Millennium Falcon, Anakin's hangar bay
Han Solo worked vigorously in order to get the Falcon to work alongside his first mate Chewbacca and a new man to the 'Falcon Fixing Team' as the Skywalker/Naberrie ladies called it, Luke Skywalker was also joining them on this one, but they were interrupted by Ruwee Naberrie, Luke's grandfather, who quite clearly wanted Han's attention at the moment.
"Han!" Ruwee called for the fifth time, Han turned to see a 5'9 man standing there, his hair was silver but as most would say it was a 'flattering' silver that had quite clearly given away his age but showed wisdom as well, he was stocky and old but at the same time still kept in shape quite evidently due to the sweat on his brow suggesting a morning run.
"Yes?" Han asked.
"Anakin wishes to speak with you," he said simply, Han nodded and left Luke and Chewie, trusting them not to break too many important parts of their ship, when they arrived back at the house they noticed Padmé doing Leia and Grace's hair, Leia had requested what she dubbed 'Senatorial style' while Grace had requested a simple cut feeling her hair was getting too long as it nearly reached the bottom of her back, they smiled at Han and Ruwee as Padmé quickly came over to them.
"He's awaiting you on the balcony Han," she told him, Han nodded.
"Let's not keep him waiting then," he replied, she smiled and led him to the balcony where Anakin awaited him, he had a table in between 2 seats and bottles of Corellian ale in both his hands, both were opened, and he approached.
"Han, care for a drink?" Anakin asked, Han smiled.
"Sure," he replied as Anakin gave him a bottle and sat down, Han sipped the familiar drink, it calmed him for what was sure to be a tense discussion, he slowly walked towards Anakin and took the seat opposite him at the table.
"So, Han, ever been questioned by any of your previous lover's fathers before?" Anakin asked without any pretence or small talk, Han was taken aback.
"What?" he asked confused, Anakin rolled his eyes.
"Every man at one point comes face to face with their girlfriends' father, you've never had this experience before have you?" Anakin asked, Han shook his head.
"Can't say I have no," he replied, frowning in confusion, Anakin smirked.
"Then brace yourself, because Grace's boyfriend Jay had this talk with me and he's 17, so have fun," Anakin said playfully, Han rolled his eyes.
"Joy, angry fathers were never on my list of targets, but I can't help it seems like I run into them too frequently, my last job on Corellia and now here," he drawled, Anakin raised his eyebrows.
"What was that like?" Anakin asked, Han glared at him.
"Don't really want to talk about it because Chewie was nearly killed, I hate seeing people close to me die repeatedly," Han said, slight anger in his voice.
Shit, we're both flyboys, reckless, we hate seeing harm come to those close to us and we have had no one but ourselves for a long time, we're more alike than I thought Anakin thought silently, he put a hand on Han's shoulder.
"I agree with you, but it has happened to me as well, people close to me have died a lot and it takes strength to get through it," he replied as a flash of his mother's painful death at the hands of Tuskans appeared and unnecessarily lingering in his head, he pushed it away quickly enough though.
"Really? Who died that you were close to?" Han asked, tentatively and this time, he could feel the temperature of the room drop as Anakin's eyes became ice chips as they glared at him.
"I'd rather not talk about it," he growled making Han wince, Han hadn't even offended Anakin, yet the man was angered due to some bad memories, shit that must've been bad he thought.
"Look Han, I didn't want to interrogate you or make you feel uncomfortable, but you surely understand why I felt the need to have this talk with you, and if you ever feel like you wish to be with Leia, you don't have to ask myself or Padmé, you understand?" he asked seriously, Han looked genuinely stunned.
"I can? And you won't threaten to castrate me with your lightsaber?" he asked playfully, Anakin mock glared at him.
"I may make the threat once or twice, but I won't make good on them without a reason to," he assured Han, they clinked their bottles together and had swigs of ale.
Padmé and Leia, who'd been listening in on the conversation were surprised to see Anakin go in and out of protective father mode, Leia had grimaced when Anakin refused to mention the death of his mother, wondering how badly Han would be hit with an ale bottle, Padmé had to stifle laughter at the threat of castration via a lightsaber Anakin made though if she were honest with herself, she knew her father also wanted to do the same to Anakin when they first met and told her family everything, the alarming thing was when Ruwee made the threat all Anakin said was this.
You're a bit late for that Mr Naberrie, I'm afraid the fires of Mustafar have beaten you in the job of castrating me, and the funny thing is, I think castration by fire is worse than what you had planned was it not?
Anakin's nonchalant answer to that question had frightened and horrified Jobal as well due to the things her son in law had been through, Darred though had said this.
It doesn't matter what you do, no matter how horrible, no one deserves to be burned alive.
Padmé agreed with her brother in law but couldn't blame her parents for their weariness towards Ani at first, he was a durasteel black cyborg and revealed himself as her husband, their son in law, their nieces and nephew, Jason Naberrie loved him regardless though and as for Sola, she was horrified by what he'd done and it didn't make please her to know that she could've been mourning her sister in a lie but she got over it when he'd explained that it had all been for her, Sola had then whistled and smiled teasingly at her remarking.
The man tried to save you from a death he didn't know would come true, while the means were atrocious, the end was noble, and I'll be damned, I don't think I'd find any other man who's willing to damn the galaxy for his wife and unborn babies, you got someone special baby sister.
Padmé smiled thinking about that, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see Grace standing there.
"Yes Grace?" Padmé asked, Grace smiled.
"Have you seen Leia anywhere Mom?" she asked, Padmé nodded and pointed to the balcony where Anakin and Han were.
"She's with your father and Han," she explained, Grace groaned.
"Dad had that talk with Han didn't he," she deduced, Padmé laughed and put her arm around her daughter.
"You know him well, he did," she told Grace, Grace grimaced.
"You want to scold Dad for threatening castration or me to duel him on the balcony?" she asked, Padmé smirked evilly.
"You duel him and try choking him with the force and see how he likes it," she replied with feigned malice in her voice, Grace nodded and laughed as they went to initiate their plan.
Imperial Palace, Coruscant
"What do you mean! Where is he?" Sheev Palpatine asked angrily, though his tone suggested a roaring tone more than anything else, the aide bravely stood tall and glared at his Emperor.
"I have already told you milord, Lord Vader is missing, we checked the Mustafar castle but we cannot find him, we doubt he'd be on a Star Destroyer because he would have checked in otherwise and come to see you at your numerous callings," the aide replied angrily but patiently, Sidious was about to retort but the holocom began beeping and the aide answered it revealing a horde of cloaked figures, nine of them to be exact.
"Hello there," the soft yet deep baritone of the first cloaked figure greeted, the aide noticed he was tall, around 7'0 tall, but that didn't intimidate him.
"Remove your hood," he commanded, the figures behind him, some cloaked in black like him and some in brown and white looked weary but nodded, the man removed his hood, revealing Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker.
"Get me to the Emperor, now," he commanded coldly, the aide was pale with fear and the Emperor didn't make things any better by storming up beside him and glaring at Anakin.
"Lord Vader! You TRAITOR!" Sidious roared angrily, Anakin smirked.
"Well, treachery is the way of the Sith is it not?" Anakin asked pointedly, Sidious glared at him.
"You do not know the power of the dark side fool! You could have, but you never reached your full potential, due to your guilt and injuries!" Sidious roared most of the statement but had spat guilt and injuries in contempt as he didn't care for the man at all, only his power and what Anakin could grant him, Anakin glared right back at him and Sidious almost grimaced at the coldness in his eyes.
"Well, Sith or not, your end is near old man, I hope you savour your last moments, for I don't plan on letting you live for much longer, prepare yourself because we both know the end is coming," Anakin said ominously as the transmission cut off abruptly, Sidious glared at his aide.
"Leave me," Sidious ordered, the aide nodded.
"Gladly," he muttered under his breath, Sidious didn't pay him any mind as he stormed out, Sidious sat in his throne, thinking over certain events and people, namely his once apprentice Darth Vader, he frowned, Vader always had been closed off, but he got on with his tasks and served his Empire nothing more, or so he thought, Vader's reputation was always a sore spot for him, he had planned on making the man/machine the most feared individual and at the start, the 'fear of the unknown' had done just that as a giant black durasteel cyborg leading the Empire's armies was frightening for most planets and star systems alike, however once that had dissipated the reality was that Vader was a closed off, reclusive, depressed and upset man, Sidious knew Vader better than most in the galaxy but the galactic consensus was that other than his looks, he wasn't as intimidating as most would think, as a few years back, he'd received a memoir from one of the planets he'd sent Vader to attack and punish for breaking their deal to the Empire…
Flashback, Imperial Palace 5 years ago
Darth Sidious read the reports of his apprentice's attack in smug satisfaction, another planet brought to the Empire's heels and more resources and labour for Sidious to take for his own uses and purposes, he suppressed a snarl of annoyance as his comm chimed, it revealed the leader of the 501st legion of clones also known as Vader's fist, Commander Cody.
"Yes commander?" Sidious asked tiredly, the clone looked a little tired himself.
"Your aide is coming to you with a memoir milord, it's one from the late leader of the planet, Lord Vader nearly destroyed it he was so frustrated, it was actually amusing," Cody reported with a smirk, Sidious chuckled heartily at that anything that got his apprentice riled up was for the best as he had a surprisingly minimal use of anger and troopers reported that during battles, Vader was emotionless, merciless yes but emotionless nonetheless.
"Give him my regards Commander," he sarcastically replied, the mood became more serious, "Now then, why is this memoir so fascinating to our favourite cyborg?" he asked the clone, Cody this time had a malicious snarl.
"Well, you know better than anyone about Lord Vader's lack of enthusiasm during battle, however this is where I'd draw the line, Vader's name was mentioned as he was called a spineless, pompous fool who shouldn't be leading our armies!" Cody yelled angrily, that caught Sidious's surprise, anger and indignation.
"I do hope he is dead," Sidious growled, Cody nodded.
"He is, he was killed by me personally after he laughed in our faces, Vader was injured and had to evacuate, and his right arm was injured again, you'd think he'd take care of that damn arm better right, but apparently not," Cody reported, groaning slightly at the thought of his stubborn commander's problems taking care of his right arm, Sidious's anger faded slightly.
"That does sound like him, inform the Resolute that they can leave the system and return to Imperial Centre," Sidious ordered, Cody nodded, and the transmission faded.
End flashback,
Sidious scowled angrily when he realised only recently that his student had played him at his own game and bested him greatly at it, then a thought struck him like a bolt of force lightning, Vader's personal Star Destroyers would mutiny to the side of the Rebellion and though the rest of the fleet weren't able weren't able to track them, Sidious's agents would locate the Resolute, Exactor, Executor and Devastator easy enough and then those traitors and rebels will be dealt with.