[Short Stories] - Dark Emperor 6(14)

For a long moment, the former Emperor was speechless. Then he gritted his teeth and snarled, “I’m not afraid of you!”

Yoda’s eyelids lowered, and his ears folded down slowly. Tiny sharp teeth showed in his mouth. The combination somehow made the tiny creature look menacing. “Ehhhh… you should be,” said Yoda. “You should be.”

“What’s going on here?!” demanded Anakin, running out of the stairway.

“Nothing I cannot handle,” said Yoda.

“I sent Palpatine down here to tell you the Jedi Legion is close. One of their scouts is in the area. We have to get out of here before they find this cave.”

Kenobi appeared next to him, awake and alert. “We must go at once,” he said. “Follow me, all of you, to the back door. Quickly!”

Anakin took Yoda onto his broad shoulders, and hurried after Kenobi. Palpatine, growling to himself about his humiliation, nevertheless swiftly followed. Obi-Wan led them into a tunnel at the back of the cave. After a short winding distance, it opened into a narrow ravine. They ran along this passage until the walls fell away on either side. The fugitives came out of a cliff side onto a broad slope leading towards the plains below. Palpatine realized they were completely exposed.

As if to accompany his realization, a cry split the clear air. High above, and behind them on the plateau, a lone figure stood against the sky. Waving its arms, it cried out in a voice sure to carry an impressive distance. “Jedi!! Jedi!! Vader!! Palpatine!! They are here!! Jedi!! To me!!”

Palpatine caught up to Kenobi as they ran. “You imbecile!” he screamed. “They have found us! Why did we come out into the open? Why did we not hide?!”

“We had no choice!” Kenobi thundered. “Would you prefer we had been trapped like vermin in that hole? This was the only way out! Besides, this was the plan all along! Now that we have you, we don’t have to hide any more. We only need to lead the Legion to the trap we have prepared for them.”

“What trap?!” Palpatine shouted. “What am I supposed to do to help, you wretched Jedi fool? I don’t have any power in the Force at all! What can I do against so many Jedi? You are insane—yes, that’s it! I am fleeing with a pack of psychotic fools to the slaughter!”

“And you are a raving paranoid sadistic tyrant,” roared Kenobi, “but your worst fault is that you will never shut up and listen!! There is a plan, and you can help. In fact, only you can do what must be done!”

“Here they come!” Yoda called. Riding on Anakin’s shoulders, he was able to look at the cliff behind them. Palpatine felt a thrill of fear. No! He couldn’t be captured! Their head start had to be enough. Their group was small and swift, and the exit from the plateau was through the cave and tunnel. A large group of pursuers would be delayed while getting through there, for they could only come one at a time.

Then Palpatine risked a look behind him, and learned that he was horribly wrong. The Jedi were not entering the cave and leaving through the ravine. They had assembled at the top of the cliff, several hundred strong. Now, rank after rank was leaping from the cliff’s edge, and floating to the ground far below. The Force carried each one to a gentle landing. Among the descending Jedi, Palpatine picked out a being shaped like a sphere with short arms. It was Empatojayos Brand. The Jedi who had killed him, come to finish the job. Palpatine averted his eyes and forced himself to run faster.

Again, he came alongside Kenobi. “If you have a plan, old man, you had better tell me what it is! Or we’re finished! The Jedi are coming down that cliff like a waterfall. They’ll overtake us like a river, and soon!”

“We’re almost where we need to be!” Kenobi yelled. “We need them to be close behind.” Obi-Wan’s eyes flashed at his old foe. “We didn’t tell you what your role is before, because we knew you would betray us if you had any choice. Now, you truly have no choice, Palpatine! Help us, or be killed yourself!” Kenobi pointed to the plain ahead. “Once we get down there, we are going to be able to destroy the Jedi Legion.”

“You would kill your fellow Jedi just to save yourselves?” Palpatine taunted. “That doesn’t make you much of a Jedi, does it? So, you are like me after all!”

“They are no longer Jedi!” Kenobi shouted angrily. “They would kill Anakin, one of their own, and betray everything the Jedi stand for! They have turned to the dark side in their hearts, and they are lost. They deserve to die. But we are not going to be the executioners. You will be our tool with which to destroy them. You are going to kill them all.”