Brendon Wahlberg: Star Wars ~ Dark Emperor

Part Six: Emperor's End

 

Palpatine wandered for what seemed to him like a day, an endless day without any change in his surroundings. The powdery sands provided poor traction to his booted feet, and made his progress laborious. His thick black hooded robes weighed down his every movement. The mists swirled all around, denying him any sense of progress. He had no way to know if he was not, in fact, going in circles and getting nowhere. But he did not physically weaken, tire, or hunger. Only his spirit was in danger of exhausting its determination. Despite his earlier stubborn pride, after a day in this dusty limbo, he had to acknowledge some doubt. What if he never escaped this place? What if the Sith lore had been wrong about the nature of his fate after death, and this was what the dark side had in store for him all along? What if he was still insane, but only thought that he was not? He might even be still alive, but totally mad somewhere. Just as these horrible thoughts began to slither into his mind, the fallen Emperor's feet discerned a change in the terrain. Instead of continuing as a flat plain, the ground had begun to slope upwards. Palpatine's yellow eyes regained a spark of life, and he thrust the thoughts of despair away. His pace quickened, and as he walked, he felt the slope increase even more. His progress was hampered by the sliding sand, but step by step, Palpatine proceeded with his ascent.

Once again, any measurement of the passage of time eluded him. Finally, with a bleak smile of satisfaction, Palpatine reached the top. He stepped up and out of the red-gray mists and onto hard, pebbly ground dotted with large stones lying randomly about. Turning back, he saw the region he had come from. It was an immense bowl-shaped depression, he realized, extending farther than he could see in the hazy air. Like a city sized soup bowl, it was full of the heavy mist. The foggy substance swirled lazily into the distance, and clung to his feet as well, as if reluctant to let him go.

His new environment was free of the mist. He could see for a fair distance where the ground was flat. In another direction, hills rose out of the plain. These were craggy and uninviting, but it would probably be necessary to determine what secrets they might hide.

After so long a period with only the shuffling of his soft boots in soft sand to listen to, the sound of a shifting boulder made him leap with startlement. He spun in the direction of the sound, and was shocked to see two figures standing nearby next to a heap of stones. They were youthful humans, with pale skin and long black hair. They appeared to be twins, but one was shorter than the other. Both of them wore blue outfits padded with gray, white belts, and red scarves. As soon as Palpatine faced them, they assumed a defensive posture which marked them as trained Jedi Knights.

"Denin!" said the shorter Jedi in a female voice. "It's him! It's the Emperor, just like Lord Brand said!"

"Be careful Vila," said the taller male Jedi. "We're not sure if he's powerless."

"Nonsense," said Vila. "He can't have any power here. Lord Brand said so. He's just an old man now. Watch."

The one called Vila held out her arms and gathered something invisible. All at once, a dozen large stones swiftly rose by themselves and hurtled through the air to plow into the ground in a rough semicircle around Palpatine. A shower of dirt and smaller stones pelted the former Emperor, sending him lurching backwards in dismay.

"Who are you?" screamed Palpatine. "How dare you do that to me?" His fists balled tightly, he began to advance on the two Jedi. They glanced at each other as he stumbled during his approach. They did not seem afraid.

"We could destroy him right here, right now," insisted Vila. "I can't sense any of the Force in him. Brand was right."

"No, Vila," said Denin. "It's not our right. I know the Emperor's troops destroyed our home after his death, but we're not the only ones who suffered. The Jedi Legion is full of those who were victims of this old man. He killed some of them personally. They all want revenge."

Palpatine had halted to listen, stunned at what he was hearing. As the two Jedi continued their conversation, they simply turned their backs on Palpatine and started to walk away. That gesture of disdain left Palpatine speechless.

"Our job," said Denin, "is to go back and tell Lord Brand that the Emperor is here. It's up to Brand to decide when and how to destroy him. The other Jedi will want their say as well. But don't worry. The Emperor, and his old servant, will pay for what they did. The Jedi Legion will see to that. Besides...it's not as if there's any hurry now."

Vila thought for a moment as she walked. Then she laughed sharply. "Yes, you're right. No hurry at all. Let the old man sweat it out for a while. It's not as if there's any place for him to go..."

As Denin and Vila strode off, Palpatine tried to follow them. But as always, when his aging was afflicting him, his physical abilities were poor. It was not long before he was left far behind, and he gave up the pursuit. His heart was pounding, but not with exertion. What he felt was fear. Fear that the Jedi might turn around and come back. Fear that they might not, until they returned with a legion of Jedi to destroy him. A little while ago, this world had seemed like an empty prison. Now it felt like an enormous trap. And the Jedi had said there was no place for him to go.

In life, he could have used any of a long list of swift powers to crush the two Jedi ruthlessly. But here, those powers were denied to him. Two Jedi were actually a threat to his existence. Defenseless as he was, a legion of Jedi equipped with the Force would be simple overkill. Evidently, that was the way they wanted it.

Palpatine stared into the distance at the dwindling figures until he could no longer see them. When they finally vanished in the haze, he suddenly became aware that he had to leave this place. The two Jedi had been waiting for him; they had known he was coming. And, they would be back with many more like themselves. When that happened, he needed to be elsewhere. Turning in the opposite direction from Vila and Denin, Palpatine began to trek towards the rocky hills. So what if the Jedi had said there was no escape. Perhaps he could hide from them until he found a way. One thing was for certain. He was never going to surrender to the Jedi order which he had once vanquished. Not in any lifetime.

The jagged hills proved to be a challenge for Palpatine to navigate, and his progress was slow. He evaluated every cave and crevice that he encountered as a possible hiding place, but none seemed deep enough, or concealing enough. His fear of the Jedi Legion goaded him on, however, searching for mind-numbing hours for a refuge. It was moments after he had rejected a small rock overhang which had looked like a cave from a distance, that Palpatine encountered another stranger. He looked up at a ridge he knew he had to climb, and saw someone standing there, darkly silhouetted against the silvery sky. At once, he froze, thinking that the Jedi Legion had found him already. But there was no way he could not have been seen by the shadowed figure.

Then the stranger spoke in a smooth, mature voice which was full of dignity. "You must come with me, if you wish to survive."

Palpatine stared at the newcomer, unable to make out any details. "Show yourself," he rasped impatiently. "Come closer so I can see you."

The figure seemed to hesitate, then descended from the ridge to approach Palpatine. As the man came into better lighting, Palpatine could see that he was fairly tall and solidly built. He was dressed like a Jedi, with gray robes open in the front, over a cream colored tunic. He looked to be late middle aged, with a receding hairline and thin, neatly combed gray hair. The man's face was round, his features broad and generous. There were many deep lines and wrinkles, especially under the darkly browed blue eyes. His expression was serious, and his gaze seemed somehow haunted.

"Who are you?" demanded Palpatine. He didn't remember seeing this man before in his life. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to help you," the man said hesitantly. Up close, Palpatine detected a slight slur in the man's voice. He also thought that perhaps the stranger was afraid of him. Good. It was about time someone here treated him with the respect he deserved.

"We can help each other," the man said. "We both have the same enemy: the Jedi Legion. Perhaps if we work together, there would be a better chance of defeating them."

"Do you know of a place where I can hide?" Palpatine asked bluntly, searching the man's face intently. There was, he decided now, something familiar about it, but identification eluded him.

"I have a place of refuge," the man said. "My companions are there now. They sent me to bring you back there to safety. Will you follow me?"

Palpatine hesitated. This was too much of a coincidence. How had this man known he was a fugitive from the Jedi? How had he found Palpatine at all? The lingering sense of familiarity to the man suggested that he might be one of the Jedi Palpatine had personally killed. He could easily be one of the Jedi Legion, come to lead Palpatine into a final trap. But for what purpose? The two Jedi he had met earlier had implied that all of the Jedi were going to come after him at once, not just one man. And why would they need to trap him? He was defenseless. Perhaps this man was telling the truth. He decided to play for time by changing the subject.

"Do you know what this place, this world is?" asked Palpatine.

The man seemed unperturbed by Palpatine's failure to answer his question. With a patient air, he replied, "It is a realm of the light side of the Force. The Jedi come here when they meet their deaths. Some of them linger here, but others move on to a higher plane, where great battles against evil are fought. You were never supposed to be here...but now that you are...we must do something about it before the Jedi find you and destroy you. If they do that, you will cease to exist, totally and forever. I am offering you a chance to avoid that."

Palpatine was still unwilling to follow the man. "You told me that the Jedi are your enemies too," he said softly. "Are you not a Jedi yourself? What have you done to deserve their wrath?"

The man was silent.

"I will not follow you if you do not share this information with me. You know who I am, I think," Palpatine said craftily. "Yes...the Emperor Palpatine. I think anyone would agree that the Jedi have reason to hate me, as I hate them. Now, I am nearly at their mercy. If the situation was reversed, I know I would slaughter them without hesitation. I know what they will do to me. There will be much pain and humiliation for me before the end. But I am not yet captured. Caution is my only defense. Before I go with you, you must give me a reason to believe that what you say is true."

The man remained silent for a long moment, but Palpatine only waited. Finally, the man spoke.

"I will give you a reason which you can believe in," he said gravely. "The Jedi hunt for the Emperor Palpatine, yes, but they also hunt for his former servant. Their revenge will be terrible upon the man who was once Darth Vader."

The world seemed to fall away from Palpatine's feet. In one reeling instant, he identified the man before him. "You," was all he could say. His eyes blazed, and his ragged teeth clenched.

"Yes, it is me," said the man simply. "It is so good to see you...Master."

The last word emerged so laden with rueful sarcasm that Palpatine flinched. Then Anakin Skywalker crossed his arms on his broad chest and offered Palpatine a smile from the depths of hell.