Summery: Anakin has waited for six months and now the time as come to stop the Death Star. The lesson in hubris still continues with a terrible cost. Second in the 'Hubris' Series.
Author's Note: This chapter has a part about how Ahsoka's expierences have marked her physically. It may be disturbing to some.
'Force speak '
*Thoughts*
~Force Vision~
/Untranslated speech/
Disclaimer : Don't own it or make money for this. I write for fun.
Chosen's Chance:
Chapter 13: "Do you have a plan B"
Anakin's POV:
"Look Solo, the only reason I had a tracker put onboard was so that Tarkin 'would' follow us! The Death Star must be destroyed and the Alliance has the fighters to do so. I should know, I've been helping them aquire X-wings for the last 4 months!" I shouted at the captain of the Falcon. My kriffing word, was he ever a pain in the backside! We were sitting in the lounge area discussing the situation and Solo was driving me crazy with his nonsense. Quite apart from his 'Force mumbo-jumbo' attitude, he was also attracting Leia's interest in him. Though they were snapping at each other at every opportunity
I recognized the signs at once. If I wasn't careful, this blasted smuggler could end up a member of my family. Whether I liked it or not! Ahsoka sat on one side of me and Luke was on the other side, pressed up against my right shoulder. Leia sat next to Luke with Solo across from us. Chewbacca was playing another round of dejacc with Cody instead of Artoo. My little buddy had sworn off from playing with Chewie because of his earlier threat as he told me.
"Ya still got a lot of nerve, your Lordship! And what do I care 'bout some crazy battle station? All I want is to get paid so I can get Jabba his money. Before he decides to put that bounty on my head!" Solo hissed at me. That was on the surface of his thoughts as well. He'd been playing the smuggler's trade too long. Yet deep down I could sense his growing concern about the Death Star. He'd simply been on the run from his past too long.
I hadn't had much time to research his background, I'd been too busy with other things. However I did note that he had already one bounty on his head from the Empire. One that was several years old, the kind the Empire put on a officer who had managed to escape after court-marshal. I wondered if that was why Chewbacca had a 'life-debt' to the man. Which reminded me that I had to speak with the Wookie about my own 'life-debt' to him. When he helped Ahsoka escape the Trandosian hunt planet and brought her back to the temple, I had told him I was honor-bound to aid him whenever he asked.
Whether Chewie remembered it or not, I certainly had. And even as Vader, I had no patience at all with anyone dealing with slavery. I'd been a slave all my life in one form or another, and would do my best to see that others didn't share my fate. When I found out that the Wookies were being used as slave labor on many a mining world, I sent some of my best undercover agents to help the Wookies revolt and steal back home to Kashykkk. And they had done exactly that. My best agent and the one man that I found as exaserbating as Solo was also a Corellian.
Wrenga Jixton had absolutely no respect and went out of his way to prove how independant he was. 'Jix' as he prefered to be called, was a scondrel and a rogue. He was also something of a gentleman in spite of all of that. And he loved to sass me, right in front of everyone. 'Uncle D' he'd call me, and before I had been pulled out of the abyss that was the Dark Side, he would be risking his life to do so. That hadn't stopped him then, and now he absolutely loved to call me that at the worst moments. But that was what probably made me tolerate his snarky ways in the first place.
The only person who had ever been as cheeky to me was sitting on my left. My 'little sister', my padawan Ahsoka. After all, she was the one who came up with 'SkyGuy' as a nickname the day I met her. I shook off the train of thought as Leia started in on Solo again. "You really don't care about anything but money do you?" Solo just shrugged and said with a certain weary note in his voice, "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that no crusade's ever gonna change the Galaxy. No matter how hard you try." He looked down at the table for a second and when he raised his head the cocky Corellian grin was back. "So why waste time, Your Worship? Way I see it, you can either mope or have fun. And I'd rather do the later while I can."
I might have been disgusted if it wasn't for the fact that I could tell Solo had once been the type to 'change the Galaxy' as he put it. How many people had he lost to the Empire over the years? Enough to make him pull away from ever growing too close? I doubted it. Even as I was considering this, Han stood up and moved towards the cockpit. And he couldn't resist needling my daughter even more. "Ya know Your Worshipfullness, it would be nice to have coordinates set to go in the navicomputer when we drop out of hyperspace."
Leia all but growled out loud at that and got up to join him. "How you ever managed all this time .." I heard her begin as she left us. Ahsoka shook her head and looked back at me. "She's gonna kill him, SkyGuy. Or he's gonna join the family." I looked down at her and smirked, noting that it was far easier now to do so than even a few weeks ago. "What makes you think I haven't already figured that one out, Snips?" She just dropped her head between her shoulders and rolled her eyes at me. "Always a step ahead of me, Master?" "I'd better be. Otherwise you'd leave us all in the dust!" I retorted. "Well I'd better get up there before she kills him. I'd hate to see you try and pilot this junk-heap to where ever we're going. I've gotten used to 'not' crashing as we try to land!"
"Why you little.." I mock-snarled after her as she all but danced into the cockpit. While the six months I'd spent in a dark parody of my life as a Sith Lord had been a night mare, for Ahsoka they had done a world of good.
I hadn't noticed the shear physical damage to her until we were safely back to Tatooine. In fact I had seen her as she'd been when she had told me of the mission that took her from me. But the blinders had finally fallen and hard after my first Dark 'regression'.
The torture she had endured was forever etched in her face. Scars that were faint compared to mine, yet definitely noticable. Even through the white facial markings all Togrutans have. Then there was her montails and head horns. I still remember how crazed I'd been when the messager had delivered the remains of her left head horn and right montail to the Council. It was the one time I could read Master Plo's expression, because it matched my own.
And yet I refused to believe she was dead. That she'd been tortured was obvious. I 'knew' though that she wasn't dead. Which is why I nearly went berserk on the Council then and there when they refused to allow me to search for her. And the only one who would back me? Not my master, not on this. But Master Koon had. He believed I was right and that Ahsoka was still with us. Yet for all the 'clout' Plo Koon carried, it wasn't enough to override Windu's and Yoda's.
Ahsoka's montail had been tended too later on so that it would grow around the cauterization of having it aputated by lightsaber. But it would always be shorter then her left. She had managed to overcome that particular handicap just fine, better then most of her species would have. Yet it also had left it's mark on her for she had been quite shy about it when I was finally able to 'see' the damage. Such a injury for whatever reason, had it's own consquences. To a person of Ahsoka's species it would either equal to being an object of pity or someone that was now no longer Togrutan. And the former was far harder to live with then the later, as I could well understand. It was something I would have to face when we reached the Alliance and I wasn't looking forward to it. I didn't deserve any pity over the injuries I had gained, not after what I had done to receive them in the first place.
Luke must have been following my thoughts, for he lifted his head from my shoulder. Father, please stop thinking so negatively, he pleaded with me though the Force. I don't care what you look like and I'll make sure that no one else does either! It's what you're doing that's important, not what you've done in the past. He looked up at me, with my own eyes staring back at me but with Padme's wisdom coming from his words. I smiled slightly at him and at a memory his words called up. When I left your grandmother to become a Jedi, her last words to me were "Never look back". Yet I always was looking backwards instead of forwards, letting my past become my present. Because I wasn't old enough to understand what she meant. I think I'm finally learning though. I'll just need a 'push' now and then to make certain I don't fall back into that 'old habit'.
Luke smiled at that and said out loud. "I'll be glad to help, Father." We sat there in silence as I slowly began to relax. Finally, finally I was away from the hell my life had been these last 6 months. I could finally taste the freedom from playing a role that sicken me beyond belief. Even before the Clone Wars, there had been times when I had dealt death to others, and at the beginning it truly had touched me as much as it would anyone. By the end of the Clone Wars though, I was barely even moved by my own deeds. Dooku's death had been an exception rather then the rule. And after my storming of the temple? Not only did I no longer care, I enjoyed it, for the most part. What had been unleashed upon the Tuskens so long ago seemed impossible to ever be caged again.
Yet then Luke's capture and torture had given me a resounding 'wake-up call'. And thus I couldn't hide away my revulsion anymore. At least not to myself. To hide it from Son/Sidious was my task and I had succeeded. And now I'd never have to do it again! Or so I thought. I should have known better, that the Dark Side wouldn't try and make one last grab for me at least. It wasn't long before my relaxed state managed to turn into a 'nap' of sorts. Abd it was in that hazy state that I learned that my time as 'Vader' wasn't over, not just yet.
~ Tarkin laughing gleefully as he heard of my capture by the Rebels, telling the officers to gather on the command bridge. "Did you know that our glorious Emperor is actually a Sith Lord himself? When will ordinary men ever be able to control our own destiny without the meddling of these Force wizards. The Emperor and Darth Vader have wiped out the last of the Jedi. Now let us use this battle station to finish what they have started. The loss of Imperial Center is a small price to pay for freeing the galaxy of those blasted Force wizards forever. Who is with me?!" Cheers echo and the blast doors close, sealing the area from the rest of the Death Star. *Nothing can stop me now, your Imperial Highness. My creation that you've commisioned will now be the instrument of your demise!*~
I bolted upright off of my son's shoulder, gasping for air. *Force! NO! I have to stop this. If he uses that 'thing' on Coruscant, every single Force sensitve in the Galaxy will be affected. And it will kill my family for certain!* I thought desperately. Then I paused. How many times had a nightmare like that come true because I interfered. Yet something told me that this time at least, I was being shown not the near future but the immediate future. That Tarkin was already moving towards destroying the Emperor. Little did he have any idea of what kind of horror he would unlease if he wasn't stopped!
I saw it Father. I can't be sure but.. Luke trailed off as I turned to look at him. You saw it? You saw my 'nightmare'? I asked incredulously? No matter how much I had ever 'projected' in the pressence of other Force Sensitives, no one else had ever seen my visions as they had happened.
Yet Luke had, and he wasn't the only one. Leia was rushing in from the cockpit, her face ashen. "You've got to stop Tarkin! If he.." I held up a hand to forestall Leia from saying anything else. "I know, I KNOW, Leia. Quite apart from the death of the billions on Coruscant and the type of unbelievable backlash in the Force it would send, there would be the danger of the creature that drives Sidious getting loose and having it's pick of it's next 'host'." I let my shoulders sag as I continued, "I'd be off in an instant except for one thing. The last time I acted on my 'visions' of the future, it was about your mother's death."
"And it turned into a self-fore filling prophecy. If I leave and go back to the Death Star because Tarkin is going to disobey my orders as Vader, then I'd damn well better have more then a Force-Vision to back my suspisions up. Or I may very well be playing right into Sidious' hands. I've done THAT once and look what it has cost us as a family, let alone the Galaxy!" I spat out bitterly.
I might have said more if it wasn't for Artoo scooting over to my side and starting to trill at me. I understood him perfectly of course but he barely got the first part of his message out before SeeThreepio joined him to translate for me. That the droid I had build as a child to help my mother acted frighten of me was more then a little much. Obviously Threepio had his memory wiped at some point. His nervousness apparent Threepio told me, "Lord Vader, Artoo believes that he has a message for you from someone named 'Jix'." Before I could answer that, Threepio turned his head back down to his fellow droid and took on that scolding tone I would have give good credits to get rid of long ago!
"Artoo, what has scrambled your circuits this time! The very idea that someone would give you a message for Lord Vader! You'll have us melted any moment now!" Any other time I probably would have been amused at the usual by-play between those two, but if Jixton was on board the Death Star.. "SeeThreepio, enough! I have no need for you to translate Artoo-Detoo's speech, I understand him as well as you do!" I snapped. "O-of course Lord Vader, I was merely.." Luke broke in seeing my rising irritation and called Threepio over to him.
Free from the distraction, I turned back to face my old astro-droid. "Alright Artoo. Jix gave you a message for me, right?" Artoo beeped affermative and then launched into a explanation. Apparently Jixton had gone ahead and disobeyed my orders to stay away from that monstrosity. And had found out that Tarkin was going to find some way to get rid of me. So he could take over the Death Star in full and revolt. The chip that his plans had been detailed on were now safely stored in one of Artoo's compartments. Probably next to the one that held the plans for the Death Star.
Along with that came a set of coordinates for me to meet Jixton at if I was pulled off the Death Star by accident. My vision was true and was what would happen if I didn't get back there, fast!