Chapter 74

The Empire is becoming more sneaky. More traps, more hostages, better propaganda. They even found the Grove Collection legal amenities that they have rescinded. The Grove collection is now illegal and an enemy of the Empire. The laws that have been passed do not favour me in the slightest and if the Grove should ever give access to the Empire then I would lose almost everything.

This has sparked a small group in the Grove collection to worry and work against their best interests so they can get on the good side of the Empire. I make their names public in the Grove and within two days they disappear, most are dead, some of them leave the Grove to work for the Empire but they also meet with a violent end.

The Empire start a smear campaign on the Grove that brings the collection as a whole down in the eyes of the public but that soon stops when I send Palpatine a little video recording of him approving the death of Count Doku, i repeat the scene of him saying "do it" over and over again, it doesn't paint him in the best light. It was hard to find video evidence of how evil Palpatine is and I came across that piece because I knew where to find it. If I had the fight scene between the Jedi and Palpatine then this war would be so much easier but wisely Palpatine didn't have recording devices in his office.

I do have the video recording of Yoda and Palpatine fighting all across the senate seats but due to the bad images of the video recording and the fact that Palpatine always had his hood up I couldn't use that as evidence that he was more than meets the eye.

However, this isn't enough for me, I think Empire Palpatine has to suffer a little and what better way to fucking with the Empire than helping his apprentice.

Darth Vader isn't hard to find, you could go that extra mile and set up a Jedi honey pot, which I did. Predictively, Palpatine sends Darth Vader to investigate an abandoned Jedi temple that is rumoured to have a powerful artefact. The rumours were spread by me and I waited for my guest to turn up.

Darth Vader enters alone like the little proud force user he is. I am waiting for him and technically alone if you don't count the droids hiding under rubble or hanging from the roof.

The surprised feeling and sudden spike in anger I felt from Darth Vader let me know that he was not expecting me.

"Good day," I say in my computerised voice.

Vader pounces forward with his red lightsaber at the ready, it's a shame that he is much slower than he once was, robotic legs that can't use the force just can't keep up with me.

I jump back and slowly hover back to the ground creating distance.

"How are you and your master" I ask with just the smallest amount of humour in my voice.

Vader throws chunks of falling debris at me which I turn into sand and it drops to the floor.

"Have you learnt a lot from your master, or has Palpatine failed to teach you like I guessed" Only now does Vader pause

"I can see that he hasn't even repaired your missing limbs, brutal" I point to his legs.

Hope wells up in Vader's heart, something that has died for many years has been causally awakened due to the want and need to have his legs back.

"How can you repair something that is lost," Vader says in that wonderful Darth Vader voice.

I talked to him like he was slow and stupid "You can grow them back like you would do a clone and graft your new arms to your own body. Haven't you seen the bafta tanks that are used for enhanced healing, shit, its harder to graft a metallic robot hand to living flesh than just replacing flesh on flesh"

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The only noise from Vader is that hard breathing, something he doesn't even need as his skin wasn't badly burnt.

"I understand why Darth Sidious didn't want to repair his weakened apprentice but you know all of this and didn't think to heal yourself, you fought in the Clone Wars and must have known about it. Time hasn't made you smarter" I rub the insult further by putting a finger to my temple and twisting it about.

Anger and shame vibrate off Vader and he raises his good hand and releases a stream of lighting. It's strong but isn't controlled well, it spilters apart causing much destruction over a large area. I counter with my lightning, it's thinner than Vaders because I know how to use it. My doppelgangers have expertly experimented with it and know it looks like laser beams.

Vader's lighting is cut at its root just a couple of inches away from his hand. That's the power of control, I'm able to demolish a much more powerful ability with a less powerful skill.

Darth Vader has little to be proud of but his force abilities are something he can lean on and yet, being unable to overwhelm me cause a doubt in him. It doesn't make him feel better that I'm using my abilities without effort.

Hate replaces anger. Vader hates how much better I am at using the force.

"Soooo, you killed your wife" I casually say. Vader dashes towards me fully intending to strangle me to death. I do him dirty and force-pull his legs away from him. That's the beauty of using force powers on unprotected robotic legs. The hate in Vader's heart is replaced with pain in his crotch as I split his legs away from him.

"Did your master tell you that Padme is dead and you killed her in anger, your stupidity knows no bounds" I yank his lightsaber away from him and crush it in front of his eyes.

"What would you do if Padme and your children were still alive, do you think they would be proud of you and want to be with you, or do you think they would be ashamed of you and curse you"

The hope in Vader's heart is blooming and his mind is tumbling all over the place. Just the mention of his wife causes great emotions, which is enough for me to piggyback off and into his mind.

Darth Vader's vision clouds over and all he can see is an image of Padme. He stumbles and reaches out to her but she falls back afraid. Vaders black armour falls off and he's at his peak. No scars, no missing limbs, just Anakin Skywalker. On his knees, the young man cries and reaches ever more towards his love. Small pattering feet cause him to wipe the tears out of his eyes and focus on his children who join Padme.

Now and only now does Anakin feel ashamed of his actions. For so long he has chosen to ignore the effects of what he has done and pushed the guilt down in his stomach but seeing his wife and children cower away from him causes painful guilt.

My voice echoes in Anakin's mind "Has Palpatine said anything true, has he taught you anything? Your master orders you to kill children, ruin your brothers and turn the galaxy on its head just to earn himself power. Everything he has told you has been distorted by lies and fear that he would lose power. You know what I say is true, you knew when you told the Jedi that Palpatine was the Sith Lord. You knew when Palpatine begged for his life when master Mace Windu redirected the Siths own force lightning back in his face. The Sith aren't your friend, they can't help you and they wouldn't even if they could"

The image in Anakins mind changed to the Brotherhood of Darkness wars against the Jedi and showed some of the evil things that were done. Padme and her children cowered into a ball as lightsabers and lasers lit up the area. A long line of Sith masters revealed themselves starting with Darth Sidious and then Darth Plagus all the way to Darth Gravid each one's face distroted with dark energy and glowing eyes, each one dead by their apprentice's hand.

"When you are Sith, there are no happy endings. You can rule the galaxy and be alone like Palpatine or you can fight for your happiness and be surrounded by family and love" I say

"In my opinion, the Jedi are evil" I hear Anakin say under his weak breath.

I want to shake the shit out of Anakin for saying something so stupid "Then don't join them, if you have to be connected to the force then find your own way, a way you won't feel ashamed of and will allow you to have the family you desire"

"How do I know you tell the truth" he pleads to me.

"You don't but understand this, everything I've told you up to this point has been true, Palpatine will use you until he finds something better and if you do not change then you won't be able to redeem yourself in your children's eyes" I answer.

"What about Padme" Anakin's hope is at an all-time high

"........I don't think that there is anything you could do to redeem yourself in her eyes. Too much death and destruction over her precious senate, too much death over her friends, too much shame and anger to swipe what you have done under the rug" I answer with honesty.

The illusion fades away and The armour-clad Vader is on his knees, alone. His head slumped forward, not moving an inch.

"Fix your body and then when you are ready fix your soul, only then will you be able to look your children in the face and witness some pride in their faces"

I disappear from the room and leave Darth Vader to himself. I've done what I can to persuade Darth Vader to change sides. I hope the rebels can get a double agent like Vader working against Palpatine, only time will tell