Vader walked into his master's quarters and bowed onto one knee. "Master."
"What is it, Lord Vader?" Sidious snarled.
"I have found the location of Obi-Wan Kenobi."
Sidious grinned a smile that could go all the way to his ears. "Have you now?" he mocked. "Where do you think Obi-Wan Kenobi is hiding?"
Vader looked up at his master, and without any emotion in his voice, he said, "Tatooine."
He leaned back as if he was almost surprised. "So, you have found the location of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Good." He walked up to his apprentice and patted him on the shoulder. "I am very proud of you, my apprentice." He smiled, but somehow, Vader felt it wasn't genuine.
"I am ready, my master. I will go kill Obi-Wan Kenobi."
"Will you now?" Sidious mocked once more. "And how will you kill him with no lightsaber?"
Vader looked down onto his belt, reaching for where his lightsaber should have of been. "No matter. I will find him and kill him with my bare hands if I have to."
"You must be patient, my apprentice. Obi-Wan Kenobi will not leave Tatooine, but if you go there halfcocked, then you will be killed by him. You will lose once again."
"How can you be sure he won't leave?"
"I have foreseen it. He plans to stay on Tatooine for a purpose. What that purpose is, I do not know, but we must find out what it is and kill him. That is why you need a lightsaber."
He gritted his teeth. He knew his master was right, though he didn't want to admit it. "Then what must I do, my master?"
"Assemble a lightsaber. Go to Ilum and find your lightsaber crystal. Once you find it, contact me."
Vader lowered his head deferentially, "Yes, my master."
A few hours had passed as Vader waited for Proxy to get everything ready for their trip to Ilum. It was one of the longest few hours of his life. Almost as long as when he was being burned alive on Mustafar and taken to Coruscant to be turned into the machine he is now. He just yearned for the moment when his lightsaber pierced Obi-Wan's skin, killing him. He wanted to look him in the eyes and watch his soul leave his body and listen as he took his final breath.
Proxy came over his wrist comm, "Everything is ready for our trip to Ilum," he told the young Sith Lord. "I have our ship ready in the main hanger."
Vader walked relentlessly to the hanger, wasting not even a single second.
His ship waited for him at the end of the hanger. He could see Proxy in the distance, but barely. Other ships were coming in and out of the hanger. It was a busy space. It was after all, the hanger of the senate building.
Proxy stood in front of his master's ship waiting patiently for his master's arrival and when he saw him walking towards him, he knew it was time. "My lord, we are ready."
"Good," Vader said, quickly. "Let us go." Proxy nodded and headed inside the ship, starting it up. Vader followed suit, his determination at an all-time high. "Soon, Kenobi."
Space travel was boring, even for a droid. Proxy would much rather have stayed on Coruscant but the Emperor wanted him to go with Vader. He didn't say why but he assumed it was to keep Vader on course; so, he wouldn't go looking for Obi-Wan before he constructed his lightsaber. "Why I had to be assigned to the gloomiest Sith Lord in the galaxy, only my creators would know. And why did he have to have such a lame name? Why not Darth Starkiller or something like that. Now that is a Sith name!"
"Proxy!" Vader's voice came over the intercom.
He jumped, "L-Lord Vader! How can I help you?" If Proxy could sweat, there would be sweat dripping down his mechanical body right now.
"How far are we from Ilum?" Proxy looked down at the blue sensor that laid between the pilot's seat and the co-pilot's seat.
"Not too far my Lord. Should be there within the hour."
"Contact me when we are there."
"Yes, my Lord." The comm shut off. Proxy let off a slight sigh. He was relieved Vader didn't overhear what he was saying earlier. "I guess Sith Lords can't overhear conversations," he said, letting off a nervous laugh.
One hour later
The sensors started beeping, alerting Proxy that they had arrived. He turned them off and looked up. The icy blue planet laid before him. Some used to call this planet The beginnings of the Jedi or The Planet of the crystals. They weren't so far off. The planet was full of lightsaber crystals and it was where younglings went to retrieve those crystals and later go on to become Jedi. After all, what is a Jedi without their lightsaber?
The silver metallic droid pressed the button that relayed to the ship's comm. "Lord Vader, we have arrived."
The Imperial shuttle made its descent onto the planet's surface. Loud, sharp crackling came from all sides of the ship. The ship began to rock back and forth as Proxy lost control of the ship's steering. "Dang it!" he shouted. "Lord Vader, we are in the middle of a snow storm! I have to land away from it!" He turned the ship around, flying as far away as he could from the storm. As the snow lessened their attack on the ship, Proxy knew they were far enough. He slowed down their speed and began descending onto the planet's surface.
There was a distinct rattle all pilots heard when they landed their ships. It was an all too familiar sound to the Sith Lord. It reminded him of the days when he was Anakin Skywalker. No. he thought. He is dead. I am Darth Vader.
Proxy's voice came over the intercom. "My Lord, we are landing now."
Finally, he thought. I am close! He was ready to retrieve his crystal and go kill his old master. That was all he wanted in his life. To kill the one he felt was responsible for all his misery. To kill the one who took Padme away from him. He blamed it all on Obi-Wan. It's all his fault. All his fault! He clenched his fists, All his fault!
"Sir?" Vader was jumped out of his thoughts. He had no idea how much time had passed since Proxy told him they were landing. "We have landed."
Vader stepped onto the icy crust, his boot shattering the ice below him. "Wait here," he ordered Proxy. "I won't be long," he thought that was the truth.
"As you wish, my Lord." Proxy began his walk back into the ship as Vader began his walk towards his crystal, both silently saying goodbye to one another until their eventual return.
The one thing that went through Vader's mind as he walked off was, I am coming, Kenobi.
Vader walked for who knew how long. He had no idea where he was going but he let the force guide him. He felt as he needed to go northeast, so he went northeast, towards the snowstorm.
The snow pellets slowly hit his body, melting upon impact. As he got closer to the storm however, the small tiny pellets of snow began to bombard Vader. A few minutes after that, he found himself going against the full might of the storm. Every step he took buried deep into the ground, every breath he inhaled felt cold and dry. The snow blinded him from seeing anything in front of him. If it wasn't for the force, he would be completely lost.
He saw a tiny glimmer in the distance. Upon clearing his visor, he saw something that was tall but not too wide. It looked just like a pillar, standing in front of what appeared to be an outpost. He walked closer and when he could see more clearly, he realized it wasn't an outpost but something much bigger. "There it is," he said. A giant blue castle laid only a few hundred feet before him. In his heart, he knew that was where he needed to go. He made his way towards it.
The castle was as tall as a giant, maybe taller. Though Vader had never seen a giant before, he could only imagine. Vader took his hand and placed it upon the castle itself. His eyes widened, "Ice." The entire castle was made of ice. He had been here before when he was just a padawan— when he was Anakin—but he didn't know then that the entire structure was made of ice. His only focus then was getting his saber, just like his focus now.
This castle was a monument to the Jedi—like the Jedi Temple. They represented the golden age of the Jedi. Now, they serve as a grim reminder of their failures. He took in a deep breath and walked inside.
The inside of the castle was just like the outside. Blue and enormous. It reined almost a hundred feet high. "The Jedi loved to show off," he mocked. "It was what led to their downfall."
On the other side of the room laid a giant ice wall—with some sort of crystal… or maybe a gem on top of it. It had a white outer casing. Above him laid a giant crystal in some sort of mechanism, with another smaller crystal attached to the same mechanism but laid a few feet away from the bigger crystal. The strange machine held both crystals in place, like a chandelier. All around the room laid giant pillars leading up to what appeared to be sundial passageways that circled around the two crystals. They were to let the sunlight in. That was the key. "Sunlight."
When Anakin was a youngling, he witnessed Yoda using sunlight to unlock the ice wall that led to the cave full of crystals. He would do the same.
He extended his arm, opening one of the sundials to let the sunlight in. The beam from the sun hit the bigger crystal, splitting into six different rays. Vader extended his other arm, using the force to turn the giant crystal. The beam moved ever so slowly until finally, it met with the smaller crystal, going through it and being reflected onto the gem above the ice wall.
In a split second, the wall made of ice turned into a waterfall.
Vader took a step, pausing underneath the water. He punched the wall next to him and screamed, "KENOBI!" He couldn't feel the water. He was expecting to but had forgotten he was a machine. "I will kill you, Kenobi," he said softly, his voice shaking with rage. "I will kill you." He stepped in the cave, anger radiating off him, breathing heavily until he heard something that made him stop once more.
"GRRAAUUUUUU!"
Something was in here with him.
