Chapter 28
(Tatooine)
Entering into the desert planets orbit came a Stardestroyer, designated the Dawn, a the Tantive IV had boarded with the Dawn a few hours ago and since then the Stardestroyer had made the short trip to the planet where it all began. Once in orbit, Kellia, a contingent of droid units, and Bail Organa flanked by two living Alderaanian royal guard descended to the desert world. When they landed, it was just outside the city of Mos Eisley where Bail made contact.
They landed their C-9979 landing craft in the desert of Tatooine as the senator made his desperate call. When the comlink sent out the call for a while then liked Bail grew worried as adrenaline pumped through him, and anxiety overtook him, but then the face he so wished to see materialized and he let loose a loud and shaky breath as he had that Jedi woman Kellia looking over at him just waiting for a reason to no doubt kill him.
"Bail? Is that truly you? I had all but forgotten about this comlink and I took me some time to find it in a-"
"No time master Kenobi! The situation has come to a head!" bail said as he lost all his political stance and his ability to contain his emotions and Obi-Wan looked confused and worried.
"What's happened bail? I have heard the rumblings of what happened in the senate, and trust me I was shocked to hear what was happening but I didn't believe it."
"Thank you master Kenobi, but this is not at all about me, not entirely. Leia has been taken by Vader! He knows about Luke, and we are running on barrowed time!" Bail cried and only then did the Jedi masters eyes widen, then narrow, before his face grew serious and he nodded a single understanding nod.
"I'll need to get the boy. His aunt and uncle wont like this….they may very well want to come along if nothing else works."
"That can be arranged master Kenobi, but time is short, where do you wish to meet?"
"I'll send you a small coordinate chart I filled out when I first came here. It will show the Lars Homestead on it. Go there, and I shall meet you, but I will not force them to give Luke out of hand. If they need to be talked into it, I must do that." Obi-Wan said and despite his wish to protest he merely nodded, and gave the coordinates to Kellia who snatched them up and handed them to a droid to send them up to the droids piloting the ship.
In no time at all the ship once more lifted off the endless sand sea of Tatooine, and made for the home of the Lars family, and by extension the Skywalker family. The ship flew at a steady pace and was all but deathly silent as it loomed over the endless expanse of the desert world. Bail was a nervous wreck beyond anything he could remember, and this wasn't even the hardest thing he would need to do in the near future! While Kellia was infuriatingly calm and seemingly collected as her brown eyes stared to a metal wall, and seemed, far away and not at all involved with what was happening, and all it sought to do was make Bail even more anxious at the idea his Jedi aid was less than ready to help.
"Must you seem so ready to kill and be rid of me that you are all but involved in the operation?!" Bail finally asked loudly, loudly enough for his two royal guards to grimace at the eventual retort.
She turned her head to him slowly with narrowed eyes, and a hard expression upon her face. "I can assure you, senator, that I am as invested in this little job as can be. I am not so easily deluded into believing you and your backwards attempts to hide the full truth from people like admiral Ackbar. I know whose child we are going to be taking into custody, and I know whose child then Vader has in his palms, and yes, you are to blame." She spat back at him and he shunned away from looking at her, for fear of allowing his emotions to begin an argument with her he may not have been able to win ever.
In no time they landed their craft at the given coordinates, and before them outside stood a hooded Obi-Wan Kenobi, a considerably older, and more white-haired Kenobi, but a Jedi master nonetheless. AT the entrance of the homestead was a very angry looking Owen Lars, and Beru Lars who had her hands protectively around a young teen blonde boy who looked very awed by a huge ship landing so close to himself and his family.
Bail all but ran down the ramp of the C-9979 craft, and Obi-Wan cast both the ship and Bail an odd look.
"What's with the droid ship, senator?"
"A long story Obi-Wan, and one I am afraid I am unqualified to tell." He said with a breath. Behind him came his guard and then stepped down Kellia herself with arms crossed, and Obi-Wan cast her a look of suspicion.
"You, you're a Jedi are you not?" Oni-Wan asked and she seemingly ignored him as she stared at Luke, and Bail answered for her.
"Sorry master Kenobi, but this is the leader of a great new rebellion taking place, she is at the head of this ship, and aiding me and you. Her name is Jedi knight Kellia Nelrain." Bail said as politely as possible and a wave of his hand in an introducing manner, but Obi-Wan's mouth hung open in shock.
"Kellia? Are you the same Kellia that went-"
"Missing from the battle of Jabiim? Yes master Kenobi it's me, and may I say it's nice to see you still alive and kicking." She interjected and bowed her head to the old Jedi hermit.
Uh, excuse me! But does someone want to tell me what's going on here?!" Owen asked with a yell and Obi-Wan turned his attention to him as did Bail.
"Yes Owen, I'm sorry but we have a situation. Luke is in danger, he knows where the boy is and is coming for him, no doubt right now." Obi-Wan explained with seriousness upon his face. Bail nodded.
"I can confirm this. I came looking for help to get him safely off Tatooine."
"Now wait just a minute, who are you, who is she, why is that ship here, and how does, 'he,' know where Luke is?!" Owen asked in succession, and no small amount of suspicion.
"Owen, we haven't a lot of time, so I'll give you as short as possible answers." Obi-Wan said holding up a placating hand.
"This is Bail Organa, of Alderaan. A friend I would trust with my life, and who helped me with getting Luke to you all those years ago." Luke snapped his questioning eyes up to Beru who gave him a sad look that silently asked him not to ask right now, and he obliged.
"She," Obi-Wan pointed to Kellia who had gone to looking up into the sky in an almost paranoid fashion. "Is Kellia Nelrain, a fellow Jedi, and apparently the only one willing to help us right now." Obi-Wan declared and she didn't say anything, neither denying nor confirming. "The ship, Owen, is hers, and will help us off Tatooine, which might I add we MUST do now, as I told you all those years ago, if he came for the boy I would take him to safety, and yes, with, or, without your permission Owen." Obi-Wan added with finality in his voice.
"Bail can answer, how he knows where Luke is I'm assuming." Obi-Wan said looking to the senator questioningly himself.
"He took my daughter away from me….she is related to the boy via their shared parentage." Despite trying to sugar coat his words Luke gasped and hung his mouth open in shock.
"I have a sister?!" He asked excitedly and Obi-Wan nodded while Owen and Beru looked more uncomfortable.
"When he took her from me, he found out that another child existed. He is no doubt tracking us, but trust me he would have found the boy and come for him eventually with or without our meddling." Bail said pleadingly for the two adult natives of Tatooine to believe him.
"Well he's not leaving! Let the bastard come and try to take him away from my cold dead bloody-"
"You'll have your chance." Kellia interrupted in a low yet somehow ear-catching voice as all turned to her confusedly as she still looked upwards into the hot blue sky of Tatooine.
She then looked back at them all with hard eyes. "He has arrived, and he's not alone."
(Orbit above Tatooine, a few moments earlier)
The Exactor, flung itself out of hyperspace and just beyond sensor range not too far from the desert world. Vader had seethed when he discovered what world Organa was going to and where Obi-Wan no doubt was hiding. The one world in all the galaxy he swore to never, ever, set foot upon again! How could he have been so blind, so naïve to not see that coming?! They would all pay, and he would enjoy it, and that fueled his rage, and his darkness.
"We have jumped out of hyperspace my lord Vader. We are out of sensor range, and your suspicion ahs been proven correct my lord. There is indeed another Stardestroyer in geosynchronous orbit over Tatooine."
"Very well captain Piett." Vader responded with as cool a demeanor as possible.
"We will hold to plan A then. Myself and a select few other shuttles will descend upon Tatooine. Once we are safely in orbit. You are to engage that ship, I care not who it is Moff or otherwise. If they do not transmit the new security codes sent out then they are not allies. Better still, if they send out the codes question their being here, and trust your intuition captain. If the story is not sound in your mind, then engage, and destroy!" Vader commanded and the captain saluted.
"Yes, lord Vader! The troops?" He asked and Vader nodded as he remembered the next phase.
"Once this," Vader held up a small transmitter that was good for only making a small beeping noise and could not actually talk or send messages. "activates, you are to dispatch all ground units to specified locations, and make Tatooine secure for the Empire. Is that understood, captain?"
"Yes lord Vader, but what of the Hutts? Surely they will take offense to such blatant show of force by the Empire."
"If they wish to make their bed with the Moffs or any other traitors then so be it! Liquidate their assets, and they themselves if they give you a one word of trouble! In fact, the moment that fat slug Jabba gives you a reason, level his damnable palace from orbit!" Vader finally seethed his orders as his composure broke down further and further as he waited.
"Very well my lord. May your mission be a complete success." Piett said encouragingly as he marched to his fellow officers to make the necessary orders, and Vader turned on his booted heel, and made for the hanger bay. There awaiting him was his ever loyal and always effective detachment of the 501st legion. All of them were in honor positions and straightened at his arrival where also waiting for him were the two dark clad Sith acolytes. Starkiller and Viathan both stood next to one another before their assigned shuttles with hands clasped behind their backs and heads held high. Then there was the contradiction to the two loyally, obedient boys, an all white wearing Leia. She had her jaw set, blazing anger in her brow eyes, and her arms crossed with little R2 with her as Vader approached.
"Why are you here Leia? I made it perfectly clear that this mission is no place for you."
"I am not stupid, father!" She seethed at him and Vader stopped and looked to her with his blank and expressionless mask. Also the fact she so openly called him father in front of the legion of Stormtroopers was not the smartest thing or best thing for him in the galaxy.
"What are you talking about?"
"I know who you're going after. I can…..sense it."
"Sense it?" Vader restated with disbelief and immediately looked to the two boys as he figured one probably told her about the mission but she all but growled in frustration.
"They didn't say anything! I told you I can sense things better by the day, and despite what you may think I did live with Bail Organa for many years. I now know what he feels like through the Force, and I can…sense others down there as well."
"Indeed, and they can now sense us, your delaying tactics will not aid them."
"This isn't about me father!" She cried in frustration and most unbecoming of a daughter of a dark lord of the Sith.
"You're going down there to kill him, and you didn't even care to ask me how I would feel about your doing so! He may be…..not what I thought he was, not exactly, but he doesn't deserve to be murdered, and especially not by you! Who will no doubt want to torture h-"
"Enough!" Vader cried and his voice boomed so that all the troopers stiffened. "Bail Organa is a criminal and enemy of the Galactic Empire, and a kidnapper in the end! He shall not get away with his transgressions against me or you! I am not just here for petty revenge, there is possibly something else down there of great importance to me, and to you."
"What would possibly be important to me and you?!" She demanded through gritted teeth, and Vader began walking away.
"I am not sure, yet. Rest assured Leia, I shall find the truth, and you are NOT coming along!" He commanded and motioned for his troopers to board their transports and both Starkiller and a very apologetic looking Viathan boarded their own shuttle, as Vader did his, and only glanced at Leia once before boarding. She was still arms crossed and had a defiant look about her, as she seethed silently at him, so much so that he could feel it through the Force. Sighing to himself he climbed onboard the shuttle and waited as it took off and made for Tatooine below.
"I sense a presence that I have not felt since….Mustafar." Vader commented aloud and knew exactly who he felt with a crackle of power running through his bones. "I'm coming for you, my master." Vader said once more aloud as his shuttle quickly rocked back and forth upon entering the hot and arid atmosphere of Tatooine.
The legion transports began to quickly disperse into the coordinated regions. Several went to the major cities around this rock of a world and only one by the end was trailing his shuttle. Which also happened to be the one holding both Sith trainees. As Vader homed in on what he was sensing and it hit him like a bag of bricks. Obi-Wan was at the home of the Lars family, and that fact made him grind his teeth in seethe behind his mask, as he ordered his captain to go there. They glided over the sands but as they neared Vader looked out the front viewport and couldn't believe his eyes. For there on the ground next to the Lars homestead was a Separatist transport and out of it was flooding droid unit into the desert.
"Captain, land at once!" Vader barked just as the lambda shuttle nearly was struck by an incoming missile.
His shuttle quickly banked out of the line of attack from the droid anti-armor units and banked into a nearby sand dune, where Vader all but forced his shuttles ramp to lower. When it did, Vader made out the following transport also landed just behind his by some meters. Out of it came both Starkiller and the Viathan boy, followed by at least seventy Stormtroopers, as much as could be fit into that particular transport, and they immediately formed up along the downhill side of the dune, as Vader marched over to them.
"I am sure I don't need to inform any of you that we are dealing once again with droids from the Clone Wars. There are many, and I expect you to hold them off until I feel it necessary or the opportune time to call in reinforcements! Hold this dune, and advance if capable, I expect ten destroyed droids for every one of you who falls!" The troopers all saluted quickly and ran as best they could up the dune until their blasters peeked over the top where they aimed their sights down on advancing B1 and B2 units and opened fire, for the droids to retaliate in kind, as Vader addressed both boys.
"You two will follow me for now. We will be coming into contact with an old Jedi master, one that should not be underestimated under any circumstances, Obi-Wan Kenobi. I will deal with him, and senator Bail Organa, for they are mine to deal with for personal matters. However should any troubles arise, you two will deal with it. They will be at a homestead we saw on our approach. I feel they are cornered and unable to move. While I deal with Kenobi, search the home for any children that are thirteen years of age or at least seem as such. Dispose of anyone who gets in your ways." Vader ordered, and both boys bowed. As he then began to climb up the very annoyingly angled dune as blaster fire rocketed all around them and both boys flung themselves into the air and activated their sabers and began flinging blaster fire back and away from Vader as he didn't bother activating his saber and made for the hovel in the distance.
Vader could see it, no him, outside the hovel off to the side and in front by some feet stood an all robed in brow man. Looking more like a hermit then a Jedi, Vader sensed it. It was a now far older looking and even feeling Obi-Wan Kenobi. The boys danced across the dune sands as droids randomly put Vader in their crosshairs and they proceeded to block the bolts away for him as he neared with great and greater anticipation. Until both men, both old friends, but old master and apprentice stood opposite one another below the twin suns of Tatooine, and were silent for a moment save for Vader's mask breathing.
"It's been far too long, my master." Vader spat the title as he continued to stare his masks eye ports directly at Obi-Wan who held in his right hand lazily his blue lightsaber hilt.
"Not long enough, Darth." Obi-Wan retorted smoothly as he eyed the two young boys with red sabers at his side.
"Turned to children to fight your battles have you Vader?"
"You're one to talk you hypocrite! What do you call all the padawans the council sent to fight and die during the Clone Wars? They were more child soldiers then these two will ever be!" Vader seethed as he scooped up his saber hilt and activated the brilliant red beam. Causing obi-Wan to follow suit.
"Perhaps you have a point Darth. However, at least I didn't slaughter those children as you have. A true successor to General Grievous you are." His eyes flared behind his mask at being compared to Grievous and then Vader lunged at Obi-Wan and thus the clashing began. Left to right, swipe was met with blocks, and Vader entered fully into an all powerful, and overpowering series of slashes and swings into Obi-Wan, who caught his attacks and fell into a routine of carrying the attacks and throwing the red beam away as confusion dripped across the elder Jedi masters face. Vader was fighting much too well and too easily for a man he watched lose all his limbs.
"Do as I ordered!" Vader called and the two boys raced into the hovel as Obi-Wan cringed.
"They will not find that which you seek so easily Vader. Soon they will face another Jedi."
"All the better! Then two Jedi corpses I shall present to the Emperor this day and ease his anger!" Vader cried as he wiped his massive arm across in an arch aimed at Kenobi's head as the old Jedi ducked and blocked with shaky and not so strong arms.
"Starkiller over here!" Viathan called and the boy raced to him as the descended into the hovel-home and entered into a wide open space.
"Sense anything? Or see anything?"
"See? No not at all, but sense, yes definitely." Viathan responded to his fellow Sith acolyte as boy of them raised their sabers in their respective forms and walked as quietly as possible into the home.
"Wait….I know this presence." Viathan said coming to a halt followed by Starkiller, and as they did so, off to the side in a darkened doorway a blue saber erupted to life, and walked forward a dark haired and dark eyed woman wearing a loose fitting blue Jedi styled tunic.
"I see you didn't learn your first lesson, boy." She spat to Viathan who snarled to her and gripped his singular saber tighter and felt his left and mechanical hand instinctively twitch at the memory of what this Jedi did to him.
"You! I promised myself to kill you!" Viathan growled and she entered into a noticeably Makashi stance.
"Is that a fact? Then do it boy and stop talking. I see you brought a friend this time, let's see if he can help you not embarrass yourself this time!" She provoked loudly and twirled her cerulean blade as Starkiller approached closer to Viathan.
"You know her?" Viathan inclined his head once. "She any good?"
"Fast, unpredictable and likes to throw punches." Viathan replied tersely and Starkiller entered into Juyo, with Viathan going for Niman.
"Let's see if these boys can do a mans job." Kellia spat with a wild grin and provoked and waited for them to make the first move. Which Viathan did, and ran forward and spun a slash into Kellia, who swiped it away, but immediately had to turn and catch the other boys attacks, which was a knee level slash and throw him off as well. Then both boys ran at her, with the one she didn't recognize flying through the air and landing a series of acrobatic flurries and swipes at her, which she ducked, move, and slid away from, as the boy from Dantooine slashed at her chest and she caught to swing the blade away and ram a wild left arm punch across his face and threw Viathan away into a wall of the hovel. Starkiller then threw himself into the Jedi woman slashes were wildly slammed against her saber from an unstoppable succession of over the shoulder attacks, left to right, and then Force slams to throw her off.
Kellia, however caught these blasts and maintained her stance, as she would with Makashi catch his red saber, fling it away, and throw Starkiller off who grew increasingly angry at her continued ability to throw him and Viathan off as she continued to block, to feint, and then pull back. Parry, feint, sidestep, step back. She was toying with them! She wasn't attacking, she was stalling for time. The question was for what reason? Viathan howled and reentered the fray and wildly swung at her with wild flurries, and Force empowered overhead attacks, and again she threw him off and slowly began approaching the exit of the hovel with both boys on her.
Holding out both hands she threw a massive Force wave at them and threw them back a ways as she quickly ran out the hovel, ran past the dueling Sith lord and Obi-Wan as they smashed their sabers against one another violently, and close behind her followed two very angry Sith acolytes.
As she ran further out into the near endless looking dune seas Kellia smirked at feeling the boys follow her out past the battle between her droids and the troopers as she knew she had to distract these two a little while longer, as Obi-Wan distracted Vader. As Bail Organa and the Lars people made their way via speeder to another shuttle she ordered down from the Dawn above.
Kellia quickly stopped and spun around as she discarded her robes and now stood facing the two boys with her hands on her saber, in her simple tunic, and a sneer of concentration plastered on her face.
Viathan lunged at her and brought his saber low, and she used his momentum to toss him aside and behind her as she met the other boys saber, and threw it off to the side and sent a kick into him, and spun around to catch Viathan's saber. This time he threw her off and made a series of fast and successive attacks on her and each time she caught it, and finally when she again threw him back, she twirled around and connected with his saber as the other boy ran up from her back. As such she ducked and rolled away forcing Viathan to defend the attack intended for Kellia from Starkiller.
When she came to a stand again she spun her saber about with a cocky and antagonizing smile on her face, and held firm when both boys attacked her at once. She expertly blocked ever savage attack, and when she forced all three sabers into an X formation withy her saber in-between them, she spun around, carrying her saber, and then sent a massive Force wave into them, throwing Viathan some feet back, as Starkiller held firm with his saber outstretched before him in a block position..
"So who are you supposed to be? The last time I fought your friend Vader wasn't around, so I'm going to assume you are his little apprentice, right?"
"You know nothing of my master Jedi! How I have so long waited to finally kill one of you for him!" The boy seethed and lunged over her in a massive Force aided jump, and brought his saber down, which she caught and used to toss him aside making him land in the sand with a thump, allowing her the ability to strike down on him, but as she did so another red saber caught her blue one. Viathan growled and threw her back, allowing Starkiller to jump back up and once more take a ready stance.
"You two are in over your little heads. You didn't learn your first lesson boy," She said eyeing Viathan. "So allow me to give you another one. Merely because you underestimated an enemy last time, and the next time round you don't, don't assume you have that enemy figured out." She said mockingly with another wild smirk. "I am just brimming with surprises!" With that spun through the air and wildly began her own assault on the two boys, who wide-eyed went onto the defensive. She would slash at one and then throw herself to the other in a maddening and fast show of her obvious ability to use the Ataru style as well.
Kellia caught Viathan's saber and quickly threw it up over his own head and sent a knee into his abdomen forcing him to heave in pain, and she scooped up his second red saber, and activated it. She now stood facing them with one blue and one crimson saber, and a smile widening on her face as she once more seemed like a recently freed caged animal, and the boys sent glances to each other.
Kellia twirled the sabers about and showed off her knowledge and ability to use Jar'kai, and the boys had to begrudgingly admit this Jedi woman knew her fighting styles. With that she threw the sabers behind her and ran at them and spun her sabers at both boys who blocked and she passed them in her run, before flipping around and charging again, and forcing them to spin away from her or block her, and again she twirled around. This time she threw her red saber at Viathan, and charged Starkiller, who met her halfway and clashed brilliantly, as she pushed away from him, she feinted an attack at his legs, and when he went to block she sent a right kick into his face and sent the boy howling down to the sand as she abandoned him, and attacked Viathan, after recollecting her second saber from midair.
The Jedi threw herself into hard and smashing attacks into Viathan who struggled to hold off two sabers at once, as she would not relent with attack after attack being slammed into him, one saber after the other. Finally he sent a stab at her chest and she caught the saber in an X of her two, and he quickly forced his saber up and threw her sabers back, and then tried to attack her at the head level, but she ducked and rolled aside as Starkiller again attempted a leaping attack behind her, but she spun and caught that, and sent another Force push into Viathan and began another breathy assault on Starkiller.
"Getting tired Jedi?" Starkiller mocked, and she sneered at having a thirteen year old mock her as she knew she was overtaxing herself with this Jar'kai styled of overpowering an enemy, and so she had a thought and it caused her to once more grin. As she caught his saber again, she leaned in close.
"Looking for a teen yourself there apprentice of Vader?" She mocked as his eyes widened as he remembered his original objective.
"They ran off to get a shuttle of mine, not too far from here, out into the east dune seas. Run now, and maybe you'll catch em before they leave!" She informed and threw him back, and Starkiller sensed her intentions through the Force, but when he discovered she wasn't lying, he looked at her, and Viathan who once more ran into the fray.
"Handle the Jedi! I need to find what my master seeks!" Starkiller called as he holstered his saber, and used the Force to begin charging out into the desert, and he didn't see Viathan's momentary distress at having to face this woman alone again, and with only a single saber this time.
"Now," She said turning fully to him and spinning her sabers. "Where were we?"
Vader slammed his saber down, and Obi-Wan caught it shakily as the old man ducked and spun away, as Vader would attack again, he would catch it again, duck and spin away. Vader recognized this, it was similar to the luring attacks his old master used against him on Mustafar. Only this time, there was no lava, and nothing else to distract him.
"Your skill in Soresu has diminished old man. While my ability with a saber has only multiplied, and become stronger!" Vader boomed and sent a Force swipe at his old master who spun at being pushed but refocused quickly on the dark lord.
"In time you too will become a victim of old age, Vader." Obi-Wan retorted with no trace of anger in his voice.
"You may have become stronger in the ways of body, but in the ways of the Force you still have much to learn about true power."
"I have power! My anger, my hatred, and disgust for YOU give me my power!" Vader boomingly seethed and slammed his saber down, and sent Obi-Wan stumbling back, as Vader attempted to upwards slash at the old man who flung himself aside, and pushed back at Vader who only seemed to be tapped backwards.
"What's the matter, my old master? Are you having trouble trying to mutilate me again?!" Again the dark lord seethed and sent flurries to the old mans sides attempting to break them, and Obi-Wan met them but continuously fell back against the mighty onslaught, as the Jedi master cursed his lack of continued practice out here on Tatooine.
"It was your own arrogance that caused your disfigurement Vader. I told you not to try and attack me, but you wouldn't listen, so believing in your own powers." Obi-Wan chided and Vader again sent a maddening fast set of jabs at his sides, then a slash at his head, then a slash to his feet, and Obi-Wan moved every time.
"Well your mistakes have been laid bare, master! You failed in keeping my children from me! The children of my wife!"
"Say her name Darth! Or are you still so childish that saying her name hurts you?!" Obi-Wan asked in a yell, as he sought to prove the still childish attitude of his old apprentice, who howled and slammed into his saber in an overpowering sweep of attacks from overhead.
"Padmé! Her name is Padmé, and I wish she could see the monster you are now!" Obi-Wan said and Vader again growled and threw Obi-Wan's saber off his own and then slammed his back down on Obi-Wan from over his right shoulder, and again, and again, and again, so fast that Obi-Wan could only hold his saber up diagonally and hope to ward off the slamming attacks, as they forced him to his knees. Vader had gone feral, his eyes glazed over in red, rage induced by the mentioning of her name made him unable to think anymore, as he brought his saber down over and over again. Never giving obi-Wan a moments rest, and forcing the old man to retreat more and more to his knees, and then lower, as the Jedi cringed. Finally, Obi-Wan rolled away as Vader stabbed down into the sand and heaved as his fury subsided as the Force prickled about him and his power. While off in the distance he could still hear his troopers fighting the droids Vader finally pressed the communications device he had and ordered Piett to engage the enemy Stardestroyer.
"You have failed a great many times, Obi-Wan, today shall be added to that list! For I shall conduct and end this war, and make the Empire mine, and my children's! A new age of peace and security!"
"I've heard this before Vader. It's as delusional now as it was before!" Obi-Wan declared again rising to a full but ever more shaky stand.
"I shall show you old man, that you should have joined with me, and not against me!" Vader then, again, spun his saber from side to side against his old master who fought and defended every step of the way, as Obi-Wan finally caught Vader's saber and brought his saber down to hold it there, before sending a push into him, and knocking Vader back some, as he attempted an arch to attack his head and take it off the dark lords shoulders, but only managed to cut a piece of his mask away, before Vader caught the saber with his own.
As a single yellow eye stared Obi-Wan down from the broken part of his mask, Vader took his right hand and ripped off his helmet and then mask exposing his face to Obi-Wan whose mouth dropped in a gasp of surprise.
"What's the matter master? Don't recognize your apprentice?" Vader asked in the voice of Anakin Skywalker, and noticeably growled and threw the Jedi's saber away, before spinning his own saber and then entering into another bout of flurries and jabs as Obi-Wan was too stunned to say anything. The Jedi master went back on the defensive and continued to ward off the endless succession of flurries and powerful slashes Vader threw into him over and over again.
"Now you see Obi-Wan," Vader said as he and his old master clashed again. "I am no longer the mutilated half machine you left behind! I have been fully remade!" He then knocked Obi-Wan's saber off to the right and sent an unbearably powerful left punch into the old man's stomach forcing him to the ground clutching his abdomen in pain, as Vader held his red saber to his head with a snarl but gleam of victory in his yellow eyes.
"Now, you are the defeated one at my feet, my master." Vader seethed the title and Obi-Wan looked up to his old apprentice still wheezing and trying to catch his breath from the massive blow.
"I….always….regretted…..leaving you like….that….Anakin." Obi-Wan said through heaves and gasps of breath but Vader only continued to glare.
"I…..thought…you…..would die! I….didn't….want you…..to be….trapped in that….suit!" He finally choked out and took a massive gulp of breath.
"What you wanted was for me to die? Oh, what a wonderful revelation Obi-Wan! With that in mind how could I possibly want you dead now?!" Vader sent a kick into the old man and sent him sprawling to the sand on his back, and made him cough.
"Then you took…her, away from me, and you hid my children from me! No more, old man! I lived through the life of a Jedi, and I suffered its hypocrisy and its attempt to drain all life and emotion from a person! You will not have my children to turn into droids! Devoid of their emotions and their true power!" Vader went on and kicked Kenobi and forced him to roll to his back again as Obi-Wan stared up at him with hurt and pain, both emotional and physical in his olden eyes. Seeing that oddly enough caused Vader to seemingly soften his glare. Still holding his crimson blade to the Jedi's neck Vader intoned.
"Tell me where my second child is, Kenobi. I may yet spare your life and take you as a prisoner." The blonde ex-Jedi declared and Obi-Wan eyed him critically. Mercy? From Darth Vader? Yet, Obi-Wan could sense a deep seeded longing inside the Sith lord. A longing for his family, the family he never had, and despite how much Obi-Wan wanted to deny it, Vader honestly cared for his children, whom he didn't even know, enough so, that he just wanted to take them and raise them himself.
'The last piece of Padmé in the galaxy. The two things those two created together, I suppose.' Obi-Wan mused and shakily got to his knees, while Vader kept his saber trained on his neck.
"Anakin…-"
"That name no longer holds any meaning to me." Vader rebuked and Obi-Wan sadly inclined his head before going on.
"Very well, Vader, your child, despite what you think, is being taken away as we speak. I can sense that you may wish to raise him on your own, but he will not be a Sith, so long as I draw breath. So, you may proceed to kill me then, Darth Vader." The Jedi said as he finally stood, and opened himself up to the death blow, as Vader scooped up the old Jedi's fallen saber.
Vader clutched his hilt with anger and anticipation, and yet….trepidation at the idea of killing Obi-Wan. However, before he could muse he looked up and saw a great many Imperial transports descending upon his position to aid in the battle still taking place, and unluckily for Vader, it served as the old masters opening. Cracking his eyes open Obi-Wan saw a momentarily distracted Vader and sent a Force wave at him and as Vader looked to him and growled he was thrown some feet away, and Obi-Wan, using the Force, charged off towards the shuttle where Bail and Luke were supposed to be in the dunes. Vader yelled in rage as he went back to a stand, snatched up his helmet, and quickly reattached it, so not to allow anyone else to see a fully healed and human body underneath his mask, and charged after Kenobi, in speeds he didn't know he had in him.
Staggering back against another smash to his face, Viathan reeled but snapped his saber up to catch the two descending on him in an X form. Kellia twirled off him and slashed at his side, but he reeled away from her, and threw his guard up again.
"Come, now boy, fight me like you mean it!" She fluidly slashed with one saber, followed by the next both in downward slashes, then swung both up and again he blocked both, and she then swung her body in mid air, and connected another kick to his face, and sent him falling back and tumbling through the sands of Tatooine. He flung himself away as she brought both sabers down with herself in a Force aided attempt to decapitate him, but she quickly ran at him and slashed wildly with both sabers. Twirling around, jumping, slashing, and swinging, this woman kept him blocking and falling back.
Viathan fell on purpose this time, and sent a kick and sent her falling backwards this time, but as he went to slash at her, she sent both legs back, and then kicked into his chest with great force, and he staggered again and coughed a wheezing cough before blocking her downward slashes once more. For the life of him Viathan couldn't understand how and why this Jedi fought so hard. Almost like a Sith marauder of old, as she just would let up and continued to wildly swing and spin her two sabers about and attempt to disorient and kill him.
"Fight me like a true Sith!" She bellowed and slammed both sabers at him from his left and he barely blocked her off, before spinning away and sending a kick of his own into her left ribs, but she merely cried in pain before snarling and returning to slashing at him successively and unrelentingly. Harnessing his best attempt in Ataru Viathan dropped low spun his body trying to hack her legs but she blocked. So he jumped high and slashed down, and she smashed against him and carried his momentum down, but then he flipped through the air to the side and sent several well aimed hacks at her, but she met and threw them off as she neared him again. As she spun both sabers at him he spun aside, and slashed at her side, and she caught it with one saber, but he quickly slid his own saber up along hers and cut the hilt in half finally evening the odds once more. However, much to his own annoyance he realized he cut his own red saber in two, leaving her with her blue saber, and she once more returned to her Makashi variant.
"The Emperor was supposed to send inquisitors after you. Either they are worse at tracking people then at first thought or-"
"I killed all three of the fools on Nar Shaddaa? Yes that one!" She said proudly and met his slash at her and spun it aside, and returned his attack with several side attacks, each he blocked, and then she swiped at his right, he blocked, and then she spun around and connected her left elbow into his face, and spun to her right and again slashed, but he blocked, as blood seeped down his face. They fell once more into a high paced set of jabs, slashes and swings. Parries, and feints forced both into defenses then they went on the attack.
"Your master, the Emperor, is a fool, and is in for the rudest awakening of his life, as I tear his Empire apart, planet by planet until I hold his old wrinkled body by the throat!" She howled and swiped hard and fast at him, and he threw the attacks aside, before launching back at her with a flurry of acrobatic leaping attacks,
"You will do no such thing, Jedi witch! I will see your body lie at my feet, beaten and broken!"
"Really? That will be a surprising day indeed when you beat me. By the way, how's the left hand?" She mocked and he snarled and attacked her in successive and wild parries. The dark side flowed through him and forced him to slam his saber down upon her wildly, once after and once again, in unrelenting slams. She only smiled, and met every slash and knew what she was doing, by making him far too angry, she forced him to go far too fast, and drop too many defenses.
As such Kellia caught another downward slash and threw him off before shoving her shoulder into him, and then kicking into him forcing him down, where she connected their blades and forced him to stop and only block and hold her off, as she slammed her booted foot into his legs several times to cause him pain and make him distracted, but as she did this again, he jerked his leg away and hit her left side, jumped up and connected a backhanded punch across her head and sent her reeling to the side, before he lifted his hands and she only had a split second opening to realize he was about to send a massive wave of lightning at her. Throwing her saber to her belt she lifted her hands and caught the massive blue tendrils in her hands as massive balls of lightning. He stepped forward slowly but sent massive shocks of additional power surging through his attack every time, and forced her back as it became harder and harder to ward off the lightening attack.
However as his rage subsided and his anger began ebbing away he felt himself grow weaker in ability to hold up his continued attack of lightning as it drained him slowly but surely of his energy, and sensing this, Kellia decided today was one of those days where she needed to tap into her own anger, and much to her own self-hatred and disgust she reeled back and redirected the lightning at the boy as the dark side swirled in her, and thus Viathan was hit and sent flying back quite far and began spazzing out and convulsing as the electric tendrils surged through him. His clothes smelt of burning as did his very flesh and he screamed and howled in pain as he landed almost an entire dune away from Kellia.
She however stood where she was and felt ever muscle cry out in pain and soreness, and looked over herself and noted several rips and tears in her tunic as well as some singing from uncaught lightning at her shoulder. Her hair was matted and damp with sweat, and she panted several times and felt drained and dehydrated. She scanned behind her and noticed a massive Imperial trooper army mowing down her droid units and sensed that above the world a battle was more than likely taking place.
"I suppose now is the right time to get off this rock." She commented to herself aloud, and sadly noted she could sense the Sith boy still alive but unconscious in the distance. However, she decided it was better to live to fight another day and kill the boy then, rather than kill him now and be shot down by Imperial blasters. With that in mind she forced her pain away and charged off toward the shuttle where the senator was meant to be waiting for her and master Obi-Wan.
As the transports containing the Imperial troopers descended upon the world of Tatooine, no one caught a single stowaway in one transport. that when landed this stowaway snuck off, as best she could with a single white cloak to guard her from the blistering twin suns. Leia exited the transport just as it began its re-ascent into the air and the troopers raced into the dunes of the desert to fight off a strange army of droids Leia swore she had seen before, but she did not have time to think on that. She knew she had to find Vader, or her father rather, and stop him from killing Bail. Because despite everything, she couldn't just let the man how raised her be brutally killed by Vader. So with her features hardened she looked about her and tried to sense where her father was, but only picked up his presence somewhere on the world, but not where exactly, and she silently cursed.
"This is what I get for not keeping up that darn Force training!" She said angrily and dumbly looked around for a clue, when she noticed a woman racing across the sands at speeds she couldn't believe. 'Now where is she going?' The princess from Alderaan asked herself, and decided to look into the Force as best she could, and to her delight and surprise the Force told her to follow her to find what she sought. So with a great heave of a sigh she ran after her, and again surprised herself with how fast she herself ran.
Vader ran after Kenobi with his legs burning in ache with how fast he was going. He could see the old man in the distance now and he stood before a group of other people and a ship, and with a growl the dark lord pushed himself even harder and faster to the group. When he finally did near Obi-Wan and the rest of the group stood forward as if to fight the Sith lord as Vader had already taken the Jedi masters saber.
"What now Obi-Wan? You have nothing left to fight me with, nothing to contend against me." Vader commented as he once again wore his slightly damaged mask, and Obi-Wan glared at him. However he didn't speak, as Vader glanced to a wide eyed and helpless senator Organa. "I thank you for leading me here at last, senator. It would seem that now is the moment in which you have outlived your usefulness." Vader mocked and activated his saber, but first looked to two others he recognized. The Lars family.
"Owen and Beru Lars. It has been far too long, but not long enough really. I had hoped to never having to see you two again." Vader seethed and Owen pushed Beru behind him as if he could protect her.
"You will not take him away from here, Darth." Obi-Wan said, and Vader finally stopped for a moment and registered Obi-Wan had said 'him,' twice. 'A son.'
"So, I have a son and a daughter? I must say Obi-Wan your failure will be made all the more sweeter when I take them away from here, and give them everything they would ever need. Never should they go wanting again, and really, bringing a boy to Tatooine? A world of slavers, gangsters, Hutts, and poverty Obi-Wan? What kind of idiotic plan was that? Did you want the evils of the Outer-Rim to try and push him towards darkness, regret and sadness? Or did you hope it would somehow empower him to fight against evil? There is nothing on this world for him or me, and you are more the fool for thinking so!" Vader bellowed and loudly enough that everyone except Obi-Wan involuntarily stepped back. Vader slowly approached and brought his crimson saber before himself and illuminated a fierce and intimidating red glow across his black armor and clothing.
However before Vader could approach anymore he saw a small figure, a boy, a blonde haired and blue eyed boy, and the boy didn't look afraid of him. Rather, he seemed intrigued, and slowly approached even as Owen tried to grab him and pull him back and Obi-Wan looked to the boy in stunned silence.
"Ar…are you looking for me?" The boy asked coming to stand before everyone including Obi-Wan.
"Luke, get back!" Beru called to him, but he only looked back at her over his shoulder sadly before looking to the stunned and still dark lord.
"Yes, yes I am….Luke. Do you know who I am?" Vader finally asked and Luke slowly nodded as fear slowly prickled at his senses.
"You…you're lord Vader. I've heard about you. Everyone says you're the scariest person in the whole galaxy." Luke said with trepidation.
"Do you believe that?"
"No…well, you're scary, but I'm not afraid of you. You don't seem so bad." Luke said in a way only a young boy could, in an almost endearing but naïve manner, and Vader unconsciously lowered his saber, and bent down to the boys eye level as everyone took in a gasp of breath, as Luke approached further.
"Do you know who I am….besides the scariest man in all the galaxy?"
"I think so, I heard from Ben, and uncle Owen and Beru, and that guy when they thought I wasn't paying attention." Luke said as he pointed lazily to Bail as, 'that guy,' and turned back to Vader.
"You're my dad….right?"
Vader nodded once as his one exposed eye in his broken mask showed a brilliant blue eye, devoid of the Sith yellow and the dark side as he looked upon his son, his beautiful son, the son of Padmé and he!
"I…I am, Luke. I am your father. Despite whatever, they" Vader said glaring up to the group, "may have told you, I am your father."
"Anakin Skywalker?" Luke asked with wonder in his blue orbs, and despite him not liking to hear that name anymore, Vader wouldn't dare risk scaring his boy, so he nodded.
"I want you to come with me, so. To meet with your sister, your twin sister. Who that man there took away from you and me when you were just babies." Vader declared and looked to Bail and Obi-Wan who stood back and stared back to Vader with an equal glare. Luke looked back at both Bail and Ben with an unasked question in his eyes before turning back to Vader.
"I have a sister?!" He asked with a little excitement coming into his voice and an ever small smile playing across his face, and behind his mask Vader found himself smiling in return.
"Yes, son. Her name is Leia, and she is sure to be surprised and excited to meet you when I return to her with you by my side." Vader said and extended his gloved left hand, as his right still lowly held his saber. Luke looked back to Owen and Beru, before looking to Vader again.
"If I go will you please leave uncle Owen and aunt Beru alone? Please…." Luke asked with pleading eyes, and then he seemed to remember something else.
"And, and Ben and him." Luke said pointing to Obi-Wan and Bail Organa who looked at the boy in awe as he made a request on their behalf to the dark lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. His eyes hardened as he looked at the group, and he sneered behind his mask, but then looked into the pleading blue eyes of his son, his own eyes. Before he finally inclined his head just once.
"If you come with me quietly and without attempting to run away from me, son, I will do as you have asked." Luke smiled brilliantly to his father and then nodded once as well, before turning to the others.
"I gotta go with him Uncle Owen, aunt Beru." Luke said as he noticed tears in his aunts eyes.
"This way you'll be safe, all of you." He said matter of fact like in tone, as he did seem sad about leaving them, but with that he slowly turned to Vader and reached out to grab his extended hand.
However Luke suddenly seemed dizzy and fell as Vader quickly went to grab him, the boy flew backwards into the arm of obi-Wan who tossed the sleeping boy to the Lars's and then pulled his blue saber from Vader's belt. The dark lord rose to a stand and howled in rage through his respirator, and stepped forward.
"How dare you, Kenobi! After what that boy did for you, you would now betray his trust?!"
"I will not allow him to become what you are and what you want Leia to be Darth!" Obi-Wan turned to the other three who stood before the transport called down by Kellia. "Run onboard, get ready, and I'll be along shortly!" He called as Vader brought his saber down on him and they ran onto the transport.
"I will end you Kenobi! But, not before I end him!" Vader cried and jumped over Obi-Wan and landed before Bail Organa who staggered back shocked and in terror.
"This is for keeping my daughter from me Organa." Vader whispered and brought his saber above his head as bail cowered back, but before he could bring the blow another blue saber caught his, and threw him off to the side. He jerked to his left to see a Jedi woman holding a blue saber and a hard look upon her face.
"Little Jedi!"
"Dog of the Emperor!" She spat back at him as Obi-Wan came beside her. Vader however, did not lose sight of Organa. He would not allow his prize to escape. So, sending an overpowering dark blast of Force energy at the two Jedi, Vader turned and grabbed Bail by his collar and tossed him to the sandy ground beneath.
"No matter what happens this day, Organa, I will make you pay!" Vader once more raised his saber and readied the blow, but yet again he was stopped, but not by a saber, but a voice.
"Stop!" Called the small voice and Vader looked to his right and saw Leia heaving her breaths and running forward. With wide eyes Vader turned to her.
"Leia? What are you doing here?" She skidded to a stop, and brought her hands to her knees as she huffed in and out the stiff hot air of Tatooine before looking up to Vader with pleading brown eyes, eyes that looked so much like Padmés.
"Please, father…" She trailed off and looked at Bail for the first time since he left Alderaan all those many days ago, with sad, but still angry eyes, before looking to Vader.
"Father, please don't kill him. I beg you, just let him go, and I promise to…..to never try and run away from you." She said pleadingly as she neared Vader, who she could see had a broken piece of his mask, and could see a single blue eye looking to her, and for some reason she never thought it would be blue, or any color really. She always expected his eyed to be those of a monster. This eye however seemed…..sad.
"Please father, I don't want him to die! Just let him, and everyone else go, and we'll go back to Coruscant. You and me." She said with a heavy heart as she neared him even closer and looked up to him. As a memory flashed through his mind and he saw Padmé pleading with him to run away with her as the Republic fell. Now those same pleading brown orbs were filling with unshed tears and Vader could feel his chest pang again looking at his daughter, as she finally reached out and grabbed his dark robes that hung around his legs. He looked down at her as the two Jedi rose to stands once more and watched the scene unfold as the Sith lord was brought to a halt by two teen children.
Vader reached a tentative gloved hand out and touched the head of his daughter, and ran it across her brown hair, as he began to wane. She didn't seem to mind, and her willingness to allow him to touch her and be close to her, made Vader feel a torrent of emotions he didn't necessarily want to feel anymore. Even though they had his son, Luke, Vader knew in this moment he couldn't deny his daughter, and stepped away from Bail, who rushed to a stand and looked to Leia who silently urged him to leave her, and Vader glared at him through his broken mask.
"I would take the chance you all have once more be given. Before I change my mind." The three people present, Bail, Kellia, and Obi-Wan looked between one another and backed away towards the shuttle, and then broke into runs as they boarded, with only Bail casting a final stare at Leia and then boarded and the shuttle quickly took off, leaving Vader and Leia standing alone in the sands of Tatooine.
Vader deactivated his saber and re-clipped it to his belt, and hung his head low, and just stood there as Leia looked worriedly up at him.
"Thank you, for not killing them, father." She said again very tentatively, as he looked down to her.
"You were supposed to stay on the ship." He responded and she receded from looking at him as he seemingly rebuked her gratitude, but then he patted her head once more.
"Too much like me and your mother you are I think. Quick to action, and don't really like sitting around?" She glanced up to him, and sensed a hint of….pride? She allowed a ghost of a smile to come across her face as his musings felt…right to her in a way. Though she was still nervous around him.
After musing and silently brooding in silence Vader and Leia made back for the battlefield in silence. Not knowing that something very amazing had happened.
(Shuttle leaving Tatooine)
As the shuttle carrying the Lars family, Luke, Kellia, Obi-Wan, and Bail rose higher into the atmosphere and readied to leave the planet and jump to hyperspace as the Dawn had quickly been destroyed by the Exactor, a drama was unfolding on the ship.
Everyone had been elated to escape with their lives and Luke, the boy had suddenly been pulled from the arms of his aunt and uncle, and a red saber had ignited at his throat, and Kellia could have smacked herself for forgetting about him. The apprentice of Vader who now had a smirk on his face as he held the boy roughly his size at his chest and with a saber to Luke's unconscious throat.
"Come near me, and I assure you I shall kill him, and then end my own life for failing my master, and taking the life of his prize here." The boy snarled to them all, and both Kellia and obi-Wan approached, but when they got nearer he brought his saber far too close to Luke's neck and forced them to consider this boy may very well be unstable enough and loyal enough o kill Luke.
"My master will have his prize, and I shall deliver him. So be grateful that today you get to keep your lives." The boy seethed and slammed his elbow into an emergency open hatch and Luke in hand fell out the ship, and everyone rushed forward but were all too late to catch either one. Beru broke down, and Obi-Wan felt horrified while Kellia seethed and Bail sat down as he and everyone realized they had lost both children to Vader. They soon entered out of Tatooine orbit and jumped into hyperspace, not knowing what the future held.
Meanwhile Starkiller held the blonde boy his age close to himself and deactivated his blade and realized he was hundreds of feet into the air, and allowed the Force to guide him as he fell for what felt like hours, but really only minutes. Gripping the boy to him with his left arm, Starkiller kept his dark eyes trained on the sand as it grew closer and closer and then as the adrenaline pounded through him, and the Force cried out he threw his right arm back and sent a massive push into the ground beneath him sending tons of sand into the air, but also slowing his impact to a slow descent that in the end was merely a thump into the sand below as he rolled with the boy next to him through a dune several times, before coming to a halt. Just taking a minute to star up into the blistering hot clear skies of Tatooine, Starkiller picked the boy off him, and stood up and noted that he was a ways off from the rest of his masters legion and his master himself. However he looked to a tracer he had on him and saw they were all not too far away, and as such, Starkiller heaved the blonde boy over his shoulder so that he was hanging lazily over his shoulder and started a Force aided run back to his master. A smile plastered on his face as he did so. For he had once again succeeded in his mission, for his master.
Authors Note: Hey guys sorry I haven't been updating like a madman like usual but real life is finally rearing its ugly head again :( as such update will become slower than before, but I swear I will try my hardest to not make you wait months for an update again. So to hold you over this is the longest chapter I have EVER written and I think you will all like it and the ending especially! :D So please as usual please excuse or point out any and all grammatical errors, and enjoy! :D