Star Wars: Timelines Ch 1

I was on Corusant when General Skywalker returned from the late Emperor Palpatine's first and last assignment for the Empire. I'm not quite sure when happened on Mustafar, Palpatine's personal troopers witnessed the entire ordeal and still aren't sure what happened. A worrying thought when you consider the perfect recall built into a Kamino clone's memory.

When the shuttle opened up, I was expecting the Emperor to stride out in the grand manner he so recently acquired and ask for a status report on something vital to the new Empire's security, or more importantly his. The attack by rogue Jedi in his own office shook us up a bit. Even more worrying than a clone not knowing what just happened is when that same clone and every other on the planet is scared. I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised, the Emperor came out, but not the emperor I was expecting. Anakin Skywalker strode down the shuttle ramp. At the same time, a man who was not Anakin Skywalker took the exact same steps, the exact same pace, and with the exact same stride.

This was not the Anakin Skywalker from the Clone Wars, so recently ended. I could see every part of this man was different. Anyone who didn't know him would be able to plainly see that this wasn't the war hero of the Republic. This was Darth Vader. I learned later that he was no longer Palpatine's apprentice, but the last Sith Lord. Palpatine, on the other hand, was now a charred heap of ash on the surface of Mustafar.

"Lord Vader," I stood at attention while he passed by, not sparing a glance from his eyes. I was glad for my helmet, otherwise I might not have my head still attached to my shoulders.

I couldn't help but gape at features that had been different mere weeks ago when I last saw Skywalker, but this was no longer Skywalker. Vader's eyes were yellow where there should be white, full of a dangerous light. His skin was slightly paler than it should be, despite the "lava" burn from Mustafar. He walked different too, more upright and self-righteous than he had. At the same time though, he seemed to coil up like a snake. Hate filled his face from his eyes frazzled hair to his scowl that seemed set in permacrete.

It was only after he passed by where I stood that he acknowledged my presence. Without turning to face me he stopped.
"Cody, assemble all the ARC captains, now. Have them meet in my new office."
"Yes sir," it was all I could say. I had never been this confused in my accelerated life, and I had spent quite a bit of time around Jedi, after all.


Half an hour later, all the ARC captains on Corusant and myself were in the old Chancellor's office, now the Emperor's. Vader stood by the giant window behing the desk, looking out at the panoramic view of the city-planet. The ARC's beside me were unreadable, standing in front of the desk at parade rest. We had been waiting here for almost a minute, yet it seemed longer before Vader spoke.
"As you can very well tell, Palpatine is no longer in charge here." He then turned to face us. "What are your thoughts on this shift in power?"
"We are loyal to the Commander in Chief, sir," Fordo, standing to my left had been the first to speak. "That would be you, Lord Vader."
"Good," Vader turned to face us, "Now I can tell you why you are here."
"Thank you sir," I think it was maze speaking, but it might have been Muzzle. We all sound the same after all.
"The Emperor was killed on Mustafar by the Jedi fugitive Obi-Wan Kenobi." I couldn't help but let my jaw hit the floor.
"Sir, you mean to say he managed to track Palpatine to Mustafar?" I knew that Kenobi had escaped Utapau, but how he could have gotten intel on Palpatine's movements was beyond me. No one knew he was going there until he gave the coordinates to the pilot.
"I mean to say exactly that. He is dead, but his accomplices are not."
"Accomplices, sir?" Muzzle, the ARC on my right seemed to relish the thought of hunting people down. "Do we have their identities?"
"We do at that, but they are need to know." Vader ran his right hand across the desk, and then leaned on the edge. "All you need to know is that we are hunting them down, and taking them alive."