DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything.

Sorry about the wait guys. Christmas excitement is over and so are the much cherished holidays... Now back to work but also back to writing! At least one good thing comes out of this!

SIX MONTHS LATER

Ferus sat with his eyes closed as his spaceship guided itself through light speed. He was beyond tired and knew that what little amount of sleep he would get now wouldn't be nearly enough to rejuvenate him. He had been wearing himself down for the past six months trying to lead the Resistance alone. After rescuing Padme and the countless failures to find Anakin that followed, Obi Wan had sent Ferus and Pieter away from Coruscant to continue leading the Resistance. Obi Wan and Ferus had decided together that it would be prudent for some of them to remain on Coruscant to both continue searching for Anakin and also as a Resistance spy group. This was their first successful attempt at getting Resistance members into Coruscant so they were not just going to give up the opportunity. So Obi Wan had stayed, along with Ahsoka, Rex and Padme, who had refused to leave without her husband.

Getting out of Coruscant had been considerably easier than entering and Pieter and Ferus had been able to return to Yavin IV, the Resistance base, without any troubles. Since then, Ferus had been run off his feet, trying to do the job that previously had been shared by three.

"Olin?"

Ferus opened his eyes and spun in his seat to see Pieter leaning against the door. The young man had a concerned crease between his brows.

"You alright sir?"

Ferus nodded and returned to the front. "What's happening?"

"That lead in Mandalore was just another dead end. Just another bounty hunter looking for quick money," Pieter said as he walked over and dropped into the co-pilots chair.

"Not surprised," Ferus muttered.

He leaned his head back on the headrest and closed his eyes again. Recently, there had been rumours, here and there, all very hush-hush, about a Force sensitive child working for the Separatists. They hadn't been able to find out much yet but Ferus was willing to bet his lightsaber that it was either Luke or Leia. This added more work to his already strenuous load but Ferus would never forgive himself if he didn't follow up on these rumours, only to find out they were true. Anakin and Padme never would either.

"We still have one more lead to check out before we head back," Pieter said. "Why don't you go catch a bit of shut eye? I'll keep an eye on everything."

Ferus stood slowly, stretching out his sore limbs. He yawned a thank you to his friend as he left the cockpit.

All this running backwards and forwards is going to kill me, Ferus mused, scratching the back of his neck.

In his room, Ferus flopped down on his cot and was almost instantly asleep.

There was only darkness. He couldn't see anything but he knew he wasn't alone. There was sobbing, soft but pain-filled coming from his left. He couldn't make out who was with him. He tried talking but found no sound came out. There was just the sobbing. Maybe he could move closer to comfort his companion, whoever it may be? But that too proved fruitless. His limbs felt paralysed, he could barely feel them and they wouldn't respond to his commands. Frustrated now, he reached out with his last effort. But even the Force wouldn't answer him. He wanted to sob too, knowing he was useless to his upset companion. "Help me..."

Bright light assaulted his eyes. He squinted, trying to peer through the blinding light. He couldn't make out anything more than a silhouette in the near distance. Then he felt it. The pain was intense, wracking his entire body mercilessly. He couldn't cry out, couldn't move through the sheer agony. He knew on some level that the pain wasn't his. He was simply channelling the pain from the silhouette. He pitied the poor soul who had to endure this because he knew he was not experiencing the full brunt of the pain. "Help me..."

Ferus jerked upright, his chest heaving. His muscles ached with the lingering memories of the pain. His heart ached with the loneliness of the darkness. He swallowed and started to even out his breathing. What had the dreams meant? Who had they been sent from?

He rubbed his eyes and dropped back onto his pillows. Sighing loudly, he forced every distracting thought and every emotion from his mind and focused solely on the dreams. The calm of meditation washed through him quickly and he opened himself up to the pull of the Force. He needed to know who had sent those distressing dreams. Clearly they were trying to reach out to someone and he may be their only hope.

Palpatine tried to hurry through his last meeting at the Senate. He had more interesting pursuits to get to. He was so close to completing his dominance over Anakin Skywalker, mere days perhaps. There was only one more thing that he had to do before he would be assured of Anakin's loyalty. Well as loyal as a tortured enemy could be.

When the Senate finally came to an agreement and the members disbanded for the day, Palpatine didn't even bother stopping by his office to check for memos. He returned to his apartment straight away, almost giddy to be completing this six-month venture. By the end of the week, Anakin Skywalker would be completely and utterly under Palpatine's control.

Once inside his apartment, Palpatine made sure all the doors were securely locked and all communications were turned off. He wanted no interruptions. He rode the lift down into the second apartment and walked straight to Anakin's room. There he found his captive exactly as he'd left him that morning.

Anakin was kneeling on the floor, his arms bound behind his back at both wrists and elbows. He was lying forward so his torso rested on his thighs. A chain running down from his collar kept Anakin bent forward in that cramped position. He didn't complain about the discomfort though – he knew better. The raised, angry-red scars on his back were testaments to those particular lessons.

Palpatine unbound Anakin and told him to stand. Anakin's muscles had cramped up and then gone numb hours ago but he forced himself to try and stand. The first attempt only sent painful tingles of pins and needles up his legs but the second time he managed to keep himself up, even if he was swaying unsteadily. He kept his eyes down, focusing on the ground as he waited for his Master.

Palpatine silently circled his captive for a moment before stopping behind him. He held in his hand a small device that was used for chipping slaves. Without saying a word, Palpatine placed the device against the nape of Anakin's neck and activated it. Anakin groaned a little at the sudden sharp pain but otherwise didn't react.

"I have just implanted you with a modified slave chip," the Emperor paused for a moment, letting his words sink in. He knew how Anakin felt about being a slave, knew how it would affect him. His shrewd eyes studied Anakin's reaction and while it was minute, he still saw it. It was in the slight tensing of his muscles, the twitch of a finger and the missed breath. "I have had it altered so that instead of confining you to a certain area or planet, it is designed to confine you to a person. Me."

Again he paused. He needed Anakin to understand this, to accept what this meant.

"You will not be able to move beyond a designated range from my person from this moment on. At the moment it is on a default setting, meaning you have about three metres leeway. If you exceed this limit, you will have ten seconds to get back within the parameters before the self-destruct is activated. I will be altering the distance in accordance to where we go and how long we will be there. I can also alter the time limit for the self-destruct so you have little or more time to get back to me."

Palpatine began walking out of the room. Anakin, terrified of being enslaved so completely and knowing better than he liked what the consequences were, followed. A small satisfied smile tugged up Palpatine's lips as he walked back towards the lift.

"Tomorrow I have a special gift for you," Palpatine announced as they got in the lift. "For all your hard work and good behaviour. I think you're really going to like it."

Anakin swallowed back his fear and didn't answer. If Palpatine was this excited about his 'gift', Anakin could be sure he wouldn't enjoy it. Not at all.