Disclaimer: Star Wars Not mine

Author's note: This is a random idea I got whilst watching ROTJ. Implied slash. Chapter one of two.

The incomplete Death Star gently orbited gently around the forest moon. Nearby, the not quite so massive construction that was Darth Vader's super star destroyer loomed.

In one of the many (or at least several) control rooms, one officer was trying to work, hopefully without the eight feet (or so it seemed) of black, shiny, heavy-breathing armour that was Darth Vader deciding that today was a good day for random, force-powered strangulation.

"Chung!" snapped someone.

"I… I mean, yes… I mean yes, sir… I mean… no, wait…" he trailed off. His Captain stared at him.

"Lieutenant Chung, this is Lieutenant Martel." He said, stressing both names as if speaking to a child. "He's just been assigned here. Fresh out of the academy."

He paused. Martel smiled. Chung blinked, wondering if he should say something.

"Now," said the Captain. "When you go off duty, I'd like you to show him around the area."

"Yes, sir."

"We don't want our officers getting lost."

"No, sir."

"His sleeping quarters are in block seventy-eight, I believe."

"Yes, sir."

"Now," the Captain gestured vaguely at an empty chair. "Martel."

"Yes, sir." Said Martel, saluting sharply. His uniform was so new if crackled when he sat down. He waited until the Captain had left, then turned to Chung.

"Are we allowed to take our hats off?"

"Uh… no, I don't think so."

"Why not?"

A light began to flash on Chung's control panel.

"One second," he said, and pressed some switches. An image of a standard Imperial shuttle appeared on the screen. "We have you on our screen now," he said into the comlink, "Please identify."

"Shuttle Tydirium requesting deactivation of the deflector shield." Answered the pilot.

"Can we do that?" said Martel. Chung nodded.

"Shuttle Tydirium, transmit the clearance code for shield passage."

"Transmission commencing."

A few seconds past before the code came up on the screen. Chung frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"That's not the current code."

"Lieutenant?" said a voice from behind him. "Is there a problem?"

"Maybe, sir."

Admiral Piett leaned forward.

"We haven't used that code for months."

"I know, sir." He became aware of the horribly familiar breathing behind him. He looked up. Martel's eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of his head.

"Where is that shuttle going?"

The Admiral leant forward again. "Shuttle Tydirium, what is your cargo and destination?"

"Parts and technical crew for the forest moon." Said the distorted voice of the pilot.

Darth Vader remained silent for a second. "Do they have a code clearance?"

"It's an older code, sir, but it checks out. I was about to clear them."

There was a lengthy pause. Chung's fingernails dug into the palms of his hands.

"Shall I hold them?" said the Admiral.

"No," said Darth Vader, "Leave them to me. I will deal with them myself."

Admiral Piett raised his eyebrows. "As you wish, my lord." He turned back to Chung. "Carry on."

Chung switched on his comlink. "Shuttle Tydirium, deactivation of the shield will commence immediately. Follow your present course."

He released the switch and waited until both the Admiral and the Sith had left before breathing out fully.

"What was that all about?" said Martel.

Chung sat back and put his hands over his face. "I have no idea."

"Does he," Martel glanced over at Darth Vader, "Do that every often?"

"Martel, I'd be more worried about him strangling you that interfering in your work."

"I though he mostly strangled his admirals."

"Yeah, but at the rate he gets through them, it'll probably be one of us in a few weeks."

There was a lengthy pause.

"What time do we go off duty?"

Chung glanced at the chrono. "In about five minutes."

"You know," said Martel, as they walked down a corridor, "You never answered my question."

"What question?"

"Why we aren't allowed to take our hats off."

Chung stopped. "What does it matter?"

"Well... I don't really like wearing hats."

"Tough. You shouldn't have joined up." he started walking again.

"But why can't we take them off?"

Chung stopped and pivoted. "Well... it's... they're part of the uniform."

"So? It's not like they're essential."

"They're part of the uniform."

"You said that already."

"They're part of the uniform," Martel raised an eyebrow. Chung glared at him. "So we'd hardly been Imperial officers without them, would we?"

"What," said Martel, "So we're not officers when we're out of uniform?"

"Well, no, but... wait." he frowned. "Yes, we are, but..."

"Have you ever seen any of the Admirals take their hats off?"

Chung stared at him. "What's that go to do with anything?"

"Because by your logic, if they took their hats off they wouldn't be Admirals any more, and we could give them orders."

"That doesn't fit into my logic!"

"Yes it does!"

"No," said Chung, "No, it doesn't, because I just said that..."

Martel rolled his eyes and walked away.

"You better catch up," he called over his shoulder. "Or I'm going to get lost."

An hour or so later (though Chung had never been that clear on what constituted an hour when one was living on a giant spaceship orbiting a moon that didn't have any intelligent inhabitants, and therefore didn't really have it's own hours), the two of them were attempting to unpack (or at least, Martel was trying to unpack, and Chung was trying to help by enforcing a mixture of his own system and the official system, and being pretty much ignored).

"I know it's not the official system," said Chung. "But it's more logical than what you're doing."

"Just because it doesn't use your personal logic doesn't make it generally illogical." said Martel. "Besides, who else is going to be looking in my underwear drawer? Do they have underwear inspections?" Chung stared at him. "Please tell me they don't do underwear inspections."

"There's yet to be an underwear inspection."

"Although," said Martel, from half-in, half-out of his luggage, "I guess that wouldn't be so bad." He emerged, clutching a pair of boots. "Unless Darth Vader was the inspector. Because being strangled for not folding your underwear right would really suck."

Chung stared, and the burst out laughing. "I don't think he cares about your underwear."

"Well, that's good to know."

Chung glanced down.

"You do know you're not allowed to wear non-regulation stuff, right?"

"I'm not planning on wearing them."

Chung briefly considered asking why he'd brought them if he wasn't going to wear them, but dismissed it. He probably - almost certainly in fact - wouldn't get a decent answer.

"Though I don't know how they'd know unless they had underwear inspections though. And seeing as you've already said they don't, I'd be safe." he grinned. "Logical, see?"

"Never doubt the power of Darth Vader."

"I wasn't aware that he was capable of divining one's underwear."

"You never know." Chung sat down on the bed.

Martel closed the drawer and stood up.

"You're wrinkling the sheets."

"I made the bed. Therefore I think I have the right to sit on it."

"Fair enough." he sat down next to Chung. "So do they inspect our quarters at all?"

"Not much right now. There's a lot of other stuff going on." he gestured at his own head. "Your hat's at a weird angle."

"So?"

"It looks weird."

"So?"

"Never mind."

There was a long pause. Martel straightened his hat (to Chung's relief).

"That shuttle, earlier," said Martel. "Who was on it?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think it was the rebels?"

Chung sighed. "If they were rebels, why did he let them through?"

Martel shrugged. "He's Darth Vader. Who knows how his mind works?"

There was another pause.

"Can I ask you a question and have you promise you won't tell anyone?" asked Martel.

"Okay."

"Do you ever think maybe we're on the wrong side?"

Chung sighed. "I don't think there is a wrong side. I mean," he gestured vaguely. "If we win, in twenty years time they'll be telling children how we heroically crushed the rebel scum. We lose, we're the evil empire, and they're the heroes. It's the same two groups of people either way."

"Yeah, but... now."

Chung sighed again. "I picked a side, and I'm sticking with it."

"No matter what?"

"No matter what happens."

Then it was Martel's turn to sigh. He turned to look at the other man.

"You won't tell anyone we talked about this, will you?" he said.

"Why would I do that?"

"I don't know," he said. "You just seem like that kind of guy."

"I'm not." Martel raised an eyebrow. "Really!"

Martel laughed, and it suddenly seemed that they were sitting far closer to each other than they had been a few seconds earlier. Chung noticed that his new friend was looking at him in a way that... he gulped, and was vaguely aware that breathing at a normal speed was suddenly very hard.

Then someone's comlink went off. They both jumped.

"That's yours." said Martel.

Chung answered (with some difficulty - his hands were trembling (for some reason. Must have been something to do with the heating systems). "Hello?" he said. "Yes. Yes, sir. Of course."

"Who is it?"

"Out Captain. He wants to see us."

"Right now?"

"Of course right now. It's always right now."