Firmus Piett, currently stationed in a star destroyer in orbit above Coruscant, was in the middle of a developing nightmare when his commlink began beeping incessantly in his ear. Half-awake, he sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes with his fists and yawning before reaching for the device in the dimly lit room.
To his confusion, he saw that there were still a few minutes left on the chrono before he needed to wake up. The beeping wasn't his alarm going off, but a call coming in.
All sleepiness seemed to drain from him within seconds when he registered whose frequency it was.
Immediately, he allowed the transmission through, dreading that Vader had found out what the Emperor had asked of him. Shooting down Vader's ship had played heavily on his conscience all night, and he'd slept terribly with the thought of betraying his head of command. He was loyal to Darth Vader above all others, but how could he rebel against the Emperor himself?
"Lord Vader," he greeted him, hoping his rumpled pyjamas weren't too noticeable.
"Piett. I am about to leave Coruscant. I want you to check something for me."
His heart race increased. It was time to get to the bridge to carry out the Emperor's orders. Somehow, the ruler of the galaxy had known exactly when his apprentice was going to leave.
"Of course, my Lord. What do you want me to check?"
"Call ahead to Arkanis Imperial Academy and tighten security around my ward's dormitories. I have a feeling they are in danger."
"It will be done my Lord," Piett was already entering the number for the next call, when he stopped up short. The wards.
Those two children, along with their beautiful mother, who'd been onboard with them during deployment, had certainly been the talk of the rec rooms and cafeteria. Who they were, and why they were being held onboard, had been the matter of wild speculation. Some of the men had pointed out she looked remarkably like that senate politician from years ago who'd died, but why she'd be alive and on board with Vader and two children was anyone's guess. He had come to his own conclusion that Vader had found two strays strong in the Force being raised by the woman, and had taken them in to train. For whatever reason, he had spared the woman's life, which was most unlike him. Despite his own speculations and the men's gossip, what was most surprising about the situation was that their presence had revealed a shred of Darth Vader's humanity.
Piett still remembered his shock at seeing the head of the empire's navy taking time out of his busy schedule to show them around. The man had never shown such patience before, and it changed his view of Vader. It made it all the more awful to take part in the Sith Lord's assassination. Feeling queasy, he suddenly wanted to reveal everything, but his life would be in danger if the Emperor ever found out.
The Hologram of the Sith Lord evidently picked up on Piett's hesitation as he cleared his throat. "Is something the matter, Admiral?"
"No, my Lord, I…" Piett stammered, fighting internally with himself.
Perhaps if he revealed the Emperor's plot, Vader would be able to keep him protected. But there was no way of knowing.
"I will send the message through now," he finished his sentence, swallowing hard.
"Tell them to not only tighten their security, but to check the wards are safely in their beds. I will take no chances with their protection."
Piett thought of those two small children and how excited they'd been when he'd shown them the controls on their numerous visits to the bridge. He was not a father himself, but if they were his children, he would be proud of them. Polite, inquisitive, full of energy; he missed seeing them around. The admiral wondered what their fate would be when their protector was killed. What would the Emperor do to them and their mother? Would he spare any of them? It was unlikely.
As unswerving as his loyalty to the empire was, it was Vader who fought alongside them in every battle, not the Emperor. Their mysterious ruler kept himself hidden away, removed from all the dirty work. His apprentice did it all for him. Despite his injuries, Vader worked tirelessly for the benefit of the empire, and Piett, as well as the rest of his crew onboard, admired him as much as they feared him. If it came down to it, the Admiral believed that most of the men on his ship would side with Vader over the Emperor. That was another reason this assassination was so dreadful. It went against everything within him to turn on his commander, the man he looked up to.
In that moment, like the dedicated 501st imperial legion, Piett decided that his loyalty was to Vader and his wards above all else, even if it put his own life in jeopardy.
"My Lord…there is something I must tell you. It will be best if we speak in private, in case this transmission is overheard."
"It will have to wait, Admiral."
"Please my Lord, do not leave Coruscant," he insisted, knowing what would happen if he left. "I will take a shuttle down to Imperial Palace to meet you immediately."
Vader was silent for a moment, no doubt taken aback by his pleading tone. "Very well. Make haste. I am not in a patient mood."
He cut the transmission and Piett scrambled to his feet, dressing in his uniform as quickly as he could. Sending the messages to the academy as he walked, he headed straight to the star destroyer's hangar bay.
ooooo
Pacing back and forth, Lord Vader waited for Piett's shuttle to arrive. Precious minutes went by, minutes where Luke and Leia could be in danger from abduction. The voice in his head pointed out that this helpless feeling must be what Padmé had been enduring for months now, and he felt ashamed of all the hurt he'd put her through.
But his reflections were soon cut short when a small grey shuttle appeared in the night sky and started its descent into the hangar. Eventually, Piett appeared, walking quickly down the boarding ramp to meet him.
"Come, we can talk in one of the conference rooms," Vader said by way of greeting, already walking off with strides so long Piett almost had to jog to keep up with him.
When they were finally alone and standing by the large meeting room table, Vader turned to him. "This had better be important admiral. The safety of my wards is not something I allow to be compromised."
"Permission to speak plainly my Lord?" Piett said smartly, getting to the point.
"Proceed."
"I…I have something terrible weighing on my chest my Lord. I received an encrypted message yesterday, and I know several others will have received it too. The Emperor has issued a command for your immediate termination. The message instructed me to…have my men open fire on your ship as it left Coruscant. He assured us that explosives were hidden on board, so that you would be totally destroyed and wouldn't seek vengeance on us."
Vader was stunned.
"In the message, the Emperor said that you would be going after a Jedi tonight, and knew the exact time you would be leaving. It was around the time that you called me my Lord, that he had instructed us to be ready."
The Force flashed in warning. How did the Emperor know these things? Pushing the thoughts aside for now, he placed his thumbs in his belt, thinking quickly.
"You risk your life to reveal this to me Piett. Why?"
"Because my loyalty lies with you and those wards my Lord."
"Did he mention anything else?"
"No."
The Emperor must have shrouded his upcoming demise thoroughly for him to not have sensed any danger. Part of him was furious at his master, and the rest of him was intensely fearful. If he had been destroyed, Padmé, her daughter and his children would have no protector. He knew the Emperor was trying to kill him to replace him with one of the twins, and the thought of their innocence being destroyed by that evil inhuman creature made him want to rip something apart.
"I owe you a great debt for your loyalty Admiral," he said, trying to think clearly. "I will remember this always. Thank you."
The man bowed respectfully in response. Vader wanted to promote him on the spot, but that would arouse suspicion. Going forward, they would have to pretend that none of this had happened.
"We must carry on as if I am unaware of this assassination attempt. Instead of leaving for Arkanis, I will head to the archives with a pretence of researching Jedi holocrons. The Emperor will be deeply suspicious, but he will not be able to say anything without revealing his own involvement to me."
"Yes, my Lord."
"His spies are everywhere. They may already be aware that you have come here to speak with me tonight. We will need a believable cover story."
They discussed some ideas, and eventually settled on the story that Vader had called Piett down to Coruscant to ask him about the security arrangements at the academy. Then, upon finding everything satisfactory, he decided not to leave after all.
The dark Lord sent Piett on his way and fervently hoped that their story would protect him from Sidious's wrath. The man deserved to live after what he did today.
The security forces at the academy would have to do his job for him until he could find a way to check on Luke and Leia. When, or if, Kenobi did steal them, for not all his visions came true, as Padmé hadn't died in childbirth as he had foreseen, at least they would be safe and kept alive. That was better than being in the Emperor's grasp.
How sad that he believed his children would be in better care with a traitorous Jedi and his rebel friends than with his own master.
Lord Vader reflected on his relationship with Sidious. It had been strained at best for the last nine years, but ever since he'd discovered that his family were alive and that he'd been lied to, that relationship had rapidly deteriorated. This attempt on his life had finally destroyed that bond once and for all. He wanted him dead more than ever before.
What a coincidence that he'd had the vision tonight of all nights, when he'd been about to leave in a hurry, Vader thought to himself.
But was it a coincidence? Piett's words came back to him, and he had time to think properly about what he meant.
"…the Emperor said that you would be going after a Jedi tonight, and knew the exact time you would be leaving. It was around the time that you called me my Lord, that he had instructed us to be ready."
Frowning beneath his mask, Vader stopped as he was about to leave the conference room.
Somehow, Sidious had known he had dreamed of a Jedi, and was using this as a basis for an assassination. But how could he have possibly known what his vision had entailed? Even when he used to have these Force visions, the Chancellor would lend a comforting ear as he told him about them. Sidious hadn't known about them back then, only finding out when he confided in him. So how had he known now? Had his powers grown so great that he could sense these things through their Master and Apprentice bond?
Palpatine must've been completely certain that he would leave Coruscant in order to plan this. He'd sent the termination instructions out to the navy before his vision had even occurred. How certain can you ever be with the future in the Force? It shifts and moves, always in motion.
Gradually, several disjointed pieces of information seemed to connect.
His previous Force visions…they'd revolved around loss, fear, attachment, suffering…all paths to the dark side. This vision of the children and Padmé being taken away by Obi-Wan seemed to be playing on the same theme.
Similarly, he remembered Palpatine boasting to him about using Force illusion on his enemies, an extremely difficult manipulation of the Force that took its roots from basic mind tricks. The user was able to project into the mind of their adversary anything they wanted, whether it be a snarling monster or a fleet of warships. His master had promised to teach him the skill in the future, and though he was intrigued he'd never put much thought into what could be possible with such a skill.
Something cold seemed to trickle down his spine and a whisper of suspicion entered his head. If his master was capable of such an ability, was it possible he had used it on him to meet his own ends? The Force flared in warning and he gripped the edge of the table as his thoughts ran at full speed.
His master's goal throughout his life had been to get him loyal to him with no distractions. Because of his Force visions as a teenager and as a young man, he had succeeded in that goal. Any divisions in his loyalty, such as the Jedi, Padmé and his children had been wiped out, or so he had thought, with only Sidious left. And now, the Emperor needed to get him isolated away from Padmé to assassinate him. When he reflected on these points, was it really a coincidence that he was dreaming of going after Obi-Wan tonight?
His mind reeled with the potential of what this could mean. But surely, the Emperor wouldn't use Force illusion on him… Vader knew the man was evil, but he was still his Master.
But, the voice in his head reminded him that the Emperor had just tried to have him killed, not to mention he had lied about Padmé and his children's deaths, saddling him with guilt for almost a decade. If he was capable of destroying him in that way, was this any worse?
Would he have turned to the dark side without those dreams? When he thought back to what he remembered of the kind Chancellor, did he miss something there, lurking below the surface the whole time? A darkness straining to bring out his most turbulent emotions? It couldn't be…but could it? Could it really be him all along?
He searched his feelings, and the Force seemed to confirm that it was true. Lord Vader had to sit down at the conference table, his legs seemed to give out as the realisation washed over him and shattered the illusion he had been living in all this time. It was him; it was all him, even when he had been a boy!
Balling his hands into fists, he sent several chairs flying across the room, crashing into the dark durasteel walls. Everything he'd wanted, he'd lost because of the Chancellor. He was just a puppet to Sidious, just as he had been to the Jedi Council, always used for his raw ability, always manipulated because of his youth. Maul, Dooku and himself, all had been used and then tossed away by Sidious, and now his twins were next. No, he would never allow it, he would rather die than allow it to happen.
Now he could see clearly. Everything had transpired because of Palpatine's manipulation. Full of shame, he remembered storming the Jedi Temple, when Anakin had still lingered within him, making every second a nightmarish blur. How smug his master must have been, to have used him for such a terrible end.
Like a damn bursting forth, suddenly everything he had tried to repress for the last nine years came hurtling through in a new light, an unstoppable torrent of emotions and memories from the night of Order 66 that shook him deeply from his new perspective.
Flashes of dead Jedi he had slaughtered appeared before his eyes, flashes of Mace Windu as he fell, flashes of his Padawan Ahsoka, flashes of Obi-Wan on that volcanic hill, tears running down his ashen face, flashes of Padmé as he choked her, despite doing everything to save her. Flashes of younglings, the small children he'd had no choice but to eliminate on Sidious's orders to save his wife, those children who like his Luke and Leia had done nothing wrong…nothing at all…
Padmé's voice echoed in his mind "Anakin has done such terrible things Leia….he's truly dead now".
Was he?! Was he dead? Was Anakin dead? He gripped the arm rests of the chair as he felt something had been dead for nine years. A lot of time had passed, too much time for him to still be alive, surely. How could one revert to something that was no longer there?
But this thought didn't bring him any relief. Looking internally at his warring conscience, he couldn't fool himself. Regardless of the issue of Anakin, he couldn't deny that he no longer felt like Darth Vader either. Ever since he found Luke and Leia in Mos Espa, something inside of him had changed forever. The murderous man consumed with rage and slaving to Sidious' every whim wasn't who he was anymore.
He couldn't even go through with eliminating, or even sending away Padmé and Kenobi's child. The infant should be dead if he was the heartless Sith Lord he claimed to be…and yet he'd been too weak to do it, placing Padmé's happiness above his hatred in a move befitting Anakin Skywalker.
Confused as ever, he slammed his fists down on the conference table, making the whole surface reverberate. He needed the calmness of the dark side desperately. The extent of his master's manipulation had thrown him into shock.
The terrible things he had done…he couldn't change any of it. But what he could do now, was make the right choices going forward that would protect Padmé and her children from the Emperor, even if it meant putting them above his own selfish wishes in an Anakin-like move.
Standing up and gathering himself, he knew what he had to do. The Emperor wouldn't ruin his or his family's life any longer. He had to tell Padmé and get her away from Coruscant. He had to send her back to Kenobi.