I awaken in the medical bay, Piett at my side, clone troopers standing nearby.

"You are going to be fine," he assures me when he notices that I am awake.

"What's going on?" I ask weakly. "Kastellan…"

"Is in custody," he tells me. "The rest of the admirals are still on board. They have a lot of questions, of course. I haven't told them anything yet."

"Good," I reply. "My family…"

"Well it was your children who alerted us to your dire situation," Piett replies. "It was incredible to witness, Anakin. They both knew, they just knew that things were going badly, that you were in trouble. I didn't question it; I simply gathered some troops and came on board."

I nod, trying to conserve my strength. Padmé must be worried sick…

"I realize that you are in no condition to deal with this right now," Piett continues. "But the situation is quite explosive right now, Anakin. We must act quickly in order to diffuse it."

"I know," I mutter, feeling lethargy filling my body as the pain killers kick in. "Tell the admirals to stay here…"

"But Anakin they are ready to revolt," Piett returns. "They are starting to believe Kastellan's allegations. We need to give them some sort of proof that you are Darth Vader, other wise they will never accept you as the emperor."

I close my eyes, feeling defeated and hopeless. Everything has gone wrong, how am I supposed to do? How can I prove that I am someone I'm not?

"I'm afraid you must leave, Admiral," the medical droid announces as it enters the room. "The patient has lost a great deal of blood and needs to rebuild his strength."

Wait a minute…I open my eyes. "Blood test," I tell Piett. "DNA test."

He frowns. "What? Blood test?"

I nod. "Yes, proof that I'm Vader..."

Piett's eyes widen as he realizes what I'm saying. "Yes…yes of course! A DNA test!"

"Yes.." the Empire kept extensive medical records on all its personal, including me…a standard DNA test is part of that record…even though I am not Vader any longer, my DNA is still the same as his.

"Brilliant," Piett says with a smile. He then looks up at the medical droid. "I want a complete DNA read out of this patient," he tells the droid. "At once."

"Yes sir," the droid replies.

This has to work…there's no other way …I slip back asleep, leaving my fate in the capable hands of Firmus Piett once again.

The next time I wake up, I notice immediately that I feel better, stronger. I try to sit up, only to be reminded of the fresh wound in my back and abandon the attempt.

"Ah, you are awake," the medi-droid announces as it approaches the bed.

"Where is Piett?" I ask.

"I don't know, sir," it replies. "Is there something I might do for you?"

I slowly move myself into a sitting position, forcing myself to ignore the pain.

"I need to know what's going on," I tell the droid. "I need to speak with the admiralty."

"You are in no condition to..."

I cut it off. "You don't seem to understand," I tell it impatiently. "The future of the galaxy is hanging in the balance; I don't have time to sit around here any longer."

"But sir!" it protests as I swing my legs over the side of the bed, wincing as I do so.

"There's no chance of this wound reopening, right?" I ask as I struggle to my feet.

"No, sir, it's been sealed, but..."

"Never mind the buts," I tell it. "I need to get to that conference room, and I need to get there now. You will help me."

"And where do you think you're going?" I look up to see Piett standing in the doorway.

"I'm going to that conference room," I tell him, struggling to my feet. "And now that you're here, you can help me."

Piett cocks an eyebrow at me. "Help you? The only thing I'm going to help you with is getting back into that bed."

I look at him, frustrated with his patronizing tone and my own weakness. "I'm serious, Piett," I tell him. "You said yourself that this situation is volatile, if I don't do something to get control of it all will be lost! Now help me get into that damn suit so that I can get to that conference room!"

"Anakin, relax," he tells me. "I have spoken with the admirals; I have shown them the DNA readouts. They are content for now to wait."

"For now? What does that mean?" I ask, sitting back down.

"It means that they believe that you are, or at least were, Darth Vader," he explains. "However, they are concerned about the changes in you, changes brought to their attention by Kastellan, and things that they have noted themselves. It seems that your reluctance to kill anyone has not gone unnoticed, Anakin. Do you know that the men on board the Executor used to actually wager on how many men would die each week? That sort of behavior is rather legendary, I'm afraid."

I frown, disturbed by this new problem. "Well who do they say that I am, then, if not Vader?"

"There are some who have brought forth the possibility that you are Anakin Skywalker," replies Piett. "There have been rumors about his redemption floating around for weeks. Others haven't a clue. Kastellan didn't do us any favors with his inflammatory words."

"No, nor his actions," I add. "So now what? Is it a lost cause, Firmus? Has all this been in vain?"

Piett looks thoughtful for a moment before responding. "I don't think so, Anakin," he finally answers. "I think that these men are tired of war, and, deep down inside, want to see an end to it. Now that Kastellan is out of the way, perhaps you can reason with them, make them see that peace is the only way."

I nod as I consider his words. "Yes, perhaps that is the approach I will have to take. I don't really have many options, really; perhaps it is time to take off the mask once and for all. The trouble is, what is to hold their allegiance if I admit that I am no longer Darth Vader? What is to stop them from turning on me?"

"You are a leader, Anakin," Piett tells me. "A natural leader. The Empire is in desperate need of leadership right now. You can be that leader, Anakin, whether you are Darth Vader or Anakin Skywalker. Personally I think most of them would rather follow Anakin Skywalker than Darth Vader; Vader's leadership was based on fear and control. Once they see that you are trustworthy, that you mean to bring peace and order to the galaxy, I truly believe you will have them on your side. And, if all else fails, you still have the loyalty of the clones, don't forget."

"Do I?" I ask. "The will named Darth Vader as the heir, not Anakin Skywalker."

"We have the DNA proof to show that you are the same man," he points out. "Clones cannot understand the subtleties of the Force; they will not distinguish between Vader and Skywalker. If the DNA proves that you are Vader, then that should be sufficient for them."

I shake my head doubtfully. "I don't know about that," I say. "I don't think you are giving them enough credit. They may be clones, but they are still capable of intelligent thought."

"But there is no other emperor, Anakin, no other but you, whether you are calling yourself Vader or Skywalker," he returns. "This is a philosophical nuance that the clones will not even consider. You are the emperor; therefore, you have their allegiance. Mask or no mask."

I sigh, my head spinning with the line of reasoning that Piett is taking. Is he right? I don't know what is right anymore, what makes sense any more; all I know is that I am tired, I am sore, and I miss my family.

"You get some rest," he says, seeing the look of fatigue wash over me. "I will talk to the admirals some more, see what they are thinking."

"Okay," I reply, lying back down. "Any chance I can see my family?"

"I will see what I can do," he replies. "Get some rest. You look terrible."

"Thanks," I mutter as I close my eyes. Soon enough, I drift off into a restless, troubled sleep.