Legacy
Darth Vader lands his starship in the meadow. Etiquette dictates that he should go to the front door and knock, but Vader knows Rama is in the kitchen due to a small window. He doesn't even need to knock because Rama just opens the door. He's dressed in the traditional layers of Arkanisian servants with a veil obscuring his face. He looks like a bride attending her own funeral.
"Lord Vader," he began sweetly, "I wasn't expecting you today."
"I came to see Armitage." It was the only lie that he could come up with and it was partially true. His Master taught him the more truth in a lie the more believable it was.
"You came at a fortuitous time. He's just recovered from his…illness." Rama flicks his green eyes downward.
"Illness?"
"Armitage gets sick from time to time. He's certain that the rains have something to do with it, but I'm afraid it may be the fault of my mutant genes."
"How often does he get sick?"
"Nearly monthly, but he always recovers and forgets about it like children do." Rama's thin lips twist into a sad smile.
"And bacta doesn't help?"
"His body is quite resistant to it, so I have to rely on regular medicine and his immune system."
"Take me to him," Rama levelled him a cool look, and Vader then corrected his gaffe, "please."
Rama leads him through the small kitchen and into the yellow tiled hallways. It only takes them a minute to reach the nursery. Scenes of Naboo fairytales are rendered in soft pastels, while half the floor is covered in foam mats of Naboo's two writing systems. A little chest for toys is latched shut for the child is busy at the small table. His tongue sticks out from the side of his mouth as he scribbles in his little datapad. Rama knocks on the wooden door to get the boy's attention. He looks up and smiles toothily.
"Vader!" Armitage cried happily. He rushes over with his datapad in hand to the Dark Lord and hugs his mechno legs. "I missed you!"
"I missed you too." He rubs the top of the child's head, inwardly marveling at its softness. Armitage purrs very much like a contented pittin. At least he's making a Palpatine happy.
"My champion, how goes the search for your son?" his Master inquired as he examined his private garden. He halts before a bush of Malreaux roses, flowers so red that they were practically violet, and finds a withered head.
"He keeps eluding the probes and my agents, Master."
"His Jedi Masters and Rebel friends have taught him well." His Master cradles the blighted flower with one hand.
"I wish to know of his past, so I can find him."
"I once had a promising acolyte who could see in the distant past." His Master plucks the dead rose from the bush, allowing the thorns to catch his lithe fingers.
"What happened to him?"
"He was taken before his time." Blood wells from the minor cuts and drip onto the ground. The dark soil greedily absorbs the ruby droplets.
"Vader? Are you sick?"
"What makes you say that?"
"You've been petting me forever!" giggled the boy. Vader removes his hand and earns a datapad in his hand. "Please, read my letter!"
Vader brings the datapad up to his face and is faced with circles. He recognizes that the circles are Futhark, the formal writing system for Naboo. Padmé practiced the royal script whenever she had a chance to, even for a foodstuffs list. His Master employed it when making annotations to personal reports. Neither Anakin Skywalker nor Darth Vader have ever learned to read Futhark nor Futhork, the simpler writing system for the common Naboo.
"It is a letter," Vader managed. He can hear a smothered chuckle from Rama that reminds him of his Master's.
"I wrote it to The Great Dragon!"
"The Great Dragon?" Vader glances back to Rama.
"Brendol told him an origin story of The Great Dragon and that just kicked off Armitage's dragon craze," Rama explained and then looked at Armitage. "Why don't you tell him? And in Ancient Sith?"
"You're teaching him Ancient Sith at his age?"
"I want him to be multilingual." Rama explained with a wry grin.
"I'm still learning, so I'm sorry if it sounds bad!"
"I'm sure you'll do fine, sweetie," Rama soothed. "Now, begin."
The Lost Tribe of Sith were fighting in their final battle against a foe that they could not defeat. Nor will they ever, as the last Saber and her dragon soon realized. They flew back to their homeworld where the rest of the Tribe waited for the final judgement. When it was only her and her dragon that returned, the people knew that their time was up. And so, they put all their power into the dragon, so they could leave. The end.
"Is that all?" Vader asked the serious-faced child.
"I said the end. There's no more," Armitage replied with confusion slowly coloring his face.
"We're still working on his storytelling skills," Rama explained with a smirk. "Now, Lord Vader, you must pay the storyteller."
"With what?"
"I want green!" Armitage declared with a toothy grin.
"He means that he wants to see green things. It's been raining for weeks, making everything watery and muddy. How about you fly over Pii III? It's quite green at this time of year," Rama suggested.
"Father, can you send The Great Dragon my letter?"
"Of course, sweetheart."
Vader says nothing and watches the father-son embrace each other.
Armitage hates in threes. The first is rain since it makes him sick. The second is the sickness itself. The third is himself for being so weak. Hate leaves a bitter taste worse than any medicinal tea. Hate makes his head hurt more than any fever. He once asked his father how people can hold onto hate when it feels so bad.
"Sometimes, it's all they have."
It makes him sad to think about it.
"Are you comfortable?" Vader asked. Armitage sits on Vader's lap because he kept falling out of his seat even after Vader tightened the straps.
"You're like a new couch!" Except you're not covered in plasticine!
"Armitage, if you feel sick at any point during takeoff, please let me know. I can use the Force to make the sickness go away."
"Woah! Can you prevent me from being sick all the time?"
"No, I'm not a healer. I will just use the Force to keep your stomach contents from exiting your body."
Oh! I wish he were there when I puked that bantha steak. I thought it would be funny to eat sire's dinner, but I just puked all over the table! Father had to tell me that I had an allergy to mammalian meat which is all red meat. I ruined my father's lace tablecloth!
"Armitage, are you okay?"
"I will not throw up!" declared Armitage.
"I hope so," Vader replied. The ship finally goes up with a thunderous rumble. The drab, gray clouds give way to the indigos and purples of space. Thousands upon thousands of white stars swirl in the dark colors. Waterlogged Arkanis is nothing but a blue blip in the system. Soon, they will arrive at green Pii III.
I wonder if it's called that because the trees grow pies.
"Are you hungry?" Vader asked suddenly.
"Not now. Maybe when we get to the pie trees."
"There is no such thing as pie trees."
"How do you know? Father said the galaxy is vast and mostly uncharted, so maybe there's a world with pie trees!"
"…. I can't argue against such logic."
"Speaking of pies, what's your favorite pie?"
"I can't eat like you do."
"Why?"
"I was hurt a long, long time ago."
"Oh no! Did someone stick a sword through your throat!?" What if the sword was cursed and it made him hurt every time he talks!
"No!" Vader boomed. "Armitage, I don't want to talk about it. Just know that it left me wounded in more ways than one."
"Okay then," the little boy agreed, not wanting to hurt Vader. "I love you."
"What?"
"I love you. You could turn into a dragon and eat me; I'd still love you."
And for the rest of the flight, there is silence.
Anakin Skywalker enjoyed declarations of love. He loved declaring it openly for Padmé in the safety of her apartments or showing it in furtive touches when in public. He loved receiving it in her soft whispers or ruby-stained kisses. Love belonged to Anakin Skywalker.
Mustafar burned it right out of Vader.
His Master never uttered the words, but Vader read it in his rare touches. The most naked was when he was left for dead by Obi-Wan, and his Master arrived to save him once again. His touch was soothing against his dead skin.
His son is like him in that regard too. He rarely touches him, and Vader barely registers the lithe fingers due to the fleetingness, but he's nearly as gentle as his father if a bit cold.
Armitage is unlike them. His touches are constant, and mostly in the form of embraces. Right now, the little ginger hugs his arm with all the strength of his twiggy arms. He's warm, as his infrared vision shows him, and the Force confirms the sensation and reveals how much love the boy puts into his touches. Far more than Vader is used to.
Far more than I deserve.
Pii III's green world comes into view. Armitage makes excited noises as they enter the atmosphere.
His ship's sensors screech their warnings, while the Force aids him in missing the missile directed at the ship. Unfortunately, a second one hits the back of the ship, overloading the shields and staring a fire. Armitage screams as they go down in flames.
Winter arrives at 1138 Lumber Processing Plant for the shipment of intruder missiles, but she finds the missiles being equipped to every spare ship that could use them. Xenon "Xe" Nnaksta is the head of Greel Wood Logging Corporation in the Arkanisian sector and is an agent for the Rebellion; Xe should be able to explain what is going on. However, she can't find the Vodran scout anywhere amongst the chaotic stream of humans. She heads for the office overlooking the hangar bay and finds that another man is sitting at the desk. He's a balding, middle-aged man with paunch and giving orders over a comlink.
"Doctor Arkeld, what are you doing here?" I haven't seen him since his speech denouncing Palpatine at Aldera University. I thought one of the Emperor's agents killed him for that.
"Winter! I see you've survived too," he replied with a small, sad smile.
"And joined the Rebellion. Any particular reason you're ordering the armament of the missiles?"
"You've arrived on a momentous occasion! We shot down Darth Vader! He's dead!"
Her blue eyes widen with incredulity. There have been plenty of Rebel cells claiming this honor, only for it to turn out that the Dark Lord of the Sith survived and came after them with a vengeance.
"Where's the body then?"
"I'm sending a team to investigate the crash site."
"And you're going to send the X-Wings to bomb the crash site after the investigation?"
"Yes, and then to take Arkanis."
"There aren't enough ships for that!"
"That may be, but once the death of Vader has been confirmed. We'll broadcast it across the galaxy. It will crush Imperial morale and leave the Imps on Arkanis running around like headless cuckoo hens. We will bomb them into surrendering, and the Rebellion will have freed another world from Imperial tyranny," he concluded rationally.
Sithspit! He's gone mad if thinks that this is what the Rebellion needs right now! We need supplies and allies, not terrorist acts! Wait, I remember some of those Justice Action Network holos where they used his speeches a lot. Is he working with them? No, the Empire hunted them down and executed them after the bombing in the Tapani sector. He's probably what's left of them and has radicalized the people here to his cause. Did he dispose of Xe? JAN wasn't above getting rid of people who got in their way. I must get away and warn Leia about his insane plan, but I need to play along and earn his trust, so I can do that.
"It looks like you'll need some extra hands. I can help with the investigation."
"Good, you see the necessity of this. Kelsek, my Rodian lieutenant, will assist you."
"For the New Republic."
"For the New Republic."
Armitage opens his eyes and winces at the sun's brightness before noticing the verdant forest around him. The trees are taller than any tree he's ever seen at the manor, and he's certain that giants must live at the top of it, but he has no wish to find out if they do. He then sees Vader's arm still around him. He smiles and then looks back but finds no Vader. Just his arm in his lap.
Where's Vader? He wouldn't leave his arm behind. Oh no, we were falling! He must've fell apart! I hope he isn't in 500 pieces I'm not good with big puzzles.
He pushes the arm out of his lap, and it goes down with a solid THUNK.
I never realized how heavy his arm was. There's no way I can drag that while finding the rest of Vader. But I can't leave it in the open like that. A wild animal could steal it! Hmm, I'll disguise it with some sticks and leaves!
With that plan in mind, he hops off the high seat and lands with a wobble. He walks over the arm and scoops up an armful of the forest's broken sticks. He then drops the load onto the arm, but it doesn't even cover the fist. He does this several more times until the black leather gives way to dried greel needles and broken sticks.
Now, that's done! But where should I go? And how will I get back here? I can't use the sticks because they don't look any different from all the other sticks.
He sticks his hands in his pockets and finds a bit of white chalk. He remembers before Vader's visit that he drew on the manor's outdoor steps at the front entrance because he was sick of being inside. He smiles and decides to mark the trees with the chalk. The bark doesn't allow him to make any elaborate symbols, so he just made Vs in honor of Vader.
Winter finds Kelsek's presence to be unbearable. The Rodian is far more paranoid than his boss and refuses to let her out of his sight. She shakes her head at such needless paranoia. She has her comlink but knows that someone is monitoring the communications for the planet, so she wouldn't be able to get a comm out of there without alerting them.
And I can't just knock him out because his team consists of a Ranat, a giant rat-looking male with sharp incisors and powerful claws, and a burly logger that has a vibro-axe. This is clearly the crew expected to destroy what's left of Vader, but I doubt it will happen.
"KRIFF!" Kelsek swore and clutched his booted foot. The Ranat goes to him, leaving the logger to mind her.
"What's wrong?"
"Rik-tak, it's the pile!" he shouted, and the Ranat brushes the forest debris away to reveal a mechno arm covered in black leather. "Vader's arm!"
"Why would Vader hide his own arm? And why so poorly?" the logger inquired.
"Maybe it was too heavy for him to carry?" Rik-tak offered.
"Are you kidding me!? He's a pfassking machine!" The men devolve into bickering, so Winter decides to do her own investigation and goes to a nearby tree. She sees a white V towards the bottom of the tree's trunk.
No way in hells would Vader crouch this low to make that symbol. And why would he!? He's alerting his attackers that he's alive and able to move around! He couldn't have possibly made this, but then who did? Did he have a child with him? Why? Was he on some fetch quest to abduct another Force-sensitive child from a loving home?
She looks back and sees the trio still arguing over the arm. She knows how to make her footsteps quiet, a skill she acquired when Leia and she used to sneak out after bedtime to play in the forest. She follows the markings for almost three kilometers before finding the child making another mark on another tree. He's a small child, perhaps three or four, with wild red locks and freckled skin.
"Hello?" she said quietly as not to frighten the child. The child finishes his marking and then turns to face her. His eyes are as green as the forest around them.
"Hello. Who are you?"
"I'm," she pauses and wonders what false name to give the child before settling on a half-truth, "a princess."
"A princess?" He looks her up and down with his eyes lingering on her hair; he smiles. "I think I know which princess you are."
"Yes, well, what are you doing in the forest?"
"Looking for my friend."
"Are your parents helping you?"
"The Commandant is away, and father is at home."
One parent is a Commandant, which means they run an Imperial academy, and most likely male since I have yet to hear about a female commandant.
"Then who is watching you?"
"My friend, but he's in a bunch of pieces."
Ah, so he's the one who buried Vader's arm, and all the Vs are for Vader.
"Is your friend nearby?" Please, don't be.
"I found his arm but not the rest of him. I'm sure he's okay but probably mad about his ship getting blown up. It looked really expensive!"
"I bet your friend is trying to find you too." Or he's too severely injured to move. "It's better to stay in one place, so you can be found."
"But I told you he's in pieces!"
"Lower your voice, please, there are…bandits in the forest."
"Like Robin Wood and his Merry Men?" the boy whispered.
"I don't think so." I have no idea what he's talking about, but it sounds like a fairytale character. What thief calls their gang that?
"Are they bad people?"
"They probably weren't at the start, but hatred will make you lose your way."
"When you stare into the void, the void will stare back at you."
"Where'd you hear that from? A holofilm?"
"My father when I dream of the Shadow Man."
"The Shadow—" she stops when she hears the angry bellows of Kelsek's men.
"—we better go!" the boy whispered. They head deeper into the forest.
Vader wakes to a watery grave. He remembers the ship splitting apart, Armitage screaming, and then another damn missile. He used the Force to keep the boy safe as they crashed into the green world. Yet, from what he can make out with his mask's sensors, the boy is not with him, and he's relieved for a moment.
His suit's life support flashes a crimson warning.
He must leave and find Armitage.
The Force propels the ship's misshapen wing off his body.
He's missing his left arm, the one Armitage held onto so tightly, but the rest of his mechno prosthetics are still there. He will not die at the bottom of this lake.
The Force will keep him safe just as it did Armitage.
They did not make it far. The bandits found them after a dozen minutes and bound the princess with metal shackles. Unfortunately, Armitage was far too small for their bindings, so the Rat Man had to carry him. He wiggled all the way to the hideout that smelled like tree sap. The bandits separate them and take him up the long, metal steps to their boss's office.
The boss is not at all what he imagined. He expected a tall, muscular man clad in royal blue and wearing a stolen crown. Instead, the man looks like a schoolteacher with his patchy jacket and crescent-shaped glasses. He wears a jovial smile that would be fit for Robin Wood when he dismisses his goons.
"Good afternoon, I am Doctor Arkeld, and what is your name young name?"
"The Great Dragon." I will apologize to The Great Dragon for stealing his name when we meet.
"Hmm, you look quite human to me."
"That's because I've taken the guise of a boy!" Armitage hammed, causing the older man to guffaw.
"Ah, I see now. Why would a great dragon such as you are associate with an evil man like Darth Vader?"
"Vader's not evil." Armitage frowns and crosses his arms.
"He does evil things for the evil Empire."
"Empire? The God-Emperor's Empire?" Arkeld then repeats the title several times like he's trying to figure out if he's ever heard of it.
"I'm afraid not, though Emperor Palpatine fancies himself as one. You have never heard of the Galactic Empire?" Armitage shakes his head. "Well then, I shall educate you. The Empire came to be through Palpatine's destruction of the Republic, causing chaos and tyranny across the galaxy."
"If the Emperor is so bad, why don't the people stand up to him?"
"Many have tried and were killed. Do you know what the word means?"
"It means that they're dead and never coming back." He remembers the lion whose paws froze off and shivers.
"And do you know who killed them?"
"You're going to say Vader," he concluded with a scowl.
"I know you don't want to think badly of your friend, but he is a bad person. He hurts people for the Emperor's love."
Love? Does Vader have a husband? Or maybe the Emperor is his lover like father with sire! It's weird to imagine that Vader's love is a giant worm with a human face though.
"He will hurt you."
"No, he won't!"
"He will. It's what he's programmed for."
"He's not a—" Screaming interrupts him. It's from outside the office, and it's joined by blast sounds and the sharp scent of burning hair. Arkeld pulls a blaster from under his desk and aims it at the door.
"Child, you may want to stand behind me." But Armitage does not. He looks at the door, and it slides open to reveal Vader with a burning red blade.
"Vader!"
"Armitage, close your eyes and plug your ears," Vader ordered. Armitage does so. He doesn't see the doctor's death, but he certainly heard the sickening crack.
"You can open your eyes now." Armitage does so but dares not look back. He hurries over to Vader and is picked up with one hand.
"Vader, I know where your arm is. I'm so glad that you're mostly together. I'm not so good with big puzzles."
"I'm sure you'll get better with practice."
"And I've got plenty of glue at home, so we can stick your arm back on!"
"…That is a very kind offer." And they leave to retrieve Vader's arm on a stolen ship, but Armitage is certain that the bandits stole it, so it's not really stealing!
Given the destruction of his starship, Vader used one of the Rebel's BTL Y-wings as transportation. Armitage regaled him with his clever plan of hiding his arm and meeting the Moon Princess, but she had short hair for some reason and didn't have her magical brooch. The child didn't appear scarred from his kidnapping or from the dead bodies in the mill. Though he seems fix on a particular lion that died, but Vader found no lion at the mill.
Rama is waiting for them in the meadow. He holds up a black and white umbrella that shields him from the light rainfall. Armitage pouts when he notices the rain. Vader shields the boy with his cape as they get out of the ship until they reach Rama. Armitage then quickly joins his father under the umbrella and repeats their adventure. Rama takes it all with a small smile.
"Lord Vader, do you need help repairing your arm? Brendol has a forge by the cottage with tools."
"There is no need."
"I can get you some glue!" Armitage offered.
"I'm fine."
"Do you need anything else?" Rama inquired politely.
"Why…Why aren't you in your father's life?" Vader expects no direct answer for Rama is very much Sidious's son. Rama's green eyes darken, but the smile remains on his pale face.
"Because he doesn't want to see me." And Rama takes Armitage away, leaving Vader alone in the rain.
After his excursion with Brendol and the subsequent training with his squad, Luke finds Leia hunched over a datapad scrolling through it for something. He thinks about just leaving to her work, but he wants to know if she's found another lead to Han.
"Leia, do you need help?" he asked. She stops her search and turns her head in his direction.
"Unless you want to spend hours looking for a child."
"A child? Oh no, did Hera's kid get kidnapped!?"
"No, Luke, which is the good news. Winter survived her mission on Pii and came back with some security feed on Vader and an unidentified child. Vader killed an entire mill to get the child, but he also killed what was left of JAN."
"W-What!?" his voice went up an octave.
"Winter says the kid is cute but weird. Honestly, I think he's mostly skinny," she remarked. She plays a grainy security feed of Vader killing a mill full of people before heading up some metal steps to reach an office. A minute later, he's holding a child in his arms with his saber clipped to his belt. The child turns his head and looks at a camera. He's got a mop of bright hair in the blue and white recording and smiles goofily.
"Armitage!"
"Luke?"
"I know this kid!"
"How!?"
"I kissed his dad!"
"…"
Luke then spends about half an hour explaining to her how he knows the child and his kissable father. Afterwards, they would go to Mon Mothma about this, leaving out Luke's kiss and subsequent rejection, and then the pair would find out the father's full identity for there was only one red-haired Commandant with a known bastard: Brendol Hux of Arkanis.
Author's Comments- Here are the links:
Here is an image of Darth Vader's starship, which he received as a gift from Emperor Palpatine shortly after the Empire's rise: a href=" . /starwars/images/0/0a/Darth_Vader_first_ "Link/a
Here is an image of Winter. In Legends/EU, she was raised by the Organas alongside Leia and acted as Leia's sister and companion. She would often be confused as the Princess of Alderaan because she acted like how a proper princess should, while Leia was a rebellious tomboy. She would become Leia's aide during the Rebellion era and an intelligence officer. Eventually, she married Tycho Celchu who was an ace pilot in the Rogue Squadron and became Winter Celchu: a href=" . /starwars/images/6/60/Winter_-_ "Link/a
Here is an image of Doctor Arkeld who is one of the founders and the leader of JAN: a href=" . /starwars/images/1/17/Dr_ "Link/a
Pii III is one of Teeda's Eyes (like crown jewels in the system) and produces greel wood which is expensive wood and green there; it was used in James Luceno's Tarkin but there it was just known as Pii. Almost nine months elapse between ESB (sixth standard month of the sixth day at the start of film) and RoTJ (third standard month of the third day at the start of the film), and this is set during the twelfth month, so this is about six months after ESB and about three months from RoTJ, and it's happening around the same time as "Bright Obsidian" with the ending set after the story. There is still plenty of time for things to go horribly wrong. What's not going horribly wrong is Armitage's education because Rama is a Palpatine, and it's coded in his DNA to make sure his son is smarter than the average toddler.
JAN (Justice Action Network) was led by Earnst Kamiel in "The White Rose" story, but Doctor Arkeld is the actual leader of it. However, after Kamiel's re-capture and torture, JAN was hunted down and only a handful of them remain with Doctor Arkeld leading them. But now JAN is officially no more thanks to Vader. Also, now the Rebellion is aware of Armitage's existence. Yeah, things are about to get a whole lot more complicated.
Next possible one-shot: Emperor Palpatine hears of Vader's misadventure.