RT-7958 was a fairly new droid. No actually, that was not true. He was a fairly old droid who had only been recently activated after a rather thorough memory wipe. He was a commander droid, the highest ranking one on the Super Star Destroyer Executor and the first one who received any signals from the lesser commandeering droids thorough the ship when there was a problem.

Honestly, that was not what he had been build for. With such a massive ship, there should be a droid with a better processor or an AI or something. He had barely enough capabilities to sort through all the messages frequently send to him. In his humble opinion, that was some shoddy planning but who was he to argue?

Just now he received another transmission from the other end of the ship.

"Eh, Commander?", a distinctly mechanical voice asked. "This is QW-345 from the hyper regulation. I'm kinda confused here."

"What is the problem?", RT-7958 asked, no longer exasperated.

"One of my droids reports a funny looking box sticking to the B-Sector reactor." That was one of five reactors fueling the hyperdrive. "It looks a bit, you know, explosive. Do we have a self destruction battle plan or something?"

"Negative", RT-7958 answered as he was not aware of such a thing. "No self destruction plan. Take the box and analyze it."

"Roger that, Sir, I already sent someone to collect it and also to look at the other four reactors just to be safe. Problem is they haven't come back..."

RT-7958's processor began working faster. If someone placed explosives at all the minor reactors and managed to get them to go off at the same time it would pretty much have the same effect as hitting the main reactor without having to go through all the tight security around the latter. Chances were pretty good that this was an enemy sabotaging their ship. He had to contact the general and organize an extensive search to find out how the intruder had managed to get on board.

RT-7958 raised his hand for the transmission button to give his commands to QW-345 but suddenly his arm wouldn't move. No matter how often he sent the command to his limb, it was frozen in the middle of the air.

There was a strange, harsh breathing sound behind RT-7958 as the door slid open. He had never heard such a sound before and if he had been organic, the chilling sound would've made him shiver.

RT-7958 turned around his heard a full 180 degrees and caught sight of... something, that seemed to be a massive black droid. The figure was a towering black and silver durasteel armored behemoth with a smooth helmet over a black breathing mask with large, insect- like eyes. The battle droid, for it could be nothing else, was holding up one hand, the inner workings of the steel contraption clearly visible through the lack of exoskeleton, in his direction. The gesture itself didn't look all that threatening but the fact that RT-7958's arm was suddenly crumbling for no apparent reason, the durasteel snapping and distorting like a twig, erased all question whether or not this was an enemy.

"Attention, attention", RT-7958 called out, activating his channel to the bridge. Before he could give any further warning through, the hand wandered a bit higher and suddenly there was such a high pressure around his head. The hand closed to a fist and RT-7958 was no more.

XxX

"At last", Vader muttered, taking his time to step forward, his red glowing lightsaber held loosely at his side. The whirlwind of destruction around him was slowly dying down but Anakin wasn't fooled. There was nothing calm about his father in that moment, just the quiet, hungry expectation before the beast went in for the kill. He still couldn't quite believe this was happening.

"It's quite funny", Vader said in an almost cheerful manner, looking down at his foe, "how similar you look to Dooku now. I ended his life in much the same way as I'm going to end yours now."

Anakin chanced a look at the older Sith Lord. He shouldn't have.

Darth Sidious was a mess. Vader's last attack had pierced his body at multiple spots, drenching his dark senator's tunic in blood. There was something white sticking out of his side, looking suspiciously like a rip. His legs were trembling weakly, unable to support his weight any longer as he was lying on the ground, still staring somewhat numbly at the two blackened stumps. That's what made Anakin's stomach churn the most. He'd acted on instinct, utilizing years of training to disable his opponent. He'd never hurt someone this severely though. The smell of burned flesh made him gag. And yet...

Sidious must've caught the way he looked to the side guiltily. Suddenly he was wailing, backing away from Vader in fear and shouting for Anakin to help him, to save him. It was... pathetic.

"Try throwing lighting at us now", Vader mocked and the former Jedi couldn't help but share his satisfaction.

Then the Sith Lord raised his saber, aiming to end it all. The red blade was already fizzing down when at the last moment, Anakin called out: "Stop it!"

Miraculously, Vader did stop, the blade just an inch from Sidious' throat. Slowly the man looked up, shooting a dark look at his younger self.

"You already got to cut off his hands", he said. "I get to cut off his head."

"No", Anakin managed to get out. He threw a look at the beaten Sith. He wanted to see it dead so much but that was not the Jedi way. "No, don't kill him. He should... He must answer for his crimes but he will do it facing military court."

It was impossible to say which Sith looked more incredulous at this declaration.

"Excuse me?!"

"You heard me", Anakin said, finding his resolve. "He is too severely hurt to be a danger anymore. Let's... just arrest him."

"I am head of the military court of the Confederation and I judge him guilty, to be executed immediately", Vader snapped and raised his lightsaber anew.

"Father!", Anakin all but begged, laying a hand on the older man's shoulder to stop him.

"Please. You're letting your anger consume you."

"Well yes, that's what being a Sith is all about."

"You have to come back", he insisted. "The fighting is over - the war is over. Now is the time to remember why you did it all."

For a moment it seemed as if Vader was going to argue the issue but then, unexpectedly even for his younger self, he relented.

"You know what? You're right", he said and Anakin let out a breath.

"Death is too good for the bastard."

The former Jedi gasped as all of sudden, the dark presence around his father doubled in power. What had been a tingle at the edges of his weakened senses suddenly became a massive headache and he sunk to his knees as Darth Vader's power spiked. The Sith Lord had sheathed his saber and reached out with one hand, fingers spread above Sidious' head. He was concentrating hard, the power around him growing and growing.

Dark clouds began to form on the sky. The rubble began to rise yet again, whirling around in a storm that was accompanied by growling thunder.

Anakin couldn't stand it. The darkness was so absolute, so strong - and it wasn't even directed at him! Sidious' yellow eyes widened, staring into Vader's that had taken on a red glint. They were fighting a duel of the mind, Anakin realized. He tried to clumsily feel for his connection to his father to try and stop whatever he was doing but even though he could sense his dark power now, he still couldn't reach him. He was farther away then ever.

All of sudden, it was over. Sidious slumped over, trembling as if under the effects of Sith lighting. He was muttering incomprehensible things. In one moment he caught Anakin's eye and the young man could only stare.

Sidious' eyes were blue.

"What have you done?", Anakin asked. His father's presence was still very much oppressive but it began to withdraw slowly.

"Don't you recognize it?", Vader asked mockingly. "It's the same technique you have used as well."

"You..."

"Yes, I have taken his powers of the force. He is no longer Darth Sidious. He's merely some weak Chancellor submitting to the Conqueror of the Galaxy."

"But...!" Anakin's eyes shot over to his father, regarding him with worry. He remembered how terrible he'd felt after using that technique, not to mention that huge sacrifice of severing one's own connection to the force. But Vader's presence was still strong, the darkness still singing happily around him. That's when he remembered there were two ways to cut someone off from the force. Instead of synchronizing his aura with the other Sith Lord's, Vader had overpowered him violently and forced his mind to erect a barrier before it was being ripped to shreds by the pressure.

One last time Vader raised his hand and with a single wave of it, he sent the old man to sleep. With no protection whatsoever and weakened as he was, the mighty Sith Lord was susceptible to even the simplest mind trick.

Anakin swallowed the lump in his throat. He really didn't know if he should count that as a win or not.

"Does that mean... it's over now?", he asked, barely daring to hope.

"No... it has only just begun." With that Vader raised his head to the sky. The storm was still going strong but there was something off about the lighting that could be seen occasionally. Now that he paid attention to it, Anakin could clearly make out the sounds of explosions in the distance.

"What is that?", he asked breathlessly.

Vader's expression darkened. "That is the Separatist fleet", he growled. "That is Lady Ferno. It seems she has survived... And she's come to kill me."

XxX

"We can't just bomb the station", Feral argued. He was pacing on the bridge of his Star Destroyer, which was annoying as it meant his holografic image randomly vanished.

"What if our Master is on it? We should wait for him to contact us."

"Did you even read my report?", Maul returned angrily. "It's been days since any of us last heard from him. He's either dead, a captive or still bidding his time, there's no reason for him to be on the station. We have to bomb it or we don't stand a chance getting close enough to the surface to dispatch any ships."

Feral wanted to argue further but he was cut off by a sudden spike of... something. Something inherently dark and... furious.

The two Sith shuddered. The disturbance of the force was so great that neither could breathe for a moment. It was as if their Master was holding their throats tightly, ruthlessly closing off their airway.

Maul and Feral had both taken care to shield their presence when they approached Corusscant as to not tip off Sidious. They were still connected to their Master but they couldn't reach his mind. It was as if he was just too far away even though they were in the same solar system. His mind was shrouded and unreachable. He was blocking them out.

But anybody, connected or not would have been able to feel Darth Vader's anger in that moment. It was truly frightening.

"Damn it", Feral cursed and looked to the side distractedly.

Maul raised an eyebrow at him but his brother seemed to pay attention to something he couldn't see.

"Who let the damn kid in here?", he shouted shortly before throwing Maul a glare.

When Maul had joined the Executor with the rest of the Separatist fleet, he had ordered Bells to stay with Feral. For one, he just wanted to get rid of the kid that might or might not be a reincarnated evil AI. However, they had also decided that the Executor with Maul as Commander would lead the assault on the core. Fire would concentrate on this ship which was just as well as it was still very much damaged and would have to undergo extensive repairs or maybe be rebuilt anyway. However, that also meant it wasn't exactly a place for a child to stay.

Of course Feral had ordered the child to go to a heavily warded section of the ship and fully intended to forget about her - but apparently she had found a way to sneak onto his bridge.

Feral stood still, obviously listening to someone Maul couldn't see over the holo transmission. Then he turned back to his brother with an unreadable expression.

"Brother, you better turn on the local news", he said.

Maul scowled but did as he said, switching on a second holo projector which broadcast news of the planet. As expected the channel was in a state of panic from their impending invasion. But wait, there was a report on a separate attack on the senate. Some shaky pictures were shown too.

"Did we send any bombers down there?", he asked with a scowl.

"None that I know of. But this happened recently. Like, just a minute ago."

Around the same time that they felt the spike of power from their Master.

"Well, at least now we know where he is", Maul muttered.

"I'm gonna bomb the station now", Feral said with a sigh. They would hit the headquarters of the clones.

"Make sure they leave the spaceport alone", Maul reminded him. It would be his mission to distract the outer planetary defense and hopefully take out a couple of their battle stations. As soon as they started dispatching the invasion ships, it would be suicidal to try and reach the surface. He would have to wait until Corusscant officially capitulated before he could get to his Master. He just hoped that Sidious would be dealt with by then.

"Is there something else?", Feral asked when his brother stayed silent but didn't end the transmission.

"No, it's just... I have a bad feeling about this", Maul muttered. That didn't have to mean anything. He'd had that gut wrenching feeling ever since he woke up on the damaged ship. It had been haunting him for days but he couldn't make head or tails of it. It probably had something to do with that blasted child.

"I know", Feral then answered unexpectedly. "I feel it as well."

Maul looked back at his brother, surprised. "You feel it too?"

The Zabrak nodded. "It's almost as bad as that day... You have to be careful, brother. Promise me."

Maul felt a painful stab at the reminder of their missing brother. This was supposed to be a three-man conference.

Maul knew that his mission was a dangerous one. He was maneuvering a heavily damaged ship against an overwhelming fleet after all. Sill he was confident in his abilities. He would make it through this. He had to.

"I promise", he told his brother and only then ended the call.

Maul threw a glance at the radar. Another squad of fighters had been send after his ship. The Sith moved to give the command to his droid crew to prepare for the assault. If he could adjust their position correctly so that the cannons faced the small moon holding the closest defense station of the planet he could probably buy some time.

He was in the middle of typing when suddenly the automatic doors behind him slid open. Maul turned, expecting to see one of the droids with a report of some sort. Instead, he found himself face-to-face with a looming black figure, wearing something that vaguely resembled Skywalker's training apparel.

He looked like a droid, at least on the surface with that smooth helmet and armored body. The steel cords and gears were clearly visible in his legs and arms but Maul immediately felt something wrong around him. Whatever the race, this being was alive and it was emitting a definite force presence. It was not as astonishingly powerful as Vader's or Sidious' but it was so full of hatred Maul was momentarily stumped by it.

The Sith apprentice had practiced the dark arts extensively, had learned to utilize anger, fear and frustration but he still had a firm grip on those emotions. This man - if it was a man at all - gave off no such feeling. His emotions, only marginally hidden so as to not alert everyone around him to his presence, were pure and primal. There was nothing there except a desire to destroy and kill.

Maul stood slowly, never leaving the eyes off the figure as the force was screaming at him of danger.

"Who are you?", he wanted to know. "How did you get in here?"

There was no answer except a red lightsaber coming to life in the man's hand. He lunged forward suddenly, aiming for Maul's heart. A moment later the Sith felt a searing pain and he gasped, yellow eyes widening. He guessed now he knew where the bad feeling came from.

XxX

AN: Did nobody see that coming? The thing about Vader taking Sidious' force powers, I mean. (I don't blame you if you're puzzled about that armored guy on the Ex.) Of course yet another thing that wasn't planned but once I had invented that technique it was kinda clear for me from the beginning that it's the perfect fate for the old geezer.

About Vader knowing better then letting Sidious talk – he did try to stop him, remember?

Also... how would you use force lighting without your hands? I mean sure, somewhere in the expanded universe there's probably some fucked up technique that let's you do that (though Dooku couldn't) but just like I find the whole "Sidious comes back in a cloned body" rather ridiculous, I don't really support that story either. Maybe I could be convinced if I actually read the story but... well, I'm rather tied up by Force Unleashed right now. Maybe someday. Then again, maybe not. (Definitely not when Sidious is coming back and Vader isn't. Cause what kind of sense does a galaxy make without Vader-so-awesome-epic-music-starts-to-play-every-time-he-enters-a-room?)