At Any Cost

Chapter 1 - Questioning

Darth Vader tightens his grip on the controls of his TIE Advanced fighter, knowing even as he does that it won't stop the crash landing which is imminent. If he's lucky, this backwater planet will be a suitable place for him to hide from the prying gaze of his former master, Emperor Sidious. How did it come to this? How did he, Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, lose so much control as to do something so suicidal?

It doesn't matter anymore. The actions which he performed can never be undone, though he can at least glory in the knowledge that his lightsaber added yet another scar to the multitude the Emperor bears. He should have known better. He should have bided his time. Like it or not, he's crippled. He's not nearly as strong as he used to be, as certainly not strong enough to single-handedly take out the Emperor. He had stopped thinking for a moment, driven only by a blinding rage that yet another person had lied to him, betrayed him.

He never killed his Angel. The thought fills him with numbness. She had died just as he'd seen in his visions, giving birth to their son, Luke. That he was forced to miss so much time, nearly two decades, of his son's life is almost too hard a thought to entertain. It no longer matters if he lives or dies so long as he takes Sidious down with him. Hatred has driven him all these years, and it will serve him one last time as he plans a way to destroy the Sith master.

The fighter plunges towards the planet's surface much too quickly. Only the Force had protected him in his desperate escape after the failed assassination. He'd nearly been shot down numerous times before jumping to hyperspace. As it was, when he emerged for the second time, the fighter was damaged so badly that he was uncertain if it would hold together long enough for him to land. Well, he'll reach the ground in more or less one piece. Small consolation, but he still has an Emperor to kill.

The TIE Advanced hits the ground, exploding into a fireball. Gathering up his strength, Vader throws a Force shield around himself, ripping a hole through the side of the fighter to throw himself to safety. He hits the ground hard, dazed. Shifting backwards from the burning wreckage, Vader ignores the constant pain throughout his body. He's more than used to it, and he probably deserves nothing less after all the atrocities he's committed.

What would Kenobi say if he could see Vader now? He'd probably make some scathing remark about how Vader ought to think before he acts, and really, this time, he'd deserve it. Had he not attacked Sidious in a blind rage, he could have been able to meticulously plan an assassination. He's so focused on his thoughts, that he realizes a second too late that he's at the edge of a cliff. The next thing he knows, he's falling.

He catches himself with the Force a millisecond before he would have been splattered all over the rocks, but the landing is rough, and it sends harsh pain spearing through him. Too weak and exhausted to move, Vader lets himself lay there for a moment, deciding to get up and keep moving after recovering. The next thing he knows, he's slipping into unconsciousness, respirator working rhythmically to keep him alive.

***

"So?" Commander Luke Skywalker queries as Princess Leia Organa emerges from the meeting with the rest of the Rebel Alliance. "What are we going to do with Darth Vader?" He says the name with bitterness, remembering what Ben Kenobi had told him about his father. If it were up to Luke, Vader would be immediately executed.

Leia huffs, her scowl a sure sign that she's unhappy with the decision. "Seeing as the bounty on his head is currently standing at a billion credits, it's obvious the Empire wants him back very badly," she explains. "If Vader is really a fugitive, and it appears that he is, then we would be wise to learn whatever information he can provide us."

Luke snorts. "Yeah, right. I'm sure Vader will be enthusiastic about telling us all his intel."

"We're not giving him a choice," Leia declares, a hint of satisfaction in her voice. "He'll be kept drugged, and unfortunately, the two of us have been assigned to watch him and ask questions. The Alliance hopes that the drugs will be enough to make him talk more freely, whether he wants to or not."