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Chapter 4
They made it to Tatooine.
Leia Organa had much to think about as if present time.
She had her uncertainties about the man who apparently just teleported out of nowhere and claiming to be Jedi Knight, The Hero with No Fear, Anakin Skywalker.
Truth be told, Leia had no reason not to believe that the Empire wouldn't capture and torture her if it wasn't for the appearance of Anakin Skywalker. She'd prepared for it. But she'd hoped that she would be able to stand against Vader's own interrogation tactics. Very few encountered him and weren't the same afterwards. The Dark Lord was merciless, brutal, cruel.
The average citizen of the Galactic Empire did not even know he existed. He was the Emperor's right hand man and not formally part of the military hierarchy. Stories were told about him, as some kind of bogey monster, but they were even dismissed as mythical by most people. Leia personally doubted many people outside of those he interacted with in the military, and his enemies, ever came face to face with him-bounty hunters aside. But the Jedi amongst the Rebellion, most who have been hunted down and killed by the Dark Lord or one of the trained allies, were even pressed after such devastation amongst them. No one could rival Vader...
But maybe they had a second chance. Or rather, Leia had a second chance. If he made it to the Rebel Base on the Yavin IV.
Anakin Skywalker was one of the most SKILLED duelist in all of the Jedi Order if her father was being truthful and those countless recordings about the Clone Wars weren't exaggerated. He killed Count Dooku. According to rumors, the leader of the CIS fought well against the Grandmaster of the Order and managed to escape from him. Skywalker was also stated to be the most powerful, fastest and strongest Jedi of his Generation. He'd also been stated to be an unbeatable Pilot and an UNSTOPPABLE Warrior
Skywalker provided a great opportunity for the Rebel Alliance. If she could convince him in joining the Rebellion, they could have someone on their side who, in some ways, would be the "Vader" of the Rebellion. It was shown time and time again that only through combat could they defeat their enemies. Democracy was no longer even uttered. Probably never have been.
It was obvious that he'd taken the death of the Senator of Naboo harshly, implying a past connection of some sort that went deep. Discovering that she was dead clearly broke something within him. Shameful as it was, war didn't come without losses. Anakin Skywalker had to be on their side, to give the Rebellion a fighting chance that it truly needed.
They could have all the recruits in the galaxy, but it wouldn't come close to rival the Imperial Military, and Darth Vader when it came down to it. Vader would draw them out at their vulnerable points and burn the entire Rebellion to the ground.
Skywalker could decrease that chance.
For, if Leia was being truthful, the way he held himself on the Tantive IV caught her attention. It was beyond incredible. Stormtroopers fell one by one. And while they were forced to escape, Leia couldn't be too certain if Skywalker would have died if his mission was to kill them instead of fleeing.
Skywalker landed them on the outskirts of a nearby settlement. The landing wasn't too bad, but Leia had better. After helping them all onto the surface, she scowled as she looked down at the sand crawling up her dress. Wearing different overalls for this occasion would have been preferable, but she didn't have the time to change.
They made it to a town of some sort. Quite sandy if she was being truthful.
"Mos Espa," Skywalker said, disdain clear in his voice, "let's hope we're not here for long."
She got the distinct impression that he didn't like this planet.
"Knowing the Empire, it would only be a matter of time before they dispatch patrols to the surface to search for us," Leia responded.
"Mistress Leia, I have to rest. My joints are..." Threepio began to speak.
"Threepio, can you please be quiet," Leia said. She loved the golden-plated droid, but he was annoying sometimes.
"Ah, of course, Mistress Leia, I rather excel at being quiet. It is one of my-" Artoo swiveled his head around and beeped at his direction less than pleasing statements that have the protocol droid floored. "Don't you tell me to shut up, you bag of bolts."
Skywalker kept his concentration ahead, continuing to walk.
"What is next?" Leia asked after a while.
"We need to get us a change of clothes," Skywalker retorted, his voice composed, unevenly so. Ah, so he agreed with her that these clothes wouldn't do for this type of weather? "A speeder. And a bag."
It took an hour, but they found a vendor which had each necessities. Truthfully, Leia found herself thankful for the change of overalls. Someone needed something to keep the heat off their skin.
"You will give us a speeder-free of charge," Skywalker waved his hand in front of him at the vendor.
"I'll give you a speeder-free of charge," the man repeated automatically. Was that the Jedi mind tricks that were talked about in the ancient archives?
Skywalker placed on the bigger robes and a silky white cloak which hidden his lightsaber. It was nigh important that the droids wouldn't be captured, and when the Empire came onto the surface, questions would be asked. By then, they would hopefully find General Kenobi and bring him back to the Rebellion for help.
Skywalker elected to drive the speeder, wanting to make sure it wouldn't crash on them. Good. Leia could tell that this planet was different, VERY DIFFERENT, from Alderaan. Looked like one of them place consisting of scum and villainy, she had to admit.
"Do you... sense him?" Leia asked. At his neglecting to stare at her, she couldn't help but add, "My father said that Jedi could sense one another from some distances."
He closed his eyes and reached out into the Force. After what felt like hours, the Jedi Knight reopened them and frowned. "That's not how the Force works entirely. Force users only are able to detect use of the Force or disturbances in it. Kenobi isn't using the Force, and even if he is, it will be such a tiny blip that I wouldn't even notice it."
"Well luckily, I know where I can find him." Leia answered, thanking her father for the comlink he had given her before departure. The transmitter had tracking features-intentionally.
Skywalker gripped the comlink and followed the directions, landing them outside of a hut of some sort. Appreciative for the speeder, she remembered all of the times her father explained if she was ever to get captured or endangered, he could inform Kenobi of this, and he would come after her. Though that had never been necessary. All she heard from Kenobi was bedtime stories of the infamous duo of Kenobi and Skywalker when she was growing up.
Skywalker sat up and entered without care, leaving Leia to mumble. "You could always knock."
He mustn't have heard her or didn't care, for he didn't say anything to that.
When Leia entered behind him, she marveled at the place for a moment. It comprised a large room that was divided into a living room and a raised kitchen, and a bathroom as a separate room. A cellar contained a power generator and water and could be entered via a trapdoor. It was clear that someone added many of its comforts.
For a second, she feared that they may have intrude on a random nobody's property.
That was until she spotted an old man sitting on a chair. Leia didn't immediately recognize him to be honest. His hair and facial-hair color was white, skin color fair.
The old man slowly craned his head up and looked at the Princess, then at Skywalker. For some reason, there seemed to be something sharp flaring through the place. Skywalker looked with wide eyes, while Kenobi's face twisted into coldness. The man's blue-gray eyes went wide, blinking once-then twice.
"Anakin..." He said slowly.
"Obi-Wan..." The man returned.
There had been a disturbance in the Force.
The Sith Lord felt it. It was rather explosive and blinding. He felt it. The moment the Force shifted ever so slightly, and it was close. He would look into it shortly when he was finished with this insufferable mission.
For a brief moment in time, it shone even brighter, its Force signature on alarm and alert. It was clouded. Clearly trained but struggling. Perhaps another fallen Jedi at Vader's disposal. With the power this individual possessed, they could come to rival even the quarries of the Emperor.
He had to reach this vessel firstly.
One could hardly describe the Dark Lord as calm. But even through his anger, his inflection remained controlled. The only time he ever resorted to shouting was on rare occasions.
The Rebels just openly invaded Scarif, destroyed several Imperial starships, stole valuable military intelligence, and handed it off to the Tantive IV. Tantive IV was at the battle. Vader saw with his own two eyes Rebel Troopers running into the Tantive with the plans in their hands, giving it off to them before they evacuate the battle. No ambiguity at all, Vader saw everything himself.
This was two days ago.
And now the Captain of the ship, the very rebel ship Vader just witnessed break off from a military vessel attacking his fleet, the stupid fool had the audacity to try to weasel his way out of it, to Darth Vader, saying it was a councilor ship, on a diplomatic mission to a planet on the other side of the kriffing galaxy from where they are now, with no ties to the Rebellion whatsoever.
The fool he'd just snapped the neck of was the single stupidest asshole Vader ever had to deal with, and he felt like his intelligence had just been personally insulted.
This Rebellion was growing more and more infuriating by the day. Worse, it could have been avoided had the Emperor's stagnation not been increasingly obvious. The Empire refused to entertain diplomacy and wished to rule with an iron fist-forgoing palpable solutions and decreasing rebellions and those who may join them.
Something Vader personally disagreed with, but the Emperor continue to utilize.
"Lord Vader," the voice of a Clone cut into his musing, and the Sith Lord turned to stare at the man. A former trainer of cadets, relocated into his legion of the 501st, after the Kamino Uprising, Commander Cody stood loyally. "A squad of troopers have been found. Our technicians have dug into the security cameras and found something you should be aware of."
Not wishing to kill the competent Commander as Vader preferred to be far more lenient with the Clones than the normal human recruits, the Dark Lord squashed the urge and followed behind.
Stopping in front of the security cameras, the Dark Lord stared into the lenses and frowned in interest behind his mask as he'd spotted the Princess of Alderaan in the recording. He wasn't unsurprised.
He recalled this Princess from the Senate. Among the thousands of corrupt beings that operated in the amorphous body, he recalled her.
Her so-called 'mercy missions' had interfered with his endeavors to track down Rebels on many of the planets with unrest. Never enough to foil his missions entirely, but often key members of a terrorist cell would be relocated. With every incident lacking enough proof to tie the events to her directly his irritation had grown.
Since the Senate had still been required to keep the systems in line, he'd been unable to take appropriate action. Until now. His Master's plans for the Death Star were so close to being complete. The Senate no longer primary. At long last.
While the technological terror was insignificant, the move to dissolve the Senate pleased Vader to no end. Just a bunch of squabbling delegates with vision in mind and acting under the false pretense of democracy.
That was a until a man appeared in the recordings as well. A man with brunette hair, next to two other droids. The Force rippled powerfully around the man, too powerfully for Vader's liking. But no, it couldn't be. It just couldn't. Was this some sort of master decoy, searching for delusions of grandeur, following his favorite hero from the Clone Wars?
It was when the familiar lightsaber activated and the screams of the men that followed that Vader's heart froze. The man's eyes were clouded, the brunette hair waving slightly in the air, and the voice barking a command.
Anakin Skywalker.
Vader's blood went cold.
Anakin Skywalker.
How was this possible?
How could this be?
The Jedi Knight was weak and foolish. Incapable of leaving the Jedi Order. Being too weak to save his loved ones, ranging from his first Master, his mother, the many troopers at his command, to the loved of his life and their child...
For his failure, Skywalker perished to Vader on those steps of the Jedi Temple so many years. The very first elimination Darth Vader committed. He'd struck down the remnants of Skywalker before. What was this? How could this be?
'Did you really thought you would get rid of me that easily?' That scathing voice asked from the shadows within Vader's realm of his dark mind, cutting into his dull senses.
"Orders? Sir?"
Vader stared deeply into him. He wanted to unleash monstrosity into the room. The Explosion of the Dark Side rippled at his fingertips, threatening to spill out, and choke the lives of those around him. But what would it alter? Skywalker was not on this ship. He was on the surface of Tatooine. He should save his energy for the one who would be disposed of of.
Commander Cody was competent. Destroying him in a moment of ire would only result in him having to deal with someone perhaps far less half-witted.
So, Vader held his hand and commanded, "Anakin Skywalker must be considered public enemy number one! Order Officer Jir to send patrols to the surface. Lock down any space ports and make it known any ship attempting to leave will be destroyed."
"It will be done," the Commander retorted robotically. "Any more orders?"
The Sith Lord paused, his respirator cycling rhythmically.
SSSHHH HOHHHHHH...
SSSHHH HOHHHHHH...
SSSHHH HOHHHHHH...
"Make it know that Skywalker is not to be underestimated." Contempt entered his vocoder. "Any attempts to terminate Skywalker would be futile." Even Vader struggled in doing so long ago-in a lapse of judgment when he was slaughtering the Younglings and fought Kenobi on Mustafar. That costed him his limbs and left him to burn alive.
"Yes, sir," Cody replied but didn't leave behind to relay his orders. He waited. For years, since the death of Commander Appo at the hands of Roan Shryne on Kashyyyk, Cody proved himself competent and willing. From the Commander's time on Kamino, to loathing the training of human cadets, the Clone Commander have been someone who Vader came to see as an equal.
"Prepare my shuttle. I'll see to it personally." the Sith commanded, still sensing Skywalker dimly. And another, with him. Their auras combined, there was nothing to conceal these signatures. But the other...
Who might it be? It was something he haven't felt since... since when? Since the days of the Old Republic? Since Skywalker still wore the mask and believed himself powerful enough to save the woman who would come to betray him? Since Skywalker's hubris blinded him?
It didn't make of any sense. He'd crushed those who could have been enough to allow Skywalker to resurface. More and more, Vader began to question if this was a test. First, Skywalker, now this other signature that radiated with him distantly through the Force. Was it a sign of his Master's arrogance catching up with him? That if Vader was still capable of holding the Mantle of the Sith? Hypocrisy have been ever so long lasting, stagnation becoming more and more of a constant, fragile reminder, why Vader would have to destroy the Emperor shortly.
Alas, if it was, the Emperor would have not done it as offhandedly as this. It must be the Force retaliating. Yes, Vader realized the truth now.
So close, the Dark Side hummed in victory, contentment.
But the Light Side mourned and howled. Its champions were almost wiped out, defeated. The galaxy choked on baited breaths, pausing a moment before darkness would have rain on triumph, gifting the Dark Side with succession.
The Jedi Order failed, their stagnation and fear of the Dark Side, common misdirection from how the galaxy worked, finally destroying them once and for all.
The Light Side searched for an option, for a loophole to avoid a disaster. There were no more of a rival that could stand against the presences of the Dark Side. Those who passed into the Force were no longer of a use, and those who could have been chosen, would not have been enough. They were failures, born from the same mindset that the Jedi were, that ultimately destroyed them.
And Vader recognized now. He have been blind. Arrogant. He wasn't the last of the Jedi's religion. At least, that wasn't what the Force planned. The Light Side took a gamble and acted on it, refusing to allow the Dark Side to rule over the galaxy without opposition.
In its moment of arrogance by the Dark Side, futures and destinies were closed off...
And now, more questions were asked.
Namely... this tremor in the Force.
Unless...
Was it possible another remnant of Skywalker's past would hide on the planet Skywalker so envied-on a planet that was outside of the Republic and Empire? It was run by a criminal organization "the Hutts," they had nothing of value on the planet save for moisture vaporators. It was just a big ball of hot sandy desert. It was certain that Vader had no desire to go there until he had to retrieve the droids.
It was a speckle of pure brilliance and mastery of calculation.
The Commander nodded curtly. "And the Princess, sir?"
The Sith Lord rebuked. "She's priority number second. Not only will we finally put an end to the rebellion, Her Highness have led us to a new Jedi threat."
Cape dripping at his heel, Vader had no interest to remain on this ship any longer. His breathing agitated, furious, less than five minutes later, the Dark Lord began his trek to Tatooine. Soon, it would be time for Skywalker to meet his destiny once more.