Walking the Stars - Prologue III
Title: Walking the Stars
Rating: PG-13…ish?
Genre: General, drama
Time Period: 10BBY and onwards
Characters: Starkiller, Ben Kenobi, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Owen & Beru Lars
Warnings: So far none, I suppose
Summary: For eight years, Darth Vader has been training a secret apprentice. What will happen to the apprentice, when Vader finds out Obi-Wan might be hiding something more than just himself?
PROLOGUE III - Darth Vader
Darth Vader roamed aimlessly through the unfinished corridors of his enormous future flagship. In his mind, he'd settled for the name Executor. Simple, yet the word perfectly described her. He'd already visited the new hangar area that was nearly finished, seven kilometres away from Starkiller's training area, but it and none of the areas on way had not really interested him. When Vader came here, he'd often walk around inspecting the progress that had been made, but not today. For now, his only reason for walking was to clear his head.
Had he been on Coruscant or some of the ships that had a special pressurised pod for him to breathe without the mask, he'd sat down to get rid of the claustrophobic armour. It felt like his thoughts were trapped inside the suit the same way he was. Nine years wearing it hadn't made it significantly any easier to bear, even though there were days he was perfectly comfortable with it. There were days when he could look back and not feel the pain, but today was not one of those days. Today, the memories flooded uncontrollably and the armour felt more like a coffin than part of his body. Despite the respirator, it seemed to suffocate him.
His current sour mood was, of course, result of the training session with Starkiller. It was easy to lash out at the boy, but it wasn't really his intention to. His goal was to have a loyal apprentice, who'd respect him despite the harsh training, not a slave who'd obey him merely out of fear.
The Emperor would not be pleased to know this was how he thought. On more than one occasion he had displayed dissatisfaction towards Vader's attitude for his underlings. The Emperor did not care if he was not liked. Neither did Vader, but unlike the Emperor, he made a difference between loyalty out of fear and loyalty out of respect. He preferred the latter, despite utilising the first far more often. One of the only useful traits of Anakin that he still had. From his point of view, it was better to be respected than feared when it came to loyalty, although fear was a useful ally. But one loyal man was worth more than a legion of slaves, for a slave would turn his back on his master when the opportunity arose. Vader himself, if anyone, should know. And Starkiller would be a powerful ally indeed.
If Vader could keep himself from making the boy hate him more than respect him.
It was purely his own fault that he could not fully let go of the memories of his past life. He wanted to, perhaps more than anything, he wanted to just forget. And sometimes he'd think he'd succeeded, but then something would trigger the memories again. Often, it would be something about her.
Not this time, though. Today it was more about the child. There were times he felt like treating his young apprentice as that child. It could be his son he was training. It could be almost like he had always imagined life would be.
For most of the times, like today, the remembrance had made him want to kill Starkiller. What right had he to live, to breathe, to be so strong in the Force when his child was dead? When he himself was so horribly mutilated and handicapped to live on his miserable existence in constant physical and mental pain, without any of his loved ones by his side. The women he had loved were dead, one by his own hand. The men he had trusted had betrayed him. She had betrayed him.
And yet, he'd forgive her for bringing Obi-Wan with her if she'd just survived. Even if she had hated him for the rest of her life, it would have been better than the world without her.
He badly wanted to smash something. Kill something.
Without realising, Vader had arrived to the finished hangar where his heavily modified Eta-2 Actis interceptor awaited. He was tempted to climb into the cramped cockpit and get out of the whole Scarl system, away from Starkiller's presence, but the thought of the small space he'd have to squeeze himself in didn't sound all that appealing. He felt claustrophobic enough already.
Darth Vader stopped some five meters from his fighter. The astromech had noticed him. R4 rolled his dome and beeped questioningly. The black starfighter's lights flicked on.
“No, I am not leaving yet.”
The droid beeped again and the fighter's lights went out. R4-K5 went back to it's sleeping mode without further sound effects. The black astromech droid was dull. It had hardly any personality compared to R2-D2.
Vader sighed inwardly. Yet another part of Anakin's life had managed to surface. It seemed to happen a lot today. He looked at the little droid for a long time. Had Obi-Wan not stolen Artoo, they'd probably still be flying together. Not only Artoo, his former master had also taken C-3PO, among with his lightsabre -and his dead wife. He'd cut of his limbs and left him to burn to death.
A hot rage rushed through what was left of his organic body. Obi-Wan Kenobi had taken everything from him. Vader had been obsessed by the search for the man, but so far his former master had managed to stay hidden. The Emperor had grown tired of it and ordered him to stop trying to locate Kenobi. He posed no threat to them or the Empire. More overly, his grudge against the man was a link to Anakin's life. But Vader did not want let go. His hatred towards the man that had once been his best friend, his brother, his father figure, was one of the things that kept him going.
The tall half-machine of a man turned around to leave the hangar, determined to forget about Anakin. He was done for thinking of his life for today.
He had been walking for a long while. It was already late in the Imperial Capital. If Starkiller lived by the schedule he was supposed to, the boy had already gone to sleep. He didn't feel like bullying the boy after his outburst earlier the day by waking him up for more training, but perhaps he ought to update PROXY's battle simulations.
Rating: PG-13…ish?
Genre: General, drama
Time Period: 10BBY and onwards
Characters: Starkiller, Ben Kenobi, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Owen & Beru Lars
Warnings: So far none, I suppose
Summary: For eight years, Darth Vader has been training a secret apprentice. What will happen to the apprentice, when Vader finds out Obi-Wan might be hiding something more than just himself?
PROLOGUE III - Darth Vader
Darth Vader roamed aimlessly through the unfinished corridors of his enormous future flagship. In his mind, he'd settled for the name Executor. Simple, yet the word perfectly described her. He'd already visited the new hangar area that was nearly finished, seven kilometres away from Starkiller's training area, but it and none of the areas on way had not really interested him. When Vader came here, he'd often walk around inspecting the progress that had been made, but not today. For now, his only reason for walking was to clear his head.
Had he been on Coruscant or some of the ships that had a special pressurised pod for him to breathe without the mask, he'd sat down to get rid of the claustrophobic armour. It felt like his thoughts were trapped inside the suit the same way he was. Nine years wearing it hadn't made it significantly any easier to bear, even though there were days he was perfectly comfortable with it. There were days when he could look back and not feel the pain, but today was not one of those days. Today, the memories flooded uncontrollably and the armour felt more like a coffin than part of his body. Despite the respirator, it seemed to suffocate him.
His current sour mood was, of course, result of the training session with Starkiller. It was easy to lash out at the boy, but it wasn't really his intention to. His goal was to have a loyal apprentice, who'd respect him despite the harsh training, not a slave who'd obey him merely out of fear.
The Emperor would not be pleased to know this was how he thought. On more than one occasion he had displayed dissatisfaction towards Vader's attitude for his underlings. The Emperor did not care if he was not liked. Neither did Vader, but unlike the Emperor, he made a difference between loyalty out of fear and loyalty out of respect. He preferred the latter, despite utilising the first far more often. One of the only useful traits of Anakin that he still had. From his point of view, it was better to be respected than feared when it came to loyalty, although fear was a useful ally. But one loyal man was worth more than a legion of slaves, for a slave would turn his back on his master when the opportunity arose. Vader himself, if anyone, should know. And Starkiller would be a powerful ally indeed.
If Vader could keep himself from making the boy hate him more than respect him.
It was purely his own fault that he could not fully let go of the memories of his past life. He wanted to, perhaps more than anything, he wanted to just forget. And sometimes he'd think he'd succeeded, but then something would trigger the memories again. Often, it would be something about her.
Not this time, though. Today it was more about the child. There were times he felt like treating his young apprentice as that child. It could be his son he was training. It could be almost like he had always imagined life would be.
For most of the times, like today, the remembrance had made him want to kill Starkiller. What right had he to live, to breathe, to be so strong in the Force when his child was dead? When he himself was so horribly mutilated and handicapped to live on his miserable existence in constant physical and mental pain, without any of his loved ones by his side. The women he had loved were dead, one by his own hand. The men he had trusted had betrayed him. She had betrayed him.
And yet, he'd forgive her for bringing Obi-Wan with her if she'd just survived. Even if she had hated him for the rest of her life, it would have been better than the world without her.
He badly wanted to smash something. Kill something.
Without realising, Vader had arrived to the finished hangar where his heavily modified Eta-2 Actis interceptor awaited. He was tempted to climb into the cramped cockpit and get out of the whole Scarl system, away from Starkiller's presence, but the thought of the small space he'd have to squeeze himself in didn't sound all that appealing. He felt claustrophobic enough already.
Darth Vader stopped some five meters from his fighter. The astromech had noticed him. R4 rolled his dome and beeped questioningly. The black starfighter's lights flicked on.
“No, I am not leaving yet.”
The droid beeped again and the fighter's lights went out. R4-K5 went back to it's sleeping mode without further sound effects. The black astromech droid was dull. It had hardly any personality compared to R2-D2.
Vader sighed inwardly. Yet another part of Anakin's life had managed to surface. It seemed to happen a lot today. He looked at the little droid for a long time. Had Obi-Wan not stolen Artoo, they'd probably still be flying together. Not only Artoo, his former master had also taken C-3PO, among with his lightsabre -and his dead wife. He'd cut of his limbs and left him to burn to death.
A hot rage rushed through what was left of his organic body. Obi-Wan Kenobi had taken everything from him. Vader had been obsessed by the search for the man, but so far his former master had managed to stay hidden. The Emperor had grown tired of it and ordered him to stop trying to locate Kenobi. He posed no threat to them or the Empire. More overly, his grudge against the man was a link to Anakin's life. But Vader did not want let go. His hatred towards the man that had once been his best friend, his brother, his father figure, was one of the things that kept him going.
The tall half-machine of a man turned around to leave the hangar, determined to forget about Anakin. He was done for thinking of his life for today.
He had been walking for a long while. It was already late in the Imperial Capital. If Starkiller lived by the schedule he was supposed to, the boy had already gone to sleep. He didn't feel like bullying the boy after his outburst earlier the day by waking him up for more training, but perhaps he ought to update PROXY's battle simulations.