Sacrifice - A Star Wars Fanfic

Chapter 6

     Palpatine raised an eyebrow and then also noticed Vader's trouble of speaking aloud. "Ah...understood. Commander, clear the room, Lord Vader and I need to discuss a private matter."

     Commander Jerjerrod nodded quickly, "Yes, My Lord."

    Once the docking bay had been cleared, Palpatine stared at Vader with his calculating golden irises. He leaned on his cane and probed the man, searching for what Vader was hiding.

      Calming his annoying shaking state, Vader stood proudly as he looked down at his shorter Master. "I have sensed the Force presence of...Anakin Skywalker."

     The Emperor blinked, unfazed. "I see...were you able to pinpoint the location of him?"

     "No, my Master. The signature was...slippery. The disturbance in the Force is what alerted me to it before I was blocked by shields."

    The Emperor tsked. "Stopped by a Jedi's pathetic mind blocks? Lord Vader, it is not difficult to pick apart shields with the Dark Side."

     "I know...but if pressed too hard a mind can...collapse." Vader explained.

     Palpatine studied his apprentice before cackling lightly. "Well Lord Vader, I guess you now have a new mission. Forget the boy for now...focus on this disturbance and make sure you bring it to me." The Emperor turned to walk away before pausing and staring Vader dead in his mask's red-tinged ocular lenses.

      "And do try top keep him alive. I would hate to lose such an impressive protégé like yourself." And with that, the Emperor strode off with a malicious grin.

    'Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.'

     Vader stood motionless as he watched his Master stride away. Closing his eyes, he released himself into the Force, finding the signature once more and pressing against it. He was pushed away immediately, so violently in fact, that the Sith Lord stumbled backwards.

    He snarled in anger. 'I will find you.'  He thought with a snarl before marching out of the docking bay and after his Master.

***

     Anakin jerked, feeling a cold shiver overcome him. Cold on Tatooine? He mentally pushed against the feeling, a bit harsher than he intended, but it worked nevertheless.

     His companions and he were currently trying to outrun a sandstorm which was quickly approaching. Anakin knew it was futile, however. He had lived on Tatooine long enough to know that if you didn't have cover in a sandstorm, you might as well have just given yourself over to the Tusken Raiders for a more merciless death.

     Once they had landed the skiff, using every last bit of energy it had left in his repulsorlifts after it had been shot multiple times, they had been left almost in the middle of the desert, forced to navigate their way back to their ships.

    At first, Anakin hadn't wanted to go with them to their ship, thinking maybe he had learned enough about the future to go back to his own time, but when he had remained in this time period he had tried very hard not to curse out the Force.

     Leia was leading Han, who was looking more lost than any of them with his still blurry vision. They all had cloth wrapped around their faces, trying to stop the sand from entering their eyes and failing miserably.

Anakin hated the sand with a fiery passion and he wished the Force could have at least sent him to the future on a different planet.

Behind him, Luke and Lando were helping an injured Chewbacca through the storm, the smaller boy obviously struggling a bit under the weight. However, he did his best not to show the hardship in his features.