The Emperor dropped onto his throne. Finally, Vader had left Alderaan. Finally, Sidious would be rid of the pathetic Bail Organa, that had been a thorn in the empire's side for years.
Impatiently, Sidious stared onto the circular holo projector on the floor before the throne. In a moment Vader's kneeling figure would appear to tell him of the message he awaited. Surely, Vader had not allowed the scum to live another day.
After another few seconds the sunken figure of the Emperor's apprentice was bowing before him. "Report, Lord Vader. Is the rebel dead?" "Yes, master. Although it wasn't the Viceroy as suspected." Sidious narrowed his eyes.
"What?!", he spat demandingly. "The signal our forces intercepted was send by Breha Organa, the Viceroy's wife. He knew nothing of her betrayal." Sidious pulled a grimace. "The Viceroy is... alive?", he asked, fearing the answer.
"Yes, master. He is innocent. I felt it." Sidious snorted angrily. "Well? What about the woman then?" "Dead, master. I killed her, as she confessed. She regretted her crimes, but betraying the empire is unforgivable." Sidious cackled a little.
Vader had always been a foolish romantic. He actually believed the empire's goals were justice and security, he was too busy hating himself to ever even consider to rethink what he was doing. So why did he show mercy to Organa?
Why would he hesitate now, when he hadn't hesitated to do anything else in the past. Sidious would have expected Vader to kill both of them, to eliminate the chance to leave a rebel alive. Sidious hid his frustration.
He had really looked forward to having Organa out of the way. "If the Viceroy will turn out to be a rebel after all, I will hold you responsible for your failure, Vader." Vader's head dropped a little lower. "Of course, master."
Sidious put his hands onto the armrests of the throne. "Now, I have another thing to do for you." Vader lifted his head to look up into Sidious' eyes.
"Shaak Ti has been found by our troops, and is fleeing. The clones will need your support to capture the jedi." "Where is she?", Vader asked. "Corellia. And I expect results until latest tomorrow." Vader nodded.
"Yes, master. I will depart immediately." With that the holo disappeared. Sidious turned his throne to the round window, that had just been behind him. Something was strange. Vader had become cool and calculating.
Sidious had chosen the young Skywalker for many reasons, but one of them had been his passion. It was an uncontrolled force that Sidious could easily direct into darkness. It had faded, leaving an empty shell that had once been Skywalker.
He was of poorer use to Sidious like this. The Emperor needed the apprentice that had huge amounts of strength without any control over them. And now, after two years, it seemed like Vader had gained that control.
It seemed like he was not lost in the dark side anymore, which was completely unacceptable. The darkness was nothing to gain mastery over, it devoured those who tried.
Force users that called onto the powers darkness, knew they were under no means the ones in control but much rather the ones controlled. Sidious mused about what that meant.
Vader had gained control, but Sidious still sensed the dark around him. Either, Vader had shut himself off anything new, and only relied on what he already knew, or... or he had lost fear of the eternal unknown darkness, which was impossible.
"Wow!", Ahsoka called out, staring at the breathtaking palace beneath them. Padmé appeared next to her smiling down onto Naboo. Ahsoka was overtaken by the beauty. "This isn't where we're landing. This is Theed."
Countless circular rooftops build up to a pattern that spread as far as Ahsoka could see. "Pity.", she said as the city passed by. "You grow sick of all these huge towers eventually.", Padmé murmured.
"I prefer the quiet lakes no too far from here. They're where I grew up." "So that's where we're going. Are your parents still there?" Padmé nodded. "We had a wonderful house by the water. I haven't lived there for fifteen years."
"How much do they know?", Ahsoka asked. She feared her own loose tongue. "Nothing really.", Padmé grinned. "They don't know I'm married, only my sister does. And obviously none of them know what Anakin has been doing lately."
Ahsoka arched a brow. "And you don't want anything changed about that." Padmé nodded. "I'll tell them that Anakin is my husband when they see him the next time." Ahsoka returned to the pilot's seat.
"And will you tell them that Anakin is Darth Vader?", she asked while sitting down. Padmé dropped on the seat next to her. "I don't know. I don't want to. Wouldn't it be easier if as little as possible knew? They'd just be worried."
Ahsoka frowned at her. "Obviously they'd be worried. Anakin is a killer, Padmé. That is all your parents would see." Padmé sighed. "They don't know him well enough. He would never hurt the twins or me."
Ahsoka stopped herself from pointing out that he had already hurt Padmé. Hearing that wouldn't help at the moment. "Can you blame them for worrying?", Ahsoka asked instead. "Of course not.", Padmé mumbled.
"I'll work out what to tell them. But nothing for now.", Padmé looked up to Ahsoka then Breha. "We won't take that choice off you, Padmé. Either you tell them, or no one will." Padmé bit around on her lip. "Thank you." Now Breha had a question.
"Padmé... I am sure you have heard this often enough, but what if your faith in Vader is misplaced?" Padmé turned her seat to face Breha. "I fell in love with him long before he did anything wrong, Breha. I know him and he is not an evil person."
Breha snorted. "If you say so." Memories of the clone wars flooded Ahsoka. "I say so too.", she said quietly. "Alright.", Breha sighed. "A minute, until we reach your coordinates, Padmé.", Ahsoka informed. Padmé grinned.
"I can't wait to finally be home.", she smiled. Ahsoka calibrated the ship to fly even lower and begin to land. "There's some space to put the ship.", she suggested and pointed down on the surface. Padmé shook her head. "Take that private platform."
She pointed her chin to round platform made from light brown stone. Ahsoka arched her brow. "Sure that we have permission? It seems to belong to that mansion." Padmé nodded. "It does. That mansion is my parent's."
Ahsoka's mouth dropped open. "That's impressive.", she murmured before manually landing the cruiser. The ship's feet deployed and made contact with the bottom, not very gently. Ahsoka pulled a grimace, apologizing.
"Sorry for that. I mostly learned flying from your husband.", she mumbled as she got up to deploy the ramp. Padmé chuckled and followed her.
"How was Alderaan?", Obi Wan asked, as Anakin appeared on the holoterminal. "We framed Breha as the rebel. I told Sidious I killed her, she joined Padmé to go to Naboo. He bought it, it should be fine." Obi Wan nodded.
"Ackbar will be relieved to hear that." Anakin crossed his arms. "I'm sure. Listen, I need your help now." Obi Wan frowned. "With what?" Obi Wan was in no position to act, unlike Anakin who was completely free.
"The Emperor told me to chase after master Shaak Ti, he knows she is on Corellia. Can you contact her?" Obi Wan nodded, digesting what Anakin had said. "Not another one.", he mumbled. "I could call her. What do you want me to say to her?"
Anakin smirked. "Could you tell her I'm coming, so she won't try to stab me? I can help her to get off the planet." Obi Wan's eyes widened. "You want to fail on purpose? Won't the Emperor be displeased with you?"
Anakin's expression suddenly froze. He tensed, and Obi Wan felt like it had gotten a lot colder. "He tortures you, doesn't he?", Obi Wan pressed. "He did constantly. That armor was full of needles and stinging branding sticks that entered my skin."
Obi Wan shivered. "But he also punishes you for failure.", he stated. "Force lightning, mostly.", Anakin replied. "But it doesn't matter now.", he added. "The less jedi are dead to the public the better."
Obi Wan stared at Anakin. Anakin was willing to receive a cruel punishment only to let Shaak Ti, a jedi he had no personal connection to, live. "Only you can choose.", Obi Wan finally said.
"I already have.", Anakin answered. "The executor is already in corellian orbit. The landing shuttles are preparing to depart. The clones on the surface reported they will certainly find her."
Obi Wan sighed. "She probably knows that." "I have to go after her now. So call her soon." "I will.", Obi Wan promised. "Good luck, Anakin.", he added hastily.
Anakin didn't say anything for a few moments, and stared into Obi Wan's eyes. "Thank you.", he said, then the holo disappeared. Obi Wan sighed again and began typing to contact Hoth.
Again, the call was taken by a clone. "Imperial captain, identification code TS-47521.", he said stiffly. "Don't you have a name, like everyone should own?", Obi Wan replied.
The clone saluted. "Master Kenobi, what do you need?" "Where is master Shaak Ti at the moment?", Obi Wan asked. "Corellia. She was looking for force sensitive children to bring them to safety before the empire could get to them."
Obi Wan nodded. "Forward my call to her." "Right away, sir.", the clone said and disappeared. Obi Wan waited a few moments that felt like hours before Shaak Ti materialized, horrified and panting.
The scent of metal and blood hung in the air, filling Shaak Ti's lungs over and over again. The hall she was hiding in was stuffed with crates that she was cowering behind. Soon the clones would have found her.
Soon they would know that she was in this storage hall. Earlier she had moved some of the crates to block the doors that were now towering up several meters. She grabbed the corner of her cloak to rip it off.
She hissed in pain as she uncovered the deep flesh wound in her thigh. Dark, almost purple, circles were gaining size around it steadily. She wrapped the piece of cloth around it to stop the bleeding.
It had been a clone that had shot her before she managed to escape the strike team that had cornered her. In that moment she received a call on her communicator. Shaking, she cramped her dirty fingers around it to receive the call.
"Master Kenobi!", she called out in surprise. He had left Hoth weeks ago, even before she had left to search for younglings. "I have a very urgent message." Shaak Ti arched her brows while calming her breath.
"I'm in a rather desperate situation myself, Master Kenobi. The imperial clones have found me, it is only a matter of time until Vader arrives." Kenobi folded his hands behind his back. "I know. That is why I called you."
Shaak Ti frowned. How could he possibly know? "How is that? I haven't yet had the chance to inform the council." Obi Wan sighed. "Has the council been entrusted with what I have reported to master Yoda two days ago?"
"I do not know. I haven't been in contact with Hoth ever since I left." Obi Wan nodded. "Then what I will tell you will be rather startling. I've come to know of your situation, because Vader himself told me." Shaak Ti froze.
Then she fought the urge to erase the connection. "Excuse me?", she finally pressed. "There is no time to discuss it now, but Anakin Skywalker appears to be on the path of redemption."
In that moment Shaak Ti heard the marching steps of the troops approaching. "What makes you think so?", she whispered. "He has saved Ahsoka Tano's, Bail Organa's and my own life, all in the last weeks. Now he will help you to escape."
"He will come here.", Shaak Ti stated. "Why could he not just tell me himself?", she added. "He suggested I informed you now. Surely, you would have attacked, and if he explained himself after, you would not have trusted him."
"I cannot argue that.", she admitted. "He will be there soon. I know it is difficult to believe, but he has earned our trust for now." Shaak Ti snorted. "Darth Vader has earned our trust?", she repeated. "Yes.", Kenobi simply answered.
"May the force be with both of you.", he said before his holo image disappeared. The clones had surrounded the building and were now banging on the doors. Shaak Ti pressed herself behind the crates and send prayers to the force.
Suddenly, the banging stopped. A few seconds of earsplitting silence followed. Then the crates, Shaak Ti had blocked the doors with, levitated one by one. Shaak Ti squeezed her eyes shut as the dark presence filled her entire perception.