And. So. It. ENDS!
All from a Twitter comment, here we are just over two years and nineteen parts later. The board is set and the pieces are ready to be moved for the final time. The battle against the Jedi and the Sith will finally come to an end - light against dark, winner take all.
Let's see how it all ends!
But wait! Didn't Mace die in the last chapter? As Palpatine's cloning facilities on Byss were atomized? Indeed he did and indeed they were, but he remains in spite of it all, a spirit within the Force... we'll be getting back to him in a bit. We return to Padmé's command ship, which I've retroactively named The Spirit of Naboo. Having just watched Mon Mothma's ship, The Star of Chandrila, being taken out by the Death Star's laser, the Rebel forces lose morale... and quickly. Onboard the Executor, Tarkin order his men to keep up the fight, knowing the Jedi need their time to defeat Palpatine.
Meanwhile, Cal is leading the Rebel, Jedi, and now Tarkin Imperial detachment on the Death Star run... along with a young Luke Skywalker in tow. Palpatine's forces are mercilessly picking apart the invaders, taking out ship after ship, though our heroes luckily remain unscathed... for now.
The ship carrying Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Kento does actually get through the battle to get up to the Death Star, Anakin's superior piloting and combat experience getting them not only to the battle station, but actually managing to open up a docking bay for them to enter. Making short work of the Stormtroopers and a few of the remaining Inquisitorus that were still alive and in service to the Emperor with relative ease. The four make their way into the Emperor's Throne Room once more... and find not a fresh, young Palpatine as they think they might find, but one who has been corrupted by the Dark Side once more into his old, more wrinkled visage.
"The last time I had four Jedi Masters enter my room, it ended poorly for them..."
"Don't worry. This one won't."
"At an end, your reign is. Trouble the galaxy, the Sith never will again."
"So be it... Jedi..."
Five lightsabers ignite, and the battle is on!
Back at the main battle, another blast hits Executor almost dead-on. Tarkin manages to survive, albeit barely. Just before his communications fail, he sends a message to his troops to continue the fight... and sets a course for the Death Star at sub-light speed right for the superlaser. This ends up inadvertently aiding both the fighters on the trench run and the Jedi fighting Palpatine as well as the Rebel, Jedi, and Imperial fleets as Palpatine's forces take heavy damages in addition to heavily damaging the Death Star's main weapon.
This is no better demonstrated than in the fight between Palpatine and the Masters. While Palpatine had a heavy advantage to start, his main focus being on the far more powerful and experienced Yoda and Anakin than on either Obi-Wan or Kento. Indeed, Kento ends up getting cut down fairly quickly, much to the dismay of the other three masters. With the explosion from Tarkin's Star Destroyer colliding, however, the throne room is getting wrenched apart. Part of the flooring collapses, separating Obi-Wan from the others as Anakin and Yoda furiously duel with Palpatine.
The fight eventually leaves the Throne Room proper, heading into some corridors. Annoyed after a particularly terrible nick from Yoda's saber, Palpatine unleashes a full volley of lightning at the Grandmaster. Like their fight on Coruscant, he deflects it... for a time. This time, however, Palpatine is the one who overpowers him and Yoda's body is racked with the full brunt of the Force Lightning. Anakin, of course, gets the big "NOOOO!!!" as Yoda falls to the floor in a heap, the electricity still arcing around his body as he lies still. In the moments after that, his robes fall to the floor, empty.
Yoda is gone.
Anakin goes on the full offensive, fighting recklessly and angrily, even cutting Palpatine's hand clean off at the wrist. By the time Obi-Wan is able to catch up to the two, they've made their way into part of the power facility, and Obi-Wan finds himself in an all-too familiar situation as he's stuck behind a force field and forced to watch the fight. Despite being reduced to fighting one-handed, Palpatine proves to be more than Anakin's match and keeps him at bay effectively with a combination of Makashi and Ataru. Obi-Wan quickly realizes what Palpatine is trying to do - namely wear Anakin down into exhaustion and then slay him. And it's working... Anakin, despite the rage boiling in him, is starting to lose himself as time goes on. Before long, Palpatine will overwhelm him.
His failures lie before him now. His failure to save Qui-Gon from Darth Maul, his failure to prevent Anakin's fall to the Dark Side, his failure to save Yoda, and now - he fears, his failure to save Anakin from death.
"I know that he's the Chosen One... but he doesn't have to do this alone..."
"He isn't alone..."
Mace's Force Ghost has entered the battle. Along with him are the ghosts of Yoda, Kento, and Qui-Gon. Mace reminds Anakin of his destiny, of the threat that Palpatine poses, and of all that he will lose if he fails - including his wife and his children, the fears that Palpatine had preyed on to get him to fall in the first place. Empowered with a second wind, Anakin fights back once more. A familiar scene plays out as it seems that Anakin is about to be cast down into one of the reactor shafts of the Death Star as Obi-Wan was once by Maul on Naboo... but where Maul was able to Force Push Obi-Wan in after getting him off-balance, Palpatine doesn't manage that here.
When he attempts to Force Push Anakin, Darth Sidious finds himself getting pushed right back, his lightsaber cast aside and cut down the middle as he falls to the floor in a heap. Anakin raises his blade and, finally, completes his destiny of bringing balance to the Force by driving his lightsaber through the decayed, withered final body of the Emperor.
The Sith are, at last, no more.
But wait, I hear you say, what about Palpatine in spirit form? In the Expanded Universe, after all, he attempted to inhabit another body upon death. Unfortunately for him, Palpatine finds himself faced with the spirit of a particularly towering Jedi Master... Mace Windu. With the same techniques that have allowed him to retain his consciousness following death, Mace binds Palpatine's essence to his own and departs for the depths of the Netherworld of the Force. Never again will Palpatine ever plague the land of the living... even if it comes at the cost of Mace's consciousness being gone forever.
In the trench, the fighters have been worn down to just a few Rebel and Jedi ones, including Luke and Cal. The odds for them completing their mission aren't looking great, Cal even ordering their remaining forces to pull back. However, Luke insists that they can do this. While Cal is eager to tell the kid to shut up and do what he's told, something in the Force tells him to not... somehow, he knows that Luke is right. Trusting in the Force, and trusting only in the Force, Cal orders the group to press on to the reactor shaft.
Anakin and Obi-Wan retrieve the sabers of Yoda and Kento and beat a hasty retreat from the Death Star. Palpatine's Imperial fleet has fallen apart and is heavily disorganized, allowing the Rebels, Jedi, and what remains of Tarkin's forces to mop them up. In the trench, Luke sinks the shot that will destroy the station. As on Byss before, a massive explosion follows as the remainders of the three fleets escape.
After a short time, the New Republic/Rebels call for a ceasefire with the Empire. Having been scrambling through the power structure, Cassio Tagge has become the current Regent following on from Mas Amedda and Tarkin. While Tagge has no love of the Rebellion, being a staunch believer in the New Order that Palpatine espoused, he agrees that a ceasefire will be mutually beneficial (at least until such time as the Empire rebuilds its strength). Thus, the New Republic's existence is legitimized and solidified within the galactic power structure, with Chandrila being chosen as its capital to honor the sacrifice of Mon Mothma during the battle.
Funerals are held for the fallen across the board, Republic, Jedi, and Imperial alike. At the ceremony for Mace, Kento, and Yoda, the ghosts of the latter two arrive and tell Obi-Wan and Anakin of what has happened.
"Gone, Master Windu is... into the Netherworld of the Force. Taken with him, the essence of the Emperor he has."
They are now the last of the Jedi, and are entrusted by the others to see not to the restoration of the Old Jedi Order, but the beginning of a New One. Anakin and Obi-Wan agree, taking to the task along with the few experienced Jedi who remain, who respect the last command of the former Masters. In the years to come, a new Jedi Temple will be built on Alderaan. Not the towering spires and splendor of the one on Coruscant, though one that is grand in its own way. A beacon of the light side of the Force, and at its front gates are a statue of one Mace Windu, hand reaching out as though offering it for someone to take. The one of the last of the Old Jedi, and the first of the New.
... but yeah, we don't want to end on a sappy note like that, do we? Let's leave a few threads dangling...
As stated just two paragraphs ago, Tagge has become the Imperial Regent and there is currently a ceasefire between the Empire and the burgeoning New Republic. Still firmly in control of Coruscant and many of the Core Worlds, he makes the decision to bide his time and rebuild the Empire's resources and infrastructure... and sends out a detachment to the Unknown Regions to see what has become of one of their more important assets... Grand Admiral Thrawn.
One more piece... remember Cronal? Yeah, it's been a while since we saw him. He's still in the custody of the Jedi, or at least he was until the battle with Palpatine. Kept in a prison on Chandrila - in a rather hilarious parallel to what his boss Kadann once did to Mace - he has been rotting away as the war has gone on. When the news had come about the death of Palpatine and the victory at Byss, Cronal had already felt it through the Force. Knowing that he was now, truly free, Cronal managed to trick and kill his jailor. Leaving the body in his cell after swapping clothing, he escaped... for the Unknown Regions...
Where is Cronal going? Will Tagge's detachment find Thrawn? Or what will they find in the Unknown Regions?
That, alas, is a what if for another day.
Thank you to those of you that have followed me through twenty episodes of me smashing my action figures together. This has, by far, been my longest running What If scenario and it's kind of bittersweet to see it come to an end. Maybe, someday, I'll revisit it. For now, however... the story is done and we have answered the question as to how the Star Wars universe might have played out differently had Mace Windu survived his battle against Palpatine in the Chancellor's Office.
Next time we return to What If...?, we will be going from a galaxy far, far away... to something far, far beyond even that...
After all, we did leave a bunch of Doctors with the fate of the multiverse at stake.
Be there!
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