Blaze: here is the new chapter
Darth: who's the new character?
Blaze: TFU
Darth: what the…?
Blaze: exactly
Darth: is he introduced by name?
Blaze: by his nickname but yes
Darth: cool
Blaze: yup so here is chapter 7 and I hope that you like it, reviews are much appreciated and I hope that you like it.
Seven
Vader waited as patiently as he possibly could after he asked the question for Luke to come up with an answer. He knew that Calrissian and his wookiee companion, Chewbacca, were listening in nearby and he knew that they knew he knew they was there. He decided to let them go because he knew that Luke didn't remember them and therefore would never go with them willingly.
But what caused this sudden memory loss? And how can he remember me and not remember other people like the Princess or Calrissian or even Artoo? Vader wondered silently.
Luke gazed up at him with slight confusion in his eyes. "I…I think I do know who you are," he said softly. "B…But I'm not sure."
Vader tipped his head to one side, his cool eyes narrowed. "You said that you knew who your father was and is now. Do you remember what your father looks like or sounds like?" he asked finally.
"Yes to both, that's why it seems as though I should recognize you because of the sound of your voice," Luke admitted.
How can he remember the sound of my voice and yet not remember what happened half a year or so ago on Bespin? Vader thought.
Luke was silent for a long moment. "Can I look at you without your hood on?" he asked.
Vader was startled by the bold question but he figured that it was partially do to the memory loss. He was pretty sure that Luke didn't know exactly who Vader worked for as he didn't know who the Emperor was so he nodded curtly and lowered the hood.
Though twenty-one years had passed since the disastrous duel on Mustafar where Obi-Wan Kenobi's compassion for Vader had allowed Vader to walk away unburned, Vader still managed to maintain a close resemblance to what Anakin Skywalker looked like that day even though his dark blonde hair was slightly longer and his eyes occasionally had yellow flecks in them but only if he was extremely angry. He did look slightly older but because he spent a lot of his time working out with his lightsaber he kept himself in shape.
Luke gazed up at him and his eyes widened with surprise. "Father?" he whispered.
"Hello Son," Vader replied calmly though, oddly, there was no coldness in his voice.
Luke gazed at him for a long moment. "Father, w…what are you doing here?" he asked.
"It would be best if questions were answered later," Vader said. "As I am sure you have plenty of them and I have some myself."
"There those rebels are," a very familiar voice, one that Vader has heard recently, sounded and he glanced up just as Captain Persas jogged down the alley with his wife Ava just behind him.
Luke gazed at Persas with fear-filled eyes and Vader narrowed them. He also noticed that Calrissian and the wookiee were stuck between Imperials and they were being forced to move backwards toward Vader, as if thinking Vader was probably the lesser evil.
"Calrissian," Vader said coolly.
Calrissian whirled around and Chewbacca growled angrily. "Lord Vader," Calrissian said not sounding surprised.
"L…Lord Vader," Persas stammered out as he and Ava came up behind Calrissian and Chewbacca.
"That guy was going to kill me," Luke said his eyes wide. "But I don't know why and he kept mentioning an Emperor person and that he was going to deliver me not permanently damaged to that Emperor person."
Vader's eyes went hard with rage to where a few yellow flecks appeared in their depths. "I should have known you wouldn't listen to the terms of the price, Persas," he said curtly.
Persas sneered. "I have already contacted the Emperor," he said coolly. "And I have told him of the location of the boy. It will not be long before the Emperor comes for the boy."
"Do you honestly believe I will hand the boy over now that I have found him?" Vader asked raising an eyebrow. He was consciously aware of Luke slowly moving to stand behind him, as far from Persas and Calrissian as he could get without leaving Vader's side.
"You will have no choice and yo…" Persas broke off and gasped immediately clapsing his throat. Vader didn't bother stretching out a hand, more to prevent Luke from seeing that he was doing this, instead he merely invoked the power of the Force and focused it on Persas's throat.
"You outlived your usefulness when you betrayed the Empire, Persas," Vader said curtly. "I would have killed you long ago had you not held the boy over my head but now that the boy is with me, I will not hold back. However…" he let Persas go and the man gasped before dropping to the ground, "I will merely let you live so that you can try to explain to the Emperor how you lost the boy."
"I did not lose the boy. I will tell him you have him," Persas threatened.
Calrissian snorted. "I doubt the Emperor's stupid enough to believe a traitor to his Emperor than his right hand enforcer," he muttered.
"Surprisingly, I agree with Calrissian," Vader said though mentally he winced and hoped that Luke didn't hear that. If he was to keep the trust Luke apparently had in him then Luke knowing that he was the Emperor's second in command wasn't a good way to go about it. "I suggest you leave, Persas, before I change my mind about letting you live."
Ava snarled in fury. "You cannot threaten us, we follow the Emperor, not you, Vader," she snapped.
"Actually I can," Vader retorted. He gestured to the three stormtroopers at his side. "Get those idiots out of my sight before I lose my temper," he ordered.
"Didn't he already lose his temper?" Calrissian whispered to Chewbacca who shrugged.
Vader glared at Calrissian as the three stormtroopers escorted Persas and Ava away from the street. "I do not appreciate you talking as though I am not here," he said coolly. "And I am still not happy with you, Calrissian, but I will be merciful. Leave now and I will not arrest you where you stand." He said 'arrest' though he knew that Calrissian knew that he meant a completely different word.
"We are not leaving without Luke," Calrissian said firmly and Chewbacca barked in agreement
"Will you two leave me alone? I don't know you," Luke cried his eyes filled with fear.
Vader knew he was going to have to have his medic look at Luke and see how bad this memory loss really was when they reached the Executor. "You heard him, Calrissian," he said.
"I am surprised you are being so merciful," Calrissian said coolly. "You are playing on Luke's memory loss, aren't you? You don't want him to know that you are really a cold-blooded heartless murderer!"
Luke's eyes widened with horror while Vader snarled in fury at Calrissian's audacity but he restrained his anger. He knew that if he acted out and either injured or killed Calrissian then he would only be proving the former Cloud City administrator correct and he certainly didn't want to lose Luke's trust. Vader needed Luke's trust if he was going to train Luke and take down his lying master.
"Get out of my sight, Calrissian," Vader snarled in fury. The three stormtroopers, who had just returned from escorting Ava and Persas away, pointed their blasters at Calrissian and the wookiee. Calrissian knew that he couldn't win against these odds and he scowled in anger.
"You are lucky Luke doesn't remember us, my Lord," he said, the last two words were sardonic and he turned around before stalking away with Chewbacca, growling angry curses at Vader, following him.
No one knew his true name; in truth, he didn't go by his true name and instead went by the nickname that was given to him by his former master. He knew that it didn't attract that much attention since he was technically supposed to be dead. He had changed much since he had faked his last death and he felt glad that he could finally get rid of the darkness that had once clung to his heart.
He now dedicated his time to the defeat of the Empire and the Emperor that rules it. In truth, he was honestly not even looking for revenge against his former master, he respected his former master very much and knew, without a doubt, that his former master was only following orders from Emperor Palpatine.
He was known simply as Starkiller, former apprentice and assassin to the dark lord Darth Vader and now full fledged rebel determined to bring down the Emperor and the dreaded Empire that Palpatine controls. Even though his master had betrayed him before, Starkiller knew, in his heart, that it was only because Palpatine had ordered him to.
However, Vader's feelings for the Emperor changed rapidly when the truth came out; his son, the child Vader admitted he thought he killed twenty-one years earlier, was alive. Vader normally didn't talk about his past life much but when he discovered Palpatine's treachery and found Starkiller attempting to spy on him, he revealed the truth and asked Starkiller for a favor.
This was after an incident on the Cloud City above Bespin that Vader absolutely refuses to speak about. Starkiller didn't know what happened at Bespin but he knew that whatever happened there, it had changed a part of Vader. There was something completely different about Vader that no one, but Starkiller, was able to find out. Starkiller has always been very tuned in with the Force for some reason, ever since he managed to escape death the second time, but he hadn't the slightest clue as to how this happened.
All he knew was that Vader had asked him for a favor, a favor that will help to overthrow the Emperor and Starkiller, determined to destroy the Empire, agreed readily. And now he was heading toward the one place where he could help overthrow the Empire, the planet Adari where the Rebel Alliance had made their camp.
The only reason he knew this was because he had contacted Princess Leia Organa and asked him for her help. Leia knew who he was, of course, as he had been the one to save her life the first time onboard the Death Star by sacrificing his life. That was his death the first time. His first death was quickly compromised when Vader brought him back to life with the use of a clone and sent him on a mission to rally the Rebel Alliance. Thus resulted in using Starkiller's family crest for the symbol of the Rebel Alliance.
While the Emperor believed that Vader had done this to root out the rebels and then have them all killed, Vader actually did it to destroy the Emperor and take the throne himself. Starkiller went along willingly with the plan and after he faked his death, to throw off Palpatine's suspicions, he began to secretly help the Rebel Alliance.
And then Vader approached him again and Starkiller readily agreed. This time, however, Palpatine did not know about Starkiller's return and Starkiller was determined to keep it that way.
Starkiller guided his starfighter into the hangar bay on the mountainous planet of Adari before slowly shutting down the main engines. As he had requested, Leia was meeting him with Mon Mothma at her side. Starkiller narrowed his brown eyes as he climbed out of the starfighter and walked over to join Leia, Mon Mothma and the other man that was with them.
"Galen Marek, I didn't think you were still alive," Leia said.
Starkiller shrugged. "Only one other person knows I'm still alive," he said deciding at the last minute to not mention Vader's name.
"Who is this person?" the young man asked.
"This is Galen Marek. He is the one that helped to create the Rebel Alliance that now exists," Mon Mothma replied. "It's his family crest that we use to symbolize the rebellion."
"Oh."
"Galen, this is Han Solo and you already know Mon Mothma," Leia said gesturing to the man and the woman that stood at her side.
Starkiller nodded. "Nice to meet you," he said to Han.
"What are you doing here?" Han asked curiously.
"To help you," Starkiller replied.
Han narrowed his eyes as he examined Starkiller; for some reason, he felt as though Starkiller wasn't telling them everything. He was keeping something a secret but the former smuggler couldn't seem to figure out what that secret was and he knew that it wasn't likely to be revealed by Starkiller himself.
He knew that he had to trust Starkiller because of the fact that Leia trusted him and Leia wasn't a fool. She wouldn't trust someone unless she knew for a fact that the person she trusts is legitimate and has proven trustworthy over time. That was one of the reasons why Leia didn't trust Han at first until after the Battle of Yavin when Han helped Luke destroy the first Death Star.
Speaking of Luke, Han found himself wondering how the boy was. He hoped that Lando would find the kid before the Empire does. He didn't want to know what would happen when Darth Vader caught up with the kid, especially after what happened with Luke on Bespin half a year earlier.
Shaking his head slightly to clear it, Han followed Leia as she and Mon Mothma, both of whom were talking animatedly with the newest rebel, led the way down the corridors of the rebel base that lay hidden deep within the mountains of Adari.
"If you've been back for so long then why is it that you took your time returning to the Alliance?" Mon Mothma asked when Han tuned back into the conversation that was occurring around him. He hadn't realized they came to a stop until he nearly ran into Leia who had stopped directly in front of him.
"I would but the Empire isn't to know that I am still alive," Starkiller replied. "We need to keep my reappearance on a down low if we are to keep fooling the Empire."
"So if no one knows you are alive then that means no one knows where we are," Leia mused.
Han narrowed his eyes. "This story sounds too good to be true," he muttered. "And in my experience, when a story sounds too good to be true than it probably isn't."
Starkiller glanced at Han, his brown eyes narrowed slightly as he examined the former smuggler. "You don't trust me," he said. "But your distrust his hidden by the worry you are feeling toward someone."
Han drew back, his eyes going wide with shock. How in the world did this man know this? The only person that I know that can sense my feelings has been Luke. Could this man be a Jedi? He wondered silently.
"How did you know that?" he asked out loud.
Starkiller smiled faintly. "I can sense it," he said calmly.
"Are ya a Jedi?"
"You can say that."
Han felt a strange suspicion crawl down his spine but he didn't say anything in reply to Starkiller's statement. He nodded once in reply before following the other rebels as they walked into the conference room. Ackbar, Madine and Rieekan were there and Rieekan narrowed his eyes as he examined Starkiller.
"Who might this be?" he asked.
"This is Galen Marek," Leia said.
Rieekan's eyes filled with surprise. "Welcome, Galen Marek, back to the Rebel Alliance," he greeted him.
"Thank you," Starkiller replied.
"Galen, this are General Rieekan, Admiral Ackbar and General Madine," Leia said gesturing to the three leaders of the rebellion respectively.
"Hello," Starkiller said lowering his head in greeting.
"Please, take a seat we have much to discuss," Mon Mothma said.
"Captain Solo, has there been any word from Calrissian or Skywalker?" Ackbar asked turning his bulbous eyes to the former smuggler as he sat down at the table beside Leia with Starkiller at his other side. Starkiller narrowed his eyes as the mention of the name Skywalker but he otherwise stayed silent.
"No, Admiral," Han said. "He said he would try to contact me when he gets Luke, I mean Commander Skywalker, but so far he hasn't contacted me."
"If Calrissian doesn't contact you within a few days then it'll be safe to assume that he and Commander Skywalker were captured by the Empire," Mon Mothma said.
"I won't give up on Lando that easily," Han said. "He knows how to get out of tough situations but I feel he will need more than a few days."
"I suppose that's the only thing we can do. Very well, we will give them a week," Ackbar said after a moment's thought.
"That is all I ask," said Han. He had to hope that Lando would be able to find and bring Luke back before it's too late.
A/n what do you think?
Blaze: that was chapter 7
Darth: that's awesome
Blaze: I hope that you liked it
Anakin: (drinking Pepsi)
Palpypie: (steals Pepsi)
Anakin: (scowls, slices Palpypie in half, take back Pepsi and walks off)
Palpypie: ow!
Blaze: please review and I will post chapter 8 as soon as I possibly can but I doubt it will be anytime soon.
