Revealed Identities

Chapter 4: Revealed Identity

Han and Chewie sat down next to Leia and Wedge as they heard all the pathetic excuses that Nekem sputtered forth. None of them felt that any of his reasons were truly honest. However, they had missed quite a bit of his story when they went to get Chewie from the hangar bay. Leia quite clearly remembered C-3PO retelling the story that Wookies would rip a man limb by limb in anger and had dismissed it. She hadn't believed it as she had never seen Chewie in rage before, but when they had told him about Luke...she supposed there was some truth to everything that one heard.

Nekem seemed to have heard that rumor too, for he kept throwing nervous glances over at Chewie.

"Like I said, Commander Skywalker and I decided that this would be the best arrangement. We would make it look like he had been kidnapped so that the Empire would not suspect anything. He came to me with the idea that his life would serve better if he could get us that money." Leia felt a twinge of nerves go off as he said that. She remembered clearly Luke thinking just that. Perhaps he had changed his mind...?

But no. Even though she had only known Luke for several months, it was enough time to know that he respected his friends' judgment. He wouldn't have done that. She stood up to voice her thoughts. The interrogator (a short furry alien who had been kicked off of his home world of Yaga Minor when it had become Imperial property) noticed Leia stand.

"Princess Leia, do you have something you would like to add?" Nekem looked at her, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants in a nervous gesture.

"I talked to Commander Skywalker the evening before. He and I spoke briefly about the reward money. Both of us felt that the Empire had pulled this stunt so that we would willingly give him to them and that it was best if he remained hidden. Why would he have lied to me?"

"Perhaps he had not decided then. I talked to him later that night," Nekem explained.

"So in other words, you manipulated him into doing what he knew would be a stupid move in the favor of the Empire?" Leia suggested. Nekem inhaled a deep breath.

"No. Maybe he had had time to rethink things and decided that the Rebellion needed the funds." Nekem was doing a very good job of keeping his face neutral. But something about this didn't seem right. Han spoke up, cutting Leia's musings short.

"Where's the money?" Han asked.

"It was transferred to the Alliance." Nekem explained.

"That's funny, because I checked up on this, and I found that the money was put into one of your accounts." Nekem didn't even falter.

"I didn't want the Empire to be able to link it to the Alliance."

"Then why did you transfer some of you own money to a smuggling group?" Nekem's face flushed, and he didn't say anything.

"You weren't planning to transfer any money to the Alliance." The interrogator prompted gently.

"Of course the money is for the Alliance!" Nekem sounded outraged. Leia's own outrage was far greater.

"You know what I think? I think you were going to transfer the money to the Alliance, but you were going to do it slowly. You didn't want us to know that you had gone behind our backs and betrayed Luke to the Empire," Leia snarled.

"You gotta remember, Nekem, I've worked with these smugglers before, I talked to them, and they were real informative about your directions," Han added, explaining his experience. Nekem became furious.

"You will take this man's word over mine? A common smuggler and nothing but a bunch of filth? He hasn't even sworn his allegiance to us! He-" Han had been staring blaster bolts at him until he finally pulled out a datachip.

"Your direct orders," Han growled, tossing the data to the interrogator. He looked at it quizzically, and made the human equivalent of raising his eyebrows. Leia smiled over at Han. Lucky that he still had his smuggling contacts. The interrogator put the disk into a nearby computer unit. The list showed a direct call to a group of smugglers, with Nekem's signature at the bottom.

"Not smart to sign your name on illegal documents," Han shot at Nekem. The interrogator nodded.

"I believe we have our answers. Your trial will be held in two weeks time. I hope that you will have the good sense to remain here. If you leave base, you will automatically be presumed as an Imperial spy. You're dismissed." Nekem stormed out of the room, and all of the others in the room followed, except for Han, Wedge, Leia, and Chewie.

"Do you think Luke's okay?" Leia asked worriedly. Her question had been aimed more toward Han, but it was Wedge who answered.

"He's a Rogue. He'll be able to handle anything that the Empire throws at him." Wedge assured her.

Vader looked at Luke, knowing full well that he had gotten his attention by saying something about his father. Through the Force, Vader felt Luke's emotions, a blend of burning hate and a yet a mind full of raging curiosity. All in all, Vader surmised that he would let Luke on their little secret.

"Your father isn't dead. At least, not in the way you think," Vader explained cryptically. This explanation just fueled Luke's hatred.

"Either you're dead or you're not," Luke argued.

"You'll find that things are not just black and white. There are many shades of gray in between."

"Riddles now?" Luke barked impatiently.

"Patience was never your father's strong point," Vader said amused. With a wave of the Force, Vader undid the restraints that bound his son. "It is not yours either."

"First riddles, now games?" Luke asked, rubbing the spot where his wrists had been bound tightly. He wished he could remember what had happened to him after he blacked out in his X-wing so that he knew how and who had captured him.

"Stand up," Vader ordered. When Luke refused, he growled a threat. "Or I'll do it for you."

Luke sighed. He knew that his powers were no match against Vader's. He hadn't had enough training or enough practice. He just wished he knew why the dark lord was toying with him like this. Luke stood up, glaring at the man standing before him.

Vader sauntered forward until he stood at arms' length from Luke. Luke didn't flinch, and even held his gaze un-wavering. With a sudden whish of his cape, Vader's hands came up and wrapped around his son in an embrace.

Luke's first thought was that Vader was going to crush him to death, but even his barely trained Force sense could pick out the fact that Darth Vader was not going to hurt him. In fact, in utter disbelief and bemusement, Luke had the dim notion, the utterly impossible idea, that Darth Vader was hugging him. Hugging him! Luke pushed against the dark lord, and Vader loosed his hold on him. With jerky motions, Luke backed up, and ran into the wall.

"What do you want from me?" Luke asked, shock settling in. When Vader had "hugged" him, something inside him had screamed that something about it was right, and comforting. Luke wasn't sure he wanted to know why.

Darth Vader, himself, was startled. For a moment, he was transported nearly twenty years back in time when he had flesh limbs, imagining himself picking up his and his wife's child. For an instant, he'd seen Luke as a young child, looking at his father with welcome, open arms, not the stubborn young man he saw before him. However, the Force vision had proved useful; it certainly had unsettled Luke enough that he might be able to accept the truth.

"I want you to join me. As I said, you would understand it better if you knew what happened to your father. He is alive, and I know him inside and out, and I know he wants you to join me."

"How do you know?" Luke asked, his voice hardly audible. Before Vader even spoke them, something in Luke knew what was coming.

"Because, Luke, I am your father."

Next part...The Emperor's Bidding