Notes: This isn't an issue on Archive of Our Own, since it has a much more thorough tagging system than this website. But several reviewers have left comments which made the need for further clarifications apparent. The only OC in this fic so far has been Doctor Franka. Everyone else, even those given a passing mention, have been canonical characters in the new Disney continuity. Indeed, this fic takes place in a slightly altered version of that canonical Disney continuity. And - aside from the films - draws most heavily from The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Rebels, and the recent run of Marvel Star Wars comics. It also makes use of material from several 'canonical' Star Wars novels, such as Lords of the Sith, From a Certain Point of View, Lost Stars, Ahsoka, Thrawn, and Tarkin.
For example: in this continuity, medical technology is as advanced as one might expect from a space-fairing society with cloning technology. Organs, for instance, can be regrown with extensive bacta treatments (as detailed in the novel Lost Stars), with the use of mechanical replacements being seen as a temporary fix. As such, in this continuity, Vader's confinement to the suit is wholly voluntary. The suit was an emergency measure to keep him alive, which he chose to use on a permanent basis for several reasons. Some are laid out explicitly in novels like Lords of the Sith. However, many of the ones explored in this fic are conjecture, based on what I know of his personality and history.
Hopefully this clears up any confusion.
The Tyranny of Kinship
Chapter 11
Having achieved their objective of retrieving Ahsoka Tano, Leia had thought the next phase of the plan involved returning to their ship as quickly as possible. But it was becoming increasingly clear that Vader was leading them even deeper into the belly of the fortress.
"Where are we going now?" asked Leia. Her analgesics must have been wearing off, because she could feel her headache returning with a vengeance.
"There is something I must attend to before we depart," Vader replied. For a man who was levitating a slab of carbonite with his mind, he was astonishingly nonchalant. "It should not delay us for long."
"This wasn't part of the plan, sir," said Rex, though that didn't seem to bother him overly much. It was more of a neutral observation than a reprimand.
"I have altered the plan," said Vader, with finality.
Leia's head was starting to pound in earnest by the time they reached Vader's ultimate destination - some kind of control hub and a bacta tank at its center. She guessed that the bulk of Vader's sojourns at the castle involved this room. It felt like the truth, somewhere deep in her gut.
How utterly depressing.
Vader was fiddling with one of the terminals, in much the same way he'd fiddled with the terminal on the Death Star. The reminder did nothing to ease her apprehension.
Her suspicions were confirmed when Vader announced: "We have fifteen minutes to evacuate."
She swallowed her anger and allowed him to lead herself and Rex out of the castle. He'd given them enough time that they just needed to walk briskly, rather than run, but the knowledge that certain death was looming over her did nothing to help Leia's ever-worsening headache.
By the time they were back on the ship, Leia was primed for something to go horribly wrong. Rex hurried to activate the shields and get them airborne, while she finally allowed herself to turn her temper loose on Vader.
"You couldn't have told us ahead of time that you were planning to set that awful place to self-destruct!?"
"I didn't know ahead of time," said Vader. He had set Ahsoka's frozen form up against the wall of the cabin, so his arms were free to cross over his chest.
She gaped at him, temporarily speechless. Leia had worked with many impulsive people over the course of her life, but Vader put all of them to shame. She was beginning to think that, back on the Death Star, he really had chosen to help her without any forethought whatsoever. It wasn't that the man was incapable of laying out long-term plans - the Alliance knew all too well how calculating he could be - so much as he was willing to abandon them on a whim. By the way Rex had taken it all in stride, she could only conclude that this had been the case as far back as the Clone Wars.
Which was probably part of what made Vader so effective. And dangerous.
With a sigh, all the anger drained out of Leia's body, leaving nothing but the headache behind.
Vader called out to Rex: "Hover within visual range."
"Yes sir," Rex called back, and the vessel ceased moving.
Vader began to walk to the cockpit, but paused to ask, "Will you join me, Leia?"
A part of her wanted to decline. It was a petty, childish part of her, however. "Alright," she said, and followed him.
Vader still wasn't certain why he'd decided to destroy the castle. He had gone through great trials in order to secure it, after all, and it would have no doubt proven to be useful in the future - despite his temporary shift in allegiance. Still, the stray thought had come to him as they'd entered the fortress, and had coalesced into a compulsion with every subsequent step. One that he hadn't tried very hard to resist.
And, as he watched the hard-won bastion become engulfed in flames, with Leia by his side, he couldn't bring himself to feel an iota of regret.
On the one hand, Leia could appreciate the symbolic meaning behind Vader's act of vandalism. It represented his commitment to his new path as much as his abandonment of the suit had done. On the other hand, she couldn't help but wonder if they'd just put up the equivalent of a giant holoboard proclaiming that Vader had betrayed the Empire.
It had admittedly been only a matter of time before somebody in the Empire realized it. She had just hoped that it would be later, rather than sooner.
"How long before word of this gets out?" she asked, as Rex resumed their previous course.
"I imagine a report has already been dispatched," Vader replied. "Though it may take several days for it to reach the Emperor."
"Because the officers in charge will want to make sure that they can't be held responsible," Leia surmised.
"Precisely."
"That's what happens when you make death the price for failure," said Rex.
"Every system has its strengths and weaknesses," said Vader.
Leia scoffed. "Selecting for psychopathy is not what I'd consider a 'strength'."
"It also selects for genuine competence. I can assure you that it is very easy to tell the difference."
She barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. There were more important things to do than argue politics with a religious zealot. "I'm going to revive Ahsoka."
At once, Vader tensed. "We should wait until we return to the base."
"I'm not waiting," Leia snapped, her patience having long since worn down to nothing.
"She will be weak and disoriented after being frozen for such an extended period of time, and this vessel lacks adequate medical facilities."
"I'll activate the med-droid we brought along," said Rex, which earned him an annoyed glare from the Sith Lord. "The Commander's resilient. Not least because of your training, Lord Vader. I've no doubt she'll be fine before long."
Vader looked as though he'd just swallowed something particularly unappetizing, but he put forth no further objections.
Vader followed Leia and Rex into the cabin, despite his objections, and watched with silent disapproval as Leia used the control panel on the side of the carbonite to initiate the unfreezing process. Within seconds, the matte grey surrounding Ahsoka's form turned molten red, beams of light shining outward from where the carbonite was starting to melt away. It was oddly beautiful, despite the circumstances. Indeed, Leia was so entranced by the spectacle that she failed to react in time, and Ahsoka's body slumped out of the carbonite shell like a sack of tubers.
It was Vader who caught her with his telekinesis, much to Leia's embarrassment. He eased her limp body onto the floor of the cabin with surprising gentleness.
With a full-body shiver, Ahsoka drew in a breath. Then her eyes fluttered open. It was clear, by the way she stared out at nothing, that she was suffering from the characteristic blindness of carbon sickness.
After another long, shaky breath, Ahsoka pushed herself up with wobbly arms, her brow-ridges drawing together. "...Master?" she asked, voice hoarse from disuse.
"No," said Vader, his entire body taut. Leia could practically feel the tension roiling off of him.
Her expression became sad; her voice, resigned. "I'm surprised you finally deigned to free yourself of the suit."
Rex spoke next, stooping down to place a hand on Ahsoka's shoulder. "That's a very long story, I imagine."
Her face brightened as much as her diminished state would allow. "Rex." She smiled weakly, covering his hand with one of her own. "I'd hug you, but my muscles aren't working so well at the moment. I knew I could count on you to still be alive."
"Us clones are tough to kill," he replied, his eyes softening.
Ahsoka's face turned in Leia's direction, despite her eyes failing to focus. "Leia?" she asked.
"It's good to see you again," Leia replied.
Ahsoka let out a sigh, releasing Rex's hand. "A long story sounds about right."
Vader's mouth had set into a hard, thin line. Without another word, he stormed his way out of the cabin.
"He's even grumpier than the last time I got thawed out of carbonite," said Ahsoka.
"He's on his best behavior," said Rex. "I think he's pleased to see you."
"'Pleased' is not the word that I would use," Ahsoka replied dryly.
Leia activated the medical droid they'd stashed in the corner of the room, which made its way almost immediately to Ahsoka. "I detect that you have acute carbon sickness," it said. "It will resolve itself in time, but you will require nutrition, hydration, and rest."
Leia located the bag of medical supplies and pulled out several pouches of liquid. They contained saline mixed with amino acids, glucose, and bacta, all specifically calibrated for Togruta biology. Rex picked Ahsoka up with some effort, as her muscles couldn't help him support her weight, and maneuvered her onto one of the cabin's couches.
"You guys came prepared," Ahsoka noted, once she was lying down on the couch. "I guess that's all part of the 'long story'."
Leia sat down on the couch across from her as the medical droid inserted the intravenous needle into one of Ahsoka's arms. "I don't know if we should tell you now or after you're feeling better," she admitted. "I still get a little dizzy when I think about it too long, and I'm not suffering from carbon sickness."
Ahsoka gave another weak smile, though her eyes remained fixed ahead of her. "Now is as good a time as any. It's not like I have anything better to do."
Rex took a seat beside Leia. "Where would you like us to start, Commander?"
"I guess the most pressing question is: why is Vader helping you?"
Leia took a deep breath, and explained.
"...I'd suspected," Ahsoka said, once Leia was finished. "I never asked Bail, though. Your position afforded you protection from the Inquisitors. I wanted it to stay that way, in case I was ever compromised."
Leia understood. Sometimes, it was just better not to know.
When she continued, Ahsoka's voice was tinged with sadness. "Bail is dead, isn't he."
"...Yes," Leia replied, her voice catching on the word. She could feel the tears bubbling once more to the surface, but quashed the impulse ruthlessly. "He and my mother were executed not long before we undertook this mission."
"I'm so sorry, Leia," Ahsoka said.
All at once, Leia's diplomatic training failed her. She didn't know what to say. Her parents had been Ahsoka's friends, after all; their deaths were far more than an 'unfortunate incident' to the older woman. But every response that came to Leia's mind felt like platitudes - empty and insincere. With a deep breath, she decided that changing the subject was the best course of action.
"The Empire has constructed a superweapon called the 'Death Star'. It was there that Vader and I discovered our...familial connection. They say it has the power to destroy planets." She swallowed. "Had Vader not interrupted Tarkin's attempt to destroy Alderaan, I have no doubt that his demonstration of the Death Star's power would've proven successful."
"We must destroy it," Ahsoka said, grimly.
Leia nodded. "My mission, before Vader captured me, was to secure the plans to the Death Star. We have reason to believe that it has a structural weakness that we can target."
"That's quite the gamble," Ahsoka noted.
"It's one that we couldn't afford not to make," Leia replied.
"The plans hadn't arrived yet, when we left," Rex interjected. "But we're primed and ready to go the moment that they do."
Leia's belly squirmed at the reminder.
Ahsoka took in a long, slow breath, let it out, and then Vader was storming back into the cabin.
"What do you want?" he demanded, indignation clear in his voice, before he stopped dead in his tracks to take in the scene before him.
Ahsoka was outwardly unfazed, although Leia thought she could detect a slight edge to her tone as she said: "Leia and Rex are under the impression that an Imperial weapon called the 'Death Star' has a structural weakness to exploit. Are they correct?"
Vader glared at her, nostrils flaring, then ground out, "They are not mistaken."
Leia started. "You knew about it?" she asked, the squirming in her belly knotting into something painful. "Does the Emperor know?"
Vader's glare remained fixed on Ahsoka. "My master, despite his pretensions, is not omniscient. I failed to inform him of my observations."
Ahsoka turned her unfocused gaze to Vader, her expression unreadable. "So there was still some fight left in you, after everything."
Vader had said that he didn't agree with the Death Star's construction, but it had never occurred to Leia that he might have purposefully overlooked a flaw in its design. "You never asked me about the plans," she murmured, her own gaze unfocusing as she recalled the details of her interrogation. It had been...thorough, and painful. He had asked her repeatedly about the location of the Rebel Base. And yet, he had never asked about what she'd done with the Death Star plans.
"He was probably counting on the Rebellion to do his dirty work," said Ahsoka. "He would've put up a convincing front of trying to stop you. In a way that ensured that he wouldn't be on-board this 'Death Star' when you mounted your attack." She gave a sardonic little quirk of her lips. "He's never been one to hang back on the sidelines during a battle, and he is quite the accomplished pilot."
"Your carbon sickness has not diminished your wits," said Vader, tersely.
"Finding creative ways to subvert authority has always been your specialty," she replied, then returned her focus to Leia. Her accuracy in spite of her carbon blindness was eerie, despite Leia knowing full well that Togruta were capable of echolocation. "Though I wouldn't give him too much credit. I bet that he just couldn't stomach being replaced as the most dangerous weapon in the Empire's arsenal. The welfare of the Galaxy is somewhere near the bottom of his list of priorities."
Vader rolled his eyes, some of the tension leaving his body. "You know not of what you speak, little Padawan."
And just like that, Ahsoka was on the defensive. "Don't give me that poodoo, Vader. The Sith never do anything unless it can be of some benefit to themselves."
Vader smirked. "Do be advised, Leia, that Ahsoka never completed her Jedi training. She abandoned the endeavor the moment circumstances became too difficult. Yet she presumes to lecture others on the nature of selfishness."
Leia could see the words strike Ahsoka as if they were a physical blow.
"Commander Tano needs her rest," interjected Rex.
"She should have thought of that before she summoned me."
"You're right," said Ahsoka. She really did sound exhausted. "It won't happen again, Darth."
"See that it doesn't," Vader said, before returning to the cockpit.
Leia reached up to rub at her aching temples.
Additional notes: As of the comic Darth Vader Annual 2: Technological Terror, it's canon that Vader had a hand in ensuring that the Death Star had a weakness for the Rebels to exploit. I just extrapolated from there.
