CHAPTER 14

The Millennium Falcón arrived shortly after dawn. Calrissian was ready for him, and played his part perfectly, welcoming his old friend Han Solo with open arms and a big smile.

After his friends had been given a chance to freshen up after their long journey, Calrissian had arranged for them to have some lunch. He hated the way Vader had backed him into a corner, forcing him to betray his old friend. But what choice did he have? Vader didn't strike him as the type to brook dissention, and would no doubt follow through on his threats to fill the city with Imperial troops should Calrissian refuse to help. Still, that didn't make him feel any better, and when they stopped outside the room where Vader was waiting for the, it was all he could do to tell them to run like hell. He did not, however, and the door slid open to reveal the Dark Lord. Panic stricken, Han Solo drew his blaster and fired wildly in the direction of Vader, only to have each of his blasts deflected by the Dark Lord, and then his blaster yanked out of his hand by an invisible force and fly into Vader's outstretched hand.

"We would be honored if you would join us," Vader pronounced.

"I had no choice," Calrissian said miserably. "They arrived right before you did. I'm sorry."

Han looked down at Leia and took her hand. "I'm sorry too," he muttered. Then he and Leia, as well as the wookiee who acted as Solo's copilot, Chewbacca, entered the room where Vader was waiting for them.

"Be seated," Vader told them as the three entered the room. Solo and the princess glanced at each other, and then tentatively approached the table. His eyes were fixed on Leia, who bore such a striking resemblance to her mother that he felt his knees grow weak for an instant. How could I not have known?

"What do you want, Vader?" snapped Solo.

"I understand you have a substantial bounty on your head, Captain Solo," Vader began as Boba Fett stepped out of the shadows.

Solo frowned as he shot a hard look at the bounty hunter, and then back at Vader. "Is that what this is about?" he retorted. "What's the matter, Vader? The emperor cut up your credit cards?"

"Don't be an idiot," Vader snapped, beginning to wonder why he was trying to help this man. Because an act of good will go far with your daughter…

"Fett, you will escort Captain Solo to Jabba the Hutt," Vader continued, "pay him the amount owed, and return him here unharmed."

"That wasn't the deal, Vader!" Fett snarled.

"I have altered the deal," Vader retorted. "If Jabba has a problem with it, then he can lodge a complaint. And as for you, bounty hunter," Vader continued, facing him, "if you are not back here in 48 hours I will have a price put on your head. Am I making myself clear?"

Boba Fett nodded, not liking the turn of events, but knowing Vader well enough to realize that he wasn't one to make idle threats. What confused him the most, however, was why Vader demonstrating such benevolence where Solo was concerned. What did a smuggler turned rebel matter to him? He had a hidden agenda that much was clear; Fett couldn't imagine what it could be.

"48 hours Fett, no longer," Vader shouted at him as the bounty hunter escorted Solo and his wookiee sidekick out the door with the assistance of two clone troopers. Vader then turned his attention back to his daughter, who stood watching him with a mixture of hatred and shock.

"Sit," Vader commanded as he took a seat. Leia stared at him, still too afraid to sit too close, but utterly confused by what had just happened. Why did Vader care what happened to Han? Since when did Vader care about anyone but himself? Leia suspected that there was a method to his madness, and sat down to hear what he had to say.

"Get to the point, Vader," she spat. "I know you have an agenda of your own; otherwise you'd never have arranged to have Han's bounty paid. What do you want?"

To his utter shock, Vader found that he was nervous. He had this moment all planned out in his mind, right down to the eloquent words he would utter to reveal his true identity. But all these words evaporated from his brain as he sat in proximity to his child. Now that he knew she was his child, it seemed impossible that he couldn't have known it all along. She was the image of her mother, the same eyes, the same petite stature, the same proud carriage…how could I have been so blind?

"Tell me about your mother, Princess," he said at last.

His words could not have been more unexpected. "My…my mother?" she stammered, too shocked to come up with an acerbic comeback that had become her trademark.

"Yes," Vader replied. "What do you know about her? And I don't mean Breha Organa, I mean your birth mother. Your real mother."

Leia frowned, confused and unsettled by Vader's request. What possible reason could he have for asking her such at thing? Had he been responsible for her death? Was this just another one of his twisted methods of torture?

"Why should I tell you anything?" she spat, her anger growing.
"You aren't fit to utter her name."

The Princess' words bothered Vader more than he wanted to admit, only because she was right. He had no right to say her name, let alone know anything about her.

"Do you even know her name?" Vader asked.

Leia realized that she didn't, but did not wish to admit that to her enemy. She lowered her eyes, but only for a moment.
"I'm not telling you anything," she said.

"Padmé Naberrie, or Padmé Amidala as she was also known," Vader continued, ignoring her comment. "That was her name, wasn't it?"

Leia looked up at him, her dark eyes full of loathing. "How would you know anything about her?" she spat.

"Answer my question," Vader replied evenly.

Leia wasn't sure she could even if she wanted to. She had grown up in a loving household believing that Bail and Breha Organa were her parents. She was almost 9 years old before they told her that she was adopted, and only because she had overheard them talking late one night when she had awoken from a bad dream. She hadn't heard most of what had been said, but there was one name she did remember, Padmé Amidala.

"I don't know," she said quietly, not looking at him. "I don't know if that was her name."

Vader did not respond, but merely nodded his head. Then he had an idea. "Come with me," he said, standing up and taking her small hand. She yanked it out of his grasp, but came along with him nonetheless.

Calrissian was standing outside the door, and Vader suspected that he had been trying to overhear what was being said between Leia and him.

"I need a computer console with a link up to the Imperial network," he told Calrissian.

Lando looked at Leia questioningly, but her face was impassive and revealed nothing to him.

"This way," he replied, leading them to a small office down the corridor.

"Get out," Vader said simply to the occupants of the office, who scrambled to their feet to do his bidding. He moved over to a computer console and accessed the Imperial Intelligence Network. Typing in his wife's name, he brought up a holographic image of her. He stared at it for a moment, amazed by the effect it still had on him. Then he turned to Leia. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the image before her.

"Padmé," Vader said simply, almost reverently. "Look familiar?"

Leia would have to be blind not to see the striking resemblance to herself, it was almost like looking into a mirror. She looked over at Vader, who was also staring at the image.

"She could be my mother, I suppose," Leia said at last, trying not to let her emotions get in the way. Inside she knew that this woman was her mother, she didn't know how she knew, but there was no doubt in her mind or in her heart. But what did any of this have to do with Vader?

"What is all this about, Vader?" Leia asked again, confused by his odd behavior. She had never seen him like this, so contemplative and quiet. "Why is this of any interest to you?"

Vader looked at his daughter, trying to put together the words he knew would tear her world apart. There was no easy way to tell her, no way to soften the blow of the dreadful truth he was about to reveal to her.

"I know because…because Padmé was my wife," he told her at last.

Leia sat for a moment in stunned silence. Had she heard him correctly? Surely not, surely she didn't hear him say that her mother had been his wife….that would make him her…

"No," she said, stepping away suddenly, sending a nearby chair crashing to the floor. "You are lying! What kind of fool do you take me for to believe that?"

Vader stood up to face her. "I am not lying, Leia," he replied calmly. "Padmé was my wife. I haven't seen her in more than 20 years The emperor told me on the day that you were born that she had died giving birth to you. I know now that he lied, and I mean to make him pay for that."

Leia's mind was screaming in protest to all this information, trying to reject it, desperate to reject it… Was this the terrible secret that her parents had kept from her all her life? That her greatest enemy, the most evil being the galaxy had ever spawned was in fact her father?

"I don't believe any of this," she said, backing away from him, fighting to maintain her emotions. "I don't know why you are making this up, but I'm sure you must have some reason to do so."

Vader shook his head, frustrated with his child's stubbornness, which was so much like his own. "Why would I make this up?" he demanded. "What possible reason would I do such a thing? What advantage would it bring me?"

Leia could not reply to his questions, and so he continued. "We could do a blood test to prove what I have said is true," he suggested. "But I think if you are honest with yourself, if you look deep within yourself, you will see that I am telling the truth."

Leia shook her head as the tears came. "No," she said. "I won't believe it! It can't be! You can't be my father! How could such a…an inhuman monster be my father?"

So this is how it's to be? Vader realized morosely. So long as I am Vader, she will never accept me. Would she be willing to accept me were the mask gone? Would that make a difference?

Vader leaned down and typed something else into the search engine. Within seconds another image appeared that of a handsome young man who wore the robes of a Jedi Knight. "I was not always a monster, Leia," Vader told her.

Leia stared at the holographic image, feeling a strange feeling of connection with the man. She looked at the name under it. Anakin Skywalker…Skywalker?

"Luke is your twin brother," he told her simply, realizing that she recognized the name.

This was too much for Leia, too much information…she wanted to shut her mind off, erase all the data that it had just been bombarded with. It was too much; but looking at the image of the young Jedi, she knew that this man was Luke's father. The resemblance was undeniable, despite the fact that he was much taller and broader than Luke. They both had the same startling blue eyes, the same cleft in their chin…

But this man was not Vader, this man was young, and whole, and beautiful…she turned to Vader and looked at him contemptuously.

"I suppose you're truing to tell me that this is you?" she asked haughtily.

"It was," Vader replied. "As I once looked."

"Prove it," she retorted.

"What do you mean?" he asked, growing tired of her stubbornness.

"Take off your mask and show me," she challenged.

Vader shook his head. "You know I can't do that," He replied. "I will die without the mask."

"Yes, of course," she replied. "Well I think this is a bunch of garbage, Vader. Padmé may have been my mother, Luke may be my brother, and this man here may be our father; but you are not this man. This man is a Jedi, not a Sith. My mother would never have anything to do with a monster like you."

Vader sighed deeply, her words cutting him deeply. "No, she wouldn't," he replied softly. "Return to your quarters now, Leia," he said as he walked away from her.

He walked over to him and looked up at him defiantly. "That's all you've got is it?" she asked.

He looked down at her, but made no response.

"I don't know what you are trying to accomplish with this whole farce, Vader, but I can tell you it won't work," she said. "And don't even think about trying to convince Luke, I can guarantee that he won't believe word of it either."

Vader watched as his daughter was escorted down the corridor by a clone trooper. I think perhaps he will, my daughter…in fact, I am counting on it.