"Why would Bellatrix try to kill you?", Anakin shouted over the noise of the storm and the dozens of ships filling the sky to rise against the new threat. Last time he checked the AI had done everything in her power to keep his father safe.

"Does it really matter?", Vader answered with a scoff. "Maybe she woke up when I shut her down. That would be ironic. Anyway, I can sense great danger from up there. They certainly don't wish us well."

Suddenly from all around the crashed dome they stood in, transport ships rose. They were filled to the brink with clone warriors, all of them pointing their blasters at them. Anakin felt his heart sink at the sight of them even as his father readied his lightsaber. If these people attacked now, they were as good as dead.

One of the ships sank lower and Anakin's eyes widened as he saw the figure leading the clones.

"Bail Organa!?"

Indeed, the senator looked quite bruised and battered but he was alive.

"Senator Organa", Vader scoffed. His hand flexed in a grip that Anakin knew was the prerequisite to throwing his lightsaber at an enemy and he tensed, prepared to step in.

"Lord Vader", the senator returned, head held high.

"Have you come to die?"

"No. I have come to capitulate."

Vader's eyebrow rose. "Oh?"

"You have defeated Chancellor Palpatine and there is serious doubt now about the legality of his position. He is also under suspect of having committed crimes against the Republic. As one of the last remaining members of the senate that haven't fled yet, I acknowledge your victory. With your permission we will take the Chancellor into custody until he can be judged. If you would call back your fleet we will offer no resistance."

"No resistance?" Vader laughed. "Don't take me for a fool, senator. You of all people would never acknowledge my authority. You just want to buy time to build up your forces elsewhere."

"Father, please! They have given up", Anakin urged him. Still he knew it was no use. Vader did not control the fleet heading for them and he could not let the senator know that. Even if he wanted to accept the capitulation, he couldn't.

Anakin saw his father ready his weapon. Determined he stepped in front of him.

"With your permission", he said between clenched teeth, "I will go up to the flagship and relay the change of plans."

What he really was offering was of course to remove whatever danger was on that ship and to keep it from bombing the planet. He didn't think that Ferno was to blame for this. She had gone to great lengths to be with his father. Even if he had tried to destroy her, she wouldn't hate him for it. She was unable to.

"There is nothing up there for you to do", Vader growled. If it really was Ferno, he didn't have a chance fighting her on her home turf.

"I don't want any more blood to be shed today", the former Jedi returned, throwing a meaningful glance at the bodies surrounding them. He would not go up there to fight but to investigate.

For a couple of tense seconds, father and son stared at each other… At last though, Vader deactivated his lightsaber.

"Fine, you may go. Don't take too long, my patience isn't endless."

Anakin nodded gladly and sprinted over to one of the transport ships. Faced with the expressionless clones he winced for a moment. What might they think of him? He was the one who had given them an order to go against everything they believed in. There had been a time when he had been one of the most respected generals in their army but now?

The clones didn't say anything to him. They merely helped him to find a ship that would bring him up and a few minutes later he was off.

XxX

The lightsaber had barely missed Darth Maul, grazing his side. The Sith made a backflip to land on top of the console, bringing some distance between him and his opponent.

"How did you manage to get here?", he growled but the figure didn't answer.

"Fine, let's do it your way."

Maul activated his lightsaber, the two blades springing to life at each end of the handle as he got into his fighting stance.

Then the creature spoke and his dark, raw voice seemed to come out of a deep, dark hole.

"Darth Maul... You are Vader's apprentice. Tell me where he is!"

Maul scoffed at the clueless idiot. "Like I'm gonna tell you anything."

With that he charged ahead, his saber whirling around at an incredible speed. The cyborg answered with an attack on his own, his style surprisingly defensive. Maul utilized the force, pushing the figure away to gain an advantage but he barely moved. The dark side began to rise around them. With a frown the Sith realized his opponent was trying to wretch control over it from him. The attempt was crude but powerful. He was an out of control force sensitive but he had to have had at least a minimum of training in the dark side. One of Sidious' apprentices, perhaps? It seemed the most likely.

But Maul was more experienced in handling the dark side. He had been trained by the best after all. It took him some effort but he managed to get the upper hand. He caught the ripped out console part the cyborg threw at him and launched it right back. Using the force to accelerate his speed, he sprinted forward and used the momentum to deliver a powerful strike with his lightsaber.

He could feel the dark side move like waves between them, different from the violent clash when he faced against an overwhelming foe like Vader or a light side user but not the same powerful energy that usually wiped out his non-sensitive or mechanic victims. The dark side got stronger the more negative feelings were fed into it and this man's hatred overshadowed everything Maul had ever seen. Still he did not know how to use it most efficiently and Maul fully intended to use that to his advantage.

Maul force pushed his enemy away and had to duck a moment later when the cyborg threw his lightsaber at him with a roar of fury. He switched his grip, his saber half behind him and held out the other hand. Powerful blue lighting sprung from his fingertips. The red lightsaber was already on its way of spinning back to his owner who was just barely able to catch it before Maul's attack connected. He was too late to properly block the lighting though and the power behind the attack forced him to his knees. Surprisingly though, he barely gave a grunt of pain. With a scowl the Sith doubled his efforts with no visible result.

As soon as the lighting stopped, the cyborg was on his feet again. Smoke was rising from his artificial limbs and he moved visibly slower. His power spiked again, his pain giving him more energy. His body must be quite damaged but it seemed his hatred and the force still kept him going.

"Bloody lunatic", Maul muttered and whirled his lightsaber around again to block the incoming attack.

Suddenly the bridge was being flooded by fluctuating orange light and a wailing noise could be heard as an alarm went off.

Maul jumped high into the air, giving him some leverage to find out what was wrong. He cursed as he realized the course of the ship had not been properly corrected. The Executor was still heading right towards Corusscant and getting dangerously close to the atmosphere.

"You've got to be kidding me", he growled, sending another force push at the cyborg and hurried to the console to correct the course away from a potentially devastating crash. That's what he got for banning the AI and relying on droids. Come to think of it he hadn't received any messages from the navigation crew in some time. What the hell were those idiots doing!?

The force screamed a warning at him and Maul whirled around, blocking a red lightsaber as the cyborg attacked him anew.

"Idiot, I have to turn the ship away or we're both gonna die!", he shouted, frustrated that he couldn't pilot the ship and fight another Sith at the same time. This was a Super Star Destroyer after all, it required a crew of at least 20 for the bridge alone at all times and Maul was not a trained pilot.

"He's there, isn't he?", the cyborg said, breathing loudly. "Vader is on that planet. I can feel it..."

Maul cursed and tried to push him away again but this time his opponent was prepared and fought back. He couldn't seriously want the ship to crash on the capital planet, could he? It would be certain death for them both!

Other lights and alarms went crazy, several communications coming in but Maul was too busy getting rid of the creature. Concentrating with all his might he moved to hold him in a force grip and for a moment the cyborg just floated in the air as the pressure closed in on him. Maul concentrated his efforts on his mechanical limbs, crushing and bending the durasteel like it was a bunch of straws but before he could fully incapacitate him, the creature let out a powerful wave of the force, putting Maul off balance.

"Warning, outer plating in sector A is superheating", a mechanical voice called out from one of the alarms. "Impact in five minutes."

"Shit."

XxX

The Super Star Destroyer was coming closer at an alarming speed. Anakin threw a worried look at the radar of his 'borrowed' starfighter. It was high time the battleship pulled up as its distance to the surface was rapidly diminishing. He could even see the tip of the metal monster turning orange from the heat of entering the atmosphere.

Anakin didn't think Ferno would subject her precious ship to such danger but just in case it would be unwise to dock in the hangar bay. Instead, he maneuvered his ship as close to the bridge as he dared. None of the lasers or ion cannons made any attempt to shoot him down. He had to push it to its very speed limit to keep the two ships at the same level. He managed to land on the surface, the whole ship shaking with the strain but being pressed close to it at the same time.

Anakin drew his lightsaber and rammed it into the ground and the metal plating on the ship underneath. He had managed to land close to the windows of the bridge so he only had one layer to get through. He managed to produce a decent hole, kicked it in and jumped down into the room below before the automatic energy barriers protecting the bridge could shoot up. Half a second later he had to duck as a red lightsaber came fizzing at his head.

For a moment the former Jedi could only gape at the two figures battling each other on the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer. Darth Maul was swinging his giant two bladed lightsaber, blue lighting quivering around the red plasma beams and casually slicing through the floor and console parts trying to get through the defense of a man wearing what looked suspiciously like his father's discarded Sith armor. It was certainly not a sight he had expected when he came here.

For now Maul seemed to have the upper hand. Anakin had no intention to waste any time and so he only spared the two idiots a glare before getting to work at the console. He could figure out what their problem was later, now he had to prevent the ship from crashing on Corusscant and killing millions of innocent civilians.

"Right on time, boy", the Sith apprentice muttered when he saw what he was doing. The distraction cost him though as the armored guy force pushed him away and the next moment, a red lightsaber crashed into the console next to Anakin, barely missing his hands.

"What the hell!?", Anakin shouted as a whole number of alarms went off. He turned to the man angrily, not the least bit bothered by the dark mask that he had worn himself for some time.

"I'm trying to save all our lives and millions of others here, give me a break!"

"Anakin...", the man said in a raw voice which the former Jedi knew was further darkened by the built in voice distortion device. "You...!"

He didn't get the chance to say any more because Maul was violently hauling him away from Anakin.

"I'll take care of this lunatic, you make sure the ship stays intact."

"No! Vader has to die, I have to kill him!", said lunatic was shouting.

Anakin just threw him a look of disgust. He knew his father had many enemies but to kill him while sacrificing not only ones own life but also the lives of so many others? That wasn't the Jedi way, hell it wasn't even the Sith way, it was just madness.

Anakin began to work again, typing in commands, his eyes flying desperately over the displays. But it was futile.

"We're coming in too fast!", he called out, genuine fear walling up in him. If he couldn't stop the ship, they would all die. His father would die. He would die.

"I can't pull it up!"

The lightsaber had destroyed a few essential controls and there was just no time-

"Impact in 1 minute."

Suddenly Anakin was being hurled away from the console. Something smooth was being pressed into his hand and it took him a moment to recognize Maul's lightsaber. The Sith himself jumped on top of the console, facing the giant window and the rapidly approaching planet. Anakin was able to swing the weapon just in time to block the enemies red blade aiming for the Zabrak's unprotected back.

Now tied up in a duel of his own, Anakin had only a glance to spare for the Sith apprentice who just stood there unmoving, arms held out wide and fingers curled like claws with an expression of intense concentration on his face.

"Come on... Master, help me...!", he muttered and Anakin realized with a mix of horror and awe that Maul was trying to stop the Super Star Destroyer using the force. And he could feel it... Not as clearly as he had felt his father's power on Corusscant but he could definitely feel the force respond to the Zabrak. For a moment the proof that his force sense was returning made his heart skip a beat but he berated himself for allowing himself to get distracted by something like that when they were still heading head first to their doom.

XxX

Darth Vader scowled, watching the sky darken. The force screamed to him of danger but as he reached out with his senses, he couldn't get any hint of where the danger was coming from. Just everywhere.

The clones had taken the unconscious form of Darth Sidious with them. Vader had watched one of them giving him a good kick against the head and a light mind probe revealed that they were aware of who really had given them the order to kill the Jedi. Anakin must have conferred with Organa who then told the clones. They were bred to obey, true, but they were loyal to the government. Vader had taken his time to research this, they weren't loyal to the Republic or democracy or even Palpatine but just the government. The Sith Lord had intended to leave the Empire in his hands should he be able to defeat him and fulfill the rule of two after all so they couldn't be bound to a single person. Not to mention that it would've been suspicious.

Thus it was no wonder that the clones would abandon the Chancellor as soon as he was charged with treason and the government had all but switched over to him. They had been trained to keep order and if Vader was the only way out of chaos, they would follow him.

But he could worry about the clones later. The danger up there was far more important.

Darth Vader closed his eyes and connected with the force effortlessly. Slowly a picture began to form in his mind, a picture of his own flagship, heading straight at-

His eyes flew open. This was far more serious than he had thought. It was too late to get himself a transport, he wouldn't make it in time. At least Anakin was out of reach.

As soon as his thoughts wandered to the boy, Vader tried to connect to the mind of his son instinctively. There was... something there where just a black hole used to be. He noticed somewhat detached that it appeared his younger self was gaining back his force sensitivity but it was still far too weak to do anything. Even for him the sensation was too faint to connect to.

Maybe he should feel happy or relieved that Anakin would make it - if he was smart enough to keep out of the way of the self-destroying Super Star Destroyer. But his heart was still so filled with anger it was hard to feel anything else, even worry about his own fate. He was just so furious, about Ferno for ruining his plans, about Anakin for catching him off guard with his stunt, about Sidious for just existing and now about the ship aiming to crush him. It was... It was like a whole lot of anger and fear and pain and betrayal had left him to be replaced by an aimless fury, like an echo coming back to overwhelm him.

Darth Vader stumbled for a moment at that line of thought. It was a classic definition of the dark side but it was not how it was supposed to be. Not for him, at least. He should be exempt from these... alterations.

The Dark Lord shook his head. It did not matter now. The force was probably doing him a favor, filtering his emotions like this. It helped him to keep a cool head, it helped him to think - and that meant there must be something he could do still.

There was something else next to his son. Now that he searched for it he found quite a number of strong force presences up there. One he immediately recognized as Feral but the other two...

Slowly a grin spread on his face.

"So he did survive then..."

Darth Vader fully dropped the shields around his mind and closed his eyes to concentrate. He could feel his desperate apprentice trying to connect with him and he graciously allowed him to do so.

Sharing one mind, throwing together their combined power, they connected through the force and the image of the ship heading for the planet became clearer in his mind. Darth Vader reached out for the force with his entire being, the darkness filling him completely. He held onto his vision, poured all his power and will into it and then he pushed.

XxX

Anakin returned his attention to his opponent. They exchanged a couple of quick strikes, Anakin being pushed back from the power of the attacks. Soon their lightsabers were locked and it was only now Anakin noticed the steel ropes and rods his opponent's arms were made of. He wasn't just wearing the armor, this was the fully life support suit.

"You shouldn't help the Sith scum", the man growled at him hatefully. "You're supposed to be a Jedi but you betrayed the order!"

That was it. Anakin pushed the intruder away with a battle cry. He'd had enough. There he was, trying to save the planet and he was just one step away from bringing his father back to the light and thus saving the entire galaxy from an age of darkness! He had escaped a crazy AI, defeated fate by saving his wife, survived a duel against the most evil Sith to ever walk the galaxy all while being absolutely force blind and now this random terrorist came along and wanted to ruin it all?! He wanted to kill his father who he'd fought so hard to keep in his heart, wanted to throw the galaxy into further war by killing the one person with the power to bring back order all while killing Anakin and a couple of millions of others!? And he had the nerve to accuse him of betraying the Jedi!? Damn him! What right did he have!? This was so not gonna happen!

With a cry of anger the power of Anakin's attacks doubled and as his fury rose, he could feel the tiniest quiver of a sixth sense at the very edge of his conscience. Thus encouraged he whirled around the foreign weapon at his opponent who could only defend himself.

Suddenly there was a jerk going through the entire ship. Anakin was thrown off his feet and met the wall with a heavy thud, probably earning a concussion as the room switched directions. The artificial gravity made it hard to notice but they had been heading almost vertically for the planet and as the Executor's nose was suddenly pulled sideways it threw them all off balance.

He saw Maul lying on the ground and moved to help him up but the Zabrak pushed him away with a growl.

"Finish off that bastard, you're no use to me right now!", he said before moving to face the window again. They were still heading downwards but with a bit effort maybe he could manage to steer the course to narrowly miss the planet itself. It truly was an amazing act.

Of course his words stung a little. Maul had always been rather grumpy and even living together with him on the same ship for several weeks had not managed to make him come out of his shell. Still he was important to his father and now that Anakin had accepted and even wished to be part of that family, the apprentice' disregard hurt him.

But he was right, at least in the moment there was nothing Anakin could do to help him. His wounded pride just added to his anger and frustration and he gripped the lightsaber tightly. The armored guy had sunken down at the opposite wall but the harsh breathing sound told him he was still alive. Anakin stepped forward and for the second time this day he felt such an overwhelming need to strike down his foe for he well and truly believed he deserved it. He would probably even do this... thing a favor. The former Jedi played with the thought of removing the helmet but he wasn't really that interested whose face was under it. Probably just one of Sidious' former apprentices, being driven by the dark side to do all kinds of unspeakable things. Even if he did remove the mask, if it was indeed the full version of the life support suit, the creature within would die within minutes surrounded by impure air.

Still he was hesitating to strike him down because there was something, something nagging at the back of his head, urging him to take a closer look. It felt too much like a force warning to ignore, not when he hadn't had such a feeling in what must be ages.

And so Anakin knelt down next to he machine man who was either unconscious or too weak to move and he leaned close, staring hard at the large black tinted eye forms and he desperately tried to connect to the force, tried to feel the presence of the man before him. It was hard, like catching a wildly flaring ribbon during a sandstorm and he had to concentrate so hard. There was something familiar about this figure other then the black armor but it was... wrong. The darkness was wrong, like it was not supposed to be there, it was supposed to be light.

And then it hit him like a ton of bricks, making him flinch and back away with a gasp.

"Obi-Wan...!?"

XxX

AN:

Wow that was pretty funny. All the wild theories flying around. I mean, the power ripped from Sidious somehow materializing as a dark Darth Vader version? Ferno cloning/building herself a Vader look-alike and save herself in it? And I know I mentioned Force Unleashed but I won't be introducing Starkiller in this fanfic now when he hasn't been mentioned for the last 54 chaps. What's wrong with that, not even I thought of such a crazy idea! (Why, of why didn't I think of it? I'm supposed to surprise you not the other way around!)

I thought it was obvious... Apparently, it wasn't. But don't worry. I will explain in lengthy detail how that could happen. I spend a whole weekend holed up writing that odyssey to make it as plausible as possible. You won't stay clueless for much longer.

I thought about killing Maul... But then I realized it really wouldn't be feasible. He's too powerful to be defeated by you-know-who and I did grow to like him. Remember, if I don't say he's dead, then he's not dead. Period. I didn't even try to fool you this time, ending a chap at the beginning of a new fight is a common tool to build up tension. But I don't think I really freaked you out here, did I? If so, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to.

(I totally wouldn't feel sorry if I had actually killed him off or implied it so strongly because I wanted you to believe it but as I didn't this time... yeah, I'm sorry. Maybe I'm being too hard on you with all the cliffs? I do try to make it up by updating more regularly though.)