Vader stood in the Emperor's office, his master's words were garbled- faded into his thought. He looked at her red hair, gleaming in the sunlight of the midday Coruscant sun. She stood next to Palpatine, silent and patient. His mind trailed from Padme to Mara, back to Padme- then back to Mara. It was ten years since Vader had seen her, she hadn't changed a single bit. Vader turned his focus to Palpatine, his anger grew- infuriating with each word the Emperor spat out.
"Vader. Your failure has been duly noted, so I must introduce my new hand; Sa Cuis." The Emperor motioned his hand to the door, it slid open and a stormtrooper entered. Vader was confused, he turned his head to the Emperor, he heard lightsabers igniting- he turned back towards the trooper and two red blades were around his neck. "I take such pride in this one Lord Vader." The Emperor mocked Vader.
"As you should, he has potential." Vader went along with it.
"He can strike you down Vader…" Palpatine's voice trailed off. He waved his hand for Mara and Cuis to leave, the room was empty, Palpatine and Vader sat across the desk from each other. Their eyes were burning with hatred for one another. "I have an assignment for you Vader."
"What is thy bidding my master?" Vader responded robotically,
"You must find Jyn Erso- the girl who stole the plans from Krennic. And you must punish Krennic for his failure; now leave me." The Emperor waved his hand once more, Vader rose from his seat and headed for his shuttle. Vader's ride to the Executor was quick, he paced his way to the bridge, Director Krennic was speaking with Admiral Ozzel.
"Director Krennic." Vader called, Krennic's face became whiter than his garments. Hesitantly, he walked over to Vader. The Sith lord towered over him,
"Yes m'lord?"
"You failed me. I gave you one task- safeguard the plans from the rebellion. And you failed." Vader's voice cut into Krennic like a serrated blade.
"I'm sorry m'lord, I take full responsibility for the plans." Krennic dropped to his knees.
"I am glad you take responsibility. However, the Death Star was destroyed… because of you Director Krennic." Krennic began to plea,
"Please Lord Vader, have mercy!" The bridge crew members were staring- all came to a halt, all eyes were upon them.
"Mercy. You want mercy? What about the millions that perished upon that infernal station? Did they receive mercy?" Vader unbuckled his saber, "The Emperor is not pleased with me. Because of your failure. I will not have my head on a pike for the likes of you Krennic!" Vader moved forward, Krennic fell onto his rear and crawled backwards away from Vader,
"Please Lord Vader, I won't fail you again- please." Tears welled in Krennic's eyes.
"You're right, you won't fail me again. You won't have the chance to." Vader ignited his saber and plunged it into Director Krennic's abdomen. Vader turned to the crewmates, "Do away with the body, and make preparations for Jedha." The bridge froze with fear, Vader marched to his quarters, his pod hatch opened to greet him- he sat down and allowed the robotic arm to remove his helmet. Vader's eyes became heavy, he felt drowsiness overtake him, he drifted off into slumber.
Visions flashed by him, Mustafar, Padme, Naboo… Obi-Wan. A voice rang out in his head,
"Beware of A New Hope. Your destiny will forever be altered, Darth Vader." The Father's voice echoed in his head, over and over. A New Hope, New Hope, Hope…. Vader saw the pilot, Luke was his name. He felt Luke through the force, he saw him, Vader saw the planet… Atollon. He saw the boy, he was meditating outside the main base.
"Feel the force Luke…" Obi-Wan's voice called out. Luke opened his eyes,
"Ben? I feel… cold."
"It's the darkside Luke, fight it." Obi-Wan's disembodied voice called out again. Vader felt Luke push back, he was forcing Vader out of his head. Vader concentrated harder and harder, the boy was driving him out. How is this possible? Vader thought to himself. The vision of Luke began to fade away, darkness surrounded Vader's sight.
"Lord Vader?" He snapped his head back and awoke, his helmet was on already. Admiral Ozzel stood beyond the threshold of Vader's pod.
"Yes Admiral?"
"The fleet has come out of hyperspace but Jedha is not responding to our hails, I fear the worst may have happened." Ozzel twiddled with his thumbs,
"Leave the system, chart a course for Atollon."
"But Sir, the rebels…" Vader rose from his pod, Ozzel was trailing him,
"The Rebellion has hidden a base from us, it is on Atollon, you shall command the fleet to that sector." Vader's voice put fear into Ozzel, the admiral continued to plead,
"But m'lord, we have no evidence of a base being on Atollon." Vader turned and gripped Ozzel by the throat,
"Continue to debate this issue and your body will be thrown from the airlock." Vader squeezed tighter until Ozzel surrendered his pleas. Vader marched up to the command bridge, Ozzel gave the order to the fleet and the ship took off into hyperspace. Vader saw the beige colored planet, patrols of Corellian Frigates lined it, small fighters buzzed around them. Vader's ship opened it's hangars, TIE fighters poured from them, the Executor's turbolasers blew holes into the tiny Rebellion blockade. "Let no Rebel ship leave this system Commander." Vader commanded, he boarded a landing shuttle, the ship zoomed into the atmosphere, landing a safe distance from the Rebellion base. Vader felt a strong connection to the Force here, something beyond his comprehension was living on the planet. Vader stepped off the shuttle, Stormtroopers got in formation and marched behind Vader. He spotted frequency spikes in the ground as they neared the base, they beeped in unison, suddenly a flurry of blaster fire erupted. Vader ignited his saber and charged. He cut down rebel after rebel, slicing his way through to the entrance of the base.
"ENOUGH!" Vader's saber deactivated itself, the blaster fire ceased. The booming voice was omniscient, "You have brought war to this world outsiders! The Force will punish you!" The ground rumbled, cracks opened up in the rock. Then suddenly silence, the ground ceased, Vader looked around, confused. The fighting resumed, blaster bolts lit up the Rebel base. Vader felt the Force flow through him,
"Commander, move your troops into the main section of the base, then disperse, I want no Rebel escaping." Vader commanded as he impaled a Rebel soldier.
"General Skywalker." Vader recognized that voice, so many years ago… he turned to the voice. There he stood, old and out of practice, Captain Rex held a Viroblade.
"That name means nothing to me Clone." Vader advanced towards Rex,
"I may be old, but I was trained to kill Jedi. You're no different." Rex lunged, hacking away with his sword, Vader deflected the oncoming attacks with ease. Rex slashed at Vader's helmet, the Sith Lord misjudged and the blade knocked off a piece of his helmet.
"AGHH!" Vader felt the pain surge through his skull, Vader lunged and slashed at the Clone Commander, Rex barely dodged the attacks. "You betrayed the Empire, you will die!" The two men locked blades,
"You were my general, the man I followed into battle, the man I trusted with my life! You betrayed the Republic, you're a monster." Vader disengaged and force pushed Rex several feet into the air. Rex fell to the ground with a thud, his viroblade landed five feet away from him, Vader advanced towards him. In a panic, Rex reached and unholstered his pistol, he fired at the advancing Vader. The Sith Lord easily deflected the blaster bolts as he continued towards Rex.
"I might've betrayed the Republic, but you betrayed your own brothers." Vader impaled Rex with his lightsaber, the Clone let out one last breath,
"For the Republic…" His voice trailed off as he lost consciousness. Vader felt his heart sink, he stared at the befallen trooper, Vader remembered the countless skirmishes by each other's sides, the jokes and laughs they shared together. But that was an eternity ago… When he was Anakin Skywalker.
Vader continued cutting down rebel soldiers as he neared his destination, Luke, the pilot. Vader felt his presence grow stronger in the Force as he neared the pilot. Blaster fire covered the battlefield, strewn bodies were sprawled across the ground,
"Sir, the Jedi, he's cutting down our forces!" A stormtrooper relayed to Vader,
"Have your men pull back, I will deal with the Jedi myself." Vader marched to the Jedi's position, he was wearing a bright yellow jacket and dark brown pants, a blaster pistol was strapped to his thigh, the young Jedi easily destroyed the Imperial units, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. "Enough, Jedi!" Vader commanded, Luke turned to Vader,
"It was you. You were in my head. Obi-Wan warned me about you, you killed my father!" Luke raised his saber,
"Your father must have been a weak Jedi, as you are." Vader sent a strike at Luke's head, he caught the attack with his blade, the two sparred, clashing sabers in the heat of battle. The conflict around them erupted, heavy blaster fire surrounded them on each side. Luke flipped over Vader and slashed at the Sith's backside, Vader parried and continued his offensive onslaught on the young Jedi. Luke countered everything Vader had, they were stagnated. "You are skilled, but not skilled enough." Vader taunted Luke.
"Run Luke, run!" Vader heard Obi-Wan's voice, the Jedi's eyes lit up, he disengaged and sprinted, Vader reached out with the force and grabbed Luke by his saber. Vader pulled the saber into his hands, his heart sank again. It was his saber, distracted by the lightsaber, Luke pulled his gun and fired at Vader, nailing him in the arm, the Sith Lord dropped the weapon, Luke summoned it with the force and sprinted away. Vader followed behind, marching.
"Halt!" A squad of rebel soldiers descended on Vader, their weapons aimed directly at him. Vader released a burst of force energy and sent them careening into a small structure. Vader pressed on in pursuit of Luke. The young Jedi came to a halt in a clearing in the base, it was silent, remote from the battle. He turned to face Vader.
"Bendu, this is the one." Luke said. Vader felt the ground shake,
"This is the one you speak of? The great warrior? The one to be fearful of? HA! A mere assassin droid is as frightening as this hunk of metal!" The omnipotent voice from before rang out again.
"I am no mere droid, I have slain countless Jedi!" Vader became frustrated, he spotted Luke pressing a button on his wrist communicator,
"Indeed you have Sith. But you cannot hide from your past, before your darkness. Your light stands in front of you as we speak." Bendu replied,
"I don't understand." Vader's anger boiled, wanting only to destroy the boy.
"You will understand, the both of you will," speaking to both Luke and Vader, " you two are forever connected in ways never thought possible, but it is not the time for this." Bendu spoke in riddles, Vader was racking his mind to figure them out, his mind was clouded… Filling with voices. Shrieks of terror, cries of agony, whispers of death all filled his mind, flooding Vader's subconscious,
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!" Vader fell to his knees, clutching his head, "MAKE THEM STOP!" Vader rolled in the dirt, he felt insanity lurk in on him. Suddenly a ship landed beside Luke, he boarded and the ship zoomed into space, Vader reached out in a futile attempt to stop the ship. The voices ceased, Vader regained air, and his composure.
"You wish to hurt the boy, yet you know there is something different about him, he is powerful for such a young man." Bendu's voice traveled in the empty clearing,
"I must know more about him. And you aided him!" Vader ignited his saber,
"The boy's name is Skywalker. He is your son."