PART 6. I will fear no evil

Akaadi folded his arms over his chest and stared thoughtfully at the boy who was depicting holy innocence, looking at him with wide blue eyes.

The situation he found himself in was out of the ordinary, and that was saying it gently!

As it turned out, the kid absolutely did not want to obey the teacher he so suddenly found, fouling all of the attempts to reach some kind of cease-fire at every step.

At their first meeting Akaadi confronted the child with a fait accompli, forcing him to accept his own kidnapping and colorfully outlining the prospects for apprenticeship to sweeten the deal.

The kid listened attentively to the lengthy speech and quietly retorted back: "They'll be looking for me."

"Who?" Maynard laughed contemptuously, folding his arms across his chest. "Farmers? Very funny!"

"I warned you" glared the boy.

A month passed since then. For Akaadi it was a month of constant tension, trying to drive as much knowledge into his pupil's head as possible, and for Maynard, whom Luke hated to the marrow of his bones, it was a month of constant hassling.

They started with the simplest things - feeling the Force and learning how to direct it.

After listening to the instructions, Luke nodded, sat back and concentrated. Akaadi, pacing around the hall, carefully watched his student's attempts. The ghost was not afraid that someone would find them - the base, located deep in the thickness of the rock, was created specifically to hide everything happening inside from any kind of search through the Force.

How fortunate that it was never discovered by anyone else, though it stood empty – empty of absolutely everything – for at least a century after its inhabitants left. Akaadi had to let Maynard uncover some caches to insure at least some comfort. He himself obviously didn't care for it and Maynard was used to living in harsh conditions, like every mercenary, but a child...

A child required investments, especially a gifted child who would achieve greatness one day!

Looking at the said child's attempts to feel the notorious flow of the Force, Maynard came closer, scoffing scornfully. The next moment his ankle twisted. Bending himself in two, the man managed to land on all fours instead of face-planting into the floor, while Luke gleefully laughed, jumping up and down: "I finally did it!"

Akaadi then made the mistake of saying nothing - or rather, of praising the diligent child aloud: "Good boy! Keep it up!"

It took some time for the ghost to realize that the kid took his praise as a direct and unequivocal guide to action.

During the coming days Luke played a lot of dirty tricks on the mercenary, but didn't cross the line. He knew perfectly well that Maynard, if he wished, could easily make his life hell. Only the fact that there was no direct order from Akaadi and that Luke only performed all his little tricks in the ghost's presence prevented the mercenary from physically manhandling the boy.

Of course, none of it was a coincidence.

The boy knew very well that Akaadi was his immediate and only defense against Maynard.

Maynard watched the struggling boy with heavy eyes. The mercenary perfectly understood that he found the real enemy in the kid, not making any allowances for age. For some strange reason, the boy did not perceive the ghost, who actually organized the abduction, negatively. He grumbled, was angry, but did not immediately reject Akaadi or his teachings.

Maynard, on the other hand, became the recipient of Luke's instant and burning hatred.

Starting with an ordinary foot sweep, during the next month Luke acquired a real taste for playing humiliating pranks on the mercenary. A few days after the first successful attempt, the boy caught the distracted man again, and in the most banal way: the rope lying on the floor suddenly rose into the air and hung parallel to the floor (it rose only a few centimeters up, but it was enough), and Maynard, tripping over it, almost hit his head with the table's corner, barely putting his hands under him to cushion the fall in time.

Naturally, it was impossible to prove the boy's guilt, so the man simply resolved to keep his eyes open. As they say, who is forewarned...

However, as it turned out, the active and mischievous child possessed incredible patience. He waited two weeks before striking again.

Akaadi, delighted with the success of the student, whom he so unexpectedly sensed when he was outside the holocron, decided to show the child the art of manipulating small objects, or, in other words, levitation.

Having circled Luke himself and a few other items of spare furnishings on the improvised carousel, Akaadi drew out an enthusiastic cry from the child who immediately expressed his wish to learn how to do the same. It should have raised a red flag when Luke brought his favorite toy - a small sharp-nosed fighter plane, but...

Initially, the toy's flying was all wonky and askew, Luke managing to lift it in the air, but only just. However, he never lacked persistence, and two days later the fighter plane could already do circles, and three more days after that the boy upgraded to doing aerobatics maneuvers.

Maynard just snorted and turned away - and the pointed nose of a fighter plane almost sliced his carotid artery open then and there. The man managed to react in time, starting back from the toy, and it rushed past, only grazing his throat with its wings.

Akaadi just pursed his lips, but said nothing, trying to find a solution to a difficult problem.

Punishment.

Of course he could just pick a traditional punishment, used by the Sith, who thought that any problem could be solved with a judicious application of Force lightning. But the easiest way did not always mean the best, and Akaadi, although he became a Sith, was brought up by the Jedi, and the idea of torturing the child into compliance was not appealing to him in the slightest.

Not out of pity, no, the Force ghost long ago lost the capacity for it, but from banal calculation. The child had to completely trust him instead of just waiting for the opportune moment to finish him off. Bain's path did not rouse in the old zabrak anything aside from disgust and absolute contempt for such degradation.

In addition, Akaadi was rightfully proud of his diplomatic skills, he was accustomed to persuading everyone to his side with words, instead of forcing them, and he preferred various Force techniques, in which he was a true master, to crude physical abuse, so simply flogging a student meant confessing his own impotence.

Moreover, as far as he has already managed to understand, Luke did not tolerate any pressure, immediately starting to buckle simply out of principle. All of which left him with only one possible solution to this dilemma.

"Well," zabrak smiled, folding his arms on his armored chest. "I see that you are very clever. We will complicate your task. Maynard!"

"Yes?" lazily responded the mercenary, glaring at a small monster pretending to be a boy.

"Take the artifact and carry it with you always, without taking it off."

Maynard laughed, Luke scowled and Akaadi after a few moments graciously explained the underlying reason for this decision. "The artifact blocks the Force at a distance of a meter from the carrier. So now all your accidents… will stop happening."

Luke narrowed his eyes, examining the self-satisfied man, who was putting a metal "orange", once again starting to pulsate with a scarlet light, on his belt.

"Completely?" he clarified, drilling the artifact with his eyes.

"Completely. It affects all living and inanimate matter. It is impossible to interact with the Force within the field; it dissipates, so to speak."

"I see. I will take note of this."

Luke pensively stared at the ball hanging on Maynard's belt.

An artifact blocking the Force - in both directions. Creating a blind zone. Nothing could be heard from the inside and nothing could be seen from the outside. Akaadi did not say it out loud, but Luke realized himself that the artifact affected living things and objects differently. He couldn't feel Maynard that time in the desert at all. And then, on the ship, he couldn't call his father. Consequently, the coverage area could probably be varied.

And yet... Just because he couldn't use the Force directly on the man it didn't mean that he won't be able to come up with something else.

Vader drummed his fingers on the table, forcing a massive piece of expensive and carefully polished iron wood to shake a little.

The adjutant was standing nearby and staring off into the distance, not paying any attention to the shaking. Over the past month Kord had been terrified out of his mind so many times that it felt like his capacity to feel scared just dried up, transforming into a special kind of tranquility born from sheer apathy to one's fate.

Having lived through his Lord's many and varied outbursts of rage and sadistic fury, fortunately not directed at him, the young man felt like he could never be truly scared of anything anymore.

Of course, he was still afraid of his boss, but now it was a reasonable cautiousness instead of pants-wetting terror.

"Is that all?" the aforementioned Lord asked, pushing the datapad with the report aside. Adjutant held out the next datapad. Vader quickly looked through the information and signed, disappointed. "Nothing new."

Sharply rising, the Dark Lord went to a huge painting depicting a landscape with a distant mountain ridge covered in a haze of creeping mist, thin forest and a river, flowing into a small, crystal-clear lake. The Commander froze, staring at the painting, only the twitching fingers of his right hand betraying his impatience and displeasure.

The past month had been very difficult.

Anakin Skywalker had never been patient; he had a very violent, quick temper that the Jedi weren't able to handle correctly. Lord Vader inherited all the bad inclinations of Anakin Skywalker, developing them in a geometric progression. However, unlike the Jedi, the Sith Lord Sidious manages to solve the task of taming his apprentice.

Not immediately, not at once... And not by lecturing, but by physical means. He was able to achieve impressive results during these five years. Now Vader resembled a volcano that erupted from time to time, releasing tension, instead of a geyser with constantly boiling water.

The past month clearly showed that Sidious' apprentice could benefit from the lessons of his old Master. The rigid control of emotions, that the Sith drove into him, proved very useful when the scouts returned, bringing very little useful information in.

They found out that a small shuttle touched down at a far enough distance from the farm - apparently, the obviously experienced pilot was wary of alarming his prey. Then the unknown man went to the farm, where he kidnapped the child, and then returned to the ship and flew off the planet. The investigation was complicated by a number of factors: the desolation of the terrain and the fact that the shuttle landed right in the desert and not in the port worked against them, as well as many other things.

The scouts have literally done a miracle, having squeezed out everything possible from the scanty facts, provided to them. Now they were looking for a shuttle, following some scattered clues. And only the fact that they had any clues at all held Vader from breaking down.

Sidious slowly kneaded the bridge of his nose with cautious movements of thin fingers. The report hung in the air in front of the Emperor, forcing him to reflect on some extremely interesting topics, namely: his apprentice, finally learning to control himself! Occasionally, of course, but still! This was already a huge achievement!

And given all the surrounding circumstances...

The datapad flew closer, and Palpatine plunged into perusal of the incredibly fascinating report provided by his spy on the "Executor", more resembling a sick fantasy of some low-level action blockbuster producer, permanently living in a state of alcoholic delirium, than a serious document.

Vader lasted a week. It was incredibly difficult, but he held on, not lashing out at his subordinates and not destroying his meditation chamber. Only droids from the training hall felt the depth of his wraith, but they couldn't tell anyone. When he was once again met with the news of no new clues as to his child's possible whereabouts Anakin's patience finally snapped, after which the Sith came down to the planet himself and fulfilled the walking dream of all of his childhood. And youth. And short adolescence.

He wasn't able to realize this dream before for quite prosaic reasons: as a child he was weak and bound by a slave's collar; during his youth Kenobi was constantly bending his ear, not allowing his soul's noble endeavors come to fruit, and the rest of the Jedi did not fell far behind; and after he became a Sith, Sidious kept him in leading strings with constant training and assignments to destroy his enemies, personal and otherwise.

And now, when he was in the orbit of Tatooine, a place where every kind of filth felt right at home, he finally had an excuse to pay a visit to someone.

Lord Vader thought about it, and, well.

Why not?

And then he organized a hunt for slavers, crime dealers and other dregs of society, falling down on his personal shuttle on the planet near Mos Eisley like an avenging angel, and landing on a little platform near Jabba the Hutt's lair.

With slow deliberation Vader moved along the long corridor leading to the central rooms, where the nasty worm and its cronies were dwelling in. The volley of shots from the blasters was swiftly parried by his lightsaber, after which the Lord went on the offensive.

Taking a deep breath and finally shrugging off the tension, plaguing him for the past weeks, Vader plunged into the carnage with great relish, literally mincing anyone who came to his notice to pieces. Naturally, the Hutt had guards, and even good ones, only their efforts to protect their charge meant absolutely nothing against the Sith Lord.

Vader effortlessly reflected the blaster shots back into the shooters with his lightsaber, squeezing throats, braking bones, crushing innards left and right, soaking the area around him with violent bloodlust, which made the underground shelter residents' limbs collapse and their minds darken.

The air stank of plasma and burning flesh, the sickening smell of blood and innards drifted after the Sith like a living fog of Dagobah. Shouts full of rage, pain and despair, groaning and rattling of the dying ... Vader straightened his shoulders with satisfaction, crunched his neck and smiled a terrible little smile under his mask, gazing at the huge, thick doors leading directly into the Hutt's chambers. Someone was clearly suffering from the extreme case of megalomania...

One lazy movement of the hand - and the doors flew inside, crushing those who hid behind them.

Attempts to resist immediately withered due to the death of those who resisted, but Jabba was no longer in the room - Vader only saw Fortuna's white face, contorted by horror, and the tail, flashing in the closing passage.

"Where do you think you're going?!" hissed the Sith, making a grabbing movement with his hand and pulling the Hutt, bulking and clinging with his short hands to everything he could grab, closer. Fortuna screamed with rage and fired a blaster at their attacker, but it was useless: the Sith parried the shot with his hand, and then sharply clenched his fist, breaking the togruta's vertebrae with a Force grip.

Vader shifted his gaze to the struggling Hutt, howling and swearing, and raised his eyebrows in surprise: an unexpected vision of a short girl, dressed in a scanty outfit of a dancer, successfully killing the slug by strangling him with a chain, suddenly flashed before his eyes.

The Sith snorted approvingly.

"You see, you'll die either way. But not yet. Not until the end of the interrogation."

Having given the necessary orders, Vader waited until the arrival of a squad of storm troopers and investigators, and then returned to the "Executor".

"My lord!" Kord drew himself up, offering the datapad. "We have news."

Whatever one may say, Akaadi was a true Sith. Spiteful, treacherous and unpredictable. And, in addition, an excellent psychologist.

Why force the apprentice to do something, wasting time and energy on corrections, if there was a much easier solution? A teacher only needed to motivate the student in the right manner, and the latter would lay himself out, trying to reach the goal.

The situation now resembled a famous saying: "So near and yet so far."

Yes, Luke couldn't complain about the lack of ideas; yes, he immediately came up with a bunch of ways to get to the enemy despite the artifact; yes, all of them were doable by a child.

On one condition - the availability of necessary resources.

The base on which they lived was empty. And not in the sense of absence of other living inhabitants or comfort, but in the truest sense. There were walls, floor, ceiling, doors and ... that was, basically, it. Those who cleaned out the base tore everything they could, except for a few ultrasonic and water fresheners, toilets, three drawers, which Luke and Maynard used as beds, one hefty table made of metal, heavy and unwieldy, six chairs (one rickety), a large refrigerator, rated for a squadron or even a regiment, and three built-in wardrobes, that someone removed the doors from.

And that was all.

Everything necessary for living they had to buy or acquire by other and less legal means. Akaadi could only pensively scratch his horns after inspecting the base, completely gutted from anything useful by unknown enthusiasts. According to him it was ready to accept new inhabitants and was packed to the brim with food, weapons and other things, so it was a mystery who and when did the deed. The only thing comforting him was the fact that it was obviously done during Revan's lifetime, not later.

Maynard was ordered by Akaadi to buy food, some clothes, some dishes and some simple droids for cleaning, bed sets and blankets.

Everything except food was in small quantities.

Therefore, there was nothing extra on the base, only necessities; nothing to hurl at the brazenly grinning mercenary, and the kitchen with lots of knives and other tableware was out of bounds for the child, which was enforced by Akaadi and Maynard both.

Of course, Luke had a small knife, which he continued to wear on his shin, but this was the weapon of the last resort, and Skywalker did not want to reveal it yet. This also pertained to the lightsaber - it was still lying inside the bag, which the boy demonstratively emptied out from all his meager possessions.

He rarely had the opportunity to touch his father's saber: Akaadi, as befits a battlemaster and strict teacher with considerable experience, professed the principle of loading the apprentice with work up to the gills, so that the latter won't have any free time left.

One absolutely cannot allow the child to kick around doing nothing - who knew what kind of mischief he would come up with. Especially since Akaadi was interested in how the kid would try to accomplish his revenge against Maynard in such conditions.

Kenobi stretched with a sigh, turning to the Togruta. Deep joint meditation gave results, just not quite the ones they hoped for. They weren't able to find Luke – the child was hidden from the search through the Force, probably staying in some kind of hide-out, specifically created in order to hide those sensitive to the Force.

The kid was still alive and it was the only thing they were able to ascertain, but that was still better than nothing. All hope was not lost. Sooner or later the child will be released from whatever was concealing his presence, and then they would be able to pinpoint his location.

Kenobi would easily do it; he lived near Luke for five years and was able to thoroughly study the child's imprint in the Force.

The true danger laid elsewhere. The kidnapper was a Dark Side user; the Jedi felt it very clearly. The most probable reason the Dark Side user kidnapped a Force-sensitive child was not that hard to imagine, too – to make him a new apprentice. Nobody would walk past a child with such a gift in the Force.

If the kidnapper or kidnappers decided to just pick up a promising kid, it was one thing. The consequences they could deal with - there were some special techniques in the Jedi arsenal designed for situations just like that. But if the kidnappers actually knew who they kidnapped...

Just thinking about the fact that it would completely destroy their carefully calculated plan if the kidnappers just tell Luke the truth about Vader's identity made hairs on the back of Kenobi's neck bristle.

"What do we do?"

"We're playing a waiting game now" shrugged Shaak Ti. "Meanwhile we should probably visit Maris. She is…"

"Something happened?" Kenobi glanced at her shrewdly.

Togruta Master hunched her head. "She... The massacre in the Temple affected her deeply. There was so much anger in her."

"That's okay, everyone was angry." Obi-Wan smiled grimly. "Except for Sidious, I suppose."

Shaak Ti sighed.

"She... The Darkness took root inside of her. I tried to reassure her, to console her, but Maris... She... I'm afraid that she will break. "

Kenobi's face darkened. "She won't be the first."

"I heard that many of the survivors fell."

Kenobi closed his eyes, mournfully pursing his lips. "It's worse than you think. The survivors are many, but they don't want to make contact, either too afraid or too angry. Knights, Padawans..."

"Who?"

"Dendro, Lilith, Nuo, Ferus Olin, Jaric, Meloria, Hallmere, Valara Saar, Cody Tu, Halbret, Falon Gray... And that's only a small part."

"There is no unity" Shaak Ti whispered, closing her eyes.

Kenobi stared blankly into the distance. "No. The Sith succeeded. They have broken us all apart."

Vader carefully read the report and smiled. His impassive adjutant standing nearby did not see his boss's nightmarish smile, but certainly felt the shift in the Sith' mood.

"Give the whole group a bonus and three days of leave." Datapad lifted in the air and hovered right in front of the mask. "It was very stupid to think that you could have hidden from me indefinitely..."

The screen showed a blurred image of a small ship, photographed by the half-dead camera of some enthusiast, who was sitting on that ill-fated day on one of the sharp rocky peaks, which he was driven to by some kind of incomprehensible soul-searching impulse. Luckily the photo also showed the name of the owner and the planet of registration.

"Very. Stupid." The finger clicked on the name, and the information unfolded on the screen. "Well, hello, Tullon Gar. Tell me who did you sell this piece of flying debris to?"

"Porridge again..."

"Something's the matter, kid?" Maynard grinned, scooping up a fragrant stew, one glance at which immediately made Luke's stomach grumble.

"Yeah" hissed Skywalker. "A lot of things. All of which I will correct one way or another..."

"Oh my, how terrible we are!" the mercenary snickered, noisily swallowing another spoonful of rich stew. Luke growled. Akaadi grinned, unabashedly amused. Zabrak was very well versed in psychology and honestly enjoyed watching the mercenary he had long since grown tired of cheerfully dig his own grave.

The small monster glaring with hatred at the man, who was practically oozing gleeful self-satisfaction in front of him, clearly had a good memory and incredible patience, which was an amazing feat for his young age in of itself. The boy was also very close to developing a viable plan leading to the death of his enemy – and whether it would be a painful one or not had yet to be seen.

Naturally, Akaadi was not at all against Luke killing or at least seriously maiming Maynard. Either option would satisfy the Sith, but death was preferable. Whatever one may say, all those with sensitivity to the Force dealt in life and death both, as facets of the Great Force.

Both Jedi and Sith tended to go for "negotiations" of varying degrees of aggressiveness and not to bother too much about the fallout, reminding the world that sometimes you can't do good without using your fists.

Current situation was aggravated by the fact that several factors, very important for understanding what was happening, came together at once.

The child accepted Akaadi's leadership, at least for the moment. As far as zabrak had been able to understand from reading the Force, Luke believed that temporary submission in exchange for knowledge was an incredibly profitable transaction. He did not consider the Sith guilty of his kidnapping, shifting all the blame on the mercenary, and for a very simple reason: the boy couldn't do anything to the Force ghost, but the mercenary was alive and here and available for the child to take all of his dissatisfaction with the situation on.

It was a very Sith approach, which was good news.

Maynard only made the matters worse after receiving an artifact that suppressed the Force around him, completely relaxing and becoming even more obnoxious than before. The man for some convoluted reason decided that the artifact would protect him from any and all danger - Luke couldn't get anything to mutilate the man with, because all weapons were under locks and keys, the thought of a small child physically overcoming a grown man was laughable, and as for doing something terrible to him via the Force… The kid did not yet possess knowledge or skills necessary for something like that.

And so day by day Maynard became more and more bold, paying the child back for every humiliating trick he pulled on him before tenfold - feeding Luke bland porridge, while gleefully stuffing his own face with meat, commenting on the kid's lack of height and general unimpressiveness in the physical department, outright laughing at the boy's failures when attempting to perform various Force techniques…

The man was clearly an idiot.

No one who had a clue about what the Force was and what Force-users were capable of would mock the child making his first steps on the Dark path. After all, Sith were always known for their vindictiveness. And to thoughtlessly create that kind of enemy…

Then again, zabrak disliked Maynard from the very beginning of their acquaintance. It was not even that the mercenary was not Force-sensitive - the Sith was of the opinion that one should use any resources they had at hand, no matter how unconventional. But the man was too arrogant and over-confident, to the detriment of the common sense even, and, judging by the recent developments, would get what's coming for him sooner rather than later.

Calculating fury in Luke's baby-blue eyes and cold patience with which he waited for the perfect moment to strike assured him of it.

Vader indifferently looked at the twi'lek, trembling and sniveling on his knees before the Dark Lord, and hastily took a step backwards, not wanting the disgusting creature rushing to kiss his boots in a desperate ploy to get out of this interrogation faster.

The officer conducting the interrogation handed Vader the report, which the latter skimmed through, immediately noting several suspicious moments.

"Verify this information."

The officer nodded and left the interrogation room, while Vader caught the calculating stare of the trafficker and grinned, clenching his fist.

He had eight names. Soon one of them will break and then…

"My lord?" Vader signed and turned his head. "You're being called by the Emperor."

Sidious watched his apprentice obediently bowing his head with interest.

Vader started tapping into his potential more and more each day, which was good news, even if the driving force behind this personal growth consisted mainly of selfish interests. The death of his wife and his injuries impacted Anakin very strongly. He seemed to have lost his spark, the fire that raged in him from birth, pushing to go forward, to meet the unknown head on, in a single day.

He still trained, studied new things and techniques, but listlessly, only obeying his Master's orders than by personal initiative.

However, as soon as he caught a hint that some of Skywalker's family still survived, albeit in a somewhat reduced form, Anakin immediately woke up, shaking off fatigue and indifference from the smoldering embers of his soul.

Sidious was pleased to note that during this month and half Vader changed for the better, once again transforming from a soulless cyborg with a lot of screws dangerously loose due to overindulging in the Dark Side of the Force to the Chosen One who once attracted the attention of the Sith.

Moreover, Anakin's character finally started to stabilize - painfully and with great difficulty, but still. His behavior often shifted from that of Anakin to Vader - from impetuous impulsiveness to frenzied rage, but Sidious efforts in training his apprentice by the "very little carrot and lots of stick" approach gradually began to bring results.

There were still some minor hiccups, of course, but at least his student stopped stagnating. Vader woke up from his total depression with a renewed thirst for life. The Sith could have kissed the child who was able to create such a miracle just by existing!

Not to mention that he was also a leaving breathing leverage for Sidious to motivate his apprentice with in case the latter decided to act up…

"Tell me, Lord Vader, do you have any news?"

The emperor steepled his fingers, eyeing the man before him musingly. The echoes of Vader's inner torments of having to wait for the results instead of rushing off to punish everyone guilty in person reached the older Sith.

Well, Sidious thought, let him suffer, it's good for the soul. And if his apprentice started being difficult, Sidious could always put him in his place. Force Lightning was, after all, very... useful in the matter of reining the unruly, insubordinate elements in.

"There are several names," Vader said, clenching his fist, "that we're checking now. I feel that we are on the right track."

"That's good," Palpatine nodded, his face relaxing in a benevolent smile, "wonderful even. And now let's get down to business."

Felucia

Shaak Ti shook her head in response to Kenobi's questioning look. "She's not here."

"That's not good."

Maris disappeared, and everything indicated that it was on her own accord. All of her personal items were missing and the shelter stood empty and cold - the girl clearly left it immediately after Shaak Ti departed.

Kenobi closed his eyes, trying to read the Force. "It's not good..." Master pursed his lips in displeasure. "I can't see anything clearly, but she was not alone. Someone else was there. Someone Dark."

"Maris..."

"She left with him or them voluntarily."

Togruta closed her eyes, worried and disturbed in equal measures. "So, she Fell too."

"It seems so."

"What now?" Togruta looked at her partner with dry eyes.

"We will search for the child. Although... We should probably try to follow Maris and the others, I have several addresses. I'm afraid that all this activity and the timing of it is not accidental."

"You think..?"

"Luke. Someone found out about him."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. The Force is clear on that matter."

Shaak Ti nodded thoughtfully. She didn't have any reason to doubt Kenobi. Despite everything, Obi-Wan became a Master by right. Few people knew, but Master Qui-Gon's former Padawan was extremely sensitive to the Force, or rather, he surrendered himself completely to its will. That was why he often made paradoxical at first glance decisions that in the end always turned the situation to his advantage. Of course, he was also not without his own vices, but who didn't have at least a few of those?

Kenobi never was a weakling. Yes, he could be hard and short and pulled no punches. Yes, he could be obstinate and bullheaded. He could be boring and pissed people off left, right and center with his nitpicker tendencies. But he was never a fool.

Which, in Shaak Ti's humble opinion, did not always excuse that man' many character flaws, but that was neither here nor there.

The meeting was set up on some small planet, dusty and remote – in other words, perfect. The assembled company may have appeared ordinary, but only at a first glance. If, for example, a professional took a look at them, he would have noticed their sharp movements, economical and calculated, their bodies more flexible and mobile than normal by an order of magnitude, their body language a little too predatory.

They did not speak aloud, but constantly exchanged looks with each other and listened to something beyond the reach of ordinary people.

The company was mixed, consisting of humans, zabraks and twi'leks.

All of them were strangely similar, not in appearance, but in behavior and strong aura of Force emanating from them.

The professional would have realized that something was not right with this company immediately, but, fortunately or unfortunately, no one was there to do it.

"Is it true?!"

"Yes. I stumbled upon this information by chance."

"Amazing! What an opportunity!"

"The danger ..."

"To hell with danger! I want to do it!

"Excellent. What about the rest of you?"

"I'll do anything to get revenge on this monster!"

"Great. Then we'll start our search. And I'll go to my source, maybe he'd be able to find out something more."

Everything was terrible. Awful. Luke wanted to crawl into a corner and cry, or better still - to burrow deep into a bolt hole, taking a stick of grenades or a flamethrower with him to ward off possible visitors.

The realization that everything was terrible came to Luke at night. Waking up at three o'clock in the morning, his heart beating like crazy, throat dry as a desert and body completely paralyzed with terror, the boy fruitlessly tried to calm down, taking deep breathes and thinking good thoughts.

It took him two hours to regain some semblance of rationality.

"What in the blazes was that ..." Luke took another deep breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead with trembling hand. "I almost kicked the bucket from sheer terror. And... Better check. "

The boy lowered his hand with trepidation and then exhaled with relief upon finding his pants dry. He had never been so afraid before - neither in past life, nor in this. Even the Krayt dragon incident was nothing compared to what he just experienced.

Unable to stand the tension, Luke stood up and dragged his bag with a lightsaber and a pearl hidden inside closer. The lightsaber felt cold to his clammy, sweaty hands, shocking his body into finally waking up completely and giving him the needed boost to shake off the last clinging remains of a nightmare.

The pearl, on the other hand, was blazing with heat. Luke curled around it, slowly warming up.

"That's not good. Not good at all. Something happened. Thank you..." the boy passed the hand gently over the pearl and then over the lightsaber hidden under the pillow. "I'll be ready."

He hadn't been able to fall asleep again.

The next morning Akaadi looked at his high-strung student, nervously darting his eyes around, and gave the child a full load of work to keep him busy. The day dragged on and on with Luke levitating various objects and trying to convince himself that the size did not matter, and Akaadi nodding supportively in response to his successes and silently debating with himself whether to reward the kid with sweets or not.

Maynard had been gone for a week already. The mercenary received some kind of disturbing message, after which he rushed off somewhere to clarify the situation. The only thing that pleased Luke was the fact that the man took the artifact off after a meaningful look from Akaadi.

So now he finally had a chance to do what Skywalker has been dreaming about for quite some time.

Revenge would be sweet.

"What do you think, Nur?"

"Maine, I'll ask only once," the elderly, smart-looking man stared searchingly at the mercenary who had collapsed in the armchair. "What did you do to attract the ISS attention?"

"Nothing!" Maynard dismissed the accusation snappishly. "Nothing special, in any case. Why?"

"I've heard that they are looking for your ship. You know why?"

"Actually, yeah, probably. I bought it from Garr at a cheap rate..."

"So it's stolen. Get rid of it."

"I'll have to..." sighed Maynard. "Anything else?"

"No. I heard about this only because one of my relatives serves in the Fleet. He's a second fiddle, but it suits us."

"I see" said the man. What was there to misunderstand? Family connections always played a huge role in every kind of business, so there was nothing strange or surprising that an officer of the Fleet would supply his relatives with information useful to those who engage in illegal activities.

"So, it's something the previous owners did."

"Maybe. Just take care of it, yeah?"

"Okay."

Maynard stood up, put down a card with credits and then left. He had a lot to think about.

Ogun watched him go and then took the card and returned to business. The sun had almost set, when the man making a living by gathering and selling information and by playing intermediary had finished working. Standing up, he stretched out, turning his neck this and that way, loosening his stiff muscles and wincing with pain.

And that was when the door flew open and stormtroopers, a single glance upon which had the man sweating bullets, rushed into the office. 501 Legion. Vader's Fist.

Ogun, frozen like a statue, stared at the doorway in horror. The sound of heavy footsteps and steady mechanical breathing was coming closer and closer. And then a tall man in black armor and a long cloak stepped into the office and the adjutant that came with him carefully closed the door behind them. The chair slid into the middle of the huge room and Vader sat down silently, spreading his cloak and promptly taking the datapad from the officer, taking a casual look at the displayed information.

"Ogun. There's only one question I want you to answer. Where's your friend Maynard?"

The information dealer inadvertently threw a glance toward the door and immediately stiffened, his hands clutching at his throat.

"What an interesting reaction..." Vader whispered, getting up and taking a step closer. "Why's that, I wonder?"

An invisible hand gripped the shaking man by the throat and dragged him closer to Vader. And then Ogun could only scream because it felt like his head was being cleaved in two.

Vader, not caring one bit about the man twitching in convulsions, poured through his memories, digging into his mind with a single-minded intensity. Finally finding what he was looking for after a few literally torturous minutes, Vader threw Ogun's unconscious body aside, and growled: "Maynard. He was here six hours ago."

The adjutant nodded in understanding and hurriedly left. His place was promptly taken by the team of investigators, who would turn the office upside down but find every shred of evidence for their Lord. No one paid any attention to Ogun, curled up and drooling on the floor - his fate was already determined. After finally coming to himself he would be interrogated. And who knew, maybe he would regret not being killed by Vader yet.

Another morning greeted Luke with horrible mood of the "want to kill everyone in sight" variety. After waking up much earlier than usual, the boy tidied himself and grimly started packing, neatly folding his clothing and throwing his favorite toy, dragon's pearl, a few useful trifles and a couple of field rations inside the bag.

After some deliberation Luke finally decided to fasten the knife to his hand, thanking the Force for his wide sleeves capable of hiding much more useful things than just a knife. He really wanted to fasten the lightsaber to the other one in the same fashion, but was forced to abandon this idea after realizing that it would still bulge a little too obviously, after which the saber went into the bag.

Carefully inspecting the room one last time, Luke put his bag on, tightening the straps, and then went to get himself some breakfast.

"Soon" he felt. "Something's going to happen soon. Any minute now."

Maynard swept his eyes over the jungle, disgruntled and wary, before making his way to the entrance of the base. A cruel grin spread on his face. The mercenary immediately understood who was the true source of the trouble he found himself in.

The boy.

What was he bleating about at the very beginning? That someone would be searching for him? But why would the ISS show any interest towards some farmer's son from the bedraggled little planet? All of it smelled fishy.

Tapping the code, Maynard entered the base, heading to the living area through the long corridor. He found the boy in the dining room in the process of hungrily scarfing down the huge piece of meat out of Maynard's personal supplies, almost purring with pleasure.

Catching the sight of mercenary frozen in shock in the doorway, Luke vindictively grinned and, deliberately biting off another piece of meat, started chewing with obnoxious satisfaction. By the time the child finished his meal, carefully wiping his mouth with a napkin under Akaadi's approving gaze Maynard was red with rage.

"You little bastard..." Maynard hissed, finally breaking from his stupor and taking a step forward.

"Want some porridge?" innocently inquired the boy, smiling sated little smile. The man snarled, lunging towards the child, his arms outstretched to better wrap his fingers around the brat's scrawny neck and squeeze, blinded by white-hot explosive fury and completely forgetting that he actually had to wear an artifact or report his findings to Akaadi.

In the next moment the boy, who instinctively shielded himself from assault, sharply shot his hands forward, scratching mercenary's throat with a knife dangerously close to the cervical artery. Maynard staggered back, putting pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding with one hand and fumbling for the blaster with another, while Luke scowled angrily, disappointed that he didn't manage to mortally wound the mercenary with one blow.

Akaadi raised an eyebrow in amazement and moved closer to better watch the unfolding entertainment.

The blaster Maynard was attempting to draw was not there. In fact, his whole poach belt was very conveniently missing.

Luke trained to exhaustion in order to learn how to unfasten the buckle with the Force, sacrificing hours of sleep at a time, and not in vain as evidenced by how he managed to drag the poach from the mercenary while the latter was distracted with stopping his throat from bleeding out.

Luke picked up the blaster, gripping the uncomfortably huge handle tighter, carefully aimed and pulled the trigger, mentally thanking the Force, that it was not a firearm, otherwise the shot would have probably broken his wrist.

In the resulting blast the mercenary was thrown aside – still only wounded, and not killed.

"Not bad, apprentice," Akaadi nodded approvingly. "What are you going to do now?"

"Skedaddle," Luke answered honestly, pulling the chair to the shelf with the Force-suppressing artifact on it.

"Are you running away from me?" the ghost narrowed his eyes.

"Nah! From the uninvited guests who will shortly be there. Don't you feel it?"

Zabrak narrowed his eyes, his glow intensifying. Somewhere in the back of the room Maynard tried to get up, wheezing and gurgling, but fell again.

Luke climbed onto a chair, reaching for the artifact. Of course he could have tried to levitate it with the Force, but Luke was still not all that confident in his control and didn't want to risk the "orange" falling to the floor and breaking. After having secured it to his belt, the boy jumped down, throwing a wary glance at the still moving Maynard, and rushed out the dining room to get his bag.

"And where are you headed?"

"Teacher," Luke adjusted the bag and turned to zabrak. "Do you remember my warning at the beginning?"

"And?" Akaadi tensed, mentally frowning at himself. During all this time he didn't think to ask one important question... "Just who exactly are you, boy?"

"Allow me to introduce myself," the child proudly straightened, puffing out his skinny chest. "Luke Skywalker, son of Darth Vader."

"Hmm!"

Akaadi closed his eyes to contemplate the unexpected news, folding his arms over his chest. Son of the Dark Lord... The reason for some oddities in his behavior, which zabrak dismissed before, suddenly became much clearer.

"I warned you that someone would be looking for me."

"And who's looking for you now?"

"Firstly, there is dad. Secondly, there is Obi-Wan Kenobi, Master of the Jedi Order. Thirdly, there are dad's and Kenobi's enemies. Well, and everyone else, I suppose."

"So many choices."

"You don't say!" Luke sighed, rolling his eyes. "Teacher, I want to make you an offer that you cannot refuse!"

"Oh really?" the ghost skeptically smiled, looking at the boy trying to bargain with him. He could stop Luke at any moment, but why not listen to his version of the situation? He was not Malak, after all, raging and mindless! He had brains and was not afraid to use them. "I'm listening."

"As far as I understand, you want to revive the Order of the Sith, right?"

"Yes. I vehemently disagree with Bane's rule of two. It is degrading!"

"Good. I promise to contribute to the execution of your idea, and you will help me to get to my father alive and preferably unscathed."

"And how do you intend to "contribute?"

"I'll talk to grandpa!" shrugged the child brazenly. "I think he will not be against it."

"And who is your grandfather?"

"Why, the Emperor, of course!

Akaadi looked at the child patiently waiting for his answer, and for the first time in a very long time felt out of his depth. However, Maynard's wheezing distracted the ghost from trying to make sense of a situation right away, and he gladly turned his attention to a more familiar problem.

"I wonder how long would he last…" muttered the boy with clinical interest. Akaadi swept the dying man with an experienced look.

"He is admittedly rather resilient, so probably around thirty minutes. Are you going to finish him off? "

"What for? He will die one way or another. On the other hand... You are absolutely right, teacher. It's bad practice, leaving your enemies behind alive. Best get into the habit of cleaning after myself from the very start."

Luke reached into the bag and pulled out the lightsaber.

"And you somehow have a saber, too..." Akaadi rubbed his chin.

"Yes. But this one is my father's."

"And what about yours?"

"I don't know how to make one yet" Luke sighed, activating the saber and sizing up Maynard's twitching body. In one smooth movement the mercenary lost his head – literally.

"Would you like me to teach you?" softly asked Akaadi.

Luke's eyes flashed. "Yessss."

"Of course you'll need to get a crystal first..."

"No, I don't!" the child jumped, obviously excited. "I already have something even better! The Krayt-dragon's pearl!

"Where did you get it?" zabrak marveled.

"From the dragon, of course!" the child blinked at him innocently. "The one I killed myself."

"Oh, sweet Force!"

The ghost looked at the raw pearl lying on the boy's palm and felt himself falling deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole.

"You know what, Luke," the ghost narrowed his eyes. "I'll accept your proposal. But with the condition."

"Yeah?"

"I will remain your first Teacher."

"Accepted, Teacher Akaadi!" Luke stood on one knee, tilted his head respectfully and then immediately jumped up. "Now let's get out of there! The enemies are coming closer!"

"Yes. Let's hurry."

Under the ghost's gaze a holocron flew out of the inconspicuous niche and headed toward Luke. The child grabbed the pyramid, whistled, weighed it in his hand, and hid it in a bag.

"All that is mine I carry with me!" announced Luke.

The door swung open, letting out one boy and one ghost.

"Let us go then, apprentice! The only way is forward!"

The door closed.