Seeing how he had no way to ascertain that the ship's … sense of discretion had followed him home, Luke had to cut off the resultant hail of questions with a vague gesture at the walls and a curt "I'll explain later."

There was something deeply disconcerting about the speed with which the young Imperial caught his meaning – just how much surveillance did the average servant of the Empire consider normal?!

Not his problem, the young rebel decided quickly and smoothly changed the topic.

In preparation to the preferred – No, Luke resolved, the only acceptable outcome of the meeting that evening, whether he could make his father see his point would either make or break their relationship! – the young Jedi had come up with some productive way to pass the time until then.

It rekindled some wariness, but in the end he managed to convince the younger Veers that, really, by going for his X-Wing Luke only meant to reassure himself that his droid friend hadn't been damaged in the capture and not to make an escape attempt.

Oo oo oo oo oo oO

Locating the droid in question, however, turned out to be not as easy as the young rebel had hoped. His X-wing was gone from the hangar it had been towed into.

A living creature Luke might have located through the Force; a metal construct, no matter how much of a personality it had developed, was far harder to find, especially in an environment as teeming with technology as the SSD Executor's hangar bays.

The young Jedi nearly swore aloud. Instead, he purposefully strode over to the nearest mechanic – who took one look at his face and went pale. A few steps further, a hydrospanner clattered to the floor and fear spread through the hangar like ripples in a pond, thick and sickening.

Luke felt like screaming in frustration. He had no idea how his father could stand this, dragging a heavy shroud of terror with him wherever he went.

An unexpected hand on his shoulder steadied him.

"Allow me," Lt. Veers asked earnestly, then stepped forward, putting himself between the frightened techs and the frustrated rebel, incidentally, and started to bark out questions.

His voice was sharp and authoritative, causing the mechanics to stiffen to attention, reflexively; but nonetheless, the young Jedi felt the men slowly relax, internally. Impatient officers they were used to; it was the ill-tempered Sithlords – and their aggravated offspring – that they were afraid to deal with.

The senior tech chief they were eventually relayed to was short, stocky with the first hints of a beginning paunch, his steel-grey hair shorn close to the skull and hands marred with the myriad of tiny scars resulting from a lifetime spent amidst broken parts, sharp-edged tools, corrosive fuels and generally hot surfaces. He eyed Luke with a bit of wariness but no outright fear which was a pleasant change compared to the previous reactions.

"Sorry, m'lahd," he said – and the young Jedi wasn't quite sure if the older man had just called him 'milord' or 'my lad', thick as the accent was – "but his lordship ordered a complete overhaul of the 'wing.

'Tis only sensible," he went on to explain, when Luke's face failed to hide the angry disappointment he felt at the underhanded trick his father had used to hinder his possible escape, "after a hit like that, there's bound to be plenty of fried parts.

Packs quite the punch, the Lady does," the mechanic continued, patting a support beam with all but paternal pride. "But don't ya worry about ya li'l 'mech: he's in the very best hands there are."

He looked almost offended when the young rebel didn't immediately catch his meaning. "Was his lordship that took him along, he's got a talent with mechanics like ya wouldn't believe it."

Luke did have a hard time believing it – he knew perfectly well how messy repair work could get and couldn't really picture the Sithlord, with his flowing cape and gleaming armor, unbend enough to dirty himself that way; but, on the other hand ... That was a skill he didn't mind inheriting.

With a weary sigh he asked for directions to whatever workshop his father might have squirreled away his astromech to. The question earned him a very long look.

"Ah hell," the tech chief finally grumbled, "might as well show ya the way."

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R2-D2 gleamed.

Or maybe glared would have been the more appropriate term. The blue-white surface shone with the glint of a freshly-applied oil bath, but more importantly, the moment the young Jedi stepped into the room, the astromech exploded into a rapid-fire stream of hoots and whistles that left no doubt about his mood.

The old mechanic looked caught between awe, mortification and laughter. Obviously, he could understand at least the better part of the little droid's tirade.

"Now, now," he said soothingly, "there's no call f…"

R2 extended his arc-welding tool, tip sparking ominously, and the older man wisely stepped back.

"Ah, well, ya found him," the tech chief gave Luke a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I'll leave ya to it, then, m'lahd."

Lt. Veers, sensibly stationed right next to the door, had the good manners to wait until the older man was out of the room before he broke down sniggering.

"Whoa, what a reaming-out! I've seen drill sergeants go easier on people," he got out with difficulty, "what have you done to the little guy?"

The droid's top dome swiveled towards the young Imperial. It spat a nasty sounding string of shrill beeps.

The lieutenant spread his hands disarmingly. "Not my fault, in any way, sort or shape."

The beeps gained a few intermediate whistles and an amazingly accurate rendition of a rude gesture for a construct with only very limited articulation of the joints. The younger Veers laughed aloud.

"I can understand why you would want to keep that one, Skywalker," he said, afterwards. "Is it that spirited in battle, too?"

"You have no idea," the young Jedi muttered. "Artoo, look, we all had a long and trying day, and I won't pretend to know what it feels like to reboot after an ion shot – like the hangover from hell, I suppose – but I just wanted to make sure you are okay. You are, aren't you? I mean …"

"I assure you, he is in top condition," a deep mechanic voice interrupted.

R2 shrieked. Luke would later blame his flinch on that sound, not the previous one.

He took a deep, calming breath. "Ah, … good. I mean, … thank you. Thank you, for taking care of him."

An astonished silence spread.

"You are welcome, Son," Lord Vader rumbled at long last, vocoder devoid of any emotion, but the black flames, for once, felt almost warm.

Peripherally, the young rebel was aware of the sound of Lt. Veers gulping air when the young Imperial behind him restarted breathing. For the main part, however, a once-lonely child wanted to bask in the elusive affection.

"What exactly was wrong with Artoo?" he all but babbled, "The tech chief mentioned something about fried components, but he wasn't specific, and so far, ion shots was something that only happened to other people when I was around .…" Luke grinned ruefully.

"Mere surface damage. As all astromechs, the R2 series was built deliberately rugged – sheer negligence has done worse, over time. Tell me, Son, what was the last time you serviced his booster jets?"

"Ah, … booster jets?"

A deep, mechanized sigh was almost drowned out by the astromech's derisive splat. The small droid waddled closer, placing himself in front of his young master proprietorially, but on the way he thumped his manipulator tool against the Sithlord's armored shin almost affectionately.

"Yes, booster jets," said Sithlord went on to explain, "they won't support sustained autonomous flight but for short distances …."

And, just like that, they were talking droid mechanics, in an amiable air.


A/N: Special mention goes to Hoplite39 for suggesting a reunion between Ani + R2 and to JannaKalderash for inspiring the hung-over, ill-tempered astromech.

A/N 2: I honestly meant to have the looming 'lets inform the Sithlord he's been played for a fool and see how he reacts' conversation here, but then my muse got sidetracked – hence the chapter title. Poor Luke was so worked up on 'it's going to be bad, but it won't happen 'til evening, and then I'll have some substantial back-up', too, that a non-confrontational Vader completely blindsided him.

Big confrontation next time, I promise … ;)