A/N :

'lo guys ! Here is the first chapter. Thanks to all the readers and reviewers! The following chapter was written ages ago (about 13 months ago, to be precise ;), and was not beta-read since I felt a bit ill-at-ease about asking some nice reviewer to beta-read it so late after she offered to… Sorry ! I corrected some of the most obvious mistakes, but there must be quite a couple of them left.

Disclaimer :

GL's characters, GL's universe. Sagan is mine, and Devs belongs to the Empire (the idiot :-| ). Is that disclaimer clear enough ?

Safe Again : Chapter 1

D.S. II

Captain Shon Devs was not a happy man. He had always been proud to claim he belonged to the Empire, because its army was great and ordered. Ordered! It was everything but ordered now. Ever since the shields had been blown up, men had started panicking. Then there had been explosions, and the alarm bells had rung – and soon the situation had been completely out of hands. The corridors were overwhelmed with running people, some of them holding a package, some others pushing everybody to be the first to leave. To be assured that, when they reached the hangar bay, there would still be a TIE Fighter, a shuttle, anything to fly them out of the doomed battle station.

The Death Star. The name was obsolete now; it should be the Dead Star, Devs mused. Devs and his team were trying to make their way through the running crowd. It was difficult, since they were heading towards a place that was mainly being evacuated. Devs disapproved flatly of the evacuation order. The soldiers of the Empire were brave men, and they should die as such. However, there was nothing to be done against those screaming bells now. And even Devs was realistic enough to conclude that the men would have fled even without the bells.

Fear. The men were afraid. The soldiers of the Empire were never afraid –- or so Devs had thought. The Empire being beaten up by the Rebellion was against anything Devs could have imagined, but the Imperial soldiers being afraid was one of the few things he had considered as being completely impossible. That -– along with the Emperor's death.

Shone Devs had tried once to imagine what the Empire would be without Emperor Palpatine. He had given up very quickly, coming to the conclusion that without Palpatine, there would be no Empire at all. In fact, he had refused to acknowledge the awful thought that had crossed his mind. The thought that, if anything were to happen to his Emperor, Darth Vader would be the next ruler of the Galaxy.

The thought was disgusting. The man was not even human, Devs had heard. A friend of his from the Intelligence had once had access to Vader's restricted file, and discovered that there was something abnormal in his blood. Only half-human, the tests had revealed. Devs was not one to obey some non-human scum. One of the reasons for his willing transfer to the Death Star was his desire not to follow any of Vader's orders. The Death Star was the only part of the fleet that was not under Vader's command. Devs could not imagine what his life would be after the Death Star was destroyed.

'Look, Sir! The Royal Guards have left!'

Lost in his thoughts, Devs had not realized that he and his team had almost reached the throne room, their destination. They had come to bring the Emperor to safety. It just seemed that they were too late. The Royal Guards had already taken care of the Emperor. Relief flooded through Devs. 'Let's check this room while we're here anyway.'

Young lieutenant Sagan, the one who had awoken Devs from his reverie, nodded. Weis Sagan had been Devs' second-in-command for less than two months, and the two men already hated each other passionately. Sagan was not as an observer of the Order as Devs was, and his loyalties were doubtful. Devs had had to point his blaster on Sagan's head to convince him to bring the team and check on the Emperor. He even highly suspected the young man had accepted to come and bring the troops because Vader had been reported to be with the Emperor.

Sagan and his four men followed Devs in the elevator. All of them were nervous; they were afraid that the Emperor would still be there and very displeased by their apparition. The Emperor was not exactly well-known for his indulgence.

Those five men were not really afraid of not reaching the hangar bay in time. They didn't want to die, no. Most of them had families they did not want to leave. But they had accepted their fate. Ever since Devs had put his blaster on Sagan's head, they had understood that they had no way out of this 'mission'.

The doors opened. There was no Royal Guard inside the room, either. Whatever had happened, the Emperor wasn't present any longer. Still, a repetitive sound could be heard. It had nothing to do with the sounds of the explosions, it was something else… A breather. Lord Vader could be somewhere in this room.

Devs didn't care.

'Let's get back, there's nothing here.'

A particularly loud noise from Vader's breather made them all pause. The sound was odd, but undeniably Vader. Ignoring his presence could prove deadly, so the Captain nodded to his men. Sagan and three of the soldiers started climbing up the stairs. The one named Sperks remained downstairs with Devs.

They saw him before they reached the end of the stairs. He was lying on the floor, a young man lying by his side. His right hand had been cut off, and some of its electronics components could be seen. He did not move when the four men went up, neither did the young man. The breather sounded even weaker than it did from the elevator doors. The men were startled when they realised Vader was holding the boy's hand in his own.

'Lord Vader? Can you hear me?'

The man blinked slowly under his mask. Ever since Luke had fainted, he had tried to concentrate and gather enough strength to bring his son out of there. And ever since he had tried, he had failed. He had held Luke's hand in his own, trying to wake him up so he could leave this doomed place, but Luke wouldn't wake up; his father was afraid that he never would. Luke deserved to live. The more he thought about his son, the more he felt ashamed of himself. He kept trying to gather his strength, staring at the ceiling, oblivious to his surroundings.

'My Lord ?'

The man lying on the floor thought that there was no use ignoring the voice to keep his strength. He would never get Luke out of there by himself anyway. He focused on the four men, noticing in the back of his mind that there were two other men down the stairs.

'What are you doing here, Lieutenant?' he asked the closer man tiredly. The Lieutenant did not answer. He and another man helped Vader to his feet. Meanwhile, the two men downstairs had come to witness the scene.

'What of this one? Skywalker, isn't he? I think he should stay…'

'No.' The injured man closed his eyes behind the mask. He hadn't felt the answer coming. The words had got out of himself, a mere impulse he had obeyed. An impulse… Anakin had been an impulsive one. Did that mean anything?

He shook his head. He was no longer Darth Vader, that was for sure. Somehow he still was, and Vader would always be a part of him, but he did not think the same way any more. He wasn't led by the Dark Side, but by his own feelings. Like before. Still these feelings were what had driven him to the Dark Side.

Would trying to become Anakin again be safe?

He focused back on the Captain. He didn't need to listen to him to know what he was saying: he wanted Luke to die on the Death Star. And he insisted a lot. The former Jedi felt the man did not respect him at all.

'Do not discuss, Captain,' he hissed in a tired but very Vader-like voice. He felt it was the only way to save Luke. Play the game; you're a Sith Lord.

It worked. With two men leading the way, two men helping Vader and the other two carrying Luke, they made their way down to the elevator. Once they were out, the black-clad man motioned for the two soldiers carrying Luke to go before him. He needed to see with his own eyes that his son was still alive. Having him at eyesight during the way through the Death Star corridors was a good start.

They stumbled several times along the corridors. Vader was weak; the boy was a dead weight. Devs was angry. The team could have walked much more quickly without the two of them. He was all the more so angry as he felt the Emperor had left the men behind on purpose. He held no doubt that Vader was a traitor. As for the other man, he was a Rebel. Devs could not understand why the Emperor had had them with him in the first place. He did not have to understand, though. His Emperor must have had his reasons.

He was weakening; he felt he was dying. He did not want to die yet, no. He had to see that his son was safe before. Luke would not be safe with those men if Vader died. Some of them would consider their leader had entrusted them with the young man, but their Captain would let him die; he had already wanted to leave the two Jedi on the doomed Death Star. Despite his weariness, the tall man could feel the Captain broadcasting his lethal thoughts. He had the feeling that at least he deserved this hate and death, but his son did not. And Devs' reasons for hating were unfair. Just as the Emperor's had been. He felt deeply guilty he had needed so much time to come to realise that. So much time, and almost his son's life.

An explosion made the Death Star shake and he almost fell to the floor. But it was no time for being weak. They had at last reached the bay. There were still a couple of available shuttles, but for how long? Most of the men had not evacuated yet. They are going to die because of the Empire. Oh Padmé, how I was wrong!

'Take this one.'

The team ran to the shuttle Vader had nodded at. Even Devs felt the Dark Lord knew what he was talking about. Every explosion was stronger than the previous one. They had no time to waste. That was why Devs said nothing when he noticed the shuttle wore the Emperor's seal.

Vader was a damned traitor.

He was still under the shock of the Emperor's disappearance when the Death Star exploded.

TBC…