Darth Vader: Shattered Galaxy

Chapter 8

"Vader, what happened on that planet?"

Vader stared at the communication feed. While his mask hides his facial expression, his posture told the Jedi enough; he was troubled by what happened as well.

"I have no idea, Jedi," Vader answered honestly. Because he didn't know what happened. He only had an inkling as to why it happened. "The planet is breaking apart rapidly. I doubt that it will be able to trouble anyone else."

Qui-Gon narrowed his eyes slightly. "How's it feel, Vader? Being on this side of things for a change?"

The Dark Lord said nothing.

"A mysterious event happening, something you can't explain entirely, and you have no idea how to deal with it?" he elaborated.

Now Vader simply refused to respond. "Do what you please, Jedi. I have no business left in this sector. Skywalker, remember what we discussed."

"Which time?" Anakin asked in confusion.

The feed was cut. Not even two minutes later, they witnessed Vader's ship making a hyperspace jump out of the system.

"What did you talk about, exactly?" Obi-Wan inquired.

"Again, which time?" Anakin repeated, rubbing his head. "I need to work on holding my lightsaber better, asked me if I've had any unexplained visions lately, asked how I was doing at the temple, gave me some advice on throwing a lightsaber, we somehow ended up talking about our least favorite planets, asked what Master Qui-Gon has been feeding me."

"That sounds less like Vader and more like a parental figure," Obi-Wan observed.

"In his defense, that last one was because I, or that version of me, started vomiting," Anakin answered thoughtfully. "Can't remember what caused that now though, too many unimportant memories."

"There is no such thing as unimportant memories," The Dark Woman advised.

"You say that, but I have about three sets of memories of me and Master Qui-Gon just making jokes about Obi-Wan's luck," Anakin said in amusement. "Honestly, it's hard to sort everything out. It's like all one big tangled ball of strings."

"Perfect analogy," Qui-Gon agreed, rubbing his own temple. "We should return to Coruscant. The Council should know about this."

"Qui-Gon Jinn, reporting to the council? Are we sure he's the real one?" Obi-Wan asked with a tired laugh.

"I'll gladly keep them informed and seek out their wisdom," Qui-Gon said with a small smile. "I'll also happily ignore it for my own if I don't agree,"

The Dark Woman sighed. "Skywalker, everything else aside, please don't take after your master too much."

"I'm more worried about taking after Obi-Wan at this point," Anakin said idly. "Back to the temple then? Well, Artoo could use a good tune-up and cleaning before we head back to the swamps."

"Yes, and your adoring fans have nothing to with it," Obi-Wan teased.

"...Fans?" The Dark Woman inquired as Anakin looked embarrassed.

"He means Anakin's friends among the younglings and Padawans," Qui-Gon corrected with a chuckle. "You'll see."

The Dark Woman wasn't sure she'd want to.

Meanwhile

Vader half expected something, anything else to go wrong. With something as fundamental as time experiencing...problems, nothing was certain anymore. But his jump through Hyperspace was highly uneventful.