Star Wars A Chance Encounter and a Different Fate (AU)

Ash's Boomstick

Well-known member
For me it was the end there, the Skyguy and Snips comments, I've never seen either Clone Wars or Rebels but I know enough via fanfic, convos and of course The Mandolorian to understand what is being talked about. The thing is that a few minutes in a workshop could easily improve Vader's armour against electrical attacks, something to think about when they head in to see Palpy.
 

The Whispering Monk

Well-known member
Osaul
Ummm....I think you're underestimating how much effort it would take to completely secure a system that was ENGINEERED from the start to be vulnerable to electrical surges of the sort Palps puts out.
 

The Whispering Monk

Well-known member
Osaul
The other problem here is that I don't think the Emperor is expecting, nor was Vader planning, any delay between the Skywalkers' arrival on the Death Star and their meeting with Palpatine.
 

Ash's Boomstick

Well-known member
Thats true enough, shame they didn't think of it during the travel up it would have worked better for him. Although He could just put some rubber on his shoes so it doesn't conduct as much? He does have a dead stormtrooper in there after all, plenty of plastic and rubber there.
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
Somehow, I doubt the Emperor included anti-force-lightning counter-measures on Stormtrooper armor.

Also, they need the armor intact for Rex to wear.
 

Ash's Boomstick

Well-known member
While thats true about the first part, force lightning is still more or less an electricity attack if the aftermath is any indication. It very much depends if Bacle uses The Truce at Bakura as canon, diverting just some of the attack would help although the simple other part is the ability to absorb the attack with a lightsaber which Anakin could do as a combination of his saber, his own force abilities and simply locking his servos in place. Luke and Ahsoka less so, Rex would have to use his mostly non conductive plasteel and rubber uniform to block a lot of the energy, I'm not saying all of it, but some would be blocked.

Good point about the uniform through, its possible there are some spares aboard as I'm guessing that a typical landing shuttle would have some spares for a stormie's armour, like radios, breathing sets, maybe just a replacement helmet or boots where they might be damaged or lost. It's just a theory mind you, not necessarily what is aboard this one.
 
Chapter 9

Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
Han Solo was feeling uneasy about the upcoming assault, even though the locals had led the team to a secondary bunker entrance. The fleet was due in soon, and Han wasn't sure how far it was to the generator's once he was inside.

He was about to signal where he wanted the team to position themselves when the command hypercomm on his hip buzzed.

"Shavit, has the fleet arrived early; we don't have the shield down." Han thought as he signaled everyone to drop and hold.

He blinked when he read the message, and frowned before waving Leia forward.

Leia came up beside him, and looked at the message text, her eyes widening.

"SHIELD GENERATOR COMPLEX HAS REINFORCED LEGION IN HIDDEN POSITIONS; THEY ARE AWARE AN ATTACK IS COMING. SECONDARY PLAN IN EFFECT FOR SHIELD NEUTRALIZATION. RECOMMEND GROUND TEAM REDEPLOY TO NEUTRALIZE SENSOR AND COMM RELAYS, THEN STAND BY TO PROVIDE TARGET POSITIONS TO ORBITAL ASSETS WHEN FLEET ARRIVES. ALERT FLEET THAT THE DEATH STAR MAY BE A TRAP AS WELL. -FULCRUM"

"Han if what she is saying is true, this whole thing is a trap. We need to get 3PO to ask the locals if they have any idea where the Imperials placed their sensors and relays." Leia said as she began moving back toward the droids.

"Well Chewie, guess having two Jedi around does can open up new options. Lets see what the little furballs have to say." The Coreillian said as he followed her.

He just hoped the Togruta was as good as Leia claimed she was.

****
Ahsoka calmly examined the interior of the hanger that Anakin had commanded the shuttle to land at.

It did not appear to be at the equatorial trench, where the schematics for the second Death Star had placed most of the hangers on the station. Instead, it had seem the former Jedi had landed them in a small auxiliary docking bay near the station's 'pole'.

As they exited the shuttle via the ramp, Anakin turned slightly towards.

"Trooper, go to superlaser control and tell them Lord Vader wishes for the shift supervisor to conduct a snap inspection of the firing control system. It must be in perfect working order for our Emperor when the Rebel Fleet arrives. Bring the report directly to me when the inspection is completed, there is an authorization cylinder in the shuttle which will grant you the necessary access. I will take the prisoners to our Master myself." The black armored figure intoned, before beginning to march toward the door of the hanger.

Luke and Ahsoka were both visibly taken aback by what Anakin had just let slip, but barely lost a step in their stride behind him.

Rex nearly broke character and gasped, then he realized what his old General had just ordered him to do. Under the helmet, a smile spread across the old clone's face.

"Yes sir." He said with a salute, before heading back into the shuttle to get what he would need for this mission.

****
Sheev Palpatine had felt Darth Vader return to the Death Star, and felt the conflict within his servant, felt the light within the young Skywalker, and felt something...else, coming up the turbolift shaft to his private sanctum.

The third presence...Palpatine had felt it before, he was sure, but not for a long time, and...the Apprentice.

"What is SHE doing here? This...was unforeseen. If she has come with young Skywalker and given up the hunt for Bridger...perhaps she could be turned as well. Perhaps watching her Rebel Fleet be destroyed will be enough to break her. If I can replace Vader with Lady Tano and young Skywalker, I would gain two powerful apprentices for the price of a damaged and aged tool." A wicked smile broke out on Palpatine's face at that thought, just as he heard the turbolift doors open.

****
AN: Sorry for the cliffhanger. Wanted to get something out for my readers to kind of bridge a gap/advance the plot a little. Still trying to figure out how to pull off what I want to do with the battle at Endor, and this gets me to a good starting point for it.
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
"What is SHE doing here? This...was unforeseen. If she has come with young Skywalker and given up the hunt for Bridger...perhaps she could be turned as well. Perhaps watching her Rebel Fleet be destroyed will be enough to break her. If I can replace Vader with Lady Tano and young Skywalker, I would gain two powerful apprentices for the price of a damaged and aged tool." A wicked smile broke out on Palpatine's face at that thought, just as he heard the turbolift doors open.
Sheev, you moron. She went through the entire Clone Wars followed by General Order 66 and didn't turn from all of that. Seeing a couple of ships blow up won't phase her.
 

Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
Sheev, you moron. She went through the entire Clone Wars followed by General Order 66 and didn't turn from all of that. Seeing a couple of ships blow up won't phase her.
Palpatine always underestimated Ahsoka, despite Anakin's regard for her; he attributed her survival to luck, not skill or mental hardness.

There was a reason Maul and Obi-wan were laughing from beyond the grave.
 
Chapter 10

Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
Rex was amazed at how quickly the turbolift reached the main firing control complex, and did his best to think on his feet about what he could do to sabotage the superlaser.


The Fleet thought the super weapon was still in the process of being built, and not functional. They were wrong, and a lot more Rebels would die trying to take the station out than command anticipated, even with the shield down.


He knew he could not realistically take and hold the command complex on his own, so Rex planned to put the droid poppers he'd brought along to good use somewhere...delicate, deep in the bowels of the battlestation.


Now Rex just had to see if the command cylinder Anakin left him on the shuttle would convince the shift supervisor to halt everything to conduct a snap inspection of the whole superlaser system, with him in tow.


The old clone stepped out of the turbolift into what looked like a an industrial plant's control center, and proceeded to what was the obvious command station, staffed by a Chief Gunner. Rex snapped to a salute in front of him.


"Sir, Lord Vader requests a snap inspection of the superlaser system; the authorization codes are in here. I am to record the inspection for delivery to Lord Vader himself." Rex said as he presented the device to the Chief Gunner.


The black armored gunner took the cylinder, plugged it into his console, saw the confirmation and authentication was in order, then sighed.


"Alright; wait here for a moment trooper. Everyone, we are having another snap inspection; begin the temporary power down of energized sections, and everyone stand to your posts. As soon as this inspection is done, I want this gun back online immediately!" The chief gunner ordered into his comm unit.


Turning to Rex, the armored gunner motioned for the trooper to follow him, and record things for the report to Lord Vader. Now Rex just had to figure out what bit of the gun would be most damaged by his little surprises, and how to place them without the Chief Gunner noticing.


****


Ashoka Tano could feel the black hole of the Dark Side that was Emperor, former Chancellor, Sheev Palpatine as she exited the turbolift.


This was the first time the Togruta had been back in his personal presence since she left the Jedi Order, excluding that brief moment of terror in the World Between Worlds with Erza. At that point she had felt his power, but not the full breadth and malevolence of it, as she was feeling now.


How the man had hid that power from the Jedi, including herself, and particularly Master Yoda, despite being in close proximity to Palpatine many times...that spoke of a level of mastery and control over the Dark Side that unsettled Ahsoka. No wonder Maul had been so keen to kill Anakin and rob Palpatine of the apprentice he desired and had groomed for years.


Palpatine was easily powerful enough to kill Anakin in his current state, and probably could have beat anyone but the most powerful of the old Jedi.


Ahsoka herself felt a deep, deep chill being around the man, and she knew she had never fought anyone nearly as powerful as the Emperor. Even her memories of Yoda's presence seemed...small, compared to the pull of the Dark Side eminating off the Sith in front of her.


Vader silently lead the group to the base of Palpatine's throne, before stopping. The old Sith in the chair turned to face them, a cruel smile on his face.

"Welcome, young Skywalker." Palpatine said, before turning his eyes to Ahsoka and narrowing his eyes and scanning her face for a moment.

"And it is so good to see you again, Lady Tano. I must say I did not expect you here; but I see you finally realized your hunt for Bridger is futile, and decided to join your former master at my side." Palpatine said, judging her reaction in the Force.

The old Sith knew that her presense meant that he could not count on young Skywalker's ignorance of the past to aid Sidious's mystique and feeling of power. The former Padawan had caught Maul before disappearing in that Venator crash, and Palpatine knew she was skilled enough to have survived the Clone Wars and the Rebellion to this point. He had to...unbalance her, if he was to have any chance of turning her, or keeping the conflict in Vader from completely resurfacing. He only needed a bit of the truth to see how the Togruta would react to a bit of Vader's secret history, and a reminder of her other failures, and as ways to sow discord between the three of them.

Ahsoka tried to keep her feelings neutral, but felt that the darkness radiating off of Palpatine was more like black hole than she initially realized, and that just being in proximity to him was causing Anakin to have to nearly turn back to the dark, just to not give away what had happened in the shuttle. But it also was causing Anakin to slip further toward the dark because of how overwhelming it was. Luke...he could feel the energy, but his ignorance of what Palpatine truly was meant he felt the power, but didn't truly understand it's magnitude. Even being close to Palpatine's malevolence was causing the dark thoughts that had haunted her dreams during the lonely searchs for Ezra, and she could feel a smug satisfaction when Palpatine mentioned the boy's name; he knew something.

Outwardly, Ahsoka just looked at Palpatine silently for a moment, before shrugging and casually saying. "Try again, Chancellor."


That caused Palpatine to frown, before replying.

"Have you told young Skywalker what happened to your last apprentice, Lady Tano? And did you know it was your master, young Skywalker's father, who stopped Master Windu from killing me? Oh, I suppose he hadn't told you that yet, had you, Lord Vader. Oh yes, my dear, he was the one who allowed the Empire to be born, and for me to send out Order 66. But enough of ancient history, I would have thought that you would still be following Purgil sightings, trying to trace your old apprentice down; yes, I know of your efforts; but you kept away from the Rebellion proper, and your methodolgy...amused me. If Grand Admiral Thrawn knew of what you were doing in an effort to locate him and Bridger...well, he might use it as a lesson in imaginative thinking for his newest recruits."

That cause Ashoka's eyebrows to raise a bit, but also caused her to frown, as it confirmed what she one of her biggest fears; the Empire and Thrawn already regained contact with each other, and Ezra was likely their prisoner.

"Ah yes, you know the true breadth of your failure now, Lady Tano. Like Bridger, like your master, you will fail those you try to teach or those who depend on you. Shortly, yours and young Skywalker's precious Rebel fleet will be destroyed, and you will see the futility in resisting my power." The aging Sith said, as he took Luke's and Ahsoka's lightsaber from Anakin's hand.

"It seems young Skywalker's Jedi training is complete. And you still favor the your old style, Lady Tano; a dependable relic of a bygone age. Once your friends are dealt with, Lord Vader will continue training both of you in the ways to the Dark Side, and true power, in earnest." Palpatine continued, examine the sabers.

"You are wrong your Highness, your overconfidnece in your power will be your undoing." Luke said, looking the Sith in the eye.

"And your faith in your friend will be yours. Guards, leave us!" Palpatine said as he used the Force to cause the binders on Luke and Ahsoka to come off, before he returned to his throne with the three lightsabers in hand.

****

Han watched one of his men, a old scout named Nic Scant, move along just beneath the crest of the ridge near the outer perimeter of the Imperial base.

On the top about a hundred meters distant, was a small cluster of metal boxes and a sensor dome, hidden in a clump of short trees other the other side of a small meadow. He, Leia, Scant, R2, 3PO, and a handful of other Rebels were attempting to covertly plant explosives on it, to be triggered when the Fleet arrived.

Several other teams of Rebels had gone to disable other comms or sensor equipment, with the aid of their Ewok friends. The Imperials had not seemed to have acted on their presence yet, though Han now guessed they were at least aware Rebels may be in the area.

Scant reached the base of the boxes and placed the detonators without being detected. As he moved to return to the Rebels, there was movement besides the dome. Everyone hugged the ground, while Scant froze against the ground just beyond the the sensor's base.

A probe droid had exited a small hatch on the far side of the dome, and was scanning the immediate area around the sensor emplacement.

Chewie slowly raised his bowcaster while rolling over slowly onto his back, and was going to take the probe down when the comm on Han's hip gently hummed again.

"The Fleet's here." Han whispered to Leia.

At that same moment, the probe droid's head spun around to look directly in the team's direction.
 
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Chapter 11

Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
Rex knew enough about composite laser engineering from his days repairing the dishes on LAAT's to recognize the supersized collminator beam assembly in front of him.

The Chief Gunner had lead him deep through the bowels of the the superlaser, through compartment's primed to pump planet destroying amounts of energy and non-tachyonic hypermatter particles. Rex couldn't help but admire the engineering needed to contain and channel said power; however, he also had realized that there was a one glaring flaw to it that he supposed no one had considered, something Rex had seen happen on small scale during some gun malfunctions on LAATs.

Collminator failure had cost more than one of his brother's their lives in the side turrets of those gunships.

It might cost him his life, it might cost the whole team their lives, but it would stop the station from being a threat, at least for a while until it could be repaired or a new one built. And somehow Rex doubted Ahsoka, or the father and son Skywalker would disagree.

"And as you can see Lord Vader, the main brace for the collminator charging regulator continues to be within nominal tolerances, and the maintenance crew reaction times have noted no hesitation in their training drills and continually improving drill times. Ahead is the main cullminator inspection antechamber; as per shutdown protocol, it is currently de-energized." The Chief Gunner said as he lead the old clone into one of the substations for the superlaser maintenance staff that was adjacent to their primary inspection gantry around the base of the superlaser.

The officer was barely even looking at Rex, instead of focusing on surveying his own staff for anything that could potentially embarrass him in front of Lord Vader or the Emperor. As they entered the antechamber, the door behind them shut, and a small inspection hatch opened that lead out onto a gantry way just beneath the main focusing array.

When the Death Star's superlaser was preparing to fire, this chamber would end up energized as the power needed to focus the collminator beam. If something interrupted the flow, or induced an outside fluctuation to it after it was passed the regulator but before it hit the main focusing array, there would be nothing to dampen the disruption or protect the focusing array from fluctuating surges it was not designed to handle.

So as the officer led Rex along the gantry way, Rex quietly and quickly palmed a droid popper off his belt, armed it, and slid it into a bundle of high temperature, low resistance optical-crystalline induction pathways that lead to the arrays. As they continued along the gantry, around the full inspection circuit, Rex snuck the other droid popper into the regulator housing where it met the chamber proper.

The officer had droned on the whole time, not even seeming to view Rex as more than a walking piece of recording equipment. As Rex and the Chief Gunner returned to the main firing control complex, an alarm and alert sounded throughout the station, announcing the arrival of the Rebel fleet.

"Karabast, of all times!!! Men, get the gun back up to full readiness, in case His Majesty wishes to utilize it. You are dismissed, trooper; please report to Lord Vader that we will have the main gun online in record time." The Chief Gunner said, as Rex returned to the turbolift and began heading for landing bay where they had docked. The old clone had a feeling that he may need to provide a quick evacuation or rescue in the near future, and Lord Vader's Lambda was unlikely to be fired upon by Imperial gun crews if it took off without authorization.

***

Something was wrong.

Sheeve Palpatine could not figure out what it was, and that worried him.

Vader and his son both felt more at ease with each other's presence then they should have. There was something new in Vader's mind that he was hiding from the old Sith; he had been able to mask it enough that all Palpatine could discern was that is was related to his offspring and was not something Vader had known previously.

The younger Skywalker was not as filled with uncertainty as he should have been, but was not fully able to shield his thoughts. And that lead Palpatine to a very unexpected thought flitting across the boy's mind, new enough to be not fully masked...he knows the superlaser is operational. There was some fear for the newly arrived Rebel fleet, because of the superlaser, he suspected. However, even that...felt the Superlaser was as not safe as it may have appeared.

That brought a frown to the old Sith's face, and he realized Vader may have been speaking out of turn with his son.

"I'll need to discipline Lord Vader, if he survives", Palpatine thought as he turned his mind to the Togruta female who was currently...smiling directly at his face.

He felt her use the Force to slight degree on her own person, but Palpatine could not figure out what she had done, before she spoke to him in an almost...curious tone.

"Chancellor, when did you first become a Sith Lord? Was it before or after you ordered the inhibitor chips placed in the clones from Kamino? I've always wondered just how far back you power extended? Who was your master; Maul never said who had trained his former Master." The Togruta woman asked lightly as she looked out the window at the arriving Rebel fleet.

***

Han was running a lot of scenario's through his mind as the probe droid began to move towards the group Rebels, and with it alerted if they blew it up now it would only bring down more Imperial's upon them and put other sensor nodes on alert.

Though with the fleet overhead now, perhaps stealth had run it's course.

That was when he heard a massive explosion in the distance. Looking over his shoulder back toward where the shield generator's were, he saw the emitter dish engulfed in flame and saw girder's snapping as the mounting holding it up failed and twisted over to the side.

It was all Han could do not to start hollering with cheer, but he looked to Leia who had a massive grin on her face. She whisper to Han "Seems that Agent Tano is living up to her reputation."

The probe droid was obviously distracted by the explosion. In the few seconds it was, Chewbacca fired 3 rounds of ionicly charged bowcaster rounds into the droid, which sparked and lit on fire as it fell to the ground as it's systems cut out all at once.

The scout, Nic Scant, ran to slap the charge on the sensor dome, and then began running towards the other rebels, now that stealth was no longer an option.

He made it about half way when his neck was severed by 3 bolts from a second probe droid which had just exited the hatch, about 2 seconds before the explosives in the pack went off and blew apart the whole sensor dome outpost. The rest of the ground team cringe at the sight of his death, but were proud the old scout had got the job done.

"Han get on the line to the rest of the teams and tell them to make for the shuttle pads once they plant their charges. Reinforcements will need a place to land, and we will need to mark targets for the bombers and ships in orbit." Leia said as the team began to move back into the trees.

***

"You have certainly become rather well informed, haven't you, Lady Tano. Perhaps. Do you perhaps want to know how to become a Sith yourself, having seen the power we wield in this galaxy. Have you finally seen through the lies of the Jedi who so wronged you and your master?" Sheev asked, trying to figure out what game the former Jedi was trying to play.

"No, I just wanted to know if it really was you who ordered the inhibitor chips placed in the clones. They understood loyalty, and I wanted to make sure I knew who to blame for forcing me to fight Jesse and his brothers. My master made his choices, but those men never had a choice as long as their chips worked right. You made a big mistake revealing the chips to clone trooper Fives years ago; he got enough of the information to Commander Rex that he was able to leave a record, a record which saved his life and mine." The Togruta said, throwing Palpatine a angle he had not expected.

If there was one thing the Sith and Rule of Two never put much value in, it was loyalty to one's subordinates, particularly disposable ground troops literally bred for war.

***

Hera Syndulla was surprised when one of the first things that happened after hyperspace reversion was a private comm channel from Ahsoka popped up on her personal commlink. It was not very loud, but she could hear Ahsoka speaking with someone, and grabbed it from her belt to turn up the volume as the fleet assembled after coming out of hyperspace.

As she was listening and flying, Hera realized Ahsoka was face-to-face with the Emperor, and it sounded like...she knew that respirator. Yet...Ahsoka did not sound afraid at all.

"Chopper, keep the channel open and start recording this, I need to conecntrate on flying. Get Callus up here, I need him to verify this." The Twi'lek said over her shoulder.

As she was looking back over her sensors, she notice the huge Imperial fleet coming around the limb of the Sanctuary Moon, and heard Calrissian call out that the shield was still up.

Pulling the Ghost into a massive powered slide of a turn, she reoriented the ship towards the incoming Imperial ships.

Then her sensors registered a large explosion on the surface of the Sanctuary Moon, in the location where the shield generator was supposed to be.

"Countermand those orders fleet; resume course for the Death Star, get behind it and use it as a shield fromt he Imperial fleet." Hera heard Ackbar call out, the old Mon Cal having obviously seen the same sensor readings she had. She knew that the Admiral needed to hear what was going on, if Ahsoka truly was face to face with the Emperor on an open comm.

"Admiral, this is General Syndulla, I have a channel you need to hear; it's from Agent Tano. Just listen to it yourself, you'll know what to do." Hera said, as she sent of a holocomm burst to the flagship.

****

The comm on the old Sith's throne rang out with a priority alert just as Palpatine felt a massive wave of danger wash over him.

"Why do you disturb me, Moff Jerjerrod?" Palpatine said.

"Forgive me your Majesty, the shield generator's emitter array was just destroyed by an explosion and the base is reporting almost all of their perimeter and sensor nets just went offline; a few probe droids on detached security report being fired on by Rebels before being destroyed." The Moff replied, sounding like he was expecting to be killed in the next several minutes for his 'failure'.

Palpatine never broke eye contact with the Togruta in front of him, but his frown deepened significantly.

"Has the base been invaded by Rebel forces or lost communication with the fleet?" The old Sith asked, trying to determine his next course of action, seeing surprise on the younger Skywalker's face as well, and even Vader was surprised.

"So Tano had acted on her own to do this...shame she likely cannot be turned, she'd be a wonderful replacement for either Skywalker." Palpatine thought to himself as he awaited Jerjerrod's answer.

"No, your majesty, it appears they have not yet breached the main defensive perimeter. Our troops are on alert, but the only off-planet comms still operational at the base are the hypercomm unit in the control center. Local communication are spotty at best. We have several special forces teams in the area as well, who are being sent to scout for the Rebel's ground force's. However the Rebel fleet has resumed course towards the station." the Moff said.

"The Legion will deal with the Rebels on the ground; have the fleet move to block the Rebel fleet's retreat, while having fighters keep them away from the station till we can fire the main gun." The Emperor commanded.

"My lord, the main gun is currently cycling up from a snap inspection ordered by Lord Vader. It will be online in 5 minutes. However the Rebel fleet will be within the minimum safe firing range in only 7 minutes. We will only have time for one shot, the station would be in danger if we fired any closer. They appear to be trying to move to put the Death Star between themselves and our Fleet." The Moff said over the comm, deferentially but clearly trying to impresss upon his Emperor how bad the situation appeared.

The old Sith paused at that, and looked at the Force signatures of the people in the room with him. The only thing that kept him from feeling anything more than mild annoyance was the fact his facilities on Byss were secure, and not even Vader knew of them. Still, Palpatine would prefer not to lose this station if he could help it.

"Can the station make a jump into hyperspace?" The Emperor inquired.

This caused Vader to look sharply at his master, while Ahsoka and Luke both started, eyes wide. If the gun and hyperdrive were operational...that was not something the Alliance could fight in a stand up battle; if the station's own particle shields came online it'd be effectively invulnerable to outside attack.

"Your Majesty I...parts of the hyperdrive have been installed, but it has never been tested and is not complete. We also have no navigational shielding installed yet either. We may be able to power the current systems up and jump...a half a light year without risking hyperfield collapse, hull buckling, or hyperdrive failure. it would be another hour before with could risk a jump once that was done." The Moff said, clearly not excited to inform his Emperor of these facts.

"Then prepare to fire on the largest of the Rebel cruisers and have the fighters drive them into a better firing position; we shall deal with these rebel scum here. Tell the Fleet to move in and engage the Rebels with overwhelming firepower; keep the Rebels from damaging this station if you value your life, Moff Jerjerrod." Palpatine said, before cutting the comms.

It was time to see how much he could tempt the Togruta with nothing more than the truth. Sith were good at deceit, but sometimes the truth could serve just as well. He had turned her master using his desire to protect the ones he loved and Palpatine knew the former Padawan was not above attachment's of her own; her continued hunt for Bridger and her presence in the battle proved that.

"Oh dear, your forces having some problems with my friends?" The Togruta asked smugly , smirking at Palpatine's face.

"Well my dear, it seems I underestimated you; however, all you have done is forced me to no longer play any games with your friends. You will soon see the might of this fully armed and operational battlestation." The Emperor said.

****

AB: Sorry for the long wait, been hard to get motivated to write for a while, and how to do what I wanted to do with this battle. Decided splitting up over a few chapter's was the easiest way to make sure I could get something out while still tinkering with the rest.
 
Chapter 12

Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
Luke Skywalker watched out the transparisteel panel as the Death Star's weapon fired it's beams, and when he expected the merged beams to shoot away from the station, instead energy seem to...meld on itself and brighten like a sun.

In normal operations, the Death Star's superlaser unleashed a stream of turbolaser energy mixed with accelerated hypermatter particles that shoved part of the target's mass into hyperspace while disintegrating the rest.

However, all of that relied on a collminator beam array to push it away from the Death Star itself when it reached critical mass as all 8 beams met.

Outside of a few of the older clones stationed on the 2nd Death Star, few officers, naval personnel, or stormtroopers had ever witnessed a collimnator beam failure of any type, as few weapons in the Empire's or Rebel's arsenals possessed a beam with one as part of it.

Deep in the bowels of weapon, coursing energy tripped two small devices, normally meant as battlefield munitions decades ago against a mechanical foe under the same hand as the 2nd Death Star itself was now commanded by.

The pulses that resulted caused the weapons array to have an out of sync focusing array on one side, but only in the micro seconds before the energy hit the array itself, and after the last of the regulating devices was passed.

No one at Endor that day, who survived, would ever forget the sight, or in some case feeling, of the galaxies biggest and most expensive collimnator beam failure mixed with a kyber crystal annihilation event.

****

Han had taken to a overwatch position on a small outlying Imperial landing pad with help of the furry locals, with a few TIEs on ground stands in evidence and platoon of stormtroopers and a few techs visible, though the troopers we obviously aware that Rebels were in the area now, from how they has several E-Webs emplaced and manned on the corners of the landing area.

However, as he was going to relay his plan to the rest of the team, a massive flash of light came from above them, and even the Imperial troops looked up.

"What was that, did the station just fire?" Leia said softly from a few feet away, a small amount of fear in her voice, realizing the gun was operational, unlike the intel reports indicated.

Han could see an afterglow for a couple of seconds, which when you were talking shipscale firepower and even bigger...it was like the mother of all turbolaser flak blasts.

***

The surging pulse of conventional and exotic/nontachyonic particles smashed together like the fury of a tiny sun.

The weapons dish blew itself apart, with large segments flying into space, while some fragments and energy blasted out into the fleets in orbit.

Han realized a lot of energy had just been released in an uncontrolled fashion in near-orbit to their current position. He felt his gut clench, because if that energy hit the atmosphere, the storms it could kick up would show no mercy to Imperial or Rebel forces. Han put up his macrobinoculars, and could even see the flares of some ships...those weren't explosions, but continuing, massive fires. Including the Imperial command ship, which seemed to have a slowing crumbling Star Destroyer jammed into it's upper prow. And bits seem to be coming off the Death Star itself, which was...moving, ever so slowly.

***

Luke watched in horror as a huge bits of gun debris smashed into the Home One cruiser, the reliable Mon Cala shields only just kept from the debris from outright destroying the ship, even as the engines began to sputter and go out.

Numerous other ships were tossed around like toys in a washbasin or in the case of a few collided with each other, including several of the leading edge of the Imperial fleet, with at least one Star Destroyer smashing into the Executor's prow.

In the case of some poor TIEs approaching the Rebels from the Death Star itself, and an unfortunate number of Rebel fighters with weakened shields at the moment of impact, they were blown to bits by the energy itself or hit other objects or fighters as they scrambled to evade the debris.

However, while in shock from the horror they were witnessing, the tower began to shake, and Luke saw...ripples in the metal exterior of the station, moving towards the tower. He looked behind him at the Emperor, his father, and Agent Tano, and could tell even the Emperor was legitimately unsettled by this, despite the damage to the Rebel fleet, his mouth slightly agape and eyes wide. His father had grabbed the back of the throne, and Ahsoka was bracing herself against the frame of the viewports.

"What have your damnable Rebel friends done to my station! Vader, kill Tano as an example to your son, and then get us off this station. Moff Jerjerrod, if you cannot save this station, do not bother to evacuate yourself." The old Sith roared into his throne's commlink, as anger overcame fear in Palpatine's mind as the likelihood his prized weapons might be about to start falling apart around him, before he could even truly create despair in the young Jedi before him, as the tower itself heaved with a massive motion it was never meant to experience, and Luke could see the stars start to move ever so slight faster behind the limb of the moon.

****

Ackbar had watched as the Death Star fired, but was not prepared for the consequences when the weapon seemed to malfunction and blow it's own emitter apart, before the energy and debris surged towards his cruiser.

"All hands, brace for impact!" the old Mon Cal shouted, and in the seconds before impact, he transferred a message to Calrissian and Syndulla, giving them command if Ackbar didn't survive, and transferring Agent Tano's open comm to the gamblers ship. Ackbar at least had the satisfaction of knowing the Emperor didn't seem to know he was on an open comm that connected to the Rebel fleet.

The energy wave hit his cruiser, throwing the Mon Cal out of his command chair and half way across the deck, before everything went black.

***

"Shavit...Leia, get on the comm to the other teams; someone needs to get a weather sensor online pronto. If a storm builds we need to see it coming if we want to survive it, never mind the Imperials. Chewie; see who is in charge of the fleet; we may need a very fast ride out of here in a pinch. Also, someone do a rangefinding on that station; if it is deorbiting, we need to know how long we have to work with." The Corellian said to the two, and he resumed looking at the Imperial outpost.
 
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Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
Wasn't that Tiny Toons?

Hmm that explosion is gonna do a lot of damage to everything in the area, how much of each fleet is still intact?
Neither fleet is in great shape, and it's not going to get much better for anyone at Endor.

There is a reason Palp has already decided he needs to get off the station, and wants Ahsoka dead now; in Sheev's mind, the damn Togruta just derailed his plans and made him/his Empire look very bad in front of his best troops and officers.
 
Chapter 13

Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
Rex entered the local hanger for the Emperor's spire as the station heaved around him.

"Well, seems those old poppers did the job." the old clone thought to himself as he made for Vader's shuttle.

Getting the Lambda into the air was easy enough, but dodging the bits of debris now in low orbit over the Death Star's surface, and at no small velocity proved trickier; he was lucky the transport had VIP rated shielding and engine's General Skywalker had obviously tuned himself.

****

Ahsoka Tano could not help but be both impressed, and slightly worried by, what Rex had done to sabotage the station.

The damage to the gun meant it would not fire again without a full rebuild, but the explosion had had enough force to overcome the station keeping thrusters, and it seemed power was out to a large part of the station.

If those thrusters could not arrest the orbital decay soon, the moon below would be rendered uninhabitable and the Rebel forces on the surface would likely be killed unless someone could get down to them. The old Sith's command to Anakin caused her to meet the eyes she knew were under that helmet.

"So what will it be, Master." She said, as she weighed how her old friend felt in the Force.

****

Lando Calrissian knew a bad hand when he saw one, and the hand he had been dealt by that gun malfunction was pretty rotten. Not as bad as the near thing in the Maelstrom and Maw with Han so long ago, but not a lot better either.

"Azzameen, hand me that spanner, Nuub, see if you can at least get us attached to some debris so we have some protection till the shield generator is back online." the old gambler said from the tech alcove near the turret access-way.

He heard the chittering over of the Sullustian from down the hallway, as the mechanic and back-up gunner they had brought along handed him the tool.

"What do you mean the Emperor is on an open comm with a rebel agent on the Death Star. Now is not the time for jokes." Lando said as he tried to reseat the power coupling which had been shocked out of it's bracket.

More, louder, and kinda annoyed Sullustian came back at him.

'It has General Syndulla on the feed as well, cross signed from Ackbar...we're in dual command, her of the fleet and me of getting ground forces out...what the shavit?" he said as he stuck his head out of the alcove, an affirmative was returned to him.

"Hera wouldn't pull a joke like that, nor Ackbar...it's real. Get me Hera on my personal comm, now." Lando said as he went back to working on the shield generator.

"What the hells is this Hera, how in the world did you get an open comm to the Emperor's chambers in the middle of this kriff-up? And what the blazes do you plan to do with the fleet; the Falcon's shield generator is offline and I'm in the middle of repairing it, so I cannot attempt to get tot he ground forces yet." He said to the holo of the Twi'lek Rebel leader.

"Well, the gun won't be firing again, and the debris is spreading to block a lot of fire lanes towards the Death Star, which seems to have partially lost power. So we are going to finish the job Lando; tell the fighter groups to make for the station's core and make sure it never comes back online. Tell the fleet to attempt to collect survivors and get ready to provide a large evacuation of the moon's surface before jumping away; get out of range of the Imperial guns, and use the debris as a shield from long range fire. I doubt that station will be able to arrest it's orbital decay, and even if we blow it up in low orbit, the moon's surface will be catastrophically damaged, so we need to act quickly." the green Twi'lek said.

"Alright, once the shields are back online, I'll lead a force to the moon's surface. What about the open comm from Agent Tano, what should we do with it?" the gambler asked, as he pushed the coupling back into a proper seating.

"Agent Tano got the Emperor to admit he is a Sith Lord earlier in the fight. We should send it out to the whole fleet; actually, broadcast it to the Imperial as well; maybe a few of them will object to being part of a new Sith Empire. Right now it sounds like something is going on with Vader and her, keeps referring to him as her 'Master'...but her Master was General Skywalker, the Jedi from the Clone Wars, and he's been dead for decades...unless...no...unless he became Vader. And the Emperor just ordered him to kill her." Hera said, as the implications fully hit her.

***

Firmius Piett was not having a good day, and if he was reading the nav chart holotank and his own damage control board, it was going to get worse.

"Sir, the Tector's reactor is unstable, and the captain is concerned it may detonate if they try power up their thrusters in their current state; they've halted the break-up for now, but they cannot reverse off our hull. the fires in the forward sections have been sealed off and contained, but there is concern they may burn through to one of the TIE fighter fuel storage tanks if we are not able to get the fires out soon." His second in command said, as the Admiral gazed out the forward viewport.

He had woken up today, feeling assured of the genius of the Emperor's plan, and now he was wondering how their superweapon's gun had just blown itself apart, sending both fleet careening into a shockwave and debris field as they raced towards the station.

"Tell the damage control crews to vent the sections, I won't risk more damage to the ship by trying half-measures." Piett commanded as he evaluated the tactical plot.

The Rebels had taken the worst of the blast and debris, but had not lost that many ships outright, though others were still drifting, as were a number of the leading edge of the Imperial forces, which had forced the rest of the fleet to scramble to dodge collisions. The Executor herself had cut thrust to keep the Tector from smashing up more of the hull, and the forward most functional Imperial vessel was the Dauntless.

"Get me a line to Admiral Versio."

****


Inside his suit, Anakin Skywalker could not help but be proud of the damage Rex had inflicted on the station's gun, and he knew this would make his master look...weaker, in the eyes of his own officers, to have this sort of thing happen under his direct command in the trap the old Sith had so carefully laid.

Part of him wanted to simply kill Sidious, and take his place as ruler, to make the Empire what he wanted it to be, with no one to stop him...but he knew the old Sith had more or less let Sate Pestage run the Empire for many years, while his master dabbled in arcane and ancient Sith practices and Holocrons at private retreats and laboratories.

Pestage would not accept Vader as a new Master, and there was no guarantee Palpatine could not find a way to cheat death. But Anakin knew there was no way to truly contain the old Sith, if he decided to fight himself.

There was nothing Palpatine could offer him anymore, not with what he knew about his children now, and not with Ahsoka back by his side. Unlike Obi-wan, she had never betrayed him, nor left him to suffer; Ahsoka had only done what he should have done, but had become too attached to the Jedi Order to do in the middle of a war.

"I can feel the conflict in you Lord Vader. Do not throw away all we have done and can do for your apprentice; either she dies, or you and your son do." Palpatine said, as Vader remained standing, holding onto the pack of his throne as the station heaved again.

"I have faith my master will not harm me, Chancellor. But I also want you alive because I want answers about Bridger, so Anakin please don't just outright kill him, even if it would be justified." Ahsoka said, clearly taunting Palpatine while still looking her former master in the mask.

"...as you wish, Snips." Anakin intoned, before grabbing and raising his saber.

Palpatine saw that the man in the suit behind him was no longer under in his control, and decided enough was enough. He would find a new apprentice once these 3 were gone; it was not the first time an apprentice had not worked out for Palaptine, but it would be the last, he vowed. The elder Skywalker was not even worthy of being within the Rule of Two any further, and so Palpatine was not going to allow himself to 'die' by the crippled Jedi's hand.

But for now he needed to distract them long enough for his guards to get through the now powered-down doors of his quarters. The heaving of the tower appeared to have severed the spire from the main power network, other wise Palpatine's guards would have already been out here.

"Before you disarm me Lord Vader, I wonder if Lady Tano would like to know where Bidger is. Do you remember Vergere?" the old Sith said out of the blue; Vader's saber stopped inches from Palpatine's shoulder.

****

AN: Yeah, so there's the cliffhanger.
 
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