bedlamsbard | Kaiju are our speciality (Reply)

rthstewart's prompt over on the 3 Sentence Ficathon reminded me that I've actually spent the past few months quietly world-building a Star Wars/Pacific Rim crossover (because you don't get much more Drift-compatible than the pair canonically described as "complementary halves of the same warrior").

ETA: This is basically more Star Wars with added Kaiju than Pacific Rim with added Jedi, since it sticks pretty close to the Star Wars canon. Except, you know, with GIANT SPACE MONSTERS.

Also on Tumblr.

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The first Breach opens in space in 32 BBY in the Mid Rim and makes planetfall on Naboo in the midst of Amidala's reconquest of the planet and the battle between the Naboo and the Trade Federation. Nicknamed Maul, it is eventually killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi, but not before it kills Qui-Gon Jinn and wrecks half of Theed. After investigation by the Jedi Council and a Senate Committee, it's decided that it was an aberration and unlikely to occur again.

Life resumes. The appearance of the Kaiju is forgotten -- after all, inexplicable things occur in the galaxy every day. The general consensus by Jedi scholars is that it had sprung from the same source as the exogorth, the giant space worm from ESB, although a few members of the High Council nurse a private suspicion that it may have its origin in the Dark Side of the Force. Old accounts in the Temple speak of massive monsters created and controlled by the Sith, but they haven't been seen in millennia and are believed to be extinct -- like the Sith. Besides, the Leviathans didn't originate in space the way this creature did.

Ten years later, the second Kaiju makes an appearance in the Geonosis system, destroying several Republic star destroyers before making planetfall in the midst of the First Battle of Geonosis. It's eventually killed by aerial bombardment, but not before it manages to destroy a large portion of the Republic troops on the planet. There are some Separatist casualties, but not compared to the Republic ones, which goes a long way towards convincing the Senate that the Kaiju are a new CIS weapon that was first tested on Naboo ten years previously.

During the Clone Wars, the Kaiju appear with increasing frequency. Jaegers are developed to fight them in space, after it becomes clear that the average star destroyer can't stand up to a Kaiju attack. Kaiju are more vulnerable after they've made planetfall, but they can do far more damage then. Better to fight them in space, although there's some experimenting to see if they can be directed at Separatist planets rather than Republic ones. They destroy more or less indiscriminately, but given that they almost exclusively appear in Republic space, it's essentially a failed experiment.

The first Jaegers are developed for use by the Jedi; the first Drift is only accessible through the Force. Like the Kaiju, they can fight in space or on-planet. Initially, they're meant to be piloted by only a single Jedi, but the neural load turns out to be too great for a single Force-user. It's not easy for a pair of Jedi to work together like that, to be so intimate; it goes against everything they're taught and trained for. The most successful Jaeger pairs turn out to be Masters and Padawans, or former Masters and Padawans, though there are a handful of exceptions.

The Jedi Temple doesn't nickname the Jaegers. It's the HoloNet that does that, encouraged by the Supreme Chancellor, who argues that it humanizes both the Jaegers and the Jedi. The Jedi don't particularly care about being humanized, since even Jaeger pilots are still expected to ask as generals and lead clone armies when the Kaiju aren't attacking.

The most famous Jaeger is the Hero With No Fear, piloted by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. Its last action is in the Battle of Coruscant, where Anakin, piloting alone after Obi-Wan is knocked out, kills the Kaiju Tyrannus. Obi-Wan is the only Jedi to ever kill a Kaiju without a Jaeger, as a lone Jedi on the ground with a lightsaber; Anakin is the only Jedi to ever pilot a Jaeger solo. Both are equally extraordinary. The HoloNet loves them.

The Jedi Jaegers are all destroyed as part of Order 66. None survive the Fall of the Republic. It's believed that none of the pilots survive either; none of them make it to their Jaegers in time to have a fighting chance against their clone troops. The only Jaeger in space is destroyed by its escort star destroyers immediately after killing the last Kaiju to appear in the lifetime of the Galactic Republic.

Obi-Wan never forgives himself for not being able to see Anakin's imminent betrayal in the Drift. If he hadn't been knocked out, if Anakin hadn't had to pilot alone -- would he still have turned to the Dark Side? Did Tyrannus do something to him while Obi-Wan was held unconscious in his harness and Anakin ripped the Kaiju's head off with his one remaining hand? He'll never know.

During the rise of the Empire, Kaiju appear much less frequently and generally only on the fringes of civilized space, though occasionally they manifest in systems involved in open rebellion against the Empire. Starships who operate on the fringes are often outfitted with guns large enough to, if not kill a Kaiju, at least distract it long enough to jump to hyperspace. There are rumors that Kaiju have started appearing in hyperspace too, that the semi-mythical Breach is its own dimension, like hyperspace, but nobody can verify the rumor.

There are several attempts made to recreate the Jaegers, but nobody can work out how to accomplish the Drift without using the Force. Scientists involved in these projects tend to die in tragic "accidents," though several are in fact spirited away by the Rebel Alliance. Princess Leia Organa embarks on a mission to the planet Tatooine to find the last surviving Jaeger pilot, Obi-Wan Kenobi, hoping that he'll be able to solve the mystery of the Drift. She also carries proof that the Empire is controlling the Breach and where it opens. En route, she is captured by the Empire and taken to the newly-completed Death Star.

The first great Kaiju to appear since the end of the Clone Wars appears in the Alderaan system in 0 BBY. The Empire debuts the Death Star and destroys both Alderaan and the Kaiju, publicly claiming that the destruction of the planet was necessary since the Kaiju had already made planetfall. Privately, Moff Tarkin tells Leia that what happened to Alderaan can happen to any target the Empire chooses -- both Kaiju attack and destruction by Death Star. Previously, the Breach could only open wide enough to Class 1-3 Kaiju. On the Death Star is a device that will hold the Breach open long enough to release not only larger Kaiju like the one that attacked Alderaan -- planet-killers -- but multiple Kaiju at once.

Obi-Wan Kenobi never does have a chance to tell the Alliance how to re-establish the Drift, if he even knows.

The destruction of the Death Star in the Battle of Yavin temporarily halts the ability of the Empire to open a larger Breach, though the appearance of smaller Kaiju becomes more frequent in the galaxy. One makes planetfall on Hoth, though not before the majority of the Alliance is able to evacuate. Rather than destroying it, the Empire just leaves it there.

When Luke goes to Dagobah, one of the questions he asks Yoda is about the Drift. He never gets a good answer. The Jaegers are never rebuilt. As far as anyone knows, you need two Jedi to operate one Jaeger, and Luke is the last Jedi in the galaxy.

The Second Death Star begins to open the largest Breach yet in the Endor system, forcing the Alliance fleet to fight off not only Imperial ships, but also the small Kaiju that are the first to escape the Breach. After Vader turns back to the Light Side and kills the Emperor, he asks Luke to help him to the station that controls the Breach, then makes Luke leave him behind so that he can do what has to be done as a planet-killer Kaiju starts to claw its way into realspace. Anakin Skywalker, the last Jedi Jaeger pilot, drops the Death Star into the Breach and triggers the self-destruct, closing the Breach for good.

And the galaxy moves on.