Chapter 6 – Reflection and Refraction

Darth Vader stared passively into space from the bridge of his Star Destroyer, mesmerized by the glowing twin suns dawning over the fragile limb of Tatooine. The breathtaking sight might have given others cause to reflect on the wonders of life, but not him. Tatooine, once his home, now sparked only bitter memories of loss and betrayal.

It had been more than fifteen years since he had ventured into this system. Then he had been on a quest to find his stolen progeny. Stolen was the only way to describe what Obi-Wan had done with his and Padme's child, for he had taken the boy away from both of them. While this had enraged him, Vader could only guess what it had done to Padme. Crushed her spirit, he was sure.

In those first years after his betrayal of the Jedi, Vader had hoped to find Padme and convince her to join him. They could have ruled the galaxy together, ended the bitter rivalries between species and systems, and brought an order and peace to the galaxy that it had never known before. Such prosperity could only be brought about by forceful control. Letting sentients choose their own path even into ruin and death, as the Jedi had believed should be done, only brought about chaos. Padme would have understood in time.

The Jedi had tried to hide her from him, he knew, but Padme had never been one sit back idly as the universe went by. She had eventually resurfaced as the leader of a small resistance group fighting Palpatine's rule on her home world of Naboo. The Emperor, determined to make an example out of his disavowed home, had sent the best of the Imperial fleet and army to crush all vestiges of defiance. None were to have been spared.

Vader had all but pleaded for Padme's life. Given another chance, he had argued, she might be persuaded to align her loyalty with the Empire and thereby bring many of the budding rebels back in line. The Emperor had finally agreed to allow Amidala to be captured, if only to have the pleasure of forcing her to kneel before him.

So when the stormtroopers had mounted the final assault, Vader had given specific instructions to take Padme alive. It wasn't until he had been sifting through the rubble of the Naboo palace after the battle that he had realized his mistake. Padme had chosen to once again employ Sabe as her decoy and had succeeded in deceiving the stormtroopers. She had been killed, and Sabe had been captured in her place.

The shock of her loss had wounded him more gravely than the lava pit. Never, never had he wanted to hurt Padme, his angel. Vader had not been able to fathom why she had changed places with Sabe. She should have known he would keep her safe. Her death had been unnecessary and pointless, and that had hurt all the more.

It wasn't until Sabe's interrogation that he had finally understood. Under extreme duress, she had revealed that Padme had been pregnant, though too early yet for even herself to know, when Anakin had left her. Sabe had been able to reveal nothing more about the child. She had only known about the pregnancy because she had inadvertently overheard Obi-Wan comforting Padme. Those two had disappeared together after that night, and it had been almost a year before Padme had returned to join the resistance. Padme had not volunteered anything about where she had been, and Sabe had known better than to ask.

That revelation had made everything clear to Vader. Obi-Wan had poisoned his wife against him, had twisted her heart and mind, convinced her to give up their child and caused her death just as surely as if he had sliced through her with his lightsaber. For Padme had chosen to switch with Sabe precisely because she had anticipated his desire to capture her. She had chosen death over having to face the monster Obi-Wan had made him out to be.

He had also known immediately that Obi-Wan intended to turn the child against him as well. That child was his future, their future, even if Padme could not be a part of it. Vader had not been able to tolerate the thought of his former, loathsome master in control of it for even one more day. He had become immediately obsessed with finding the child.

But given an almost two year lead, Obi-Wan had proven most difficult to find. Vader had tirelessly searched every conceivable avenue. He had even returned here, to Tatooine, to confront Owen Lars, all to no avail. He had nearly lost hope when Obi-Wan had made a critical error in contacting Eyvind Schill, a once trusted pilot for the Jedi.

Imperial Intelligence had suspected Eyvind of having smuggled Jedi children off of Coruscant just before the Jedi Temple had been destroyed. But with no concrete evidence, the Emperor had chosen to have him watched rather than executed, for a trusted servant was often used again. Of all the listening and tracking devices that had been concealed throughout the pilot's belongings, only one had proven its worth. That device had been implanted in his wife's beloved pet – a pet she had taken with them when Obi-Wan had summoned them to his hideout.

That small error had allowed Vader to reclaim his boy. Although the Emperor had immediately taken possession of the child and continued to do his best to drive them apart, Vader knew the boy would come to him when he called. They were too much alike, kindred souls really, for anything to come between them. He would just have to wait until the boy was mature enough to fully understand the possibilities open to them if they combined their strength. Together, nothing could be denied them.

Perhaps the sunrise did hold some wonder for his dark heart after all – wonder for the future, if not the past. Though now was not the time for such musing. There was a task at hand that required his attention.

Vader turned toward the officer who had been standing behind him for several minutes. "What is it, Admiral?"

Admiral Gjurn cleared his throat and managed to come to an even stiffer attention than he had been in before. "We are in position now, My Lord. The tracking beacon still indicates the rebels are on-course on this vector. If Tatooine is their destination, they should be arriving shortly."

"This is their destination, Admiral," Vader growled, impatiently. "Launch the TIEs and prepare a boarding party." He raised a finger and wagged it threateningly in the admiral's face. "I want Princess Organa alive, Admiral. Don't fail me."

"Yes, My Lord." The admiral gave a slight bow then quickly scurried back to the rear of the bridge, as much to escape Vader's presence as to coordinate the upcoming assault.

Vader returned his gaze to the view of Tatooine as he waited for the Rebel's arrival. The homing beacon his son had attached to the ship had allowed him to track the Rebels through several course headings. As expected, the first heading to Corellia had almost immediately been changed. His current command ship, the Devastator, had been too far out of position to intercept them, so Vader had ordered other vessels to lay in hiding at likely exit points along the Rebel's new vector. The orders at that time had been to simply observe the Rebel's activities for any indication they were attempting to contact their spy.

The Rebels had not disappointed. The Avenger had detected them at Toprawa receiving a series of short burst, direct line of sight transmissions, undoubtedly the stolen Death Star plans. Assuming their next destination would be the Rebel base, the Avenger's captain had wisely let the Rebels leave the system unhindered and then had quickly relayed his report.

The vector the Rebels had taken out of Toprawa had made no sense to Vader. There were no systems along that course that could serve as a suitable home to the Rebels. Gjurn had proposed they were likely attempting to rendezvous with their fleet somewhere in the dead space between systems, but that hadn't felt right either. Vader had ordered the Avenger to follow behind the Rebels and re-distributed his fleet to cover for that possibility, but all of his instincts had pointed him here. So here was where he had come.

'What could Tatooine possibly hold for the Rebels?'

The Force was giving him no more answers than the majestically serene orb itself. No matter, the Rebels would soon be here, and they would be unable to escape. The Death Star plans, the traitorous princess and all her knowledge would soon be in his hands.