PART 2: WOULD-BE SENATOR

CHAPTER 5: Capture

"Anakin, let's be fair. Today, you were the hero, and you deserve your glorious day with the politicians." —Obi-Wan Kenobi, Revenge of the Sith

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Luke Antilles was a determined campaigner despite the Organa family's opposition; he went on a tour of Alderaan to get support in even Alderaan's more remote cities, he had several publicity spots on Alderaan's local holochannels, and he had even created a campaign headquarters which some of his followers ran. Alderaan would soon be making its vote, so it was crucial that he remained visible.

His actions were such that they gained notice in even the upper part of galactic society. His anti-Jedi and anti-Sith campaign was at first amusing and then threatening to the galaxy's emperor, who finally decided to send his loyal apprentice to deal with the insurgent and ensure that an uprising did not occur.

Darth Vader was none-too-pleased to be sent to Alderaan. He knew his trip was absolutely necessary, but the planet reminded him too much of—

No. It was best not to think of the past. He stared straight ahead, clearing his mind of those poisonous thoughts.

His shuttle arrived on-planet during Alderaan's night cycle. He planned to go directly to the would-be politician's residence, as his sources had informed him that the young man had just returned from his tour and should be resting at home. There, he would take care of the Emperor's dirty work.

He took his speeder from the docking bay through the streets of Aldera, the nation's capital, finally guiding it to the lofty residence of Arelis Antilles and—more importantly—her son the orator, Luke Antilles. He hated politicians, so he would take a small amount of pleasure in capturing this one and then executing him on Coruscant. Perhaps he would enjoy it even more than the Emperor would. At least his trip here wouldn't feel like a complete waste.

There was something strange about this Luke Antilles, however. The Emperor had first sent a few assassins to kill and then a few bounty hunters to capture the politician, but all of them had mysteriously disappeared. As Antilles was one of those politicians who did not travel with a bodyguard—and since Alderaan did not condone the possession of weapons—this development was particularly odd. He had been trained to handle threats on his life, evidently. But why?

Vader suspected that it had something to do with the boy's adopted mother, Arelis Antilles. She had never made public her stance on Force users, but her support of her son was well-known. Perhaps she had planned for the day when the boy would come forth and lambast Force users, and she had made sure her son would be prepared to handle assassins. She was, after all, known to be a very shrewd woman.

But little did she know that Darth Vader himself would be coming to personally take care of her son. He smiled beneath his helmet, feeling a dark sense of satisfaction. The boy would learn what happened to people who were foolish enough to cross the Dark Lords of the Sith.

When Vader reached his destination, he parked his speeder several yards away from Arelis Antilles' large residence. He walked forward to a spot that he knew was just outside the security system's boundaries and reached out with the Force to disable the alarms, only to freeze with the realization that he couldn't touch the Force.

Ysalamiri, he thought suddenly, frozen in spot. He cursed himself—why hadn't he noticed it before? The Emperor had occasionally made use of the creatures, so he wasn't a stranger to the sensation of Force-emptiness they brought on.

"Freeze," a sickly sweet feminine voice said behind him.

He started to turn his head only for his vision to be filled with a flash and then blackness.

****

Luke shook his head with a smile. "You are something, Mother."

He and Arelis were both standing outside in their robes and staring down at Darth Vader, who had crumpled onto the ground.

"I told you the Emperor's lapdog wouldn't bother coming in a civilian ship," Arelis said smugly. "These Imperial-types are so predictable, so certain of their invincibility." She waggled her finger at Luke. "I told you it was a good plan to have a few pairs of eyes watching the docking bays."

The young man chuckled. "Yes, well, now we need to figure out what to do with him."

"All right," Arelis sighed in resignation. "But I really was enjoying his groveling."

Rolling his eyes, Luke bent down and picked up Vader's legs, while his mother shuffled forward and picked up the Sith Lord's arms.

"Kreth, this guy's heavy," the dowager said, grunting in a manner that was decidedly unladylike.

"He's a metal monster, Mother, of course he's heavy," Luke said slowly, trying to hide the fact that he, too, was having problems.

"He's also noisy," Arelis griped. "That respirator is getting on my nerves. It's a wonder the whole neighborhood hasn't been woken up by it."

They finally managed to carry him to a bedroom in the back of the house, though they almost dropped their cargo a few times. Their home had several guest bedrooms. This one was seldom-used not just because of its location and its lack of a window ("I still don't understand why they would make a bedroom without a window," Arelis occasionally complained) but because of its small size. The dowager preferred to impress her guests with the more luxurious bedrooms, and she hadn't used this one in years, though it was still cleaned regularly.

They placed the Sith Lord on the bed, and Arelis pulled out her blaster and shot him with a stun blast.

"Mother!" Luke exclaimed in surprise.

The older woman shrugged. "It can't hurt to be cautious. It wouldn't do for him to wake up before we've figured out what to do with him."

Her son snorted, a bit amused. "Ever the practical one, huh? All right...Well, we seem to be in a bit of a tight spot."

"We could kill him," Arelis suggested hopefully.

"We can't do that," Luke said firmly. "Besides, Palpatine would simply get another apprentice."

"Just an idea."

"No, Mother."

"Fine."

They were both quiet for a few minutes as they thought.

"You know," Arelis started slowly, "if we do kill him, we probably don't have to worry about Palpatine getting another apprentice—he and Vader have killed all the adult Force users they could find, and it would take several years to raise up a child. Hopefully, by then, Palpatine won't even be a problem anymore. He is ancient, after all."

Luke shook his head. "We're not murderers, Mother."

The dowager cocked an eyebrow. "What about those assassins and bounty hunters?"

"They were the dregs of the galaxy, not prominent governmental figures," Luke responded without hesitation.

"And the difference is?"

The young man sighed. "Please." Their deaths already pricked his conscience a little.

"Fine, fine. We'll have more fun this way, I suppose." She looked down at the Sith Lord, whose limbs and cape were splayed out on the deep red comforter, and smirked. "Look at him, sleeping like a little tyke."

"He's not sleeping—he's unconscious," Luke pointed out.

"Get a sense of humor, boy." Arelis grinned, cocking an eyebrow. "I did raise you with one of those, didn't I?"

"Perhaps," the young man replied, trying to hide a smile. "I guess we just keep him prisoner."

"It will probably stop Palpatine from bombarding Alderaan due to your riling people up," Arelis acknowledged, "but now I'm wondering—what's to stop him from coming here and wrenching this caped cyborg away from us? Vader didn't think he needed help, but Palpatine sure won't come without it. Even if the whole planet were on our side, I doubt it'd prove that much good against what old Wrinkly-Skin would bring."

Luke furrowed his brow, thinking. "You're right, Mother. I think what we should do is erase a few records and make it look like an offworlder shot down his ship. Since there won't be a body inside, it will either be assumed that he was taken captive or that he escaped. That might buy us a little time."

"And what about him?" Arelis motioned with her head down at the unconscious Sith.

"We'll keep him prisoner in here tonight, tie him to the bed...We need to go take care of his ship and those records tonight before it's too late. I know a few people who can help us."

"Loyal?"

"Yes, and they won't ask questions," Luke affirmed. "Tomorrow night, we'll go hide him in that cave I found several years ago when we visited Crevasse City."

His mother looked skeptical. "It's rather pretty down there—you sure an overeager tourist won't stumble on him?"

"That cave looked virtually untouched," the young man noted. "We can take some lights and some food down there, keep him restrained, and give Opakwa a comlink and have him watch over him. Palpatine would expect us to keep him somewhere in Aldera, but Crevasse City's close enough that it will be easy to check on him. We'll have to be really careful when we visit him, however; Palpatine will likely have us followed. Maybe we should even stow all of our ysalamiri there for a few days—I doubt they'll protect us much against Palpatine, and they'll just make us look like we're hiding something."

Arelis gave him a grim look. "We'll probably both be interrogated. It might be easier just to kill him."

"We won't talk, and the Emperor won't kill us in hopes that we can still reveal Vader's location. We can't become monsters like the ones we're fighting against, Mother."

"I know." She gave him a small smile. "Though it might be easier, hmm?"

"Perhaps." He smiled back. "Now, let's go take care of business."

****

It was almost daylight when they returned. A crowd had started gathering to look at their handiwork, though of course no one in the crowd knew it was their handiwork. They'd handled the job well, and they were both proud of it.

Arelis went straight to bed. Luke, though he was just as exhausted, went to check on their prisoner. The Sith Lord was well-restrained—perhaps overly so, as they had wanted to make entirely sure that his mechanical limbs would be of no avail, should he regain consciousness.

"Hey, Opakwa," the young man greeted. The protocol droid was watching over the Sith Lord.

Opakwa lowered his head. "Greetings, sir. He has not stirred, though I imagine he will probably regain consciousness rather soon."

"Hmm, you're probably right," Luke said after a second of thought. He took out his hidden blaster and stunned the Sith Lord.

"Uh, excuse me, sir," the protocol droid said tentatively. "Are you going to keep stunning him like that?"

"No," the young man answered honestly. "When we get him to—" he hesitated. Perhaps it was best to not actually let Opakwa know where they would be taking Vader. Luke started over. "When we get him to where you'll be watching over him, we'll let him stay conscious. We just don't want him causing us any trouble right now."

"Ah, very good sir," Opakwa stated, sounding as if he felt a bit better.

Luke stared at Darth Vader for a few minutes. It was hard to believe that a monster who had caused so much death and destruction in the galaxy was under the same roof as him. His mother had been right—it would be so easy to simply kill him and remove one heinous creature from the universe. In doing so, he knew he could save countless lives.

He hated this man—if he could be called that—and he knew his mother would not blame him if he took a blaster to him or ripped off his life support. He could claim that it was an accident—that it was a mechanical malfunction—that it was the shock of one-too-many stun blasts—that it was the fault of someone who had followed them inside and shot the beast before running off...

But it wouldn't be right. He would be stooping down to the monster's level, and he would have to live with that for the rest of his life.

After one last glance at the prone Sith Lord, he brought his eyes to the silver droid. "Good night, Opakwa," he said gently. His hands probed his pocket for the faded purple fabric resting within.

"Good night, Master Luke," the robot returned kindly. He was staring down at his ward dutifully.

Luke smiled to himself. The feel of the fabric reassured him, and he felt he could finally go to sleep. As he left the room to become reacquainted with his much-desired bed, he found himself feeling very glad he'd had the foresight to make a few special modifications to the droid. If anyone other than Arelis and Luke entered the cave, the droid was supposed to erase all of his memory from a point in time a few days before his introduction to the Sith Lord to the present. A false memory would then be planted of some offworlders who had stolen him from the Antilles residence and forced him to guard Darth Vader till they returned.

He knew it was likely the droid would just get turned into scrap metal regardless of what he believed had happened, but if there were even a chance Opakwa would survive, Luke wanted the droid to remember their history together. He was a bit sentimental about droids that way.

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Author's Note: It being New Year's Eve and all, I figure, here, have another chapter. :D Thanks for the reviews.