The nautolan had grown up, learning that slavery was nothing to be despised, but admired. It was simply the natural order of things, the strong ones ruled the weak. It was as easy as that.
He finally reached the bridge where the admiral was already waiting. "What is your very urgent affair?", he yawned. The admiral had been terrified since Polus, this was the first time he had broken his beloved empire's laws.
"The empire learned of you!", he called out as he rushed towards the nautolan. "You said they wouldn't notice. You said you would sell the slaves off, give me my percentage and no one would ever know."
The nautolan frowned. "What makes you think, the empire knows?", he asked, not taking it seriously. The admiral had had outbursts of sorts before.
"Darth Vader is docking to our ship right now. He said he was investigating a case of illegal slavery. Either you get the merchandise out of here in the next minute, or I will lie and say I didn't know about you."
The nautolan froze. "That won't be necessary. Don't worry I'll get them off the ship. Our deal remains." He studied the admiral with a strict look. Said began to nod quickly and pushed the nautolan off the bridge.
"Autopilot every pod to Atzerri.", he only barked before he ran towards the slave cells. They had always been selling their slaves an Atzerri, no one was controlling the black market there.
But usually the slaves were already completely broken when they reached the planet. It was a pity that they either would still have to train them in their shops, or sell them for only a few poor credits.
Both options didn't seem very appealing, but they didn't have another choice. The nautolan had been in similar situations before, and it had always worked out somehow.
He had heard a few things about Vader, but he wasn't particularly interested in imperial affairs. He knew everything he needed to know. He knew that Vader was following the teachings of an ancient religion, and that he believed in the force.
The nautolan didn't respect all the fools that actually bought that the force was real. The stories he had heard about its users, were just that, stories. The jedi that had lived a few years ago were nothing but liars, swinging a glowing blade around.
The part, in which they were able to move around things with their mind, or convince people of anything by only lifting a hand, were obviously made up. The nautolan had often been shocked how many really believed in all of those fairytales.
Despite all the nautolan's doubts, he knew that Darth Vader was dangerous. He was an extremely good fighter, and not a very pleasant person. The nautolan hurried out of the official parts of the cruiser, into the old storage units, where the slaves were held.
He began banging open the doors and screaming at the slaves to wake up. If he really only had a single minute, it would be a close call. He shivered as he remembered some of the things he heard about Vader's victims. He wouldn't become one of them.
Anakin kept his eyes closed. He didn't speak. "There's so much light Padmé. So much.", he finally whispered. Padmé looked at her swollen womb. "What does that mean?", she asked. Anakin opened his eyes.
His blue eyes were sparkling. "I don't know. But it is wonderful.", he said. Padmé smiled at him. "How long?", she asked. Anakin shrugged. "Probably soon. Look at you." He put his hand on her womb gently. She grabbed it.
"I'm so impatient. This will be amazing. Can you imagine? We will be a family.", she said while climbing onto her husband's lap. He turned her, so that they were face to face. "No, I cannot imagine. It's like a dream."
Padmé grinned. "It will come true so soon." "You will stop avoiding your parents when it's born, right?", Anakin asked. Padmé looked down, nervous.
"You said you wanted to tell them, remember? Are you ashamed?", Anakin said. Padmé shook her head. "Of course I am not. But I am afraid of change. What if they judge us, for being reckless.", she murmured.
"They are really worried about you. You've been canceling and moving dates ever since your pregnancy was visible. It have been months, since they last saw their daughter." Padmé looked at Anakin insecure.
"I just worry to much. At first I was so sure, but now... It takes more courage to do this than I thought." Finally, a smirk found it's way back onto Anakin's face. "It happens to be that you are incredibly courageous.", he said playfully.
Padmé rolled her eyes. "Not concerning this." Anakin's hand wandered up and down her back. "I can feel three scars here.", he said quietly. "Whenever I think of Geonosis, I am reminded of how strong you really are." Padmé frowned.
"I was being executed. What is so strong about that?" Anakin snarled. "The way you climbed that column. Heck, you fought a damn nexu, chained up. It made me realize that you really didn't need me as a protector." Padmé chuckled.
"I didn't need you? You were supposed to keep me from being assassinated." "What I mean is that you are pretty tough on your own. You can take care of yourself." "You know how often you saved my life, right?", Padmé said.
"I think, sometimes you could have done it by yourself if I hadn't shown up." "Thanks. That might be true. I'm still pretty glad whenever you show up. When your saving lives, and anytime else." Anakin smirked.
"Out! Everyone out!" Padmé opened her eyes. The way they were woken up, was always harsh, but not like this. Nuha jumped up. "What's happening?", she asked, puzzled. "No idea.", Padmé said while concern boiled up in her.
"Everyone get out of here!", the nautolan screamed, visibly in distress. The slaves began doing as they were told, flooding out of the room. Outside, loads of other slaves were waiting. Nuha stared over to Thral who was looking for her.
The group began being pushed through transitions. They passed all the halls the had been working in in the past days, Padmé wondered where they were taken. The nautolan was leading the group ahead, until he was stopped.
A man had joined them and was talking to the nautolan, obviously terrified. Padmé's heart stopped beating for a split second. The man was wearing an imperial uniform. Padmé's hopes shattered into little pieces in a moment.
She noticed that Nuha had grabbed Thral's hand. No one seemed to care, in middle of all the confusion. They arrived in a big hall, she had never seen before.
"All of you, into the pods." The nautolan shouted. Padmé studied them. They were actual, escape pods. Not pieces of shaggy tin, like the ships they had seen before, but real modern pods. The gears in Padmé's head turned.
She couldn't understand what was happening. She couldn't make sense out of the situation. Nuha had started shaking, Thral was holding on to her, with a worried look on his face.
"Three each pod. Hurry!", the nautolan screamed. Padmé was caught in the stream of slaves, losing control of her pace. She tried to stay close to Nuha. She saw an open pod and grabbed Thral to pull him inside with her.
She closed the pod. Thral, Nuha and her were alone. The pod's system engaged automatically. Padmé took a look at the controls. The pod was set on autopilot, and she wasn't able to turn it off.
Nuha was panting heavily, burying her face in her hands. "What's wrong?", Thral asked, concerned. "I feel something. Something strong. And dark.", she managed to say. A shiver went down Padmé's spine. "Dark?", she asked hesitantly.
"In fact, I can almost be certain, that you are hiding slaves.", Vader said with his mechanical voice. The admiral was shaking so badly, he could barely stand. "Where are they?", Vader asked.
"I-I-I don't know of any slaves!", the admiral stammered. Vader snorted. "I can feel your lies. It's pathetic.", he snarled. The admiral's face warped in terror. "I assure you, Lord Vader, that..." "Enough lies, admiral.", Vader growled.
"Tell the truth, I'm not the patient sort." Vader could sense the admiral's fear clearly. Usually, Vader would have found amusement in this, but not now. Not, considering that Padmé still wasn't safe. Then Vader felt how the admiral let go.
"Please, don't kill me, Lord Vader. I needed the money, I didn't think it would be such a problem." "You are committing a crime, admiral. If you say where the slaves are, now, you might survive."
The admiral made a sound, that was somewhere between a whine and a grunt. "The slaver brought them off the ship, when you came." The control panel next to them cracked open in a heartbeat. Vader's control had slipped for a moment.
Smoke and sparks where everywhere for a second, and the admiral shrieked a little. Vader suppressed his outburst, as well as he could. "They left in our escape pods, Lord Vader." His tongue had loosened pretty quickly.
"Where?", he only asked, trying not to kill or injure anyone just yet. "Atzerri! Atzerri!" The admiral lifted his hands. "I swear. They're sold on the black market there." Vader clenched his hands to fists. "When did they leave?", he growled.
"Just now, I'll give you all the coordinates, just spare my life." "The data.", Vader demanded, without reacting to the admiral's pathetic begging. The admiral nodded hastily and turned to his controls.
He typed fast, with shaking fingers, while his knees looked like they wouldn't hold him much longer. Finally he pulled out a disk and uploaded the data. Vader took it wordlessly. The admiral didn't dare to speak, so he only kept shaking.
Vader gripped his lightsaber and ignited the crimson blade. As its humming sound was hovering in the air, the admiral fell onto his knees. "Please, Lord Vader. You said you would spare my life, if I told you."
Vader looked down at the pathetic creature in front of him. "I said maybe.", he snarled before beheading the admiral with one swift move. He turned around, putting his lightsaber back to his belt.
He left the bridge, ignoring all of the shocked faces around him. He stopped in the door frame. "I will assume, none of the other officials were involved in this. Or is there someone who wants to confess anything?"
All the imperials turned around immediately, witnessing their full attention to their work. "I didn't think so.", Vader murmured to himself before marching out of the room.
"She was there earlier, the slaves were evacuated before I entered the ship. But I know where they are." Ahsoka nodded. "I assume you will go there right away, master. I'm almost on Mustafar, I'll let the autopilot do it's job when I hop off."
"You've got something to look forward to.", Obi Wan murmured. He was sitting in a huge conference room with black walls. On the table was the first holoterminal he had found. Vader's fortress was impressive, no doubt.
And yet all Obi Wan really wanted to do, was run away as fast as he could, and if possible never return. Being on Mustafar was bad enough, it boiled up all the memories that had caused Obi Wan nightmares for years.
But this fortress was making everything worse. It had high intimidating ceilings, and everything was colored in a polished black. This was by no means a home, not even a hideout. It was only one of the settings of Obi Wan's nightmares.
"I'll go to get Padmé now. As soon as she is safe, I will come too. You only have to lay low, wait and not get spotted. You can use the droids if you want to. No one will read their memories or similar." Obi Wan nodded.
He already had suspected that Vader had made some adjustments to his droids, in order to create a little privacy, but he hadn't been sure. Until now he had just left them turned off. "How long, until you will be here?", Obi Wan asked Ahsoka.
She shrugged. "It should be about an hour." Obi Wan nodded. "I'll wait for you.", he said before ending the connection. Obi Wan had felt Vader's anger while they had spoken.
Obi Wan had been daring to ask what had happened on the cruiser, but he was sure that someone had lost his life. Obi Wan hated everything about this. How had it come this far? He was sitting in this fortress, working together with him.
Vader's manipulation had gotten him this far, but he wouldn't be won over. No matter what, no matter how skilled the sith was, Obi Wan wouldn't make the same mistakes Anakin had made years ago. He could flee.
The ship Obi Wan had come with was still outside. He could even take the children. Vader would know where he went, but that wouldn't be a problem. He could just land on countless planets, before landing on Hoth.
Then he would send the ship elsewhere by autopilot, Vader would never know where he was. Obi Wan ruminated about that over and over again. Why did Vader give him the opportunity? Did he want Obi Wan to do it?
Was there a tracking device in the bacta patch on Obi Wan's back? Obi Wan grunted, not knowing what to do. For now, he decided to wait for Ahsoka. Whatever he would do, he wouldn't leave her alone with Vader.
She was still too young to deal with something so troubling on her own. Obi Wan did wish to contact the jedi masters though. In spite of himself he stared at the holoterminal. Would Vader be able to retrace the frequency?
But he had ensured himself, that everything that happened in his fortress stayed private. Or at least that was what he had said. Obi Wan decided to take the risk.
Even if Vader could review the frequency later, he wouldn't know that it had come from Hoth. The Jedi were using a very safe channel. Obi Wan typed a few codes into the terminal. The call was taken by a clone, like it was supposed to be.
"Imperial captain, identification code TS-47521.", he said his text. "Don't you have a name, like everyone should own?", Obi Wan replied. The clone nodded, as Obi Wan confirmed his identity. "How can I assist?", he asked.
"Please, put me through to master Yoda.", Obi Wan said. The clone nodded. "Right away, sir." The image disappeared for a few moments. Then, master Yoda's shrunken figure took its place.
"Glad to see you alive I am, master Kenobi. Worried we were since you have disappeared." "I'm sorry I left that way, master.", Obi Wan apologized. "Gone where you have?", Yoda asked. Obi Wan blushed a little.
He had called him to receive his wisdom, since he had no idea what he should do. He hadn't considered that he would have to explain himself. "The executor, master. I wanted to find Ahsoka, and I thought Vader knew things I didn't."
Obi Wan waited, to see the reaction on Yoda's face. "Wiser than that you are, Obi Wan. Blinded by your emotions you were." "I know it was a little reckless.", Obi Wan confessed. "But I wanted to protect life, it's the jedi way." Yoda sighed.
"Return to Hoth immediately, you will." Obi Wan shook his head. "I can't." Yoda frowned. "Can't?", he asked. "I'm in Vader's fortress on Mustafar. When I was on the executor, I was spotted and, well...captured." Yoda's eyes widened.
"Captured by Darth Vader you were? In his fortress are you? Call how can you?" Obi Wan gulped.
"It's a long story. Vader hasn't kept me in custody, nor has he harmed me. You see, Ahsoka had already been with him. She thinks he is on the path to redemption. I believe he pretends to be."
Yoda's hand wandered around his forehead. "Redemption...", he murmured. "Free to go are you?" Obi Wan nodded. "It's more complicated. He knows of Anakin Skywalker's children." Yoda gasped.
"Feared this we have. Hide them we must, even if on the path to redemption he is." Obi Wan frowned. "Like I said, I believe he isn't. And...he already has the children. In fact they are with me. He trusts me not to take them anywhere."
Yoda stared at Obi Wan. "Very upsetting all this is. Come to us with the children you should." Obi Wan sighed. "I won't leave Ahsoka alone with this burden, and she won't leave him voluntarily."
"Lost herself to the darkness has she?", Yoda asked concernedly. Obi Wan shook his head. "She is certain that Vader still carries a part of Anakin Skywalker in him. She wants to help her former master." "Stupid that is.", Yoda stated.
"Thoughtful one must stay." Obi Wan nodded. "I agree, master. What shall I do now?" Yoda grumbled. "Stay you will. Tell us what Vader is up to you can. Careful you must remain. You must."
"I know master.", Obi Wan said before Yoda ended the connection. The conversation hadn't granted Obi Wan any clarity. He still didn't know what to do. Although, it felt good that Yoda knew where he was now.
Now, if Obi Wan would be found dead in a few weeks, at least there would be a story to be told. Ahsoka would be here soon. Obi Wan would start one last attempt to reason with her. He wouldn't let her go down like this.
Obi Wan had failed Anakin two years ago. He should have helped before it had been too late. Obi Wan refused to repeat his mistakes. Ahsoka wouldn't be alone in her struggles, she wouldn't have the same fate as Vader.
That was Obi Wan's only goal at the moment. He sighed. He knew how their conversation would turn out. She would be mad at him for prejudging, like all the times before. Why wouldn't she listen to what Obi Wan kept telling her?