Vader's Dreams of Death

by Abigail Skywalker

So, what if Vader (Anakin Skywalker) continued to have very accurate and interesting dreams of Death as Darth Vader. We know he had a lot when he was a Jedi, but we didn't hear or read of many happening while he was a Sith Lord, and when he did speak of Death and force foresight (in the original trilogy) It was as if he was giving all the credit to Palpatine. What does he dream of?

A Star Wars Story.

What if…

So, what if Vader (Anakin Skywalker) continued to have very accurate and interesting dreams of Death as Darth Vader. We know he had a lot when he was a Jedi, but we didn't hear or read of many happening while he was a Sith Lord, and when he did speak of Death and force foresight (in the original trilogy)… it was as if he was giving all the credit to Palpatine. And why was that exactly? What happened to Anakin's foretelling abilities? It's not like he got any of his old dreams wrong. He has seen into the future, and the past… So, what would, or what could the young Lord of the Sith accurately dream about? Let's find out.

PS. This will not be in any chronological order whatsoever. Just any dream at any time.

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Vader's Dreams of Death.

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Chapter 1: The Destruction of Alderaan.

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As the ship Ahsoka and I were on came down through the upper atmosphere I finished my study on the planet. I had skipped over a lot of history when I had been studying at the temple on Coruscant. And the History of Alderaan was one of the many things I as a child had thought useless pieces of knowledge that I didn't have to worry about. But that had all changed since the war. My ignorance would and will hold me back if I don't understand people, cultures, and the reasons entire systems choose to follow others into oblivion.

It had once been boring to read, but now I regarded it as a necessaity whenever I had free time.

I glanced over towards Ahsoka. 'Still sleeping.' I smiled, 'Get as much sleep as you can, while you can.'

I brushed my finger up the datapad and read more.

'During the Mandalorian Wars, the planet was threatened with invasion by the forces of Cassus Fett, but the entire invasion force was prematurely obliterated, due to misuse of an ancient Sith artifact.

During the peak of the Great Galactic War, the planet's peace and tranquility was shattered by a full-scale Sith Empire invasion. The Sith quickly overwhelmed the local defense forces and took the entire royal family hostage. In response, a Republic and Jedi task force launched a swift counter-offensive against the Sith; recapturing the planet and inflicting a heavy defeat on the Sith.

As a consequence of the Sith invasion, the Alderaanian leadership adopted a hardline militarist stance towards the Sith Empire in the Galactic Senate.] In 3653 BBY, the Treaty of Coruscant ended the decades-long conflict in favor of the Sith Empire, which had earlier launched a devastating attack on the galactic capital Coruscant. In protest, Senator Gaul Panteer, the Alderaanian Crown Prince, walked out of the Senate and withdrew Alderaan from the Republic.

The crown prince's actions created much division in Alderaan. While many supported his actions, others were outraged by the secession from the Republic. The crisis worsened with the assassination of the prince and the death of his mother a few days later. The Alderaanian Parliament was quickly torn apart by infighting between rival houses. A bloody civil war quickly ensued when one of these houses attempted a military coup.

In the subsequent Interstellar Cold War between the Republic and the Sith, the planet was the site of a number of border skirmishes and proxy battles between Republic and Sith forces. The Republic backed House of Organa while the Sith backed the formerly exiled House of Thul, which sought to reclaim the throne. Neither side had military forces on Alderaan.

During the last five centuries of the Old Republic, Alderaan nobility was known to enjoy the seafood from Lamaredd distributed by Bartyn Gourmet Delicacies.

In 27 BBY, Alderaan was personally protected by Jedi Master Eeth Koth during the Ashaar Khorda crisis.'

I put down the datapad for a brief moment. 'Ironic. So much war and bloody messes on this planet and it was almost destroyed entirely, and now it's one of the most peaceful places you can go.'

We were both riding a passenger ship to Alderaan as a lot of the sentiment on the planet at the moment was Anti-Jedi, due to ridiculous beliefs a few held that the entire war had somehow been orchestrated by the Jedi Order. Dealing with people with such crooked frames of mind, submerged so deeply into their own delusions gave me headaches so bad I'd prefer to drink Wookiee Whisky and burn the back of my throat off.

But No. I can't do that because I'm a respectable Jedi, and I need to show that I'm not a terrible threat and a cruel dictator. 'Damn it Obi-Wan, why couldn't you have taken this mission?'

Ahsoka kicked her foot out and moaned a bit in her sleep. I smiled and patted the top of her head gently and she seemed to relax. I felt her confused presence in the force reach out to me in her sleep, and when she found me there right beside her, her mind relaxed and zoned out again.

"Don't worry Ahsoka. I'll wake you up when we get to the surface." I said calmly stroking one of her Montrals. She had said before that when she was young she used to hold onto them tightly as it apparently helped her to relax. As she had appeared to not complain when I offered her a hug or tap or rub, I tended to end up doing that whenever she got too nervous.

I had been surprised when I had realized that every Togrutas' horns (Montrals) were hollow, and that they used a form of echolocation to sense the proximity and movement of physical objects around them, a very different type of ear that also operated as an echo chamber for sensory movement. Which meant she was hardly blind in the dark, and she didn't need the force for her to sense things.

I didn't think a few years ago that I would enjoy having an Apprentice, but it was nice. Especially when she was quiet and not arguing. It was a strange bond, somewhere between having an adopted child, a best friend, a sister, a servant, and a colleague. But the first three of those was how I thought of her most.

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The Capital Aldera was North of the Great Galu Mountain range. This was the first time I had come here. I hadn't expected it to be so beautiful, and I was blown away.

Naboo was soft and comfortable. It had an ancient feeling of calm, unity and homeliness to it, but this planet… Alderaan has a feeling of strength, promise, and purpose.

'Alderaan you need to wake up and stop holding your leaders back. With your separatist ideology.' I glanced at Ahsoka and saw she was just as gob smacked as I had been seconds before.

"Come on Snips. Our place for this evening is in the Palace. And it is in…" I pulled up my arm and typed in the coordinates. "…that direction. Let's go!"

"I love this planet! It looks amazing!"

"Me too. Me too." I said, taking in another breath of fresh air.

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I walked along the snowy mountain tops. It was icy but I did not slip. 'It must be a dream. What am I doing here?'

Something like a moon was catching and slowly blocking the light of the sun in the sky above me. 'What was that?'

I then looked down at my belt, but then I saw there was no Jedi belt there, only long robes and thick wool-like materials that I had never even worn before.

'This is all wrong. I'm not even me. What is going on?' I looked up again and saw a green light glowing in the centre of the moon-like … 'It's not a moon. It's a Space Station. It's a weapon…like that sith weapon of old…'

I step backwards and look about me. I'm filled with a fear that I can't control. 'Was there a ship nearby? I need my ship. Where is my ship?'

The wave of blinding light comes first. Then the sound of an explosion bursting my eardrums and then I felt a disconnection. I saw my body disintegrate and I rose above it, which I now recognized was Bail Organa. For the briefest second he was there and then he was gone.

I was floating in amongst the debris like a ghost, as I had always imagined what it would be like, to be one with the force. If I had had tears to cry, a face with eyes to cry for this horror I would have, but I couldn't I just floated, and the torn, melted, and broken pieces of Alderann floated through me. Nearly all-living matter disintegrated in the blast. What didn't quickly froze, but that didn't stop me from noticing the hole that now existed in the core systems. 'Who could have done this? Who could have been so wrong? Not this planet! Not this one! Why not Tatooine, or Nar Shaddaa, the homes of the wretched criminals blown into obvilion. No. They destroyed this world. Why?'

I floated away from the rubble remains of the broken planet as if pulled by a tractor beam or an invisible force-focused magnet. And I was sucked through the walls of what I could now see was a Station of some sort.

A young woman, probably not long out of her teens was standing in the centre of a room looking out at the new collection of asteroids in place where once a beautiful planet had been.

I moved backwards slowly, and my body merged with another's, I felt a heaviness land on me, and a deep depression started to take a hold. 'The Force is with me… The Force is with me… I am only dreaming.'

I looked up and felt a growing sick feeling of fear rise. I could tell the young woman in white was on the verge of collapsing and I reached out and held her shoulders to support her. She flinched at my touch and pulled away glaring at me, and I felt her undampened rage rippling through the force. 'What has just happened here?'

She looked around the room at the men sitting at the controls and overlooking the computers. "You all of you, call yourself humans?!"

"You brought this pain upon your people." I noticed an elderly man standing in the shadows, but for some reason I couldn't see him properly, it was as if my vision was being turned off. He started speaking some more, but even then the rest of the colours in the room went from a blank and white with mild, dull colour ranges, then to all-red. I noticed my throat constricting and my knees hurting; by eyes became sore and my chest felt heavy.

'My chest. It hurts. It hurts so much!'

I'm falling backwards.

I'm falling forwards.

I suddenly became aware of the young woman by my side, she grabbed for me as I fell, for my belt and took off what I could only assume was a lightsaber, but it wasn't mine.

'Of course not. I'm not myself at the moment. This is someone else.'

Before my dream person could react fast enough the girl ignited the lightsaber, (I couldn't tell what sort of colour it was… because of the red-tinged visor in front of this person's eyes, their eyes must had been damaged badly) …and she thrust the saber forward between my shoulders and she cut me down from neck to hips. The pain was sharp and agonizing, and then… I …

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"AHHHHHHH!" I woke up sweating and my heart pumping erratically, I hadn't had a dream like that since… well, I don't like keeping track of my dreams of the future, or…

'No, that certainly wasn't the past, because Alderann had been blown up in the dream, and I was staying here for the time being.'

I brushed my damp hair out of my face. 'What a nightmare.'

'Is this really a vision. Are the separatists planning this?... No, it can't be. No one has the firepower for this sort of assault. I mean sure you can bombard a planet with thousands of ships for weeks and make the planet uninhabitable, but you can't destroy it with one long blast into the core. That's impossible. I hope.'

I stood up. 'I should meditate on this,… but I really don't want to. That was it wasn't it. Just a nightmare. I can have those from time to time right?' I walked towards the adjacent bathroom and spent ten minutes washing myself and using Jedi meditation to release the pain and stress that had built up during the nightmare.

"I really don't need this pain right now. I don't want to see these sorts of things."

'Focus Skywalker. Focus on the here and now where you belong.'

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'Sith Spit! … She's noticed.'

"Master? What's wrong?" Blue eyes narrowed and he had to resist the urge to swallow nervously.

"Nothing…"

She pouted and then crossed her arms glaring at me. "Don't try and lie to me, Master you're not very good at it."

I sighed. 'I really don't feel like fighting with little miss snippy this early.' I rolled my shoulders back and tried ease the stiffness there. "I had an uncomfortable dream last evening, it kept me awake the rest of the night. It was a half-vision I think. A horrid one."

She frowned. "Like the one I had of Padme?"

'Padme…' I crossed my right hand over my chest and rubbed my stiff left shoulder. 'I still can't believe I didn't have any misgivings during that time. Why hadn't I been the one who received those dreams? Why hadn't the Force revealed that to me? Is it a sign? Am I too focused on my duties as a General, that my focus on the Living Force is actually weakening? No, because otherwise you wouldn't have had that dream last night now would you?'

"Master? Master!?" Ahsoka waved her hand in front of my face.

"What?!" I said frustrated.

"You didn't answer my question, and then you spaced out on me. What were you thinking about that was so important for you to ignore me, not that, that's unusual for you anyway?"

I shook my head hoping to clear it. "Well, it doesn't really matter, I'm mean it's just a crazy idea, but … I was thinking on your vision and I realized that I don't know many Jedi who seem to have them anymore. It's become rare, and whenever someone does have a vision you are usually taught to ignore it. The Force is always changing… The Force will lead you down the right path…. So on and So on. That's what Obi-Wan often told me."

"What?! No, I don't believe that. Many Jedi still have visions of the Future."

"Really? Who?"

"Well, Yoda…"

"Yoda is almost 9 centuries old if he wasn't having visions of the past, the present, or future, I'd be ashamed of him as a master. To have lived such a long time to study the force and meditate on all aspects of it and not have anything to show for all those years would just be sad." I took a sip of the caffeinated drink I had been offered. It was bitter, strong, head-clearing. 'I like it.'

"Well! Master Yoda is wise and unlike what you think…"

"Come on Ahsoka, I'm not picking on him. I'm just trying to make you see that it is unusual for Jedi to have force visions. We're not encouraged to dwell on them or read too much into them." I reached out and took her hand in mine. Suddenly overcome with a deep feeling of gratitude and pain. "But I am very proud of you and in what you did when you were having those visions of Padme's …" I found it hard to say. "…Assassination, you saved a good friend of ours, by trusting in your instincts."

"I followed your guidance. And just did what I felt was right, and let the force guide my actions." She wiggled her hand in front of her as if showing how she might view me as I move within the force.

I grinned at her and squeezed her hand gently. A feeling of overwhelming pride washed into me that I hadn't thought I'd experience on this relatively normal morning. "And that is the way it should be. The Jedi shouldn't be held back and bound by the political hurdles that the rest of the Galaxy's main governors, rulers and whatever… place themselves under." I let go of her hand and carried on eating. The food wasn't warm anymore, in fact it was close to being mildly cold.

"So… now I'm confused… Do you really believe that Jedi should be above the law?" I could tell she was pulling my leg and trying to poke fun, but I rose to the occasion anyway. 'I wanted to talk about this stuff to someone anyway.'

I raised an eyebrow at her and she mirrored my reaction. "I'm saying; it used to be common knowledge that Jedi could see into the future. People all over the Galaxy used to call us Wizards, Magical Warriors, and sometimes Sorcerers. But the disbelief in our abilities is rising and people just think of us as weak warriors, with a moral code that prevents us from obtaining victory, that are controlled by the senate. I don't like that."

Ahsoka frowned. "No, me neither. When I first started having those visions I went straight to master Yoda to ask his opinion, and he was helpful for calming me down… but it's like what you said, it wasn't taken very seriously, it was as if everyone was waiting for my insanity to blow over."

I sighed, feeling the frustration Ahsoka had coming off in what felt like rolling billows of clouds.

"But actually when I told Padme about my dream she actually took me seriously, and despite all the mistakes I made when I was looking for Auroa Sing she still had faith in me." She leaned back in her seat and rubbed the bridge of her nose, it was such an unusual movement it almost made me laugh.

I smiled. "Yeah, she has known a few Jedi to take risks and have those risks turn around to reward them and those in their company. So, she's tried and tested."

"You and Padme where almost killed together on Geonosis at the start of the war weren't you?"

"Yes, trying to save Obi-Wan, from the Count and the Geonosians."

"But what were you doing with her anyway? Why were you together?"

"At the time she had been placed under Jedi protection because of the assassination attempts that had taken place. She was against the creation of an army for the Republic because it would only escalate the increasing tensions between the Separatists and so… It turned out the Nute Gunray was behind the assassination attempts, because he held a grudge on her for not being a coward ten years ago when he threatened to forcibly take over her world…."

"I never liked that guy, or any of the ghastly trade Federation people."

"No, me neither." Merely the memory of him in my mind made me feel slightly sick. 'That is one guy that I wouldn't mind killing off, personally.'

"But anyway, getting back to the point. You were protecting Padme, just you?..."

I felt an imaginary nagging poke stab me in the chest and my heartbeat raced with anticipation. 'Calm. Calm. She knows nothing.' I cleared my throat. "Yes, the council assigned Obi-Wan the job of finding the Bounty Hunter that killed off a-would-be lead. And I was assigned the job of protecting the Senator."

"So, all alone on Coruscant…"

"No, we went to Naboo where she would be safer."

"So, all alone on Naboo…"

"Just what are you trying to assimilate here Snips!?" I growled, trying my hardest to appear more displeased and annoyed rather than breathless which was how I felt. "I and the Senator are good friends, and … well, you should ask her yourself. She'll tell you."

"I have."

"You what?"

"I have asked her if you and her have anything…"

"Don't say it."

"Okay I won't…" She put her hands up in mock surrender. "Anyway when I did ask her I got the same sort of shy, surprised shock that I'm getting from you." She gave me a look of triumph as if she had won a battle of wits.

'Humph… whatever.' I shook my head. "Even if I was attracted to her… why should pointing that out to me be so enjoyable for you."

She shrugged, looking mildly satisfied. "Well, I don't know… Maybe it's because I knew your reaction doesn't disappoint me ever."

'I will never understand females. Not from any species or race…' I cleared my throat again, but this only brought back a grin to Ahsoka's face. 'Time to change the subject.'

"And unfortunately, the council doesn't encourage ties of any kind, emotional or physical. They are afraid of the fear that might come from the possible loss in one's personal ties…" I shook my head unable to carry on the thought.

'Come on Anakin. You've got to stop bad-mouthing the Jedi Council. You've got to give Ahsoka encouragement and hope, even if you don't feel it. Protect her from your insecurities. She'll have plenty of her own in the future. She doesn't need yours.'

"Yeah… but things like independent learning, and the teachings of unique ways of using the Force, that isn't encouraged either, it's too scary. Too much like an unknown anomaly to them."

She frowned. "I can't think of any… Like what exactly?"

I sat up straighter. "For example, the Witches of Dathomir use the force, but they can only use it through their words of power that have been handed down to them from mother to daughter, never to a husband or a son (sexist morons),…" She snickered at that, but I carried on. "…And they spend a long time in group meditation in order to create and finish complicated spells and they have learnt to bend the natural form and order of the force, (through these words) to their will. Now, I do think a lot of their magic is dark and tainted, but to not study it and to simple ignore it I think is unforgiveable."

"Oh, come on. Unforgiveable Master?"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, not unforgiveable, but it is foolish to think your method, techniques, or Jedi heritage is the only way that we should use the force. I really think we hold ourselves back too much."

"Hmmmm…. I never really thought about it like that. But then would you feel happy about learning to use the Force from a group called the nightsisters." She balanced her cutlery on her fingertip as she was talking. "Their name just sounds so friendly and warming like…"

"Ahsoka!"

"I hadn't even said anything yet."

"I knew where you were going with that." I said firmly, and tried to ignore the glare she was sending my way. 'How the hell did Obi-Wan manage me again?... Oh yeah, he didn't I just did whatever I wanted and he apologized for me, and told me off.'

I clicked my neck, shoulders, and back. 'I could do with going back to my room and resting for another hour. I'm still exhausted.'

Ahsoka finished up her food. 'I think she is trying to give me the silent treatment for shutting her down.'

I stretched out with the force to her and opened my mind. 'Don't be so frustrated little one.'

"I'm not talking to you. Nothing I say is relevant apparently, because the great Anakin Skywalker already knows what I'm going to say."

'That's not true.' I pushed again. I looked down at my food. 'You just tend to push too hard too fast at times. … As do I.'

'Whatever.' She pouted again, but I could feel the annoyance that had stiffened her shoulders before was gone. I pulled back and relaxed as well.

'I know what it feels like to brushed aside and made to feel smaller and insignificant, but that isn't what I want Ahsoka to feel. That doesn't mean I want her to act in a disrespectful manner. And teasing me like that is… yeah, let's forget about it. What should we talk about… Ahh!' I leaned forward. "Did you hear about the passenger ship called the Liberty."

"Um… I think so. Wasn't that the one that transported ten thousand clone troopers back to Coruscant? I heard about it through the Republic Services Network, but I don't remember much about it though."

"Of course not, the Jedi Council, and the military brushed it over, out of embarrassment or pride, I don't know, the group who rescued the troopers were once a variant of the old Jedi order. They didn't want to be tied to the Republic, and they thought the Force had called them to be free from society. So they all lived together on that ship and wandered from place to place." I finished my breakfast and look up at her. 'Yep, she's interested.'

She raised her eyebrows. "Sounds like your sort of people Skyguy."

I gave her an annoyed look. "Thanks, but despite what you might think of me, I am nothing like them." I glanced up at the ceiling and marvelled at the stained glass canopy with lots of colours crossing into each other. 'When the sun finally comes up from behind the mountains this room will be amazing to behold.' The sky was cloudy at the moment with it still being early morning, but Alderaan was known for it's early morning mists and mid-morning sun burns.

"Unlike them Ahsoka, I don't pretend to zone out of reality and live in a little bubble where everything can be what I want it to be. Believe me sometimes I would like to, and I have dreamt of just disappearing at times and doing whatever comes into my mind." I looked back down at her then. "But the Force is a blessing and a curse, it makes the Jedi powerful. We have been placed in positions of power for a reason, and that reason is to make the Galaxy a safer, and better place. To punish those who use their money and power to hurt the defenceless, and the weak. We are to remain humble and serve those who are servants, to overrule the rulers, to be a slave of kindness to slaves, and to conquer the cruel conquerors."

"Wow, what a mouthful master." She interlaced her fingers. "You're in a very philosophical mood today."

"I'm just giving you a reason as to why the Jedi have outcast these people. They don't see them as Jedi; they see them as weak traitors to the Jedi Code. We weren't given this power to become invisible wanderers. We are meant to make a difference. We shouldn't stand aside when people are in need." I cleared my throat and took another mouthful of my drink. "What I didn't agree with was the way the Jedi Council recounted the deed to the Senate. They didn't acknowledge them as the lost, wandering Jedi, or as a type of group force-users who wanted to help out a few stranded clones. No, they just called them Merchants. Merchants." I slammed my fist onto the table. "…Merchants who felt the Force call them into a place in space where there was no planet nearby, no wrecked battleships, just the skeletal start of an asteroid space station that we had been building as a base of operations in the Wild Space sector. No, that isn't unusual at all. Why should Merchants show up there? Wanting to trade what exactly with Clone Troopers that already have half a year's worth of rations with them in case of a Hyperspace line repossession."

"You really are talkative today Master." Ahsoka tapped the top of the table with her gloved fingertips. "Those troopers were lucky to escape. I still can't believe that those space worms had eaten through that many walls of plasmasteel, in such a short amount of time. "

"Believe it. It's a major hazard to a lot of space stations built on worlds that haven't been thoroughly investigated. There are some secrets that get hidden or hushed up by the natives that we don't hear about in the core systems… Like the curious case of the brain snatches on Geonosis, right Snips?"

Ahsoka put her head in her hands. "Oh, please, anything but that. That was a nightmare."

"We've had plenty of those haven't we?"

"Yep. But I still don't get it. How do those space worms survive? And where do they come from?"

I didn't really hear the question, and my mind travelled back to what I was thinking about before. "…But why didn't they just tell the truth? What was so hard about congratulating them for rescuing those clones, and openly acknowledging them." I put my mug back down, maybe a bit too hard as I spilled a lot of it.

"You realize you're talking to yourself now, right?" She muttered.

I rubbed my temples. "It's as if the Council are ashamed of them or something."

"Oh, so we're back to being boring and talking about politics and the Council. Yay…"

I waved her comments away. "If you don't like it, blame Obi-Wan. He's the one who taught me to be mindful."

"Sure I'll do that. Everytime I make a mistake I'll say Anakin taught me, and Obi-Wan taught him, and Qui-Gon taught him, and Dooku taught him, and Yoda taught him, so it's all Master Yoda's fault that I messed up."

I couldn't help but laugh a little at the fun insanity that came rolling out of Ahsoka's mouth. "You probably shouldn't do that it would definitely get us into trouble."

"Oh no! Not trouble. What are we going to do!? Maybe we'll just…"

"Snips?" I know I'm being a bit hypocritical at the moment, but there's a reason why people hold you back from saying stupid things in public.

"What? Again? You didn't know what I was going to say?"

"And you probably didn't know either, and we're not going to say whatever came into our heads are we, no matter how it sounds."

"Huffh Hypocrite.…." She pouted for a little while and leaned back into her chair, rocking it back and forth from four legs to two legs to one leg, until she was bored again. "Maybe the group asked not to be mentioned. Maybe… it's because they don't want to get involved in the war."

I scratched my eyebrow, the one with the scar running through it. "That sounds likely too. They are the ones who have been wandering about for centuries doing nothing and anything that comes to mind." I frowned, allowing my fingers to slide from my eyebrow to pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration. "I don't like naïve pacifists. They're all trouble, that you end up needing to protect, and you're never thanked for it, because you're looked down upon like some sort of dirt at the bottom of their shoes because you dare to kill to save lives."

"But aren't Jedi meant…"

"Peace-keepers Ahsoka, not Pacifists. Don't get the two mixed up." I stretched my arms out to either side of me and was glad to find the wooden chair that I had dropped myself into had really comfortable armrests. 'I wonder why I had didn't notice them before. Oh well.'

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End of Chapter 1.

Tell me what you think and write me a review!

Abigail Skywalker.