Invader Syndrome Ch. 71 (Star Wars AU) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: A meeting of the minds~

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“This is a step too far…”

Mother Talzin chortles at Mace Windu’s words.

“A step too far? You and your ilk have barely even stepped onto the Path and you already balk at the smallest of things. How can you ever hope to achieve Mastery over the Force with such a closeminded mentality?”

The Nightsister Matriarch’s words cause every Fallen Jedi in the chamber to bristle. After all…

“Each and every one of us is a Jedi Master. We have already achieved Mastery over the Force.”

Turning to Plo Koon, Talzin waits until he’s done speaking before shaking her head with faux sadness and a deliberately heavy sigh.

“Each and every one of you was a Jedi Master. We wouldn’t be here having this conversation if you still were, now would we? The Jedi Order is dead. Do try to keep up, children.”

The collection of former Jedi Masters bristles even more at that. Meanwhile, the other Nightsisters that Talzin has brought with her radiate smugness. And why shouldn’t they? After all, they’ve effectively ‘won’. The Dark Side is ascendant and the Light Side is so thoroughly diminished that even the Order’s Younglings cannot hope to revive it.

Vader will have to figure out why that is one of these days. The Force’s balance in this universe is completely and utterly karked and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t extremely curious. But first he had to manage the disparate Force Users before him and bring them into one cohesive whole.

“Mother Talzin is right.”

His words echo through the chamber, drawing everyone’s eyes over to him. Before Mace and the others can get too angry though, he holds up a hand.

“However, she and her Nightsisters should be careful not to let their pride overtake them completely. There is much for all of us to learn from one another… as well as any other Force Sects out there in the galaxy that we come across.”

Talzin and her Nightsisters narrow their eyes while the Fallen Jedi all look thoughtful. After a moment, Talzin scoffs.

“I’m not sure what we have to learn from mere neophytes. For that is all that these former Jedi are, now that they have been abandoned by their Light Side.”

Vader isn’t surprised that she’s being purposefully antagonistic. Every word she speaks is clearly designed to piss off the Jedi Masters in the room… likely to make them all reveal their ‘true colors’ by giving into their emotions. Perhaps she thinks that they are all so new to the Dark Side that they simply can’t control themselves and will eventually lose control.

In which case, she can argue that her Nightsisters should have the place of most prominence within the new Order that they’re here to build together. Unfortunately for Mother Talzin, she’s forgetting one thing… every single Jedi Master in this room has spent months wrestling with their own Darkness and doing everything in their power to hide their new natures from their peers.

Mace is the first to draw himself up and call her out on it with a scoff.

“You seek to provoke us. Perhaps you really do see us as little more than ‘neophytes’ if you think we are so easily angered.”

Narrowing her eyes, Talzin sniffs haughtily.

“You are angry, each and every one of you. I speak only the truth and yet it infuriates you. Do not try to deny it, the Force whispers to me constantly.”

Plo Koon interjects again, tilting his head to the side.

“Is anger not an emotion to be harnessed? Your dismissiveness merely serves to fuel us. Perhaps if you were condescending to Knights or Padawans you might get the reaction you seek, but we are not so weak willed.”

Talzin’s eyes flit across every Jedi Master in the chamber and Vader has to hold back the urge to grin. Because just by doing what she’s doing now, she’s ensuring that not a single one of them will give in. They see her watching them, looking for any crack in their armor… and they all stand up taller, staring back at her with expressions ranging from impassivity to outright glares.

But even those who glare at her do not act. They do not speak. Contrary to Talzin’s beliefs, their Jedi Training is of some use to them here. Now that they’ve all accepted that they’ve Fallen to the Dark Side, the Jedi High Council has begun group meditations… with Vader offering his assistance and advice where he can.

As such, they’ve all made quite large strides in the Dark Side of the Force so far, utilizing a combination of old Jedi Teachings to focus on controlling their emotions and Vader’s new teachings to use said emotions. Rather than push their emotions out into the Force to be as close to unfeeling and unthinking automatons as possible, they are rapidly becoming adept at harnessing them.

Finally, Talzin just huffs and looks to Vader silently. Her ploy having failed, the Nightsister Matriarch makes no effort to apologize for her actions, nor admit that she’d been wrong.

Vader does not ask her to either. He just smiles as he sweeps his own burning orange gaze across those gathered before him.

“In response to your previous comment, Mace… this is a necessary step. For the past thousand years, the Jedi Order has either suppressed or ignored the variety of Force Sects across the galaxy… to its own detriment. The Banite Sith were allowed to flourish the way they did specifically because the Jedi allowed themselves to be blinded to all that was possible within the Force.”

Gesturing to Talzin, Vader continues.

“Mother Talzin is not merely some Dark Sider. She is no Sith either. She is a Witch of Dathomir, a Nightsister of great power. And she is a master of Dark Side Magic.”

He can tell that some of the former Jedi in the room want to raise issue with that description, incredulity and disbelief writ large across their faces. But they hold their tongue all the same, allowing Vader to explain.

“The Nightsisters as a whole have a unique connection to the Force. They provide a perspective on the Force that both the Jedi and the Sith have always ignored. No more, I say. If peace is to be secured, if our new Galactic Empire is to stand the test of time without falling to the decay and corruption of the Republic, then it must have an equally capable and strong Order assisting it.”

He has them fully engrossed now… both sides, in fact. All in the chamber look at him, hanging off his every word.

“The Jedi Order is no more. The Imperial Order shall rise in its place. We will be peacekeepers, scholars, and protectors of both the Empire and the Force itself. We will ensure that knowledge of the Force is not hoarded or abused by the few like with the Banite Sith but rather collected and stored for any with a connection to the Force to be able to utilize and grow from.”

There’s a pause in which Plo Koon interjects.

“You mean for us to rebuild our numbers by any means necessary.”

It’s not quite an accusation or a question, really. Merely a statement with a sense of finality behind it. Vader nods to the former Jedi Master all the same.

“Not just rebuild… I intend for the Imperial Order to reign ascendant. It will be greater than any form of Jedi or Sith Order that came before it. It will not confine itself to the traditions of the past, nor the fears of the future.”

He sweeps his gaze across the assembled once more.

“Yes, we will accept any and all who can touch the Force into our ranks. No matter their age, no matter their origins. All will be given opportunity to succeed or fail on their own merits within the Imperial Order. They will conduct themselves properly or they will be removed.”

Indeed, Vader fully intended to have a strict code of conduct for the Imperial Order. It would be far less strict than the Jedi of old, but at the same time, he would not let another Sidious rise up while he still drew breath. Ambition would not be punished, but cruelty and evil for the sake of them would be.

Despite considering himself a Sith, despite having taken on multiple Sith Apprentices since arriving back in time… Vader did not intend for the Imperial Order to be a Sith Order. Rather, it was to be an Order of Force Users in its entirety, no matter where they came from, no matter how much knowledge or experience they had. To that end…

“Where we came from before now matters little. All of us will leave this room as brothers and sisters under a new order. The hierarchy will be decided in the coming months… but I do not think it foolish to assume that most of the people in this chamber will become leaders within the Imperial Order.”

Pride swells in more than a few people, even among the former Jedi. Even Talzin’s shoulders lift up a fraction of an inch.

“You are, all of you, more than proficient in the ways of the Force. Even those who have only recently touched the Dark Side have decades and in some cases centuries of lived experiences. You will not just be the leaders of this new Order; you will be its teachers and instructors. It will be up to all of us to bring the next generation up, to fortify our new peace and security. The future is bright indeed… so long as we are willing to work together.”

There’s a brief pause… and then some nods and even some clapping as his speech comes to an end. Vader knows it won’t be perfect and that there will be pitfalls in the coming days… but he also knows that they’re only just getting started and he’s hopeful for what comes next all the same.

-x-X-x-

Things don’t end with his speech, of course. They all spend the next few hours hashing out some of the details of what the initial framework for the Imperial Order is going to be. But as Vader had claimed, they do all leave that chamber as brothers and sisters, rather than Nightsisters, Fallen Jedi, and Sith. They’re all a part of something greater than themselves, even greater than the organizations they were a part of before.

Vader, meanwhile, finds himself waylaid by one of his apprentices almost immediately after leaving the chamber. Asajj Ventress, aka Darth Shar, stops and asks him for a moment of his time. He can immediately feel her anticipation through the Force as well as a tiny thread of arousal. Whatever she wants, he feels it to be… intimate in nature.

Still, he goes with her all the same, letting her lead him to her private chambers.

“I still can’t believe you were Anakin Skywalker all along. Or rather, that Anakin was you all along. It’s… hard to wrap my head around.”

Vader hums and nods. He hasn’t told her about the time travel. He hasn’t told many at all about that… and he’s not sure he will, truthfully. In the end, it doesn’t really matter.

Asajj just shakes her head and moments later they arrive. As the door slides open and they step inside, Vader isn’t at all surprised to find a nervous Sev’rance Tann on the other side. He could feel her waiting for them from some distance away, after all.

That said, he is a little surprised by how she’s acting. The blue-skinned near-human woman is even fidgeting a little bit, looking more anxious than he’s ever seen her before. Arching a brow, Vader looks between the two women wordlessly… until finally, Asajj breaks.

“We have a request of you, Lord Vader. Please feel free to say no, but… it would be a great honor if you said yes. And I would be willing to do anything you asked of me if you believed I needed to earn it or-!”

Vader cuts her rambling off with a raised hand.

“What is the request?”

Flushing, the Dathomirian looks over at her lover, biting her lower lip for a moment. Then, finally, she gets to the point.

“We wished to ask you to give us a child. To… breed one of us so that we might raise the babe as our own.”

Ah. Yes, that explained everything he’d been feeling from both women. There was lust certainly, but it was muted behind a different kind of desire. They loved and lusted after each other first and foremost, but neither was solely intrigued only by the flesh of women. And he WAS a very powerful figure in their lives, so their interest in him was not surprising.

Ultimately though, if it was just for the purposes of sex, Vader doubts they would have approached him, happy with each other as they were. However, they want more than that. They want a child.

… Seeing as he’s already ensured his wife and Empress is pregnant during their last time together; Vader isn’t at all against the idea of rewarding his apprentice and her lover with this. Both women had done their part in taking down Dooku and ending the threat of the Banite Sith once and for all.

However…

“Which of you will be carrying the babe then?”

They still had to make a decision it would seem, because his easy agreement and question visibly takes them by surprise. Asajj and Sev’rance exchange a glance with one another while Vader watches on in mild amusement as they wordlessly hash things out with him right there in the room with them.

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aheAFaN4mVskH77xkq3hVP_NtoZnv8Jp-5k-ndasQSk/edit?tab=t.0