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Chapter Two

"Wondered when you'd get here!"

Arden watched as Elias and Captain Dagen shook hands with the tall, thin older man who'd come out to greet them. Apparently a gifted slicer, Ulin was also their go-to man when it came to random supplies and technology. Arden liked him well enough, but he had a funny way of making her feel like she was out of the loop.

Not that she was really in the loop anyway. Captain Dagen was very private about his business. Ossus was just another example of that.

"Hello there, Arden!" Ulin said, nodding her way. "This one still treatin' you right?" He cast a wry grin at Elias.

Arden smiled. "Yeah, I've got no complaints." She walked over and looped her arm through Elias's. "Got any food here, Ulin?"

The older man grinned and ran a hand through his short gray hair. "Sure, there's some food on the Ho'Din. She's docked on the other side of the complex." He looked past Arden at the two boys coming down the ramp of the Daybreak. "Whatcha got there, boys?"

Kohr and Ames stopped and stared down at the stretcher between them. Before they could respond, Captain Dagen reached out and guided Ulin off to the side of the landing platform.

Arden frowned. "I really don't like this, Elias."

Elias shrugged. "I don't like it either, but there's not much we can do about it. We couldn't just dump him out in space."

"That's not what I meant," Arden replied impatiently.

"I don't understand." Elias glanced over at Dagen and Ulin. "You mean them?"

Arden nodded.

"They're just talking about the stowaway, that's all."

"What about that datapad he stole from the Sith? Doesn't he need Ulin to do something with it?"

"I don't know."

Arden shook her head. "Why are we stealing from the Sith?"

"We always steal from the Sith, Arden. Come on, let's go get something to eat." Elias started to pull her toward the building Ulin had emerged from. It looked like an old military bunker – appropriate, given the desolate, abandoned nature of the planet they'd landed on. Arden had never heard of the Heibic system before today, but apparently it was a place Dagen, Ulin, and even Elias knew well. She got the feeling they'd hidden out here many times.

Arden resisted Elias's pull for a moment. Yes, they frequently stole from the Sith because the Sith owned everything. Whenever they smuggled goods or robbed a weapons dealer, they were stealing from the Sith. But they'd never, ever, come anywhere near one of the Sith worlds. There was a difference. The mysterious Force users might have carved out an empire, but there were only a few planets they truly called home.

The forbidden worlds.

Arden had heard plenty of stories about Ossus. Enough to know that no one in their right mind would choose to venture there.

Well, she'd always had doubts about Captain Dagen's sanity.

Arden finally let Elias steer her toward the bunker. For the moment, she tried to push aside her worries and focus on the food that awaited her on the Happy Ho'Din. Out of the corner of her eye, though, she caught sight of Kohr and Ames carrying the stretcher with their stowaway on it, and her appetite began to fade.

I have a bad feeling about this.

.

.

The first thing he knew for certain was that he was standing on some precipice. The second thing he knew was that Padmé was screaming for help.

"Padmé!" he cried out, reaching into pitch darkness for something to hold onto, something to guide him back toward his wife.

"Anakin, help me!"

"Padmé!" he screamed. "Padmé!"

And then, without knowing how or why, he could see that he was falling.

Vision and color had returned with shocking clarity. He was tumbling off a cliff. The water below churned angrily against the rocks, waiting eagerly to welcome him into its cold embrace. He wondered – even as he fell – if he'd been pushed off the cliff or if he'd jumped.

It didn't matter, really. The wind stung his eyes and his skin as the ocean rose rapidly to meet him. It didn't matter how he'd come to be falling through the night sky. If he was pushed, he deserved it. If he'd jumped, then he had truly gone mad, and the galaxy was well rid of him.

He couldn't hear Padmé's screams. He couldn't hear anything but the wind.

He was falling, one way or another, toward his fate. Toward the encompassing, passionless, inky black darkness that crashed against the cliff. He couldn't stop it. He couldn't change it. He was waiting to hit, waiting for the sweet relief of impact.

But it never came.

.

.

Arden stared at the gelatinous substance on her plate and wrinkled her nose. "Lovely," she muttered, poking it with her spoon.

Elias leaned over and kissed her below the ear. "Just eat it," he chided.

"You first," she whispered back.

Elias raised an eyebrow, paused, then proceeded to shovel the muck into his mouth. After a few spoonfuls, he turned to Arden and gave her a big, sloppy grin. "'S'not bad."

Arden laughed and shoved him playfully. "Shut up."

"Hey, how's the food? Good?"

Elias twisted around in his seat. "Yeah, it's great, Ulin."

Across the table, Kohr and Ames caught Arden's attention and rolled their eyes in unison. She stifled a giggle.

Captain Dagen strode into the galley, picked up a jug of juice – at least Arden thought it was juice – and poured himself a cup. He took a sip, puckered his lips, and cleared his throat.

"Ames."

The boy looked up. "Sir?"

"Need you to finish up and go check on our guest. Get him ready."

Ames pushed his plate to the center of the table and stood up. "I'm on it."

Dagen took another sip before setting the cup down. "Kohr, you remember where the monitors are?"

"Yeah, sure, Captain."

"Get them up and running, I want to record this."

Kohr banged his spoon down and jumped up from his seat. He and Ames bolted from the room. Ulin emerged from the kitchen and looked around the table. "Hey, where'd they go?"

Dagen smiled at Ulin and folded his arms across his chest. "Sorry, Ulin, I need them."

"Aw, it's fine, kid."

Arden thought she saw something almost sad in the captain's eyes at Ulin's words, but when she didn't notice it again she decided it was nothing. Dagen left the room, and Arden and Elias went back to their food.

.

.

Anakin awoke on a hard surface, vaguely aware of the throbbing pain in his forehead and right knee. He started to open his eyes but quickly shut them when he found himself staring straight into an orb of harsh white light. Covering his eyes with one hand, he rolled slightly to the left and propped himself up on his elbow.

"You'll get used to it," a voice said from behind him.

Anakin jerked his head toward the voice, cracking one eye open and holding up a hand to block the glare. "Where am I?" His words came out slurred. He tried to probe the room with the Force, but he couldn't get a clear sense of anything in it. "What did you do to me?"

"Relax," the voice said, closer this time. It was definitely male. "You were sedated. You've been out for six hours. It'll be another hour or so before your senses all return to normal."

Something dark blocked out the source of the light. Anakin opened his eyes as much as the remaining glare would allow. Standing over him was the boy who had drugged him earlier. The boy raised his eyebrows and gave him a wry grin. "I'm supposed to let the captain know when you're ready for questioning." He leaned in close to Anakin's face. "You feel up for that?"

Anakin drew his head back, cringing at the burst of pain that accompanied the motion. "What kind of questioning?"

The boy waved nonchalantly. "The usual: name, rank, who sent you, do we have to kill you… you know. That kind of stuff."

Anakin tried to ignore the pounding in his head. He probably wasn't in the best of conditions for an interrogation – their plan, no doubt – but he was still desperate to know where he was and what was going on. Despite thirteen years of Jedi tutelage, patience was not one of his strengths.

"Sounds like fun," he muttered. "Can I get up, or are you going to shoot one of those into me again?" He pointed at a tray of syringes on a table across the room.

The boy looked over his shoulder and grinned. "Not unless you get rowdy. Go ahead, sit up if you want."

Anakin did so, slowly. "Where are we?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" The boy smirked and turned his back on Anakin. He walked over to the table and picked up a datapad. "Sorry, but I'm not allowed to say." He cocked his head to one side. "And don't try any Force tricks. You'll only make things worse for yourself."

Anakin glared at the boy's shoulder blades. "Why don't you just take me to your captain?" So we can get this over with.

The boy turned around and shrugged. "If you think you're ready—"

"I'm fine," Anakin snapped.

"Suit yourself." The boy walked over to one of two control panels on the far wall and entered a series of numbers. "Ames," he spoke into the microphone, and part of the wall slid open to reveal another plain white room with a long white table in the center.

Anakin hopped down from his table and walked through the door, keeping his senses, if not his eyes, trained on the boy. It wasn't helping much.

"You can sit there," the boy – Ames – said, indicating a chair at the opposite end of the room. "Have fun." He stepped away from the wall and closed the door, locking Anakin into the white room.

"Perfect," Anakin said under his breath. He called on the Force's healing energies to ease the throbbing in his head as he strode over to the chair and sat down. Quiet settled over him for the first time since he'd left the Council chambers. He could hear the faint pulse of the air cooling and purification system, filtering into the room through an unseen vent. He felt his heart beating in his chest, his blood pounding through his veins. He heard the whisper of his own breath, flowing slowly in and out.

It was then that he noticed his hands were shaking.

Anakin pulled them down under the table, out of sight of whoever might be watching. After a moment, he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest.

It didn't matter where he was or who these people were. He was still one of the most powerful Jedi alive, and he would make that perfectly clear.

.

.

"Look at him in there. What's he so smug about?" Arden peered at the monitor, watching their stowaway with a mixture of interest and disdain. She turned to look at Kohr, who was studying the monitor even more carefully than she had been. "Can you believe he said he was Anakin Skywalker?"

Kohr shook his head, silent as he gazed at the man on the screen. Arden rolled her eyes a little as she returned her attention to the monitor.

"Hey, is the volume up on that?" Ames called out, throwing his jacket across the back of a chair as he entered the room.

"I don't know," Arden answered. "I haven't touched it."

"Because I want to hear what he says, and the equipment's faulty enough without you—"

"I said I didn't touch it!" Arden threw her hands up in the air and whirled on Ames, who was now frozen in place a few steps away.

The young man whistled, and his eyes went wide. "Whoa, sorry. Didn't know you were so sensitive."

"Where have you been?" Kohr mumbled, his eyes still glued to the monitor.

Arden threw Kohr a pointed look. "Don't you have a computer to slice or something?"

Kohr waved her off. "Nah, I can do it later." He squinted his eyes and leaned closer to the screen. "He does kind of look familiar, though, doesn't he?"

Arden and Ames exchanged a glance before leaning over Kohr's shoulders to get a better look.

"Hmm." Arden scratched her chin and then straightened up. "Nope."

"Oh, come on! Ames?"

"Never seen him before," the other boy said with a shrug. "I would know; I just spent the last few minutes talking to him. Sorry."

"Ah, what do you know?" Kohr propped both elbows on the console and rested his chin in his palms.

Arden quirked one eyebrow and glanced at Ames over Kohr's head. "And you think I'm sensitive?"

"Shh! The captain just went in!" Kohr reached for a knob and cranked up the volume. Arden and Ames settled down into chairs on either side and leaned in to watch.

Arden felt a touch on her shoulder, and she nearly jumped out of her seat. When she looked up she saw Elias smiling tightly.

"Hey," he whispered, putting both hands on her shoulders.

"Hey. He's about to start."

Elias nodded. He bent over and kissed her on the cheek before giving his full attention to the monitor.

"So," the captain said, his voice edged in static. "Why don't you start by telling me your real name?"

Arden felt a chill run through her as she and the others stared into the stowaway's hard eyes.

.

.

"We're approaching the planet now, my lord." The human male was bent down on one knee in the cockpit of a small freighter. In front of him, a cloaked figure opened his yellow eyes and stared out at the rust-colored planet below.

"Undetected?"

"We believe so, my lord. Sensors indicate no irregular activity on the surface."

The cloaked man folded his hands under his chin and leaned forward, the cockpit lights making his green skin seem to glow. "Very well. Take us down."

.

.

"So. Why don't you start by telling me your real name?"

"I already told you." Anakin probed the captain, but there was still no sense of him in the Force. It was as if he didn't even exist.

The captain's face was unreadable. "You're not Anakin Skywalker. I know that for a fact."

Anakin shook his head. "I think I know who I am."

The other man placed both hands on the table and leaned forward, his calm veneer cracking just a little. "You must be crazy then, because Anakin Skywalker is dead."

The words had the effect of silencing Anakin's protests, if only for a moment. He stared into the captain's dark eyes, trying to determine whether there was any truth to his words. It occurred to him that something might have happened, something that could have led the galaxy at large to believe he had died. The captain certainly seemed to believe so.

"How did he die?" Anakin said at last.

The captain raised his eyebrows. "Are you telling me you're not Anakin Skywalker now?"

"I'm serious! I don't know what's going on!"

The man shook his head. "This isn't funny," he said as he turned and walked to the door. "You're going to tell me the truth."

Anakin uncrossed his arms and began to stand. The captain reached up and disconnected a small security camera hanging from the ceiling.

"I have been—"

Before he could finish, the captain whirled around and raised his hand, knocking Anakin backward into the wall with a blast of Force energy. He tried to resist, but with his reflexes still dulled by the sedative, he could do nothing but watch as the captain approached him.

"I know you're powerful; I'm not doubting that. But when you insist on passing yourself off as a Jedi who has been dead for nearly fifty years, I have to conclude that you're completely insane." He made a shoving gesture with his hand, pressing Anakin even more firmly against the wall. "Are you insane? Or is this just a game to you?"

Anakin stopped trying to resist. "Fifty years?"

For the first time, the captain faltered. He used his free hand to grab Anakin's chair and pull it over to the wall. Then he dropped Anakin in it.

"Forty-seven," he said quietly, lowering his hand and his Force-grip on Anakin. Disbelief crept into his eyes. "Where did you come from? Are you a clone or something? One of the Emperor's sick projects?"

"No," Anakin insisted, shaking his head. Panic began to rise up in him. He felt darkness wash over everything and thought, for a moment, that he might be the cause of it. "I don't know this Emperor. Please—"

"Captain, are you okay?"

Both men snapped their heads toward the comm. "Everything's fine, Arden. Return to your duties."

"'Fraid not, Captain," a male voice cut in. "We've got incoming."

The captain ran to the door. "Let me out, now!" He pulled out his comlink and spoke into it. "Attention, this is Captain Dagen." The door slid open to reveal the man and woman from the cockpit. "Evacuate, I repeat, evacuate. Everyone to the Happy Ho'Din, immediately."

Anakin stood up and took a few steps toward the others. The man from the cockpit – Elias, if he remembered correctly – grabbed the captain by the shoulder. "Why Ulin's ship? What are you doing?"

Dagen nodded toward Anakin. "Take him and the others, and get out of here. I'm staying." He reached into his pocket, pulled out a datapad, and handed it to Elias. "Make sure Ulin gets this."

"You don't know how many there are!" the woman, Arden, exclaimed. "You could be severely outnumbered!"

Elias nodded. "Arden's right. The odds of making it out of here—"

Dagen cut him off with a wave. "Never tell me the odds." He put a hand on Elias's forearm. "I'll be fine, now go." He looked back at Anakin and jerked his thumb toward the door. "You too."

Anakin felt the weight of the dark side closing in, and he realized it was coming from above. He sensed at least four minds saturated in the dark energies. One was calmer than the others, like ice rather than fire. Cold, calculating, and patient.

"No," he said. "Let me stay. I can help you."

Dagen studied Anakin for a second before nodding his head. "Fine. Give him his lightsaber."

The newcomers stared at their captain in disbelief. Elias shook his head. "Captain, no."

Dagen turned and smiled. "It'll be all right, Elias. Trust me."

Elias narrowed his eyes at Anakin, but he reached into his jacket and pulled the lightsaber out. He tossed it in a low arc toward the other end of the room. As soon as the silver hilt slapped into Anakin's hand, he felt a surge of energy, a renewal of purpose. His senses were nearly back to normal.

"Come on, let's get going," Dagen ordered. Anakin followed after him, leaving the interrogation room behind.

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