The voices went back and forth for a bit, but after the initial batch of keywords the connection quickly became more than arbitrary and the sound dwindled away. Warily, Luke threw a look at the two older men – and if he was taking in more than just visuals, well, so be it!

Piett wasn't exactly leaning against the wall but he was obviously striving to keep himself grounded by means of the hand splayed against the bulkhead. Gen Veers, for all that he'd kept his expression unyielding, looked like it was a good thing he was already sitting down.

Worse, however, was the oppressive mood hanging, like a thick miasma, over the room: the last time the young Jedi had felt its like, he'd been skimming past the trenches on Hoth – trenches filled with Alliance soldiers who had already known (as he'd realized on hindsight) that there was little chance, for even one in ten of them, to make it out alive.

Mood and memory threatened to suffocate him for a moment, but with a concentrated effort Luke forced them back, cleared his mind and finally his throat.

"What exactly did just happen?"

Piett blinked. "You don't … you didn't recognize the voice?" he asked incredulously.

The young rebel shrugged. Vaguely, but I can't quite put a name to it, sounded a bit inane.

"That," – you idiot! the tone implied, "was His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor Palpatine," Gen Veers cut in.

The Emperor?! The young Jedi almost physically fell over in his surprise.

But suddenly, hitherto unconnected puzzle pieces were falling into place:

The Emperor, he has foreseen this, his father had said during their duel – Lt Veers' transfer papers for the Executor had been initiated before Luke had even left Dagobah enroute for Bespin, but what should hinder someone prescient from moving another pawn into position early?

Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy – he might be an Outer Rim yokel with a hearty dislike for politics, but even a former farmboy could tell why said prescient ruler of the galaxy would find it advantageous to destroy any loyal (and perhaps even, any competent) followers his father might have gathered among the highest ranks of the military.

Add the uncanny precision of the match – some five decades or so of experience in political maneuverings ought to do that; and the, well, unexpected change of approach by his father, and Luke felt his skin crawling with the certainty of having played right by the Emperor's script.

The only thought that kept him from bolting there and then was, how much does my father know about this?

And what will happen when he knows it all? was a thought more inclined to send him running, but this time the young rebel simply set his jaw and offered no further protest when a tense admiral asked his ship to locate the resident Sithlord for him.

Oo oo oo oo oo oO

Lord Vader, as it happened, was currently situated on the Bridge. Given the likelihood of listeners on the Emperor's payroll in such a public venue, it was grudgingly decided to wait for a more opportune moment to approach him, namely the already scheduled meeting with the admiral in the early evening.

To further dispel suspicion, the unlikely trio dispersed, each to his usual haunts and occupations. It wasn't until he'd slunk past the sharp-faced Army captain in the antechamber, hidden behind the Force and the admiral's shadow, that it occurred to Luke to ask a question he should have asked a lot earlier. He hastened to catch up with Piett before the latter could get out of reach – and apparently the older man could guess why he'd do so. Static washed over a (momentarily deserted) piece of corridor.

"Just to get this straight, Admiral," the young Jedi said rapidly, not sure how long the anti-surveillance measures – and the lack of eyewitnesses – would keep, "you can listen in, on a private conversation between the Emperor and Lord Vader? Aren't there, like, security systems against that sort of thing?!"

Thin lips quirked. "I can't. But she is the ship – all those security procedures, it is her who executes them. Not that it matters, in this case. If I'm not mistaken, that was raw data from the sound system in the holo transceivers in Lord Vader's communications chamber, both speaker output and input from the mics. Raw data meaning unprocessed, even by the encryption algorithms."

Somehow I don't think eavesdropping in my father's private rooms is going to go over any better. "As long as you can get at the data, the rest is just semantics. I don't think anyone would bother to look on that sort of details if the whole thing gets out…"

The admiral returned his concerned gaze with a blank look that was – as Luke had been taught by several Imperial defectors – the military version of wide-eyed innocence. "Lord Vader is perfectly aware of the Lady's capabilities and functions. Evidently, he has never felt the need to instill any restrictions on her in this regard. And who am I to assume that His Majesty does not have the same superior level of knowledge ...?"

With the young rebel temporarily at a loss for words, Piett quirked his lips again, gave the younger man a short nod of farewell and departed for good.

Oo oo oo oo oo oO

Still somewhat off-balance, Luke finally returned to his quarters to fetch his assigned shadow – there was no need to provoke his father before the tricky topic was even broached.

It went beyond scary, though, to see the younger Veers watch his entrance with an expression similar to the one Veers senior had adopted upon realizing that he was up against the Emperor himself.

Well, there was a fifty-fifty chance for Lord Vader entering that door, next, what did you expect?! the nasty little voice provided.

The cold glare that followed it was unsettlingly familiar, too.

"I'm sorry!" the young Jedi held up his hands in supplication, "I'm truly sorry, but I was going stir-crazy in here and you know as well as I do how people react when they see me, out there, and I can keep people from noticing me, but only me."

The young Imperial was having none of it. "And what, pray, would have been so bad if people noticed me? I work here, you know?"

"Yeah, as my aide! I needed them to talk about me, they wouldn't have done that in your presence."

The unimpressed look was probably a maternal heritage, but given another twenty years or so to hone it, it would be more than a match for that of the elder Veers.

"You went on a spying mission and didn't want me along," Lt. Veers summed up succinctly. "I should have known – you're still part of the Alliance, after all, you said so loud and clear."

And that little detail put them on opposing sides of a war! the bitter tone reminded.

Luke threw up his hands in frustration. "Can we not go into that, right now? I just reached something like a cease-fire with one Veers, I don't need to start up all over again with another!"

Said other Veers got right in his face, faster than anyone without the Force should have managed – and damn, he might not have his father's bulk (yet), but he certainly did have the height.

"How?!" the young Imperial hissed, "What did you do to m…"

Thoroughly fed up with being under general suspicion of bending people's minds out of shape whenever the mood struck him, Luke shoved the other man back, with just a hint of Force behind it to make up for the fact that genetics' roulette had left him holding the – literally – short stick, compared to everyone else.

"I talked! I asked a few questions, gave a few answers and in the end we realized we had a common enemy and decided to join forces. That's all!"

The younger Veers had only a fraction of the elder's shields and self-control but the wild feelings he projected were a mirror-match to his sire's.

The young Jedi hastily pushed down the resultant jealousy. "And by the way, his reaction to me turning up without you was exactly the same as yours, just now. So we can pretty much say with certainty: he does care."

There should have been an audible thud, the way the lieutenant's jaw dropped.


Happy Easter, to all of you following the same calendar.