Battle of Fortress Vader

"Mustafar is our world. We have already lost so much. The lifefires barely burn. It is time to come together&hellip;and save what is left."

- Kkkt

The Battle of Fortress Vader was fought on the planet Mustafar at some point during the reign of the Galactic Empire when the Southern Mustafarians rose up to save what was left of their world after Darth Vader caused the planet to scream as he built his castle.

Prelude
"Even the beasts themselves conspire to thwart my vision. Fascinating. Utterly fascinating."

- Momin

After killing two rogue Inquisitors during a chase on Coruscant, Emperor Palpatine gave Darth Vader the planet Mustafar to build himself a personal stronghold. The fortress was designed by the disembodied spirit of an ancient Sith Lord named Momin. The construction of the castle unleashed a great deal of Dark Side energy, which was sensed by a Force-sensitive elder of a nearby tribe of Mustafarians. Through several different iterations of construction Darth Vader and Momin attempted to open some kind of Dark Side portal. Each time the portal started to open, there were cataclysimic effects on the surrounding landscape, which was extremely dangerous for the native tribes and fauna. There were small uprisings of Mustafarians over the months or perhaps years of the castle's construction. Sometimes, large herds of lava fleas would attack the castle, which caused even Momin himself to marvel. None of these small uprisings proved to be more than the Imperial garrison could handle.

Final battle
"There will be no evacuation. There will be no retreat. You will destroy the attackers. You will teach them the meaning of Empire. Here. I will show you."

- Darth Vader

When the construction was complete on the ninth iteration of Vader's castle, the Sith once again attempted to open the portal, but they were stopped by reports of another, unprecendented attack by the native population, led by the Force-sensitive Mustafarian Kkkt. Frustrated, Vader was forced to leave in order to aid his troops in fending off the attack, lest the castle be overrun and destroyed. In Vader's absence, Momin once again activated the portal, despite his claims that he could not use the Force in his disembodied state. Momin's original body stepped through the portal, and the ancient Sith Lord was fully ressurected, thousands of years after his death.

The Imperial garrison found themselves quickly overwhelmed by the attackers, but Vader was able to turn the tide of the battle. Seeing an opportunity to destroy Vader, Kkkt rallied more mystics of his tribe to call on the "Blood of Mustafar," which is presumably a manifestation of the Force. Kkkt and his mystics were able to summon a great wave of lava that washed over all of the Empire's forces, leaving no survivors except for Vader himself, who used the Force to lift himself to safety, but not without serious damage to his suit and cybernetics. Vader reentered the cave beneath his castle in order to open the portal, which once again released cataclysmic levels of Dark Side energy, burning what was left of the Mustafarian resistance.

Duel in the Sith cave
"Momin. I warned you of the consequences for betrayal."

- Darth Vader

Momin was waiting for Vader to return. He attacked, and the two Sith Lords dueled for some time. Momin clearly had the upper hand because of the damage that Vader had sustained during the battle. Momin taunted Vader, claiming that they ought to serve the Dark Side, not seek to control it. He also said that Vader would never be able to open the Dark Side door, as it would have rejected him. Momin lamented the apparent decline of the Sith's power in the thousands of years since his death, calling Vader and Sidious "Jedi-obsessed weaklings". Vader was gravely wounded during the duel, but he was able to reach out with the Force and crush Momin beneath an enormous stone. A disbelieving Momin died for the second time.

Appearances

 * Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith 23: Fortress Vader, Part V
 * Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith 24: Fortress Vader, Part VI
 * Tales from Vader's Castle 5: The Terror of Darth Vader