as puberty settled in, they’d appear less twins and more siblings - and would tower over diminutive Leia. That did bring a smile to her lips - ordinarily. For now she simply appraised them as not oversized children but miniature adults.

Anakin, for his part, had gone back to daydreaming, gesturing at the clouds and absently using the Force to make shapes. Leia would ordinarily had chided him for abusing his powers, but knowing the pressure she had put on her son for naming him after her grandfather…

“Thank you, Jacen, Jaina.” Leia drew them into a hug, made the all moreso awkward with pubescent teenage limbs and the characteristic awareness of their bodies. “Now go play. The adults need to discuss how we are doing this.”

They nodded, and ran off - to Anakin. This appeared to be something the twins had discussed at length themselves before looking for the best way to broach it with their parents.

Leia turned to the mostly grim faced adults. “We don’t teach about Vader being Anakin in New Republic schools.”

“It’s not on the semester at Ossus, either,” said Mara, too. “We’d experimented with Ossus as a kind of preschool, before the Yavin praxeum -“

“If Ben finds out we lied to him…” Han said, concern in his voice.

“We’ll tell him when he’s older. More balanced,” Leia said, firmly.

“He’s ten -“

“And he’s angrier than all three of our children put together,” Leia replied. “Lord Vader was still a terrible man - and our ten year old thinks it would be cool to be named after him.”

Chewbacca rumbled. He agreed with Han that this was a bad idea. Mara hesitated, but looked to Luke. She was siding with Leia, that was unspoken.

“Do I get a vote?” Threepio began to say, and Chewbacca tripped his circuit breaker, catching the droid as he sagged.

“Thank you,” Mara said, sighing. “I was going to throw him.”

“Goldenrod’s heart is in the right place,” Han said, sighing slightly. “What’s it gonna be, Luke? Two for two, and yes, Chewie counts.”

“I know,” Luke said, softly. “He’s older than all of us put together, after all.”

Chewbacca whined slightly. Luke was the Jedi Master, he was by default the wisest.

A self-effacing smile crossed Luke’s lips. “Not when it comes to parenting.” His eyes briefly glanced to Mara, and Leia ignored it.

Luke and Mara would have children in their own time. Han and Leia had gone fairly quickly into children after their last marriage - one unrecognised at galactic law and one interrupted ceremony - but they’d been together for years by then. Luke and Mara hadn’t been together for all that long - they should enjoy the time they had… around tutoring dozens of Jedi and putting down whatever fire the Senate asked for helped with that day. It had taken Leia a year to arrange this picnic around their competing schedules.

“I’ll agree to this, because Leia does have a good point. We’ve been exceptionally fortunate. There are dozens of stories of Jedi who went to the dark side to do good, and fell,” Luke said, agreeably. “But only as long as we tell Ben before he becomes a Jedi Knight.“

Leia began to speak. “And I’ll agree to it -“

“Hang on, this was your idea -“ Han started to say.

“I know, but -“ Leia’s gaze focused on Luke. “If you have Ben as an apprentice, and take him to Ossus.”

“To Ossus? Aren’t Jaina and Jacen going to Yavin soon?” Han objected. “We won’t have any kids at home -“

“Han, you’re already busy enough running the Galactic Races -“ Mara pointed out. “And we all know people want Leia to run as Chief of State again when Ponc’s term is up.”

Han went silent. Chewbacca woofed softly, dejectedly. Are you going to run again?

Leia paused. “Maybe? It’s an era of peace. I can do more good now, rather than spend my time preparing for warlord of the week, or crisis of the month.”

Han sighed, and looked over at his best friend. “Luke, I know you want to be at Ossus as much as Yavin 4, and I don’t want Ben left alone -“

“He won’t be,” Luke said firmly. “I’ll keep a close eye on him, and watch out for his anger…”

Mara paused, and everyone waited, sensing that she wanted to speak. “I don’t think he is angry, to be honest.”

“What do you mean?” Han said. “Because the Force and tantrums, trust me -“

“It never feels like his anger, is all,” Mara said. “He’s curious, playful, and sure, it you break him out of his fantasy world, he’s never happy, but… whenever he feels dark it feels so…”

“Adult?” Leia guessed.

“Yes,” Mara agreed.

Luke nodded. “You’re both more perceptive than I am, but I’ll keep an eye on him. My personal eye…”

Mara nodded. “To be honest, I was thinking of taking Jaina as my apprentice when she’s older.”

Leia smiled, a bit weary. “Good luck with that, she has her father’s stubbornness.”

Chewbacca gruffly chuckled.

“Mine?” Han snorted. “More like Leia’s. I’m nowhere near as stubborn as she is. Remember Cronal? Hethrir? None of them came close to breaking you.”

“Yeah, yeah, spacebum,” Leia said, kissing his cheek. “We’ll need to tell a few people, but… let’s leave Anakin Skywalker’s darkness in the past, where it belongs.”

Luke nodded. “I won’t tell Ben, but…”

“Yes?” Leia said. She was about ready to bring this to end. They were supposed to be on holiday.

“What will you do if Ben finds out on his own?” Mara finished for Luke.

“Then we’ll deal with it, together,” Leia replied, firmly.

“We beat Palpatine,” Han said, proudly. “We can save Ben. We did Luke, and Kyp, and we’ll do it again for our son.”

“We’ll never abandon any of them to the dark side.” Luke smiled. “The Empire is gone, and we won. We’ll beat the past for their future, and now we’ll make sure the present works out, until it’s time to pass the torch.”

He indicated the children, as he placed his arm around Leia. “They are the New Jedi Order, and we’ll be there when they need us, but it’ll be their future, too.”

“Great,” Han said. “Now I feel old.”

Chewbacca grumbled a criticism, keeping in mind his age.

And they, for a time, laughed.

For a time.

 

Updates every Saturday!

 

Chapter One

40 ABY

The stars were cut apart.

Not literally, of course, but from the outside, distant observer, they appeared, on this beautiful, clear night above Arkania, to be split. To be divided by an arrow soaring across the sky.

On closer inspection, it was revealed to be a wedge-shaped vessel, favoured by galactic governments for millennia.

They scaled dramatically under the Galactic Republic and Old Empire, from the ancient-most Centurion-class battlecruiser, to the modern Turbulent-class Star Destroyer. Sometimes, the larger design would actually lose to smaller one, for example the Executor series of Super Star Destroyers was shorter than the later Sovereign-class, but the latter ship had an axial superlaser with a mere one eighth of the power of the Death Star.

Variations in the location of the bridge tower also made a difference. On the Imperial-class and Victory-class, they were exposed, meanwhile on the Nebula-class and Chiss-class, they were hidden in the hull, making them more difficult to hit. The Venator-class had two bridges - one for command of the craft, and the other to dictate the fighter wings it carried, and despite being half the size, had more starfighters than the Secutor-class to hand. Even what appeared to be a known design might conceal surprises within it's hull-form, such as the Rejuvenator-class, or even the Endurance-class, which were nominally based off other designs.

As such, it was not possible to judge a dagger of a capital ship by its shape.

Not it's capabilities, nor, indeed, it's intent.

The New Republic would, ideally, have never positioned a Star Destroyer to bombard a planet. Meanwhile, the Empire did it so regularly as to coin the military term of a Base Delta Zero, which would have seen a world glassed. The Galactic Alliance was a bit more circumspect with how it used Star Destroyers in this manner, but one could never know what the Imperial Remnant would do. It depended on who was in-charge - and indeed the same could be said of the Galactic Alliance, which had briefly operated tyrannical under a revolving door of Chief of States.

This particular vessel, too, was not particularly well known. While comparisons could be drawn to the unique Gilad Pellaeon starship, used as the flagship of the former Remnant, it was as if the Gilad Pellaeon was a prototype, or distant cousin, to this black monstrosity. Three kilometers of durasteel, weapons and armour, this Star Destroyer was the Finaliser, and fresh from secret First Order shipyards.

It was also lighting up local space with green turbolaser fire, and the tell-tale trace of missiles through atmosphere - pursuing a target. Not far behind, a pair of TIE fighters screamed, chasing their own projectiles and also a battered looking disc of a freighter, bearing the pennant code, Jolly Man.

It was not a small ship, and had berths for six starfighters, but none of those were present. Indeed, those hangars were merely weak points, and a missile entered one and blew out the other side of the freighter. With a wobble, the ship lost height, and began heading towards the surface at increased speed. Just as suddenly, the debris that had been vented reversed path and headed back up at an unnatural angle, shredding one of the TIE Fighters.

The other doggedly pursued, firing, and the engines of the Jolly Man took another hit.

With another surge in the mystical energy field known as the Force, part of the upper hull of the freighter ripped clear free, flapping in the wind, and then snapped off, spooking off the TIE Fighter. The pilot turned the small starfighter away, the scream of its engines sounding loudly as it exerted itself against the angle of the incline and the atmosphere pressing upon it.

That merely left the way open for the Star Destroyer, and a precision fired turbolaser bolt impacted the rear of the freighter and blew apart half of its rear - taking the engines with it. The TIE looped back, and paced the freighter, launching cables to slow it's descent.

Orders were not to destroy the ship, for such things were prone to be erratic and incomplete when it came to destruction, but to ensure it's landing. A rough impact was fine, but not a crash.

Their commander didn't trust crashes.

From the Star Destroyer birthed two more ships, which could not be in more contrast if they tried. One, a winged shuttle craft, with a wingspan that was far oversized for its stature, designed to impose rather than function. The other, a chunky slab of a ship, so much so that it trailed a dark puff of black smoke wherever it trailed, as aging but souped up engines pushed it forward.

The former was the Silencer, the Upsilon-class shuttle; the latter, the Night Buzzard, a former dungeon ship with a vile crew to match its design. It was their leader who had the shuttle, mind you.

Kylo Ren.

Son of Han and Leia; brother to Jaina; nephew to Luke; cousin to Ben Skywalker.

Grandson of the late Darth Vader.

Brother to the departed Anakin Solo... and, too, the recently deceased Darth Caedus, who had killed his aunt, Mara Jade Skywalker.

Behind his mask, he breathed, deeply, monstrously, angrily psyching himself up for the kill.

For his revenge.

For it was a Jedi that he and his Knights of Ren paced.

An Arcona by the name of Izal Waz.

Someone that Ben Solo had once considered a friend.

Who he was going to murder for existing, when he no longer should.