Star Wars: Empire Dawning
Part 1: An Empire Begins
The dark depths of space clouded the mind of a once student of the Jedi arts. The shining stars reflected off the polished surface of his menacing black helmet. The breathing silenced for a short second and then resumed. Then it stopped abnormally before resuming once more. There seemed to be a problem with his breathing unit. He would have to get that fixed next time he was in the medical bay. He made a turn, his cape followed him. He proceeded to walk down the bridge of the Imperial Attack Cruiser, to the turbolift. The Imperial Commander guarding the lift took one look at the tall man and then made a quick exit to his left in fright. The door whooshed open and inside the black clad man went. The door shut with an almost silent thud.
Vader turned. He had seen these surroundings before but he was only just getting used to them. "Take me to my quarters". The computer recognised the deep commanding voice as Lord Vader and would take him to level fourteen, that which the Dark Lords quarters awaited. The Emperor's quarters was also on the that level. In fact they were the only two living spaces on the level, all of the other officers were split into sublevels according to rank but level fourteen remained solely for the Sith. The level did however have various meditation rooms and that was what Vader was in need of. Meditation. The sound of the breathing stopped again. All that could be heard was the silence of whirring mechanisms as the turbolift moved with careful violence about the ship. He clutched his chest in agony almost dropping to his knees but keeping himself balanced inside the small space. The turbolift jolted. The shake seemed to bring Vader's life support system online once more. He removed his hand and stood calmly once more. The door hissed open, smoke filled level fourteen and a the silhouette of a cloaked figure remained in front of the turbolift.
"I have been expecting you Lord Vader", spoke Palpatine in his usual cold manner.
Vader said nothing. The two walked along the cold hallway. It seemed to grow somewhat longer as they walked.
"What troubles you my apprentice?", Palpatine inquired.
"I had an... experience inside the turbolift", struggled Vader to tell his master.
"What sort of, experience?"
"My support systems shut down. Once before while on the bridge and yet again inside the turbolift"
"Are you sure? Those systems were designed by the Mustafarians themselves", said Palpatine with a hint of disbelief.
"Mustafar?", questioned Vader.
"Yes! Designed for work on that volcanic planet. It is why I found it suitable for you. It would aid your almost disintegrated lungs and keep you alive. I did not expect there to a problem. It shall have to be modified. Why did you not report yourself to the medical bay?"
It had been a year since he had been on that planet but it seemed all too familiar. Images of his former master leaving him burning on the hot coals of Mustafar flooded back to him. One day he would repay such a fate to Obi-Wan Kenobi.
"I believed I could control it my master"
Palpatine stopped at the door to his personal meditation chamber.
"Control it? You are a Jedi no longer Lord Vader, you need not follow their ways now. You swore yourself to me and the Sith, you shall obey it from here on apprentice."
"Yes master" Vader couldn't tell why but he seemed to feel a sense of frustration towards his Emperor. They were friends once , long ago, but now everything seemed different. They were not the same since Vader had aligned himself with Palpatine. They were now more distant and Vader felt like one lone tie fighter boarded among his ship. Common.
"Now go, and have it repaired at once", squawked Palpatine before opening the door to the chamber and entering it.
"Yes master" With that Vader exited back through the turbolift in which he had came. His meditation would have to wait. He would obey his Emperor first and foremost and then attend to his personal tasks. It was the way of things. The way the "secure society" of the Empire was to be ruled. Not even Vader could undermine it. The door shut once more and moved Vader up to the level eight, the medical level.
Palpatine smiled to himself once inside. Little did Vader know, it was Palpatine who had disrupted his systems. Ever since he seen his "creation" born truly as Darth Vader he had enjoyed toying with him and feeding from his dark emotions. The anger Vader had received when Palpatine gladly bared the news the Padme, his wife, had died was overwhelming and Palpatine knew he would surely have to exploit that if he were to breed such a terror upon the galaxy so that his own grand vision could be created, one that was solely run by him. He took a moment inside before waving his hand towards the keypad and in an instant the door shut and locked. He moved towards a metal-like cabinet and removed a section of it. The top piece was merely a decoy, a hologram. He entered his deformed hand inside and removed a pyramidal shaped device. He placed on his table and waited a moment viewing the device. Palpatine moved his hand to the object and opened it.
The door whooshed open. Vader exited the turbolift as he had once before. Luckily there had been no more mishaps of his systems. He walked down the long hallway and made a turn through an automatically opening door. He stepped through it and it sealed behind him with a click. The idea of the medical bay was to keep contaminations confined. The doors would keep any disease inside the medical bay and lock it off. The droids would then be able to either cure or kill the contaminated patient. On this occasion, the droids has been programmed to only cure Vader and never kill him. Good medical droids were not common and the Empire needed as many as they could for their ships. Accidents did happen. Vader sat down on the hover bed and a droid of design Vader had never seen before came almost immediately to him.
"What... izz your probblemm?", the droid beeped. Evidently it had a speech impediment. Imperfections in droids did not amuse Darth Vader.
"There is a malfunction in my breathing unit. Fix it"
The droid worked away while Vader waited. The eyes behind the helmet viewed the bright lights of the ceiling as he had done once before on Coruscant. The layout was exactly the same. He dismissed it as a coincidence when the droid moved into his sight.
"No probblemms could bee found". The impediment irrated Vader. He was also not pleased that the droid had not fixed the unit, let alone decide that nothing was wrong. He was the one that experience how wrong it was.
The force came to Vader's command. The droid was lifted higher from the ground and flung to the other end of the room, crashing into pieces at a metallic table. Vader sat up and relinquished the force from his command. He moved to the door, it opened slowly, he walked out his cape following sharply behind. "How could this be", he thought to himself. "There is to be no, explanation for what happened to me?. Vader decided he would meditate on the matter, it usually made things easier when he had problems, something he seldom did as a Jedi.
The device seemed to move into Palpatine's mind, or at least the visions did. He could see everything clearly. He saw his own old master, Darth Plaguies speaking with him. The words were unclear to Palpatine, they were in a strange tongue he had never learned, but there was still a record of it. The vision shifted to the inside of a home on Coruscant. The busy sky outside rumbled until a hand closed the windows and shut the blinds on them. It then moved to another room, in the name home, where a man was sitting. His back was turned but he was silent. He was in a deep sleep and the vision moved closer to him. A slow, rhythmical breathing was heard as the hand took a lightsaber and placed it towards the back of the man. Within a flash of red light it ignited and the hand made an upwards slice until the cloaked man fell. The vision shifted again to that which looked like a mirror and in it Palpatine's face was seen, covered in blood with an ignited lightsaber in hand. The body of Darth Plaguies below him.
The vision ended and Palpatine became restless. A smile swept across his face as he put back the device, known as a holocron, and sat down on his char. He touched a panel and the young looking face of Governor Tarkin showed up on a hologram in front of him.
"How are the reports of the space station, Governor", said the old, croaked voice of Palpatine.
The younger, yet distinct voice of Tarkin answered. "Well my Emperor. The reports I have received indicate that the initial structure has been modelled and rechecked by our scientists. It will work most pleasingly. Tests have already begun on the weapon itself" Tarkin loosened his shirt a little, sweat rising on his brow. "However, my Emperor, it would seem that the weapon itself could take up to fifteen years to be completed. Various small scale tests will have to be used to determine how the weapon will work, once we find the right frequency and mechanics of the actual weapon itself. The space station could be completed in a year or two. We have had to move our research teams to the planet of Mygeeto while they are working on different designs and such. Mygeeto is the perfect planet for us to begin work on. The plans we received are being refined as we speak. That alone may take up to a year unfortunately" The sweat dripped from Tarkin's brow but he didn't move.
Palpatine smiled and even chuckled a hoarse laugh. "We have all the time needed Governor and more. Time is not important to me. The building of the Empire is. The weapon shall be a force needed to crush any opposition that stands in my way. It is a backup. A safety plan. At this moment in time I do not see myself using it. However, I want you Governor Tarkin to oversee the operation of the battle station. Have you thought of a name for such a station".
Relieved, Tarkin stood up to his full height once more with a smile crossing his own face. "Death Star, sir"
Palpatine nodded slightly. "Very well Governor Tarkin. Do not fail my trust in you"
The hologram of Tarkin bowed and then it faded. Palpatine turned in his black chair to view outside into space. His worn eyes seemed to almost gleam for a moment before he uttered two words into space. "Death Star".