Episode II: The Race for the Supernatural Death Star

There is music at the bottom of the page, a song from Star Wars called "Duel of the Fates". I recommend listening towards the end when a lightsaber duel ensues.

A long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away...

Rebel Base on the planet Sullust

Luke was in the hanger bay, tinkering with his X-wing, when he heard his comlink go off. He pressed a button to answer. "Skywalker."

"Luke?" Leia's voice answered him. "We need you down at Command."

"Be right there," he replied before switching off his comlink.

He entered the Command Center. Glancing around he saw the faces of Leia, Han, Chewie, and many of the generals. All of them were standing around a Holo-projection of a strange arrow that had a crescent-shaped tip.

Luke decided to break the silence first. "What's going on?"

Leia replied first, expression very serious, "We've received intelligence about a weapon on the planet of Moraband. According to reports, it has the potential capability to destroy entire planets."

Luke frowned. "You mean like another Death Star?" He'd blown up the first one only a couple years ago...

Leia shook her head. "This isn't some machine the Empire created. We believe this is some sort of supernatural weapon. What's worse, the Empire knows and we believe they're going to go after it."

Luke nodded, beginning to understand. "We need to get there first."

Leia nodded, expression grim. "We leave for Moraband first thing in the morning."

Some time later...

They descended the ramp of the Falcon and looked out across the landscape. It was a desolate, dusty planet. Apparently it was abandoned long ago. The perfect place to hide such a weapon.

"It used to be the homeworld of the Sith," Leia explained. Luke had somehow known that before she even spoke, could feel the Dark Side of the Force swirling around the planet, like one could still feel impressions of the people who used to live here.

Luke instinctively clenched his prosthetic hand as a memory surfaced of the last time he'd faced a Sith. If he had to face him here... He didn't allow himself to finish thought. All he knew was he had a bad feeling about this...

After a considerable walk, the group came across a temple with large statues of robed humanoids surrounding the outside. So enormous were the statues that they loomed over the the band of Rebels sinisterly.

Leia spoke up as they reached the entrance, "It should be just in here."

As they entered, the temperature seemed to drop drastically. Han, who had been unusually quiet until now, spoke. "No sign of the Empire. Yet." Luke and Leia nodded in reply and Chewie gave a quiet sound of agreement.

They began searching the temple for any sign of this weapon, wandering deeper and deeper into the temple's depths. After hours of searching, they reached a room barred by a door. There didn't appear to be any way to open the door, but Luke could sense that something lay beyond it. At a subtle prompting of the Force, Luke reached out his hand towards the door and, as he called the Force to him, it responded eagerly. As he reached with the Force towards the door, the door ground open.

"Good work, kid," came Han's voice as he, Leia and Chewie rejoined him.

They walked inside. In the room, setting on a plinth, was the weapon they'd seen on the Holograph. The Pashupatastra, imbued with enough power to destroy planets, like a supernatural version of the Death Star.

Luke could sense the sheer power emanating from it. "No being should have this much power," he spoke at last.

"You're right," Leia replied, " and that's why we're going to take it and move it to someplace safe. Unless anyone has any ideas on how to safely destroy it?" When no ideas came, she walked forward towards the weapon and picked it up. "Come on, let's get out of here before the Empire shows up."

As they walked together back towards the entrance of the temple, Luke felt the temperature plummet. He recognized this as the Dark Side of the Force. His face paled as he felt a familiar force presence...

As the hallway they were walking down opened up into the large entrance chamber, they could see only darkness. That's when they heard it. The mechanized breathing that struck fear into beings everywhere. The imposing figure of Darth Vader emerged from behind a pillar, and they heard the deep buzz as the ruby blade of his lightsaber ignited.

"I am only going to ask this once. Hand over the weapon." the Dark Lord of the Sith spoke out in his deep baritone.

Luke, who had been standing slightly behind Han and Leia, walked forward to put Vader's focus on him. "Let them go," he spoke, voice defiant. He pulled out his newly created lightsaber.

Vader snarled. "You will only be defeated again, but if that is your wish, then so be it."

The pair stepped forward and ruby blade clashed against emerald. Luke brought his speed to bear to push Vader back, allowing his friends to step around them and run towards the exit.

Once he felt his friends were safe, Luke started giving ground and maneuvering the duel towards the entrance. He was hoping that if he could get close enough to the entrance he could disengage from this fight and make a beeline for the Falcon. They were more of a equal match now than back on Bespin, but Luke still felt himself tiring. They needed to bring this fight to the end.

As he made it to the entrance, Luke's concentration began to waver and suddenly Vader's blade grazed across the upper half of his left arm. Luke cried out in pain and instinctively he thought of the Trishula, which immediately appeared in his left hand. He hurled it at the top of the doorway as he backed outside, and the impact caused the entrance to cave in, trapping his father inside.

Gritting his teeth against the pain of the new, though likely minor, injury, he sprinted towards the Falcon where his friends were waiting. With everyone safely loaded onto the Falcon, and bandages wrapped around Luke's arm, they made for the safety of hyperspace.

The End

Author's Note: We've now reached the end of the second story in my storybook! I was so excited to write this one because I knew I wanted to have Darth Vader in one of these stories and I wanted to write at least one lightsaber battle. This occurs sometime after the events of Empire Strikes Back, but diverts slightly from Return of the Jedi canon because Han is already unfrozen and Vader gets to see Luke's new green lightsaber for the first time in a different context. I imagine it was difficult for Luke to see Vader after what happened at Bespin, so I thought it would be interesting to see how he reacts to having to face him again. I also think that Vader doesn't really care about the weapon. I read somewhere awhile back that he didn't care for the original Death Star and was actually okay with it being destroyed. I'm not sure if that was canon or if it was just something I read, but I used that as justification for him letting the Rebels get away with the weapon. More than anything he wants his son (which he knows about at this point) by his side. I also wanted to set the story on a planet where some people might not have heard of, the Sith homeworld of Moraband. I only know about this planet because I watched the Clone Wars television show. I also wanted Luke to be able to use the Trishula at least once in these stories, and I thought now was the perfect time to do so. I like to think he would only use such a powerful weapon when in a dire situation. I hope you enjoyed this story!

Bibliography. "Pashupatastra". Wikipedia. Web Source.

"Technology in Star Wars". Wikipedia. Web Source. (A source I used to help me write about different technologies in the Star Wars Universe).