Rex escorted Ahsoka to the medbay once they landed, allowing her to rest her weight on him as they walked together.
Leia and Vader were summoned to the War Room.
Mon was there, of course, standing as she usually did during briefings. But there were also two of the three resident Generals sitting on either side of her: Hera Syndulla and Davits Draven. Of the two, Hera was the one who recognized Vader. It was obvious by the look of shock on her face. Rex had mentioned that Ahsoka had shown her and the rest of her cell a 'holocron' of Vader's younger self. Some kind of holographic recording, Leia surmised.
Besides those three, the room was eerily empty.
"Where's General Dodonna?" Leia asked, taking a seat at the circular table. At first, Vader stood with his hands clasped behind his back, staring Mon down. But Leia shot him an expectant glare. With a scoff, he sat down beside her, crossing his arms over his chest.
"The Death Star plans have arrived," Mon said. "General Dodonna is with the team in charge of analyzing the data."
The knot of tension that had been coiled tightly within Leia since she'd sent the plans off with Artoo loosened just a little. "Finally," she breathed.
"Lord Vader," Mon acknowledged. "This is General Syndulla and General Draven." To the Generals, she said, "Vader has returned Ahsoka Tano to us, as promised. And, as I explained in our earlier briefing, he prevented the destruction of Alderaan. In light of that, I think we should hear him out."
"One good deed doesn't cancel out everything else that he's done," said Hera, glaring at Vader. Her anger had apparently superseded her shock.
"I would list his crimes," said Draven, his clipped Core accent lending his words extra bite, "but I can scarcely think of where to begin."
"I can think of where to begin," said Hera. To Vader, she said: "You slaughtered an entire village of freed slaves on Ryloth. They weren't rebels; they were just trying to live their lives in peace."
"Yes," Vader said, without any hint of shame. "They were witnesses to the Emperor's Force abilities, and he ordered me to kill them in order to preserve his secret identity as Darth Sidious."
Leia had to resist the urge to cringe. She'd known, intellectually, that Vader had murdered many civilians. But to hear him rationalize it so plainly was awful in a way that even his callousness towards his own soldiers was not. It was so unsettling that the fact that Vader had just outright admitted that the Emperor was a Sith Lord took a few moments to sink in. It seemed ridiculously obvious, in hindsight.
"So - what?" Hera demanded. "You were just following orders?"
"No," Vader said. "I made the choice to follow orders. I am merely explaining that it was not an act of random or capricious violence." His gaze was cold. Unwavering. "Your feelings betray you; your antipathy stems chiefly from the fact that I am ultimately the one responsible for the death of Kanan Jarrus. My other acts are of secondary concern."
"You're a monster," Hera hissed.
"A useful monster," Vader said. He uncrossed his arms and jabbed his index finger at her. "There are many Imperial defectors within your ranks, General Syndulla, and almost all of them have participated in behavior that the Alliance would classify as war crimes. Former ISB agent Kallus, for example. We worked together briefly on Lothal, and he was positively eager at the prospect of harming civilians to draw out your rebel cell. As I recall, he was also heavily involved in the scourging of Lasan."
"That is true," Mon interjected. "But these defectors have all agreed to stand trial once the Republic is restored. They joined us because they saw the Empire for the evil it truly is." Her gaze was just as cold as Vader's. "I do not get the impression that you have similar sentiments, Lord Vader."
"I think the desire to restore the Republic is foolish," Vader confirmed. "But the Empire as it exists now is far from optimal. The Emperor must die."
"Why is it far from optimal?" asked Draven. "I'm sure we'd all be interested to hear your insights on the matter."
It was plainly a test, and Leia felt a thrill of anxiety over what Vader's answer might be.
Evidently, Vader did not share her trepidation. "When I first took my place as the Emperor's enforcer, he advised me to use restraint — saying that he did not wish to rule over an empire of the dead. But this was not benevolence, nor was it pragmatism. Rather, it was all part of a long-term strategy. He wished to raise the hopes of those under his dominion. This helped him to secure his power, of course, but its true purpose was to maximize the impact of revealing that their hope had been a lie. That peace is a lie."
"Are you saying that the Emperor is fomenting discontent on purpose?" Draven asked, clearly skeptical.
"He is," Vader said. "Both within the ranks of his military and in the public at large. The purpose of the Death Star was never to enforce order, but to ignite a civil war."
"That doesn't make any sense," Hera said. "Why would he be trying to undermine the stability of his own Empire?"
"As I said, the Emperor is a Sith Lord. I will not bore you with an extensive explanation of Force philosophy, but, in short: the Dark Side is usually fed by the user's own emotions. The Emperor is a psychopath, however, and lacks the depth of emotion necessary to sustain such powers. As such, he has found a way to utilize the emotions of others in order to strengthen himself."
It all suddenly clicked in Leia's mind. "He feeds off our misery like a parasite." It was almost fitting, that the rumors about Vader were actually true of the Emperor.
"Correct," Vader said. "My destiny has always been the establishment of order. Of balance. As such, I cannot abide the Emperor's ambitions. I joined the Empire to put an end to destructive conflict."
"Let's say that we buy all that," said Hera. "Why now? You've had twenty years to realize what he's really up to, so what changed?"
"And why join us, instead of simply usurping him from the inside?" Draven pressed.
"The Force revealed this to be the correct path," Vader said. "Leia may elaborate on the details, if she wishes."
Suddenly, all eyes were on Leia, and her stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch. Damn him. "If we're to continue this discussion," Leia said, mouth set in a grim line, "then I think it would be best for Vader to leave." She couldn't be truly candid while he was here.
The Generals exchanged dubious looks.
Vader rolled his eyes. "Put me in whatever passes for a brig, if it will make you feel more secure."
"He's more powerful than Kanan ever was," Hera said, scowling. "I don't think we could actually hold him anywhere, if he was really determined to escape."
Mon looked at Leia. "Do you think he can be trusted to walk freely around the base?"
"Yes," Leia said. She could feel that it was true. "Vader is a murderous war criminal, but he isn't stupid. He knows that we're the only option he has left."
Vader smirked humorlessly. "Her Highness' faith in me is, as always, touching."
Mon gave a short nod. "You may leave, then, provided that you exercise discretion."
Leia was wrong that the Alliance was Vader's only option.
It would certainly be inconvenient if she failed to convince the Rebel leadership to let him remain as an ally, but he did have a contingency plan. It would simply undermine all the trust that he'd so carefully cultivated between Leia and himself, which was an outcome he would rather avoid.
He had nothing to gain by sabotaging the Rebels, however. Not presently, at least.
Vader's stomach gave a loud growl, startling him out of his thoughts. It was only then that he realized just how hungry he was. He'd been subsisting off of ration paste since he'd left the suit, and didn't know if he could even handle solid food. This was problematic, given that the Rebels were likely serving some of the local plants and animals in the mess to conserve rations. They didn't have the reliable supply chain of the Empire to replenish such things on demand. But getting a checkup would require going to the medbay.
Ahsoka was currently in the medbay, with Rex by her side.
So, he would take the risk.
He reached out with his senses to find his way, and was struck by something else. There was somebody in the base who was strong with the Force. Untrained, or undertrained, but brimming with potential. A veritable beacon.
Leia occasionally felt that way, but it was always a momentary thing. And only ever when she was relatively relaxed. He presumed that she either had an innate talent for shielding, or else had been taught by one of her father's associates. Perhaps even Ahsoka herself.
But this one wasn't shielded at all.
Following the call of that radiant potential led him, conveniently, to the mess.
The Force-wielder was a slight blond-haired boy, no older than twenty. He was surrounded by a small crowd, speaking animatedly despite his obvious fatigue.
It had been a long time since Vader had bothered to try to be inconspicuous, but the method was simple enough. He grabbed a tray and utensils, then went up to the dispensary. A Twi'lek male was dishing out some kind of stew, accompanied by a green mush. It wasn't much to look at, but it smelled appetizing enough.
"Lots of new faces today," said the Twi'lek, in a thick Rylothi accent. "I advise you not to think too hard about the ingredients. It will taste much better that way."
Vader gave him a nod, and proceeded to find himself a seat with a view of the boy. He took a small bite of the stew, chewing it slowly. The taste was bland, but inoffensive; exactly what Vader was hoping for.
"So that's when we went to Alderaan to pass the plans onto Viceroy Organa," the boy said to his audience. "But, when we got there, the planet was on serious Imperial lockdown. Artoo knew some landing codes, luckily, but I half expected them to shoot us down." Artoo units were resourceful, indeed. One could always rely on droids. "And then it turned out that the Viceroy and Queen had been executed." The boy let out a sigh. "So we were stuck in Aldera for a while, trying to track down a member of the Rebellion who could tell us about the base. Which isn't easy when the entire city is swarming with Imps."
"It wouldn't have been easy even if the city hadn't been swarming with Imps," a man beside the boy groused. He was older, and his posture spoke of an affected cockiness. "It was like finding a needle in a trash compactor."
"Anyway," said the boy, shooting the older man a look of mild chagrin. "Ben had us go to a bunch of cantinas. He said that if there was a chance of finding Rebel agents, it would probably be there."
The older one snorted. "Old man just wanted an excuse to get plastered."
"He was right, though. It took us a few days, but we eventually found Cara here." He gestured at a burly woman sitting across from him. Vader was fairly sure she was a woman, at least, only being able to see her from the back. "Of course, she didn't trust us until we showed her the plans, but she eventually agreed to lead us to the base."
"It definitely had nothin' to do with her needing to get off-world to avoid local law enforcement," said the older one.
"You'd know all about it, Solo," Cara drawled, apparently unfazed.
The boy rubbed the back of his neck. "So yeah. Artoo didn't have any codes that could help us leave. and we thought that getting past the blockade would be impossible. But Ben said he could figure it out if he stayed behind. I think he was planning to do one of those mind tricks, like he did when the Stormtroopers were looking for the droids." Mind tricks? Another Jedi who'd survived the purge, perhaps. Or a charlatan posing as one. "But he promised that he'd find a way to follow us, eventually." The boy's tone and Force presence both indicated that he didn't quite believe that this Ben would follow through on his promise. "And, well — here we are."
"He also promised that I'd get paid," said Solo, testily.
"Oh, you will," said a dark-haired young man with a mustache who was sitting next to the boy. "We just have other priorities at the moment." He clapped the blond one on the shoulder. "You just saved the whole damn Galaxy, Luke."
Luke ducked his head, smiling bashfully. "I helped, Biggs. That's all." He pushed himself to his feet, which is when Vader saw the lightsaber strapped to his hip. A very familiar lightsaber. "Is there somewhere I can rest?"
"I'll show you to the dorms," said Biggs.
Vader resisted the urge to storm after them, knowing that it would cause a scene. He took a few more bites of his food - just enough to quell the pit of hunger is his stomach - before he left the mess. Somebody yelled after him about cleaning up after himself, but he ignored them.
Once more, he used Luke's presence to guide him, and wound up in a room with several sets of bunk-beds. The single-occupancy room he'd been provided when he'd first arrived must've been for those of higher rank. Thankfully, Luke was the only person there, sitting down on a bottom bunk to the left of the entrance.
Vader approached him, and asked, "Where did you get that lightsaber?"
Luke looked up at him with a bemused expression. "Um, hi."
It was ever-so-tempted to lift the boy up by his throat and demand that he not play such silly games, but Vader held himself back. "This is a matter of utmost importance," he said.
"Well," said Luke, running a hand through his hair. "I didn't steal it, if that's what you're wondering. It was passed down to me, since it belonged to my father."
Vader's blood went cold. "Your...father."
Luke nodded. "Yeah. He was a Jedi knight named Anakin Skywalker."
Vader's first instinct was to dismiss the claim as utter nonsense, except that the words rang with truth in the Force.
"Are you okay?" Luke asked him, sounding genuinely concerned.
Vader slumped down beside Luke on the edge of the bed, burying his face in his hands.