Chapter 1 - The Last and First Day
Kshhhhhh
Darth Vader opened his eyes, confused. The last thing he remembered was burning pain, searing across his nerves like ice, on Mustafar. Kenobi severed his limbs and left him on the shore above a lava flow. Only rage, anchored deep in the Dark Side, kept Vader alive until his new master, Sidious, came for him. As the droids carried him, Vader slipped away, sure he would never wake again.
Kshhhhhh
Now he was on a slab, Palpatine at his side. He could move his fingers again, but it felt off. Reaching out with both the Force and his physical senses, he understood. His arm and legs were gone. It might have been debilitating, if Dooku hadn't removed his right hand years ago. Now he felt it as the familiar sensation of a bio-mechanical link between his body and the prosthetics. But it wasn't just arms and legs. He was more machine than man, now. The Dark Side of the Force suffused him and he reached out in response. Yes, everything about him was an amalgamation of cybernetics and flesh. His heart, his lungs, organs, muscles… It was all touched by technology.
And the pain.
Vader felt the burn deep in his skin still. As though he'd never left the molten planet.
Kshhhhhh
Distantly, like in a dream, he heard himself ask after Padme. Even if she had turned against him, she was his wife. She belonged to him! Kenobi could try to turn her all he wanted, Vader would have her back!
Then he heard Palpatine answer and a wrath like never before filled him. Not even finding his mother at the hands of the Tusken Raiders could compare to the jagged wound those words tore across his soul. His fury burned and the Dark Side offered fuel for the fire, as though it had been waiting. The strange helmet Sidious placed upon him took in his dark master's glee and Vader made a choice that changed the fate of the galaxy. He could feel it, clearer than ever before. The Dark Side flowed through his limbs, answering his call. Never had he known such power. Even at his height, Anakin Skywalker would be nothing before the Dark Lord of the Sith as he was now. The sound of metal groaning and twisting filled the operating room. Vader ripped himself free of the restraints tying him to the operating table and roared his rage to the galaxy.
Every force sensitive across the stars felt it. Sidious laughed, basking in it. Then he froze, turning towards his apprentice, eyes widening, as the wily politician realized what he had unleashed.
The Dark Side shivered in primal joy, for its champion had arrived.
Kshhhhhh
###
Despite everything, Obi-Wan Kenobi felt a sense of peace.
It was something he'd think impossible just a few short hours ago. He killed his first and only apprentice on the molten world of Mustafar. Some might quibble, given he'd left Anakin alive on the shores of a magma river, however, legless and armless, but for a damaged prosthetic hand, his end was certain. The toxic, sulfuric air near the lava flows and the burns the fallen Jedi suffered would claim him soon enough if they hadn't already. Cruel though it may be, and even though Anakin killed the younglings at the temple, it was more than Master Kenobi could bear to deal the finishing blow.
He and Anakin met on the desert planet of Tatooine long ago. The two should have been fellow padawans under Master Qui-Gon, but the return of the Sith put an end to that. So, Kenobi, barely past his own training, took the too old Skywalker as his student and did his best. In truth, he felt Anakin was more friend and brother than apprentice.
Maybe that was the problem.
Less than a day ago the grief and loss Kenobi felt was so great, he wondered if it was only his connection to the Force that kept him alive. Would his heart have given out if he didn't have the Light Side and his connection to Master Yoda, one of the few Jedi still living? Oh, there were others out there, scattered across the galaxy. Obi-Wan's connection to the Force was enough to tell him that. Like dying stars, he could feel the light of many lives flare brilliantly only to wink out as they became one with the Force.
But now, here, at this time and place, Obi-Wan Kenobi was at the center of a warm sun of peace and serenity. And it was all thanks to the two small lives he held in his arms. Their mother was already gone, lost to grief or… honestly he didn't know. Even the medic droids couldn't explain a reason for the death of Padme Amadala. It was as though she simply gave up. Kenobi knelt in the center of the small room on an ornamental rug and more firmly centered himself in the Force. Amid all the horror and death, while the Dark Side reared up, triumphant, he was able to find some small hope in the children.
"Luke and Leia," he said to the twins. As if in response, the girl looked up at him and squirmed, trying to cuddle closer perhaps. The boy waved a pudgy hand and grabbed the edge of Kenobi's robe. "What am I going to do with you? If you're anything like your father, I can't let you fall into the hands of the Sith."
That was when he felt it. The sensation, on the edge of his perception for days, suddenly made itself fully known.
Master Qui-Gon always talked about the living Force, but never before had Obi-Wan Kenobi felt it as he did at this moment. And because of that, he realized what darkness he felt in the days leading up to the assault on the Jedi temple.
The Dark Side reared up, looming over the temple as Anakin and the forces of Darth Sidious culled everyone they found. Since then, all Force sensitives across the galaxy felt something few could put into words. But now, Obi-Wan understood. The Dark Side itself spread like an inky black sludge in triumph. It was hard, if not impossible to separate the living Force from the sentient species sensitive to it. How much was the Dark Side itself verses the Dark Side users who long hid themselves away from the reach of the Republic and its Jedi? It would be hard to say before now.
No, this was the will of the Dark Side, rapturous not in victory over the light, but in the something else.
Anakin was alive.
Anakin was alive and Sidious lay dead. And the Dark Side approved.
"What is going on?" Obi-Wan wondered.
Come.
He felt the call. While not so precise as direct communication, the Force could reach out across the sea of stars for those who knew the ways. Yoda awaited him, somewhere distant. He left the twins in the care of the medic droids and before long turned the ship in the direction he felt guided towards.
Wherever it was, the planet was dark, dank, and full of life. Practically choking with it.
"Be safe, Master Yoda. And Force be with us all."
###
"You ever hear the name 'Vader' before?" a clone trooper stationed at one of the Senate's landing platforms asked his superior over comms.
"No, why?"
"We just got a message he'll be landing soon with news for the entire Empire."
"No, nothing is scheduled until Emperor Palpatine returns. Tell him all other craft are prohibited from Senate airspace."
"He didn't ask permission, sir. Said he was landing."
"Not here he isn't. I'm sending a team down to your position. If he tries anything shoot him down!"
"Sir!"
Within minutes a complement of troopers was ready on the landing pad with anti air weapons searching the sky for a shuttle. Then they saw it. "Nu-class overhead!" one of them called out and all weapons and systems turned as one to target the vessel. "Attention unknown shuttle! This is the Imperial Senate! During a state of war, we have authorization to shoot you down! Land at these coordinates," the clone ordered sending instructions for a nearby landing platform with even more troopers on standby. "and prepare to be boarded. If you do not follow these instructions we will open fire!"
Kshhhhhh
That was the first they heard in reply. An ominous sound, almost like a droid attempting a mimicry of living breath.
Kshhhhhh
"The war is over and your authorization is rescinded."
The troopers glanced at each other. They expected either compliance or resistance, not a denial of their very authority. And certainly not someone telling them the war was over. They all felt a cold shiver run through them. It wasn't just nerves, they actually felt the temperature drop and their heads up displays confirmed it. "By whose authority?"
"Mine."
Kshhhhhh
"Who are you?"
"Darth Vader. Lord of the Sith and Master of the Galactic Empire."
The comms crackled to life in their helmets and the troopers listened in. "We don't have that name in our records. Whoever he is, he's not with the Emperor."
The Captain nodded and raised his rifle. "You heard 'em! Open fire!" Before his men could follow the orders, they all heard metal groaning behind them. The AA gun twisted and buckled in on itself until nothing was left but a crumpled ball of scrap. Confused, they turned back to the shuttle and saw a figure emerge as the ramp extended. Whoever it was, they wore pitch black armor, reminiscent of clone trooper gear, but far more unsettling. The face plate was like a skull mask. Not from any specific species, but that made it worse. There were dozens of sentients who'd find the visage unsettling, as if it spoke of their own mortality. Even from a distance those cold black eyes watched them impassively, regarding them as little more than things. A minor annoyance to be dealt with.
The shuttle still hovered a dozen stories above the landing pad, but it didn't matter. The figure stepped off. As he dropped, the black cape whipped behind him, like the wings of a raptor on the wind.
Vader hit the metal platform with a bone jarring impact. The crater from his arrival was nearly a foot deep in the metal, but when he straightened up, he still stood a head taller than any clone. Blasters leveled at the living mystery, one asked, "How did you…?" not finishing the question. That wasn't the sort of impact anyone should survive. Even the Jedi. They might slow themselves with the Force, but they didn't impact like a meteor.
"I will speak with the Senate," he said.
The troopers, unsure, steadied themselves and waited.
"Ah," Vader said. "You were hoping to buy time for others." A rocket came screaming in towards the landing pad from a higher vantage point. Trailing smoke, the bright flame propelled it along making it hard to miss in the twilight of millions of lights all around them. Even in the night, the city-planet of Coruscant never truly went dark.
The black-armored cyborg held up a hand and the rocket slowed until it was only a few meters away, where it hung in the air, vibrating like an angry insect as it burned in a futile attempt to close the gap.
Vader closed his hand into a tight fist and the warhead detonated. The explosion which should have taken out a generous chunk of the platform didn't even stir his cape. Instead, a white hot sphere, like a small sun, lit the surroundings. No bigger than the dome of an astromech, seconds passed until it slowly fizzled out and the charred scrap that remained fell and disappeared into the lower levels.
"He's a Jedi! Open Fire!" the orders came over all headsets and every trooper obeyed.
Lasers lit up the landing, but before a single one touched the self declared ruler, one of Sidious lightsaber's flew from his belt and into his mechanical grasp. It ignited with a baleful red glow and Vader reflected every bolt. In the blink of an eye, all troopers were dead. The Sith looked up and saw a pair of clones frantically trying to load another rocket.
"Fools."
The ledge they stood on suddenly twisted and tore away. Vader didn't bother to watch them fall. Instead, he pulled a helmet off its deceased owner and towards him with the Force, catching it with his free hand.
"I know you can hear me," he said. "You will summon all Senators to the assembly where I will explain." What he would explain, he didn't say. However, every trooper in the command station felt their throats tighten. All of them tried to draw in deeper breaths, but they couldn't get enough air. "See to it," Vader said and suddenly it was over. Everyone was doubled over or on the ground gasping, drawing in lungfuls of air.
By security feeds, they followed this Darth Vader and his movements until he arrived at the central chamber where all the Galactic Senators met to deal with the issues of the day. Not that they passively allowed the stranger to waltz in. Several teams of clone troopers met their end attempting to stop this unknown Sith Lord, but they couldn't even force him to break stride.
Stepping into the Supreme Chancellor's repulsor pod, he waved a hand over the controls and under his command it ascended. Once there, he crossed his arms and waited. Silent and unmoving.