Chapter IV
The winds were howling very loudly, sand particles were flying everywhere. Almost nothing could be seen, except for five figures which were struggling to travel against the sandstorm.
Anakin Skywalker pressed a button beside the entrance of a building, the door slid open as Anakin quickly walked in followed by Vader, who was followed by everyone else. Qui-Gon quickly closed the door when they all finished going in.
"Mom! Mom! I'm home!" Anakin called, taking off his sandy cloak
"Dissen cozy" Jar Jar noted, looking around
Anakin's mother, Shmi Skywalker, who was a 40 year old woman, walked toward Anakin, she got startled by all the people in the house. Qui-Gon swore that she looked familiar for some reason he could not put his finger on.
"Oh my! Ani, what's this?" Shmi asked, still startled
"These are my friends mom. This is Padmé, and…" Anakin realised that he didn't know the names of the rest of them, so he muttered "…gee, I don't know any of your names"
"I am Qui-Gon Jinn, this is Luke Vader" Qui-Gon glanced at Vader, before glancing at Jar Jar, "And this is Jar Jar Binks."
R2-D2 let out beep, telling them all that he wanted to be announced, so Padmé did so by introducing R2 as their droids, Vader smiled and rolled his eyes, R2 was always like that.
Anakin then remembered something, so he turned to Padmé and exclaimed excitedly "I'm building a droid! You wanna see?"
"Anakin! why are they here?" Shmi asked, a bit stressed. Vader felt a tinge of pity, but cleared it out quickly, frowning.
"A sandstorm mom, listen" Everyone became silent, as they all heard the howling winds. Vader resisted the urge to frown deeper, how he hated sandstorms! They were worse than sand itself! Well, at least this would be the last sandstorm he'd ever face, for now at least.
"Your son offered us shelter" Qui-Gon piped in, politely
"Come on! Let me show you C-3PO!" Anakin exclaimed, Vader took one step to the direction Anakin, Padmé and R2 had gone, and then wondered if he should go. He decided against in and overheard what Qui-Gon and Shmi were saying. Qui-Gon took out five small pills, and handed them to Shmi.
"I have enough food for a meal." Qui-Gon offered
"Oh, thank you. Sorry if I was abrupt. I'll never get used to Anakin's surprises" Shmi confessed
Vader smiled slightly, connecting it to that statement he said to Dooku, years before in his point of view, "You'll see that I'm full of surprises", when he duelled that guy.
"He is a very special boy" Qui-Gon replied, Vader knew that to be true, that was exactly what led to his downfall.
Shmi looked at Qui-Gon, slightly smiling, as she stated, "I know.", Vader was about to leave, but Shmi remarked "You know, Luke, you remind me of my brother."
"I get that a lot." Vader lied, noting in his head that he looked a lot like his uncle, but his hair was straighter than his uncle's.
"Well, it's true actually, now that I think about it." Qui-Gon put his hand on his chin
"You know my brother?" Shmi asked, hope in her eyes, Qui-Gon sensed that she wanted to know where he was
"Yes. I don't know where he is right now though." Qui-Gon answered, Vader sobered, remembering that the last time his uncle visited him was when he was 7, no later than that.
"Oh. Ani really wants his uncle to come back… so… I thought…" Shmi stuttered, Vader put a hand on her shoulder
"I understand. And plus, I can clearly sense that even you want your brother to come back." Vader became more knowing and less angry than ever. This is what the Jedi wanted out of him.
"You're both Force-strong, aren't you?" Shmi asked, she knew very less about Force-strong people
"Yes. We both are. He's the Jedi here though" Vader looked at Qui-Gon for a while, and so did Shmi. Vader released his hold on Shmi and stood straight.
"And what are you?" Shmi asked, she knew there were Force sensitives that utilised the Force outside the Jedi Order.
"I don't know" Vader lowered his head at the honest confession. He was not Jedi, of course, and he wasn't Sith since he Time Travelled.
Qui-Gon realised, that Vader had some grievance that related to his loved ones, why else would he confess more to Shmi than to anyone else, despite, in her point of view, he's just a man that looked like her brother whom she met a few minutes before. Qui-Gon had faced a similar situation when he was just knighted, almost turned to the Dark Side because of it.
In all the conversation and musing, Qui-Gon almost didn't realise that his comm. link was chiming. Vader looked at Qui-Gon's utility belt, where the comm. link was nestled.
"Qui-Gon Jinn" Qui-Gon muttered into the cylindrical object
"Master?" Obi-Wan asked, Vader came closer to the comm, but kept a comfortable distance away from Qui-Gon.
"Obi-Wan, what's the problem?" Qui-Gon asked, concerned now
"There was a transmission sent by the Naboo Governor Bibble" Qui-Gon widened his eyes at that, while Vader did the opposite and narrowed his eyes
"What did the transmission say?" Vader suddenly asked, in a tone which he used in military situations. Vader felt a small sense of victory at commanding his former Master, at least his past self.
"Vader." Obi-Wan calmly greeted, yes the Padawan was wary of Vader, but he had nothing against the stranger, so he answered, "It says that the Trade Federation cut off their food supplies until the queen returns, and that the people are…" Obi-Wan seemed hesitant, before saying that damned word that the Empire would have no concern of, "…dying.", Vader frowned at that, as Obi-Wan bought up one more sentence, "He also said 'We must bow to their wishes'."
"What were the reactions of the others?" Vader suddenly asked, more out of interest
"Well… the queen was upset, but no reply was sent" Obi-Wan answered quickly
"It sounds like bait to establish a connection trace." Qui-Gon mused, Vader nodded in agreement, Shmi's lips formed a grim line in worry
"What if it true and the people are dying?" Obi-Wan worriedly asked
"Either way, we're running out of time." Qui-Gon turned off the comm. link, hanging up the call. Vader sensed something amidst. He was sure, that at that moment, Sidious and… Maul his name was? They were plotting to kill them, and he won't allow that, he won't allow Qui-Gon to get killed this time, even if it makes his arch-enemy, Obi-Wan Kenobi, crushed.
Sidious frowned, he had sensed a surge of power, on the planet Tatooine, two surges of power, actually. Like two things happened on that exact same planet that would determine the fate of the entire galaxy, this was either good or bad.
A communication trace from Naboo to Tatooine also proved that the Jedi and the young queen were in Tatooine.
He then focused on his apprentice, who was walking beside him, or at least, a hologram of him that was walking beside him. Darth Maul.
"Tatooine is sparsely populated. If the trace and the disturbance were correct, I will find them quickly, Master." Maul calmly stated.
"Move against the Jedi first, you will then have no difficulty taking the Queen back to Naboo, where she will sign the treaty." Sidious cackled
"At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have revenge." Maul sneered, he was raised to hate the Jedi.
"You have been well trained, my young apprentice" Sidious coaxed, then continued "They will be no match for you. Everything is going as planned. The Republic will soon be at my command.", the hologram of Maul faded, as Darth Sidious looked out at the city, wondering what the disturbances in the force could be about.
If it was a being, then he was very powerful, Sidious hoped that his apprentice was up for the task.
If he wasn't, well, that would be horrible… for him.
End of chapter! Anyway, I'm writing about my OC who's Shmi's brother in Yoda's Reformations in this story so much, since Vader's uncle is a huge turning point for him in this story, though that guy won't have an appearance in this story.