Disclaimer - I do not own anything of Star Wars.
Chapter 1 - Predicament
Luke, Han, Leia and Chewbacca rushed across the Death Star hanger bay towards the Falcon's ramp. Luke was relieved when he saw Artoo and Threepio approaching from another direction. At least both them and the plans were safe.
Just as he was halfway towards the ramp he froze. "Ben?"
Taking a few steps to the right he saw on the far side of the hanger bay, Obi-Wan standing in the opening; his blue lightsaber trapped in a blade lock with a red blade of a black robed adversary. Who was that? Luke wondered for a second. What if it was the Emperor, but then he instantly denied that idea. Every year on Empire Day, which was also Luke's birthday, Emperor Palpatine would make a live holonet broadcast to the whole galaxy. Though he always wore black robes whenever Luke saw him in the hologram, he knew he was shorter and never wore a black mask and helmet.
So, who was this black figure in a mask and cape locked in combat with Kenobi? Luke then had a sudden epiphany, recalling Ben's words back in his hovel on Tatooine.
"A young Jedi named Darth Vader who was a pupil of mine before he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father."
It all made sense, the red lightsaber must be an indication of a Jedi turned to evil.
"Vader was seduced by the dark side of the force."
It had to be Darth Vader.
He had to help him, but the Stormtroopers who had been guarding the Falcon's ramp were now surrounding the hanger bay opening where Kenobi stood. Was there a chance that they could best the troopers and still have enough time to help Kenobi?
But at that instant Kenobi turned his head and met Luke's fearful expression. Then his wise gaze returned to Vader and Luke wasn't sure if his eyes were suddenly playing tricks on him or something, but he thought he could see the glint of a smile on the old man's face.
Luke waited for Kenobi to swing his saber into battle with Vader. But he didn't. Instead he lifted the blade up slowly and closed his eyes taking up the stance of a man surrendering. Luke was shocked, what was Ben doing? Before he could even blink, Vader swung his red saber and struck the Jedi Master with an ear-splitting crash. Obi-Wan Kenobi's brown robes fell to the ground along with his saber hilt, but the old man had completely vanished.
"NO!" Luke screamed. The troopers whirled on them and let fire a shower of blaster shots which Han immediately returned. For a few seconds Luke was still frozen in horrified shock at his master's death before he joined in the fire fight with the white armoured beasts who showed them no mercy.
He watched Vader who was ignoring the firefight and inspecting the fallen Jedi's robes, as he stamped at them with the toe of his boot the sight disgusted Luke. As he watched this he fired more shots wanting to shoot the murderer who had destroyed everything he had known and loved.
"Come on!" Han yelled.
"Luke, come one! Come on!" Leia cried as they backed onto to the ramp, but Luke stayed where he was still firing blasts at the troopers. "Luke! It's too late!" Leia screamed over the deafening shots.
He glanced back at her for a second then back to the troopers. How could it be too late? Surely, they could even the odds. There weren't that many troopers.
"Blast the door, kid!" Han shouted.
Despite the fact that Luke would have wanted to face the masked murderer, he also didn't want him to take his friends from him as well. Taking quick aim, he blasted the controls, which triggered the massive blast doors to seal just as Vader had finally turned towards them. But now he was completely blocked off from the hanger and the rebels. Han shoved Leia up the ramp and together they ran into the ship while Luke managed to down another trooper.
"Run Luke, Run!"
The farm boy suddenly froze. What was that? He knew that voice. It was Ben's voice. But how? Vader had just cut him down, how could he have heard his voice? What was even stranger was that the voice seemed to come from within Luke's own head. Still, he glanced round trying to find where the voice was.
If Luke had been paying more attention to his surroundings, he would have seen a blood red saber stabbing through the hanger bay blast doors, and a second squad of troopers who entered the hanger behind Luke a few yards away. One of them was priming a small detonator.
Just as the Falcon's engines fired up and lifted a few feet off the ground, the trooper threw the detonator which landed about five feet from Luke's boots.
"Luke! Watch out! There's' a...!" But before Leia could finish, the detonator exploded, and Luke was catapulted off his feet and across the hanger. At the same time, Leia screamed and was knocked off her feet backwards into the ship. The force of the explosion had caused the Millennium Falcon to shoot in the opposite direction out of the hanger bay and into space.
Luke flew fast across the open shaft in the floor losing his blaster. If he'd struck the approaching wall at the speed he was going, he would have been killed. Just as he was losing flight, he collided with an unsuspecting Stormtrooper who stood in his way, while a section of the blast door crashed to the ground. Vader walked through the hole he had cut with his saber, as Luke and the trooper struck the wall, the trooper taking more of the strike than Luke. For a few seconds the trooper was trapped between Luke and the wall. Stunned, hurt all over, and with almost all the air knocked out of his body, Luke fell and both bodies collapsed to the cold durasteel floor.
Vader approached them with more troopers flanking him through the hole and stared down at the blond boy who lay on the ground.
Luke's eyes flickered and through his blurred vision and he thought he could make out a tall dark shape standing close by, and a rhythmic breathing sound filling his ears along with the ringing caused from the explosion. But exhausted and beaten, he fell into unconsciousness.
Two troopers approached the fallen forms of Luke and the other trooper and knelt down checking their pulses.
"TK-547 is dead," The first trooper stated, and another helped him drag the body away.
"The boy is alive," declared the second trooper who was beside Luke.
"Blast him!" Someone ordered.
The trooper rose to his feet and just as he raised his weapon to fire, Vader's hand suddenly shot up. "STOP!" The order was so abrupt and so loud that trooper instantly lowered his weapon.
The dark lord approached the unconscious boy and the trooper backed away to join his comrades. For a few seconds Vader just stared down at him before kneeling down and pulling something from Luke's belt. He stood back up and stared at the object in his hand. The troopers could not see what Vader had retrieved as his back was to them but waited obediently where they stood.
Vader stared back down at the boy for about half a minute before turning back to the troopers. His gloved hand disappeared under his cape so they couldn't see what he was holding.
"Cuff him and take him to my office. When he awakes, I will interrogate him myself."
The troopers obeyed and were soon dragging Luke away with his wrists cuffed together in binders. It was no effort for them as Luke so much smaller and slender than any of them.
Vader watched them leave with the boy and when he was alone once again, he lifted his gloved hand from within his cape to stare at the familiar object he held in his hand. It was the boy's lightsaber. The lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker.
Author's Notes
Well here is yet another inspiration which came so suddenly, and I wrote down all in one day. Hope you guys liked it and found it interesting. This may be a one-shot but please review and let me know if you think it is worthy of becoming a story and having more chapters added.
And a BIG Thank you to Carrie2sky for beta reading this for me.
Kind regards and "May The Force Be With You"
LouisaJane007
