A/N I usually do not do ANs but seeing as its been months... i figured i would. First off, for those who favorited, reviewed, or followed so far, it encouraged me soo much! Next, my excuse is a line of school, funerals, hosiptal visits, and... um... oh yah... school. but now its Christmas... YAY!

By the way, Own Star Wars, I do not.

Chapter 10

Vader charged down the hallway. He burst into the command room where Tarkin was discussing something with his own advisors. "And then we will have too…" He cut off as Vader entered the room. "My Lord?" He asked inclining his head. Then his eyes seemed to widen slightly as the mad yellow eyes found his own.

"What exactly did you mean by we got in, got him, and got out? Shouldn't it have gone, we got in, made a mass slaughter, and got out?" Tarkin, for his part, kept himself well together.

"Were you not the one who believed that people should be made to obey? Was that not what your whole speech was about?" Tarkin challenged.

"Yes, and you should have obeyed me. I specifically told you not to kill anyone if it could be helped."

"It couldn't be helped."

"So the slaves you slaughtered stood between you and their master's did they?"

"Precisely." Tarkin answered. Vader backhanded Tarkin as hard as he could, with his metal hand no less. Tarkin was thrown against the wall with such force that he even left a dent in the wall. Everyone else in the room was backed against the wall. Vader, having released his anger, had calmed down slightly. He glanced around the room where, in their haste to move away, they had forgotten to cover up their plans. He saw the floating red object and decided to investigate further. He had always been rather hot headed when it came to things like this.

"What's this?" He asked the dazed Tarkin and made his point by using the Force to make the red object fill up the entire holo projector.

"Nothing," Tarkin answered.

"Nothing?" Vader asked. "If it was nothing, it would not be here. Tell me."

Tarkin tried, rather hard, to look dignified while trying to sit up against the wall he had been thrown against. "It's just an idea, nothing big." Vader raised an eyebrow and then inspected the red object further. It was huge, the size of a small moon. It also looked like some sort of space station.

"Something of this size should have been run by me, should it not?" Vader asked.

"Not if it was begun by someone other than yourself… My Lord." Vader narrowed his eyes at the man still trying hard to breathe and then at this space station. It reeks of Palpatine. Vader thought. He searched the object with the Force. There was something about it entrenched in darkness. It's a weapon. Vader walked over, ejected the holodisk and held it up while kneeling in front of the lowered Tarkin.

"You keep something, anything, from me again, and you'll wish you'd never been born." He said and then left, the plans in hand.

Tarkin's eyes watched his retreating figure with dread and disgust.

Vader was met by one of his advisors as he made his way through the building. "What should we do?" The advisor asked.

"Set up a newscast, tell the world I had nothing to do with those deaths, it was all Grand Moff Tarkin's doing. He has been justly punished and will no longer be sent on any mission. Also say my word still stands, the slave trade will be shut down."

"Yes Sir."

"And, by the way," Vader started to add.

"Sir?"

"Tell them I will recover that which is mine."

"Yes Sir." Vader nodded and then went into his room shutting the door. He started inspecting this new weapon he had stumbled across. It was definitely a weapon, armed with lasers and ships. Then he found the real power. It can destroy planets. Force Palpatine… you would kill millions to keep a galaxy under your control.

Are you no better? A voice asked him.

Of course I am... I haven't destroyed a whole planet.

What of the Jedi temple? The thousands that died on all those planets that the Jedi were still fighting on? What of Obi-Wan? And Padme? And your child? What would they say?

I did it to save them! Now I'm doing what I can to save millions caught in slavery! What more could they ask?

They would ask for your love. Don't you remember?

'All I want is your love.'

'Love won't save you Padme. Only my new powers can do that.'

'But at what cost? You're a good person, don't do this!'

'I won't lose you the way I lost my mother. I am becoming more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of, and I'm doing it for you. To protect you.'

'Come away with me. Help me raise our child far away. Leave everything else behind while we still can!'

But could you? No, you broke her heart instead.

I did everything! No one trusted me! Apparently not even you!

Do you even know who I am?

…No…

I am you… the good side. I am Anakin Skywalker. Do you not know your own voice anymore?

You can't be! I am Anakin Skywalker! I think…

You are confused, yes. You are leaning between me and Darth Vader. When will you pick a side?

I… I have. I am freeing the slaves like I promised my, OUR, mother! I am redeeming myself! I have brought peace to the galaxy! And now I'm taking back what is ours!

Ah, the carbonite, how do you know if they really have that?

The Force tells me…

The Force? No, you are listening to the whispers of your enemies. Follow them if you must, but you may destroy me for good if you do. And all good will be gone from your soul. It will just be Darth Vader and no other.

What do you mean? We're the Chosen One aren't we, Anakin?

Anakin?

There was no answer, just silence. The Lord Protector sighed and got up to look in the mirror, and there he gasped. One of his eyes was as he remembered, blue and crystalline. The other was yellow, maliciously yellow.