Chapter 8: Memories

His eyes slowly fluttered open as he brought his hands up to his face and began rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. When he finished he looked around confused wondering where he was. It wasn't his home at all. Nothing was made of stone and everything was durasteel covered walls cleaner than anything he had ever seen in his life. For a second he was frightened before the memories came back to how he had gotten here. It brought a small sad smile to his face. He glanced around to see his new alien friend snoring soundly in the seat across from him. While his new friend was strange he was also extremely funny. Finally, the boy stood up and pushed the blanket that he had been given off and began to finally explore the ship.

This was the first ship he had ever been in before and the first time he had been in space. At least as far as he could remember. His mom told him that they had been on a ship before when they had been moved but he was only a small baby at the time and couldn't remember it. But even if he could there was no way it was as nice as this starship. He remembered when he first set eyes on it when he had been walking to it. The ship was pure chromium colored and even with the days in the sand looked nearly as good as new. While the boy was exploring the ship and looking around at every detail he missed the silhouette of a person round the corner as the two bumped into each other. Letting out a small oof sound from impact he landed on his butt before looking up to see who he had accidently bumped into.

"Anakin, it seems like you were enjoying yourself and the ship." A man said to the now named Anakin. The nine year old boy got back on his feet fast. Slightly embarrassed about bumping into the man that he had gotten very close to recently he began to apologize only for the man to wave him off. Anakin slightly nodded his head still a bit embarrassed about not watching where he was going before a question popped in his head.

"Qui-Gon sir, how long is it going to take to get to the capital?" Anakin asked.

"Well, I would estimate 6 to 12 hours until we arrive at Coruscant." The now named Qui-Gon Jinn a Master Jedi answered after taking a moment to estimate their arrival time. Anakin nodded and then turned around to go back to where he was sleeping to try and get a little bit more only for the Jedi Master to walk with him toward where he had been sleeping.

"Anakin, I have a question for you if you do not mind?" The Jedi Master asked.

"No, Qui-Gon sir, I don't mind." Anakin responded quickly. Qui-Gon nodded as they entered back into the room he had slept in. Anakin scurried back to his spot and put the blanket back on as Qui-Gon waited for the boy to get settled.

"On Tatooine you spoke of your dream do you remember?" Qui-Gon asked when the boy was settled. Receiving a nod from Anakin the Jedi continued. "Do you remember anything specifically about it?" Qui-Gon got a confused look from Anakin, who didn't understand why.

"Hmm…yes, Qui-Gon sir I remember, but why it was just a dream?" A confused Anakin asked.

"True to normal sentient beings it could very well just be a dream. But to people strong with the Force like you and I it could mean a premonition, or it could be a vision of the future." Qui-Gon answered which Anakin's eyes lit up with surprise before a wide grin came across his face and he jumped out of his spot.

"Yippy!" Anakin screamed in joy. As he did that the master could help but crack a small smile at the boy's enthusiasm. He also had to stifle a laugh at the boys reaction since it had abruptly woken the Gungan up who had been sleeping across from the boy who had jumped out of his sleep, tripping, and landing face first into the floor.

Anakin gasped and went to help Jar-Jar up from the floor. Anakin began to apologize for waking him up. He helped the Gungan get back into his seat who said it was fine just not to scare him like that and preceded to fall back asleep. When Anakin got back to his seat he looked a little sheepish and settled back in before looking back to Qui-Gon.

"A vision like Jedi have?" Anakin asked with no less excitement in his voice only a lot quieter. Qui-Gon nodded his head and could still see the smile plastered on the face of the boy.

"It is always best to tell a Jedi Master about the visions or dreams so that they can help you better understand them." Qui-Gon said. The boy was giving his full attention to the Jedi Master as he drank in every word that was spoken. "Okay Anakin close your eyes and focus. Try to picture the vision again. It should come back to you." Anakin nodded his head and closed his eyes and began to focus on the dream again. A few minutes passed before there was any movement between the two.

"I can only see parts of it sir, I haven't had that vision for a long time. I used to have it a lot when I first heard of the Jedi. Okay, let see. I think I am on Tatooine because there is a lot of sand and there are two suns up. I can't be for sure on the suns though. There is a glare every time I try to look up, two of them that blind me. So maybe some type of metal above me, maybe ships? Oh, I also see myself I think, I mean he looks like me but older. Really old! My hair is partially gray. I am um wearing black robes or armor I can't tell. Wait, why am I wearing black on Tatooine, am I trying to die from the heat? Never mind. Ummm…I can see that… that I am surrounded by a bunch of people all their blasters pointed at me. I can't really see anything else…wait, I see something else, they are in my hands. Whoa, so cool, I have two laserswo... I mean lightsabers. One in each hand. One is blue and the other is um white I think." Finishing Anakin opened his eyes and blinked for a few second getting used to the light before looking up to Qui-Gon who had a thoughtful expression displayed. Qui-Gon looked back to Anakin when he saw the boy staring at him.

"That is an interesting vision. I have not heard of many visions from someone so young that have seen so far into the future though. It could be merely a dream. Also, much of what you described to me is not in line with what would happen if you were a Jedi." Qui-Gon said causing Anakin's enthusiasm to disappear at the thought of it only being a dream.

"What do you mean sir?" Anakin asked.

"Jedi normally don't wear black, though not outlawed it is a very uncommon color to wear. Not to mention, as I said earlier it is unheard of to have a vision of something that could occur in the far future. Also, the lightsabers you described, while blue is quite common, white isn't, I am actually not sure if there is such a color." Qui-Gon answered. Anakin's head dropped in sadness since he might not be destined to come back to Tatooine to free the slaves. He though was broken from his little depressed state when he felt a gentle hand being place on his shoulder. Anakin looked up and saw Qui-Gon giving him a comforting smile.

"Do not feel sad Anakin, while it may only have been a dream it still could become reality." Qui-Gon implied. Anakin frown slowly shifted and was replaced with a small smile as he nodded to the Jedi Master who removed his hand from the boy's shoulder.

"You should get some more sleep because when we get to Coruscant you will be quite busy." Qui-Gon said before receiving another nod from the boy and left back toward the front of the ship. Watching the Jedi Master leave Anakin snuggled back under his blanket and closed his eyes to try and get some sleep. His last thoughts before falling to sleep was hoping that whatever was going to keep him busy tomorrow would be easy.

Devastator (3 years 5 months BBY)

One month Later

Vader woke up from the dream abruptly breathing heavily. He brought his cybernetic hands to his head as he began to try and steady his breathing. The dreams or more accurately old memories of his past were becoming more frequent. They had been occurring a lot over the last month ever since his encounter with the Jedi on Lothal and finding that Ahsoka lived. Though over the last year since meeting Leia he would sporadically have a dream of his past but since finding Ahsoka to be alive they had only increased drastically. Unfortunately, he was no closer to finder her.

It did seem though that she had stayed with the Rebels of Lothal. He had gotten a few reports from the two Inquisitors about their progress trying to capture the rebels but the report from the Seventh Sister and Fifth Brother told that they had engaged the Rebels when they were working on one of the Emperor's retrieval missions. Only to also encounter Ahsoka and both get beat by her. Which did not come as a big surprise. He had personally trained Ahsoka. He knew she would never fall to any of the Inquisitors. *1*

As his helmet was being put back on a beeping sound began going off. After his helmet was fully on he glanced to see that is was the communicator for his daughter. Vader grabbed the communicator swiftly and answered it.

While the connection was made he found himself slightly confused. They usually talked to one another once every other week if lucky but at least once a month and she had already talked with him a week ago. Vader's question of why his daughter was calling was answered when the communication was finally established Vader caught the quiet whimpering from his daughter.

When Vader finally processed what he was listening pure raw anger began radiating off him. He had not felt this type of rage for many years.

"Who dared to make his daughter cry?" Vader thought to himself because he would slowly kill them. He was finally broken from his anger when he heard the whimpering become quieter.

"Dad are you there?" Leia asked with sorrow and sadness evident in her tone. Vader took a few seconds to regain control of himself.

"Yes, child I am here. Are you alright?" Vader asked. As she tried to answer Vader could hear her voice crack with no response.

"Leia?" Vader asked again. Becoming…concerned? Yes, Vader thought. That was the emotion that he was feeling again. Yet another old emotion he was not used to feeling coming bubbling up once again. Vader was about to ask her once more before he heard her take a deep breath seemingly trying to retake control of her emotions.

"Dad, am I a monster?" Leia dejectedly asked. Vader was struck in shock by the question. Why in all the Sith hells did his daughter believe she was a monster?

"Leia why would you ask such a question, what has happened?" Vader concernedly asked. There was a silence between the two and to Vader it felt like hours passed before the silence was broken.

"Yesterday, I was helping the rebellion." Leia said which caused Vader to seethe in anger. The Rebellion made her cry! Why was she apart of the rebellion and why wasn't I told? Vader questioned to himself. "I…I killed two stormtroopers. It wasn't the first time I had killed before. But when they were taking away the bodies and I was awaiting transport back to Alderann I saw one of the helmets drop off one of troopers head who I had killed. I froze when I saw his eyes. They were so lifeless and all I could do was stare in horror at what I had caused. I have killed stormtroopers once before, but I had never thought of them as people because I couldn't see their faces. They were always in armor. They were always just the armor. But seeing that man's face and what I had done. What if he had a family? What if I had just widowed his wife and took away a child's father. I…I…I" Leia tried to finish but choked on her words as her dam of control broke and Vader could hear the evident noise of crying once more.

Vader felt powerless as he could only sit and process what he had heard. While he listened to his daughter cry he lost control of his anger. His meditation chamber began to shake from the rage he was radiated. He began to curse a great many people. Kenobi, Organ, and the rebellion itself. Vader felt great sympathy for his daughter. He remembered long ago when he had killed for the first time. He had never been consoled about it until much later and was told that it was in self-defense and while it was unfortunate it was unavoidable, which had not helped him at the time. His thoughts stopped though when he remembered advice he gave his first padawan after taking her first life.

"Leia, do you feel guilt for what you have done? If you do then you are not a monster. If you feel guilt than it makes you sentient. A monster is something or someone that doesn't care if they kill or who they kill. If you were a monster then you would have merely killed the men and walked away like it was nothing. Like they were nothing. The guilt that you demonstrate proves that you are no monster." Vader said solemnly. It took a few more minutes of Vader listening to his daughter crying before it slowly dying down to a complete stop.

"Than-Thank you Dad. I am sorry, I was having a hard time processing this." Leia said with her normal tone that she spoke to him with before an awkward silence formed between the two.

"How long have you been with the rebellion?" Vader asked breaking the silence between the two before he heard her adjusting herself in her seat. No doubt preparing for the verbal battle that was about to ensue Vader thought.

"For two years now." Leia responded. This angered Vader, she had been with the rebellion before she had come to him and yet she had not told him.

"And you didn't tell me!" Vader angerly accused.

"I didn't think you needed to know. When I met with you on Imperial Center I thought you were going to take me with you so I didn't believe that I would be helping them anymore. But the things I do are only small and nothing that usually gets me into trouble. Normally it is helping rebels steal my ship to help reinforce their fleets or dropping of supplies for them to pick up." Leia responded quickly trying to alleviate her father's anger. Vader nearly snorted at the statement. Vader knew that the Empire enlisted a great many incompetent people, but this was pathetic. There was no way that Empire hadn't found out about this.

"And the Empire hasn't figured out that Alderann is working with the rebellion yet? You make it sound like this happens often. If so than even the dumbest of officers would have caught on by now." Vader asked.

"Yes, more than likely this will be the last one we do. The Empire seemed to have taken notice finally. The ships were almost not stolen but thankfully the rebels there were able to get them and make it look like I was not a part of it even stunning me to make it look real." Leia answered. Vader seemed to release a little stress from his shoulders he didn't know he had held. The Empire still hadn't caught on. Good, he didn't want to have to put out a wanted bounty for his rebel daughter. Which meant that Vader needed his daughter not to be associated with the rebellion when he finally sends his extraction unit to get her.

"What group of rebels did you drop these ships off for?" Vader asked wondering which report that he will be reading about in the next few days with his daughter prominently in it.

"The rebels from the Lothal system." Leia answered.

"Leia the rebels that you encountered did they have a Togruta with them?" Vader asked quickly.

"No. Why is it important?" Leia answered slightly confused.

"The Togruta is an ex Jedi that could know where your brother is." Vader answered. This got silence from Leia as she processed what he just told her.

"I am sorry Father, if I had known…" Leia quietly said.

"Leia there is no reason for you to apologize." Vader said cutting her off.

"Well then maybe I could get in contact with some rebels and…" Leia tried to ask only being cut off by Vader again.

"NO. Leia do not try and find her. I will find her. I do not want you put into harms ways and I don't want you to be doing any more work with the rebellion." Vader stated.

"But father you ca…" Leia tried to retort but Vader was ready for it.

"Daughter, I do not want you involved with them anymore. They put you in danger, and I do not want you to be working with a group that you are going to leave when I find your brother. I don't want to have to worry about turning on the Holo-Net to see you being arrested or see a bounty out for your arrest." Vader said shutting down her rebuttal completely as he heard silence over the other end.

"Alright Father, I will distance myself from the rebellion. I will use the incident on Lothal to be the main reason for me distancing if I am asked." Leia finally responded in a defeated tone after a long silence of trying and failing to come up with a retort to his statement.

"Is there anything more you need?" Vader asked.

"No, that is all. Thank you I really needed to talk to someone about what happened, but I need to go now. I have other duties that need to be done. Goodbye Dad. I miss you." Leia said before ending the call.

"I miss you as well my little angel." Vader said to himself. After a minute of just sitting there he finally moved. Putting the commlink away he opened his meditation chamber and exited his domain before heading toward Thrawn's office.

As he entered he found Thrawn looking over a holopad. Thrawn looked up from his pad for a second to see who it was before pressing a few buttons on his desk and Vader could hear a beep noise.

"Lord Vader what is it you require?" Thrawn asked.

"Have you gotten any updates from our forces?" Vader asked and received a nod from the Admiral who then began the report he was given from the men on Terra.

The Katana Fleet had been retrieved by the clones. With the fleet they were able to easily transport the entire population from Saleucami to Terra. The factories, and mine had become operational already making armor and elites. The shipyard itself was now being used to both upgrade the out of date Katana Fleet with new up to date technology so that they wouldn't require such a large crew while also reinforcing them with Cortosis weaves to strengthen the hull of the ship. They were also converting the cargo spaces into hangars so that they could carry a squadron of fighters. Thrawn also noted that they were already close to running out of the normal materials to make upgrades for the Katana Fleet and for the armor and ships and that they would be needing more soon to continue operations of the factories and shipyard. Vader reached into his belt and pulled out a drive before handing it to Thrawn which caused him to raise an eyebrow slightly at the item.

"Send these codes to the clones on Terra. It is the access codes to my secret bank account on Aargau. The name it is under is Varykino." Vader said. The Admiral looked at the drive intrigued by how much that Vader had. *2*

"And how much is in this account?" Thrawn questioned.

"Enough to fund us for quite a long time. I have assimilated a great fortune over the years and have had a good amount of it transferred to the Aargau account for in cases such as these." Vader stated.

"Building an army and fleet to overthrow Palpatine?" Thrawn asked with no tone of humor but out of pure curiosity.

"Precisely." Vader stated in a serious tone.

The Admiral nodded as he began to punch in the codes on the communicator that Vader had given him to use to contact the clones on Terra.

A few minutes of silently waiting between the two occurred before a holo came up of a clone saluting the Admiral.

"Admiral Thrawn." The clone said.

"Commander Bly, I am transmitting access codes that will provide you access to an account on Aargau which should allow you to purchase more supplies for the ships and armor not to mention allow us to purchase new weapons for the army. The account is under an alias, Varykino." Thrawn said before he began transferring the codes to Bly.

"Admiral, if you don't mind answering my question but who's account is this?" Bly asked and before Thrawn answered Vader stepped forward so the commander catching the commander off guard from his sudden appearance.

"It is one of mine commander." Vader answered. The commander recovered from his surprise and instantly saluted Vader.

"Sir, it's good to see you again." Bly said.

"It is good to see you are well commander. You should have no problem accessing the account with the codes. Take as much as needed, clean it out if necessary. That is all commander, and you are dismissed if there is nothing to report." Vader said and received a nod from the commander who gave one last salute toward the Admiral before cutting the communications. As communication ended Thrawn could only shake his head slightly.

"Those clones seem to have a great respect for you Lord Vader." Thrawn said pointing out his observation.

"I have been told that many times. It seems my actions and behavior during the Clone Wars seemed to earn me a lot of the respect from the clones." Vader said stating the knowledge that he had learned throughout the war from both Captain Rex and the Lieutenant now turned Commander Appo. Vader had one last question he needed answered before he left.

"The flagship designs, have you finished them?" Vader asked who received a nod from the Thrawn as the man pulled up schematics on his holo table. Vader stared at the designs which looked close to in style to the Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser but also unique.

"Yes, I have completed them. The ship as you can most likely tell by design was inspired by the cruisers apart of the Katana Fleet. When I first began designing the ship I found myself knowing that we would need both ships that could carrier a great deal of fighters and deal a high amount of damage to enemy ships. So, I questioned why not make the two ships we needed into one? I found myself making both a ship with a high amount of both offense and defense. It is a new class of flag ship never seen in the galaxy. A class that I have classified as a supercarrier. I call it the Imperial Infinity class Supercarrier. A flagship that is 5,700 meters in length, 850 meters in width and 1,100 in height. Able to carry over two thousand fighters and dropships and boasts a crew of 75,000 men and able to carry a maximum of 150,000 troops and passengers. It also boasts armaments ranging from heavy turbolasers batteries to point defense turret all over the vessel. But the true offensive might of this ship come from the ship's main weapon," Thrawn said as he then pushed a few buttons on his table that rotated the holo schematic and magnified in on the main weapon which was on the front of the ship. The weapon itself was integrated into the ships making the supercarrier itself look like a gigantic gun Vader observed. *3*

"I came up with the idea of such a weapon after going over all of the research and intelligence that you had regarding Project Stardust." Thrawn continued and the information caught Vader by surprise.

"This weapon is to be powered by kyber crystals? Why?" Vader questioned curious of the use of the crystal.

"Yes, but a singular one of decent size not to the extent that Project Stardust is powered by them. This weapon is not to be a planet killer but something better in my opinion. Let me show you." Thrawn answered before he pulled up a mock battle with the ship versus five Imperial Star Destroyers.

"This weapon will not need to be powered to the extent of Project Stardust because it's goal as I said is not to kill planets but kill capital ships." Thrawn said before he played out the simulated battle. Vader watched in interest as the Supercarrier's weapon charged and fired straight at one of the Imperial Star Destroyers. The aftermath was impressive.

"As you can see this weapon rips through the shields of even an Imperial Star Destroyer like they do not exist and if my calculations are correct they could rip right through a planetary shield as well." Thrawn said.

"Impressive, most impressive Admiral. To think that you were able to finish the weapon when all of the Tarkin Initiative have yet to finish it." Vader said before turning to face the Admiral only to find the man with a confused expression.

"While I am very intelligent Lord Vader much of the calculation in this research is beyond my expertise. The research though was finished, the weapon equations on how it worked all complete only mixed up. All I had to do was rearrange it correctly." Thrawn replied.

"That's not possible. I receive updates on the weapon's progress and know it has yet to be complete. Unless…" Vader thought for a second. Was it possible? "Unless there is someone a part of the Initiative sabotaging the weapons progress and delaying it full completeness on purpose." Vader said. Thrawn's eyebrow rose at the query.

"A traitor in the Tarkin Initiative? While it doesn't seem possible it would explain my discovery. But who could it be?" Thrawn questioned. Vader crossed his arms in thought before it struck him. It was the same person who had helped the Geonosians uprising years ago. The man who originally ran away from the Empire. Erso.

"I believe I know who it is. I will have my agents try and confirm but now let the man sabotage the weapons progress. It will allow us more time to build our forces up." Vader stated. Thrawn nodded.

"Shall I send my plans to the shipyard for them to get ready to begin producing it when they are finished with the Katana Fleet?" Thrawn asked.

"While I am impressed with the design of the ship. It will no doubt be extremely useful but the kyber crystal that is required will be hard to acquire. Especially considering we will be building more than one. How many do believe we will be building?" Vader answered.

"5 to 7 of these ships so just as many crystals." Thrawn replied. Vader nodded letting his arms fall to his sides.

"Not impossible but obtaining them won't be easy." Vader said.

"No, they won't but as you said it is not impossible." Thrawn reiterated before he began closing the files of the Supercarrier while.

"Then send the plans to the shipyard. Is that all Admiral?" Vader asked.

"Yes, nothing else to report on for your forces. Also, nothing to report on from the Mon Cala front, the fleet has disappeared once again." Thrawn said. Vader nodded before he turned to leave Thrawn office as a thought came to mind and he stopped.

"Admiral have there been any sighting of rebels near this system?" Vader asked which caused Thrawn's eyebrow to rise in confusion.

"Yes, a minor one though. The Imperials of this system should be able to take care of them." Thrawn answered.

"Good send me the exact coordinates and have my ship prepared I will deal with these rebels myself." Vader answered. Thrawn's was still filled with confusion by the statement.

"I do not wish to overstep Lord Vader but why do you wish to deal these rebels yourself?" Thrawn asked. Vader still not facing the Chiss began walking toward the exit.

"I have some excess anger that I wish to unleash." Vader answered before exiting Thrawn's office. Vader had not forgotten what had happened to his daughter and while his anger over it had begun to settle it was there and he wished to take it out on someone. So why not the Rebellion.

Vader arrived at the hangar and saw his fighter already prepped and the deck officer waiting for him. The clone walked with him toward the fighter.

"The coordinates have already been set into the nav computer my Lord." The clone said.

"Good, you are dismissed." The clones saluted him before walking away from Vader who began climbing into his fighter.

Vader was beginning a preflight check as one of his communicators went off informing him of a message being received. Looking down he saw it was the one for his Noghri agents. Opening the communicator, he saw the report. While it wasn't an update on his son it was another mission that he had given to another group of the Noghri. The message simply read,

"Mission accomplished; the three devices have been put in place."

Vader read it once before putting the device away. While it wasn't an update on Luke it was good to have those devices in place just in case he needs to send Galen after them. Finishing the preflight check Vader launched out of the Devastator ready to take his anger out on these poor rebels.

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed the chaptertook me a long time to finish. I hope you really enjoyed the opening sequence with the dream part obviously take place between leaving Tatooine and arriving on Coruscant during episode 1. I thought it would be cool to go a little in depth of the dream that Anakin had as a boy. No one I don't think have ever used it before. Also hope you liked the Leia and Vader scene. The scene came to me when I was watching rebels season two again and was like wow, Princess Leia at such a young age just killed two stormtroopers. And I thought what would she think if she saw what had she done and what had she caused by killing them.

Also, I would really like some critic reviews if you could leave them. I just rewrote and posted the other chapters with this one and would like to know how I am doing about pacing, grammar, dialogue, and opinions on how I am portraying characters. Would really appreciate it.

Also leave your star wars movie tier list in the reviews. I would love to see the differences of opinions of other and compare them to mine. Anyway, thanks again for reading and May the Force Be with You.

1. Revenge of the Sith 2. Empire Strikes Back 3. Return of the Jedi 4. A New Hope 5. The Phantom Menace 6. Rogue One 7. Attack of The Clones 8. Solo Story 9. The Force Awakens 10. The Rise of Skywalker 11. The Last Jedi (literally one of my most hated movies ever.)

Notes:

*1* Rebels Season 2 Episode 10

*2* In Legends Vader had an account in the Bank of Aargau, so I just used the same for the story.

*3* This ship design took me so long to figure out. I took it from different fandom after spending a good day trying to find a ship that would work. Anyone have a guess? If not it's okay, I will tell you. I took the design from another fandom that I like Halo. The ship Thrawn made is very similar to the Infinity class supercarrier.

Updated: 1/23/2021