I don't own Star Wars.
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A Dark Life Begins.
The Star Destroyers had come out of hyperspace a few minutes before, following a course given to them to a top-secret location which had been made secret to all but a precise few. The three enormous grey ships hung in space with the other two acting as protection for the lead ship, a swarm of fighters were in protective formation in case of an attack. All three ships moved slowly towards the secret location, their sight intimidating to all who looked at them.
Much had changed in the galaxy lately; the recent Clone Wars had ended with the fall of the separatist movement, the virtual destruction of the Jedi Order who had been charged with treason and wanting to take over the Galactic Republic. The Republic had been transformed into the Galactic Empire by the former Supreme Chancellor Palpatine declaring himself the Emperor. It was too early for the people of the galaxy to realise how much had changed; many believed nothing had changed much, but they knew the galaxy would be changed forever. But it wouldn't be until the new Imperial stormtroopers were sent out to bring the so-called order Palpatine spoke about that everyone realised they had surrendered so much to an insane, bloodthirsty tyrant.
On the lead Star Destroyer, the crew members stepped out of the way, wincing in fear and at the sudden oppressiveness as a tall, dark figure strode through the corridors and onto the bridge, their blood-chilling at the sight of the ominous skull-like mask and at the cold sound of the creature as it strode purposefully through their ship onto the bridge. Crew members in the control pits on the bridge and around the control centre winced in fear, staring at the creature. The tall dark masked creature strode towards the viewport and stopped next to a black-robed figure.
Darth Vader, formerly known as Anakin Skywalker, wished everyone could see the anger in his face instead of letting it spill out of his aura which made everyone aware of him and made them terrified of his presence as he seethed with the anger he had been accumulating ever since he had reached the climax of the duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar which resulted in the Jedi Master slicing through his limbs and letting him roll down a slope to a river of lava. The young Sith Lord was well aware of the fact he could very well have rolled into the lava and die a white-hot death which would have overwhelmed his senses. While he didn't care about giving his life story to the crew, Vader had sensed many of them were understandably curious about him, but that was down to his appearance. They had no way of knowing that he had suffered a truly horrific string of injuries and was trying to adjust to them. Vader harnessed his rage within the Dark Side of the Force, pushing himself into it in order to cope with the claustrophobia and the unbearable conditions within his new life support suit.
When Vader had lost all but one of his limbs, he had lost a large chunk of his mobility, and he had desperately tried to pull himself away from the river of lava, knowing full well he would burst into flames. When the flames ignited his clothes, quickly transforming him into a living torch which burned his skin, the smoke also permanently damaged his lungs, making it impossible to breathe out properly. His skin had been burnt away, the nerves were now burned away. While he had been screaming in agony, Vader heard Obi-Wan talk about how he was his brother and that he loved him, and that infuriated the Sith Lord, who would have preferred to die rather than live with such terrible injuries. That had been bad enough, but the most terrible insult to injury was how Kenobi had walked away and left him to die without even thinking of carefully walking down the slope and pushing Vader into the lava to make it quick or cut his head off with his lightsaber.
No, he had walked away, talking about love. The hypocrite!
Crawling back up the slope had been difficult enough, Vader had been fortunate that he had his cybernetic arm to help him make the climb up, and while his turn to the Dark Side was recent, Vader had felt it ironic he had used the old Jedi teaching of using the Force to remove himself from his body, using his rage, hate, and the anger he had accumulated over the years; his frustration towards the Senate for failing to find a solution to the war, his anguish over Ahsoka's departure and the way they'd left things, his anger and jealousy towards Padme and Rush Clovis, his rage towards Yoda for telling him to just ignore Padme's suffering, his hurt at the Jedi Council's blatant distrust towards him which was one of the reasons for his fall in the first place, his rage against Padme for betraying him after the promise of them having a decent life….
But most of all, his anger towards Obi-Wan for what he had just done.
But at the same time, he had immersed himself in his love for the girl whom he had met on Tatooine all those years ago, and the strong enough emotions were enough to help him survive and gave him the strength to haul himself back up the slope. Granted Vader hadn't been too sure one way or another what he would do when he reached the top, but he planned to reach the separatist control room and see if they had any medical equipment - there was bound to be something, like a medical capsule, some droids - and save his life before he could return to Coruscant, or head for some medical facility so his injuries could be looked at.
But he didn't need to - Palpatine had found him and he had Vader placed into a medical capsule. The moment Vader registered the Sith Master's presence, Vader had known Palpatine was not happy but at the same time he was willing to help, but only for his own purposes.
Vader was then taken back to Coruscant, with Palpatine using the Dark Side to sustain him and keep him alive. When he was taken to a medical facility, Palpatine had Vader subjected to surgery where droids drilled prosthetics and other implants to help the installation of a respirator suit. He was a freakish cyborg now, no better than General Grievous; Vader felt it was ironic given how he had spent so long in the Clone Wars fighting the cyborg general only to discover his fate was going to be encased in metal and plastic. Vader was still reeling from the funeral procession on Naboo through Theed, he had seen of his wife, a further reminder of what he had lost. He had held out hope that Palpatine had been wrong about Padme's final fate shortly after his transformation into a cyborg, but it was true. Padme was dead, she truly was dead, and so was their child; it was obvious to anyone Padme had been pregnant and they were dead. His family were dead and all he had left was Palpatine.
As Darth Vader walked to stand beside his master, he inwardly flinched as a sharp stab of pain shot through his bones and muscles. These damn prosthetics…Vader needed to find the time to take a look at his suit and see what the Sith Master had those droids do to him, but he was sure it was shoddy work. He hadn't been given any painkillers during the surgery, so he felt the droids drill the prosthetic implants into the bone. He had already been told his lungs were so badly damaged he couldn't survive without a specialised environment, and because of the damage to his skin, Vader would need periodic baths in bacta to cleanse the necrotic flesh from his body, so that would make the perfect time to examine the suit. Vader clenched his dark prosthetic gloved hands, remembering the agony and pain he had been put through over the last few days. Obi-Wan would pay for what he had done; Vader didn't care if it took him a year, 10 years, 20 years, or a thousand years. He would make Obi-Wan Kenobi pay for what he had done.
In the meantime, Vader stood alongside Darth Sidious and gazed at their secret project, a giant spherical object which wouldn't be finished for another few decades. Vader had only just become aware of it, but he knew this was going to be a battle station of unprecedented power.
Vader turned to stare at Tarkin, unnerving the man to the Sith Lord's pleasure - he would never forgive the slimy little man for what happened with Ahsoka. Tarkin moved away, leaving the two dark figures standing at the viewport. Crossing his arms, Darth Vader stood with his master, Emperor Palpatine and surveyed the project which would bring true order and peace to the galaxy.