Chapter 2: Novel Escape

A Novel Escape

Prisoner X felt the Force vibrate around him and he could finally wield it. Before today, he had received messages but was unable to do anything except passively receive the messages. Today, however was different for Prisoner X. Prisoner X could feel it as a viable Force, able to be tapped into, and he knew it was the will of the Force that he escape. He could feel the Force like he hadn't in over fifteen years. He could feel each hatchet and cranny of his prison and beyond. There was a bright light in this prison, untrained in the Force, and the Force wanted this light set free of the Empire, and it was going to use him to do it.

He waited patiently as the stormtrooper brought his meal. "You want to unlock the door and come in," he said connecting his will to the stormtroopers, he could feel his thoughts, his hopes and dreams. Mind tricking a person wasn't as simple as many people believed. To perform the task you had to link your mind to them and allow their thoughts to flow through you as you changed them. Prisoner X watched as the stormtrooper came in, and handed him the key. He looked down at the stormtrooper, at the face of Jango Fett and he sighed thinking about his men, men who had all turned on him save one.

He shook his head as he shrugged out of his worn Jedi garbs and dressed the clone of Jango Fett in his clothes to complete the disguise. He wasn't really sure what he would wear once he pulled this off. He laid the mostly good tattered robe atop of him so that if anyone came to check, they would believe it was him until it was too late. The stormtroopers gear didn't fit him perfectly since he was taller and far too thin now but it was a decent disguise until he got out of here. He regretted giving up the robe, it was one of the last remnants of his old life, but he had no choice today. He wondered if he ever had.

He stole stealthily down the hall drawn to the light as he carefully sent stormtroopers one way or the other, avoiding them until he could fight. Despite the years of practicing his katas he was in no shape to fight men with blasters with only his wits and some help from the Force. He would need his weapon, but he had no idea where it was at the moment. It seemed, again, he had lost his lightsaber. At that thought, he wondered what had become of his master. Surely, he had survived the Purge. Darth Vader had told him that it was Obi-Wan who had put him in the dreaded suit and Prisoner X was glad.

He came to the door and examined the lock. He wondered why security wasn't tighter here around a Jedi, he thought, as he took out the keycard he had stolen from the stormtrooper and slid it through the security system. He stepped into the room as the door closed behind him and he looked at the young girl in front of him. She was dressed all in white as she sat there seemingly asleep and turned toward him. She had a hard face, even in its youth and he wondered what she had been through already. She had dark hair and similar eyes, she was built small but despite that he sensed she had a commanding demeanor.

"You're a little tall for a stormtrooper aren't you?" she asked and Prisoner X found himself taking off the helmet though his appearance must be a fright she didn't show any fear.

"You are Prisoner X aren't you?" she asked. "I had heard rumors of your existence," she murmured, "I had thought you were dead."

"Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated," he said with a rakish smile. He had always been a little too cocky for his own good. "This is no time for introductions, we must flee this place," he said taking her hand and motioning for her to follow her. "I always wanted to rescue a damsel in distress."

"Well, that will have to wait for another day. I am not in distress. And I have everything under control," she said, as he slipped past the stormtroopers into the hangar bay.

"You aren't seriously going to be stealing us a ship?" she asked incredulously.

"Only way out of here," he replied as he looked over the starships. He had to choose just the right one for the two of them, and it had to be battle ready. He looked over and saw a huge TIE Fighter and smiled. He placed his left thumb to the panel.

"That will never work, its Darth Vader's, and it's rumored that only he can fly it," she whispered. The door opened and Prisoner X got behind the controls. He quickly turned on the deflector shields.

"Let's have some fun, shall we?" he said with a laugh as he saw stormtroopers filing in here to stop him. He even saw the Dark Lord himself. He fired a few blaster bolts as he made it out of the compound.

"Do you have any idea what you just did? You pissed off the Empire!" the girl screamed at him.

"I do hope so," Prisoner X said.

"Just who are you?" she demanded of him.

"First things first," he said softly, with a gentle chuckle, for she reminded him of someone else. "We need a destination."

"Tattooine," she said and he groaned. "My Artoo unit has some sensitive information that is important to the Rebellion, we must retrieve it from General Kenobi."

"I don't suggest that you call him that to his face," Prisoner X remarked, as he set the course wondering what Obi-Wan was doing way out there.

"I am Princess Leia Amidala Organa," she introduced herself.

"I knew your father, he was an honorable man," Prisoner X continued.

"You seem to know a lot of people," the princess quipped.

"I didn't see much of your mother though," he continued thoughtfully. "I haven't heard my own name since oh, before you were born," he said softly, "I was…once the padawan to Obi-Wan Kenobi," he said, savoring the syllabus. "I was a General during the Clone Wars, I was a Jedi Knight, known as Skywalker….Anakin Skywalker," he said and he saw her eyes get big.

"How did they capture you?" she asked quickly. Anakin colored as he stepped toward the fresher. He hadn't meant to ignore her, but it had been so long since he had interacted with another person, that he grew weary quickly. He stepped into the shower and let the heat and the water wash away fifteen years of living in prison. He showered and scrubbed and when he stepped out, he found a small razor and set about taking the hair from his face. Obi-Wan may have been a man who was accustomed to a beard, but he was not. Obi-Wan, at least he was still alive. He wasn't sure of anyone else that was still alive, but if he had to bet he would bet on Master Yoda.

Anakin cut his hair until he someone resembled how he had looked before he had been imprisoned. He was far paler, having not seen the sun in fifteen years and far thinner, but he could finally see his own reflection. He came out of the fresher to find the Princess asleep. He picked her up, feeling fatherly toward her and laid her in the lone bed, working at turning down the pressure in the chamber as it did make one feel woozy. He found a blanket, and covered her up, pressing his lips to her forehead. Anakin, he was Anakin, he reminded himself. He was no longer a prisoner, no longer a slave. But after so many years just who and what was he? He sat back down in the cockpit and reached out his senses. What had happened to his and Padme's child? What had happened to Padme? Surely. Obi-Wan would be able to answer these questions. He supposed since he would again be on Tattooine, he would visit his mother's grave. He had hoped to never see the planet again, but it appeared, fate had other ideas for its Chosen One.