CHAPTER ONE

Onboard the Death Star

Ben Kenobi stared at the mask of the man he once called a brother. It was a reminder of what had happened on Mustafar, the things he had done reappearing in nightmares far more often than he liked. That night he had been too weak, he had left his friend to a fate much worse than death.

Their lightsabers crackled again, Ben thrusting his forward, causing Darth Vader to take a step back.

"Your powers are weak, old man," Vader taunted, seeing the move for what it was, a lame attempt at defense.

"You can't win, Darth," Ben said calmly, swinging forward and locking their lightsabers. "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." Again their lightsabers hissed and cracked, red and blue reflecting on the black helmet.

"You should not have come back," Vader hissed. And Ben believed him. He could feel the rage simmering beneath the cool exterior of the Dark Lord of the Sith before him. Anger at the injuries that he had caused him on Mustafar. Ben saw it in the ferocity with which he attacked, the quick stabs he made in the hopes of catching him off-guard.

Ben kept Vader busy, allowing him to push the duel to the full view of the stormtroopers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Luke emerge with Leia and the smuggler, the stormtroopers oblivious. Luke looked so much like his father, and he didn't even know it.

Vader lunged forward once more, and Ben deflected it again, a sense of determination washing over him. He could have ended all of this on Mustafar. He could have the lives of the thousands Vader had killed, stopped so much suffering across the galaxy. Luke would not suffer for the mistakes he had made, he would not be forced to commit such a heinous act because he had been too weak.

With a newfound sense of vigor, Ben pushed back against Vader's mechanical strength, surprising the Sith Lord.

Vader pulled back, ready to stab the Jedi who had robbed him of his limbs nineteen years ago, exactly as Ben knew he would.

Pushing the offensive to the side, Ben plunged his lightsaber forward, into the chest of Darth Vader.

"I am so sorry, Anakin," he said softly, catching his friend as he fell to the ground. Gunfire erupted to his right, and Ben knew that they had only seconds before the hangar would be flooded with stormtroopers.

Using the Force, he closed the blast doors, and ran to the ship, deflecting blasterfire with his lightsaber.

"I hope you got the tractor beam out of commission or this is gonna be a real short trip," he heard Han yell from the cockpit. The Wookie howled something in response, and Obi-Wan took a seat, shocked at what he had just done. He had killed Anakin Skywalker, his friend and brother, and Luke's father.

"We need to get to Yavin 4," Leia said, her voice as calm and controlled as ever.

Anakin Skywalker was dead long before you killed Vader, Ben thought to himself.

"Ben, what you did, that was amazing," Luke said, giving his mentor a hug. Ben grunted in response.

"Excuse me, I must meditate," he said, walking out of the cockpit.

"What's with him?" Han asked.

"I don't know," Luke said, a puzzled look on his face.