March: Vaderline Solo Anthology Chapter 1

Vaderline Solo Anthology

NOTE: Vaderline Solo is the placeholder name for the Vaderline Anthology I mentioned where Vader is the only timetraveler.  I'm still work shopping the title, obviously.

"You brought him here?!"

Most people did not have the thought, or were not thoughtless enough, to yell at Grandmaster Yoda; Either out of respect for his ancient wisdom or cautious of his legendary might.

Yet, it was the Master of the Order, Mace Windu, who found himself doing just that.

Granted, Yoda didn't exactly blame him.

They were both in the medical bay of the Jedi Temple. Behind Yoda, floating in a bacta tank, was an unconscious Darth Vader.

"Ill choices I possessed," Yoda acknowledged. "Leave him to die, I could not. Overtaxed, Coruscant's medical facilities have become. Confusion and fear cloud the public at this moment. Safer here, he is."

"And who keeps us safe from him?" Evan Piell asked, narrowing his good eye. "Need I remind you, Grandmaster, this Sith marched on the temple just yesterday?"

"How many slain, has he?" Yoda countered, his fellow council members growing silent. "How many slain, did Sidious?"

"Master Yoda, you know as well as I do that Vader used us to kill Palpatine," Windu said levelly.

"Better, I think, than to be used by Sidious. For anything," Yoda said grimly.

No one disputed that. Vader was dark, evil by the definition of some, or even many, but between him and Sidious? There was no contest of who the more terrible entity was.

"Perhaps we should summon the rest of the council?" Piell questioned

"Those of us that remain?" Yarael Poof asked, appearing seemingly from nowhere.

It was only by great discipline and trust in the Force that none of the Jedi Masters drew their blades at the surprise entrance. "Not the best time for that, Poof," Windu said with a head shake.

"I suppose not, but it was the only way I could join you without being questioned by so many, Jedi or not," Poof said, shaking his head atop his long neck. "The people are still very scared. The council members who were not slain are either present, helping the rescue efforts, or already receiving treatment of their own."

Piell turned a glare to Vader's unconscious form. "What do you think, Poof? Do you think this was his plan, so many deaths and chaos?"

"If you were paying attention at all, you'd know the only death he was concerned with was Darth Sidious," Poof said. "If we are to believe it, Sidious and his master had a duel. Vader intended to lead us to a wounded or dead Sidious. He didn't expect Plagueis to spare him for a final show."

"More Sidious's punishment, I sense that was," Yoda said with a frown. "Cruel, Plagueis was. But earned, it might have been. Felt fading, Sidious's presence in the Force, I did. Even before his death."

"Force Severance?" Evan said in surprise. "That technique hasn't been seen in a long time."

"Vader could have still been leading us into that," Windu pointed out.

"Yes, we can also go as far as to assume he has a small army of Twi'lek apprentices to work as assassins while working their way close to powerful people by pretending to be slaves," Poof remarked.

There was a shift in Vader's Force signature, grabbing their attention.

"Did I just annoy him or give him an idea?" Poof asked in surprise.

"Both is not out of the question," Piell reminded.

"If we're done being outraged for the sake of it," Dooku remarked, drawing their attention to where he stood, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. "Perhaps we should discuss more pertinent issues than the unconscious, healing Sith that saved the heart of the republic. For instance, the aftermath of what he stopped."

No one was particularly happy with the way he phrased it, but none disagreed.

"The people are confused, and the law enforcements have little idea how to calm them," Poof informed. "They know the Jedi were involved, and word is spreading of Palpatine secretly being a rogue Jedi of some kind."

"I'm sure we'll find a great many messages from the Chancellor waiting for us," Windu remarked with a frown. "Have they found out how many layers deep the damage goes?"

"Including the surface? Four at least. Word is still unclear on those beyond that," Poof answered.

"We are only fortunate that the Works were never that populated," Piell said with a scowl. "Is the word I hear true? Even the planet's criminal underground is offering aid."

"Take advantage, many will," Yoda warned but nodded. "Yet genuinely aid, some do."

"I'll see about sending aid to Coruscant," Dooku mused. "Though, I doubt they require it as much as they do bodies and room. Coruscant's infrastructure for dealing with a disaster like this is rather rusty."

Yoda nodded solemnly. "Need healing, our own do. Of the body, and the mind."

Poof actively shivered. "I've been trying to help dispel some rather nasty nightmare our younglings are having, fueled by the lingering traces of Sidious's attack on the temple."

"How terrible could they be? He definitely didn't have time to torment every youngling individually," Piell said with a morbid curiosity.

"Normally, you'd be right. But I believe Sidious was using a technique that directly affected the fear portion of the brain," Poof said grimly. "He didn't need to personalize their nightmares, he knew how to make them do it to themselves."

*Crack!*

Heads turned once again, but much more sharply as they saw the line formed into Vader's bacta tank, and felt his ire rising.

"I doubt he'll stay asleep long," Poof said with some minor alarm. "It might be best to fetch his arms and legs. I'd rather not see how creative with the Force a limbless Darth Vader is."

"Being repaired, they are," Yoda answered.

"You think he trusts Jedi to do that?" Windu asked skeptically.

"He trusted us to bring him to the temple," Dooku remarked before smirking. "Besides, his mechanic is not technically a Jedi. Yet."

Yoda looked all too amused by that while Windu, Piell, and Poof all became confused.

Meanwhile "What is this GARBAGE?!"

Ahsoka winced, covering her montrals. "Skyguy! Loud!"

"Right, sorry," Anakin said as he stood on a stool to look over the work table. On it was the very imposing armor and limbs of Darth Vader. They were also very poorly designed in Anakin's opinion. "Why would someone make it like this?! How does he even move around in it properly?"

Ahsoka looked up at him quizzically.

Anakin opened his mouth and then closed it. "You wouldn't understand even if I explained it in your tongue, would you?"

The youngling shook her head without hesitation.

"Right. It looks like someone made this very badly and Vader...or, I'm assuming Vader...managed to improve it as best he could without just getting something better," Anakin said, running a hand through his hair. "Only one hand is insulated. Why is only one hand insulated?! That makes less sense than none of it."

"Skyguy. Bed. Rest," Ahsoka scolded, pointing to the medical bed reserved for Anakin.

"Ahsoka, they already cleared me. And I don't really know if I trust anyone else messing with Vader's stuff," Anakin waved off.

Ahsoka looked concerned and annoyed as Anakin continued to fiddle with and fix the technology before him. She stared up at him with eyes that didn't really comprehend everything that happened. So much happened in just a day or so, ever since this boy appeared in the temple and Vader came not long after.

So much fear and darkness. But...

She looked at Anakin again, in the force…bright and full of life. The Force around him felt happier just by his presence.

And when he looked at her, it felt like he wasn't just smiling. It was as if he was smiling with the Force. She never knew a Jedi could do that.

But then, Anakin wasn't a Jedi. Maybe he could teach her how to do that. It felt like...more than just sending emotions of happiness and peace.

Yes, much fear and darkness, but plenty of new light and warmth too.