Vader has a rare moment of having no kriffing, Hutt-sucking idea what to do next. A warning flashes across his visor from his pulmonary and cardiac systems, and then Vader can feel the unsettling ache in his chest as his machine-regulated breathing and pulse are forced back to normal.

He's spared having to say anything else when the blast door behind Obi-Wan flies open, and a squad of Stormtroopers come racing in. They form a half circle around Obi-Wan, blaster rifles pointed straight at him.

Now with the ability to actually see his face instead of vague blobs of warmth, Vader knows immediately that the young Jedi Knight could fight his way past the troopers with ease, lightsaber or not.

Vader gestures one hand at the closest Stormtrooper.

"Restrain him."

"Yes, Lord Vader. Clasp your hands, Rebel scum!"

The trooper jumps to his task, clicking a pair of energy cuffs so tightly around Obi-Wan's wrists that the young man can't even pull his hands apart. He doesn't say a word until it's finished, his glare focused solely on Vader as he calls the older Obi-Wan's lightsaber to him, and clicks it back onto his belt.

"You will not attempt escape." Vader says.

"Where is my Padawan?" Obi-Wan asks with the projected calm of a Jedi thinking he can negotiate.

Vader ignores him.

"I shall take him to the detention area myself," he commands the Stormtroopers. "Search the rest of the area. Make certain there are no other infiltrators about."

The last thing he needs is for a young, stupid Anakin Skywalker to actually be running about.

He pushes Obi-Wan ahead of him through the throng of white-armoured bodies, and out into the brightly lit corridors of the Death Star. Neither of them speaks until Vader plants a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulders, and the young man shrugs it off hard.

"I had no idea the Sith were so well equipped," Obi-Wan notes, in a scathingly calm, conversational matter. "The Jedi Council will not allow for it to continue once they become aware, and neither will the Senate. I hope you're aware of that."

"The Senate has no say in the matter."

Vader turns down an adjoining corridor, gripping Obi-Wan bicep to lead him along. Obi-Wan pulls himself out of the hold once more.

Obi-Wan scoffs. "The Senate may be filled with dullards and politicians, but they make up the strongest Galactic force in the Republic, and not a single one of them would condone whatever is going on here."

Vader can feel his patience beginning to fail.

"This is no longer the Republic-"

"Spare me your deceptions, Sith," Obi-Wan cuts him off, brows furrowed as he surveys his surroundings keenly. "I may have given myself over to your most tender mercies, but that doesn't mean I care to listen to you. Now, where is my Padawan?"

Even now, he refuses me respect. Vader may have been impressed, if decades old anger were not building itself up in his chest. He balls up his fist, leather creaking audibly. Obi-Wan glances down, noticing the shift in the air around him, and remains quiet the rest of their way.

At least he has more sense than half the Empire, Vader thinks sardonically.


This young Knight is a far-shot from the man Vader had called Master in his youth. He chalks it up to childish idolization - he'd seen less of the man himself and more of the idea. The picture of a strong, disciplined Jedi garlanded in light and justice.

Vader knows better now.

Of course, this Obi-Wan has the makings of the man he would become. Though bare-faced, his ginger hair is long and wavy down his neck in the style he'd favored before the Clone War, and his eyes are exactly as Vader recalls. A vibrant grey-green-blue that tells of an acute wisdom.

He also has that same infuriating, obdurate personality.

Obi-Wan glares up at him from the center of the cell he has been thrown into. "Where is my Padawan?" he asks again.

Vader fills up the doorway, standing as still as a final breath.

He'd been stretching his senses the entire trip down to the brig, searching for any wayward Force signature. He'd found nothing. Thankfully. Whatever will of the Force that had brought Obi-Wan here had brought him alone. So there is only one person Obi-Wan could possibly be sensing, even if he didn't yet realize it. Vader would prefer that he never did.

"Where is my Padawan?" Obi-Wan demands.

"I killed him." Vader answers, and waits to see what the young man's response will be.

It surprises him when Obi-Wan lets out a dry little chuckle, and shakes his head at him.

"Anakin is not dead," he says, with complete assurance. "I can still sense him, Sith, however remotely. I have complied with everything that has been asked of me. I am your prisoner now, so take me to my Padawan, please. He is just a boy-"

"And as weak as the rest of the Jedi!" Vader snaps, silencing the Jedi Knight with a sweep of his arm. "He is dead."

Obi-Wan raises his beardless chin up at him defiantly. "He is not."

The assurance in his tone, that deep, unshakable faith that Vader hasn't known in nearly twenty years makes the Dark Lord doubt himself. For a single breath, he wonders. Is Anakin Skywalker truly gone?

In the next, he is Force Choking the phantom of his past given flesh.

Obi-Wan gasps for breath as his boots are lifted off of the metal floor. Vader descends into the cell, and stands directly before the young Jedi Knight struggling within his grasp.

"If that is what you truly believe, then I suggest you cease your attempts at antagonizing me," Vader snarls, the vocabulator built into his mask giving his words the exact kind of harsh edge he prefers for moments like this. "Or his fate will be the same as yours."

With that, Vader drops him coughing to the floor and turns on his heel out of the small room. The events of the last few hours have shaken him more than he cares to admit, and meditation seems like a most welcome respite.

Vader hears Obi-Wan sputter after him as he exits the cell. He looks over his pauldron just before the door seals shut behind him. "I am aware you could easily escape this cell once I've gone, " he says. "But know that if you do, you will not see your apprentice again. Am I understood?"

He allows the door to slide shut before he hears an answer, and Vader strides to the nearest duo of Stormtroopers.

"If he attempts anything, you will alert me immediately." he commands, jabbing a finger at both of them.

"Yes, Lord Vader!" says one.

"Yes, sir!" says the other.

They both nod vigorously, blaster rifles against their chests. It's a rather poor salute, all things considered, but Vader is too preoccupied to care.

He leaves without further instructions, mind lost in things long past.