Chapter 4: Action
Luke walked up to Thrawn's office. Nearby, Rukh crouched in the shadows practicing his hunting skills and thinking he was unseen. "Hello Rukh, how are you today?" Luke casually remarked. Shock rippled through the force, He looked right into my eyes! Quickly he whispered to Rukh, "You were flawless in hiding, but I can see the force. Anyone else would have been fooled."
Luke passed trough the doorway, carefully making sure he looked as tired as he should with only a few hours sleep. "Hello Luke Skywalker, or do you have a title I should add to that?" Thrawn sat in a chair behind a small desk. The room was neat and organized, though it had not been recently cleaned if the thin layer of dust in the corners was anything to go by. This was how it always looked then: completely organized, but more for the purpose of easily accessing information than to satisfy a need to be neat. Thrawn himself, Luke had noticed, never had a hair out of place or a speck of dirt on him. So he's high on personal appearance and information, low on admitting he's wrong and noticing other's emotions.
"No, I'm just plain Luke." Thrawn nodded, and gestured to Luke to take a cup of tea. "My father told me that you know what's going on here. You approve of it?" Thrawn looked passive, but Luke could sense his thoughts, racing as they always did at impossible speed. Darth Vader submitting to death. Coming to a planet far from the core with his son to do it. So out of character! I was so far off, but how would I have known he'd turned back to the light side of the force? Yes, that would change everything. That would make it all fit. Anakin was a much more sentimental man, if the records are to be believed.
"I admit I was mistaken at first. I don't see anything wrong with what is actually happening here." They'd got him all right, he truly believes that my father is dead. Good, that would make this easy. Well... easier.
Thrawn lifted his glass to drink. "Emperor Thrawn sounds great to me, glad you agree." A small sound came from Thrawn, who immediately froze. Luke watched as the man tried unsuccessfully to swallow the tea twice. Luke reached over to Thrawn's left hand, which lay on the desk. He brushed the tips of his fingers on the back of Thrawn's hand, sending the force to do what the man needed done. The force spread up Thrawn's arm and to his throat. Luke emphasized the warm tingles as he relaxed the muscles in Thrawn's throat and down to his stomach, allowing gravity to pull the tea down, and out of the way of the airways. He let go, and Thrawn took a deep breath and a long drawl from the cup. Luke didn't put forth the extra effort to decipher Thrawn's alien mind, but anyone could have guessed what the man was wishing: That he had something a bit stronger in his cup. "Thought you might need help swallowing that." He said into the silence.
"Would you mind explaining that?" Thrawn said after he had time to collect himself.
"I thought you understood? I mean really, it is quite obvious. The Emperor is becoming more and more erratic, we need someone to take his place. Logically my father would take that place, but why do that when we have a much better candidate sitting out here in the unknown regions, just waiting for the chance to use his talents in their full extent." Luke made sure to seem as if it was all elementary, as simple as explaining his choice of clothing.
Thrawn shifted uneasily. "You wish to replace the Emperor with a non-human? We'll be shot, hung, chopped to pieces, or worse by the collective Imperial Government. The Alliance would win wile the Empire stabbed itself in the back trying to find a replacement that someone else didn't want to kill."
"You're overreacting Thrawn. It can be done, and all of it completely legal." Rukh walked in suddenly.
"My Lord, I've just… I don't really believe… Lord Vader is alive!"
Luke didn't give time to react. "Of course he is!"
"But… but he… he no longer needs his suit, he is healed! It is a miracle."
"No it isn't. The healing techniques I used use to be very common place in the Jedi temple. And what is going on here? First I find that you, Thrawn, know nothing about what is going on here, now Rukh expects that my Father to be dead. What next? It starts raining eyeballs?"
"Now wait a moment!" Thrawn stood up suddenly. "You and Lord Vader –"
"Anakin Vader Skywalker, he never really cared for the title."
The slightest pause. "You and Anakin then. You have not been very cooperative. You expect me to just believe whatever you say…"
"We never lied, you came to your own false conclusions. We have a legal plan for getting rid of Palpatine, and it includes you as his replacement. We will go forward with it regardless of your opinion on the matter. The plan is painfully simple." Luke said, coaxing Thrawn back into his chair and signaling Rukh to sit down as well.
"What is the plan, may I ask?" Thrawn's carefully constructed façade fell away to reveal a very confused man tired of fighting for a few scraps of twisted reality. The glow in his red eyes seemed dimmed, the light blue no longer vibrant, this was a man strained to the breaking point.
"Relax and I'll explain. Emperor Palpatine also goes by another name: Darth Sidious. Darth Sidious is his Sith name, a name he chose at the beginning of his training, much the way my Father chose the name Vader." Luke smiled, "'Vader' apparently means 'father' in my grandmother's native language, but that is beside the point." Luke settled into the chair comfortably, and Thrawn sat back, relieved to finally be getting something out of Luke.
"My Father, will approach the Emperor as Vader, but he will not address him as the Emperor, he will address Palpatine as Sidious. Sidious is bound by the laws of the Sith, what few there are, as Vader is. Sidious is Vader's master, and there are laws in the Sith to govern that relationship. Actually, that is just about the only type of law they have. Vader can't harm Sidious, he is bound to him as a servant. There is a small loophole to this.
"If a Sith apprentice gets an apprentice of his own before the old master dies there are laws to govern the removal of one of the three due to another and very important law, a law that holds over all the others as absolute authority. The Law Of Two. This states that there can only be one Master and one apprentice.
"This was started thousands of years ago when there were a large number of Sith. They fought one another because the Dark side filled them with a lust for power. Basically they all wanted to be best, and refused to share the same status with anyone else. The Imperial military would suffer the same situation if everyone started saying things like: 'I'm an Admiral, you can't also be an Admiral because I have no equal', get it?
"So now that I'm Vader's apprentice, there are three. There can never be more than two, so one must die. According to the law we get to choose sides. I will fight beside my father as apposed to fighting alone, but the emperor can try to get Vader or me to fight on his side. It is decided by whoever survives." Luke took a sip of his tea, thankfully it was still quite warm.
"That explains how you can legally kill the Emperor, but what of me? How are you going to pull that off?" Thrawn fixed Luke with a piercing gaze.
Luke let it go right through him. "That is the easiest part. My Father takes the throne, names you as his heir, renounces his Sith training, declares that he is a Jedi, reinstates the Senate, and steps down. Not all at once of course. It will take a wile, and he won't step down as soon as he is done, to give you time to prepare and to explain everything to the Empire's citizens."
"And what will you do?" Thrawn's look showed that he clearly didn't believe Anakin would give up all that power.
"I will reinstate the Jedi order with My Father's help and guidance. What else would we do, sit around and think up ways to confuse you?" Luke smiled, but Thrawn looked ready to pounce. "Joking of course, but there really wouldn't be much else to do. You are a fair person, you don't want the title, but that's exactly the point. The thought of all that power doesn't dazzle you, as it does most Imperials. Power may corrupt, but some people handle it much better than others. You can do it, we know you can." Luke stood. "And now I must get back to my studies, my Father is waiting. Admiral." He gave an abbreviated bow and left.
Some time later Thrawn looked down at the data tapes in front of him. "An interesting history lesson, I would have never thought to get out the tapes on Sith culture. Luke is right though, it is all perfectly, painfully legal."
Rukh walked over the Thrawn's side. "Perhaps, My Lord, you should start getting ready as he suggested."
"I dislike not having any options, Rukh, but everyone has to put up with things they dislike now and then." Thrawn sat down again in his desk chair and began writing. When the superiors on his home world found out about this… well, he would cross that sinkhole when he came to it.
"Father, are you completely sure about this? I really don't think that…"
"Calm down Luke, if a Star Destroyer is safe enough for me then it's safe enough for you." Anakin interrupted.
"I blew up the Death Star!" Luke argued as they rounded the corner and Thrawn joined them.
"An accomplishment I am quite proud of."
"Which is the single most biased opinion in the galaxy. How can I say this nicely… I can't, nine out of ten imperials want to kill me. 99.999 of the rest would like to watch me killed. The rest I can count on one finger."
"What about the entire Noghri race?"
"Alright then, but there won't be many Noghri on that Star Destroyer will there? I'm just saying that it would be a lot easier for me to just take my X-wing and…"
"I have to see what the political climate is like. This is going to take a lot of planning…"
"And my best friend is being sold to the biggest piece of slime in the galaxy wile encased in carbonite..."
"Point, but it won't be a long delay, and it is necessary…"
"It's necessary for me to get to Tatooine before Jabba gets board with looking at a frozen Han Solo wall ornament, or Leia does something stupid. The latter being my biggest fear. She is rational most of the time, but put enough stress on her and it isn't pretty." Luke tried to explain.
"I have had a number of debates with her in the Senate, and I know her better then you think. However, I can't permit you to leave yet." Anakin replied. "The discussion is closed. Now Admiral Thrawn, I'm sure you'll agree that moving closer into the heart of the Empire would make your assent to power simpler."
"Yes, but I still have my reservations on the whole process. Making sense to three people is fine, making sense to three hundred billion is the trick." Thrawn replied.
"I'll last five minutes on that damned ship…" Luke mumbled.
"You will hold your tongue, or I'll hand it to you. The topic is not open to discussion any longer." Anakin shot back, squeezing Luke's shoulder for emphasis.
Luke mumbled something unintelligible, but nodded.
"Good. Then it's all settled. You will wait until this is all set up before leaving to compensate for my previous error…"
"So that's what you call selling my…"
"Thrawn will head further into the Empire and put his fingers into a few things…" Anakin continued, ignoring Luke.
"…best friend into slavery and…"
"…to make his presence more commonly known."
"…tortured my girlfriend…" Luke counted off on his fingers.
"So that… what did you just say?" Anakin stopped walking and stared at his son like he had just sprouted a frog out of his head.
Luke couldn't look his father strait in the eye. "Not formally, and me and Han were having a bit of a fight for her, not that she didn't enjoy teasing the two of us, but yes she was my girlfriend."
"Since when?"
"I rescued her from the evil clutches of the Empire, rushed gallantly into battle under impossible odds, and destroyed the Death Star almost single-handedly. I'm not a toddler anymore Father, what do you think happens at a victory party like that?." Luke wasn't kidding, and omitting the fact that he generally avoided those parties, and had never actually partaken of such activities would have a much greater impact on his Father.
It took Anakin a full minute before he started walking again. Not one more word was said until the two of them said goodbye to Thrawn and Rukh. It was another ten before Luke would look at his Father.
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to treat you like a baby, but in my mind that's what you are, my child. I'll admit that I've always been a bit over possessive, and that sometimes that comes across as oppressive, but I don't mean to hurt you." Anakin said slowly as Luke did the calculations for light speed.
"Correction, you don't mean to hurt me anymore. A month ago you would have locked me away in my cell until I begged to be let out – and probably longer – just to get me to stay a bit longer then I might normally... "
"I was born a slave, Luke. I learned fast that if I didn't fight for what I wanted or hold on to what I have I would lose it…"
"And you would trade my life for my friends? You would give them to that to gain me?"
"I did what I thought necessary. Nothing more or less. I was little more than a machine then man then."
"I understand. It's all the stress talking. I didn't mean to snap like that, but I'm worried about my friends."
"And you will be able to help them better with my help than without it. Now lets both get some sleep. It will be a long ride and neither of us got enough rest last night." Anakin yawned as he reclined in the pilots chair.
"That's the best idea you've had all morning." Luke agreed as he also slipped into a peaceful sleep.
Captain Donti was slightly confused. A man with Darth Vader's personal codes and identification signals had contacted his Star Destroyer via a distress signal. Once they were within normal communication range he had asked to hitch a ride on their cargo ship due to a 'dwindling fuel supply.' The man had a rim accent, and there was someone in the background he later identified as his son, and that one of the men in his crew said was a dead ringer for the Rebel Luke Skywalker. Donti now stood in the hanger bay watching the imperial troop transport ship land. His guards may not be the best of the Imperial fleet, but they were good men and would take care of anything amiss. After all Vader was just reported last night as being missing, although not publicly. Donti did have ways of knowing things before most other people, and could probably match wits with that alien Thrawn if he ever got the chance.
The hatch opened, and Donti started walking across the bay. The older man with the codes came first, followed by that stringy younger man. Side by side there was no way they were not father and son, unless one was an imperfect clone. "Now what is this really about Mr. Anakin?" Donti said crisply.
"We just need a ride to the nearest station, or wherever you are willing to take us, Captain Patrick Donti." Anakin said cleanly.
"How . . . did you know my . . . ?" Donti never, ever, used his full first name.
"Perhaps I ought to introduce myself better. I am Anakin Vader, Jedi Knight, and this is my son Lucious." The man started.
"He has a thing for using the full first name even when we don't like it. Look, excuse the old man, he likes to play with people's minds." The younger man, Lucious, broke in. Anakin stepped back looking annoyed.
"You are related to Lord Darth Vader?" The question was stuck in his mind.
"Yes." The young man said quickly, "Though it's not something I prefer to use to bum a ride." He finished apologetically.
"Well I do have a room that you could use. I don't see anything wrong with taking you to the next port." Donti signaled for them to follow him, and then decided to go digging. "So, I hear that Lord Vader's missing. Has something happened to him?"
"I'd say he . . ."
"You shouldn't son." Anakin said, placing one hand on his son's shoulder.
"Father, he isn't coming back. Accept that as truth because it is, I feel it in the force." He replied defiantly.
"Not coming back? Is he hurt badly then?" Donti said with near genuine concern.
"He's in perfect health, considering circumstances. He just is not going to come back to the Empire."
"Do you think it's wise to be saying these things openly my son?" Anakin said quickly. "Granted Donti knows how to seal his lips well, but we could be overheard."
"These halls are empty, Anakin. I wanted to talk to you and so I used my normal procedures. With your apparent knowledge of me you should know what that is." Donti soothed the older man.
Anakin nodded, "We can't let word get out of Darth's . . . absence. I'm going to Coruscant, and my son is here to tie up a few loose ends in discreet places. If word does get out those ends will most likely go into permanent hiding. This is something our family has to get through."
"I am sorry for your loss." Donti added.
"I am sorry for the billions he most likely didn't leave us a single credit out of." The younger man said before being hit in the shoulder.
"We don't know. Not for sure, so clam up." Anakin ordered.
"So I continue my training as usual." The younger man changed the subject.
"Of coarse you do. You aren't a Jedi yet, and you will need every bit of it soon. I take it we've stopped because this is the room. Thank you Captain, we appreciate this. Now you, get in there and start reading. There is a lot in that book you don't know yet, and I intend for you to at least know the list of abilities even if you can't do them all yet."
Donti was suddenly alone in the hall. "What an odd family." He mumbled to himself.
Luke set down his X-wing in the swamps of Degoba. Luke was glad for the nap he enjoyed before Capitain Donti dropped them off at C'barant spaceport. Anakin bid Luke a lengthy farewell and headed off to Coruscant and 'other destinations of interest.'
"There are many that owe Anakin a favor, and far more that would bend backwards for Vader." his father had explained. "With all the codes I know and the contacts I've kept track of we can cut three months of strategic attacks out of the plan without rushing against the crono."
With that he left Luke to go help his friends, but there was something Luke had to do first. Luke approached the low hut that almost blended perfectly with the surrounding swamp.
"Master Yoda? Master Yoda I've come to speak with you." Luke called. He reached out with the force but his perceptions were clouded by more then the overabundance of life. For a moment he fought for clarity, and then gave in.
"Done, you have great things. Doubt they were possible I did. Amazed am I." The diminutive Jedi Master was sitting in the crook of two large tree branches. His green wrinkled skin blended perfectly with the hanging moss.
"Thank you Master. I came to keep my promise and fill you in on anything you missed through the force." Luke bowed to Yoda as the Master hopped down from his tree and walked over to his home.
"Discrete were you. Little I know. That you have gone with Vader I do know. Tell all you should." Luke followed the small Jedi into the low hut, being very mindful of his head, and sat down to tell the long story.
"More then I thought have you done. Underestimate you I have, both of you. Right I was when dangerous I said Anakin was. Wrong was I after that. Handle the situation badly, we did. Hard times they were, and blind were we. Destroy him, I thought you should. Destroy Vader you did, but you freed Anakin as well. See that I did not. Biased I was, though accurate my visions were." Yoda sat bent in his chair.
"You taught me that visions are often ambiguous and interpreting them is a delicate and complicated process. It is easy to get things backwards." Luke soothed. Yoda laughed at him, looking suddenly old.
"Believe I do not that any other could have succeeded. A loving father he would have been. Separate them we should not have." Yoda suddenly poked the young Jedi with his glimmer stick. "Compassion a Jedi's strength must be, but love his life's breath. Lost that knowledge had become, arrogant were we. The chosen one you father is, and restored the Jedi will be, but humble we must remain!" Yoda hobbled to his bed. "A great Jedi you may well become, but one thing remains before knighted you will be."
"Palpatine," Luke nodded. "Master, are you feeling well?"
"Look I so old to your young eyes? Hmp! When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not!" the mismatched pair laughed for a moment. "Rest I need."
"Please Master, there is one more thing I need to ask. You seemed to know my mother well but you never speak of her directly. What can you tell me about her?"
"Caring, she was. Pure and pretty, your father might say. Brave was she, and selfless. Find I hope you will, one like her of your own. Love, a Jedi should, all things, all life. Friendship a Jedi should thrive on. Wrong were we to isolate our younglings."
"My father once said she could have saved him."
"Yes! Say that he would, though how true that is none can say. Understand we did not until too late it was. The source of his darkness his family was not. Your sister nearly did it… and know about her he did not."
"My sister? But…"
"Ask her you should, about when a child she was. Your mother she would remember. A twin sister you have, Luke."
A/N: This story is not being reserected, I'm just cleaning up the mess of disjointed snippets the end of this dissolved into. I hate this plotline. I hate this story. I can't stand the Star Wars fandom anymore. I started writing this in 8th grade, and I'm now in my third year of college. I've revisited it just to see how much progress I've made. I reject this reality, and substitute Shreelock Holmes and Harry Potter.