STAR WARS

A FORCE LIKE NO OTHER

Chapter 1: An Eye Opening Turn of Events

War! The galactic civil war between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems Rages on. CIS forces led by the Ruthless Darth Tyranus capture more and more planets in the outer rim as Republic forces spread thin.

During this time, Jedi Knight Joseph Malek begins planning the invasion of the CIS controlled world Dantooine. Unbeknownst to Malek, the evil Lord Sidious’ plan to overthrow the Jedi and conquer the universe is at hand…

The vision was blurred, but distinct faces could be seen. Malek recognized some as fellow Jedi or troops in his army. However, others he did not recognize. There were two faces in particular that seemed the most distinguishable. One seemed old and worn away by time; much like a rock does after years of erosion. The other seemed younger and much livelier, but it greatly resembled the older face in character. Perhaps these two faces were one person, only at different time periods. Or were they individuals that were somehow related?

But as the vision continued, he began to see the large rolling fields of a farm. Healthy fields, all having some kind of crop awaiting the upcoming harvest. The next instant the fields were burning uncontrollably, destroying whatever crop they might have been growing. The screams of pain and suffering could be heard as the fields burned higher, and higher, and HIGHER…

Malek awoke in a cold sweat as he sat up hastily; looking around his private quarters for any sign of flames, but found nothing. It had all been another bad dream. He quickly tried to remember what he had seen, but the memories were already beginning to drift back into the blackness from which they came. The only thing that remained was the screaming. The horrible, painful screams of someone or something that was suffering. A chill ran down his spine as the shout’s echoes became embedded in the back of his mind.

Malek leaned back a bit as he was reassured that his cabin was not on fire. He began to think back to when he began having the strange dreams. It was soon after he had become a Jedi Knight, early in the Clone Wars, back when he was having trouble letting go of his master and taking command of his clone army. The dreams were small at first, hardly anything to be concerned about at the time. But as time passed the dreams steadily became worse and worse.

In an attempt to find a possible reason for these dreams, Malek began seeing Jedi Master Yoda on several occasions and discussing what he could remember from the visions. The Master Jedi claimed he was having visions of the future, and that he should heed what they were trying to tell him. Unfortunately, Malek could not seem to remember enough about the dreams to be able to find any kind of logic or meaning. On top of that, after he stopped visiting Master Yoda he didn’t have any more visions until just recently.

About a month ago, after he heard that his master had been killed in battle, the dreams came back twice as bad as before. The newer dreams seemed different, however. Not only were they more powerful than the last, but they seemed to leave fragments in his mind that echoed like the words of a lost man in a great cave. This was especially true for the most recent vision. He recalled the screams of agony as they continued embedding themselves deeper into his memory. Those horrible screams…

Malek turned his attention towards the door as he heard the sound of someone knocking. The deep voice of a clone could be heard beckoning him. “General Malek, Admiral Shorn is awaiting your presence on the bridge. I believe he’s ready to begin the mission’s briefing.”

Malek slowly got out of his bed and made his way towards the door. It slid open just a bit, leaving a crack for him to look through. Outside his room stood his field commander; TC-1823, but everyone just called him “Hutch” in order to keep things simple. Most clones chose nicknames as a way of being more distinct, making it easier to give them orders and remember who they are.

Hutch was standing there at attention with his helmet off and under his arm. Not noticing that the door was cracked, he repeated his statement; believing he had not been heard the first time. “General Malek, Admiral Shorn is awaiting your presence on the bridge. I belie-”

“That’s quite alright Hutch,” Malek began in a smooth tone as the door slid open the rest of the way. “I heard you the first time. At ease.”

“Sorry Sir, it’s just that the Admiral seems to be in a rush to get you to the briefing.”

Malek leaned against the door frame and rolled his eyes. That was just like Shorn; always in such a hurry to do what needed to be done, sometimes without even knowing how to do it.

“Alright commander, I’ll be there in just a minute. And tell Shorn not to blow a fuse, he’s getting too worked up over this invasion.”

Hutch snapped back to attention and saluted Malek with his open hand. “Yes sir, will do.” Afterwards, he turned and marched down the hallway back to the bridge.

Of course Malek knew Hutch wouldn’t actually tell Shorn “not to blow a fuse,” but he liked making quick jokes like that every once in a while. He believed keeping a good mood was good for morale. In any case, he knew that if Shorn was ready to begin a briefing then his forces must be ready for battle. Malek had actually been itching for a battle for quite some time now, and he was anxious to get some revenge on the CIS for killing his master. Even though Jedi were not supposed to carry grudges, he still couldn’t help but feel some compulsion to take action for his past mentor.

Using the force, he picked his lightsaber up off the bedside table as it swiftly floated into his grasp. Malek knew his time for revenge was soon to come.

All of the troops were ready for battle, and were awaiting orders from their commanding officer. Admiral Shorn kept this fact in mind as he awaited General Malek in the Jedi cruiser’s command bridge. When commander Hutch had returned he reported Malek was on his way, but that had been a full twenty minutes ago. He was just about to call Hutch again and order him to find Malek, when a crewman walked up with a message. “Admiral, Chancellor Palpatine is hailing us, and demands to speak to you immediately.”

That was strange, why did the chancellor need to speak to him at this time? Did he not know they were preparing to commence a planetary invasion? Shorn quickly thought past these questions, sure that an explanation would present itself in the chancellor’s message.

“Yes sir.” The crewman hastily walked back to the bridge’s holopad and punched in something on the control panel as the hologram of a cloaked figure materialized on the opposite side of the pad. Once the hologram appeared, both the crewman and Shorn snapped to attention and saluted. The figure motioned its hand, indicating solutes were not necessary. The crewman, seeing that he had no need to attend the meeting, walked back to his post at the front of the bridge. Admiral Shorn stepped closer to the the holopad and awaited the hologram’s message.

“Admiral Shorn,” the cloaked figure began, “the time has come. Execute order: 66.”

“It will be done my lord.” Almost immediately after Shorn finished, the hologram frizzled and faded away.

Order 66; the order that declared all Jedi an enemy of the Republic, and required their immediate execution. The order demanding the deaths of every Jedi within the Republic, even Malek. Such an order could not have come at a worse time; for their attack on Dantooine was imminent, and without the Jedi General’s brilliant strategies the invasion might not succeed. But Shorn still had to follow his orders. Whenever Order 66 was given, it immediately became the primary objective, no matter what the situation might be.

Shorn knew what needed to be done, but he did foresee a slight difficulty. He knew General Malek was very skilled with his lightsaber, even more so than most other Jedi. He knew that very well, for he had seen Malek in battle on multiple occasions. Simply ordering the troops to begin attacking him would prove quite ineffective, and very costly. Yes, Shorn was going to have to figure out a way to attack Malek in a time and a place where his lightsaber would not pose a threat…

The Bridge’s entrance opened suddenly, revealing a stern looking Malek with his deactivated lightsaber in hand. Shorn felt a sudden jerk in his stomach as a wave of fear rushed through his mind. Had he overheard the message? And if so, did he even know what Order 66 was, and was here to kill Shorn before he had a chance to formulate a plan?!

Malek looked at Shorn and grinned a bit as he walked up to the holopad across from the Admiral. “Ah, Admiral Shorn. I see you have indeed been awaiting my arrival. I apologize if I am late for your briefing.”

Shorn swallowed nervously. “N-not at all sir. It’s quite alright, I assure you.”

Shorn began to relax a bit as it seemed Malek was, in fact, not aware of Order 66, but he was still uneasy. Shorn knew he was going to have to kill Malek, and he found it increasingly difficult to be around him. He didn’t know how long he was going to be able to behave normally and not arouse suspicion.

“Um, yes sir. Y-you are, in fact, correct. All of your forces are ready and awaiting orders.”

“Uh huh… Shorn, are you alright? You seem a bit more nervous than you usually are before a battle. Is there something troubling you?”

Not good. He had to come up with a reasonable explanation, and fast! Thinking quickly, Shorn stated the first thing that came to mind. “I was just… trying to think of a good battle plan, that’s all.”

“Alright, if you say so. But I think we should leave the strategies to me, ok? After all, we both remember what happened last time we followed one of your plans.”

“How could I forget,” Shorn mumbled, remembering the colossal failure of the last strategy he had used in the field of battle. He had lost almost half of his forces in less than two hours that day. Needless to say, it was not a good moment of his career.

“But that’s the past,” Malek perked, “And there’s nothing anyone can do about it, which is why we all must learn to let go and continue moving towards the future.”

Shorn wondered what Malek had meant by what he said last, but the thought escaped him as he activated the holopad. Soon multiple objects materialized above the pad, laying out what was to be the battlefield. There were five small Jedi cruisers clustered behind a large moon, and then there were seven CIS cruisers in a line a short distance away from the moon on the other side.

“These are our forces,” Shorn began as he pointed towards the five Republic ships. “We are currently stationed behind Dantooine’s largest moon. Now, our objective is to destroy the CIS forces here in order to clear the space around Dantooine,” he continued ad he moved his finger over to the CIS ships, “That way, our troop transports will be able to land safely on the planet.”

Malek stood, considering the conditions as he formulated a plan. While he was making plans for the battle, Shorn was trying to make plans of his own; plans on how to eliminate the Jedi in a way that the majority of Shorn’s forces were safe, but could still overcome the Jedi and achieve victory. So far a reasonable plan was not available to him, and he was having to think optimistically.

While Shorn was still trying to formulate a possible solution to his dilemma, Malek finished creating a plan to overcome the enemy forces. “I’ve got it!”

“Alright, first three of our cruisers will come over the top of the moon and begin a frontal assault. Now if my guess is right; the CIS forces will form an arch in front of us in an attempt to overpower us. At this point, the two remaining cruisers shall come around either side of the moon and attack their forces from the side. By this time, most of their fighters will be attacking the first three cruisers, leaving their cruisers relatively unprotected.

“Now this is when we make our strike. With the cruisers unprotected, we will send our bombers in from both sides at once; destroying each ship’s bridge in one swift stroke. With their cruisers disabled, we will easily be able to wipe out any remaining CIS forces. From there, our troop transports will be able to exit hyperspace and begin the planetary invasion scot free, wouldn’t you agree?”

Shorn thought over the plan for a moment, making sure to acknowledge the major points. It was a considerably good plan for being thought up at a moment’s notice. The three cruisers that would be leading the attack would be under heavy pressure for a time, but the plan guaranteed success as far as he could tell. But none of that presented him a chance to eliminate Malek, unless…

If only it were that simple, Shorn thought before asking his question. “If you don’t mind my asking, where will you be during the battle, sir?”

“Oh, I plan to lead this attack personally.” A sly grin crept across Malek’s face as he uttered these words. “Now if you will please excuse me, I need to begin prepping my fighter for the battle. You can brief the other captains on the plan, can’t you?”

Sure that his plan would be explained to the other captains, Malek began making his way back towards the exit. “Good man, Shorn. I’ll see you in the battle.”

“Indeed you shall,” Shorn said quietly as the Jedi left. This was more than perfect for his plan; Malek would be alone, in his star fighter. Of course he would not be able to use his lightsaber, and when Shorn made his move the Jedi would be surrounded by enemies on two fronts! Now both Malek’s plan to defeat the CIS forces and Shorn’s plan to kill Malek were both guaranteed success.

Reassured, Shorn began hailing the other four Republic cruisers so that he could inform them of his plans, and seal the Jedi’s fate once and for all…

Malek sat quietly in his star fighter as it floated in space, surrounded by dozens of Republic fighters and bombers. The final preparations were being made by Shorn on board the Cruisers.

When he finished running a systems check to make sure his ship was battle-ready Malek clicked his communicator on, “All wings report in.”

“Red Squadron standing by.”
“Green Squadron standing by.”
“Blue Squadron standing by.”
“Gold Squadron standing by.”
“Black Squadron standing by.”

“We’re all set out here Admiral. How are the preparations going with the cruisers?”

“Excellent. All wings, stay with the cruisers until we engage the enemy. Remember; keep those fighters off the cruisers long enough for the bombers to make their run on the enemy ships’ command bridges. Then fall back on me so we can finish the fight.”

Malek heard a long stream of “yes sirs’” on his headset. His forces were ready to begin the battle, and so was he. With any luck the battle would be a success, and he could then lead his ground forces into glorious battle on the planet. That was the battle he was truly looking forward to.

But he could day dream after the battle; at the moment he needed to focus on the task at hand. He had always found fighting in space trickier than on the ground because in space you have enemies all around you; above you, below you, in front, behind, left, right, and everyplace in-between. On top of that, you have to dodge attacks and fighters while flying through wreckage and blaster bolts alike. It was a very difficult type of battle, but it was necessary if any land battle was going to take place.

With this in mind, Malek activated his fighter’s thrusters and blasted forward.

All of the fighters behind him simultaneously began following him over top of the moon as the three cruisers followed close behind. When they reached the crest of the large moon, the CIS battle cruisers could be seen heading their way. Their sensors must have detected their presence, but it made no difference now. The enemy cruisers opened fire, sending a massive wave of artillery bolts heading straight for the Republic forces.

Acting fast, Malek banked hard to the left to avoid one of the blasts hitting his fighter straight on. “Evasive maneuvers, NOW!”

Following his orders, the fighters scrambled in an attempt to avoid the incoming fire. Several ships were too slow to act however, and were incinerated by the heavy blaster fire as a result. The remaining fighters quickly reformed ranks as the blasts peppered the Cruiser’s shields, doing no real damage to the ships.

Following the salvo of blaster fire, the enemy fighters could be seen swarming towards the Republic forces, ready to fight to the last ship. Malek clicked the safety on his weapons to off and gripped the trigger firmly in preparation.

“Get ready men, incoming fighters. Pick your targets, and prepare to fire a wave of torpedoes on my command.”

Malek’s tracking computer scanned the fighters for a suitable victim. The enemy was closing in at 20,000 meters.

He held his thumb over the trigger, waiting for just the right moment to fire…

Malek mashed the trigger and sent his torpedo flying straight towards the fighter he was locked on to. “All units, OPEN FIRE!”

Every Republic fighter fired their torpedoes at the General’s order, sending out dozens of little explosive rockets towards the enemy ships. Most missiles hit their targets, causing them to explode into little pieces. Several other fighters got caught in the blast or the wreckage of their demolished companions, and were also destroyed. By now the remaining fighters on both sides were weaving and dashing this way and that in a frantic attempt to destroy each other.

While this was going on, the Republic cruisers were finding themselves in a bad situation. The first wave of cannon fire had drained a lot of energy from theirs shields, and they were constantly being hammered from all sides now as the enemy cruisers began forming a large arch around them.

At least Malek’s assumption was correct, Shorn thought as he stood on the bridge of the fleet’s flagship, which was currently in the dead center of the battle. But I’m afraid it is time to finish both the battle, and the good General.

The two Cruisers began making their way around either side of the moon, just as planned. However, after releasing their bombers to do their part of the mission, the cruisers themselves turned to the center of the battle and began opening fire.

That was not part of the plan, and Malek knew it. The Cruisers were supposed to protect the bombers, not join in the main battle! Opening his communications channel, he hailed Admiral Shorn’s ship.

“Admiral, order those cruisers back to their positions. It is vital to the mission they help protect the bombers!” No response… “Admiral, do you copy?”

“You see, General, you have been declared an enemy of the Republic, and I have been ordered to eliminate you. Immediately."

That could not possibly be true! Malek knew he had never done anything against the Republic or the Jedi council. In fact he had always done everything he could to follow his orders to the letter, and yet now he had been deemed an enemy? No, that could not possibly be it; Admiral Shorn must secretly be a spy for the CIS. Yes, that’s it. Similar situations had been known to happen before. In any case, he now found himself with no allies in the middle of a war zone.

“HA! You don’t have a chance of surviving, and even if you did; it’s not like Jedi hold grudges. So what are YOU going to do about it? NOTHING! NOW ALL UNITS, COMMENCE ORDER 66!”

Almost instantly Malek’s ship lurched violently as hundreds of blaster bolts began spraying his ship. His shields were down to 30% and dropping quickly; he needed to escape, and fast. Having no time to set any coordinates for him to jump to, he would have to get down to the planet and try to escape them there.

Moving as fast as he could to escape the barrage of blaster fire, he tapped into his fighter’s emergency fuel reserves; giving him an extra boost. Soon he was out of the tangled mess of fighters and speeding down to the planet. The remainders of Blue and Green Squadrons also split away from the battle and began chasing him relentlessly all the way down to Dantooine.

Shortly after entering the planet’s atmosphere, both the Republic fighters and Malek were caught in heavy flack from the CIS ground-to-air artillery, which managed to finish depleting what little shielding his fighter had left. Malek was caught in a very bad situation; he was under fire from both his own ships and enemy artillery.

Fortunately for him, the flack did manage to dispose of his chasers eventually. But by now his ship was riddled with holes, and he was beginning to lose control. The shelling stopped as he noticed large rolling fields beneath him. These fields looked… familiar somehow, and something in the back of his mind beckoned him to try and land.

All of a sudden, his left stabilizer gave way and was launched off his fighter in a burst of flames. Soon he found himself spinning out of control as he was flying straight for what appeared to be a farm house. He pulled up on his controls in a final, desperate attempt at recovering stability. While he did not regain total control over the ship, he did manage to miss the farm house. The last thing he remembered was a blast of pain as his controls blew up in his face, launching him straight into the blackness amongst his visions as he was knocked out.

Malek floated idly in a starless space, surrounded only by blackness. He tried looking around, but there was nothing to see. There was no telling if he was moving, or sitting still as he continued to try and get his bearings. He continued panning the surrounding nothingness until he spotted a drifting not too far away. As he looked closer the figure seemed to get closer, and he noticed that it had its back turned to him. When it got close enough to reach, he stretched out his left arm towards it with an open hand. The instant he touched it, his arm began to disintegrate. It didn’t hurt, but Malek could do nothing as his entire left arm dissolved into a fine powder that blew away in an imaginary breeze. A large, scabbed-over layer of scar tissue was all that was left on his left shoulder where his arm had just been.

Malek looked back to the figure in shock and saw that it was now staring at him coldly. Its facial features were blurry at first, but they quickly came into focus to reveal the figure’s true face. The face was that of Admiral Shorn, the man who betrayed Malek. Without breaking his stare, Shorn spoke on a cold and in-human tone of voice to the Jedi knight. “Oh, you survived. Pity, I was hoping for a lot more than just a dead arm.”

Oh well, another time perhaps,” Shorn concluded as he turned and slowly began drifting away from the Jedi. Malek felt a sudden wave of rage as he reached for his lightsaber. However, the deactivated lightsaber disintegrated the same way his arm had as he gripped it. He threw the dust away in rage as he looked back to Shorn.

The admiral continued floating away, unfazed by the Malek’s words. When he spoke again it sounded like his voice was whispering in the Jedi’s ear, despite the great distance between them. “We will meet again someday. And when we do, I will finish what I started on this day.”

With that, the admiral faded from view and left Malek surrounded by nothingness once again. He reached to his left shoulder and felt at the semi-raw tissue. It still didn’t physically hurt, but that didn’t help the fact that his arm was gone. Suddenly a large image appeared in front of him. It appeared to be a large farmhouse, surrounded by rolling fields of healthy green grass. A middle-aged man sat on the porch watching as a young boy, around the age of 10, was playing and rolling around in the grass. As Malek looked closer, the image began to change. Fires began sprouting up, and the grass began to fade. The image itself began to fall apart and vanish until nothing was left.

He was left alone in the void for a third time, as he continued drifting aimlessly in no particular direction. Then he noticed something. Stars began appearing in the space, and they seemed to be traveling past him at unimaginable speeds. He looked forwards and saw a tiny little light directly in front of him. He couldn’t tell how big or how far away it was, but it was steadily growing larger as he continued speeding towards it. As it got closer, the light turned into a whirling vortex. Malek panicked and tried frantically to get away from it before it was too late, but he was traveling too fast.

He was sucked into the vortex in an instant. He was bombarded with unknown feelings and emotions as he traveled through the vortex. He could feel the force shifting and changing around him as he continued. He curled up into a ball to try and protect himself from everything that was happening as his mind began to feel like it was going to burst. Just as he thought he couldn’t survive another second of the madness, it all stopped. He uncurled himself cautiously and looked around to see where he was now.

A solitary planet floated before him. Its only companions were a small moon and sun that were in orbit around it. He could feel the force. Pure force power was being emitted from the planet in powerful waves. He marveled at the sight for a second before he began to speed forward once again, only this time he was traveling straight towards the lone planet. He traveled past the moon, through the atmosphere, and straight to the middle of a small village. It seemed to be empty; but he could feel beings there, beings that were very strong in the force.

Then the he could feel the force of one being in particular. It’s power put all the others he felt to shame, it even made Master Yoda’s power pale and pathetic in comparison. Then it began pulling at him as he sped across the lands without any control over his movements. Then it hit him. This being, this one, unimaginably powerful being, had pulled him there. It had pulled him from his own vision, through an unidentifiable vortex, and into its own realm. So then what did it want with him?

He forgot the question as he continued speeding across the lands and up a steep mountain. A gorgeous castle came into view as he made his way around the mountain’s side and he could feel the being drawing closer. He flew through the empty streets and stopped at castle’s door step. The mighty being released its grasp upon him, and it now ushered him inside. Malek, who’s mind was still overwhelmed by the massive power, opened the door without question.

He was immediately blinded by a piercing white light as he stepped inside. The light subsided as his eyes tried to adjust to its intensity. Now he found himself in the middle of a glorious hall with a large flight of steps leading up to the next level before him. As the light continued to lessen, it began to take the form of a majestic creature. It had four long, slender legs and a set of pristine wings that were lifted up in a regal manner. Its color was whiter than the very light that had just blinded him, and it even seemed to glow. In fact, the being was so powerful that it was emitting pure energy in the form of a multi-colored mane and tail that flowed in an invisible breeze.

Finally the light shrunk down to a tiny spec at the tip of the being’s long horn that protruded from its forehead, revealing a very calm and welcoming face. The being stared Malek in the eye. He could feel it sifting through his mind, studying his thoughts. The being closed its eyes and left his mind, before opening them again and casually looking to him. They stood there in silence for a moment before Malek opened his mouth to speak. It raised a leg to him and gently lifted his lower jaw closed, before retracting the leg back to its place.

The being spoke in a soft, kind tone. “This is my domain. When you finally find your way here in reality, you will be welcomed by me and my people. However,” it paused as its voice deepened a bit, “You will not speak of this place to anybody, not even those who are closest to you. I know you do not understand any of this now, but you will eventually.”

The being paused again as it closed its eyes and looked down. It didn’t move for a moment before looking back up to him. “Now go. I have taken all the time I can from your existence.” it concluded. Malek felt it grip him with its power once again as he shot back in the direction from which he came. He sped back past the city, across the lands, through the small village, out of the atmosphere, and back through the vortex even faster than he had when he first traveled there. In the blink of an eye, he was back in the black nothingness that he had originally found himself in.

Malek continued floating in the blackness as he began pondering what he had just witnessed. He had no idea what just happened, or if it was even part of his vision. But whatever that being was, he knew that he was going to see it again. He didn’t know when, where, or even how, but its words still filled his head. “When you finally find your way here in reality…”

A Force Like No Other

by Edmar Fecler

Chapter 1