"I have the Rebel prisoners in my grasp. Attend to the landing bay and prepare for my arrival."

The black-clad cadet, who was trembling with fear, nodded silently before closing the connection. The Alliance members surrounding him sighed in relief; Mon Mothma's grim expression faded. But the fight definitely wasn't over yet - Alliance craft had stayed behind to infiltrate the Palace, while they acted as decoy. With Anakin's suit, they would be able to overtak the Imperial underlings in one fell swoop.

Ackbar would be commanding from above, Mothma from the decoy below. Luke was already in one of those fighters, which, suffice it to say, made Anakin just a bit edgy. Yet he remembered, Solo's Falcon would be there as back-up too. If Solo had saved Luke so many times, Anakin was willing to excercise a little trust over his son's security.

Anakin thought for a moment. Hadn't they tried the same thing against the Separatists so long ago at the Nubian Palace? He wondered is Mon Mothma knew about that. Of course, there had been a Sith blocking their way that time, and she had probably just been elected.

"Mothma," Anakin turned around to face her, "do you know about the siege of the Nubian Palace that occurred about thirty standard years ago?"

"Only records of it have I read," Mon Mothma answered, a crease developing on her forehead. "Why do you ask?"

"I…was just wondering," Anakin replied, defeated by his own lack of ability to explain. Mon Mothma looked like she knew he had more to say, but walked away nonetheless.

Departing with: "Be careful. This mission...as you know, is vital." Which roughly translated into "Don't screw this up, plus, we'll need you later."

Anakin only proceeded down the hall to the hangar of which he was to depart. He found the Imperial shuttle, the same one Han, Chewie, Luke, and Leia used to get to Endor. He felt their former presence on board, but pushed it aside to direct his thoughts to flying.

Halfway to Coruscant, he heard a beep from deeper in the cockpit. He hadn't felt the presence due to every acute detail that required attending. But he knew it was the android that had helped him so much in his former life: R2-D2.

"Artoo, I never thought I'd hear your beeps again," Anakin noted aloud, still checking everything was in working order on the small cruiser. "I'm sure Threepio is with you?"

"How nice to serve you, sir," Threepio's voice greeted. "I am See-Threepio…"

"Human Cyborg Relations," Anakin finished for him, finally looking at the two androids, assured that auto-pilot was working.

"Have we met?" Threepio looked at Artoo for help, but Artoo only beeped mournfully.

"I'd say we have met. I created you. Then I turned to the dark side and came back. You see me know as Vader, only as a disguise. I programmed you, but I never finished because I went on to become a Jedi. Artoo, was he ever mind-wiped?" Anakin looked to the domed droid for answers.

A beep came from him, and Threepio would surely have shown shock had he been human. "I most certainly have not been brainwashed, you stupid little droid."

"It seems as though you have, Threepio." Vader's voice rang through the cockpit and reverberated back to his own ears. Anakin flinched, but continued to speak in the hallow cockpit. "You would remember me had your memory not been wiped. Like I said, I created you, and I know how to turn you off," Anakin added, as the droid fussed. Anakin turned him off with the Force and turned to Artoo. "Well, it's nice to see that somebody has remembered me."

Artoo gave a beep of affirmation before leaving the cockpit.

Anakin sighed and noted the time until they reached the city-planet. Four hours; we'll arrive right on time, Anakin assured himself. Though, it is odd how long I've been away from the Imperials. They will wonder whatever happened. I'll simply tell them I was receiving medical attention on the nearest planet. That should assure them.

--

If you can imagine Jake Lloyd with blue eyes, you can pretty much imagine how Luke looked when he was the same age. He was the kind of cute that made every one pinch cheeks of loved ones. If only Luke grew up on a planet near the core, this really would have happened. Yet, as it turned out, he grew up in the whirl of sand of Tatooine, staying longer than his father did. When Luke found this out, he didn't wish for his life to have been different, though he was sure it would have been so had he not been a Jedi.

And Luke had won many battles, even fighting for his father's conflict for the freedom from the Empire. That had to have been the hardest for Luke, but he bore the pain well. He did tell Leia that he was right, as his father asked, but it couldn't have been told as he wanted due to Admiral Ackbar pressing for them in their places. He had only time to whisper it while giving her a hug of farewell.

Luke compressed his mind to shut out these thoughts, but to no avail. It was a battle raging inside of him while he let auto-pilot direct him to Coruscant for the next battle. It was thoughts of Leia's face when she found out her father was Vader, thoughts of the inner battle Luke faced while heading to the fleet coming from Degobah, thoughts of Ben and Yoda at the celebration with the Ewoks. These all troubled him, though some of them were the happiest times he had so far. If only Anakin had never turned...

--

Anakin had decided company was best for the remaining two hours. He woke Threepio from the induced slumber, but did not call Artoo. "What do you know about the change in plans?" Anakin demanded immediately.

"I'm sorry, sir…"

"I know it's classified. I want to know," Anakin said, anger rising. He quelled it as soon as he realized it.

"Please just tell me."

"They didn't want to put all of them in danger," Threepio answered concernedly. "So plans were changed to focus most of the danger on yourself. You are indispensible to them. Master Luke fought for you, as well as, Mistress Leia, but to no avail."

"Shavit," Anakin cursed under his breath, an anomaly for him. His anger rose again. That was the reason for all the grotesque glares from the Rebels. "This is harder than I thought when I fought for my life."

"I'm terribly sorry, sir," Threepio muttered, but Anakin knew it was as hollow as his heart felt.