The diner was busy as ever, but Dex nonetheless spotted Obi Wan the moment he walked through the door. "Ah, Obi Wan, my favorite Jedi! What can I get for you buddy?" he greeted in his usual boisterous manner.
Obi Wan smiled. "I was hoping you could help me out with something. And perhaps a jawa juice."
"The jawa juice I can do. Flo! One jawa juice over here please," Dex called to the server droid. "Other thing, I can try. What have you got for me?" Dex took a seat across from Obi Wan.
Obi Wan took a holopuck from the pocket of his robes and switched it on. "Know anything about this guy?"
Obi Wan must have watched the recording a dozen times by now, but he still found himself transfixed. It wasn't just that the Sith was strong - though he clearly was. There was a certain fluidity and grace, a deadly beauty even, to the way he fought. Every movement was so clearly imbued with the force. Obi Wan had once had the privilege to watch Master Yoda sparring and found himself reminded of that despite the drastically different styles. The Sith's form was impeccable too. Obi Wan doubted that even the stodgiest of Jedi masters could find anything to complain about.
When it was over, Dex let out a low whistle. "He took out two Jedi?"
Obi Wan laughed bitterly. "Over the past year he's taken out at least four Jedi but probably closer to ten. And of course we have zero leads, no idea who he is, where he comes from, or even so much as what species he might be. We're chasing a ghost. I'm hoping you might be able to help me out there."
To Obi Wan's disappointment, Dex frowned. "Can't say I know any more than you do. I can ask around though. Maybe someone has come across him or knows someone who has."
Obi Wan sighed. If Dex hadn't heard of the assassin, he doubted there was much information to be had. "Thanks Dex. Anything you can come up with would be much appreciated."
"Ah, anything for my best customer," Dex replied with a wide grin.
It was nearly a full week before Obi Wan heard from Dex again. "What have you got for me, Dex?" he asked as the holo of the besalisk appeared in front of him.
"Not much," Dex admitted. "A name, but that's about it. A few have seen him, done jobs for him by the sound of it, but they're not talking. Far as I can tell, he scares the bantha piss out of everyone who's met him, and these are hardened bounty hunters and criminals mind you."
"Yes, I know you work with the best, Dex," Obi Wan said with a sideways smile. "So you have a name?"
"Yeah, got that. It's Vader. Lord Vader or Darth Vader is what everyone calls him."
Obi Wan frowned. That was obviously a Sith name, but that hardly told them anything they hadn't already assumed and was unlikely to be of any use in tracking down the assassin. "Anyone know what he looks like? What species? Any accent? Languages?"
Dex shook his head. "No one's seen him without the cloak and mask, and he uses a voice modulator so nothing to go off of there. Definitely fluent in Basic and Huttese, but any criminal worth their salt is."
Obi Wan nodded. "Thanks Dex. Send me the names of anyone you know of who's met him. And please let me know if you learn anything else."
"Of course, will do, master Jedi," Dex replied. "Better get back to the diner though… it's busy and Flo is getting her circuits in a knot."
Obi Wan smiled. "We can't have that. I'll talk to you later Dex," he said, ending the transmission.
He sighed. They had a name now, but Darth Vader was as much a phantom as ever.
Then - Six Weeks After the Invasion of Naboo
Anakin stood at the workbench, attempting to untangle a web of corroded wires. He wasn't sure this ion stabilizer was salvageable, but he knew Watto would be most unhappy to hear that, so he was sure going to try. There was a bit of metal wedged in there that didn't belong. Anakin gripped it between two gloved fingers and pulled. It wasn't coming out. He pulled harder but flinched as one of the wires brushed an exposed bit of his arm, leaving a small cut. Anakin wiped away the few drops of blood on his tunic and picked up a hydrospanner instead, wedging it under the piece of metal. Gradually it began to move free.
The bell on the door rang. Anakin looked up excitedly. Even though it had been weeks now, part of him still couldn't help hoping that the Jedi would come back for him. But instead a man wearing - was that Mandalorian armor? - walked in.
Anakin studied the stranger with interest. He had never seen a Mandalorian in person before but had come across Mandalorian weapons and jetpacks a few times which were invariably really wizard.
"Are you Anakin Skywalker?" the Mandalorian asked.
Anakin nodded tentatively, suddenly a bit suspicious.
"Is your master here?"
"That, I am," Watto called out, emerging from the back room.
"I'm here to buy the boy," the stranger remarked.
And just like that, Anakin felt as though his heart had stopped. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't. He looked pleadingy at Watto.
Watto gave the Mandalorian an unimpressed look. "Well, he's not going to come cheap. Just won a podrace, I'll have you know. How much have you got?"
"I'll give you 20 thousand peggats," the stranger said.
Watto's greedy eyes went wide. Anakin forgot how to breathe. All hope was gone. That price was plainly ridiculous, and he knew Watto would never pass it up.
His greed knowing no bounds, Watto countered with, "25".
"22," the stranger said firmly. "And you know you're getting a deal, so I'm not going any higher than that."
"Well… I suppose…" Watto said, "Only… but it will be fine. If he comes back he can have the mother. Uh yeah, you got yourself a deal."
Anakin watched paralyzed as the peggats were exchanged for a transmitter which he knew held the power of life and death over him.
"Well, come along boy," the Mandalorian said, beckoning to him.
Anakin thought he had forgotten how to move, but somehow shakily, he managed to follow the Mandalorian out of the shop. His new master turned down the street, and Anakin managed to get out, "Can… Can I say goodbye to Mom?"
The Mandalorian turned to look at him, expression unreadable behind the helmet. "I suppose so, but it will have to be quick. We don't have too much time to spare."
Anakin turned towards the entrance to the slave quarters that had been his home for almost as long as he could remember. He thought the Mandalorian would follow him in, but the armored man waited outside.
He saw his mom who was sweeping up never ending piles of the sand that somehow always found its way in. The sight was so normal, so ordinary, but he knew that this was the very last time he would ever see it. Though it had been ingrained in him since birth never to waste water, tears pricked at the corners of Anakin's eyes.
"Ani? What's wrong?" Mom asked. She instantly dropped the broom and wrapped him in a hug.
"Watto sold me," he managed to get out between sobs.
"No," Mom whispered. Then louder in a pained voice, "No! He can't… I can't…" Then she was crying too, a sight Anakin had never seen before, and it made him sob all the harder.
He wasn't sure how long they stayed like that. Finally, Mom took a step back, and wiped tears away on her sleeve. She looked into his eyes, and Anakin took a deep breath, wiping away his own tears.
"You must be strong now, Ani," she whispered.
"But I won't ever see you again." It wasn't a question.
"I will always be with you, right here," she said, holding Anakin's hand in hers and placing it over his heart. "You must go now. You are strong, and you will be alright without me."
Anakin knew that she was wrong though. If he were strong, it wouldn't have been so hard to force his legs to walk out that door and towards whatever his new life was.
The Mandalorian's ship was cool. A firespray gunship with extensive modifications by the look of it. In any other circumstances, Anakin would have been delighted by the opportunity to look at it up close.
The Mandalorian noticed Anakin's interest. "Have a look around if you want, but you'll have to be seated for takeoff."
Anakin nodded, then deciding it was probably safe to ask, "Where are we going, Master?"
"I'm not your master," the Manolorian replied. "Name's Jango Fett. I'm a bounty hunter. I was just hired to bring you to Arkanis, and I don't know where you're going from there."
"Oh." Anakin's heart sank a little further. The Mandalorian - Jango Fett - didn't seem cruel at least, but now he had no idea who had bought him.
Anakin could have sworn he heard Fett sigh, though the sound was muffled by his helmet. "It's just a job kid. Don't look at me like that."
Anakin looked away, suppressing the tears that threatened to fall. "I know."
Anakin sat in the seat Fett indicated to him. Despite himself, he was a little excited to actually fly off planet for the first time. Fett took the controls and brought them up, out of the atmosphere. Anakin was surprised at how small the planet that had encompassed all of his life up to now looked from here.
Fett turned to him. "You ever been in hyperspace?"
Anakin shook his head.
"It's a bit of a weird sensation at first, making the jump, but you'll get used to it."
With that, Fett pulled a lever, and Anakin felt a slight odd sensation in his stomach before the stars out the viewport stretched and combined into a canvas of formless swirling light.
"It's a short trip. We'll be there within the hour," Fett informed him.
When the Firespray landed, it was dark. Anakin saw a heavily armed Duros waiting. Something about the Duros gave him a bad feeling. He hoped this wasn't his new master. He followed Fett off the ship. The air around him felt oddly sticky.
"Didn't realize you were on this job too, Bane," Fett said to the Duros.
So he wasn't Anakin's new master then. Anakin felt some sense of relief, tempered by the fact that he still didn't know who was.
Bane shrugged, "Job's a job. And this is an easy one. Someone has more money than they know what to do with." He tossed Fett a bag of credits, and Fett handed him the transmitter.
Fett briefly looked inside the bag, nodded, then said, "Well, I'll be off then." Part of Anakin wanted to beg Fett not to go.
Unlike Fett, the Duros said no more than a few words to Anakin throughout the whole flight. Just "come here" and "sit" and "stay there". Anakin sat perfectly still. He didn't dare ask where they were going.
This trip lasted rather longer than the first one. By the end, Anakin was beginning to feel the first pangs of hunger. At one point Bane got out a ration bar and ate it, but he didn't offer Anakin any, and Anakin knew better than to ask.
When at last they landed, Bane said simply, "Out," and Anakin followed him off the ship into a dark and abandoned looking hangar bay.
A lone cloaked figure stood and without a word Bane handed him the transmitter, accepted a bag of credits, and took off.
Anakin stood there alone with the cloaked man. He couldn't see the man's face. Where Fett had seemed alright and Bane had unsettled him, he couldn't quite decide what to feel about this man.
"Come, Anakin. I've been waiting for you," the man said, his voice friendlier than Anakin had expected. Then, to his surprise, the man pulled down his hood, revealing the face of an older, gray haired man who was smiling down at him.
"Who are you?" Anakin wondered aloud.
To most, "I am Sheev Palpatine, Chancellor of the Republic," the man said, and Anakin gaped at him. "But to you, I am Darth Sidious," he continued. "You will call me master though I am not the sort you are accustomed to. I will be your teacher."
"Why?" was all Anakin managed.
Darth Sidious's smile widened. "I heard about you, and I know that you are special, Anakin. Qui Gon Jinn recognized it, but he died before he could train you."
Anakin frowned. "Qui Gon is dead?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so," Sidious confirmed.
"So… are you a Jedi too then?" Sidious had said he was the Chancellor of the Republic. Anakin wasn't exactly sure what that was, but it sounded like some kind of ruler, and he didn't think a Jedi could do that too.
Sidious chuckled. "No, but I understand their ways. The Jedi refused to train you. They thought it best that you remained on Tatooine, but I see your potential. I am something far greater than a Jedi, and one day you will be too."
Anakin frowned again. "What's greater than a Jedi?"
Sidious continued to smile only now it didn't seem friendly at all. "I will show you. But first… you are not going to be Anakin Skywalker anymore. Anakin was weak, and you are never to be weak. From now on, you are Darth Vader."
Anakin's frown deepened. He had to change his name? He didn't want to. How would his mom be able to find him if she was ever Free? But he understood that just like everything else his master told him, there was no choice in the matter. "Yes, master," he said, inclining his head.
The friendly smile returned. "Then we will be off. Come, Vader."
It took Anakin a moment to remember that that was him now.