Beyond - Legends Saga - OT An Empire Displaced (EU/Disney Cross)

Everyone who could feel the Force, Jedi or Sith or any number of others, are prone to say ‘the Force works in mysterious ways’. The Jedi would be more inclined to believe it has a will of its own and it is pointless to try and predict it. The Sith view the Force as a tool, and if it acts strange, they are simply not trying hard enough to rule it. Others, too many to name, range anywhere between these two extremes. All agreed that the Force was something no one completely understood.

What none of them could ever expect, was for the Force to decide to throw two different worlds together.

The Galaxy of Great Legends meeting the Galaxy of Failed Dreams. Two worlds never meant to meet, beyond the bleedover of similar people. Yet, here they stood, welded together by some power beyond any imagination. How would the Galaxy adapt to such an event? None really knew, in those early days…

---

Coruscant, Imperial Palace, 5 BBY​

Built upon the legacy of the Jedi, the Imperial Palace had long-ago been stripped of their vestiages. Imperial flags were draped over empty panels, their mosaics carted off to be destroyed. The towers had been rebuilt and repurposed into housing for the Moffs and the Emperor himself. Indeed, the Emperor sat upon his throne in what had once been the High Council Chambers.

It had been as much a symbol of dominance over a hated enemy as it had been a pragmatic choice.

“A disturbance in the Force. Unlike any I have felt before.”

Right now, it seemed especially pertinent, as a center of the Force unlike any in the Galaxy. For Emperor Palpatine sat upon his throne, suffused in the raging currents of the Dark Side. A disturbed current that had even one such as him honestly confused.

“I came as soon as I felt it, my Master.” Darth Vader stood before the Emperor, resplendent and stoic in his dark armor. Any who were not intimately familiar with the Dark Lord would be entirely unable to see any sign of strain in his body. “I am unsure as to the source of this disturbance. It is at once far-reaching, and very far from Imperial Center.”

Palpatine was, perhaps, the one man who could see the slight twitch in Lord Vader’s frame. The slight hitch in his modulated voice. “The source is of little concern, Lord Vader. The cause is something I am far more curious to know.”

The Emperor would never show fear. He was the ultimate power in the Galaxy, the man who had brought the Jedi low and defeated their Grand Master. Yet…

“Have any of the Inquisitors reported? Surely something of this nature would have drawn their attention as well. They serve as our eyes in such an event.” Emperor Palpatine looked at his Apprentice with his eyes. And at the Galaxy itself with his Force senses.

As always, Kenobi and Yoda avoided his senses. He spared only a glance in their direction. The Inquisitors, few that were left after that Padawan tore through their fortress, were still visible. Panicked. Fools, all of them. Save for the Grand Inquisitor himself, none had been trained Jedi. Nor had Palpatine and Vader felt the need to train them beyond the necessary to kill other barely-trained Jedi.

Of course they would be afraid. Even Palpatine, secure in his power, felt a slight recoil when he touched the Force. The Shroud of the Dark Side had...shattered. Tatters that barely answered to him any longer.

I see. Whatever has caused this has destroyed centuries of work. This was no Jedi. Not even that fool Yoda was capable of something of this nature. If that is the case...perhaps I can use this to my advantage.

Already, schemes and plans were making their way to the Emperor’s mind. Whatever had caused this was powerful. If it could be turned to his side, he would fear nothing ever again. “Lord Vader. I do believe you will be needed once more.”

“Yes, my Master?” Vader was prompt in his reply, stepping forward and kneeling before his Master.

“I wish for you to locate the source of this disturbance.” A sickly smile came across the Emperor’s face, yellowed teeth stretched wide beneath wrinkled skin. “Bring it before me. If you should find that impossible, destroy it. Do I make myself clear?”

Vader inclined his head, “Of course. I will leave at once. Do you believe this was a ploy by the Jedi?”

Palpatine waved a hand dismissively, “Those fools could never create a disturbance of this magnitude. Though…” if it were possible, Palpatine’s smile widened. “Ha. I would not be surprised to find Kenobi and Yoda moving to do much the same as you are, Lord Vader. You will finally have the chance to put an end to the Jedi Order for good.”

“I would like nothing more, my Master.” The Dark Lord made no attempt to hide his pleasure at the thought. Nor should he. “Kenobi will not hide from this, nor from me. If I encounter him, he will not escape again. I will not allow it.”

“Good...good. Now, leave me, my Apprentice. I will not have the Jedi find the cause of this before we do. Take however many Inquisitors you feel necessary. They are little use otherwise.”

With a final incline of his head, Lord Vader returned to his feet and swept from the Throne Room, his cape billowing behind him. As the imposing figure retreated from the room, Emperor Palpatine leaned back and returned to the Force. Returned to stitching the Shroud together and attempting to identify just what had broken it in the first place. Those unaware would simply find the Emperor deep in thought.

Those who could feel the Force would find the malevolent pleasure of Darth Sidious at finding a new challenge. A potential new power. A replacement for his crippled servant and pitiful Inquisitorious.

Oh, he would enjoy breaking whatever had caused this event.

---

Tatooine​

I have never felt something like that in my life. And I can’t leave to figure out what it was, either. You’re getting too old, Obi-Wan. I can’t leave Luke alone either.

‘Ben’ Kenobi sat outside his simple hut, staring up at the stars in the Tatooine night sky. His hand stroked a grey beard, deep in thought, and wondering exactly what he had felt. It had been some time since the Force had...recoiled in pain. There wasn’t any other way to describe it.

“Things used to be so simple.” Obi-Wan mused, sighing heavily and shaking his head. “Well. So long as whatever that was stays far away from here, there isn’t anything I can do about it. I have to trust in the Force.”

That was all he had done, since he had first come to Tatooine. Trust in the Force. Obi-Wan’s time had passed, as had that of all the old Jedi. There was a reason he went by ‘Ben’ Kenobi, and not just for security. What right did he have to use the legacy of the Order when he had failed it so terribly?

He had not seen the signs of Anakin’s struggle, or if he had, he had pushed it from his mind. Believed that Anakin was troubled but still firmly in the Light. What a fool he had been. If he had just seen the signs, had just acted sooner, maybe Vader wouldn’t have been born. Perhaps he could have saved the Jedi. Or he could at least have prevented more deaths by...

No. He had lacked the strength to kill his brother-in-all-but-blood.

And where does that leave me? A hermit on a dustball looking after his son, hoping that one day, Luke will be able to save us all. I...am not the one to save the Galaxy. My time has come and gone. I’m not even certain I am the one who should train Luke, even were Owen to allow it. And he won’t.

Sometimes...

“Sometimes I wish I were as strong as you, Master.” Obi-Wan spoke into the silent night, his eyes falling from the scattered stars. Nothing returned his words, of course. Only the soft howl of wind from deeper in the canyon he called home. The crackle of the fire by his side, casting shadows on his home and the walls surrounding it. “Never one to help me too much, are you, Qui-Gon? I could use your wit right now.”

Climbing to his feet, Obi-Wan looked at the lightsaber at his side. And sighed. “Or, at least, I could use your strength right now. You always saw the Force differently than the rest of us. You would have some insight into this that I’m missing, I’m sure of it.”

His Master had no answer for him, of course. Qui-Gon rarely spoke his mind anymore. He had taught Obi-Wan how to become One with the Force, and then left once more. If it was because it was too difficult to manifest himself in such a way, or because Qui-Gon felt he should stand on his own feet, Obi-Wan didn’t know. All he knew was that he was alone. Alone to figure out what he may have to defend Luke from.

Or even if he would have to defend Luke, for that matter.

Whatever it had been he felt, those long days ago, had not felt dark. It had thrown the Force out of sorts and had given him a pounding migraine. Yet it hadn’t felt malevolent or anything of that sort. He’d felt the Dark Side in enough forms, from Maul to Ventress to Savage to...Anakin. Obi-Wan knew the Dark Side.

And that wasn’t the Dark Side.

Sighing once more, the old Jedi trudged over to his fire. It was time to put it out and give up on another night of wondering what he had felt. The mystery occupied his time, but it wasn’t anything he could deal with so---

Luke!

Hand instantly dropping to his lightsaber, Obi-Wan’s grey eyes widened in shock. For he felt distinct presences in the Force, despite their efforts to hide, approaching the Lars Homestead. They were still some distance away. They didn’t feel dark. But they were clearly Force Sensitives, and trained ones at that.

He didn’t even hesitate. Obi-Wan jumped into action, his old body moving far faster than it had any right to. The speeder he kept by his home was old and rusted, barely functional compared to what he had used in the Clone Wars. It didn’t matter.

“Who could have found Luke…?” Obi-Wan muttered to himself, as his speeder chugged to life. The rickety old craft shooting out into the canyon. He knew, intimately, the route to the Lars Homestead. “No. That doesn’t matter. I have to protect him.”

It was all that the old Jedi Master lived for. To see Luke safe and well. To make up for his failure with Anakin.

He would not, could not, fail. Not with this. Not again.

---

Bastion, Throne Room, Some Days Previous​

“We’ve lost all contact with Ossus and with Coruscant. The Jedi and the Galactic Alliance are not responding to any attempts at contact, and the Holonet can’t reach outside Imperial Space. Am I missing anything?”

Standing before his rarely-used throne, Roan Fel rubbed tiredly at his face. He’d been awoken by a disturbance in the Force that had echoed throughout the entirety of his Empire, dropping every Force Sensitive to their knees. His Knights had been prompt in rushing to his quarters, of course, and securing him. Not that it had mattered.

The one thing they were absolutely sure of, was that this wasn’t some sort of attack upon the Empire.

“That is correct, my Liege.” Admiral Koral nodded at the question. A man who had been relegated to home defense duties due to his age, but also a man who was at least experienced in what he did. “Moreover, our scouts on the border report that the Galaxy is...different. The hyperlanes are subtly different, moving in directions that aren’t quite correct. Our navicomputers are adjusting as we speak, but that is just one difference. When we sent a scout to Borleias to meet with the Alliance base there, it was gone.”

Roan grimaced, “The base was destroyed, then.”

“Ah...no. You misunderstand me. The system was gone, my Liege. It was not destroyed. It was as if it was never there to begin with.” Koral winced at the look Roan sent his way, his own aged visage grimacing. “I apologize, but I fear that what happened may be beyond what he had ever dreamed. If nothing else…” Here, he shrugged his broad shoulders, and looked utterly lost. Not a good look on a man of his age. “We eventually found Borleias, through random luck as much as anything. The planet showed no signs of the Vong War. It was a prosperous colony, in a way it never was before.”

“I...see. What of the Alliance base, then? Was it also ‘changed’?” Roan hated the way he hesitated in asking that question.

He hated not having an answer to his questions. He hated this lack of control. Even in a Galaxy going mad, he had at least known what to do. Most of the time. It was why so many worlds had flocked from a disintegrating Alliance to join his prosperous Empire.

Koral, still looking as if he had swallowed something particularly foul, shook his head. “Unfortunately, not. There was no sign of Alliance bases nor Alliance shipping. In fact, the vessels we could identify- and there were quite a lot of unknown design and origin -were practically ancient. Corellian freighters that would have fit the time of the Rebellion. As well as…”

Sighing heavily, the old Admiral held up a holopad. From his hand, sprang an image taken by one of the scout ships in the Borleias system. An image of a very familiar ship, even if one that had long-since passed into history.

“That is an Imperial Star Destroyer.” Roan couldn’t hide his utter bafflement, even if he tried. It was not one of his ships, no. It was an Imperial-class.

The familiar bridge tower and flank-mounted turbolasers were instantly identifiable to anyone who knew their history. Indeed, if he wasn’t terribly mistaken- though it had been a long time since his lessons -this was an even older model than he was familiar with. The large structure atop the bridge was entirely wrong. What was the reason for that again…?

No. Not important.

Roan shook his head and forced his mind back on track. He cursed the lingering migraine that detracted from his focus. “Admiral, do you have any explanation for why such an old ship would be orbiting Borleias? Or why the Alliance base would be gone?”

“None that make any logical sense.” Koral tapped the hologram, closing it out as he looked at his Emperor with serious eyes. “That is the least of our problems, if I may speak freely, sir.”

“Go ahead.” Roan sighed, accepting that his migraine was only going to get worse.

Walking over to a conference table, Koral pulled out sheet upon sheet of data. More datapads joined them, as he laid out everything the scouts had found in the limited time available to them. It was...quite a bit, in fact. Worryingly so.

“Everywhere we have scouted, outside our borders, the story is the same. Antique warships and even older freighters, with some vessels that we have never seen before. Planets in the wrong place, or looking completely different than they should- historically or otherwise. I admit, my first assumption had been time travel.” Koral smiled thinly at the dry look that his Emperor sent his way. “I know, it seems impossible. Even for the Force. Yet no other explanation made sense. It is these other vessels that worry me. No archive has any record of their design, and there are too many of them- including military craft -for me to write it off as lost records. Coupled with the planets in different locations…”

Roan was no one’s fool. He was as intelligent as he was powerful and charismatic, and he knew where his Admiral was going. How could he not? It was coming together for him as well. So, reaching up to run a hand through his greying hair, the Emperor sighed heavily. That was what it was, then.

“Not just time travel. An entirely different Galaxy.” Roan’s hand fell from the silver streak in his hair, as he looked down upon the table. He hadn’t even realized he had walked over to it, so engrossed in thought he had been. “Judging from the warships we’ve seen and the total lack of any New Republic insignia, this must be during the Old Empire. During Palpatine’s reign.”

Koral nodded, “That is what my subordinates and I agree on, yes. Not an easy thing to accept, my Liege.”

“No...not easy at all.” Roan agreed with a heavy and heartfelt grumble of annoyance.

He knew that his people would not be eager to join the Old Empire, despite what some propaganda from more well-meaning members of the Galactic Alliance liked to say. The people of the Fel Empire were quite content with their lot in life, even the Moffs, as much as they may grumble behind his back. The liberalizing efforts of Roan, his father and his grandfather had made the Empire, if not a democracy, at least a much more representative government.

It was still an Empire, and he still held absolute power over many things. Yet, aside from the true hardliners in the vein of the Old Empire, it was a perfectly acceptable place for anyone to live. It didn’t matter what species or what world they came from. All were welcome. At least, that was what Roan aspired towards, and he liked to believe he had succeeded in most ways.

Even so. Even so.

“Keep an eye on the borders and on the Military, Admiral. I want to get in contact with all of my Fleet commanders. We do not need defectors selling our secrets for the hope of power. I would be less than surprised if Palpatine works towards that goal, once he realizes we are here.” Holding his hand on the table, the Emperor stared his Admiral in the eyes. “As well as that, reinforce our border garrisons. Strip the core territories if you must, but I want every single Pellaeon we can spare on the border. If the Old Empire wants a fight, we must dissuade them of that notion.”

Koral snapped off a crisp salute, and nodded his head. “Of course. I will see to that as soon as I am able, my Liege. However…” The old Admiral once more looked as if he ate something sour, as he formed the next words out of his mouth. “What of the Rebellion? They will surely seek our aid, if only because we are not Palpatine or Vader.”

Roan snorted softly, “Of course they would. Well, if they desire our aid, they will have to make concessions. I will not bar them from our territory, not yet at least, but I will not allow them to try and subvert my rule. I may be a descendent of Leia Organa, but I am no Republican.”

As he spoke those words, Roan snapped his fingers with a sudden realization. His action intended to cover the sudden chill that overtook him. The Old Empire. He...they were still alive. In the prime of their youth, in fact. Less than twenty years old, if the Old Empire was still intact as it was. How could he have forgotten?

The Force spoke to him, as he looked at Koral, and gave one more order.

“I want you to prepare shuttles and escorts for my Knights, Admiral.” At the look of confusion, Roan placed a hand on the man’s shoulder, and gave it a sharp squeeze. He was not joking around. “I have no doubts that information from our archives will reach Coruscant and Palpatine. He will know, sooner or later, about the location and birthright of Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker.”

To his credit, Koral’s own eyes widened into shocked circles. His mouth dropped open, before he snapped it shut. “Of course...of course. Yes, my Liege, I will do that before anything else. We must bring them here as soon as possible to prevent the Sith from getting a hold of the Skywalkers.”

“And I know just the Knight to send to Tatooine, as well.” Roan nodded, a small smile crossing his lips despite the lingering cold in his bones. “I’m sure she would quite enjoy the chance to meet Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, after all.”

Koral chuckled, knowing exactly who his Emperor spoke of. “Of that, I have no doubt.”

And so, the Fel Empire began to mobilize. Forces took up positions on border garrisons, scouts continued to examine the new Galaxy they found themselves in, and factories tooled up to produce unheard of amounts of war material. Full mobilization and nothing less. They could not afford to slack, even with technology in their favor.

While all of that began, two different groups of Imperial Knights set out. One to the Core, to retrieve Leia Organa from Alderaan. One to the Rim, to secure Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

They could not allow the Skywalker siblings to fall into the Old Empire’s hands.

---

I are bored. :V

Though, joking entirely aside, this is an idea I've had for quite some time. The general concept of tossing EU stuff into Disney-verse is even older than this particular idea. But I hit upon this one after reading old threads, and it didn't let go. The Felpire is...hmm.

It's still the Empire. Still an authoritarian system, even if a milder one that has some representation. Not much, but some. It's from quite far in the future compared to any point in Disney Wars (though I decided pretty early not to use the Sequels here). It's run by descendants of Leia, which will be fun times later. It has what are basically Jedi, just Jedi that serve an Empire. It's a weird miss-mash of things that will weird everyone out.

But it's also something that can be a light against the Old Empire which is important. Only the hardest of hardliners will want to go back to Spicy Sheev being in charge. And that will cause conflict, armed or otherwise. As for the Rebellion? They'll have some real soul searching to do here. Same for the surviving Jedi.

I did elect against having any other Legacy-era stuff come along, though. No NJO and no Galactic Alliance and no One Sith (organized, anyway, I'm debating stragglers). To keep things simpler, and to also drive home the moral struggle that is supporting the Felpire or not. They are what you get, not the GA or the NJO. Questions for the good guys to ask themselves.

(though, Cade Skywalker is around for the funnies. And drama, to some extent. Which Cade, though? Well, that's something I won't say for now.)

Will this be something more than this? Maybe. Basically just gauging interest at this point.

I consider this to be one of the more interesting options for the overall concept of 'EU group to Disney-verse'. If only because, as I said in the note at the end, it is one that forces everyone involved (on both sides) to take good, long looks at themselves and decide what they are truly willing to back. It isn't like using the EU version of the New Republic or the Galactic Alliance, which are basically 'jumpstart the Rebellion into whichever of the two you crossed over'.

Felpire forces people to look at themselves and what they could become.

[past this point it is not crossposted, this is TFN specific]

I initially posted this on my more usual haunts- nowadays -of SV and AH.com. The latter was fruitful discussion, even if there were some disagreements. They were worked out and the other poster and I generally respect each other. The former...well.

I may prefer Sufficient Velocity in many cases, especially for stuff that wouldn't fit here, but I got a tad- just a tad -bit annoyed at people not engaging with the idea in favor of 'FEL EMPIRE NOT REDEEMABLE. ANYTHING TIED TO EMPIRE IS STUPID AND NOT WORTH ANYTHING'. Like, I never claimed the Felpire were the good guys ( 'better' guys, vis-a-vis Disney Empire, if anything) but...yeesh. It got annoying to not have any real engagement with the idea.

Thus, I return to trying here, even though my track record on commentary here isn't the greatest. I figure a SW board is more likely to actually engage with the idea instead of going all political on it. I'm a history teacher, I like me my politics, but I don't want to have an idea dismissed out of hand because the Fel Empire is apparently an Imperial version of a 'Clean Wehrmacht wehraboo fantasy'. -_-

 

Oh how utterly riveting! Time travel especially into the OT will be loads of fun!