The Way of the Order
Summary: Vader was never a Jedi. Instead he stayed on Tatooine where he discovered a Sith holocron with a Sith ghost living inside. A sith master that will do anything to its apprentice become stronger in the ways of the Dark Side.
Slowly Luke started to awaken. His blue eyes blinked a few times as he took in his surroundings. The child slowly pushed himself up and looked around the large cavern. A small pallet lay on the ground on which he had been asleep on. Sitting nearby on the floor, with legs crossed, his arm on his knee, his head rested in his arm, was Luke's father. He wore a black leather tunic. His dark blonde hair curled around his face. His right hand was completely gloved up to his elbow.
"Daddy!" Luke called seeing his father. At once he tried to get up but was jerked down before he could finish standing. Luke's head whipped around to notice his body was chained to the wall at his wrists and ankles.
"Da-daddy?" he cried as his blue eyes sought Vader. "Daddy why am I chained up? Daddy?"
The other figure said nothing. He didn't move. Just sat there staring. His gold eyes never wavering.
"Daddy!" the child cried again. "Let me out! Please! Let me out! Why am I chains?" The child's voice was getting more pained and more frantic. The father's free hand clenched into a fist. He bit down on his teeth as he listened to the pleading continue. "Daddy! Daddy!"
"Tell me," a dark voice said. At once the child quieted. His chest heaved in deep breaths as he fought off panic and sobs. "Where did you get that scar on your knee?" Luke's father asked.
Luke looked down. He wore a simple white tunic and pants. He pulled up his pant legs and saw a large pink scar that ran down the side of one his knees. He gently fingered the length of the scar. Then he laughed. It was not the laugh of a child. As the laughter faded into echoes in the cavern, gold eyes squinted at the father from the child.
"Vader. Vader. Vader," Luke said. His voice was no longer that of a sweet child. It was off. Distorted. It scratched against Vader's ears. "Still acting so cruel to your son?"
"You," Vader hissed, "are not my son. Get out of him."
"How many times have we been through this Vader?" the thing inside Luke asked. "The only way to free me from your son is to kill the boy."
"I will not accept that answer," Vader snarled back.
The not-Luke shrugged and sighed. "Still weak," he whispered. Then suddenly he shouted, "Still weak! I am trying to make you strong, Vader! Make you invincible! This child is a weakness. Cut him down!" Vader still sat unmoving and quiet. "Tell me I haven't already done my job as a good master and made you stronger already? Now that you're free of that pathetic wife and daughter?"
"You will not speak of them!" Vader roared as he jumped to his feet. The Sith inside Luke only laughed.
"See? See how much anger you have now? How much hatred? Pain? How much stronger in the Dark Side you have become? Let it go, Vader. You wish for revenge against the murderer of your wife and daughter, well he's right here." The Sith motioned to the body he inhabited. To Luke. "You're still the same boy that crashed his podracer into a canyon and rolled down into a cavern and found a Sith holocron. Found me. A Sith master trapped inside that infernal device. You are still the same. Still angry and burning with desire of revenge against all who have wronged you."
"You," Vader said as he pointed a finger at Luke, "are the one who killed my family. Not my son. Not my Luke. You."
"And your Luke is a weakness!" the Sith inside Luke hissed. "You are a Sith! You cannot love! It only holds you back. Unleash your power. Strike the boy down. No one will be able to stand above you. You can finally strike that fool Darth Sidious down and claim this galaxy as yours!"
Vader took a deep steadying breath. Then he turned on his heels and marched away.
"Don't run away!" the not-Luke screamed. "You are weak, Vader! You will never be a full Sith while this boy lives! You know it to be true! To become a true Sith one must strike down their master! It is the way of our Order!"
Vader said nothing. He didn't turn to face the creature using his young son's body and voice. He stalked out of the cavern, letting the accusing screams die behind him.
He made his way up the winding staircase that had been cut into the rock itself. It was a long trek until he made it to the thick blast doors. There was no control panel on this side. Only an intercom and a single button to call with. Vader pressed it. At once a voice responded.
"It's Vader," was all Vader had to say. The doors slowly slid open. He stepped through and the doors slid shut behind him. There was a heavy thunk as the doors rested into place and the locked settled. The two guards saluted Vader, who only ignored them and walked on. He made his way up from the lower levels of his palace, back to his own personal room.
Once there he walked across the room to the large balcony that gave him an impressive view of the sand dunes of Tatooine. He leaned against the railing as his eyes found the road that led to his palace from Mos Espa. Vader could make out the white skulls that lined the roadway on either side. Most of the skulls belonged to the now-extinct Tusken Raiders. Though there were other skulls mixed as well of various races. Many of which were the old slavers of this planet.
It was a testament to all who came here. To all who dared challenge Vader. Let the skulls speak for themselves. There had been those who hadn't heeded the warning. The Trade Federation had come to beg for trade deals with Vader once he controlled a nice portion of the galaxy. They thought to offer Vader a slave. He still recalled seeing her. Brown curls and brown eyes that burned with a fire. A fire that Vader easily recognized. She wore a skimpy slave outfit of gold metal and loose fabric. A giant collar hung heavily on her neck.
He marched over to her. The Federation ambassadors thought he was examining the slave. Instead he leaned over and whispered into her ear, "Take my blaster. Kill them. I won't stop you." He leaned back so she could read his eyes. See the truth there. He could clearly see her thinking through it. Was Vader telling her the truth? In the end she had only internally debated for mere seconds. Her chained hands grabbed at his blaster, she spun around, and expertly shot the two ambassadors and their two droid guards down.
Vader wasted no time in using his red lightsaber to free her from her chains. Then he took her to the processing wing to get her slave chip removed. She marveled at the others in the room. "What is this?" she whispered. Around the room all types of sentients were having their slave chips removed. From Twi'leks to humans to Wookies. Once the chips were removed they received a basic medical check up.
"Freedom," Vader replied. Her large eyes stared up at him. "Go have your chip removed," he told her. "I can arrange for a transport to take you back to wherever you wish to go."
He thought that would have been the end of her, but it wasn't. Somehow she found him in the maze of his palace. How she got pass his guards, he didn't know.
"I wanted to thank you," she said. She told him her story. She was Padme Amidala, former queen of Naboo. Her planet had successfully fought back against the Trade Federation when she was queen. In revenge, they had captured her and forced her into slavery where she had been ever since. "I don't want to go back to Naboo. Not yet," she told Vader.
Vader let out a small laugh. "I know that look," he said. "I know that tone of voice. You want revenge against those who did this to you."
"Yes," she said. "Those two earlier were just underlings. Even if I return home . . . I'll never be safe. I don't see them letting me go back. Once they know I'm free, they hunt me down."
"Then stay here," he offered and she did. The two fell in love and married. They had two wonderful little children. Twins. A boy and a girl. Luke and Leia.
A red light seared through Vader's memories. He recalled that night. Running into the room. Seeing Padme and Leia laying on the ground. Their heads twisted at odd angles. Their faces forever etched in fear. Luke's eyes glowing yellow in the light. A horrible grin twisted on his angelic features. A cruel laugh echoing across the room. The fight to subdue his son had not been easy. The Sith inside Luke held nothing back. It had cost Vader his right arm, but in the end he was able to knock his child out.
"My lord?" a voice called bringing Vader out of his thoughts.
"What is it Cody?" he asked as he turned to face the clone.
Vader's first conquest outside of Tatooine had been Geonosis. They had underestimated him. He laid claim to their droid factories and was able to build his first army. When the newly minted Empire came for him, he focused on the clones. He called them his brethren. They were slaves as he had once been, and he offered them freedom. Citizenship amongst his lands. He would remove their biochips, no more than slave chips, and allowed them free choice. Originally it was only a few who defected, but once word spread more and more clones joined Vader.
"Latest intel, sir. From the Empire," Cody said. He held out a holodisc. Vader took the disc. Vader had his own men wear black with a large gold V on the shoulder. Many of the clones simply painted their amour black. Cody was no exception. The clone saluted and promptly left.
Vader turned the holodisc on. A recording of the holonet played. The holograph showed Emperor Palpatine giving a speech, one that Vader barely listened to, but the speech was directed at him. The Emperor hated Vader, but to Vader, Palpatine was one of many he had pissed off. Vader now held much of the outer rim in the galactic south. It cut off a lot of trade and resources to not only the Empire but to the Hutts as well. Vader's combined bounty was a very impressive number.
But it didn't matter. In the end they would all fall. Like Jabba the Hutt had on this planet years ago. He had been Vader's first conquest after he found the Sith holocron with his Sith master inside of it in the desert canyon. Yet a dead Sith master wasn't the only thing Vader found down there, he also found a large cache of water. He would later learn it was Jabba's secret cache, but Vader piped it out. He sold the water off. For in the desert, water is worth more than gold. He used his new fortune to build his army and lead the assault against the Hutt.
It was not a quick battle. It was long and bloody. In the end the sands of Tatooine ran with blood, but the slavers were dead. The slaves were free and swore their loyalty to Vader. That was when Vader took his vengeance against the sand people for killing his mother. He killed them all. He lined the road to his new palace with their skulls along with the many slavers of the planet.
But Tatooine wasn't enough. Vader craved more. His water cache had run dry, but what was left behind was more valuable than water. Water was only precious on Tatooine. Ionite was precious throughout the whole galaxy. At the time the only other planet to have ionite was Bandomeer. How it had remained unnoticed on Tatooine, Vader didn't know. Miners had long ago settled on Tatooine. They sucked the planet dry and then abandoned it. The native Jawas used the old mining transports as caravans. Even Jabba had used an old mining facility as his palace.
It didn't matter to Vader in the end. The ionite provided him with not only wealth but power. Ionite could break through any energy field and could be made into explosives that would destroy defensive shields leaving Vader's enemies defenseless. It was how he was able to conquer Geonosis. It was how he was able to defeat any of the Hutts who came for revenge. By the time the galaxy realized the threat Vader possessed, it was too late. By then he lay claimed to multiple systems.
But Vader would freely hand over planets, whole systems, if it meant he could have his son back. His Sith master was right, he was weak. He couldn't kill his little boy. His innocent child. The only one Vader had left that he loved. Everyone else had been killed. His mother, his step family, his wife, and daughter. That only left Luke.
Vader looked back at the blue holograph of the Emperor. Vader sighed. He tossed the holodisc over his balcony. He turned and retreated back into his room. Into the cold, dark emptiness that awaited him.
Vader slowly and quietly made his way across the cavern. Luke lay sleeping on his palette. Vader placed the tray of food down. He slowly kneeled down next to his child. As gently as he could, he collected the boy into his arms. It wasn't easy to do without jostling the boy too much due to the thick chains, but Vader managed. He had done this before.
He cradled Luke to his chest. He kissed and petted the soft feathery blond hair. When Luke was asleep, he appeared as if he was fine. There was no parasitic Sith lord inside his mind. He was nothing more than Vader's child calmly asleep. Vader often wondered if his Sith master let Vader this close knowing the pain it caused him.
Sometimes, very rarely, would Luke wake up. It would be his Luke. The true Luke. It was how Vader knew his son wasn't dead. The two would be in tears. His poor son would apologize nonstop for killing his mother and sister. Vader would rock him and tell him it wasn't his fault. Eventually Luke would cry himself to sleep. The next time he awoke, Vader would meet with the Sith.
"So gentle, so loving," came a whisper that sent a shiver up Vader's spine. "So weak," Luke hissed. Vader looked down to see Luke's eyes open. Golden eyes. Vader slowly let Luke go. The Sith crawled back over to his bed. He looked at the food tray, but didn't touch it. He didn't eat in Vader's presence.
"I grow tired of this," not-Luke said.
"As do I," Vader grumbled in return. "Leave my son."
The Sith in the boy's body squinted his eyes at Vader. Then slowly a smile twisted across the pale cheeks of the boy. It was a horrible smile. "This ends now," the boy whispered. Before Vader could say anything, Luke's hand slammed into his neck. Only when he pulled it away did Vader notice the sharp piece of rock shaped into crude sharp needle. Blood started pouring at once from the neck wound.
"No!" Vader screamed as dashed over to the boy and placed his hands on the neck to slow the bleeding.
"The only way to save him," the Sith wheezed, "Is to free me."
It wasn't the metal chains keeping the Sith down here, but the Force dampening qualities each cuff had in them. If Vader undid the cuffs, the Sith would have access to the Force again. He cared not for Luke. If the boy bled out during a battle with Vader, so be it.
"No," Vader moaned as he realized his dilemma. The boy only laughed. Vader delved into the Force. He summoned all of his rage and hatred. He recalled holding his mother's limp body in the tent at the Tusken camp. He remembered seeing the charred remains of his step-brother and step-sister-in-law. He saw Padme's glossy eyes staring wide at him in horror. He saw Leia's mouth open in a silent scream. He felt the warm blood flowing through his flesh hand.
Vader dove into Luke's mind. Shattering the shields the Sith had built. "OUT!" Vader shouted. At once the Sith was on him. He appeared as an inky black creature with four taloned arms and two legs. A large mouth filled with sharp teeth opened and let out an ear-shattering scream. He lept at Vader. The claws sinking into him. His real body grew cold where the claws dug into him.
Vader summoned the Force to him and pushed the creature off. The claws left long gashes along his arms. Vader pictured himself holding a lightsaber, and thus it appeared. He swung his lightsaber and cut off one of the arms of the creature, who let out a loud screech. Suddenly the creature had a lightsaber in each arm. Three sabers. All red and brought up to ready position. Vader didn't hesitate. He ran forward. His own red saber clashing and hissing against the other three.
"You can't win Vader!" the creature shouted. "I am your master! I have taught you everything I know! I know all your moves because they are my moves, boy!"
Vader didn't react to the creature's words. He delved deeper into the Force. It allowed him to stay just one step ahead of the three lightsabers. If he allowed for any distraction it would be fatal. Vader had no doubt if he died here, he would die in the real world as well. He couldn't allow that. He wouldn't allow Luke to die either. The only option was for this Sith ghost to die.
He was brought back to the previous duel. To the room with the two corpses lying on the floor. Of the horrible laugh coming out from Vader's boy. Luke had been able to use the Force with such ease and finesse that spoke of years of use. More years than Luke was old. Vader had swung his right arm forward and at once it imploded on itself. The bones snapping and creaking and blood vessels popping. The Sith had been so satisfied by this pain, he hadn't noticed Vader coming in with his other hand. A sharp blow to the head knocked Luke off his feet. Vader knocked the child unconscious.
A screech from the monster brought Vader back to the fight. He jumped back away from the creature. He deactivated his lightsaber. It disappeared. He slumped to his knees. The beast was there instantly. Its lightsabers also had vanished. Claws tightened around Vader's neck.
"What are you doing, Vader?" it hissed. "Where has your fight gone? Do not tell me you mean to give up?"
Vader said nothing. The claws tightened their hold around him.
"Get up," the Sith hissed. "Fight me! The boy will die!"
The third arm grabbed Vader's right arm. It squeezed and the mechanical arm crunched and broke apart.
"Yes," the creature purred. "Yes. Let that anger consume you. Welcome the Dark Side."
"Yes," Vader said softly. He could sense the surprise from the creature. Vader leaned forward. "You were right master," Vader said. "I need to welcome the Dark Side." Vader's left arm lashed out and grabbed the creature by the throat. "I need to consume the anger!" Vader shouted. "Come now master! Be consumed by me!"
Vader pulled as hard as he could. He latched onto the Sith with all he head and pulled it towards him. The creature screamed. It's claws slashed at Vader, squeezed at his throat, but nothing stopped Vader from sucking the creature into him. The inky blackness was being stripped from the creature and flowing into Vader. He welcomed it in. The anger. The hatred. The darkness. He consumed it all. It coursed through his veins. Through his mind. He could feel the creature clawing inside of Vader. Hear its screeching now inside of Vader.
Vader withdrew from Luke's mind and entered his own mind. The Sith creature was pacing and snarling. Vader only smiled as he summoned all of his rage and all of his powers. No longer did he have to worry about Luke. For a brief moment he felt the fear coming off his master.
"It is the way of our Order, master," Vader said as he let his darkness completely crush and consume the Sith.
Vader leaned against the railing of the balcony of his bedroom. Night had settled on Tatooine bringing with it a cooling breeze. Vader's flesh hand gently rubbed up and down his right arm. He could feel the faint scars left from his battle with the Sith. It had left his arms crossed with thin slashes.
He turned to his room. He could make out the large bed and the small form that slept on it. Luke was sound asleep. There were no chains. No Force dampening cuffs. No parasitic Force ghosts. Just Vader's child deep asleep. Luke had not been left unscathed from the Sith. His mind had been injured. It left the child huge gaps of memory loss. It was perhaps for the best the boy didn't recall the death of his mother and sister. Yet some of his good memories of his family were gone as well.
Vader's mind had been changed as well after consuming his Sith master. His rage was quicker to rise. He was much quicker to lash out violently and often deadly. He found he was enjoying pain and suffering and fear much more than before. He was enjoying the darkness. In the end, it was a price Vader was willing to pay as long as he had his Luke back. He walked back into his room toward the child that Vader would scoop into his arms and hold all night. Every part of him thankful he was able to do so.