Edited 5/21/2005
Stuff changed in this chapter: Grammar/spelling/formatting corrections. Minor story change. Some additions.
Author's Notes: Hello again and thanks to everyone who wrote a review, plus a big thanks to those who answered my question. The story should really get going in the third chapter. But for now, without further ado...
Broken Wings
Chapter Two
The two of them stood in front of the farm as the shuttle doors opened. They carried no weapons, they knew they would be useless. Stormtroopers filed out of the shuttle, their white armor gleaming in Tatooine's harsh light. They surrounded the two farmers.
Beru stood tall next to her husband. She could hear Vader coming before she could see him. His dark figure seemed to bring night into the day. She heard herself gasp. This was Anakin? The same handsome young man who had come Tatooine all those years ago seeking his mother? She had heard stories of Darth Vader, but still it had been so hard to believe until now. She forced her hands to stop trembling. Owen was tensing next to her as if preparing for combat.
The world seemed to halt as Vader stood before them. Even the ever-present wind stopped blowing. She felt as if those hard, black eyes were boring into her.
"Where is he?" Vader's voice seemed to shatter the silence like braking glass. Everything was falling down around her, falling away.
"I don't know what you're talking about. The Empire doesn't have any authority here." Her husbands voice was firm, but she could hear the fear behind it. He was about to say something else, when the butt of a stormtrooper's rifle connected with his head. He collapsed in a heap, dazed.
Beru fought her instinct to check on him. She kept her eyes looked on Vader. Oh Owen, this is the end.
"I will ask one more time. Where is he?"
She didn't answer, she didn't flinch, even when he approached her. He stopped less then an arm's length away. She could see herself reflected in his mask. He stood before her, silent for a long moment. His gaze turned away from her, instead looking towards the building behind her. It felt as if he was searching for something, somehow, and she knew what.
He stepped away from her, and turned to one of the stormtroopers. Once again his voice seemed to shatter the silence. Once again, things began to look worse. "Commander, have your men search the buildings, you will find four children. Bring them to me."
Vader stood calmly, appearing impassive as the four children were dragged from their hiding place. Deep inside emotions warred in that long buried place, but he would not let them affect his calm. He had suspected the truth, some part of him seemed to have known, but he hadn't been certain until he saw the truth in the woman's thoughts.
The remaining stormtroopers stood with their rifles trained at Owen Lars and his wife. The man, his stepbrother, was standing now, but his eyes were unfocused, and he swayed on his feet. His wife stood next to him, holding him steady, looking both sad and frightened.
Vader turned to survey the four children. The first was a girl. Small and stocky, her fear was nearly overwhelmed by her anger. She was of no consequence. Next to her was a tall fragile looking boy, his calm exterior hiding terror as great as any of the others. The next, another boy, average height, dark haired, was not the one Vader was seeking. But next to him...
The last of the children looked towards him with bright blue eyes, wide with shock. Sandy hair fell into a tanned face making him an image from Vader's past. Some part of his long dead heart stirred at the sight, briefly, and then died again.
His son.
He could feel the boy transmitting his feelings through the force. Anger, fear, and... curiosity, echoed through his mind. There was something else there. An emotion that flickered so quickly he couldn't identify it.
There was power there, inside the boy; a potential stronger then anything he had ever sensed. The boy would be powerful, after he was trained by the Emperor. He realized that, for the first time since he had sensed the boy, he had given a thought to what to do with him. Before then he had only thought of discovering the source of the presence he had felt, or dealing with a potential threat. Now he knew what he was to do, he would bring the boy before the Emperor. His master would not turn away such a potentially useful tool.
Tool? Oh Anakin, he's your son!
The words echoed through his mind in Padmé's voice. Brief anger flared within him.
I am not Anakin.
The voice didn't answer, but then he hadn't been expecting it to.
"Bring that one," he said, indicating the smallest child. The boy's eyes widened, fear overwhelming the other emotions.
It seemed so… appropriate that this boy, the final remnant of Padmé's betrayal and the child whose very conception had helped bring about the destruction of the Jedi order would be trained as a Sith in the Emperor's service.
"No! Luke!" Beru Lars called out. She tried to go to the boy, but both she and her husband were quickly restrained by stormtroopers.
Luke, his name is Luke. Skywalker? An irrelevant thought, the boy's name, could and would be changed.
Two of the white-clad solders moved forward to grab the boy. He stumbled back a few paces. One of them seized his arm. In that moment the other three children seemed to recover from their shock. The dark-haired one launched himself at the stormtrooper that was holding the boy. The girl grabbed the other one's rifle and attempted to wrest it away. Time seemed to stretch out. The stalemate was broken by the sound of blaster fire. The dark-haired boy collapsed to his knees, an smoking wound on his upper leg. The second stormtrooper pulled his weapon away from the girl, and struck her in the face with the butt end. The tall boy caught her before she fell. Blood from her nose covered her face.
"Jarru! Biggs!" Luke called out. He tried to help his fallen friend but was seized by the imperial solders.
Vader looked on in disdain. Children could never hope to defeat imperial stormtroopers. Owen Lars was cussing and struggling, Beru just looked on in shock. The stormtroopers pulled Luke away from his friends and brought him before Vader. He could sense the boys emotions all the more clearly for the proximity. There was anger again, more then before, but still covered by fear.
His son turned blue eyes up towards Vader, he could have reached out and touched the black armor. Beru pulled herself away with a cry and landed at his feet. Luke looked over at her, too afraid to say anything. She turned tear filled eyes onto the Sith Lord.
"Anakin, please, let him go," she said, so quietly he barely heard, so did Luke.
Luke snapped wide eyes from his aunt to Vader. He mouthed the words Anakin, and father. He was visibly shaking now.
Vader felt anger fill him. This woman, who had helped hide his son away from him, had no right to call him by that name, no one did. He glared at her, sensing her emotions. There was terror, and pain, and... pity? For the boy? No, the pity was for him. This pathetic, backwater, farmer dared to pity him. He slowly turned his head from the woman.
"Kill both the farmers," he ordered. Owen Lars continue to struggle, Beru just turned her gaze downwards.
"Yes, Lord Vader." The nearest troopers raised their rifles.
How had this child come to be here? When he had been told of Padmé's death he had been certain that child must have died as well. Obi-Wan must have hidden…
"No!" Vader heard Luke's exclamation at the same time he felt the darkside surge. Four stormtroopers were thrown off their feet. One collided with the farmhouse wall and remained still. The strength was impressive, impossible, he would have thought had he not witnessed it. Yes, the boy would be very useful.
Luke stood there for a moment, his eyes unfocused, before collapsing at Vader's feet drained.
Owen Lars had stopped struggling, Beru Lars looked up, tears pouring from her eyes. The three children were huddled together for comfort. Even the stormtroopers seemed alarmed. The other three stormtroopers staggered to their feet. One was dragging his leg oddly.
"Well, Commander?" Vader asked, his expressionless mask turned towards the leader of the troopers.
Two rifles were raised, and two shots fired. Owen and Beru Lars collapsed, motionless. The force flickered as they died. On the sand Luke moved slightly and then lay still again.
Vader regarded his son for a moment, before bending over and lifting his alarmingly light form. He turned and began to walk back to his shuttle.
"L-Lord Vader? What do you want us to do with the children?" The commander asked, clearly afraid of the answer.
Visions of the sandpeople children came to him, and of the Jedi children looking at him with hope as he entered the council chamber where they had hidden. He remembered watching their hope turn to shock and then terror.
Vader didn't turn from his path. "Leave them. They are of no consequence." The stormtrooper's relief was almost palpable.
Before disappearing into his shuttle, Vader heard the sounds of a child crying, and the stormtroopers dragging the body of their fallen comrade.
I've failed. I'm sorry Padmé.
Obi-Wan watched the grave at his feet.
Owen, Beru, I shouldn't have brought him here.
Luke...
He closed his eyes, feeling tears staining his cheeks.
He had arrived too late. As he approached he felt Vader's presence, confirming his worst fears. He had hidden his own presence, while pushing the speeder as fast as it would go. When he felt someone grasp the darkside of the force, he had fear that Vader had struck out against his own son. But it hadn't been Vader, it had been Luke.
The similarities were too painful, hadn't Anakin been Luke's age when he was taken to the Jedi Order? But Luke wasn't being taken to the Jedi, he was being taken to Palpatine. This was a hundred times worse.
Upon his arrival at the Lars' farm he had found the bodies of Owen and Beru and three very frightened children, Luke's friends. Immediate concerns had mercifully driven thoughts of Luke out of his mind for a time.
He had comforted the children, and dealt as best he could with their, thankfully minor, wounds. The boy named Biggs would walk with a limp, possibly for the rest of his life, the girl's nose was badly broken, but they would live. Knowing Vader, he would have expected far worse. The memory of the massacre at the Jedi temple had remained fresh in his mind even after all these decades.
Together, he and Luke's three friends, had buried the bodies of Owen and Beru Lars, next to the plot where years before Anakin had buried his mother. Shmi's grave now stood flanked by her husband and her stepson.
Obi-Wan pulled himself from his thoughts. He brought his gaze up briefly to the darkening sky. He turned to the children. Emotionally and physically exhausted, they sat together in the lengthening shade of the Lars homestead, trying to give each other what comfort they could.
He smiled at them, gently and sadly. "I'm afraid there won't be the time to see you three safely home before sunset. We will have to remain here this night."
Because all three of the children were reluctant to enter the now abandoned farm buildings, they built a fire just outside with supplies from Obi-Wan's speeder. He let them have the blankets, the cold had long ceased to bother him.
"Mr. Kenobi?" Luke's best friend, Biggs asked hesitantly once they were all settled down.
"Call me Ben."
"Why," He began and then stopped. Obi-Wan motioned for him to continue. "Why did they take Luke?"
Obi-Wan sighed. He had been expecting this question, almost dreading it. He was still uncertain how much to tell them. "It was because of Luke's father," he told them.
The taller boy, Tinker, and the girl, Jarru, looked up at Obi-Wan.
"Why?" The boy asked. "I thought Luke's father was a navigator."
Obi-Wan shook his head, slowly. He stoked the fire while composing his thoughts. "No, Luke's father was a Jedi Knight" He heard their collective intake of breath. These children, like so many others, had grown up knowing that the Jedi must die. At least these had heard of the order. The once powerful order of Jedi Knights was being slowly forgotten by a galaxy that had been forced to deny its existence.
"Were you, are you a Jedi?" Biggs asked, eyes shining with unshed tears in the light of the fire.
"I am," Kenobi told them simply.
"Why are you here? On Tatooine? Shouldn't you be fighting the Empire with the Alliance or something?" Biggs asked, becoming more brave.
"I am here, or was here, to protect Luke"
"You didn't do a very god job, did you?" the girl asked acidly, speaking up for the first time.
Obi-Wan locked his eyes on her face until she looked away. He looked into the fire. "No, I didn't," he said, the pain in his voice evident.
Another error… am I capable of anything else?
"I'm sorry." She whispered into her blankets and took to picking at the bacta patch over her newly re-set nose. Obi-Wan took her hand patiently and pulled it away from the bandage.
"What are they going to do with Luke?" Biggs asked, his voice shaking.
Obi-Wan shook his head. "I don't know."
Later, after all they had all finally fallen asleep, Obi-Wan sat watching the stars. Luke was lost to them, possibly forever, but the girl, Luke's sister could still be trained. He would have to make the journey soon. Alderaan would be difficult to reach, and he would have to be careful to keep his identity hidden, lest he spark a final disaster.
How had Vader found them?
Luke awoke on a semi-hard surface. He opened his eyes to a bright white glare. That wasn't right, it was too cold to be this bright. He blinked a few times, and his surroundings popped into focus. The brightness wasn't coming from Tatooine's suns, he was simply in a bright room, with white walls and ceiling. The light was coming from a number of glow panels in the ceiling. That definitely wasn't right.
He sat up. He seemed to have be laying on a very hard bed. He looked around the room. The walls floor and ceiling were white, the furnishings, black, not that there were many furnishings. The bed sat against one wall. On the other side a small table with two very uncomfortable looking chairs sat next to a desk. There were two doors. It looked like there were two windows as well, but they were too high to see out of.
Luke grabbed his head and closed his eyes, he felt weird and kinda dizzy. How did he get here? His memories didn't seem to make any sense, they all felt so fuzzy.
He looked back up towards the windows. There wasn't any light coming out of them. Maybe it was night? He decided he'd better have a look.
He slid off the glossy black bed covers. He winced as his bare feet hit the freezing cold floor. He looked down and saw his shoes were neatly lined up at the foot of the bed. He pulled them on.
He tried the doors first. One was locked, the other lead to a simple 'fresher.
Luke looked around the room. The windows were small and well out of reach. He grabbed on of the chairs and tried to lift it. It was surprisingly heavy. He had to settle for pushing it instead.
The chair sliding across the bare floor made a loud grating sound. He winced, hoping he hadn't disturbed anyone. Then he realized that if someone came, they would be able to tell him where he was.
Unless they weren't friendly...
He tried to make as little noise as possible as he finished pushing the chair under the windows. He stepped up onto the seat, grabbed the window frame and tried to pull himself up. What he saw wasn't what he expected.
Beyond the glass, all he could see were bright steaks of light.
Luke's hands slipped and he fell off the chair and on to the hard floor with a jarring crash.
Hyperdrive? He wondered, rubbing his knee where he had hit it as he fell. Was he on a ship? He blinked and then shook his head, trying to clear it.
A spaceship had been coming. That's why Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen had made him hide, along with Biggs, Tinker, and Jarru. But the white armored men had dragged them out of there. Stormtroopers, they were stormtroopers. From the Empire? There had been a man in black armor. Vader? No, Aunt Beru had called him, Anakin. Anakin was his father's name. His father was dead, but the man in black had been there and he was called Anakin. The man in black was his father? That felt both weirdly correct and incredibly wrong.
Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen, had been afraid. It had looked like Aunt Beru was crying, right before...
He let out a choked sob as the memories came back to him. He lay there, on the floor, crying until sleep finally claimed him.
When Luke awoke, he was lying on the bed again, this time under the covers. How long had he been asleep? It felt like forever. He lay on the pillow for a while, holding back tears. When he couldn't bare to be left with his thoughts anymore, he sat up.
His clothing was different. He was wearing sleepwear made of some soft black material he didn't recognize. He looked around the room. His own clothing was gone. There was food on the table, but he didn't feel hungry. He walked over to investigate it nevertheless. He didn't recognize anything on the plates.
He walked over to the door first door. It was still locked. He went to use the 'fresher instead. Inside he found a set of clothing folded on a shelf, a simple tunic, pants, and boots. They were all black. Did everything here have to be black?
He washed himself and changed. Afterwards he felt hungry, so he sat down and ate the food without tasting any of it.
Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were gone. He could feel their absence, not just because they weren't with him, but in a deeper, more permanent way. He still wanted to cry, but wouldn't let himself. What about his friends? He'd seen them hurt. We're they dead too? Bits and pieces of his memory were still fuzzy. The last thing he remembered was feeling scared and angry, and then... nothing. Then he had found himself here.
He felt a slight jolt. There was light coming from the windows now, but only a little. Luke walked over to the chair he had pushed under the window and climbed onto it with more caution than the last time. He hoisted himself up and looked out. There was a planet below him. It looked weirdly metallic, and seemed to be covered with small lights. There wasn't anything like that in the outer rim. How long had he been asleep?
Vader felt his the boy awaken from his force-induced sleep. He shouldn't have awoken until Vader himself came to wake him up. But the Dark Lord couldn't say he was entirely surprised. The boy had thrown off a memory block in a matter of minutes.
Once again he felt the boy's distress. It was an unpleasant sensation, and he did his best to block it out. Irritatingly, the boy was practically broadcasting his emotions over the force, and blocking it out required entirely too much concentration. It was not a skill Vader had reason to use often.
"My Lord?" One of the bridge officers said from near the comms. Vader turned to regard him. He man swallowed uneasily before continuing. "We have dropped out of hyperspace at Coruscant and the Emperor's palace is hailing us. He wishes to speak with you."
"Put the signal through to my private receiving room," Vader commanded as he turned to leave the room.
He knelt on the floor and waited within an few moments and image appeared above him. The Emperor's withered face looked down at him.
"What is your bidding, my master?"
"I see you have a present for me, Lord Vader," the Emperor said carefully.
"Yes, my master."
"Are you certain the boy is your son?"
"I am certain, my master. The doctors have confirmed it."
"Strange, that he was hidden from you for so long, and only now have you found him."
"The force led me to him, my master."
"Lord Vader," Palpatine said, his voice suddenly hard. "Are you aware that there must only be two Sith? That this is as it has been since the wars? What do you propose we do with this boy?"
"I believe he should be trained to follow you, my master. He is very powerful, he could be useful."
"Indeed," The Emperor seemed to consider this for a moment. "Bring the boy before me and I will judge his potential. If he is not powerful enough to merit the effort, he will be killed, is this understood, Lord Vader?"
"Yes, my master," Vader responded bowing his head, as the transmission ended.
Luke looked up from the bed as the previously locked door opened, reveling The black-armored man. He dried his tears as quickly as he could and tried to scramble into a sitting position. The man (his father?), just stood and watched him. Luke could hear the man's forced breathing echoing through the room. He swallowed and forced himself to speak, instantly terrified.
"W-what do you want?"
"You are to come with me." The deep voice and dark figure was the stuff of nightmares, but Luke didn't feel as scared as he thought he should. Maybe he'd just been scared so much lately he was running out of fear.
"Where?" he asked. Oddly, he suddenly felt proud that his voice had stopped shaking.
"To the planet below, Coruscant. You are to be taken before the Emperor."
Luke's eyes went wide with shock. Coruscant? The Emperor? It was too much. It didn't make any sense.
"Why?" he asked, his voice shaking again.
"Enough Questions. The Emperor will answer any you might have, if he deems them pertinent. Now, come with me," He seemed to wait for a moment, as if making a choice. "My son."
Okay, I took all this time to write it, and you took all this time to read it, now do me a favor, and fill out a review, please.
Another Author Question: Does anyone know who much older then Luke, Biggs is suppose to be?