PART 2: Brothers of the Force - Rivalry & Obi-Wan's hiding place
Two months later
Luke entered the meditation chamber for his usual morning lesson, suppressing a yawn and stretching his arms out a bit to get his blood running.
"Good morning father. Hi S.K.", he greeted the two figures already waiting for him.
"You're late", Starkiller snapped at him.
"Yeah, sorry about that", Luke said. "My alarm clock didn't ring. Won't happen again."
The truth was that Luke simply did not care for his 'meditation lessons'. He never felt anything anyway aside from an unpleasant coldness and he really had lost all hope that this would ever change.
"I know you don't care about your future, Luke, but your tardiness is cutting in on my study time and I. Do. Not. Like. It!"
Luke ducked his head a bit but was unconcerned. He remembered how happy he'd first been when Starkiller agreed to accept him as his brother. Turned out siblings too argued a lot with each other.
"As you clearly do not value your lessons as you should, you will stay away from this chamber for the rest of the week", Vader announced. "Instead you'll join Starkiller in his training."
Luke groaned, he might not think his lessons with his father particularly useful but they were way better then PROXY's frequent murder attempts. And of course if Starkiller got suspended too because of him, he would try his hardest to let him know what he thought about that. Luke chanced a discreet glance over at his brother. Yep, he looked like he'd just swallowed a dozen nails.
"Today you'll wear this", Vader said and handed Luke a blindfold. When Luke came closer to take it he noticed a round drone behind his father.
"In your lessons with the Stormtroopers you have learned to listen to the warnings of the Force and deflect their shots with your training lightsaber. You will repeat this lesson with the drone."
"What for?" Luke asked. "I already mastered that exercise." He was actually quite proud of that fact as it was pretty much the only subject that was in any way Force-related that he'd passed.
"Obviously it is easier for you to establish a connection to the Force when it calls out for you in danger. The familiar feeling of it may enable you to use the Force in defense when your mind is attacked."
"Alright, if you think so... Wait, what's that about my mind being attacked?!"
Starkiller gave him a nasty little smile that made Luke's gut clench and Vader answered:
"Starkiller has reached the level where he can move on to advanced interrogation techniques. You'll be the test subject."
Luke's jaw dropped open, they couldn't be serious, could they?
"I... I'm sorry I was late! You don't have to be so mean about it!"
"This isn't about you being late, it's about finally using the dark side. It will already be there, you just have to take control of it."
Luke glared at his father. "There's no way I'd have any chance of taking control of your dark side energy!"
"I know. That's why you're going up against Starkiller."
Luke was sure his father was smiling under that damn helmet.
"Now I happen to have to break up a minor war between two planets so I will take my leave. If one of you succeeds within the hour he main join me for the battle. Have fun!"
Luke glared a bit more but was not at all surprised when his father left them alone to go murder some people. Now he knew where that good mood came from.
The door snapped shut and Starkiller grinned as he handed Luke a training saber.
"You do realize I will do everything in my power to break you until you scream like a little girl, don't you?"
"Of course. Father just handed you permission to torture me for the entire morning. You'd never pass up such a chance."
Luke put on the blindfold with a sigh. He hoped the real reason for Starkiller's enthusiasm was the promised chance to take part in an actual battle together with their father. The winner might get to join him at the strategy table and learn something about the art of war, something that was being left out in Starkiller's education but would be important if he was to become a real Sith one day. For Luke it would be just one of many lessons, thought he was curious how it was in real life compared to what Praji taught him but for Starkiller it would take him one step closer to Luke's position so he would fight tooth and nail for the spot.
The drone started firing and Luke was stung by the first shot before he managed to concentrate. He took a deep breath and let the Force flow through him, concentrating on the drone...
Then he felt Starkiller drop the odd cloak that smothered his presence and Luke was flooded with fear, anger, hurt and desperation. He realized that Starkiller was throwing his emotions at him and that stung something deep in Luke. For all their bickering and fighting, the relationship between the two boys had improved. Starkiller was now actually trying to help him and give him advice. It worked wonders in their combat training but when it came to the Force, he still hadn't managed to use them. They went to the meals together and spoke more often and sometimes they even watched a holodrama together in the evening on those rare occasions that Starkiller had managed to damage PROXY enough during the day so he had to go to maintenance and he didn't have to fear for his life in the evening. Since Starkiller was the only kid his age on the ship and the only one he could talk to about his frustration at not getting anywhere with his studies, he valued that bond a great deal and feeling Starkiller being still so hurt made him very sad. He tried to reach out for him in a comforting way but the presence reeled back, repulsed.
Starkiller took a step back, gripping his suddenly aching chest. His movement went unnoticed by Luke who was still concentrating on the drone and that was good because Starkiller was staring at him with wide, slightly horrified eyes.
Luke had no training in how to protect his mind. None at all. Without mastering meditation at least on a basic level, he had no chance of learning it. And yet just now Starkiller could've sworn that when he attacked his mind... Luke had struck right back at him. And it had hurt, but at the same time it was unlike anything Starkiller had gone through at the hands of his Master.
Puzzled, the young Sith tried to figure out just what had happened. He'd attacked Luke the way his Master had shown him – concentrating all his negative feelings in one pressured blade and driving it into his victim's mind. But instead of being overwhelmed by them, Luke had sent back a pulse of... of warmth and acceptance and gratefulness and happiness at him. The reason this hurt so much was because all those things, as hard as it was to admit, he'd yearned to get them from his Master, to be welcomed and cherished. The fact that it fazed him at all proved he still did and he hated it because that was Weakness with capital letters. And it hurt because Luke apparently felt so much for him and he was here with the intent of hurting him for his own gain and... why was Luke so infuriatingly nice and understanding? Why... Why couldn't his Master be like that?
Starkiller mentally slapped himself, he'd never want his Master to be like Luke. That would be decidedly horrifying. After all his strength and power and ability to inflict fear in others was a large part of why he admired him. But he could be that dark Lord for his enemies, just one time Starkiller wished he could be different with him...
"S.K.?", Luke asked tentatively. "Are you okay?"
"Shut up!", Starkiller snapped just as Luke let out an "Ow!" when he failed to block the next shot.
"Don't... Don't do that again", Starkiller said with less strength than he'd planned. Furiously he rubbed his eyes.
"Do what again?"
"You're supposed to defend your mind by taking over my energy, not attack me in return! Especially not with the light side, you moron!"
"I... I attacked you with the light side?", Luke asked, eyes wide behind the blindfold.
"Yes and it's not pleasant, so stop it!"
"I – I'm sorry! I didn't mean to, really! Did I... Did I hurt you bad? We can take a break, if you want to."
Starkiller felt the urge to strangle the boy. Which was a good sign, he reminded himself, it meant Luke's mental hold over him wasn't very strong.
"No we will not take a break, just do it right!"
Starkiller breathed in and out, focusing his anger and desperation and shame on Luke but the boy remained totally unaffected by it. Starkiller's attack just dissipated in his mind as if he wasn't taken seriously at all.
"Why isn't it working!?", Starkiller called out angrily.
"Uhm, what's supposed to happen?", Luke asked.
"You are to feel the dark side and be overwhelmed by it, loosing your concentration and enabling me to sift through your memories."
"Like this?", Luke asked and pushed his memories of the last day or two through the bond that had slowly built between them.
"Don't just give them to me, you idiot!"
"But my memories are there, why can't you just take them?"
Starkiller scowled and stretched out his senses over their bond, this time without sending any emotions ahead. Indeed, all of Luke's memories where clearly laid out in front of him. He picked up a random one or two, then left again, frustrated.
"That's not the point of this exercise. You have to put some effort into keeping me away from your mind by struggling against my presence."
"Why? You obviously can't hurt me", Luke said with a teasing smile.
"Oh? And what if I went through your memories, searching for all the embarrassing ones? I could tell them to Praji and Lokey."
Luke went a little red but stuck out his chin and answered: "That would be just petty revenge which is beneath you and I don't really have any secrets from you, so go ahead!"
Starkiller wanted to snap an answer but then he stopped and thought about it. Luke's strategy was actually rather smart. Usually when someone was being tortured and interrogated, he put effort into hiding what he didn't want his tormentors to know. By revealing everything, Luke made it impossible for Starkiller to find a specific memory in the millions he got. Maybe it would be possible for Lord Vader but not for Starkiller, who was only now beginning to learn how to do it.
Another problem was that Luke was familiar with Starkiller and did not see him as a threat. He was able to recognize the emotions he sent to him as foreign and thus was not overwhelmed by them, he was detached but able to respond to them.
"Alright, you want to do it the hard way, I see", Starkiller growled. "I wanted to avoid doing this... but you leave me no choice."
If anger and fear wouldn't get to him... Pain would.
This time instead of focusing any emotions he went back to the source. He recalled all those situations where he'd felt intense pain, packed them up together and flung them at Luke.
The reaction was instantaneous. Luke cried out and fell to one knee, ignoring the drone who happily covered his face with angry red dots.
Luke felt like he was burning. His vision blurred, different environments forming together and vanishing again around him as he felt his leg being stabbed, his arm being shot, his shoulder burned and his blood boil. There were PROXY's glowing eyes hovering over him in one second, a dirty thug snapping his bones in the next, a young Jedi woman who Luke realized he recognized but she was gone in an instant, replaced by Vader. Again and again as memories flashed before his eyes it was Vader who hurt him, who frayed his nerves and burned his flesh and broke his bones.
Luke lay on the ground, gasping, trying to come back to his senses.
"Do you yield?", Starkiller asked coldly. The dark side was rushing through him strongly, turning his heart to ice.
"How can you... How can you stand that?", Luke asked horrified and ripped off his blindfold.
Starkiller raised an eyebrow. "Stand what?"
"Being... Being treated like that from... from the man you love!"
"Sith do not love", Starkiller answered automatically. There was another pang of hurt that Luke received through their bond and he looked up at his brother incredulously.
"You miss it!?" It sounded like an accusation.
Starkiller's fury rose. "Shut up! What do you know?! You always had all of his attention!"
"Oh right, what a wonderful feeling to have him watching me as I struggle and fail again and again! By the stars, S.K., you're... you're so broken..."
Dark energy cracked around the young Sith as his eyes glowed yellow for a moment. But he held back his anger still and when he spoke his voice was very calm.
"You know, every time you use the light side it hurts to be around you, it's like a persistent stench that surrounds you and it's disgusting. And yet I never said anything because I know you don't mean it, you can't help it. I even warned you when you didn't even realize you did it because your father would probably lose his temper with you if he found out. I expect at least the same courtesy from you so stop. Analyzing. My. Feelings, or I swear I'm gonna break that bond between us."
Luke flinched back, that bond had taken him months to build and it was still very fragile and all the more precious to him because of it.
"I'm sorry", he whispered, meaning it. He just didn't understand why Starkiller could stay with his father if that's what he had to go through and worse yet, wish back those times when he obviously had it better now. But voicing so would make his brother think he wanted him to leave, wanted him gone so he could have Vader for himself. He would never understand that Luke wished this for his own good.
"Very well. Let's try again."
Starkiller took a deep breath but Luke hurriedly held up a hand and called out:
"No, I yield! I yield, don't do it again."
Starkiller looked confused. "What?"
"That attack really hurt. Like, really. Very effective, good job. Can we please stop now?"
"You're not nearly... broken enough yet", Starkiller spat.
"But it's obviously not working, I feel the pain but no anger and to be honest, it's far too distracting seeing your memories to concentrate on the Force."
"Yes well, that's why it's an exercise for me as much as for you", Starkiller replied with a scowl. "I'll have to narrow down the memories and concentrate them until everything but the pain fades away..."
"But I already yielded! You asked if I would give up and I did, so there!"
"You yielded for all the wrong reasons!"
"It's not important why you yield!"
"Of course it is, an enemy yielding for any other reason than defeat is likely to have an ulterior motive!"
"But you did defeat me!"
"I did not!", Starkiller practically shouted. Both boys were breathing heavily.
"You'll never be convinced you defeated me until you've killed me", Luke finally said very quietly.
"You... You didn't even try to defend yourself", Starkiller returned defensively.
"Of course I did... I attacked you back, remember? You beat me. Just... let it go."
Starkiller balled his hands to fists so tightly his knuckles were turning white. There was still that rage in him, that desire to destroy something, to hurt Luke again... But he pushed it aside reluctantly. Finally, he gave a sharp nod.
Luke gave a sigh of relief and caught the drone to switch it off.
"Have fun with your prize", Luke muttered and made his way to the door. Starkiller didn't follow him for a couple of long minutes. His victory felt stale.
XxX
Even though Luke had resigned the chance to watch Darth Vader at work to Starkiller, he was still curious how the actual battle would go. From Praji he knew that two planets in the Middle Ring had gotten into an argument because one was unable or not interested in stopping the smugglers, pirates and terrorists that started their attacks on the neighboring planet and the whole thing had escalated into a full blown war. An unauthorized war at that, which was why Death Squadron had been tasked with solving the issue. The trick was to not simply destroy both fleets but disable them and get them under Imperial control. No need to destroy perfectly good ships after all.
There were only two places on the Devastator from which the entire battle could be watched, one was the bridge where Vader and Starkiller were and the other was the control room in Vader's quarters. Now Luke just so happened to have access to the latter as his father wanted him to be able to reach him fast in case of emergency so after leaving the meditation chamber, that's where Luke went.
Once he sat behind his father's desk though with all those monitors in front of him, Luke quickly discovered that the surveillance system couldn't be accessed without a password. Cursing silently he began searching for any hints, careful to put back everything he moved where it was. He was lucky in that he found a few datapads that he could access, apparently something his father had been working on recently but anything that could be remotely considered secret was again protected and the basic computer skills he'd learned from his teachers were not enough to get through.
Luke sighed frustrated. His thoughts went back to the meditation exercise this morning. If just he could learn how to access his Force powers. He was happy for Starkiller for getting more attention from Vader but he did not like staying so far behind either. They were trying their best to teach him but it just wasn't working.
Luke closed his eyes and tried to feel the Force as he did when he trained with the Stormtroopers. He was now able to last about thirty seconds with a whole squad shooting at him, deflecting the shots in all directions. He tried to call up that feeling again just to reassure himself that the Force was still with him.
Luke opened his eyes again when his hands touched cold metal. He was holding one of his father's datapads in his hands. As if moved by another Luke's fingers danced over the surface, calling up programs and data until finally there was one message that stood out to him like a bonfire. He scowled and began to read, wondering why the Force had pushed him onto this.
It was a message from the detention center, labeled two weeks ago. In it Darth Vader was asked if a certain prisoner was to be executed at last since his last interrogation had been weeks ago and the latest raid had filled the center with prisoners. Vader's answer had been 'no', he'd deal with the prisoner later and they were to stop bugging him about it. Well, he chose other words but that was the gist.
Luke scowled some more. He was pretty sure the Force had pointed him towards this message but why? What was so important about it? He couldn't see that it would help him to find out his father's passwords. Who was this prisoner and what was so special about him that his father insisted on keeping him even though he obviously had no time to interrogate him personally?
Luke checked the time. He still had more than two hours before he had to meet Captain Lokey for his lessons. He could make a quick trip down to the detention center, satisfy his curiosity and be back for his lesson in time. He really had nothing better to do and the Force seemed to nudge him in that direction...
His decision made Luke quickly arranged everything the way he'd found it and made his way to the detention center but of course the guards wouldn't let him in. No place for a little kid, they said.
Huffing, Luke thought about what to do and quickly came up with a plan.
"You want me to help you break into the detention center?!", Marvin exclaimed incredulously twenty minutes later after Luke had gotten his patrolling schedule at the barracks and searched him out.
"I don't want to break in. I just want to check up on something", Luke answered. "Please? I can take the mantle of an astromech and hide in it and you'll take me down there to repair some mechanism."
"Why would I do that, Luke, we could get into so much trouble. Me more so than you."
"But this is part of my espionage training, father gave me a challenge and I have to figure out how to solve it by myself."
"And that exercise includes getting help from a friend?", Marvin asked skeptically.
"Well... It includes mind-tricking an innocent victim to follow my orders." Luke stared at Marvin with big puppy dog eyes and slowly waved his hands in front of his face. "You feel mind-tricked, Marvin, you will help me!", he said in a deep voice.
Marvin sighed, he knew that Luke had problems using that weird Force-thingy and was often sad or frustrated because of it.
"Alright, I'll help you."
"Yes! It worked!", Luke exclaimed.
Marvin just shook his head and smiled.
Marvin let Luke promise that they wouldn't cause any trouble down there. Then he used his squad leader's password to fake a message to the colleagues in the center to tell them they'd sent an astromech down to repair the air con.
"The air con gets broken regularly", Marvin confided in him. "It has trouble filtering all that stench."
Luke found a disassembled astromech near the hangars and took the mantle to hide himself in it. He'd used the disguise before when playing hide and seek with Starkiller and knew how to move the thing around and maneuver with the help of a little camera outside but of course the thing would be doing no repairing anytime soon.
This time they were admitted into the center without problems. Luke had memorized the number of the prisoner in the message. He turned out to be in solitary confinement, maximum security which made Marvin rather nervous, especially as he was to distract one of the guards while Luke pick-pocketed the key card from him.
"I swear if you break out any prisoners today, I will drag your unconscious body back to your father for a spanking", Marvin threatened.
"I'm not going to free anyone, I just want to take a look", Luke promised. "Can you stand guard and knock if anybody comes?"
Marvin groaned. "Fine, you've got ten minutes, no more!"
Luke nodded happily and opened the lock. The Force seemed to quiver around him in anticipation. He had rarely felt it so strongly as he did now. It was as if there was... an echo coming from that cell, calling him. Luke did not understand what it was until he actually entered the cell and laid eyes on the prisoner.
He was restrained in pretty much every manner imaginable, strapped to a stretcher with metal bonds holding his arms and legs tight so he couldn't move a single muscle save for his head and his eyes were blindfolded by another curved piece of metal. What shocked Luke though was the tattered brown cloak he wore, one that he recognized from his history lessons as being traditional Jedi wear. That was why the Force had felt so weird around here, Luke had sensed the Jedi's presence. He hadn't recognized it as it was such a different feeling from his father and brother.
"Who is there?", the Jedi asked with a hoarse voice, turning his head in Luke's direction.
Luke flinched back and pressed his back against the door behind him. He knew now why the Force had led him here and at the same time – he didn't understand.
"I know that you're here", the prisoner said. "Who sent you?"
Luke took a hesitant step forward. Now that he was here, he could very well find out what was going on.
"Who are you?", he returned the question. "What are you doing here?"
The Jedi stilled for a moment.
"A child...?", he whispered at last, disbelieving.
"I'm eleven!", Luke protested.
"What are you doing here?"
"That was my question. Answer mine and I'll answer yours."
"My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. I am a Jedi Master and I was caught by Darth Vader a couple of months ago."
Luke scowled a bit, the name Kenobi was somewhat familiar but for the life of him he couldn't remember where he'd heard it before.
"I just... kinda stumbled in here by accident", Luke admitted.
"Accident? I don't think so." The Jedi smiled thinly. "I can feel it, you know? The Force is strong in you, that ancient power that we Jedi draw on. It is like an energy field holding the galaxy together and-"
"I know what the Force is", Luke interrupted him annoyed. Did he think he was stupid or something?
"Then you know the Force has led you to me for a reason. Free me and I will help you to find out what that reason is."
"I can't free you, I would get in big trouble. Besides, you're a Jedi and all Jedi have to be eliminated."
Kenobi opened his mouth slightly. "Who... who told you that?"
"My father did."
"Your father is an Imperial?"
"He's a Sith Lord", Luke corrected him. He figured there would be no harm in telling him, it wasn't like he was going anywhere bound like this.
The Jedi was still for a moment before he suddenly began to fight against his bindings.
"Luke!? Luke, is that you?"
"Uh, do I know you?"
"It's me, Ben Kenobi! I used to visit your farm on Tatooine sometimes, do you remember?"
"Well, no... Didn't you just say your name was Obi-Wan?"
"I used a fake name while I was in hiding."
"It's not much of a fake name if you keep your last one", Luke noted. It obviously hadn't done him any good.
"Luke, you have to get away from here, you have to hide! Darth Vader, he is – he's dangerous, you cannot trust him."
"Vader and dangerous?", Luke said with a laugh. "Sure, I guess he is but not to me. He's my father after all. Surviving his apprentice long enough to actually get to know him, now that was a piece of work."
"I – Luke, you have to believe me. I don't know how long you've been here but you can't tell me Vader has never hurt you or ordered others to do so."
Luke thought back to this morning's torture session and was silent.
"He only wants to use you, he wants to turn you into a weapon to kill many innocents, Luke, that is not you! You have to get away from him. I can feel that the light side is still strong in you, it' not too late yet."
"I won't leave my family", Luke answered with a scowl. "I would never."
"You family lives on Tatooine", Kenobi cried out. "They are worried about you, Luke, they're searching for you!"
"But I'm fine. I have new things and learn cool stuff and I have friends and get to learn about my family. You wouldn't believe how awesome my birthday party was. I am happy!"
"Oh Luke, if only you knew. If you stay here any longer, the dark side will corrupt you. It is so easy to fall."
"If only", Luke muttered.
"What?"
"Father has been trying to teach me how to use the dark side for months but it's not working. It is not easy, everyone says it is but it isn't!"
Kenobi stared in his direction silently for a moment.
"Luke", he said then very slowly, "that you can't use the dark side... that's a good thing. It means you're a good person, you're kind and generous and compassionate. And anything you think the dark side might give you, the light can as well, if you can just learn patiently and determined."
"But I must not use the light side, it would disrupt the galactic balance."
Kenobi laughed hollowly. "Luke that is... simply not true. Look around, with the reign of the Sith the entire galaxy is in darkness. Believe me, we need every little bit of light we can get to restore the balance."
"No we don't, it's a dark age because the light ruled for so many years and now it's the Sith' turn."
"That is not how balance works, Luke", Kenobi explained patiently. "Yes, maybe we lacked balance in the Old Republic even with so many Jedi to spread the light but I can assure you that what we have now is in no way healthy or right."
"Then it doesn't matter if Jedi or Sith rule, it's both the same."
Kenobi was about to answer that no, of course it wasn't the same... but he thought better at the last moment.
"If it doesn't matter then there's no reason why you couldn't use the light side, is there? You will see it will come to you far more naturally." Well, he dearly hoped it would.
Luke thought about that for a moment. He knew his family didn't like the light side and Starkiller even said it hurt him when he used it. But he did want to learn about the Force and once he mastered meditation he could learn how to hide his presence so he wouldn't bother the Sith.
"How do you use the light side?"
Kenobi smiled at him. "The key is to clear your mind, to let go of all your emotions and distractions and submit to its guidance."
"Clear your mind? How do you use the Force in combat if you have to think about nothing? That sounds stupid", Luke said.
"The Force isn't all about combat, Luke. It's about so much more."
"I know, like brainwashing people and moving stuff."
"What? No! It's a mystical energy that connects every living being. You must not misuse it for your own gain, only for the better of others."
Luke still looked confused. Kenobi sighed and added: "Basically, it's exactly the opposite from everything your father taught you. That's why it's called the light and the dark side."
"I don't think my father would like it if I used the light side", Luke decided. "I... I think I should go now."
"Luke!", Kenobi called out and fought against his binds again. "Please, just... think about it. And don't tell your father you were here. He... He would punish you and kill me if he knew. But if you have any more questions or change your mind, you can come back to me."
Luke felt a stab of pity for the Jedi. He was really trying to be nice to him but Luke knew he couldn't help him even if he wanted to and if his father kept him here, he had probably done something to deserve it anyway. After all his father wouldn't imprison someone just for being a Jedi. No wait... yes he would. If he didn't execute them immediately.
Luke sighed. He knew that some of the things his father did were just plain wrong. Maybe even evil. But then there were other things he did – mostly to do with Luke specifically – that were very good. He would even dare to say he'd done more good things than bad ever since Luke had gotten to know him. He certainly tried. Even if Luke didn't get his father to be a bit nicer to people, at least he wouldn't be able to kill or torture anyone while he was with Luke so he opted to spend as much time with him as possible.
Luke and Marvin managed to get out of the detention center without anyone noticing that they really shouldn't be there. Luke continued with his training for the rest of the day but he was noticeably distracted. Always he had to think back to the words of the Jedi. In the evening when he had dinner together with Starkiller, his brother broached the subject.
"You seem to have something on your mind. Don't tell me you're still suffering from the after effects of this morning."
That was the closest to a concerned question about his well being that Luke had heard from him ever since they first met Darth Vader. He was so surprised by it that he dropped the spoon he'd been holding, sending bits of soup flying.
"What?", he made very intelligently.
Starkiller rolled his eyes. "You've been staring at that same pea on the edge of your plate for at least five minutes and your emotions are sorta fluctuating. You're troubled by something. Care to tell me what it is?"
For a moment Luke considered doing so but then thought better of it. Starkiller hated the Jedi just as much as his father if not a bit more and wouldn't take too kindly to learning that he'd been talking to one.
"I'm just wondering why the Force never seems to answer me, is all."
"Then I'll tell you a secret, Luke. The Force answers to the one calling the loudest. Your voice is nothing but a whisper."
"Thank you", Luke said dryly. "That's really helping."
Starkiller shrugged. "I do my best."
"Why are you in such an awfully good mood anyway?", Luke wanted to know. "Did somebody die?"
"A couple of hundreds died, I'm sure. It was... really exciting, seeing a real time space battle even just as an observer."
"Oh, right." He'd almost forgotten about the war. The Devastator had been hanging back as a reserve so he hadn't even felt any tremors.
"So, I guess we won?"
Starkiller sighed. "Really, Luke, you could show a bit more enthusiasms. And it was never in question that we'd win but yes, we did manage to break up the fight without any major material damage."
"That's great", Luke said and faked a grin. He wondered how many people had died.
Starkiller looked unconvinced. "Say, you... You do know that I don't actually enjoy hurting you, don't you? Well, maybe I do, a little bit, while I actually attack but that's just the rush of the dark side."
"I'm not mad at you for that", Luke replied. He wasn't, it was training after all. "Besides, I think I hit you harder than you hit me."
Starkiller looked insulted. "You did not!"
"Yeah?", Luke returned with a grin that was a bit more honest and teasing. "I remember you suppressing tears."
"And I remember you screaming like a little baby, now shut up and eat your vegetables!"
Both boys glared at each other in a mock duel before Luke couldn't hold it anymore and burst out laughing. Starkiller looked confused for a moment, his glare had been rather serious.
"Geez, I needed that. Thanks for cheering me up", Luke said and continued to eat his soup.
"Anytime", Starkiller muttered, wondering what he'd said that was so funny.
XxX
AN: So! Whoa, it must be a new record, time-wise. And not a good one. But hey, I arrived in Australia and goddamn, it's beautiful here! So, I have been extremenly busy and once I had this baby finsihed, my beta was busy. Sorry for the long wait but at least you finally, finally got that meeting between Luke and Obi-Wan. Admit it, you have just been waiting for it.
Who was it that gave me that awesome mental image of Vader totally forgetting he had Kenobi captured 'cause he was busy reading 'Parenting for DUMMIES'? Oh yeah, it was Star Lord again. Sorry, I just have to quote that:
"Vader milord, what are we to do with the Jedi in the prison?" Then Vader looks at him all confused, "What Jedi-OH SHIT." Then rushes down there. "We meet at last Obi-Wan.." And Obi being like "what the hell man I've been down here for months!"
Yeah... that's the picture I had in mind when I wrote this chapter. It's really the only explanation you'll get on why Kenobi didn't suffer the same way he did in Free from Force. In my defense, it does make sense that if Luke is melting that cold heart of his, he would make torturing his old master less of a priority.
Make no mistake though, Kenobi was tortured. It just so happens that the Imps have drugs and stuff and Vader has the Force so you don't really have to see any visible effects. Also Vader intends to keep him alive so he can torture him for a good long time so he can't have him be too weak else he accidently kills him. Initially I wanted Kenobi to play a bigger role... But then Vader glared at me all menacingly and, well... you'll have to wait and read.