A Destiny Challenged

- a Star Wars FanFiction -

Chapter Five

Disclaimer: Star Wars, the glorious franchise it is, is not in any way a property I control. I can only wish to supplement its mystique with stories such as the one herein. The same is in regards to related characters, symbols, plot elements, etc.

With that said, I hope you enjoy the story!

Their lightning collided with a bright blast and an echoing boom.

The LAAT shook with the force of the Force.

As Palpatine let his energy flow, Mace was visibly struggling.

“I can tell you’ve not yet honed this skill to your advantage, Master Windu,” Palpatine said in mockery. “Your weakness will be your undoing.”

“Not yet!” Mace said as he struggled to let out his words.

The pain was overcoming him.

His muscles were growing tired.

He also wondered what sorts of inhuman oddities Palpatine had put himself through to channel such destructive energy at his age.

“The depth of my power is something you cannot comprehend,” Palpatine said, pushing the meeting point of their electricity closer to Mace. “Your weakness is my strength. Your fear is your requiem.”

“I have plenty more as well!” Mace channeled even more of his power into the attack. The walls were becoming charred, and minute electrical explosions from the panels of the craft were spurting throughout the LAAT’s holding area.

In the midst of their battle, the comlink with the cockpit activated.

“Master Windu, Master Skywalker, what’s going on in there?” the clone pilot asked aloud.

Fearing the worst if Sidious managed to issue his dreadful order to this clone too, Mace used the Force to channel a portion of the lightning toward the comlink answering device in the room, destroying it on contact.

“A wise and bold decision!” Palpatine said. “But it will not save you.”

The Sith Lord put greater strength into the storm before him. The ball of lightning reached Master Windu and then went through his hands and into the main part of his body, throwing him against the wall that separated the holding area from the cockpit.

As Mace stood up to continue the fight, the sordid charge came toward him again.

‘The darkness I let out, combined with the darkness of the Sith, is consuming me now,’ Mace thought. ‘I should not have taken this risk.’

“The galaxy will long remember the day you became no more,” Sidious said, walking over to the recoiling Mace, who was writhing in agony. As he walked forward toward Mace, he sent out another blast, burning through Mace’s body with searing pain.

“You and all the Jedi are going to pay the price for your lack of vision!”

Another bolt escaped Palpatine’s hands, and Mace felt on the verge of blacking out as the lightning continued to consume him.

The room’s luminescent glow of blue and purple then ceased.

Palpatine savored the moment. This Jedi had tried to fight the darkness with the dark he had within him, and yet he had failed. The strength which fueled the movements of the Sith did not help the Jedi win after all.

“Master Windu, only in the end do you understand your mistake,” Sidious said. “Your passion for the dark side is quite exemplary. Maybe in another time, had conditions been right, I would have seen your potential earlier and offered you to join me.”

Mace, clenching his fists and concentrating as hard as he could to minimize as much as possible the pain, opened his eyes and looked at his predator.

“I would never join you,” he said, short of breath.

“Your mistakes have cost you dearly,” Sidious said. He then deepened his stance, and began to concentrate his energy.

“And now, Master Windu, you will die!”

He let the lightning flow again, sensing the distress of Windu’s spirit.

But then, a sudden movement in the Force.

An energy from his side, swiftly moving in front of the lightning with lightning speed itself, a blue lightsaber moving with superlative quickness finding its way in front of the blast and absorbing the blunt of the attack.

Anakin Skywalker was furious.

Palpatine felt reviled, and his scowl showed great discontent.

Skywalker continued to stand tall, stand balanced, and his lightsaber was easily absorbing the continued electricity.

Palpatine stopped his attack, and the room returned to normal color.

He let his hands drop to his sides.

He and Anakin were now in deadlocked faceoff.

He could sense the emotions swirling within Anakin, the anger and hatred that gave him his power.

Perhaps the Jedi could use the dark side effectively.

“I hate you,” Anakin said, his eyes alight with the sorrows of broken promises. “You betrayed me.”

Palpatine had worked for more than a decade to bring Skywalker under the true form of his wing. He had guided Anakin so much over the years and pretended to care about his feelings when the boy had found fault or difficulty with the Jedi. Now, Anakin couldn’t have been more strongly aligned with them.

“Whatever do you mean, Anakin?” Palpatine asked. “I told you I wanted to bring peace to the galaxy, and so I’ve been acting to do just that.”

“By killing billions of innocent people and waging a war against the Republic itself?”

“Anakin, listen to reason. Remember what I taught you in the many discussions we’ve had. Sometimes you must make sacrifices to achieve a good that will help those you want to help. I want to bring order to the galaxy. The powers the Senate gave me in response to the separatist crisis were in the right direction towards achieving that order. And by weakening the forces of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, those who stood in the Republic’s way from dominance of the galaxy, the Sith would reign supreme and spread our doctrine, the correct and true doctrine for the maximization of the potential of all the denizens of the galaxy, throughout its entirety.”

“That’s a horrid lie and you know it,” Anakin said. “You wanted to use us all to make an empire for yourself. Remember, I saw what was to come. I can’t explain how, and I’m sure you can’t either, but I know what you were planning. And in that empire of one, with all the citizens of the galaxy subservient to you, terrorized into accepting what you felt was in their interests while they may have preferred different paths that were in fact much more conducive to what they truly needed in life, you used us all for your petty pleasures and goals. You’re even betraying the Sith Order itself, in your goal for imperial dominion over the galaxy. The Sith value a complete and totally reckless form of liberty where they can feel to do whatever they please, even killing innocents, so long as it accomplishes their goals. The empire you wanted is at the entirely other extreme with regards to the liberty, but with the glorification of egregious and unwarranted death and destruction all the same. You wanted to restrict everyone’s freedom to the point where no one would be able to truly do much of anything without your direct permission.”

“You misunderstand, Anakin.”

“No, I really don’t think I’m misunderstanding your real intentions here at all, Darth Sidious. You know, you were like a father of sorts to me. You were like the father I never had. I doubt in retrospect you actually cared.”

Palpatine sighed.

“You shared my passion for glory, Anakin,” Sidious said. “You wanted to be a hero. I did too.”

“You would have never been a hero, just some vile oppressor.”

“That isn’t fair; you know I want what’s best for the galaxy.”

“You want what’s best for yourself. Both of the institutions you support, the Sith and the Galactic Empire you wanted to establish, would have gone counter to everything the Republic stands for.”

“Oh, you mean the excess greed, corruption, malice through the tyranny of divergent interests that form unproductive squalor and waste, and a lack of real defense against threats to itself?”

“You don’t need to completely overhaul a system to fix the things that are wrong with it. And yes, the Republic is flawed. But if the citizens of the galaxy work together, become more conscious of the dealings of their officials, and strive to place in power through democratic means representatives who truly will reflect the interests of a society of peace and mutual collaboration for galactic improvement that works as best as possible to reflect the interests of all the planets, and not just those of one man and his inner circle of associates, this would be an excellent galaxy.”

“You talk in terms of childish optimism.”

“On the contrary, I talk in terms of the bravery and dedication that so many people throughout the galaxy would be willing to commit to keep democracy alive.”

“Including your wife, may she soon rest in peace.”

“If I kill you, she’ll be safe.”

“Oh, you’re very mistaken, Anakin. For someone who purports to understand the future, I’m surprised at how mistaken you truly are. She is going to die. And she will die quite quickly and with panic and fear.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to believe reality for it to be real.”

“You will be held for trial, Palpatine.”

“And I don’t believe you grasp the true reality of your predicament.”

Palpatine reached out with the Force and grabbed Mace’s lightsaber.

It was intricate, of a different design than he was used to, and it was soaked with the squalid vigor of the Jedi.

It did not matter.

Not for this.

He ignited the blade.

Hello everyone!

I hope you had as much fun reading chapter five as I had writing it!

Get ready for chapter six! It’s up next!

In fun and fanfiction,

- American Vigor -