UP SHAK NEBULA By Kondoru

Standard Disclaimers.

Thanks to JP for Betaing.

Part Four. Bedtime Stories for the Force Sensitive. (Part One).

That night, Darth Vader told his children a new story. He looked about himself. "I'm wondering if I should really be telling you such a grim tale in the dark." Darth Vader paused. "For it's a very Dark Side tale….The story of the Rakata."

Leia gave a grim smile. "As dark as our Father?"

The old Sith shrugged. "Unlike me, the Rakata felt no remorse."

Leia gave a cynical gesture. Luke nodded. "If we are to live on their world…We need to know them." He looked about himself as if he saw a Rancor lurking. "You are right, this planet has a Force presence…And not only that, I can feel its dark beginnings."

"Very well." Vader paused. "Our story starts, a long time ago…Probably about fifty thousand years though I am not sure. It starts with the Celestials….The Celestials created many different species, the Kwa, for wisdom, The Gree for technology, Gammoreans for strength, Hutts for endurance, Ugnaughts for mining, Iktochi for foretelling, humans for exploring, Twi'leks for adaptability, Mirulakans for dark places, Togruta to hunt monsters and the Rakata. The Rakata were warriors, but they were also Force sensitives."

"Who are the Celestials?" Asked Luke.

"The Celestials are a very mysterious people." His Father told him. "They were the earliest civilisation we know of, and a people very strong in the Force. Some say they are the Guardians of the Whills, the people who know the most about the Force."

"Are they gods?" Asked Leia.

"I have no answer to that." Darth Vader said. "Certainly whenever a mysterious construct is found, it is ascribed to the Celestials….The Celestials may be worshipped as gods…But they are a natural part of the Galaxy…It is said they became one with the Force…Which is why we do not encounter them today."

"So they became gods?" Leia prompted.

"Maybe you should ask a priest?" Darth Vader said cheerily.

"Daaad…You are a priest." Luke pointed out.

Leia shook her head sadly. The Jedi were indeed part of the Alderaani priesthood. She wasn't exactly sure the Sith were though.

"Yes maybe." Darth Vader decided not to pursue that line of enquiry. "Anyhow, back to the Rakata." He shrugged. "The Rakata are an amphibious race, though they do not spend as much time in the water as a Mon Calamari or Nautolan." Darth Vader looked thoughtful. "They are not nice people at all. Completely lost in the Dark." He laughed. "Unlike me."

Leia bowed her head. She could say nothing to that. Both of his children knew that their father was very much still the Sith.

"The Rakata were the first people to form a Galaxy spanning civilisation. They called it the Infinite Empire…Infinite egos methinks. They invented many of the technologies we take for granted." He gave a deep breath, ready to deliver a long list. "Things like Hyperdrives, energy shields, star maps, Lightsabres, Droids, Holocrons…"

"What is a Holocron?" Asked Luke

"It's a…" And Darth Vader looked a little confused. He had taken holocrons pretty much for granted and up until then, had not realised that his children might have never heard of them. "Holographic Chronicle. A crystalline device used to record the knowledge of a Force sensitive. Very valuable…But only openable by a Force sensitive." He said. "I have several in my Castle. I hope one day to be able to show them to you…And to teach you how to make them." He nodded thoughtfully to himself. "…3D printers, Statis fields, Teleportation…"

"Teleportation? That's just science fiction." Leia said.

"I have no idea. This is what I was told." Her father replied. "It sounds like sf to me. Do you want me to continue with the list?" The Twins nodded. "…Truth serums…"

Leia gave a wry look at her father.

"…Cloaking shields, Terraforming devices and I'm sure there is much more." He paused for a drink of tea. "The Rakata were a highly force sensitive species." Darth Vader finished. "But of the Dark side only, you see. Their technology was based around the Force. Unlike the Sith, the Rakata did not confound the Force with magic and superstition."

"I thought the Force required life to work?" Luke said. "Machines don't carry it. This is what Yoda said."

Darth Vader gestured with his remaining hand. "Yes. I'm getting to that. The Rakata discovered that having made their technology to be powered by the Force, They could get more and consistent power by channelling the Dark Side. This was something they were naturally inclined towards…Of course they were too proud to do it themselves…"

"How did we guess?" Leia was cynical.

"So they travelled the Galaxy capturing members of various sentient races, their aim was to see if firstly they could induce Force sensitivity in these people, and secondly to breed their own Force Sensitive slaves."

"How could they do that?" Asked Luke.

"As far as I know there are three ways to gain the Force." Darth Vader told them. "To be born of a Force using line…To gain the Force by random mutation, and to have the Force induced in you…This last I know nothing of, except that it has been done. Evidently this is what the Rakata did."

"Ben and Yoda told me Jedi don't marry or have kids." Luke said. So far Darth Vader had not told them about his rule breaking. He had told his children he had loved their mother very much, even married her in secret, but that was a tale he was holding back for later.

"So how did the Jedi Order get initiates if they did not marry?" Asked Leia.

"There were specialist Jedi, they were called Sentinels, whose role was to seek out new members. These would be taken back to the temple on Coruscant for training."

"Didn't the Force sensitive seek out the Jedi themselves?" Luke said. "I went in search of Yoda."

"The Jedi order took on only the under threes…" Darth Vader said miserably.

"They took babies from their mothers?" Leia asked. "I thought that just Empire propaganda."

Darth Vader shook his head. "Alas, a lot of that propaganda is based upon truth." He said quietly. "The Old Republic had laws protecting the Jedi in case of…Legal wrangling over custody….Also, though I will say I was never personally involved in the case of finding a Force sensitive…Some folk could sense them easily, I was not that sort of Force sensitive, I am told that the parents would be informed that an untrained Force sensitive might grow up to be a Dark side monster." He poked the fire sulkily. "With a bit of cunning, it's easy to get a mother to hand over her baby. You can tell her what a big thing she is doing for the Galaxy."

"If the Force is inherited, why didn't the Jedi breed their own Initiates?" Asked Luke. This made a lot of sense to him. "Why take infants?"

"You have a really, really valid point. The Proto Jedi had families, the Sith had families. But the Jedi were too afraid of this dreadful thing, attachment." Darth Vader shook his head. "All my life in the temple I was constantly lectured on getting to attached to things, possessions, and I had far fewer of those than when I was a slave, friends, when I talked about my mother I was firmly told to forget her." He growled. "I lived my life as a slave in fear of being separated from her…I `chose` to join the Jedi…And they wanted me to deny having a mother." He was silent a minute. "For you I broke my chains."

"Thanks Dad. I love you." Luke praised.

Leia said nothing. She had nothing to say.

"Anyhow, back to the Rakata and their experiments in the Force." He continued. "The suffering caused by such projects was immense." Darth Vader said. "Entire populations were rounded up and experimented upon." He paused for a long minute. Darth Vader Force picked up a piece of wood and thoughtfully stirred the fire, sending sparks up into the ceiling of the cave. "This is how we began, my children. No Light, no freedom. Bred in a cage, not knowing a mother or a father, and living in constant fear of a cruel and capricious master. They were fed on what the Rakata ate…Each other. Also they lived in fierce competition…Only the strongest and most cunning survived. These unfortunates became as quite as evil as their masters. Such is what happens in the slave pens…This is where I was born…And the Jedi did not set me free."

"Neither did the Emperor." Leia said angrily.

"I set myself free." Darth Vader said proudly. "I am now my own man." He groaned. "For what it is worth."

The Twins looked very sad. Seeing their father bedridden was very hard upon them, and not just because they had to care for him.

"The Jedi never thought as to the suffering that gave them the Force." Darth Vader was bitter, "It was my Master who taught me all this. The gift of the Dark side that the Jedi deny." He laughed grimly. "One thing the Rakata taught us…All Force sensitives are one people." He looked up, lost in contemplation. "And that goes beyond Dark and Light. All three of us, we are one with the Celestials, the Rakata…" Darth Vader paused for effect "and the Sith."

"Where do the Sith come into this?" Asked Leia, caught up in the story.

"It was the Sith who first denied the Rakata." Darth Vader told them with a hint of pride. "They wanted to keep their anger to themselves. Remember the Sith Code?"

"To always have feelings, to have emotions makes you stronger, to be strong and succeed and being successful allows you self-determination?" Said Leia.

"Yes, that's it, but a version I have never heard before…Where did you get it from?" Asked her father.

"It's an old Alderaani saying." Leia said. "The short version is `Who cares wins. `"

"I see."

Luke shook his head. "Yoda said that the Sith code was nothing but selfishness."

Darth Vader shook his head. "And is being selfless any better at the end of the day?" He contemplated the fire for a minute. "Yoda certainly dabbled in the Dark Side, I hope he told you about that."

"He did not." Luke replied. "Though he did tell me that he understood the Dark Side."

"Maybe not as well as I do." Growled Darth Vader. "It was he who scoffed at my visions of my mother in pain."

The twins looked very glum, Darth Vader had told them about the sad end of his mother some nights previously.

"He told me not to worry about her." He snarled. "And so I went to Sidious for advice on my concerns over Padme…The rest you know…"

For Darth Vader had told his children about their mother also.

"Perhaps if the Jedi practiced religious tolerance then the Sith would be more amiable…And the Jedi still alive…"

"Didn't they?" But Leia already knew the answer to that.

"No, they did not. To the Jedi all Dark siders and indeed those whose philosophies differed from them were enemies to be eliminated."

"Are there any of the Sith species left? Have you met them?" Asked Leia. She occupied herself in making a fresh pot of tea. They had all gotten to like the herbal tea the island provided.

"As far as I know, no. However I do speak and write their language…Helpful if we find Sith Holocrons."