Chapter 5 - Day Three: The Empire Strikes Back
Anakin doesn't even want to move when he wakes up the next morning. Moving hurts and everything hurts and getting going for the day means he'll have to face another day of this literal nightmare. He still doesn't understand how he could have Fallen. He feels so lost. He can't trust anything he's doing anymore.
He definitely can't trust that he should just be blindly following Palpatine's orders knowing that he's a Sith but then he remembers what he said to him and he doesn't know what to do. He's too scared to make any decision on his own, especially now. Both walking away and staying with the Empire feel wrong.
So all he can do is continue following the orders he was given and hope something is going to start making sense. Though nothing is making a grain of sense whatsoever yet and he doesn't have much hope that that's suddenly going to change.
Waiting at the head of the table for the meal that Lando invited the rebels to is unnecessarily dramatic, but Anakin's doing it anyway. It's also a little bit funny, and he sort of needs that right now.
It would be a bright sunny day, if Anakin could even see the sunlight. He can see the light, yes, but it's all tinted red.
He tries not to focus on that, though. He needs to be concentrating on the mission, no matter how much discomfort he's in.
It's not long before he senses the approaching the Force presence and the dining hall slide open.
Lando is standing to the side, and there are three other people there.
A dark-haired man who must be close to thirty, a towering Wookie, and a girl who looks around his age with dark hair – her features look a little familiar, but it's hard to tell when the lighting is so screwed up. It's easy to guess who each of them is, from what Anakin's heard about their identities.
"We would be honored if you would join us," he greets dryly, standing.
They all freeze. Han whips out a blaster instinctively, firing at him. Anakin flicks a hand, deflecting the shot aside with the Force. It's not something he does much, but he certainly can. He yanks the blaster away with the Force before Han can fire again, just as stormtroopers swarm in from behind them and behind Anakin.
"I had no choice. They arrived right before you did. I'm sorry," Lando says.
"I'm sorry too," Han replies icily.
Seeing them in person doesn't right off give the impression that they're just common terrorists. They don't look like it.
There were Separatists who were perfectly decent people, too. Just... misled. Or with legitimate reasons to do what they were, even if they were going about what they were doing all wrong. The same could be true about these three. They are his son's friends and he's going to at least give them points for that, until he knows what they're like.
Or maybe, they're the ones who are actually right and Anakin is the one who has absolutely no idea what he's doing. But it just doesn't feel like serving the Empire is any different from the Republic and yet –
Ugh.
The stormtroopers move to take the other three down below there they can be contained in Lando's containment cells, or at least something that can fit that purpose. Why does he even have something for that purpose?
This isn't any different than the criminals he arrests all the time as a Jedi, so he doesn't know why these three are catching his attention so much, especially the girl. There's just something about her...
"You have them all now. Can I take Solo?" Boba queries, approaching.
"Not yet." He's questioning them first and then – He doesn't want to just give someone over to the Hutts.
Boba doesn't seem happy, but he doesn't care about that. It's time to go talk to the other three.
They're all in the same cell and none of them look happy, though they immediately stand defensively next to each other when he enters the room alone. He can clearly feel their wariness.
"What do you want?" Leia demands.
"Luke isn't with you," Anakin observes. Which is perfectly obvious but he's saying it to watch and sense their reactions, to see if he can pick up on anything. He's not stupid enough to think they'll be willing to give him any information on Luke's whereabouts, no matter what he tries convincing them of.
All three of them go rigid at the name.
"The kid had other arrangements," Han replies.
"Meaning?"
"Fighting off your troops on Hoth?" Leia snaps, "We weren't exactly with him the whole time."
He can catch a flicker of endless snow and icy cold, from both Han and Chewbacca's mind. Leia's is... it's too well-shielded which is a little odd, but some people just naturally have stronger minds.
So clearly Luke was on Hoth, but they were separated in the attack. That's not really a surprise but he doesn't know how to go about finding him.
"So he relocated to your new rebel base?"
He doesn't catch anything specific enough to pinpoint anything this time.
"What do you want with him?" Leia demands, ignoring the question, not like he expected otherwise.
He doesn't even know the answer to that question himself. This is his child and it still doesn't feel real that he could even have one, but this is the only family he's aware of that he even has left. "I have no intention of harming him," he replies, debating what to say. They aren't going to believe him no matter what he says, most likely.
Chewbacca growls disbelievingly.
"So I suppose you just want to have a casual talk with him?" Leia asks, dubiously.
"Yes. But I do not expect you to believe me." Maybe if he talks to someone else in his family, some of this will actually start making sense but he rather doubts that.
They exchange glances with each other. "Well we don't happen to know where he is. We got separated, no thanks to your invasion," the girl replies, icily. There's a certain fire to her that reminds Anakin a little of Padme when she's in the Senate. He's not sure why. Though speaking of Padme, they do have some visible similarities though it's hard to tell when everything is tinted red. Not that it means anything. They couldn't really be related. Leia is from Alderaan.
The words feel like the truth and that leaves Anakin at a dead end. Not that he really thought he could get the answers out of them.
He'll have to just keep them here for now and hope that Luke will come to find them. If Luke's at all experienced in the Force, there's a chance he'll sense something. Maybe.
There's no use lingering, but... there's more Anakin's wondering and if he wants a picture on why the Rebellion is doing the things they are, maybe now is the best time to get those answers. But there's no good way to approach that topic with someone who's going to be suspicious of everything he says.
"What made you choose to start resisting the Empire?" he asks.
He can feel their flare of incredulity. They're all staring at him like he's lost his mind entirely.
"What difference does that make to you? And why are you asking?" Leia demands.
"I do not know much of the Rebellion's reasons from their perspective." Probably not wise to say that, but who'd they tell about this conversation anyway?
Chewbacca is the first to get over his seeming shock. "The Empire occupied and enslaved my planet," he growls.
That –
He'd say he can't believe they would do that but actually he can. It's not like the Republic didn't do extremely questionable things all the time, things that made them almost as bad as the Separatists. At the end of the day, it came down to a question of if what they were trying to fight for was better than the alternative, at least in theory. And after everything Anakin lost for the Republic, after how many of his boys he saw die, he couldn't believe anything else. And this Empire – it's what formed out of the Republic. This is what he fought for.
"They make it hard to need a reason," Han replies, exchanging a glance with Chewbacca. Something about it gives Anakin the feeling that there's a lot of history and closeness with them, maybe related to why they're both fighting the Empire.
"I've seen enough of how they crush the slightest resistance and how they occupy planets and take whatever they want from them, regardless of how much it hurts the populace. I don't think I need more reason than that," Leia replies flatly, "Haven't you seen that?"
It's not like he'd know from now, but again he knows the Republic did questionable things sometimes. Not that it makes it any better. He thought once that if Palpatine would have more power, he'd be able to make things better but that's not what he's seeing in the slightest.
But is that really surprising? He's a Sith. Anakin doesn't know his motivations for anything he's done –
"I thought more highly of your loyalty than this."
Ughhhh.
But...
How does he know that the Sith Empire hasn't become what Dooku was making the Separatists into? But even if it was, where else would he go? He can't fight to destroy the galaxy entirely, when this is the very thing he's spent his entire life fighting for and destroying that is only going to get more people killed. He has no idea what to think of anything anymore. But can he really side with the organization that destroyed the Jedi?
There's also the fact that these rebels' views on what the Empire is doing is undoubtedly biased and carefully leaving out all their own actions that provoked the Empire to react further.
"Were these matters not taken to the Senate?" Anakin inquires finally, instead of answering her question that he couldn't possibly give an answer to.
"We tried," she says steely, "I was in the Senate long enough myself to know how it worked. No one got anything done unless the Emperor wanted it. No one could speak openly about anything that opposed him – and it doesn't matter anymore because the Senate is gone."
Wait – "What?"
On second thought, he probably shouldn't have let that slip out because there's no way he shouldn't already know whatever she's referring to.
She eyes him oddly. "...The Senate was disbanded over a year ago."
Oh.
Wait... Palpatine disbanded the Senate? Frankly, Anakin doesn't much care. They never seemed to get anything done anyway.
But he needs to talk to Palpatine because he promised so many times when Anakin was young that if he ever had the power, he was going to make things better. He's had decades to do that now but if what these rebels are saying is true, it doesn't really seem like that happened. Not that he knows he can believe the Empire is right. It's... not.
But is the Rebellion right either?
"I will speak to the Emperor on your behalf," Anakin offers finally, turning to leave. There has to be something he can do. He – he has to. He can't trust himself to do anything, definitely not to decide what is or isn't right, but he knows how the Empire is treating the people can't be entirely right. It used to be the Republic though, so maybe there's still a way it can be fixed.
"You'll... what?" Leia repeats, practically spluttering.
Does offering that define as treason?
To be fair, he just wants to help the galaxy and if the Empire is the way to do that, he'll support it. It feels wrong, though, to be even thinking about supporting what destroyed the Jedi but – but. What would he do if he didn't stay? Join a group of people who are slaughtering countless others to seize control when he doesn't know that they're going to be any better?
He's so afraid that he's going to end up becoming exactly like he did in the future. What if he Falls here? He feels trapped, lost, and... Staying with Sidious is probably more a danger to end with himself Falling but the Republic and by default the Empire is what he always fought far, so he doesn't know.
"I am not supporting your Rebellion but I know even back in the Republic, there was... much corruption."
"Why are you – Since when did you have any... Haven't you always fought the Rebellion?" She's definitely spluttering now.
Oh, if only he knew the answer to that question. "Perhaps. But I have always fought for order and justice." Even if he has no idea what he's dealing with this time. He just needs to understand from Palpatine what's happening, why it doesn't seem like he's made much of anything better.
Or maybe the simple answer is that he's a Sith and he doesn't care, but he doesn't want to believe that unless he knows it.
Time to figure out what to do with Leia, Han and Chewbacca, though. That should probably be left up to Imperial law but they're Luke's friends, and... He doesn't want to hurt him like that, when his friends don't seem like bad people. Maybe he could try to convince them to aid him and Luke...
Once he has his head on straight about what he's supposed to be believing himself.
...Threepio must have been given to Luke, when he was growing up. That would be why he's here.
Anakin left the droid deactivated because it could be a risk, but... The droid doesn't remember him anyway. Maybe as a first... just something, he'll give these three the droid back, until look gets there. They couldn't use Threepio to escape anyway – Anakin knows the droid well enough and they're probably worried about it.
It's not as if the protocol droid even remembers him anymore. No one here does. Except Palpatine.
He heads out the door without another word, trying to ignore the desperate, aching loneliness eating him inside out. He needs to focus on what's going on with the galaxy right now. He's worried about that, too. Very worried. He needs to know what's going on here, for when he goes back to his own time.
If that happens.
Doesn't want to think about the if.
**w**
"Does he seem weird to you?" Han asks dubiously, the moment the door closes behind Vader.
"Definitely," Leia replies, flatly. She's never been so confused before. Vader never acted like this in the slightest in the past. He certainly never asked them their view on the fight. They never talked much at all, actually. He was always pretty quiet unless it involved questioning her. Not that she interacted with him more than very briefly, but still.
He certainly never expressed any potential sympathy for the Rebellion. So she has no idea where this peculiar attitude is coming from, suddenly. She rather doubts it's just to deceive them either because would purpose would that serve?
Chewie growls his agreement.
"Maybe Lando's not the only one having second thoughts about his loyalties," Han suggests, an obvious note of bitterness in his voice.
"Possibly," Leia admits. It's not like she knows anything about Vader, except that no one knows much about him. When she's around him, she could sometimes swear she senses that deep bitterness and emptiness she feels in so many of the rebels who have lost everything. Something bad obviously happened to him. And he seems to feel trapped here, like she knows many Imperials do. So maybe...
Instantly thinking about how she can maybe try to convince him to join the Rebellion is probably ridiculous. Though really, if someone like him did join them, the scales would be tipped enormously in their favor.
...She can't believe she's even thinking about this.
What would she even do? Bang on the cell door until someone answers it, then ask to speak to Vader? What if he's actually not sympathizing with the Rebellion at all but was just being... strange? No Imperial would react well to something like that.
And it would be a lie to say being around him doesn't make her uneasy. She hasn't forgotten the Death Star and she's... Well, very wary of actually initiating a conversation, but if she's thinking in the best interests of the Rebellion...
Okay, she's probably getting majorly ahead of herself. Right now, she can carefully test out the waters by how he handles the rest of this situation. Because they're all trapped here with no way of getting out and it's driving Leia crazy already. They're captives and she knows too much about what happens to those captured by the Empire. Anything could happen to them. If the Imperials decide to torture them or – or kill them, there's nothing they can do to escape. She has no idea how they're going to get out of this one.
It would be a lie to say she's not scared. The last time she was captured, she lost everything. It's haunted her ceaselessly since. She can never stop thinking it, remembering standing there watching as everything she ever knew exploded in front of her, knowing that her family was gone and she failed to save them.
She can't lose Han and Chewbacca too.
Hopefully Luke doesn't come to find them. She can't have something happen to him, too.
Glancing up at Han again, Leia can see how upset he's feeling. He obviously knew Lando well, and it's obviously hurting him.
Leia steps up to him, hesitantly touching his arm.
She still doesn't know how to feel about the conversation they had when they were hiding inside the space snake. About them. She knows how she felt toward Han, but she's been running from it since the moment she first realized what it was. She felt like that for Kier once and she lost him. And then she lost Alderaan and Kier died to keep Alderaan safe. What would he think of her now? The planet is gone, and she wasn't able to save it. If she gets close to Han like that... not that he isn't already her friend but still, it – she doesn't think she could handle that.
Han looks down at her, and she can see the look in his eyes, and she knows what it means. But maybe it's a good thing Chewie is here right now, because now isn't the time to have a conversation about it right now. Not when they've just been captured and need to be focused on finding some way out of here.
Chewie growls. "I don't know what he wants with Luke."
"I don't either, but I hope he doesn't come here," Leia replies, sighing.
Maybe something about Vader is... different, but if that really is true, then she'll perfectly capable of dealing with him herself. She doesn't want Luke anywhere near here.
There's a sudden noise in the hallway and then the door opens.
Leia scrambles a step away from Han, turning sharply to the doorway to see Vader standing there again. But what really freezes her entirely is that a very panicked looking Threepio is front of him.
"Threepio?!" Leia exclaims, eyes widening. She knew something happened to the droid but she had no idea how they would ever find it. But why is Vader bringing it to them?
"He is yours, is he not?"
"...Yes."
Vader twitches, staring her and then the droid a long moment. For a second, she catches a glimpse of that desperate, aching loneliness so sharply that it... almost hurts her, before he turns, disappearing out the door again.
"What was that all about?" Han asks, dubiously.
"I'm afraid I'm not quite sure," Threepio responds, looking around still alarmed, "When I was activated, he was right there. He shut me off again until bringing me here."
Well... this day keeps getting weirder and weirder.
**w**
Now that Anakin's going to call Palpatine, he can't ignore the anxiety flipping in his gut. He has no idea what's about to happen, if he's still going to be angry at him or... what.
And Palpatine lied to him. He never told him he was a Sith, that he was his master now and he doesn't know what that means about their relationship now. Palpatine was always there when he needed him and Anakin still can't stop wanting to trust him now, even when he knows he should be wary and he doesn't know what to do.
Palpatine doesn't answer the call right off, so while waiting, Anakin opens the holonet again, warily looking up Kashyyyk. It says a lot about an Imperial occupation and the Wookie terrorists fighting them for no reason, but there's no real details about it. Maybe what Chewbacca was saying was true. The Wookies were the Jedi's allies. He wouldn't be fighting the Empire unless...
It's obviously giving a lot of people reason to fight it. But it's not a battle they're going to win. There has to be another way that doesn't involve so much senseless death and destruction.
Anakin ends up having to wait a couple hours, growing increasingly restless all the while, before the call is returned, Palpatine's hooded figure materializing in the room.
"Yes?" he rasps, "Have you found young Skywalker?"
"Not yet... Your Excellency," Anakin replies, "But I have detained his friends and I believe he will come to find them." It feels wrong to be getting into contact with his child like this.
This is his son.
He – he wondered sometimes, what it would be like to have a child of his own, to be able to raise one who he could give the life he wanted to give Ahsoka and so many of his clones, to be able to keep them away from death and violence and let them just be... children. Even if that's something he hardly understands himself because he never got that.
But if he ever had a child, he wanted to do it right, but he didn't even get that in this future. The Jedi raised Luke to fight, to destroy the Republic. Does he have the same struggles with it that Ahsoka did? How has he been able to survive out there all alone? Who trained him to fight the Empire?
There's so much Anakin doesn't know about him. And he can't deny that he's growing increasingly desperate and maybe a little bit excited to finally find him, even if Luke probably won't be very happy to see him.
"Good," Palpatine murmurs, "But I sense that is not why you are calling me."
"No, it's – it is not, if you... have time?"
"Speak, my boy," he replies. For a moment, Anakin thinks it has the same indulgent tone Palpatine always used to use on him that he desperately misses. He just talks differently now, so it's not as easy to hear it.
"I don't know much about the state of the galaxy right now," Anakin starts, uncertainly, He doesn't know how to ask this without sounding disrespectful. "You have all the power you once told me you needed to root out corruption. But I have heard of... planets the Empire has hurt. I know it is not simple and the Rebellion is making matters worse, but the Empire doesn't appear to be doing a much better job than the Republic." He doesn't understand why the Empire seems so much worse. This isn't what he was fighting for, even if it feels flat-out wrong to be thinking that.
But is it really if the Empire is what destroyed the Jedi?
Even if it was after they turned on the Republic?
Force, this is so confusing.
He knows the Empire is wrong, but he doesn't know how wrong, just like he didn't fully know with the Republic either. The Republic made deals with slavers, after all.
He can feel Palpatine studying him and it's unsettling. Never used to be. He doesn't like the way it is now. "You have seen little as of yet, I see," Palpatine replies, "The Empire is far less corrupt than the Republic but rooting it all out when there is rampant self-interest is... difficult. Especially with the Rebellion on the loose, as it has been ever since the Empire formed. We must expend so much focus on them, there is little time for anything else. We may use force sometimes to keep planets under control but you are no stranger to that with the Republic, Anakin. The Jedi were no different, when it was necessary. Sometimes the few must suffer by their own choice, if the galaxy is to stand. You are well aware of that."
That's true. He knows it. He really hasn't seen anything that different than the Republic, except that the leadership never changes which really doesn't mean much of anything except giving Palpatine the chance to do more. But he just... This doesn't feel right. But maybe – maybe if the Rebellion would stop fighting, they could work something out.
"There is no way to work out a deal with them?" he asks hesitantly.
"The rebels are extremists. They cannot be reasoned with," Palpatine answers dismissively.
That's not the impression he got form talking to Leia but to be fair, she's not a Rebellion leader. She's just a member. Kind of like with the Separatists, then.
"Many of the Separatists became leadership in the Rebellion," Palpatine goes on, almost as though reading his thoughts.
"I... understand," Anakin acknowledges, even if he still feels lost. Doesn't think he'll be making any more sense of what's happening by continuing this conversation, though. "You – you never told me I was a Sith too."
Palpatine is quiet for a brief pause. "You no longer remember the choices has led to your decision. Whether or not you are a Sith or Jedi doesn't concern me. I know where your loyalties lie, regardless of which side of the Force you are choosing to use."
That... was not what he expected to hear. Not from a Sith. He was genuinely afraid that Palpatine was going to start insisting that he has to join him again but he's not. "It... doesn't matter to you if I'm not a Sith?" Anakin asks uncertainly, looking up at him.
"No," he agrees, "As I said, I know where your loyalties lie."
That makes sense, even if he can't imagine a Sith being that understanding. It's... weird. But this is Palpatine. Maybe he hasn't changed as much as it first seemed like. He did say that he was still loyal, that it was Anakin who wasn't. It makes him feel even more guilty now.
"Thank you," Anakin tells him quietly, because he feels like he should say something even if he doesn't know what.
"Now go," Palpatine instructs, "And bring young Skywalker to me."
He ends the call, leaving Anakin alone in the room, lost in thought. He feels a little more settled than earlier but only a little. Something still feels off about how Palpatine is acting and he doesn't really know why but something's not right.
Not right beyond the mere fact that he's a Sith.
Butright now, all he can do is wait and hope that Luke will show up soon.
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