Prologue

Vader stepped out onto the bridge of his super star destroyer. His black cape billowing behind him, the admiral scrambled out of the Sith's way. He paid him no attention as he took his long strides towards the front section of the bridge. The black ink of space welcomed him as his view out the port windows. Halting his stepped before the wall, he stood legs stride hands clasped behind him back. The dark lord studied the stars as he disappeared into his thoughts. His shaggy hair needed to be cut, everything about him was ordered and strict. His jet black unmarked imperial tunic was straight and pressed. The dark cape that he always wore hung evenly across his broad shoulders. But his hair remained untamed. He didn't mind, he didn't really care what he looked like, he wasn't a vain person. He had been told by his master that he was quite the fetching bachelor back on Coruscant, all the court ladies had the hots for him. He didn't bother himself with such trivial matters. But Sidious was insistent that he take a bride, someone who could be produce a proper heir to their Sith empire. Vader snorted, a vicious sneer appeared on his face. What did his master know about it? He couldn't control him, he had much better things to do with his time than to fraternize with women. He was attracted to them, that wasn't it but love never entered into the equation. He often slept with women for his pleasure, but they were always gone in the morning and he like it that way. He was too busy hunting the empires enemies to have a women distracting him. It was a weakness he didn't want nor need.

His yellow eyes searched the vast ink of space, focusing on the multitude of stars. All his, or at least the Sith's. His master wouldn't appreciate his apprentice thinking that it was his, but the old man didn't matter, he would be dead before the years end if he had anything to say about it. After all the old man had told him that it was his duty as a Sith to overthrow the master. But Sidious never believe Vader would kill him. As far as Vader knew Sidious thought of Vader as an obedient lap dog to be ordered around. Vader's face twisted in rage at this thought. His master would pay dearly for all the assumptions he made about his apprentice. He created Vader and Vader would destroy him. Yes the emperor would suffer before the end as he had made Vader suffer all those years ago. He had taken him from his family and stolen his life from him. Not that he cared anymore. Family would only have been a weakness. The point was that he didn't have freedom, he was a slave to the whims of his Sith master. Always ordering him to do the empire's dirty work. Well he had had enough.

Vader's stance hardened. He would have to act quickly if he wanted to salvage the empire. Sidious had created it out of the ashes of the pathetic republic, it was his system. Vader was confident he could manage to keep the empire together. The military was on his side after all. The admirals and generals may fear him, but they also held a respect for him. He did the empire's work, unlike the emperor who sat in his palace of luxury all day playing with his court. They were his to command and he watched them clamor over each other trying to get closer to him. The men of the grand army of the empire didn't have time for such games. They were battle harden not appreciating the emperor's extravagance. They rarely found themselves on Coruscant and when they did it was for a few meetings before being shipped out once again to do the work of the empire. No, they had no loyalty to the emperor only the empire. They would follow him when the time was right. All he had to do was deal with this pesky rebellion.

Sidious played with them, Vader wanted them dead. He didn't play. He wanted them all dead, they were a threat to the peace of the empire and he wouldn't have it. Sidious cared nothing for the empire or its people. He only wanted to entertain himself. Vader finally decided that his master had had enough entertainment and the rebels needed to be put in their place. If he gave them too much leeway they might spread like a cancer through the empire causing a real civil war and that was unacceptable. He might have no need to love or compassion but he understood the need for peace and justice. He cared about the empire. He had done the heavy lifting while Sidious who just sat back and watched as the republic fell down around him. Vader did have to admit Sidious was excellent at manipulating the politicians and the bureaucracy but that mattered little now that the empire had been established. It was an empire for goodness sakes, it was led by one man and the bureaucracy was tied to his will. The emperor had outlived his usefulness a long time ago. If it hadn't been for the remaining Jedi and the rebels Vader would have disemboweled the man a long time ago. He had the power that much he knew. Sidious probably knew it as well but he was under the impression that Vader was reliant on him, that they shared some sort of bond. That couldn't be further from the truth. He cared nothing for the man, and would gladly kill him when the right time care.

But the emperor did have some sense. Vader was rarely called back to the capital of the empire. Sidious kept him out so that he could hunt the rebels properly. But he and his master knew that it was more to keep the apprentice away so the master felt safe. Fine! Vader snarled at his thoughts. Let the man think himself safe. And he was, for now. Sidious was right about one thing, he was safe as long was the rebels kept Vader occupied. As long as the apprentice had someone to vent his anger upon the master remained safe. Vader despised the rebels they fought for freedom. Freedom what did they know of it? He had grown up as a slave in a supposed galactic republic who outlawed slavery but turned the other way when it came to the huts. There was no such problem in the empire. The hut had been the first to come under the control of the Empire. Vader remembered the days when he captured Nar Shaddaa, Nal Hutta and Tatooine. He had ruthlessly slaughtered the Huts, personally tortured Jabba and had his rotting corps eaten by his own pet rancor. Watto also suffered. Oh yes, Vader remembered all too well the look on his old master's when his old slave walked back in dressed as the commander of the imperial navy. He had begged for his life as the lightning poured out of the Sith's fingertips, but Vader didn't listen. The Sith tracked down his mother, who had been purchased from Watto. She had found a family and somewhere to be happy, before the Tuskens took her. He spared his new in laws, but the same couldn't be said about the Tuskens.

The republic had never managed to free the slave, so how could they justify themselves as being freer than the empire. Yes they were under the control of one person, but that took out the corruption. Sith weren't corrupt, they didn't need money. When he ruled justice would be paramount, he would work to eradicate any forms of slavery left in the galaxy and give the people what they deserve, but he couldn't finished his campaign for a just galaxy until the damn rebels had been dealt with. They had brought war back to the galaxy and they should be ashamed. Didn't they know they couldn't defeat the empire, they couldn't defeat him. He was after all the most power Sith to have ever existed. Sidious previous apprentices had all fallen to the Jedi in battle, but not once had Vader failed to eradicate any Jedi he found. Even the venerated Jedi master Shaak Ti, Kit Fisto and Cin Drallig could stand up to him. They had all tried to kill him after his assault on the temple, they managed to sneak out abandoning their comrades showing their true colors. They had sought revenge trying to infiltrate the senate building to kill Sidious but Vader would have nothing of it. He had sense them leave, he had the clones shoot their speeder out of the air and after he had dealt with the temple he searched for them in the underbelly of Coruscant.

Deep within the underbelly of the city they had ambushed him. Well he did know they were there he just made them think they had the upper hand. He had easily taken out Kit Fisto, before sending Shaak TI falling into the deep places on Coruscant. Drallig had proved to be a welcomed challenge but even his legendary skills with the lightsaber had been no match for Vader's swordsmanship. His adaptation of Juyo and Djem So over powered any attacks the Jedi master had tried on him. Vader despised the Jedi but he did respect a worthy opponent. Drallig had fought valiantly but the dark side was stronger, and it won, it always did. He returned to his master that day triumphant, and he had been naive enough to believe that the Jedi had been eradicated. But they soon sprang up again. Trying to undermine the empire so Vader was sent out to find and kill them, he did so with a ruthless efficiency. The galactic citizens knew him as the Jedi hunter. Anyone caught helping or even talking with a Jedi was at risk of feeling his wrath. People feared him but they also knew that if they followed the law they would remain safe. There were few safe havens for the rebels now. Everywhere they went people turned their backs unwilling to place themselves endanger by helping the outlaws. Still people joined their ranks and Vader still found more and more of them to deal with. Today he could sense that they would find more. The thought of battle brought a sadistic smile to the dark lord's face.

Sure enough after around twenty minutes of him standing on the bridge Admiral Ozzel timidly approached him. "My Lord?" He questioned the Sith who was turned toward the viewport seemingly intrigued by the stars he saw.

"What is it Ozzel?" His deep voice carrying a weight that could frighten any man. Despite being only 22 Vader had the maturity and voice of someone a lot older than himself. His voice latent with the darkness made people fear him but it could also be silky at times. Tempting them to do his will. People found it hard to refuse him, and that was just the way he liked it.

"It appears the fleet commanded by Admiral Hawkens has engaged a large contingent of rebels outside the Dantooine system." Ozzel informed the Sith. "He is requesting backup."

"Is he now?" Vader replied slyly without turning to face the admiral. "Does the admiral overestimate the rebel's abilities or does he underestimate ours."

"I, I don't know my lord." Ozzel stutter. "Perhaps he only wants to make sure the rebels are completely eradicated."

Vader smirked at the timid admiral. He didn't like Ozzel but the man hadn't done anything stupid enough to provoke his anger yet. It was only a matter of time. At least the man has some sort of a brain. "Very well Admirl, take us to Dantooine." Vader ordered. Ozzel bowed as scurried back to the back of the bridge and started ordering around the men.

So he was right, Vader thought. There would be a battle for him today, good. He hadn't had a proper fight in some time. To their credit the rebels had been coming up with more ingenious ways of hiding in the past months but that didn't matter. Vader had thousands of imperial spies, bounty hunters, and various agents out there looking for the rebels. Not to mention the sizable reward on their heads so that every loyal imperial citizen was a spy for him in effect. They all reported to him not the emperor. Of course Sidious had his own network of spies and they would often share information, but the Sith master's spies held another purpose. To keep watch over his apprentice. Vader could point out every one of mist crew members who worked for Sidious. Everyone in a while he would dispose of one or two of them, but in general he left his masters agents alone. After all he had nothing to hide. Sidious was a fool if he thought Vader would share his plans with anyone. But no doubt if the opportunity arose and the found out his true desires they would go running back to the queen bee. So when he was going to perpetrate the coup he would have to be quiet about it.

The stars suddenly popped out stretching out beyond his vison as the executor made the jump into light speed. He quietly turned around and strode off the bridge briskly walking down a few hallways back to his quarters. They were sparse, he had few possessions he didn't need them. Besides, he tore apart his room every other day in rage so any belonging not metal and bolted to the ground was very likely to be destroyed. Often times he would kick the walls with his cybernetic leg and make an indentation that would damage the circuitry in the walls. He sometimes enjoyed having the metal leg, it gave his kicks a brutal edge that often times ended an opponent's life. A kick of the chest would often times break the ribcage and cause internal bleeding. Yes over the year he had had his leg he had grown to like it, but he still remembered who wounded him, who managed to defeat the great lord Vader. Yes the Jedi would pay dearly for that day.

Vader dropped himself carelessly onto the bed and shut the lights out. He might as well get some rest when it was possible. Often times he would not sleep for days on end, trying to power through the exhaustion but even he had his limits. He let the darkness caress his thoughts as he fell into a dark slumber. The darkness held onto him tight as he slept, not willing to let the Sith go for even a brief moment. The currents of power grasp unto his innermost thoughts twisting them into dark designs. He had accepted the darkness at the age of 9 it hadn't let him go since. Maul had found him on Tatooine and had stolen him away from his mother and slavery. One he was grateful for the other only made him hate the Zabrak. Sidious had used that hate to turn him into his greatest apprentice. Anakin Skywalker died a long time ago replaced by Darth Vader. Vader had been Sidious's secret project for years, while Maul tramped around doing the Sith's bidding.

Though Maul made one misstep, during the invasion by the separatist army of Ryloth Maul had been defeated by Jedi Master Mace Windu, though he escaped the separatists lost the planet and Sidious was not please. As a test of strength and a reward to his prodigy he allowed Anakin to battle Maul. He defeated the Sith and afterwards Sidious had told him to kneel. He proclaim that he was a real Sith now and bestowed the tile of Darth Vader upon him. He was only 16 year old at the time. But Sidious had thought it not yet time to revel his greatest weapon to the galaxy yet. Instead he had turned a Jedi named Dooku and used him to further the separatist cause, bring the galaxy further into civil war. And like Maul when Dooku had outlived his usefulness Sidious had Vader kill him. When Vader was 20, Sidious known as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had reveled Vader sending him to bring the treacherous Jedi to justice and end the war against the separatists. Within months he was a galactic hero.

The darkness soothed his fears away, leaving him as an extremely effective killing machine. The rebels would know his fury. With that the darkness propelled him awake, breathing hard from the sudden awakening his eyes looked around the dark room. Its was almost time. Getting up he smoothed his hair, and put on his usually emotionless face. He made his way out of his quarters and back up to the bridge.

As the executor reverted from hyperspace Vader strode back unto the bridge to begin commending the battle. As he passed through the doors to the command deck he stopped in his tracks, the four high ranking officers standing around deliberating between themselves gave him a quick glance before deciding it was in their best interest to not stare at the dark lord. If they had continued to look at him they would have noticed his face contort into a vile rage. His yellow eyes glowing harsher by the second. He stared across the bridge out the viewport to the ship he knew all too well and the presence he felt on it. Under his breath the sinister rage filled voice of Darth Vader snarled the name of the one person who had managed to defeat him in combat. "Kenobi!"