Early morning didn't even begin to describe the time Luke awoke to find the Dark Lord of the Sith at the foot of his bed. "Time to awaken, young one."
"What time is it?"
"0400; we have much to do."
"Its four o'clock in the morning, are you insane? Even on the Farm we didn't get up that freakin' early!"
"This is no farm, young one. Now, get dressed and meet me in the training room in fifteen minutes and do not be late."
Luke unable to disobey quickly dressed in a pair of gym shorts and a black tee-shirt both with the imperial logo. Lord Vader had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot when Luke entered.
"You are thirty seconds late, you will be penalized."
"What?"
"Do you need to have your ears checked? Is there something wrong with your hearing?"
"No, I'm only thirty seconds late, what's the big deal?"
"A man could die in thirty seconds, it is important to be on time. Now you must complete thirty push-ups on your knuckles. Get started."
"Are you crazy?" Luke unabashed asked.
"Far from it, you lack discipline and your physical training is pathetic, do as you are told."
Luke suddenly felt himself pulled down to the ground; he quickly raised himself on his knuckles and struggled as he completed his pushups. "Now we are ready to begin."
Luke moaned as his muscles were pulled and stretched into many different directions. The regiment was very harsh and unforgiving, after completing many of the beginning calisthenics; Luke found a cool glass of water being given to him. "You've done well. Come."
Luke followed Lord Vader to another section of the ship and when the doors opened, Luke found a large swimming pool, there were no other swimmers, and Luke backed up against a wall, refusing to move.
"Growing up in a desert environment, I don't suppose you learned how to swim, did you?"
"NO!"Luke fought as his feet continued to slide towards Darth Vader, Luke grabbed a pole and cried as his fingers were slowly being bent backwards as the Force pull was continuing to gain in strength and he screamed as he went flying into Darth Vader's grip and cried as he was dragged across the tile floor.
"No, please. I don't know how to swim, please don't do this to me."
Luke was raised far above the floor and thrown into the warm water. "Sink or swim, it is your choice, youngling."
Luke sputtered as his mouth filled with water and he managed to flail about to start swimming to the shallow end. When he left the water he shot the Dark Lord an evil glare. "Your physical training for the day has ended, eat lunch and I will join you later."
Luke stormed out of the room and returned to his quarters, "I don't believe it Artoo, he actually threw me in to a swimming pool, doesn't he know that I'm a desert rat from Tatooine, that I don't know how to swim!"
"You survived, you obviously learned something."
"Thanks a lot Artoo are you now defending Darth Vader!"
"No. Anakin was from Tatooine, he had to learn how to swim too."
"My father was from Tatooine? I didn't know that."
Luke ate his lunch and as promised Lord Vader entered the room, he had a small black velvet bag with him.
"This is the first part of your Force training, young one."
"Why do you insist on calling me young one? I'm a full grown adult you know!"
"You are much younger than me and while your Force potential is substantial, you severely lack the knowledge of true Jedi powers. Besides, you are much shorter in stature than I am, are you sure you are fully grown?"
Luke hated having his height called into question all the time, first with Leia, Han, and now with Darth Vader, it was a bit much.
"Well not everyone can be two meters tall, milord."
"True. Now, the objects in this bag have a psychic imprint, they belong to different members of my crew, see if you can get any kind of reading on them and report it on this data pad."
Lord Vader left Luke in his quarters to return to his duties. Luke opened the bag to find different items. The first was a solid black obsidian rock probably from a volcano, it was very shiny. Luke concentrated and felt cold and as he shivered he saw a vision, "It was said that you were the Chosen One, to bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness."
"I hate you!"
"You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you."
Luke sweated as his vision ended and then felt a darker presence as the rock had been held by Darth Vader. "Why would he have this?"
The second object was a button with an insignia on it, "You will do well, my son. I am very proud of you; it was no mean feat for you to graduate at the top of your class." The button belonged to Admiral Piett and a close advisor to Lord Vader. The next object was a japor snippet, hand-crafted with carved Huttese symbols. Luke felt the love as it was given to a young handmaiden, named Padmé. She carried it with her always, even to her funeral. It had been retrieved, but why?
The final object was a crystal shard, it had been part of ceremony shepherding in this ship, and it was held by a General Veers, another one of his Lord Vader's closest advisors. Once Luke had inputted the information into the datapad, he returned the objects to the bag, except the japor snippet, he decided to meditate further with it.
He found some interesting things about the japor snippet; it was carved by a young slave boy, who was whistling an odd tune as he carved the symbols. It was a tune that Luke recognized from his youth, when he was a child, Aunt Beru would sing to him especially if he had a bad dream. Luke found that he liked this young boy, he was strong and kind. But who was this boy, was this father?
"I carved this out of japor snippet to remember me by; it will bring you good fortune."
"I don't need this to remember you by, Ani. Many things will change when we reach the capital, but my caring for you will remain." The young handmaiden said to the boy.
