In Which Vader Discovers He is a Father

Shmi Skywalker

Chapter Two: In which Vader visits his mother's grave on the anniversary of her death.

7 AFE

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With every parsec traveled closer and closer to this rock he had grown more anxious. Now, as they hung in orbit a tension had coiled deep in his gut, screaming for him to get away.

It was not too late to turn this ship around and return to Coruscant.

Not too late at all.

His Master was mocking him with this task, of this there was no question.

He must have sensed that some of Skywalker's sentiment and weakness still remained. Proving to his Master he would always reject the Light was a continuous struggle. This expedition was either a test to see how committed Vader was to the Dark Side, or the test had already been conducted and failed. Vader did not always triumph when facing his Master's tests, and traveling here could be punishment for an earlier failure.

He worried that this time, given the planet, the date, and the particular glee in his Master's laugh, that he had been sent here to put down slaves.

It was not the task itself he objected to, it was the slave revolts that provoked the slaughter. It was so pointless, these weak beings thinking they deserved a different life than the one they had been given.

If they truly had been destined for more, the Force would have intervened in their favor as it had for him. As it had tried to for his mother.

If they could not accept their life, then he would end it for them.

Every being in the galaxy had a specific role they had been assigned by the Force, and acting in that role was necessary to maintain Order. When beings who did not like their roles rebelled, it put the Order Vader and his Master were bringing to the galaxy at risk. As it was the responsibility of those with the most strength to keep the weaker beings in line and ensure that Order was preserved, Vader did not question the merit of this task.

That was, if putting down a slave revolt was the reason his Master had sent him here.

His orders had been cryptic. Simply that Vader had to come to this sector and oversee the negotiations between the Empire and the Emissary for the Hutts. If things went as planned then they would begin the process of slowly assimilating the Hutts into their Empire, first by presenting themselves as allies and then by chipping away at the Hutts control of this part of space.

He understood this method in theory, it was similar to the way his Master had assumed control of the festering failed Republic and replaced it with the Empire, but he longed for a more direct approach.

If they simply slaughtered the Hutts they could easily assume control.

But the chaos and power vacuum those actions would create would not be conductive to establishing Order, and could result in a drop in production of the vital resources they needed from Hutt Space.

The one small mercy in this mission was that Vader had not been ordered to handle the negotiations directly, and would be able to remain in orbit around the planet as he oversaw the meetings.

Not for the first time since they had entered the system, Vader pulled a chronometer up on his red tinted viewscreens, anxiously drinking in the date.

All other reasons for the trip aside, the fact remained that his Master was mocking him, sending him to this place at this time.

"My Lord, we just received communications from our agents on the planet, they are requesting back up," said an officer, who had come up behind Vader where he was staring at the planet from the Star Destroyer's massive viewports.