A Life Not His Own: Chapter 5

"Lord Vader?"

Vader turns to look at the girl following him, his head tilted to the side, his entire bearing asking what she wants. Nelani hesitates, her shy nature coming to the fore, a slight blush cropping up on her cheeks from his scrutiny. She fidgets slightly, looking down as she digs the toe of her boot into the hard packed dirt beneath her.

"Uh, where are we going?"

For a minute the only sound to be heard is his rhythmic breathing. And Nelani begins to question the wisdom of asking what she wanted to know. Then just before she can apologize, he answers. "We're going to a planet called Vjun. To my home there, Bast Castle."

Nelani frowns for a second, and then nods her head as Vader turns around and once more begins walking. Finally they arrive at a clearing and Vader stops at the edge. Nelani steps up beside him, looking around, and then a starship flickers into existence, appearing from nowhere. A seam opens in the large sphere in front of them, the seam expanding as doors slide away. Finally a ramp lowers to a stop right at their feet.

Delight dances in her eyes as she looks up at the ship; a smile traces her lips as she makes a small sound of approval.

She falls into silence once more as they board the ship. For his part, Vader ignores her, and enters a closed room as the hatch behind her shuts. Then with the thrum of the sub-light engines and the press of gravity the ship propels herself from the atmosphere.

Nelani looks around the room, and spying a blast couch walks over to it and collapses. She rubs her legs, massaging the muscles which are beginning to tighten due to the long walk. She glances up at the door, wondering if he is going to stay locked up in there the entire trip or if he'll come talk to her.

As she begins massaging her calf, she considers which scenario she wishes for the most.

Then she remembers Taav, and decides Vader can stay in that room for the entire trip.

As her hands move to her other calf, she hears a door open, and glances back towards the cockpit, watching as Lord Vader steps out. She notices that he doesn't look around, doesn't hesitate, just turns her way and advances towards her. Her desire to flinch back and flee is instinctive, yet she fights against it, and stays sitting there staring at him.

Finally he is there in front of her, towering over her; the only sound is his breathing as he watches her from behind his mask. He reaches down, and presses a single finger to her leg, and she feels the muscles loosen, and calm, as energy floods her. She gasps and looks up at him once more. "How'd you do that?"

She leans back in her seat, looking up at him, her mouth opened, surprised etched on her face as Vader laughs. "The Force is in all things, and can do many things; soothing tired muscles and refreshing you are just two of the many things possible with the Force."

Nelani shakes her head in denial. "But I'm not a Jedi."

Vader finally sits, taking a chair opposite of her. "But you could be, and that is why I brought you with me.

"But, Jedi are hunted by the Vong. And I thought you killed the Jedi."

"Yes, Jedi are hunted by the Vong, and," Vader pauses for a moment, "and that was my grandfather." Vader glances away from her, and stares at a bulkhead for a moment. Then he lowers his head slightly and turns back towards her. "The Vong have hurt my family too much, they killed." He pauses, and for another minute, all that can be heard is his breathing. "I have taken up this, my grandfather's identity, to strike fear into the Vong's hearts, to make them regret coming to our galaxy."

Nelani tilts her head. "I guess I can understand that."

"Good, now let us begin your training."

Vader hands her a cylinder about a third of a meter long. She twists it to the left and right, admiring the smooth, craftsmanship which went into its production, and presses a button on it, gasping as a meter long shaft of azure light spills forth from the weapon.

Vader nods his head. "A lightsaber, the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster, a civilized weapon for a more civilized age."

Nelani looks up from the saber to him. "You're quoting someone."

Vader's laughter once more surprises her. "Yes I am." Then without saying anything else, he turns and walks to a shelf, hunting for something. He finally finds it, and turns back towards her, motioning for her to come closer.

He lets go of the object in her hand, and it begins to float, twisting in the air as its sensors focus on the things around it.

Vader nods to it. "This is a training remote, it fires little darts of energy which sting. Your job is to deflect them with your saber."

Nelani nods her head and raises her saber, as Vader steps away.

She watches the remote, as it whistles and spins. Then the thing darts forwards and she feels the dart as it strikes her thigh. She lets out a short yip of pain, and spins to face the training remote again, tracking the device with her eyes. In the background, she can hear Vader's voice.

"Feel the Force, let it flow through you, let it control you, empower you."

Then the remote darts forward again, and she once more yelps in pain.

"Halt."

She turns towards Vader as he picks up a flight helmet, and walks towards her, putting the helmet over her head and dropping the blast shield.

Nelani looks around in darkness. "I can't see anything."

Though he doesn't laugh, Nelani swears he is doing so again. "Your eyes can deceive you. You need to trust the Force, let it flow through you, clear your mind. Focus on the feel of the weapon, and let your instincts guide you."

In the darkness, Nelani tries to do as he asks, she attempts to still her mind, and focus on the weight of the weapon in her hand. In the dark, with her only companion his rhythmic breathing, ringing loudly in her ears, she has the feeling she should move the blade to cross her body at shoulder height. She does as her feelings tell her and brings the blade up to shoulder height. The moment she stops moving the blade, she can feel a pressure tap against it and then she hears the sound of the dart discharging.

Before she is able to say something, she once more gets the feeling to move the blade, and she does so, dropping it towards her knees. As soon as the blade is there, she feels the pressure once more from catching the dart.

She laughs at the feel of it.

Then the dart strikes her in the stomach, causing her to double over. She lets out a short yelp of pain at the shock of being struck.

"Halt."

The sound of the remote flitting away sounds in her ear, and Nelani shuts down the saber and pulls the helmet off.

She turns and sees the mask staring at her. "You felt it did you not? That silent whisper, telling you what to do, where to place your saber. When you listened, you were helped, and when you didn't, well you were hit."

Nelani nods her head, a smile threatening to break out on her face. "Yes I felt it."

"Good, you've just taken your first step into a wider world." Vader steps closer to her, raising one of his leather clad hands and gripping it into a tightened fist. "One where you and I will be able to destroy the Vong."

Though his words bring a primal, instinctive joy to her, what she considers due punishment for those creatures who have sundered her galaxy with their invasion, due punishment for the animals who killed her mother and father and sisters, she cannot help but feel a small shiver of expectation, or fear, run up her spine.

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Three minutes and twenty-two seconds.

That is the length of the holomessage which originated from the Lorrd resistance. There are no words, no sounds, just a short video of a single individual fighting Vong warrior after Vong warrior.

The video does not show where the person clad in black durasteel armor, and wearing a steelweave cape came from, it commences after the battle had already begun.

Yet for all the beauty, and grace, and physical prowess that is evidenced by the fight between the lone native of the galaxy and the multitude of Vong, it is the final scene which garners playtime on billions of connections to the holonet.

It is the final scene which everyone talks about.

Even the fact that that video was the final communication from the underground on Lorrd, the last message to ever come from that world, is lost in the shuffle of excitement and dread that the last scene of that three minute and twenty-two second video creates.

For that last scene reveals the death's head mask of Darth Vader. That three minute and twenty-two second video is the announcement to the galaxy at large that Lord Vader has returned.

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Luke presses the damp cloth to Mara's ashen forehead, her grey skin, hanging loose and gaunt on her face. He probes her with the Force, finding the disease spreading rampant throughout her body. He reaches out, and pours energy into her, strengthening her.

A hand is placed on his shoulder, and he glances back, seeing Cilghal standing there.

"Master Skywalker, I fear we may have to take the baby, the strain is killing her."

Luke closes his eyes probing the Force, and when he opens them, finds himself looking into Mara's feverish green ones. She pushes with the Force against him gently and he understands the message as her eyes slowly close once more.

"No. Not yet."

"But Mas-"

"Not yet Cilghal. The Force is clear. If you take the baby now then Mara and the baby will die. I won't let that happen."

Cilghal sighs, and Luke can feel her frustration in the Force. "I understand Master Skywalker. There is something else that Booster thought you should see."

Luke turns away from Mara once more. "What?"

Then Cilghal plays from him the Lorrdian video, and as it finishes she pauses it on the last scene, with Darth Vader's death head's mask staring at them.

"I'm sorry to burden you with this now, but it is playing on all the holonet."

Luke sighs. "It's not my father, I'm not sure who it is, but we need to find out." He scrubs his face with his hands, feeling the stubble that covers his cheeks. Finally he looks at Cilghal once more. "Have Kam contact Ganner and Jacen and have them come here to the Venture. We can send them to find out more about this."

Cilghal bobs her head slightly, and leaves the room. Luke watches her go for a moment, feeling the weight of the galaxy once more pressing down upon him. Even as he wonders who it is behind that mask, he fears that he knows exactly who it is.

And if his fears are right, he fears even more what this means for the galaxy.

He wipes Mara's forehead with the cloth again. "I need you to get well Mara. I need you here with me."

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Nen Yim walks the corridors of the Baanu Miir somewhat randomly. She ignores the multitude of people that wander the halls themselves, the displaced who were shunted from the exterior arms of the Baanu Miir due to a breach in the yorik coral. Brushing past the shamed, the workers and the elderly as she contemplates what it means for her that a Master is here.

"May the Jeedai grant us redemption."

The voice is whispered in prayer, barely audible, but Nen Yim understands it perfectly. She spins around, looking for who spoke, but all she sees are shamed, kneeling near a statue of Yun Shuno.

She knows she heard the word Jeedai. She steps up to one of the Shamed, and pulls the woman up. Nen Yim slams the woman against the wall. "Who spoke of the Jeedai?"

"Not-no-not I."

She presses her Shaper's hand against the Shamed One's temple. "Tell me now."

The Shamed drops her head. "It was I. A story I heard."

Nen Yim drags the woman back to her quarters and pushes her inside; glancing up and down the hallway to ensure no one has seen her. She steps into the room as well, looking down at the shamed cowering on the floor. "Tell me your story."

The woman looks up at her, a surprise flickering across her features. "I heard that the Jeedai can redeem the shamed. That there was one Jeedai who redeemed a warrior. This Jeedai fought alongside the warrior, and the warrior died saluting the Jeedai."

Nen looks down at the old woman, her own memories providing the memories of the events she describes.

"Leave these chambers. I never want to see you again."

The woman leaves, and Nen Yim is so wrapped up in her thoughts and memories that she never even notices.