The sound of mechanical breathing filled the corridor as Vader made his way through the ship and onto the bridge of the Vigilant. Everybody stopped what they were doing to stare at the Dark Lord himself as he paraded menacingly onto the bridge, his black cape billowing behind him ominously.
He had just received word that the Jedi that they had captured had managed to find a way to escape by stealing one of the Tie fighters and he was far from pleased. He had given them explicit orders to put a force inhibitor on the Jedi and if they had done their jobs then the Jedi would never have escaped in the first place.
Someone would pay dearly for this mistake.
"Which one of you is Commander Alric," he said as he addressed the group of Officers.
All of the Officers looked around at each other with composed fear as they heard the foreboding tone of the Sith. It was always hard to tell with his respirator what sort of tone he was emulating, but the anger and fury in his voice were crystal clear as he stared at them through his black lenses.
"That would be I," said a tall human as he stepped forward, the fear in his eyes evident as he tried his best to stay composed. He held his hands behind his back and his posture was rigid as he stared up at the right-hand man of the Emperor.
"You were given explicit orders to secure the Jedi and yet I see that your brig is empty," he said as he placed his hands on his hips.
"He escaped," said Commander Alric as a drop of sweat made its way down his temple.
"I can see that," said Vader with a sneer, "and he took one of your Tie fighters with him. But what I am most curious about is why there was no force inhibitor on him. You failed to do as I ordered you to do and if you had done your job accordingly, then we wouldn't be involved in a planet-wide manhunt."
"I'm sorry Lord Vader I-" he began but was cut off as the Dark Lord raised his hand and cut off the oxygen that had been flowing to his head.
He got a surprised look on his face as he started to scratch at his throat, trying to fight off the invisible force that was slowly killing him. The other Officers could only watch as their Commander was being choked to death, unable to do anything in fear of being on the receiving end of Vader's anger.
His face turned blue and it was only a few seconds later that he went slack before he let out his last breath, his eyes rolling into the back of his head before Vader allowed his body to fall to the floor with a sickening thud.
His mistake had cost him his life.
"Incompetent idiot," Vader sneered as his black lenses stared down at the corpse at his feet.
He glanced back up at the other crewmen that had stopped their activities to stare at the scene, their faces full of fear and dread. For some of them, this was their first time meeting the Dark Lord and it was quite obvious that he had made an impression on them.
They knew of Vader's reputation of being ruthless but never before had they actually witnessed it.
"Who can tell me where this Jedi has escaped too?" his voice was thunderous and it seemed to bring everybody out of their stupor.
"His Tie fighter was heavily damaged," said a young Lieutenant, "he would've crashed landed somewhere in the Huo'Nabbi desert on the planet below."
"And I assume that you have arranged for search parties to travel down to the surface?"
This Jedi could not have gotten far on his own, especially if he had been injured in the crash. Although Vader was unfamiliar with this remote planet, he knew that being in a desert would be a disadvantage for this Jedi.
It would mean that he would have to find the nearest settlement so that he could get food and water and shelter from the elements. It was this Jedi's only choice and that gave them an advantage.
"Yes Milord," said another officer, "we just sent down three separate search parties as well as issuing a reward to anyone who finds this Jedi."
No doubt the locals were already scrambling to find the Jedi if a reward had been publicized by then. Vader knew what sort of people resided on the planet below and he could already tell that Ben'we was much like Tatooine in that respect. Full of poverty and low-life criminals desperate for a little extra spending credit.
"What can you tell me of this Jedi?" he asked after a few moments of silence.
"Well he just sort of-," began the Lieutenant, "appeared. Out of nowhere."
"Explain," stated Vader with a tilt of his helmet. Judging from the looks of all the crewmen, it was quite apparent that not even they knew where this Jedi had come from.
How interesting.
"Well, one minute we were running scans of the planet below and the next he was just there. We don't know where he came from or how he got onboard but somehow he just- showed up. He was unconscious and we didn't know what to do with him so we locked him up in the brig and that's when we found a lightsaber on him."
"And that's when you contacted me," said Vader as he processed what he had just heard. "Most interesting."
The Jedi had somehow found a way onboard, but nobody could seem to figure out how. Had he stowed away on board or was it something else?
Vader had heard about scientific research that was being conducted that had to do with transporting matter from one location to another, but that was highly theoretical and had yet to be done. It was only in the experimental phase and was wholly impossible to accomplish, let alone with a sentient being.
No. This Jedi had somehow found a way to stow away, but why?
"What else?"
"He was young," said an older Officer with graying hair and a mustache. "Couldn't have been older than twenty. He was wearing Jedi robes that I recognized from the Republic era and he had a sort of braid behind his ear-" he said as he motioned to a patch of skin behind his hair.
"A braid?" asked Vader, his curiosity intensifying.
This Jedi wore a traditional Jedi braid that denoted his status to Padawan. It was outdated and not something any sensible Jedi would do if they didn't want to be recognized. Why would any Jedi in hiding wear a braid? Most all of the Padawans who had escaped Order 66 had chopped theirs off to blend in, but this Jedi had kept his?
If what the Officer had said was true, then this young man would not have been old enough to be a member of the Order. Was it possible that he had been found and trained by a rogue Jedi who had him grow out his hair in the traditional braid?
"Yes, I used to see some of the Jedi youth wear them when I lived on Imperial Center during the days of the Republic. That's how I recognized it as being Jedi in nature," said the older Officer.
"Indeed it is," said Vader as his eyes lingered over the planetary map. He momentarily paused his train of thoughts so that he could try and reach out with the force to try and feel the presence of this young Jedi, but found nothing.
The Jedi was masking his presence but Vader knew that he was down there. Somewhere he was there and Vader would find him like he did every other Jedi.
"He crashed landed somewhere in this vicinity," said the Lieutenant as he pointed to a spot on one of the southernmost continents, "it's fairly remote compared to the rest of the planet."
"How many settlements are there near this region?" asked Vader.
"About two major ones, but the planet is not unified under one centralized government. This region of the planet is primarily composed of city-states and each one has its own set of laws and monarchs."
"A rather primitive society if you ask me," commented one as he stared idly down at the map.
Vader nodded in agreement. A planet that could not see past their differences and unite was not one destined for peace. A little Imperial order would do them some good.
"I want Stormtroopers posted in every settlement that's within twenty miles of this vicinity," he said as he motioned towards the map. "I will take a landing party down to the surface to locate the Jedi."
"What if my men find him first?" said the older Officer, whose name was Garreck if he remembered correctly.
"On the off chance that your Stormtroopers find him first, I want them to capture him instead of killing him. I want him alive to that I may interrogate him and see if I can't find anymore rogue Jedi."
"I will inform my men," said Garreck as he nodded at the Dark Lord before making his way over to the communications console.
Vader nodded before he crossed the bridge so that he could stand before the viewport and stared down at the dusky red planet below. He was slightly irritated that he could not feel the pesky Jedi's force presence, but he could feel the way the Force seemed to accumulate on the planet below. It was as if something big had occurred there and there was residual force power still lingering about.
Whatever the disturbance had been, it had been strong enough to temporarily disrupt the natural flow of the Force. It was hard to explain, but Vader could sense it nonetheless. The pulsing and erratic tendrils that mysteriously called out to him, as if to tell him that something amazing had just occurred.
It made Vader uneasy.
He would discover what was happening and he would capture the rogue Jedi. Not necessarily in that order but he would accomplish both in due time.
And he would discover how the two were connected.
It was only a matter of time.