Chapter 52
Luke woke suddenly, and tried to open his eyes, but he found himself looking into a bright light above his head, so he closed his eyes again quickly. He felt a hand touch his head and reacted instinctively. His eyes still shut, his hand shot up and grabbed the wrist of his attacker before twisting it a hundred and eighty degrees. His attacker let out a yell of pain, and Luke used the moment to jump to his feet on top of the table he'd been laying on. He opened his eyes to look for approaching threats as something jumped to his hand as he called for a weapon through the Force. Surrounding him were 4 stormtroopers, each of their guns leveled at him, but for a moment nothing moved in the room, except for a doctor lying on the ground, crying silently as he clutched his broken wrist.
"Impressive," came the voice of Vader from the shadows, and Luke immediately dropped his makeshift weapon, which he now saw had been a spray bottle of water. He never had been the best at picking the right weapon when he woke up this way, but you'd be surprised what he had learned to do with such apparently useless tools. Vader stepped into the light and looked at Luke with pride. "But then, I never doubted I trained you well." Vader gestured to the stormtroopers with his head, and they lowered their weapons and began to leave the room. Two of them grabbed the doctor by his arms before dragging him out with them, still wincing from the pain in his wrist. After they had gone, Luke started to open his mouth, but Vader answered before he could ask. "They got away." Luke fell back on the table and groaned. Vader smiled and continued, "Hard as it is for me to admit, Kenobi was too much for me to handle. He's been training, and once his apprentice joined his side… Well, they managed to get away." Luke continued to stare at the ceiling, but Vader glared at him and asked, "Speaking of that, how were you defeated? I was confident that your training would let you handle Kenobi's 'apprentice', the Organa girl-" To Vader's surprise, Luke cut him off. "Leia," he said, still not looking at his Master.
Vader was confused. "Leia?" Luke looked over at him and explained, "Kenobi's apprentice. She told me her name was Leia. She didn't seem to want to fight, just exchange pleasantries. It was annoying." Vader scoffed. "Definitely Kenobi's." Luke sat up and glared at nothing in particular. "Clearly, Kenobi doesn't feel any responsibility for what he did to my mother. He blames you, and somehow still thinks that he's the good guy in all this. I'll work on turning Leia, but only you can defeat Obi-Wan. As he proved, I don't have enough power. Yet." Vader smiled and leaned down to ruffle his son's hair. "You will become more powerful, my son. Until then, you will destroy Kenobi your own way, by taking those he loves from him. He has deluded Organa… Leia into thinking that he cares about her. Maybe he's even fooled himself. You will break his spirit, and I will destroy whatever's left of him."
Luke smiled, and just then a stormtrooper walked in. "My liege," he reported, "the prisoner is secure, but he's eager to get going." Vader nodded. "Understood, Commander. Dismissed." The Commander walked out, and Luke looked at his father in confusion. "Prisoner? I thought all of the Jedi got away." Vader smiled. "They did. We captured the one called Maul, but we're not executing him. We're going to use him." Luke's eyes widened in surprise, and Vader turned and began to slowly pace around the room. "Tell me, Luke, what do you know about Darth Maul? I know you read those Sith records I was given by Sidious." Luke thought back and responded, "Darth Maul was Sidious' first apprentice. He was strong, but proud, and Obi-Wan Kenobi cut him in half after he appeared as the first Sith in thousands of years. But Maul survived." Vader nodded and added, "Correct, but unsurprisingly, you knew nothing of Maul's life before he was a Sith. Before Sidious officially took Maul as his apprentice, he used Maul as his assassin. He was a weapon, a trained killer capable of tracking, hunting, and quietly assassinating even Jedi. Well, as quietly as one could kill a Jedi at the time. Mostly, they just disappeared, but the fact remains that Maul is a Jedi killer. Those instincts are still in him. He's a weapon, not a man, and the Empire would be foolish not to use him."
Luke looked like he was following along, but Vader wanted to clarify one point. "Keep in mind, Maul is not an Inquisitor. He won't follow our orders, and he has no loyalty to us or our cause. He's out for himself, a beast that's only satisfied as long as the Empire gives him a target, fresh meat to hunt and rip apart. Luckily, that's all we need from him, his vicious, unrelenting nature. He's a loose cannon, but a cannon nonetheless, and the Empire can use whatever firepower they can get in order to finally end the Jedi." Luke thought it over for a moment and nodded. "I understand, Master." Vader clapped him on the shoulder and began to leave. He stopped at the sound of Luke's voice. "Father." Vader turned back to face his son and said, "Yes?" Luke looked truly disturbed and Vader knew that whatever was bothering him was serious. "This Leia Kenobi. She feels… special. Her Force signature is bright and somehow… familiar." Vader thought it over a moment, but shook his head. "You've never met her before Jedha, I can guarantee. Kenobi kept you on Tatooine for most of your life, and Organa spent her childhood in the palace of Alderaan. You are nothing like her." Luke nodded, but he still looked troubled. Vader dismissed it and left the room, calling behind him, "Get ready. The hunt continues."