Arriving in the Rylothian system, I was surprised by how much it had changed in the years since I had made a few small proposals to profitably remove slavery. There were several space stations, including a few with garish signs advertising vices and sins, in orbit. Commandeering the communications system on the ship, I made a quick call to get our final decent cleared and expedited.

Marjova gave me an odd look upon being told where exactly we were heading for planet side.

"Who are you exactly?"

"Jedi Knight Tanya Degurechaff."

"And how, pray tell, does a Jedi come to bring so cozy with the high ups of the Separatists?"

"I was the one who came up with the plan for this enterprise and got it off the ground."

I don't know why my pilot would be so surprised, it was pretty commonly known the Jedi had been deeply involved with the changes in Ryloth before the war broke out and due to various conflicts of interest both sides had in Ryloth's success the entire planet managed to avoid any major fighting occurring near it.

The ride down was slow and chaotic from all the air traffic that had already begun to fill the airspace around Lessu, the capital of the planet. The spire of rock and buildings looked almost nothing like what I remembered from years ago, new construction could be seen everywhere as hotels, governmental buildings, housing, and shopping were all built up to support the transformation of Ryloth from a backwaters planet in a far flung corner of the Galaxy with barely any laws enforceable into a service industry heaven.

Our path was towards the largest building being built right into the spire, high up in the city. A gleaming beacon of the power of the capitalist system at its finest with a number of private ship docks available along one side of the structure. Not knowing if we would be staying here or elsewhere for the time being, I had the younglings stay on the ship as we came down for a landing.

Leaving on the descended ramp, Marjova and myself were greeted by a Twi'lek that reminded me so much of my ever faithful Visha, pink skinned and an ever cheerful demeanor. Turning down the offer of unloading the ship for now, we were lead into the building and onto an elevator that took us to the executive's suite.

"Ah, there is my favorite Jedi. I heard you were coming by, but I had my doubts with the news that has been going around."

"Viceroy Gunray, so good to see you as well. I must admit to being a bit out of the loop after some rather unfortunate events occurred on Coruscant. Perhaps you can fill me in on the details while we get my pilot his pay."

"Ah yes, can't leave any debts unfulfilled."

The three of us took our seats and Nute Gunray began to fill me in on everything I had missed. Apparently after the Jedi Council attempted to assassinate Chancellor Palpatine, he issued an order that resulted in a massive purge of the Jedi order. No one Nute knew was sure if the entire order was gone now, or if there were more survivors besides Tanya. Either way, the war was over with the CIS coming out the losers and most of the leadership structure killed off in a final Jedi infiltration mission on Mustafar. Nute was lucky that he had other obligations that prevented his physical presence at the war council.

During this discussion, Marjova left to the hotel suite we were able to provide him with.

"Well, guess I am no longer a Jedi."

"I'm surprised. After everything I have heard about you during the war, I would have expected you to never give it up."

"If there is no Jedi Order, there is no Jedi. We might follow the tenants of the Order, but the organization is what made us Jedi. Not the beliefs and not the powers. Anyone can choose to follow the Jedi code and there are a number of force users not part of the Jedi."

"What do you plan to do then?" A voice asked behind me. A force presence I had not felt till now suddenly noticeable. I had become too absorbed in the discussion that I hadn't realized anyone had entered the room. Turning around, I was able to quickly put a face to the presence.

"Would you care for a seat, Anakin?" I offered, gesturing to the chair my pilot had vacated earlier.

"No thank you. And it is Darth Vader now."

Nodding my head as some distant memory tickled me in the back of my head, I decided to answer him.

"Well, I have a group of younglings with me. So I have an obligation to train them to be able to control their powers. After that, I don't know."

The man before me looked thoughtful before making an offer. "Join me. Together we could do a lot of good for the newly formed Empire."

Empire. Vader. Why did those ring do many bells?

"Maybe I will. Is there a particular reason you are here?"

"Yes. Nute Gunray, by order of Emperor Palpatine, you are to be executed."

"What? No I was su- p gah."

The position Darth Vader took, using the force to choke Nute finally made me realize what I had forgotten. This was Darth Vader. The big bad villain of Star Wars. The man who would control the Death Star, a planet killer and waster and waste of resources.

Considering his massive cultural impact, even in my home nation of Japan, he was a frightening opponent and I knew just how powerful Anakin was.

I don't know what he was thinking as I stood there, but he left me be with one final message that chilled me to the bones.

"I will be in touch."