Why Did He Do That?
The information was top notch and there was something to the situation that told him that what he was searching for would be there at that time and at that place. He knew that he had other things to do, and that it was distracting him from his most important goals, that chief of which being the new Death Star at Endor. But he didn't care. There were not many things that he did nowadays that he did recklessly, but this was one of them and Darth Vader was going to do it. Besides, he had his Master's permission for 'personal time' before he embarked on his mission to oversee the Death Star. As long as he didn't kill an important dignitary in a public fashion, there would not be any problems. Unless of course, Jabba made problems for him.
He was simply there to observe, and to pull his son out of danger if it came to that. Vader did not want Luke to be killed at the hands of that creature, and not to mention the fact that hecouldn'tallow Luke to be killed. Luke was to be turned to the Dark Side of the Force, and not to be devoured by a Rancor. Yes, Vader was aware of the way Jabba dispatched of his prisoners.
The Hutt would suffer like no other before him if he subjected Luke to that.
The simple black cloak covering his entire body sufficed, it kept the sand out of his armor and it kept people from seeing his facial mask. He would get into the hovel that was jokingly referred to as a 'Palace' with a mind trick and then he would stay to the shadows. Vader knew that Luke would come here. He also knew that Princess Leia would come here as well. They would want to rescue that scum Captain. The Princess in particular would want to rescue Solo and Luke would follow. That was what finalized his decision to come to Tatooine and to this place, he had a purpose here and he could get his mind off of the cascading memories of the backwater planet.
Using the force to keep his respiratory unit quiet, Vader glared at the carbonized form of Captain Solo. Why anyone would form a romantic attraction to such a vile being was beyond him. But the little whelp of a Princess was in love with the man, he could tell that much. He had seen it in their interaction on the Cloud City and he could see it in their eyes.
It both disguised him and made him thing of days long gone by.
However, he had to hand it to the Princess. She was bold and she pursued what she wanted vigorously. Vader had the strangest inclination that he had seen that before in someone else he knew. But he couldn't place it. He quickly dismissed it, it wasn't material to the situation at hand.
The Princess had made her appearance and with the Wookie known as Chewbacca no less. Vader had to admit that it was an ingenious tactic to gain entry to the Palace. But her flaw was in her timing. She should have waited at least another standard day to do away with suspicion. That's what Vader would have done anyway. Jabba could have known that she was coming before hand and the whole tactic could have proved useless anyway.
But it was smart nonetheless.
Again, there was something about the girl that reminded him of someone.
How Interesting.
When the Droids had arrived, Vader found it very curious. It was something that he would have done in days past. Vader also found that it was very smart to appeal to the Hutt's nature of greed. Offering them the droids, it was brilliant. But the message that he had left inside of R2-D2 was a bit grandiose. Luke was no Jedi Master, and as far as Vader could tell, he didn't even have the qualifications of a Jedi Knight. He simply carried himself with the poise of a Jedi Master.
'Impressive…' Vader thought to himself as he watched his son's image.
The Rancor that was under the palace would be no match for Luke. The crude creature was no match for a Force User, Dark Side or Light. He knew that Luke had no clue about the many traps that lay within the palace. Vader knew that just below Jabba's Platform was the trap entrance to the Rancor Pit. He knew that partially because the vile Hutt had to import the metal onto the planet and it went through Imperial Check stations, not to mention the intelligence that he had on this place. He only hoped that Luke was powerful enough to see it coming.
He stayed safely in the shadows, hidden under his dark black cowl, controlling the noise that his breathing apparatus made with the Force and resting his mind. Since he had been put into the infernal suit all those years ago, Vader kept up the appearance that he never had any health or physical issues. The suit was modeled to do exactly that. The design itself was made to inspire fear into his opponents.
What not many people knew was that when Vader made the slightest movement, he was racked with pain. That was some of the treatment that his master had given him over the years. The only medical attention he received was to keep him alive, and that was it. Normal beings with his condition, not that there were many of them, would have at least been put in something that was comfortable. But not him, he was only afforded the luxury of retaining his 'life' not the luxury of not living in constant pain.
That was his life.
It surprised him that he was able to sleep in such a loud place. It surprised him even more that he was even able to sleep with the armor still on. Normally he would have retreated to his hyperbaric chamber and taken his mask off and if possible more of his armor. But here, he was able to sleep. Vader knew that he would probably never know why he had fallen asleep, but he knew why he had woken up. Luke was here, in the Palace.
Vader could feel his son clearly in the periphery of his Force Awareness, and when he heard the proceeding blaster discharge noises, his hand unconsciously went to his lightsaber that hung at his belt. But he stopped the movement just in time for anyone to notice. No, he would refrain from violence until the very last moment. He didn't want Luke to be used as a barging chip for that overblown, egomaniacal slug.
Folding his arms over his chest, his vision focused onto the entrance to the chamber. Any moment now, any moment and his child would walk through that door. Luke's personality, his mannerisms, his abilities and his physical appearance could be distinctly traced back to himself and Padme. Vader considered himself a fool for not picking up on at least a trace of it sooner.
Shaking the thoughts from his mind, he watched, wide eyed behind his mask as his son strode into the room. The Force Energy radiating from him was immeasurable. It had to be simply an effect of some sort, Luke was not that powerful, he was not a Jedi Master. Vader couldn't place what it was.
Quickly clamping down on everything that would possibly give him away to his son, Vader was silent. It did not matter what they were saying, Vader knew that they were simply there to the rescue of Captain Solo. If any information that was crucial to Imperial Security was said in the meeting, Vader would immediately turn his attention back to the conversation anyway. But for the moment, his eyes darted between Jabba, the trapdoor that Luke was standing on and Luke himself. He was ready to act.
Vader's hand clamped across his lightsaber as the Hutt's slimy appendage moved towards a panel on the side of his chair. He might have been old, and he might be burned over every inch of his body, but he was Sith. The Dark Side of the Force was his ally and it would boost his abilities. When he pulled his lightsaber out, activated it and flung it towards the panel and towards Jabba's out reached hand. The Force did indeed assist him in his purpose.
The crimson blade that had killed some many in the past nineteen years sliced through the arm of Jabba the Hutt and clean through the panel that would activate the trap door into the Rancor Pit. Summoning it back to his hand in a flash, Vader growled and used the force to begin choking the life out of the scum, "Jabba the Hutt, it's been a long time."
While everyone, including Luke and the Princess all gasped in shock, Vader's wry smile didn't show through his mask, but it was perhaps the biggest smile that had ever graced his face in years. The confused, shocked, frightened and angered Hutt choked out words in his native Hutt dialect, "Lord Vader – Why did you not announce yourself to me when you arrived, and for that matter, how did you get in without being undetected?"
"I am the Lord of the Galactic Imperial Military, I go where I please," Vader said to him with a slight nod towards his son who was visibly struggling nod to fall over in a state of shock, "And you are about to commit an act which is a crime against the Empire. It is not none too many people, but the Emperor desires that Boy. If you had killed him, that would mean that you have defied their Emperor's rule and thus I would be perfectly inclined to kill you."
He glanced down to the Princess, and then his eye widened for a moment as a flash of recognition came over him. No that was impossible, that wasn't possible. The hair, the facial structure, the eyes, hell the demeanor that she carried with her was all the same of …no, that was a foolish thought. Though in the back of his mind, he did make a mental note to check on the background of Princess Leia-Organa. A thorough top to bottom check.
"What is it that you require from this filth, Skywalker?" Vader sneered in Jabba's direction before turning back to his son. Luke was still wearing that mask of unadulterated shock at the appearance of him.
He almost smirked at the sight of his son pointing towards the carbonated form of Captain Han Solo. To be honest with himself, he had no idea why he was even assisting these people to get Captain Solo back. He did know why he was doing it and he didn't want to think about it, not thinking, just acting.
Holding his lightsaber up the neck of the creature, the span of the long blade covered Jabba's entire neck, it was just enough to make a clean sweep. He knew that Jabba knew it and that's what he was counting on. If there was one thing that he had learned since the beginning of his life, it was that a Hutt would give you anything that they had in their life in exchange to keep their own. Quickly releasing his hold on Jabba's throat, Vader held the blade a fraction closer until the Hutt was flailing in panic, "Alright – Alright! They can have Solo, just leave and never come back! Do you hear me, NEVER!"
If his face wasn't covered by the infernal mask, everyone would have heard the slight, little satisfied laugh that escaped his lips. Another thought occurred to him quickly, and he reached down and cleaved the large chain that bound Princess Leia to the slug. As soon as she was free, he watched out of the periphery of his vision as the Wookie Chewbacca and the poorly disguised Lando Calrissian ran to where Luke was. When Luke and his companions safely began to the reanimation sequence on Captain Solo, Vader turned his full attention back to the Hutt, "You might be wondering why I'm assisting them. The answer is quite simple, it would be a shame for them to die at your hand, Hutt. The Empire has much bigger plans for them."
Jabba said nothing, he merely stared into the depthless eyes of Vader.
He was sure that he was going to die. He was fearing it.
And if there was one thing that Jabba hated most, it was fear.
But he had no choice but to submit.
That was the only way with the Lord Darth Vader, submission or death.
It was a mere ten minutes later when Solo was completely unfrozen. He watched as Luke and Calrissian helped Solo to walk. But what irked him the most was when they reached the platform they stopped and stared at him, as if they were asking him permission to leave! The fools! Vader had to question again why he was doing this. He turned and spoke to them in a strangely flat, but equally terrifying voice, "You have Solo, leave, now."
"But-…" Luke was stopped by the upturned free hand of Vader.
"Go," Vader said, pointing the tip of his weapon at Jabba's throat, "We will see each other very soon, it has been foreseen. You have what you want."
They didn't need any more encouragement from the man whose supposed mission in life was to either covert them, kill them or imprison them. Waiting a few more moments until they were safely out of earshot, Vader turned his full attention back to the cowering Hutt once again, "Now, your Excellency, you and your band of scoundrels will truly know what it means to defy the Empire."
Just as he had done several hundred, perhaps thousand times, Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith and Supreme Commander of the Imperial Military drove his lightsaber into the thick neck of the Galaxy's most powerful crime boss.
A/N: I fear that this plot got away from me in the end. And just as I was about finished with it, I realized a mistake that I made. Leia was caught just after she had freed Han. I wrote it as if she hadn't gotten to free Han. Well, Darth Vader wasn't even at Jabba's Palace, so things aren't so correct in this anyway, it's fan fiction, come on. I hope you don't mind. And tell me what you think!