Imperium of Vader

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars

Not since the death of the Emperor had Tarkin been worried. Concerned, incredibly so. Anxious, he hid it well, but yes. Worried? No. Between himself and Vader, they were keeping the worst of the potential usurpers from becoming a threat.

Now? Now he was worried.

He found himself in what was known to some as the Inquisitorius Headquarters, a semi-secret facility deep in the Works. Most that knew what it was only understood it as the base of operations for the Inquisitors, Anti-Jedi personnel that reported only to the Emperor. No one was sure if Vader had technically been a member or just wielded the same command over them as the Emperor had. What was known to those in the know was that the organization had moved off world after an incident on Imperial Center.

Though, it seemed Vader had taken the liberty of ordering them to relocate back to the throne-world of the Empire, and never before had Tarkin felt more awkward or out of place than in this setting.

He was standing on a bridge leading to a circular platform. All around it were Inquisitors, black-robed warriors of various species. Some stood as he did; others were standing or sitting on perches that the average lifeform would find unsafe or impractical. And on the circular platform were two children.

Though, Tarkin had a hard time calling them that.

One was a short haired, nearly bald boy while the other was a female with brilliant red hair. Both were human and looked less than ten years of age, the girl even younger than the boy. They had small, hopefully practice lightsabers- if such a thing existed, Tarkin wondered- that clashed loudly as they both swung and defended with a ferocity that Tarkin was unused to seeing in young sapients. The boy was more than willing to use his superior strength, striking his foe in the face with a haymaker of a punch. Despite the bloody lip, the girl grinned, using her smaller and quicker form to sweep her legs, trying to make him lose balance. It worked, but the boy was able to self-correct at the last moment, even as the girl struck with her blade, nearly pushing him over the edge.

Tarkin turned his gaze away from the display. Not out of unease for it, but for the one who truly had his attention: standing on the opposite side of the platform was Darth Vader himself, watching the training session as all but one of the Inquisitors gave him a very respectful amount of space. But there was a tense impatience about his shoulders.

Tarkin didn't pretend to know Vader perfectly, but he had literally hunted the man, managing to both steal his lightsaber and lure him into a trap. Granted, yes, Vader could have still killed him at the end, but that wasn't the point. The point was that Tarkin, through sheer experience with the Sith, recognized some of Vader's behavior and physical ticks. He was impatient; therefore he wanted this to be over. But Vader wasn't one to stand on formality; he would have ended this duel in an instant if it was the only obstacle delaying their meeting. The fact that Tarkin had been summoned here meant that Vader wanted to see him, yet said Sith didn't end the match even though he was here.

Tarkin's conclusion? Something urgent was going on, Vader needed to speak of it to Tarkin, but needed someone or something else to arrive first.

So, yes, Tarkin believed it was very rational to be a bit worried if Darth Vader himself was feeling anxious.

The blast door opened behind him, drawing the attention of him and the Inquisitors. The new arrival did not alleviate Tarkin's feeling.

"Grand Moff Tarkin," the newcomer greeted in a smooth, quiet voice.

"Admiral Thrawn," Tarkin returned, raising an eyebrow at him. As if reading his mind, the Chiss shook his head subtly, indicating he had no knowledge of what this meeting was about.

They returned their gaze to the spar as the boy sent the girl flying with a powerful kick to the stomach.

"Enough," Vader stated, his voice echoing without ever needing to raise it.

"N-no! Master, I'm fine! I can still fight!" the girl protested as she got to her feet with gritted teeth, clutching her saber hard even as her fellow trainee deactivated his own.

"I said enough."

Tarkin remained stoic despite the sweat growing upon his brow, feeling something cold and heavy about the air. But that was nothing to the reaction of the Inquisitors and the children. The two non-adults fell to their knees instantly, eyes wide in terror while the Inquisitors all looked uneasy to fearful.

And just like that, it stopped as a fact was made very, very clear to any too stupid to realize it already.

Vader was not in a good mood.

"You are all dismissed, leave us," Vader commanded as he reigned in his power.

There was a deafening silence as the Force-Sensitive beings all started to filter out of the room, save two: Vader himself and a Pau'an male, who wore an unusually harsh look for a member of a normally kind race.

Once the doors were closed, all four of them moved as if in sync, coming to meet at the center. "Lord Vader, I take it this is as urgent as it seems?" Tarkin summarized respectfully.

"Worse." Vader's answer as quick as it was wrathful. "Grand Moff Tarkin, you already know Admiral Thrawn, and this is the Grand Inquisitor," Vader introduced to prevent any further delays, Thrawn merely nodding as he detected the gravity of the situation. "The Empire has a problem."

And now Vader was dancing around the issue. Very, very worrying.

"Yesterday, I received a visit from a rather frantic commander in Naval Intelligence. Does the name Gallius Rax mean anything to you two?" Vader asked, the Grand Inquisitor suppressing a wince as he felt Vader's rage from sheer proximity.

Tarkin scowled, mentally combing his many years in the military, but found no recollection of such a name. "None that I can recall. Admiral?" he asked, turning to the blue skinned man.

"I do recall the name, but only as a curiosity. His records are either sealed or nonexistent despite having obtained a relatively high rank for his lack of accomplishments," Thrawn deduced calmly before cupping his chin. "Frantic, you said, Lord Vader?"

"What do you know, Chiss?" The Grand Inquisitor questioned with a look that could intimidate lesser men, but Tarkin and Thrawn were unphased by it.

"The nature of his mystery implies someone high in the power structure giving him special treatment in some form. If his demeanor is unexaggerated by Lord Vader, then I can only summarize that it was the Emperor himself, and that whatever was entrusted to him was something of great importance. Importance, yet it has drawn the ire of Lord Vader," Thrawn deduced.

Tarkin made a mental note to make Thrawn a Moff if his career as an Admiral took a sour note, while the Grand Inquisitor merely smirked to show that he was impressed. "You're as talented as I've heard, Admiral," the pale humanoid praised with a nod.

"You are indeed correct on all accounts," Vader confirmed, pausing to consider his wording. "I allowed him a meeting, sensing this was not something I should ignore. He then asked me a question: "Did you kill Sidious?""

The two military men became confused by that. "Sidious?" Tarkin questioned.

"The Sith name of the Emperor," Vader elaborated, Tarkin gaining a look of understanding while Thrawn remained surprised.

"Accusing you of treachery in a private setting? Not a very sound strategy," Thrawn murmured, piecing together a puzzle in his mind.

"That he knew that name, and used it, is the only reason I did not kill the man. His tone was not angry or sad, only...desperate. He claimed that he needed to know, that the survival of the Empire depended on if I had killed him or not," Vader elaborated before giving what almost sounded like a sigh through his filter. "I honestly was not certain what to say when I saw how...relieved he was when I confirmed that I had."

Tarkin gained a very, very suspicious look at that. "I believe I will not like where this is going, Lord Vader."

"You won't," Vader confirmed. "Gallius Rax is part of the Emperor's Contingency: Should the Emperor die, then Gallius was to enact Operation Cinder. Unless, of course, he died by my hands."

"Operation...Cinder?" Tarkin asked, looking just a bit pale.

"You know of it?" Vader asked, his full attention on the Grand Moff.

"It was...MY contingency," Tarkin said with a scowl, eyes shifting as he searched his memories. "It was a plan I made back during the Clone Wars, to set up seemingly innocent satellites over a planet at risk of being overtaken by the Separatists. The satellites would in fact be weapons to rain terror upon our enemies, to either take back the planet or make the enemy's victory as costly as possible. But it would have taken too much time to attempt set them up on at-risk planets. And the Clone Wars are over with no entire planet being at risk, so why would we need-" Tarkin stopped, regarding Vader with a look of growing worry. "What worlds? How many?"

"Those are answers you do not wish to know, Tarkin," Vader answered honestly. "The contingency was not just about destroying any potential enemies, but the Empire itself. The Emperor intended to burn all that he built down the ground with him, loyal citizen and rebel alike, leaving some clandestine effort to rebuild in the Unknown Region."

Thrawn was already alarmed by the sheer waste of this plan, but now he was shocked. "That was what he desired my information for."

"But...he was going to...destroy everything we built, everything we struggled for, bled for?" Tarkin summarized through grit teeth, his own rage growing.

"Yes," Vader answered, his own rage as bluntly palpable as his response. "I have taken the liberty of...keeping Gallius Rax secure while extracting information from him," Vader explained grimly. "Which is why I need your help, both of you."

Vader, asking for help, admitting he actually needed it? Tarkin's rage evaporated at that rather telling sign of the end times, turning to wrathful determination. "And what would you have of us, Lord Vader?" Thrawn questioned, his emotions more easily reigned in than a human's.

"Simply put, I intend to destroy, dismantle, and erase every aspect of this plan until not a trace of it remains. But to ensure that nothing goes astray?" Vader paused as he opened his fist, showing two strips of paper that flew over to the two military men, who took them with interest. "On that list is everyone I am certain is important to Gallius Rax's plans, during and after Operation Cinder. We three shall independently make plans to neutralize and end each of them. If one plan fails or is discovered, two more shall still be there to deal with the survivors."

The two read over the list, their stoicism returning even if they were obviously concerned by the names on the list. "All of these were aware of this madness?" Tarkin asked, somewhere between hatred and disappointment.

"No," the Grand Inquisitor denied, getting a subtle nudge in the Force from Vader to continue. "All those that we have confirmed as being aware of this are on the list, but several of them we only know to be important, primarially for the aftermath. Lord Vader and I are still extracting all we can from Rax's mind on the specifics. If certain individuals prove to be innocent, in this at least, you both shall be informed."

Tarkin eyed the nonhuman for a moment while Thrawn nodded, something Vader noticed. "The Grand Inquisitor can be trusted, Grand Moff. The Empire burning is of neither aid nor interest to him."

"That is not my concern, Lord Vader. I can understand if they're not a task for myself or the Admiral, but does the Grand Inquisitor's involvement mean that this...Contingency involved other Force-Sensitives?" Tarkin clarified warily, knowing that the Emperor all but definitely had other groups or projects involving the mysticism of the Force.

"So far, we are aware of none," Vader assured and Tarkin swore the cyborg at least looked relieved by that, as much as he could. "However, he is here because he is the ONLY Inquisitor you should trust with this."

Now Tarkin nodded. "Is there anything else, Lord Vader?"

Vader nodded. "Admiral, prior to the Emperor's death, you were a potential nomination for becoming a Grand Admiral."

Tarkin raised an impressed eyebrow at the Chiss, but said nothing as the man nodded. "While I am sure there was a level of nepotism involved, wanting to secure the alliance between the Empire and my people, as well as knowledge of the Unknown Region, I trust that my skills prove that my ranks thus far are not undeserved."

"Which is why I am warning you that you shall not be receiving that promotion," Vader informed bluntly.

The Chiss looked curious rather than offended. "May I inquire as to the reason?"

"You shall be serving under a new Grand Admiral," Vader answered, saying nothing more and allowing Thrawn to piece it together.

He merely glanced again at the list, quickly deducing likely candidates. "I see. You intend not only for our plans to be separate in creation but of direction. The Grand Moff from the top of the military structure, I from both the midst from my rank and below from biases against me, while you plan from outside of it all together, Lord Vader."

They all stared for an instant before Vader turned to Tarkin. "And this is a perfect example of why I care so little for humancentrism," he stated flatly.

"I am hardly an extremist on that front, Lord Vader," Tarkin countered coolly, looking toward the Admiral. "I shall be keeping my distance from you, but I will attempt to make an extraction plan for you if you are discovered, Admiral Thrawn."

"I appreciate the sentiment, Grand Moff, and I shall keep that in mind if my future escape plans fail to secure my safety," Thrawn returned in kind.

"For now, merely observe and plan, and check for HoloNet updates," he stated, the two military men staring back in confusion. "If I feel the need to deal with our target is imminent and do not trust the secure communication lines, I will leak to the HoloNet rumors of Separatist holdouts having taken refugee on Mon Calamari. That will be the emergency sign to clean up this mess the Emperor left for us."

"Inventive, extremely unlikely to be true, but an excellent way to grab attention," Tarkin noted in approval before taking a deep breath. "Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Lord Vader."

"You may thank me when this issue is resolved, Tarkin. You may both take your leave," Vader dismissed, getting nods of respect from both men.

The Sith Lord and Grand Inquisitor stood there for several minutes as they felt the Force signatures fade away. "Master, you confessed to killing the Emperor in front of the Chiss?" the Grand Inquisitor questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"I had to bring him into the fold regardless, but you sensed as well as I that he already believed such was the case," Vader retorted.

"True, but are you sure they can both be trusted with this?" the Grand Inquisitor asked with a scowl at the door.

"They both have a long term investment in the Empire's success. Tarkin would abhor the chaos and lawlessness this would cause, and the Chiss Ascendancy has its own enemies it desires our aid against one day," Vader retorted as a brief silence grew between them. "How is the boy adjusting?"

"Little Starkiller is doing just fine, even if I can sense how confused he is. Isolating him for so long has made him uncertain about what to think about having more teachers and fellow students," the Grand Inquisitor informed pointedly.

"Did you ever attempt to keep secrets from Sidious? It was hardly an easy task to keep that boy unknown to him," Vader reminded in kind.

"A valid point, Master" the Grand Inquisitor agreed. "But Mara Jade isn't taking kindly having competition. Then again, I believe the Emperor was grooming her to be a potential replacement for you," the Utapaun Dark-Sider commented.

"I am not taking an apprentice for at least four years at the current rate of things," Vader murmured, shaking his head.

"Well, we always knew that this path was hardly easy," the Grand Inquisitor remarked with a scowl to himself.

Vader actually forced himself to scoff at that. "I fully appreciated how complicated things would truly be when we first met."

A heavy, memory-filled silence soaked through the room as they shared a look with the thunderous marching of troopers in their eyes and the echoing screams in their ears; if there was regret for that night, neither showed it, on their face or in the Force.

"You feel like you did that night," the Grand Inquisitor broke the silence, Vader tilting his helmet at him. "Whole. Full. Complete. No matter the mixed feelings at the time, you felt more complete in the Dark Side than Anakin Skywalker ever did in the light. Then...Mustafar happened," he continued delicately. "How did you reclaim yourself?"

Vader stared for a long instance at one of the very few people in the galaxy that explicitly knew who he used to be, one of the very few that was allowed to know and live.

One of the only Force-wielders he had fought side by side with since becoming Darth Vader.

"I finally severed the last link holding me back."

With that mysterious answer, Vader turned to leave as the Grand Inquisitor watched his retreating back. Even as the memories of another place and a different lifetime still vibrated in their souls...

The newly christened and still mostly-whole Darth Vader marched up the stairs of the Jedi temple with the entire legion of the 501st at his back. He knew that entering the temple wouldn't be that easy.

Or, at least, it shouldn't be. Not without help.

Vader didn't halt as he saw the line of Temple Guardians, expecting that they would be his first sacrifice on this pyre he had started by helping kill Windu. Or had it started with Dooku? The Tusken Raiders perhaps?

Regardless, the various masked Jedi cloaked with white and gold stood proud and ready to defend the temple-

And then they started to fall, as one of their own turned upon them.

That had halted Vader, for an instant, before he resumed and lengthened his stride, charging forward quickly and relatively-quietly to deal with these Jedi before the entire Temple was fully alerted.

They were no match, falling like flies before the Hero with No Fear and their own traitorous brother. Amongst the corpses, the guardian removed and discarded his mask to reveal the pale, non-human face beneath. The two shared a look before nodding in silent understanding, both marching into the temple.

Darth Vader was the greatest Jedi-Slayer since General Grievous.

But he was hardly the only one.

End of Chapter

Here's chapter three. To answer a common question, YES , Vader will be upgrading his suit, just give the man some time. Juggling the entire Empire isn't easy, even for Vader. Remember, the Emperor's funeral is about a month or so after Chapter 1, so don't expect much of a new look for Vader until than.

BTW, Yes, I am acknowledging the Sequel Trilogy if only because I liked the idea of Vader fumming over discovering The Contingency, and pulling out all the stops to ensure it doesn't happen in any form. And yes, I'm using the Inquisitors from Canon AND the Hands from Legends. I like the idea of there being the official, almost CIA/FBI status of the Inquisitors with the Hands being the Secret Police/Agents.

And no one ask about Hero of Naboo- barring any hiccups on my end, it'll be updated this weekend, so just enjoy this chapter for now.

Next chapter I plan on focusing more on The Senate's and/or Bail Organa's side of things, at least partially.

PS Please consider tipping to my pat-reon!