By the Grace of Lady Vader

Well, ami-padme and I have been talking about this for awhile... let's see if we can make it go!

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By the Grace of Lady Vader


PROLOGUE
The shot seemed to come from the sun, knocking Vader's TIE fighter into an uncontrolled spin away from the slight gravity around the Death Star. His wingman's fighter exploded against the side of the trench.

"_What?_" he demanded of no one in particular. But the answer was obvious. As the fighter spun, he saw the smuggling freighter skim over the surface of the station, guarding and clearing the way for the one remaining X-wing - the X-wing piloted by someone who called out to Vader's Force sense like a clarion... or a warning alarm.

_My death begins today._

The thought did not trouble him; in fact it seemed something of a relief. What waited could not be worse than the lava, or the suit that had followed it.

But his concern now was with that freighter. He hadn't felt it coming at all, could sense nothing of its pilot. Was it simply that the Other drowned it out?

No... no this one was a blind spot in the Force. He would mean trouble. Vader carefully stabilized the TIE, started to lock his guns on the freighter (a shame; he would have liked to examine the ship more closely, as it was a well put together machine), and prepared to fire.

There was no sound when the Death Star blew, at least not this far out in space. Vader saw a flash of fire, then froze as he felt the deaths of thousands of men he had served with and commanded. He had little sorrow for the upper echelons - Tarkin particularly would have no grief wasted on him - but the pilots and guards, the mechanics and workers... Vader had not cared for their project, but they had served under him, and he was responsible for them. He felt them ripped away as if part of himself had been there with them. For a moment, he was incapable of doing anything other than hold his hands to the crown of his helmet, trying to shut out their dying screams. Then the shockwave hit, and the TIE was thrown clear, spinning off into deep space.

He re-stabilized by instinct before realizing that it was pointless. This TIE was specially designed and could handle somewhat greater distances, but he was far from any Imperial base, and he somehow doubted the Rebels would take kindly to a landing on Yavin IV. And he sensed that he couldn't hide himself, not for long, not with the Other, the-one-who-called, anywhere nearby.

He was dead.

This time, the thought brought no relief. He would die, alone in the cold of space, with no one to even notice his absence. A fitting punishment, perhaps, but unacceptable nonetheless. If he were to die in anonymity, he would at least be warm. He adjusted the navigational controls, and set course for Yavin's sun. The Son of the Suns, he thought (with all the bitterness the phrase always evoked), would return home to die.

A light flashed on his communications board. He almost didn't answer it; he was too focused on deciding how to die. But something... some other sense...

He leaned down, and touched the speaker curiously. "Vader," he said.

Silence. Then, slow surprise. "My Lord?"

"Yes."

"We've lost contact with the Death Star."

"The Death Star was destroyed by the Rebel force on Yavin."

More silence, longer. Finally, the stranger said, "My Lord, this is a grievous blow."

Vader had had enough of the conversation. "Identify yourself, your vessel, and your location."

"I'm sorry, sir. I am Captain Reotti, of Prison Camp 1-A. We were moving several prisoners to the Death Star, under Governor Tarkin's orders. As a shield against Rebel attacks."

The fury rose in Vader. Even dead, Tarkin made his mind burn with it. A foolish, dishonorable, dangerous...

His thoughts stopped abruptly. "Captain Reotti?"

"Yes?"

"Please repeat your station."

"Prison Camp 1-A, my Lord. Previously located on Naboo."

The name of the world was enough to send his blood coursing through what was left of his body. Naboo. HER world. And Pal

 

Aaaaah!!!! Oh my god, is this the continuation of the other thread??? This is great, keep it going!!!!!!!!!

 

OMG! It's finally here, the Vader/Amidala AU! As beautiful as I remember.

Though I really shouldn't, I said sometime ago on the skywalking list that I would really like to get in on this story, and I still would-- if that's okay.

 

Oh. My. Goodness.

That's all I can say right now.

Goodbye.

 

Great start JG! I wish both you and ami-padme the best of luck with it.

 

(Okay, this is just lifted straight from the ESB script, with the necessary alterations. But that's where we're starting.)

EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away...

It is a dark time for the Rebellion.

The Death Star has been destroyed, but the Empire has grown even more powerful in the three years since. Imperial troops have driven Rebel forces into hiding, and the Rebellion's numbers have dwindled, as the gentler touch of the resurrected Lady Vader has soothed the open wounds of angry citizens.

Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet, a small band of rebels, held together by Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa, has taken refuge on the remote ice world of Hoth.

Lord and Lady Vader, obsessed with finding the two rebel leaders, have dispatched probe droids into the far reaches of space...

 

I'm going to do the next post tomorrow night...

 

Holy heavens! Now I must give up my work and start a new life as a full time fanfic reader...

 

I´m speechless.
All i can think of is WOW!
Where´s the rest?

 

Great story!
I believe it will be much harder for Luke (and Leia) to resist when both mother and father want to, well.. unite the family.

 

This should prove most interesting, I was hoping to see this brought to fruition after I saw it on Skywalking.

I can see Lady Vader saying to Luke, "Luke, I Am Your Mother."

Keep up the good work!!

 

Please post soon. This is great!.

 

I wonder though... I don't think that Amidala would still love Vader, after what happened to him...::shudder::

 

Oddly, I don't have the slightest difficulty believing that she's still in love with him. Sacred pairing and all that. The character problem is more ideological than emotional, I think.

 

So this is the continuation of That You Might Live?? Just to make sure the timeline is correct...
What is Skywalking, is that a real book out there?

 

Skywalking is an egroups mailing list that you can subscribe to.

Here is the link to the site

http://www.egroups.com/group/skywalking

 

This is a completly separate story from "That You Might Live" -- it is an independent AU.

skywalking is an Anakin/Amidala fanfic & discussion list that many of us frequent (and where we first started discussing this story).
http://www.egroups.com/group/skywalking

I'll pick up the story later tonight...

 

Yippee! A whole new story. Now Luke's going to have a humungous (sp) headache. Mom and Pop Vader. Keep up the Good work. Nice Timing. I just got back from vacation this week.

 

Ah, yes. A totally different story -- I grabbed Reotti's name out of this prologue for that story, but that's because I'm lazy, not because I meant them to be connected.

("Skywalking" is also the name of a not-too-friendly bio of Uncle George, but we don't talk about that.)

 

Nice introduction for the alternate ESB.

 

This should be interesting. I can just imagine
the parents going to Bespin to trap Luke. Lando leads them to refreshments, the door opens, Leia sees her mother instantly remembering her, and puts two and two together. Is this using the Father's Heart series as a background?

 

Thanks for the info fellas. Ok, so its different from the sequel to IYW?...must get this straight...

 

Yea, a new story from The Penitent authors!

I never thought of this scenario for an AU, but it's so interesting! I am most eager for more!

 

*gigantic flashing sign*

THIS IS NOT A SEQUEL TO IYW?. THE SEQUEL TO IYW? IS TITLED "That You Might Live."

*end gigantic flashing sign*

Hope that clarified things. And I'm glad to see this up finally!

 

WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW!
I can't wait 4 the next post!!!!