Chapter Text
Chapter one: Attack/Capitol of Valio
*NEW VERSION*
It was completely unnecessary that he be here.
Darth Vader was rather displeased with his current situation. Bitterly, he been set on a mission of destroying a possible factory of rebel weapons.
But to him, this was the emperors way of distracting him from his true mission.
Finding Luke Skywalker.
The Emperor knew Luke was powerful Of course he was. This wasn’t new information to Vader. The boy, although untrained, was pure potential.
In all seriousness though, there was something Vader understood which The Emperor likely refused to admit.
Skywalker was dangerous.
And even more so, Skywalker and Vader were dangerous.
It had been the first time in a long time to which Vader had been in control. Originally, Palpatine always had been. He had always been a servant to The Emperor, and now he finally was the one in power.
He had finally had cards in the game after being dealt none. And they were powerful ones.
The Emperor knew that if Vader and Luke were to be reunited, It would permentanly be the end of The Emperors Reign.
However it was clear that deep down, the Emperors knew this. So, he did his best to stop it. Sending Vader on indecent missions to distract him.
It was only a matter time before they were reunited though. Vader knew this. Palpatine was only slowing down his killing blow. It was only a matter of time, Vader just had to be patient.
Vader hasn’t ever been a patient man however. And the Emperor knew this as well.
This time, in order to delay Vader, The Emperor sent him to outer regions, far from where Luke had been spotted. He was doing simple work that could easily be done by an inquisitor. He sent him to Valio.
Valio was an unknown territorial planet, surrounded with a dark cloud of mist and long fields of green. There was a large citadel up ahead, to which the scanner read was filled with life forms. A base, perphaps?
This planet irritated him, and tested his patience further.
Upon arrival of the planet, something was not quite sitting well with Vader. As he stretched into the force inside this planet, it appeared to be attempting to tell Vader to leave Valio, screaming taunts of warning.
This wasn’t the first time he had felt this, no certainly not. It had appeared on Mustafar, on that dreadful day, and nearly every time he set inside the Emperors chambers.
“Lord Vader!” Said a muffled voice, a Stormtrooper of small stature. “We have picked transmission signals of approaching life forms.”
”Good” Vader answered strongly, the sounds of his breath filling the air. “Let them come to us, we shall see for ourselves what these weapons are.”
“Right away, Sir!” The Stormtrooper set off to join his fellow crew, leaving Vader to look off in the direction of the Citadel.
Vader reached in force, to detect the direction the rebels were.Yet…There was no answer. Odd. The fool of a stormtrooper must have been wrong.
“Watch out!” Vader heard someone yell. There were sounds of apparent screaming. Vader turned slowly , pushing further into the force. Still nothing. The force was silent, as if suddenly stopped listening to him.
Whether Vader used the light side or the dark side, the force always treated him well, like a reliable friend. This planet was making his connection to it….unstable.
A glimmer in the force appeared, stretching into Vaders mind. It was small, whispering danger. Vader attempted to clutch onto the fraction of the force but it fell out of reach. Clearly, this planet was unknown territory for a reason.
Vader looked around. He noticed the stormtrooper count was significantly smaller than it was moments ago. However, they were in a great field. It was unusual for them to simply disappear.
”Where did they go?!” Someone screamed far from him. Stormtroopers had their guns ready to fire, yet they were looking around, unsure of their target.
There was a dark flash, a screech, and a thud. It happened so quickly, and Vader distracted by his thoughts hadn’t seen it. With his powers denying him, it was getting increasingly difficult to understand his situation.
All the Stormtroopers were gone. At least 15 of them had suddenly vanished without a trace.
The sound of Vader respirator is the only noise that filled the surrounding mist, the dark hills stretching onward.
Vader was not afraid. No, he was angry.
Is this some pathetic ruse of the rebellion?
“Lord Vader, This certainly is a surprise.” Vader turned back slowly toward to citadel to see at least 50 men, all wearing Black full face masks with white exes around the eyes and red paint dripping from the mouths.
Vader didn’t sense them before, when did they appear?
Why didn’t he sense them?
Vader used his anger to fuel him, he didn’t need the force to fight such men.
They did not look like rebels though. Rebels did not dress in such odd choices of masks.
Their leader, a thin yet tall man stepped forward, his voice corrupted from his mask disguising it. “We were expecting someone else…But I believe you will work just as well.” The man lowered his face, placing his hands behind his back.
”I will not entertain the work of some children” Vader remarked bitterly. “Answer me, are you in allegiance with the Rebels?”
The man paused, sighing rather dramatically.
“You force users really don’t have a clue in the world, perhaps because you expect that pathetic power to tell you everything.”
Vader,
enraged
by the audacity of this man, fueled his anger. The force was more powerful than anything, not even the Death Star. He would teach this man a lesson, and make his last words cry out in agony for the force.
Vader ignited his lightsaber, his respirator filling the blank spaces of sound.
”I had a feeling you would do that.” The man said. The man lifted his hand, and instantly every man behind him was gone in a flash. Vader, slightly stunned by this move, didn’t let it phase him.
There was a loud groaning noise behind him, and Vader turned expectantly only to see nothing.
“Running like cowards?” He turned back to the leader. “It appears your confidence in yourselves outweighed your evidence” Vader said cruelly, sharpness in his voice.
“Awww shucks!” The leader said jokingly, and then paused. “Did you really expect us to fight you? We aren’t that foolish after all.”
There was something large approaching Vader from behind, but he couldn’t sense it in the force with the planet being out of wack. Every time It took a step, the very ground Vader stood on shook.
“Yes … We won’t fight you. But he will.” And the man vanished in a blink of an eye.
Vader turned, and he was staring face to face with a hideous monster. It’s face sharp, build almost like bat with large claws. It didn’t move but it made a large clicking noises as it stared at Vader.
Within an instant, it pounced. Vader dodged and swiftly attacked it with his lightsaber. The monster was quick as well, and dodged. Vader attempted to reach out into the force, but again to no avail.
But what came next surprised Vader. He felt himself being lifted off the ground. The Monster was using the force on him.
Vader threw his lightsaber forcing the monster to drop him.
“I’m impressed, the rest of force users we captured all couldn’t even handle the first attack without their power.” Rang the leaders voice somewhere behind him.
The monster was back in the fight within seconds, and having no force or lightsaber, Vader was defenseless. It threw a large rock and him which he barely managed to move out of the way from.
Vader heard the leader from behind him, but he was too distracted by the large beast.
Suddenly, two of devices attached to Vaders upper arms. Vader roared in pain, as sharp rods entered his raw flesh, piercing through his clothes. Immediately, Vader felt weaker. His breath suddenly felt too little, his energy felt too low, and he couldn’t suspend his weight with his legs. He fell to ground on one knee.
The monster noticed his weakened state .
It used the moment to its advantage, using the force to throw Vader across the plain. Vader was unable to move, too weak to move.
“It always ends the same however” The leader said stepping over, positioning himself to where he stood looming over Vader.
He felt so….weak. What in the world were these things? Vader’s eyes drooped, but he grunted to keep himself awake. His breath was uneasy and his head spun. He glanced down at the devices.
Force Binders…
These were not the normal kind though, they were dark with black locks, and blue light flowing through the metal. Force binders were simply used to take away the users ability to use the force, but the planet was doing that to Vader alone. These binders made him feel like he hadn’t eaten or slept in days. Vader never actually slept though, he never felt the side effects nowadays. But currently, he badly needed some.
His vision was blurring.
Stay….Awake…
Vader vision was going dark.
Was he dying? Perhaps….He…was too tired… No… He had to find…
Vaders breath was slowing down.
“Luke…” He murmured. The darkness was closing in on him, and he felt himself slipping out of consciousness.
Luke? Ahh, that’s right… he was next.”
That was the last thing Vader heard before darkness surrounded him, pulling him away from the light, almost like falling down a deep tunnel. His consciousness fell, and he was awake no more.
Vader woke with a start. The pain that surrounded him unusual. He was laid down on some cot, on his side, hands cuffed. He stood up instantly with reality crashing in. He had been captured by…those men. He was laying in an energy field cell, still having his force binders on.
Something was different though. As Vader sucked in his breath, there seemed to be a lack of oxygen, his lungs burning with pain. He coughed roughly, causing his whole body to scream with pain.
He wasn’t wearing his suit .
Instead, his full face mask had been replaced for a pathetic breathing mask, to which only covered his mouth and nose. His skin was rubbed harshly against some cloth black outfit, harboring a black hood, cape and gloves. The scars on his body burned like the fires of mustache against the forsaken clothes.
They had taken off his suit. Why?
To torture. Of course.
Wanting blood, Vader stood up from his cot to search for nearby Valio soldiers, simply to slaughter them.
“Ah ah ah, I would save your strength if I were you.”
Vader in his energy cell to his left, to which stood the leader from before.
“
You.”
Spat Vader. His voice sounding much more tinier and coarser than sand paper.
“Yes, me.” The leader stepped forward. “Welcome to our Valio Citadel, or rather should I say… prison.” The leaders was so cruel, it almost sounded like a droid.
Vader narrowed his eyes, it was odd to use his eyes normally, without his red lens corrupting his sight.
“Why am I
here.
” Vader demanded, pushing his chained hands against the energy field.
“You’ll see.” He continued, quickly adding “In time.”
“By the way,” said the leader as he started to leave, “Us Perrinok can kill you instantly with those force binders if you decide to act out of line. I suggest…. behaving .”
The door slammed behind the Perrinok, leaving Vader slightly stunned with this information.
These force binders…they were not just cuffs, but weapons . Weapons to kill the user.
These were the weapons Vader was brought to destroy .
Upon further inspection, they appeared to be solid beskar, nearly impossible to break.
Vader needed to think. He would get out of here. He just needed to think.
Vader mediated, trying to reaffirm his grasp in force, yet no matter how many times he finally found a flicker, it was snatched from his grasp, barely out of reach.
It had been a few hours, and Vader was interrupted by the sounds of grunting behind the door guarding his cage. A Perrinok guard marched in, carrying a hooded body that was unconscious but appeared to be heavy.
“Meet! Your new…*huff* roommate!” Said the guard as he carried the body to the cell on Vaders left. He tossed the body inside, causing the face the be turned away from Vader. The guard then rubbed his hands together as if to say “well that’s finally done”. The guard then let out a sigh and said,
“He’s not dead by the way. He should be up any moment.”
Vader couldn’t care less. He simply glared at the guard as he left the room. It’s clear that there was an enormous amount of guards in the facility, and with his binders it would increasingly difficult to not get caught and to get these things off of him before they killed him.
To put it simply, Vader was embarrassed by this defeat. The times he had been defeated were few and far between, so this hurt his pride. He would get revenge before Palpatine knew he was defeated.
Wait. Had The Emperor sent him on purpose? To be defeated?
It would make sense, this way it would be impossible for him to reunite with Skywalker.
He had sent him to fail.
Oh boy, did this enrage Vader. His patience was gone. He would kill The Emperor the next time he even saw a glimmer of him.
His thoughts were caught off when he noticed his “roommate” waking up. The man or boy (Vader couldn’t tell) let out some groans and attempted to push himself off the floor which he originally layed on.
The person had gotten to a sitting position and sat facing the cell entrance, his hand clutching his knee.
“God…what.happened?”
The voice sounded so familiar, but different. No doubt without Vaders suit, his hearing would be at a loss. He couldn’t sense his presence in the force either.
The boy (which Vader could tell by the sound of his voice turned slightly to face him. Vader was unable to see his face due to lighting however.
“Did those bastards get you too?” Asked the boy to Vader. The kids voice was small and weak, but again it sounded so familiar.
Vader stared, trying to get a read on this boy. Who was he?
Could he be..
No.
His son was with the rebels on some unknown base.
All of these thoughts were cut short as the boy stood and turned directly to look at his fellow prison mate.
Time itself seemed to stop flowing. Vaders mind went blank as he stared directly into the boys eyes. Silence filled the air, bringing sudden realization into Vaders mind.
It was Luke Skywalker.
End of chapter 1