Vader felt the Force move strangely as he tailed the Project Harvester ship through hyperspace in his personal vessel. Something felt off, though with the galaxy moving around him at such speed he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. The Force signatures of the children felt muted. Pondering this as he sat alone in his private room, he replayed in his mind the message the Emperor had sent him earlier when he had already left to track them down. In the report Lord Sidious told him that he'd had felt their presence the moment he had. Vader imagined that he was paranoid that ones so strong in the Force could pose a threat to his position of Emperor, even though they were children.
Find the source of this power and bring it before me…
Whoever these children were, they would bow before the might of the Emperor. They would become powerful agents of the dark side. Sitting in meditation, the hours passed by as they travelled from Ryloth to Coruscant. Memories of the past floated before his closed eyes, making him suffer a pain far worse than what he felt in his body, where his agonising armour cloaked his deformities from the outside world. The usual taunts appeared from Anakin Skywalker's life: flashes of his time at the temple, of his father figure, Qui-Gon. He remembered his brother figure, Obi-Wan. He remembered Mace Windu, Yoda, Ahsoka, Rex, the 501st. But these were memories from another man's life, not his. He tried to remember that, but still the memories followed him.
Flashes of Anakin's childhood appeared before him: images of his mother, of their old home on Tatooine, of the droids he built to help her. Hot nights, scratchy linen blankets, sand in between his toes and the warmth of her voice, these were the tactile memories Anakin's childhood had left him with, as well as the trauma of being a slave.
He hated what Watto did to him and his poor mother, but as soon as those unpleasant memories came, he pushed them down. She was dead. Murdered. He'd been over this a thousand times.
Once again, he tried again to meditate on the dark side of the Force, to breathe in its eternal energy and calm his mind. But instead, images of his beloved Padmé filtered through his mental barriers and his heart shattered for what felt like the millionth time. In his mind's eye he saw her face change from a lively and playful girl laying in a flowery meadow beside him, to a grey corpse with their precious child still inside her.
It seems in your anger you have killed her…
He shrivelled from himself. He hated himself. Not a day went by when he did not remember her, and all that could have been. Nine years of grieving had left his heart withered, blackened, and exhausted. This pain, it gave him a power that had no restraints. How he hated the Jedi who ruined all his chances at happiness. How he hated himself for choking her…
Vader shook himself awake, berating his wandering mind. Even in meditation he got no peace. Why did these memories plague him when he had power without limits? Why was he always looking back, when such a glorious future lay ahead?
The galaxy trembled before his power. He was no longer constrained by the suffocating and incompetent Jedi council; he was free to embrace his true potential without anything or anyone tying him down. He was bringing harmony and freedom to all the planets and the people that lived on them. They'll all see one day, that what he was doing was right. He was bringing balance. He was bringing peace and fulfilling his destiny as the Chosen One. Sidious was his family now, and he should be content with all he had, for he had so much.
Fixing these thoughts firmly in his mind, he continued to meditate with difficulty. Sometime later. he was interrupted by one of his men.
"Lord Vader, we are about to approach Coruscant. Project Harvester is waiting for us in orbit…" Vader could tell that something was wrong, and his anger began to build like thunder clouds. Why couldn't anyone do their job properly? "…However, they have informed us that two of the prisoners have escaped."
Vader's anger rumbled outwards from his black form, and, as if sensing the dark cloud, his guard took a shaky step back before he began to gargle, his throat contorted and wrenched by the power of the dark side. That explained why he was having difficulty sensing their location earlier, the fools on the Harvester ship had let them escape. Vader stood and moved closer to the trooper, intimidating him with his height. The soldier was clutching at his throat and gasping in a way that reminded him of Padmé when he had used violence against her. Crippling shame overcame him and he released his grip.
"And how does one escape into hyperspace?" he asked, voice eerily calm.
"The-the captain of Project Harvester reported that they jettisoned in an escape pod," the stormtrooper croaked, taking in a lungful of air and managing to stand to attention as well as he could. "B-but they do not know how the two prisoners escaped from the holding cell my Vader. It seemed they somehow melted the door."
"Interesting indeed," Vader replied. He would inspect the cell and see just how two younglings had managed to pull off such a feat. "We will meet with crew on the ship to inspect the damage. Prepare for boarding and alert the captain."
"Yes Lord Vader," his trooper quickly retreated back to the cockpit, his relief evident in the quickness of his step. Vader was suddenly alone once again in the silent chamber.
It was not long after this meeting that their ship dropped out of hyperspace. They were hovering above the dark glittering planet of Coruscant. It was flocked with ships and vessels leaving and arriving in masses of moving lines that snaked around the gargantuan city like birds in migration. Vader stood beside his men as they approached the Project Harvester ship and began the boarding sequence. The stormtroopers onboard stood to attention at his arrival, their fear palpable in the air. They had never before been in his presence, and their terror only grew as he was lead through the dark halls of the ship towards the holding cells with his black cape billowing behind him.
The dark Lord said barely a word, letting the captain babble away instead with the details of his failings. He was informed that two prison guards had been attacked by these younglings: one of them had his hand cut off and they had both been shot with a stun ray. Then, they had evaded capture until they had found the escape pod room. They'd locked it from the inside and fallen out of hyperspace when the ship was about an hour into its flight to Coruscant. Impressive indeed.
"Why didn't you go back to retrieve them once you knew they had escaped?" he asked the captain, interrupting his account of the events.
"My Lord, we were following your direct orders to head straight to Coruscant. However, the pod does have a tracking beacon installed. We know their exact location if we were to go back and find them. Forgive me, but are these two children important in some way?"
"Perhaps," Vader avoided the question. He was pleased to hear that their location was known, they would be easy prey sitting in space for him to capture. How two children managed to escape a fully guarded ship was something he was now intensely curious about.
"Where is the soldier who lost his hand?" he asked as they arrived outside of the prison cells.
"He is in the medical bay Lord Vader," the captain stopped walking and turned to face him. "It is interesting to note my Lord that his hand was not only cut off, but cauterised entirely."
"Cauterised?" Now this took him by surprise. Could it be the younglings had a lightsaber of their own? But how? He didn't let this information affect him in front of the soldiers, but inside, his mind was whirring. "Show me the holding cell they escaped from first."
"Certainly. This way my Lord," the captain led him through the dimly lit corridor, their boots clunking hard against the metal grated floor.
In the air he could feel the fear of the younglings that still remained onboard in the cells they were passing. He could feel their Force signatures shining with potential, but these children were nowhere near as bright as the children he sought. It was like comparing the light of moons to that of two suns. Still, they would soon be agents of the dark side, enlisted with fellow classmates in the Sith academy. They were lucky to have such a fate, where their growth would not be stunted by outdated and confining laws like the Jedi initiates. They may not see it now, but one day they would be grateful.
"This was their cell," the captain said as they reached the room on their right.
A slab of metal as thick as his fist lay on the floor beside the cell. It had been cut by a lightsaber, that much was certain now. Though how they had managed to come by one was a mystery to him. Perhaps they were somehow in league with Yoda or Kenobi? It would explain why their Force signatures were hidden for so long. He mulled the thoughts over as he inspected the damage in more detail, leaning down to look closer. The hole's height was small, not even reaching his shoulders, so they must be fairly young. The cut was rough and shaky, as if someone with no lightsaber experience had done it. Maybe they were untrained, but then, they had managed to escape the ship. So many questions appeared in his mind as he tracked the younglings. The mystery was deepening and Vader was eager to leave to hunt them down as quickly as possible. But, as he moved back to go, the light hit the edge of the hole in such a way that made him pause.
Darth Vader looked again at how the metal had melted and the pattern left behind in the cut. Something about it looked so familiar. He realised with a sense of cautious wonder that the marking was similar to that of his old lightsaber. He had cut through metal enough to know the look and shape of the cross hatching. It was so unlikely to be his old lightsaber, but yet it was not beyond the realm of possibility. Straightening up, he shook it from his mind. He needed far more evidence before he could even consider this.
"Take me to the soldier with the cauterised wound."
"Yes, of course. Follow me my Lord."
When he reached the soldier in the medical bay, Vader was again disturbed by what he found. The injury had been treated with bacta and was healing over slightly with fresh skin, but by the look of the cut it could've been dealt from his own saber. It was possible, though extremely unlikely. Obi-Wan had taken it from him that day on Mustafar he knew. He had always imagined that Obi-Wan would've destroyed it, but maybe when he found these younglings he would be proved wrong. Or maybe he kept it and found the younglings and trained them? His mind sorted through numerous possibilities and a thousand questions assaulted him simultaneously. He had to find them, then all would be understood.
The captain and several of the medical workers stood around the bed as the soldier recounted what had happened in great detail. The man was doing a good job of keeping his cool with the right hand of the Emperor at the end of his bed. He described the physical appearance of the children to him, and he listened intently. His resolve to find them had increased tenfold since learning about the use of a lightsaber, whether it was his or not.
"The prisoners were a boy and a girl, I can't say how old they were Lord Vader, but if I had to guess I'd say around nine or ten. They were wearing pale simple peasant clothing, like farmers or something. They didn't have proper shoes either, it looked like they were wearing slippers. The boy had short blonde hair with blue eyes, and the girl had long brown hair and dark eyes my Lord. They looked quite tan as well, maybe they were from a warm place."
"What did the lightsaber look like that cut off your hand?"
"I remember it was blue with a silver hilt. I didn't see any more detail than that."
"Thank you soldier. Your description will help me to apprehend these dangerous younglings," Lord Vader said to the trooper, his voice betraying none of the waves that rocked him on the inside. The chances of it being his kept increasing. It was too much to think about. He turned to the side and spoke to the captain. "I will be departing now. Have the tracking beacon's information transferred to my ship's system for navigation."
"Yes Lord Vader."
With a swoop of his cloak, he strode away from the medical bay and out into the echoing dark corridors of the ship. Several of his guards walked in unison beside him, their black guns held in position. Striding back to his vessel, a feeling of satisfaction came upon him. The hunt was on. Soon, they would be his, and all his burning questions would be answered.