Ahsoka sighed deeply as they hit hyperspace. She leaned back in the cockpit seat. "So. Got a plan?"
"Working on one. There's a maglev tunnel connected to a secret entrance by the museum, comes out near the old section on the Jedi."
"It's still there? That part they put in during the Clone Wars?"
"Yes. Pretty well wrecked, and sealed off, but it hasn't been converted for anything else. Not last I'd heard. I'm going to do some meditating before we get there." He added.
Anakin was not particularly expecting company. Force spirits rarely showed up and so far only Qui-Gon had done so. Yoda was a surprise.
"Into great danger you go."
Anakin eyed the small creature, warily. "Do you know what lies ahead?"
Yoda did not respond for a moment. "Always in motion is the future. Choose your path, only you can."
"I'm always going into great danger. I gather you mean something different."
Yoda's eyes held his. He leaned on his stick and idly Anakin wondered why a Force spirit would need a crutch. "Two choices you will face. Neither good. Both will lead where you do not wish to go. Dark in the Force is Lusankya, hidden in more ways than you know."
Anakin frowned. "Can't you just tell me?"
"Know everything I do not. But great care you must take." He cocked his head and his ears moved. "Believe I do that a lost treasure you will find."
"Well I hope I find something to make dark places and bad choices worthwhile!"
Weaving carefully through Coruscant's skies, they kept close watch on the ships in orbit. Artoo was with them, at Luke's insistence.
"Only two star destroyers guarding the Capital?" Ahsoka queried doubtfully.
"Or so they would have us believe." Anakin ducked close to a robotic freighter's sensor shadow, keeping a good distance from the destroyers. TIE patrols buzzed past and he kept alert in the Force to rotate around the freighter where they couldn't be seen.
They followed the freighter's sensor shadow through the sky. Below them, lights scattered across the planet's dark side.
"Looks the same from here, at least." Ahsoka observed. They set down in a little used hanger, but in a district with lots of space traffic heading to other hangers. "Where are we?"
"I used this for my agents. It's not on any records." He sounded uneasy and they'd barely landed.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm a little twitchy at going to the museum."
"What if you're recognized?"
"Guess I'll have to go in disguise."
"As what?"
He hesitated. "Well, the good news is, they think I'm all scarred up still."
"But still, you look enough like yourself now they might know you. At least as Anakin Skywalker, Jedi."
Anakin headed for the back of the ship and kneeled by a trunk. Sorting through the gear, he came up with a bounty hunters garb.
"Ah. Hide amidst the hunters." She said.
"Not a thought I prefer."
"I'll wait outside, do a bit of recon."
When Anakin came out, he wore a cap and visor, with a pair of shaded blue tinted goggles to hide his blue eyes. He also wore a simple brown uniform with light armor and dark boots with a blue stripe on the side. A blaster rode his hip and his lightsaber was hidden inside the vest. Not impossible to reach but not easy either. Ahsoka looked him over. "That might do it." She said uncertainly.
"The suit has changeable sides. Handy color inside, it should blend in with the standard staff uniform."
Ahsoka swiped her own suit. Her own was a similar color, equally hidden beneath a heavy cloak and tool belt.
"Let's head out and get the feel of the place. May as well see how we do."
They headed for the lower levels to start. They found a mixture of species on this level. Anakin's eyes were very bright.
"It's not so bad here." Ahsoka said. "I see plenty of humans mixing with the other species."
A wide array of smells hit them. Good food, food no human would touch, garish lights and a wild array of clothes and vehicles went by. Helmets, antenna, fur and scales mingled along the streets.
"We're at the intersection to the alien quarter." Anakin said quietly. "Non humans have been driven out of some areas of the city."
"I'm starving. Let's get some food."
They found a small cafe catering to a wide variety. A few fights and squabbles broke out nearby, but nothing fatal. The food was decent as was the drink. The babble of various languages was all around.
Ahsoka glanced around carefully. "What are we going to do until the others get here?"
"Let's go..."
"Where?"
Anakin winced. "My...office..." He glanced around warily.
She blinked. "Oh. Are you sure your nosy colleagues won't look for you there?" She glanced around, cautious of speaking plainly for fear of being overheard.
"Kind of hoping they'll think I wouldn't go anyplace so obvious."
"Right." She said slowly. "That might depend on whose in charge." She glanced at Artoo, who was keeping a watch for anyone too interested in overhearing the conversation.
"Pretty sure Isard won't expect it. She's in charge here, not Thrawn. He'd be smart enough to put a careful guard on. But she's way too arrogant to take his advice."
Luke went through some Jedi training exercises, fully focused on the Force. It would've been easier to do them in private. But he had no time to seek out a place. They would be leaving soon. Obi-Wan watched with an occasional word of advice or acknowledgement. Finally he put up the lightsaber and a salute and just stood, meditating for a moment. Finally he put it up. Glancing around, he noticed Admiral Piett watching, partially balanced with a light grip on a floater assistant droid, allowing him to put just a light weight on his leg. He also wore a leg brace that let him to limp forward lightly, giving the leg just enough weight to keep the muscles from atrophying. There were guards watching, of course. But they didn't feel concerned. The place was relaxing. What's more there was no way in the galaxy the admiral would get far on that leg.
"Hello, Admiral. Feeling any better?" Obi-Wan queried.
"Yes." The man scratched his cheek. "Your medics are indeed efficient."
"You probably realized that as soon as you saw what they'd done with Anakin." Obi-Wan smiled.
"I still have trouble wrapping my mind around the realization that it's him...who he was..." Piett paused, looking around. "And yet, I know it is...some things are the same. The sheer authority, that confident stride, his stance..."
Obi-Wan nodded.
Luke finally put his lightsaber up completely, plunking down on a nearby bench and picking up a water canteen and taking a long drink. "Can you tell us anything about who is behind all this?"
Piett was silent. Finally he said, "You're interrogation technique is rather unusual."
"Interrogation technique?" Luke mused in surprise. "I'm only asking."
"Why should I answer?"
"You answered Father before."
Piett blinked rapidly as it sank in that Luke was calling the man he knew as Vader, "Father."
"He had the advantage of surprise. I was accustomed to being under his authority and I was drugged and in pain."
"He saved your life and made sure you received treatment." Kenobi said mildly. "And any crime you may have committed under his authority he has already taken responsibility for. He thinks rather highly of you."
"He does?" Piett was genuinely surprised.
"You honestly believe in the Empire?"
"I do."
"What if you knew it was based on a lie? That it was Palpatine himself that worked with Count Dooku and Grievous to begin the Clone Wars to put himself in power and destroy and discredit the Jedi?"
Piett was silent.
"I know you don't believe it now. But if it was proven, would you still believe in a government created entirely on a lie?"
"I..." He hesitated. "I can't imagine you being able to prove that."
"Anakin is the ultimate witness. He's willing to find that evidence if it proves the truth to you."
"Why?"
"He thinks you are worth it. That you can do better. That you really want peace and justice." Luke replied.
"I don't know what to say. That is...not the man I remember or knew."
"Had you ever heard of Anakin Skywalker?"
"I heard he was the best and worst to serve under. Best because he never asked his men to do what he wouldn't. And he would risk his life to protect them. And the worst because he was so unconventional and a rule breaker..."
Piett's voice trailed off as he sat down. "Now that I think about it..."
Luke's eyes were bright. "Vader was the same?"
Piett nodded. He didn't seem to care about his men, but he was primarily ruthless to incompetents and those who thought political connections were sufficient. He rewarded those who did their jobs well. And while he wasn't known for disobeying the Emperor, he didn't exactly follow common conventions."
Luke was smiling. "See?"
"That's Luke's way of saying he knew that Anakin Skywalker was still somewhere inside Darth Vader. And by the way, 'I told you so', is not a polite Jedi response."
"I'm not gloating. I'm just proud of him for having the courage to come back. I know what it cost him."
"The leadership of an Empire?" Piett asked.
"It nearly cost him his life. They healed him enough to free him of the suit, or he would have died. He took the fatal blow the Emperor meant for his son." Obi-Wan informed him.
Luke's comlink signaled. "Luke, we're ready to go." It was Han.
"I'll be right there." He bounced up and headed for the hanger. "See you."
"May the Force be with you." Obi-Wan replied, arms crossed.
Piett stared after the young man. "He has a son. The man I knew as Darth Vader has a son. Was he married?" And then he flinched, startled at having dared ask.
Obi-Wan smiled. "Let's just say he knows what it's like to be in love. Something the Emperor took great pains to make him forget. Obviously, he didn't quite succeed."
"He did it for him, didn't he?" He motioned after Luke. "Turned on the Emperor?"
"Yes. He knew he'd been lied to, but he really didn't have anything left he felt strong enough to fight for. Not until he found out about Luke. He thought he'd lost his family. Then he realized he hadn't, and he'd been separated because of Palpatine. He stepped in right when Palpatine would've killed him."
"You've forgiven him. For his turning on you and the other Jedi."
"Yes. Perhaps it's easier for those of us who remember him before he fell, who knew what he wanted to be." Obi-Wan left the man to his therapy. He smiled as he walked away. The Admiral's utter confusion was obvious, and a good sign. He was no longer sure what to think of the Empire or Vader. It was a step in the right direction.
Luke fiddled with the training remote on the Falcon. Stepping back, he tossed it up. Leia was straining to hear and feel it with a helmet on, blast shield down. Her long hair spilled out just past it in a braided bun. Her hands were gripped around the training saber. A few orange red shots zinged at her. She yelped in pain, swinging too late. She stepped back and tried to rebalance in the Force.
"Stop using your ears. Use the Force. You've done it before."
Leia hesitated, gently tilting her sword into an on guard position. It feinted right, left, zoomed up...and Leia shifted the training saber and the laser bolt's bounced off in rapid succession.
Luke stopped the remote, smiling. "See, that was fine."
She sighed as she pulled the helmet off. "What Anakin said about Byss is...unnerving. Mon Mothma seems to think that we should send someone in to check it out."
Luke frowned. "From what Father said, it's...a dangerous place for anyone, but especially a Jedi."
"I hope...he and Ahsoka are all right."
"That's the first time you've ever expressed concern for welfare."
She sighed. "Well, I wouldn't want him to go back to being Vader."
"Me either."
Anakin and Ahsoka, clad in worker's clothes and bearing packs, clamored through the sewers beneath the palace of a former Dark Lord of the Sith.
"I am surprised you bothered to learn the codes to get through your sewers." Ahsoka teased lightly, breathing through a mask to keep out the stench.
"It was paranoia. There's a secret exit down here. I'm the only one who knows about it. I think." His nose was wrinkled and he was regretting his decision to not use the mask. He hated anything that made him feel cramped, as if he still wore Vader's helmet, but this smell was overwhelming.
"You think?" Ahsoka challenged softly. "'You think' you're the only one? She winced as a large scaled creature scurried through the shadows. The swish of the muck in the tunnel met her ears, but she didn't dare risk being overheard. They're voices might echo.
"Let's say the droid's that worked on it all had memory wipes and the designer...well...he won't talk either...it's not on the blueprints."
"Oh." Ahsoka didn't ask for further clarification.
Artoo let out a grumbling beep as he swished through the sewer muck.
"Just be thankful you don't have our kind of smell, Artoo. It's nasty." Ahsoka replied.
Anakin keyed in the code to one of the sewer grates. They were in, shut the gate behind them and carefully Anakin led them forward taking the left branch of the tunnel and then started to climb up inside a giant pipe. Then he triggered a hidden plate on the wall. A door slid silently open. Gratefully they quickly left the sewer tunnel behind. This path was mercifully dry and clear. Ahsoka pulled the mask off. "Ugh. I can still smell it."
Anakin snorted. "I think you're smelling us." He pulled the backpack off and rummaged through it to pull out a clean pair of boots.
"I am so glad you thought of this." Ahsoka also exchanged boots. "And here I was worried about them recognizing our faces. I should've been worried about them noticing how we smelled!"
They left the ruined boots behind rather then putting them in packs. They also left behind a large spray bottle and a pile of rags, with which they'd carefully cleaned Artoo. A mucky droid rolling through the palace would've looked out of place. They were, hopefully, planning on leaving this way.
"Anakin? If your palace had a secret entrance, what about the Emperor's?"
"Affirmative."
"Oh. That could be very handy for our side, if it comes to that."
"Very likely, as long as they don't know we know."
He easily took turns through the secret tunnel, finally pausing near the data center. "What do you think? Take the one in my meditation center and office, the one in my old quarters or one of the sub offices?"
"Can they all get to the same data?"
"With the right codes..." He said slowly. "Why didn't I think to put a terminal in here?"
"If you had and someone tracked the data lines, they'd find the tunnel."
"Yes, but it's possible they have a monitor on my old haunts. The mysterious controller of it all might've thought of it."
"Are we going through with it?"
"I am. You're waiting here."
"Now wait a minute. It's you they are looking for."
"I'm also the only one who knows what I'm looking for." He countered firmly. "And I might need backup. If I walk into a trap, who else is there to get me out?" He cocked a brow at her and gave her a confident grin.
"Oh. That's..." she shook her head scowling in disapproval. "You're trying to flatter me into it."
"No, I really believe it."
"I know, but still. If anything happens to you, guess who has to tell your family?" She winced. "Not nice."
"Then we better not let anything to happen to me. Here, Artoo, hold this will you?" Anakin slid his lightsaber into the secret compartment in his dome.
to be continued