Here's the latest chapter. Enjoy! Thanks again for all your wonderful reviews! :)

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Sidious got up and slowly made his way down the steps of the dais toward his new prisoner. Gleeful did not even begin to describe how he was feeling. To have Obi-Wan finally in his possession once again, after the many frustrating years of fruitless searching, it was a high he had not felt in a long time.

Obi-Wan, for his part, calmly watched the emperor descend. He had done all the preparations, mentally and emotionally, that he could possibly do. He had taken his memories of his family and their hiding place and buried them as deep as he could, locking them away as best he knew how. He prayed that the Force would keep Sidious from being able to access them. The last thing he wanted was the emperor turning his focus onto one of his kids.

"My, my," the emperor spoke in his gravelly voice. His eyes appeared to be devouring the younger man in front of him. "Time has been very kind to you, Obi-Wan."

Taking in the pasty pale, wrinkled complexion of the emperor, Obi-Wan's eyebrow rose in a sardonic manner. "I wish I could return the compliment."

Sidious cackled at that. "You know what they say, Obi-Wan. Age before beauty." In a quick motion of the hand, he sent the Jedi flying over to the wall.

Smacking the wall hard enough to knock all the air out of his lungs and make his head spin, Obi-Wan didn't have time to even react before clamps locked onto his wrists, ankles, and neck. His connection with the Force was suddenly muted. He could feel it surrounding him, but upon reaching for it, it dissipated like a cloud.

The emperor turned to the Imperial officers and troopers still in the room. "Where is his lightsaber?"

An officer stepped forward with a bow. "Here, my Lord." He handed over the metal cylinder and quickly backed away.

"You are dismissed." Sidious paid no attention as the troopers and officers all bowed and filed out of the room. In a somewhat reverent manner, the emperor used the Force to send the lightsaber up to rest on the arm of his throne.

Turning his focus back to his prisoner, Sidious made his way over to the wall. He firmly cupped the Jedi's jaw, idly tracing the cleft in the chin with his thumb as he turned the face from side to side. "Indeed you have aged well. In fact…" The emperor released Obi-Wan's chin and pulled open his tunic, lightly tracing along the neck and collarbone with cold fingers. He didn't hold back his smirk when the man shivered slightly. "Hmmm…" He then yanked the sleeve of one arm up to the shoulder, again tracing the porcelain-pale skin with his fingers.

Sidious smoothed the sleeve back down into place. "It looks like you haven't seen any sun these last twenty some-odd years. I would guess that your hideaway was deep underground somewhere." He caught Obi-Wan's stormy, blue-gray eyes and smiled. "No wonder your skin has barely aged."

Stepping even closer to the imprisoned Jedi, the Sith Master gazed intently at his face. "Tell me, my Obi-Wan, did you spend all those years alone? Hidden underground, with nothing but your memories and your guilt to keep you company?"

"I'm sure that's how you would prefer to imagine how I spent my time."

Bloodshot, yellow eyes sparking with anger, the emperor shook his head. "My preference would have been to have you by my side as my apprentice!"

"Even if you had captured me, Sidious, I would not have turned. I would never agree to be your apprentice."

"You could have been the best! You would have been able to win many people and planets over to the Empire without resorting to violence. The death toll would not have had to be so great if you had been my ambassador."

"And have everyone voluntarily subjugate themselves to tyranny?" Obi-Wan shook his head as much as he could with the neck clamp in place. "That wouldn't have been much better."

"You could have had the entire galaxy at your fingertips! You could have had power unparalleled!"

"I crave neither of those things."

Sidious hissed his breath through his teeth in frustration. All the things he had wanted for this stubborn man, and he was calmly dismissing them! "If only I had been able to finish what I started with you over thirty years ago."

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Luke slid down the sides of the ladder attached to his fighter, in too much of a hurry to bother with the rungs. He flagged down Rina, noticing out of the corner of his eye Han, Leia, and his other siblings heading his way. "I want this thing ready to fly as soon as possible. This has top priority, do you understand?"

Rina nodded her head. "What's going on, Luke?"

Before Luke had time to answer, Leia was grabbing him by the arms. "You're going after him?"

Luke took in his sister's appearance. Her eyes were red and puffy, her hair disheveled. Garen and Cordė didn't look much better. "I have to. The Force is compelling me to go after him."

"Then I'm going with you!"

Rina looked thoroughly confused. "Wait a minute. Who are you going after?"

Han took pity on the mechanic now being completely ignored. "The General."

Rina gasped. General Kenobi was missing? Immediately, she ran over to a couple of mechanics working on another ship. "Come on. We've got to get Luke's fighter flight ready ASAP!"

Luke focused determined, but understanding eyes on his twin. "You can't go, Leia. You're not meant to go. You need to stay here. This is your place, your duty right now."

Garen stepped in. "Then let me go with you."

"No. This is something I must do alone. It's hard to explain; but I've somehow always known this was coming. That it was my destiny to help Dad through a horrible situation…" Luke's eyes grew distant. "…through the darkness."

Leia's heart sunk further. "I can't lose you both," she whispered.

Luke hugged his sister. "You won't. You'll have us both back."

Cordė moved closer to her three older siblings. "A horrible situation? Darkness?" Tears slowly made their way down her lovely face. "What more will Daddy have to endure?"

Luke put his arm around his younger sister. "Dad is strong, Cordė. Whatever he has to endure, he WILL endure."

Garen gripped his older brother's arm. "You have to bring him back, Luke. Mom won't…" His voice cracked, and he tried to gather in his emotions. "Losing Dad will kill Mom." Garen had strong empathic abilities. He knew his mother would not survive long after losing the love of her life. Even if she did survive physically, she would never be the same emotionally. She would be empty.

Luke brought all his siblings into a group hug. "I will bring him back."

Han watched all of this, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with intruding on a very personal scene. This particular scene only confirmed what he had come to see through his interactions with these few members of the Kenobi family. They were a very close-knit, affectionate family – bonded in ways he could only imagine, considering his own family history. It spoke well of Obi-Wan and his wife, of whom he had heard many good things.

Han fervently hoped that Obi-Wan would be recovered in one piece, and the family reunited. Though the cynic in him didn't quite see how one person, even a Jedi, would be able to sneak into an Imperial stronghold and retrieve a much sought-after prize right from under the emperor's nose. He knew Luke was skilled, he just hoped Luke was skilled enough.

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"Would you like to see our destination, Obi-Wan?" Sidious approached him with a small viewscreen. "We are approaching it now." He held the screen in front of his prisoner's face.

Obi-Wan looked at what appeared to be a small moon. But as they got closer, his breath caught. That's no moon! That's… Obi-Wan had received Imperial plans for a moon-sized space station through a clandestine intelligence operation. The Imperials had aptly named it the Death Star. The fire power of the station was supposed to be able to obliterate entire planets. He had been working on a strategy to destroy the station when their base was attacked by the emperor's fleet.

As Obi-Wan watched their approach through the small screen, he came to realize that their intelligence had been faulty in one capacity. They had been lead to believe that the Death Star was only partially complete, and not yet operational. From the looks of things, it was either complete or nearly so. He fervently hoped that was the only part of their intelligence that was faulty. Obi-Wan could only watch in horrified fascination as the station loomed larger. It was one thing to see the station in plans and specs, and quite another to see it in person.

"What do you think of our little creation, General?" Sidious avidly watched the reactions of his prisoner, which were decidedly few. The Jedi mask was firmly in place. But the eyes, which seemed to always reflect the emotions of their owner, were now a stormy gray.

"You call that little?"

Sidious cackled at that. One thing he had learned about Obi-Wan through the years is that he always has a dry remark waiting on the tip of his tongue. The man has a natural sense of playfulness and mischievousness, which had been channeled early in his life into a more "acceptable" outlet for a properly stoic Jedi.

Some of the memories Sidious had gleaned from Obi-Wan's mind while holding him prisoner the first time had rather colored the Sith Master's opinion of the late Qui-Gon Jinn. One of the things he had learned was that Obi-Wan's tendency to wisecrack had been something of a consternation for his oh-so-stoic master. It seemed to him that Jinn had been determined to stifle any bit of individuality or personality in his young protégé. Jinn had done his best to mold Obi-Wan into HIS idea of the perfect padawan (and often finding him lacking), only to discard him when the prospect of training the Chosen One appeared.

There had been many times when Sidious envied Darth Maul for having been the one to end Master Jinn's life. He would have loved to have been the one to impale Jinn's chest with his Sith blade. He would have loved to whisper in the dying man's ear all the things he had planned for his easily-discarded padawan and his oh-so-precious Chosen One. Alas, he had not been given that opportunity. And frankly, it angered Sidious that Jinn had taken for granted the one thing Sidious had craved now for so long – to be Obi-Wan Kenobi's master.

"Well, big or small, I hope you like it; because it is going to be your new home."

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Luke gazed at the hologram of the Death Star. The sheer size and destructive power of it gave him chills. Mon Mothma and Leia were at his side in the ops room. He closed his eyes and reached out for the Force. "That's where he'll be taken. I can feel it."

Leia looked horrified. "How can you possibly sneak onto that thing, Luke, much less get Daddy out of there? Even using the Force…"

Mon Mothma looked pointedly at her young companions. "It may actually not be completely impossible. Mainly due to the insistence of your father, we greatly increased the number of our spies infiltrating Imperial forces. We have some people in strategic places, including even higher ranking officers. We just received these plans for the Death Star a few days ago from one of those spies. We've also been informed that one of our spies managed to get a transfer onto the Death Star. If we can get word to that person, he might be able to help you."

Taking a deep breath, Mon Mothma continued. "Since we only received the specs on the Death Star a few days ago, the only ones who knew about them were your father and I. The General was working on a strategy for destroying the station when your base was attacked. He sent over everything he had to me when he realized your base was compromised. We will continue to work to finalize your father's plans for attack. We must destroy that station if we are to have any chance."

Luke knew that something else was even more vital to the Rebellion – destroying the Sith Master. This was something he would not speak of to anyone. The Force was not only compelling him to go his father, but it was stressing to him that everything depended on Sidious' destruction. It was up to HIM to see it done, and that had to be his first priority – a priority even more important than saving his father's life. If it came down to a choice… No, it won't come to that! I won't let it come to that!

"We have an Imperial fighter you can use to take you to the station."

Luke did a double-take. "You do? And you're going to let me take it?"

Mon Mothma smiled at him serenely. "I believe you were meant to use it. I have contacted one of our spies who deals with Imperial personnel records and duty stations. She will be sending you an Imperial identity and credentials. You will be a new transfer from specials ops, just returning from your last assignment."

Luke smiled at his sister. "Well, I guess that answers your question about how I'm going to get onto the station."

"Yes, but not on how you're going to get off of it with Daddy."

"We will just have to trust in the Force."