Disclaimer - I do not own Star Wars and never will. That goes to Disney...

An Alternate Path

Chapter 1:

Twist of Fate

"We think they may be splitting up. They may be on Level 5 and 6 now, sir." the voice of a Stormtrooper informed his commanding officer as the squad of troopers ran down one of the many corridors of the DS-1 Orbital Battle Station appropriately titled the Death Star.

Slipping out of the dark corridor from where he was hiding, Obi-Wan Kenobi paused briefly to search his surroundings, as he unhooked his lightsaber from his belt. Lifting the hood of his brown cloak over his head, the Jedi Master proceeded down the corridor to where the hanger bay was. With any luck, Luke and Captain Solo would be there with - if what he overheard from Imperial officers during his journey around the space station is true - Princess Leia. How the two managed to rescue her, he doesn't know but is still relieved with the result. He could never forgive himself if he allowed Leia - or any of Anakin and Padme's children for that matter - to die under his watch.

Suddenly, a wave of hatred that pulsed loudly through the Force, stealing the breath from his lungs. The familiar presence that he had not encountered since the climatic duel on the hellish world of Mustafar was nearby and it was looking for him.

Obi-Wan's lips thinned into a grim line when he heard the repeating mechanical breathing of an suit that he's heard in his nightmares for years since the first time he laid eyes on the horrible figure it belonged too. He felt his hand tighten around the handle of his own blade when he heard the familiar hum of an ignited lightsaber echoing in the long hallways. And he came to a stop when he rounded around the corner to come face-to-face with the dark figure that has been the embodiment of terror for the galaxy, and the exterminator of Jedi for the past 19 years since the night the Jedi Temple fell.

The young man who was once Anakin Skywalker, the Hero with No Fear and the Chosen One, no longer existed.

In his place, consumed by anger and loss, was the Dark Lord of the Sith and Supreme Commander of the Imperial Forces, Darth Vader.

The glow of the Sith Lord's red lightsaber reflected off Vader's armor and the dark durasteel floor and corridors of the small hallway. Vader slowly began to advance on Kenobi, each step he took growing louder than before, and raised his weapon to attack. Realizing that there was no way to avoid this confrontation, Kenobi ignited his lightsaber, the blue blade springing to life before his very eyes, possibly for the final time.

"I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again at last." The voice-box of Vader boomed loudly, causing Kenobi to instinctively flinch from the barely-concealed hatred and resentment the dark figure held for him. "The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master."

Kenobi raised his blade to match the pose of his former apprentice. "Only a master of evil, Darth." he retorted, mocking the Dark Lord with his Sith title.

He then struck at Vader with speed that surprised the Sith Lord, as Vader took the blow and riposted, speeding up his timing, forcing Kenobi back. Kenobi twirled and blocked a slash, weaving a defensive pattern with his blade.

As they fought, Vader reflected that Kenobi still possessed great skill despite his age, but was out of practice. Though Kenobi's age and lack of practice had decreased his combat effectiveness, Vader mused that he needed to conduct himself cautiously if he was to defeat Kenobi. For though Vader knew his skill and power were greater than Kenobi's, he had boasted similar advantages during his duel with Kenobi on Mustafar, but had been defeated nonetheless. As such, he refrained from utilizing the same sort of recklessness offensive that had resulted in his dismemberment, and adopted a fairly defensive posture.

As the duel progressed, Kenobi found that, while he was still able to anticipate Vader's attacks and defend himself, he could find no openings in Vader's cautious but ruthless assault. As such, all he could do was to simply block Vader's cybernetically enhanced blows, the act of which was rapidly depleting his energy reserves.

Vader sensed Kenobi's failing strength. "Your powers are weak, old man." he derisively taunted the Jedi Master, who narrowed his eyes at the cyborg.

"You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." Kenobi cryptically responded. Vader saw this statement as a taunt but refused to be baited.

Kenobi lunged again, but Vader was ready, bringing them into a momentary bladelock. Vader shoved hard, breaking the lock and forced Kenobi to pull back. Vader angled his blade up. "You should not have come back," he stated grimly, but Kenobi did not respond.

After another exchange, Kenobi saw an opportunity to redirect the duel and began backing away. In backing away, Kenobi drew the duel into the open, right in front of the entrance to the main hanger of Docking Bay 327. Vader attacked once more and began to chivvy Kenobi into a wall. Just as Vader was about to deliver a finishing strike, Kenobi unleashed a sudden flurry of attacks that forced a surprise Vader to pull back.

As they rapidly circled one another, the stormtroopers standing guard over the Millenium Falcon became aware of their battle and moved to cover the entrance to the hanger. However, this enabled the odd-looking group of people, who had been waiting for just such an opportunity, to quickly sneak across the hanger to the Falcon.

All except for one.

"Ben?" Luke Skywalker said softly, who noticed Ben, the man who had taken the young adult under his wing after the not-so recent death of his aunt and uncle, battling a mysterious figure clothed in black with blades of blue and red crossed, and moved in for a closer look. He saw, to his horror, that this dark figure was Darth Vader, the man who was once the apprentice of Ben...

...And the man who murdered his father.

He felt his grip on the E-11 carbine rifle tighten with whispers forming in the back of his head, tempting him to open fire on the small group and end the Dark Lord's life. Briefly, he considered doing that before he realized that he may miss and hit one of the Stormtroopers or even worse, Ben.

All he could do was watch in dismay as the two titans clash in a spectacular view of sparks and determination.

"Ben?"

He froze when he heard that familiar voice. It couldn't be, he should be in the ship by now, not out here in the open like a sore spot.

Kenobi risked a glance into the hanger, where he saw his companions had reached the ship. The Wookiee, Chewbacca, had disappeared into the YT-1300 light freighter with Captain Solo standing on the ramp with Princess Leia. His heart clenched with pain, as he stared into the face of the young woman who inherited her beauty from her late mother. It reminded him of just how old he has gotten.

But his attention was on the young man staring at the scene before him with alarm: Luke...

The poor boy was staring at him with confusion and fear in his eyes, along with a simmering fury whenever his eyes glance towards the one Kenobi was currently facing. Obi-Wan felt guilty, manipulating the poor boy to think Vader murdered his father, not knowing that the one he was directing his hatred to was, in fact, his own father. But that guilt was soon pushed aside with a feeling of fear. He has spent years working to protect Luke from the prowling eyes of the Emperor and his enforcers, and the fact that the boy was standing not far away from his fallen father did not make matters better. If Vader were to get his hands on him...

No.

Not like this, not while he still had a single breath in his body would he fail Luke like he did to his father.

Understanding that he was doomed but knowing that his defeat might serve to distract Vader from finding out about both of his children, he resolved to end the duel on his own terms. He turned to Vader and, to Vader's bemusement, smiled, and raised his lightsaber so the tip pointed straight up in the gesture of surrender, deliberately lowering his guard. This action was so totally unexpected that Vader stood for a moment in bafflement, trying to reason out how Kenobi's apparently suicidal tactic could possibly benefit the Jedi Master. However, Vader quickly decided that even if Kenobi was attempting to ensnare him in a trap of some kind, Kenobi would not be fast enough to effectively employ such a tactic.

Your life ends here, old man. Vader vehemently thought, raising his blade to finally end his nightmares once and for all.

"NO!"

A scream stopped him from finishing off Kenobi, shortly followed by the oh-so familiar sound of a blaster firing, and it didn't take a genius to know what its target was. Spinning on his heel, he deflected the bolt back into the air and striking the nose of the old freighter, inciting a cry of outrage from someone nearby. Someone inside the hangar. Eyes blazing, he forgets his current task for a moment and scans the hangar for the origin of the shit. And for a brief moment, his gaze befall upon an angry looking boy, almost on the verge of adulthood, aiming his blaster rifle straight at Vader. For a brief moment, Vader could have sworn that the boy looked familiar, eerily familiar to the Dark Lord as he stretched out his senses to probe the boy, only to hear a shuffle of movement right beside him, bringing Vader back to reality of his main target; Kenobi.

Vader swung his blade to his left in a wide arc, hoping to cleave Kenobi in two or force the old man back, but Kenobi had anticipated this and managed to duck the wild swing just in time, leaving the Dark Lord exposed to Kenobi and the old Jedi Master didn't hesitate to latch on to Vader's opening and plunged his lightsaber right through Vader's abdomen. Vader froze, pain running through his charred body and slowing down his bodily movements that wasn't conformed into cybernetics, as he looked down to stare at the grim, yet somber gaze of Obi-Wan with golden eyes blazing behind his mask. Rage consumed what parts of Vader wasn't filled with pain; After all these years, nearly two decades of hunting down Jedi survivors and preparing for his rematch with his old master with each Jedi he slew, his efforts were all for naught. Kenobi had bested him yet again.

Darth Vader, the terror of the Imperial forces, has been defeated by an old hermit and his rag-tag band of rogues and backwater farmers.

How pitiful.

Vader's lightsaber deactivated with a snap-hiss, and fell from his numb hands. As it landed on the durasteel floor with a loud 'thud', the Dark Lord staggered back until his back hit the wall and slid down it, unknowingly leaving a thin trail of blood as he hit the floor. Obi-Wan hesitated for a moment, staring at the defeated form of Vader as he contemplated ending it all.

It could be done, the old Jedi Master thought. Just one quick swing, and the galaxy could be free of my failings.

Unfortunately, the stormtroopers watching the event had other plans. Raising their blaster rifles, they trained their sights on the intruder and opened fire with a righteous fury, several red blaster bolts soaring through the air like angry hornets. Obi-Wan instantly lifted up his lightsaber to deflect the bolts, his limbs aching as he quickly swatted the bolts away from him. Then, one of the stormtroopers jerked and soon fell over dead, a sizzling hole in the back of his head. Obi-Wan could make out Luke being the perpetrator to the stormtrooper's demise before Captain Solo stepped forth and fired two quick shots, both hitting two other stormtroopers, killing them instantly. The last stormtrooper, overcome with emotions from his superior's defeat and his comrade's deaths, continued to shoot at the Jedi Master as a last desperate attempt of vengeance. Unfortunately, he had no time to react before Obi-Wan thrusted an open palm at the soldier, an invisible force throwing him off the ground and soaring the air before disappearing into the wide chasm between the doorway and the hangar.

"Ben, come on!" Luke shouted, eyes wide with panic at the old man's tired frame. "There's more of them coming! We gotta get out of here, now!"

Captain Solo seemed to share the same thought with Luke, as he called out to Kenobi while running back inside his freighter. "Move it, old-timer! Or else, we'll leave you for the Imps to have!"

Taking in several deep breaths, Obi-Wan then willed himself to move forward as the sounds of footsteps began to grow closer to him. His eye befell upon a small console as he began to go around the chasm, a console connected to the doorway. Without breaking his stride, he lifted up his lightsaber and brought it down on the console as he moved past it, kicking up a shower of sparks and flames in his wake. Pushing more energy into his legs, he crossed the gap in the span of a half-minute, seeing the form of Luke desperately waving at him to hurry it up as the Falcon's engines grew louder, and the vibrations stronger. Just as the Falcon slowly began lifting itself up from the ground by mere centimeters, Obi-Wan latched onto the open hatch of the freighter and felt Luke slowly guide the withered old man inside the ship. He could make out the form of Princess Leia shutting the door behind them, as he limped towards the nearest chair by the young farmboy in his care.

"Are you all right?" the young man asked in concern, taking in his mentor's pale face and haggard breathing.

"Yes...yes, I'm fine, Luke," Obi-Wan waved off the young man, closing his eyes and feelings the vibrations of the ship as it blasted its way out of the Death Star. He heaved a sigh of relief; they made it out. "Are the others on-board?"

"Yeah, we're all here. Me, Han, Chewie, the droids, and Leia," Luke said, before he suddenly blinked in realization. "Oh, that reminds me! Leia, this is Ben Kenobi. Ben, this is Leia."

"It is an honor to meet you in person, General Kenobi," the young princess bowed towards the Jedi Master, who smiled sadly at her courtesy. Yet another trait she inherited from her mother. "My father spoke very highly of you, and I can see that you truly do live up to your reputation."

"Yeah, you took down Darth Vader, Ben! I couldn't believe my eyes when it happened," Luke gushed, a look of awe and pleasure in his eyes as he vividly remembered Ben facing the Dark Lord. He and Leia missed the awkward squirm that Kenobi did while Luke was singing his praise about his mentor almost killing their biological father.

Thankfully, to Kenobi's relief, a gift from the Force in the form of Han Solo appeared in the cargo hold's entrance to interrupt the group's little chit-chat. "You can save the praise for later, kid," he said, glancing at the tired old man with a look of respect in his dark eyes. "Right now, we got incoming. We're not out of this, just yet."

Luke hesitated, looking at Ben for a brief moment with eyes that he clearly got from Anakin, before a determined look grew on his face and he raced off towards the ship's turbolasers with Han. Leia, on the other hand, rushed off to the ship's cockpit to aid Chewbacca in piloting the ship from the enemy fighters. And thus, Obi-Wan was left alone in the cargo hold. The old man heaved a heavy sigh, leaning back on the chair he reclined on, and closed his eyes. Within moments, he drifted off to the world of sleep.

Grand Moff Tarkin was not having a good day.

First, his day started off with his spies locating the supposed rebel base that the defiant Princess Leia had said to be on Dantooine, only to find a base abandoned and left untouch for some time. Then, a singular freighter somehow managed to slip through the Death Star's Defense Fleet and had to be beamed into the heart of the battle-station itself. And then, several rebels (the approximate amount still unknown) impersonated themselves as Imperial Stormtroopers and liberated the traitorous princess from captivity after massacaring all personnel in the detention center. Ever since the first report came in, he knew that his day was going to end with a throbbing headache and him putting up with the snark of the Emperor's pet bodyguard.

Oh, how wrong he was.

Tarkin scowled at the immobile form of Darth Vader's charred body floating helplessly in a bacta tank, stribbed of his cybernetics and intimidating armor to reveal the pathetic man that secretly lied beneath it. There had been a time, once long ago, that the Sith Lord put Tarkin in a state of unease. Not because of his mystic Jedi powers, or the reputation of destroying most of the lamented Jedi Knights, but because Vader was a wild card. No one could tell what he was thinking about beneath his hideous mask, could know what he could be thinking about. One moment, he could be standing in the corner, hidden by the shadows that seemed to embrace his form, and the next thing you know, he could be strangling an incompetent officer with his bare hands. Even with his reputation, Tarkin feared that one day, he would end up lifeless on the floor with Vader towering over his corpse.

But now, with the Empire's power at its peak and his position fully cemented by the Emperor himself, Tarkin finally realized what Vader truly was. He wasn't a tyrant, he wasn't some warlord who could destroy entire planets with a single command, nor was he some immortal demigod who could not be wounded.

In Tarkin's eyes, Vader was nothing more but Palpatine's attack dog.

And now, the Emperor's pet floated helplessly inside his badge tank, the medi-gel working at extreme pace to repair the damage done to Vader's abdomen. The rest of scars, however... That's been a lost cause since the day Vader received those grievous wounds.

The beeping of his personal coomlink snapped him back to reality. He snatched it off his belt, and held it up to his mouth, "Yes?"

"The rebels have escaped, governor," Wulff Yularen's crisp Imperial accent crackles over the sound of static. "However, it would seem that yours, and Lord Vader's, plan worked. The homing beacon is still active, and our technicians are currently tracking them through hyperspace."

A parody of a smile grew on the corners of Tarkin's mouth. "Very good, Colonel Yularen. Keep me informed of the rebels' whereabouts, I shall be in my office until then. Over and out."

"Actually, sir, there's one other matter I forgot to say."

"Oh?" One of Tarkin's thin eyebrows rose slightly. "And what exactly is this "other matter" that happened to slip from your mind?"

A hint of anxiety entered into the old Colonel's smooth voice. "We're receiving a transmission straight from the Imperial Center... on the Emperor's personal broadcast channel."

Oh...

Oh.

"I see," Tarkin softly said, eyeing Vader's broken form while speaking, "I shall take it in my personal chambers then. Do not disturb me until I have emerged from them, understood?"

"Of course, sir, Yularen out."

"Right," Tarkin muttered to the mute coomlink. "Over and out."

Sending one last glare towards Vader, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin took in a deep breath, stealing himself for the inevitable storm that was to come from the Empire's dark ruler, and walked out of the room without a wore, his bootheels clicking against the cold, metal floor until they faded away. All alone with no one, not even doctors or medical droids, the corner of Darth Vader's bacta tank slowly began to form a small crack that spread across the snook surface like a spider web. The various monitors hooked up to the prone form began to malfunction before exploding in a shower of sparks across the screeching metal floor being ripped apart by invisible hands.

And as sudden as it began, it ended.

But that would not be enough to stifle the unconscious Sith Lord's simmering fury; not until Kenobi was dead at his feet, not until he tracked down and destroyed every last holdout of the Rebellion, and certainly not until the legacy of the Jedi would be in ashes. And until that time could come...

He would wait.

And that's a wrap. May not be much, but it's a slow start to the big plans to some of the ideas I had in mind for this story: Some might think that Kenobi's survival may not affect much, or could cheapen Luke's own accomplishments, but I assure you that each character will have their own time to shine.

Also, I would like to address the continuity of this story; It takes place in the Legends timeline, and does not include anything related to the Disney Canon. And that unfortunately includes TCW; I may love it, but it would put in plot holes in some areas of the story. On the plus side, we got Kyle Katarn!

See ya next chapter.