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Post by therealthing on Mar 7, 2007 17:15:12 GMT -5
Chapter 1
“Lord Vader, we have the corvette aboard.”
The ebony clad giant simply nodded his understanding as he rose to his feet. “A squadron of stormtroopers,” he said in his deep baritone. “Have them meet me in the docking bay immediately.”
“Yes my lord.”
Lord Darth Vader made his way from his Spartan quarters to the turbo-lift, preparing himself for the inevitable confrontation with the rebel scum aboard the ship. Several transmissions had been received by the Corellian Corvette, transmissions sent by members of the Rebel Alliance. Whoever it is, they will lead me to the Rebel Base. This is it…the break I have been waiting for. Perhaps this will appease my master…
Vader gave an involuntary shudder as he thought of his last audience with the galactic Emperor Palpatine. The emperor held Vader personally responsible for the spread of the Rebel Alliance, and did not make any pretense about it, punishing his apprentice both physically and psychologically for his failure to locate the Rebels’ base. And now he has that ghoul Tarkin breathing down my neck, Vader thought angrily, humiliated that the devious officer had been promoted to the position of Grand Moff and given command of the Death Star. That command should have been mine, Vader reflected irritably. Instead I have been relegated to chasing the rebel scum all over the galaxy. This ignominy only made Vader hate the Rebel Alliance more. I almost pity the commander of this vessel, he thought darkly as he strode down the corridor towards the hangar bay. A squadron of storm troopers were waiting for Vader outside the small ship. They parted to allow him to approach the vessel.
“Open it,” he said simply when he reached the magnetically sealed hatch of the vessel. Vader stood back and allowed the clones to do their work, preparing himself to face what lie within. No doubt they will try to stop us, he mused as he watched the clones at their work. Within a few moments they had brought down the door, and were flooding into the ship in a sea of white armor.
Vader let the clones do their work, easily repelling the rebels’ pathetic attempt to stop the Imperial invasion. He stepped around the dead bodies of the men who had died to defend whoever was on board this vessel, ignoring them utterly in his quest to find the commander. “The Death Star plans are not in the main computer,” the commander of the clone squadron informed Vader.
Vader turned his menacing, black helmed head to Captain Antilles, the commander of the hapless vessel. He reached out one enormous black gloved hand and grabbed Antilles roughly by the neck, lifting him easily off the floor.
“Where are those transmissions you intercepted?” Vader growled. “What have you done with those plans?”
Antilles, loyal to the end, maintained his ignorance. “We intercepted no transmissions!” he gasped. “This is a consular ship. We’re on a diplomatic mission!” he wheezed. Vader was not convinced.
“If this is a consular ship,” Vader pronounced with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “Where is the Ambassador?”
Antilles still refused to speak, but eventually screamed in pain as Vader squeezed his enormous fist tighter. Soon the sound of snapping bones was heard, and Antilles went limp in Vader’s sinister embrace. The Dark Lord tossed the dead body against a bulkhead in disgust and then turned to the commander of the squadron. “Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans, and bring me the Ambassador. I want her alive!” he roared before he strode out of the room.
Now what, Vader thought irritably. If they are not on board, then where are the damnable plans? Plans: that was what this was all about. But not just any plans: plans of the Empire’s greatest weapon, the Death Star, an enormous armored space station with enough fire power to destroy an entire planet. Vader himself was less than impressed with the massive, lethal orb. It had taken the Imperial engineers nearly twenty years to complete it. Probably because that idiot Tarkin was in charge of the operation, he reflected. Vader resented that he was the one who had to chase down the stolen plans, when all along it was Tarkin who was, more than likely, responsible for them falling into enemy hands in the first place. But Vader had learned not to speak his mind; more than once he had paid a heavy price for his candor, and had learned to keep his opinion to himself. Instead, he did his duty, did as his emperor and master bade him to do, no matter how demeaning it seemed.
“Lord Vader, we have captured a member of the Royal family of Alderaan,” one of the minor officers informed him. “Princess Leia Organa. She is being brought to the detention cell right now.”
“I’d like a word with the princess,” Vader said, standing up. He had long suspected that the Organa household was sympathetic to the Rebel cause. If the young princess were involved with the theft of the plans, it would prove once and for all that Alderaan was not to be trusted.
Princess Leia Organa, the 19 year old adopted daughter of Bail Organa and his late wife, was led down a corridor by a squad of armored stormtroopers. Her hands were bound, and every so often she was brutally shoved when she was unable to keep up with the briskly marching troops. A door opened and the princess stopped in her tracks, terrified and outraged as the notorious Darth Vader emerged from the shadows. Although never having met face to face, Princess Leia was well acquainted with the Dark Lord; his actions throughout the galaxy were well known, his reputation well deserved.
As for Vader, he had thought of the young princess as a thorn in his side or close to a year now, ever since she had taken the post of senator representing her home world. Her outspokenness and open distain for the Empire smacked of treason to Vader, and he had looked forward to the day when he could prove the young woman’s treachery once and for all. Perhaps today would be that day.
Vader stared at the young woman; all the words that he had planned to intimidate her with evaporating before they reached his mouth. As he stared at her, a strange feeling came over him, a feeling of familiarity, a feeling that, somehow, he knew her. But that can’t be…she is a traitor, a member of the royal household of Alderaan…an enemy of the Empire.
For her part, Princess Leia was surprised by the Dark Lord’s silence, and decided to speak up before she lost her nerve.
“Darth Vader,” she spat, as though his name left a bad taste in her mouth. “Only you could be so bold! The Imperial Senate will not sit still for this! When they hear that you’ve attacked a diplomatic….”
Vader cut her off. “Don’t act so surprised your Highness,” he retorted sarcastically. “You weren’t on any mercy mission this time. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you.” Leia shook her head, her dark eyes full of indignation. “I don't know what you're talking about!” she retorted in exasperation. “I’m a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan!”
Don’t play with me, child….Vader thought angrily. “You are part of the Rebel Alliance...and a traitor! Take her away!” Leia was marched away down the hallway, Vader watching her intently, not being able to shake the strange feeling their encounter had created within him.
“Lord Vader….Lord Vader!”
Vader turned to see one of his underlings standing there. “What is it?” he snapped.
“Holding her is dangerous,” the officer stated. “If word of this gets out, it could generate sympathy for the Rebellion in the senate.” “I have traced the Rebel spies to her,” Vader replied. “Now she is my only link to find their secret base.”
“She'll die before she tells you anything,” the officer returned.
“Leave that to me,” Vader replied coolly as his mind worked feverishly to find a reason to keep the young princess in his custody. “Send a distress signal and then inform the senate that all aboard were killed.”
Another officer approached Vader with his report. “Lord Vader, the battle station plans are not aboard this ship, and no transmissions were made. An escape pod was jettisoned during the fighting, but no life forms were aboard.”
Vader nodded his understanding. He turned to his second in command. “She must have hidden the plans in the escape pod,” he reasoned. “Send a detachment down to retrieve them. See to it personally, Commander. There'll be no one to stop us this time.”
“Yes, sir!”
Chapter 2
Princess Leia was a brave young woman. She had become a senator at the tender age of eighteen, making her the youngest ever to hold that office. Leia was an intelligent, highly accomplished young woman, with a forceful personality and a strong sense of justice. Not only was she an astute politician, Leia was also a strong advocate of the Rebel Alliance. Adopted as a young child by the viceroy of Alderaan, Bail Organa and his wife, Breha, Leia had no memory of her birth mother, Padmé Amidala, who had died shortly after giving birth to Leia and her twin brother, Luke. Bail Organa and his wife Breha had always wanted a daughter of their own, and thus adopted young Leia Amidala Skywalker, thus bestowing upon her the title of Princess, as well as the Organa name.
Until now, Leia had never experienced true fear. She had always managed to find her way out of difficult situations, her intellect and political acumen saw to that. But the situation she found herself in now was different. Now she was a prisoner, a prisoner accused of treason, which carried a sentence of death in the Empire. A prisoner of Darth Vader… No one who was a prisoner at the hands of the infamous Dark Lord ever escaped, none were ever shown mercy or clemency; indeed, Vader’s reputation as an interrogator was well known throughout the galaxy. If he wanted information, he would obtain it by whatever means necessary, even if it meant torture to the point of death. And then there were the mind probes…Leia stood up and walked about in the tiny cell, trying not to let her fears get to her. Artoo won’t fail me, she thought as she paced up and down. He will get my message to General Kenobi…my father will help me…everything will be alright… Little did Princess Leia know that the star destroyer she was being held prisoner on was now approaching the Death Star. Governor Tarkin was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Darth Vader, fully expecting Vader to hand over the stolen plans to him.
As for Vader, he had other matters occupying his thoughts than the stolen plans, which surprised even him. Ever since he had met Leia Organa face to face, he had not been able to put her out of his mind. There was something there, something intangible and yet powerful, and it gave Vader an unsettled feeling the more he contemplated it. The fact that the young princess bore a striking resemblance to his beloved wife, Padmé, made it all the more unsettling. An idea was forming in his mind, one that would not be ignored.
Sitting in his hyperbaric chamber, Vader activated his computer and performed a search of the Imperial intelligence network on the Princess. The information there held little that he did not already know, namely that she was a member of the royal house of Alderaan, that she had been the youngest person to ever hold the position of senator, that she was the adopted daughter of Bail and Breha Organa….wait…adopted?
Vader had not realized that she was adopted. Digging further, he searched for the records of her adoption, only to reach a dead end. Other than the date, it gave no other information, almost as though the circumstances of her adoption were meant to be hidden. But why…unless her true parentage is too dangerous for her to know…unless someone is trying to hide her from someone…
The realization that Princess Leia Organa was almost certainly the child that his wife had been carrying when he last saw her on Mustafar began to blossom in Vader’s mind, bringing with it a myriad of questions and emotions. How could the child have survived if the mother died on Mustafar? Unless she did not die…unless Palpatine lied when he said she’d died… this thought caused Vader to fill with rage.
The entire focal point of his existence had been to save his wife, the very reason he had embraced the Dark Side was to prevent her death; and yet, she had died. Or had she? If the child lived, if Leia Organa was indeed his child, then all that Vader had based his life upon these past twenty years had been a lie. A lie! Vader sat perfectly still in his chamber, his mind a jumble of chaotic and violent emotions. The joy that thought that Leia may be his daughter was tainted with the anger that he had been lied to. He made a vow to himself at this moment, a vow to determine the truth, and, if what he already believed were in fact the truth, to make his master pay for the lies. If she is my child, how can I possibly treat her like a prisoner? He thought in frustration. Leia was a serious enemy of the Empire, a Rebel, a traitor; but she is my child, that is all that matters now. With that thought in mind, the Dark Lord of the Sith fell into a restless sleep.
Vader hated Tarkin, as well as all the oily characters he surrounded himself with. Pompous, self-important buffoons, Vader thought irritably as he strode into the conference room behind Tarkin, where an assemblage of said oily characters was waiting for news of the stolen plans. They were already in a heated discussion when Vader and Tarkin arrived. General Tagge, one of the few men with any sense in his head according to Vader, was addressing the smug General Motti. “The Rebellion will continue to gain a support in the Imperial Senate as long as...”
Tarkin cut him off as he made his grand entrance. “The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us,” he announced in a grandiose fashion as he took his seat at the head of the table. “I've just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.”
Tagge was incredulous. “That's impossible! How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?”
“The regional governors now have direct control over their territories,” Tarkin continued, looking around the table. “Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station.”
Motti gave a self-satisfied smile at this point.
“And what of the Rebellion?” Tagge persisted. “If the Rebels have obtained a complete technical readout of this station, it is possible, however unlikely, that they might find a weakness and exploit it.”
Vader spoke up at this point. “The plans you refer to will soon be back in our hands,” he averred.
“Any attack made by the Rebels against this station would be a useless gesture, no matter what technical data they've obtained,” Motti declared passionately. “This station is now the ultimate power in the universe! I suggest we use it!”
Vader shook his head at the man’s smugness. “Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed,” he cautioned. “The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.”
Motti looked up at Vader, the look of smug superiority not leaving his face. “Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader,” he sneered. “Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebel's hidden fort...”
Vader had heard enough, and reached out a gloved hand toward the arrogant general, slowly crushing his larynx using the Dark power at his command with terrifying ease. “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” Vader told him simply.
Tarkin watched the general choking for a moment in morbid fascination and then turned to Vader. “Enough of this,” he snapped. “Vader, release him!”
Vader, though disappointed, knew better than to question Tarkin’s request. “As you wish,” he replied mildly and released the hapless general, who slumped to the table at once in a most undignified manner.
“This bickering is pointless,” Tarkin said testily. “Lord Vader will provide us with the location of the Rebel fortress by the time this station is operational. We will then crush the Rebellion with one swift stroke.”
If anyone around the table disagreed, they did not say so. Having seen what happened when one voiced a dissenting opinion, they thought it best to keep their opinions to themselves, and soon after, the meeting was adjourned.
“Vader,” Tarkin said as the men filed out of the room. “A word with you.”
Vader approached him and stood before him without a word.
“I want you to interrogate the Princess,” Tarkin ordered. “She is in the detention block, cell 2187. Use whatever means you must to find out the location of that base, Vader. Don’t mess this up- the emperor is already displeased with you. I would hate to have to inform him of any further incompetence on your part.”
Vader had to fight not to Force push the scrawny man across the room; instead he merely nodded and then left Tarkin’s presence, his heart and mind in turmoil. Interrogate her? My own child? He knew that noncompliance would result in severe punishment from the emperor, for Tarkin would only be too happy to report his insubordination. Yet, the thought of interrogating Leia, whom he believed was his child, left him cold and disturbed. How could he inflict pain upon the blessed child that his beloved Padmé had carried so lovingly? The child that had been conceived in such love and undying devotion? The thought of his wife still caused him tremendous pain, even twenty years after her death. Leia was the very image of Padmé, and so like her in her intelligence and political acumen.
Deciding upon a course of action, Vader headed for the detention cell, determining that his life would be worth nothing if he allowed the child of his angel to be harmed in any way.
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Post by therealthing on Mar 9, 2007 15:47:17 GMT -5
Chapter 3
Darth Vader had formulated a plan in his mind by the time he had reached the detention block. However when he arrived there, he was met by pair of storm troopers flanking a torture droid. Obviously Tarkin had felt it necessary to have a hand in this, and had seen to it that the torture droid was prepared and waiting for Vader when he arrived. The sight of the horrific floating orb gave Vader a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach when he thought of having to use this nefarious device on his daughter. It will not happen, he vowed, striding over to the pair of clones.
“I will not require your assistance,” he told them. “Dismissed.” “But sir, Governor Tarkin ….”
“I am in command here,” Vader snapped, getting tired of having Tarkin’s name thrown in his face at every turn. “Now leave me.”
The clones did as they were told, and hastened out of Vader’s way, leaving him alone with the menacing torture droid. He swept past it and into the cell block, the droid hovering behind him. He dare not dismiss it as well, not with the security cameras everywhere, as well as the cell block commander standing at his post.
“Do you require assistance, Lord Vader?” the commander asked.
“No,” Vader said simply and proceeded on his way up the short metal stairway to the cell block.
He stopped at the door bearing the designation 2187, hearing the steady humming of the droid behind him. The door slid open and inside the young princess looked up. Upon seeing Vader she did her best to appear defiant, but her attempt soon failed when the droid entered the room, its long menacing syringe gleaming maniacally in the harsh overhead lights.
“Stop,” Vader said, turning to the droid.
It stopped, but only for a moment. It had no doubt been preprogrammed to proceed as soon as its victim was in range. Having determined Leia as its victim, it drew closer to her, preparing to inject her with a drug that would lower her pain threshold, enabling it to torture her with much more effective results. Leia’s eyes widened in terror as it drew nearer to her, her fear rendering her legs inoperable.
Vader could feel her fear, as clearly as if it were his own, and turned back to the ever advancing droid. “I said stop!” he commanded, using the Force to stop the device cold.
Leia looked with utter astonishment as Vader walked over to the droid and deactivated it. At once the menacing humming sound that had filled the cell ceased. Vader made a few adjustments to the device, and then looked back at Leia, who was watching him with a look of bewilderments on her face. “I will not allow you to be harmed,” he said simply.
Leia’s dark eyebrows shot up, reminding him of Padmé in her expression, affirming his belief in the girl’s true paternity.
“While I …appreciate the sentiment, I’m not sure I can believe it,” she replied at last. “You’ve done little to earn my trust, Vader.”
“True enough,” Vader replied. He walked over to the droid and activated a compartment hatch on the side. He reached inside and withdrew an object.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
“I need a small sample of your blood,” he told her. “Hold out your finger.”
Leia frowned. “Why?” she asked suspiciously.
Vader sighed, growing impatient. “For analysis,” he replied. “In order to prove to Governor Tarkin that you were actually interrogated. Is that a good enough reason?”
“Tarkin?” she asked. “I should have known he was around here somewhere.”
“Well?” Vader asked.
Leia hesitated, and then held out her hand. Vader took it in his, more gently than she had expected, and pricked the end of her finger with a small hypodermic device.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
“I believe I just explained my rationale,” he replied.
“No, why are you helping me? I don’t get it. What is your motive, Vader? I have never known you not to have one.”
Vader looked up at her as with removed the hypo. “I didn’t say I didn’t have a motive, Princess,” he replied. “But for now I so not wish to divulge it. Suffice it to say that I will do everything in my considerable power to protect you. You have my word on that.”
Leia shook her head, unsure whether she ought to believe him. Yet, there was something in the tone of his voice, something in the manner in which he spoke to her that she surprised her. This was not the Darth Vader she had spent her life hating, the Sith Lord whom her parents had taught her to revile and mistrust; what was it that she sensed in his presence? And why was he willing to risk so much just to protect her?
“Have you ever been told how much you resemble your mother, Princess?” he asked, out of the blue as he stood studying her face, and then turned and left her without another word.
“No,” Leia said to the empty cell, more confused and bewildered than ever.
Vader left the cell block, the droid following him closely. He left it in the care of the cell block commander, and then headed for the turbolift. Stepping into the lift, Vader took out the vial of blood that he had obtained from Leia. A simple DNA analysis would tell him what he felt in his heart he already knew. But it was the proof he needed to convince her. To convince her that her most hated enemy is in fact her father. The thought of telling her the truth was a sobering one. She will be horrified, devastated to know the truth…can I blame her? Suddenly he wasn’t quite so sure of his course of actions anymore. Her protection was still paramount in his mind, and he would see to it at any cost. But did she need to know the truth just yet? Would she be able to deal with the awful truth of her paternity? His first stop was the medical sector.
“May I help you, Lord Vader?” a medidroid asked as the Dark Lord entered the room.
“I wish to do a blood analysis,” Vader said stepping over to the scanner. “I do not require your assistance,” he added as he took a seat. The droid bustled away, leaving Vader to his work.
Withdrawing the vial from his cloak, he placed a small sample of it on a slide and entered it into the computer analyzer. Soon a read out of Princess Leia’s DNA appeared on the screen. Vader entered data into the computer and brought up his own DNA readout from the imperial medical database. He entered a command telling the computer to make a comparison of the two, and at once the two readouts were brought side by side on the screen. It was only a matter of seconds before the analysis was complete, and the read out appeared at the bottom of the screen. Match.
Although he had already thought of Leia as his daughter, having the actual proof of it was something completely different. Vader stared at the screen, a thousand emotions filling him, a thousand memories flashing through his mind. ..
Something wonderful has happened. . . Ani, I'm pregnant.
That's . . . that's wonderful!
What are we going to do?
We're not going to worry about anything right now, alright? This is a happy moment. The happiest moment of my life. The happiest moment of my life…Vader remembered that day as though it were yesterday, and remembered how quickly the joy he felt at that moment had turned to terror when the dreams had started. And then, the darkest memory of all, the one that had haunted him for the past twenty years, the words his master had pronounced, the words that had driven Vader into the Dark Side irrevocably….
Where is Padmé? Is she safe? Is she alright?
It seems in your anger you killed her.
Vader’s mind screamed in rage at the lie that had defined his life. She did not die at my hand…she lived to give birth to our child…he lied to me! He used me! Vader deleted the information before him from the computer and stood up. Tarkin was waiting for a report on the interrogation of the princess. He left the medical sector and headed for the lift, his mind formulating what he would tell Tarkin.
Tarkin looked up as he heard Vader enter the Death Star’s control room. “Well?” he said simply. “Where is it?”
“I don’t know,” Vader replied. “She wouldn’t say.”
Tarkin frowned. “What!?” he exclaimed. “You used the IT-0, didn’t you?”
“Of course,” Vader retorted. “You needn’t tell me how to do my job, Governor.”
“So why don’t you have the location of the Rebel base?” Tarkin demanded.
“Her resistance to the mind probe is…considerable,” he replied. “Unlike any I’ve ever seen. It will be some time before we can extract any information from her.”
Tarkin was about to respond when an officer approached them to offer his report. “The final check-out is complete,” he reported. “All systems are operational. What course shall we set?”
“Perhaps she would respond to an alternative form of persuasion,” Tarkin said with a sly smile on his face.
Vader knew him well enough to know that such a smile meant he had just conceived one of his more diabolical plans. “What do you mean?” he asked suspiciously.
“I think it is time we demonstrate the full power of this station,” Tarkin said to Vader, the sinister smile never leaving his face. He turned back to the officer. “Set your course for Alderaan.”
“With pleasure,” the officer replied.
Vader stood for a moment, his mind working frantically. He means to destroy Alderaan …he will do it whether she gives him the location of the base or not…I can’t let this happen.
Without a word to Tarkin, he left the room, determined to find a way to prevent the disaster. He had familiarized himself with the schematics of the Death Star. His expertise in mechanics served him well to gain a quick understanding of the space station’s primary weapon. Now as he strode through the corridors of the station he worked out a plan to disable the mighty weapon, if only temporarily, in order to spare his daughter the ordeal of watching her home world annihilated.
Chapter 4
Vader made his way back to the detention block, having planted an error in the ignition sequence of the super laser. It would have a cascading effect, since the energy from the giant weapon was channeled into an array from eight tributary laser cannons. An error in one of the cannons launch sequences would be enough to stop the cascade effect, and render the super laser inoperable. At least until the error was discovered, he thought to himself, realizing that he was only buying time, not solving the problem. The team of gunners who manned this awesome weapon would not take long to find and repair the error. Luckily they were not droids, he mused, realizing how fortunate he was that their minds were easily manipulated. They would have no memory of his presence in the control pit, and have no knowledge of the error until Tarkin’s little demonstration proved to be a failure. Vader smiled to himself as he thought of how irate the governor would be when his precious space station failed to perform. Though I'm sure performance failure is something he's accustomed to, he thought with dark amusement.
Leia looked up when the door to her cell slid open. She was surprised to see Darth Vader once again and stood up to face him.
“You must come with me,” he told her. “But before we go, there is something you must know.”
Leia narrowed her eyes, folding her arms over her chest. “What?” she asked suspiciously.
“We are en route to Alderaan,” Vader told her. “We should arrive within the next thirty minutes.”
“Alderaan??” she asked, her eyes widening with excitement.
“Yes,” he replied, hating to tell her the horrific plans in store for her. “Tarkin means to make an example of Alderaan,” he told her. “Unless you tell him the location of the Rebel Base, he will blow it to bits.”
Leia stood as though frozen to the ground. “What?!” she cried at last. “Is that what all this is about?? You’re trying to gain my trust as some sort of trick so I’ll tell you the location of the base? Is that it Vader?”
“No, that’s not it at all!” Vader retorted impatiently. “Why are you so damn stubborn??”
“I am not stubborn,” she returned hotly. “I just know when I’m being manipulated, and you are doing a masterful job right now, Vader!”
“I am not manipulating you!” he insisted in exasperation. “I’m only telling you this for your own protection! If you don’t give Tarkin a name, any name that is what he is planning to do. I have disabled the primary ignition sequence, but that will only buy a little time, hopefully enough for Tarkin to get frustrated and back off this idea.”
Leia stared at him, the frown not leaving her face. “You …sabotaged the ignition sequence?” she asked, her voice betraying her disbelief.
“Yes, I did,” he replied. “I told you that I would protect you, and I meant it, whether or not you want to believe that.”
“Why would you want to do that?” she asked warily. “Does it have something to do with my mother? Did you know her?”
Vader was silent for a moment, trying to decide if he ought to tell her the truth. She still hated him, still mistrusted him; would that knowledge that he was her father make any difference at all?
“Yes, I knew your mother,” he said at last. “And it is largely due to her that I feel compelled to protect you. Is that a satisfactory explanation?”
“I suppose it will have to suffice for now,” Leia said, inwardly dying to ask him a thousand questions about her mother, her father, and the reasons behind all the secrecy. But now was not the time.
“Good, then let us be off,” he said. “Tarkin is waiting.” Leia had to hurry to keep up with Vader as they and a group of storm troopers made their way to the control room of the Death Star. Tarkin stood before the large wall screen, on which the planet Alderaan now appeared.
“Governor Tarkin,” Leia said when they reached the spot where Tarkin was waiting for them. “I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board.” Vader, who stood behind his daughter, couldn’t help but smile at her gustiness.
Tarkin merely smiled in response, and touched Leia’s face with one bony finger. “Charming to the last,” he replied. “You don't know how hard I found it signing the order to terminate your life!”
Leia moved her face away from his touch with disgust. “I’m surprised you had the courage to take the responsibility yourself!” she spat back.
Tarkin stepped away from her, enjoying the moment immensely.
“Princess Leia, before your execution I would like you to be my guest at a ceremony that will make this battle station operational. No star system will dare oppose the Emperor now.” “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers,” Leia retorted haughtily.
“Not after we demonstrate the power of this station,” Tarkin gloated. “In a way, you have determined the choice of the planet that'll be destroyed first. Since you are reluctant to provide us with the location of the Rebel base, I have chosen to test this station's destructive power on your home planet of Alderaan.” Although she had been forewarned of his intentions, Leia was still horrified, particularly with the green orb that was her home glowing on the view screen behind Tarkin.
“No! Alderaan is peaceful!” she protested desperately. “We have no weapons. You can't possibly...”
“You would prefer another target?” Tarkin interjected, advancing upon her, causing her to back into Vader. “A military target? Then name the system! I grow tired of asking this. So it'll be the last time. Where is the Rebel base?”
Leia looked over Tarkin’s shoulder at her home world. Please let Vader be telling me the truth...
“Dantooine,” she said at last, looking down as though ashamed of her weakness. “They're on Dantooine.”
“There,” Tarkin said with a patronizing smile. “You see Lord Vader, she can be reasonable,” he remarked looking up at Vader. He then turned to General Motti who was standing close by. “Continue with the operation. You may fire when ready.”
“What?” Leia exclaimed incredulously.
“You're far too trusting,” Tarkin chided her. “Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration. But don't worry. We will deal with your Rebel friends soon enough.”
“No” Leia cried, bracing herself for what was coming next.
She felt Vader put a hand on her shoulder, almost as though he meant to steady her. They both waited expectantly as the orders were shouted out to commence the primary ignition. After a moment or two, it became apparent that something was wrong. Tarkin turned back to Motti, his gaunt face red with anger. “What is the hold up?” he snapped. “I gave you an order!”
“There seems to be some sort of …malfunction,” Motti replied, scanning over the computer readouts frantically. “I…I don’t understand it! We were fully operational not three hours ago!”
Leia had to suppress a smile as she stole a glance behind her at the Dark Lord. He stood completely still, of course, his menacing black mask hiding the look of relief on his face.
“Well repair it at once!” Tarkin barked. “This is preposterous!”
“Quite an effective demonstration, governor,” Leia said with a smile. “I’m very impressed.”
Tarkin’s face grew red with anger, and he stalked over to where Leia stood and struck her across the face. It took all of Vader’s control not to choke the man where he stood. Instead, he simply helped his daughter maintain her balance. “Perhaps we can …try again when things have been sorted out,” he suggested.
Tarkin looked up at Vader. “Get her out of my sight,” he snapped, turning around and marching back over to where Motti and two other technicians were trying to find the computer glitch.
Vader took Leia by the arm and escorted her out of the room. When they had reached the corridor, and were out of ear shot, he turned to her.
“Are you alright?” he asked as he took her chin in his hand, looking at her mouth. It was bleeding from one side.
“I’m okay,” she said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “A small price to pay, considering what might have happened.”
“Indeed,” Vader said.
“Thank you,” she said, looking up at the Dark Lord who became more mysterious to her by the moment. “I am truly grateful for what you did.”
Vader merely nodded. “Come,” she said. “I will escort you back to your cell. We have to think of a way to get you off of this station.”
Leia walked briskly to keep up with him, looking up at him every so often as she worked up the nerve to ask the questions she had been longing to ask.
“How did you know her?” she asked at last. “My mother, how did you know her?”
Vader did not reply at first, not knowing how to tell her the truth, not even sure he ought to. “I…I was once assigned to protect her,” he told her, not untruthfully. “When I was a padawan learner.”
“A what?”
“A padawan learner,” he repeated. “An apprentice Jedi.”
“You were a Jedi?” she asked. “How did you…I mean, why did...”
“So many questions for one as young as you,” he commented as they stepped onto the turbo lift.
“Sorry, it’s just that no one has ever told me anything about my mother before,” she replied. “Did you know my father then, too?”
Vader turned and looked at her. “Yes, I knew your father,” he replied simply.
The turbo lift doors opened and a pair of technicians stepped inside, putting and end to Leia’s interrogation. There were so many questions she wanted to ask him. Never would she ever have imagined herself in this position, under the protection of Darth Vader. But here she was. She could not define what it was she felt when she was in his presence. He had gone out of his way twice now to shield her from harm, and now he meant to help her escape. It hardly seemed possible, and it made Leia begin to wonder just what exactly her mother had meant to him and why.
“I shall return as soon as I can,” Vader told her when they were inside her cell once again. “I cannot give Tarkin any reason to suspect that I am aiding you,” he added. “Or my ability to do so will be severely curtailed.”
Leia sat down on the hard bench, nodding her understanding as she watched him leave, astonished by the turn of events that had just transpired.
Vader made his way back to his quarters, hoping to have a few moments to himself to think, but it was not to be, as he was summoned to the conference room by Tarkin. Resentfully he complied, hating the pompous governor for ordering him about, hating his master for giving him the authority to do so.
“There you are,” Tarkin said as Vader entered the room. “Seems our little princess has lied to us,” he said, tossing a report on the table. Vader picked it up and read it. Apparently the scout ships that were sent to Dantooine had found only the remains of a base, the Rebels having deserted it several months earlier.
“I told you she would never consciously betray the Rebellion,” Vader told Tarkin as he set the data pad down. He couldn’t help but feel proud of his daughter for her fortitude. Tarkin, however, had no such sentiment.
“Terminate her, immediately,” he pronounced.
Vader made no reply, his mind trying to find an excuse to stay the order until he could think of a way to get Leia safely off the space station. His thoughts were interrupted by a report coming through on the comm..
“Our tractor beams have captured a ship about to enter orbit around Alderaan,” the officer reported. “Its markings match those of a ship that blasted its way out of Mos Eisley.”
Perfect, Vader thought. “They must be trying to return the stolen plans to the princess,” he suggested, though not understanding why anyone would try something so foolhardy. “She may yet be of some use to us.” Tarkin reluctantly agreed. “Go and search the ship,” he said. “If the plans are back on board, I want whoever has them captured at once. This has gone far enough.”
Vader nodded and then left Tarkin, heading for the docking bay where a Corellian freighter known as the Millennium Falcon was now on board.
As Vader approached the ship, he was struck with a tremor in the Force. He stopped, attempting to contemplate what the source could be, when an officer approached him with a report.
“There's no one on board, sir,” he told Vader. “According to the log, the crew abandoned ship right after takeoff. It must be a decoy, sir. Several of the escape pods have been jettisoned.” Vader looked up at the ship, nodding his understanding. “Did you find any droids?” he asked.
“No, sir,” the officer replied. “If there were any on board, they must also have jettisoned.”
“Send a scanning crew on board,” Vader commanded. “I want every part of this ship checked.”
I sense something….Vader reflected, a presence I’ve not felt since…there was only one person who it could be, Obi-Wan Kenobi. He has come to rescue Leia…Vader realized as he walked away from the freighter. Do I tell Tarkin? If I do he will try to stop him…Vader stopped in his tracks as he sensed another presence nearby. He turned and looked back at the ship. The second presence was quite distinct from Kenobi’s, and yet the Force signature it gave off was equally brilliant, and somehow equally familiar. Not unlike Leia’s…he reflected in confusion. He thought no more on it, as he hurried out of the docking bay. Leia needs to be told what is happening, and I need to ensure that it does happen.
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Post by therealthing on Mar 10, 2007 17:24:59 GMT -5
Chapter 5
Vader entered the cell block, ignoring the curious looks of the guards and officers who were beginning to wonder why the Dark Lord had seemingly taken such an interest in the prisoner.
Leia looked up to see her dark guardian entering her cell.
“Something has happened,” he told her. “Obi-Wan Kenobi is here.”
Leia’s eyes widened. “Obi-Wan Kenobi!” she exclaimed. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know,” Vader replied. “But I have sensed his presence. A ship was brought into the station, a ship bound for Alderaan. No one was on board, but I know they are here. I believe they have come to attempt a rescue. I will do everything I can to see that they are successful, but it will not be easy. Tarkin already knows they are on board the station, and will stop at nothing until they are found.”
“If he already knows, then will you prevent him from succeeding?” she asked.
“I will do whatever I must,” he told her, turning to go.
“Wait,” she said. “Why? The fact that you knew my mother isn’t nearly enough reason to explain why you are risking your life this way, for I know Tarkin enough to know that is exactly what you are doing. Tell me why…who was she to you that you would do this?”
Vader turned back to his daughter, the set of her jaw reminding so much of Padmé it caused his breath to falter. “She was my wife,” he said at last, expecting the horrified denial to follow soon after.
Leia simply stared at him, her mind trying to process what she had just heard. “Your…your wife?” she stammered. “That means you’re …you’re…”
Vader nodded. “Yes,” he said. “I am your father. The blood test confirmed it. I’m sorry you had to find out this way,” he began, but his words were interrupted by the door sliding open. A clone rushed in and peered at Leia as though he were not able to see very well through the visor.
“Aren’t you a little short for a storm trooper?” she remarked.
The clone took his helmet off to reveal a young man, roughly the same age as Leia. “I’m Luke Skywalker, I’m…” he stopped when he finally noticed the other presence in the cell. His blue eyes widened in shock and he brought up his blaster to fire at the dark lord.
Vader was unable to move at this point. Skywalker!! he realized at once who this boy was, who he had to be. Even before the boy had said his name, the eyes gave him away…my eyes, Vader thought …my son…Leia’s twin…
“Don’t!” Leia said, pushing his arm down. “He’s on our side,” she said, looking up at Vader. Luke looked back at her incredulously, and then back at Vader.
“If you are here to affect a rescue, boy, I suggest you get on with it,” Vader told the young man, mildly amused at his son’s zeal.
Luke nodded. “Yeah, come on,” he told Leia. “I have your Artoo unit; I’m here with Ben Kenobi.”
“Where is he?” Leia asked.
“Come on,” Luke said, leading her out of the cell. He stopped when Vader stepped over to the door. “I suppose I’ll have to trust you,” he said. “Even though I have no reason to.”
“Fair enough,” Vader remarked, stepping out into the corridor, where all hell was breaking loose.
From the far end of the corridor a steady torrent of blaster fire was keeping the other members of the rescue team at bay.
Quite an impressive rescue operation, Vader reflected dourly.
“Looks like you’ve managed to cut off our only escape route,” Leia commented tersely. At this point the other human member of the team, a Corellian smuggler by the name of Han Solo turned to her. “Maybe you’d like it back in your cell, your…” he stopped when he saw Vader. “Holy crap!” he bellowed.
“Easy hot shot,” Leia said. “He’s here to help.”
Han gave Leia a look like she was insane before returning his attention to the situation at had. “So what do you suggest, Vader?” he asked over the din of the laser blasts.
“Stand aside,” he said, taking out his lightsaber and deflecting the blasts.
“Well, that buys us some time, but it doesn’t help us get the hell outta here,” Han grumbled.
Leia shook her head at his negative attitude and grabbed the blaster from Luke’s hands. She shot a hole into the grating that ran along the floor.
“What the hell are you doing?” Han yelled.
“Into the garbage chute, flyboy,” she said, tossing the blaster back to Luke.
“Get in there!” Vader heard Han ordering his Wookiee companion as he edged his way down the corridor. Soon they had all escaped into the garbage chute, leaving Vader alone to combat the clones. That didn’t concern him as much as explaining why he had assisted the rebels to escape. Clones’ minds can be manipulated…my children are safe, that’s all that matters... He was still in shock over the discovery of his second child, or perhaps his first, for he did not know their birth order.
“Hold your fire!” he shouted. The clones, recognizing his voice, complied at once. Many of them were dead, others were injured. Still others were alive and looking at the Dark Lord with surprise.
“Lord Vader!” the commander of the squadron said, approaching him. “What are you doing here? Where are the rebels?”
“You don’t need to know what I am doing here,” he said, bending the clone’s mind easily. “You didn’t see me. The rebels are gone. Search elsewhere for them.”
The clones looked at one another in confusion, and then started to file out of the exit that they had come through. Satisfied with their compliance, Vader stepped over to the turbolift and left the detention block, determined to find Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Once inside the turbolift, Vader allowed himself the brief luxury of pondering the incredible turn of events that his life had just taken. Yes, he would no doubt be reported by Tarkin for insubordination, possibly even sabotage, and certainly treason; but those things didn’t concern him. He had found his children. Children! I have a son and a daughter, he thought, a feeling growing inside of him that he had not felt in a life time: joy. My son looks like me…he reflected, remembering how he had once looked as a young man…and my daughter looks like her mother…my angel…the thought of his wife created a different rush of emotions within him, most of them dark, angry ones when he thought of how his master had lied to him, how he had told him that Padmé had died at his own hand. Did she survive the birth of our children? He wondered furtively. Is she out there somewhere, hiding from me? Hiding from the monster I call my master? It would make sense for her to do so, if indeed she were alive. Kenobi will know, he decided as the turbolift stopped. Kenobi will give me the answers I need. The irony of the situation did not occur to Vader as he used the Force to track down his old master. Where once the thought of meeting up with Kenobi again would have only enraged him, and lead him to thoughts of killing his former friend; now all he wanted was answers.
He could feel the familiar Force presence of the old Jedi master clearly, and he knew that Kenobi was close by. Very close. He stopped, realizing that Kenobi must sense his presence just as clearly, and waited for the old Jedi to come to him. Within a few moments, he did just that.
“I’ve been waiting for you, Obi-Wan,” Vader said as Kenobi stood watching his former apprentice warily; hand on the hilt of his lightsaber.
“We meet again at last.”
Kenobi was confused by the reaction of the Dark Lord. The last time they had met had been at Mustafar, on that terrible, dark day so long ago. They had not parted on good terms, to put it mildly.
“Vader,” Kenobi said, his hand not leaving his lightsaber. “Have you come here to kill me?”
Vader wasn’t certain how to respond. “At one time, there was nothing more I wanted to do,” he admitted. “But right now, all I want is answers.”
Kenobi frowned, utterly confused. “Answers?”
“Yes,” Vader replied. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about, Obi-Wan,” he added. “You brought the boy right here to me, surely you realized I would sense who he is.”
Kenobi nodded as he realized what Vader was talking bout. “Luke,” he said simply.
“Yes, Luke,” Vader said, uttering his son’s name for the first time. “And his twin sister, Leia,” he continued. “You have come here to rescue her, haven’t you?”
Kenobi nodded. “Yes, that was my plan,” he admitted. “But obviously you will see to it that i fail in my attempt.”
Vader shook his head. “Quite the contrary, old man,” he said. “I intend to see that you succeed.”
Chapter 6
Kenobi wasn’t certain that he had heard the Dark Lord correctly, and simply stared at him. “You…you are going to help me?” he asked incredulously.
Vader nodded. “For the sake of my children, I have no choice but to help you. I have already seen to it that they made it out of the detention block.”
“They?” Kenobi said. “You mean, Han and Luke made it that far?”
“Yes,” Vader replied. “Though I was something less than impressed with their plan, as well as with the arrogant man in their company, it did manage to succeed. At least so far.”
“Where are they now?” Kenobi asked.
“They escaped down the garbage chute,” Vader replied. “I’m sure they have found their way out by now. We must get to the docking bay,” he said, taking Kenobi by the arm. “You will appear to be in my custody,” he said.
“Of course,” Kenobi replied, still bewildered by the unexpected turn of events. Yes, he had said that he had Leia’s best interests at heart, but it could all be a ruse, a trap in order to capture them all with very little effort.
“Just so long as this is only a ruse, Vader. I’m still not convinced that it isn’t.”
Vader stopped in his tracks and looked at the old man. “If I weren’t sincere in my desire to help you, you would be dead right now, old man,” he said darkly. “I promise you that. And if you do anything to jeopardize their safety, I will not hesitate to kill you. Do you understand?”
Kenobi nodded, realizing that despite his desire to help his children, he was still very much the Dark Lord of the Sith.
“Where is she, Kenobi?” Vader asked as he escorted the elder Jedi through the corridors at a brisk pace.
Kenobi knew what Vader was asking, but merely looked at him in response, unsure what to tell him at this point. “I don’t know what you’re asking …” he began.
“You know damn well what I’m asking,” Vader replied, an edge of anger in his tone, his grip tightening on the old Jedi’s arm. “Padmé, where is she? I know she didn’t die, not like the emperor told me she did.”
“How do you know that?” Kenobi asked.
“Because she gave birth to my children,” Vader replied. “She did not die on Mustafar by my hand, as my master told me.”
Kenobi was unnerved by this disclosure. Palpatine had lied to Vader in a most insidious way, telling him that he had killed his own wife….is it any wonder he has lived in such darkness all these years..
“No, she did not die at Mustafar,” Kenobi replied. “She did live to give birth to the twins. I was with her when they were born.” Vader turned and looked at Kenobi sharply, a pang of jealousy ripping through him. I envy you that, old man, he thought, but said nothing. “Why were the twins raised apart?” he asked. “Where is she? What happened to her?”
“The twins were raised apart for their own safety,” Kenobi answered carefully. “As for what happened…” he stopped as he spotted Luke and Leia racing down the corridor. Vader turned and saw them also, immensely relieved to see his children alive and well. When they saw Kenobi seemingly in the custody of Vader, both of them became outraged.
“Is this part of helping me?” Leia demanded angrily of her father. “By taking Obi-Wan prisoner?”
“I told you not to trust him,” Luke said, raising his weapon and looking at his father with hatred in his eyes. It made Vader’s heart ache to feel the hatred emanating from his son.
“He is not my prisoner,” Vader told them. “I am merely escorting him to your vessel.”
“Is that true, Ben?” Luke asked, not believing the Dark Lord for a moment. Obi-Wan nodded. “Yes, it’s true,” he said. “So let us be off, shall we? Where are Captain Solo and Chewbacca?”
“We got separated,” Leia explained, feeling badly for having assumed the worst of her protector.
“There is no time to waste,” Vader said. “The shift change occurs in less than five minutes, it will be the perfect chance for you to all get safely to the ship.”
Leia nodded her understanding. “Okay, let’s go,” she said. “Lead the way,” she said to her brother.
“Right this way,” Luke said as he and Obi-Wan started off.
Vader held back, torn between his desire to follow his children and his need to stay behind and ensure that they got off the space station safety.
Leia turned to him before she followed the others. “I’m …sorry I thought the worst of you,” she said. “You have done everything to help me, and I should have known better than to assume that.”
Vader nodded, touched by his daughter’s apology. “I can understand why you would,” he said. “Now go,” he said, putting a hand tentatively on her shoulder. “Before it is too late to do so safely.”
Leia nodded, the moment of parting more difficult than she’d ever imagined. “Come with us,” she blurted out, not even thinking about her request.
Vader shook his head. “You know I cannot do that, child,” he said, touching her face. “As much as I would like to.”
Leia frowned. “Why not?” she said. “Tarkin will have you executed when he learns of what you’ve done,” she said.
“Perhaps,” he said. “But if he does, it will be an honorable death, knowing I’ve seen to the safety of my children.”
“Children??” Leia said. “What do you mean, children?”
“Luke is your twin brother, Leia,” he told her. “Now please, I must insist that you go!”
“But I have so many questions,” Leia protested. “There are so many things I need to understand, things I need you to explain!”
“There is no time!” Vader told her. “Go now, or I cannot guarantee your safety.”
Leia nodded, realizing he was right. “Okay, I suppose I should,” she said. “Thank you,” she said, realizing the she would probably never see him again. “I’ll never forget you.”
Vader nodded, his heart aching with emotion he never imagined he’d ever feel again. “Nor I you,” he said. He looked up to see Solo and Chewbacca running toward them helter skelter.
“Here are your companions,” he said. “Run.”
Leia nodded and turned from him, trying to catch up with Han and Chewbacca, who were already on the ramp of the Falcon. She looked back one last time and over her father’s shoulder saw the next shift of clones coming down the corridor. Terror filled her and she ran faster, her heart pounding in her chest. Suddenly the clones saw what was happening, and, not assuming that their commander had been somehow incapacitated and was unable to react, opened fire on the fleeing Princess.
Vader turned around to order them to cease fire when a shard of pain ripped through him via the Force. He turned back to see his daughter lying prone on the floor having been struck by blaster fire. Monumental anger filled Vader, and with a mighty swipe of one arm he sent the group of clones flying across the corridor, their armor clad bodies shattering against the bulkhead. He then ran to her, and picked up her body in his arms. She’s alive, he realized, feeling her Force signature clearly. Without thinking about the consequences of his actions, he hurried aboard the Falcon, his unconscious daughter in his arms.
“Fire her up Chewie, let’s get outta here!” Han shouted as he heard the freighter’s ramp closing.
Obi-Wan and Luke hurried out of the cockpit to greet Leia and stopped in their tracks when they saw the giant Sith Lord tenderly cradling the princess in his arms.
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Post by therealthing on Mar 21, 2007 18:57:53 GMT -5
Chapter 7 “What have you done!?” Luke cried angrily. “Get your hands off of her!”
“She’s been struck,” he told them, ignoring his son’s hateful outburst. “She is alive, but needs medical attention.”
“This way,” Obi-Wan said, leading Vader to the medi-bed in the back of the hold. Vader ignored the look of shock on his son’s face and followed Obi-Wan.
“We’re not outta this yet, kid,” Han said as he entered the hold. “Sentry ships.” He stopped cold when he saw Vader on board his ship. “What the hell are you doing here?” he yelled, drawing his blaster and approaching the Dark Lord. “Get the hell off my ship!”
“Rather difficult to do so since you are already air borne,” Vader replied, nonplussed by the young pilot’s indignation.
“Don’t let that stop you, Vader,” Han said, glaring at him with utter contempt.
“Han, don’t you have more pressing matters to attend to?” Obi-Wan suggested. “Sentry ships?”
“Yeah, let’s go kid,” he said, his eyes not leaving the dark lord until he turned and ran out of the hold.
Luke joined him and ran to the gunning pod opposite the one Han climbed into. He was unable to get the sight of the infamous and reputedly evil Darth Vader holding Princess Leia so tenderly in his arms, as if he truly cared, as if there were really a heart within his massive black armored chest. That isn’t possible, Luke told himself. Darth Vader murdered my father, he isn’t capable of caring about anything or anybody. He pushed the confusing thoughts and feelings away to focus on the task at hand, namely the TIE fighters that were bearing down on the Falcon with tremendous speed.
“It isn’t bad,” Obi-Wan determined as he checked the unconscious princess. “I think it looks far worse than it is.” Vader nodded; relieved as he watched Obi-Wan stem the flow of blood in his daughter’s shoulder. Soon it began to slow down.
“I am grateful for your help, Vader,” Obi-Wan said. “I have to say I didn’t expect it.”
“No, I’m sure you didn’t,” Vader replied. “It was not my intention to help you, Kenobi. You simply happened to be at the right place at the right time.”
“Yes, I suppose I was,” Obi-Wan agreed. “Still, I do appreciate that you did the right thing.”
Vader was silent for a moment. “They are my children,” he said at last. “What did you expect me to do? Keep them prisoner? Let that madman Tarkin have at them?”
“To be honest I had no idea what to expect,” Kenobi replied. “This has been a rather unexpected turn of events.”
“Unexpected?” Vader retorted. “That is an understatement, old man. I have believed my child died twenty years ago before she was even born. I have lived with that pain, that guilt for two decades, and then in one day I come face to face with not only a daughter but also a son!” he stopped, the shock of it still new. And then a dark thought pushed the joy out, replacing it with cold, brutal reality. “Judging by their reactions to me, neither of them was told the truth about their paternity.”
“No, they weren’t,” Kenobi replied. “Did you really expect they would be, given what happened on Mustafar?”
Vader did not reply, but Kenobi could feel the anger and pain surging through him at the mention of that dreadful day.
“I didn’t expect anything,” Vader said, looking down at his daughter. “I have no right to expect anything,” he added.
Kenobi watched the Dark Lord, sensing the great conflict of emotions within him. Yes, Vader had acted to save his children’s lives, no doubt acting on pure instinct as any father would when his young were endangered. But what now? How could he reconcile the path he had chosen with the one that his children had embarked upon?
“So now what?” Kenobi asked.
Vader looked up at him. “What do you mean?”
“Now that you know they are alive, what will you do?” Kenobi asked.
Vader was taken aback by the question. He had been acting on pure instinct, pure emotion ever since he first suspected that Leia was his child. He had not stopped to think of the future, or the consequences of his actions.
“I don’t know,” he replied truthfully. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”
Kenobi smiled. “Sounds like a young impulsive Jedi Knight I used to know,” he said.
Vader shook his head. “That young Jedi died many years ago,” he replied. “In the fires of Mustafar.”
“Until today I believed that too,” Kenobi admitted. “But now I’m not so sure. If there were no trace of Anakin Skywalker in you, why would you care about his children?”
“That name no longer has any meaning for me,” Vader stated. So why would you care about his children? He could not deny that he did care; he would not be in this most unlikely situation if he did not. Vader looked down at Leia, who seemed to be coming around. She opened her eyes and was surprised to see her father by her side.
“I seem to have been made an unwilling passenger,” he told her dryly.
Leia nodded. “So I see,” she replied. “Welcome aboard.”
Kenobi watched the exchange between father and daughter, the bond between them plain to see. Astonishing, he thought. Not in a thousand years did I think this could happen.
“You’re safe now, Leia,” Vader told her. “We have cleared the Death Star and will soon have you back with the Rebel Alliance.”
“Thanks to you,” she said. “I guess that makes you a Rebel too,” she added, with a trace of a smile.
Kenobi couldn’t help but smile at the irony of the situation. “Imagine that,” he said.
Vader looked at Kenobi. “I’m glad you find this so amusing,” he grumbled.
Kenobi’s smile only grew. “Well even you have to admit that it is…ironic.”
“We did it,” Han stated proudly as he and Luke reentered the hold. “Took care of those Imperial bastards but good, didn’t we kid?”
Luke only nodded the sight of Vader still disturbing.
“Guess your pilots don’t have what it takes,” Han said to Vader. “We finished them off pretty easily.”
“No doubt,” Vader replied. “But surely you realize that they let you go,” he added, enjoying the look of outrage on the young man’s face.
“Bullshit,” Han retorted. “You might think the Imperial fleet is invincible, but I’m here to tell you it ain’t, Vader,” he said.
Vader was beginning to hate the young pilot, and the thought of snapping his neck had crossed his mind more than once. But that probably wouldn’t impress my children much…
“Perhaps not,” Vader replied at last. “But considering the fact that it is standard Imperial procedure to place a homing beacon on board any vessel captured, your daring escape is somewhat less than remarkable.”
Han was about to respond, but Leia cut him off. “I suspected as much,” she said, sitting up. “At least we still have the information in Artoo,” she added.
“What’s so important in that little droid?” Han asked.
“He’s carrying the Death Star plans, isn’t he?” Vader asked.
Leia nodded. “Yes,” she replied, not sure how much information she ought to divulge.
“The station is flawed,” Vader stated. “Despite the twenty years it took to construct.”
“Flawed?” Leia asked. “You know this?”
Vader nodded. “I have studied the schematics thoroughly,” he replied.
“Of course, that’s how you were able to disable the primary weapons array,” Leia reflected aloud.
“You disabled the Death Star’s weapons array?” Luke asked in astonishment.
“Tarkin was going to annihilate Alderaan,” Vader told his son. “I was not going to allow that to happen.”
“What do you care what happens to Alderaan?” Han asked. “I figured you’d be only to happen to see another few million people killed. Isn’t that how you get your kicks, Vader?”
It took all of Vader’s self control not to lash out at the brash young man. He turned to him slowly, the anger simmering just under the surface. “My reasons for saving Alderaan are none of your concern,” he said. “Perhaps you ought to return to your cockpit where you actually have some small degree of capability.”
Han strode over to the dark lord, who stood up to meet the bold young pilot.
“You wish to say something to me, Captain?” Vader asked threateningly, towering over Han.
“You’re damn right I do,” Han retorted angrily. “This is my ship, you got that? My ship. The fact that you saved the princess back there means jack squat to me; you’re still the same bastard who has cut a path of murder through out the galaxy. Don’t think that your small act of mercy today has anyone here fooled.”
“That’s enough, Captain Solo,” Leia spoke up at last.
“Han is right,” Luke spoke up. “Did you know that your….friend here murdered my father?”
Vader was stunned, feeling as though someone had reached inside of him and ripped out what was left of his heart. He turned to Obi-Wan, furious with the old man, realizing that, more than likely, it had been him who had told his son the heinous lei. “Is that what you told him?” he demanded angrily. “That I killed his father??” Kenobi did not know what to say. He had not exactly expected that the boy would come face to face with his father this way.
“Are you actually going to deny it?” Luke demanded hotly when Kenobi made no reply.
Vader turned back to his son, the hatred he saw in his son’s eyes that were so like his own cutting through to his very soul.
“I did not kill your father, Luke,” Vader began simply.
“Don’t believe a word he says, Luke,” Han cut in.
“Captain Solo, this does not concern you,” Leia spoke up. “You have no idea what you are talking about!”
“Like hell I don’t!” Han replied hotly. “I don’t know what kind of sorcery he’s worked on you, sweetheart, but I don’t buy his benevolent act for a nanosecond. And if you do, then you’re a bigger fool than …”
“Don’t say another word,” Vader said, grabbing Han roughly by the front of his jacket. “You will not speak to my daughter in such a manner!” he warned. “Not if you value your life, Solo.” Han’s eyes grew wide. “Your daughter?” he asked, looking at Leia. “He’s your father??”
Leia sighed. “Yes, he is,” she replied quietly.
Luke looked at Leia in shock, and then at Obi-Wan. “Ben?” he asked, the confusion evident in his voice. “Tell me the truth, please. I need to know the truth.”
Obi-Wan looked at the young man, and then back at Vader. Now what? He thought.
“I will tell you the truth about your father, Luke,” Vader spoke up, to the surprise of all. “Since it is obvious that Kenobi here is incapable of it,” he added, giving Kenobi a hard look.
“Your version of the truth? I don’t know if I want to hear it,” Luke said. “Besides, what do you know about my father?”
“I am your father, Luke,” Vader told him at last. “That is the truth.”
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Post by therealthing on Mar 22, 2007 17:23:40 GMT -5
Chapter 8
Luke looked at the Dark Lord, an expression of utter disbelief on his face.
“But…how…why…how can you be my father?” he cried. “You are the enemy of the rebellion! A murderer! My father was a great Jedi! I don’t believe you!!” he cried, backing away.
Leia sighed. “Luke, he is telling the truth,” she said. “You and I are twins.”
Luke looked at Leia, shocked by her revelation. “But…how can this be?” He turned to Obi-Wan. “Why did you lie? What did you hope to gain by it?”
Obi-Wan grew uncomfortable at the young man’s indignation. “I didn’t entirely lie, Luke,” he said in self-defense. “Anakin Skywalker, your father, was seduced by the Dark Side, and became Darth Vader. So in a way, Vader did kill your father.
“Hardly the same thing as murder, though,” Vader put in hotly. “Is it Kenobi?”
Luke turned his eyes back to Vader, the pain and disappointment in them clear. “Why?” he asked simply. “You were a hero, a Jedi? Why did you do it? Why did you throw all that away? Why weren’t you the father I always wanted, the father I always needed?” he asked, and then left the room, heading for the cockpit.
Han gave one last look at Vader. “For the record, I don’t believe a damn word you’ve said,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. He turned and followed Luke into the cockpit.
“It is bound to be a tremendous shock to the boy,” Obi-Wan said. “Give him some time to accept it.”
Vader nodded, not wanting Kenobi to see how deeply Luke’s words had cut him. Why weren’t you the father I always wanted, the father I always needed? “Perhaps if he had been told the truth in the first place he would not have such a hard time accepting it,” he said to Kenobi, his voice laced with angry resentment.
Kenobi nodded, acknowledging his own culpability. “Perhaps,” he replied. “But what’s done is done. I cannot take back what I said.” “He will accept it in time,” Leia said. “I will speak to him.”
Vader turned to her. “Have you accepted it?” he asked.
Leia looked up at him. “No, not entirely,” she replied truthfully. “I am truly grateful to you for everything you have done, but I still I have so many questions,” she replied. “I know that you are telling the truth, though. I don’t know how to explain it, but I …I just know.”
Vader nodded. “Just as I knew you were my child even before I took did the blood analysis,” he told her.
Leia was silent, wanting to ask so many questions, needing so many answers. “Why did you do it?” she asked, voicing the same question her brother had moments earlier. “Why did you turn to the Dark Side? I know you loved my mother,” she told him. “That fact is clear to me. So why did you do it? Why did you give up your life with her to be Palpatine’s henchman?”
Her words bore no malice, much to Vader’s surprise; yet they still struck at his heart, even in their simplicity.
“It was not as simple as that,” Vader told her. “The emperor led me to believe that the Dark Side would enable me to save your mother. I was so desperate to do so that I believed him.”
“Save her from what?” Leia asked. “I don’t understand.”
Vader sighed. Where do I begin? He thought. How do I tell you of the agony I went through for her?
“All my life I have been plagued with dreams,” Vader told his daughter. “Portentous dreams. I foresaw the death of my own mother in a series of nightmares spanning over many months. After that, I learned to fear my dreams.”
“You dreamed of the death of my mother?” Leia asked.
Vader nodded. “They began on the day she told me that she was pregnant with you and Luke. What started off as the happiest day of my life soon turned into the most terrifying, as that very night I dreamed of her dying in childbirth.”
Leia was chilled by her father’s words. “That must have been terrifying,” she said quietly.
“It was,” Vader replied simply. “And because of that recurring dream I became obsessed with finding a way to save her.”
“And you thought that the Dark Side would enable you to do that?” Leia asked, starting to understand.
“Yes,” Vader replied. “I allowed myself to be manipulated by Palpatine, who had managed to hide his true nature, that of Sith Lord, from everyone, including the Jedi.”
“How was that possible?” Leia asked Obi-Wan. “How could that have happened? I thought the Jedi were stronger than that.”
“Palpatine managed to use the Dark Side shield himself from us,” he replied. “By the time we realized who he truly was, it was too late for us to stop him, or his apprentice,” he said, looking at Vader.
Leia was stunned by this disclosure. It hardly seemed possible that the notorious Darth Vader, the heartless, ruthless monster, could have been motivated by love to become what he had.
“I knew nothing of your dreams, Anakin,” Kenobi said, not even bothering to correct his slip.
Vader turned to him. “Of course not. You knew nothing of my marriage to Padmé. Why would I tell you of my nightmares about her?”
Kenobi nodded sadly, realizing Vader was right.
“Was that your name?” Leia asked. “Anakin?”
“Yes, at one time,” Vader admitted. “But Anakin Skywalker died long ago. His life ended when he lost his angel.”
Leia shook her head, utterly devastated to learn of the tragedy that had befallen her birth parents. “You truly loved her, didn’t you?” she asked.
“With every fiber of my being,” Vader replied. He was silent for a moment, speaking of his wife this way had reopened the wounds he had carried for the two decades since her death. “I sacrificed everything to save her,” he said at last. “Everything. But in the end I lost her anyway, she died, just as I foresaw in my dream. The emperor lied to me, he used me, he used my love for her and my desperate need to save her to gain my allegiance, to purchase my servitude.”
Kenobi listened to Vader, astonished by the acrimony he now felt towards his master. Was it possible that Vader finally saw Palpatine for the evil monster that he was?”
“The emperor is and always has been, pure evil,” Kenobi stated, half expecting Vader to rise up in anger.
Leia nodded, her emotions raging through her. “He took everything from you,” she said to Vader. “Everything! You see that now, don’t you?”
“I see it all too clearly now,” he replied. “If only it hadn’t taken me a lifetime to do so.”
“That is true,” Kenobi replied. “But you have seen it, and that is what is important,” he pointed out. “You have seen what he did to you and Padmé, and to your family, how he used you to destroy the Jedi, destroying the good man you once were in the process. The question is, what are going to do about it?”
It was the second time that Kenobi had asked the question, and Vader had no more answers now than he had earlier.
“What indeed,” Vader mused thoughtfully. “My son hates me, resents me. He’s right to feel that way, you both are,” he said, looking at Leia. “I wasn’t there for you, for your mother.”
“Why? Why weren’t you there for us?” Leia asked. “Why were my brother and I separated at birth?”
Vader looked at Obi-Wan. “You and Luke were hidden from me,” he said. “I nearly died on the day you were born, and believed you had died along with your mother before you were born. I had no knowledge of your existence until just the other day. Had I known you were alive; things would have been so different. But what is done is done, and there is no way I can change the past.”
“Why did you hide Luke and me?” Leia asked Kenobi. “Why did you take us from our father?”
Kenobi was surprised by her question, surprised she even needed to ask. “Why do you think, Leia?” he asked. “Your father had turned to the Dark Side; he was an agent of the emperor. If he had claimed you and Luke as infants, you would have fallen to the same fate that he had.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” Leia countered. “Perhaps the knowledge that we lived would have made a difference in him, changed him.”
“Perhaps,” Kenobi acknowledged. “But none of us were willing to take that chance.” “It has made a difference now,” Leia pointed out, looking at her father. “Hasn’t it?”
Vader couldn’t deny that he had changed since learning of the existence of his children. “Yes,” he replied. “Undoubtedly. Though I’m not certain what that change will mean, Leia. It is not easy to begin life anew,” he reflected somberly.
“It is never too late for a fresh start,” Leia told him.
Vader looked at her. “I’m afraid it is for me, Leia,” he told her. “No doubt your leaders will be pleased to have me in their custody. I do not expect to be shown any mercy.”
“They will be merciful if you help us,” Leia told him. “You know the Death Star’s layout thoroughly; you even know its flaws. Help us to destroy it, tell us how. That will go a long way towards gaining their trust.”
“Not to mention Luke’s,” Obi-Wan put in, knowing that it was only his children’s trust that Vader craved.
Vader considered this. He really did not care if the Rebellion accepted him; but the fact that the Death Star would be tracking them right to the Rebel base, where it would annihilate them all, including his children, made his decision to help them somewhat academic. What choice did he have? His life was now forfeit anyways, no matter what he did. He had committed treason by helping the rebels to escape; no doubt the emperor had already received a full report on his treacherous activities. Besides, if it enabled him to earn the trust of his children, it was well worth doing.
“I will help you,” he said at last.
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Post by therealthing on Mar 24, 2007 16:44:18 GMT -5
Chapter 9
Before much longer the Millennium Falcon reached the Yavin System, and, having dropped into sub light, made its approach to the fourth moon of the second planet of the system.
“No doubt the Rebel leaders will be most relieved to see you, Princess,” Obi-Wan told Leia. “But they will be less than pleased to see who we’ve brought with us.”
Leia nodded, looking up at her father. “Well, we’ll just have to ensure that everyone realizes he is on our side now,” she said.
Vader was encouraged by his daughter’s words, but still could not help but think that the Rebel leaders would not be quite as sympathetic, no matter what he had done to save both Alderaan and his children.
“Here we go,” Han said as he entered the hold. He looked at Vader. “Hope you enjoyed the ride,” he said dryly. “Cause things are going to get bumpy from here on in.”
“I’m sure they will,” Vader replied. “I am prepared.”
“Sure you are,” Han muttered under his breath as he and Chewbacca went back to lower the ramp. Luke, who had spent the duration of the voyage in the cockpit with Han and Chewbacca, entered the hold at this point. He looked at Vader, and then at Leia, still in a state of shock over the latest disclosures.
“So what’s going to happen now?” Luke asked his sister. “Don’t you think your leaders are going to have a problem with …him?”
Leia stood up. “I’m sure they will,” she replied. “Until he shows them how to destroy the Death Star.”
“You really expect him to do that?” Luke retorted.
Vader was growing annoyed with the manner in which his son was speaking, as though he were not even present. “I have given Leia my word that I would,” he interjected. “And that seems to be good enough for her.”
“Come on,” Leia said, not wishing to be drawn in to an argument between her father and her brother. “We have a job to do.”
Vader and his son looked at one another wordlessly, and then Luke followed Leia off of the ship
“Give the boy a chance,” Obi-Wan advised Vader as he stood beside him.
“He hates me,” Vader stated.
“Perhaps right now,” Kenobi said. “But Leia doesn’t hate you,” he said, turning to look at Leia. “Does she?”
“No,” Vader replied. “Not any more.”
“Then don’t give up on Luke so quickly,” Kenobi suggested. “Anything is possible, I have learned that today,” he said with a smile.
Vader nodded. “Yes, that is true,” he conceded. Leia was greeted by the leaders of the Rebellion when she disembarked, who were most relieved to see her alive and well. However when they saw the very man who had held her prisoner on board the Death Star join her, their relief soon turned to shock.
“What the…” Admiral Willard sputtered. “What the devil is he doing here?” he demanded. He turned to Leia. “Princess?? Did he coerce you to taking him here?”
“No,” Leia told him at once. “I know this seems most unusual, but I owe him my life,” she told the astonished admiral. “Not only that, he prevented the destruction of Alderaan. Tarkin would have blown it to bits if Lord Vader hadn’t sabotaged the primary weapons array.”
Willard looked from the young woman up to the Dark Lord, scarcely able to believe her. “I can’t believe what you’re telling me,” he said. “You’re defecting, Vader? Is that what all this means?”
Vader wasn’t quite sure how to respond. “I have personal reasons for my actions,” he said simply. “But now is hardly the time to discuss them. The Death Star is on its way here, and I can promise you that they will not miss their opportunity to level this planet to bits unless you act fast.”
“You have the plans?” Willard asked Leia.
She nodded. “Better than that, we have someone who already knows where the Death Star’s weaknesses are,” she said. She turned and looked up at her father. “And is wiling to show us how to exploit them.”
Willard frowned. “Is that so?” he said. “And how do we know that what he tells us is the truth, and not a way of us digging our own graves? He could be easily feed us misinformation and we’d not know it until this planet was blasted into space dust.”
“You are welcome to study the schematics for yourself,” Vader told him, “if you believe I am lying. That is, if you have the time to spare.”
Willard was torn between his need to set the attack into motion and the fear that Vader was indeed laying a trap.
“He’s not lying,” Leia averred. “I know it’s hard to believe or even to understand, but he is on our side, Admiral,” she said. “I would bet my life on it.”
“We’d all be betting our lives on it, Princess,” Willard replied dryly. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to have a look at these plans myself. Lord Vader can show me what he knows.”
Vader nodded. “Very well,” he said. “Lead the way.”
“Luke!”
Luke turned to see Obi-Wan Kenobi approaching him. He had avoided the old Jedi since he had learned the truth of his father’s identity, and still resented Kenobi for lying to him as he had.
“We need to talk, Luke,” Kenobi said.
“More lies?” Luke replied coldly.
Obi-Wan shook his head. “No, only the truth this time, I swear.”
Luke stood and looked at the old Jedi. “What do you want to tell me?” he said. “How much my father loves me? How he has spent the past nineteen years searching the galaxy for me?” he asked sarcastically.
“I know how angry you are, Luke,” Obi-Wan replied. “And you have every right to be. I never should have lied to you the way I did, but I did it to protect you.”
“Protect me?” Luke replied. “From what? The truth?”
“Yes, the truth,” Obi-Wan replied. “You were not ready to bear the burden of the truth,” he explained. “But now that you know it, I must explain to you the circumstances which lead your father to make the decisions he did. I have only recently been made aware of those circumstances myself.”
“What circumstances are you talking about, Ben?” Luke asked tiredly. “What could possibly justify a father abandoning his children the way he did?”
“The fact that he thought those children had perished along with their mother before they were born,” Kenobi replied. “The fact that he only recently discovered that those children were actually alive, and that he had been lied to for the past twenty years by someone he trusted, namely his master, the emperor Palpatine.”
Luke was taken aback by this information, and was silent for a moment as he digested it. Yes, that would explain why Vader had been absent from his children’s lives until recently. But the more pressing question still remained unanswered. Why?
“Why did he turn to the dark side then?” Luke asked. “Why did he trust someone as evil as the emperor? He was a Jedi! How could he put his trust in someone who stood for everything the Jedi fought against?”
Kenobi sighed, realizing that at this point he must admit to his own failures, his own inability to see what was happening to the man who he had once called brother. “Palpatine did not always appear to be evil, Luke,” he explained. “For many years he was the Chancellor of the Republic, and was considered to be a fair and benevolent leader. It wasn’t until your father began to fear for your mother’s life that Palpatine started to lure him to the Dark Side.”
Luke frowned. “My mother? What did she have to do with this?”
“Everything,” Kenobi answered. “Your father was not supposed to marry, being a Jedi; and so he and your mother married in secret. When your father learned of her pregnancy, he began to have visions of her dying in childbirth. These visions drove him to the point of desperation, and, not knowing where else to turn, he succumbed to the lure of the Dark power that Palpatine offered him. You see, Palpatine lead your father to believe that he could save the life of your mother through the Dark Side, and your father, so desperate to save her, believed him.”
Luke was astonished by this revelation, and was rendered speechless for a moment. My father loved my mother so much that he sacrificed his soul to save her? “He…he turned to the Dark Side to save my mother?”
Kenobi nodded. “Yes,” he replied. “I did not know any of this until today, when Vader told your sister. He kept it to himself, letting it eat away at him until it destroyed him, along with the Darkness that he allowed to claim him. If only I had known, if only he had confided in me…perhaps things could have been different.”
Luke was silent as he listened to the old man’s tragic tale.
“I know you are angry right now Luke,” Kenobi said again. “But I thought you needed to know this. I hope it makes a difference.”
Obi-Wan turned and left Luke at this point, letting him ponder what he had just learned.
Leia, Vader and Willard proceeded to the command center along with the little astromech droid, R2D2 in tow. Vader kept turning and looking at the little droid, starting to feel as though he had seen him before.
“What is the designation of that droid?” he asked his daughter.
“R2 D2,” she replied. “Why do you ask?”
Vader nodded. “He and I used to make quite a team,” he told her. “He was my companion on many missions during the Clone Wars.”
“Really?” Leia asked in amazement. “What an incredible coincidence!”
“Not really,” Vader replied. “It was the property of your mother, after all. It is not that surprising that it became part of your household.”
“What about his counterpart? C3P0?” Leia asked .
“I built that droid when I was a boy,” Vader replied. “He was meant to help my mother around the house.”
Leia was about to respond when they entered the command station, and more pressing matters were immediately pushed to the foreground. A technician hooked up Artoo to a computer terminal and activated the play back mechanism, downloading the information stored on the disc into the computer for analysis.
“It’s the thermal exhaust port,” Vader told his daughter as the technicians, Admiral Willard and General Dodonna pored over the data. “It’s relatively unprotected.”
“How could we destroy it?” she asked.
“One proton torpedo blast would start a chain reaction that should destroy the station. A small one man vessel would be able to access the port,” he told her, folding his arms over his chest. “Your fleet has ships that small, I’m certain of it.”
Leia nodded. “Yes we do,” she said. “Where is it? This port?”
“Below the main exhaust port,” he told her, watching as the rebels pored frantically through the huge amount of data. “It will take them hours to find it,” he told her. “Fools,” he added, shaking his head.
Leia nodded. “I know,” she said. “But you have to understand their point of view; you’ve not given them any reason to believe you. They don’t know you as I do.”
Leia’s comment surprised him and he turned back to her. “I appreciate your belief in me, Leia,” he told her. “It means more to me than I can express.”
Leia smiled. “I have an idea,” she said. She stood up and walked over to the group of technicians. “Check the exhaust port,” she told them.
They looked up at her, and then located the area on the schematics. They examined the area in question, talking in low tones among themselves. Then they looked up at her. “This is it,” they told her. “How did you know?”
“Lord Vader told me,” she said. “That’s how,” she added, looking up at General Dodonna. “Now can we get this battle under way?”
Dodonna nodded, glancing over her shoulder at Vader briefly. “Yes, let’s get everyone together for a briefing. We have no time to lose.”
Leia and Vader ran into Luke and Obi-Wan in the corridor.
“Well?” Obi-Wan asked.
“We found it,” Leia told them. “Come on Luke,” Leia said, taking his hand. “There’s no time to waste. You’re a pilot, right?”
Vader and Obi-Wan walked behind the twins. Vader seemed deep in thought.
“I spoke to Luke,” Obi-Wan told Vader. “Everything you told Leia earlier, I told to him.”
“And?” Vader replied. “Did it make any difference?”
“He was quite shocked, of course,” Obi-Wan replied. “But yes, I think it has made a difference. Surely you sensed a change in the boy when he spoke to you just now.”
Vader had sensed a change, but was reluctant to even consider what it meant. “Yes,” he admitted. “I did.”
“Patience,” Kenobi said. “I know that has never been one of your strengths,” he added wryly. “But you really must try to be patient with the boy.”
“I will try,” he said.
General Dodonna waited until the assembly of pilots and technicians were silent before he began.
“The battle station is heavily shielded and carries firepower greater than half the star fleet,” he began. “Its defenses are designed around a direct large-scale assault. A small one-man fighter should beable to penetrate the outer defense.” Vader stood beside Leia, annoyed at the pomposity of the General, who seemed content to take credit for the key information. He looked over the crowd of young pilots, and saw his son watching him. He held Luke’s gaze for a moment, sensing within his son a small level of acceptance, a perceptible decrease in the amount of hostility Luke harbored. Luke looked away and returned his attention to the briefing.
“Pardon me for asking, sir,” asked one of the squadron leaders. “But what good are snub fighters going to be against that?”
“Well, the Empire doesn't consider a small one-man fighter to be any threat,” Dodonna replied, keenly aware of Vader’s presence, “or they'd have a tighter defense. An analysis of the plans provided by Princess Leia has demonstrated a weakness in the battle station.”
Luke continued to listen to the General’s analysis, his eyes drifting every so often over to where Leia stood with Vader. They made such an odd looking pair; the tiny white clad princess standing beside the huge black armored Sith Lord; and yet even from where he was sitting, Luke could sense the bond between them. Every so often Leia would say something to him, and Vader would bend close to hear her.
“That’s impossible, even for a computer,” the young pilot seated beside Luke declared upon hearing the description of the plan of attack given by the general,. “It's not impossible,” Luke replied. “I used to bull's-eye womp rats in my T-sixteen back home. They're not much bigger than two meters.” “Then man your ships! And may the Force be with you!” Dodonna concluded.
“Such a maneuver would be easy for the Chosen One,” Kenobi commented to Vader as he and Leia watched the pilots file out of the room.
“It isn’t likely the Rebel Alliance would trust me with one of their craft,” Vader replied.
“The Chosen One?” Leia asked. “Is that what you were called?”
“Your father is the one spoken of in Jedi prophecy,” Kenobi explained. “The greatest of all the Jedi, the one who will bring balance to the Force and destroy the Sith.”
Leia looked up at her father. “Is that true? Do you mean to destroy the Sith?”
Vader remained silent for a moment. “I am not certain what my destiny is any more, Leia,” he admitted. He stopped when he saw Luke approaching them. He wore the orange flight suit of the Rebel fleet. Vader couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride when he saw his son.
“Luke!” Leia said, embracing her brother. “Be careful out there, okay?” she said.
Luke smiled. “I will,” he replied.
Leia looked around him. “Where is Han?” she asked.
“He took his reward and left,” Luke said, the disappointment evident in his voice. “I really thought he’d change his mind.”
“Captain Solo must follow his own destiny, Luke,” Vader said. “As we all must.”
Luke nodded, looking up briefly at the Dark Lord. “I suppose so,” he said simply.
“Use the Force, Luke,” Obi-Wan advised. “Let it guide your actions.”
Luke nodded as he released his sister. He looked up at his father.
“May the Force be with you,” Vader said.
Luke was about to say something in response, but decided against it. He simply nodded in response, and then turned and left them.
Vader watched him go, his heart torn between the pride he felt at seeing his boy embarking upon his first battle, and the fear that this same battle would claim the life of his only son.
“Come on,” Leia said, taking her father’s arm. “Let’s go.”
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Post by therealthing on Mar 25, 2007 9:46:38 GMT -5
Chapter 10
“I’m Luke Skywalker,” Luke said as he reached the area where the x-wing pilots had gathered. “I was assigned to this squadron.”
“Did you say Skywalker?” the squadron leader, a man in his forties asked as he approached Luke.
“Yeah,” Luke said, eying the man suspiciously. “Why?”
“Any relation to Anakin Skywalker?” the man asked.
Luke nodded. “My father,” he said simply.
“I remember him from the Clones Wars,” the squadron leader explained. “Helluva pilot, best I’ve ever seen,” he said. “If you’re half as good as he is, kid, you’ll be pretty damn good.”
Luke simply nodded as he watched the man walk away. Pieces of the puzzle that had been his father’s life were slowly falling into place; creating a picture of a man that Luke would have given anything to know. But that man is gone now, Luke thought somberly as he made his away to the craft that had been assigned to him. Destroyed by the Dark Side.
“Hey, your Artoo unit seems a bit beat up,” the technician who was serving Luke’s ship told him. “You want a new one?”
Luke smiled as he climbed the ladder up to the cockpit. “Not on your life,” he replied. “This little Artoo unit and I have been through a lot together. You okay Artoo?” he asked. The little droid whistled a most definite affirmative. “Good,” Luke said as he settled into the cockpit.
Obi-Wan, Leia and Vader headed for the command center, where a large schematic of the battle was displayed. The Death Star, represented by a red dot, was growing closer to the Yavin System. Soon an ominous announcement was heard over the loudspeaker. Stand-by alert. Death Star approaching. Estimated time to firing range, fifteen minutes.
Leia looked up at her father at this alert. “They’re almost here,” she said.
Vader nodded. “It will be close,” he said. “Let us just hope that your efforts are not in vain.”
Soon the sound of chatter was heard over the loudspeaker as the pilots all reported in.
Look at the size of that thing! One pilot gasped as he caught sight of the enormous space station.
Cut the chatter, Red Two, he was cautioned by the squadron leader. Accelerate to attack speed. This is it, boys! Vader watched the skirmishes as they were represented on the giant display before him, remembering all too well the exhilaration of being in the heart of such a battle. He reached out into the Force, searching for the distinctive, brilliant aura of his son. He could feel the boy’s excitement, his fear and anticipation as the battle heated up. The Force will be with you, Luke, he told his son, knowing that the bond between he and Luke already existed.
High above the Death Star, Luke heard his father’s words. The voice in his head was not the menacing, mile-deep baritone that he had come to associate with the Dark Lord. No, this was a different voice; the voice of his father, his real father, the man who had loved his mother, who had been a great Jedi. Luke shook his head, as though to shake the thoughts from his head, and refocused on the battle. “They’ve passed the magnetic field,” Leia said. She looked at the position of the Death Star on the display. “We’re running out of time.”
Vader nodded. “Red squadron must proceed,” he said. “They are in the best position to reach the port. Gold squadron….” He stopped as he felt a great wave of terror emanating from his son. “Luke…”he uttered, grasping the edge of the display tightly. He closed his eyes, trying to determine what his son was going though.
“What is it?” Leia cried. “What is wrong?”
Vader was silent for a moment. Luke had come close to being engulfed in a fireball on the surface of the Death Star, but he was okay. He made it.
“He’s alright,” Vader told her. “A close call, but he’s fine.”
At that moment they heard Luke’s voice over the battle chatter. “I got a little cooked but I’m okay.”
Leia sighed with relief, amazed by her father’s ability to sense Luke’s feelings from so far away.
“TIE fighters,” Vader said as they saw a new group of ships enter the schemata. “They must split up,” he told Leia. “And engage those TIE fighters ship to ship.”
It was soon apparent that the fighters had been spotted, and soon the pilots in both squadrons were engaged in dog fights above the Death Star’s surface. The activity on the display map was chaotic, laser fire from ships as well as the surface guns everywhere. Chatter on the loud speaker was loud and chaotic as well as the pilots did their best to cover one another and stave off the enemy attacks.
Leia could feel the fear within her growing as the Death Star grew closer, as the battle above it increased in intensity and pitch. Despite her best efforts to do so, she could not stop thinking that if Han Solo had remained with the Rebellion, he would have made a huge difference in the battle; despite the fact that he was an arrogant, money hungry nerf herder, he was also a great pilot.
“Gold Five to Red Leader. .. Lost Tiree, lost Dutch…”
“I copy, Gold Five.”
“They came from behind....”
“They mustn’t waste all their pilots in one run,” Vader told his daughter.
“What do you suggest?” Leia asked.
“I would reserve half of the squadron,” he told her. “Cover the trench and hold off those TIE fighters. It will give them a chance at least to reach the objective.”
Leia nodded, impressed and even a little proud of her father’s battle savvy. She looked at General Dodonna who had been listening, despite trying to appear not to. He reflected on Vader’s suggestion, and then nodded. At once he made contact with the squadron leaders.
“Red Leader, this is Base One,” he announced. “Keep half your group out of range for the next run.”
“Copy, Base One. Luke, take Red Two and Three. Hold up here and wait for my signal...to start your run.”
Leia looked up at her father and smiled. “Good call,” she said.
“I’ve been in a few battles in my life,” Vader replied simply.
“Yes, I’m sure you have,” Leia replied, returning her attention to the battle scene in front of them. Two X-wings moved across the surface of the Death Star. Red Leader's X-wing dropped down to the surface leading to the exhaust port.
“This is it!”
Everyone held their breath as Red Leader entered the trench and began his run.
“I'm in range.”
Leia and Vader watched as Red Leader's X-wing moved up the Death Star trench.
“Target's coming up! Just hold them off for a few seconds.”
“Look,” Leia said in alarm as they spotted three TIE fighters move in formation across the Death Star surface.
Vader nodded. “They are headed for the trench,” he said. Sure enough, no sooner had Vader said the words, then the three TIE fighters zoomed down into the trench at breakneck speed. Red Twelve's X-wing fighter was hit by laser fire, and it exploded into flames against the trench.
“You'd better let her loose!” the panicked voice of Red Ten was heard over the intercom as he desperately tried to hold off the fighters that were rapidly approaching.
“Almost there!”
“I can't hold them!” Red Ten replied, and soon his death screams were heard as his ship was hit from behind. It exploded and bursts into flames.
Red Leader continued his run, approaching the target rapidly. Soon he reached it, and fired his proton torpedo.
“It's away!”
Everyone in the command room watched with bated breath, waiting for the explosion to follow.
“It's a hit!” Red Nine’s voice exclaimed excitedly.
“Negative,” Red Leader announced, his voice heavy with disappointment and frustration. “Negative! It didn't go in. It just impacted on the surface.”
Leia released the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. She looked up at Vader. He turned and looked at her, wishing he had some words of comfort to offer her. Instead he merely put a hand on her shoulder. “There’s still time,” he told her.
Leia nodded and they both returned their attention to the battle.
Luke’s voice was the next one they heard on the intercom. “Red Leader, we're right above you. Turn to point...oh-five; we'll cover for you.”
Red Leader’s voice was heard next.
“Stay there......I just lost my starboard engine. Get set to make your attack run.”
The next sound was one of Red Leader’s screams as his ship was hit. And then, after a moment of shocked silence, Luke’s voice was heard once again. He spoke with calm authority that made his father proud.
“Biggs, Wedge, let's close it up. We're going in. We're going in full throttle,” he said.
“Right with you, boss,” Wedge replied.
The two X-wings took off at tremendous speed and dove into the trench.
“Luke, at that speed will you be able to pull out in time?” Biggs asked.
Vader couldn’t help but smile to himself when he heard his son’s response. “It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back home.”
“Sounds like a young pilot I used to know,” Obi-Wan commented, looking up at Vader.
Vader nodded. “Just as reckless,” he muttered.
Obi-Wan chucked.
The three X-wings move in, unleashing a barrage of laser fire. Laser bolts were returned from the Death Star.
Luke could feel the exhilaration as he realized that it was now up to him and his friends: the battle was in their hands.
“We'll stay back far enough to cover you,” Biggs told him.
Flak and laser bolts flashed outside Luke's cockpit window as he continued.
“My scope shows the tower, but I can't see the exhaust port! Are you sure the computer can hit it?” Wedge asked doubtfully.
Luke looked around for the Imperial TIE fighters. He thought for a moment and then moved his targeting device into position. “Watch yourself! Increase speed full throttle!” he ordered Wedge. “What about the tower?” Wedge asked.
“You worry about those fighters!” Luke told him. “I'll worry about the tower!”
In the command center Vader watched the progression of his son’s vessel, feeling the sense of expectation, of exhilaration that his son was experiencing.
“Artoo...that, that stabilizer's broken loose again!” Luke’s voice was heard. “See if you can't lock it down!”
It gave Vader some small degree of comfort to know that Artoo Detoo was there to help his son. The little droid had always been very resourceful in tight situations, and this was no exception as he worked furiously to repair the damages.
Laser cannons fired on the fighters as they continued on their way, Luke’s fighter in the lead. The TIE fighters in pursuit of them were deadly in their aim and accuracy, and soon Wedge found himself in a difficult position.
“I'm hit! I can't stay with you,” he told his comrades.
“Get clear, Wedge,” Luke told him. “You can't do any more good back there!”
“Sorry!” Wedge replied apologetically.
The three Imperial pilots allowed him to escape, concentrating their efforts on Luke. Luke's X-wing sped down the trench as the three TIE fighters in perfect unbroken formation, trailed close behind.
“Be careful, Luke,” Leia murmured, her anxiety level growing higher the closer the TIE fighters got to her brother’s craft.
“Hurry, Luke,” Biggs cautioned him. “They’re coming in much faster this time. I can't hold them!”
Leia moved closer to her father, as though seeking his comfort. He was as anxious as she was, for the TIE fighters were moving in ever closer to Luke. Managing to squeeze a tiny more power out of his engines, Luke put on a burst of speed, moving a little further away from his pursuers, giving him a little breathing room. Biggs, however, was not so lucky, and in a matter of moments, he was blown to the stars by the relentless Imperial fighters. Luke was all alone.
Vader could feel his son’s devastation at the loss of his friend. But, on the heels of the sadness, Vader sensed another emotion. Anger.
“It’s all up to Luke now,” Obi-Wan said. “He’s the only one left.”
Vader looked down at his daughter, sensing in her the same trepidation he himself felt. “The Force is strong with him,” Vader told her. “He will make it.”
“I hope you’re right,” Leia said softly. She looked down at the display where she saw the TIE fighters gaining even more ground on her brother’s ship. Silently she and Vader watched as Luke's ship streaked through the trench of the Death Star. Ever in pursuit of the quarry, the three TIE fighters charged away down the trench toward Luke.
Vader reached out to his son, realizing that it was all up to him now. Use the Force, Luke, he told his son. You can do it…I know you can…let go and let the Force guide you. Luke heard his father’s voice again, but was unsure if he ought to follow his advice. He looked through the targeting sites once more, adjusting the controls.
Luke, trust me.
Luke was startled by how easily his father could communicate with him. He could feel the sincerity of his words, and made his decision. Reaching for the control panel, Luke pressed the button and the targeting device moved away.
At once a voice was heard on the intercom. His computer's off. Luke, you switched off your targeting computer. What's wrong?
And then Luke’s voice was heard, calm and full of confidence. “Nothing. I'm all right.”
Vader smiled to himself, pleased that his son had heeded his words. He looked down at Leia. “Don’t worry, Leia,” he told her. “Your brother knows what he’s doing.”
Leia could only nod in response and hope her father know what he was talking about. She looked down at the display and watched as Luke's ship streaked ever close to the exhaust port. Behind him the three TIE fighters followed him in close pursuit. Suddenly a large burst of laser fire engulfed Artoo. The little droid made a squealing sound and became inoperative. “I’ve lost Artoo!” Luke cried.
Leia, Vader and the others stared intently at the projected screen, as lights representing the Death Star and targets glow brightly. Over the intercom, an ominous announcement was heard.
The Death Star has cleared the planet. The Death Star has cleared the planet.
Leia and Vader look at one another, bracing themselves for the worst. Tentatively Vader reached over and took his daughter’s hand, half expecting her to pull it away. She did not, and squeezed her father’s hand back as they waited for what seemed like an eternity, the battle in the trench above them raging on as Luke continued to race to the exhaust port. Out of no where, another ship entered the display. It fired upon the center TIE fighters, causing its pilot to lose control and go spinning out into space as the wingmen crashed into the sides of the Death Star trench. Then the familiar voice of Han Solo was heard over the intercom, to the utter surprise of all, and secret delight of Leia.
“You’re all clear, now let’s blow this thing and go home!”
Luke fired his torpedoes toward the port, using the Force to guide him. He moved out of the trench, smiling to himself as he realized that they had found their mark. He sped away from the Death Star, seeing the Millennium Falcon close by. They and the handful of Rebel ships made their way back toward the Yavin moon as behind them the mighty Death Star exploded in a spectacular display of light.
“Great shot kid, that was one in a million!” Han exclaimed.
Well done, young one Luke heard the voice of his father say. The Force is strong with you, my son. Luke was oddly pleased to have his father’s admiration, and hurried back to the moon of Yavin, feeling as though the course of his life had just changed irrevocably.
Inside the command center, the mood was jubilant. Cheering and shouts of excitement were heard from all quarters, even the staid and serious generals were seen clapping one another on the back.
Vader stood amid the celebration, feeling more relief than anything else. The fact that thousands of clones, hundreds of officers, many of whom he had served with were dead now didn’t bother him at all. In fact, if he were honest with himself, he would have to admit to being glad that Tarkin and his band of cronies had been blown into space dust.
Leia turned to her father, after receiving hugs of congratulations from the other Rebel leaders in the room. “We did it,” she said to him. “Largely thanks to you,” she added.
Vader shook his head. “Your brother is the hero here, Leia,” he said. “Not I. He’ll be back soon, why don’t you go out and meet him? I’m sure you are anxious to see him and your Corellian friend, Captain Solo.”
Leia blushed ever so slightly at her father’s suggestion, but merely nodded her head. “I’ll be back soon,” she told him, and then hurried out of the room to greet the returning heroes.
Obi-Wan watched the exchange between Vader and his daughter, still amazed by the change that his children’s presence in his life had caused in the Dark Lord.
“Luke will make a strong Jedi,” Obi-Wan said tentatively, not quite sure how Vader would react.
Vader turned to him. “Luke’s destiny is his own,” he said. “I will have little impact upon it.”
Obi-Wan frowned. “Why do you say that? You’re the boy’s father.”
“Yes,” Vader replied, looking over Obi-Wan’s shoulder. “But I am also a wanted man.”
Obi-Wan turned and looked behind him to see a group of heavily armed Rebel soldiers approaching. “They can’t do this,” he said. “This is wrong, terribly wrong.”
Vader made no reply, but simply watched as the soldiers approached, him, realizing that the moment of truth was upon him.
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Post by therealthing on Mar 26, 2007 21:56:09 GMT -5
Chapter 11
Vader watched as the soldiers approached him, feeling their terror at the thought of arresting the infamous Sith Lord. Kenobi was not sure what would happen next; either Vader would lose his temper and kill them all where they stood, or he would submit. I suppose it depends upon who is winning the struggle within him, Anakin Skywalker or Darth Vader, he mused. “Darth Vader, you will surrender your weapon and come with us,” the leader of the group announced, a man not much older than Vader’s own children. “On whose authority are you making this arrest, Captain?” Obi-Wan asked.
“General Dodonna’s, sir,” the young man replied. “Lord Vader is wanted on a number of charges, I have the order right here with the details.”
Vader was unsure what his course of action ought to be. Part of him wanted to take his lightsaber and kill every last one of them; but he was out numbered at least ten to one, and no doubt they would merely open fire on him if he so much as reached for his weapon. Secondly, he did not know where Kenobi’s loyalties lie. He could very well join the rebels, adding his own weapon to theirs. And then there are my children… “Drop your weapon,” the man ordered again, motioning for the rest of his group to surround the Dark Lord. They did so, their weapons trained upon him tightly.
“Go along with them,” Kenobi advised. “I will tell Leia what has happened, and this will all be cleared up, I’m certain of it.”
Vader wasn’t so convinced. He had no intention of remaining a prisoner, but the rebels had taken him by surprise, and he needed time to formulate a plan. Finally he unclasped his lightsaber and handed it to the young man, who almost collapsed with relief.
“Let’s go,” he said with a little more bravado now that Vader was unarmed. “This way.”
“I knew you’d come back, I just knew it!” Luke cried as Han Solo joined Luke and Leia in the docking bay.
“Well I wasn’t gonna let you take all the credit and get all the reward,” Han quipped as he tousled Luke’s hair affectionately.
“I knew there was more to you than money!” Leia told Han, smiling up at him brilliantly.
Just then Artoo Detoo was lowered from Luke’s vessel. He was charred and seemingly out of commission. See Threepio was beside himself upon seeing his stout little companion in such rough shape.
“Oh my!” he cried. “Artoo! Say something! You can repair, him can’t you?” he asked a nearby technician who was removing the clamp from Artoo. “You must repair him! Sir if any of my circuits or gears will help I’ll gladly donate them!” he told Luke bravely.
Luke had to keep from laughing at the protocol droid’s dramatics. “He’ll be alright,” he told Threepio.
The three left the droids and began to make their way back to the command center.
They were met half way there by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
“Congratulations, Luke,” the old Jedi said with a smile.
Luke smiled. “Thanks Ben,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it without Han here, though,” he said, looking at the pilot.
Kenobi nodded. “Yes, I understand you arrived right in the nick of time, Captain Solo,” he said.
Han shrugged. “I guess so,” he said. “I’m just glad I’m here for the party,” he added with a smile.
“Indeed,” Obi-Wan replied. “Leia, a situation has arisen that requires your attention I’m afraid.”
“Right now?” she said. “What’s the problem?”
“General Dodonna has ordered the arrest of your father,” Kenobi replied. “They just took him into custody.”
“What?” Leia cried. “Where did they take him?”
“I’m not certain,” Obi-Wan replied. “I don’t need to tell you what could happen if your father is provoked,” he added.
“No, you don’t,” Leia replied quietly. She looked up at Luke. “We have to do something,” she said, not entirely expecting her brother to agree with her.
Luke merely nodded. “What can be done?” he said. “He’s an enemy of the Rebellion, after all.”
“He is, but he also helped us all escape, saved Alderaan, and showed us how to destroy the Death Star,” Leia countered. “Those things should count for something.”
“I didn’t say I don’t agree with you, Leia,” Luke replied calmly. “I’m just not sure there is much we can do.”
Leia thought for a moment. “Where is General Dodonna?” she asked Obi-Wan.
“In the command center, as far as I know,” he replied. “What do you hope to gain by talking to him?”
“I’m not sure,” Leia said. “But I at least have to try. I’m not going to let my father go through this on his own, not after all he’s done for me.”
Kenobi nodded, reflecting just how very much Leia was like her mother at this moment. “I’ll come with you,” he said.
Vader found himself in a most unusual position, that of prisoner, for the first time in more years than he could remember. Granted, he could have easily repelled the rebels’ attempt to apprehend him by killing the lot of them with a single thought; but somehow that didn’t seem right to him anymore. Somehow the knowledge that his children were part of this Rebel Alliance prevented him from lashing out at the group of soldiers, and this surprised even him. Not that he planned on remaining a prisoner; no, that would not do. He simply needed a moment to plan an escape, and then…and then what? he reflected. Where do I go? The emperor will surely kill me when he learns of what I have done; and knowing that serpent Tarkin, Sidious received a full report on my recent activities.
“In here, your lordship,” one of the men said, opening a door and pushing Vader inside the small cell. Vader bit back the anger that filled him at the young man’s sarcastic tone. “It’s not terribly comfy in here,” the man continued as he and three of his companions stepped into the room. “But I’m sure it’s a lot more so than the cell my brother rotted away in on board your vessel, Vader.”
Vader turned and looked at the man. “I have no memory of your brother,” he said simply, stating a fact. “I have many prisoners on board my vessel at any given time.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you do,” the man retorted angrily. “And you treat them all the same way, right? Like so much human garbage.”
“This is war,” Vader replied. “What do you expect? I don’t imagine the Rebel Alliance treats its prisoners with any greater degree of clemency.”
This angered the young man even more, even though it was not Vader’s intention to provoke him. “What do you say we show Lord Vader how the Rebel Alliance treats its prisoners?” he asked his comrades.
“Sounds good to me,” one of the other men said, brandishing his weapon. Vader realized what was afoot, and looked around at the four men as they surrounded him.
“Surely you’re not foolish enough to actually try to harm me,” he warned them. “For that would be a grave mistake.”
“Harm you?” one of the men said. “Now why would we want to do that?” he said, punctuating his sentence with the butt end of his blaster to Vader’s ribcage.
Vader felt the pain rocket through him and tried to focus his energy on anticipating the next assault, but the pain made if difficult to do so. In a moment he felt something connect with the small of his back. He grew furious as the pain rushed through him, and with one swipe of his arm Force pushed the assailants against the wall. The other two stood their ground, at least until he turned to them.
“I did warn you,” he growled as he reached out his hands, choking each of them with the Force. The men grabbed at their throats, their faces turning blue, eventually falling to their knees. Vader watched them as they struggled for air, the anger in him fuelling his strength and his power.
“Fools,” he said contemptuously as the men slumped to the floor, dead. He looked around at the other two men who lay unconscious, or perhaps dead, (he didn’t know and didn’t really care at this point). Reaching a hand out, he removed his light saber from the grasp of one of the men. The weapon flew to his hand, and he caught it easily. Now what? He pondered as he stared at the force field protected door that stood between him and freedom. He folded his arms over his chest and pondered his next move, knowing that he did not have a lot of time to make his move.
“General Dodonna, a word with you please,” Leia said as she met up with the general in the command center.
Dodonna looked up to see Princess Leia standing before him along with Obi-Wan Kenobi.
“What can I do for you, Princess?” he asked.
“I think you know what,” she replied. “Why have you arrested Darth Vader?”
Dodonna lowered his brows. “Why?” he asked. “Do you really need to ask me why? He’s a mass murdered, Leia; a monster! Surely you haven’t been fooled into thinking otherwise.”
“You seem to forget what Lord Vader has done recently,” Leia retorted. “He saved Alderaan from certain destruction; he saved my life more than once, and helped me escape from the Death Star. And you know very well, General, that it would have taken you hours to find the weakness in the Death Star if he hadn’t pointed it out to us first.”
“I can’t deny any of that, Princess,” Dodonna replied evenly. “But stacked against his acts of murder and tyranny….”
“Darth Vader was once a great Jedi; did you know that, General?” Obi-Wan cut in. “Does the name Anakin Skywalker sound familiar to you?”
“You’re trying to tell me that Darth Vader was once Anakin Skywalker?” Dodonna replied in disbelief.
“Yes, I most certainly am,” Kenobi replied. “And judging by your reaction to his name, you are familiar with his exploits.”
“Anakin Skywalker was one of the greatest heroes the galaxy has ever known,” Dodonna replied. “He was a great pilot, a brilliant warrior; of course I’m familiar with them.”
“So consider the number of times he sacrificed his life for the galaxy,” Kenobi said, surprising himself with the vehemence with which he was defending Vader. “The number of times he turned certain defeat into victory, the number of lives he saved. If we use your …unusual brand of logic, and stack these deeds against the misdeeds of Darth Vader, which do you think would come out on top?”
“That is hardly a valid comparison,” Dodonna protested hotly.
“Why not?” Leia countered. “That’s exactly what you’re doing, isn’t it?”
Dodonna grew angry at being trapped so easily in their logic. “Perhaps it is,” he said at last. “But that doesn’t mean Vader deserves to be shown mercy. He is a dangerous man, Princess, and you’d be wise not to let this…strange infatuation you have with him blind you to that fact.”
Leia grew furious. “Infatuation?” she cried. “Is that what you think I feel toward him?”
“Well what else would you call it?” Dodonna cut in.
“Darth Vader is …”Leia began, but Obi-Wan cut her off.
“Darth Vader is a changed man,” he said, thinking that it would be unwise for Leia to reveal her true relationship with the Dark Lord. “And Princess Leia has seen the change in him first hand. Surely he deserves some degree of clemency, General; after all, the Alliance is not the same ruthless body of dictators that the Empire is, is it?”
“I don’t think I like your tone, General Kenobi,” Dodonna retorted. “Or what you are implying. Darth Vader will remain a prisoner of the Alliance, and if either of you have a problem with that, you are welcome to end your association with this alliance.”
“General, I hardly think that…” Kenobi began, ever the diplomat.
“You have a lot of nerve saying that to me,” Leia replied angrily. “After everything that Alderaan has done for the Alliance, after the way I risked my life to get these plans to you!”
“Leia, come along,” Obi-Wan said. “Obviously we will need to speak to the general when cooler heads have prevailed.”
Leia looked at the Jedi, and then back at Dodonna, and, reluctantly, let Obi-Wan escort her from the room.
“Why did you do that?” she asked.
“Because your father needs your help,” he said. “Let’s go.”
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Post by therealthing on Mar 27, 2007 20:05:32 GMT -5
Chapter 12
Leia and Obi-Wan hurried through the corridors, trying to formulate a plan. It would not be easy to get Vader safely off the moon, but Leia was determined to do so. She was adamant to the point that Obi-Wan had commented to her how much like her father she was. “Am I really?” she asked, stopping and looking at the old Jedi.
“Yes, you are,” he replied. “Anakin was always very single minded, very difficult to dissuade from doing something when he was convinced he was right.”
Leia smiled. “Sounds like he and I would get along famously,” she said.
She saw her brother and Han Solo approaching and ran to meet them.
“What’s going on?” Luke said. “Is …he still in the brig?”
“Yes,” nodded Leia. “And you’re just in time to help me get him out.”
Han frowned. “You’re going to let him out?” he asked incredulously. “Are you nuts??”
“No, I most certainly am not nuts,” Leia retorted. “He helped me escape, he helped all of us,” she told the cocky young pilot. “We owe him .”
Han shook his head in disbelief. “Well count me out, sister,” he said ruefully. “You want to get yourself court marshaled you go right ahead. Come on, kid,” he said, turning to leave. “Kid?”
Luke stood looking at his sister, trying to decide what to do.
Leia could see her brother’s hesitation, and took him by the hand. “Luke, he’s our father,” she said. “Whatever else he has done, he is our father, our flesh and blood. He has come so far to change, and if we abandon him now, all that will be for nothing. I don’t want that to happen, do you?”
Luke shook his head. “No,” he said. “Of course not.”
“I want to meet Anakin Skywalker,” Leia said. “I want to know him, the great hero, the man who sacrificed everything for the love of a woman, our mother. That man is inside of him, I’ve seen glimpses of him. If we help him, if we support him, he will find his way back, I just know it!”
Luke was moved by his sister’s words, and looked at Obi-Wan. “Ben?” he said. “What do you think? Is there a chance he could be turned back to the good side?”
Kenobi nodded. “Yes Luke,” he said. “I never would have imagined it possible, but I do believe it. It has already begun.”
Luke had to admit that he too had seen the changes, felt the good man within the Dark Lord. How could he turn his back on that man?
“Okay,” Luke said at last. “Tell me what to do.”
Vader had commenced pacing in his cell, like an animal in a cage, his mind working furiously to find a way out. The thought that perhaps his daughter might come to his aide had crossed his mind, but no doubt she would take great risk to do so, and he did no wish her to endanger herself. His thoughts turned to his son as well, his pride for him filling him with an unusual warm feeling. This is what it feels like to be a father, he realized. Both of his children had given him reason to be proud. Padmé would have been proud of them too, he thought, the image of her face jumping unheeded to his mind. I did not kill her, he thought, the knowledge of it still a shock to him. He lied to me, he thought as his thoughts grew dark. I swore my allegiance to him; I sold my soul to him…all for a lie, all for nothing…
Vader knew his master well enough to know that by now there was an enormous bounty on his head. Sidious did not take betrayal lightly, and that is exactly how he would see what Vader had done. The irony of his situation was not lost on him. In saving his children he had burned all bridges with the Empire, and put himself in the position of an enemy of that Empire; yet, the Alliance which he had delivered his daughter too also considered him their sworn enemy. So, in essence, he was without allies, a man without a future. He had sacrificed everything to save his daughter…just as he done so twenty years earlier to save her mother. But you were unable to save Padmé…this time you did it, this time you did save the one you love. Vader’s musings were interrupted when he sensed a tremor in the Force. At once he realized what it meant; his children were close by. He looked around at the carnage he was surrounded by; would they believe him when he said he was provoked to kill the four men whose bodies lay obscenely around the cell? We shall soon see, he thought as he heard the door being deactivated. He stepped back as the door slid open, revealing his daughter and son.
“Leia, Luke,” Vader began, not at all surprised to see them. “What are you doing here?”
“What do you think?” Leia replied. “We’re here to ….” She stopped when she saw the four dead men within the cell. Suddenly she was filled with a cold sense of anxiety. What am I doing? She thought. Was Dodonna right? Is my father beyond redemption?
“They attacked me,” Vader told his children, seeing the look of horror and shock in their eyes. “I complied with their requests, but they saw fit to try to inflict bodily harm upon me. I acted in self defense.”
Luke and Leia looked at one another. They wanted to believe their father, but his predilection for violence made it hard to do so.
“If you doubt me,” Vader spoke up, “the security holos will verify what I have told you.”
“The security cameras!” Leia suddenly remembered. She looked up and saw that the recording device was pointed towards the ceiling at a most unusual angle. She looked back at her father for an explanation.
“I… thought perhaps it was a wise precaution,” he explained, “given the fact that the two of you must not be implicated in any of this.”
Luke smiled. “Very thoughtful,” he commented. “Any ideas how we can get you out of here without anyone seeing us?”
“You lead the way,” Vader replied. “And leave the rest to me.”
“You’re not going to just kill everyone we encounter, all you?” Luke asked with a frown.
“I will only kill if I must,” Vader replied. “The Force will cloak us when necessary.” He sensed his children’s reticence. “Perhaps you’d like to reconsider your involvement,” he suggested.
Leia shook her head. “No,” she said, grabbing her father’s hand. “You risked everything to save us, now we’re going to do the same for you. Come on!”
The recentness of the Rebel victory worked in the favor of the fugitives, for most of the personnel were in the great audience hall celebrating. Leia, being familiar with the layout of the base, managed to find the less populated corridors and passageways to the docking bay where Obi-Wan had arranged to meet the three of them.
“Where will you go?” Luke asked his father as they made their way through the winding corridors.
“I do not know,” Vader replied. “I will not return to the Empire,” he told them. “I could not even if I wanted to. My recent actions have made me a wanted man. And it is obvious that your Rebel leaders are unwilling to consider that a man can change.”
“So what will you do?” Leia asked.
“I must find out what happened to your mother,” Vader replied. The fate of his wife had been gnawing away at his mind ever since he learned that she had not died at his hand. “I want to learn the truth about her death, and if there was any way it could have been prevented.”
“What do you hope to gain by knowing that?” Luke asked. “Isn’t it sort of like pouring salt on an open wound?”
Vader was silent as he considered his son’s question. “I have lived with the pain of her death for close to twenty years, Luke,” he replied at last as they entered the hangar. “There is nothing that can rival that pain, not anymore. I must know the truth if I am ever to know peace.”
“I will tell you the truth, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said as he watched the exchange between Vader and his children.
Vader looked at his old Jedi. “What do you know of truth, old man?” he retorted. “How can any of us believe you after the way you….”
“Padmé did not die in childbirth, Anakin,” Kenobi cut in.
“What?” Leia cried.
“What happened to her?” Luke asked. “Where is she??
“I don’t know where she is,” Obi-Wan replied. “But I promise you that she did not die when the two of you were born.”
Vader stood as though his boots had become adhered to the floor beneath them. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, the blood pounding in his ears.
“If she did not die,” he began, “then why were the twins taken from her and raised apart? Who did that to her?” he demanded.
Obi-Wan looked up at Vader. “She had serious complications when the twins were born,” he told him. “And very nearly did die. Due to the complications she slipped into a coma for weeks, and the doctors did not give her much hope of surviving. That is why the twins were taken.”
“You left her alone?” Vader asked furiously. “You stole her children from her and then left her alone to die?” he roared, taking a step towards Obi-Wan.
“Stop, please!” Leia implored, trying to hold her father back. “I’m sure that wasn’t what happened!”
“No, it was not,” Kenobi replied. “Yoda remained with Padmé while Bail Organa and I took the twins to a safe hiding spot. Time was of the essence; we knew that if Palpatine learned of their existence, he would have taken the twins and destroyed them. We couldn’t take that chance.” He looked at Vader who stood listening silently to Kenobi’s tale. “I returned to see her, to the medical facility at Polis Massa as soon as I could, only to find that she was gone. None of the doctors there would tell me where, for she had sworn them all to secrecy. All they would tell me was that she believed the babies had died, and no one there told her otherwise. Apparently Master Yoda felt that if she knew that they were alive she would have tried to search for them, and would have endangered all three of them in the process.”
Vader was silent as he digested all this information, his mind racing in a thousand directions. Was she alive? If she was, where was she? What did the belief that her babies had died do to her?
“Stand aside, Obi-Wan,” Vader said at last as he headed for one of the rebel ships.
“Where are you going?” Leia cried, running after him.
Vader turned to his children. “I am going to find your mother,” he replied. “If she is alive, I will find her, I promise you that.”
Luke and Leia were torn; they wanted desperately to go with their father, to help him search for their mother. And yet they both felt a sense of duty and obligation to the Rebel Alliance, and felt compelled to do everything they could to help it.
“When I find her, I will bring her home to you,” Vader said, touching his daughter’s face. “I swear it.”
Leia nodded. “I know you will,” she said. “Good luck, Father.”
Vader was moved, hearing his child call him father for the first time.
“May the Force be with you, Father,” Luke said.
Vader turned to his son next and put a hand on his shoulder. “And with you, my son,” he replied.
And then without another word, he proceeded to the nearest ship and climbed on board. He stopped when he noticed Obi-Wan climbing into the cockpit of the neighboring ship.
“What are you doing, old man?” Vader asked.
“You’re going to need some help,” Obi-Wan replied. “Besides, how far do you think you’ll get looking like the most notorious man in the galaxy?”
Vader paused, not having given any consideration to that. He was nothing if not infamous.
“And what do you suggest?” Vader asked at last.
“You’ll just have to wait and see,” Obi-Wan returned with a grin.
Vader shook his head. “I should have killed you when I had the chance,” he grumbled.
Obi-Wan only chuckled as both men climbed into their fighters and prepared to leave.
Chapter 13
Luke and Leia managed to return to the festivities without raising suspicion that they had been involved in the escape of Darth Vader. Of course it wasn’t long before it was discovered that the Dark Lord had indeed escaped. The bodies of the four dead soldiers brought a new level of outrage and hatred for the Empire, as had the apparent abduction of the elderly Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi who had disappeared with the Dark Lord.
General Dodonna had strongly suspected that Leia was involved in the escape of Vader, but he had no proof. He had checked the security holos from that afternoon when the escape had been affected, but the camera showed nothing, it having been dislodged somehow, no doubt during the scuffle that took the life of the four soldiers.
The footage of the scuffle that had resulted in the death of the four rebels shocked the general. It was clear from the footage that Vader had been provoked, that the rebels had taken sadistic pleasure in taking cheap shots at him. The Dark Lord had obviously snapped and had unleashed his enormous power to retaliate. Dodonna shook his head, confused by what all this meant. Clearly Vader could have killed all ten of the men who had apprehended him; but he had not. He could have resisted arrest quite easily, and yet he had not. And the holos clearly showed that he did nothing to harm the men who had imprisoned him until they had brutalized him first. Who would not fight back under such circumstances? Granted, the manner in which Vader had retaliated had been a hundred times more lethal than the manner in which he had been attacked, but after all, he was a Sith.
Dodonna had not been able to stop thinking about what Obi-Wan Kenobi had told him, how Darth Vader had once been Anakin Skywalker. It hardly seemed possible that the sinister black masked menace had once been the dashing, heroic young Jedi. Wait a minute…Dodonna thought. Skywalker? Isn’t that the name of the new recruit? The one who destroyed the Death Star? Could there be a connection? “General, we’re ready to commence,” Dodonna’s young aide told him as she poked her head into his small, makeshift office.
“Very well,” he replied. “I’ll be right there.” ________________________________________________________________________
The galactic Emperor Palpatine had not reached the position he had by being merciful. No, indeed it was his ruthlessness and cold-bloodedness which had seen him hold the position for two decades. As Vader had suspected, the late Governor Tarkin had indeed sent a complete report to the emperor before the Death Star had been blown into stardust. Palpatine’s initial reaction had been one of shock to his apprentice’s treachery. Darth Vader had been a dutiful servant for two decades, and Palpatine knew exactly how to keep him subservient. Early on in his service to the emperor, Vader had been far more emotional, far more demonstrative of his grief over his dead wife. But Palpatine had bullied that out of the Dark Lord. He had used the images from Vader’s tortured mind to torment and punish him whenever he dared to as much as think of her in his master’s presence. Vader had learned his lessons well, enduring the agony both physical and psychological frequently until he was conditioned not to even think of her name in Palpatine’s presence. Once he’d been broken, Vader had proven to be a faithful servant, doing his master’s bidding without question. Until now.
It seemed unthinkable that Vader would act against his master’s wishes, and blatantly disregard orders issued to him by his superiors, namely Tarkin. But he had. Not only that, he had aided the traitor Organa in her escape, the security holos were full of it. What was it about this princess that made Vader throw away everything to save her? Why was she important to him?
“Your majesty, Vyrr Zhar-Khan is here to see you.”
Palpatine looked up at the aide, shaking himself from his dark ruminations. “Send him in,” he commanded.
Vyrr Zhar-Khan was one of the most notorious and efficient hired guns in the galaxy, and Palpatine had used his services on many occasions. There was something more about this young man that Palpatine had noted though; he was Force sensitive. Granted, the young man had never received any training, nor had he been shown how to wield his latent powers; but they were there nonetheless. His aura sparkled with the promise of tremendous strength, a source of virtually untapped potential. A fine apprentice he would make, Palpatine reflected as the young man was shown in.
“You sent for me, your majesty?” Zhar-Khan drawled in his thick Hapan accent. “Yes, I did,” Palpatine replied. “I want you to find out the name of the Rebel who destroyed the Death Star,” he told the young man. “Moreover, I want you to find out all you can about the Princess Leia Organa of the house of Alderaan. I want to know everything you can about her, including any possible connections she may have to my former apprentice, Darth Vader.”
Zhar-Khan raised one dark eyebrow. “Former apprentice?” he asked.
“Yes,” Palpatine replied. “I have placed a bounty on his head so high every bounty hunter in the galaxy will be looking for him,” he gloated. “He will pay for his treachery,” he said, more to himself than to the young man before him.
“Anything else, sire?” Zhar-Khan asked.
“No,” Palpatine replied. “Return to me in one month’s time, Zhar-Khan. Do you hear me? One month.”
“Now, my lord, have I ever let you down in the past?” Zhar-Khan asked with a smile.
Palpatine was not amused by the dashing young man’s attempts to be charming. “Get out,” he simply said, dismissing him brusquely.
Zhar-Khan bowed with a great flourish and then left.
Don’t fail me, Zhar-Khan, or your head will be the next to have a bounty on it. Luke, Han, and Chewbacca entered the huge ruins of the main temple. Luke could feel his palms growing sweaty, his mouth dry as the moment drew closer.
Han looked at him and grinned. “You’re not nervous, are you kid?”
“Me? Nah,” Luke replied, yanking at the collar of his jacket. “Not a chance.”
Han merely smiled, knowing better.
The fanfare began, and the three heroes started their way down the long aisle towards the dais, where Princess Leia stood, looking radiant in a flowing white gown.
Hundreds of troops, lined up in neat rows watched as the heroes proceeded down the aisle. Banners were flying, the atmosphere formal and dignified.
Luke and the others solemnly marched up the long aisle and stood before Leia. General Dodonna and several other dignitaries were seated to the left of Princess Leia. She rose and placed a gold medallion around Han's neck. He winked at her, causing the princess to almost lose her composure. She then repeated the ceremony with Luke, her twin, who merely smiled up at his sister. They both bow respectfully to the princess and then turned to face the assembled troops. The mood of formality was shattered by a spontaneous and boisterous round of applause, followed by cheers and loud shouts of approval. Leia could help but laugh.
Luke turned back to her and gave her a wink before he and Han returned to the assembled troops to receive their congratulations.
Leia watched part of her wishing she could join her brother and their friend, but realizing that her position made it inappropriate. She was a princess, after all. But am I really? She thought, reflecting on her true parentage. As much as I love Bail Organa, he is not my real father… “Quite a celebration,” General Dodonna commented as he came to stand beside Leia on the dais.
Leia turned to him. “Yes, and deservedly so,” she replied. “It was a resounding victory.”
Dodonna nodded, his eyes on the troops before them. “You may have heard that our prisoner managed to escape,” he told her, his tone of voice not changing at all, as though he were discussing the weather.
Leia did her best to appear shocked. “What?” she replied. “You mean Vader?”
“Who else do you think I mean?” Dodonna retorted, looking directly at her. Leia, however, kept her cool.
“Your tone is quite inappropriate, general,” Leia said in her most regal, royal manner.
Dodonna was properly chastised, and bowed his head to her. “Forgive me,” he said. “But it is quite a coincidence, don’t you think, that he managed to escape only a short time after you were protesting his arrest. Curious.” He said no more and walked away. Leia kept her face impassive, realizing that he was no doubt watching her closely for a reaction. And he shall have none, she thought to herself as she watched her brother shaking hands with the other pilots.
Darth Vader found himself in a reflective, pensive mood as he and Obi-Wan made their way to Polis Massa. Vader had reasoned that it was a logical place to start, since it was the last known location of his beloved Padmé. From there, he had no idea where to go. But Obi-Wan had made a valid point: he would not get far so long as he wore the all too recognizable mask of Darth Vader.
Vader had never once considered that his injuries were repairable; his master had told him that they were not, and he had taken him at his word. But Sidious had also told him that Padmé had died at his hand…it seems in your anger you killed her… And that was a lie. A lie that I have spent the past two decades grieving over….a lie that changed the course of my life…
“Anakin, do you read me?” Vader heard Kenobi’s voice over the comm.. “Do not call me that,” Vader replied tersely. “That is not my name.”
Kenobi was silent for a moment before responding. “I’m preparing to make the reversion to sub light,” he said at last. “Polis Massa is approaching.”
“Acknowledged,” Vader replied.
Vader and Obi-Wan landed their craft on the landing platform outside the medical facility. Polis Massa was a unique outpost, a gravity controlled series of facilities built on a group of asteroids in the Subterrel System in what was usually referred to as Wild Space.
Kenobi remembered the outpost well; he had brought the unconscious Padmé Amidala Skywalker here after his fateful duel with Darth Vader on the planet of Mustafar. Fearing for her life, as well as those of her unborn children, the physician at the medical facility had induced labor. Padmé had endured a painful, physically traumatic labor and delivery, her emotional condition only serving to augment her already delicate physical state.
Vader climbed out of the fighter and looked around. So this is where my children were born, he thought.
“This way,” Kenobi said. “They will no doubt be surprised to see you, so let me do the talking, alright?”
Vader nodded, anxious to get to the truth of his wife’s fate. If that meant following Kenobi around and letting him call the shots, for now, then so be it.
Kenobi entered the facility, the Dark Lord close behind.
“This way,” Kenobi said, indicating a blast door that led to the administrative wing.
No one could have prepared the administrator of the facility, a rather mild-mannered man by the name of Runali Vullen, for the sight that met his eyes when the door to his small office opened. He stood up, half expecting to be arrested and taken into custody when he saw the infamous Darth Vader enter the room. He was accompanied by an elderly man who wore the robes of the now extinct Jedi Knights.
“W-w-what brings you to our remote outpost, Lord Vader?” Vullen asked with an appropriate degree of groveling.
“I have come for information about a patient of yours,” Vader replied without preamble. “You will tell me all you know about Padmé Amidala Skywalker.”
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Post by therealthing on Mar 29, 2007 17:58:14 GMT -5
Chapter 14
Polis Massa Outpost Vullen simply stared at Vader, the Dark Lord’s request taking him completely off guard. Padmé Amidala Skywalker was a name from the past, a name that everyone at Polis Massa had learned not to react to. It had been almost twenty years since the beautiful, mysterious woman who had once been known as Padmé Amidala Skywalker had simply left the facility, not telling anyone where she was going or why. So why now was Darth Vader looking for information about her? Despite himself, Vullen found himself curious.
“I’m sorry, what name was that?” he asked.
“You heard the name,” Vader replied tersely. “And I know you recognized it, your mind is ridiculously easy to read.”
Vullen began to grow uneasy under the Dark Lord’s scrutiny. How could he deny knowing this woman if Vader could read his very thoughts with seemingly no effort at all?
“Perhaps you could check your databanks,” Obi-Wan suggested, subtly using the Force to manipulate the man’s mind.
“Yes, why don’t I check the databanks,” Vullen said, moving to his computer screen at once. He called up the historical files on the computer and watched as a bank of names appeared on the screen.
“I don’t see that name in our files,” Vullen said. “Do you know how long ago would she have been here?”
“Almost twenty years,” Vader said. “She gave birth to twins while she was here, a girl and a boy.”
Vullen nodded as he adjusted the perimeters of his search.
“Master Yoda may have removed the records from the databanks,” Obi-Wan realized suddenly. “In order to protect her from being found by the emperor.”
Vader nodded. “Yes, that is most likely,” he said, discouraged by this realization.
“We have a record of twins being born nineteen point eight years ago,” Vullen said. “But the name of the mother is not in the files. It appears to have been removed.”
“Perfect,” Vader growled. So now what?? “Is there anyone here at the facility who might remember these twins?” Obi-Wan asked. “Anyone at all? Even a droid?”
“Well, we could check with the personnel in the maternity ward,” Vullen suggested. “They might, but it’s been a long time. We have a lot of babies born here. It would be a long shot at best.”
“It is better than nothing at all,” Vader replied. “Let us proceed.”
“Very well,” Vullen said, standing up. “Follow me.” “May I ask why this woman is of importance to you, Lord Vader?” Vullen asked timidly. “Is she a criminal? A fugitive of the Empire?”
“No,” Vader replied at once. “She is not.”
Vullen waited in vain for the Dark Lord to offer more information, but he did not, causing his own curiosity to increase. Vullen’s life was not a terribly exciting one; and as such he was not often afforded the opportunity to play a part in a true mystery. This is just like that holovid I watched the other night; he thought excitedly, only this one is real! Who was this mysterious woman that Darth Vader was so bent on finding? What connection did she have to him? And what of the twins she bore? What became of them??
“Here we are,” Vullen announced as they stepped through the blast doors leading into the maternity ward. “Let me introduce you to our chief physician here,” he added, summoning a female humanoid.
Talanis Deece was not a native of Polis Massa, but had been practicing medicine there for a number of years. She was a stout woman in her early to mid fifties. As she turned to approach the administrator, she was unable to hide the look of fear from her face when she beheld who had accompanied Vullen.
“Dr. Talanis Deece,” Vullen said, “We have two most important visitors who need some information,” he said. “I am hoping that you might be able to provide them with it.”
Deece’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as she looked at the administrator, and then back at the Dark Lord. “Oh?” she asked warily. “What sort of information?”
“Information about a woman who gave birth to twins here twenty years ago,” Vader said. “A woman by the name of Padmé Amidala Skywalker.”
Deece was better at hiding her thoughts from Vader, but only marginally so. She remembered Padmé Skywalker, she remembered the emotional wreck she had been.
“What about her?” Deece asked.
“You remember her?” Obi-Wan asked hopefully.
Deece nodded. “Yes,” she replied. “I do,” she said, looking warily from one man to the other.
“You will tell us everything you know,” Vader demanded, ever the commander.
“If you don’t mind,” Obi-Wan added, earning a sharp look from Vader.
“I’m not sure I ought to,” Deece replied, folding her arms over her ample bosom. “What are you to her that I should tell you anything?”
“Padmé was my wife,” Vader replied. “Is that sufficient reason?”
“Your wife?” Deece asked in astonishment. “What do you take me for, some sort of fool? How could she possibly be your wife?”
Vader became enraged and took an intimidating step toward the doctor. “You dare to doubt me?” he asked threateningly. “She was my wife, my soul mate, my very soul!” he declared hotly. “Do not for an instant…”
“Anakin, please,” Obi-Wan stepped in. “This isn’t going to help.”
“Anakin?” Deece asked, looking at Obi-Wan. “Why did you call him that?”
“Because that is his real name,” Obi-Wan said, looking at Vader. “Even if he doesn’t want to acknowledge it.” He turned back to the doctor. “Why do you ask? Have you heard that name before?”
Deece looked at Vader, an expression of shock and incredulity on her face. She nodded. “Yes,” she said. “That is the name of the person that Padmé Skywalker kept calling for. None of us knew who it was, but I suppose it makes sense now. She was calling for her husband.”
For the past twenty years, Vader had believed that his heart was incapable of suffering any more torment. Until this very moment.
“She…. was calling for me?” he asked.
Deece looked at him, the change in his tone and demeanor remarkable. “Yes,” she said. “She was.”
Vader closed his eyes, willing himself to master his emotions. “Tell us what you know,” he asked her. “I implore you.”
Vullen left his two mysterious visitors with the good doctor, making a mental note to quiz Deece later about her meeting with them.
Deece lead the two men into a small office within the maternity ward. All three sat down, Deece behind a small desk. She was still in a state of shock over learning that Darth Vader was once the man whom Padmé Amidala had loved so desperately. How is it possible he could be the same man? She wondered, staring at the black menace before her. How is it possible that he is capable of anything but murder and cruelty? What happened to him to change him so drastically?
“Padmé was brought here in a mildly concussive state,” Deece began. “We examined her, and, for reasons we could not determine, she seemed to be slipping away. None of us could explain it, but we knew that if we didn’t act fast the babies she was carrying would not survive. We induced labor immediately. She had a very difficult time, she labored for hours before she was ready to deliver, and was so weak by then that the trauma of giving birth only drove her physical state even lower. Shortly after the twins were born, she started to hemorrhage. We fought to control it, but the tremendous loss of blood caused her to go into hypovolemic shock. The accompanying fever caused her to become delirious, and that is when we first heard the name Anakin,” she explained, looking at Vader.
“And this…delirium resulted in a coma?” Vader asked, trying desperately to master his crushing grief and the guilt that accompanied it.
Deece nodded. “That, coupled with the loss of blood,” she replied. “We didn’t expect her to survive that is why we agreed to allow her friends to take the twins.”
“But she did survive,” Vader pressed. “She did, didn’t she?”
“She remained in a coma for nearly two weeks,” Deece continued. “Her vital signs dangerously low the entire time. And then one day she woke up. She stabilized, but she was not the same.”
“What do you mean?” Vader demanded.
“I mean that …she had no idea where she was, who she was, what had happened to her,” Deece replied. “She had no memory of her life prior to awakening here.”
“You mean she suffered brain damage?” Obi-Wan asked with a frown.
“No, not in the way you mean,” Dr. Deece replied. “We ran extensive brain scans to determine if she had suffered any brain damage, but they were negative.”
Vader felt a surge of relief at hearing this. “So what would explain her memory loss?” he asked, the thought of his beloved angel so changed and lost wrenching at his heart.
“The trauma of what she went through, both physical and emotional,” Deece replied. “Sometimes the human mind will block out events that are too painful to deal with, resulting in what we refer to as dissociative amnesia.”
“Is it possible to reverse this?” Vader asked hopefully, desperate to find a glimmer of hope in all this tragedy. “If there was no synaptic damage, then surely it must be possible for her to regain her lost memory.”
Deece nodded. “Yes, it’s possible,” she said.
“Have you any idea where Padmé went when she left here?” Obi-Wan asked. “Any idea at all?”
Deece sighed, shaking her head. “No, I’m afraid not,” she replied.
Vader was silent as he considered this dire news. Where could she possibly be? How am I ever to find her? “How did she get off the outpost?” Vader asked. “In the state she was in? Why did you let her leave?” he demanded.
Deece looked at Vader, biting back the response that immediately jumped to her mind. “She was physically stable when she left,” she replied. “We could not prevent her from leaving, Lord Vader.”
“She had her ship here,” Obi-Wan remembered. “She could have gone anywhere.”
“Then I will search the galaxy until I find her,” Vader averred. “She is out there; I will not stop until I find her.”
“You are forgetting something, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. “You are a wanted man now,” he reminded him. “Every bounty hunter in the galaxy will be looking for you. It’s not like you can disguise yourself.”
“Yes, I am well aware of that,” Vader retorted in frustration.
“Perhaps we are in the right place to find a solution to that problem,” Kenobi remarked.
“What do you mean?” Vader asked.
“Dr. Deece,” Obi-Wan asked. “This facility has a surgical wing, does it not?”
“Yes, yes it does,” Deece replied. “Why do you ask?”
“We require their services,” Obi-Wan replied, looking at Vader. Massassi Outpost- Yavin IV
The Rebel Alliance had not evaded the Empire for close to two decades by being careless. Having won a significant victory against the Empire by destroying the Death Star, they knew that it was only a matter of time before the Empire sent an armada to wipe out their base on Yavin IV. Thus, it was time to relocate again.
The members of the Alliance were used to being mobile, accustomed to the enormous amount of work that went into packing up and moving sometimes half way across the galaxy.
Scouts had been sent out mere days after the destruction of the Death Star. Their job was a challenging one: find a new location for the Rebel base. The Empire’s territory was enormous, consisting of over one million member worlds and fifty million colonies, protectorates, and governorships throughout the Galaxy, stretching from the borders of the Deep Core to Wild Space. To evade the Empire’s notice was not an easy task, and everyone in the Alliance knew that any new hiding place they managed to find was only temporary. Such was the nature of rebellion, and all the members of this rebellion had come to accept this nomadic life as normal, and the price they must pay in order to fight the tyrannical Empire.
For Luke, however, this was a totally new experience. Having lived his entire life in the same place, Luke was accustomed to living a very unexciting and often monotonous existence. The excitement of his new life was still very new to him, and he savored every part of it. How much his life had changed in only a matter of weeks! It hardly seemed possible that so much could befall one person in so short a time. Not only had he left Tatooine, for what he hoped forever; but he had also been reunited with the twin sister he never knew he had, and met the father he had believed to be long dead. He knew that having Leia made accepting that their father had become Darth Vader far easier than it would have been had he been forced to carry the burden of his father’s fall alone. Leia saw the good man within the Dark Lord, and that was enough to convince Luke that Anakin Skywalker was still alive, even though he was buried under two decades of anger and pain. Somehow we will release him from that anger, Leia had vowed to her brother. Somehow we will bring him back to the Light.
As for Leia, she was accustomed to a life of privilege in the royal household of Alderaan. Although she had been involved with the Rebel Alliance for more than a year now, her involvement had always been from a distance, using her position as a senator and a princess to affect changes that no ordinary citizen could manage. But now, now that she had found her long lost twin brother, she felt that her place was with him and the Rebel Alliance. She had nearly twenty years of catching up to do with Luke, with whom she had already formed a deep bond.
If Leia were completely honest with herself, however, she would have to admit that there was another reason for her decision to stay with the Alliance, and that reason had hazel eyes, a cheeky grin and a cocky attitude. Leia had been courted by many suitors during her teenage years as a princess on Alderaan; powerful men, wealthy men, men looking for political ties with the House of Alderaan; but none of them had held the slightest interest for her. So why does a smuggler with a smart mouth, who drives me crazy most of the time hold such a fascination for me? She asked herself again and again.
“Any news from the scouts?” Luke asked as he joined his sister in the mess hall. Leia shook her head. “No,” she said. “It’s still early, though. The Empire has a lot of cleaning up to do.”
Luke nodded as he sat down beside Han. “I wonder how the emperor is dealing with Father’s defection,” he commented.
“I’m sure he has put a huge bounty on his head,” Leia replied.
“You can count on it,” Han put in. “And it ain’t gonna be exactly easy for Vader to hide,” he added.
“Yes, I think he realizes that,” Leia replied. “Obi-Wan seems to think that they can do something to help him on Polis Massa.”
“Help him how?” Luke asked.
“Help him to live without the mask,” Leia replied.
“Wait a minute,” Han said, “I always thought that he wore that get up just to scare the crap out of people. You mean it’s actually functional?”
Leia nodded. “Yes, apparently he had some sort of massive accident many years ago, and cannot live without it,” she said. “Obi-Wan didn’t go into a lot of details.”
“You mean they are going to perform surgery on him to repair the injuries that forced him into having to wear all that?” Luke asked.
“Hopefully, yes,” Leia replied. “I really hope they can help him,” she added.
Han kept his comments to himself, for once, realizing that, for reasons beyond his comprehension, both of his two friends had accepted the Dark Lord as their father. Obviously they saw something in him that he wasn’t capable of seeing, or perhaps unwilling to see.
“I wonder if he’s found out anything about our mother,” Luke remarked.
Leia was wondering the same thing. “I have an idea,” she said. “Let’s go to Polis Massa ourselves and see what’s going on. I can’t stand this waiting not knowing what is happening.”
“You mean just take off?” Luke said. “How can we do that?”
“It will be weeks before they have found another suitable planet,” Leia said. “The fleet will be leaving Yavin IV in a few days’ time. We could take a trip there before we relocate. Aren’t you curious to know what’s going on, Luke? Can you imagine if they are able to help him? We could see our father’s face for the first time!”
“That would be amazing,” Luke agreed, trying not to get his hopes up. “But how do you suppose we go there? Can you fly an x-wing?”
Leia turned and looked at Han, a smile on her face.
“Oh no,” he said. “You’re not getting me involved in this insanity.”
“Come on, Han,” Luke cajoled. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“I’ve got plenty of that,” Han retorted. “Insanity is something else altogether.”
“Fine,” Leia said, sighing. “If you won’t take us, we’ll simply have to find someone who will.”
Han could tell when he was being played; having won his beloved Millennium Falcon in a sabaac game, he was well versed in the signs. But there was just something about the high spirited princess that he couldn’t say no to, and that really bothered him.
“Alright, alright,” he said at last. “I know when I’ve been outnumbered. Besides, Polis Massa is on the other side of the galaxy from Jabba the Hutt,” he reasoned. “And the further away I can get from that pile of filth, the better.”
Leia smiled. “Wonderful,” she said. “The fleet will be assembling in three days’ time. Is that too soon to leave?”
“I’ll have her ready to go,” Han said. “No worries. Even if I do think you’re both nuts.”
Luke and Leia merely looked at one another and smiled.
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Post by therealthing on Mar 30, 2007 16:03:48 GMT -5
Chapter 15
Polis Massa Outpost-Medical Facility
Darth Vader had become accustomed to pain, for it had been his constant companion since Mustafar. So the possibility that the injuries he had suffered and endured half his life could be repaired astonished him. More than that, it served to augment the growing animosity he felt towards the emperor. Palpatine had overseen Vader’s transformation on that day, had ensured that the mutilated wreckage that had been left to die on Mustafar was transformed into a fearsome cyborg, more machine than man. Vader had taken his master at his word when he had told him that his injuries were beyond repair. Now it appeared that this too was a lie.
The chief surgeon at the Polis Massa medical facility had conducted an extensive examination of Vader as well as a battery of tests. Vader was exhausted when it was all over, but was anxious to learn what conclusions the physician had come to. Was it possible to repair the massive injuries he had lived with for half his life? He was reluctant to get his hopes up, reluctant to think of the possibility that the medical technology required to repair these injuries had existed for many years, and had been denied him by his master. The thought that he had endured a painful, semi-human existence for twenty years unnecessarily was horrifying to him. He almost didn’t want to know, for he knew that this knowledge would be almost too much to bear. The description of the way Padmé had suffered both physically and emotionally had devastated him, and he wasn’t sure how much more he could take at this point. “Anakin, pacing about will not make the time pass any faster,” Obi-Wan remarked as he watched the Dark Lord pacing within the small waiting room. “They will come and speak to us as soon as possible, I’m sure.”
Vader turned and looked at Obi-Wan, stopping for a moment. “I am not holding out any hope that they will have good news,” he admitted. “It’s been twenty years, it’s too late now.”
“Perhaps not,” Obi-Wan said. “Surely you realize that anything Palpatine told you was a lie,” he added. “And that if he told you your injuries were beyond repair, that he had a reason for doing so, whether it was true or not.”
Vader made no reply, for Obi-Wan was not telling him anything he hadn’t already considered. “No doubt,” he said at last. “He does nothing without a reason, usually a purely selfish and self-serving one.”
“Of course,” Obi-Wan replied. “That is the way of the Dark Side.”
Vader glared at the old Jedi. “It was not the Dark Side that left me mutilated and burning on the shores of a river of fire, Kenobi,” he retorted coldly.
Obi-Wan nodded, acknowledging his part in Vader’s horrific fate. “Perhaps not directly,” he replied. “But indirectly, it was. The Dark Side drove you to go to Mustafar, to slaughter the Separatists, and to attack your wife.”
“I do not need you to remind me of what I did,” Vader replied, turning away from him. “I have spent a lifetime living with the consequences of the decisions I made.”
Obi-Wan was surprised by Vader’s words. “You sound as though you have regrets, Anakin.”
“Stop calling me that,” Vader snapped. “I am not Anakin Skywalker; I have not been Anakin Skywalker for twenty years. He no longer exists.”
Obi-Wan smiled. “Yes, so you keep telling me,” he quipped. “So why aren’t I convinced?”
“Because you are a delusional old fool,” Vader growled in response. “That is why.”
Obi-Wan simply continued to smile. “You may not be willing to admit it, or even fully realize it yet, but Anakin Skywalker has begun to awaken within you,” he told Vader, not caring if he angered him. “The moment you decided to save your child heralded his reawakening; the fact that you love your children proves irrevocably that he exists deep within you.” He paused, waiting for Vader’s denial. When it did not come, he continued. “Can you honestly tell me that your reasons for wanting to help Luke and Leia escape the Death Star were rooted in Darkness? That the reason you desperately want to find Padmé is because of the Dark Side? No, the reasons for both are rooted in love, and the Dark Side is the antithesis of love.”
“Spare me your philosophical lectures, Obi-Wan,” Vader replied tiredly. “I’ve heard enough. Is it possible for you just to be silent? Even for a few moments?”
Obi-Wan was about to respond, when the physician who had examined Vader earlier entered the room.
“Lord Vader, please sit down,” the chief surgeon, Juris Drii, said as he reentered the small waiting area.
Reluctantly Vader sat down, his impatience threatening to make him lose his temper at any moment. “What is your prognosis?” he asked, his great gloved hands forming fists on the table top. “Is there anything you can do?”
Drii nodded. “Yes,” he said. “There is.”
Rebel Base-Yavin IV
Leia watched the woman as she walked slowly through the rose garden. She stopped every so often to smell one of the fragrant blossoms, but they brought her no joy. Her face, though certainly beautiful, was devoid of any trace of joy, any hint of happiness. It seemed as though she were moving around in a trance, her movements slow and deliberate.
Leia stared hard at the woman’s face, somehow feeling as though she knew her from somewhere. There was something about her eyes that struck Leia as being familiar, and she felt almost as though she were watching herself at a later stage of her life. But who was she? And what burden did she carry to make her so melancholy?
The woman started down the path that led away from the garden, and Leia felt compelled to follow her. She walked quickly to catch up to her, afraid to startle her. Leia followed at a distance as the woman lead her out of the garden and into a courtyard, surrounded by a high stone wall. Trees reached their limbs over the wall, casting patterns of dappled light upon the cobblestone under foot. In the distance, Leia was certain that she heard the sound of water rushing, as though a great water fall were close by. It distracted her for a moment, and when she turned back to where the woman had been mere seconds before, she saw nothing but the empty courtyard. The woman had vanished.
Leia woke up with a start, the startling images from her dream shattering her sleep. She sat up in her bed, the emotions that her vision had stirred up within her confusing her. Was this a vision? Or merely a dream? Luke had told her about the Force, how it ran in their family. She decided that he was the only one who could give her the answers she needed. She got out of bed, and, having wrapped a robe around herself, left her small room to find her brother.
Knocking lightly on the door, so as to not awaken anyone else, Leia waited for her brother to appear. He did so almost immediately, almost as though he knew she was coming.
“What is it?” he asked, squinting in the harsh light of the corridor. “What’s wrong?”
“I had a dream,” Leia told him as she entered his small cabin. “A dream about a woman in a garden.”
Luke was silent, his sister’s words shocking him. “Was there a courtyard in the dream? And a waterfall?”
Leia turned around and looked at him, startled. “Yes!” she said. “Don’t tell me …you dreamed of her too?”
Luke nodded. “Yes,” he said. “She was sad, very sad, and very beautiful.”
“Yes, yes that’s it exactly!” Leia exclaimed. “What does it mean, Luke? And why did we have the very same dream?”
“It was a vision, Leia,” he said, wishing he’d learned more under his short apprenticeship with Obi-Wan. “I think the Force can give us the ability to see things that have yet to happen.”
Leia nodded. “I thought that might have been it,” she said. “But knowing that you had the same dream, I know that must be it.”
“I think so too,” Luke concurred. “Do you know who she is?”
“I don’t know for sure,” Leia replied. “But I think she’s our mother.”
“Yes, that must be who she is,” Luke replied. “Or else why would we both dream of her?”
Leia nodded. “Perhaps this will help Father find her, Luke,” she said. “Perhaps he will know the place we both saw.”
“Maybe he had the same dream,” Luke said. “Who knows?”
“Maybe so,” Leia replied. She rubbed her eyes tiredly. “I’m sorry I woke you up,” she said, suddenly realizing how late it was. “I just had to talk to you about this.”
“You didn’t wake me,” Luke replied. “I woke up right after the dream ended, right when she…”
“Disappeared?” Leia finished with a smile.
Luke smiled back. “Yeah, that’s right.”
“Wow,” Leia said quietly, amazed by the strong psychic link she shared with her brother. “We’d better try to get back to sleep,” she said. “More packing tomorrow.”
“Great,” Luke said with a yawn. “Sounds like a lot of fun.”
Leia smiled, and kissed her brother on the cheek. “Night Luke.”
“Night Leia. Sleep well.”
Polis Massa Outpost-Medical Facility
Vader sat perfectly still as he listened to Dr. Drii describe the three step process that he proposed to repair Vader’s massive injuries. He was afraid that at some point he would awaken and find himself back on the Death Star, that the incredible events of the past several days had only been a dream.
According to Dr. Drii, the restoration of Vader’s body would be a massive undertaking, not without considerable risk. Risks did not concern Vader, however; he had no choice but to undergo the surgery. He had no choice but to alter his appearance so radically that the bounty hunters he knew were combing the galaxy for him at that very moment would not have a chance of recognizing him. The only thing that concerned him at this point was the fact that the surgeon wished to conduct the operation in three stages, with a recovery time of several days between each stage. He was anxious to get started on his search for Padmé, and the thought of having to wait for what may end up being weeks was very frustrating.
“Is it possible to combine all three stages into one?” Vader asked.
Dr. Drii looked at Vader. “It would certainly not be my first choice,” he admitted. “Each procedure is quite invasive and carries with it a certain amount of risk. To do all three at once would be increasing that risk tremendously.”
“I am willing to do so,” Vader replied. “Can you do it?”
Dr. Drii glanced at Obi-Wan, and then looked back at Vader. “Yes, we can. Of course you realize that you will be required to convalesce for a significant period before…”
“I am not concerned about that right now,” Vader replied, reflecting that he had no intention of spending any more time than absolutely necessary at the outpost. “How soon can you commence?”
“We can have you prepped and ready for surgery within two hours,” Dr. Drii replied. “If you are certain that you wish to proceed.”
Vader nodded. “I wish it,” he replied. “Make it so.”
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Post by therealthing on Mar 31, 2007 11:10:34 GMT -5
Chapter 16
Having harvested DNA samples from Vader during his initial examination, Dr. Drii and his team of medidroids used them to, in a manner of speaking, reprogram his existing cells to regenerate the adjacent damaged ones. It was a laborious, time consuming task, but one that the surgical unit of the Polis Massa medical facility had developed and perfected. Dr. Drii was not entirely comfortable performing the entire procedure at once, but it was not easy to say no to Darth Vader. Normally such an operation would have been done in three stages: limbs, skin and hair, and then the most difficult and dangerous part, the thoracic damage. Doing all three in succession placed a great deal of stress upon the patient, and tested the limits of his physical stamina.
If there was one thing that Drii had discovered about Vader, however, it was that he was a highly unusual individual. Having seen the injuries that had forced Vader to depend upon a breath suit and mask for twenty years, it was incredible to the physician that he had survived at all. There seemed to be something extraordinary about Darth Vader, something that went beyond the mysterious powers that he was renowned for. It was because of this uniqueness and singular strength that Drii had agreed to combine the three stages into one, for he felt if anyone was capable of withstanding such a risky, invasive procedure, it was Vader.
Obi-Wan had a great deal of time to meditate while Vader was undergoing his surgery. The past several days had produced such an astonishing series of events that he’d scarcely had time to reflect on what it all meant.
The past twenty years had been difficult ones for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Anakin Skywalker had been his best friend, his brother; and having witnessed his destruction had been tremendously painful for Kenobi. There had been many nights over the past two decades where the yellow, pain filled eyes of his former friend haunted his dreams, the sounds of his screams of agony echoing in his mind. Kenobi had questioned himself again and again for what had befallen Anakin, wondering if there had been something he could have done to prevent it. But he kept everything to himself, Kenobi reflected, his marriage, Padmé’s pregnancy, his nightmares…if only I’d known, if only he’d confided in me, then perhaps I could have prevented all this from happening.
Part of Kenobi felt guilty for what had happened, a large part. It was largely this guilt that was compelling him to help Vader now. Somehow knowing that he’d had a small part in helping him find a way to repair his grievous injuries made the sting of his guilt lessen somewhat. And if he could help him return to the light…that would be the answer to twenty years worth of prayers.
Twelve hours passed, and still no word from the surgical team. Obi-Wan had managed to get a few hours of sleep during the long wait, but it was a restless sleep. His mind was far too occupied to sleep well. The surgery, of course, was foremost on his mind. But there were other pressing issues that were concerning him as well. Perhaps I should have remained with Luke and Leia to train them…they will need training now if the emperor senses their existence…
Kenobi had no doubts that it was only a matter of time before Palpatine learned the name of the young rebel who had destroyed his beloved Death Star. And when he did, he would know of the existence of Anakin Skywalker’s son. And now that Darth Vader was no longer his apprentice, Palpatine would no doubt be looking for another to replace him; who better than the son of Skywalker? I cannot let that happen; I lost Anakin to that fiend, I will not lose Luke. And what of Leia? Was the emperor aware of her existence? Were Vader’s actions on the Death Star enough to tip Palpatine off? Kenobi realized that the threat was double if the emperor were aware of Leia’s relationship to Vader. She must be trained as well, Kenobi realized. As the daughter of Anakin Skywalker, her abilities were bound to be just as strong as Luke’s, and she would need training to learn how to use those abilities.
And then there was Padmé…It had taken Obi-Wan a long time to get over the shock of Anakin and Padmé’s secret marriage. He had felt so betrayed that Anakin would keep such an enormous secret from him. Kenobi had always been aware of the boyhood crush that Anakin had on Padmé; but he had no idea that it was so serious, and reciprocated by the beautiful senator. Her love for him was unquestionable; even after Vader had attacked her on Mustafar, she still believed in him, still loved him. That astonished Obi-Wan. But now she has no memory of that life, no memory of him. How will she react if we find her? Will the sight of the man she once knew and loved be enough to restore her memory? Or will it only add to the emotional trauma she has suffered?
Kenobi stood up and paced around in the small waiting area, absent-mindedly stroking his white beard as he pondered all this. Master Yoda would be the perfect master for the Skywalker twins, he decided. He is just strict enough to make up for the lateness of their initiation. But how will Anakin feel about him training his children after the way he mislead Padmé? Given the distinct possibility that Palpatine would learn of the existence of the twins, Anakin would have no choice but to accept Yoda’s help.
“General Kenobi?”
Obi-Wan looked over to see Dr. Drii standing in the doorway of the waiting area. He walked over to him at once.
“Well?” he asked simply.
“We’ve completed the procedure,” Drii told him. “Lord Vader is alive.”
Kenobi nodded. “Now what?” he asked.
“He will need to spend a few hours in bacta now,” Drii responded. “To help speed up the healing process. After that we will keep him sedated to allow his body to heal, and the regenerative process to be completed.”
“And how long will this take?” Kenobi asked.
“That depends on him,” Drii replied. “On his recuperative abilities. Normally I wound estimate a week, but with him, who knows.”
“I see,” Kenobi replied.
“I am quite frankly astonished that he was left in that condition,” Drii remarked. “And for twenty years, no less.”
“Are you saying that his injuries could have been repaired sooner?” Obi-Wan asked.
“Yes indeed,” Drii replied. “I don’t understand why they weren’t.”
“The emperor is nothing if not a sadist,” Kenobi said bitterly. “No doubt he thought Vader was a far more effective henchman as a cyborg than he would have been as a man.”
Drii nodded. “Perhaps so,” he replied. “In either case, he is fully human again.”
“You have my thanks, Doctor,” Kenobi replied.
Rebel Base-Yavin IV
Being accustomed to a nomadic existence, the Rebel Alliance was very adept at packing their equipment quickly and efficiently. This was, after all, not the first time the threat of an Imperial invasion had forced them to relocate.
For Luke, Leia and Han, however, this was all new. Luke had lived in the same place his entire life, so the idea of moving was strange to him. As for Leia, she too had lived in the same place; but had she felt compelled to move, there was an army of servants to do the grunt work.
Han Solo was by nature a drifter; but belonging to an organization like the Alliance was a new experience for him. It felt strange to the cynical young man to feel a part of something bigger than himself, something not connected to making money. But he liked it, he liked the feeling it gave him. Most of all, he liked being around Leia.
Han Solo was no stranger to women; he’d had women in his life, all of whom he’d only wanted for one reason, all of whom were more than wiling to give it to him. But Leia was different, he decided. She was pure, she was noble, she was brave and classy; nothing like the women he was used to. So why can’t I get her out of my mind? he asked himself again and again. He’d tried reminding himself of the qualities that drove him crazy about her; she was bossy, she was self-righteous, she was stubborn …but so damn cute with those braids of hers piled up on her head, and those big brown eyes... “May I join you?”
Han looked up to see none other than Leia standing before him, a tray of lunch in her hands.
“Sure,” he said, trying to play it cool.
“Thanks,” she said, sitting down gracefully.
Han glanced at her lunch; not a thing that wasn’t healthy on her plate, of course.
“Where’s Chewie?” Leia asked.
“Just checking a few things on the Falcon,” Han replied.
A slight frown creased Leia’s brow. “There’s nothing wrong is there?” she asked. “You said we could leave for Polis Massa first thing in the morning.”
“Yeah, I did,” he replied. “And I meant it. He’s just doing a last minute check. Don’t get your braids in a knot, princess.”
Leia couldn’t’ help but smile at his comment. “Okay,” she said, relaxing. “I appreciate you doing this for us,” she added.
Han shrugged. “No problem,” he said. “Besides, if it gets me outta having to do more packing, I’m happy to do it.”
Leia looked at him, confused by the mixed messages she was getting from him. Sometimes he was utterly charming, completely irresistible; and other times he was as grumpy as an angry gundark.
“Well thankfully the packing is done,” Leia replied. “So if that’s the only reason you’re doing this, then perhaps you’d like to reconsider.”
“Geez, your highnessness, can’t you take a joke?” Han replied, rolling his eyes. “You’re so damn serious all the time. Lighten up!”
Leia felt foolish for her remark. “I’m sorry,” she said, looking down at her plate. “I’m just anxious to find out what’s going on with my father.”
“So I guessed,” Han replied. “I’m gonna go make sure Chewie’s not taking apart anything. He likes doing that,” he added with a smirk. “I’ll see you first thing in the morning, Princess.”
Leia nodded as she watched him stand up and take his leave of her, more confused than ever by the way she felt whenever Han Solo was close by.
Polis Massa Outpost- Medical facility Vader watched the woman as she walked slowly through the rose garden. She stopped every so often to smell one of the fragrant blossoms, but they brought her no joy. Her face, though certainly beautiful, was devoid of any trace of joy, any hint of happiness. It seemed as though she were moving around in a trance, her movements slow and deliberate.
Vader stared at the woman’s face, the shock of seeing her again after so long rendering him temporarily unable to move. He tried to call to her, but no voice would come. Suddenly the woman started down the path that led away from the garden, and Vader felt compelled to follow her. Finally able to move his legs, he walked quickly to catch up to her, afraid of startling her in his haste.
He followed at a distance as the woman lead him out of the garden and into a courtyard, surrounded by a high stone wall. Trees reached their limbs over the wall, casting patterns of dappled light upon the cobblestone under foot. In the distance, Vader was certain that he heard the sound of water rushing, as though a great water fall were close by. It distracted him for a moment, and when he turned back to where the woman had been mere seconds before, he saw nothing but the empty courtyard. The woman had vanished.
It was then that he found his voice, and uttered a single word:
Padmé!
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Post by therealthing on Apr 1, 2007 10:39:54 GMT -5
Chapter 17
Rebel Base- Yavin IV Luke woke early on the morning that the Rebel Alliance was due to leave Yavin IV forever. While Luke felt a certain kinship with the people of the Alliance, his heart was elsewhere this morning. The prospect of possibly seeing his father as he truly was at once time, of seeing the face of Anakin Skywalker, both excited and unnerved Luke. It was only a few days ago that he had learned that he even had a father, that his father had not been murdered as Obi-Wan Kenobi had told him. Finding out that Darth Vader was that father was shocking, even horrifying; but learning that he had a twin sister had made that shock a little easier to bear. Learning about his father’s fall, the tragic circumstances that had driven him to the Dark Side, had given Luke an entirely new perspective on the man he now thought of as his father.
Darth Vader, or Anakin Skywalker, was a complex man, a multi-faceted man; Luke was starting to see this. There was good in him, Luke himself had felt it. He had felt his father’s brilliant, reassuring presence as he flew through the Death Star trench. That was Anakin Skywalker; that was the man Luke desperately wanted to know. Perhaps now I’ll get my chance, he thought as he climbed out of his cot. Perhaps today I will meet my father face to face.
Luke had just finished getting dressed when he heard a knock at his cabin door. It’s Leia, he thought with a smile as he moved to let her in.
“Morning Leia,” he said. “All set?”
Leia nodded. “I’m kind of nervous, to tell you the truth,” she said as Luke joined her in the corridor.
“The Falcon isn’t that bad, Leia,” Luke teased.
Leia laughed. “You know what I mean,” she said.
“Why are you nervous?” Luke asked. “You’ve already accepted our father, haven’t you?”
“Yes, I have,” Leia replied. “It’s not that…I suppose I’m just afraid that they weren’t able to help him, and that he will be forced to live with that mask for the rest of his life.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Luke replied quietly. “Do you know what happened to him? Why he was forced to depend on artificial means to live?”
“No, I don’t,” she asked. “I was reluctant to ask,” she admitted.
“Yeah, I can understand that,” Luke replied as they walked towards the hangar bay together. “Maybe Obi-Wan can tell us,” he said. “He and Father were good friends at one time.”
“Yes, maybe so,” Leia said. She took a deep breath as they entered the hangar bay. “I just hope Han has this bucket of bolts ready to go,” she muttered.
“I heard that,” Han said, poking his head in the hangar. “I told you she’d be ready, and she is. So, if you’ll just get on board, we’ll get this insanity underway.”
Luke and Leia exchanged a smile and then proceeded to the Falcon, their hopes high.
Polis Massa Outpost- Medical Facility
Obi-Wan still could not believe his eyes. The physician had given him a full report on Vader’s recovery, but until he saw him with his own eyes, he had difficulty believing that he truly was as he once was. But now as he stood in the recovery room, he did see him with his own eyes. And it was an astonishing sight.
Where once his hair had been long and wavy, it was now very short, not much more than stubble; but it was his face that Obi-Wan was amazed by. It was as it had been; aged somewhat of course, but the ruggedly handsome features were the same.
Obi-Wan wasn’t prepared for the rush of emotion he felt seeing the face of his one time best friend. Looking at him reminded him of all the good times they shared, the many times that they had fought side by side, the laughs they had shared, as well as the tears.
You were my brother! I loved you! I hate you!
Obi-Wan shut his eyes as the memories of that horrible moment from Mustafar flashed through his mind. He pushed the painful memories away and looked up at the medidroid who was taking Vader’s vitals.
“How much longer will he be unconscious?” he asked.
“Not long,” the droid replied. “We will be reviving him soon.”
Kenobi nodded his understanding. “And will he be able to leave soon after that?”
“You will need to ask Dr. Drii that, Sir,” the droid replied. “That will be his decision.”
“I see,” Obi-Wan replied. He knew how anxious Vader was to start his search for Padmé; he would not take kindly to being delayed, even if it was for his own good. He’s never been a patient man, he reflected. Even as a young boy he always wanted to do things right away, never had the patience to wait for anything... “General Kenobi?”
Obi-Wan turned around to see the administrator of the medical facility standing in the doorway.
“Yes?” he asked.
“There are some people here who claim to be Lord Vader’s children,” he replied. “I was hoping you could verify their identity.”
Obi-Wan frowned. “His children? What the devil are they doing here?” he muttered. “Where are they?”
“This way,” Vullen replied, turning and walking into the corridor.
Obi-Wan walked with the administrator through the winding corridors back through the blast doors into the administrative wing. As they approached Vullen’s office, he was surprised to see Luke and Leia, along with Han Solo and his copilot, Chewbacca.
“Obi-Wan!” Leia said when she spotted the old Jedi. “What is going on? Where is our father?”
“It’s alright, Administrator,” Obi-Wan reassured Vullen. “I can vouch for them. They are indeed Anakin’s children.”
“Very well then,” Vullen said, looking askance at Chewbacca. “I suppose it would be alright to allow them in, then. But only the children of the patient are permitted to see him. That is our policy.”
“We understand,” Leia said. She looked at Obi-Wan. “Tell us what’s happening, Obi-Wan.”
“I will, as soon as you tell me why you are here,” he replied. “Aren’t you supposed to be helping the Alliance relocate?”
“Both Luke and I felt that this was more important,” Leia replied. “We needed to know what is going on with our father.”
“And we have something we need to tell him,” Luke put in as the small group made their way back down the corridor. “Something that we hope will help him to find our mother.”
Obi-Wan lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “Indeed?” he said. “And what would that be?”
“A dream that Leia and I both had,” Luke explained. “About a woman in a rose garden, a beautiful, sad woman. We dreamed the very same thing, Ben. Don’t you think that’s significant?”
Obi-Wan nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, I do,” he replied. “You believe this woman is your mother?”
“Who else could she be?” Leia said. “Have you any leads as to her whereabouts? Do you know what became of her?”
“We have very little information, I’m afraid,” he told them. “But now that your father’s surgery has been successful, he will be able to start looking for her.”
“You mean Father’s injuries have been repaired?” Luke asked in amazement. “He no longer has to wear the mask?”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Obi-Wan replied. “Would you like to see him?” he asked as he stopped outside of the recovery room where Vader was sleeping.
Luke and Leia looked at one another. “Yes,” they replied, almost in unison.
Obi-Wan smiled. “Then go on in,” he told them. “He’s right in there. He’s still asleep, but they tell me he’ll be revived later on today.”
Luke and Leia did not hesitate for a moment longer. Luke activated the door, and the two of them stepped inside.
Tentatively they approached the bed where their father lay asleep.
“Look at him, Luke,” Leia whispered in amazement. “He’s…he’s so young!”
Luke nodded, his eyes taking in every detail of his father’s face. He looks like me…or I guess I look like him, he reflected. “I can’t believe it,” Luke said. “He’s whole again…he’s fully human again.”
Leia reached out a hand and lightly touched her father’s face. To think that this beautiful face was hidden by a mask for twenty years, she thought.
“You look like him, Luke,” Leia said at last, looking up at her brother. “I’ll just bet his eyes are blue like yours.”
Luke smiled. “I think so too,” he said.
“You must be Lord Vader’s children,” Dr. Drii stated as he entered the room.
Luke and Leia turned around to face him. “Yes we are,” Leia replied. “Are you the person we need to thank for restoring our father’s health?”
Dr. Drii smiled. “Well, I was the chief surgeon, if that’s what you’re asking,” he replied. “Your father is an extraordinary man.”
“Yes, he is,” Leia replied, looking back down at his face. “How long will he need to remain unconscious?”
“I was just going to order the medidroid to revive him,” Drii replied. “Looks like you timed your visit well.”
“Yes it sure does,” Luke agreed.
He and Leia stepped out of Dr. Drii’s way as he moved over to beside Vader’s bedside. “Revive the patient,” he ordered the medidroid.
The droid administered a dose of medication into Vader’s shoulder. Luke and Leia watched with tremendous anticipation, waiting for their father to awaken.
As the drug entered his bloodstream, Vader felt as though he were awakening from a very deep, very long sleep. He was aware of the presence of others in the room, and struggled to regain consciousness. His eyelids felt as heavy as lead, though, as he fought against the lethargy to open them. His struggle was rewarded, however, for the first sight that met his eyes were the faces of his two children. They smiled at him, and he did his best to smile back.
“Hi,” Leia said, coming to her father’s side once again. “You look wonderful!”
Vader focused his eyes on her face, grateful that he was finally able to see it with his own eyes. “Thanks,” he said, his voice sounding strange to his ears after so long. He turned and looked at Luke next, amazed by how much his son resembled him.
“I had no idea you were so young,” Luke remarked. “Or how much I look like you,” he added with a smile.
Vader smiled. “What are you doing here?” he asked.
“We wanted to see how you were,” Leia replied, taking her father’s hand in hers. “The fleet is space borne now, so we decided to take a little detour here.”
“I see,” Vader replied.
“We also wanted to tell you about a dream we had,” Luke put in. “We think it was a vision, telling us where Mother is.”
Vader was startled by his son’s words. “Tell me,” he said.
Luke glanced at his sister before proceeding. “Well, we both had the dream,” he began. “At the same time, no less.”
Vader nodded. “A vision,” he stated. “Go on.”
“I, well, we both saw a woman in a rose garden,” Leia began. “She looked very sad, and almost….lost. She was beautiful, with big brown eyes and dark hair. She wandered through this garden, and I followed her. Eventually she left, and went into a courtyard. It was surrounded by a high wall made of stone, with tall trees outside the wall.”
As Vader listened to the description of his children’s dream, he was struck with a tremendous sense of familiarity. “There was a waterfall nearby, wasn’t there?” he asked.
Leia’s eyes widened, and she merely nodded.
“You had this dream too?” Luke asked his father.
Vader turned his eyes to Luke and nodded. “Yes,” he said. “It was your mother in that garden. And since we all had the same vision, there must be some truth to it.”
“That’s what we thought,” Luke said. “Do you recognize the place?”
“Not the garden,” Vader replied. “But the waterfall made me think it was Naboo. That would make sense; it’s your mother’s home planet.”
“Do you think she’s there?” he asked.
Vader rubbed his eyes, the lethargy still too great to fight for long. “I don’t know, Luke,” he replied. “But it’s possible.”
“We should let you rest,” Leia said, realizing how weak her father was still. “We can talk more about this later.”
Vader did not object, for he was finding it difficult to keep his eyes open by this point. “Very well,” he said through a yawn.
Leia smiled, and then bent and kissed her father on the cheek. “Rest,” she said to him.
Vader simply nodded, and then allowed sleep to take him once again.
“Come on,” Luke said. “Let’s go find Obi-Wan. I have a lot of questions for him.”
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Post by therealthing on Apr 1, 2007 20:59:57 GMT -5
Chapter 18
Luke and Leia found Obi-Wan with Han and Chewbacca waiting in the corridor. Han looked decidedly bored, and Chewbacca was grumbling about being hungry.
“Well?” Han asked. “What’s goin’ on?”
Leia and Luke looked at one another, shaking their heads in amazement.
“It’s just incredible,” Leia replied at last with a smile. “He is completely healed; you’d never know he was ever injured.”
“How come he had to wear that get up anyway?” Han asked.
“I was actually hoping Ben here might be able to fill us in on that,” Luke replied, looking at Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan had realized that it was only a matter of time before the question was asked.
“We were just on our way to the refectory,” Obi-Wan told the twins, avoiding the question for the moment. “Care to join us?”
“Sure,” Luke replied. “I’m starving.”
“So the surgery was a success,” Han said.
Leia nodded. “Yes, it’s like he’s a different man.”
“Is he?” Han challenged. “Just because he doesn’t look like Vader doesn’t mean he isn’t Vader.”
“He still has far to go,” Obi-Wan spoke up. “But he is definitely showing signs of abandoning the Dark Side.”
“I agree,” Leia said. “He’s not the same person he was. And it isn’t just the physical changes; he’s changing on the inside too.”
“Ben, what happened to him?” Luke asked.
“I told you all about his fall to the Dark Side, Luke,” Obi-Wan replied, sipping a cup of tea.
“Yes, we know all about that,” Luke replied. “I mean, physically. What happened to him that he was forced to depend on artificial means in order to survive?”
Obi-Wan felt his stomach tighten in anxiety at the thought of answering Luke’s question. How do I tell them the truth without making them hate me?
“When your father chose to become Palpatine’s apprentice,” Kenobi began, “one of his first…assignments was to go to the planet Mustafar, a violent, volcanic planet in the Outer Rim. I went there to confront him,” he continued, deliberately leaving out many of the most horrific details. “And we fought. It was a long, grueling fight. Your father was enraged, totally immersed in the Dark Side. He had spent the night killing, and his blood lust had driven him mad with rage. It was a terrible fight; your father was like a brother to me; but I had no choice but to defend myself, to try to destroy what he had become.”
“What about our mother?” Leia asked. “Did she know what had happened to him?”
Obi-Wan hesitated before replying, realizing that he would have no choice but to tell Luke and Leia the whole, horrifying truth.
“When I found out about Anakin’s atrocities, I went to your mother. I thought perhaps she would be able to tell me where she was. I did not know that they were married- no one did. I told her what had happened, how he had turned to the Dark Side, how he had helped Palpatine slaughter the Jedi; but she refused to believe it. She loved your father so deeply that she could not believe he would do anything so evil. After I left her, I knew that she would immediately go to find Anakin, and she did. I had hidden on board her ship, knowing that she would take me straight to him. When he saw me leaving her ship, your father believed that Padmé had betrayed him, that she had brought me there to kill him.”
“You used Mother to get to Father?” Leia asked hotly. “You put her in that kind of danger knowing what he was like? What he had become?”
Obi-Wan was silent, having no answer for her question. Yes, he had used Padmé to find Anakin, with no thought to her safety.
“I suppose I did,” Obi-Wan replied at last, his eyes cast down to the cup of tea sitting before him. “But I was desperate. You have to understand; your father had just murdered hundreds of younglings at the Jedi Temple! He was a tremendous danger to the galaxy, an enemy of the Republic!”
“And our mother was expendable?” Luke asked his blue eyes cold as ice.
“Of course she wasn’t!” Obi-Wan replied. “I didn’t mean to imply that she was! It was the only way to find Anakin, and if I had to find him, we had to do our best to stop the Sith from taking control of the galaxy.”
“But you didn’t stop them,” Luke pointed out. “The emperor has been in power for my entire life, and our father was there at his side!”
“You still haven’t told us what happened on Mustafar,” Leia remarked. “What happened to him that resulted in injuries so terrible that he needed to wear that mask in order to live?”
“Well, as I was saying, your father and I fought,” Obi-Wan continued. “He got cocky, as he was often prone to do, and made a jump over a river of lava to reach me on the other side. While he was airborne, I …I used my lightsaber and incapacitated him.”
“Incapacitated how?” Luke asked.
“His legs, below the knees,” Obi-Wan replied, the memory of Anakin’s screams of pain still echoing in his mind, “his flesh arm below the elbow. He fell onto the shore, and within moment the heat from the lava …ignited his clothing. He was engulfed in flames within seconds.”
Luke and Leia were speechless, too horrified to react. Leia reached over and took her brother’s hand for support, and noticed that he was trembling as much as she was.
“And you left him there?” Luke asked, his tone accusatory. “Left him there to burn to death?”
“Yes,” Obi-Wan replied. “I didn’t have the heart to kill him. Perhaps that makes me a coward, but your father was like a brother to me, I couldn’t do it. Believe me, I have lived with the guilt of that day for the past twenty years; don’t for a moment think that it didn’t break my heart to see him become what he did. I loved Anakin like my own brother; it ripped my heart out to have to try to destroy him. But what choice did I have? He was a murderer; he even turned on your mother, and may have killed her had I not been there to stop him!”
“You’re lying!” Leia cried at this point. “He would never harm our mother! He loved her more than anything! He loved her so much he sacrificed his soul to save her!”
“Yes, that is true,” Obi-Wan replied calmly. “But when be believed that she had betrayed him, he snapped. He reached out with the Force and tried to choke her…I saw it with my own eyes! If I hadn’t stopped him, he may have killed her. I hate to have to tell you this, truly I do; but you don’t seem to understand the circumstances in which I found myself. Your father was a monster, a heartless killing machine. I was the only one left to try to stop him. And all I ended up doing was making things worse,” he concluded sadly.
Neither Luke nor Leia were able to reply at this point; the emotions that Obi-Wan’s story evoked within them prevented it. The tragic senselessness of it all was what hit them the hardest. Their father had sacrificed everything, everything; and what did it all come down to in the end? He had lost the very One he had sold his soul to protect.
“I…I can’t deal with this right now,” Luke stammered, standing up. “This is too much to handle.” He looked at his sister, sensing that she felt the same way. He held out his hand to her. “Coming?”
Leia nodded and stood up, putting her hand in his. She wiped an errant tear with the other hand as the two of them left the table without another word.
Obi-Wan watched them leave, feeling the anguish that he had suffered on that terrible day so long ago all over again, the pain of it just as fresh.
“Quite a story,” Han commented. “You know I remember Anakin Skywalker,” he added. “When I was a kid, he was the biggest hero around. We all wanted to be Anakin Skywalker when we grew up. What a waste…such a damn waste.”
Obi-Wan nodded. “Yes, that is exactly what it was,” he agreed. “A terrible, tragic waste.”
Imperial City- Coruscant
Emperor Palpatine had read the report from the late Governor Tarkin so many times he felt as though he had it committed to memory. The details of his apprentice’s betrayal were still so shocking to him that there were still moments when he thought he would awaken and find that it had all been a terrible dream. But it was no dream; Vader was gone, he had defied his master, and aided a known enemy of the Empire to escape the Death Star. Not only that, he had absconded with the rebel band that had come to rescue her! Palpatine knew all the details, he had read the reports of Vader’s act of sabotage, of treason, of insubordination; but he was still puzzled by one simple question: why?
Why had he risked everything to save a haughty Alderaani princess who had been a thorn in the side of the Empire since before her eighteenth birthday? Why had he chosen her life over his, for there was no doubt that Vader realized he was risking execution for his treasonous actions. Why? Compassion was not the way of the Sith. Darth Vader was a Sith, of that Palpatine had no doubt. He knew the blackness of the Dark Lord’s heart; knew the emptiness of his soul. So why would he be moved to save the life of someone who offered nothing in return? An enemy? A mere child? A mere …child?
Palpatine suddenly felt a hammering within his decrepit old body as his heart began to race. Padmé Amidala was carrying Anakin Skywalker’s child when she had died…or so it seemed….Was it possible that her death had been a ruse to fool Vader and his master? Palpatine’s sinister mind raced as he thought of the possibilities; if the offspring of Anakin Skywalker had indeed survived, that child would pose a grave threat to the Sith; such a threat that she or he would have been hidden away, concealed so that Vader would never know she existed. Was Leia Organa that child? Was that the reason Vader had done everything in his power to protect her? It made sense- in fact it was the only logical explanation that Palpatine could conceive of. Darth Vader was not a man prone to compassion or mercy; his cold-bloodedness was well known throughout the galaxy. What he had done on the Death Star was unheard of, illogical, and completely out of character for the Dark Lord. They were not the actions of a Sith; they were the actions of a father protecting his child…
Palpatine stood up from his throne and walked over to his computer terminal. He brought up the Imperial intelligence network’s file on the Princess Leia Organa. A holographic image was part of this file, and this was what he was most interested. He had only seen Leia Organa in person once in his life, and that was when she was a young girl. Now she was a young woman. Looking at her image now, he was astonished to see the resemblance she bore another young senator Palpatine had once known: Padmé Amidala.
“So, Lord Vader, it seems you have learned the truth after all these years,” Palpatine muttered with a frown. “And now you have found your child.” He considered his options for a moment, and then a smile formed on his gruesome face. You will pay for your treachery, Vader, he vowed silently as an idea formed in him mind. You will pay with the thing you love most, and you will learn the price of betrayal.
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Post by therealthing on Apr 2, 2007 17:03:48 GMT -5
Chapter 19
Vader woke to find a medidroid peering into his face.
“Don’t do that,” he growled irritably.
The droid stepped back at one. “You’re awake,” it commented.
“Yes, I noticed,” Vader replied, looking around the room.
“Dr. Drii has left orders that you are to get on your feet,” the droid informed Vader.
On my feet? It’s been a while since I had real feet, Vader reflected as he sat up in the bed with the droid’s assistance. Slowly he swung his legs over the side of the bed. The floor beneath his feet was cold as he stared down at them, wiggling his toes.
What an odd sensation, he reflected as the droid helped him to stand up. The feeling of blood rushing into his new limbs caused a tingling all the way down to his brand new toes. “Please inform me if you experience any pain or numbness,” the droid said as it helped Vader walked across the room.
“I feel no pain,” Vader said, realizing that it was the first time in twenty years that he was able to make such a statement. “There was some tingling in my toes when I first stood up, but it has passed.”
“That is perfectly normal,” the droid informed him. “It is merely the blood flowing into your new limbs.”
Vader nodded. That sounds strange, he mused. “Let me try it alone,” he told the droid.
“Very well,” the droid replied, releasing Vader.
Vader stood still for a moment, ensuring that he had his balance. And then he took a step, and then another; and in no time he had crossed the room again.
“Very good, Lord Vader,” the droid encouraged. “You are making remarkable progress.”
Vader could not help but smile, something he had not done in many years until just recently, until I found my children.
“Now you must take it slowly at first,” the droid cautioned as Vader crossed the room again, his pace quickening. But Vader would not hear of such a thing. Since when do I take anything slowly? The door opened as Vader was walking toward it, revealing Dr. Deece. She was quite surprised to see Vader fully restored and up and moving about. She was struck not only by his youth, but by what a striking looking man he was. His eyes were the bluest she’d ever seen.
“You’re looking very well,” she told him. “Quite a remarkable transformation.”
“Indeed it is,” Vader replied. “I half believe it myself.”
Deece nodded. “I have something for you,” she said. “I forgot about it until just today.” She reached into the pocket of her tunic. “Your wife left this behind, and I thought it might be important.”
She withdrew her hand and pulled out a silver chain with a pendant around it. When Vader caught sight of it, his breath caught in his throat.
It was the japor snippet.
“She was wearing it when she was brought to us,” Deece explained as she handed the chain to Vader.
Vader looked at the silver chain in his hand, a thousand memories flashing through his mind.
I made this for you. So you'd remember me. I carved it out of a japor snippet... It will bring you good fortune.
It's beautiful, but I don't need this to remember you. Many things will change when we reach the capital, Ani. My caring for you will always remain.
I care for you too…
Dr. Deece watched him, seeing the emotions that this seemingly simple piece of jewelry evoked within him. “I take it this was significant?” she asked tentatively.
Vader simply nodded, his eyes not leaving the pendant. “I made this for Padmé when we were both children,” he said softly.
Dr. Deece nodded. “Well then I’m glad I returned it to you.”
Vader looked up at her finally. “Thank you,” he said.
“You’re welcome,” She replied, and then left him.
As soon as she was gone, Vader sat down on the edge of the bed. He brought the pendant to his face and held it against his cheek, as though trying to feel the warmth of his wife’s body through the cold wooden snippet. He closed his eyes against the tears that filled them. The guilt, the anguish and years of loneliness came pouring out of him at the sight of the simple gift he had given his angel so long ago.
Padmé had worn the pendant every day after they were married, even when she slept, she never removed it. She had told him that it was more precious to her than all the sumptuous jewels and gowns she had worn as Queen of Naboo. And she had left it behind…
Although he had been told how his wife had lost her memory, he had held out a sliver of hope that it was not so, that the doctors had been mistaken, and misdiagnosed her. But Padmé would never have left it behind if she was indeed of sound mind. She has no memory of our life together, no memory of the day we met, of our first kiss, of the day we were married, the wonderful times we shared…
The reality of this hit him hard as he grasped the japor snippet tightly in his fist. Although she may very well be alive, his Padmé was gone. She would not know him even if he were able to find her; he would be but a stranger to her. She would not love him, and somehow that was far worse than if she was dead.
“Father?”
Vader looked up to see his children standing before him.
“This was your mother’s,” he said, opening his hand to show them the japor snippet. “I made it for her when we were children,” he told them, staring down at the pendant. It was one of the only gifts I was ever able to give her, and she wore it every day of her life once we were married. And yet, she left it behind.” He looked up at his children, his eyes full of torment and pain. “She left it behind! She doesn’t have any memory of it, or of me...or of our life together.”
“Or of Mustafar?” Luke asked.
Vader closed his eyes as the tears ran down his face. “You know what happened there?” he asked tiredly.
“Obi-Wan told us,” Luke replied. “Everything, including what he did to you.”
Vader opened his eyes and looked at his son, trying to determine what was in his heart. Did Luke hate him for what he had done to Padmé? Or was there enough compassion in his heart to see what had caused him to do such a heinous thing?
“I have lived with the consequences of that day every day since,” Vader told his children. “For twenty years I believed that your mother died as a result of what I did, along with our unborn child. It was not until I met you, Leia, that I learned the truth. I learned that Palpatine had lied to me when he told me that I had killed your mother; he lied to me in order to keep me subservient. For twenty years that guilt and pain ate away at me; all I knew was darkness and despair. And then I found the two of you,” he said. He stopped and looked down at the japor snippet in his hand once again. “I…I have never forgiven myself for what I did on that day,” he told them quietly. “Nor do I expect you to forgive me. Now that you know the entire truth, all the ugliness, I won’t blame you if you want nothing to do with me. I…I do not deserve your forgiveness, nor hers.”
Leia felt the emotions churning within her, confusing her utterly. Part of her wanted to hate her father for what he had done to her mother, to walk away and never look back. And yet another part of her could feel the torment that dwelled within her father’s soul. Had he not suffered enough already for what he had done? When was his debt considered paid? Were twenty years of painful, lonely anguish not enough?
Leia looked up at her brother, trying to read his emotions. He had not been as accepting of their father; would this be enough to sever the tenuous link that had begun to form between father and son?
“It wasn’t easy hearing what happened on Mustafar,” Luke said at last. “I can’t even imagine what you went through…or what Mother went through,” he stopped, not even certain what to say. “I don’t know what I’m feeling right now, to be perfectly honest. I’m sort of numb, and I don’t even know what to think or how to feel.”
Vader looked at his son and nodded. “I understand that,” he said. “You have had a lot thrust upon you in only a few days. Both of you have. Your lives have been turned upside down by what you have learned about me, about your mother; I cannot blame you for being confused and angry.”
“It’s not anger that I feel,” Leia said, voicing her feelings for the first time.
Vader turned his eyes to hers, waiting for her to continue.
“It’s sadness,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “Such profound sadness…it’s so tragic, what happened. It breaks my heart to think of what might have been if only...” she stopped as her emotions overwhelmed her. She covered her face with her hands as the tears she had fought to hold at bay finally broke through.
Vader felt his heart ache as his daughter wept. He wanted to comfort her, wanted to take her into his arms and tell her that everything was going to be alright; but how could he do that if did he know what the future held? Besides, would she even want to be comforted by him now that she knew the extent of his atrocities?
Vader stood up. He looked at his son, who was struggling with his own emotions. Tentatively Vader put his hands upon Leia’s shoulders. She jumped a bit at the unexpected contact and took her hands away from her face to look up at him. Looking up into her father’s brilliant blue eyes, she saw the depth of his love for her.
“I’m so sorry,” he said softly. “So very sorry.”
Leia allowed him to draw her close to him, much to his surprise. Vader wrapped his arms around her as she wept.
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