Chapter 1 – Questioning
Plot: After a failed coup against the Emperor in the wake of his discovery of his long-lost son, Darth Vader flees from the Empire, crashing on a small, mostly uninhabited planet where he's found and captured by the Rebel Alliance. Instead of killing Vader, the Rebels opt to imprison him to obtain valuable information. Predictably, nothing goes as planned.
Author's Note: This was inspired by a one-shot I read a while ago, I don't remember where it was, where the Rebel Alliance managed to capture and drug Vader for information. I wanted to do my own version of that, especially given that I doubt Vader can be easily affected by drugs anyways. Lol.
This will be updated every other week, and there's seven chapters and an epilogue. Enjoy! :D
~ Amina Gila
Darth Vader tightens his grip on the controls of his TIE Advanced fighter, knowing even as he does that it won't stop the crash landing which is imminent. If he's lucky, this backwater planet will be a suitable place for him to hide from the prying gaze of his former master, Emperor Sidious. How did it come to this? How did he, Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, lose so much control as to do something so suicidal?
It doesn't matter anymore. The actions which he performed can never be undone, though he can at least glory in the knowledge that his lightsaber added yet another scar to the multitude the Emperor bears. He should have known better. He should have bided his time. Like it or not, he's crippled. He's not nearly as strong as he used to be, as certainly not strong enough to single-handedly take out the Emperor. He had stopped thinking for a moment, driven only by a blinding rage that yet another person had lied to him, betrayed him.
He never killed his Angel. The thought fills him with numbness. She had died just as he'd seen in his visions, giving birth to their son, Luke. That he was forced to miss so much time, nearly two decades, of his son's life is almost too hard a thought to entertain. It no longer matters if he lives or dies so long as he takes Sidious down with him. Hatred has driven him all these years, and it will serve him one last time as he plans a way to destroy the Sith master.
The fighter plunges towards the planet's surface much too quickly. Only the Force had protected him in his desperate escape after the failed assassination. He'd nearly been shot down numerous times before jumping to hyperspace. As it was, when he emerged for the second time, the fighter was damaged so badly that he was uncertain if it would hold together long enough for him to land. Well, he'll reach the ground in more or less one piece. Small consolation, but he still has an Emperor to kill.
The TIE Advanced hits the ground, exploding into a fireball. Gathering up his strength, Vader throws a Force shield around himself, ripping a hole through the side of the fighter to throw himself to safety. He hits the ground hard, dazed. Shifting backwards from the burning wreckage, Vader ignores the constant pain throughout his body. He's more than used to it, and he probably deserves nothing less after all the atrocities he's committed.
What would Kenobi say if he could see Vader now? He'd probably make some scathing remark about how Vader ought to think before he acts, and really, this time, he'd deserve it. Had he not attacked Sidious in a blind rage, he could have been able to meticulously plan an assassination. He's so focused on his thoughts, that he realizes a second too late that he's at the edge of a cliff. The next thing he knows, he's falling.
He catches himself with the Force a millisecond before he would have been splattered all over the rocks, but the landing is rough, and it sends harsh pain spearing through him. Too weak and exhausted to move, Vader lets himself lay there for a moment, deciding to get up and keep moving after recovering. The next thing he knows, he's slipping into unconsciousness, respirator working rhythmically to keep him alive.
**w**
"So?" Commander Luke Skywalker queries as Princess Leia Organa emerges from the meeting with the rest of the Rebel Alliance. "What are we going to do with Darth Vader?" He says the name with bitterness, remembering what Ben Kenobi had told him about his father. If it were up to Luke, Vader would be immediately executed.
Leia huffs, her scowl a sure sign that she's unhappy with the decision. "Seeing as the bounty on his head is currently standing at a billion credits, it's obvious the Empire wants him back very badly," she explains. "If Vader is really a fugitive, and it appears that he is, then we would be wise to learn whatever information he can provide us."
Luke snorts. "Yeah, right. I'm sure Vader will be enthusiastic about telling us all his intel."
"We're not giving him a choice," Leia declares, a hint of satisfaction in her voice. "He'll be kept drugged, and unfortunately, the two of us have been assigned to watch him and ask questions. The Alliance hopes that the drugs will be enough to make him talk more freely, whether he wants to or not."
For some reason, Luke has a very bad feeling about the arrangement. He doesn't want to spent even a second in the company of his father's murderer – and Ben's murderer – but he can hardly say no, much as he wants to. He has a duty to the Rebel Alliance and to his friends, Leia, in particular. If nothing else, he has to at least try and help.
"For the record, I don't like this," he mutters, giving his friend a sideways look as she beings walking down the hall of the base.
"Nor do I," she replies stiffly. He knows what she's thinking about. Vader tortured her on the Death Star and stood by while Alderaan was destroyed in front of her eyes. For those crimes alone, he deserves to be executed, never mind all the other damage he's caused.
Shaking himself out of the negative train of thought, Luke falls in step next to Leia. "Are we going there now?" Her jaw clenches, and she nods. He touches her arm comfortingly. "Don't worry," he reassures her. "If he does try anything, I'm going to stick this lightsaber through him." He motions to the hilt which is clipped to his belt.
"Good," she declares with satisfaction. "Just try not to kill him, alright? He could still be useful."
Luke doesn't know much of what happened to Vader after his unconscious body was found and transported to the base, but from what he heard, the Sith didn't seem too upset by his confinement, going so far as to cooperate with the medics who were checking him over.
It's not long before they arrive in the detention area where Vader is being held apart from any other prisoners. Leia enters the code – not that a code or door could stop Vader if he wanted to escape, but it's more to keep others out – and they step inside. Luke didn't know what to expect, but the scene before him takes him by surprise. Vader is laying on a metal framed cot which is bolted to the center of the floor. He's not being restrained, but somehow, he was drugged.
Leia's lips thin when she sees him. "I didn't expect this," she mumbles to Luke.
"Me either," he whispers, staring wide-eyed at the Sith Lord.
"The drugs were injected into the liquid nutrition which the medics gave him," she explains quietly. "I don't think he could walk very well if he tried." Good. That's one relief.
"What are you going to ask?" Luke wonders, instantly quieting when the helmet tilts slightly towards him. The Sith's presence is overwhelming, though it seems oddly muted. The drugs, maybe? The respirator seems abnormally loud in the sudden, taut silence.
"Lord Vader," Leia addresses him crisply, stepping forwards, head held high. "I would like you to answer some questions." She doesn't give him a choice, and Luke can't help but admire her courage when facing her torturer. He's never personally encountered Vader, and he's already feeling extremely skittish.
"Give me the names and locations of all the Star Destroyers in the Imperial fleet," she orders.
Luke holds his breath, preparing for a harsh refusal or some mocking comment. None comes. Instead, Vader pushes himself into a sitting position, mask fixed unerringly on the pair. "Padme."
The word is so low that Luke hardly hears it; well, that's not true. The vocoder doesn't seem capable of speaking quieter than a normal voice, so Luke hears it clearly, but he doesn't really understand the meaning. He struggles with using the Force, but he can sense emotions if he's focusing, and right now, the rawness of the guilt, despair, and pain he feels around him is so potent that he can hardly breathe.
"You look just like her," Vader continues, words not spoken nearly as clearly as Luke had anticipated. Of course not. He's being drugged. If he's not coherent enough to make sense of his surroundings, how will they ever get any answers from him?
Leia gives him a disbelieving look. Maybe she's hoping that he's simply trying to dodge the questions. "Answer the question," she commands harshly.
"She wouldn't," Vader murmurs faintly, fists clenching. The room trembles around them, shockwaves flowing through the Force. Luke doesn't think the Sith is even consciously doing anything, especially when the chair next to the wall crumples from an unseen force.
Leia blanches, and Luke can feel her spike of alarm and fear. "Vader!" she all but yells, sounding more angry than scared.
"Maybe I should," Luke suggests, pushing her back and stepping forward. The Force is in a tumult around them, and Vader is in the eye of the storm. The Sith's hands clench on the edge of the bed frame, the metal bending beneath the pressure.
"Was she your mother?" Vader presses, and though Luke can't see his gaze, it seems to still be focused on Leia.
"I'm the one asking questions, not you," Leia spits, eyes flashing as she calmly steps around Luke. "You killed my mother, so it doesn't matter to you."
The storm around them darkens, lashing out with a furious intensity. Luke swears that he can see the walls shifting from the pressure. He feels Vader reaching out, the painfully dark presence touching not him, but Leia. He's not attuned enough to understand what's happening, but he knows that whatever it is, marks this as a momentous occasion.
"No," snarls Vader, standing up. He wavers unsteadily, but maintains his balance, taking a step forward. "No! How did I not see?" The shock is more unsettling than the anger. What is the Sith thinking? Luke's not sure he even wants to know.
"Maybe we should leave," he whispers, reaching out to take Leia's hand for his own reassurance as much as it is for hers.
"I'm not going to run away!" she hisses, pulling away from him and squaring her shoulders. Her bravery is admirable, but right now, Luke isn't sure if Vader is fully aware of his surroundings, much less what he's doing.
"I really don't think that –" he begins, warily eyeing the Dark Lord.
"We don't have infinite time," Leia cuts him off.
Luke huffs quietly. Obviously, Vader doesn't want to speak to Leia. Either that, or he's so high on whatever drugs he was given that he's hardly aware of their presences enough to understand what they're saying to him.
"Lord Vader, what are the current locations of the Imperial fleet?" Luke questions, hoping desperately to bring back a semblance of control to the situation.
The respirator cycles once, before Vader slowly and haltingly begins answering the question. Luke is certain the entire conversation is being recorded, but Leia still enters the most important information on a datapad which she apparently had been carrying with her. After a few minutes, his voice trails off, and he seems to be looking at something on the other side of the cell. Or maybe he's actually not looking at anything at all. It still leaves Luke feeling very disconcerted.
A sound that resembles a sigh escapes the vocoder as Vader's helmet turns, mask focused on him. "Luke…" he says softly. Luke freezes in place when he hears his name. How –? The Sith shouldn't know it. He never told anyone, but if Vader knows, does that mean that everyone in the Empire does as well? "My son," the Sith continues, seemingly oblivious to Luke's increasingly panicked thoughts. "We must destroy the Emperor. Together."
Everything in Luke screams denials because that's just not possible. Vader is lying. He has to be. How many other lies did he just tell them? Is he here solely to destroy the entire Rebel Alliance? His words echo in Luke's mind, and he finds that he can't comprehend their meaning. Vader isn't his father. Vader murdered his father.