Kastellan is conferring with a junior officer when I reach the bridge, and I immediately get a sense of unease. Is this the young officer who heard me speak in my natural voice? Did he even notice? Of course he noticed, the lack of breathing alone would have been noteworthy.

"Ah, Lord Vader," Kastellan says, turning to me. He has a smug look on his face, and I don't like it. Alarms start going off in my head, my distrust of this man growing by the minute.

"Newmann has sent a message?" I ask, folding my arms over my chest.

"Yes, he has," replies the admiral. "Just a short time ago. I wasn't sure if we ought to disturb you since.."

"Don't be an idiot," I snap. "I told you to notify me at once. Let me see the message."

"At once, milord," responds Kastellan, hastening to the comm. station. I have to be nastier than ever now that I made such a stupid mistake…there can be no doubt in this man's mind or anyone else's that I am who I say I am.

I walk over to the comm. station to where the young officer Kastellan was speaking to stands. I look at him, my mind probing his, looking for any sign that he suspects something is amiss. He is afraid. this is the first time he has seen me in person…I am more foreboding than he had anticipated…he has heard that my wife is gorgeous and he wonders how it's possible that something like me could have such a wife…he thinks of his own wife who is expecting their first child…the rest of his thoughts are uninteresting, and unrelated to me. It seems that my blunder went unnoticed, or else the man doesn't' know me well enough to suspect that anything was unusual. You were lucky this time, Skywalker…don't be so cavalier again…start thinking with your brain rather than other parts of your anatomy..

I stand at the comm. station as the officer, whose name I've learned is Peternal, brings up the message. I see a holographic image of Newmann appear; seated at the helm of the shuttle he departed on.

"Lord Vader," the message begins, "we have reached the Corellia system, but there is no sign of the Endeavour, my lord. It appears that they have left the system. I suspect that somehow they realized that we were coming. I have made contact with the Aggressor, the closest star destroyer, and am heading there now. I await your orders, Lord Vader. Newmann out."

Malz knew…somehow he knew…I look around the bridge, and see Kastellan standing looking suitably perplexed. But I know better.

"What a misfortune," he says at last. "I wonder, Lord Vader, if he was fed information about our intentions?"

I turn to him, my arms folded over my chest. "There is no doubt of it," I tell him. "The question is who is the one feeding him information?"

I sense a momentary flicker of fear in his mind before he manages to cover it up. He is a sly one, this Kastellan.

"Beg your pardon for saying so, my lord," he begins tentatively, "but I could not help but notice that …well, that the Lady Vader is less than happy to be here. Is it possible that she..."

He doesn't finish the sentence as I send him across the room without so much as touching him. All eyes turn to the scene, the tension level skyrocketing. I walk over to the man who is lying on the floor, too stunned for words. He looks up at me as I tower over him, a mixture of terror and loathing in his eyes.

"You will not so much as speak her name again, do you hear me?" I roar at him.

He nods obediently as he slowly stands up, brushing himself off, his face red with humiliation and barely concealed rage.

"I will find out who is responsible for this treachery, make no mistake about it," I tell him threateningly. "And when I do, that person will wish they had never been born."

I sweep off the bridge, leaving the men properly intimidated and Kastellan properly humiliated.

I know it is him. But I need to prove it. I stride through the corridors, men and droids hastening to get out of my path as I do so. My mind works furiously to come up with a plan, a way to ensnare Kastellan in his own treachery. Before I know it I reach my quarters, and head inside. I find Padmé within, still sitting at the computer console, her long hair loose about her shoulders, still wearing her dressing gown. She turns to look at me as she hears me enter the room, and gives me a smile.

"What an unexpected surprise," she says. "I didn't think I'd see you so soon. Don't tell me you're already having naughty thoughts?"

I laugh the sounds strange to my ears even still. "Well, actually no," I reply truthfully. "I just wanted to get away from the bridge before I killed someone."

Padmé frowns. "Please tell me you don't mean that," she says, the smile fading from her face.

"I'm afraid not," I tell her, sitting down beside her. "Kastellan has really gone too far this time."

"What now?" she asks.

I sigh. "First of all I'm quite certain that he has contacted the renegade, Malz, and told him that I had dispatched Newmann to bring him here to me. When I expressed my concern that the information had been leaked to him, he suggested that perhaps you were the one who had done so."

"What?" she asks surprised. "Me? What would make him suspect me?"

"Because you're doing such an excellent job of appearing miserable here," I tell her. "He thinks that you are a spy because you hate me so much."

She lifts her eyebrows in surprise at this. "And what was your response to his accusation? Or do I even want to know?"

"Well, I sort of used the Force to send him across the bridge," I tell her, taking off the helmet. "I made sure he didn't get seriously injured though; but I needed to send him a message. I think he got it."

"No doubt," she mutters.

"Well, I'm not about to let him malign you that way," I reply adamantly. I pull the mask from my face and set it down. "We may appear to be at odds with one another, but you are still my wife. I won't let him speak that way about you."

Padmé leans over and kisses my cheek. "You're sweet to say that," she says. "But this could actually work in our favor, Ani."

"What do you mean?" I ask, running a hand through my hair.

"If Kastellan suspects that I am resentful about being here, and think that I hate you for forcing me to stay with you, then he may see me as an ally," she begins. "It doesn't take a Jedi Knight to see the level of animosity he feels towards you; if he believes that I feel that way too, he may try to convince me to side with him."

I scowl, not liking where this is going. "I don't know," I say, shaking my head. "I don't like the thought of you anywhere near him. I've seen the way he looks at you, Padmé. I don't trust him."

"Ani, you said yourself you suspect he may be in collusion with this admiral who has been ignoring your orders, this Malz," she replies, leaning over and putting her hand on my knee. "If I can get him to confide in me, to try to recruit me to his cause, then you will have justification to remove him from duty."

I look down at her hand resting on my leather clad knee, and pick it up. "I won't put you in any danger, Padmé," I tell her, exploring the nuances of her small hand. "If he should suspect what we are up to…" I look up at her. "No, it's too dangerous. Just you being here is perilous enough; I won't allow you to take any more risks."

She frowns, and I recognize the look on her face. She's not going to give up on this.

"Still reading the Imperial Data net?" I ask, changing the subject. "What is that you're looking at now?"

She turns back to the screen before responding. "It's the data disc containing Palpatine's will," she tells me.

"Oh?" I ask, sitting down beside her. "Have you found something of interest?"

"Not yet," she replies, scanning over the screen. "I was wondering if he made any mention of Naboo," she explains. "I don't know exactly what I was looking for; maybe I'm just anxious for news about my homeworld. It's been so long since I've been there," she adds sadly.

"We will go there as soon as we can, angel," I tell her. "I promise."

She turns and looks at me. "I know that, Ani," she replies. "I can wait a little longer." She stops as her eye catches something. I can sense her surprise and I lean forward to see what it is she is looking at.

"Did you know about this?" she asks, pointing to the screen.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Read it," she suggests. So I do. I feel a coldness sweep through my veins as I see the heading of the section she is focusing on: Order 66. I read over the preamble, the utter lies concocted by Sidious to justify his slaughter, our slaughter, of the Jedi. Deemed as traitors to the Republic, every clone in the galaxy was ordered to kill the Jedi that they had been fighting along side during the war. And they did just that, without question, without hesitation. Ingenious in his plot, Sidious ensured that the Jedi were spread throughout the galaxy, and thus unable to defend themselves against the sudden and unexpected attack of the clones, who vastly outnumbered them. Images jump into my mind as I remember that terrible day…faces of the younglings I slaughtered in cold blood...

"I don't need to read about that, Padmé," I tell her, turning away and standing up. "I was a part of it. I know exactly what happened."

"I know you do, Ani," she replies, taking my hand. "But that isn't the reason I want you to read it. Listen to this," she says. She proceeds to read from the screen. "According to this, Order 66 was a directive ingrained in the clone troopers during their training in order to ensure absolute loyalty to the Chancellor."

"Yes, I knew that," I tell her. "Clones follow orders without question; Palpatine made sure of that."

"But there's more to it," she replies. "The way I am reading it, it seems as though the clones' loyalty is imbedded into the very DNA that created them, thus making each generation, each new wave of them just as unquestioningly loyal as those who helped slaughter the Jedi all those years ago."

I sigh, wishing she would get to the point. This subject is very painful to me, surely she knows that. So why is she going on with it like she is?

"Padmé you're not telling me anything I don't already know," I tell her. "Is there a point to all this?"

She looks up at me. "I know this is hard for you, Anakin," she replies evenly. "But yes, there is. Ask yourself this; what happens to the clones' direction now that Palpatine is dead? Who are they taking orders from now?"

I consider this for a moment. "Well, I imagine they are taking orders from whatever officer is in command of their unit," I reply. "Just as they always have."

"Yes, but ultimately their loyalty was with Palpatine, with the emperor, right?" she asks.

I nod. "Of course."

"And now the emperor is dead."

I frown, wondering where she is going with this; and then it hits me. "Are you saying that you think…?"

"I think that once you become emperor, the clones' unwavering, genetically engrained loyalty will be to you, Anakin. And if it is, then just think what that would mean!"

I do think, and my mind boggles at the thoughts that jump to mind. With the undying, unquestioning loyalty of the entire clone army I could put an end to the Empire…I could turn them against the Empire. I could add their strength to the Alliance, to the new Republic…

"This is incredible," I say, starting to pace around the room. "It would mean an end to all the conflict…" I stop as a thought strikes me. I turn back to my wife.

"But what if you're wrong?" I ask her. "What if the genetic conditioning meant loyalty to Palpatine himself, and not simply the office of emperor?"

"I suppose that is possible," she concedes, "but I doubt it. Even Palpatine must have realized that he was mortal, and that he would die eventually."

I nod. "True, but knowing the sort of monster that he was, I'm not sure he would even care what would happen after he died."

"Then why did he take the trouble to even record a will?" she replies. "He surely didn't plot so long and go to such lengths to create this Empire only to have it fall into ruins after his death."

"He wanted the Sith to rule the galaxy," I reflect. I look back at Padmé. "So let's assume you're right. How do we prove it without ruining my plan?"

She frowns. "What do you mean?"

"Well think of it, Padmé," I tell her. "If I suddenly order the clone army to cease hostilities against the Rebellion, and they don't obey..."

"You'll have a lot of questions to answer," she finishes. "I see your point." She sighs. "Well, there has to be a way to prove my theory without jeopardizing our scheme."

"First things first," I tell her. "I think we're getting ahead of ourselves here. I haven't managed to garner the loyalty of all the officers of the fleet. I need to have undivided loyalty if my bid to be emperor will succeed."

"So what are you going to do then?"

I sigh, rubbing my chin thoughtfully. "I don't know," I tell her softly. "All I know is if I don't do the right thing, I won't get a second chance."