Hey, sorry about not updating yesterday: life has been so hectic! Thanks again for the reviews, they're all really encouraging, thanks!
Luke, who had already "just looked" at the engine of the yellow fighter and was now completely immersed in its guts, inspecting its construction and what not. He was so absorbed that he didn't notice Vader docking his ship, not too far away. What in the galaxy is Luke doing? Vader wondered, And more importantly, what is he doing with my ship?
Still oblivious, Luke detachedly noticed a weird sound, I wonder what that could be…it almost sounds like Vader's breathing…. Oh no! He spun, and jumped at least fifty feet in the air when he saw that his father had, indeed caught him in the act. He immediately started apologizing in a rush of words,
"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do anything, and I promise that it wont happen again…I just was looking and I didn't actually do anything… and I honestly didn't –"
"Silence." Vader said, and Luke promptly shut his mouth, waiting for his sentence. "Now, what were you doing?"
"Well, I was sort of…well…you see…ummm –"
"You were looking at the modifications on the hyperdrive capabilities, correct?"
"Yes… hey! How did you know that?"
"I was standing behind you for at least a minute before you noticed. You really need to become more aware of things around you."
"That's not what I meant –I mean, how did you know what it was that I was looking at?" Luke asked, desperately hoping that perhaps they had something in common.
"Shouldn't I know? I did the modifications." Vader replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe.
"Really?" Luke said enthusiastically, and then continued, his earlier fear of his father forgotten, "How did you do it? I mean, installing a hyperdrive is easy enough, but, this one is triggered when the engine reaches a certain speed and…" Luke paused in his tirade, needing to know just one more thing, "Am I in trouble?"
"In trouble?" Vader asked, his voice unreadable, "Before I answer that, I would just like you to know that I am considerably busy and have some things that must be attended to. Therefore, I am only going to answer one of your questions: choose wisely."
"Umm… never mind…. How did you do the modifications?" Vader almost laughed at this, but decided to answer.
"It was incredibly simple really, all that I did was to hook up the hyperdrive which I had taken out of a long-range fighter that already allowed for hyperspace jumps without pre-calculation, and set its initiation to engage when the fighter hits its fastest speed –a situation that would only happen when the pilot is desperate."
"Cool!" Luke replied, excited that he and his father shared something in common that they could talk about, "Hey, why don't you have them mass-produced and use them instead of the TIEx1 fighters?"
"One reason," Vader replied, "The pilot absolutely must have the force in order to sense when the ship is about to make the jump and to discern whether the path is clear or not. Ordinary pilots couldn't do it." Predictably, this only gave Luke more questions,
"What's the force?"
"No one's every told you about the force?" Vader asked in disbelief, "Not even Kenobi?"
"You mean old Ben?" Luke clarified, wondering how Vader could know Ben, "No, uncle Owen never liked for him to be around –almost like he was scared that he'd tell me stuff that I wasn't supposed to know."
"I see," Vader said, pausing for a moment to consider what to do next, "Well, I suppose that this must be remedied. I think that my business can wait a bit longer so that I can explain this properly. Come." Vader led Luke down into the very basement of the building until they reached a gigantic room, completely devoid of any decoration or furniture. "Now, you are never to come down here alone, do you understand?" Vader asked sternly first.
"Yes." Luke said quickly, excited.
"Now, the force. The force is essentially energy. Its what makes everything in the galaxy happen the way that it happens. Some say that it is what created the very planets and stars in the first place. Some people, like you and me, have great reserves of the force living inside of us, by way of midichlorians. Because of the midichlorians, we can do things that ordinary humans can't: sensing emotions, anticipating what will happen before it does, moving and manipulating objects." Vader paused, wanting to make sure that Luke understood everything: not that he had to, Luke was staring at him with rapt attention. "I do believe that I should mention that there is a perceived 'light side' and a 'dark side' to the force. The jedi used the 'light' while the sith use the 'dark'. There is really no difference, beyond the essential point that the light side is not used –it simply flows through the user. The dark side is when the user literally manipulates its energies and uses that energy as they will. Consequently, the dark side is slightly more powerful than the light."
"So are you a sith?" Luke asked.
"Yes. And so can you, if you wish to train."
"Really?" Luke said, his mind whizzing through all of this information at about a million miles per second, "So the reason that I could do all of those weird things was because I had the force?"
"Probably, what weird things?"
"Well," Luke began tentatively, "I was always able to beat all of my friends when we raced and they always said that it was impossible for me to react to anything at the speed that I was going. There was probably some other stuff too, but this one time, I was helping uncle Owen clean up our garage, when this box of parts and stuff was about to fall down onto his head but, just as it was about to hit him, it sort of stopped in midair and just hung there for a while before it fell. He sure got mad at me, but even after I told him that I hadn't done anything he still wouldn't believe me. Do you think that he knew?" Vader was silent for a moment, his mask tilted so that his eyes seemed to bore into Luke's own, he finally answered,
"Yes, I think he did know, but he likely didn't truly understand, causing him to become scared of the things that you could do. It's surprising that you were able to use the force so much without any training –that's uncommon, especially when it extends into your youth. Most force-sensitive babies can use the force unconsciously, but don't use it once their mind is able to deal with more things."
"Is that bad?" Luke asked.
"Is what bad?"
"Is it bad that I'm so unusual?"
"No," Vader said, his voice containing the most warmth that it had so far, "No, it isn't bad that you're unusual –it just means that you are very strong with the force. That is, if you are accepting my offer to train."
"Of course I am!" Luke replied, seemingly relieved that his capabilities weren't "bad".
"Good," Vader said, "However, we will have to begin tomorrow, for I do have to contact some people and get new plans finalized."
"Okay." Luke said to his father's back as Vader swept out of the room. Practically skipping, he climbed the stairs up to his room, reveling in the joy of finally having a conversation with his father. For a while, I thought that he had hated me, or something! I guess that he's just doesn't say much when you're discussing certain things. Maybe this wont be so bad, having Darth Vader for a father!
