Author's Thanks: Thanks for the reviews, guys!
Luke left his aunt and uncle a note, which, while kindly worded, was somewhat ambiguous. He wanted to say goodbye to them, but he knew Uncle Owen would be angry and try to stop him. And though most of his being was shouting with joy at the opportunity to leave the wretched desert planet, there was a part of him that didn't want to go, that might be convinced by Uncle Owen's protests, that insisted he felt more at peace with the sands than he would anywhere else. Tatooine, for all its barrenness, was home, a place he knew well. And now he was leaving all he knew for the unknown, all in the attempt to save the life of a man who cared nothing for the lives of others.
He knew Aunt Beru would understand and be able to calm Uncle Owen down; she knew how much he wanted to leave Tatooine. He even thought she suspected the true identity of the Hero of the Sands, though she had never spoken her suspicions out loud. Uncle Owen certainly had no clue—if he had, then Luke would have been grounded for the rest of his life. As it was, if Luke ever came back, he would probably be grounded for the rest of his life and his afterlife.
When Luke went to sell his beloved airspeeder, he did so in his Hero of the Sands guise. He might be leaving behind that identity with Tatooine, but he didn't want the mystery surrounding the Hero of the Sands to dissipate. As a child, he had always been fascinated with stories of heroes, and maybe, just maybe, another child would one day like to hear stories about the Hero of the Sands.
The quiet man who bought Luke's airspeeder gave him a sum that was more than reasonable, and Luke suspected that the man thought the speeder's origins meant it would probably fetch a larger price later. Whether it would or not, Luke would never know, but it didn't really matter.
As Luke turned to leave his airspeeder behind, the quiet man spoke. "You're leaving Tatooine, aren't you?"
Hating to lie any more than necessary, Luke moved to look at the man as he nodded. "I have to."
"You did a lot of good here," grunted the man. "Tatooine will miss you."
Luke smiled gratefully, lowering his head. "Thank you...I will miss Tatooine, too."
It didn't take long for Luke to buy a ship. It certainly wasn't the most impressive ship in the galaxy, but it was able to seat two people and it possessed a working hyperdrive. All Luke really needed was to be able to get from planet to planet, so it would serve his purposes. As he lifted off from his home planet, rather than finding himself thanking the stars for the grand opportunity before him, he found himself begging the stars to stop him from feeling so sick to his stomach.
Unbeknownst to the rest of the galaxy, Darth Vader was not lost, hurt, captured, dead, sick, or amnesiac. He was, in fact, quite intact, if perhaps a bit annoyed.
He had gone alone to investigate rumors of the presence of a Jedi. Rather than piloting his cramped TIE/Advanced, he had decided to pilot the Ruthless, a spacious Lambda-class Imperial shuttle that he used from time to time. The planet that the rumors originated from, Epac, had turned out to be well-populated and full of very closed-mouthed natives. Unaccustomed to this unwillingness to spill secrets, Vader might have crushed a few more bones than was strictly necessary, but that was all part of the life of a Sith Lord.
While on Epac, Vader had moved from person to person until the Force finally led him to someone he (forcefully) persuaded to reveal the name "Yoda." The informant, Vader learned was a non-native, which had simply made Vader even more infuriated with Epac's native inhabitants. With the name "Yoda," Vader managed to follow a trail of fear (and more reluctant Epacians) that led him to a native merchant.
After reaching out to the Force, Vader was certain that this merchant was the Epacian he wanted to speak to, but the closed-mouthed native had taken quite a while before Vader finally convinced him to talk. Once he began talking, however, details spilled out every which way. Unfortunately, Vader didn't care about most of the details the merchant was giving (weather conditions were of no interest to a Dark Lord of the Sith), but the fearful man finally began to babble about how an "odd little green man" had bought supplies from him not too long ago.
"What was his destination?" Vader had inquired, towering over the short native.
"Well, he was probably going a lot of places. He looked like he was well traveled—a being as old as he had to have been around the galaxy a few times. He reminded me a lot of my Great-Uncle Jintasth, as a matter of fact..."
"His destination?" the Sith Lord had rumbled, lightly touching his lightsaber.
Seeing the movement, the native's green eyes had widened. "Ah, yes, well, he did mention the name 'Namrepus,' though I would much rather be here than there. I hear the weather there around this time of year is terrible..."
Deciding to leave the merchant alive against his better judgment, Vader had turned and left, leaving the merchant sputtering behind him. Vader had known he would learn no more from the citizens of Epac.
Due to report to Palpatine in a few hours, Vader had decided to go ahead and make his report before making the leap to hyperspace. He had soon discovered, however, that his communications unit was not working. Confident that he could fix it, he had begun tinkering with the unit, only to discover that a part needed replacing. A look through the shuttle's spare parts, however, revealed that the spare part was nowhere to be found, and he had vowed to show those responsible for stocking the ship just what a mistake it was not to store such a valuable part on board.
Vader decided he would buy a replacement part at Namrepus, but after making the jump into hyperspace, he had begun reading up on the planet, only to discover that it was technologically primitive and would not have the part he needed.
And so, on Namrepus hours later, Vader had still not reported to Palpatine. He was almost glad his communicator wasn't working—Yoda, if he were indeed alive, was clever, and he might be able to intercept a transmission made by the Sith Lord. While he knew Yoda would probably not leave a trail unless he wanted to be found, he hoped to retain a small element of surprise. What Vader didn't know was that speculation about his disappearance was raging across the galaxy.
Luke had orbited Tatooine for half an hour. He had begun meditating after a few minutes of stargazing (he had decided that the stars looked even better from space), and finally a name had come to him: Epac. He looked it up in the charts, a chill coursing through him at the thought of visiting a planet other than Tatooine. The planet, which was thankfully not too far from Tatooine, possessed lots of trees and sparkling waterfalls, and after landing Luke found himself gazing around in amazement for a few minutes before he reluctantly reached out to the Force. He was on a mission, and being side-tracked could be fatal to Lord Vader.
He was quickly guided to a native merchant that was surprisingly open-mouthed. With just a little bit of prodding, the merchant began telling him all about his frightening experience with the Dark Lord.
"I was brave, of course," the merchant sniffled, "but even the bravest of the brave would cower underneath the black tower they call Darth Vader...And that noise he makes—it's enough to send a more cowardly man running off in the other direction. Not that I considered running, of course. I'm very brave...My second-cousin says that..."
After several minutes of listening to the merchant prattle on, Luke caught the name "Namrepus," which was all he needed. He interrupted the merchant's babble. "Many thanks for your help, friend. I will remember you."
"Oh, it was no problem at all—" the merchant began, but Luke had already made his escape.
After reaching Namrepus, Vader reached out to the Dark Side. Immediately, he had sensed a faint echo of Yoda; he had known then that the alien was still alive, nine hundred years old or not. He skillfully landed his shuttle outside a patch of wilderness, though the clearing was not very large. He walked several yards into the trees, scattering several nocturnal creatures, before he finally stopped at one large tree. The tree was small, but it looked old nonetheless. Carved into the tree close to the ground was the name "Dagobah" and a set of coordinates.
Darth Vader knew then for certain that Yoda was leaving an invitation to a planet where he could determine the rules, and Vader willing to accept that. It was only natural that the Jedi would want to choose his final resting place. The old Jedi had always liked setting the rules. The Jedi Temple had practically revolved around them.
After landing, Vader was overwhelmed by the mass of life forms that existed on the swampy planet of Dagobah. Unexpectedly, the Dark Side was of little use to him in his search—he could not sense the presence of Yoda amongst all the other life forms present. He suspected, however, that the abundance of life was not the only reason he was having difficulty.
Very well, then. He would walk through the swamp, for hours if need be. He knew Yoda would find him eventually, even if Vader had landed on the opposite side of the planet.
When Luke landed on Namrepus, he was able to feel lingering remnants of Darth Vader's presence. The remnants were dark, of course, as was to be expected from a Dark Lord of the Sith, but Luke also thought there was a hint of nostalgia buried amongst the darkness. With a frown, he tried to separate the nostalgia from the darkness...He managed to receive an image of a small green alien, but he was unable to receive any other images.
This planet amazed him as much as Epac had—the trees were smaller and of different kinds, but for a desert farmboy unaccustomed to so many plants in one place, Namrepus was remarkable. If only he didn't feel rushed to find the Sith Lord—then he could have explored Epac and Namrepus at his leisure.
Reluctantly, Luke reached out to the Force, ensuring that he treaded where Lord Vader had treaded. The familiarness of the sensation struck him as very odd...It was almost as if he knew the Dark Lord, as if he could follow his path without even trying. The Force was guiding him easily, without any prodding from him, which seemed almost eerie.
Finally, Luke stopped before a tree. He closed his eyes, touching the tree reverently. He knelt, running his hands over the old plant, finally pulling his hands back when he discovered that some of the bark was missing. He opened his eyes, reading out loud, "Dagobah."
A few hours later, he was exiting hyperspace.
"Come, you have."
Vader turned, glad that his hours of searching were over. Several yards behind him, Yoda was standing on a log, using a gimer stick to support his weight. He looked so small and insignificant next to the tree beside him that Vader might have been compelled to underestimate him had he not known better. And yet, Vader wondered if perhaps he were overestimating the Jedi...The years had deprived the alien of more of his hair, and he was hunched over more than Vader had remembered him being. The once-great Yoda had been reduced to this pathetic creature. Not even the Jedi could escape the years, try though they might.
Vader lit his lightsaber, taking a few steps forward. "I have come to finish what I started. I have come to kill the last Jedi."
"The last Jedi, I am not," the alien replied quietly, unaffected by Vader's movements. "Hope, the galaxy still has."
"The galaxy has already been guided towards the right. The Empire has been that guide."
Yoda shook his head. "Fear is not a guide. Only a motivator, is fear. A guide teaches one to surpass fear."
"The Jedi failed as guides."
"Right, you are," Yoda admitted sadly, taking Vader aback. "Blinded by arrogance were the Jedi...Yet hope still remains for those who from their mistakes learn."
"I learned that to trust a Jedi is a mistake," Vader said in a low voice, moving forward a few more feet.
"Trusting in Palpatine was your mistake. The death of Padmé from that was born."
The Dark Lord moved even closer, anger evident in his voice. He was angry because of the Jedi, he told himself. He was not angry because of the pain. "Right now, the only death I am interested in is yours."
"Old am I, Anakin," said the alien in a weak voice. "Nothing to fear have you from me. By killing me, gain nothing will you."
"I am Darth Vader now," the Dark Lord reminded him. "And I will gain the satisfaction of knowing I killed one of the Jedi's greatest." Vader pointed his saber at Yoda's throat.
Yoda closed his eyes. "But have the satisfaction of meeting your son, you will not."