Dance of the Sith

Chapter 1 - Runnin' Wild and Free

They found a way to slow their aging – Vader had been insistent on it – but it had taken... time.

At least she won't have to worry about them dying so soon though.

She's been on missions before, but somehow, Leia can't shake the feeling that something about this one will be... different.

***

Vader is standing on the bridge when the Star Destroyers exit hyperspace. His visor is red, and it severely distorts the white and blue hyperspace swirls.

He can... sense something here. This is where something will change, perhaps finally the beginning of the end of the Rebellion. Vader has been fighting them for sixteen years. Ever since Leia's birth.

The Jedi even tried to take her from him. They're tearing the galaxy apart. Now, he can see why Sidious sent him to the Temple, told him to execute all the Jedi. He would have done it, too – tried. He would've if they hadn't already started evacuating when he arrived.

He doesn't know how they got the warning, but somehow, they did, and countless Jedi survived that night. Once, he might've felt a small measure of relief that he hadn't had to carry through with it like Sidious ordered, but now, he's truly seen what his master meant when he said that if the Jedi weren't all destroyed, there would be civil war without end.

Because there has been. The galaxy hasn't known any peace since. The war could have been over, but they won't stop fighting senselessly, no matter how much the people themselves don't want it.

The Rebellion has a large fleet in space here, and Vader immediately heads for his own fighter. A squad of rebel fighters breaks away from the rest of the fleet to concentrate fire on him as he flies in closer.

He's done this hundreds of times over before, sinking into the Force and letting it guide his every move as he streaks towards the fighters, spinning in circles to avoid any of their shots. The fighter moves almost like an extension of him, the way it always has.

Vader shoots down two of the fighters ahead of him, streaking past and making for the command ship. It's already exchanging fire with his Star Destroyer, not that it stands any real chance of winning. But they're still taking out his boys the longer this fight drags on, and he won't let that last a moment longer than it has to.

Circling over the top of the command ship, he fires on it repeatedly, before spinning his fighter up and around again as the Rebel squadron circles back to keep shooting at him. He takes down a few more of the squadron, spinning to keep shooting at the command ship when another ship launches from it.

It's... uniquely shaped, different somehow from all the rest. And there's something about it...

Vader can't tell what, but he flies away from the rest of the battle, to keep the ship clear of his own forces. It's shooting at him repeatedly when he suddenly senses something.

Someone's reaching for him in the Force, but it's not just anyone. The Force presence feels so familiar, and Vader reaches back for a moment, because he has to know if this is really who he thinks.

It's the same soft rose petals in the Force that Ahsoka always used to be, even if it's grown older and hardened, darker.

He feels Ahsoka prod at him again, along with someone else – it must be another Jedi – before he shoves them away, but it still leaves him reeling, even as he directs his ship away again.

Ahsoka is alive.

She's alive.

Vader knew that, to a point, but not – it's not the same to know as it is to feel it, and he feels it now. He never knew what happened to her. The Star Destroyer he sent with her, arrived back on Coruscant, with Maul still on board, some time when he was gone to Mustafar to deal with the Separatist leaders. Ahsoka had disappeared along with Rex, and no one's heard from either of them since.