Vader peered through the glass of his Star Destroyer, watching the TIE fighters careen by the window, he was lost in his thoughts, Can't be, I killed Padme, the child must have died too.
And yet, Skywalker exists.
"Sir, the bounty hunter is here to see you." Captain Piett relayed to Vader, this shook him out of his thoughts, the Dark Lord turned to greet the Mandalorian.
"I hear you have a job for me." Boba Fett rested his blaster in the folds of his arms,
"I need you to track down a name." Vader paced before Fett, the bounty hunter seemed intrigued, "Skywalker. Find out his past, and bring me the information."
"Is that it? No killing… no espionage?" Fett seemed to scoff at this notion.
"No. This investigation will be carried out solely by you, the boy will not evade me again. You will be paid handsomely."
"Sounds good to me, I'll be off." Boba turned, and walked off the bridge, every step, highlighted with a ring of his spurs.
Vader sensed a disturbance in the Force, he felt unnatural, unbalanced, uneasy.
"Sir, The Emperor requests your presence on Fondor." A communications officer rushed to Vader. The Dark Lord focused his attention to Admiral Ozzel,
"Bring the ship to Fondor, we mustn't keep the Emperor waiting." Before the Admiral could utter a response, Vader turned, flipped his cloak behind him and marched off of the bridge. Vader seemed to have wander the halls of the Star Destroyer the entire flight to Fondor, seemingly keeping an uneasy feeling the entire ride. He hadn't felt this way since he arrived on Mustafar, all those years ago. He boarded a shuttle, the Emperor's guards were standing at attention on either side of the boarding ramp, this was unusual for Vader, these guards were simply for the Emperor himself, Vader disregarded this and boarded the ship. It was a quick flight from the Executor to the Fondor shipyards. Vader saw the droids scurrying to finish their projects: Star Destroyers and cargo freights alike. The shuttle landed in a private hangar bay paid for by the Imperial Senate. Vader disembarked the shuttle and was escorted to a large luxurious room overlooking the shipyards. The room was reminiscent of Palpatine's office on Coruscant, having the same furniture and lay out. Even the placement of the window was perfectly in-line with the office. Vader stood in the middle of the room, he awaited his master. His thoughts were clouded, racing through conclusions, he still hadn't settled on the Jedi named Skywalker.
"My friend." The withered, slimy voice rang from behind Vader, the door had slid open unbeknownst to him. Vader bowed
"My master." The Emperor was alone, which was also strange, Vader felt uneasy.
"Rise, we must talk my apprentice." Vader hated when he was referred to as an apprentice. The Emperor strode to his seat behind his desk, his hands rested on the arms of the chair, "There is a great disturbance in the force. Have you felt it?" Vader believed Palpatine to be referring to Skywalker,
"Yes my master, it is too great to be denied."
"So then; you know." Vader was confused, "My hand, Mara Jade has defected. We cannot allow her to escape. My spies tell me she is with the Ghost insurgency on Nar Shaddaa." Vader was taken aback, did Palpatine really not know about Skywalker?
"My master, the boy who destroyed the Death Star, I felt the force was strong within him." The Emperor scoffed,
"Vader, Jade is more important, she has secrets of the Empire that can ruin us. Destroy her, and the Ghost insurgency, I will lend you the Shock trooper legion from my personal guard. Go, we are running out of time." The Emperor swiveled his chair to face the window,
"It will be done m'lord." Vader headed for the door, his mind was in a frenzy, Mara Jade, he hadn't heard that name in years. I have you now. You will not escape death this time witch. Vader had that recurring thought has he embarked the shuttle and headed for his Star Destroyer.
Vader made his way to the bridge, Admiral Ozzel was giving orders to three Special Forces troops, adorned in black and red. Vader knew this squadron: Inferno Squad.
"M'lord, I would like to introduce Inferno Squadron, they will be accompanying us on our excursion to Nar Shaddaa." Vader turned to face the soldiers, they removed their helmets and stood at the ready.
"Agent Del Meeko at your command m'lord."
"Agent Seyn Marana at your command m'lord."
"Agent Gideon Hask at your command m'lord." Vader took notice of the man,
"Your reputation precedes you Agent Hask. We shall keep a close eye on your career." Hask seemed excited at the notion, the two previous agents seemed unamused, Vader then turned his attention to their commander,
"Commander Iden Versio, at your command m'lord."
"Admiral Versio's daughter… ah yes. Prepare your troops commander, and stay close to me on the ground." Vader commanded, "You are dismissed, Lieutenant Piett will brief you."
"Yes m'lord." The squad put their helmets on and marched off of the bridge.
"Lord Vader, the fleet is at your disposal." Ozzel chimed in,
"Good, make that the fleet move at once, I want Jade and the Ghost crew captured at once." Vader exited the bridge and headed for his meditation chamber. He sat down, he waited for the metal arm to lift his helmet off, he felt the sweet relief as the weight was lifted from his shoulders.
"Anakin." A familiar voice called out… "Anakin, please." Vader reached for his saber and sprung from the chamber, a blue light shined in the middle of the room; Qui-Gon Jinn.
"No. Leave!" Vader's voice was cracked, he became filled with rage.
"This must stop Anakin, you feel the light in you and you deny it." Vader ignited his saber and slashed at the apparition,
"I AM SITH. I WILL DESTROY THE LIGHT." Vader felt tears well in his eyes,
"If you truly are Sith, then why feel remorse? Why feel each and every soul you've destroyed?" Vader collapsed to his knees, he felt a great weight on his chest, he looked up at Qui-Gon, the Jedi master was accompanied by a familiar face, the small child was grasping Qui-Gon's cloak, then walked in front of Vader,
"Master Skywalker, there are too many of them, what are we going to do?" The child faded into dust before Vader, he felt claustrophobic in his own skin, his breathing became rapid. Vader looked back up at Qui-Gon, he bent down,
"What are we going to do?" Qui Gon turned to dust before Vader's eyes, the Sith Lord suddenly felt the presence of many, he turned around, fallen Jedi surrounded him, their eyes were white and their skin color, bleached. They marched towards him, Vader turned back around to see another group of fallen Jedi surround him, together they chanted,
"Help us Ani" Over and over, the voices of each one reaching out and pulling at Vader in every direction. Vader crawled into a corner and curled up trying to avoid their gazes, then, the crowd parted to reveal her.
"No. Please no." Anakin began to sob uncontrollably, she stood there in the middle of the room,
"Help me Ani." The words seem to pierce Vader to his core, the pain writhed in him, his cries formed into energy, exerting his power onto the room around him, the walls seemed to shatter before him, his meditation pod cracked in half, the grates of the floor rose and crumpled into metallic wrecks. Vader felt consciousness leave him, he collapsed into a crumpled heap on the floor, gasping for air.