Meanwhile, halfway across the galaxy, Luke Skywalker was awoken from his sleep by a great disturbance in the Force. He sat straight up in bed, his hands grasping the sheets as he looked around the darkroom that served as his quarters, desperately searching for whatever it was that had startled him awake.

He could feel the Force churning violently around him as if a large stone had been tossed unceremoniously into a pool, disrupting the still waters as ripples undulated outwards. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before in his entire life but as soon as he reached out to the source, it disappeared. It had been there one second and then gone the next, leaving Luke perplexed as he once again tried to reach out only to grasp empty air.

Even though it had only been a few seconds, Luke could tell that something big had just occurred and he knew that he couldn't have been the only one to feel it. It had been like a flare in complete darkness— all too noticeable to anyone who could feel the Force.

What could've possibly created such a disturbance?

The Force gave him no answer as Luke sighed. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he pulled himself from the bed and stretched his aching joints. He ran a hand through his hair, frowning at the strange sensation that coursed through his prosthetic hand. He still wasn't used to using it and while it looked real enough, Luke knew that it wasn't.

The wound itself had long since healed, but it still hurt. He could still feel the throbbing and burning sensation even though it was already healed. The Doctors told him it was called phantom pain, something that amputees often times felt. He didn't really care what it was called, though. All he knew was that it was gone and yet somehow it still hurt.

Although the wound was healed, the memory of losing it was still fresh in Luke's mind. Even more painful than losing his hand was the revelation that had come only seconds later from the very man who had murdered his father, or so Luke had been led to believe.

But Ben had lied to him. And even worse, Luke had believed him wholeheartedly.

Luke hadn't believed it at first, but when he searched his feelings he found that it was indeed true. The Force had confirmed everything, much to his devastation and horror. Darth Vader was indeed Anakin Skywalker, or at least he had been at one point. Luke still wasn't sure how it had happened, but there was no denying it.

Clenching his fists, Luke pushed his thoughts of Vader as far from his mind as he could. He had more important things to worry about than the identity of his father, like the disturbance in the Force. He could sense that something important had just occurred and he knew that the Force wanted him to investigate.

"Come on," he said as he patted Artoo's dome, "let's go see if we can find the Princess and get some breakfast."

Darth Vader stood on the bridge of the Executor as he stared out at the blue hyperdrive waves that surrounded the ship, his mind reeling from the disturbance that had resonated through the Force only hours prior. It had manifested itself to him while he was meditating in his bacta chamber, startling him awake and throwing him completely off rhythm as he reached out with his senses. It had disappeared before he could fully investigate it, but that didn't mean he hadn't been able to get a location.

He had no idea what planet it had originated from, but he could tell that it was somewhere in the Ben'alli System, which only contained four sustainable planets. The Empire maintained a presence there, albeit not a large one. It was a very remote region as far as Vader knew.

The Emperor had contacted him immediately after that and had ordered him to the system to investigate and that was exactly what Vader was doing. The Executor had been orbiting Imperial Center when the disturbance had occurred and the Ben'alli system was at least a two-day travel, which gave Darth Vader plenty of time to meditate and think.

"Lord Vader," greeted Admiral Piett as he entered into his personal chambers, "we have just received a transmission from the Vigilant

"What did it say?" asked Vader.

"Apparently they found a Jedi stowaway on board," he replied.

Vader paused at the mention of a Jedi, his thoughts going to that of his son. Was the boy the reason for the disturbance? Had something happened to him?

"Skywalker?"

Admiral Piett shook his head, "Commander Alric assured me it wasn't. Apparently, this Jedi has not been identified yet. His picture was not in the Jedi Fugitive Queue and he is far too young to have been a member of the Order. We have no idea who he is."

"A rogue then," mused Vader, his lips tugging downward into an unseen sneer. He had dealt with many rogues before. Young children who had been trained by fugitive Jedi in hopes of rebuilding their numbers. Their attempts, however, were futile. Vader had always found them eventually.

Was this rogue the reason for the disturbance?

There was no doubt in Vader's mind that he was. He could feel it through the Force, but even with that confirmation, it raised more questions than it did answers.

Who was this Jedi? And why stowaway on an Imperial ship?

"Tell them to lock him up and to put a force inhibitor on him," said Vader before adding; "I will deal with him myself once we arrive in the Ben'alli System."

"Of course, Milord," said Piett, nodding his head before returning to his duties, leaving Vader to himself once again.

Vader once again returned his gaze to the blue hyperdrive waves as his mind began reeling from this new information. He could feel the force whispering to him as if it was trying to tell him something, something important.

What? What was so important about a rogue stowaway?

If this person was really a Jedi, then he would deal with them like he did the others. But what didn't make sense was what a Jedi had been doing on an Imperial ship in the first place.

There was something strange going and it irritated him.

But he would soon find out.

It was just Anakin's luck to crash-land on a desert planet.

Freeing himself from the smoldering heap that had once been a ship, Anakin Skywalker stumbled away on hands and knees through the sand until he was finally clear from the thick, black smoke that choked up his lungs.

His robes were torn and frayed and he was covered in soot, but he knew that he hadn't sustained any real damage as he got his bearings straight, his eyes traveling over the barren and unforgiving terrain as he let out an audible groan.

For as far as the eye could see was nothing but sand and sun— only one sun, which meant he wasn't on Tatooine. Unlike the rolling sand dunes of his homeworld, the sand here was a deep red. There were even a few shrubs and some cactus, which meant that this desert was capable of supporting life, which was a lot more than could be said about Tatooine.

Despite there only being one sun, it was still stiflingly hot. Anakin knew that he would need to find water and shelter soon before dehydration set in and his captors caught up with him.

They would be sending search parties after him and that meant he would have to find some way off this planet and get back to his Master. And if he couldn't find Obi-Wan, then he would go back to Coruscant where hopefully this whole mess could be resolved.

Anakin shrugged his cloak off of him and reached out with his senses to see if he could find any sort of civilization where he could get water and food, and hopefully a commlink. He would need to contact the Order as soon as possible and inform them that there was some sort of rogue Republic faction kidnapping and holding Jedi against their will.

It was the only explanation that he could come up with and yet Anakin had a hard time believing that it was the truth. It just didn't feel right, but it was the only feasible explanation for this strange predicament.

But that idea did not take everything into account. That man, Commander Alric, had made it sound as though he was a part of an independent government system that had apparently been hunting down Jedi as though they were common criminals. He had talked about someone called the Emperor— which hadn't made any sense. There were many worlds that were not members of the Republic and there were many Empires scattered throughout the galaxy, but none of them would dare violate the Republic or the Order.

Anakin wracked his brain of an explanation, but he couldn't find any. None of it made sense. If this Emperor had been hunting down Jedi then this would be a direct violation of the Republic and would undoubtedly be considered hostile and even possibly a declaration of war. The Jedi would take direct offense to this faction illegally detaining one of their own.

Commander Alric had said that this Lord Vader had captured other Jedi and Anakin could sense that the man had been telling the truth, but if that was the case, then wouldn't the Council know if their own were being captured? And what happened to those who were captured?

Anakin had a feeling that he wouldn't like the answer to that question.

He groaned as he continued to walk, his boots already filling with sand. He could feel the unmistakable presence of a settlement, teeming with life and not far from his current location. But even then, he could already feel the heat beginning to get to him, the sun beating down on him unforgivingly.

He was a child of the desert and he was accustomed to the heat and dryness that came from the unforgiving terrain and while he knew how to survive, not even he was immune to the dangers that came with being in the desert.

He was tired and he was thirsty and he didn't know how much more he could take. This whole situation was not expected and the last thing he had expected upon waking up that morning was to be taken prisoner and to crash land on an unfamiliar desert planet with no food or water.

The settlement was so close and yet so far away as Anakin shrugged himself onto the nearest boulder so that he could take a breather. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and opened his Jedi tunics to let the slight breeze tickle his hot skin.

He was wearing his black robes and it was a well-known fact that one should not wear black in the desert, had he known that his day would end up like it had he would've opted for lighter colored clothes.

Anakin calmed his haggard breaths as he gently expanded his sense so that he could see if he could reach his Master but again he could finally emptiness where Kenobi's presence should've been. Anakin frowned as he prodded at the cold dark void where the Master-Padawan bond that had shared for the past eight years should've been, but once again he found nothing. Emptiness. The Bond had been severed.

Obi-Wan was gone.

Anakin gritted his teeth as he decided to see if he could reach any of the other Masters on Coruscant and frowned in dismay when he found that their presences, which had once shown brightly in the force like a beacon across the galaxy— were gone. As if they had never been there to begin with.

Anakin desperately tried to reach out again as he poked and prodded at the void, waiting and hoping that someone would respond in kind. Finally, after a few moments, he felt another presence. It was dimmed and hidden away, yet familiar at the same time. It reached out tentatively and Anakin found that he knew who this presence belonged to.

Master Yoda?

And just like that, the presence was gone. Out of desperation, Anakin tried to connect with him through the Force only to be met with an impenetrable wall where he should've felt the little old Master. Yoda had completely blocked him out, barricading himself in the Force

Anakin couldn't help the hurt that blossomed in his chest at the rejection. Yoda had always been open to him when he needed his help, why not now? What had changed?

He shook his head in frustration as he once again tried to reach out into the Force for any presence that was remotely familiar. And once again he found absolutely nothing. There was nothing recognizable in the void, but then—

The Force whispered to him as he found himself inexplicably drawn to an unfamiliar presence. He gently reached out, careful so as to not appear threatening.

The presence was vaguely familiar but at the same time, Anakin was positive that he had never met the person who he was trying to reach out to. Their presence flared brightly in the Force and was untainted by the darkness, which reassured Anakin that this person was not a Sith.

The presence drew back in surprise but was not hostile at the sudden connection. Anakin quickly drew back so as to not be intrusive but he maintained his presence as he ever so slightly reached out to assess what sort of person he was contacting.

They were strong in the force and clearly capable of using mental shields. He had no idea how much training this person had received in the Force, but he could tell that this was a Jedi— or at least someone trained in the light side of the Force.

For some odd reason, Anakin suddenly felt as ease. He felt as though he could trust this person, whoever they were.

The Force reassured him gently as he slowly strengthened the natural bond between the two of them and sent out one clear message.

Help me.

Elsewhere across the galaxy, Luke Skywalker frowned as he pushed his half-eaten breakfast away from him, his eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration as he reached out with the Force to the strange presence and received a simple, yet heartfelt message.

Help me.