"STAR BY STARKILLER" *PREVIEW*

[Darth Fanboy]

Green text indicates the lead in, which is a passage from Star By Star.

“This is it, then,” Luke said.

He adjusted the holoprojector, annulling the displays of the Borleias hyperspace routes and the Eclipse system—then, when his connection to Anakin suddenly began to strengthen, failed to enlarge the Coruscant map. He flashed on an image of Yuuzhan Vong charging past a tangle of burning vines, of a purple blade ticking back and forth, of a golden light burning in a dark place. Luke could feel that his nephew was calm and focused, in harmony with the Force and himself—but weak and growing weaker.

“Master Skywalker?” Corran asked. “What is it?”

Luke turned away and did not answer. He knew that Saba Sebatyne had felt the Hara sisters die, and others were gone, too—he could not feel who , only that there was a growing Jedi absence in the Force. Now the strike team was losing Anakin as well—and Luke had sent him, had sent them all .

“Luke?” Mara was standing behind him, taking his hand.

Luke let her, but reached out for Jacen and Jaina, found them filled with sorrow and horror, fear and rage, but alive, at least, and strong.

Then Anakin was gone.



The Jedi Master, the paragon of strength and righteousness that had held the Jedi Order together, fell to his knees, clutching his chest in agonizing pain. All of his years of training, from Tatooine, from Dagobah, and beyond were put to the test. The voices of Yoda and Obi Wan seemed to cry out to him and pleaded with Luke not to let his grief consume him.

Then he heard the voice of Palpatine, and the voice of his father. To Luke’s amazement, they were far more reassuring than his former Jedi teachers. They told him that Anakin Solo had not died in vain, and that his death opened the door for Luke to unleash his fury upon the defilers of the galaxy.

Ever since he entered the cave on Dagobah, the siren song of the Dark Side had always been on Luke’s shoulder, whispering in his ear. Luke had fought it back when he overlooked the abyss on Bespin, when he fulfilled his destiny in the heart of darkness aboard the second Death Star, and in the Reborn Emperor’s citadel on Byss when he had fallen so far that he had accepted Palpatine’s offer and for a time served as his apprentice. Each time he had fought back, because he had something to protect.

This time was different, before he had nothing to lose, and now he had nearly lost everything. The time had finally come for the heir to the Skywalker legacy to reach his breaking point.


The other Jedi in the room were bewildered, except for Mara Jade Skywalker, who immediately drew upon all of her power in an attempt to shield her son from the outburst of dark energy from his father. Luke stood, looked around the room at the rest of the assembled Jedi and clenched his artificial hand in disgust.

Ever since he had taken his first apprentices, he had suffered from frustration time and again. What have his apprentices ever done for him? In the end his New Jedi Order had failed utterly to protect the galaxy. Only his nephew Anakin had been worthy of the title it seemed. Leia’s other children were useless, with them it was always one ridiculous emotional problem after the next and Luke had better things to do than to coddle them.

Luke’s anger exploded from his artificial hand, destroying the cybernetic limb in a blinding light. Energy poured out from the center of the light and lashed out faster than the Jedi in the room could put up a defense. Kenth Hamner was the first to fall, his entire body spasmed and smoldered with the intense heat. Dannie Quee, Cilghal, Corran Horn, and all the others fell. After nearly a minute, only two were left alive, Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker.
Mara had not received any of the energy expelled by Luke’s wrath, but had been knocked down by the initial concussive force released by Luke’s hand exploding. She tried to talk, but she couldn’t. As her eyes adjusted to the light she looked up and saw her husband’s face, and she saw the distinctive yellow eyes of her former Master on his face.

Luke looked down, and surprised Mara more than he ever had before in their marriage. Luke was smiling, even in this time of great tragedy and grief; he had a look on his face as if he had just won the war against the Yuuzhan Vong.

Luke knelt down to his wife and caressed her chin in his hand, and as his evil yellow eyes bored their way into her soul, Mara realized that Palpatine’s worst nightmare had finally come true.

“Mara my love,” Luke said, his voice deeper and coated with a thick venom, “we have a lot of work to do.”

----

This is the preview of a second fic I will be working on side by side with "Scars of Mustafar" If you haven't guessed yet, the death of Anakin Solo pre-empts Luke falling to the Dark Side during the events of Star by Star.

The goal of this fic will see a Fallen Luke Skywalker and how he prosecutes the war with the Yuuzhan Vong.

"Star by Starkiller" is the infant project's name. I'm open to better suggestions.

The new "Scars of Mustafar" will be posted tonight, but it will be a bit shorter than the other new chapters I fear, but since the previous chapter was a little long I think it evens out.

[Sidewinder]

May I assume the Jedi apprentices you killed off were characters you hate? (I'm not familiar with those names. Maybe I should count myself lucky I didn't read the books they appeared in, considering the hatred you expressed.)

It was quite unexpected that Luke would kill his own apprentices. Something more in character would probably be Luke tempting the apprentices to fall with him to the Dark Side.

As for Mara... I haven't read much of the fluff she's in since the Thrawn trilogy, but I have an image in my mind of Mara being turned on by Luke's fall. Maybe you can have her think, "Palpatine was unworthy to be my master. Luke Skywalker... his rage burning so brightly in the Dark Side of the Force... he is worthy, and I will follow him to Hell and back," while smiling at Luke's condition.

"Starkiller" will do for a title-- simple and to the point.

[Darth Fanboy]

The Jedi all killed were senior members of the New Jedi Order, the same ones present when Luke felt Anakin's death in Star by Star.

[SilverWingedSeraph]

Damn, that was pretty awesome. Looking forward to the next part... I think the current title is fairly appropriate. I have only one, rather small, request, however.

Kyp Durron must bite it. Hard. Unless he was present when Luke rampaged, in which case he's already dead, and I'm happy. I never got up to Star by Star, so I don't know if Kyp was present...

[atg]

Damn, that was pretty awesome. Looking forward to the next part... I think the current title is fairly appropriate. I have only one, rather small, request, however.

Kyp Durron must bite it. Hard. Unless he was present when Luke rampaged, in which case he's already dead, and I'm happy. I never got up to Star by Star, so I don't know if Kyp was present...

IIRC 'Star by Star' doesn't say whether he was there or not, just that the top Jedi were there, only mentioning Kenth Hamner and Corran Horn by name I believe.

[Darth Fanboy]

Sidewinder, at this point also you gotta remember that Luke and MAra are married and do have a child together. Mara is also about as goody two shoes as they come, she's a good example of how the EU should do an "edgier Jedi". She has a mean streak but not anything dark or overly moody, unlike say Quinlan "The Mountain Dew Commercial Jedi" Vos.

EDIT:

REgarding Kyp Durron. He is a KJA creation, and I think most of the people that know me know my feelings regarding KJA and Stackpole's literary abominations.

[SilverWingedSeraph]

Stackpoke isn't quite as bad as KJA, but yeah... those two are probably the main reason I stopped reading the New Jedi Order series after the first three. I didn't mind the Yuuzhan Vong and their bio-tech wankery. I could look past that. But the writing was just hard to stomach, and having border-line Mary-Sues like Corran Horn and Kyp Durron getting so much time... eh.

So yeah... that's why I hope Kyp Durron is dead. Not to mention the fact that his character is fucking annoying...

[Crazedwraith]

An interesting concept though I have a little trouble with Luke just flipping out, it seems a little out-of-character but maybe that's the point.

I'd have found it more interesting if only the people who'd voted to let Anakin go on the Mykr mission had been struck down...

[Darth Fanboy]

I understand your point Crazedwraith, but the problem is that there is nowhere else within the canon NJO where Luke is that close to the fear and anger needed to precipitate such a fall (in my opinion).

This is the best point for that reason, and because it is right at the peak of the Vong's success and now its time for Skywalker to strike back. As far as striking people down, I know it had to be done that way, but because this is sort of a preview I am not 100% sure how it will play out in the first chapter. I want it done like that for now because there will be no eyewitnesses to Luke'[s fall left, and the death of Anakin can be used as an explanation for any Force tremors.