Chapter 5 : Seeing in the Dark

Zenna Keck was a loyal employee of Kuat Drive Yards, one of the galaxy's largest starship manufacturers. She was proud to be part of a company that for millennia had sent humankind out among the stars. Usually her job consisted of assembling hyperdrive motivators, but recently KDY had assigned her to a new project. On her new team she was required to deconstruct things, which felt terribly odd, but since it was so important to the company, she approached it with the same enthusiasm she had for building. Within a short time she found she actually enjoyed feeding the droids into the conveyor line for disassembly.That was fortunate, since there was somewhere near a quadrillion of these machines, the former Separatist Droid Army, that had to be sorted into piles of reusable circuits and recyclable metals.

Most of the droids were the ordinary battle droid model, which were not intimidating in the least. Mixed among them were more evil looking droids that sometimes gave her a start. If the sunlight hit them just right, their red control eye glowed as if they were activated. The ones that bothered her the most, though, were the ones that came with clothing. Droids shouldn't wear clothing. But there they were, the Magnaguard droids, lean and sinister, with their cloaks flowing around them. She usually pulled the cloaks off first thing, so they wouldn't get caught in the conveyor mechanics.

Today, however, she left them on, as she had received instructions to set aside a pair of Magnaguards, and a pair of super battle droids from the disassembly line. She gave no other thought to the order, especially since with it came an announcement that the line would be shut down early, and the deconstruction team would be released early for the day as well. Just as long as the damn things weren't running around when she came back to work, she didn't care what happened to them.

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Darth Vader never liked being a Padawan. He hated restrictions, he hated evaluation, he hated supervision, and being a Padawan involved all of those. He never thought he would be back in that role, but then nothing much had gone the way he thought it would in the last six months. Besides, it was a little difficult to say 'no' to the Emperor. After their inspection of the KDY shipyards to evaluate the progress in construction of the newest class Star Destroyers, Palpatine had informed him they would be going planetside for a training exercise. What other response was there, but "Yes, Master"?

Now as he stood in the cavernous Kuati warehouse that contained the deactivated legions of the Droid Army, he tried to convince himself that it wouldn't be so bad. It might even be enjoyable to put his lightsaber to actual use again. He peered into the dark recesses of the warehouse, hearing the servomechanical sound of approaching droids, but unable to see anything of the droids but their glowing red signal receptors. When they finally entered the lighted zone of the warehouse, he was not impressed. Two super battle droids would hardly be difficult to dispatch. He powered up his lightsaber, and awaited their attack.

The battle droids unfolded their right arms, firing their built-in weapons, but he deflected their blaster fire easily. He let the Force guide his parries, and the droids retreated to avoid being hit by ricochets.Vader advanced towards the droids, meaning to end this round, and drove them back against the racks of deactivated droids. In the background, Palpatine began to speak, with his soft voice, the one as smooth as melted butter.

"Lord Vader, did you ever wonder what happened to your mother while she was held captive by the Sand People ?"

In his surprise, Vader whirled to face the Emperor. That tactical error resulted in blaster fire finding its mark on his leg armor. He cursed, and turned his focus back to the droids, who had used his inattention as an opportunity to press forward. With renewed effort, Vader pushed them back to their previous position, his mind still filled with indignation at Palpatine's affront.

The Emperor was just beginning this lesson. His voice still soft, even, he continued. "Really, they had her for, what, a month ? Plenty of time for them to get what they wanted ."

Vader remained facing the droids, but the fast, clipped sounds coming from his ventilator revealed that Palpatine's words had hit their mark. Before his injuries, it would have been a simple matter to use the Force to somersault himself close to the droids, and take them out with a few well aimed strikes of his lightsaber. Now, the same maneuver required him to use telekinesis to throw the prosthetic portion of his legs upward, while simultaneously using the Force to power the organic upper portion of his legs.Practicing this move when he was still in the rehab center had taken intense concentration, but now, infused with the Dark Side, the effort seemed minor.

He completed his somersault, and plunged his lightsaber into the chest level control eye of the super battle droid, as into the heart of a man. For the remaining droid, he backhanded the lightsaber through its waist, the narrowest part of the bulky machine. Having rid himself of the two irritants, he turned to face his tormentor.

Palpatine was smiling in that self-satisfied way that he had perfected. "You would like to come after me as well, wouldn't you, Lord Vader ? You are filled with the Dark Side, but can you use it, or will it use you ? Only now do you understand this exercise."

Inside his helmet, Vader struggled to control his rage. A low growl rumbled in his throat, and became amplified by the voice modulator. He fell back upon his Jedi training to calm himself.

With exquisite Force sensitivity, Palpatine continued his analysis of Vader. "You have gained control, but lost power - the Jedi way. You must learn to savor the intensity of feeling, the bloodlust of anger, the cold desperation of fear. You must hold them in your mind to allow the Force to express its full might."

Vader listened to the Emperor with cool regard. He understood Palpatine meant to strengthen his Dark Side skills, but he could also see that Palpatine meant to demonstrate his power over Vader. As a mentor, he knew Vader's inner demons, and did not hesitate to conjure them. There would be no graduation from Padawan status with this Master.

The Emperor was ready to start the next round. "Shall we try it again, Lord Vader ? This time we shall test your telekinetic abilities. Give me your lightsaber. "

With suspicion, Vader did as the Emperor requested. When he saw that his opponents were Magnaguard droids, he regreted his decision; these bodyguard droids were significantly more dangerous than super battle droids. With high functioning artificial intelligence, the ability to fight even if their heads were removed, and high current electrostaffs for weapons, these bodyguard droids were formidable opponents when one was armed with a lightsaber, let alone without. He reached out with his mind for his lightsaber, caressing the handle mentally. He was not going to die over some fool exercise of Palpatine's; if things got too ugly, he would pull the lightsaber in.

As before, Palpatine began to speak in the background. "Have you ever wondered what happened to Obi-Wan Kenobi ? His body has never been identified among all the Jedi killed after Order 66."

The reference to Obi-Wan caught Vader's attention, but did not draw his focus from the approaching Magnaguards.

"Do you think he was the last person to be with Padme' ? Do you think he told her the outcome of your battle ?"

Vader's inner fury rose to match that which had come forth when his mother's end had been mentioned. Conscious of his task, he channeled Dark hate and set about using the Force to dismember the droids.He acknowledged the strength of the welds on the Magnaguards as he noted the effort required to pull the head off the first bodyguard droid. He motioned a row of folded battle droids on top of the still functioning body, making sure to pull the electrostaff to him as the torso hit the floor. He circled the remaining droid cautiously, knowing his life support suit was especially vulnerable to electrical disruption. He dodged two strikes of the droid's staff, before finding an opening to impale the droid through its vulnerable midsection. With not a droid standing, Vader turned to face Palpatine, summoning his lightsaber as he did so. Once it was in his hand, he ignited it, and moved close to the Emperor.

With a pleased grin, Palpatine complimented Vader. "Excellent, Lord Vader. Much better use of the Dark Side, this time. You must be able to feel the difference."

Vader said nothing, but did not silence his lightsaber.

"Surely you understand the tools I must use to bring you to the proper frame of mind. This is how you learn to work with the Dark Side."

As he had done all his life, Vader pondered the advice of a mentor, and in the end, chose the correct action. With difficulty, he shut down the lightsaber. This was not the first time he had thought of Obi-Wan being with Padme' at the end. Did he tell her the outcome of their grievous duel ? Did she die hating him ? His rage gave way to sorrow, and he hung his head.

"Ah, my young apprentice, melancholy is a Dark emotion, but it has no power. A Padawan could destroy you now, so weak has your sadness made you." There was no hiding from the Emperor's perception. " The next lesson I must teach you is deception, how to mask your thoughts and feelings from other Force users."

"Yes, I know, my Master," Vader said. "If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times, my thoughts betray me."

"And again, you rely on your Jedi training to solve this problem, " Palpatine chastised. "What did the Jedi teach you to keep from broadcasting your emotions to others ?"

"We were to avoid thinking about subjects that caused a strong reaction within. We were to bury our feelings deep inside to avoid detection by others ."

"Ah, yes, a typical Jedi solution. With a decrease in emotional intensity comes a weakening of the ability to make use of the Force. Do you think a Sith could bury his hate and anger, and still maintain power ? Of course not. A thousand years of suppression by the Jedi made it necessary to develop the skill of cloaking one's emotions. A Sith can feel total rage while standing undetected next to a Jedi. This masking effect even clouds a Jedi's ability to forsee the future through the Force. A most useful skill."

Vader was always in awe of the Emperor's vast knowledge of the Force. While Palpatine could easily incite him to anger, in the end he felt grateful to have such a powerful mentor. If only they had been able to reach Padme' in time, if only Obi-Wan had not prevented him from being at her side when the baby came. He knew she was alive when he last saw her on Mustafar. If she had died from his attack, as Palpatine had said, then it must have been later. Maybe he could have still saved her, if not for Obi-Wan.

"Master," he said, "there is one thing I must know. What happened to my baby ?"

Palpatine's voice took yet another form, subdued and, to Vader's ear, most sincere. "I'm afraid the child died with Padme'. At her funeral, they were buried together, as the child was still within her." He layed a hand on Vader's shoulder.

"I thought as much," Vader said quietly.

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The Emperor's shuttle left Kuat enroute home to Imperial Center. Inside, Darth Vader was as far from Palpatine as the seating configuration would allow. This day had taxed him mentally, bringing all of his most tortured thoughts to the forefront. Maybe when he got home, he would take his speeder on a flight, and clear his mind. If he was lucky, Palpatine would work on Senatorial business during the trip back.

"Lord Vader, how was it that you were able to asphyxiate Padme' without touching her ?" Palpatine asked.

Darth Vader blinked rapidly within his helmet, and coughed in astonishment. Continued association with the Emperor was going to give him the hide of a bantha. This was a subject he did not think about. If he could erase it from his memory, he would, but with Palpatine for a mentor that seemed highly unlikely.

"I asked you a question, Lord Vader. I am quite curious, because that is a rather unusual use of the Force. I'm not sure I've really seen anything like it, not even in ancient Sith writings."

"I...I don't really remember, Master. I was very angry at the time, and not thinking clearly."

"Come now, surely you can describe it. The closest thing it reminds me of is a Force push, but it's not really that."

"No, in a Force push you concentrate the energy at your hand, and propel it against your opponent. You hit their body from the outside."

"And for the Sith, the next skill level beyond that is to deliver Force lightning. Unfortunately, because you have no organic tissue left in your hands, you will never be able to generate Force lightning. So, if you know it wasn't a Force push, then tell me what it felt like."

Vader sighed. As usual, there would be no winning this contest. He chewed his lip for a minute, then let the memory come forth. "I didn't really think about the technique. I was just so angry. I think that I focused on her throat the way I would focus on myself when performing a Force leap. I felt her tissues under my control just like I would feel my leg muscles when using the Force to somersault. Then I just tightened my grip."

For once, the Emperor was silent. When he did speak, his voice had a odd tone that carried an undercurrent of fear. "So you were able to place the Force within her body. That must be like what Darth Plagueis did when he influenced the midi-chlorians, when he was able to stop death in others."

Darth Vader was not sure he had heard that right. " 'Like' what Plagueis did ? Don't you know what he did ? Didn't you tell me you could teach me this power ?"

Palpatine was exhilarated by the danger present in Vader's rising anger. "Ah, my young apprentice, that is not exactly what I said. Only one person - Plagueis- has achieved that skill, but I though we could discover the secret, if we worked together. I had no idea you would need it so soon. I thought we would have time to work on it."

Vader felt sickened. He had sacrificed everything to obtain that power, and Palpatine had no clue how to accomplish it. Bastard , he thought, without even trying to cloak his feelings. Anger, revulsion, and grief mixed together in his mind, and he trembled with hate, not knowing where to direct it. Then he drew the curtain across his mind, the new skill Palpatine had taught him.

"You are disappointed in me," Palpatine said, "but I have kept my side of the bargain. We will work together to develop that power. I'm sure your use of the Force on Padme' is the key to discovering this power. You must agree, it would be a most valuable power."

Vader decided there was only one way to salvage this situation. He would learn everything there was to know from Palpatine. The cloaking of emotions was a remarkable skill, so surely there would be other skills equally as useful that the Jedi never taught him. Yes, he would learn everything Palpatine had to offer, and then he would kill him. Wasn't that the way of the Sith ? His voice was flat when he answered, "Yes, my Master, it would be extraordinary to have this power."

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Emperor Palpatine's private residence on Imperial Center was uniformly decorated in a spare style that contrasted sharply with the baroque style customary on his home planet of Naboo. Some might call its simplicity elegant, while others might label it stark, but all would agree that small furry animals were out of place within its walls. Yet that very thing was to be found in a transparent cage sitting center stage on a very expensive table in a small study that adjoined the Emperor's main workroom. The cage held a choony, a soft brown and white creature small enough to lay in the palm of a man's hand. A social creature of moderate intelligence, its docile nature had made it a popular pet on Imperial Center. This one was bottle-fed, and completely unafraid. Like most nonsentient beings, it was host to a smattering of midi-chlorians.

"Now Lord Vader, we will start with this primitive being, and work towards the complex. Go ahead, use the Dark Side within this creature," the Emperor ordered.

Vader closed his eyes, focused his mind, and imagined the choony dead. The choony, for its part, sniffed at the air vents of its cage and then returned to eating.

"If I may comment, I believe you are approaching this from a Jedi perspective. The ability to cause life and death in another is a Dark skill, " Palpatine said.

"How do you know I'm not cloaking my feelings, Master ?" Vader said dryly.

"Because you're not very good at it yet. Or more specifically, not very consistent with it. I still pick up leaks of your emotional state."

Good information to know, thought Vader. A little frustrated, he used telekinesis to first elevate the choony's cage, and then the choony itself within the cage. It was not as if he was having difficulty using the Force, but it was true that he felt not much at all, let alone anger or aggression, towards the choony. He was certainly not drawing from the Dark Side.

"It's a good thing we aren't trying to save Padme' today, because, frankly, I don't think we would be very successful," Palpatine commented.

Vader was incredulous. Was there no limit to the wounds he must endure from Palpatine ? Master, or not, enough was enough. His resentment boiled to rage.

Vader stared at the choony. He gathered the Force within him, sent probing energy fingers into the creature's chest, and wrapped the Force around its heart. He felt the muscle fibers within the beating organ, felt it like he used to feel the muscles of his calves, when he had them. Then he tightened his grip, and stopped the choony's heart. He felt the blood demanding to be let in, but he would not let it.

The choony fell over. The pupils of its eyes went from small to saucers. Its tongue lolled out, turning first dark pink, then grey, then bluish purple. Its mouth gasped the awkward agonal breaths of impending death.

Vader released his grip on the choony's heart, and blood poured into the empty chambers. He could feel the heart start to beat again, feebly at first, but with increasing momentum. Its chest heaved with vigorous breaths. Its tongue bloomed to bright pink, and it licked its lips, sitting up in a daze. It got up drunkenly, ran into the side of the cage, then stood there, still recovering from its oxygen deprivation.

He turned to face the Emperor. "OK, Master - your turn," injecting as much challenge into his voice as he thought was safe.

A political smile turned up the ends of the Emperor's lips. "I think, my young apprentice, that you have just learned a great deal about the Dark Side. That is enough for today."

He could see that the Emperor would maintain the distance between their positions at all costs.The Emperor could not afford to lose face when his attempts at controlling life and death were not as successful. And he sensed that the Emperor truly did not know how to use the Force in this way. Palpatine seemed fascinated by Vader's ability to use the Force within the body of another, apparently unable to discover this secret on his own. In this matter Palpatine needed Vader as much as Vader had thought he needed Palpatine.

So, yes, he had learned some important things about the Dark Side today. He finally understood how it was to use the Dark Side, how it was possible to summon its strength without being consumed by it. Strong emotion, such as anger, was necessary to unlock its potential, but the emotion need not arise from one's opponent. He had only to gather the feeling in his mind to open the door to the Force, and when he was done with it, he closed that door. More importantly, though, a defect had been revealed in the Emperor's seemingly impenetrable armor, and he now knew that not even Palpatine was all powerful.