What If...Mace Windu survived his fight with Palpatine? (Part 2)

Last time, we posed a question: What would happen if Mace Windu survived his fight with Palpatine during Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith? Rather than falling to his death into the streets of Coruscant below, the heavily injured Mace Windu found himself falling into the cargo hauler of a kindly Duro by the name of Ram who was only too give the Jedi Master a safe haven while he recuperated and fixed him up with a brand new mechanical arm.

On the reverse end of things, the fortunes of the whole Jedi Order had gone sour with Order 66. Escaping from Coruscant, Mace found himself visited by the Force Ghost of none other than Qui-Gon Jinn. Qui-Gon told Mace of coordinates to travel to, so that he might meet up with his fellow Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda and perhaps undo the damage done by the revealed Dark Lord of the Sith and his new apprentice, the former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.

Also, to give you terms of the time scale...this is about the point in the movie where Senator Bail Organa has linked up with Yoda and they are currently heading toward the ship carrying Obi-Wan Kenobi from Utapau, just to let you know what's happening at roughly the same time.

Picking up right where we left off, the ship that Mace had booked passage aboard in exchange for work was being pursued by a Republic...now Imperial...Star Destroyer, demanding that they prepare to be boarded and searched for a suspected Jedi refugee.


The ship does stop and is boarded by Clone Troopers, who begin to check the crew and cargo manifests and check the ship. Mace, being a Jedi Master, is at first able to use the old Jedi Mind Trick to fool them...however, an inconsistency comes up on the crew manifest and the captain of the ship ends up ratting him out. A shootout occurs in the cargo hold, Mace snatching up a blaster and managing to fight and evade until he reaches the captain's fighter from earlier.

Getting in, Mace manages to hotwire it and blast off from the ship. By the time that the Star Destroyer has scrambled fighters to pursue him, Mace has already made a jump into hyperspace. Just to make sure he isn't being pursued, Mace makes a few more jumps before going to the coordinates that Qui-Gon had given him. Sure enough, that good ol' Rebel blockade runner the Tantive IV comes out of hyperspace just after, Mace's "borrowed" craft being pulled aboard.

There, he meets with Senator Organa as well as Yoda. The two Masters conference, Mace explaining to Yoda about his attempt to arrest Palpatine and Anakin's betrayal as well as his encounter with the spirit of Qui-Gon. Yoda reveals that he's been conversing with Qui-Gon regularly, so he isn't surprised that he's reached out to other Jedi. The pair converse about the Shamans of the Whills and the techniques that Qui-Gon had learned to retain one's identity after becoming one with the Force. It is also here, while the Tantive is traveling toward the signal being set out by Obi-Wan, that Mace is able to construct a new lightsaber - the blade a shimmering saffron shade.

...heh, alliteration.

Soon enough, they meet Obi-Wan and bring him up to speed on what is happening. At first, he refuses to believe that Anakin would have betrayed them all, but Mace's newly-robotic arm alone makes the evidence apparent. The Jedi Order has fallen, and they may very well be the only three members left. Yoda reminds both of the younger Masters that this does not change their duty in any way - the darkness must be opposed.

Together, they form a plan to go back to Coruscant and thus believe they'll have a better chance of dealing with whatever they find there, be it Anakin or Palpatine. Luckily, Senator Organa gets recalled to Coruscant for an emergency meeting of the Senate, which gives the three Jedi an avenue to return to the planet and thus scope out the Temple.

While Organa joins Padmé at the Senate to hear Chancellor Palpatine's speech, the three Jedi storm the Temple. With Anakin and Palpatine gone, the Clone Troopers don't put up an effective resistance to them and they are able to move about the Temple at their leisure. Just as in the original film, not even the younglings survived. Obi-Wan reprograms the recall code to warn any remaining Jedi to stay away from Coruscant and the Jedi Temple, but their outlook on the situation is grim. It's even more so when they come across the security hologram of Anakin killing the Jedi in the temple, from the Masters to the padawans to even the younglings.

As in canon, Yoda's declaration is clear.

"Destroy the Sith, we must."

Now, however, there are three of them as opposed to two as in the original story. Obi-Wan once more tries to get the masters to send him after Palpatine, fearing that he will be unable to face Anakin in combat. Mace expresses that it is a bad idea to split up at all, seeing as how he journeyed to Palpatine's office with three other Jedi Masters when the Sith Lord hadn't been expecting it, and they all died. Even with the three of them, Mace knows that Palpatine would be a difficult fight. Yoda agrees, but without the location of Anakin they cannot pursue him...though he does encourage Obi-Wan to follow the one lead that he, and both of the masters, know as well.

Mace has an aside with Yoda, expressing some concern about Yoda going after Palpatine alone and requests that he be allowed to accompany him. Yoda refutes this, saying that Obi-Wan will need the help against Anakin. Mace defers to Yoda's wisdom, but has his own reservations about this situation. The scene that follows plays on much like it does in the film, with Mace accompanying Obi-Wan to Padmé's apartment and the revelation that - yes, indeed - she is pregnant with Anakin's child.

Or children, as we'll find out, but we don't know that just yet.

So Obi-Wan and Mace sneak aboard Padmé's ship, with her none the wiser for them being there up until her confrontation with Anakin when she arrives on Mustafar. Anakin realizes that Obi-Wan and Mace are there, and turns on Padmé, strangling her with the Force Choke. In this version of events, however, Mace is there to use his ability of Shatterpoint. Seeing one around Anakin's outstretched hand, he manipulates that point.

Anakin's mechanical hand explodes, breaking his concentration and releasing Padmé before she's rendered unconscious. He looks to both Jedi Masters, ranting about how the time of the Jedi is over, their lies and deceptions laid bare. It is now the time of the Sith, and of his new Empire.

"I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire."

"Your new Empire?"

"You haven't brought anything yet, Anakin."

"I am Darth Vader. And you...you are nothing to me."

Obi-Wan tries to get him to see reason, but he refuses him at every turn. Even Padmé protests, but it is abundantly clear that this is not going to be ended by words. Anakin's eyes turn a sickly yellow-orange that unnerves both the Jedi Masters and terrifies his wife, who backs away from the ongoing events. He draws his lightsaber into his flesh hand, it's sapphire blade erupting into being from the hilt. Likewise, Obi-Wan and Mace ignite their sabers and the three Force Users charge into battle.

Light against dark...winner takes all!

And that's where we shall end Part 2! Will the fight against Anakin go differently? With his mechanical hand shattered, it appears that Obi-Wan and Mace definitely have a leg up against Anakin in this fight. Appearances, however, can be deceiving. Stay tuned for Part 3, where we'll explore the fight in earnest. Until next time - May the Force be with you, always!

Star Wars belongs to Lucasfilm and Disney, unfortunately.

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