NAKED IN THE MIND FIELD By Kondoru
Thanks to Budgie for Betaing.
Standard Disclaimers
Part 1 Crash land the party? Who, me? Crash land?
Tonight the Emperor of the Galaxy (or at least the bits that matter.) is holding a party.
The Great and Good of Coruscant attend in their finery. They look like a flock of exotic creatures from some hidden jungle world, so bedazzling are their feathers and jewels.
They are mostly human, with a smattering of the more socially acceptable and less surprisingly anatomied aliens, -the Emperor want to prove he `likes` non humans, in spite of his pro human policies.
They stand around, making small talk (but politically charged small talk) and eating from the very exotic buffet on the tables behind the walls. (Palpatine called in a favour with a caterer friend, -otherwise he would have had to place an order with the nearest supermarket for their bargain party packs. No point in spending out on these snobs who think a fancy dish means there is more garnish than food.)
Children lurk below the tables (For some folk are too tight to afford a babysitter, Palpatine hates kids…largely because they like him, sensing in him a fellow supervillain.) The palace cats are busy getting underfoot, stealing choice morsels, fighting and jumping up on the most expensively attired laps they might find. The cats are a blast at parties.
One man is not a blast at parties. However he never gets invited.
…Until he invites himself…
Into the party, a hooded shadow glides. The guest all turn, and regard this new arrival with trepidation. The Dark Lord stalked in, silent except for the hissing of his respirator.
The crowds part to let him through. In his wake are scared looks and hushed whispers. What is going on? Why is he here? What is he up to? Nothing good, that's for sure!
Darth Vader looked neither left nor right but made his way to the steps leading up to the Emperors throne. He sat down with a slight creak of armour, cloak pooling around his massive form.
`Oh, what is he up to now? ` Palpatine thinks, His apprentice does not attend these events, -there is nothing for him here after all. He should be shut away in his cell in the bowels of the palace, meditating on his shortcomings, -which were many.
All evening the Sith sits at the feet of his lord, moving but little. Even when an opportunistic cat jumps up into his lap he doesn't move or say anything. He sits watching the guests, hood pulled over his helm, watching the cat, watching the constant stream of information on his HUD. It's obvious the party does not interest him at all.
And the lively party loses its fizz. Several guests sneak out. Children are heroically rescued from their hiding places, the red robed palace guard doubles, the cats leap onto the table and get into the main dish. Several attendees seem to be waiting for the uninvited guest to do something interesting, possibly kill someone.
Nothing happens.
Palpatine scowls under his hood. Darth Vader is asserting his authority, -that is for sure! Damn the man to the ice of Hoth and the fires of Mustaphar! His wayward apprentice must be punished severely for this rebellious behaviour.
Perhaps he is pining for the old days, the days of Light? He knows The Hero Without Fear would be the life and soul of the party, he himself had seen Anakin Skywalker at many social events. All wanted to meet the famous Jedi. Now he is imprisoned away from the world, and can only watch helpless to join in. No one wants to be in the same room as the Dark Lord, a being who can kill with his mind.
He straightens in his throne. "Isn't it past your bedtime, my apprentice?" He puts on his most grandfatherly tone, the one that has his worst enemies trembling in their boots. "You know you need your beauty sleep, -your health has been delicate of late."
Darth Vader manages to acknowledge the man who created him. "Your will, Master."
He stands in one swift movement, hands the cat to a palace guard and stalks out.
Palpatine allows himself a slight smile, the only sign of his dissatisfaction with Darth Vaders unruly conduct. (For it is plain that he has ruined the party.) He gestures a guard forwards and whispers terse orders in his ear.
Deep within the labyrinth bowels of the Imperial Palace is the quarters of Darth Vader. It suits his permanently angsty mood. It's also good to be as far as possible from the Emperor who lives in the top chambers, from which he can survey the Galaxy which is his by right of conquest.
Darth Vader has no use for the galaxy. He wants to explore the depths of the Force, and conquer the demons in his soul.
Particularly that demon who is called `Anakin Skywalker.`
Anakin is his chief tormentor. In Hell you get one demon dedicated to your…care. Anakin is an expert, since he knows all of Vaders weak spots.
He is everything Darth Vader is not.
Anakin Skywalker is a young Jedi Knight, His Force Aura blazes with unwholesome holiness. Anakin is the Hero of the Republic.
He is a whole man, young and handsome, not a burnt wreck inside a life support suit like Vader is incarcerated in.
Though he is a Jedi, that doesn't mean he is into all this self denial stuff. He loves fast ships, to drink ethanol, joke with friends. He is the life and soul of parties, of course. (Vader just kills them dead.)
And he is a married man, -something he had the bare arsed effrontery to do behind the Orders backs. Anakin is of low birth, -but he has managed to snag a Queen. (Of course.)
The dratted creature will do awful things like start rutting on his wife just when Darth Vader wants some sleep! (He will wake up screaming at that obscenity. Particularly as it seems to involve parts of him that he would rather forget about.) No Jedi celibacy for Anakin!
Darth Vader keys in the code to his cell; an outmoded device but one that is necessary for him. (Palm locks are useless for a man with metal hands. And retinal scanners do not work on a mask.) He steps in, kicking the door shut.
His quarters are sparse, a sleeping mat, a few pillows and blankets are the only furnishings. The cables and tubes that will recharge him and partially take over the suits life support hang down from the computer panel in the wall. He needs nothing more.
Sometimes he feels like a droid.
And at other times he feels like a Jedi. (Much to Anakins amusement.)
The Sith hangs up his cloak, and after checking the integrity of his hyperbaric chamber, unlatches his great helm. The lights dim in response, his eyes are unused to normal daylight.
He quells the panic response he has to being unmasked. (Such as that time in which another of his demons, a vicious Togruta renegade with two lightsabres managed to nearly decapitate him. He only survived that encounter when the bitch realised just `who` he was…)
Darth Vader yawns, blinking weak yellow eyes. Pulling over the cables, he attaches them to his chest panel, time to recharge his batteries, -that and any new information his suits controlling computer might require. The systems also runs diagnostics on his health, both that of his cybernetics and armour, and the few bits of him that are still mortal flesh.
What a pity pain management is not part of his extensive welfare!
Or management of the pain that consumes his soul!
Darth Vader pulls his blanket around him, as usual, sleep does not come easily.
But eventually he drifts off, whimpering in dreams of happier times. Even in sleep the Sith is not free of the Dark Side.
Or the Light side.
Outside the cell, the Emperor Palpatine stands, two palace guard and a bevy of his medical staff hovering in the background. Time for revenge. And of course, most importantly, a minor chastisement. But mostly revenge.
"He sleeps" a medic says, looking at his datapad.
Palpatine purses his lips. He had thought up a new bedtime story for his apprentice. His bedtime stories generally had lots of interesting things in like Jedi getting killed in slow and inventive ways.
Well, sometimes they involved Sith apprentices getting killed in slow and inventive ways…This new one was about weaklings in the old Sith (A long extinct race who had learned the hard way about the Jedi's policies on genocide.) society and what was done with them.
It was a sad thing that Vader was a cull…But then, the man could never threaten him like a good apprentice should have done. He was a terrifying force of nature in battle…yet completely subservient to his Master. It was a bit like owning a tame hurricane. Vader had been born a slave and Palpatine made sure he still had a healthy slave mentality. In spite of his `issues` Vader was still the Emperors prize possession.
(And of course he could have kicked him out of the party any time. But watching Vader scare people silly was fun.)
Even Darth Sidious had Sith doubts.
"Sweet dreams, Vader." Palpatine keys in the code that will pump his apprentice's airtight quarters full of some knockout gas.
He laughs to himself. "Seems you're getting your darkest dreams come true…."