Chapter 11: Ace up the Sleeve

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, George Lucas does and I am thankful to him for creating such a wonderful story. This fanfiction is written for fun, not for monetary gain.

Darth Vader sat back in the cockpit of a stolen ship, watching the swirl of hyperspace before him. He felt shaky and nervous, and although he tried to tell himself that it was because he was entering the Rebel base, a dangerous place for him, he knew that it was really at the thought of confronting Luke.

' What will he say?' Vader wondered. ' Will he not even listen to me? Will he run away?'

The sith lord tried to plan what to say, but nothing came to mind. How could he explain his feelings to his son when Vader didn't fully understand them himself?

' I'll make it up as I go along', he decided finally. ' If I think about this too much I'll just turn back'.

Vader looked up and with a start realized that he had arrived at the Rebel base. The sith lord turned on his intercom.

" This is A-Anakin Skywalker, requesting clearance to land", he said, stumbling over the old name once more.

There was a long pause during which all Vader could hear was crackling static and his own rough breathing.

' Why were they taking so long?'

The dark lord scanned the dark sky, searching for any fighter ships coming to ambush him. He saw nothing.

' What was wrong? Were the rebels still there? Had they been attacked? Was Luke alright?'

" Request granted General Skywalker", responded a voice, and Vader let out a shaky breath. " Proceed to the nearest docking bay".

The sith lord followed these instructions, forcing himself through calming exercises and struggling to relax his tense muscles. He alighted in a hangar and popped open the hatch of his ship, seeing a group of rebels standing beneath the ship as well as General Crix Madine. They all looked rather grim.

Vader forced himself to smile, knowing that it was too late to get back in the ship. " Gentlemen", he said, momentarily surprised that the movement didn't tug at scar tissue. " How are you?"

" Well, thank you General", replied Madine. " I trust your mission went well?"

" It did", Vader answered. Did they know or not? " Luke is safe, he and I were separated, but he should be back soon".

" I'm glad to hear it", Madine responded. " Mon Mothma would like to hear your report in person".

" Certainly", Vader said, keeping his face calm, which was difficult after twenty years of being able to hide his emotions behind a mask. He fell into step beside General Madine, trying to ignore the soldiers behind them. Finally they arrived at a large set of white doors emblazoned with the crest of the Rebel Alliance.

" In here General", Madine told him, keying in a code and motioning Vader through the doors. The sith lord smiled tensely and stepped through, itching to snatch up his lightsaber.

Vader was confronted with a row of blasters aimed straight at him and a sudden loss of contact with the force.

The doors slid shut behind him.

/

Han was awoken by the sound of quiet sobbing. He felt a light pressure on his hand, the cold wetness of drops of water falling upon his face. There was a painful throbbing in his chest, and he wished he were unconscious once more. The sobbing grew a bit louder, and Han opened his eyes to see Leia, holding his hand, her tears tumbling onto his face.

" Leia, what's wrong?" he asked, too concerned to make any gibes.

" Han!" she gasped. " I-I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was crying on you, I'll just go now-". She tried to pull away her hand, but he tightened his hold on it.

" No, wait!" he exclaimed. " Has something happened? Where are we? I remember getting shot… Did the imps capture us?"

" No, we got away", Leia replied. " We're back on Shisperia in a medcentre. You're going to be fine, it just might take you a bit of time to recover".

" Then why-?"

" I've just been- concerned, that's all!" Leia stammered, not meeting his eyes.

" You're lying", Han said bluntly. " The imps didn't hurt you, did they?"

" No, that's not it!" Leia snapped. " I'm fine, okay?" She stormed out of the room, startling a medic who had come in to check on Han.

/

Leia rushed into the room she had been provided with, locking the door behind her. This done, she tumbled onto the bed, her vision blurred with tears.

" What have I done, what have I done?" she groaned repeatedly, her voice getting louder and louder until finally she was screaming. Leia took a deep breath and tried to force away the images, but it was no use.

She was looking up from Han's lifeless body, up at that horrible imperial officer smirking at her, and something inside of her snapped…

The officer was staggering back, clutching at his throat, her hand was thrust forwards, strangling the air, her heart was alive with vicious pleasure…

The stormtroopers were firing at her, but the bolts missed, somehow she had deflected them to soar back into the imperials, they were all falling, falling…

And then suddenly she was standing in a pool of blood, bodies all around her.

Leia curled up into a ball, her hands clamped over her eyes, wishing for nothing more than to forget.

/

" Hello Vader", said a quiet female voice, and Mon Mothma stepped out from the side of the chamber. She was beside a large reptile that Vader recognized, with a surge of horror, as a ysalamiri. The creatures were capable of blocking the force. The assembled rebels glared at him, their eyes alight with hatred, but they kept their blasters steady.

Vader drew his lightsaber.

" Drop it", snapped Mothma. " Without the use of the force, do you truly think that you could block shots from every one of these soldiers?"

Vader glared at her, but set the weapon down, feeling terribly vulnerable as he did so.

" That's better", said the Rebel leader. " Why don't you have a seat?"

She motioned to a table in the middle of the circular room. Vader slowly sat down opposite her. Mothma pressed a button on the table and a shimmering wall of light shot up from the ground, separating them from the rebels.

" They can still see us and see if you try to hurt me", she informed him, " However they cannot hear what we are saying".

" How did you know?" Vader demanded. " How did you know who I am?"

" I'm the one asking the questions, not you Vader", she snapped. " Although I believe I know all the answers. You came here after Luke, didn't you?"

The sith lord kept his gaze impassive.

" You want to capture him and make him serve you as a sith lord", she uttered, her voice heavy with contempt. " You would corrupt your own son. That is despicable Vader, even for a monster like you".

' Obi-Wan lied to me', Vader thought. ' He said it was safe for me to come here. He wanted me to be captured'.

This thought caused a leaden numbness to spread through the sith lord, and without thinking her responded with the truth.

" That's not why I came", he said softly.

" Oh?" Mothma asked, leaning forwards. " Then why?"

Vader smiled humorlessly. " You wouldn't believe me if I told you". ' He lied to me, he lied again, he betrayed me again…'

" Try me", challenged the Rebel leader. And again, for some reason Vader told the truth.

" I wanted to talk to Luke… to explain why I couldn't come with him and leave my station".

" And why was that?" she asked dubiously. Of course she didn't believe him.

" Because I have a duty to my men", the sith lord answered. " Why are you asking these questions anyway? Aren't you going to bring out the interrogation droids?"

" That comes afterwards", Mothma replied with venom. " You enjoy the reprieve while it lasts. Right now I want to know why you're pretending to care about Luke. Do you think you can fool us into believing that you give a damn about anyone other than yourself? Sith lords don't know what love is".

Her words sparked anger underneath Vader's cloak of numbness.

" Who was his mother anyway?" Mothma continued. " An imperial whore? A starving woman you picked up off the streets? Or perhaps she wasn't willing…"

Vader leaped to his feet, stung to fury. " How dare you?" he snarled. " She was not… she was not a concubine, and I certainly did not force myself upon her!"

Mothma raised a dubious eyebrow, and her hard brown eyes sent a stab of pain through him. Vader slowly sat back down.

" She was an angel…", he breathed, the same, constant pain at her loss tearing at his heart. Vaguely he became aware that Mothma was saying something and looked up.

" … Recognize this?" she asked, dangling an object before him, and Vader saw red.

" That… the japor snippet… how did you get that? You stole from her grave! How dare you dishonor her! You thief! You filthy grave robber!"

Mothma stared at him calmly. Vader felt tears running down his cheeks but he did not care, his pain and rage had rendered him insensible to the humiliation of showing weakness before his greatest enemy.

" I did not steal it", Mothma said quietly, walking around the table. Vader tensed up, sure that she was going to hit him. The Rebel leader grabbed him suddenly, and before Vader could understand what was happening, she had kissed him.

The sith lord stared at Mothma as she drew back, his mouth agape. " You…" he stammered. " You…" He could not recall having been more confused in his entire life.

" I did not steal it", Mothma said again, her face flushed slightly. " It is mine. It has always been mine".

Vader stared at her, and her face changed suddenly. Mothma set down the hand held projector, a clever invention that could give you another's appearance. She looked at him with a very familiar face.

" P-Padme?" Vader gasped.

A.N.: Hey guys! How's that for a quick update, eh? Maybe quick enough to merit some reviews? Oh, and in case you didn't recognize the expression (I know there are readers from several countries), having an " ace up your sleeve" means that you have a hidden advantage.

Thank you for reading, I hope you're still enjoying, and I hope you liked the plot twists! What do you think of what Leia did? And we are going to be seeing a lot more of Padme now! Thanks again, please let me know what you thought, and may the force be with you!