Redemption Part 4

Redemption
Part 4: Decisions
By SJ 12-23-01/05-02 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)

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to George Lucas. I'm only writing stories for fun.
See my homepage for more details.
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Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her
help with the final editing of my new stories.) Thanks for giving
me some of your precious time, my friend :)
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Even though Anakin wasn't a Dark Lord anymore, he still had to accomplish his
duties in order to pretend that Lord Vader was still alive and obedient.

Hence, he oversaw all the operations aboard the intercepted ships, then
pretended to capture and brainwash his prisoners. However, he merely blocked
their rebel memories for a standard year.

He estimated that by then, he would have settled his business with the Emperor
and the rebels wouldn't be at risk anymore.

At least, he hoped so.

When he wasn't dealing with would-be Rebels, he kept an eye on the Fleet, trying
to discourage them from causing 'too' much damage when not needed... and he also
kept an eye on his son.

He and Luke hadn't talked for almost a week now, he thought seriously. Ever
since they had talked about using brainwashes to return parents to their
children, and his first vision of his daughter, they had remained distant...
almost cold. Since Luke was still under the yoke of the Emperor, he didn't know
exactly how to approach him. Hence, he 'did' prefer to remain away from him for
the time being.

He couldn't talk about his new plans with him, nor could he tell him that he had
seen Leia again, let alone that he had found a message from Padme.

Luke wouldn't understand his change of heart, he thought sadly; on the opposite,
his son might even unknowingly betray him to the Emperor.

No, he thought with fresh resolve, he didn't want to involve his son in his plan
just yet... He was still too devoted to the Emperor to trust him with his own
secrets. However, he reflected seriously, he would free him too; in time, he
would find a way to make him realize what he himself had realized, then he would
help him break free of his chains.

After all, he reminded himself, Luke was showing definite signs that despite his
darkness, his Light was still trying to shine in his heart. He himself
suspected that his love for his family and for Mara kept it alive and burning
despite what the Emperor was making him do.

However, he made a note to make 'sure' that his son would retain this feeling
for the time being... until the time would be right to free him.

As he watched his crew prepare for a jump into hyperspace, he dimly wished that
Leia would also appear to Luke and help him. Then, they would be together
again, and stronger than the Emperor.

They would be able to free the galaxy from his slavery.

Unfortunately, he had the strong feeling that Leia had had to choose a point of
anchor with the world of the living, and that given the presence of her mother
with him, she had chosen him.

Oh well, he mentally shrugged, he would find a way to reach his son's good
heart. More than even Mara Jade, he knew how to make it shine through the
darkness of their lives and, as he had once said to his then young boy, he
hadn't recovered and freed him only to enslave him to someone else.

He resolved to be true to his past words.

Around him, his ship lowly groaned as it prepared for its jump, then the stars
blurred into lines before being followed by the shifting pattern of hyperspace.

******

Not too far from there now, Luke equally stood on the bridge of his ship, he too
trying to maintain the illusion that nothing had changed.

Since Mara was still with him, he was doubly careful to not let any thought seep
through their link; he forced himself to focus on the present moment, to keep
his mind empty.

Unbeknown to her however, he had modified his tactic with the rebel
sympathizers. Instead of erasing their memories, he merely pushed them back
into their subconscious for the time being, aware that they would return, in a
few months. By then, he hoped that their return would be perfect for his own
plans against the Emperor.

He still hadn't figured out how he could even proceed with it, and the constant
presence of his beloved Mara was only reminding him that he would lose her the
moment that he would reveal his true self, but just as his sister believed in
his enduring Light, he now believed in his and Mara's enduring love.

They would weather the coming storm, he promised himself, slightly stepping
closer to her lithe, richly draped silhouette.

Sensing his closer presence, she tilted her head toward him and flashed him a
soft smile.

*What says we find a quiet corner once the troops return from their drop-off?*
she inquired lustfully.

*Haven't you had enough?* he teased her in kind.

*Of you?* she raised her left eyebrow questioningly, then smiled lovingly.
*Never in a hundred years.*

He returned her smile by leaning closer to her head as if they were sharing a
private moment.

*Considering my own feelings for you, my love,* he sent warmly, *I'd say it's a
miracle that we managed to fulfill missions while being separated for weeks on
end.*

*You have no idea,* she agreed with him even as she bowed her head shyly, as if
he had complimented her.

Before Luke could answer her though, Admiral Piett snapped to attention behind
them, far enough to give them their privacy, but close enough to disturb them.
Luke straightened and gave his best 'cold' glance at the man.

"Pardon me for the intrusion, my Lord," the other man bowed, then straightened.
"Lord Vader is waiting for you in the reception field."

Aware that he hadn't talked with his father for almost a week, Luke instantly
understood that it meant that something serious had happened.

"I'll take him in the private communication room," he answered, forcing himself
to recover his cool composure.

"I will stay here, my Lord," Mara informed him, assuming once again her role of
obedient, submissive courtesan/consort.

On impulse, Luke gently took hold of her closest hand and smooched her knuckles.

"We will continue this later on, Lady Jade."

He then turned away and headed for the nearby isolation room.

******

The moment that his son stepped within receiving range, Vader knew that he had
interrupted something with Mara Jade.

His son's complexion was slightly flushed, but only he who knew him very well
would see it.

"I trust that everything is all right, Father," he began seriously.

Anakin shook his head in answer.

Things were far from being all right, he reflected glumly. His life was no
longer what it used to be, he couldn't talk about this to anyone, not even his
own son, and the galaxy was still suffering under the yoke of the Emperor.

"We have just recovered a very peculiar escape ship," he informed him shortly.
"I think that you should take a look at it."

His son remained silent for a few seconds, pondering his request versus his
duties.

Anakin mentally crossed his fingers that he would come aboard; the sight of the
children refugees might just be what he needed to be able to rescue his son from
his spiritual prison. He knew that Luke cared a lot about children, no matter
their planet of origin in the galaxy. It was, he suspected, a remnant of his
experience of slavery, one which had been worse than even his own had been.

Thanks to him...

"I will leave immediately, Father," his son finally answered him. "We're still
a few hours away from you though, even in hyperspace."

"I will wait for your arrival before doing anything, Son," he commented
seriously. "I have already left orders to re-seal the ship and leave it
undisturbed until further orders."

A slight frown creased his son's features at that; Anakin understood that he was
beginning to wonder what this was all about. Soon, he thought earnestly, Luke
would have his answers. Perhaps then, he himself would be able to talk about
his secret with him.

Luke bid him farewell, then cut the transmission; Anakin also cut it, then
returned on the bridge of his flagship.

Something was going to happen soon; he could feel it.

He could only hope that it wouldn't be a bad surprise, he thought to himself.

******

After leaving Mara in their quarters, Luke boarded his shuttle and ordered his
pilots to take him to his father's flagship.

Once they made the transition into hyperspace, he retired to his small
quarters... then flopped on his bed and brought his hands behind his head.

It was all so complicated, he thought tiredly.

Not only did he have to hide his true self from his family and master, but he
also had to 'think' of a way to put an end to it while not hurting them.

And as if it wasn't enough, he kept reliving his rebel mission in his dreams,
except that in them, he was a true Freedom fighter... and the events went beyond
what he had experienced with the rebels. They also always finished with the
vision which his sister had shown to him.

Every night, he had to struggle to hide his nightmares from Mara. If she ever
saw them, or even became aware that he was having them, she would know that
something was wrong with him and would 'research' until she found the origin of
the problem.

He couldn't take that risk, he thought seriously.

However, he admitted wearily, he hated himself for keeping secrets from her. He
loved her more than anything else in the universe, couldn't imagine not having
her in his life; she was his second half, his best and only friend, the only
person who could truly understand him, and vice-versa.

Lately though, he had had no choice but to dampen their link while not cutting
it off so as to not rouse her suspicions. He didn't know if she was aware of
it, but he himself was and it added to his actual misery.

Then, as if Mara wasn't enough, he also had to cut himself off from his father.

His father had been devotedly serving the Emperor for almost twenty years now;
he had no doubts that his father would blindly obey their master and punish him
if he ever discovered the truth of his heart. On the other hand, he reflected
with slight hope, his father did care about the fate of the galaxy, and about
him. He too had also felt reluctant to orphan children with their latest
operations.

Perhaps there was hope that he could break through to him, he thought carefully,
but since he himself had also served the darkness for a while now, he didn't
allow himself to entertain false hopes. He knew that his father might equally
be lost to him. He closed his eyes on that thought, the vision of himself
fighting against his father coming back to his mind.

'Remember your destiny,' Leia had told him.

Was fighting against his father is destiny? Would he have to kill him?..
He wouldn't be able to do that, he thought sadly. Even if his father was
steeped in the Dark Side, he wasn't only a monster. He remembered more than a
few times when his father had genuinely loved him, cared for him, even protected
him...

He was a good man.

Things would be much easier for the both of them if he too could return to the
Light, he sighed tiredly.

Closing his eyes once again, he forced himself to empty his mind, to relax, if
only for a short while. In a few hours, he would have to resume his act of Dark
Lord while keeping his thoughts in tight check, and unlike when he had been a
'rebel', he wasn't driven by the Dark Side anymore. He had lost his edge to
keep this going forever, but he couldn't put an end to it just yet, he reminded
himself. Not yet, he told himself firmly, then truly set about entering a
rejuvenation trance.

******

Back aboard the Annihilator, Mara had retired to hers and Luke's quarters, then
shed her robes and put on a skin-tight catsuit before beginning a training
session.

As she dodged the combat droid's arm, then shot at the aiming remote, she tried
yet again to forget her worry about her lover. However, even demanding
exercising didn't help her to empty her mind.

Ever since the night when she had comforted him till early morning, something
had been different with him. He wasn't as close to her as he used to be,
perhaps not on the physical side since they were taking advantage of every spare
moment that they had to enjoy each other's company, but as far as their mental
bond went, something had changed. She couldn't read him as instantly as before,
and when she finally got something from him, she couldn't help but feel that he
was keeping things from her.

While they both respected each other's privacy of thoughts, he and her had
rarely, if ever, kept secrets from one another. Even when she had been jealous
of his Princess' book, he had allowed her to see for herself what were his true
feelings for the perfect stranger. So now that he was mourning his sister, she
wondered even as she barely avoided a powerful punch from the droid, why did he
feel like he had to keep things hidden from her.

Barely avoiding yet another lethal attack, she admitted defeat in her attempt to
change her mind; she reached out and turned off her training tools, then called
a towel to her hand.

While she wiped her face and neck, she turned toward the bay window which was
open into space and locked her gaze on a distant star that might be where her
boyfriend was at the moment.

'Luke,' she thought to herself, 'whatever it is, I promise that I would
understand if you told me.'

She didn't try to reach him though, aware that disturbing his meeting with his
father wouldn't be very appreciated by either men. When he'd come back however,
she promised herself to corner him and make him talk about what had taken away
his fire... his love.

******

On Coruscant, the Emperor read his latest reports concerning his fleet and its
commanders.

They had changed tactics twice within a single week?, he frowned slightly as he
read about how their orders had gone from killing to taking prisoners and
brainwash, to not even taking prisoners but brainwashing all the same.

The old ruler gazed up from his pad and locked his all-seeing glare on the vista
of Imperial City. Something was going on with his servants, he surmised. While
he was used to seeing them adapt their strategies to new variables, it was the
first time that their new strategy was sparing their targets.

They hadn't merely delayed their attack this time; they had completed it... and
released those rebellious scums. What did it mean? he wondered warily. Why did
they go to such lengths to keep those 'innocents' alive?

He suddenly growled lowly as he became aware that it suspiciously reminded him
of some accidents that had happened due to the boy's care when he had been
younger--- Determinate to find the missing piece of his puzzle, the Emperor
contacted his most efficient... and closest agent to the Vader clan.

The young woman answered his summon almost immediately, using her consort's
holonet to establish a visual connection between the two of them.

"What is thy bidding, Master?" Mara Jade queried respectfully.

"Have you and Young Vader enjoyed your time off, my Hand?" he asked coolly, as
if this were merely a social call.

The young woman raised her head to answer him; he noticed her puzzled expression
and smiled slightly to himself.

"...Yes, Master. Thank you for the permission."

"You earned it both," he answered shortly, then leaned closer to his
transmission field. "Tell me, my Hand, is Young Vader well these days?"

The fine definition of his holonet receiver allowed him to see every slight
shift of the young woman's features as she considered his question.

"As far as I can tell, Master," she finally answered him sincerely, "he grieves
his sister, but otherwise, everything is as usual."

"I see," he nodded as he leaned back in his chair.

So the boy was still grieving his foolish sister, he mused. Could this be
leading him to be less ruthless, he wondered in growing anger.

"Anything else caught your attention, my Hand? Perhaps a change in strategy?"
he suggested maliciously.

"No, Master," she answered, "As for his new strategy, he and his father didn't
want to orphan more children."

There it was, he smiled to himself, the element that nobody else had been able
to provide him with.

Care indeed.

Of course, he reflected with a sneer, his two Dark Lords were now out to make
sure that no family would ever be separated like theirs had been... He should
have known that they would be 'true' to their word. A little too much for his
taste, he sneered inwardly. He made mental note to monitor them more closely
during their next operations with 'innocents'. He could only be so lenient.

"I see," he commented with a barely contained sneer of derision, "Does it seem
to improve the situation?" he then asked mock-solicitously.

"It seems to, Master," the red-head answered him respectfully.

"Very well then," he nodded. "I trust that it will serve my purpose."

"It will, Master," his servant reassured him earnestly, a trait that she had
picked up from Young Vader, he noted yet again.

While he tolerated that the boy was not completely swayed to the Dark Side, no
matter how much he made him kill for him nor how much he used the dark powers to
serve him, he didn't appreciate that his other servants displayed signs that his
spontaneity and annoying good heart were rubbing off on them.

He would have to separate those two soon, he decided, then reflected that if
things went on as they did at the moment, he would soon have the perfect alibi
to force them apart without their being aware of it.

"Should it not," he warned the young woman, "they will hear from me, and, Mara
Jade, if you notice anything peculiar about our young grieving Dark Lord, inform
me immediately," he ordered her, implicitly reminding her that he was her
master, her foremost devotion.

"Yes, Master," his best servant bowed in acceptance.

He cut the transmission, then turned away from the throne room and back toward
his expanded viewport.

If the boy displayed just one more sign that displeased him, he decided darkly,
he was going to summon him here... and remind him where his loyalties laid.

******

Back in space, Luke's shuttle exited hyperspace and headed for the baying hangar
bay of his father's flagship.

He hadn't managed to get much rest, constantly resuming his thoughts and worries
about the future and his family instead of relaxing. However, what little rest
he had gotten had fortified him.

He was now ready to resume his cool mask of young Lord Vader.

He slowly stood up from his seat, then purposefully strode toward the boarding
ramp, then down from it until he was standing in front of his waiting father.

"Welcome aboard, Son," he welcomed him with barely a nod of his head.

"Thank you, Father," he answered in a similar fashion, then silently stepped up
to his side.

Together, they walked down the aisle of few gathered troopers and gunners.

"I trust that your short trip here went well," his father commented seriously.

"Yes," Luke answered shortly, then was tempted to add that he had been worried
about him, but restrained himself.

Since it wouldn't be his usual self, he assumed a cool attitude.

"Where is the mysterious ship?" he queried seriously.

His father gave him a short glance, as if he had felt something in his voice,
then indicated a corridor.

"In the secondary hangars; follow me," he invited him.

As he walked on beside him, Luke gazed at his father from the corner of his eye.

Darth Vader or not, he admitted that he was proud of his father, of the strong
being whom he had become.

"Now that I'm here," he asked as seriously as he could, "can you tell me what
this is all about?"

His father barely nodded in agreement.

"We found a passenger shuttle while we were patrolling on Line 245," he began
coolly.

The less traveled, and most-used-for-smuggling line of traffic, Luke instantly
identified in his mind. Given the presence of mini black holes in the area, the
'Death's Run', as it was called, was one of the most dangerous path of
navigation that one could choose.

"I take it that whoever sent the ship didn't want us to find it," he reflected
out loud.

"You couldn't be more right," his father answered cryptically as they entered
the secondary hangars.

Even though his father hadn't told him which ship was their destination, Luke
immediately spotted it; it was sitting alone within a cordon of heavily armed
stormtroopers. What pinpointed it to him though was not what he saw, but what
he felt.

Despair, fear... innocence.

He exchanged a confused gaze with his father; Vader remained impassive.

Silently, he and his father made their way toward the ship, then stepped inside
the cordon. Wordlessly, his father then lowered the boarding ramp and invited
him to take a look inside. Puzzled by his father's unusual attitude, the youth
climbed aboard--- and stopped short in his track.

There, gathered in the main lounge of the big shuttle, were no less than thirty
children obviously aged of less than fourteen years old.

He didn't need any other clue to understand what it meant: despite their new
tactics, children were still suffering.

He would have to move quicker against the Emperor.

Anakin followed his son up the ramp, then stopped behind him when he gasped in
shock. He knew that just as he himself had experienced earlier today, his son
had just realized that their strategy was not fulfilling their goal.

In front of them, the children cringed down on the deck, frightened beyond
belief at the sight of the two famed Dark Lords. If only they knew that they
didn't have to fear him anymore, he reflected sadly; if only he had listened to
Padme, way back when.

"Do we know where they're coming from?" his son finally inquired although he
continued to study the young, scared refugees.

"We're still working on the logs," he answered seriously. "They were encrypted,
obviously to prevent us from retracing their parents."

Luke sighed in comprehension, then slowly turned around until he was facing him;
Anakin reflexively sought his eyes; the compassion he saw under his cooler mask
relieved him.

"I think we need to talk, Father," he commented solemnly.

"Yes, we do," he agreed, then turned around and exited the shuttle.

Behind him, he heard the slight rustle of fabric against leather as his son took
a last gaze at their new charges, then followed him outside. Given his son's
obvious shock, he estimated that he would be open to hear about the truth of
their situation, and, most important, about the only solution that they could
use to reach their goal.

Of course, he reminded himself, he would have to wade carefully around him; his
good heart was more tempered than when he had been a child, but when he allowed
himself to relax, it always returned, pure, loving, earnest, and strong---- like
when he had gazed at the lost children.

Once they had both exited the ship, he turned his attention back to the closest
trooper and gave him orders to make sure that the children were properly fed and
cared for until new orders came in.

Then, he and his son silently headed for his quarters... and what would
undoubtedly be a serious, perhaps even dangerous discussion.

More children had lost their parents, Luke reflected glumly as he walked beside
his father. More parents had given up their children to protect them from the
Emperor.

He promised himself that he would find those parents and reunite all those
families, even if it took him years to do so.

Two minutes later, the double doors of his father's quarters opened upon their
approach, then closed once they were inside.

Alone at last, he thought even as he braced himself for what could be 'the' talk
that he had been hoping for.

"What are we going to do?" he asked his father seriously.

"Find their parents of course," was his answer.

Luke shook his head as he stepped around and in front of his father until he was
facing him.

"I mean, to prevent it from ever happening again," he specified.

"Well, we could always increase our spy resources and track them all down before
they can do anything," his father suggested as he turned away from him and began
to pace near his meditation chamber.

Luke snorted at his suggestion; he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Given the size of the galaxy, this is impossible to accomplish and you know it,
Father," he shrewdly pointed out.

His father stopped his pacing at that.

"Well, we can't simply kill them all," he commented, deathly quiet.

"Over my dead body," Luke reflexively retorted--- then realized that he had
allowed his mask to slip away. He hurried to conceal his true, renewed Jedi
self. "It wouldn't serve us well," he commented as coldly as he could.

Meanwhile, his father gazed at him even as he lightly probed him through the
Force; Luke made sure that he felt nothing out of the ordinary.

As Anakin lightly probed his son after his surprising remark, his hopes returned
to their normal rate. Luke wasn't back in the Light, but he didn't want to
witness a blood bath either. Well, then, he braced himself, he only had one
option to suggest.

It was now or never.

"If we can't kill all those troublemakers, then we can't really kill the cause
of their trouble... can we?" he inquired with just a note of dry humor that
would save his life if he had misread his son's heart.

For a long moment, the youth only gaped at him, his arms going limp at his sides
as he tried to process what he had just heard.

"You mean," he finally whispered, "the... Emperor?.." he asked hesitatingly.
The fact that his son understood what he meant 'and' that he hadn't threatened
him yet of retribution heartened Anakin. He stepped slightly closer to the
distraught youth.

"What if we killed him to save them all, Son?" he asked again, more explicitly.
Luke locked his blue gaze on his hidden one, a thousand thoughts obviously
racing all around his mind; he still remained silent.

"We would not only free them, but ourselves as well, Luke," he continued,
resting his hands on his son's broad shoulders.

The youth smiled slightly at this, as if the idea didn't completely disgust him,
then a flash of intelligence appeared briefly in his eyes, warning him that he
had just awaken from his temporary daze.

Unlike what Vader expected though, his son didn't draw away from him in anger;
instead, he seemed to relax from a tension that he hadn't been aware that he had
been feeling.

"Tell me, Father, have you seen Leia lately?" he asked him, catching him
completely by surprise.

It was his turn to gape, although invisibly, at his son... Then it clicked.

He didn't have to convince Luke; Leia had already made him accept the truth and
they merely needed to talk to one another to plan the future.

Luke silently sighed in relief when he became aware that his father wasn't Lord
Vader anymore; he wasn't plotting to replace the Emperor... he was Anakin
Skywalker once again. He surmised that he had returned while he himself had
been shedding his own darkness. They wouldn't have to become enemies, he smiled
happily. Obviously sharing his relief, his father pulled him into a tight
embrace which left no doubt about the return of his father's Light.

"How long have you been covering your true self?" his father inquired warmly in
his ear.

"A little over a week now, you?" he asked, returning his father's embrace
tenfold.

And for the first time since he had reached teenage-hood, he didn't feel any
shame to be demonstrative with him.

"The same," Anakin answered, then pulled away from him, worry now detectable in
his opened senses. "Does Mara know?" he asked seriously.

Both relieved and saddened by his answer, the youth shook his head.

"She thinks that I'm mourning Leia," he reassured his father. "However, I have
to restrain our bond," he added uneasily.

"That must be raising questions with her," his father observed seriously.

"Yes," the young Jedi agreed, "it does, but so far, I managed to explain it as
being due to my private sorrow which I don't want her to feel."

"It will suffice for a while," Anakin seemed to frown, "but eventually, we will
have to tell her or... do something about her," he finished sadly.

"I can't hurt her, Father," Luke instantly objected even as he took a step away
from him. "I truly love her, just as I love you and Leia."

"I know," his father slightly nodded in understanding. "I never thought that
your love for her wasn't genuine."

The two of them remained silent for a few seconds, then Luke took a deep breath
and brought back up the crux of their conversation.

"What are we going to do now, Father?" he queried seriously.

"Kill the Emperor and free the galaxy," was the short answer once again.

Luke frowned despite himself.

"How? The tyrant is much more powerful than we know, and he probably watches
our every move."

"He certainly does," Anakin nodded, then turned away and walked toward his inner
room. "This is why I always sweep my quarters for listening devices."

Luke, who had been following his father, suddenly stopped in his steps and gaped
as he realized that they might have just signed their death warrant, but his
father turned back toward him.

"Don't worry, I sweep the rooms every time that I enter them."

Luke took an easier breath, then promised himself to check his own quarters for
such devices. While he suspected that Mara was the only spy that the Emperor
needed with him, he also knew his slaver well enough to fear that he would plant
listening devices if he had even slight doubts about his devotion.

"Come now," Anakin invited him. "We have some planning to do."

Luke shook himself out of his fears, then followed his father.

It was time to plan how they were going to rescue the galaxy, the right way this
time.

******

TBC in part 5: the beginning

SJ: Skyjade@globetrotter.net (any positive stuff is welcome, but negative or
mean comments will be thrown down the Sarlacc s throat without being read.)