What No Ones's Saying About Dwight Howard

How times have changed for Dwight Howard. It wasn’t that long ago that he was believed to be the key to winning an NBA championship. He helped lead the Orlando Magic to the NBA Finals in 2009 and appeared to be headed for superstardom and regular appearances in the NBA’s Big Show. Unfortunately, his career hit a snag (or at least a Brendan Haywood elbow) when a back injury caused him to miss a huge chunk of the 2011-12 season. It turned out to be his final season in Orlando.

The Magic built a beautiful, state-of-the-art arena for him, they fired an outstanding head coach for him, and then, sensing his lack of loyalty, they traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Heralded as the next dominant force in LA, another Shaquille O’Neal to pair with Kobe Bryant, Howard would spend just one season with the Lakers. The pressure of playing in LA and the constant pressure from Bryant to work harder and play better seemed too much for Howard, who managed just 17.1 points and 12.4 rebounds per game in a disappointing season for LA, which ended with a 0-4 sweep at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs.

Despite his struggles, Howard was the biggest name in free agency during the summer of 2013. He talked to a number of the interested teams, but ultimately chose Houston, where Chandler Parsons and James Harden had been heavily recruiting him for months. The Rockets, too, heralded Howard as the championship harbinger, with fans talking about him as the second coming of Hakeem Olajuwon. 

Once, again, however, Howard fell short of expectations. It wasn’t entirely his fault, of course, as the Rockets’ dysfunctional front office gave him an unproven head coach in Kevin McHale and shoot-first, shoot-second co-star in James Harden, whose unwillingness to feed Dwight the ball was matched only by his unwillingness to play defense. Howard’s play became every more uninspired, going from 18.3 points per game in his first year to 15.8 in his second and then 13.7 in his third.

So what’s next for Howard? He has the ability to opt out in July, and it’s extremely likely he will do so. Yet no one considers him a top free agent target, with Kevin Durant, LeBron James (also option), Andre Drummond (restricted) and even former Rockets point guard Mike Conley considered to be more desirable.  With that in mind, we take a look at the best options for Dwight as he looks to get his career back on track.

1) The Houston Rockets

The first option, of course, is the Rockets, who would like to have him back and can pay him the most money. Mike D’Antoni is now in place as their head coach, and there’s a chance that he could have the same kind of impact on Dwight as he had on Amar’e Stoudemire, who was a force to be reckoned with in D’Antoni’s offense in Phoenix. That’s a stretch, though, as D’Antoni couldn’t squeeze that kind of play out of Dwight when they were both with the Lakers. Of course, there’s still the matter of Harden’s lack of team play, but the bigger issue is at point guard. The Suns had one of the best floor leaders of all time in Steve Nash, and no matter who the Rockets sign or acquire this offseason they will not have a Nash-esque floor leader when the ball goes up on the 2016-17 season. What’s most likely is that Dwight will leave $23.2 million on the table in Houston and take radically less to play elsewhere.

2) The Dallas Mavericks

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was less than impressed when Howard refused to even meet with the Mavs before singing with the Rockets. A strong argument could be made that the Mavs were closer to competing for a championship with Dwight in the mix than Houston was. The aforementioned Parsons has been in Dallas and still recruiting his friend, as he did in Houston three years ago. More importantly, for Dwight to return to prominence he has to change his game and there is no one better equipped to do that than Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle. No coach in the league is as good at analyzing a player’s strengths and weaknesses and using that analysis to maximize their effectiveness. He would ask a lot of Dwight, both on the court, in practice and in the locker room. He would demand that Dwight put himself second, become a good teammate and transform his game to be more than a dunker. He would demand that Dwight play hard on both ends of the court regardless of his touches. He would also make sure Dwight got plenty of touches in the right places. Like Houston, Dallas offers tax incentives that add to their overall attractiveness for a free agent. The Mavs aren’t contenders with Dwight in the mix, but they are far better than the Rockets would be with D2 back in uniform.

3) The New York Knicks

Most recently the Knicks have emerged as strong suitors for Dwight, and they have a solid case to make. Carmelo is still in his prime and one of the most prolific scorers in the NBA. He isn’t quite as inattentive to the defensive end as Harden, and he is a bit more willing to pass than Houston’s black hole. Derrick Rose is not the player he was before the knee injuries, but he is still a very capable floor leader and would make sure Dwight got plenty of looks right at the rim. Kristaps Pozingis had a stellar season and is reminiscent of the power forwards who benefitted from playing alongside Dwight in Orlando. The Knicks can also bring back elite shooter Arron Afflalo, giving Dwight plenty of options on the perimeter and therefore a little space to operate in the paint. Of course, there are issues in New York, too. If Dwight can’t get his attitude right or get his game back, he would struggle under the media scrutiny that comes from playing in the NBA’s largest media market. If Rose continues to struggle, the Knicks can’t just rely on Dwight or Carmelo to carry them. Finally, if Carmelo doesn’t play enough defense or pass enough for Dwight, their locker room will implode. It’s not a perfect fit, but there is interesting potential in New York.

At the end of the day, for Dwight to get his game back on track and return to the ranks of the NBA’s elite, he’s going to have to put his ego aside and start fresh. It’s going to take the right environment, the right coach, the right co-stars for that to happen, and the one place where all of those factors exist is in Dallas. The Mavs have had trouble landing their free agent targets, but there are plenty of reasons why they should land this one. It’s not a championship waiting to happen, but there are enough intangibles to make Dallas worth watching with D12 in the mix.

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Sustaining a Revolution

          At this moment, all across America, there is a revolution going on. If you don’t

believe it, just ask anyone wearing a hat, shirt or button bearing the name Bernie

Sanders. What they’re calling a revolution is really more like a revolt against the

super-rich who call the shots in America’s version of democracy, which is really

nothing of the sort. At worst, America is a fascist nation; at best, it operates under a

sort of pseudo-socialism where the middle class supports the poor and the rich bear

no responsibility to anyone.

          Makes sense to stage a revolution, right? It’s not fair for one percent of a country’s

population to hold 90 percent of the nation’s wealth, especially when that came

about because they bought the necessary lawmakers to assure that it would.

Problem is, it’s not really a revolution. Not really. The masses who are turning out to

cheer on Sanders are supporting just one man, and that man can’t possibly bring

about any substantial change to the status quo in Washington D.C. no matter what

he does. Just ask Barack Obama.

           We witnessed a similar phenomenon when Obama began his campaign to be

President by talking about changing Washington in most of the same ways that

Sanders is now igniting crowds by discussing. Now we are in Obama’s final year as

President, and while the tone and manor of the presidency is blissfully different

from the George W. Bush years, nothing has changed substantially.

          The rich have gotten richer, the poor have gotten poorer, campaign finance

continues to be little more than the outright purchase of elected officials by the

uber-rich, we continue to allow industries to pollute at will and push the planet

closer and closer to a condition that will not sustain human life . . .and on and on.

          It takes more than one man . . .one person . . .to bring about any substantial

change, no matter how popular that person might be.

          It’s going to take a coalition to change Washington and the status quo of

American politics. It’s going to take a team of leaders running for Senate and

House seats in conjunction with a visionary leader like Obama or Sanders to

spearhead the effort from the only podium everyone really pays attention to: the

presidential candidate podium.

          What it’s going to take to bring back the American dream of equal

opportunity for all and a truer version of democracy is a coalition not unlike the

Marvel Superhero Avengers or the DC Comics Justice League. It takes an entire

team espousing the values Bernie Sanders embrace, the most important of which

is arguably campaign finance reform. After all, if our elected officials answer to large

corporations instead of the people who elected them, what we have is not a democracy

but the textbook definition of fascism.

          The presidential platform is interesting, and the person elected certainly wields a

great deal of power over a wide range of areas. The power to change the way

Washington politics works, however, can only be claimed by a large coalition of like-

minded candidates who work together to bring about such change.

          For that kind of coalition to come about, it’s going to take a huge majority of people

who don’t just attend rallies for volunteer in droves for presidential candidates. It’s

going to take a movement that encompasses all elections, from local lawmakers to

national and everything in between. It’s going to take sustained energy, passion and

enthusiasm across a the country, a movement that works tirelessly all year every

year for America to really evolve beyond the corporate fascism that has wound its

roots around and throughout the entire political system.

          Until that happens, people like Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama will continue to

inspire millions but fall well short of their ambitious goals.

          What can those who consider themselves to be part of the Sanders revolution do?

First and foremost, they have to vote. Being excited and attending rallies is cool, but if

you don't bother to show up at the ballot box you might as well have been sitting at home

watching reality TV and sucking down a margarita. Second, be sure the candidates you're

voting for represent - or at least claim to represent the same standards that make you

excited about Bernie. Finally, once you vote, hold those representatives accountable by

following their actions taken on your behalf. When they deviate from the path they promised

while campaigning, call and/or email their offices and demand to know why they deviated.

          It's not enough to start a revolution; you have to participate and see it through

to the very end.

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Trumping the Republican Agenda

For the past decade or so the Republican Party has been working hard to procure permanent Republican districts all around the United States. No, they haven’t been doing it in the traditional way, which involves listening to constituents, educating them on the tough issues and thereby gaining their trust and their votes. Instead Republicans have been gerrymandering districts to slice up blue areas and lump them in with predominantly red areas, and when that hasn’t worked they have targeted demographics that typically vote Democratic and made it as difficult as possible for them to vote.

Republicans have worked hard to prevent college students from being able to utilize absentee ballots while away at college. They have also passed bills that disallow student IDs as valid forms of identification. One New Hampshire lawmaker – State House leader Bill O’Brien – was even caught on tape admitting that his bill that would have banned out-of-state students from voting was designed specifically to stop students from “basically doing what I did when I was a kid: voting as a liberal.”

The GOP has also been working to prevent the poor – who benefit the most from Democratic policies – from voting. They generally do it under the banner of preventing voter fraud, but by requiring a valid driver’s license they do not impact illegal votes nearly as much as they do the poor, many of whom cannot afford to own a car and therefore do not need a driver’s license. To make matters worse, they have also made a habit of closing voting locations in poorer areas, meaning people without cars have a harder time getting to their ballot boxes.

For the record, in the last presidential election illegal immigrants attempting to vote comprised less than one-hundredth of one percent of the votes cast. The real issue is not prohibiting illegal residents from voting; the real issue is trying to find ways to keep Democratic bases from casting votes.

(For more examples of attempts at voter suppression, link here!)

Considering the great lengths the GOP went to as they attempted to prevent Barrack Obama from being elected President of the United States, it’s astounding that Obama is finishing up his second term in the job.

This time around the same machinery that worked tirelessly to prevent an Obama presidency is in high gear trying to prevent his heir apparent – Bernie Sanders – from taking a turn in the Oval Office. Unfortunately for the Republican Party, their strategy may well backfire on them this time.

Sanders has an even more Progressive agenda than Obama, and Wall Street executives are busier than ever writing checks and holding fundraisers for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to try and combat the movement that is powering Sanders’ campaign. Trouble is, the Republicans have not put forward a candidate that excites the base that their party has spent so much time chiseling out for themselves. Conservative Christians aren’t interested in the morally reckless Trump, and the one-issue voters can’t find themselves in his contradictory rhetoric, either. I have some friends who only vote based on one issue and they say they would rather not vote than cast a ballot in support of Trump.

That got me thinking.

When asked about how he would advance his Progressive agenda with a Congress that does nothing but block anything and everything the President attempts to accomplish, he points out that if he is elected President it will mean that a massive groundswell of Progressive voters have shown up. It’s reasonable to believe, then, that the makeup of Congress will have also shifted to support that same agenda.

It can only help that the typical one-issue voters, who invariably vote for the Republican ticket, are thinking about staying home on Election Day. It may be that none of the right wing’s voter suppression measures are as effective in keeping voters away as their own choice for Republican nominee.

The most honest way to run for President of the United States is to stand before your audience, state your vision for the country and explain why your vision is the best and how you plan to implement it. This way of running for President is so rare that many of you scoffed at the seeming naïveté of that statement. It’s rare for a political candidate to stand before crowds of people with different backgrounds and make the case for the same agenda day after day, but in the Presidential Election of 2016, much as in 2008 and 2012, there is such a candidate.

Bernie Sanders doesn’t change his tune, and his vision for America is consistent with the Progressive agenda he has fought for throughout his run as the longest-tenured Independent in U.S. congressional history. There is absolutely no ambiguity about what you get when you throw your support to Sanders: a hard-working man of the people who will fight for the underdog with ever fiber of his being.

As for the Republicans and their exhaustive voter suppression efforts, making Donald Trump the nominee might just be the ultimate suppression tool.

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Is Bi-Partisanship Possible Any More?

These days the idea of Republicans and Democrats working together to solve the problems facing the United States seems to have gone the way of the do-do. President Obama could find the cure for cancer and Republicans in Congress would block it just to spite him. It's an incredible place to be considering Obama essentially launched his bid for the presidency with a DNC speech in which he pointed out that we are not the red states and the blue states, but rather the United States of America.

What we have in Washington is a complete refusal to compromise, and the entire basis of the separation of powers into three branches of government was to ensure and even force compromise. When one party refuses to compromise they are essentially in breach of the contract that founding fathers made with the people of America when they wrote the Constitution in the first place.

What follows is a proposal that is designed to garner bi-partisan support, even in an era where such a thing is practically unheard of.

One of the biggest issues facing America is unemployment, and while digging into the root causes can be instructive, that isn't the point here. A common Republican talking point is that America is paying out too much money to people who aren't working, while Democrats are typically in favor of giving the unemployed a check, even when they are perfectly capable of earning a living for themselves.

Last year there were a number of companies in Dallas, Texas in need of employees that they weren't able to find. UPS, example, actually started missing guaranteed delivery times because they didn't have enough people to deliver them and no one else was applying. We're talking about a company that, according to its website, is registered with 45 different employment agencies.

The unemployment rate in Dallas is currently 3.8%, meaning approximately 48,000 of Dallas' 1.25 million residents is currently in need of work. Granted, some are disabled, but the vast majority of those unemployed folks are very capable of working. Even a minimum wage job pays more than unemployment, which could be as low as $65 a week for someone who earns $3,000 a month. For more on how Texas calculates your unemployment benefit, click here.

How do we connect the 48,000 unemployed people in Dallas with companies in need of their services? Why not make it a function of the city's unemployment division? Here's how that might work:

1) Companies with job openings could register with the office of unemployment, with each job opening including a list of qualifications and training information.

2) When people apply for unemployment, they would immediately begin taking part in something of a matchmaking service with the unemployment office.

3) Rather than just handing out a check, the unemployment division would start making connections between those who are unemployed and the companies who need help. They could do this independently, or - perhaps to meet the demands of a Republican "small government" mentality - they could work in conjunction with the many unemployment agencies in town.

4) Corporations stand to gain a great deal by investing in the process of educating new workers in their own specialized way, potentially gaining productive long-term employees in the bargain.

There are plenty of details to work out, many of which could be the subject of compromises between the two political parties that would be working to solve the problem of unemployment. At the end of the day, there is enormous potential for a bi-partisan option that both reduces the amount of the city's budget currently being laid out for unemployment and does so without increasing the size of the government. Democrats are happy because people are going back to work, Republicans are happy because less money us being paid out to the unemployed.

Bi-partisan efforts are becoming fewer and farther between in America, where vitriol and bickering have replaced the spirit of compromise first envisioned by the authors of our country's Constitution. Still, with a little cooperation it's still very possible for the two sides of government to come together and work out solutions that are agreeable to both sides and also solve major problems for the people who vote them into office.

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Star Wars Episode I: The Chosen One

This is the first chapter of an upcoming graphic novel taking a more logical and consistent approach to the Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader origin story, with concepts from P. J. Heusinger, who will also be designing and drawing the images for the book. Enjoy!

Chapter One

It was a quiet night, just the way the Jedi Order liked it. In fact, Cole couldn’t remember the last time there was a serious disturbance worthy of the attention of one of the greatest Jedi to ever wield a lightsaber. He could hear Master Yoda’s words echoing in his mind:

“Adventure. Excitement. A Jedi craves not these things.”

So all was as it should be.

But if he was honest with himself, Cole would have to admit he did crave a little adventure. He craved some excitement. In his weakest moments, he might even say that peace was a little  . . . well . . . boring.

He had told Master Yoda that he was just going out on a routine scouting mission, but the truth is

he had read a Bothan report that there had been some Sith activity out around the Belkadan system. The Council essentially dismissed it as an unsubstantiated rumor, but at this point Cole was ready to use anything as an excuse to get out into space. At the very least it would give him time to think.

Marriage was discouraged among the Jedi Order, in fact there were members of the Council who argued that it should be completely forbidden for Jedi to have families.

“If we don’t have families, won’t there come a day when there aren’t any more Jedi?”

Cole’s question to the Order echoed the thoughts of many. It was the one question that had prevented the Order from forbidding marriage prior to now. The best, strongest Jedi still tended to be the offspring of other Jedi.

“Dangerous, marriage is,” Yoda responded every time Cole brought it up. “Love can make one weak, lead to the Dark Side. But great strength it can be, too. Proceed with caution, young Skywalker.”

And so Cole had married his childhood sweetheart, Miliana, and the two were now expecting a baby.

A son.

Whatever excitement the galaxy was stubbornly refusing to yield, Collo Skywalker knew a baby would provide plenty.

That’s why he needed to get out into space for a while. Miliana was consumed with preparations for the baby, and while Cole was excited, he didn’t enjoy going over the same details again and again.

“Maybe Jedi shouldn’t get married,” Cole quipped to his Astromech co-pilot. The little droid whistled a sympathetic note before calling his attention to a blip on the long-range sensors.

“I see it R2,” acknowledged Cole. “That’s what the Bothan report showed, humanoid life form readings on a planet that isn’t easily capable of sustaining human life. Yuuzhan Vong beetles are nasty little beasts that could turn an entire planet’s atmosphere to carbon dioxide if they aren’t caught in time, and that’s exactly what had happened on Belkadan. What was once a pleasant enough forest world was transformed into an oppressively hot greenhouse in relatively short order.

“Remind me not to let Anakin have Yuuzhan Vong beetles for pets, R2,” Cole said. “You know how boys are.”

R2-D2 warbled a reply that sounded distinctly sarcastic. R2 had been with Cole most of his life, and he knew very much how boys could be. When Cole requisitioned his prototype StealthX he was told he would have to use an advanced R9 Astromech droid, but he insisted his R2 unit could handle the specialized controls . . .and he had been right.

“Did you just roll your eyes at me?!?”

Bleep. Bleep. Squawk!

“I know, I know. You don’t have eyes.”

Cole examined the readings pouring out of the scanner, called up a closer view of one area in particular. Biting his lip determinedly, he changed course and pointed the nose of his StealthX towards the surface of Belkadan.

“I’m just going in for a closer look,” Cole explained in response to a questioning (objecting?) series of bleeps from behind him. “I doubt there’s anyone down there looking out for company, but if there is our thermal dissipaters and gravitic modulator should keep us from attracting any attention.”

Another series of plaintive bleeps erupted from behind Cole’s cockpit.

“No, thanks, R2. I’d like to keep it on manual control for this detour. Don’t worry, at the first sign of trouble we’ll head home. I just want to get a better reading on that life form in sector three.”

Skimming the outermost layer of the planet’s atmosphere, Cole positioned his StealthX above sector three, and the strange readings he detected on the long-range scan. It was the same reading he read about on the Bothan’s report, and upon closer examination the reading was even stronger . . .and even less ambiguous. There was a humanoid presence down on the surface, perhaps two.

Cole reached out with The Force . . .trying to get a sense of who might be down there. After a few moments, he pointed the nose of his specialized X-Wing straight down while scanning for a clearing large enough to land. Noting the objections from R2, he also did a quick scan of the atmosphere. High concentrations of sulfur and carbon dioxide were still evident, but he should be able to withstand those conditions long enough to be sure what he saw on his scanner and sensed through The Force was true.

The Council would want a full report before approving a mission to confront a new Sith threat, and they might not have that kind of time. Cole understood why such procedures and safeguards were in place, but it could also be frustrating to wait for the ponderous wheels of bureaucracy to turn. He decided it would be better to go ahead and determine the precise nature of the threat at hand before turning the matter over for deliberation and debate.

As his landing skids touched down, Cole gave R2 his standard instructions and donned the automated distress signal designed to alert R2 in the event of an emergency.

“If anything happens to me, take the ship back to Coruscant and get help.”

R2 objected, which seemed to be his primary function of late, but accepted that his master was going to do what he was going to do despite his objections.

“I have a bad feeling about this, too, R2, but we need to know more about this threat before we report back to the Council. The only way to know more is for me to go get a closer look.”

With that, he clipped his lightsaber to his belt and headed carefully and quietly out into the deep underbrush and tall, moss-covered trees of Belkadan.

Cole had been careful to set his ship down a good 300 meters from his target so as to avoid attracting attention prematurely. The downside, of course, was that he had to make his way through tangles of vines and thorny bushes while also watching out for local creatures that might fancy a little snack of Jedi flesh or blood. As he neared the location where he sensed the Sith-like presence, a small hive of Yuuzhan Vong beetles attacked and he had to ignite his lightsaber to dispatch them. He hadn’t wanted to do that so close to his target, but the whole trip would be for nothing if he didn’t even make it to the target.

As Cole deactivated his saber and replaced it on his belt, he heard what sounded like a clapping sound. Moments later a voice interrupted the peaceful forest chorus and confirmed Cole’s worst fear. He had been discovered.

“Nicely done, my old adversary,” came the unmistakable voice of Lord Antares. “I didn’t know the Jedi had stooped to using bugs as training dummies. You’ll find our Sith methods are much more sophisticated.”

As Antares finished speaking Cole heard the familiar hiss-hum of lightsabers igniting, and while he saw Antares some twenty meters in front of him, it was the other one that concerned him . . .the one he couldn’t immediately see.

“Allow me to introduce Darth Sidious, my apprentice,” said Antares, gesturing behind Cole. The latter turned his head slightly to see what he had already sensed. There was another cloaked figure emerging from the gloom, red blade ignited and glowing. “We’ve been looking forward to your arrival. It was I, of course, who allowed the Bothans to report our presence here. I knew the Jedi Order would most likely ignore the report, meaning you, their most celebrated champion, would be unable to resist exploring on your own. Didn’t Master Yoda give you his standard spiel about Jedi not seeking adventure?”

While Antares was talking Cole carefully positioned himself to defend against an attack from either angle, knowing that lightsabers were the least of his worries if Sidious was anything like Antares. Every Sith lord has a unique Force power and Cole was more than prepared for Antares’ Force Fire, but what if this Sidious character was far enough to along to have his own?

“I’m not sure I consider you to be an ‘adventure,’” Cole responded. “More like an enigma. Why do you insist on pursuing power for its own sake? Peace and justice will always prevail in the end.”

“Ahhh, but which form peace and justice will take is always open to the interpretation of those in power. Soon I will be the one who decides what it means to be at peace and what it means to have justice.”

Suddenly the air around Cole erupted into flames, appearing to set him and everything around him on fire. While Cole writhed in pain, Antares rushed him, his saber spinning so fast that it looked like a sphere rather than a blade. As he prepared to dissect the apparently helpless Cole, the latter abruptly stopped writhing, leapt to his feet and used his lightsaber to parry the blow from his over-eager opponent.

Cole had been preparing for another encounter with Antares and his Force Fire, and he subconsciously rubbed the scar on his right forearm as he prepared to test his new defense. He had been trained in the ancient Jedi art of Tutaminis during his time at the academy, but anything that isn’t used often tends to rust.

Qui-Gon Jinn had asked Cole to accompany him to Naboo, where the local government, which turned out to be the surface government only, asked for help with an apparent Sith uprising. It was before Naboo was admitted to the Republic, and because the locals tended to keep to themselves the planet was rarely the subject of discussion amongst the Senate or the Jedi Order either one. It turned out that Darth Antares was, indeed, using Naboo as a training ground for his new apprentice, a local of the surface race. The planet had a core made entirely of water, which made it ideal for secretive Sith exercises. It wasn’t until the young apprentice began terrorizing the underwater race of Gungans that Antares moved his training sessions to the surface, where the peace-loving Nubians wasted no time calling for help. Cole and Qui-Gon were able to sneak up on the Sith pair during a training exercise and rough them up, but in the process Antares had scalded Cole’s arm with his Force Lightning. He’d need three days in a bacta tank to repair the damage, and it was a mistake he was not about to repeat.    

Thanks to that experience, Cole knew just how to act to make it look like he was in helpless agony, and his ploy worked perfectly.

Taking advantage of Antares’ momentary confusion, Cole brought his own blue blade down hard, knocking Antares to the ground as his crimson blade flew out of his hand, disengaged and landed harmlessly out of sight.

Seizing the moment, knowing Sidious would soon join the fray, Cole brought his blade down quickly and decisively, separating the stunned and confused Antares’ head from his shoulders, perhaps a little too easily. A strange kind of light (was it lightning?) appeared to have enveloped Antares just as he fell, but Cole didn’t have time to think about that. Darth Sidious was closing fast.

Curiously, Sidious didn’t have his lightsaber drawn, and he seemed to be laughing, which caught Cole off guard.

“You’ve just done me a great favor, pity I won’t be able to return it,” said Sidious, smiling.

“You’re certainly right about that,” returned Cole. “You’ll be joining your Sith master in hell momentarily.”

As he raised his Jedi weapon, however, something shot out of Sidious’ hands and his body froze, completely unable to move. He fell back helplessly, willing his arm to raise his lightsaber and deflect the attack from Sidious, but his muscles had stopped responding to the signals going out from his brain.

As abruptly as the shooting pain had begun, it stopped, though Cole was still completely unable to move much of anything voluntarily.

“So this is how it ends for the ‘great’ Collo Skywalker, is it? Antares was right, your overconfidence is your greatest weakness. I do appreciate your assistance in killing him so I can begin my own rise to power, but I’m afraid I can’t let you stand in my way. It occurred to me to try and recruit you as my own apprentice, but I think your noble sensibilities would prevent you from sharing my vision of universal domination.”

Sidious raised his hands in the direction of the sprawled, gasping Skywalker.

“Pity,” he said with finality.

As Force lightning lit up what was an otherwise dark Belkadan night, the last thing that raced through Cole Skywalker’s mind as he clung to his last few moments of consciousness was what would happen to his wife, how she would raise their son without him, and what the future would hold for little Anakin.

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