Thank you for all your reviews, I truly appreciate them. Please continue to feel free to review, advise, and criticize.
Chapter 2-Under the Cloak
Though he often found confusion in the complexities of human behavior and emotions, C-3PO had never had trouble with the facts. The facts were real, they were tangible, they were never wrong. And yet, for C-3PO, the facts this time simply did not make sense. He had been on this planet Korriban for about a year now, and had not seen the sun once. There was a sun. That was a fact. He'd seen it as they were flying onto the planet; in fact it was the only way he had been able to see the planet. Korriban was a dark mass in space, one could not tell its existence unless it was juxtaposed against the brightness of its sun. The facts didn't make sense then, either. How could light from the sun not reflect off the planet? As they approached Korriban, it stood out as a black hole against the background of its massive sun.
The only source of light on the planet, besides their ship itself, came from the eerie thunder and lightning that constantly reigned the dark sky. They did not come from clouds, for there were none. They just seem to appear and disappear into the dark night with no end. There were no lifeforms on the planet either, besides his master and his maker. The planet was barren, simply a ghoulish rocky surface devoid of any vegetation.
C-3PO had asked his maker once why they never saw the sun. The facts stated that a day on the planet was around 21 standard hours. His maker simply replied something confusing about the dark side clouding everything. Clouding? C-3PO wanted to point out that there were no clouds on Korriban, but it seemed pointless. He sincerely wished that R2-D2 was here; as annoying as he was, he did always seem to have the answers.
Their ship was parked in a large depression on the surface of the planet, in what used to be a medium-sized lake. Mountains surrounded the lake-bed at every angle; sharp, jagged peaks that stabbed the sky and bled more darkness into the air. Sharing the empty lake with their ship was an ancient, foreboding, Gothic building. Long-deserted, it used to house the Academy of the Sith Warriors before the great wars. Anakin did not bother to wander beyond the lake-bed; he had no urge to explore the planet.
He supposed the place used to be a beautiful world, maybe even like Naboo. Mountains, lakes, and rich forests once covered Korriban. But the Sith had corrupted the place, destroying the planet and eventually themselves. But what were the Sith? Weren't they originally an innocent species that were corrupted by the invaders, the Dark Jedi? The Jedi. Anakin shuddered. It was ironic, the Jedi's holding themselves up as the protectors of the galaxy, the highest form of life, warriors against the evil, when they themselves were the roots of that ultimate evil. Was it even right for a person to have such power? Anakin himself had it, and he thought about what he had done with it all his life. Killed. Murdered. As did all the Jedi. In the name of the Republic. In the name of the Empire. In the name of the Jedi Code. And how many of the murdered were Sith? Two. The rest were helpless beings, inferiors ones in combat who stood no chance against the Jedi because of the way they were born. Perhaps it was good that the Jedi's were gone.
No, what am I thinking? Thoughts like those were common these days, seeping into Anakin's brain as stealthily as the night. Sometimes he could not tell whether those dark musings were the result of the planet or his own twisted heart. Those thoughts certainly were pointless and did nothing to help him achieve his ultimate goal.
And just how was he going to defeat Palpatine? He had been here for a year now, and had not come any closer to a definite conclusion. He had studied the history and lore of the Sith, and learned of ways to manipulate the Force using the Dark Side, ways that made him feel utterly disgusted with himself for even considering them. More than anything else, he felt the Dark Side every moment he was here. Here, the Force was no fairy tale or nightmare. It was so real, so tangible, that it somehow wrapped the entire planet up in a black cloak. He had not seen any sunlight for a year now, save for those occasional trips to nearby Chandrila for supplies and food. And for their sanity, too.
The past here was real, too. Anakin felt the countless spirits of the past still lingering in the darkness, long dead but still not willing to let go of their fear, anger, hatred, and jealousy. The past did not bother Anakin, though. Those old spirits were still there, but they stayed a safe distance from the Chosen One, almost as if they were afraid of him. Fear was thicker than blood on this planet.
Anakin wanted to leave this condemned planet. He wanted to rush back to Coruscant, face Palpatine, and get it all over with. He knew he could best Sidious in combat, especially with all these dark techniques he had learned. But Anakin had a bad feeling about that possibility. Though he had come to Korriban to study the Dark Side, something told him, screamed at him inside, reminding that he was not supposed to use the Dark Side. There was something here that eluded him, something that he was supposed to find. And until he found whatever that was, Anakin knew he was not meant to face his old master.
Darth Sidious did not always hate the Jedi. He was destined to be a Sith even before he was born. His master father Darth Plagueis had always taught him about the evils of the Jedi. The knowledge that his purpose in life was to destroy the Jedi was intrinsic in him. Yet, Palpatine had grown up in the Outer Rim planet of Naboo, a peaceful haven that rarely required the presence of the Knights of the Republic. Until he met his first Jedi, Darth Sidious always felt that they were misguided beings who had been taught in the ways of wrong side of the force since infancy. They had great potential in the Dark Side in the Force; they just merely refused to use it. Once converted, they would serve the will of the Sith and become powerful weapons for darkness.
It was when he needed an apprentice that Palpatine encountered his first Jedi, a Padawan he had kidnapped during a diplomatic trip to Corellia. He had been so eager to convert the young Jedi and teach him the wonders of the Dark Side. Palpatine had no son, no family, and he knew that he never would. Thus, he had always imagined that his apprentice would be like a son to him, as he was to his master. Hope turned into frustration, and then hatred, when the Padawan refused to accept his teachings. When Palpatine finally killed him, he felt like he had lost a son. And so it was with the next Padawan he stole, and eventually killed. And the next one. And the one after that. Thus, Darth Sidious began to hate the Jedi for their stubborn ways, their refusal to see the true power of the Force, their steadfast adherence to their beliefs and their Code, their refusal to bend to his will, his knowledge, and his power. It was then that Palpatine finally hardened his resolve to destroy the Jedi Order once and for all.
Palpatine also learned to respect the Jedi Code. He begrudgingly admitted that it ingrained in its followers a belief as strong and fanatical as his own. He realized that without knowledge of their ways, he could never destroy the Jedi. One aspect about the Order he noticed especially was how the Jedi took all their disciples as infants and trained them from the first moments of consciousness. So Palpatine had his answer. He would wait. He would seek. And one day, on a diplomatic visit to a distant planet, he felt a disturbance, an infant Zabrak powerful in the ways of the Force.
But he could not afford to be patient these days. He had gained so much, and he had so much to lose. He had lost his apprentice, a betrayal that stung far worse than any naïve Padawan had. But he would destroy Skywalker. He knew what made the boy tick. He would find him, wherever he was hiding, and Darth Sidious would get his revenge. But he needed an apprentice. Palpatine has the utmost faith in himself and his plans, but he also knew of the necessity of contingencies. So he was prepared if Vader ever betrayed him.
Darth Sidious descended into the depths of the Imperial Palace. Unknown to Vader, not all of the Jedi Padawans from the temple had been killed. Some had hid, some had been injured, left for dead. Sidious had taken them, recuperated them, and imprisoned them. Now, all his actions paid off. He had many potential apprentices to choose from, but he already knew the perfect Sith Lord that would get him his revenge against Vader.