Chapter 10: The Mysteries of the Holocron
Rogue Shadow (Earlier)
Galen was at peace as he sat meditating in the training room inside of the Rogue Shadow. Ever since his new training with Vader he had been finally able to meditate easier. Before Vader had given him back his memories he used meditate by igniting his crimson blade and staring at the color to invoke anger and carnage to draw from the Dark Side.
Now Galen took to meditating so he could quiet his mind just as his father taught him all those years ago on Kashyyyk, but this time Galen was meditating for more than a quiet mind. He was meditating to prepare himself for the battle he was about to go into. It would be the first time he had faced anyone with a lightsaber that wasn't Vader or one of PROXY's combat modules.
It seemed that the battle he was meditating for was upon him when he heard the door to the training room open and heard the familiar footsteps of PROXY walking in. Galen took a few moments to exit the trance that he was in before opening his eyes to see PROXY waiting in front of him.
"Master, we are about to arrive at Malachor." PROXY spoke in his normal excited tone when he saw Galen was out of his trance.
"Good," Galen said as he stood up. "Then let's see what we're dealing with and what Vader needs us to do." He added before walking out the door.
It was true, he didn't know what they were walking into other. He had only been sent a very quick message to meet Vader on Malachor to help procure a Sith Holocron and to expect other Force sensitives to fight. No other details on numbers, rank, or strength of the Force sensitives.
The message had initially confused Galen given that Vader never had him assist the Sith Lord ever when it came to Force Sensitives. After both he and PROXY had left Terra he had realized that Vader more than likely had called upon him for one of the only two reasons that he was ever sent on a mission. The first being progress toward their growing forces on Terra which he knew this didn't revolve around. Which left only the second reason which was finding Vader's son. Galen didn't understand how a Holocron was going to help them find Vader's son, but he would follow Vader's lead just as he had for the past year and a half.
As he made his way to the cockpit the thought of his master's children brought his indifference to his master to the front of his mind. If Galen was honest he was still on edge whenever he was around Vader. Their relationship as master and apprentice was strained since his memories returned but it was slowly getting better. There was even trust that was slowly beginning to take form over the last year and a half. Unfortunately, it didn't stop the memories of what Vader had done to his father and done to him during training. Thankfully, the man had kept to his word and changed drastically having gotten lightyears better as a teacher, but it had and was still hard for Galen to not let the past affect his work.
Out of everything that Galen was indifferent about with his master the one that had him relatively excited was the prospect of meeting the man's children. He hadn't met or socialized with anyone his own age ever. For most of his life he has had only two companions, Vader, and PROXY which had caused him to be very emotionally remote but throughout the last year he had become close and even friends with a select few clones that he has worked with. It had taken some time to adjust but he gotten used to the concept of socializing once again so he hoped that socializing with Vader's children would be just as easy as with the soldiers. In the back of his mind there was a small part of him that thought children related to Vader weren't going to very social considering their father was as social as a Kashyyyk flame beetle, but he would save his judgement for when he met them. *1*
When Galen and PROXY finally entered the cockpit of the Rogue Shadow PROXY sat in the piloting seat with Galen as copilot and minutes later dropped out of hyperspace. When they came out of hyperspace though they came upon the sight of a line of energy shooting out from Malachor that left the two staring in disbelief.
After recovering from his shock Galen turned to his right check the readings of the energy. Unfortunately, he couldn't understand them which caused him to frown before turning to PROXY.
"PROXY can you make any sense of these readings?" Galen asked.
"Certainly master." PROXY answered before standing up and walking over to look them over.
"Strange these readings are like those of kyber crystals but different. Honestly master I am uns…" But PROXY stopped as the readings disappeared causing the two to glance out the cockpit window quickly to see the energy had disappeared. Quickly Galen looked back to the console and began tracing the origin of the energy. When he found the origin, he sighed to himself in annoyance when he saw that the energy originated from the coordinates that Vader had given them.
"Of course, it would." Galen thought to himself.
"Alright PROXY that energy originated from where Vader is. We need to get there fast. I'll try and contact Vader to see what is happening." Galen commanded. PROXY nodded his head as he got back into the piloting seat and began flying them down to Malachor.
Galen closed his eyes and tried reaching out through the Force but was momentarily stopped as he felt the ship shake unsteadily as they entered the atmosphere causing him to sigh.
"I really need a pilot." He muttered to himself. While he was above average at piloting most of his missions had required extraction fast and required a pilot to extract him out of combat, and he needed someone that was better than Proxy. Shaking his head, he reached out into the Force through their connection.
"Vader, we have entered Malachor's atmosphere and are making our way toward the Temple or more importantly where the line of energy was just shooting into the air." Galen said when they finally connected.
"Good, get here quickly. The temple is beginning to close and I will require your assistance to get away." Vader commanded.
"We'll be there in a minute to pick you up then." Galen replied before the connection was cut and he opened his eyes and saw they were close to an opening near the crust of the planet. It didn't take long after they began descending that Galen caught sight of the temple which as they grew closer looked to be closing but also collapsing. Before he could warn Vader about the temple they got close enough that his attention was taken by a small ship that was docked near the edge of the temple in which he was currently watching two individuals make their way to it. The smaller of the two looked to be holding something that while he couldn't see it he could feel it's power and knew exactly what it was. The Sith Holocron that Vader was after. While he had never sensed a Sith Holocron he had a Jedi one and its signature was nearly identically to the Jedi one, only darker but also exponentially more powerful than his own.
"Proxy when I tell you lower the cloaking and lower the ramp I am going to catch that ship." Galen quicky said as he jumped out of his seat and ran to the ships entrance.
"NOW." Galen screamed when he arrived so PROXY could hear him and a few seconds later he felt the cloaking cease before the ramp began to lower. Galen didn't wait for it to fully finish lowering before he took a running start and jumped out of the Rogue Shadow and began diving down toward his target. As he descended rapidly he witnessed the smaller individual scream a name and run at the Temple only to be Force pushed back by whoever was inside.
"Ezra, Ezra lets go." He heard the second person inside the ship scream. He saw the smaller person now named Ezra begin returning to the ship. When Galen grew closer to the ground he put his hands straight down began to use the Force to slow his momentum. He slowed it enough that he landed on the Temple with a roll right in front of the ship that was getting ready to leave which didn't go unnoticed by other man. *2*
"Ezra behind you!" The other man hastily said to Ezra who looked to be a year or so younger than himself who turned around in shock as the door to their ship started to close.
"Who are you?" Ezra asked in shock. Galen didn't respond as he held out both his hands and began to use the Force. With his left he stopped the door that was closed and simultaneously with his right took the Holocron from its place on a seat which flew right into Galen's hand. This got a reaction from Ezra as he got up and began to run toward Galen. Unfortunately for Ezra Galen let go of his hold on the door right when he took hold of the Holocron which closed right on Ezra's face. Not a second after the door closed did the ship begin a fast ascension up and away from the Temple.
Galen was a little confused for a moment since he thought they would have tried to put up a fight to get the Holocron back before he heard a rumbling from behind him. When he turned around he saw the temple was collapsing and energy on the top was building up which meant only one thing. An explosion.
With the Holocron in hand he broke out into a run and began making his way to the edge of the Temple as he took out his commlink.
"Proxy I need a pickup! Now!" Galen screamed into it before putting it away. As he neared the edge of the Temple he saw the Rogue Shadow coming in fast with the ramp already lowered.
"Crap this is going to be close." Galen thought to himself as he increased his speed and agility by using Force speed and when he reached the edge jumped. Unfortunately, the ship was too far away for Galen to land on the ramp, so he extended his left hand to try and grab onto the ramp itself.
Luckily, he got enough distance that he caught the edge of the ramp with his left hand and quickly pulled himself up before running into the ship toward the cockpit.
"Thanks for the pickup Proxy but where's Vader?" Galen asked as he entered the cockpit having not sensed the man on board the ship.
"I don't know master I couldn't reach him on any channel." PROXY answered as the Rogue Shadow sped away from the temple. Galen sat down in the copilots seat before closing his eyes and reached through their connection.
"Vader where are you? I have the Holocron and the Temple is collapsing and is about to explode. You need to escape!" He didn't get a response. So, he took a moment and pinpointed where Vader was which caused Galen's eyes to shoot open.
"PROXY turn the ship around Vader is still in the Temple." Galen's yelled and PROXY turned the ship around, but they were too late because as they turned around the Temple exploded and began to crumple.
"Vader! Master!" He screamed through their bond but was met once again with no answer. All Galen could do was watch the explosion and collapsing temple peter out before he finally broke out of his shock and moved PROXY out of the piloting seat and landing them near the once Temple. After they landed Galen lower the ramp before he ran outside to look at the destroyed structure with PROXY right behind him.
"Master, there is a low chance that the maker has survived." PROXY stated which caused Galen gritted his teeth. There was no way the man would die so easily. He couldn't believe it. Vader was too strong to die by a mere explosion and the rubble of a building.
"PROXY go back in the ship and keep it cloaked. I am going to look for him and I don't want anyone or anything attacking the ship." Galen commanded as he turned around and handed the droid the Holocron. "Also hold on to this." PROXY nodded his head and went back into the ship.
"You better not have died." He thought as he looked back at the destroyed structure before going to find a small opening.
Collapsed Temple
Vader woke with a groan and when his eyes opened he was caught off guard as he registered that his eyes were seeing differently, one dark and the other one seeing clearly. He blinked a few time wondering what was wrong with his mask before he remembered what had just happened. Malachor, Ahsoka, the Holocron getting taken, their fight, the damage to his mask, the collapse of the Temple, and Galen retrieving the Holocron. If Vader wasn't in more pain then usual he might have smiled in joy and rejoiced with the Force as he felt it all but sing with joy. Vader slowly stood up and glanced at his surroundings to try and find a way out but found that he was trapped under the temple.
"Great." Vader thought to himself before he began to walk but stopped after a few steps when he felt a limp in his stride which caused him to look down at his legs where he saw some damage had been done to his right cybernetic leg. This seemingly fueled Vader's annoyance of this planet but that did not stop Vader as he then began walking to find a way out.
After slowly limping for a couple minutes to find a way out he came to a sight he did not expect. He saw Ahsoka, laying on the ground with some rubble on top of her. Vader stopped and stared at his ex-padawan's state and stood contemplating what he was going to do. After a few moments he finally came to his conclusion of what he was going to do as he began to walk passed her. She had tried to stop him from getting his children back. So, he would leave her to die on Malachor. It would be her grave.
"My master abandoned me, and that's exactly what you did to her."
Vader heard the familiar feminine voice from behind him when he passed Ahsoka's body that caught him off guard causing him to stumble over some rubble and fall forward hitting the ground hard. Vader was dazed as he began to lose consciousness once again from the fall, but he knew that voice. It was a voice he hadn't heard since Ahsoka had left the Order. Vader finally lost consciousness once again when he remembered who it was.
Ventress.
He had finally tracked down the Dathomirian Witch in the lower sectors of Coruscant, it had taken a little time, but she hadn't left the sector that she and Ahsoka had been on which was good. He looked down at her as she stopped for a moment. Anakin knew she had sensed him, so he jumped up to a higher ledge and waited for her to go into the alley he saw her heading to before dropping right behind her.
"Anakin Skywalker." Ventress stated plainly as he stood up from his drop.
"I know you are behind all of this." Anakin bitterly responded. Anakin was angry. This witch was putting Ahsoka through so much grief over something he knew she did.
"Prove it." Asajj responded before leaping up onto a ledge above. Still in anger Anakin ignites his lightsaber and begins to give chase. As he jumped to the upper level he expected to give chase only for her to swing on one of the poles and kick him sending him into the wall. She then kicked him in the face as he hit the wall. This only made his anger rise more. Ventress tried to punch him in the face only for Anakin to catch it and twist causing her to gasp in pain.
Anakin now having her in a hold swung his lightsaber only for her to jump out of his hold, over the strike and jump off the wall to land in front of him. Blinded by his anger he didn't realize or even question why she used the Force to grab two of the pole he had just sliced in half as weapons instead of using her lightsabers to fight him.
"Leave me alone." Asajj said in fear and out of breathe as she got into a defensive stance with the two poles. The duel went on for a second before she smacked him in the back with the pole and tried to escape by jumping up the ledges but Anakin to easily trailed her and meet her up there. Cutting the last of her weapon he used the Force to push her into the wall creating an indent in the wall. From being flung into the wall Ventress was staggered for a second on the ground and as she was on the ground Anakin took the opening. He used the Force to grab her and began choking her as he simultaneously pulled her throat to his cybernetic hand and began applying pressure.
"Tell me what happened." Anakin angerly demanded. Ventress was choking and gasping for air for a couple moments before Anakin released some of the pressure so she could answer.
"When I heard your little brat was on the run, I thought she might bring a large bounty." Ventress responded still strained from the pressure. Hearing her answer Anakin leaned her over the edge of the railing.
"Bounty?" Anakin asked as he brought his lightsaber to her neck to emphasize her to continue talking.
"I was going to catch your pet and turn her over to the authorities, collect whatever bounty was due." Ventress continued as she saw her previous answer hadn't sated his question. This answer started to cool his anger as he released his hold on her throat and turned off his lightsaber.
"What stopped you?" Anakin asked as Ventress began to cough and gasp to get air into her lunges for a few second.
"At first, I admit, I was just interested in the money and a little bit of revenge, but then I realized your fallen Padawan and I had a lot in common." Ventress answered still winded and catching her breath, but this only reignited Anakin anger.
"How dare you compare yourself to Ahsoka!" Anakin coldly responded to her, but this seemed to anger Ventress as she turned around and got into his face.
"It's true!" Angrily stating before her tone changed instantly from being angry to sad as she continued. "My master abandoned me, and that's exactly what you did to her." She then leaned on the railing and angrily spat. "You and your precious Jedi Order."
Anakin began to think. He hadn't abandoned Ahsoka, he would never abandon her, she was family. But Anakin couldn't deny that the Jedi Order had abandoned her, but he hadn't, and wouldn't. He would never abandon her.
Vader eyes shot back open as he brought his hand to his head. Another memory. If Vader was not in so much pain he knew he would have growled at the memory, but he was already tired as it was. So, once again he slowly stood back up this time using some rubble to get stable from the dizziness he was experiencing. After taking a minute for the dizziness to disappear he finally looked back at Ahsoka and he couldn't get the words that Ventress had said out of his head.
"My master abandoned me, and that's exactly what you did to her."
He sighed to himself for what he was about to do. Vader knew that he was going to regret it in the future.He then brought his right arm up and used the Force to push the rubble off her body and out of his way to reach her. Looking down at her he could see that her body was covered in bruises, scratches, and small wounds.
As he was looking at her his attention was caught by the shine of two cylinders to her right that he saw were her lightsabers. Using the Force, he brought them to his hand and took a second to look them over. He couldn't deny that she had not lost her touch in making her lightsabers before clipping them next to his own. Vader finally used the Force once more to lift Ahsoka up to him so he could carry her bridal style and began walking the original way he was heading.
After 10 minutes of walking and carrying her Vader was breathing heavily and found a rock to rest on for a moment. When he reached it he gently set Ahsoka down before he sat on the rock to steady his breathing. While this was happening Vader could only curse to himself that he was running low his purified oxygen and he knew he needed to get back to his ship to get the emergency supply of oxygen that it carried.
After a few moments of rest Vader reluctantly stood up and was reaching down to pick Ahsoka back up when he heard the hissing of a lightsaber cutting through the wall of rubble to his right. Turning swiftly having been caught off guard by it he summoned his lightsaber and ignited it and watched as a blue lightsaber continued to cut a hole in the wall. Vader began thinking that the rebels had come back for Ahsoka and got ready to strike when he saw the lightsaber finish cutting the hole and the piece of wall fell over with a loud thud. Fortunately, when Vader saw his apprentice walk through the hole he turned off and put away his lightsaber.
Unbeknownst to Vader, Galen had been searching the temple for almost a half an hour looking for him. Galen hadn't been able to sense him either since the collapse of the Sith temple had been messing with his ability to sense anything and became aggravated with not finding Vader. So, he begun making holes in some of the rubble walls to try and finds Vader and after 10 minutes of doing so Galen finally came upon and found the Sith Lord.
"Are you alright…" Galen began to ask but trailed off when he saw the unconscious form of Ahsoka laying on the floor behind Vader before gesturing to her. "Who is that?"
"I will explain later, we need to leave." Vader answered quickly before he saw a look of surprise appear on Galen and for a second Vader was confused before realizing that it was his voice. This was the first time Galen had heard his real voice and not the one of his vocoder.
"Pick her up, we are taking her with us." Vader ordered breaking Galen out of his shocked state. A look of discomfort flashed across Galen face. He had never spoken to a women since his mother and most certainly had never touched one and for a second he stood there before slowly nodding and awkwardly picking the Togruta up bridal style.
"Follow me, I can lead us out." Galen said as he walked around Vader and back through the hole. It took them 15 minutes to traverse through the collapsed temple before they made it out. When they exited the temple and came into sight of an open area Vader watched as the Rogue Shadow decloaked and the ramp began lowering and when they got closer he saw PROXY at the top of the ramp.
"Master it looks like you found the maker, and it looks like you brought someone else." PROXY stated which Galen nodded to the droid as both master and apprentice walked into the ship and toward the med bay. When they entered Galen set Ahsoka down on the bed before the medical droid began looking over her. Vader sat in a chair across from her before Galen came and stood next to him.
"Who is she?" Galen finally asked after watching the droid work on the Togruta before a silence fell over the two with Vader's full attention being on the woman that they had brought.
"She was once my padawan, when I was a Jedi." Vader stated which caused Galen's eyebrows to shoot up in surprise before he quickly schooled his features. He was about to ask another question before PROXY walked into the medical room and straight to Galen before he handed him the Holocron.
"Here you go master, I kept it safe and sound." PROXY stated.
"Thanks PROXY." Galen said. PROXY nodded happily to Galen before leaving the medical bay and before Galen turned back to Vader the man had already raised his hand to use the Force as the Holocron then flew straight into Vader's hand before he stared at it. As Galen watched Vader merely stare at the artifact he was about to ask why it was so important, but an alarm went off. Neither wasted any time as both master and apprentice headed toward the cockpit to check what was happening
"PROXY, what is that alarm about?" Vader questioned the droid when they reached the cockpit and saw him looking over the scanners.
"There seems to be a ship leaving Malachor, and it's Imperial." The droid stated which caused Vader's only visible eyebrow to rise. The only Imperial ships on this planet were his own and the Inquisitors who were all dead, but Vader's visible eye then narrowed after a moment of contemplation of the only other person on Malachor who could have taken it. The parasite.
"Maul." Vader coldly stated. "PROXY, is the homing transmitter on the ship still active." Vader asked but unfortunately he saw the droid shake his head no. The resolution that Maul had once again escaped his grasps and lived to fight another day had Vader's fists begin to clench in anger.
"PROXY, what about the secondary transmitter, is it still active onboard?" Galen asked which broke Vader out of his thoughts and had him look at his apprentice wondering what he meant. It took Vader a few moments of thinking before remembering what he was talking about.
"Secondary transmitter master? I have never heard of an Imperial ship with one." PROXY asked.
"You're right PROXY. No Imperial ship has them except for the Inquisitor's fighters. Four months ago, I ordered Noghri to place a secondary transmitter that I could remotely activate in each Inquisitor ship so that in future I could send Galen to dispatch them." Vader answered before giving the droid the code. After a moment of inputting code, a dot showed up on the map showing the transmitter was working and Vader observed the scanner easily able tell that Maul was in hyperspace already having left Malachor before turning off the tracker. Good, in the future they could track him and finish him. Vader finally walked away from the scanner and sat in the pilot's seat of the Rogue Shadow before starting it up. *3*
"Galen I am taking us to my ship where I am going to contact Palpatine." Vader stated as the ship began lifting off toward the crust of Malachor. "Where I am going to inform him of what occurred here and request time off to recuperate from my injuring. After I end the transmission I am going require PROXY to come and take my place and holoprojected himself as me and fly my ship back to Mustafar." Vader continued as the ship passed the crust. "While the two of us figure out where my son is while we are traveling to Mustafar in the Rogue Shadow." Galen still confused one how the Sith Holocron was going to help them find Vader's son nodded his head in acknowledgement of the plan.
Vader found his ship instantly already landed on the crust of Malachor and landed near the ship before getting out of the pilots chair and hobbling out of the Rogue Shadow and to his ship. While walking he grit his teeth from the increased amount of pain than he was used to. From his cybernetics right leg and left arm, he could feel many wires fried, his mask was broken which was making him struggle to breathe.
When Vader arrived at the Tie Advanced he jumped onto the ship before using the Force to open the hatch that lead into the cockpit. He then dropped into the seat of the chair and saw that his comm had been called once already. Already knowing who it was he recalled the Emperor. A minute later the Emperor answered, and Vader unable to kneel in the ship bowed his head down to Palpatine.
"Lord Vader it seemed you did survive; I was worried you had perished on Malachor." Palpatine asked in what Vader knew was mock concern.
"Forgive me master, the Temple had exploded, and I was trapped." Vader stated as he raised his head to look at Palpatine and saw him nod his head in acknowledgement.
"Did you complete your mission Lord Vader? Did Maul die? And did you retrieve the Holocron?" Palpatine asked.
"Maul was unfortunately able to escape, and the Inquisitors had all died before I had arrived with the Holocron being unfortunately taken by the boy." Vader answered and took a pause as he felt the anger radiate off Palpatine from his 'failure'. "But the apprentice of Skywalker shall no longer cause us anymore trouble, my master." Vader stated which he felt surprise come from Palpatine which caused a small silence to form between the two before Vader heard clapping coming from the hologram.
"Good, you have done well Lord Vader. Are you certain that she has perished?" Palpatine questioned more pleased than angry now.
"She will never cause us any trouble again, Master." Vader stated as he looked straight into Palpatine's eyes which caused Palpatine to form a sickly smile.
"It seems that once again you have proven your loyalty and priorities to me, Lord Vader." Palpatine complimented Vader.
"Master, I require time to recover, my suit and I were injured from the explosion." Vader asked before Palpatine took a moment to look him over.
"Yes, take time to recover Lord Vader, I need you back to full strength once again to continue putting down these rebels." Palpatine ordered.
"As you wish my master." Vader answered and bowed his head once again before the transmission ended. After a minute of sitting there he sent two messages. Both to Thrawn the first to his Imperial comm and the second to his personal comm that Vader had given him. The Imperial one's message was standard of what had occurred while the personal one was all the information and why he was really taking time off.
After sending the messages to Thrawn he got out of the ship and began to make his way back to the Rogue Shadow. As Vader grew closer he saw PROXY depart from the ship before walking toward him. When the droid reached Vader the two both stopped as the droid began analyzing Vader's appearance. It took nearly no time at all after the analyzes before his advanced holoprojectors kicked in and Vader was looking at a mirror image of himself. Vader nodded to PROXY who nodded right back to him before making his way to the Tie Advanced while Vader entered the transport.
When Vader entered the cockpit, he saw Galen already in the piloting seat ready to take off before glancing out the front window to see the saw the Advanced also gone.
"To Mustafar then?" Galen asked looking toward Vader over his shoulder. Vader nodded before sitting down in a seat and watching Galen fly them off Malachor before he punched in the calculations to Mustafar for hyperspace and moments later making the jump.
"How are we going to find your son with that Holocron?" Galen asked after a few minutes of making sure everything was running well.
"With Holocron Fusion." Vader answered which caused Galen's face to scrunch up in confusion. "Go and get your Holocron and meet me in the training room. I will explain there." Vader said before he stood up and went to grab the Sith Holocron that he had left in the med bay. When he arrived, he came upon the sight of Ahsoka still resting and the med droid still working on her. After grabbing the Holocron Vader was walking toward the door before he stopped for a moment before turning back around to address the droid.
"How is she doing?" Vader asked.
"She will make a full recovery. The wounds were not very life threatening and the sedatives that you ordered me to give her are working as intended Lord Vader." The medical droid answered. Vader hmphed silently to himself before sending one last look toward Ahsoka before turning on his heels once again and headed toward the training room.
When Vader arrived, Galen was already waiting in the training room for Vader, Holocron in hand. While Galen had been waiting for Vader he was theorizing what this Holocron Fusion could do. Obviously by its name they would be fusing together both a Sith and Jedi Holocron but to what affect he didn't know. His thinking was ended when the door opened, and Vader came straight in. When Vader walked in once again Galen had to keep himself from reacting strangely from the weird sight of seeing half of Vader's face.
"Holocron Fusion by its name is the fusion of both a Jedi and Sith Holocron. Though what occurs from the Fusion is an anomaly. By Fusing them together it causes a nexus in the Force itself where we can seek out knowledge, while not given an exact answer we should be able to pinpoint where my son is located." Vader stated. Galen's mouth fell open in shock. To be able to create a nexus in the Force and gain knowledge just like that was unheard of.
"The ancient text states that the individual with the Sith Holocron asks the question and the answer is retrieved by the person who uses the Jedi Holocron." Vader said before walked a few feet away from Galen before quickly adding. "There was also a warning. If the Holocrons are not pulled away at the near the exact time they will explode and all knowledge they had on them will be lost." Galen nodded understanding the warning. They both stared at each other before they both brought their respective Holocrons in front of one another.
While Galen had no trouble with what he was about to do Vader was a little skeptical how this was going to work with the Sith Holocron. Unlike Jedi Holocrons who only have interactive holograms to help the user learn and use it a Sith Holocron had a gatekeeper. A gatekeeper unlike the interactive holograms of the Jedi Holocrons were not merely recording but were usually a copy of the consciousness of the Sith who made it. Vader had found a few Sith Holocrons and met a few gatekeepers who sometimes needed to be persuaded to cooperate in his time as Palpatine apprentice but the power of them paled in comparison to the power he felt from this Holocron.
Vader and Galen began to slowly push their Holocron toward the other and began opening them. It surprised Vader since he could feel the gatekeeper's strength in the Holocron, but it seemed to be watching them in curiosity and not pushing back. Vader shelved the thoughts of the gatekeeper away to investigate later when the Holocrons finally touched and a great light formed. Both master and apprentice could feel the power coming off the now formed nexus and after a few second after it formed the light seem stop growing brighter.
"Where is my son?" Vader asked after it had fully formed and watched as the nexus reacted to his question with the light beginning to brighten even more. Vader saw nothing, only oblivion but when he looked up from the Holocrons to look at Galen he could tell that his apprentice was seeing something.
"What are you seeing." Vader asked with evident desperation in his tone. Galen though could not give answer as wasn't able to see anything as he was still searching for the answer.
"I see…I see sand, lots of sand?" Galen said bewilder after a few minutes of searching. Galen could not comprehend what he was experiencing. It was like he was transported and was on another planet taking in the surrounding. While Galen was experiencing this Vader was seething in anger. His answer was sand! No that couldn't be it. There were hundreds if not thousands of planets and moons with sand on it that it didn't make any significant impact on the search.
"Go deeper, you must find more!" Vader barked at Galen who nodded his head as he began to go deeper into the nexus and more and more became clear.
After a few minutes of walking in the sand and looking around Galen in the distance saw moisture evaporators materialize and the sky light up and brighten. Also, in the distance a house materialized a hundred feet away.
"I think I am on farmland. There are evaporators spread out for miles and there is a house that looks to be made of…pourstone I think." Galen told Vader as he grew closer to the house.
"Is there anything else you can see on the homestead or the planet, evaporators and a pourstone house is common among dry sand planets." Vader asked needing something more to go on than that. Galen went to the edge of the crater and leaned on his left leg on the edge before peering inside the cratered courtyard. Only to see nothing of significance.
"I don't see anything else." Galen said before looking up to watch the sun setting. "Only the sun setting…wait" Galen said as he watched the sun setting but more importantly the twin suns set. "The planet has twin suns. I am watching them set right now." The last fact caused Vader's mouth to thin. There was a possibility it was that planet, but Obi wan would not think to hide there. Would he? *4*
"No there is nothing else here. This planet is barren and has nothing of interest." Galen said shaking his head as he began to walk away from the sunset. "It's a great place to disappear. There are no landmar…" But before he could finish he felt his foot kick something hard that wasn't sand on the ground. Looking down he saw a small piece of stone that didn't belong and was covered in sand. "Wait, I found something, a stone…" Galen used the Force to push away the sand. "No wait there are four stones hidden in the ground."
Galen kneeled next to the farthest stone to the left and ran his fingers against it. They both were confused on how this could help them before Galen remembered something like this on Kashyyyk when burying the dead.
"I think they could be headstones, let me try and see their names." Galen said. He stood back up so he could see the names when they hopefully rose as he began going even deeper into the nexus. As he went deeper he grit his teeth together. It was becoming harder and harder to go deeper but pushed on as the headstones began to rise slowly.
"The four names on the headstones are Gredda Lars, Lef Lars, Shmi S Lars and Cliegg Lars." Galen said before looking around the homestead once more to see nothing new. "There is nothing else I can see. This is all I can find, and it doesn't really give us anything to go off."
Unknown to Galen, Vader had stopped listening to him speak after the boy had said Shmi S Lars. Obi-wan had hid on Tatooine! It was like hiding in plain sight. The planet that Vader avoided just as much as Naboo, and he had also hidden Luke with the Lars, his own stepfamily. This angered, confused, and relieved Vader all at the same time.
He was angered that Obi-wan would hide on Tatooine, but he was confused that he hid the boy with his stepfamily instead of training the boy to be a Jedi. Most importantly this relieved him because his son may not hate him not have been trained to be a Jedi to kill him. It also added to the confusion that he had about why Kenobi had given Leia to the Organa family and not trained her at all, but their mistake would lead to Vader finding his family once again.
Unfortunately for Vader before he could respond to Galen his mind drifted back to his mother's grave which flooded him with memories once again.
Anakin was standing there listening to Cliegg speak about his mother as the six of them stood at her grave. Unfortunately, he couldn't focus enough to hear the exact words, he could only register sounds were coming from the man since of all Anakin's focus was on the grave of his mother. When he heard Cliegg finally stop he knew what he was going to do. Having decided it earlier before he slowly walked to her grave.
When he reached the grave Anakin stood there for a second before falling to his knees. As he looked on he picked up some sand in his hand before looking at it. He didn't want to have this happen again. Never again. He never wanted to have to bury anyone he cared about again. He had promised to come back and save her, but he had failed.
"I wasn't strong enough to save you, mom. I wasn't strong enough." Anakin's voice cracked trying to fight off the emotions that he was feeling as he paused to regain control of himself.
"But I promise." Anakin said as he let go of the sand that he was holding releasing it back onto Tatooine. He wouldn't fail another promise. Not again. "I won't fail again."
While this was happening, Vader was losing focus on the Holocron Fusion which was affecting Galen while he was inside the Nexus. It was shaking inside of his vision that caused him to stumble to the ground. It took him a second to realize what was happening.
"Vader you are losing control. The nexus is breaking!" Galen yelled out and got no reply trying again he yelled louder. "MASTER!" This finally shook Vader of his memory as he regained his composure quickly which stabilized the nexus.
"What happened?" Galen asked when he stood back up in the stable nexus.
"I lost control for a second. I am…sorry." Vader quietly said which had Galen go rigid. Galen had never heard Vader apologize ever. "But that doesn't matter anymore I know where my son is. Exit the nexus." Vader finished with his strength in his voice returned. Galen not sure how he knew where his son was but complied quickly not wanted to find out what would happen if the nexus broke with him so deep into it and began leaving it. Slowly the vision he was in began to disappear starting with the headstone, second was the sun, third the house, fourth the evaporators and finally the sand he was standing on disappeared leaving him to stand on nothing. He closed his eyes while in the darkness once and when he opened them he found himself back in the ship once again across from his master.
"Begin to pull away in 5 seconds." Vader said after seeing Galen open his eyes. Galen nodded to Vader and after five seconds the two began to slowly withdraw the Holocrons from each other. As the two Holocrons withdrew from each other the light instantly dissipated. When two Holocrons landed back in each of their respective hands Galen looked up into Vader's eyes curiosity evident in his stare.
"My son is on the last planet I would ever want to visit again, he is on Tatooine." Vader stated answering the Galen unanswered question. Galen looked at Vader strangely from how he had described the planet.
"So, master what are you going to do now?" Galen asked. Vader closed his eyes and thought. He long ago put in place a plan to "kidnap" his daughter. But obtaining his son seemed easier. Thinking for a couple minutes an idea struck him and he opened his eyes again to look at Galen who was staring at him waiting for the answer.
"After we arrive at Mustafar you will go and retrieve my son." Vader gestured to himself. "Seeing how I need to recover I will give you the coordinates of where he is so you can retrieve him. After you will meet up with the team that will extract my daughter." Vader stated. Galen nodded his head seeing as retrieving Vader's son could be an easy task.
"This team that is retrieving your daughter have I met them?" Galen asked.
"No, this group of clones you have not met before. They are a group of clones that left the Empire a little after Order 66. They became mercenaries for a time before I nearly killed them but ended up sparing them and began hiring them to do jobs for me. While they don't directly work for the Empire they do jobs for me and the Empire at times and work often with Commander Cody who is their unofficial liaison. They are the most dangerous clones made and are the most dangerous squad of clones out there." Vader answered which got Galen curious. He had met Cody before and worked with him on a few occasions. *5*
"Does this clone squad have a name?" Galen asked knowing that clones had names for their squads or batches as they called them. Vader nodded his head as he thought about the first time he had met the squad. When he had first met this squad of clones he first saw them as disorganized but after working with them he came to understand why they were so efficient having nearly a 100 percent success rate. They were random and used unique and unseen style to win fights. The clones squad like himself came up with on the fly strategies to confuse their opponents and not make them predictable.
"Yes, they are called the Bad Batch." Vader answered before leaving Galen in the training room to the medical bay so he could plug in the oxygen concentrator machine into his suit to regain control of his breathing.
When Vader entered the med bay he set the Holocron down to the side and sat down next to the oxygen concentrator before plugging it into his suit and turning it on. When it turned on he felt the instant blast of oxygenated air and after a few moment of it he began to breath normally once again. He glanced at Ahsoka still sedated and resting in peace on the bed before he turned back around and closed his eyes to meditate as he waited for them to arrive to Mustafar. Behind Vader and unseen to him the Holocron lit up on its own.
Inside the Holocron
"How interesting." The gatekeeper said as it watched as the Sith Lord began meditating before turning its gaze toward the sleeping Togruta. The gatekeeper had expected to be taken by that Jedi to the Force knows where. She was originally going to corrupt the Jedi's mind and toy with the boy seeing how he was very uninteresting but that was before she ended up with this Sith Lord and his apprentices. Before she witnessed a nexus be artificially be made. Before she began to take actual interest in these force sensitives.
All three of their presences were strong in the Force but the strongest was the half man half machine Sith Lord. She could sense that he didn't have all his limbs and yet his power dwarfed those of the Jedi and the Dark side acolytes she had sensed with only the man's apprentices being close to his power.
Yet it was this same line of thought that led her to help Darth Tanis when she had found this Holocron and after learning it had been nearly 2000 years since the Holocron had been used. Where the gatekeeper had taught and given Tanis all her knowledge of how to destroy the Force. Which in the end led to Darth Tanis's betrayal by making the superweapon to destroy only the Jedi and not the Force itself and led to the firing of the weapon prematurely which led to the Holocron once again being lost until now. Once again the gatekeeper did not know how long it had been lost and forgotten.
However, the power of the Sith Lord intrigued her to no end. She had never felt so much power in a single individual ever, not in an enemy or any of the countless padawans she had. All her most important apprentices had caught her eyes somehow like with Tanis who had caught her eye because of having similar their ideologies about the Force were. This one caught her eye because of his vast power but it wouldn't be the first time that this happened. The last time the power of one had caught her eye the gatekeeper had nearly died. So instead of calling out to the Sith Lord the gatekeeper would wait to see what he did and if he wanted to know her power.
"Let us see what you shall do Dark Lord." The gatekeeper said to herself and watched on as the Sith Lord continued to meditate.
Author's Note: Hello everyone Happy New Year to you all. Sorry it took so long to finish got stuck on how to write some of my scenes. Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter I think it turned out good. Also, I wonder who the gatekeeper of the Holocron is hmmm. A new addition is that the timeline of this story has now been removed from all previous chapters and will always be the last chapter of the story and updated with each chapter. Thanks for all the nice comments on my last chapter I am happy a lot of you guys enjoyed it. If anyone wants to pm me questions or suggestions about the story I will always answer them.
To answer asonia99 question, yes the pairing for Leia is going to be Han. I am sorry if that makes you leave the story, but I enjoy their chemistry together. I am though surprised asonia99 that you dislike Han. I don't think I have ever found someone who disliked the character before and would really like to know why you do. (If it is because how Disney made him a bum I can totally understand that. When I saw Force Awakens I found that totally dumb since for years fans knew Han as a Father who was really caring to his kids from Legends.)
The other pairings for Luke and Galen for this story have already been decided as well and will be announced later. The pairings that I plan for Galen and Luke I think are interesting, but others may not find them that way. Their usual pairing are always seen coming from a mile away since they are always so basic so I kind of want to put my own spin on them. Fingers crossed you guys don't hate them. But fandoms are toxic so I am bracing myself.
This will not be an Anisoka story. I don't really like that ship since I see them as siblings. But I don't and won't belittle people who do. The same reason I wont belittle people who like the sequels of star wars. I hate them but people are allowed there opinion and shouldn't be looked down because of it. I won't pairing Vader with anyone. He belongs with Padme in my opinion.
If anyone is wondering why Vader/Anakin is having so many memories I took the thought of them from the latest Star Wars Vader comics that started last year. Where he went and visited places and memories of his past that occurred there would flash and remind him of the past.
I saw some people were checked my profile, so I plan to add something soon after this is posted with a small description about myself and likes and dislikes and what not with my opinions on something if anyone is interested.
Question for any other writers out there, how do you get in the mood to write? Because when I write this story specifically, I put on some of the 3 hour or 1 hour star wars music and ambiences in the background to help focus me on the style of star wars.
Anyway, stay safe everyone in these crazy times and May the Force Be With You.
Next Chapter Working Title: The New Hopes
Notes:
*1* A flame beetle is the explosion beetle on Kashyyyk from the Fallen Order which I found were a great comparison that Galen could make with Vader since he grew up there.
*2* Like how Ahsoka and Anakin landed in the episode on Geonosis when they jumped off the exploding wall. Episode called Landing at Point Rain in season 2.
*3* End of chapter 8 of this story.
*4* Yes I had Galen looking at the twins suns in the iconic scene from A New Hope when Luke looks up at the suns setting. I thought it would be a good visual for the scene.
*5* This gives me flexibility with the Bad Batch to use the show in my cannon or not when the show comes out this year.