The Force Conquers All - [Completed Short Story/ROTJ Reimagining] — Page 2

[Chapter Thirteen]

Han was long gone by the time Luke told Leia what the Corellian had chosen to do. She refused to believe at first, but found the Falcon absent when she ran to the hangar's control room. The woman went to be alone for a few moments, where she wiped her eyes and whispered her regrets to Han's memory. He could still be alive, she thought. A childlike wish to push me through. She buried her grief as battle loomed closer, and the frigate jumped faster than light.

~ ~ ~

The Fleet, less than half its original size, arrived at the edge of Coruscanti space. The stolen Imperial shuttle rocketed to within view of the war, and then began a wide round-about for last second recon. Leia stepped to the pilot's side.

Blood Shard pointed at the planet, a dagger poised to stab the galaxy's heart. Its shields were so layered and strong as to manifest as a semi-transparent orb, lightning crackling over the surface.

Chaos reigned. The Empire fought Vader's faction, the sides indistinguishable except for digitized identity codes accessible to the three armies. Debris like asteroids tumbled in all directions, acting as cover, cannon fodder, and tractor beam projectiles. Explosions and deaths by the hundreds were constant. Destroyers exited hyperspace to replace downed twins, and spewed TIE-fighters into the frenzy.

The shuttle's scanners went haywire. "Look out," Leia cried. "Port side!" The pilot swerved in time to avoid the object, but they found themselves in an even more littered region. 

The princess did her best to help navigate. Impacts shoved her from side to side, and she once flew back to smack her head. Remarkably, she cheated a brain concussion. Every blast against the shuttle sounded certain doom, and they had covered scant distance. Computers warned that enemies approached.

"That's it," Leia said, rubbing the tender spot on her scalp. "Send a distress signal to the Empire. They're our only hope." She never thought she would say those words in a million years. 

[Chapter Fourteen]

Two escorts flanked them and cleared obstacles from the path. Sometimes they took detours around battles too violent to thread. They received clearance to land on the planet surface, and soon did so. The shuttle came to rest on a landing pad fixed to the needle top of a skyscraper. Twenty-four soldiers rushed out and split into three groups of eight.

Leia ran to the edge, her seven trailing. The cruiser traffic were dust streams between endless towers twinkling countless lights. Stars glittered the clear sky, complemented by fireworks of war.

Someone handed her macrobinoculars, and she searched out the Imperial Palace. The closest generator was a few klicks southward, positioned where the Emperor could have made use of the extra defense, had Vader remained faithful. She found the second, and knew the third was behind the palace and out of sight.

"We're as close as the Empire would permit," Leia said to Group A. "Speeders are out of the question, for now, with air traffic patrol breathing down citizens' necks. Our one option is to hop a lift down this structure to midway. And then we take a bridge across to the next. This is the most heavily guarded sector of Coruscant, so keep your wits and blasters at the ready."

[Chapter Fifteen]

Admiral Ackbar commanded from his Calamari cruiser. He shook away the notion that the Alliance was here to commit suicide, and sat down in his rotating chair. News arrived that the north generator was out, while the last two were under siege. Ackbar wanted his offenses near Blood Shard when its secondary shields collapsed, so opened a line to Skywalker and ordered that he take the squadron out, followed by the ships that would form the defense perimeter.

"Stay evasive until we reach our target," Luke said. "Conserve lasers and torpedoes, blast only the unavoidable." Han's words echoed in his mind. I promise to hit where it counts most. Your sacrifice will mean our victory, old friend. 

The Jedi felt a surge in the dark side as he neared Vader's position. "Look at that precision," Wedge said. "It destroys any enemy that approaches the edge of the sphere." Luke checked, and found Wedge was right: Blood Shard itself and guard TIE's dominated the Emperor's fighters, one bolt per unit, always finding the mark. Losses were closer to balanced in the other skirmish clusters. 

More death swelled in the graveyard ahead as the X-Wing squadron neared. Luke sensed the fear in his fellow pilots, made worse by Vader's mental cloud. He closed his eyes and pushed out with the Force, trying to counteract the effects. He fed stoicism and focus into the pilots subconsciously willing to accept.

[Chapter Sixteen]

Several Destroyers broke from Coruscant to engage Rebel cruisers before the latter could take formation. The X-Wings skirted fire, skimming surfaces of the long giants and rolling in erratic patterns. They eventually came clear, but radar said their friends behind took the worst.

Luke's hands shook. The plan was shattered. Leia may yet take out the generators, but what benefit would it be when their space offense was destroyed? 

TIE's came for them, eagerness in their speed and whimsical zig-zags. The X-Wings spread out and opened fire. The battle was short-lived. Three wings were lost. Antilles' engines sputtered, his starboard wings charred.

You are finished, Darth Vader gloated. Unless you forsake ideals to become a true master. Take control. Show me a true challenge, Skywalker.

A sickening realization made Luke slam his fist into the console. Repressed anger flowed from him now: hate for Vader, bitterness at Obi-Wan and Yoda. Vader was in control of his underlings. Literally. They were puppets to him, down to the last man, because he had delved deeper into the dark side than any Sith warrior in history.

The Force is substantial in your spirit, insomuch that you resist me. But what of your comrades? They are close, within my influence. . .

An X-Wing slammed its neighbor, and both careened away to crash and explode on a chunk of cruiser. Antilles dove toward Luke. The Force drove the Jedi to dodge, but he watched as his friend ejected into empty space, given to cold vacuum.

~ ~ ~

An officer jogged to Ackbar, puffing and sweating. "Admiral. Please. We should retreat."

The fishlike alien sat silently and stared out the viewport as his precious ships died out. Mon Mothma's voice spoke through his chair's speaker, but his ears heard blabber. 

"Call for a full retreat," He said at last. The words were the worst pain he had ever tolerated. "Vader wins."

[Chapter Seventeen]

Coiled conduits buzzed overhead, illuminating the chamber. Equipment was bolted to the floor, encased by metal to house more conduits. The structures were large as buildings, and joined at their corners or walls to form a maze that stretched for thousands of meters. Smoke swirled to movement of bodies and blaster bolts.

Leia's trigger finger hurt, her muscles ached, but discipline and willpower were in surplus. She rose out of cover, killed a trooper, lowered back down, leaned out, and took another with a head-shot. 

There were four survivors in Group A, one man with a broken arm. Explosives were planted on three sides of the generator, but they still needed to clear this area for the fourth. Groups B and C were out of contact. Probably dead, Leia thought darkly. Rest their souls, they ran vital trial and error. We know how many explosives we need, where to place them.

"I'm useless here," Said the man who cradled his arm. "I'll try to confuse them while you guys make a run for the sweet spot. If those are your orders, mam." He was delirious, so Leia saved the food chain lecture. 

"Good luck," She said. Maternal nature could wait.

~ ~ ~

Luke floated alone in a void. The war outside his cockpit drew to a close. The Emperor, wherever he is, must fear for his title. 

Junk rained through Coruscant atmosphere, igniting in flame. Thousands would die from the hellish wreckage, Luke knew. The voice of his nemesis had gone silent again, leaving him to accept the galaxy's new fate.

My son. Do you finally see the power of the dark side? The Force conquers all. I accepted my destiny, written in the stars. Join me, Luke. Become my right-hand in this age, and help to bring peace to the far corners of the universe. 

Luke blinked. Why was Darth Vader referring to him as son? That ploy was old. He elected to ignore Vader's invitation to evil. "You said earlier, father, that you wanted me to give you a challenge. Face me. I've changed since our duel on Cloud City, so let's see if it's been for better or worse, shall we?"

Obi-Wan and Yoda are hostile voices in the mind, worse than myself. They pull your strings, Luke, in ways far more sinister than those I've exploited.

"I am a Jedi Knight," Luke said. "My masters were flawed, but they taught me well, as you once admitted. Do you take my offer to fight or not, Vader?"

[Chapter Eighteen]

Torches burned low, a dozen cloaked figures were still, and shadows consumed the end. Luke walked the long carpet, feeling malevolence radiating from either side. He dislodged a torch, stopped, and raised the light to reveal Darth Vader; or what had once been the Sith Lord. Now there was a skeleton, part bone, part cybernetics, its organs emptied out. The remains could have been there for centuries. A stench of rot entered Luke's nostrils.

"You let Blood Shard absorb you," Luke said. "A marriage of technology and the Force. But I guess you've been that, to some degree, for decades."

"Shrewd," The voice said from nowhere. "Draw your lightsaber, Jedi." A series of electrical sizzles sounded behind. Luke turned around, dropped the torch, and reached for the hilt clipped to his belt.

The figures held lightsabers. Red light played with the deepening dark. "Three at a time, else you become hindrances." They were almost on top of him an instant later.

Luke parried a blade, side-stepped another, and blocked three more strikes in succession. He swung at a minion, who defended with a sideways thrust. Luke slid his blade away, swung down in a half circle, and amputated the enemy's legs. He snatched up the extra lightsaber. 

One remainder swooped for his front, weapon horizontal and meant for his chest; the second mimicked the move from behind, aimed at his lower back. They abruptly halted and slashed out when their tips came within reach. Luke spun, claimed a pair of hands and gutted the counterpart.

Three more left the nine. Luke crossed his duel blades to block crimson death.

[Chapter Nineteen]

Sweat trickled down to drop from his nose. His teeth clenched, eyes narrowed in furious concentration and effort, the strobe-like red assaulting his pupils. The duel led them to corners in both floor and ceiling, tapestries floating down to be slashed to ribbons. Pillars collapsed, wood clattered against stone, dust and dirt polluted the air.

Luke shoved both blades into the midsection of the last acolyte.

"The Skywalker bloodline is strong indeed. We are testament to family, you and I."

Luke deactivated both lightsabers. "Be quiet with that already. Your lies failed in the cave, they fail here. I'll never believe that Anakin Skywalker could become the abomination I'm currently surrounded by."

"I suppose you are consigned to live in delusion, then. Do you believe by coming here and defeating my apprentices, Blood Shard will suddenly leave Coruscant? What do you hope to achieve? I ascended past humanity, expanded my consciousness beyond a single, fallible shell."

"I'll find out how to defeat the evil here."

A mist rose and coalesced in front of the Jedi, dim at first, but glowing intensely as it assumed human shape. An apparition floated before him, appearing as a young man, roughly Luke's height and build. 

"Your efforts in the duel left your mind open. Powerful in the Force, yes. And that power now contributes to my divinity. Consciousness. . . my. . ." The apparition paused, as though hearing his name called in the distance. "It expands."

Luke was confused, at a loss. And then he sensed it, perhaps with Vader as his proxy. Raw power pulsated between them, and stretched out to the depths of space, over the surface of the city planet below.

"Leia," Luke closed his eyes. Could it be true? He felt a power greater than his own on Coruscant, and its cerebral scent matched with hers. He recognized a myriad of truths in the fabric of reality which had escaped him for so long. The Skywalker bloodline was the funnel of the Force. Father, son, and daughter, their power amplified by the masterpiece machinary in Blood Shard, created a vortex.

~ ~ ~

Leia, sole survivor in Group A, stepped from the Imperial shuttle. The mission to dismantle the generators had been successful, and she wished to leave before an infinite amount of storm troopers poured in. But she felt compelled to return to the edge and gaze to Blood Shard. Morning sunlight reflected on the angular surfaces.

I promise I'll be OK, Leia. Do what you feel is necessary.

Intuition bubbled forth. She reached out, splayed her fingers, and gripped the monstrosity with giant, invisible fingers. The muscles in her arms flexed as she slowly pulled downward, the tug of telepathy like a rope that simultaneously lent strength.

~ ~ ~

Blood Shard fell, broke apart, burned in the atmosphere. Millions of citizens witnessed the phenomena wordlessly. Its tip contacted the Imperial Palace, and the subsequent explosion flashed brighter than any star. Civilians that may have been in its radius had evacuated the sector earlier that night in response to the ground war between rebel and imperial. 

Luke crouched and formed a psionic shield around his body. The Force defended him from the maelstrom of flames. But Darth Vader, once the Jedi Knight and renowned pilot known as Anakin Skywalker, burned to cinders, his consciousness having been programmed throughout the dreadnaught circuitry.

[Epilogue]

"Remember," Yoda said to the boy. "A Jedi's strength flows from the Force."

The boy sat at the edge of a bog, green elder at his side. An uprooted tree stump spun and orbited around them. A boulder, larger than both of them together, floated over to join. 

"I'm doing it, Master Yoda. Think I can make them go faster than my father's X-Wing?"

Luke and Leia watched from the tree line.

The siblings were separated at birth, but brought in contact again through freak circumstance or fate. Obi-Wan swore to keep their connection a secret, theorizing that their erotic tension may culminate to produce exceptional offspring. 

Vader's revelation to Luke upset the status quo. What if Luke went on a misguided quest to redeem his father? The Dark Side corrupted wholly, Obi-Wan believed. And so, in the afterlife, he impersonated Vader, haunted Luke, and solidified the original deception. Yoda approved.

Eight years had passed since the Empire's defeat. Luke sometimes wondered how differently events would have unfolded had Obi-Wan and Yoda never undergone their conspiracy to arrange the birth of an alleged Chosen One. The memory of his night with Leia, preceding the final battle, gratified him sufficiently to cease such questioning. But they both held in honor the lives lost to herald the dawn of the New Republic.

Mists of Avalon for the Arthurian angle, Dune for the messianic machinations. :D

Thank you for reading, NeverarGreat. You automatically have me in your audience with your own future projects.