Lando and Obi-Wan stood side by side on the Alliance cruiser. Piett stood nearby, under guard, but silent. Finally he asked, "what happened?"

"I second the question. Something has obviously gone wrong." Lando stated.

Obi-Wan's expression was troubled. "They couldn't get him out."
"So he's on Byss? In that krayt's dragon den of the dark side? And all those Jedi who would be better off anywhere else are going after him?"

Obi-Wan nodded grimly.

Even Piett looked troubled.

See Threepio was talking to Padme and pointing at a monitor. She turned to the others.

"Hey. You should see this." Her voice was troubled too. "We've intercepted some communiques."

"About our people?"

"Well...yes and no."

Piett was closest and, with an uncertain look at his guards, looked at the information. "Oh."

"My feelings precisely, sir." Threepio intoned, hands in the air. "It makes no sense. Surely he can't be in two places at once?"

Obi-Wan leaned over. "What is it?"

A holo image appeared of a familiar figure, striking down a leader of one of the planet's that had just joined the Alliance. The figure struck down member after member of the group while stormtroopers held them at gunpoint. Black cloak, red lightsaber..."

"It's a fake." Padme said. "One of the ones Bail's contacts turned up."

Obi-Wan searched the Force. His eyes fell on the time stamp.

"He was with us...or at least, no where near there."

Obi-Wan felt an odd shiver in the Force. "The events are not fake. But anyone could be in that armor. They move like a Force user, however."

Lando stared thoughtfully. He put his hands on his hips, walked back and forth, eyes on the ground with cape swaying. "You know..." He spun suddenly toward Piett. "That file said only the highest ranking knew about Vader being Anakin Skywalker. How many is that, exactly?

Piett blinked quickly. "I only knew because of the Emperor's agent. It was a need to know basis. I suspect Thrawn knew, and Pellaeon. Thrawn had been giving the Emperor's Hand's support, though supposedly the Emperor...or whoever we thought was him...gave directions."

"So most of the Empire doesn't know. And if they don't know and Vader reappeared as his former evil self, they'd follow? Wouldn't he be heir apparent?"

"Well..." Piett considered. "Certainly the fleet would follow him. Most of the others would, or at least pretend too, even if they hoped to eliminate him later."

"Assassinate him?"

"It's been tried, and not just by the Alliance."

Kenobi nodded. "It's possible that someone is pretending to be him to gain his position. Or at least, convince the Alliance it isn't worth the risk of keeping him alive."

Padme cringed. "But wouldn't they need his power and skill too?"

"That is what worries me. Yes, they probably would and that means Force sensitive and trained in the dark arts."

Piett looked skeptical. "It's difficult to imagine just anyone, Force trained or not, convincing Thrawn, Isard and the other Grand Admirals that they should follow him. A good many encountered Vader and would notice differences. And the orders were said to come from the Emperor."

"But we know he's dead." Padme said firmly.

Obi-Wan's eyes narrowed. "Piett, if you had to guess, who would you think based on sheer skill, could accomplish rulership of the Empire, by tactics, and put a false front in place of Vader?"

Piett was silent for a long moment. "If anyone could pull it off...Thrawn. He cares about the final result and less about personal power."

Anakin sat in the shuttle, eyes half shut, focusing on controlling himself. The dark side felt like a hungry krayt dragon, even with the ysalamir blocking him. His fear distracted him. He forced himself to turn inward again, analyzing that odd, white noise type of blockage that negated his power. It would be very useful to be able to do it himself as well as escape it.

"Whatever your doing it won't work." Mara said sharply.

Anakin opened his eyes. "What makes you think I'm doing anything?"

"You're concentrating."

"I might just be pondering what it'll take to open your eyes."

"My eyes are open."

"You see only what he wanted you to see. He took you from your family, raised you to be a weapon and lied to you all the way. You seek justice and order and peace. But there is no justice in an Empire he built on lies and a war that he started just to gain power."

"You are lying." She snarled with emphasis.

"I'm not. And I dare you... I dare you to look for yourself. The evidence is there. Transmissions between him and Dooku during the Clone Wars, secret transmissions between two men supposedly on opposite sides!"

"You probably faked them."

"Ha! Why bother? I was a Jedi when it happened Mara, and I believed the lies and I saw the betrayal. If I learned how to falsify evidence and spin the truth I learned it from him!"

She smacked him, hard. He didn't sense it coming, but in spite of the sharp pain he had to hide a smile. If doubt wasn't there, she wouldn't need to lash out.

"You're going down, Vader. No matter what you say."

"The name is Anakin. And the question isn't am I going down for the truth, but are you going to be a slave to a lie."

"Shut up! Just, shut up! When did you get this talkative!"

"When I acknowledged the truth."

Mara fumed as the ship came in for a landing. It set down and guards hurried up. They pinned Anakin down while he was still under the ysalamiri influence and hit him with a stun pike. He sagged, fighting the creeping unconsciousness with his head reeling. They dragged him out and he could feel the Force returning as they left the ysalamir influence. When he didn't fall right away they hit again and held the stun pike on him, shocking his nervous system. He cried out and as he spiraled toward darkness at last, he glimpsed the cylindrical form of Artoo squeeze out of the maintenance hatch. But before the droid could react to him, he was out cold and thrown in a Force cage.

Artoo had popped out in the shadows, unnoticed by the enemy. He skirted the docking port lights and raced after the Force cage as they steered it away. Not this time, the droid was determined. Once, he had not challenged Anakin's odd behavior and left him alone with a man who would be Emperor. That man had reprogrammed him into a heartless killing machine. Artoo would not let it happen again.

Anakin stirred painfully awake as they clamped him in place. Eyes rolling weakly, trying to summon the Force, he tried to take stock of his surroundings. He was still trying to focus when a sharp pain stuck him in the neck. He cried out involuntarily and jerked, to see a floating IT-O interrogator droid float away, a now empty syringe in it's grip. He knew what was normally in that syringe. He suspected what was in there now was something else. Pain was spreading from the injection and the ominous purplish color staining in that syringe told him it was something new. He rolled his eyes around, flexed his wrists and noticed he was locked down at all of his joints to a metal scaffold. It reminded him of awakening in the armor for the first time. Fear jolted him and he started a Jedi meditation exercise to counter it. But it was hard, not only was the room in darkness with the dark colored droids, for the organic guards were gone, but the Force itself felt thick and heavy. His mouth was very dry.

"You will pay for your betrayal, apprentice." The familiar voice gave him a start, coming from inside his head as well as the room.

"Who are you!" He demanded, trying to force his voice to challenge, rather than croak.

"You know who I am. I am your Master, sworn in by innocent blood." The mental image of fallen younglings stirred at this. Anakin firmly refused to focus on it.

"No. Palpatine is dead. Sidious is dead. I killed him myself. I saw him die, and I felt it!" Anakin reached for calm but the unnerving way the voice spoke inside his head, the sheer familiarity gave him chills. He shuddered.

"I do believe your son will come for you. I will let you live long enough to witness him and his friends die, in pain and hatred, feeling betrayed."

"They wouldn't come here. I warned them away!"

The voice mocked him. "You know that your son will come."

Creeping panic was threatening to choke him. He reached for calm, reached for the light…and a blast of agony roared through him. He screamed as one of the droid's slammed him with a shock pike, again and again. Anakin slammed his mouth shut, champing his tongue, fighting the urge to scream. His enemy enjoyed it, he must not give him the advantage. His own fury rose, rocking the room causing a pipe to burst.

"Father! No!" Luke could feel the surge of dark side energy, the reversion and reawakening of a dark Lord. He broke into a sprint, Leia and Ahsoka charging headlong beside him.

Anakin's eyes rolled open, furious, shifting to a yellow acid hue. They would not take his family! This pretender to the throne would not! The room shook but the restraints held. He ground his teeth as the pain rushed through and he turned it to power, slamming the droid with the prod away into the far wall. But he still couldn't break the restraints. He heard the maniacal laughter in the back of his mind, pleased. Through his pain he felt a cold splash of realization. He reached for the Force to calm himself, seeking light but all he could feel was darkness, a darkness that burned ice cold and freezing starting at his neck…he glimpsed a small shape roll into the room and peer around a door frame…saw it shoot a wad of electricity that knocked out the IT-O. The IT-O! The syringe! Realization brought fresh panic. It wasn't some sort of truth serum but a Sith chemical cocktail designed to boost adrenaline and rage in the blood. It was designed to break and shatter a Jedi's defenses and it was well known to work. It would certainly work on a man who had already tasted the dark. The fear slithering in him turned his stomach.

"Perhaps a more personal reminder." The voice said with a sneer in his mind. A mask slid from overhead and slammed down over his nose and mouth, covering his eyes with a viewscreen and he thrashed as a sulphur smell overwhelmed him. Claustrophobia, an after effect from his years imprisoned in the mask, overwhelmed him. His heart thundered. His lungs screamed and he held his breath, knowing the fumes were caustic. Then fire roared up and a circle around the flame of a cylindrical cage, creeping in closer and closer.

Panic powering his efforts he felt the rage exploding…he couldn't control it! It took a sudden, desperate effort and suddenly he shifted gears. He couldn't control his emotions, not pumped full of drugs. He let go of the Force, pushed himself away as much as possible. "NO!" The cry was purely mental and aimed at his tormenter.

The view screen flickered. The voice whispered. Watch as they die at your hand. Watch. The view shifted to a holocam view, showing Darth Vader striding toward figures in the distance. He had royal guards in attendance. Ahsoka, Luke, Leia….all turned and stared in horror and disbelief. He felt them recoil, reject…but partly believe…Worse, the view shifted so he could see through it's eyes and he felt the framework he was on twitch, as if it were his arms and body striking at them. A voice, his voice, rose in his ears, mocking them. Mocking how easy it had been to fool them and lure them here...

Anakin's rage grew again. So close. All it would take was letting loose once, one powerful Force shove to free himself and go to them. What matter if he had to use the dark to do it? They thought he'd already fallen, even Luke!

A sudden squeal and Artoo raced past, circling away. One of the droids in the room shorted and fell, courtesy of Artoo. He couldn't see it but he could hear it.

Artoo, defending him. He tried to focus on that instead. He couldn't watch this, but the device wouldn't let him close his eyes. He felt a short gasp escape, a brief inhalation and his insides burned, his body fought to cough and he fought to resist knowing more of the chemical would be sucked in. The fire burned and he flashed back to Mustafar.

"You were my brother, Anakin!" He could feel the despair in his Master's voice, it echoed from the past, matching his family battling the dark Vader look-a-like in the holo view. If he couldn't avoid using the dark side…Eyes widening and then narrowing, he turned his fury on himself, tightening the Force around his throat. He wouldn't breathe in the caustic fumes but he would die of oxygen deprivation. But he had to hold on while his head swam and he got light headed. He would die in the dark but he wouldn't hurt anyone in the process. The thought upset him and tears sprang to his eyes. He wished he could let them know he loved them. The dark side flickered, a spark of light breaking through.

Artoo took the ultimate chance. He'd gotten ahold of shock pulse, a droid deactivator, and hurled it at the torture lab droids. He rolled back out the door as fast as possible. He barely got out of range, one of the droid's reached for him…and fell with over with a clunk as the wave hit. Artoo was barely out of range and wheeled back. Now if only he could figure out how to free Anakin...before it was too late.

to be continued