Five years have passed since the Invasion of Naboo, and since Darth Vader took the timeline by storm. The Republic's stability frays by the day as systems prepare for when it might fail and fall. The Jedi and the Sith remain at "peace," as both Orders grow and adapt in these uncertain times. But there will be many enemies for the Galaxy to face, beyond the Light and Dark.
—Summary
Darth Vader: Shattered Galaxy
is a Star Wars Time Travel fanfic by AkumaKami64. It is the sequel to the popular fanfic Darth Vader: Hero of Naboo, and the second and current chapter in the "Vaderline Trilogy".
The premise of the series is that Darth Vader was sent back in time from the climax of The Empire Strikes Back to the events of the The Phantom Menace. As depicted in the previous story, Vader was able to eliminate Darth Sidious, thereby unveiling the presence of the Sith to the Jedi, and liberate Naboo from the Trade Federation. Shattered Galaxy picks up five years later, with the galaxy still reeling from the events, with Vader secretly working behind the scenes and planning for the future as the Republic slowly crumbles.
The fic was first posted on March 27, 2023, and at 13 chapters, it is still ongoing.
Beware of Late Arrival Spoilers from the first story here.
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism: Since Palpatine is no longer around to get in his head, Dooku never left the Jedi and is still on the side of the light.
- The Alliance: It's stated that Vader has been building up one of these behind the scenes, though details of it have yet to be described.
- As You Know: In the first chapter, Jango Fett summarizes many of the problems that the Republic is currently facing, causing Vader to note that he knows all this already. Jango admits to just thinking out loud as he tries to figure out what their group's next move is.
- Civil War: According to Jango, the Trade Federation is splintering into at least two rival factions fighting for control.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: The Heinsnake cult's planet self-destructs after Vader gets ahold of their superweapon's power source, as per the old timeline.
- Enemy Mine: Coruscant's security forces have cut deals with various criminal organizations to work together against the various monsters from the lower levels which are being drawn to the surface by the lingering effects of Sidious' Force Storm.
- Failed State: While it hasn't quite reached this yet, more realistic characters note that the Republic is declining towards this point, as the Senate is dividing up into blocs more interested in squabbling over petty differences than trying to serve as a functioning government.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: It's made pretty clear that none of the Jedi actually like the Dark Woman.
- Good Counterpart: A Downplayed example with Plagueis, as the surviving Sith Lord from the Order of Bane (at least nominally). Make no mistake, Plagueis is unquestionably a Dark Lord of the Sith, who has already taken measures to manipulate Padme by gaining her sympathies as a victim of Sidious and has outright admitted to one of Vader's lieutenants that he intends to carve out and claim his own piece of the galaxy once the Republic inevitably falls apart. But he is INFINITELY better than the sociopathic and monstrous Darth Sidious. Unlike Sidious, he is not actively trying to drive the Galaxy into a massive and chaotic war that he organized all for his own aggrandizement, merely preparing for the inevitable collapse of the Republic and seeking out advantages he might gain from it. He is also genuinely willing to honor the truce between Jedi and Sith, even if it is out of scientific curiosity than for any moral reasons. He is also a willing and (so far) honest partner with Darth Vader (who by now falls squarely in the Dark Is Not Evil camp) and is fully cooperating with him to defend the galaxy against the Yuuzhan Vong invasion that is soon to come. It might not be saying much, but the presence of Darth Plagueis is leagues better for the Galaxy when compared to Darth Sidious.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Rona'Ba, the Aing-Tii that Vader and Plagueis meet to get insight into the strange temporal phenomena Vader's been encountering, warns that the Yuuzhan Vong are coming decades sooner than they were meant to.
- A House Divided:
- The Jedi in general appear to be quite divided on Anakin, mostly due to his connection to Vader, whom they are even more divided over.
- It's later clarified that it's not just the matter of Anakin, the Jedi are very divided on the entire matter of Vader and the enforced truce with the Sith. Obi-Wan mentally refers to the resulting different ideologies as the Stubborn Faction (those like Mace Windu and the Dark Woman, who refuse to trust Vader) and the Considering Faction (those like Yoda and Yarael Poof, who are giving the truce a chance).
- Mind Screw: The arc set on the Heinsnake planet quickly turns into this, as Vader and the Jedi encounter some sort of Time Crash that has them running into versions of themselves from multiple outcomes of their choices since setting foot on the planet.
- Mook Lieutenant: Admiral Pyrl serves as Vader's Number Two while the Executor is still out of contact with the rest of Death Squadron.
- Noodle Incident:
- The Dark Woman once kidnapped Anakin for some reason. No one is willing to let her live it down.
- At some point during the Time Skip, the Dark Woman and several likeminded Jedi hunted down Vader in a distant star system and were attacked by something which killed the others, leaving the Dark Woman convinced that it had been a trap on Vader's part. Vader explains that in actuality, whatever it was that attacked the Jedi also attacked his forces.
- Odd Friendship: Since their alliance against Darth Sidious in the first story, Vader has this with Yarael Poof.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Vader was evidently involved in the Huk War, and whatever he did was enough to earn so much respect among the Kaleesh that they now view him as a living god.
- Oh, Crap!: Vader's reaction when he learns that one of his lost Star Destroyers has been found destroyed. More specifically when he learns its location and realizes that it stumbled on the Heinsnake cult.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: No one is willing to let the Dark Woman forget the time she kidnapped Anakin.
- Point of Divergence:
- Vader's presence in the past continues to have ripple effects. In the first chapter alone, he manages to prevent Yarael Poof's death by intercepting Ashaar Khorda's attempt to use the Infant of Shaa as a weapon against Coruscant and killing him, thereby preventing Khorda from ever mortally wounding Poof in the fight over the idol.
- Palpatine's Force storm on Coruscant had damage and aftereffects that are lingering even years later, causing many people to relocate elsewhere. For instance, Obi-Wan's friend Dex (the restaurant owner from Attack of the Clones) has moved his business to Taris on the Outer Rim.
- Pragmatic Villainy: As Vader explains to Jango, he only prevented Khorda's attack on Coruscant because he didn't want the planet to be martyred for the failing Republic.
- Reality Bleed:
- Plagueis speculates that the Time Crash on the Heinsnake planet was caused by this — since Vader was essentially repeating his actions there in the previous timeline, those future events started imposing themselves on the present.
- A more clearcut version occurs when Anakin enters the Cave of the Dark Side on Dagobah and speaks with Luke from the original timeline. The two quickly deduce that they're not just communicating across time but also different realities, due to the number of inconsistencies between what the latter knows of history and what the former has already experienced.
- Red Baron: As the Dark Woman notes, Vader earned himself the name "Vesdon gan Grozzal" for his actions during the Huk War, which, when translated from Kaleesh, means "The Terror To Whom We Kneel".
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: The Dark Woman is right that Vader has lost track of several of his ships, but she believes that it's due to in-fighting among his forces, not being aware that they were scattered by the time travel.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: When the variations of all the characters on the Heinsnake planet are merged back together, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and the Dark Woman all have flashes of their deaths in the original timeline.
- Secret-Keeper: At some point during the Time Skip, Vader recruited Jango Fett, and apparently told him everything about being from the future, since they both openly refer to Boba as Jango's son.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Yarael Poof is never killed by Ashaar Khorda, as Vader kills him first.
- Time Crash: On the Heinsnake cult's planet, something causes Vader and the Jedi to splinter into numerous duplicates based on all the possible outcomes of every choice they've made since coming to the planet. And on exploring the cult's temple, it's abandoned until Vader reaches the chamber of the cult's superweapon, which causes its absent power source crystal to suddenly appear in Vader's hand and the planet to start self-destructing as it did in the old timeline, during which Vader sees flashes of the cult members flickering in and out of existence. All of this convinces Vader that something is wrong with time itself.
- Time Skip: Picks up five years after the end of Hero of Naboo.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: Vader eventually realizes that Death Squadron's ships didn't all arrive in the past at the same time.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Anakin, due to his tutalage under Qui-Gon and experiences with Vader in the first fic, is a lot less temperamental than he was in canon. That does not stop him from being a snarky Skywalker, however.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Plagueis gains Padme's trust by claiming to have been a victim of Sidious' schemes, instantly earning her sympathy. To be fair, Plagueis isn't wrong since he would've ended up six feet under by his own apprentice if it wasn't for Vader's presence being a Spanner in the Works.
