Scars of Mustafar (COMPLETED 1/14/09)

[Darth Fanboy]

Author notes: New Chapter!

I humbly request if any moderators see this if they could remove the "new chapter" portion from the thread title, since editing previous posts is not an option for the time being.

And I promise that, although the endgame is now within sight, I will not make that the title of the last chapter. Any fanfic author that uses "Endgame" as a title chapter is either overly enamoured with the term (guilty as charged unfortunately) or lazy (also guilty).

[Crazedwraith]

Nice chapter, Fanboy. Thing really look to be coming to a head.

Just one question though: Anakin fully expects to turn Coruscant into a war zone, yet aren't his children still on the planet? Has he sent any of the 501st to get them to safety?

[Darth Fanboy]

Nice chapter, Fanboy. Thing really look to be coming to a head.

Just one question though: Anakin fully expects to turn Coruscant into a war zone, yet aren't his children still on the planet? Has he sent any of the 501st to get them to safety?

Answers below.
Spoiler

There is references in one of the more recent chapters about the 501st having turned the Skywalker residence into a temporary barracks, also Anakin expects the Senate District area to go nuts, but not the entire planet per say.

[Kartr_Kana]

Yes! It's back!! good chapter and even better fic Darth Fanboy keep it coming!

[Sidewinder]

Looks like Iblis and Obi-Wan are in for a VERY TOUGH fight.

As for Vader's prerecorded message, is it a stretch to say it reactivates the separatists' droid army and brings them under the Vader's direct/indirect control? At the very least, it'll buy Vader time to deal with those who remain loyal to Sidious.

[Darth Yoshi]

Looks like Iblis and Obi-Wan are in for a VERY TOUGH fight.

As for Vader's prerecorded message, is it a stretch to say it reactivates the separatists' droid army and brings them under the Vader's direct/indirect control? At the very least, it'll buy Vader time to deal with those who remain loyal to Sidious.

Dude, we have spoiler tags now. But I was thinking the same thing. Next chapter should be interesting.

[JME2]

Great developments, as always. Can't wait for the next installment.

[Darth Fanboy]

Chapter 36: From the Streets to the Stars

Anakin was not more than two meters into the complex when he was attacked by the most infamous first line of defense in the history of either the Galactic Republic or Empire, the bureaucracy.

“General Skywalker, you’re back much earlier than we expected,” said the young man that greeted him. He lacked the disciplined features of a soldier, or the cool demeanor of an intelligence operative, leading Anakin to believe that he was a part of the COMPNOR organization. Originally the Republic’s propaganda machine; it had been gradually co-opted by Palpatine during his reign as Supreme Chancellor and transformed into one of the new Emperor’s most valuable tools in solidifying his New Order.

A quick glance around the room turned up little, but Anakin’s force senses told him otherwise. The entire palace was crawling with activity, ISB agents posed as office clerks, their identities betrayed by their thoughts.

“It looks like my Master is getting paranoid, and since I don’t see that slimeball Pestage anywhere he must be absolutely terrified, probably because he knows there is going a fight.”

The COMPNOR official interjected again. “Supreme Commander if I may, His Majesty is currently in conference right now, but he knows that you are here and will personally contact you when he is…”

Anakin’s temptation to swat the officer, and educate him on why the Supreme Commander’s reputation with deskbound government officials was less than amicable, was palpable. The lesson went unlearned however, as Anakin did not want to waste any time when the object of his ire was so close. The official just watched with a blank stare as the Hero of the Empire ignored the rest of his statement and walked right past him.

Ever eager to fulfill the wishes of his idol, Emperor Palpatine, the official turned to pursue the Supreme Commander. He was quickly held back by an older plainclothes Intelligence Agent who grabbed his shoulder at the last second.

“It’s not worth it son, leave it for the Guardsmen.”



Outside the building, their uniformed counterparts were faring little better. A handful of officers had stepped outside to gauge the commotion outside and saw the hundreds of troopers of the 501st standing watch and forming an armed perimeter around the entire building, more disturbing was the cooperation from the Coruscant Shock Troops in their customized red and white armor. The senior-most officer of the group spotted Commander Bow and made his way towards him.

“What is the meaning of this exhibition trooper?” The officer, a Lieutenant, said arrogantly as he was not used to clone officers in full armor, having experience only with the enlisted-level troopers providing security for the Senate District.

Bow turned to meet the Lieutenant, and looked at him, watching as the man’s face reddened as he noticed the rank insignia on Bow’s chest plate.

“You were saying Lieutenant?” Bow said trying to startle the officer away and end the confrontation before it began.

The attempt failed. “Despite the perceived disparity in our ranks Commander,” The young officer said with a sneer. “I operate under ISB authority, and the Senate District is under OUR jurisdiction.”

“Hah!” Bow could not help himself from laughing at the Lieutenant’s posturing. “Listen son, my orders come from Supreme Commander Skywalker. We received credible reports of an attempt on the Emperor’s life and the General has ordered the 501st to make sure that His Majesty is secured.

“We’ve received no such reports!” The Lieutenant proclaimed.

“That’s ‘We’ve received no such reports SIR!’ Lieutenant and you haven’t heard anything about this because you sit here in your sky towers playing spooks while we’ve been out in the battlefield killing Separatists. Now get back inside with the rest of your serpent-headed lot or they’ll have to surgically remove a plasteel boot from your upper intestines.”

Backing up Bow’s words were the clattering sounds of two nearby clone troopers, who not-so-innocently decided to choose that moment as the proper time to conduct an inspection of their blaster rifles. Sensing that he was at a decided disadvantage, the Lieutenant decided it was time for a strategic retreat.

“You will hear from my commanding officer about this.” He said.

“And you tell whatever data-pushing, desk-racing, son of a gundark you call a commanding officer that we’re not doing anything unless we hear from General Skywalker or the Emperor himself. You might also want to get yourself some armor to cover that pretty little tailored suit, I hear the bad guys in a real fight carry blasters.

As the young Lieutenant marched up the steps, the junior officers around him noticed the foul expression on his face and attempted to avoid contact, save for one, a young Ensign stuck as the Lieutenant’s aide.

“Orders Lieutenant Somoril?” He asked meekly.

Somoril took a moment, unconsciously allowing his frustration with the Clone Commander to make his decision. “Call down to the techs and have them get our reserves ready.”

The young ensign nearly flinched. “But sir! We’re under orders from Colonel Sollaine not to use the droids in public view!”

“I will make Sollaine understand Ensign, but your job is only to follow my orders to the letter. Is that clear or should I just send you out there with a hand blaster to keep those clones from doing whatever the kark they please?”

The Ensign did not even bother to respond, and immediately began carrying out Somoril’s orders.

“Let’s see how tough you bucket headed traitors are when you find out the improvements we’ve been making to the Separatist’s hardware!”



Decades ago, as a youngling, Obi Wan remembered learning about how a Jedi in deep meditation could become so enmeshed with the Force that he or she could go days without noticing the world around them.

“Apparently these days all it takes is a good siren and an intercom system.”

Obi Wan exited the temporary quarters given to him and saw personnel scrambling all around him desperately, but he was at least pleased to see that his two padawans were already waiting for him.

“Master Cody,” Nam Poorf said, careful with his new Master’s instructions about his true identity. “The Empire has arrived in the system, we double checked the IFF data and it’s the same force that destroyed Telos.”

“Then they must have followed us.” Obi Wan said with some remorse. “We owe it to them to help however we can in the evacuation.”

“Senator Bel Iblis asked us if we could help with the fighter screen.” Jambe Lu replied. “Nam and I can’t fly starfighters but we’ll be serving as gunners with a squadron of bombers, the Senator reserved a fighter for you in the main hangar.”

Satisfied with his purpose, Obi Wan acknowledged the padawans. “Then that’s where we are heading, you two lead the way.”

In all of the battles he had fought in, Obi Wan recognized that he had fought in few such as this. The circumstances of fighting a rebellion were far different than fighting as one side of an open conflict between two nations. Obi Wan wondered if the Separatists in the Outer Rim had felt like this as the deactivated droid armies broke the stalemate that was the Outer Rim Seiges.

Starfighters still remained in the hangar, but it was emptying fast. Vulture droids were mixed in along with various piloted craft, including Z-95 Headhunters and their much older predecessors the C-73 Tracker, Cloakshape Fighters, and even a handful of Y-Wing bombers that appeared to have been stripped of their armor and other exterior fittings.

Jambe and Nam immediately headed for the Y-Wings, where pilots were already climbing into their cockpits.

“General Cody!” someone called out from across the hangar. Obi Wan recognized it as Garm Bel Iblis.

“Senator!” Obi Wan replied. “You should already be off planet by now, what are you still doing here?”

“Making you sure you got this…” Bel Iblis pointed over in the corner at a type of ship Obi Wan had seen before, but was not entirely familiar with. “That’s an Utapaun P-38, same as the ones used by Dooku’s droid guardsmen. Not inexpensive at all and I’m personally impressed with them enough that I had agents collect as many as possible. This one was actually taken from the Seps and the cockpit has been modified enough that someone like you will be able to fly it. If you’re going to die today General, they’re going to have to work for it. Besides, I’ve already appropriated your ship as my own transport. Unless you’d rather take that old Bespin Gascan into the fight and try and laugh the Imperials to death.”

Obi Wan looked over the ship and started climbing into the cockpit. “No arguments from me Senator, I’m not going to miss her at all.”

“Fine, well I know you Jedi don’t believe in it, but I’m too Corellian not to wish you good luck.”

The comment elicited a short laugh. “May the Force be with you Senator, and if somehow we both survive today maybe I’ll reconsider my position on luck.”



The monitors displayed around him told Darth Sidious nothing that he had not already gleaned from the Force.

His agent had failed miserably to deal with his former apprentice, and was now dead after revealing critical information in his weakness.

His finest clone legion had been corrupted, and had begun creating an atmosphere of fear and panic in the heart of his Empire, which would fuel dissent.

His palace had become a fortress, filled and surrounded with beings unable to properly enforce his will and thus forcing him to take all matters into his own hands.

His other minions were drastically escalating the conflict outside, ready to turn the tense situation into an unavoidable firefight that would be galactic news by the next day.

His apprentice was less than fifty meters away filled with a murderous hate, ready to end their arrangement and either take over or destroy everything that he had worked decades to bring to fruition.

Sidious had done everything possible to manufacture a way to deal with Anakin Skywalker without creating turmoil within his government. His meteoric rise in popularity with the armed forces and the public had been couple with an extreme dislike fostered amongst many of the influential figures in Palpatine’s New Order, a dislike fostered by the Emperor himself. Those who hated Skywalker saw him as the last symbol of what the Old Jedi Order represented.

Sidious did not care one way or another. His apprentice’s fate had been sealed as soon as Sidious recognized the dormant power resting within his children. In each of them he saw the opportunity to alter the future of the galaxy and by killing Skywalker and taking them into his care he would be allowed to mold that future by changing the destinies of the twins.

Now that the task was on his shoulders alone, Sidious was forced for this first time in ages to mediate on the martial aspects of his Sith training. Mace Windu and Yoda were the first two opponents he had actually fought in many years, not since a duel to test the worthiness of his apprentice Darth Maul had he raised his lightsaber in protection of his life. Lord Tyrannus had never even been given the opportunity to raise his blade against his master, and it pleased Sidious to no end when his arrogant and overconfident former apprentice had been struck down by his successor on board the Invisible Hand. Tyrannus had never been able to truly let go of his Jedi past, whereas Vader tossed his aside with ease and contempt.

Defeating Vader would be just as difficult, if not more so, but what Vader did not know was that Sidious had taken several precautions in case such a duel occurred. The time of this confrontation was most certainly not of his choosing, but the location assuredly was, and Sidious knew Vader’s blind rage would prevent him from becoming fully aware of what lay in store for him and his legion of traitors.

As he turned his throne towards the door, he felt Vader’s presence in the Force and knew that he had arrived. His timing almost perfectly timed with that of his overeager subordinates, as Sidious observed on one of his chair’s arm-mounted display projectors.



The skies were as clear as they had ever been on Coruscant, the city’s weather-control system kept it that way. But Commander Bow could not help but wonder what sound it was that he was hearing that reminded him of a low thunder. Then the ground started to reverberate beneath his feet, but not powerfully enough to be an earthquake.

“I want a sit-rep from all squad leaders right now!” Bow said over the comm as the thundering sound grew louder. “Something is happening and I want to know exactly what it is!”

Nobody bothered to respond to Bow over the comm when the walkways began to open up around the building in plain sight of everyone. As the doors retracted newly installed hidden platforms raised up from the depths below, each of the platforms carried their maximum weight in battle droids. Just as that happened, the doors of the building swung wide open, and more droids began to pour out as well.

As if the droid army wasn’t enough of a surprise, other parts of the walkway began to open up and disgorged a number of droids hovering in the air on repulsorlifts. Bow identified them as Protodekas, and they were armed to the teeth with enough firepower to take out fighter tanks.

Bow looked around and sensed that his troopers were beginning to feel a little intimidated. “What were you all decanted yesterday?” He yelled at everyone within earshot. “Don’t let these tinnies keep you from doing your job, this just means that those ISB spooks inside are scared of us, and so help me if anyone says that they have a bad feeling about this, they’ll be scrubbing latrines with their hygiene kit for a week!


Bow would never say as much, but privately he did have a bad feeling about the way things were going, and he hoped that whatever it was that General Skywalker had in store, it would do something to give them better odds against the number of droids they were facing. Just from where he was standing he was able to identify the airborne Protdekas, several droidekas including a new type that appeared to have mounted grenade launchers in place of the repeating blaster weapons, IG-100 Magnaguards armed with nasty looking blaster rifles of a sort Bow had never seen, and leading the way was an uncounted number of B-2 battle droids, painted black with silver imperial insignias emblazoned prominently on their front panels.

“We fought and died for years so that the same pieces of junk we destroyed time and again could replace us? Every clone worth his armor would be sick if they saw this.”

Bow expected some sort of taunt to come from the ISB agents inside the palace, but nothing was said.

“What do you think they’re up to Commander?” the trooper standing closest to Bow asked.

“Probably trying to put on a good face for the public, although everyone involved in this whole clusterspawn of a contest knows that those droids weren’t sent out to back us up the bureaucrats are probably telling everyone on the planet that this is all one big happy armed response to a terrorist threat not unlike the one that killed the General’s wife, and that they should rest assured the Empire has everything under control.”

The trooper stopped to consider Bow’s words, and then turned his attention back to the droids.

“That’s a lot of firepower Commander.”

“Trooper, I started fighting in this war less than two hours after I shipped off of Kamino and I’ve been fighting with the 501st for the better part of my life. And that is the biggest understatement I have ever heard.”



Obi Wan banked his fighter on it’s side in order to slip between the two V-Wing fighters that were challenging him head on, only narrowing splitting the gap without colliding. The V-Wings overshot him and flew right into a stream of fire from the Y-Wing Squadron Obi Wan was paving the way for out of the atmosphere.

Now that all of the ships were in space, Obi Wan could only scramble from one emergency to the next, already there were several dozen cargo ships carrying valuable equipment under siege from Imperial fighters. Obi Wan checked his threat display and saw a flight of ARC-170’s streaking towards a container transport, he immediately moved to intercept, coming in from the side in an attempt to avoid the rear guns possessed by the ARC-170s. Obi Wan’s fighter had no torpedoes, but the linked laser cannons were able to do enough damage to break up the enemy formation, and buy the transport a few more precious moments. The ARCs attempted to make a move against Obi Wan, but the speed and maneuverability of the P-38 was too much for their heavier fighters to engage in a dogfight.

Another alert flared up on Obi Wan’s HUD. A Nu class attack shuttle was attacking and about to begin boarding a freighter carrying passengers. Obi Wan attempted to intercept but was cut off by another pair of V-Wings who came in from above and behind. Obi Wan cursed as his starfighter was especially vulnerable from that angle, one of the downsides to having an especially low target profile otherwise.

He banked hard to avoid the blasts streaking towards him, and managed to evade most of the shots. His shields were enough to handle those that hit, but Obi Wan began to worry as more Imperial Fighters moved into the area he was working in, a sign that the Empire was having success in bringing down the Rebel fighters in other engagements.

Obi Wan managed to evade another volley of shots entirely and his looping maneuver brought him right behind the V-Wing pilots, who did not expect such a maneuver and were now about to pay for it. Linked cannon fire from Obi Wan’s guns destroyed one of the fighters, and the exploding ship managed to deal damage to his wingman’s ship, which was now veering away from the battle with a trail of smoke and sparks behind him.

The victory was short lived. Obi Wan’s ship rocked as he came under fire once more. His head darted back and forth in an attempt to spot his pursuer who turned out to be an Eta-2 Interceptor. Used widely by the Jedi Order during the Clone War, some Eta-2’s were piloted by the few elite clone pilots that had managed to master the difficult ship. The Eta-2 came around again, and Obi Wan was suddenly grateful that he no longer held food in his stomach the way he used to as he was forced to invert his ship, raising himself out of the interceptor’s attack vector just enough to avoid being hit again.

Obi Wan felt the presence of the clone pilot as he passed, which was unusual for him as he was more used to facing the droid starfighters of the Separatists. Although the Clone pilot was better than the standard pre-programmed droid pilot, the fact that Obi Wan could sense him in the Force made him a more susceptible target.

Obi Wan reached out with the Force and sensed the pilot’s intentions, he was going to swing back around and wait for the last possible moment to see which angle Obi Wan took and unleash a volley from his ion cannons. Obi Wan steer back towards the pilot, acting as if he was going to make an attack run on the Eta-2, and when the last possible moment occurred, Obi Wan shot up vertically instead of the horizontal maneuver the clone had expected, Obi Wan then reached out with the force and caused the clone to lean in forward on his throttle which spun him into an uncontrollable spiraling dive that did not end until the interceptor happened to crash into one of the Imperial fleet’s Venator Star Destroyers, crashing into the flight deck as the doors were opening to launch more ships causing great damage to the carrier, as well as the dozens of ships awaiting their deployment inside.

The P-38 veered back into the engagement zone just in time to see the column of flame bursting from the VSD. As it happened, the communicator one the console began beeping.

“General Cody! Don’t try and convince me that was anything but luck!” Came the garbled voice of Garm Bel Iblis, the result of the transmission barely making its way through layers of communications jamming.

“Senator!” Obi Wan screamed as loud has his electronic vocal cords allowed him. “What are you still doing here?”

“That’s why I’m calling, there’s a Star Destroyer on our tail and we’ve lost our Y-Wing escorts.”

Obi Wan’s mechanical heartbeat reacted to the increased adrenaline in his system, and fought against it to keep blood flowing at a healthy rate. “Jambe and Nam? Where are they now, are they in trouble?” Obi Wan said as he began to move to his next target.

“Our escape route had been cut off by an Imperial Dreadnaught, the Y-Wings used up their entire payload in order to help bring it down. The Dreadnaught was sunk but none of the Y-Wings survived the attack run. I’m sorry General, for what it’s worth they went out as heroes.

Obi Wan held back his grief. “I’ve been around too many heroes in my life Senator. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Do whatever it takes General. Bel Iblis out.”

Obi Wan angled his ship again and set off at top speed for the Senator’s location, hoping that between now and then he would have the answer for how his small fighter would be able to take on a fully armed Star Destroyer.

[Darth Fanboy]

I never intended the Obi Wan portion of this story to be filler, but now i'm finding as i'm writing it that it's becoming a sotry in its own right running well (at least in my opinion) alongside the story of Anakin Skywalker I wanted to tell. Expect conflicts to escalate in the next chapter. Also, if anyone has any feedback for the chapters I edited earlier that would be awesome. For comparison the orginal version of those chapters appears in the old thread titled "RoTS Alt Ending Fic".

EDIT:

Thanks JME2 for the note about the italics tags, and a big thanks to the board staff for getting editing restored! I went from "FUCK" to "YAY" in about three milliseconds when I saw that I could edit here again.

[JME2]

The italics at the start of the chapter need to be fixed. Other than that, still loving it as usual.

[Crazedwraith]

Damn you, Fanboy, Damn you. I'm supposed to be writing my Dissertation right about now.

Oh and you killed off Jambe and Nam already? Poor buggers, I didn't think their chances in Y-Wings were good.

[Solauren]

You don't kill Padawan's that easy.

Then again..


Awesome as always Lord Fanboy, keep it up!

[Darth Fanboy]

You do when they're stuck as gunners on stripped down Y-Wings, and when you need Kenobi's situation to look that much more desperate .

Just wait until I find out what the cononical fate of Ashoka Tano is and see how easy she dies :p. If I had my way, she would die a stupid death at the end of every episode ala Aeon Flux.

[Sidewinder]

So far, so AWESOME!!! Just don't pull a Gene Roddenberry and make this AU a MIRROR IMAGE of the original, e.g., turn Anakin into a gimp with four artificial limbs and a need for an artificial respirator, or have Obi-Wan successfully kidnap Luke and then train the boy to become a Jedi.

[Darth Fanboy]

none of that is in the cards

[Solauren]

I'd have Ashoka Tano show up, go to Anakin and try to 'help him'.

What happens after that is up to the Anakin. It shouldn't be pretty.

[Darth Fanboy]

I'd have Ashoka Tano show up, go to Anakin and try to 'help him'.

What happens after that is up to the Anakin. It shouldn't be pretty.

You know he privately gave Count Dooku the nickname "snips" also, but for a different reason, heh. I'd imagine her fate would be something similar, especially in a timeline under my control. Although the temptation for Anakin to use her loyalty for his own ends would make more practical sense, and then eventually Anakin could pit one or more of his kids against her to see who is a more suitable apprentice for him.

"Darth Snips" *puke*, you're right she should just be killed. Either by Anakin or by a Clone Trooper legion as she's running ahead of them yelling "Come on boys!" I'd imagine if Captain Rex were in charge of the clones shooting her down in Order 66 they'd be shooting until there was little more than a smoking hole in the ground and they wouldn't stop until every blaster in the area was run down.

[Solauren]

She wouldn't have to be given the 'Darth' title. Just make her a Dark Jedi, unaware of Anakin being a Sith Lord.

She helps raise the kids, train them, and then she's there first 'test'.

Hell, I can imagine she wouldn't be that famous, and since she's non-human, properly trained, she's make an excellent 'Emperor's hand' operative looking into rebel cells.

[Darth Fanboy]

if we're all lucky, Chapter 37 will be done by New Years, otherwise, early January at the latest will be my goal.

[Darth Fanboy]

Chapter 37: One War to the Next


Anakin was not surprised to see that his Master had his back turned to him, as the throne was turned around, allowing the Emperor to gaze out onto the Coruscanti Horizon. Especially since the force had assuredly revealed to him Anakin’s imminent arrival. Anakin kept moving until he was about three meters away and then stopped, pausing in order to gauge his Master’s silence and scan the room for signs of deceit.

Sidious broke the silence first. “If you are looking for traps Lord Vader, you are wasting your time. If I had any, do you think that I would be so short sighted as to leave them detectable even to a person with talent such as yours?”

“With all due respect Master,” Anakin said, not bothering to disguise the contempt in his voice. “I would be stupid not to expect such danger, especially in dealing with a being with a reputation such as yours. Besides that, you were foolish enough to think that Grand Moff Tarkin could deal with me, and now here I am with all of your dirty little secrets laid bare.”

The chair turned, and Anakin was faced with the bright yellow eyes of Darth Sidious, Emperor of the Galaxy. He was immediately reminded of the time when Sidious had ordered him to go to the Jedi Temple and execute Order 66. The positions the two men occupied now were nearly identical to where they stood on that fateful night.

“Believe what you want, whether I overestimated Tarkin’s abilities or underestimated yours, the fact remains that had you failed you would have been unworthy to be my apprentice. You have come a long way from your Jedi past, but there is still so much you could learn from me Lord Vader. With Amidala gone there was nothing left to get between you and true power!”

Anakin’s rage boiled. “So you admit responsibility for her death!”

Sidious flashed one of his dark and sinister smiles. “You would have never reached your full potential with her around. She was strong of will, but weakened by her misguided philosophies. You know as well I do that she never would have sat by as we crushed all resistance to our Empire. Eventually she would have tried to intervene on behalf of her former colleagues in the Senate, the very traitors who right now wage secret campaigns against us!”

Sidious stood firm, knowing full well that he was making his apprentice even angrier, but it was a calculated risk. Even the most powerful of the Sith could be subdued once they had lost their temper, and thus control of their actions. “The only thing that I failed to properly evaluate was Amidala’s corruption of you Lord Vader! Your heart has grown far too soft, while you have fully embraced the Dark Side, you lack the vision to ever fully comprehend the teachings of the Sith, my teachings!”

Anakin snorted as his hand went to his lightsaber, his hand pressing over the hilt. “Even if that is true, even if you did kill me, you’ll never have another apprentice as powerful as I am. Eventually, my Master, you’ll have to risk getting your own hands dirty and when that day comes your failure will transform from possibility into eventuality.”

But Sidious was prepared for such a response. “Arrogant as ever, especially when there are two replacements readily available to me as soon your life expires.”

It didn’t take any time at all for Anakin to realize that Sidious was referring to the twins. Those words had more power than even the Sith Master had realized, simply uttering them eliminated the last insignificant vestiges of loyalty Anakin had left for the man he once admired, whose friendship he had cherished, whose tutelage he had sacrificed everything to gain. The lives of his children, the last thing he had in this world to connect him to Padme, were now threatened. Anakin’s desire for vengeance grew two-fold. He took his lightsaber into his hand, and pressed his thumb down on the ignition switch, igniting the red blade.
“Your time is up Lord Sidious, I will not allow the galaxy to be ruled by a traitor such as yourself. As of this moment I am declaring myself the rightful ruler of the Empire.”

Sidious laughed at the gesture. “So this is how it ends between us? Then you and your clones will die today. All of you have outlived your usefulness and the Empire will forge on without them. I look forward to the day when I am able to enlighten your children of how much of a weak willed coward you were.”

Then Sidious saw it, a small device attached to the hilt of Skywalker’s lightsaber. The Sith Master snarled at his former apprentice’s treachery when he realized what the device was.



Commander Bow heard the words loud and clear as he listened in on the conversation between Skywalker and the Emperor via the small communicator Skywalker had given him, and he was about as amused as a rancor with irritable bowels.

“Then you and your clones will die today. All of you have outlived your usefulness and the Empire will forge on without them…”

This evidence was damning indeed, not only was it proof that the Emperor was planning on getting rid of the Clone Army, but other parts of the conversation had revealed him to be the mysterious Lord Sidious who was rumored to have directed the Separatists throughout the Clone War.

Bow wouldn’t have believed it, except that right now he and his men were staring down more battle droids than he had seen since the end of the war, and all of them had their guns pointed at his outnumbered and underpowered force.

He could always call Commander Vills with the rest of the 501st, but that would leave the children unprotected, and if he heard right and the Emperor wanted the twins, then leaving them under-defended was one of the worst decisions he could make right now.

The answer didn’t come immediately, and then a flash of inspiration hit. There were plenty of possible reinforcements on this planet. Millions of clones were stationed either on Coruscant or in the Skyhooks orbiting the world, thousands or so within the distance of a short range transmission.

But would they listen? Would they respond as Bow did upon hearing of what the Emperor was planning? Would they act on the threat of the active generations of clone troopers being exterminated in favor of more docile replacements? There was also the other part of the message that Skywalker must have carefully calculated. He had just declared himself the ruler of the Empire, and legitimate or not that simple declaration opened the door for the clones to choose who they would fight for, they could decide who was in command based on loyalty.

Bow sent the transmission, knowing that once it aired it would only be a short time before the ISB jammed the transmission and acted upon the threat of what he was about to do.

“All right you bucket heads get it together!” Bow screamed out to his men over the frequency the clones were using for their helmet communicators. “The excrement is about to hit the oscillator!”

At that moment, Bow had to do something he was not bred to do; something that Jango Fett and those moronic shiners who walked in his shadow would have called him insane for doing.

He hoped.



Bi Wan twisted and turned in the air as he evaded the onslaught from the Imperator-class Star Destroyer. The ship was too big, and his fighter too lightly armed, for him to be effective in diverting the Star Destroyers from bringing its heavy guns to bear on the approaching convoy. Desperate, Obi Wan dove in close hoping that a linked burst of fire from his cannons would be powerful enough to destroy or disable the gun emplacements, but the flak bursts were too much and Obi Wan’s shields were nearly depleted after one abbreviated pass.

“Iblis!” Obi Wan cried out over his communicator. “Change your vector! There is no way I can steer this Star Destroyer!”

No reply was received, and Obi Wan realized that his proximity to the Star Destroyer made communicating with the convoy impossible. Although Obi Wan had never believed in luck, he would not have objected to a miracle from the far reaches in space at that moment.

And a miracle is exactly what happened.

From behind the Star Destroyer, nearly a dozen small capital ships emerged from hyperspace. A mixture of older Marauder-class corvettes and modified Light Assault cruisers made up the bulk of the formation but taking the lead was an unfamiliar looking Corellian Corvette that Obi Wan was getting a strange feeling from.

Individually, the ships were no match for the Star Destroyer by a wide margin, but together, they posed a great threat, especially to the lightly protected rear of the ship. Maneuvering as fast as it could, Obi Wan breathed a sigh of relief as the convoy carrying Garm Bel Iblis made its way safely into hyperspace.

There was more good news. The small group of ships did not arrive alone, and they were aiding in escapes across the Dantooine system. Many ships were destroyed and lives were lost, but enough had escaped that the Rebel Fleet would remain a credible threat to the Empire.

Obi Wan swung his ship around, ready to engage the nearest Imperial starfighter he could find when he began receiving a transmission from the odd corvette.

“Unidentified P-38, this is the Corvette Custodian, break off your attack and rendezvous with us immediately for your evacuation.”

Obi Wan prepared his reply. “Custodian, I’m on my way.” Obi Wan had to resist from broadcasting it out in the open, but he finally recognized the ship. It could only have been the Tantive IV, now refitted and upgraded to handle the rigors of space combat. Voicing the transmission calling for Obi Wan to head for the ship was none other than Raymus Antilles.

“If the former Tantive IV is being armed then Bail Organa has to be getting more involved! If the Empire find out about this link then he is putting himself in great danger. I have to find him!”



“What do you expect to accomplish with that?” Sidious demanded. Although he had expected Anakin to pull some sort of stunt involving the clones, he did not expect his former apprentice to do something so reckless as to try and plunge the very heart of the Empire into civil war!

“Simple really, I’m taking over the Empire while making sure that everyone knows where they stand with you, a courtesy that you never offered me.” Anakin retorted.

“Even if you manage to corrupt every clone in the Empire I will still prevail, all it will take to subdue them is your death and your remains mounted somewhere quite visible.” Sidious spat as he raised his hands in an all too familiar manner.

The first bolts of Sith Lightning flashed forth with great speed and were met with an equally quick parry from Anakin’s lightsaber. He had learned much since his first encounter with the attack on Geonosis, and was almost disappointed that Sidious had chosen it as his opening attack.

But the bolts of arcane energy was not the only ability that Sidious had in his arsenal, while maintaining the attack with his right hand, Sidious broke the attack with his left and made a quick gesture with the right.

Anakin had little time to react as Sidious’ own lightsaber sprang to life from its hiding place behind him. The red blade shot through the air like a blaster bolt right at Anakin’s back. Aided by the Force, Anakin shifted his mass to the left in a bur, allowing the blade to continue on its path towards Sidious, who then caught the blade in his free hand.

Ceasing the lightning attack, Sidious leapt over the table and began to attack Anakin directly with ferocity. Knowing that his opponent rarely was forced into defensive postures, Sidious continued to assail with quick attacks. He augmented his attacks with the force, using a series of deft, almost effortless pushes to try and throw Anakin off balance and leave him wide open for a fatal blow.

But Anakin’s strength was too great, and he managed to parry every attack, until he finally started to gain ground, pushing Sidious back towards the throne. Letting his rage fuel each strike, Anakin began to gradually gain momentum. A slash by Sidious nearly made it past Anakin’s defenses, but the Jedi was quick to dodge, causing Sidious to leave himself perilously overextended. He raised up his mechanical hand into a fist, and threw it forward in a tremendous punch that struck Sidious across the face, causing him to cry out in pain and jump back. Anakin noticed that Sidious had spat out at least two of his teeth.

The Dark Lord however, was not so easily defeated. He said nothing, but uttered an ugly sounding sneer before Anakin began to sense the danger in the force. A powerful wave shattered the glass of the massive window behind Sidious, the same one replaced after the duel with Mace Windu. But this time the reinforced glass hovered in place for a moment before being flung forward in a terrifying whirlwind of razor sharp edges towards Anakin.

With little time to counter, All Anakin could do was hold his artificial hand over his eyes and channels as much of the Force to him as possible, diverting as many of the deadly shards around him as he could. IT was over in a few seconds, and none of the wounds scored were fatal, but there were plenty of deep cuts all over Anakin’s limbs and chest and made it painful to move.

That attack was followed by Sidious hurling the entire desk at Anakin, who was forced to slice it in two with his lightsaber before it could collide with him. But Sidious was right there as the desk parted, blasting Anakin with Force Lightning before he could react, sending waves of terrible pain through Anakin’s body and causing the former Jedi to fall to his knees.

“For a time I was indeed fond of you, my young apprentice, but now you will join your Jedi colleagues in oblivion!”

Anakin continued to struggle with the Force Lightning, he already felt as if his bones were smoldering, and his skin charring even after just a few seconds of exposure. He tried to call upon his anger and hate, the same way he had done so against Dooku and Obi Wan during the war and against Ventress and Quinlan Vos afterwards. But Sidious was far more powerful than anyone had had ever battled before, and he was able to match Anakin’s efforts with equal intensity.

Trying to find a solution, Anakin realized that he was trying to beat a Sith Master with Sith teachings, and recognized the futility of doing so. Then he remembered the other part of the Dark Side that called out to him, far more than the anger and rage Sidious had cultivated. The true reason behind his fall to the Dark Side, and his subsequent quest for vengeance, was his passion.

Anakin thought back to his last memory of his family, sitting on the balcony on his estate with his children in his arms and his wife watching over him, and how he would never have that again.

With a terrible, primal cry Anakin built up his own energy and started to absorb it, channeling it into twin balls of energy in the palms of his hands. The energy built up to a critical mass, being fed gradually by an astonished Sidious as Anakin stood back up and forced the energy upwards into a majestic column of light that destroyed the ceiling above, and allowed the light of the Sun to pour in through the now gaping hole.

Exhaling deeply, Anakin reached out with his hand and made a taunting gesture to Sidious. “Is that all you’ve got?” He said, acting nonchalant despite the obvious pain in his voice.

Sidious responded by diving towards Anakin again and the two locked lightsabers once more, neither one giving an inch with each passing strike.



Bow and the other clones saw the explosion from the top of the building as it pierced through the sky in a manner reminiscent of the sapphire blue lightsaber that Skywalker used to wield.

His message had been sent out, along with a short call for any help from his brothers, but none had arrived. The droids had begun to stir, as if awakened by the explosion, and were beginning to start actively aiming their weapons.

“Don’t let them take the advantage! Thermal detonators, now!”

At once the clones of the 501st began tossing their grenades, and scattering for the nearest cover, which happened to be the abandoned vehicles left by a fleeing crowd when the droids started to arrive. The droids began to open fire the second the first detonator exploded, taking a handful of the modified super battle droids with it.

Bow had nearly made it to cover when the protodekas began firing their rockets, destroying several of the vehicles. What was once the only valid option for protection from the droids weaponry had turned into prime targets for the airborne attack.

“We can’t do anything with those floating tinnies up there supporting them! Shoot them down!” He ordered, the clones readily complied but the blue bolts of the DC-15s were doing little damage.

Bow heard a loud explosion and saw that one of the protodekas had suddenly become engulfed in flames, while he wasn’t about to complain, he was clueless as to how it could have happened, none of his men were armed heavily enough to cause that kind of damage.

Just then another protodeka exploded, and another, and Bow began to hear the familiar humming sound of LAAT gunships as they cut through the sky, their missiles doing incredible damage to the droid’s air support.

A series of bright beams lanced out from the left of the droid’s position, and Bow then recognized the TX-130 Saber Tanks as they moved in, focusing their weapons on the shielded droidekas.

A BARC speeder pulled up next to Bow and the pilot dismounted, Bow recognized him by his armors red coloration and the rank insignia on his chest. “Commander Thire, I’m forever in your debt.”

“Don’t worry about it, besides you think I’m going to let a bunch of droids take over my job? I heard every word of that conversation you sent me, and it made me sick. The Coruscant took Padme Amidala’s protection very seriously. Her death was quite personal. I didn’t even have to ask if anyone in my unit had any objections.” Thire said, Bow could tell that his explanation was heartfelt.

Bow hefted his blaster rifle. “You did the right thing, and look! Now we have this wonderful battle on our hands, it will be just like fighting the war all over again!”

Just as Obi Wan’s fighter touched down on the deck of the Custodian, the ship was accelerating into hyperspace, escorted by the surviving ships it had arrived with, which now numbered seven. As soon as he exited the fighter and set foot on the deck, he was greeted by Raymus Antilles.

“General Cody, I thought that fighter might have been you.”

“Captain, it’s good to see you again. Where is Senator Organa?”

Antilles gestured towards the exit of the hangar, the two men talked as they made their way to the bridge. “I’m sad to inform you that circumstances have forced Alderaan to play a dangerous game. Ever since the theft of the Another Chance by an unknown group who later destroyed an Imperial warship, I assume that was your doing?”

Obi Wan did not know how to reply, but Antilles was reassuring. “It’s ok, it was better that way. The Empire’s so called reforms are starting to have dramatic effects on the worlds that do not demonstrate the utmost loyalty. Alderaan’s people may be pacifists but they are hardly thrilled with the idea of tolerating the restriction of freedoms Palpatine and Skywalker are imposing.

“I understand that, but this fleet could not have come cheaply. Someone must have committed either a lot of money or a lot of influence to put together such an arsenal.”

“Both actually, it was my brother in law’s idea.” Antilles responded.

Obi Wan’s curiosity grew. “What happened though? Alderaan’s situation was dire before but Bail had never taken such drastic steps?”

“Telos happened,” Antilles said grimly. “Information about the attack on that world has been ruthlessly suppressed, but watching a world get destroyed in a quest for vengeance certainly affected Bail. It affected him more when he found out that it was a massacre committed in Padme Amidala’s name, since it was part of an operation hunting down those responsible for her death.”

“Well you couldn’t have picked a better time to intervene, that battle could have been disastrous for us.”

“You Jedi can’t be responsible for saving the galaxy every day; someone has to watch your back.” Antilles joked as they stepped aboard the bridge.

A junior officer was quick to greet them. “Captain, Senator Organa is expecting you, I’ll put him on our main holo-display now.”

“Aren’t you afraid the transmission will be detected?” Obi Wan asked.

“We’ve recreated and rebuilt a sizeable portion of the CIS Shadowfeed, using our own encryptions and hidden relays. The Empire can’t listen in on us.” Antilles explained.

The shimmering blue image of Bail Organa appeared. “Good work Captain, were you able to locate General Cody?”

“Yes Senator, he’s here with me right now.”

“That is excellent news! General Cody it’s good to speak with you again!”

“It is good to speak with you too Senator, I regret that I departed your service with such haste.” Obi Wan sheepishly answered back.

“Don’t apologize for anything General, you did the right thing for the galaxy as a whole, and you made the choice that I couldn’t. But I won’t need to put you or anyone else in that position for long. Once I have finalized the details I’ll be joining you and the rest of our forces in the Outer Rim. I’ve resigned as Senator of Alderaan and the official record will also show that Breha and I are separating over our differing opinions on Imperial policy.”

Obi Wan was almost startled, Organa was making an incredible sacrifice. “Officially you say, and unofficially?”

Organa smiled. “We’re meeting for dinner next week. We do what we must for Alderaan and her people, but it is hypocritical to sit back and do nothing, when other worlds and peoples suffer far more. I cannot in good conscience sit idly by while others die in the name of protecting the very rights that Alderaanians clamor for once more.”

“You’re starting to sound like Mon Mothma, she would be very proud.” Obi Wan said.

Bail hung his head. “Her death was just as disheartening as Amidala’s. Too many good Senators die while the corrupt continue to occupy the Senate Hall. I hope to change that when this war ends, should I be blessed enough to survive it.”

“You and I both Senator, you and I both.” Obi Wan replied. Bails words had stirred his memories, and his mind was now awash in images of those around him who had died since the war ended, just so that Obi Wan could be standing where he was and still able to fight.

"Mon Mothma, Captain Slayke, Master Shryne, Master Vos, Jambe and Nam, all of those soldiers who died under my command. You all gave your lives in such a short time, never shying away from the coming battle even as the last war ended. I will honor your sacrifices, by never relenting until the Empire has been beaten. I promise you."

[Darth Fanboy]

Happy Holidays or some shit like that.

[Kartr_Kana]

That was a freaking awesome chapter!! When's the next installment

[Crazedwraith]

Holy Action, Batman!

Nice fight scene, or at least the beginning of one, you big old tease.

[Sidewinder]

Whoa.

I expected Anakin to do better against Palpatine, i.e., use the Force to ass-rape Sidious. Oh well, at least Karmin can't hypocritically accuse you of plagiarizing his fight between the two Sith lords.

[Darth Fanboy]

Continuity Fix made to Chapter 2.

Sifo Dyas no longer teaches Palpatine the life transfer trick, as the canon says that Ashka Boda was the one responsible. I now have Sifo dying, so that the canon isn't really affected and this becomes a better alternate timeline with events truly diverging at Mustafar being the big change. I didn't realize I had made such a fuckup. So now I guess this has the effect of closing the door on Palpatine's ability to switch bodies for what it's worth.