Obi-wan Kenobi found himself in a sort of dream space, surprised and dismayed that he had not been able to merge his mind with the Force. He'd hoped to say his piece and be gone, adding his death as the punctuation to his final entreaty to Anakin. But he was still alive, and very much separated from his body, which, for now, meant he was still bound to this universe. He was more and less than a Force ghost now. He suspected Vader would pull him back into consciousness at some point, but until that moment he would float free.
He had to see Luke, he decided, and in an instant he was watching the boy train with his pilot comrades on Home One. Obi-wan had hoped Luke would be able to connect with Kanan Jarrus, but a mere thought of the man in this state supplied the knowledge that he had already become one with the Force. Obi-wan hadn't known to mourn the man, though a small part of him envied Kanan his freedom.
There was another being, one who might be able to hear him in this state, and thinking of her pulled him through space to an abandoned-looking house, in a bombed-out village on a deserted planet. In one corner of the room was a pallet, and there Ahsoka Tano sat in meditation.
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Ahsoka Tano could not pinpoint the disturbance in the Force, except to think it was a sort of misalignment. Something terrible that was fated to happen had not happened, and the fates of many beings were disturbed.
She could barely sense Erza Bridger, which was worrisome. He'd been a bright spot on the periphery of her vision ever since their adventure on Malachor. It had bonded them somehow, but now, though she knew he still lived, he was painfully, unspeakably distant. She couldn't understand it and she genuinely wasn't sure if she'd meet him again.
Her former master's presence, too, was always on her mind. He was the opposite of Ezra, livid darkness, moving with brutality through the lives of the beings he encountered. She'd taught herself to ignore it. What choice did she have? After Malachor she'd known Anakin was lost. She'd fought him, and though she'd pierced his armor, all she'd seen beneath it was a Sith Lord. No, that wasn't quite true. There had been a moment, when he'd asked her why she'd left him behind, when she had seen Anakin. But then he'd been swallowed back up by the rage and self-pity of Darth Vader.
Hope is not yet lost, Ahsoka. A painfully familiar voice cut through her meditation, bringing her to full consciousness and tears to her eyes.
"Obi-wan?" She asked aloud, to the empty room on the empty planet where she had made her camp. There was no reply but the wind.
She sighed standing up began carefully considering where she should go next, deciding that too many months alone might well be driving her into insanity.
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Home One was a veritable flurry of activity. Luke had been sleeping, but the charge of widespread excitement had stirred him.
He pulled on his flight suit and staggered into the corridor that connected him to the rest of the ship. He tried Breha's door, but for once she seemed to be absent.
He followed the sense of excitement to the canteen, where a larger than usual number of people can congregated and were talking excitedly. He located Biggs, and squeezed his way through to his friend.
"What's happened? Has the emperor died?" Luke quipped.
Biggs grinned, "Ha, I wish. No, we got a call on an old frequency and we're coming out of Hyperspace to pick up Fulcrum. Or at least, one of the Fulcrums."
Luke frowned, "What's a Fulcrum?"
Biggs smiled even more broadly, "An agent of the Alliance. Some of them are moles in the Empire, but this one is something else, I think. People are saying it's a Jedi!"
Luke's heart leapt painfully, "A Jedi is coming to Home One?"
"Well actually we are picking them up, somewhere on the edges of the Outer Rim. Want to come to the docking bay and see if we can catch a glimpse?"
"You know it!" Luke replied, hoping desperately that the Force had sent an answer to his prayers.
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Leia dreamed of a blond haired boy of her approximate age, with ice blue eyes and an easy smile. He was utterly unfamiliar to her, but the ship whose corridors he traversed was extremely familiar, Home One, the flagship of the Alliance.
That startled realization brought her awake with a jolt and she found she was kneeling in meditation in the center of her cell.
Had that been a dream or a vision? She'd been meditating as much as possible for days. Vader had been completely absent, which was something of a blessing. So long as regular meals kept appearing, she could do without his overbearing presence.
She shivered suddenly as if a cool wind had passed through the room, which was, of course, impossible in a starship. Then the door locks released and Vader was revealed, which explained the chill.
She got to her feet, wrapping her arms around herself, as if to get a little bit of protection from the man's masked gaze.
"You have had a breakthrough." Vader informed her.
"I have?" She asked, dumbfounded.
"You channeled the Force, did you not know?"
Leia shrugged, "I had a dream is all."
"It was a vision. Tell me." Vader commanded.
Leia hesitated, "I think it was just a dream."
Vader stepped forward into her cell, his large frame seeming to fill the entire space. He reached out a hand and pulled her chin up so she was forced to stare up into his mask. "You must tell me."
Leia felt unexpectedly lightheaded, and the words came out of her mouth without forethought or hesitation. "I saw Home One."
She was released from Vader's hold and stumbled back onto her bed. "What did you just do?"
"A mind trick." Vader rumbled.
Leia rubbed at her temples. "You read my mind?"
"I compelled you to speak." Vader corrected as though he had every right to read her mind. "A useful tool for maneuvering the unwary."
Leia scowled. "Fine, I dreamed of Home One. But before you do that again let me tell you, I didn't see anyone I know, and I certainly have no idea where the ship is or any pertinent information about the Alliance."
Static came from Vader's mask. Was he laughing at her? "Indeed? What did you see, young one?"
"A blond kid with blue eyes. He seemed really happy about something. That's it."
Vader hooked his thumbs into his belt, as he did sometimes. "It is progress. You must continue your meditations, but do not think to hide your thoughts from me."
Leia blinked, "That was real?"
More static. "Yes." Vader affirmed, "But you must understand that the Force grants visions not only of the present, but also the future."
Leia shivered, she didn't like the sound of that. If Vader had visions of the future, then did her free will even matter?
"Continue your meditations, young one." Vader repeated. "You are beginning to awaken to the Force, progress will come swiftly now."
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All Luke and Biggs had been able to see was a tall cloaked form exit an ancient looking shuttle, and disappear into a crowed of high level officials.
That had been two days ago, and he hadn't been able to learn much from the shipboard gossip, except that yes, it was, indeed, a Jedi and the Jedi was female.
He tried the chime at Breha Organa's door and this time she opened it. She smiled warmly, "Are you alright, Luke?"
"Can I come in?"
Breha stepped aside to allow him passage and he realized she was not alone, a tall female of some unknown species sat on the far bunk, her head bearing montrals but not like a Twi'lek, and her orange skin marked with a white design.
"You're the Jedi." He breathed in a flash of insight, tears coming to his eyes as his emotions swelled and burst.
The Jedi smiled at him very kindly, "You must be Luke Skywalker. I've been looking forward to meeting you."
Breha led Luke to a seat next to the Jedi. She was quite tall, even while seated, and she radiated strength and peace. He wiped at his face furiously, hating to appear weak in front of the one person who could possibly help him reach his destiny.
"My name is Ahsoka Tano." The Jedi said peering at him with keen interest. "I think I'm supposed to be your teacher."
Overwhelmed Luke couldn't help it, he let more tears spill. "All I want is to be a Jedi like my father." He managed to say wetly.
Ahsoka Tano nodded, a sad smile on her face, "I'm sure you'll be a great Jedi, Luke."
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Vader's own meditation bore strange fruits, inchoate forms and colors that he could not place or even begin to interpret. Something had happened, something involving the Jedi, but that was all he could glean.
He used his data pad to check on Kenobi's health. He'd been in a medically induced coma for several days and his condition was indicated as stable. But Vader found he had little interest in reviving Kenobi. He rather liked the idea of his former master stuck between life and death, unable to merge with the Force, but incapable of reanimating his own body.
The girl, the late Leia Organa, was already showing signs of awakening. She'd channeled the Force, naturally, intuitively, in semi-conscious states and he suspected it was only a matter of time before she be able to do it deliberately.
She was special, on that point he agreed with Kenobi. As to the rest of Kenobi's nonsense about the eradication of the Sith and the triumph of the light side, well, Vader's life as Anakin Skywalker had been dominated by the issue of whether or not he was the Jedi's Chosen One. Now, two decades into the triumph of the Sith he found he did not put much stock for prophetic direction. He would train the girl in the dark side, she would become a Sith, and together they would wrest the Empire from Palpatine's shriveled claws.
He entered the girl's chambers again, pleased to find her meditating. She sensed him, that much was clear by the frown which lined her young face.
She opened her eyes and turned to him in an instant, "You feel like an icy wind."
"You could sense my approach?"
The girl nodded, "Sometimes I feel like I can see you, when you aren't here. I see a massive black sphere, and I know you are inside it, what is that?"
"My hyperbaric chamber." Vader supplied. When she gave him a confused look he spoke further. "I can only take off my helmet in a specialized atmosphere."
Leia stared at him, subtly calling on the Force to supply her with information. "You were injured?"
"Yes." Vader confirmed. He knew that many beings in the galaxy thought he wore his armor merely for effect. How much easier his life would have been if that were true.
An uncommon burst emotion rippled from the girl and her eyes got wet. "You were burned, terribly. I'm so sorry."
"Enough." Vader snapped. "Clearly your powers of insight have progressed, but I do not desire your pity or your compassion."
The girl sniffled just once, and then there were no more tears. "The emperor saved you from that fire planet?"
"Mustafar. Yes."
The girl nodded as if in understanding, "No wonder you are loyal to him."
Vader would not exactly have enunciated his feeling toward the emperor as loyalty, but something darker and more coerced, but he said nothing.
"Does he know about me?" She asked in yet another inconveniently insightful question.
"I have not discussed you with him, but he is strong in the Force. Perhaps he has sensed I have a new acolyte, perhaps not. We are quite far from the Core worlds, so he may not have noticed."
The girl blinked, her connection to the Force waning and she relaxed her posture and rubbed her legs which were no doubt stiff from days devoted entirely to meditation.
"What's next?" She asked plainly.
"I will teach you to move objects using only your mind."
For the first time, he saw her smile, and it disturbed him how the expression was both alien and somehow, unnervingly, familiar.