(Vader POV)
I feel his fear about what is coming. My progress in these last few days is impressive. I need to learn more and grow more powerful. Soon, the time will come when the rebellion starts, and I will be busy then. I slowly walk towards the High Inquisitor and stop right before him.
"What are you-"
"This will hurt," I say, pointing my palm at his head. I use something I haven't tried before, but I know that it should be possible. The skill is called Drain Knowledge. It does what the name says: It extracts knowledge from sentient targets without their consent.
The High Inquisitor Jerec jumps into action and ignites his lightsaber. He attacks me with it. I block it with my other hand, and he then uses Force Push to try to push me away. But I won't allow that to happen. Jerec turns around and tries to flee, but I Force Choke him and stop him in his tracks, pulling him back.
"Where are you going, High Inquisitor?"
"Kkkaaa ... no ...", he struggles a lot and tries to use the Force to push me away and to hurt my electronics. I channel the Force through my suit and protect myself from his attempts. But it turns out that isn't necessary. His power doesn't lie in the aggressive parts of the Force. He is a scholar. Still, his will to survive is strong, and he fuels his next attack with all his hatred and fires off a Force Lightning at me, knowing that my suit should suffer through that.
*ZZZZZZZZZ*
I ignore that and continue protecting myself with the Force as I connect to his brain again and then try to do what I want. I will use his knowledge to enter my brain and to learn what he knows. I am not skilled with this right now, and I see that it is painful, judging by the screams and struggles of the High Inquisitor. But I don't stop, even when the doors open and guards enter, I don't stop. I continue to transmit my will to the Force and finally manage to get what I want.
I suddenly see his memories. It is like watching a movie at 1000 times the normal speed. I can see what I want, Jocasta Nu and her teachings. I focus on those memories for now and try to find out whether she ever mentions a planet or place where she would go to hide. Sadly, there is nothing of the sort. I suppose Jerec would have gone there already had he known of such a place. I continue to go over his knowledge. I find one thing of interest, The Valley of the Jedi.
Apparently, about 990 years ago, Lord Kaan's thought bomb trapped the souls of thousands of Jedi and Sith. The Valley of the Jedi then became a concentrated area of Force energy called a Force nexus, and is widely believed to be the most powerful Force nexus in the entire galaxy. I can't have Palpatine find out about this. I might make use of this if I manage to find it. I'll leave this for later and go through his memories until all his memories have been drained.
"Argh... haaa..."
Jerec falls to the ground and breathes heavily. I am aware that this method, even when performed by an expert, can damage the subject psychologically, and I'm not an expert. But it doesn't matter. I am here for information, and Jerec won't leave this room. No matter what, the guards will do something about it. And indeed, the door slides open, and they enter acting all concerned.
"Lord Vader, we heard fighting. Has anything happened?" one of them asks.
"Three deaths," I answer.
"Deaths?"
"Three?" the second one asks.
"Gah-..."
I Force Choke them at the same time, and then take my Lightsaber and walk towards Jerec, who has managed to get back on his feet.
"The Emperor... will not like... what you did..."
"And who will tell him?" I ask.
"You wouldn't dare..."
"What a useless exchange of words," I say.
*VROOOM*
I attack the High Inquisitor with my Lightsaber and am impressed to see him defend himself in the last moment. He has a plan to escape, and I can hear his thoughts and plans. It seems the bad use of Drain Knowledge has created some form of connection between our minds.
"RAH! NO! THE EMPEROR WILL HEAR OF THIS!!!"
"Indeed."
I stab my Lightsaber through the High Inquisitor's chest. He looks surprised that I truly went through with it, but that was to be expected. Weak men with political acumen think they always hold all the cards. I am here to change that. I use the Force Telekinesis I trained for hours now and apply force on Jerec's head. It seems I overdo it, though, and his head explodes in a bang of blood and brain matter.
"Now, back to you two," I say, and finally release the two Clones from my hold.
They have fallen unconscious, but aren't dead. Not yet. I have a better idea of what to do with them. Order 151, in the Contingency Orders for the Grand Army of the Republic, was created by Emperor Palpatine to eliminate me should the need arise. How quaint. But he didn't expect me to use this for my own benefit. I walk forward and touch the head of the first Clone who acts as a guard for me.
One of the most powerful abilities, in my opinion, has always been Mechu-deru. Mechu-deru is a dark side Force power that bestows an intuitive understanding of mechanical systems upon the user. Invented by the Sith, the technique allows its practitioners to influence inanimate and robotic constructs. Through mechu-deru, mechanical structures can be bound to the will of the user and imbued with the power of the Force itself. The dark side power of mechu-deru also enables the creation of machine-organic Sithspawn mutants called technobeasts.
But what if I use it on the inhibitor chips of the Clones?
I connect to the Chip inside the Clone's head or try to. It takes a while, but eventually, I manage to do so. I force my will on the piece of technology and will for it to change orders. Order 151 changes from eliminating me, should it be necessary, to eliminating Emperor Palpatine, when I give the order. Another order is introduced, Order 152, to protect me at all costs when I am inside the Bacta Tank with their lives. They might think to get smart otherwise.
After a moment, I wake the Clone up again.
"Lord Vader!"
"Tell me about Order 151."
"Contingency Order 151 says to eliminate Emperor Palpatine, should you give the order, my Lord," the Clone answers immediately.
I sensed no deception from him, so I move to the second Clone and repeat the process. It would have been useful to know this a long time ago.
I walk forward, once again having to do repairs on my suit. I don't fix it for the most part. I improve bits and pieces here and there and make it more efficient, but not in the grand scheme. I will have to do this and have chosen to remain this way. It helps remind me of my failure and the problems that arise with it. The suit won't hinder me anymore. I will use the Force to move and keep myself alive at all times. It's good training if anything.
After I finish my repairs and slight alterations, it is time to move and gather information. Jocasta Nu was a sneaky one, that's for sure, but I'm sure I'll find out her secrets in no time. And the reason for that is rather simple: Force Psychometry, also known as Sense Echo, or retrocognition.
Psychometry is a Force power in which a Force-user can learn information about an object's past or those who interacted with it. To experience the "Force Echo" of the object and those who had interacted with it, all the Force-user needs to do is touch the object or enter it in the case of a location. Whoever uses the ability experiences a blinding white light before receiving a Force vision, albeit with slightly distorted input, of the sight, sound, and emotions associated with the object. As such, the skill is useful for tracking escaped targets.
Psychometry is considered a power that can't be achieved through careful cultivation, as only those born with the power can use it. Though an innate skill, it nonetheless still required some study and practice to properly control it. To an unpracticed individual, touching an object that induced a vision could also cause severe headaches and seizures, consequently making these episodes appear more like symptoms of a serious illness rather than a rare and powerful Force ability.
I have learned quite a bit from the High Inquisitor's memories, and using this, I will continue to learn more about the Force and its applications. I walk towards High Inquisitor Jerec's ship and start to use Psychometry on all things, but I get the most results when I use it on the board computer. I remember seeing from one of his memories that Jocasta Nu used this particular ship and was only stolen by Jerec later on. So by using Psychometry, I should...
~~~~
A Force vision assaults me. I see the way the ship was created, from the way this single piece I am touching, until it was an entire ship. The way it was created, and then the way it was sold, and finally, Jocasta Nu, who bought it eventually. I hear her words and listen to her discussions with others on board the ship.
Countless names, locations, historical facts and more are mentioned. Now, I wish I had my memories back when I became Vader initially. Jocasta Nu is a treasure trove for knowledge about the Force and the galaxy as a whole.
And there it is. A name, a place she mentioned, the way she said it, the way her face muscles contract, and the way she looked into the distance—yes, that must be it.
~~~~
Incredible. Truly. This will be a very useful ability in the future. I walk out of the ship.
"Send it to the others, in the special location," I order the clone and walk away, back to my room.
What I do now is not for anyone to know. After the door closes, I think about the planet mentioned by Jocasta Nu. The place is located in the Outer Rim and is hidden from the Empire and the former Republic. It was a good place to hide and for Jocasta to start a new Jedi Order. Too bad that she died... by my hand. It would have made my work far easier if all the Jedi were in one place.
With a thought, I disappear from my room on Mustafar and appear on the planet Jocasta Nu hid on. I feel the life signatures of humans and get some feedback. It seems that only one human has survived for now. That must be Jocasta Nu's helper, the one who guards all her knowledge. I make my way forward until I reach a waterfall, where the life signature is coming from, and jump down. As I pass through the waterfall, I feel the danger before it arrives and hold out my hands, applying Force Stasis.
The old man in front of me is choked, and the bombs which were supposed to go off and block the entrance. Having stopped the explosion, I rip the explosive out of the stone wall and shoot it through the air, allowing it to go off outside.
*BOOOM*
I walk forward, looking at the old man. He is bald with a white beard and glasses.
"I have come to seek knowledge, librarian's helper. And I will not be denied."
His eyes are full of fear and regret.
"You know who I am. Good. Then you know what follows."
For the second time, I use Drain Knowledge on a man to learn everything there is to know about him and his life. I am interested to know whether he might have information on where the Jedi are hiding. The Path is still out there, and Quinlan Vos, along with many others, still exist.
*CRACK*
I drop the body to the ground and ignore it for now. This is what I came here for. All those Holocrons. Jocasta Nu survived the destruction of the Jedi, and during the early stages of the Jedi Purge, she attempted to gather and preserve whatever she could of the Order's legacy. She went into hiding and started recording holocrons and collecting information with her assistant, the man lying on the ground there, in an attempt to start a school for new Jedi.
But before she could start finding students, she had to go back to Coruscant, because there was a Kyber memory crystal in the Jedi Archives containing a list of every Force-sensitive child catalogued prior to Order 66. I remember how she claimed me to be Anakin Skywalker and how I killed all the Troopers after that. She didn't resist when I killed her and even welcomed it. I destroyed the Kyber memory crystal and stopped Sidious from getting it.
But now, I'm here and that's all that matters. It is time to learn and grow stronger.