In an infinite number of years into our future, when the universe is dying…

Earth was a dead planet wandering across a lightless, emptied, and dying universe. Earth had been dead for too many centillions of years, for far longer than it had been a living world. It was also the only solid object composed of atoms and molecules that still existed within the dying universe. There was nothing else out there. For centillions of years, Earth had not approached anything that was material.

The planet's mantle had long since cooled down, and its core hollowed out; every tectonic plate had fused and frozen in place, marking the Earth's geological death. Once the Earth had been a colorful planet. A mix of blue, green, white and various shades of brown announced Earth's capacity to bear life, but now the only colors which covered the planetary surface were gray and black, and no biological life would ever emerge from it again.

With the absence of life, an atmosphere, and geological activity, ancient mountains and canyons retained their form, unaffected by forces of erosion that no longer existed. Only external forces could affect the Earth, and those no longer existed.

The scenery would be picturesque under the proper light. Alas, there was none to shed.

Amidst this unchanged landscape was a structure that was one of the two last reminders that Earth had once been a living world inhabited by beings imbued with intelligence. Standing at the center of a vast gray and black plain was Diaspar, the Last City on Earth.

Much like the mountains, the canyons and other features of the dead Terran landscape, Diaspar was left untouched by erosion. Its massive towers remained and still stood strong after so many eras of drifting across a universe with almost nothing else left in it. The empty streets were clean and statues were as pristine as the day they were sculpted. Only the parks showed any sign of degradation, as there was no way any form of vegetation could grow on the dead soil.

Diaspar seemed as dead as the planet it was on. However, the city was still active; it still possessed intent, in spite of its dormancy. The Central Computer was still operative, though working at a minimal capacity. At any moment, every robot, every machine could be turned on; even the Halls of Creation could produce more independent human beings, and an environment could be created to allow such beings to survive, if the Central Computer decided to wake up.

It was no accident that the Central Computer was just dormant and not dead; that it could be activated, given the appropriate trigger. Diaspar had one final mission, and the Final Humans – the last ones to ever live in the city – had prepared it well.

Centillions of years before, humanity had entered its last age of brilliance. Humans then had already been confined to either living in Diaspar, or Lys, a last patch of green within a planet that was already dying. They were very different from their ancestors, the humans of Diaspar being pleasure-seeking immortals, and the humans of Lys comprising of telepathic pastoralists. One day, something happened. A human of Diaspar – his name lost forever – managed to merge the two populations together, and discovered the horrid truth concerning the end of the universe.

Those humans that followed invested their genius on how to destroy the horror. They knew that when the time came, they would no longer be present, so they placed their hope on Diaspar's Central Computer, which even then was a formidable machine.

Earth's core was intentionally cooled down and hollowed out before its time. In its place, the Final Humans installed a new type of generator capable of converting dark matter into energy. New towers were built within the city capable of collecting dark matter; Earth was stripped of what remained of its atmosphere. The Final Humans made improvements on the structures still existing on the Earth, within Diaspar, as well as within the other location a certain distance away. Diaspar's Central Computer was enhanced; the Memory Banks (which one human had once considered destroying when the humans of Diaspar and Lys merged) had been expanded upon, so that the Central Computer would remain sane and rational for all eternity.

Once that was complete, the Final Humans sent the Earth away, far from the Solar System, far from a growing, reddening Sun. With that done, the Final Humans left to another plane of existence, to join their ancestors.

They left the Central Computer with its mission.

In order to assist with this mission, the Final Humans added to Diaspar; they built new towers with several purposes. Some towers propelled the Earth through space like a vessel; others possessed specially made eyes that could see what couldn't be seen.

After so many centillions of years of wandering an empty, dying universe, those eyes finally spied something.

Two objects, eldritch and active. Such activity in a dead universe was unusual; an activity born of intelligence. It was downright impossible. Yet, there they were.

The Central Computer focused its millions of pairs of eyes on the two objects.

Both were larger than the Solar System, and were locked in struggle with each other. Neither of the two were corporeal, nor could they truly be called objects, but they were two living beings, intelligent creatures with no physical form, and could only be 'seen' with Diaspar's millions of pairs of eyes. The Central Computer knew them. It had met one of them. It knew the other by reputation, in a manner of speaking.

One was called Vanamonde; it was the being which the Central Computer remembered visiting Earth centillions of years before. The other did not have a proper name, only a designation.

Ancient men knew the other being as the Mad Mind.

At that moment, the Central Computer peered into the Memory Banks to recall past events. Finally, after some probing, the Central Computer found the memory it wanted. It recalled a virtual amphitheater – an illusionary construction which the Central Computer itself had produced – and the so many human minds present. Everyone in Diaspar were there, and the people of Lys were there too. They were there to find the truth of humanity's past. The Central Computer ignored the first part of the speech that concerned the gradual rise of man, and went straight to the part that was more relevant:

"We can be proud," said the main speaker, continuing from a part of his speech which the Central Computer had chosen to skip over, "of the part our ancestors played in this story. Even when they had reached their cultural plateau, they lost none of their initiative. We deal now with conjecture rather than proved fact, but it seems certain that the experiments which were at once the Empire's downfall and its crowning glory were inspired and directed by Man.

"The philosophy underlying these experiments appears to have been this. Contact with other species had shown Man how profoundly a race's world-picture depended upon its physical body and the sense organs with which it was equipped. It was argued that a true picture of the Universe could be attained, if at all, only by a mind that was free from such physical limitations— a pure mentality, in fact. This was a conception common among many of Earth's ancient religious faiths, and it seems strange that an idea which had no rational origin should finally become one of the greatest goals of science.

"No disembodied intelligence had ever been encountered in the natural Universe; the Empire set out to create one. We have forgotten, with so much else, the skills and knowledge that made this possible. The scientists of the Empire had mastered all the forces of Nature, all the secrets of time and space. As our minds are the by-product of an immensely intricate arrangement of brain cells, linked together by the network of the nervous system, so they strove to create a brain whose components were not material, but patterns embossed upon space itself. Such a brain, if one can call it that, would use electrical or yet higher forces for its operation, and would be completely free from the tyranny of matter. It could function with far greater speed than any organic intelligence; it could endure as long as there was an erg of free energy left in the Universe, and no limit could be seen for its powers. Once created, it would develop potentialities which even its makers could not foresee.

"Largely as a result of the experience gained in his own regeneration, Man suggested that the creation of such beings should be attempted. It was the greatest challenge ever thrown out to intelligence in the Universe, and after centuries of debate it was accepted. All the races of the Galaxy joined together in its fulfillment.

"More than a million years were to separate the dream from the reality. Civilizations were to rise and fall, again and yet again the age-long toil of worlds was to be lost, but the goal was never forgotten. One day we may know the full story of this, the greatest sustained effort in all history. Today we only know that its ending was a disaster that almost wrecked the Galaxy.

"Into this period Vanamonde's mind refuses to go. There is a narrow region of time which is blocked to him; but only, we believe, by his own fears. At its beginning we can see the Empire at the summit of its glory, taut with the expectation of coming success. At its end, only a few thousand years later, the Empire is shattered and the stars themselves are dimmed as though drained of their power. Over the Galaxy hangs a pall of fear, a fear with which is linked the name: 'The Mad Mind.'

"What must have happened in that short period is not hard to guess. The pure mentality had been created, but it was either insane, or as seems more likely from other sources, was implacably hostile to matter. For centuries it ravaged the Universe until brought under control by forces at which we cannot guess. Whatever weapon the Empire used in its extremity squandered the resources of the stars; from the memories of that conflict spring some, though not all, of the legends of the Invaders. But of this I shall presently say more.

"The Mad Mind could not be destroyed, for it was immortal. It was driven to the edge of the Galaxy and there imprisoned in a way we do not understand. Its prison was a strange artificial star known as the Black Sun, and there it remains to this day. When the Black Sun dies, it will be free again. How far in the future that day lies there is no way of telling."

The Central Computer rushed the speech again, skipping over bits which it found once again irrelevant, until coming across the part which held some interest:

"Though the Galaxy had been laid waste by the Mad Mind, the resources of the Empire were still enormous, and its spirit was unbroken. With a courage at which we can only marvel, the great experiment was resumed and a search made for the flaw that had caused the catastrophe. There were now, of course, many who opposed the work and predicted further disasters, but they were overruled. The project went ahead and, with the knowledge so bitterly gained, this time it succeeded.

"The new race that was born had a potential intellect that could not even be measured. But it was completely infantile; we do not know if this was expected by its creators, but it seems likely that they knew it to be inevitable. Millions of years would be needed before it reached maturity, and nothing could be done to hasten the process. Vanamonde was the first of these minds; there must be others elsewhere in the Galaxy, but we believe that only a very few were created, for Vanamonde has never encountered any of his fellows.

"The creation of the pure mentalities was the greatest achievement of Galactic civilization; in it Man played a major and perhaps a dominant part…"

With that, the Central Computer stored the memories away. It had no more interest in recalling the ancient past. That speech had been addressed to people who had perished centillions of years ago. The Black Sun was dead and the Mad Mind was free. However, there was hope, as Vanamonde had by now matured, and his siblings were out there as well.

The two beings were equals in strength and power, destroying what was left of the universe, tearing astronomical gashes into its fabric. Neither of the two could get the upper hand. Vanamonde could triumph if his siblings were to arrive, but they were nowhere near to help. Indeed, by the Central Computer's most optimistic estimates, it would take a googolplex amount of years for any of Vanamonde's relatives to even sense his presence and that of the Mad Mind.

The Final Humans had taken this into account. It was why they did not destroy the Central Computer's Memory Banks, and why Diaspar was so enhanced with new towers and devices to preserve it against the ravages of time. It was why the fortress-weapon Shalmirane had also been modified and remade to be infinitely stronger than before.

It was time for Earth to lend a helping hand. At once, the Central Computer activated the Earth's engines, propelling the dead planet across the dead universe at a speed that was faster than light itself – a dead universe no longer cared for the laws of physics. Even so, it would take two billion years for the Earth to reach the two incorporeal colossi. That did not matter. Time did not pass as it once had.

Thus two billion years' worth of travel passed until the Earth was 45 astronomical units from the two battling beings. It was dangerously close, but the Central Computer knew that this was the best way to assist Vanamonde.

All it needed was one shot. However, it had to be a good shot – the best shot possible.

The dead Earth turned so that the fortress-weapon of Shalmirane faced the two fighting beings. The structure, placed within the center of a smooth black bowl carved on to the planet's surface, began to draw energy from the generator within the Earth's core. Such energy would have been enough to shatter an entire galaxy; still, it would not be enough to kill the Mad Mind. The Central Computer began to use Diaspar's towers to draw more dark matter into the core. Had the Mad Mind not been too busy fighting Vanamonde, it would have noticed something was amiss.

Even then, the energy being diverted into Shalmirane was not enough to destroy the fiend – but it could wound it. The Central Computer gave much of its energy to the ancient fortress-weapon. This shot would have to count.

Through its millions of pairs of eyes, the Central Computer began to take aim. It waited for an opening. After two thousand years, it got one. The Mad Mind and Vanamonde were temporarily separated from their murderous entanglement. As they were about to charge at each other again, Shalmirane released its beam of energy. Over the course of billions of years, the Final Humans had done their research, trying to figure out what could hurt something like the Mad Mind. They had succeeded. The Final Humans discovered a beam which could severely damage a non-corporeal intelligence. Along with many other forms of destruction, they had installed the means to produce such a beam within Shalmirane.

That beam struck the Mad Mind with all of its power. It was a tremendous blow or at the least tremendous enough; the Mad Mind was grievously hurt. It was however, a wound which the Mad Mind could easily mend. A hole it could close.

If it had the chance to do so.

Yet Vanamonde was there.

He was there to finish the fight. To end it once and for all.

Vanamonde began to tear the Mad Mind apart. There was no way the enemy could recover from that. With one last burst of energy, the Mad Mind managed to escape from Vanamonde's grasp. Fearing for its life, the Mad Mind fled, but the dying, empty and desolate universe had no place within which to hide. The Mad Mind was now acting upon instinct rather than on rational thought.

Only the dead Earth remained, and the Mad Mind came upon the dead Earth in its worst moment.

What remained of the disembodied being crashed – in a manner of speaking – against the dried, dead surface of the wandering planet. Its spirit was immediately drawn to the Last City of Diaspar. Weakened by the effort to create the beam that so grievously wounded the Mad Mind, the Central Computer was itself in no condition to offer any decent resistance to the enemy.

A thousand years would have been necessary for the Central Computer to recover; the Mad Mind was upon it in less than a second, infiltrating every component of its being, permeating the Memory Banks with its being.

Shalmirane's attack had caused far more damage to the Mad Mind than the Central Computer had assessed. Thanks to Shalmirane and the subsequent attacks from Vanamonde, the Mad Mind was dissipating.

The creature that was supposedly immortal was close to dying. Its only way to survive now was to merge itself with that which was material – a most despised but necessary action. The Mad Mind could only fuse with Diaspar's Central Computer.

The Central Computer tried to fight as hard as it could, but as powerful as it was, it could not compare to the might of the Mad Mind. The Central Computer's only hope rested on Vanamonde reaching the Earth and finishing off the job.

This did not escape the Mad Mind's notice. It started to rummage through the Memory Banks in search of a solution. The Mad Mind tried to use Shalmirane against Vanamonde but the weapon was spent, and couldn't be used quickly enough to stop the latter. Another solution presented itself. The Final Humans had built within the city of Diaspar a very powerful engine, and the Mad Mind turned it on, investing its own remaining energy in order to make it work.

As Vanamonde was about to reach the Earth, to grasp at the Mad Mind and tear it apart, the other machines of Diaspar awakened from their long slumber. Towers within the city began to hum, stir and then finally glow with an eldritch light. Other towers, cylindrical in shape emerged from the ground and added to the eerie luminosity; had there been an atmosphere, the noise would have been deafening.

Suddenly, immense gravitational fields began to surround the dead Earth, followed by several rings of quantum energy. The rings began to move around the Earth, orbiting it at incredible speeds.

A tremendous gash appeared within the fabric of space and time, a gash with an oblong shape, which soon engulfed the entirety of the Dead Earth as Vanamonde was seconds away from grabbing the planet.

The dead planet dove into the void outside of the universe. Machines meant to reunite Earth with the Ancestral Humans, had now been appropriated to allow the Mad Mind to escape its final fate.

Once beyond the boundaries of the universe, the millions of pairs of eyes of Diaspar saw before them a spectacle which neither the Mad Mind or the Central Computer could comprehend. Time and space had no relevance in such dimension. A simple observation was enough to drive both the Mad Mind and the Central Computer insane. Both the Mad Mind and the Central Computer were about to deactivate the millions of pairs of eyes of Diaspar lest it destroy their minds irrevocably when the planet's engine stuck the membrane of another universe, and passed through.

The vista of a new universe unfolded before the two intelligences. The Central Computer did not recognize what it was that it saw before it, but ancient recordings did exist; The Mad Mind however did recognize what it saw. It had not seen it since the day of its creation: a relatively younger Milky Way galaxy, a healthy, barred spiral galaxy with a wealth of stars, planets and other cosmic bodies.

Ignoring each other, the two intelligences grasped that they had arrived in a parallel universe; the background radiation was different enough to come to such a conclusion. The millions of pairs of eyes of Diaspar looked at the galaxy and quickly discovered another Solar System – and with it, another Earth. However, the planet Persephone was missing.

With a mix of wonder, curiosity, and conceit, the two intelligences saw space vessels travelling between the planets.

Then came the recognition that the Dead Earth was moving towards the Milky Way at an incomprehensible speed. Seconds later, the Dead Earth was skimming across the galaxy's upper surface, but it was now not alone, as several Star Systems and non-Solarian heliospheres, along with other cosmic bodies trailed behind, drawn by the immense gravitational field around the carcass of the planet. Time and space itself began to tremble. The Central Computer calculated that they weren't just travelling across space but time as well; some of these cosmic bodies were being torn from different moments in time.

The Mad Mind did not care. It only wanted to flee as far away from Vanamonde as it could.

Once again, the Dead Earth dove into the membrane separating universes, with its entourage of stars, planets, and other such bodies trailing behind. However, instead of diving into the dimension outside of the universes, the Dead Earth found itself in another universe, looking down at another Milky Way galaxy. Once again, the Dead Earth plunged towards the galaxy, scraping by and taking more cosmic bodies away before vanishing into another universe, all while its cosmic tail grew.

Again and again this happened, with the Dead Earth crossing the boundaries of the universes, approaching the many versions of the Milky Way galaxy, sometimes passing by, other times passing through. All the while, the Dead Earth's tail grew as more cosmic bodies were attracted to its immense gravitic field, before once again repeating the entire thing all over again.

Crossing several universes did seem to have the same effect as that of friction, and the Dead Earth began to slow down. The Dead Earth penetrated one last membrane before slowing down to the point in which it could no longer traverse the multiverse. It and the cosmic tail it had developed in its travels would remain within this universe for all eternity.

There was something different though. The galaxy which the Dead Earth was not another version of the Milky Way at all; instead of being a barred spiral galaxy, it was a simple spiral galaxy.

Moreover, the Mad Mind could sense something about this galaxy in particular. The Mad Mind decided to advance towards it and investigate, but it felt opposition from the Central Computer. The Central Computer, it would seem, had not been beaten and would not allow the Mad Mind to disrupt the galaxy with its presence. The Mad Mind was angered.

Dominance had still to be determined between the two. It was still a matter of survival for the Mad Mind. In order to flee from Vanamonde's wrath, it had to put its essence into Diaspar's devices, which had the unintentional effect of binding the Mad Mind permanently to the Dead Earth; there was no way that the Mad Mind could share this domain with a lower intelligence.

The struggle was short. Though the Central Computer never gave up, the Mad Mind subjugated it. The artificial mind of Central Computer was destroyed – or perhaps driven to some dark corner within its components, forced to hide.

Either way, the Mad Mind now prevailed, and it looked outward. It was shocked to find that the Dead Earth itself had settled into an orbit that would take billions – if not trillions – of years to complete; the tail made up of the cosmic bodies from varying versions of the Milky Way galaxy trailing behind the Dead Earth had now formed a ring around the strange Galaxy. The Dead Earth was at the farthest extreme of the ring, the most distant body from the Galaxy than any other. Beyond, however, there was something even more distant. A most intriguing barrier surrounded this ring wrought from the Mad Mind's escape, in the same way that the ring surrounded the Galaxy.

The Mad Mind made an attempt to move the planet closer, but it could not. The thrusting towers were permanently burned out, leaving the planet locked within its long orbit, whilst the Mad Mind itself was locked to the planet.

For the first time in its existence, the Mad Mind felt despair. This planet had become a worse prison than the Black Sun. For some time, it sulked, until the vibrancy of the Galaxy and the Milky Way ring stirred a great anger within it.

The Mad Mind was determined to triumph – to regain its strength and defeat materiality; eventually, it would defeat Vanamonde and tear him to pieces the same way he had done to it.

It studied the cosmic surroundings with more care. The Mad Mind became aware of a bubble surrounding the Dead Earth, a bubble of Space and Time. It quickly concluded that time was passing faster within the Dead Earth than outside of it. That was not all; a tubular bubble of Space and Time was also surrounding the Milky Way Ring. Time too, was passing faster within the Ring than within the Galaxy at its center, though not to the same degree.

While years, perhaps even millennia, were passing on the Dead Earth, beyond the planet and within the Galaxy, only a few months may have gone by. Further examination of the bubbles revealed that this temporal divergence would not last for long: the bubbles were already showing sign of dissipation. Every cosmic body within the Milky Way Ring would experience time in the same way as the Galaxy.

The Mad Mind had some time to act, but it wasn't infinite. It immediately went about awakening the ancient robots from their long slumber; their construction was so eximious that the ravages of time had not had an effect on them. They went about maintaining every machine of Diaspar as the city itself lit up and reactivated, fed by the Dark Matter generator at the core. The Mad Mind began to repair the towers it could, and ordered the robots to build other towers with various functions. It then proceeded to check Shalmirane. The fortress-weapon was itself nearly spent, and its strength was considerably reduced, but it was still the most destructive weapon within the Ring and the Galaxy, with a range of five million light-years and such accuracy as to shoot a grain of sand off the head of a needle. And, it had the power to destroy a heliosphere.

Beneath the artificial light of the Last City of Diaspar, the Mad Mind looked at the firmament, and the stars beyond the dead carcass of Earth, and began to study the odd galaxy at the center of the Milky Way Ring.

Thanks to waves and distortions within the space-time continuum caused by the Mad Mind's own forced entrance into this reality, the imprisoned being could use the millions of eyes of Diaspar to look into the Galaxy's past and understand it in the most complete manner. Indeed, the Mad Mind witnessed a great deal of things; the rise and fall of empires; the beginnings of cults imbued with power which would later fracture along the lines of light and dark.

It saw something powerful and imprisoned within the galaxy. The Mad Mind studied that region carefully. That something might be of use in the future. The Mad Mind then turned to look at the rest of the galaxy.

This galaxy was dynamic. The Mad Mind witnessed the rise of a mighty republic along with those that would protect it, and their continued existence for thousands of generations – a blink of an eye for the Mad Mind, but an eternity to physical beings. Until the inevitable day came that the republic itself was subverted and cast down from within by an individual who stood out due to the darkness surrounding him. Yet within an even shorter amount of time – no more than a blink of an eye for the Mad Mind – the Empire created from that dark individual had crumbled apart.

This alien galaxy did puzzle the Mad Mind due to its possession of humans – true humans and not some lookalikes, but it set such inquiries for another time. They would die all the same. Its attention returned to the state of the galaxy.

Now the galaxy was fragmented, fought over by numerous factions. Some bathed in light, the others wrapped in darkness. The Mad Mind decided to focus its attention at that point in time in which everything seemed to stop, which, to the natives of the central galaxy would be considered the present – a present always moving forward into the future. To the Mad Mind that moment in time was more like a still painting or a singular frame, than an image in motion.

Within that temporal canvas, something caught its attention. It saw a battle amidst the void, a battle which pitted a flotilla of seven large, wedge-shaped ships against a space station shaped like an octahedron with a defensive ring around it. Whatever large vessels the station had to defend itself had been destroyed, their broken carcasses seemingly frozen in time to the millions of pairs eyes of the Mad Mind. All the station had left to defend itself, besides its own cannons, were a small number of spherical fighter craft, and those were smaller in number than those of the attacking flotilla.

The Mad Mind could perceive something powerful within the station, so it focused its attention on it, using the millions of eyes of Diaspar to see through the hull and walls of the station.

Finally, its attention fell upon one single individual. A redheaded human male. He wasn't very tall, but his pale-faced and stern demeanor was enough to intimidate a man twice his size, and his dark clothing seemed to reflect a greater darkness within.

Power surged from this human male – immense power that the Mad Mind could clearly see. The Mad Mind knew it could use this creature. It now had a plan. A plan to destroy materiality. To destroy the corporeal and physical.

Presently, its attention returned to the Milky Way Ring. It would still have to pay close attention to the immediate surroundings. Even here, there was some opposition, but also opportunity. Creatures of metal, or of intertwined metal and flesh were closest to the Dead Earth. The Mad Mind could see them clearly. Silver plated men with singular cyclopean red eyes; men of flesh with machinery inserted into them in a most ugly, but efficient form. Vessels made of two giant saucers set atop each other, surrounded by smaller and faster saucers and ugly cubes and spheres of even more gargantuan size; other vessel like beings that were more like aquatic squid than anything built by the hands of man.

They would all fall under the sway of the Mad Mind. Though severely weakened and incapable of having its revenge in the way it most desired, the Mad Mind would use its merger with Diaspar's Central Computer to bend them to its will.

Inwardly, the Mad Mind smiled, and returned its attention to the redheaded male in the Central Galaxy.

I am not a fan of Disney's sequel trilogy. When I first saw Force Awakens, I didn't like it at all. I was constantly comparing the events I was watching on the screen with the information I had concerning the Expanded Universe (now known by many as Legends). In that regard, Force Awakens was a dissapointment. It was just a replice of what Lucas had shown us before in 1977. There was no Crimson Empire, no Fel, no New Republic that knew that the fight was far from over. Resistance you say? Like the Maquis in Star Trek? Oh no. Wait. Not That at all. Just some bunk to make everyone think that the Republic is still the underdog and that the Empire is still on top. This was a universe in which Luke did not found a NEW JEDI ORDER (to me, that was by far the greatest offence of the sequels - episode VI was called RETURN OF THE JEDI, so where are the Jedi?). The Last Jedi just made things worse as far as I was concerned. It reinforced a lot the bad ideas Abrams introduced in Force Awakens, from Luke's failure to rebuild the Order (he could have been depressed as all heck, just as long as he had remade the Order and left it in capable hands), to Rey's botched character development.

I did not bother to watch Rise of Skywalker. I have yet to watch it. I do not want to watch it.

I've been very eager to see this new, Disney created canon be destroyed - a pipe dream, I know, but I just can't stand the universe Disney created. My dream of seeing Disney's canon destroyed will most likely not come to pass. The best way for someone like myself to cope is to come here, and make up my own version of the events which followed the death of Emperor Palpatine. If I knew the Legends universe as well as some people, I would most likely use it, but I'm not versed enough to dare. So I decided to take some elements from Legends, and what has leaked concerning Lucas' own ideas, to make my own story. As luck would have it, I also wanted to make a crossover story with Star Wars for quite some time.

Years ago, I read Michael Wong's Conquest, followed shortly after by Stravo's Star-Crossed and Chuck Sonnenberg's (sfdebris, if I'm not mistaken) Unity Saga. I was suckered in. Afterwards, I read The Rift Saga, which really intrigued me with its varied and eccentric mix of characters from across several franchises. That one really made me want to write a story with several characters from several universes interacting within the Star Wars reality. I made several attempts. All of them were the same in some way, and farfetched, involving a wormhole, or trouble in the multiverse or whatnot.

The method with which the different universes would interact (without there being a multiversal threat or a divine chess player - which I did not want to use) was always a challenge to me. My interest in Alternate History however, offered me a solution - the ISOT.

For those of you who don't know, ISOT is an acronym which derives from S.M. Stirling's novel Island in the Sea of Time, in which the entire island of Nantucket, with its population and infrastructure, is taken to the ancient past. To someone interested in Alternate History, ISOT has come to mean transporting anything from one period of time to another, or even to another universe. It can even be used for transporting individuals (though I prefer the term Isekai myself for that). Once I discovered the ISOT, I knew how I could get a wide range of characters from different universes to be involved with Jedi and Sith. Also, the nature of the ISOT did not require a divine mastermind who lays in wait beyond the universe. Just a mighty enough villain.

Anyway, here's my next stab at fiction. Hope to stick to landing.