Chapter Five: Not Quite 'To Infinity and Beyond'
Captain Nemo had seen many wondrous and beautiful things on his journeys- his homeland of India, the sunken ruins of Atlantis, undersea volcanoes, and so much more. He had though he would never see anything that would compare to the beauty of the ocean- of a realm that was, undeniably, his. Now, he saw something that, while it might not be as beautiful as the sea, came close.
No modern human had seen the stars like he was seeing them now.
From his position by the porthole (or 'viewport', as Vader had called it,), Nemo could see the vast expanse of space spread out before him, reaching into infinity. The stars were strewn across it, like tiny diamonds, only partially obscured by the swirling blue and violet light that indicated that they were in what Daria had called 'hyperspace'.
An ocean of light and dark, and we now sail upon it.
He tore his gaze from the viewport and returned to his earlier activity, that of inspecting every inch of the Tern and trying to get a feel for how she worked.
Nemo's exploration eventually took him up towards the bridge. He paused at the entrance, peering in, itching to study the alien controls and technology. The bridge was the brain and heart of all ships, the place where everything happened. Lights of various colors blinked on innumerable panels, mimicking the stars outside.
Vader sat in a cushioned seat on the starboard side, apparently engrossed in the contents of the screen on a small device he held. "Can I help you, Captain?" he asked without looking up.
"My apologies, Adept Skywalker," Nemo said. "I did not mean to intrude."
The scarred man finally looked up. "You weren't. Come in." He indicated another cushioned seat, this one situated in front of a bank of lit panels on the port side of the ship.
Nemo took the offered seat. "I must admit, you and Daria seem a most unlikely pair of friends. How did you meet her?"
Vader set aside the device and gazed out the viewport. "She was right about your dislike of beating around the bush," he said pensively. "I hope you have time for a long story."
The man's story was, to put it mildly, strange. A slave, raised on a backwater, desert-covered planet called 'Tatooine', who won his freedom and left to be trained as a Jedi Knight. He was sketchy on what exactly a Jedi was, but Nemo concluded that they were some sort of gifted guardians, rather like an order of warrior-monks, who relied upon and drew power from some mysterious 'Force'. Vader spoke of the men who had discovered him, a high ranking Jedi named Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was originally supposed to be Qui-Gon's next student, but the Jedi Master had fallen in a duel against one of the Jedi's enemies, a sort of antithesis order called the 'Sith'. Vader, then known as 'Anakin', became Obi-Wan's apprentice as part of Qui-Gon's dying wish. Ten years after that, an immense civil war broke out, with entire planets arrayed against each other. Around that time, he went against one of the Jedi Order's basic creeds and married a Senator from a planet called Naboo. The details Vader gave on the next twenty-odd years of his life were sketchy, but he spoke of the rise of the Galactic Empire, and his part in it at the side of Emperor Palpatine, also known as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. At that point, the young Jedi Anakin Skywalker had ceased to be, replaced by the vengeful Darth Vader. Bitterly, Vader described how he had dueled with his old Master, and how Obi-Wan had left him to die at the edge of a river of lava before hiding Vader's son from him. Nemo sensed that that was an old, deep wound that would likely never heal.
Vader had been Palpatine's second-in-command, and had been more or less in charge of the Imperial military and the hunt for the last of the 'traitorous' Jedi Order. Two decades after becoming Palpatine's apprentice, Vader had slain his old master in a duel, and not long after that, he had discovered that his son was still alive, and training to be a Jedi. He had planned to convince the boy to join him and overthrow the Emperor, and had revealed their relationship to try and persuade Luke. Luke had refused, and escaped with the help of his friends.
He paused for a long while. "There was really only one person who was a rival for my position- a Falleen named Prince Xizor. He was, most notably, the head of an immense organized crime syndicate called Black Sun. Palpatine enjoyed pitting us against each other. Xizor was ruthless, and would stop at nothing to get both myself and the Emperor out of the picture. To further that end, he had my son kidnapped. Imagine my shock when I discovered that Xizor had done that on Palpatine's orders. But I should have suspected that. Treachery is, after all, the way of the Sith. That order shook my loyalty- what little of it I had left at that point- to the core. I nearly confronted both of them myself right then." The corner of Vader's mouth twitched in a grim smile. "Of course, I would have lost if I'd done that."
"What happened?" Nemo asked.
The younger man returned his gaze back t o the viewport. "I became a piece in some cosmic game of holo-chess, that's what." He explained about the Players, a group of immortal, extra-dimensional beings who had the capability to interfere with the lives of poor mortals, moving heroes and normal people alike like pawns. "From what I understand, there were two playing. One of them, Cuervo, chose to use Palpatine, Xizor, and their forces as his pieces. Dhar'ya and I were chosen by Centinela to fight against Cuervo's team. It was… an interesting experience."
Nemo frowned. "That seems rather impossible."
Vader snorted. "You're right, it does." He touched his left ear, indicating a small notch in the cartilage. "I was pretty messed up at that point. Dhar'ya gave me this to bring my back to my senses. She's talented with that beak when she shapeshifts."
"I had noticed. She used it to great effect in Mongolia."
"In short, we defeated both Xizor and Palpatine, although 'killed' would be a more accurate term. We never did find Luke, though. I fear that he was killed by that blasted Falleen." He went silent for a moment before continuing. "Anyway, I couldn't stay anywhere near what was left of the Empire. The Imperials thought I was the traitor who had killed their 'beloved' Emperor, and the Rebel Alliance thought I was a sadistic mass murderer. Both sides were correct, if you look at it that way. Dhar'ya convinced the Council to let me stay, and I've been working with the Tau'ka ever since."
Nemo indicated the mark on his companion's ear. "If she were in her gryphon shape when she did that, then why-?"
"Am I not missing the whole ear?" Vader grinned wryly. "Centinela apparently got it into her head to give me the ability to take gryphon shape for the duration of her little game. And Dhar'ya was careful."
One of the lights on the panel in front of Vader began flashing more insistently, accompanied by a beeping noise. Vader sat up. "Preparing to come out of hyperspace," he said. He pushed another button and spoke into a grill at his side. "Hang on, passengers. We are about to revert to realspace."
A moment later, he pulled a lever. Outside, the swirling blue and violet lights parted like a curtain, revealing the stars. The scarred man tapped a series of commands on the keyboard. "I need to have the navigation computer plot us our next course, and then we can- kriff!"