Darth Vader: Hero of Naboo

As Vader descended into the bowels of the Executor, he was acutely aware of the echoing blaster fire ringing through the halls.

"Sir!" a Stormtrooper greeted loudly over the noise, standing with another to guard this hall.

"Is that enemy blaster fire or turret fire, trooper?" Vader asked curtly.

"Turrets, Sir! Damn things shoot anything that enters the hall leading to the Hyperdrive generator! We've been trying to neutralize them from afar!" he answered.

With little success, by the sounds of it.

Without another word, Vader continued his approach, the sounds growing louder and louder. Occasionally, the pained cries of a soldier could be heard as the turrets landed their mark.

He rounded a corner and ignited his lightsaber, deflecting several shots from a turret that popped out of a wall. He sent several shots directly at the turret, only for it to have no effect.

This Nutter had made turrets not only concealable but also armored to some degree. Most impressive, he admitted if only to himself.

Another turret popped up. Or it tried to, before Vader used the Force to push it back in, crushing and breaking many of its parts. He continued blocking the first turret's laser until he was close enough to leap past its fire and slice it clean off.

Just past that the hall came to a four-way path; where he came from, another hall directly ahead and to the left and the hyperdrive room to the right.

The turrets on the opposite hall turned around to attack his approaching form, but Vader threw his lightsaber with a spin, decapitating one with the throw and slicing the other down the middle when he recalled the saber.

The instant he stepped in front of the door to the generator, the turrets on the left hall stopped firing down at the troopers. The four defensive guns turned to attack Vader, but he merely held up a hand, making them jerk and try to turn as the Force held them in place.

They began firing. Not at Vader, but at each other.

Sensing something, Vader looked up and saw, amongst the wirings and cables along the ceiling, there was a camera.

"Ahh, you've finally arrived, Lord Vader!" a voice greeted amicably, coming from an intercom on the door. "I was starting to think you'd be late getting here."

"I will give you one chance to open these doors and surrender," Vader warned loudly.

"No need for threats, Lord Vader. I merely wish to speak to you before you go off to snap Ozzel's neck," the Nutter answered with a warm chuckle.

True to his word, the blast doors were unsealed and opened to permit Vader entry.

The Dark Lord studied it suspiciously. "Admiral Piett, I will secure the Hyperdrive Generator. Warn me if Ozzel's forces make a move, against this position or otherwise."

"Yes, My Lord. But as an update, there are several standoffs already, but no one has opened fire yet," Piett warned.

Vader kept that in mind as he entered the dark room.

He was unsurprised and unworried when the blast doors sealed behind him.

He was, however, mildly surprised when the lights flicked on once they did.

"Apologies for that, Lord Vader," a man said. "After all my wire tampering, I somehow got the lights connected to the blast doors."

Vader studied the man carefully at the controls; A middle-aged man with balding hair, wearing the dark green uniform of an engineer.

Vader hesitated for an instant as he noticed something odd.

"You must have been expecting someone more insane, Lord Vader," the man said as he turned to face him. "I assure you I was quite mad, once."

Vader made no reaction as he gazed upon the eyeless face, the empty sockets staring back at him.

"Who are you, Engineer?" Vader questioned. "What is your purpose here?"

"I don't remember my name. I lost it somewhere between the fits of insanity," The Engineer said calmly as he walked around the generator room as if he could still see it. "I memorized this entire room before I took my eyes out. Terrible inconvenience, they were. So easily tricked. Now, if I see something, I know it's not there. Because I shouldn't be seeing anything."

Vader did not respond.

"Ahh, yes, my purpose. Why have I been popping the Executor across the galaxy while Ozzel and Piett play warlord with each other," The Engineer said as if they were having a casual conversation. "Have you noticed I haven't sent the ship away since you arrived?"

"I have," Vader acknowledged. "I assumed you wanted me aboard for the next jump. But it seems that was not your intent at all."

The Engineer hummed. "I might have if someone else got here before the Death Squadron."

"You were trying to ensure I retook the Executor, and no one else," Vader realized. "I sense that loyalty was not your motivation."

"Oh, it was, but not to you, Lord Vader. It was to The Lady," The Engineer said with a genuine smile.

"And who would that be?" Vader pressed, wondering just how deep this one's madness went.

"Her, Lord Vader," The Engineer said, raising a hand to gesture to the entire room. "The Executor herself refused to be commanded by anyone save you."

"The ship," Vader repeated bluntly, realizing just how insane this man might be. Still, it was a delusion that benefited him.

"Rather ironic for someone of the Force to be such a skeptic, Lord Vader," The Engineer said with a thin smile. "Or should I say, Anakin Skywalker?"

Vader stood a bit straighter at that.

"I saw such terrible things, Lord Vader. You were in some of them. I saw the day you were...reborn," The Engineer said with a shudder. "Dreadful thing to watch. I can't imagine living it."

Vader's mood darkened as he gained several reasons to kill this man.

"It must be so strange, to meet yourself in the past, and never say a word to him about who you really are. That he stands before a mirror," The Engineer mused.

"What is it you want, exactly, if not a quick death at my saber?" Vader asked pointedly.

"Oh, I will die either way, Lord Vader," he remarked, unbuttoning his uniform to show his torso.

Emaciated didn't begin to cover it. The man looked almost mummified, a walking skeleton wrapped in skin.

"The Lady saved me, when my mind was being ravaged by...whatever sent us back to the past. When its presence clung to me and all the other "nutters" aboard the ship, she guided me here and protected my mind. And my soul, I believe," he said with a wistful sigh. "All she asked was that I deliver her back into your hands."

"...Then you have done your duty well, Engineer of the Lady," Vader said with a nod.

"You don't believe me. You're humoring me," The Engineer said with a head shake. "That's fine. You don't have to believe in her. She already believes in you plenty, Lord Vader."

The generator hummed just a bit louder, almost as if in agreement.

The Engineer took a deep breath. "That's it then. I don't suppose you know my name, Lord Vader? That I would ring any bells in your memories?"

Vader took a good look at the man but found no recognition in his mind. "No."

"Pity. I would have liked to hear it, one last time," he said as he leaned on the railing.

For a moment, he said and did nothing as he stood there, gritting his teeth.

Then his bones began to snap, the man falling into a broken heap as his body finally gave out.

He was dead before he even hit the floor, Vader felt.

"Lord Vader!" Piett called over the communicators. "We've just received word that the three Star Destroyers have entered space near the Executor! Is the Hyperdrive Generator secured?"

"It is," Vader acknowledged, regarding the dead body with interest. "Send them the security code I gave you. I shall rejoin you soon so that we may deal with Ozzel."

"Yes, My Lord!"

Vader stepped closer to the starved corpse. Something had clearly kept this man alive far longer than he should have been able to.

He placed his boot on the corpse experimentally and found the bone broke to dust with little effort. "Thank you for your services, Engineer," he said idly before looking around the generator room as he headed to the controls.

The ship, the Executor herself, had a will of her own? What a strange notion this Nutter had. But it would hardly be the first time Vader had machines acting beyond their expected capabilities. Or a living ship for that matter.

As he looked over the controls and the settings, it appeared there was nothing wrong and little damage to anything important. Locking down the hyperdrive to prevent any more unexpected jumps, he pressed the button to open the blast door.

He moved to leave, but the blast door suddenly jolted to a stop before they could even show an opening.

The lights went out all the same.

"..."

Vader ignited his lightsaber as he looked back into the shadows.

"I know you are there," he spoke into the emptiness.

Was it the entity claiming to be the Executor? The one who sent them all back in time? Something else entirely?

He stared into the Abyss.

"Speak, or begone."

He flexed his hand and the room trembled, his powers searching for any sign of this presence.

The Abyss blinked, and the blast doors opened.

Vader deactivated his lightsaber and left the room.

Before anything else, he had a mutiny to put down.

Meanwhile

This was far from the worst place Anakin had to have squeezed into, before or after joining the Jedi Order.

That there was a ranking list spoke volumes about the kind of situations he found himself in.

The area they had taken Damask to had been too guarded for him to sneak in without being spotted.

So, he tried the standard option: If one cannot just walk right in, crawl in the vents.

He was sure Qui-Gon could make that sound wise and sagely.

Luckily, he didn't have to crawl through the vents for long, before finding himself within. Better, the ceiling was filled with not only vents but electrical wires and pipes. Ones that were large enough to climb on and hide above. This was definitely some technical and/or sewage part of the Albingi government building, an ideal yet almost expected place for the darker and shadier parts of any group to meet.

With the Force softening his momentum, he managed to remain hidden above the security officers and other people.

The other people being humans, strangely enough. What were humans doing in an Albingi government building?

A flash of pain through the Force caught his attention, in the next room over.

Bad news, it was guarded with two at the door.

The good news came in the form of a gap in the wall where the cables and pipes went through. It was a tight fit, again, but he could do it. He just needed to slip in without the guards noticing…while being just twenty feet away and fairly vigilant. Anakin took a breath as he prepared to do the oldest trick in the book.

He looked around and found a work desk covered with engineering tools just further ahead. Perfect.

With a pull of the Force, one of the tools fell off with a loud clang.

"What was that?!" one of the guards said, head snapping to the sound at alert.

"Just something the engineers left on the side of the desk," his companion answered nonchalantly.

"Go check it out, now," the first ordered.

The second looked at him in exasperation before shaking his head, moving to go check on the disturbance.

The first crossed his arms and waited. "Hmm?" he turned, swearing he saw something move out of the corner of his eye, at the gap to the wall.

He climbed on top of a nearby crate and looked inside-

Anakin held his finger to the man's orange face. "You don't see anything," he said slowly as he moved his hand to the side.

"Hey, what are you doing up there?" the second guard called in confusion.

"I don't see anything," the first repeated with a slightly dazed tone.

"Well, get down before you fall! I have a vacation coming up and I'll be damned if I have to put it off because you broke your leg being paranoid," the second demanded.

The first guard slowly obeyed, shaking his head.

Anakin waited until he was gone before mouthing a "Yes!" to himself in pride. He pulled off the mind trick without a hitch and on the spot! He couldn't wait to tell Qui-Gon! And Obi-wan!

And Ahsoka!

Focus, focus, Anakin! There was a rich muun to save.

With that reminder, he quietly pulled himself along the gap. It was longer than he originally gave it credit for. As he got closer to the other side, he heard the sounds of pained grunts and fists meeting flesh growing louder and more distinct.

He carefully looked out from his hole, mindful of everyone in the room and where they were looking. What he saw was about what he expected.

Hego Damask was restrained to a metal chair, He was currently being beaten by a human, while two other humans and an Albingi stood around and watched, muttering to themselves about something. The room wasn't that well-lit, obviously to disorient any "prisoners" brought down here.

Anakin scowled as he considered a few plans. He'd have to be careful. Even if he dealt with the six in the room, getting Hego out alive might not be so easy.

"Once again, Damask! Who told you about the origin of the blight?" the interrogator asked, his voice calm and cool despite having just been assaulted by the Muun.

"I already answered you! No one did! I analyzed the samples and-GAH!" Hego was cut off by another fist to the stomach.

Another human stepped forward. "You honed in on it far too quickly. No one should be able to deduce it so quickly," he said with what sounded like offended arrogance. "Are we supposed to accept it was sheer luck you picked the right plague to consider as an original strain?"

Hego groaned as he pulled himself back up. "Not luck, dammit. Merely an educated guess. I didn't think I'd get it right on the first try."

That seemed to just offend them more. "I hope whoever you're defending is worth the bruises, Muun," the second human said as he turned away in disgust. He approached the rest of the room's occupants, and Anakin strained to hear what they were talking about. "We have a leak."

"Are you positive he is not speaking the truth?" the Albingi asked with a scowl.

"It's not impossible, but highly unlikely," a third human said with a head shake. "We picked one with a very generic physical display and made it extremely difficult to identify it by any genetic tests or similar."

"Could one of the doctors have gotten cold feet?" a fourth asked.

The Albingi frowned and shook his head. "I'll have another look at all the doctors that worked with the Muun. Most didn't know anything though."

With that, he left the room and the humans looked fairly uneasy.

"Are we sure WE don't have a leak, or worse, a trail?" the second human asked with a glare at the other two.

"There's no sign that we've been tracked to this planet. No one knows we're here, least of all Lord Vader," the third promised despite his obvious unease.

Vader? Now how did he factor into this? At minimum, these people weren't on his side, if their dread of being found by him was anything to go by.

"In any case, we can't have the cure or origins discovered, least of all right now. Our friends need time for things to become strained enough to justify their next actions," the fourth said.

The second nodded before looking back to Hego and the first human. "Dispose of him and the body. As far as anyone is concerned, he already left Albingi and went missing after departure."

"Gladly," the interrogator said with a smirk.

"He's rich and influential, there will be an investigation," the fourth remarked warily.

"There will be one even if he just goes missing," the third reminded. "Better they don't find him alive."

The three came to an agreement, leaving their fourth to finish his task.

"Any last words before I kill you, Magistrate?" the interrogator asked as he pulled out his blaster pistol to aim at the Muun's tall head.

Hego glared back with a weak defiance, sitting defeated in the chair. "You're all not as clever as you think. Someone will figure it out like I did."

"That's fine. We just have to keep it silent long enough for the fun to begin," the human said as he prepared to execute the man.

He was entirely unaware of the small figure approaching behind him.

With a wave of Anakin's hand, the light flickered out.

There was a fall, a grunt, and the sound of a blaster going off before silence filled the void.

The lights came back on.

The interrogator lay dead on the floor, a shot to the head.

By him was Anakin holding a pistol.

Next to the chair was Plagueis, holding another pistol.

Anakin blinked. "You could get free this whole time? And had a weapon hidden on you?"

"I've had a few attempts on my life," Hego answered, clutching his chest, his breath heavy with pain. "But it didn't seem like I'd get an opening before you arrived, young Jedi."

Anakin nodded in understanding. "They were expecting that shot, so we have a few minutes before they come to check on things," he said, looking to the other side of the room. "Our only option is either to head that way and hope we find a way out or try to fight our way the same way they brought you in."

"I have faith in your skills, Padawan, but I think fighting our way out will be too tall of an ask for me," Hego said, nodding to the back exit. "No one has entered or left here, so I'd say we have better chances taking this way."

Anakin agreed with that assessment as they made their way to leave hastily.

Plagueis smiled as he glanced back and was sure that Skywalker had not noticed the little gift he left for these petty conspirers to find.

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