Darth Vader: Hero of Naboo

Chapter 20

It wasn't hard to find Vader after leaving the meeting with the council. Even without it trying to overtake the temple, the presence of the Dark Side was left in his wake. Which was how Qui-Gon came to be standing on one of the balconies of the Jedi Temple with the Sith Lord.

"Well, that was rather eventful," Qui-Gon stated, leaning his back against the railing, the night sky lit by the innumerable lights of Coruscant.

"It must be interesting for you, Jedi," Vader stated idly, his right arm resting on the ledge while running his left hand up and down the bottom half of the arm. "This world is your home twice over; you were born here, and you were trained as a Jedi here. Most cannot make such a claim."

"It was bound to happen a few times, with the world having a trillion souls upon it," Qui-Gon reminded, studying the Sith Lord's actions curiously as he felt tiny movements in the Force. "Please tell me you're not constructing a bomb in your arm."

Vader paused abruptly before glancing in Qui-Gon's direction. "I was about to scold you for taking after your Padawan, but I should congratulate you on giving me an idea."

"Oh, wonderful! Now I'm thinking too much like a Sith in trying to understand you," Qui-Gon stated with a mirthful chuckle, which quickly evaporated. "In all seriousness, what are you doing?"

"I am using the Force to fix some of the damage to my limbs," Vader answered bluntly.

"That would sound impressive if I wasn't sure it was just a patch job," Qui-Gon stated thoughtfully, giving the Sith an odd look. "I'm going to assume the contents of that sack were for your inevitable repairs?"

"Among other things," Vader admitted vaguely. "Now, how long are you going to dance around what you wish to say, Jinn?"

Qui-Gon nodded, both to himself and Vader, as he took on a contemplative scowl. "You're actually serious?"

"Do I come across as one for jokes, Jedi?" Vader questioned rhetorically.

"Well, for wanting to end this never-ending war you certainly have an interesting way of showing it. You knew coming here with the Dark Woman like that would provoke something," Qui-Gon accused neutrally.

"Yes, I did. It seemed the best way to make you all confront the fact that your order has a serious problem," Vader answered calmly.

"I thought you said we both needed to clean house?" Qui-Gon asked with a small smirk.

"My order's problems are well known and obvious to both sides, your order feels justified in your own," Vader countered without missing a beat. "All of which does not negate the simple fact that, even though I accurately predicted the Jedi making the wrong choice, it does not change the fact that it was indeed the wrong choice."

"I want to deny that, but it is rather difficult to argue against a small army of Jedi attacking a man for the aftermath of a wrong assumption. Especially when I scolded Obi-Wan for essentially the same thing after that display back on Tattoine," Qui-Gon recalled with a head shake.

"It is rather telling when so many of your order make the same mistake as your Padawan, on a larger scale," Vader commented, and Qui-Gon almost thought the Dark Lord was amused.

"So, is this peace then?" Qui-Gon asked with interest.

"By certain definitions. Most sapients take the notion of peace to equate to being allies, that our relationship is somewhat positive. My intent is that Sith and Jedi should be able to co-exist separately in a large galaxy without attempting genocide on one another simply because we are Jedi and Sith," Vader explained, raising his arm and flexing the fingers to test the cybernetics. "That should be sufficient."