T-minus 11: Darth Vader
"What happened to Vader on Vaal will never be truly known... only that when he returned, he was a changed man."
Remark made by General Veers to Judge Advocate General Micah.
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Vader awoke to the sounds of crackling burning plastic. He shook his head clear, and looked out of the TIE cockpit. He was in a field of some kind, and his fighter was burning. He felt new pains, but those were easily dismissed. He used to Force to blast the hatch away from the top of the TIE advanced, and stood, the pain of standing only fueling him further.
He looked about the wreckage of the fighter. The planet Vaal was covered with grassy savannahs as far as the eye could see. The temperature was warm and pleasant. He looked at the trail his fighter had left in the tall grass, and closed his eyes, using the Force to ease his pains. The crash had not been a pleasant one, and only his superior piloting skills had allowed him to survive.
After the debacle at Yavin, Vader had been hard pressed to recover from his spin away from the Death Star. After he had done so, he had set course for the closest Imperial outpost, which was Relay Outpost V-798, on the planet Vaal. He knew that it was a simple listening post, but it should be equipped with at least a shuttle and possibly a communications device. He had been planning to simply land at the outpost, but Vaal's orbit intersected with several dangerous asteroid fields... Vader's crippled fighter had been struck by an asteroid just as he entered the atmosphere, and that had led to him crashing almost two days walk away from the outpost.
His fighter's comm gear had been slagged in the crash. There was nothing to do but begin walking. He checked himself out, and saw that the crash was worse than he had suspected. Some of his internal machinery was now visible to the naked eye from nasty gashes through his armor, and he noticed that he walked with a limp on his left leg. His left arm... the one that he had lost to Count Dooku long ago.. had exposed circuitry. He closed his fist, and watched the servodrivers clench the fist shut. Gritting his teeth inside his helmet, Vader turned towards where the Force was telling him the listening outpost was, and started to walk.
It took him only a few hours to realize that he was being watched... and followed.
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Officer Privitt looked around at the other officers stationed at Relay Outpost V-798. He saw Sergeant Reybn and Private Travino actually sunbathing!
"What do you think your doing?" Privitt demanded to know. "This is an Imperial listening Outpost! Shouldnt you be doing work of some kind?"
Sergeant Reybn looked over at Private Travino and actually laughed. "Work? whats that? Dont you know where you are?"
Private Travino chuckled and said. "If theres a bright center to the universe, your on the planet that its farthest from!" The two men laughed and continued to sunbathe, much to Officer Privitt's chagrin.
"Look, I know Ive only been stationed here a few short weeks, but this is disgraceful! We're imperial officers! Show some respect to the uniform if nothing else!"
Sergeant Reybn sighed and put down his sun reflector. "Son, look around you.. do you know how long its been since we've seen anything... anything! from Imperial center except for you? Face it son... you made someone upset and they shipped you out to the forgotten sector. So I say just sit back, relax and have some fun. Its not like Darth Vader is going to just walk in here for a private inspection you know." he laughed.
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Darth Vader stretched out with his feelings.. the pack of creatures that followed him were similar to wild kath hounds from Dantooine, but were more streamlined and their horns were smaller. There were at least sixty of them following him, possibly more. He could sense their curiosity, their agression... and their hunger. But Vader was not going to be on the menu tonight. He made sure he had his hand near his lightsaber at nearly all times. He could sense their total devotion to their alpha male... who was even now beginning to seek an opening in Vaders defenses.
When the attack came, Vader had been ready. The creature leaped at his back, and Vader was actually surprised at how quickly the creature leaped through the air. He went to dodge, and it was at that inconvienient time his left leg decided to buckle beneath him. He fell to the ground and barely rolled away from the hounds new attack. It leaped at his face again, only this time Vader was ready. His hand grasped his lightsaber, and with a snarl he cut the hound in half. It died without a sound. He stood above his kill, looking around him at the rest of the pack.
All of the hounds watched him with weary eyes.. many were afraid, some of them were actually backing away, and a few only stared at their fallen alpha.
Vader turned from them and walked away without fear. The pack parted around him and he continued on till nightfall.
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Officer Privitt was growing more disturbed by his fellow officers when he saw them shooting rocks with their blasters the next day. He once again demanded for the others to listen to him, but once again, Sergeant Reybn clasped him on the shoulder. "Son... look... how many times do we have to say it? What is there to do on this rock except pass the time? We've been forgotten! The Empire doesnt care for this tiny three man listening post. You really need to relax before you have a spasm or something... Look, its easy... what do you want to do today? Anything that you want to do.. except work?"
Privitt looked at Reybn and sighed... he was still a little nervous, but looked at Reybn's blaster. "Ive... Ive never fired my blaster before except for training..."
Reybn smiled and handed him the blaster. "Its easy! Just take aim and let fly!"
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Vader had meditated through the night, using the Force to close any wounds in what little flesh he had left... he was awoken to the sounds of battle. He heard the growls, yelps and howls of the kath hounds in battle with something menacing. He stood up and looked over the tall grass and saw that the pack was in combat with what looked like a horned Reek... and losing badly.
Vader stood up, and approached the battle. He could feel his kinship with these creatures, the sense of animalism that called to his dark soul. He watched as the Reek like thing reared back and gored another of the kath creatures, which whined in pain and died horribly... and Vader then attacked.
He leaped upon the Reek creatures back, his strong cybernetic grip allowing him to hold on to the wildly bucking creature. The pack of kath hounds around him redoubled their efforts, assisting their new Alpha in bringing down this huge animal. Vader lost himself in the moment... all of his Imperial training, his sith doctrine.. all of it fell to the wayside at this simple battle of survival.
He could have easily slaughtered the Reek creature with his lightsaber, but that would have defeated the purpose. He locked the fingers on his hand, and with all the strength at his disposal he slammed his hand knifelike into the Reek creature's eye, penetrating its brain.
Vader stood atop the Reek creature as it collapsed, blood spray marking his kill. Vader arched his back and roared a primal scream, and all around him, his pack howled in response.
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The next day, Officer Privitt smiled as he set up a sunbathing chair next to Sergeant Reybn and Private Travino. "You guys were right? What was I afraid of? The Empire is never gonna remember us here. I should have listened to you guys all along."
Reybn grinned and nodded. "Yep, son.. this is the life... just sit back and..."
His mouth snapped shut when he saw Darth Vader himself enter the Imperial outpost. Travino choked on his drink, and Privitt fell from his chair. Vader ignored the three officers completely, and headed straight for the lambda class shuttle. He was being followed by a pack of fifty or more kath creatures. All of them watched as the shuttle took to the air, and quickly vanished into the bright sky.
Rebyn, Privitt and Travino barely had time to scream when Vader's Pack turned to slaughter them.
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On the planet Coruscant, Commander Alden stood waiting for the Lambda class shuttle that had been reported carrying Lord Vader. When Vader walked out of the shuttle, he was covered with scratches, blood, and gashes in his armor. "Commander Alden." Vader said ominously. Alden saluted quickly. "Yes, My lord?"
"Have a crew go to the planet Vaal to retrieve my fighter." he turned towards the Imperial Palace, hesitated, and then faced Alden again. "Oh yes... the Imperial listening post on Vaal will also need a new crew. And inform whatever crew that returns there that if any of the kath creatures are harmed upon their arrival, I will be most displeased."
"Of course, my lord... Right away my lord." Commander Alden said quickly.