What If...Mace Windu survived his fight with Palpatine? (Part 11)

See? I told you. Ish.

Last time, the Rebel Alliance was formed by our group of heroes after rescuing Bail Organa and destroying the unfinished framework of the Death Star. With this information, the Rebels begin by transmitting their Declaration of Rebellion along with the footage taken of the Death Star then still under construction. Mon Mothma's impassioned speech warns of the Empire trying this again, telling the people of the galaxy to rise up and overthrow the Empire.

. . .as you'd expect, this goes sour very quickly for all parties involved. Riots and uprisings take place all over the Empire. Some places are harder hit than others. In the end, however, several worlds actually do manage to liberate themselves from the Empire over the space of the next few months leading into 15 BBY. The Rebels manage to get footholds on (using the handy Galaxy Map as our guide):

• Mon Calamari
• Corellia
• Chandrila
• Kuat
• Naboo
• Sullust
• Bothawui

As well as some of the surrounding systems to those worlds. But, Alderaan remains in lockdown and - while the Empire has been caught off-guard on several fronts, the Empire still retains Coruscant and several other planets, more than enough to keep themselves above water. This is largely due to Tarkin being given leave to come down on any dissent hard. Millions are killed off, which only helps to fuel the Rebellion further. Thus, we have a clear divide between Imperial and "Rebel" worlds and the galaxy is in full uproar. It's not open war...yet...but there's also no declared truce or peace, either.

What happens to the Jedi? Well, they have left Ossus behind. The now four Jedi Masters make the decision to see the younger Jedi split up onto several different worlds. Luke, Leia, and their new sister Sola go to Naboo and are placed in the care of Padmé's sister of the same name. Padmé also gets a lovely reunion with her family, who had believed her to be dead for the past four years.

The Mareks, Kento and Mallie, take their son Galen to Chandrila. 

This leaves Channett and her daughter Mara, who it is decided remain in the custody of Mace. With them, he goes to Mon Calamari to watch over the pair of them - operating as a simple fisherman. The time at the present is 15 BBY.

I know what you're thinking, by the way - what happens to Tialna and Ram? Well, Tialna returns to join Bail and the Alliance, hoping to liberate her native Alderaan. Ram, likewise, ends up in the Rebellion putting his engineering skills to use. We'll be seeing them again.

Despite Tarkin's desire to do so, Mas Amedda and an increasingly prevalent Kadann forbid him from exercising total warfare. The Clone Wars were still quite fresh in the memories of many in the galaxy, and many in power were still recovering from the open warfare that had occurred. Thus, the Imperial worlds become much more tightly controlled after several systems were blind-sided, but a large-scale attempt to reclaim the worlds and systems taken by the Rebels is...not underway. Not yet, at least.

A Galactic Cold War has begun at this time.

After a year on Mon Calamari, Mace receives a vision. A young Jedi on Dathomir is in need of his aid. Leaving Channett and Mara in hiding, Mace journeys out on his own to answer this on his own. Managing to use the old Jedi Mind Trick to negotiate a decent price, Mace gets a cut-rate ship that he can pilot out to Dathomir. Upon his arrival, landing in the flats, he finds another ship nearby. He stays hidden, sensing a powerful presence in the Force there...although somewhat muted. A much stronger one, he senses within the ruins...three presences, in fact.

Mace journeys within, using his skill to avoid the Nightbrothers stalking around (though he notes that many of them have already been slain) and reaches the Tomb of Kujet...and yes, he finds Cal Kestis and the Nightsister Merrin battling Jedi Master Taron Malicos.

Once again, I'm incorporating bits of EU and bits of Disney canon as I see fit. 

All three combatants are blind-sided by this sudden appearance. Cal sees the living legend and the first Jedi he's seen since as far back as he can remember - and a Master of the Council, no less! Merrin sees a Jedi Knight, one of those that battled her Clanmother and eventually that led to the defeat of her sisters at the hands of General Grievous. Malicos sees a former comrade in arms. He and Mace had trained together in the Jedi Temple. If anyone could understand what he has done, what he was trying to do, Mace would. He lays it out for Mace, even dropping the pretense and the lies and deception he used on both Merrin and Cal.

Needless to say, Taron is the most surprised when Mace...doesn't.

Mace enters the fray, and Taron is very clearly no match for him. While Malicos' was able to throw around Cal and Merrin, even working in concert, Mace is far too much for him. Again, using Vaapad, Mace is able to take the Darkness amplifying Malicos' strikes and send it right back at him. Unlike in the main timeline, where Cal and Merrin had to work together to bring Taron down and entrap him, Mace manages to do this very rapidly.

Malicos tries to comprehend this as he is disarmed and his lightsabers are sliced in half by Mace's saffron blade. He senses no darkness from Mace. No fear, no doubt, no hatred, no insecurity. He is adamant, a pillar of the light side even within the dark of Dathomir. For reasons that Malicos cannot comprehend, the darkness cannot touch Mace. Mace tells him that he can teach him the way, bring him back to what he was before.

Merrin, however, has other plans. Like in the main timeline, she entombs Malicos for his treachery - burying him alive and leaving him to die. Mace naturally reacts poorly to this, though Cal attempts to vouch for her (as she did help him, if only minutely in this timeline) and to try and keep the peace between them all. They are all survivors here, whether Jedi or Nightsister.

Mace is brought back to the Stinger Mantis, where he is introduced to Greez Dritus and Cere Junda...the latter of whom he recognizes, and who recognizes him. It's a joyous reunion as now a Jedi padawan and a former Master are now known to be alive. Mace knows well that this will be quite an asset to the resistance against the Empire and of the enemies from the Dark Side mounted up against them - the Inquisitorius and the Prophets of the Dark Side. The former group, the crew of the Stinger Mantis knows of, having had encounters with them before.

Both Mace and Cere know who Second Sister truly is, but choose not to reveal it just yet.

Mace tells the group of the survival of the Jedi, the rise of the Rebellion across many worlds, and the push to get the Jedi Order back on its feet. In turn, the crew of the Stinger Mantis inform him of their mission to recover the lost holocron containing the names of many Force Sensitive children. It would be a great boon to the Order...or a great disaster if either the Inquisitorius or the Prophets got their hands on it first. Without a second thought, Mace agrees to help them out, saying that he needs to make contact with the others before he does so...

. . .and that's where we're leaving off with Part 11. I can't believe we've made it well into the double digits on this one, everybody! Thanks for reading! Hopefully, Part 12 will come soon: We'll be getting back into the subplot about the Inquisitorius and their battle against the Jedi...and against the Empire...

Stay tuned!