Sorry about the long wait! Thank you so much for reviewing, I don't own Star Wars, so on and so forth...

I stood up and followed Vader as he swept from the room. I followed him through the labyrinthine passageways honeycombing the depths of Cloud City, keeping my emotions in check. On and on we walked. I started to wonder if he ever tired. Gee, I wonder...Of course not, idiot! He's a freakin' machine! My inner Han said.

Vader turned to me and said, "I am surprised at your patience, Princess. Or your control over your impatience, whichever it is."

"Politics is a game of waiting, my lord," I responded more calmly than I felt. "If you don't cultivate a shadow of patience, you're dead in the water. I have learned that people in high authority have their eccentricities. I can wait."

"Eccentricities?" his dark voice rumbled. Good, he had risen to my bait. "You also are in high authority, princess – what are your 'eccentricities', as you so call them?"

"Fishing," I responded.

"Fishing is risky out here in the wilds, Princess."

"Only for those who don't know how to."

"Do you prefer bait-hook-line or net fishing?"

"You tell me. What do you prefer?"

He paused in his relentless stride for a moment to look at me.

"Vaporization," was his answer. I barely concealed the chill that went down my spine. Vaporization was a fishing technique favored by incredibly rich thrill seekers. The fishermen (or women) used a radiation gun that, when detonated, caused a shock wave large enough to vaporize a large body of water, leaving the fish flopping and gasping out their last breaths on dry ground. Inwardly, I cursed myself. A person who responded to the question of their favorite technique with "vaporization" would have absolutely no qualms about killing an overly inquisitive person like myself. Well, then I would just have to be that much more careful in my inquiries into Darth Vader's past. I was going to find out the truth about this man if it killed me.

Soon we were near the landing docks of Cloud City. Waiting was Darth Vader's personal shuttle. My heart fluttering frantically in my chest, I mounted the entrance ramp behind him. The interior of the shuttle was as void of life as the man who flew it – all outlets, harsh fluorescents and plastisteel, no warm colors or soft lights. It was a very bleak ship. I found myself missing the Millennium Falcon and its close, but comforting quarters. But thinking of the ship led me to thinking about its master – his mischievous eyes, his lopsided, cocky smile. I blinked rapidly, trying in vain not to cry.

Already seated in the pilot's cabin was Darth Vader. He looked back at me. "You will be flying copilot, princess. You do know how to fly, correct?"

I stiffened indignantly, but thought better of what I had been about to say and merely said coolly, "Of course, Lord Vader." Then I felt the strangest sensation through the Force. Pleasure? Or was it pride? It was gone, masked, as quickly as it had come. I tentatively took the copilot's seat. Then something occurred to me. "Sir, where are all the stormtroopers? Not that I want them around, but aren't they coming with us?"

"This ship is mine, princess, not the Empire's. No one is allowed on here except me. Even the Emperor does not come on here without my permission."

"Then why am I allowed on here?"

"As my apprentice, you are an extension of myself."

We took off. I sat in silence for what seemed an eternity, watching the colored lights on the control panel flashing in near-synchrony. Then, as before, I was unable to contain myself. I broke the silence, saying, "So where are we going?"

His answer was totally unexpected. "Someplace where the Emperor will never find you." I blinked, surprised. Wasn't taking me on in the first place so that I could serve the Emperor? Something was wrong with this picture.

We sat in silence for another few minutes. Then Vader spoke up:

"I sense your confusion, princess. As my student you are entitled to ask me any question, no matter how strange. Go on."

I was taken aback, but I recovered quickly. "How am I supposed to address you now that you're my teacher?"

"You shall address me as "Master" unless I tell you otherwise."

"Well then, Master, why is it that you want me hidden from the Emperor? As your apprentice, aren't I in the service of the Empire?"

"No you are not. You are in my service, not the Empire's. Just as this ship is mine and solely mine, so you are my apprentice, not the Emperor's."

I sensed that there was still something that he wasn't telling me, but I let it slide, with every intention of pursuing it later on. I watched silently as Darth Vader swiftly made the calculations for the hyperspace jump. He seemed so much more...calm, seated the pilot's seat. Most of the anger I usually sensed in him seemed to have evaporated. It was hard to pinpoint what the difference was, but I suspected it was because he was in a ship. I filed that piece of information away in the back of my head. It could be useful in my search to discover his true identity. I looked up to see the stars around the ship speed by to become streaks of white light. Seconds later the stars slowed down to become mere pinpoints. We did this two more times before we arrived at a system surrounding three very small, but fiery stars so close together they were almost one. Our destination turned out to be a desolate-looking little planet on the outskirts of the system. A few minutes later, we were entering the atmosphere.

We set down in the landing dock of a base nearly as desolate as the planet it was located on. Grey plastisteel for a mile in each direction, then woodlands of gnarled shrubs and stunted trees beyond that. I stepped tentatively down the entry ramp into the hangar itself. I gazed around silently, fighting to keep my fear from getting the best of me. Vader strode down the entry ramp to stand beside me.

"We have arrived."