Chapter 8: Confronting the Past
Rex's POV
Rex couldn't believe what Ahsoka was saying, he had just found out that she was still alive and now she was claiming that Darth Vader, the evil Sith Lord who had terrorised the Galaxy at the Emperors commander for fifteen years, was actually Anakin Skywalker, the Jedi Knights who he had fought side by side for the entire war. He was still trying to process this information when Kanan announced that they had come out of hyperspace and were docking with the command ship, "Rex...are...are you okay?" Ahsoka asked placing a hand on his shoulder, "You're lying" he said. "What" Ahsoka said confused and pulling away from him, "Anakin died along with the rest of the Jedi" he said becoming mad, "No, Rex you have to believe me" she said almost begging. "NO" he screamed, "you were gone for three months, you don't get to just come back and start making these claims" he said walking out of The Phantom. He marched down the hallway but was stopped by Hera, Sabine and Zeb. "Rex.." Hera started, "she's back there" he said marching right through the trio. "Rex wait.." He heard her call but her begging was drowned out by the sound of everyone welcoming her back.
Darth Vader's POV
His fall hadn't been bad at all, just a broken ankle, nothing that wounding heal eventually and besides, there was no time to waste after Thrawn had let the rebels get away but what really worried him was the Ahsoka Tano had survived the explosion on Malachor, which led to the question of, What has she been doing or where has she been for 3 months?
Barriss' POV
It hasn't been long before a drop ship had been sent for the two of them, Vader had said nothing on the ride back to the Star Destroyer which made her wonder about his relationship with the Torguta. She knew that they had faced off on Malachor and that he escaped the explosion and was probably just shocked to see her alive but there was this nagging feeling that there was more to it.
Once they had reached the Star Destroyer, Thrawn was waiting for them at the hanger and boy did he look nervous. "Lord Vader I..." He started but was interrupted by the Dark Lord, "Silence! Don't think your failure will go unnoticed, you will be punished in due time but for now, we have rebels to locate" Vader said as he turned to head off to his chambers. "Actually I was going to say that we know where they are heading, one of my spy's reported that they are meeting up with another rebel cell on Mandalore's moon" Thrawn said matter-of-factly like. Vader stopped in his tracks but didn't turn to face the Admirial, "you have redeemed yourself then" he said as he started again to his quarters. As Barriss made her way to her own quarters she was surprised to see a message from Vader, "come to my quarters now!"
As she strode in, and bowed before her superior she noticed that he was in that black metallic sphere that she had saw earlier. She had often wondered who Vader really was, at first during the early days of The Empire when she was first recruited by The Emperor himself, she had thought that Palpatine had constructed him in a lair and that was why he was all machine, but as she heard more of him and saw more of him (which wasn't very often) she begun to realise that there actually was a man in the suit, she had never inquired about him like the rest of The Empire but she had her suspicions that he was once a Jedi, just like her. "What is thy bidding my Lord?" She said as he stepped out of the pod and loomed over her, "you have a new task, a hunting task" he stated, "and who shall I be hunting?" She asked "Darth Maul"