"FORTRESS VADER," PART TWO! A thief faces the consequences for their crime. EMPEROR PALPATINE rewards DARTH VADER with three gifts…A thing, a choice and a voice.
At the Inquisitorius Headquarters on Coruscant, Darth Vader holds his lightsaber over Thirteenth Sister. The Grand Inquisitor demands to know whether this is a test or more training. Vader replies no before attempting to strike down the red Inquisitor. However, Tualon Yaluna intercepts Lord Vader's blade. He tells the Thirteenth Sister to run.
As she flees, Lord Vader faces down the Twi'lek Inquisitor, saying that he sensed an attachment between the two of them, which he describes as a weakness. He says that the death of Eeth Koth should have served as a lesson to them about such things but that they did not get the message. He hurls Yaluna against the wall. When the Twi'lek Inquisitor demands to know what she did, Lord Vader says that it does not matter but that he has done the same thing.
As Yaluna flees, the Grand Inquisitor asks if he and the Inquisitors can assist in any way. Lord Vader declines his offer of assistance. While fleeing, the two fugitive Inquisitors ponder Vader's reasons for attacking them. Thirteenth Sister says that Vader doesn't need a reason for killing people. She is surprised that Yaluna got in Vader's way, prompting Yaluna to confide his love for her. Akaris reciprocates her love for him but warns that they now have to kill Vader. The two resolve to escape after killing the Sith Lord.
Later, Darth Vader patrols the skylanes of Coruscant with two Coruscant Guards in an airspeeder. He informs them that they are looking for a male and female Jedi who are cunning and who will attack them at anytime. Just as Vader finishes his message, a double-bladed spinning lightsaber slashes through the right rear engine, causing the speeder to careen out of control. Vader leaps onto a red airspeeder. The fugitives hurl their spinning lightsabers, which slash through the speeder's chassis.
The doomed speeder crushes a Gran and a human couple in a park, incinerating them. Vader continues his pursuit on a third speeder. The Inquisitors, who have commandeered a green airspeeder, hurl a white and orange twin-seater speeder at Lord Vader but the Sith Lord throws it back at them. They use the Force to drop a statue on top of Lord Vader, causing him to crash onto a balcony.
Believing they have won, the two Inquisitors attempt to kill the seemingly wounded Sith Lord. However, Lord Vader uses the Force to restrain the two Inquisitors and force them to kill each other with their lightsabers. In their final moments, Akaris apologizes to Yaluna. The Twi'lek accepts her apology, saying that he did not expect them to die in bed after the choices they have made. He says that at least they will be free. Vader looms over the two fallen Inquisitors.
At the Imperial Palace, the Emperor Palpatine questions Vader's assertion that the two fallen Inquisitors were traitors. Vader claims that the Fifth Brother informed him that he had seen Thirteenth Sister allowing Eeth Koth's wife Mira and daughter to escape. He adds that the red Inquisitor only recaptured the child after realizing that she had been seen. Vader claimed that the red Inquisitor was building a coalition against the Sith and had corrupted the Twi'lek Inquisitor, necessitating their removal.
The Emperor is furious that Lord Vader cut a swath of destruction across Coruscant in the process of hunting them down. He is incensed that Lord Vader's actions caused the death of Senator Maklooq who was important to his plans. Vader fears that such disorder will undermine his ability to govern the Galactic Empire. Vader reminds the Emperor that he gave the Inquisitors to him. Vader agrees but says that he will move the Inquisitors to a new base offworld to prevent such trouble from happening again on Coruscant.
The Emperor praises Lord Vader for killing Eeth Koth, a former member of the Jedi Council whom he fears who have caused trouble for them. Vader tells the Emperor that Koth was pretending to be a priest. The Emperor mocks Koth for choosing to hide as the closest thing to a Jedi and says that the Jedi are fools who deserve their extinction. To reward Vader's efforts for hunting down the Jedi Purge survivors, the Emperor gifts Lord Vader with Senator Padmé Amidala's former Naboo Royal Starship.
A repair droid informs the Sith that a full restoration of the exterior should be complete in two days. Before the droid can finish its report, Vader hurls it against the hangar wall, shattering it. The Emperor decides to leave Vader to handle the ship's design. Having read the Grand Inquisitor's report, the Emperor believes that the Jedi threat has been subdued for now, allowing the Empire to turn to different matters. He charges Lord Vader with traveling to Alderaan to discipline the defiant Senator Bail Prestor Organa.
Vader declines to carry out the order. When the Emperor demands an explanation, Vader explains that he will perform any other tasks that he requires but requests that the Emperor give him a world. The Emperor believes that Vader wants a place to hone his skills or his rage. The Emperor says that Coruscant is his world to dominate but offers to give other worlds such as Palpatine's former homeworld of Naboo. The Emperor also offers Tatooine as a place for Vader to repay his suffering there a thousand times over. Lord Vader declines these worlds and proposes Mustafar.
- UPC 759606086665; August 22, 2018; Marvel Comics
- Vol. 4 — Fortress Vader
- Star Wars: Darth Vader - Dark Lord of the Sith Vol. 2
- Star Wars: Darth Vader by Charles Soule Omnibus