Chapter 12
A wing of X-wings streaked through the skies, picking off the occasional TIE on their way to the beleaguered Cloud City. Not far behind came the warships of the Rebel Fleet, bulky silhouettes amidst the clouds. They had received the distress call, and after ascertaining that Piett wasn't a double agent, they had come to Bespin's aid as quickly as possible.
"This is Wedge Antilles of Rogue Squadron," Temporary Commander Antilles barked over the comm. "We're here to assist you."
"Thank the Force!" exclaimed the relieved security officer on the other end. "But any way you can speed things up? Things are getting awfully hairy down here."
"We're on our way," Wedge assured him. He switched comm frequencies. "Antilles to Piett, where are you?"
"Ground level of the Baron Administrator's palace," came the reply. "I suggest you make haste. Kain and Skywalker are dueling, and it looks as if Skywalker is losing."
Wedge forced himself to remain calm. "What of Vader?"
"No sign of him."
"Stay where you are," he ordered. "We'll pick you up as soon as we can."
Cloud City emerged from the clouds, hauntingly beautiful but alive with activity. TIEs circled the city like carrion flies around a corpse, and the ominous shadow of a Superstardestroyer hung in the sky like a scavenger bird.
"Pick your targets and go!" Wedge urged the Rogues. Under his breath he murmured, "Hold on Luke. We're coming for you."
---------
It was Luke's scream of pain that finally spurred Leia out of her shocked trance. She aimed her blaster and fired at Kain, fury coursing through her on seeing her friend wounded. Kain spun around and swatted the bolt aside like a child's ball, but the shot proved a distraction as Luke attacked from behind. He parried the slash, but at least Luke had the offensive now.
"Shoot him or something!" Leia ordered. "Luke can't fight him alone!"
"Are you crazy?!" Lando snapped. "Kain'll rip us apart!"
"Oh, stuff it, Lando!" retorted Forenze. "If it wasn't for you we wouldn't be in this position in the first place! Shoot or shut up!"
The four of them broke free from the circle and opened fire on the Sith. Kain responded by taking to the air, executing a back flip and landing behind Luke. Luke was now forced to shield himself from the blaster fire as well as Kain's furious attacks.
Leia charged the Sith, desperate to defend Luke. She couldn't see him hurt, not after she'd lost another loved one to the Empire! Luke was too precious to her to die at Kain's hand. Footsteps and Chewie's roar told her she wasn't alone in her determination.
Kain was a superb fighter, but even he couldn't fend off five simultaneous attacks and emerge completely unscathed. He parried a slash from Luke with one hand, fired a flechete blade with the other hand that struck Chewie in the thigh, and used the Force to brutally shove Lando and Forenze against a wall, where they slumped to the floor, too stunned to move. But Leia's charge brought her smashing into his abdomen, and they went down together like a toppling monolith.
The next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion. Luke's saber twisted around in a blazing sapphire arc, catching Kain's flailing arm at the wrist, searing through first the gauntlet, then through flesh and tendon and bone. The crimson blade of Kain's weapon whirled away, his hand still clutching the hilt in a frenzied grip. The Sith's hoarse cry of pain tore through the air as he and Leia hit the durasteel floor.
Dazed, Leia tried to get back to her feet, but a black-gloved hand clamped onto her throat.
Kain's mask dominated her vision as his intact left hand tightened over her windpipe. Something blackly profane, something burning with hate and agony, cut through her mind, a probe far more evil and destructive than any she'd endured on the Death Star.
/Fight it!/ something deep within her screamed.
She struggled to block out the probe, focusing with all her might on the image of Luke's face, using that image as a shield against Kain's intrusion. His probe battered at her defenses, then drew back as if puzzled. Her shield had caught him off guard – why, she wasn't certain.
"Let her go!" demanded Luke.
His grip held firm on her throat, cutting off her breath. "And why should I?" she heard him rasp as she clawed at his hand, fighting desperately for air. "You've taken something from me. Why shouldn't I return the favor?"
"Your quarrel is with me," Luke insisted.
Kain snarled something unintelligible and flung Leia aside like a bag of refuse. Stars exploded before her eyes as her head struck the metal sculpture in the center of the lobby, and she blacked out.
----------
"LEIA!" Luke cried.
But she couldn't hear him. She lay at the base of the statue, unmoving. He frantically touched her mind with the Force… and felt a wave of relief upon finding she was alive, if unconscious.
Kain was on his feet now. His lightsaber flew across the lobby and into his left hand. He seethed with fury and pain, his gaze venomous even behind his chrome visor. Luke suddenly realized that he'd made a grave error in cutting off the Sith's hand. Rather than incapacitating him, he'd only enraged him, providing him with more fuel to stoke the dark side.
Chewie yelped in pain as he limped forward, bowcaster ready. Blood matted the fur of his right thigh where the flechete had gashed muscle and hide open. But Wookies were a tough breed, and Chewie wasn't going to let a simple flesh wound stop him from defending Luke.
"Chewie, guard Leia!" he ordered.
He roared assent and hobbled to stand over her crumpled form.
Lando had gotten to his feet now, and he was gazing reproachfully at the Cloud City miners and guards that stood, gaping, at the spectacle.
"Well, don't just stand there!" he ordered. "Do something!"
His people roared in response and began firing at the stormtroopers circling the lobby. A renewed battle began, made all the worse by Artoo fighting with every weapon at his disposal, from his shock prod to his fire extinguisher. Lando helped Forenze up, and the two of them joined the fray. Chaos broke out where there once had been terrified silence.
"You think your distraction will help matters?" demanded Kain, tightening his grip on his weapon. He snarled in rage and slashed at Luke, hacking at his defenses, actually landing a grazing blow to his shoulder. He managed to block most of the strikes, though with difficulty, but he had to admit that Kain was by far the superior fighter.
/How am I going to get out of this mess?/
Then he felt his father's anguished cry.
/Father!/ What the stang had Vader gotten himself into?
------
Vader had never before imagined that this level of pain could exist.
Now he couldn't imagine it ending.
He thrashed beneath the electrical assault, screams of agony ripping at his raw throat, every fiber of his being pleading for release from the torture. A few times he tried desperately to dredge up some kind of Force shield against the assault, but the pain ravaged his concentration each time.
At last the Emperor lowered his hand, and the lightning attack fizzled out. Vader gasped for breath, too exhausted to stand, the pain slowly ebbing from his body as he lay on the floor. Smoke rose from his clothes, and his skin tingled and burned unbearably.
"Had enough?" Palpatine inquired.
Vader couldn't have replied if he'd wanted to.
"That, my friend, was the power of the dark side," Palpatine told him, coming to stand over his prone form. "Now you see what the power of raw emotion can do."
/Go away!/ he thought desperately, struggling to his hands and knees. /I don't want your corrupted promises!/ But even as the words were formed in his mind, he knew they were a lie. Deep down he truly wanted the freedom his truest feelings offered, even if it meant joining the dark side.
"You know you want it." The Emperor's words washed over him, smooth as loveti-moth silk but strong enough to shake Vader's will to its foundations. "Why deny yourself the glory I offer? Join me, my apprentice, and together we can end this senseless civil war and restore order to the galaxy."
"I'll never join you!" Vader hissed, keeping his gaze lowered to the office floor. He didn't dare make eye contact with this depraved beast.
"You still stubbornly cling to the Jedi Order, then," Palpatine said scornfully. "Like a dog slinking back to the owner who chains and beats it. How pathetic. You truly do not remember the betrayals of the Jedi? The agony you suffered at their hands?"
"I've suffered enough agony at yours," Vader snarled. He wasn't going to give the tyrant the satisfaction of knowing how deeply he'd shaken his faith.
"Then a peace offering of sorts is necessary," Palpatine went on, a sadistic pleasure lacing his words. "A prize you've been seeking for the last three years."
In that moment, Vader knew what rape felt like. Something decayed, something unspeakably black and blasphemous and foul invaded his mind, violating all it came in contact with. He battled the profane force with all his strength, but it casually swept him aside and delved deeper. He clenched his teeth against the searing pain, desperately trying to close his mind and shut out his foe.
But the Emperor found what he was looking for – a barrier within Vader's mind. He fixed upon a flaw in that mental wall and blasted it apart with the dark side.
Vader flung his head back and screamed.
------
The energies of the Chosen One's agonized cry echoed soundlessly in the Force, spreading like a tidal wave throughout known space, causing anyone with any Force sensitivity at all to cringe with the pain of it. Both Kain and Luke staggered under its blow, and Leia jerked out of unconsciousness for a brief moment. Beings of every species and walk of life from one spiraling arm of the galaxy to the other flinched, feeling the tremors in the Force but not comprehending their source.
On Dagobah, a dwarven hermit knelt in his hut and wept.
--------
Kain was the first to recover from the massive quake in the Force. He struck at Luke, who, still dazed, barely blocked in time. Kain snarled his rage.
Again and again Luke fended off the Sith's slashes, though his wounds throbbed and his entire body ached with exhaustion. And the Force… it still seemed to ring with the aftershocks of that hideous blow. Something terrible had happened to Vader… but what?
Kain surprised him with an upward cut that knocked Luke's arm high. Then, with a vicious right-to-left slash, he took Luke's right hand off at the wrist.
Luke gave an involuntary cry of anguish at the blast of fire that seared up his arm. Then the loss of his hand registered – not numbness, not pain, but simply the sensation of no longer being there – and he gagged.
Kain's leg swept Luke's feet out from under him. He grimaced with the pain of the impact as his injured arm jarred against the floor. An eerie thrum and the stench of ozone kept him from attempting to rise again – Kain's saber now hung just over his throat.
"Now, Skywalker," Kain sneered triumphantly, "you die."
---------
The agony the Emperor had unleashed upon him during the lightning attack was nothing compared to this. That had been physical pain. This was a mental and emotional anguish that threatened to consume him, body and soul, and he could do absolutely nothing to stop it.
No one should be forced to relive their past in its raw, unedited, unmerciful entirety, without the buffers of time to soften the blows. It would be an experience no one would escape unscathed, and few sane. Vader couldn't fathom ever escaping this ordeal alive, let alone with his sanity intact.
He collapsed to the floor, face wet with sweat and tears, blood filling his mouth from where he'd bitten through his tongue in agony. Everything was returning now. His hardscrabble childhood on Tatooine, his servitude to the Jedi Order, his fall, his brutal reign as a Sith… he remembered it all.
But worst of all, he remembered the emotions behind those memories. He relived the bitter terror and rage and agony of every waking moment, the grief at watching his mother die in his arms, the hatred toward Obi-wan during their fateful duel, the horrible pain of the molten pit and the subsequent surgeries to keep his scorched body alive. Every unflinching detail of it was revealed under the Emperor's tearing, searching mind probe.
Padme… blood on her face from where he had struck her in his rage… a Tusken Raider slumping lifeless to the sands… Obi-wan's empty robes collapsing under his red blade… an X-wing going down in flames… no! He tried to stem the flow of memory… an officer quailed in terror as he stepped up to take the place of his dead superior… Leia screamed in agony as a spherical torture droid hung over her… Watto swore loudly at him as he ran meekly to the lot to fetch an alluvial damper… it wouldn't stop! No! No!
At last the horrible influence of the Emperor withdrew, leaving him weak and moaning in agony.
"So you remember," Palpatine noted. "You have your memory back, Vader. You have what you've desired for three long years."
The Emperor bent over and, with astonishing strength for one his age, hoisted Vader to his feet. Still deeply in shock, he didn't protest.
"And now you remember your years of loyal service to me," Palpatine went on, a triumphant expression on his face. "Welcome home, my apprentice. It's been a long time, but you've returned to me."
Vader stared at him, uncomprehending.
"Well? Will you not take up the reins of the dark side once again? You have lost the way for three long years, but now that you are back on the path, it should be a simple matter to pick up where you left off."
He didn't answer, too numb with the trauma of this latest ordeal. His mind was still reeling with this revelation, still struggling to sort out this flood of jumbled data that was his past. Slowly, connections were being formed.
"Don't you remember where you left off?" prompted the Emperor. "The Battle of Yavin, the Death Star. Come on, it shouldn't be too hard…"
The Death Star. The trench. That X-wing…
Luke.
As if brushed away by an invisible hand all doubts of his loyalty fled. The X-wing pilot he'd been bound by the dark side to kill had been none other than his son. His comrade, his truest friend, his flesh and blood… and his fellow Jedi.
Yoda… Yoda had seen his flaws, had watched him fall to the dark side and slaughter the Order. He had nearly prevented his training several times… and yet he'd agreed to give him another chance. Despite his flaws, Yoda was a fair and compassionate teacher, and he had only pushed his students so hard because he knew what they could be if they tried.
The Jedi… oh, he had betrayed and destroyed the Order, no denying that. He flinched away from those memories, not wanting to remember the pain. And he would not deny that he had issues with their laws and codes. But in the Order he had found a cause, comrades, a strength in brotherhood that didn't exist in the Sith Order.
And the Emperor… the Emperor that he had so blindly served for so many years… yes, he remembered now. He remembered serving him. He remembered being his lapdog for two long decades. But most of all, he remembered the pain the monarch had inflicted upon him.
The Emperor had promised power – the same promises he'd offered him here and now. He remembered his promises to restore him to health after his fateful duel with Obi-wan. And Vader had swallowed them like a fool, performing his master's bidding for twenty years, committing one atrocity after another according to the Emperor's deranged whim.
Then he'd landed among the Alliance, bereft of his past and at their mercy. The Rebellion could easily have destroyed him then, and they'd had every reason to, as he'd caused direct or indirect harm to each and every one of them. Instead, they'd accepted their sworn enemy as one of their own. They'd healed his broken body and offered him a place among them. They'd given him friendship and trust, and for a few years he'd known love and honor as a Rebel.
And now this putrefied hack had the audacity to assume that Vader wanted to join him again. He knew, with all his heart, that he couldn't go back, knowing what the Emperor had done to him. He'd given him his loyalty and trust, which he'd manipulated for his own base purposes. He'd believed Palpatine would heal him, but he'd kept him in pain and in the throes of the dark side. He'd wanted to abandon his Jedi past and live a new life, but his master had constantly enflamed the wounds of betrayal to keep him blinded to anything but the Emperor's will. Rather than offering him greater power, he'd fed off Vader's like a parasite. Rather than offering freedom in emotion, he'd kept him chained with his own rage and pain.
He straightened as best he could, wincing at the lingering pain. "Never," he replied, his voice slurred by his bleeding tongue. "I'll never join you."
The Emperor's smile faded. His eyes flashed dangerously.
"Your plan backfired. In showing me my past, you solidified my loyalty to the Alliance. I am a Rebel and a Jedi, not your apprentice. I would rather die than be your pawn again."
No more grandfatherly expressions – Palpatine looked exactly like the demon he was. "So be it, Jedi."
A blast of lightning flung him through the window, sending him hurtling to the street below in an explosion of transparisteel.
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Palpatine stood silently a few minutes, extending the Force, waiting for Vader's life-force to snuff out when he hit the street below. But the moment never came. Either a ship or a skycar had rescued him or he'd landed on a ledge or balcony of some sort. At any rate, he was alive.
He curled his lip in a snarl.
/We will meet again/ he vowed. /And next time you will join me… or you will never leave my sight alive. That is a promise I WILL fulfill./
The slender forms of X-wings became visible in the distance. So the Rebel Fleet had been alerted to the Empire's occupation here. Ah well. Cloud City was hardly of consequence. The Rebels could have it for all he cared.
He touched Kain's mind with the Force. Better have his apprentice truss up Skywalker and get back to the Executor before some trigger-happy pilot took pot shots at them.
He frowned upon encountering Kain's feral state of mind. Kain wasn't trying to capture Skywalker – he was trying to kill him! This wouldn't do!
/Kain! Enough! Back to the ship at once!/
He stormed out of the office, blue sparks shooting from his fingertips as his rage roiled in the dark side.
---------
Kain jerked as if struck by an invisible whip. The blade at Luke's throat wavered.
Then it retracted with a hiss.
"You will not die today," snarled Kain. "You will suffer far more before you enjoy the luxury of death."
And he spun on his heel and stalked away, clutching his wounded arm.
Exhausted and in agony, Luke felt his world gray out.
Moments later hands were dragging him upright. He unconsciously fought their grip until Wedge's anxious voice penetrated his brain.
"It's okay, Luke, it's me. What happened? You look awful."
"Kain…" he moaned.
"Just relax. The Fleet's here. We're taking care of this."
"Leia… get Leia…"
"The med squad's got her. Don't worry."
"Vader…"
"No sign of him yet," Drache told him.
"Send search parties immediately!" he heard General Riekkan order just before he blacked out a second time.
A wing of X-wings streaked through the skies, picking off the occasional TIE on their way to the beleaguered Cloud City. Not far behind came the warships of the Rebel Fleet, bulky silhouettes amidst the clouds. They had received the distress call, and after ascertaining that Piett wasn't a double agent, they had come to Bespin's aid as quickly as possible.
"This is Wedge Antilles of Rogue Squadron," Temporary Commander Antilles barked over the comm. "We're here to assist you."
"Thank the Force!" exclaimed the relieved security officer on the other end. "But any way you can speed things up? Things are getting awfully hairy down here."
"We're on our way," Wedge assured him. He switched comm frequencies. "Antilles to Piett, where are you?"
"Ground level of the Baron Administrator's palace," came the reply. "I suggest you make haste. Kain and Skywalker are dueling, and it looks as if Skywalker is losing."
Wedge forced himself to remain calm. "What of Vader?"
"No sign of him."
"Stay where you are," he ordered. "We'll pick you up as soon as we can."
Cloud City emerged from the clouds, hauntingly beautiful but alive with activity. TIEs circled the city like carrion flies around a corpse, and the ominous shadow of a Superstardestroyer hung in the sky like a scavenger bird.
"Pick your targets and go!" Wedge urged the Rogues. Under his breath he murmured, "Hold on Luke. We're coming for you."
---------
It was Luke's scream of pain that finally spurred Leia out of her shocked trance. She aimed her blaster and fired at Kain, fury coursing through her on seeing her friend wounded. Kain spun around and swatted the bolt aside like a child's ball, but the shot proved a distraction as Luke attacked from behind. He parried the slash, but at least Luke had the offensive now.
"Shoot him or something!" Leia ordered. "Luke can't fight him alone!"
"Are you crazy?!" Lando snapped. "Kain'll rip us apart!"
"Oh, stuff it, Lando!" retorted Forenze. "If it wasn't for you we wouldn't be in this position in the first place! Shoot or shut up!"
The four of them broke free from the circle and opened fire on the Sith. Kain responded by taking to the air, executing a back flip and landing behind Luke. Luke was now forced to shield himself from the blaster fire as well as Kain's furious attacks.
Leia charged the Sith, desperate to defend Luke. She couldn't see him hurt, not after she'd lost another loved one to the Empire! Luke was too precious to her to die at Kain's hand. Footsteps and Chewie's roar told her she wasn't alone in her determination.
Kain was a superb fighter, but even he couldn't fend off five simultaneous attacks and emerge completely unscathed. He parried a slash from Luke with one hand, fired a flechete blade with the other hand that struck Chewie in the thigh, and used the Force to brutally shove Lando and Forenze against a wall, where they slumped to the floor, too stunned to move. But Leia's charge brought her smashing into his abdomen, and they went down together like a toppling monolith.
The next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion. Luke's saber twisted around in a blazing sapphire arc, catching Kain's flailing arm at the wrist, searing through first the gauntlet, then through flesh and tendon and bone. The crimson blade of Kain's weapon whirled away, his hand still clutching the hilt in a frenzied grip. The Sith's hoarse cry of pain tore through the air as he and Leia hit the durasteel floor.
Dazed, Leia tried to get back to her feet, but a black-gloved hand clamped onto her throat.
Kain's mask dominated her vision as his intact left hand tightened over her windpipe. Something blackly profane, something burning with hate and agony, cut through her mind, a probe far more evil and destructive than any she'd endured on the Death Star.
/Fight it!/ something deep within her screamed.
She struggled to block out the probe, focusing with all her might on the image of Luke's face, using that image as a shield against Kain's intrusion. His probe battered at her defenses, then drew back as if puzzled. Her shield had caught him off guard – why, she wasn't certain.
"Let her go!" demanded Luke.
His grip held firm on her throat, cutting off her breath. "And why should I?" she heard him rasp as she clawed at his hand, fighting desperately for air. "You've taken something from me. Why shouldn't I return the favor?"
"Your quarrel is with me," Luke insisted.
Kain snarled something unintelligible and flung Leia aside like a bag of refuse. Stars exploded before her eyes as her head struck the metal sculpture in the center of the lobby, and she blacked out.
----------
"LEIA!" Luke cried.
But she couldn't hear him. She lay at the base of the statue, unmoving. He frantically touched her mind with the Force… and felt a wave of relief upon finding she was alive, if unconscious.
Kain was on his feet now. His lightsaber flew across the lobby and into his left hand. He seethed with fury and pain, his gaze venomous even behind his chrome visor. Luke suddenly realized that he'd made a grave error in cutting off the Sith's hand. Rather than incapacitating him, he'd only enraged him, providing him with more fuel to stoke the dark side.
Chewie yelped in pain as he limped forward, bowcaster ready. Blood matted the fur of his right thigh where the flechete had gashed muscle and hide open. But Wookies were a tough breed, and Chewie wasn't going to let a simple flesh wound stop him from defending Luke.
"Chewie, guard Leia!" he ordered.
He roared assent and hobbled to stand over her crumpled form.
Lando had gotten to his feet now, and he was gazing reproachfully at the Cloud City miners and guards that stood, gaping, at the spectacle.
"Well, don't just stand there!" he ordered. "Do something!"
His people roared in response and began firing at the stormtroopers circling the lobby. A renewed battle began, made all the worse by Artoo fighting with every weapon at his disposal, from his shock prod to his fire extinguisher. Lando helped Forenze up, and the two of them joined the fray. Chaos broke out where there once had been terrified silence.
"You think your distraction will help matters?" demanded Kain, tightening his grip on his weapon. He snarled in rage and slashed at Luke, hacking at his defenses, actually landing a grazing blow to his shoulder. He managed to block most of the strikes, though with difficulty, but he had to admit that Kain was by far the superior fighter.
/How am I going to get out of this mess?/
Then he felt his father's anguished cry.
/Father!/ What the stang had Vader gotten himself into?
------
Vader had never before imagined that this level of pain could exist.
Now he couldn't imagine it ending.
He thrashed beneath the electrical assault, screams of agony ripping at his raw throat, every fiber of his being pleading for release from the torture. A few times he tried desperately to dredge up some kind of Force shield against the assault, but the pain ravaged his concentration each time.
At last the Emperor lowered his hand, and the lightning attack fizzled out. Vader gasped for breath, too exhausted to stand, the pain slowly ebbing from his body as he lay on the floor. Smoke rose from his clothes, and his skin tingled and burned unbearably.
"Had enough?" Palpatine inquired.
Vader couldn't have replied if he'd wanted to.
"That, my friend, was the power of the dark side," Palpatine told him, coming to stand over his prone form. "Now you see what the power of raw emotion can do."
/Go away!/ he thought desperately, struggling to his hands and knees. /I don't want your corrupted promises!/ But even as the words were formed in his mind, he knew they were a lie. Deep down he truly wanted the freedom his truest feelings offered, even if it meant joining the dark side.
"You know you want it." The Emperor's words washed over him, smooth as loveti-moth silk but strong enough to shake Vader's will to its foundations. "Why deny yourself the glory I offer? Join me, my apprentice, and together we can end this senseless civil war and restore order to the galaxy."
"I'll never join you!" Vader hissed, keeping his gaze lowered to the office floor. He didn't dare make eye contact with this depraved beast.
"You still stubbornly cling to the Jedi Order, then," Palpatine said scornfully. "Like a dog slinking back to the owner who chains and beats it. How pathetic. You truly do not remember the betrayals of the Jedi? The agony you suffered at their hands?"
"I've suffered enough agony at yours," Vader snarled. He wasn't going to give the tyrant the satisfaction of knowing how deeply he'd shaken his faith.
"Then a peace offering of sorts is necessary," Palpatine went on, a sadistic pleasure lacing his words. "A prize you've been seeking for the last three years."
In that moment, Vader knew what rape felt like. Something decayed, something unspeakably black and blasphemous and foul invaded his mind, violating all it came in contact with. He battled the profane force with all his strength, but it casually swept him aside and delved deeper. He clenched his teeth against the searing pain, desperately trying to close his mind and shut out his foe.
But the Emperor found what he was looking for – a barrier within Vader's mind. He fixed upon a flaw in that mental wall and blasted it apart with the dark side.
Vader flung his head back and screamed.
------
The energies of the Chosen One's agonized cry echoed soundlessly in the Force, spreading like a tidal wave throughout known space, causing anyone with any Force sensitivity at all to cringe with the pain of it. Both Kain and Luke staggered under its blow, and Leia jerked out of unconsciousness for a brief moment. Beings of every species and walk of life from one spiraling arm of the galaxy to the other flinched, feeling the tremors in the Force but not comprehending their source.
On Dagobah, a dwarven hermit knelt in his hut and wept.
--------
Kain was the first to recover from the massive quake in the Force. He struck at Luke, who, still dazed, barely blocked in time. Kain snarled his rage.
Again and again Luke fended off the Sith's slashes, though his wounds throbbed and his entire body ached with exhaustion. And the Force… it still seemed to ring with the aftershocks of that hideous blow. Something terrible had happened to Vader… but what?
Kain surprised him with an upward cut that knocked Luke's arm high. Then, with a vicious right-to-left slash, he took Luke's right hand off at the wrist.
Luke gave an involuntary cry of anguish at the blast of fire that seared up his arm. Then the loss of his hand registered – not numbness, not pain, but simply the sensation of no longer being there – and he gagged.
Kain's leg swept Luke's feet out from under him. He grimaced with the pain of the impact as his injured arm jarred against the floor. An eerie thrum and the stench of ozone kept him from attempting to rise again – Kain's saber now hung just over his throat.
"Now, Skywalker," Kain sneered triumphantly, "you die."
---------
The agony the Emperor had unleashed upon him during the lightning attack was nothing compared to this. That had been physical pain. This was a mental and emotional anguish that threatened to consume him, body and soul, and he could do absolutely nothing to stop it.
No one should be forced to relive their past in its raw, unedited, unmerciful entirety, without the buffers of time to soften the blows. It would be an experience no one would escape unscathed, and few sane. Vader couldn't fathom ever escaping this ordeal alive, let alone with his sanity intact.
He collapsed to the floor, face wet with sweat and tears, blood filling his mouth from where he'd bitten through his tongue in agony. Everything was returning now. His hardscrabble childhood on Tatooine, his servitude to the Jedi Order, his fall, his brutal reign as a Sith… he remembered it all.
But worst of all, he remembered the emotions behind those memories. He relived the bitter terror and rage and agony of every waking moment, the grief at watching his mother die in his arms, the hatred toward Obi-wan during their fateful duel, the horrible pain of the molten pit and the subsequent surgeries to keep his scorched body alive. Every unflinching detail of it was revealed under the Emperor's tearing, searching mind probe.
Padme… blood on her face from where he had struck her in his rage… a Tusken Raider slumping lifeless to the sands… Obi-wan's empty robes collapsing under his red blade… an X-wing going down in flames… no! He tried to stem the flow of memory… an officer quailed in terror as he stepped up to take the place of his dead superior… Leia screamed in agony as a spherical torture droid hung over her… Watto swore loudly at him as he ran meekly to the lot to fetch an alluvial damper… it wouldn't stop! No! No!
At last the horrible influence of the Emperor withdrew, leaving him weak and moaning in agony.
"So you remember," Palpatine noted. "You have your memory back, Vader. You have what you've desired for three long years."
The Emperor bent over and, with astonishing strength for one his age, hoisted Vader to his feet. Still deeply in shock, he didn't protest.
"And now you remember your years of loyal service to me," Palpatine went on, a triumphant expression on his face. "Welcome home, my apprentice. It's been a long time, but you've returned to me."
Vader stared at him, uncomprehending.
"Well? Will you not take up the reins of the dark side once again? You have lost the way for three long years, but now that you are back on the path, it should be a simple matter to pick up where you left off."
He didn't answer, too numb with the trauma of this latest ordeal. His mind was still reeling with this revelation, still struggling to sort out this flood of jumbled data that was his past. Slowly, connections were being formed.
"Don't you remember where you left off?" prompted the Emperor. "The Battle of Yavin, the Death Star. Come on, it shouldn't be too hard…"
The Death Star. The trench. That X-wing…
Luke.
As if brushed away by an invisible hand all doubts of his loyalty fled. The X-wing pilot he'd been bound by the dark side to kill had been none other than his son. His comrade, his truest friend, his flesh and blood… and his fellow Jedi.
Yoda… Yoda had seen his flaws, had watched him fall to the dark side and slaughter the Order. He had nearly prevented his training several times… and yet he'd agreed to give him another chance. Despite his flaws, Yoda was a fair and compassionate teacher, and he had only pushed his students so hard because he knew what they could be if they tried.
The Jedi… oh, he had betrayed and destroyed the Order, no denying that. He flinched away from those memories, not wanting to remember the pain. And he would not deny that he had issues with their laws and codes. But in the Order he had found a cause, comrades, a strength in brotherhood that didn't exist in the Sith Order.
And the Emperor… the Emperor that he had so blindly served for so many years… yes, he remembered now. He remembered serving him. He remembered being his lapdog for two long decades. But most of all, he remembered the pain the monarch had inflicted upon him.
The Emperor had promised power – the same promises he'd offered him here and now. He remembered his promises to restore him to health after his fateful duel with Obi-wan. And Vader had swallowed them like a fool, performing his master's bidding for twenty years, committing one atrocity after another according to the Emperor's deranged whim.
Then he'd landed among the Alliance, bereft of his past and at their mercy. The Rebellion could easily have destroyed him then, and they'd had every reason to, as he'd caused direct or indirect harm to each and every one of them. Instead, they'd accepted their sworn enemy as one of their own. They'd healed his broken body and offered him a place among them. They'd given him friendship and trust, and for a few years he'd known love and honor as a Rebel.
And now this putrefied hack had the audacity to assume that Vader wanted to join him again. He knew, with all his heart, that he couldn't go back, knowing what the Emperor had done to him. He'd given him his loyalty and trust, which he'd manipulated for his own base purposes. He'd believed Palpatine would heal him, but he'd kept him in pain and in the throes of the dark side. He'd wanted to abandon his Jedi past and live a new life, but his master had constantly enflamed the wounds of betrayal to keep him blinded to anything but the Emperor's will. Rather than offering him greater power, he'd fed off Vader's like a parasite. Rather than offering freedom in emotion, he'd kept him chained with his own rage and pain.
He straightened as best he could, wincing at the lingering pain. "Never," he replied, his voice slurred by his bleeding tongue. "I'll never join you."
The Emperor's smile faded. His eyes flashed dangerously.
"Your plan backfired. In showing me my past, you solidified my loyalty to the Alliance. I am a Rebel and a Jedi, not your apprentice. I would rather die than be your pawn again."
No more grandfatherly expressions – Palpatine looked exactly like the demon he was. "So be it, Jedi."
A blast of lightning flung him through the window, sending him hurtling to the street below in an explosion of transparisteel.
--------
Palpatine stood silently a few minutes, extending the Force, waiting for Vader's life-force to snuff out when he hit the street below. But the moment never came. Either a ship or a skycar had rescued him or he'd landed on a ledge or balcony of some sort. At any rate, he was alive.
He curled his lip in a snarl.
/We will meet again/ he vowed. /And next time you will join me… or you will never leave my sight alive. That is a promise I WILL fulfill./
The slender forms of X-wings became visible in the distance. So the Rebel Fleet had been alerted to the Empire's occupation here. Ah well. Cloud City was hardly of consequence. The Rebels could have it for all he cared.
He touched Kain's mind with the Force. Better have his apprentice truss up Skywalker and get back to the Executor before some trigger-happy pilot took pot shots at them.
He frowned upon encountering Kain's feral state of mind. Kain wasn't trying to capture Skywalker – he was trying to kill him! This wouldn't do!
/Kain! Enough! Back to the ship at once!/
He stormed out of the office, blue sparks shooting from his fingertips as his rage roiled in the dark side.
---------
Kain jerked as if struck by an invisible whip. The blade at Luke's throat wavered.
Then it retracted with a hiss.
"You will not die today," snarled Kain. "You will suffer far more before you enjoy the luxury of death."
And he spun on his heel and stalked away, clutching his wounded arm.
Exhausted and in agony, Luke felt his world gray out.
Moments later hands were dragging him upright. He unconsciously fought their grip until Wedge's anxious voice penetrated his brain.
"It's okay, Luke, it's me. What happened? You look awful."
"Kain…" he moaned.
"Just relax. The Fleet's here. We're taking care of this."
"Leia… get Leia…"
"The med squad's got her. Don't worry."
"Vader…"
"No sign of him yet," Drache told him.
"Send search parties immediately!" he heard General Riekkan order just before he blacked out a second time.