It had been a good idea, really. For the Empire. It was eerily similar to how the Republic fell, and this Rebel Alliance—supporters of the Old Republic—will fall the same way. The only problem was, Vader wasn't all that great of an actor.

The cover story his master had come up with was simple but believable. Anakin had simply gone into hiding, like so many other Jedi when Order 66 was given. And now that he had heard of this Rebel Alliance, he decided to emerge and help take down the Empire.

Except, Anakin wasn't alive, not in spirit, anyways. But Vader had been Anakin and it shouldn't be too hard to be someone he once was, right?

Palpatine's plan was for his apprentice, Darth Vader, to join the Rebel Alliance as Anakin Skywalker. He was completely supportive of this idea. Not only was it an easy way to get a spy amongst their enemies; it also gave him more opportunities to be rid of the suit and mask.

He'd stopped needing the horrible life-support suit long ago. Five years, to be exact; twelve after he had first been fitted with it. His injuries were mostly healed by then. He was still scarred, yes, but his lungs could breath on their own now, and he could eat and generally function without the suit.

But the Emperor would not let him be rid of it. He had commanded Vader to keep the suit and mask on at all times unless he was in absolute privacy. Sidious had claimed it was to keep the suit and mask's intimidating factor, but Vader thought it was just another way to torment his apprentice.

No matter. He would kill the man one day, and take the throne for himself. This mission would be very beneficial to that plan. He will lead the Rebels as Anakin, just as his master ordered, but little will Palpatine know that Anakin plans for these Rebels to win. And when they do, he'll reveal himself, and take out all of them. Meanwhile, Palpatine will only believe he is keeping up the act, since he'll still be giving the Empire plenty of information.

It was flawless. Except for one tiny problem: Bail Organa.

Actually, it wasn't that much of a problem at all. Organa needed to be silenced, and so silenced he will be. Besides, there were suspicions that he was a Rebel sympathizer, or perhaps even a Rebel himself. Even if there was no proof it would be good to be rid of a potential Rebel.

It was only a matter of deciding what way to get rid of him. There were, essentially, only two options: Imperial Intelligence, or bounty hunters. That could be further split into things such as assassinations, staged accidents, poison, and a wide assortment of other methods.

Either way, it wasn't long before he was dealt with. There were not many questions; there were whispers that the Empire was behind it but there was no proof. His daughter, Leia Organa, was now Senator. No one will know of Anakin's true allegiances now.

He was in.

It was official: Darth Vader (well, Anakin Skywalker) was part of the Rebel Alliance now. The leaders, Senator Mon Mothma and Senator Leia Organa, amongst others, were elated to have such a great Jedi—and a Clone Wars veteran—join their ranks so early.

They bought the cover story. There was no reason to doubt it.

"This Rebellion needs all the Jedi it can get. You will be a great asset to our cause."

A/N: The main story will be set in the ANH/Ep 4 timeline. I really wanted to see how the Father-Son relationship will work out if Luke knows Anakin as a member of the Rebel Alliance. There will be a prologue part two, and then chapter 1. And don't ask how the Emperor knows about Organa knowing Vader's origins; I'm kind of just going to leave that vague. *_*

For those following my other story, my updates are going to only get slower now. I'm also working on another story, and I also have homework stuff and exams coming up, and I also get random inspiration for one-shots randomly, so... yeah. What I'm trying to say is, I really have no update schedule at all.

Chapters should get longer after the prologue. But no guarantees. I'm terrible at writing long chapters.

*note: prologue has been edited since 6/1/2015.