Pink clouds streak the Naboo sky as the sun slowly sinks into the horizon. From the lake a subtle breeze wafts onto the balcony, bringing with it the scent of wild flowers. My children are present with me as we enjoy the warm evening, sitting together and enjoying the spectacular sunset.

"Where is mother?" Luke asks, looking back at the house. "Shouldn't she be here by now?"

"I was wondering that myself," Leia responds. "I'm beginning to get worried."

Yes, where is she? "I'll go find her," I say, standing up. I walk into the house, and wander the hallways, looking in every room, but I find no sign of her. I call her name, starting to panic. Padmé, where are you? I call, my voice echoing in the empty house. Suddenly I feel a wave of terror…Padmé is in trouble…she needs me...

I wake up with a start, knowing that the terror I felt in my dream is real. Padmé is in trouble. I struggle out of the bed, not bothering to take the time to put on the robe, but summoning my lightsaber to my hand. I leave the medical bay, ignoring the clones that merely stand by and let me pass. Luke, Leia, help me. I silently implore. I run through the corridors, ignoring the odd looks in my direction. I use Padmé like a homing beacon, drawing closer to her as I jump onto the turbolift. She's in Kastellan's quarters…why is she there? And why is she in trouble if he is in the brig?

I can feel the pain in my back throbbing now as I continue to race to the place I know Padmé is, but I ignore it, and force myself to continue on. Finally I reach it, and use the Force to open the door.

"Ani! Watch out!" I hear my wife cry in warning, but not before the lightsaber in my hand is knocked away.

I look over and see my wife being held captive by a man I don't know, a blaster held to her temple.

"Lord Vader I presume," Kastellan mocks me.

"Let her go," I command him. "Let her go and your life will be spared."

Kastellan laughs at me. "Oh please, you're frightening me," he mocks. "You so much as look at me the wrong way and my associate here will blow your wife's pretty head off."

"What do you want, Kastellan?" I ask, trying frantically to think up a plan.

"Aren't you even the least bit curious how I managed to get out of the brig?" he asks, ignoring my question.

I make no reply, so he continues.

"In your eagerness to take control of this vessel away from me, you forgot all about the security codes. You see, I am the commander of this ship, Vader, therefore it was quite easy for me to get out of the brig."

"But there were clones there," I protest, cursing myself for my sloppiness. "The detention block is well guarded."

"Yes it is," he agrees. "That's where my good friend here came in handy. Surely you didn't think it was over, Vader. And here you thought you were in the clear."

"What do you want with my wife?" I ask him. "This has nothing to do with her. Let her go."

"Well I'm afraid I can't do that," he replies. "You see, she is, what you would call a bargaining tool," he tells me. "And, ironically, it was her presence on board this ship that first had me asking questions about you. Although I never knew Darth Vader personally, I had enough knowledge of him to know without a shadow of a doubt that there would be no place for a woman in his life, nor would he allow a woman to speak to him the way she has, or manipulate him into taking her with him on a dangerous mission. The act may have fooled everyone else, but not me. All I needed to do was find the proof; that was where Malz was supposed to come in, but the traitor ended up turning on me."

"You're the traitor," I spit at him. "A traitor and a fool. Like it or not, the Empire is in my control, Kastellan. I am the emperor, no matter how you may feel about me. And your actions here today are highly treasonous. There's no way out for you, every clone in the galaxy is under my orders now. What do you hope to accomplish by this stunt?"

"Call it revenge," he replies. "Or call it payback. I don't really give a damn what you call it. But no one humiliates me on the bridge of my ship and gets away with it. Not even you, Vader."

"He's insane, Anakin," Padmé says at this point. "You can't reason with him. He's insane and jealous of your power because he wants it for himself and knows he can never have it."

"Shut up, bitch!" barks the man holding Padmé, slapping her across the face. In a sea of rage I watch her fall to the floor. My reaction is quick and decisive. Without even lifting my hand to him, I crush the man's larynx, watching his face contort as he struggles for breath. He is dead within seconds. I then return my attention to Kastellan, who looks aghast at his dead comrade.

"Get out of here, Padmé," I tell her as she gets to her feet, my eyes never leaving those of my foe. "Run for help!"

She does not question me and runs out of the room. It's now down to Kastellan and me.

"Still anxious to exact revenge?" I ask him, my eyes boring into him. I can

see how shaken he is. He never dreamed that Anakin Skywalker would use the Force to kill a man in such a brutal way, and it has unnerved him. He looks back at me, trying to hide his fear.

"Only if you're man enough to fight without resorting to sorcery," he retorts.

I approach him, feeling the pain in my back worsening with each step. "Why should I?" I ask acrimoniously.

"To prove that you can," he replies. "To prove that you truly are a Jedi, and not still a Sith."

"I don't need to prove anything to you," I retort. Hurry Padmé…I don't want to have to kill this man, as much as he deserves to die. I have already killed once today, one more dark deed on my soul... "Padmé was right. This isn't about your ego; it's about power, pure and simple. My appearance on the scene ruined your plans to take control of the Empire yourself, didn't it? That's what this is all about."

He makes no reply, but I can feel his rage building, and I know I have hit a nerve. "Too bad you chose the wrong man to mess with, Kastellan. You might have stood a chance at keeping a command had you shown yourself to be loyal. But the only ship you'll be seeing now is a transport to the prison on Ord Vaxal."

This pushes him over the edge, and he attacks me viciously. I dodge as he swings at me, and manage to land a kick in his midsection. He staggers back, winded temporarily, but angrier than ever. He lunges at me, wrapping his hands around my throat. I push his arms up and away, the wound in my back screaming in protest. Kastellan sees this and delivers a round house kick to my lower back. I see stars, the pain rockets through my whole body. I stagger forward, looking up at my adversary, my vision starting to blur. I can feel the blood starting to trickle down my back from where his boot connected with my fresh wound.

"Well well well, the Hero with no Fear is human after all," he gloats. He brings his foot up and is about to deliver another kick, this time to my face, but I grab his foot before he can make contact. I wrench it, hearing his ankle snap. He shouts in pain and anger, and falls to the floor. I lunge at him, but he rolls away from me.

"It's over," I pant. "Give it up, Kastellan. You've lost."

"Over is it?" he snarls, suddenly grabbing the discarded blaster from his fallen comrade and pointing it at me. "See you in Hell, Vader," he adds with a smile of pure malice.

But before either of us can react, the blaster is yanked from his hand by an invisible hand and he is slammed against the far wall where he falls in a heap to the floor. I look in astonishment to where the blaster has traveled only to see Leia standing there. She looks as astonished as me to find the blaster in her hand.

"Leia," I sigh. She rushes over to me as Luke enters the room behind her and quickly approaches Kastellan.

"You're hurt," she informs me, trying her to maintain her cool exterior. Her shaking hands give her away.

"You saved my life," I tell her softly.

She nods as the reality of what has just transpired hits home. "Yes…I...I just reacted, Dad. I can't believe what I did."

"The Force is strong with you," I tell her, putting my hand on her shoulder. She throws her arms around my neck and holds me tightly, her body trembling with emotion and spent adrenaline.

"Thank you," I tell her, kissing the top of her head. "Thank you for saving my life."

She merely nods, and I can tell that she is crying.

"Anakin!" I look up to see Padmé and Piett in the doorway, accompanied by a handful of clones. "Are you alright?"

"He's hurt," Leia says, pulling back and wiping her tears hastily. "He's bleeding."

"Escort the emperor back to the medical bay," Piett orders the troops. "And apprehend that man," he adds, pointing to Kastellan's inert form.

"No need," Luke announces, standing up. "He's dead."

"Dead?" Leia asks, wide eyed. "How can that be?"

"His neck was snapped when he hit the wall," Luke informs his twin. "You have some Force push there, sister."

Leia looks back up at me, surprised and a little rattled by this news. I'm certain that she has killed before, but not like this, not without firing a shot.

"Seems you and your son are not the only Jedi in the family," Piett remarks as the clones pick up the dead bodies of Kastellan and his co-conspirator and carry them out of the room.

"Yes, so it seems," I agree, smiling at my daughter.

"Come along, Ani," Padmé says, taking one of my arms. "You need to get medical attention."

I leave with her, our children following behind. It's over…Kastellan is dead…so what now?

"Never mind what now," Luke tells me, reading my thoughts. "You just get yourself recovered."

I smile at him, glad to have him and Leia with me again. "I always suspected you were more like your mother," I tell him.

Padmé lifts her eyebrows. "And that is a good thing, right?"

I laugh. "Yes, of course."

I am only too happy to return to the bed in sick bay, but am not permitted the luxury until I have my wound attended to once again. I sit on the edge of the bed while the droid repairs the wound, my family standing before me.

"You were right about Kastellan," I tell Padmé. "He wanted to make a bid for control of the Empire. I'm sure the listening device we planted in his quarters will verify that."

Padmé nods. "I'm just happy he's dead," she says softly. "He was truly insane, Ani. I don't know what might have happened to me if you hadn't shown up when you did."

"Well I know what would have happened to me if Leia hadn't shown up when she did," I reply, smiling at our daughter. "Looks like we'll need to begin some serious Jedi training with this one, wouldn't you say, son?"

Luke smiles. "Absolutely," he agrees. "Something tells me she's a natural."

Leia appears embarrassed by all the attention and merely smiles.

"So what now, Dad?" asks Luke. "Now that Kastellan is gone, does that mean you can reveal your true identity?"

"I've already done that," I tell him. "The admirals now know who I am, they know everything. All we can do at this point is wait and hope that they decide that they can accept Anakin Skywalker as their leader."

"But you are already their leader," Leia puts in. "You're the emperor, remember?"

"I told them I don't want to be emperor," I tell my daughter. "I would rather have their allegiance willingly as Anakin Skywalker than demand it simply because my DNA pattern is the same as Darth Vader's."

"Well it's all up to them now, then, I suppose," Luke replies. "Let's just hope they have the sense to accept you, Dad. Otherwise, the conflict will never end."

I nod. "Yes, I know that son," I reply. "All we can do is hope." I feel an injection in my arm and realize that the droid has taken it upon itself to give me painkillers.

"Looks like you're going for a nap," Padmé says, smiling at me. Why do I get the impression that shot was her idea?

"So it seems," I say, feeling drowsy. I fight to keep my eyes open, but to no avail. Within minutes I am asleep, blissfully this time, knowing that my family is close by.