A few days ago, being alone with his father had not felt so uncomfortable, but then again, a few days ago Luke Skywalker had been unaware that Darth Vader had no intentions of helping him return to his older body.
"You are to remain in here and rest." It was the first thing his father had said to him since they arrived back on the Executor. The trip there had been one in silence. The Exectuor's location had not taken long to reach and Luke had spent the time sleeping, planning, and avoiding his father. The moment their ship had docked Vader had ushered Luke back to his private quarters where they currently stood. "Are you still experiencing any dizziness from your concussion?"
"Like you care." He said crossly, knowing how much of a brat he sounded like, but not caring.
"I do not have time for your childishness."
"Really, but I thought you'd like my immaturity considering you want to keep me in a child's body?"
That had been the wrong thing to say. Vader's face went dark as he took a step forward and Luke had to slightly arch his back to look all the way up at the towering man's face. It was strange, even without the monster-like helmet, his father still managed to appear frightening.
Artoo rolled close to his side, almost protectively so. Luke glanced sideways at the droid. Seeing his friend grounded him and helped remind him that he needed to keep a little of his cool if he wanted to be able to escape.
"Do not push me, young one. If you do not feel inclined to tell me I have other methods of finding out."
The Jedi glared down and his feet. He wasn't sure what 'methods' Vader was referring too and he would rather not learn any time soon, "The disorientation is gone, but I still feel a slight ache in the back of my head. Happy?" he grumbled.
His father kept a questioning eye on him and Luke felt as if the older man knew he were up to something.
Finally he lifted his scrutinizing gaze and said, "I must leave now, but I will be back very shortly. We are not done talking."
Oh yes they were. By the time his father came back he would hopefully be long gone. Obviously he did not voice that; instead he sarcastically replied, "I can't wait."
Vader stared at him for a few more seconds before exiting, the door closing behind him. Luke let out a sigh of relief. He feared his father would separate Artoo and him. That would have thrown a huge wrench into his plans.
Said astromech beeped at him and Luke gave an encouraging smile, "Don't worry buddy, we just have to wait a bit longer so my father can get settled in the meeting with that Prince Xizor. We don't want him sensing us moving too soon. He has to be preoccupied if this is going to work."
His plan was one that Leia would call reckless, but it was all he had. He knew this was his one shot at escaping. If they failed, then his father would double his security and tighten his leash.
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Darth Vader fastened on his thick cape. The armor he just put on looked exactly like his old suit, copied perfectly down to the buttons on his chest plate. Only this one was merely a shell, lacking all the needles and various wiring of the life support system. It was much lighter, but to any onlooker, they would never suspect it was not the same.
Picking up the helmet he stared at his distorted reflection. He once considered his suit akin to a mobile cage, now he used it as a disguise to hide his younger and healed body beneath. He would reveal his functioning body to the galaxy when he felt the time had come. But for now no one other than his son and Piett were privy to that information.
At the thought of his son, his mind drifted. The child was going to be a problem. He still had not quite planned on what to do with him. He felt the boy's anger more consistently present since there escape from Kamino. Perhaps it was time he began his training. As soon as he was finished with this pointless meeting he would help the boy construct a new lightsaber to practice with.
Placing the helmet on his head, the room filled with the sound of the false life support system. Walking out of his meditation chamber he made his way through the corridors until one of his men approached him.
Giving a low bow he wasted no time in getting to the point, "My Lord, Prince Xizor has arrived and is awaiting you in the conference room."
"Be sure the room is monitored at all times and that we are not interrupted unless there is situation of great importance."
"Yes, of course, my Lord."
Vader continued through the halls desiring more than anything at the moment to get the conversation over with. He had no time for the man's games. Xizor was in charge of the largest and most powerful criminal organization that had a hand in almost every type of business. This made him useful to the Emperor.
He passed two of Xizor's personal guards as he entered the large room. Inside, sitting at the long, black polished table, was the Falleen himself. Xizor was a tall alien of reptilian decent. His skin was a rough, pale green and his hair was a dark black that sat in a topknot on his head. The man stood up as Vader entered, his purple robes billowing gracefully as he moved.
"Lord Vader," the prince bowed, "Thank you for finding time to meet with me. You are a hard man to track down."
"Indeed, I am busy."
Vader did not sit down, therefore Xizor did not either. He did not want this man under the impression that he had his undivided attention nor that he was just willing to sit and talk for a long span of time.
"Yes, I know you are." The crime lord said straightening his clothes and added passingly, "There have been some very interesting rumors floating about. Black Sun has people in all corners of the galaxy and some have heard whispers of you traveling in the Deep Core with a little boy. Most peculiar wouldn't you say?"
Vader showed no outward sign of the words disturbing him, but on the inside his mind was reeling in thought. He had not missed the gleam in Xizor's eyes as he passed that comment. Did he know? He had traveled with Luke for such a short period of time in his armored suit before he changed to the tunic that the chances of word spreading from Adana to the rest of the galaxy was sure to be slim.
But even with these thoughts in his head Vader managed to keep his cool persona and simply folded his arms across his chest, "Thank you for the enlightening gossip, but I hope it is more than silly rumors you wish to discuss."
The Fallen's lips curled up into a smile, "Of course, my Lord. It is about funding our Emperor's new project. The Emperor and you have Black Sun's full support and resources at your disposal."
"How generous of you." Vader said with not a smidge of gratefulness.
"I do what I can to serve the Empire." Vader knew there was more to this man than meets the eye, but even with all his best spies watching Xizor's every move, he could never figure out what it was, "I am sure this new weapon will work out better than the Death Star II would have."
This halted his thoughts in their tracks.
"What?"
"Oh, I thought you knew. I suppose with your recent absence the word has not reached you yet." Xizor said, acting like the situation was awkward, "Then please, allow me to fill you in, my Lord. The Emperor and I were discussing-"
Vader straightened as the ship's alarm started blaring overhead.
"An alarm? Has someone breeched your ship?" Xizor shouted over the sound.
The Dark Lord snarled under the mask knowing the Falleen was probably pleased by the distress. Xizor's personal body guards were in the room an instant later followed by one of Vader's officers.
"Prince Xizor, are you harmed?" one of the guards asked.
"No need to worry men, I am sure Lord Vader will have everything under control momentarily."
Ignoring the comment, Vader turned to his officer, "You best have a report as to what is happening."
"Y-yes, my Lord, we are still researching what triggered the alarm. All we know is it is coming from sector 2187."
"Then I suggest you quit standing here and get to finding out."
"Yes, Lord Vader." The man bowed and briskly exited, relieved that he survived the encounter.
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Luke rocked back and forth on the bed in nervous anticipation. They had waited long enough and now the time for escape was at hand!
"You ready to go home, Artoo?" The droid chirped out in what the young Jedi was sure to be agreement. He slid off of Vader's mattress and approached the door. The blond pressed the button to open it and was me with the expected beep proving it was locked. Now it was time for step one. He had never tried something like this before and could only hope he could pull it off, "Here goes nothing."
Taking a deep breath Luke closed his eyes and gathered the force around him. In his mind he imagined the mechanisms inside the door that worked together to slid it open and closed. With a gentle wave of his hand he opened his eyes. Biting his lip, he reached out and pressed the button.
Another beep of denied access echoed through the room. Luke's shoulders slumped in disappointment.
Artoo lightly bumped into him as if to encourage him to try again. Luke nodded to his friend and cleared his mind to try again. He blocked out all other thoughts and only focused on the inner workings of the door. Reopening his eyes a pressed the button once more and immediately was satisfied as the door swooshed open!
From this moment the clock would start ticking.
He motioned for Artoo to follow him. The two slowly crept through the rest of Vader's private wing, on the hunt for a place to plug into the wall. Then Luke spotted it. Artoo rolled up to the outlet and plugged his extension in. The young Jedi remained vigilant as the astromech secretly searched the Executor's databanks for a map of the large ship. At last Artoo beeped out in success.
"Great job, let's see what you got."
Artoo projected the obtained schematics of the Executor, which Luke examined closely. He found where he currently was then searched for the way to reach the hangar. After memorizing the route, the Jedi nodded and the projection disappeared.
The next part would be tricky.
"Alright Artoo, you know what to do."
The droid beeped and went to work. In the matter of a minute the Executor's alarm was blaring. The droid detached himself from the wall and the two sped off out of the chamber. Luke peered around a corner as stormtroopers came rushing by in the opposite direction of where they needed to go. Artoo had alerted the entire ship to a breech in one of the lower rooms farthest from the hangar. That would leave the place severely under guarded allowing them to make their getaway. At least, that was what Luke hoped.
Once the stormtroopers had passed, Luke and Artoo ran down the hall. The Jedi could sense another group of people coming down the corridor and quickly jumped into a room. The duo continued this process until they had almost reached the hangar when their luck ran out. Artoo had managed to roll behind cover, but a man had spotted Luke before the boy could join him.
"Who are you?"
"I'm-uh-I'm-" his heart was racing. He had come too far to be caught now! He had to talk his way out of it, like Han would, "I'm looking for my dad. The alarms really loud." He said covering his ears as he played the part of an eight year old.
"There should be no children onboard. Who is your father?"
Luke said the first name that came to mind, "Mr. Piett."
"I was unaware Admiral Piett had a son." The man looked disgusted, "You are going to need to come with me, this vessel is under a state of distress and if Admiral Piett is indeed your father we need to have a talk with him."
Oh no. Time to think of something fast! Old Ben flashed through his mind and an idea quickly followed.
Reaching out through the force Luke said, "You want to leave me here and forget you saw me."
"I most certainly do not! You are already in enough trouble, boy, now come this way."
That was when a coldness came over Luke. A very familiar coldness that belonged to his father. He knew.
"What are you doing, son." His father's voice echoed angrily in his mind.
Luke ignored it and tried again in a panic, "You will forget you saw me and move along!"
"That's enough out of you!" reaching down he grabbed Luke's arm and began dragging him down the hall. Artoo poked out of hiding, but the Jedi quickly shook his head in disapproval. Looking back up at the officer, Luke calmed himself and tried a third time, "You will forget you saw me and move along."
The man came to a complete stop and straightened, his hold on the boy's arm relaxing, "I will forget I saw you and move along." He repeated.
Luke yanked back his arm and the man started walking down the hall, now blinded to his presence. The boy didn't celebrate as he immediately darted back to his droid, "Come on!"
The two hustled inside the hangar and Luke searched for the ship he and his father had traveled in.
"Luke!" his father's voice rang out again.
Shaking his head as if that would break the connection with his father, Luke continued to sprint towards the vessel.
A mental warning sounded through Luke's body and he veered left, barely dodging a stun blast.
"Someone stop that child!" he heard a stormtrooper yell, but it was too late he was already up the ramp with Artoo. Luke quickly closed the hatch and ran towards the cockpit. Clambering onto the chair he sat on his knees and bent forward to reach all the controls to power up the ship.
"Artoo I'm going to need some help!"
The ship's systems came online and Luke wasted no time in pushing the control stick forward. The ship rocketed off the ground, out of the hangar, and into space.
"Quickly plug in the coordinates to the system near Home One; we've got to get out of here before they start firing at us!"
"Luke-"
But his father's voice was cut off as there ship entered light speed, severing their force connection with the great distance.
Luke flopped back against the pilot's seats. They had done it. Soon they would be back with the rebels and there he would be presented with a new problem: explaining what happened to him.
"Artoo, make sure to scramble our ship's signal. We don't want the Imperials to track us back to our base."
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Out of all the times for something like this to happen it had to be now when he was trying to learn what Xizor knew. Could the alarm be a malfunction? No. The rebels? Unlikely.
Then the answer came to Vader in one, short word. Luke.
He clenched his fist and reached out through the force until he felt his son's force presence.
"What are you doing, son?"
He could feel the boy's shock at the words, but he received no answer. Luke was ignoring him.
"Is there anything I or my men can do to assist you?" Xizor asked with clasped hands.
"Remain in here until I return." He did not look at the man's face as he exited the room. Somehow his son had escaped his quarters and now was somewhere on the ship.
"Luke!" he tried again, anger evident in his voice.
He needed to find him before he escaped and he had a pretty good idea of where the boy would be heading.
"You there." He called out to one of his subordinates who had been heading in the opposite direction. The man froze, terrified, but spun around and bowed without trembling.
"Lord Vader?"
"Alert any men remaining at the hangar. I believe a stowaway is attempting to escape."
"I will do so immediately!" the man ran off.
Vader hurried down the hall towards the hangar though deep down he knew he would never reach the area in time.
"Luke-" but he stopped as he felt their force connection abruptly snap. The boy was too far away, he must have gotten in a ship.
"Sir there was an unauthorized ship departure! A young blond child stole-eugh!" the man began gripping futilely at his throat and wheezing as he struggled for air.
"Thank you for the information." Vader dropped his hand, in turn releasing his force hold on the man sending the lifeless body toppling to the floor.
Darkness swirled inside him as what happened, what he had just lost, sunk in. His son was gone.
AN: So ends chapter one of our sequel. I've got quite a ride planned for this father and son duo.
For those who do not know, Prince Xizor is from the novel Shadows of the Empire (great book by the way). What did you guys think of the opening? Loved it? Have no interest in reading anymore? Let me know!