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crack_van2006-03-30 09:57 pm
malabud.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2006-03-30 09:57 pm
Entry tags:
An Emperor Alone by John Takis (PG)
Fandom: STAR WARS OT
Pairing: Gen
Length: 5,500 words
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: John Takis's Fanfiction.net Profile
Why this must be read:
As we first learned in Return of the Jedi and later had confirmed for us throughout the Prequel Trilogy, Palpatine is the true and ultimate villain of the Star Wars saga. It was he who engineered a war in order to destroy the Republic. It was he who co-opted the Senate and created an Empire with himself as supreme leader. It was he who orchestrated the annihilation of the Jedi. And it was he who played upon the Chosen One's fears and seduced Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side. Sidious was the culmination of one thousand years of Sith teaching, patience, and planning. He was the ultimate master of the Dark Side of the Force.
And yet, the most surprising thing about Palpatine is that he did not really need the Force to do most of what he accomplished. His ultimate triumph came not because of the Dark Side, but because of his brilliant and calculating mind. Many a Jedi would be almost helpless without the Force. But not Palpatine. The Dark Side of the Force was his ally, but not his only ally.
This fic takes place before the events of Return of the Jedi. In this story, Palpatine is betrayed, left without the Force and without his guards, and placed at the mercy of an enemy. He faces this secret enemy with only his mind to fend off almost certain death. Will you be surprised to learn the outcome of this encounter? Read and find out. You will not be disappointed.
* * *
Emperor Palpatine did not often dream. Nor could the black meditative rites in which he routinely engaged be properly termed "sleep." Sleep, as it was understood in the traditional sense, involved a surrendering of control ... the conscious mind subordinate to the unconscious. Sith principles were firm on this matter: let the Jedi drift passively through the "will" of the Force; the ancient Dark Masters had demonstrated conclusively that meaning and order were concepts willed on the universe by those practitioners with the courage and foresight to look past "Dark" and "Light" to the nobler truths ... to the ultimate truth. Palpatine had long ago recognized himself as the center of his own private universe ... the actualization of his Empire was a simple expression of that basic principle. All sentients eventually experienced the same epiphany. More often than not, it led to black metanoia ... the only thing truly separating a bounty hunter from a spice addict from a corporate robber-baron was the degree of drive, intelligence and resources.
Palpatine's resources were indeed vast. This was where he stood unparalleled -- the profligate all crowned themselves with the same miter, but for Palpatine access to the Force had unlocked a galaxy of possibilities undreamt by lesser beings. Intelligence and desire had not merely drawn him towards the Dark Side, in the Dark Side, they had found nourishment! For this reason the Jedi were especially repugnant: coming face-to-face with the vacuity of their own existence, they embraced the Force as junkies abandoned themselves to narcotic bliss, losing their pain in a sea of self-dissolution. They misdirected Its gifts as if power were an affliction. The Jedi Order propagated vile perversions of will and purpose. The Force offered so much more.
The Jedi Code taught that the Force was sustained by life. As a matter of consequence, Palpatine knew, the Force drew from life ... greedily, through withered, vampiric lips. Like plants struggling to reclaim dew in a parched wasteland, sentients fought a losing battle. Comforting themselves with petty philosophies and vain comforts, they struggled in futility to fill inner voids. Palpatine no longer wasted time with such trivialities. The Ravaging Force consumed all things; his own fate would be no different. But while he yet lived -- ah, while he yet drew breath, the hot current of the Force would swell within his empty soul, the weight of countless screams of angst and despair nourishing his inner void, projecting it beyond Human boundaries. It was radiant -- glorious!
It was this void, therefore, that occupied Palpatine's sole attention when he meditated. He would bask in the glorious emptiness, soaking up dark energies like a sponge dipped in ichor. It was, in fact, a pure action of will, galvanized by powerful Sith techniques, that prevented the corroded elements of his body from succumbing to total defunction. Who could say when critical mass would be achieved? When the flame of True Knowledge would be passed to his successor? As with all Dark Lords of the Sith before him, Palpatine had accepted this inevitability, though he still feared it. In one sense, he was grateful for this fear. The fear fed his hatred, fanned the flames of suffering, made him more powerful. But in a more pure sense, he merely hated this fear. Fear provoked senseless mania, nibbled at rationality. Fear led to error. To early death. The foundational Sith disciplines Palpatine had erected within his mind were a bulwark against fear.
But time continued to eat the universe, and traditional defenses became less adequate. The impending victory of chaos began to manifest itself, an almost tangible weight of fear that placed a constant pressure on Palpatine, urging him on to ever-greater depths of meditative efforts. The immediate future was of particular concern. With greater frequency -- and, such was his assessment, enhanced clarity -- Palpatine would draw on the Force to peer into the mist of future possibilities. But sometimes....
Sometimes there were nightmares.
An Emperor Alone
Pairing: Gen
Length: 5,500 words
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: John Takis's Fanfiction.net Profile
Why this must be read:
As we first learned in Return of the Jedi and later had confirmed for us throughout the Prequel Trilogy, Palpatine is the true and ultimate villain of the Star Wars saga. It was he who engineered a war in order to destroy the Republic. It was he who co-opted the Senate and created an Empire with himself as supreme leader. It was he who orchestrated the annihilation of the Jedi. And it was he who played upon the Chosen One's fears and seduced Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side. Sidious was the culmination of one thousand years of Sith teaching, patience, and planning. He was the ultimate master of the Dark Side of the Force.
And yet, the most surprising thing about Palpatine is that he did not really need the Force to do most of what he accomplished. His ultimate triumph came not because of the Dark Side, but because of his brilliant and calculating mind. Many a Jedi would be almost helpless without the Force. But not Palpatine. The Dark Side of the Force was his ally, but not his only ally.
This fic takes place before the events of Return of the Jedi. In this story, Palpatine is betrayed, left without the Force and without his guards, and placed at the mercy of an enemy. He faces this secret enemy with only his mind to fend off almost certain death. Will you be surprised to learn the outcome of this encounter? Read and find out. You will not be disappointed.
* * *
Emperor Palpatine did not often dream. Nor could the black meditative rites in which he routinely engaged be properly termed "sleep." Sleep, as it was understood in the traditional sense, involved a surrendering of control ... the conscious mind subordinate to the unconscious. Sith principles were firm on this matter: let the Jedi drift passively through the "will" of the Force; the ancient Dark Masters had demonstrated conclusively that meaning and order were concepts willed on the universe by those practitioners with the courage and foresight to look past "Dark" and "Light" to the nobler truths ... to the ultimate truth. Palpatine had long ago recognized himself as the center of his own private universe ... the actualization of his Empire was a simple expression of that basic principle. All sentients eventually experienced the same epiphany. More often than not, it led to black metanoia ... the only thing truly separating a bounty hunter from a spice addict from a corporate robber-baron was the degree of drive, intelligence and resources.
Palpatine's resources were indeed vast. This was where he stood unparalleled -- the profligate all crowned themselves with the same miter, but for Palpatine access to the Force had unlocked a galaxy of possibilities undreamt by lesser beings. Intelligence and desire had not merely drawn him towards the Dark Side, in the Dark Side, they had found nourishment! For this reason the Jedi were especially repugnant: coming face-to-face with the vacuity of their own existence, they embraced the Force as junkies abandoned themselves to narcotic bliss, losing their pain in a sea of self-dissolution. They misdirected Its gifts as if power were an affliction. The Jedi Order propagated vile perversions of will and purpose. The Force offered so much more.
The Jedi Code taught that the Force was sustained by life. As a matter of consequence, Palpatine knew, the Force drew from life ... greedily, through withered, vampiric lips. Like plants struggling to reclaim dew in a parched wasteland, sentients fought a losing battle. Comforting themselves with petty philosophies and vain comforts, they struggled in futility to fill inner voids. Palpatine no longer wasted time with such trivialities. The Ravaging Force consumed all things; his own fate would be no different. But while he yet lived -- ah, while he yet drew breath, the hot current of the Force would swell within his empty soul, the weight of countless screams of angst and despair nourishing his inner void, projecting it beyond Human boundaries. It was radiant -- glorious!
It was this void, therefore, that occupied Palpatine's sole attention when he meditated. He would bask in the glorious emptiness, soaking up dark energies like a sponge dipped in ichor. It was, in fact, a pure action of will, galvanized by powerful Sith techniques, that prevented the corroded elements of his body from succumbing to total defunction. Who could say when critical mass would be achieved? When the flame of True Knowledge would be passed to his successor? As with all Dark Lords of the Sith before him, Palpatine had accepted this inevitability, though he still feared it. In one sense, he was grateful for this fear. The fear fed his hatred, fanned the flames of suffering, made him more powerful. But in a more pure sense, he merely hated this fear. Fear provoked senseless mania, nibbled at rationality. Fear led to error. To early death. The foundational Sith disciplines Palpatine had erected within his mind were a bulwark against fear.
But time continued to eat the universe, and traditional defenses became less adequate. The impending victory of chaos began to manifest itself, an almost tangible weight of fear that placed a constant pressure on Palpatine, urging him on to ever-greater depths of meditative efforts. The immediate future was of particular concern. With greater frequency -- and, such was his assessment, enhanced clarity -- Palpatine would draw on the Force to peer into the mist of future possibilities. But sometimes....
Sometimes there were nightmares.
An Emperor Alone