Luke pulled up on the controls of his ship, zipping away from the incoming star destroyers, flashes of light played across his face as he flew, eyes closed, his mouth in a hard line as he focused on the quiet whisperings from the force. Almost faster than thought Luke ducked and wove through the hundreds of TIE fighters trying to pin him down. Their weapons functioned too slow to hit their mark, before they even managed to fire he was gone, they couldn't touch him, and with perfect calm Luke anticipated every move they made. He fired back on them, red and white fire exploded in the black of space in his wake, flares of emotions shot out through the force and then were gone as the pilots died. Luke felt their pain and inwardly cursed at the loss of their lives, but he had to do it, he had to kill them, before more of his friends died, before Lea... No, he couldn't think of that now, he couldn't let himself be distracted... Behind him the battle raged on, rebels against the empire, his friends against the emperor... And against his father...
His father...
A dark presence, brooding, considering, curious, eager, overwhelming, possessive. Luke opened his eyes, he was aware of Darth Vader coming up from behind him, gaining on him. The distinct black ship followed in Luke's path, neither ship could gain the upper hand over the other, it was an even match, father and son, the two best pilots in the galaxy.
Luke reached out towards his father's presence and smiled mirthlessly. He flexed his robotic hand and put on an extra burst of speed.
"Let's see if you can catch me this time..." He muttered, heading towards the next wave of TIE fighters. The fleet split in half, the majority coming down towards his ship, the other half worked to push back the rebel alliance and force them to retreat.
Luke felt a flicker of panic in his chest. There were so many, all coming for him, quelling his feelings he took a breath and concentrated on the force and what it was telling him. He frowned, something was wrong. For the first time during the fight Luke felt fear take hold of him. He was aware of this same fear coming from his father's ship. Yes, something was very, very wrong. He didn't have time to react, he didn't have time to change his course or fire back, all he knew was that one moment he was staring into the wall of TIE fighters coming towards him and the next, fire was filling the cock pit and searing pain assailed him- he cried out as something pierced his chest and shoulder, as flames burned his skin and his own blood filled his mouth, in the shock and horror of the crash he felt another presence- instinctively he called out to it for help- It was the last thing he did before everything went dark-
Father!
Vader watched in horror as Luke's ship spiraled down towards the planet's surface. He had felt the tremor in the force, the forewarning of what was about to happen, he gasped at the torrent of emotions that Luke was projecting, pain, fear, desperation, sadness, shock, betrayal, and then one word reaching out to him across the span of time and space.
FATHER!
Pleading, imploring, desperate, Luke didn't even realize that in the moment before the crash he had called out for help, from him, from his father, from Darth Vader.