Anakin was laying on the bunk in the crew quarters of Vader's ship. The bed smelled like Padmé. It must have been where she stayed when she was on this ship. If he closed his eyes he could still recall their goodbye on board the Twilight II. They had held each other for a long moment. They shared a few kisses. Anakin sighed thinking about her warm lips.

Then he had gotten down on one knee. He placed his head against her stomach. He closed his eyes and opened himself to the Force. Yes, there was something there. There was life. Small and tiny, but it was there. He smiled and kissed her stomach. Padmé giggled and stroked his hair. He stood back up.

"Please be careful," Anakin had said to her. "Get extra security."

"I will," she said with a smile.

Anakin pushed himself off the bunk. He knew Vader was in the cockpit. He expected to find Luke in the hold still reading over the Sith books, but he was not there. Anakin instead found him in the cargo hold. All the metal boxes holding the Sith artifacts had been pushed to one side.

Luke stood in the middle. He still wore his officer pants, but had taken off the jacket and wore the white undershirt. His green lightsaber was lit. He was slashing it around, but he wasn't following any type of form. He wasn't practicing a set of katas.

"What are you doing?" Anakin asked.

Luke at once stopped and faced Anakin. A bit of sweat dampened his face.

"I was feeling restless. Decided to practice with my lightsaber."

"Practice? That's what you were doing?"

Luke looked down at his lightsaber. He looked a bit sad. There was a pull on the corner of his lips downward.

"Not like I was taught anything differently," Luke said softly. He looked back up at Anakin. "I'm mostly just self taught. Ben taught me very little. Yoda the same. I picked up a few things here and there."

Anakin walked over. "Well for starters," he said. "A lightsaber is to be an extension of yourself. When you master it, it will move with instinct as if it were a part of your body. You need to use the Force, not your senses, to help you wield it."

Anakin unclipped his own lightsaber and ignited it. He moved into the basic Form I starting stance. He nodded at Luke, who mimicked the stance.

"There are seven forms of lightsaber combat. This is Form I: Shii-Cho. It's mainly used in training. Not that many duelists use it," Anakin explained.

"I take it you don't?" Luke asked as he examined Anakin's body. He shifted his weight a bit to try and match Anakin's a bit better.

"No," Anakin said. "I use Form V."

"Does Vader use it as well?"

Anakin paused as he considered Vader's movements. There were strong notes of Form V in Vader's form, but it looked like he incorporated other forms in there as well.

"For the most part, yes," Anakin replied. "Let's focus on the basics first. To learn proper attacks and parries, you must know what you're targeting. As such the body is broken down into Target Zones. Zone 1 is the head, Zone 2 and 3 are the right arm and left arm, Zone 4 is the entire body section, and Zone 5 and 6 are the right and left legs. There are certain attacks that are best for each zone, and as such there are certain parries and guards best for blocking these attacks."

Luke paused and then nodded.

"Something wrong?" Anakin asked.

"It's just . . . a lot. It's a lot I just don't know," Luke said. "No one told me any of this."

Anakin had to wonder what Luke's life must have been like. It must have felt so lonely. Anakin understood the deep desire of wanting to be a Jedi. But what was that like when there were no other Jedi?

"Well I'm telling you now," Anakin said with a smile. "Let's start with Zone 1 as your head is a pretty important part of your body. Also, it's a good place to target on your opponents."


Anakin was a good instructor. He actually took the time to explain the moves. True they were the basics, but they were basics Luke had never learned.

"Zone 4 is your entire midsection," Anakin explained, "but most opponents will be aiming for your back. A successful Zone 4 attack is almost always fatal. It's why you don't want to show your back and always face your opponent as much as possible. But of course, you need to know how to attack this Zone as well as defend it."

Anakin brought his lightsaber up to his neck. He reached the hilt over his shoulder and tilted it so the blade ran down his back.

"This is the basic Parry 4 position," Anakin continued. "Try swiping at my back. See if you can use a Zone 2 attack on me. Watch as I parry it."

It was at that moment Darth Vader walked in. He looked from Luke to Anakin and then back to Luke. He frowned and stiffened. Anakin lowered his lightsaber down to his side.

"I see you are fast at work researching time travel," Vader said in an annoyed tone.

"Oh, and how much researching have you actually done Darth? I think Luke here is the only one who has at least looked at anything," Anakin said.

Luke smiled at that, which Vader caught.

"You are teaching him Shii-Cho?" Vader asked. He sounded a bit disgusted. As if learning such a Form was beneath Luke.

"He was never taught it," Anakin replied. "And he wants to learn it."

"If you want to learn," Vader said looking at Luke, "I can teach you."

Something cold settled inside Luke. There was a tingle that ran up his neck. He found it hard to swallow. He thought he was past this. But he could hear a faint echo of mechanical breathing and the release of steam. He lightly shook his head to knock away the memories. He gripped his right hand right where the real skin ended and the synthskin began.

"Oh, by all means," Anakin said. He deactivated his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt. He stepped to the side while sweeping one of his gloved hands out wide to the open area. "Please, go ahead. I want to see this."

No, Luke thought. He couldn't . . . Not against Vader. Luke eyed Vader's lightsaber hanging off his belt. The red one that had cut off his hand. That had killed Ben.

"It will have to wait," Vader said bringing Luke out of his thoughts. "We are about to revert to real space."

"We can't be in the Mid Rim yet," Anakin said. Luke agreed.

"We are making a stop," Vader said as he turned and left the cargo hold. Anakin gave Luke a glance. Luke only shrugged. They joined Vader in the cockpit. Anakin took the copilot chair, which only caused Vader to give off a nasty glare. Vader pulled on the hyperspace lever, and the blue swirls of stars suddenly became single white pinpricks.

In front of them was a large space station. Large rectangular pieces stuck out in every direction from a central line. Windows and landing bays dotted the buildings. All types of craft were coming and going, though Luke did note none of them were large ships. The place was also littered with quite a bit of junk just floating around.

"What is this place?" Anakin asked.

"A smuggler's cove," Vader dryly.

"And how do you know about it?"

"Because in the Republic, such establishments are able to easily go unnoticed with the right bribes. But during the Empire, they were purged."

Luke couldn't stop the small laugh that escaped from him. Both Anakin and Vader looked back at him. Vader was glaring, while Anakin smiled.

"They weren't purged because of their illegal activities," Luke said. "They were purged because of their ties to the Alliance. I assure you, there are still plenty of places full of scum and villainy in the future."

"The Rebels are thieves and traitors," Vader growled.

"And what did this place do to get the attention of Darth Vader?" Luke asked.

"Harboring Jedi criminals and their sympathizers," Vader said as he piloted the ship towards a docking bay.

"My kind of place already," Anakin said to himself. "So what are we doing here? Supplies? It couldn't wait until Manda?"

"Supplies, yes," Vader replied. "And also clothing." He looked pointedly at Anakin and then back at Luke. "You need something to blend in."


It didn't take Luke long to find some new clothes. It was general spacer fare of leather and boots with a holster for a blaster. The lady he had bought clothes from had insisted on him taking a large brown scarf, and he decided on taking it just so he could leave. He looped the scarf around his neck. He had left Anakin and Vader claiming he could buy clothes on his own. Walking through the streets and looking at the different vendors, it was easy to forget he was in the past. So much was the same. Of course Luke would see really outdated parts being advertised as new.

He made his way back to the docking bay Vader had his ship in. As he did he grew more uncomfortable. There was that feeling again. That feeling of being watched. Of being hunted. Looked for. It wasn't hard to slip into the movements he used when he was on an Alliance mission. He started to scan his surroundings. He looked for anyone following him or people constantly looking at him.

The feeling never eased up by the time he had made it back to the ship. He had almost debated on not returning right away but figured the best thing would be to go back and be with Anakin and Vader. If anyone or anything was going to show up, at least Luke wouldn't be alone.

He thought about mentioning it to both versions of his father, but the thought was knocked out of his head as soon as he entered the hold.

"No," Vader said sternly.

"Oh come on!" Anakin was saying. A metal box sat at Anakin's feet.

"Get it off my ship," Vader growled.

"It'll smooth out your jumps to and from hyperspace," Anakin said. "I know you felt it! It was a bit bumpy!"

Vader pointed a finger at Anakin. "You are not touching my ship." Then he pointed at the box. "Take that junk back."

Luke approached the two, and Anakin faced him. "You felt it, didn't you?" Anakin asked. "That there was a lot of vibration during jumps." Luke looked down to see some engine parts in the box. He was sure he spotted a stabilizing coil in there. "All you need to do is take out the old warp vortex stabilizers and-"

"No!" Vader shouted as he stormed away.

Anakin turned to Luke as soon as Vader was gone. "Sometimes I just don't see how he's me."