Chapter 87

  The roaring atmosphere as I fall is matched by the gun firing coming from the cargo ship that follows. Darth Vader hasn't thrown off the effects of the pooling dark side, it's only got worse as I feel the panic coming from him and the dark side hyping it up. Vader is scared, he realises that he has fucked up and now he's chasing hoping to blast me out of the air. In Vader's mind, he can't afford to let me live.

  Unfortunately for me, a falling body is slower than a powered ship. Vader is catching up easily. Thankfully, Vader's aim is compounded by fear, and he's ignoring the aim assistant and force.

  I'm coming to myself as I'm no longer drowning in the dark side of others but that doesn't help as a stunning large bolt of energy whizzes past followed by many others. It's then my last protecting droids kick me away before getting hit by a ship's blaster bolt. The rupturing energy causes my teeth to rattle.

  Now I'm defenceless but my Asura droid made the right decision to sacrifice itself to protect me and as the cargo ship no longer has a target the ship's aim is far off. However, in their panicked mind, Vader doesn't care and he continues to fire.

  I'm not at my best but I can do simple things like telekinesis. My cape becomes ridged and I use force pull on the chasing cargo ship to tug myself out of the way. Just in time as the cargo ship barrels past with intent to ram me and make me a smear on the viewing screen.

  The ship takes a wide turn as it's just a cargo ship and doesn't have the best movement but I'm still not close enough to the ground to take advantage of the high mountain peaks. Vader aims and just before he is ready to take the killing shot, the sky bursts with colour.

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  Vader hadn't taken notice of my ground forces. If he did then he would have seen the many light shows of my doppelgangers and droids had stopped. They were no longer busy taking down the Eternal Sith but were carefully taking aim and causing the sky to be blinded with laser fire. As a final act, my bodyguard's Asura droids transmitted what had happened to the other droids. My doppelgangers quickly separated themselves from battle and flew to my aid.

  It was an amazing sight to behold, the first wave of twenty doppelgangers flew to my rescue, each one with their lightsaber and blasting lightning from their fingertips to distract the cargo ship.

  I could feel Vader's emotions. Panic turned to fear and he froze his attacks, giving just enough time for my doppelgangers to mix me into the fold and protect me. Concentration blaster fire rattled off the cargo ship as my droids let Vader know he had failed to kill me.

  I wasn't going to be easy to pick off now I had support, something that Vader was very aware of. When a couple of doppelgangers charged at the cargo ship Vader was shocked back to reason but the fear was still there. One doppelganger had fought and won against the emperor and now there were two flying directly at him with intent to do very bad things to him.

  Vader did the smartest thing he had done in the last twenty years, he fled. He had the Wayfinder and the ship, if he left now and disengaged with me then I wasn't going to receive support from the Jedi or the Grove Collection. Vader didn't know why he had attacked me but he knew there was no chance in hell I wasn't going to retaliate. He had to leave, it was the best option for a fear-clouded mind.

  I watched helplessly as the cargo ship used its thrusters to leave the planet's atmosphere before my doppelgangers could guess Vader's plan and counter it.

  The bastard had left me stranded on a hostile planet with an enemy that I wasn't sure of beating.

  A real dick move, even for Darth Vader