Vader said nothing, but Palpatine knew he would always obey. This fallen Jedi circled the Emperor’s evil majesty like a moth around a candle flame. He needed the Emperor’s darkness to fill a void inside him, but he could never come too close, lest he be consumed.
“I sense that something else troubles you, my servant,” Palpatine urged him.
With his characteristic bluntness, Vader said, “My old Master, Kenobi, is here on the Death Star. He has come to face me. When last we met, the advantage was his. I fear he must be the victor again.”
Now it was Palpatine’s turn to be surprised. Kenobi! That cursed Jedi, still alive! So he had escaped the Purge and stayed in hiding for twenty years. Now he dared to show his face. Such audacity must be punished. “Kenobi will meet his long overdue destiny today. Whatever foolish errand has brought him out of his hole will be his last. Together we will crush him, my servant.”
Vader radiated trust. “And what of the Rebels who came with him? They have the Death Star plans and they may escape the station.”
“Let them go,” the Emperor said with a smirk. “They shall lead the Death Star directly to the Rebel base. Now go and meet Kenobi. His time has come.”
Vader bowed deeply as the Emperor terminated the signal.
Vader stood silently in an empty hallway of the Death Star. Dim memories of his defeat at Kenobi’s hands sent a chill of foreboding through him. There had been a devastating blow that ripped through his defenses, and a fall into searing lava. The memory of that agony gave his hate a keen focus. He had been reborn from that death, reforged in that furnace. Now he would pay his old Master back in kind. The old man appeared from a corridor as if flowing from the shadows. Vader’s lightsaber was already glowing redly in his hand.
“I’ve been waiting for you Obi-Wan. We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner, now I am the Master.”
Kenobi wasted few words, igniting his own saber and taking up a classical offensive position. “Only a master of evil, Darth.”
With that, they were upon each other, trading lightening-fast blows. This was an elegant combat between two masters. Each strike was carefully controlled, and the warriors spun with an economy of motion that belied the complexity of their attacks. Kenobi seemed suddenly to be under increasing strain, as though an invisible weight were pressing down upon him. He shook his head and blinked, trying to clear his eyes.
“Your powers are weak, old man,” Vader taunted, aware that the promise of the Emperor was being fulfilled. Palpatine was somehow able to cloud Kenobi’s mind at this distance. He had grown strong indeed!
Kenobi seemed to come to terms with his fate at that moment, and he serenely said, “You can’t win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” Angered at Kenobi’s calmness, Vader struck more wildly, slicing into the corridor walls. The two warriors, failed teacher and fallen Jedi, moved next to blast doors leading to the hangar that housed the captured freighter that Kenobi had arrived in. Vader could see the guards running to his defense, and he knew that Kenobi would indeed meet his death in moments, one way or another. Suddenly, across the hangar, a motley crew of Rebels and droids made a break for the freighter, taking advantage of the stormtroopers’ distraction. Kenobi spared the Rebels a glance, and seemed to come to a decision. He lifted his sword away from Vader’s and closed his eyes. Without hesitation, Vader sliced his old Master cleanly in half. The empty cloak fell to the deck, followed a second later by the old man’s lightsaber.
Vader probed the cloak with a booted foot, conflicting feelings of triumph and fear filling him. A fierce firefight had erupted in the hangar. Vader stood calmly as his troops were cut down. The blast doors shut suddenly, leaving Vader alone in the silent corridor. Vader strode to a comm panel to inform Tarkin that Kenobi was dead. He would pass on the Emperor’s instructions that the other Rebels were to be allowed to escape. A homing beacon had been hidden aboard their ship, and they could easily be followed to the Rebel base itself.
There was a muffled roar from behind the doors as the freighter made a fast takeoff and plunged out into space. Vader picked up Kenobi’s lightsaber, and hooked it to his belt. The Emperor would want it for his collection. Kenobi’s ending left him feeling strangely hollow. Somehow he sensed that, despite all appearances, the conflict between Kenobi and himself was not over at all.
Once again, Vader knelt before the image of his Master. “It is done, my friend,” the Emperor soothed. “Kenobi has become one with the light side forever. His spirit will fade and be gone. There was no possible anchor to hold him. You have done well, my servant. The last of the Jedi died today.”