Masquerade

Part Three

Ensign Madrick was a fat, balding man with slovenly dress habits and even worse manners. He had obviously made some effort to clean up his office but it still smelled of stale hooka smoke and alcohol, even to Vader's dulled senses. The man was not in his office when Vader arrived, an insult he had killedmore powerful men for, but arrived shortly after, huffing apologies.

"My Lord, so sorry to keep you waiting, the Hutts are restless, they've heard of your arrival." He gave Vader an ingrating smile. "I trust Lancer was able to brief you?"

Lancer was the ensign's aide, a compact, efficient man who had met Vader's shuttle at the port. The man had snapped a smart salute and reported at once.

"The man calling himself Anakin Skywalker got off a shuttle in Mos Eisley three weeks ago. He traveled under the name Tannin Cortin, an identity we have since learned is false. He has spent the last two days in a hotel in the city's south district." He handed Vader a data pad.

"Is he being followed?"

"Yes, we've had a man on him since you contacted us, sir."

"Good. Make sure he is tracked at all times. I want to know where he goes and what he does, but he is not to be engaged. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"My Lord, is it true what they're saying?" Ensign Madrick was saying now. "Do we really have a rouge Jedi on Tatooine?"

Vader fixed the Ensign with a hard look.

"Anakin Skywalker is dead," he said.


Luke landed his X-wing in the desert. He had learned from experience that spaceports were hard to get into and out of in a hurry. Not that he expected trouble, but there was something not right here. He could feel it.

His first stop was the water shop that their informant, Nal Pelidin, owned.

"Heya, wamprat," she greeted him. She was quite the most beautiful woman Luke had ever seen. Her blue skin was dusky from the sun and a loose-fitting caftan shrouded her lithe body. Her dark eyes were warm and the easy smile on her face made her beauty less intimidating, somehow.

"Heya," Luke greeted, strolling casually over to her stall. The shop was open-fronted and during daylight hours the counter was tilted out into the street. "I'm looking for a friend of ours, goes by the name of Rao. Have you heard from him?" It was a well-known joke on Tatooine; the name Rao was so common that if you yelled it in a bar, half the men would turn their heads.

Nal leaned closer. "Sure. I heard he was hanging out over at the Sur' Jet." She bent down behind the counter, and her low voice drifted up to him. "Imps are nervous. Something's going down. Be careful." She straightened and handed him a water stick.

"Thanks," Luke said. He passed her a credit chit and left.

Luke walked down the dusty, sun-striped streets of Mos Eisley, contemplating the same question that had plagued him the whole way here. Could this man be his father? Could Vader have lied? The Force told him it was not so, but hadn't the Force failed him before? He had met Yoda, a Jedi Master, on Dagobah and spent an hour in his company without sensing a thing. If Yoda could hide his presence so well wasn't it possible that Vader could manipulate the Force somehow, making him believe things that were not so? Luke knew so little of the dark side and what it could do. Wasn't it possible that Vader had fooled him, fooled even Ben and Yoda?

Luke's brow furrowed, knowing that something was wrong here. He expanded his Force-sense, searching. If his father were here he would feel it, wouldn't he?

Not if he's trying to hide from the Empire, Luke thought. Still Luke kept his senses wide open, scanning the crowded streets and the speeders that flitted past. A scatter of thoughts came to him in a half-dozen languages and Luke sifted through them, seeking.

Suddenly a presence bloomed in his brain, a Force-infused aura, and vivid red in a sea of watercolors. Luke narrowed his focus, grasping onto the presence.

Luke.

Luke pulled back into his own mind, snapping up his walls. Vader! He turned his head to see the Dark Lord of the Sith striding up the street towards him, his cape flaring in the wind, his black form seeming to soak up the sunlight. Luke did not hesitate. He darted down the nearest alleyway, listening hard for sounds of pursuit. Sure enough, he could hear the clatter of stormtroopers behind him. Vader must have seen him. Stars!

Luke wove in between refuse bins and piles of trash before jumping over a dividing wall into the street behind.

They won't find me, Luke thought confidently. I grew up here.

So did I, Vader's amused voice drawled in his head. Luke clamped down hard on his errant emotions, furious with himself for allowing Vader access to his mind. He turned down the street, Jedi-quick reflexes sending his soaring over passing speeders and flashing through small gaps in the crowd. Luke circled around until he was standing in the street where the Sur' Jet stood. He flattened himself into the shadowed doorway of the bar and forced his mind to calm. He heard no more signs of pursuit. Luke sent out a tendril of awareness. Yes, the troopers had lost him about six blocks back and their commander was furious.

Good, Luke thought.

The door behind him opened and a couple of Jawas shuffled out. Luke ducked into the cantina. He needed to find Anakin Skywalker. But Vader's presence here complicated things. The Jedi sat down at a table in the back, careful to face the doorway. He sent out a command via the Force-don't notice me- and the customers blithely ignored him.

Luke sat in the bar until the first of the two suns had set. He could wait no longer. He had no wish to spend the night inside the city and his ship was far enough away that it would take him until dark to reach it. He hoped the stormtroopers had moved on, but either way he'd have to chance it.

He stood up. A human was just entering the bar and Luke started, recognizing his face. It was Anakin Skywalker. Luke sat back down slowly, watching as the man ordered a drink. He was tall, taller than Luke, but with a heaver build that had been muscular in youth but had thickened with age. His dark hair was threaded through with silver and his blue eyes were sunken and faded.

A woman joined him and they sat for a few minutes in silence before they both got up and exited the cantina.

Luke pulled his cloak around him and followed.


Lord Vader stood in the late Ensign Madrick's office, impatience in every line of his body. His son was here. What did it mean? Did the boy really believe that this imposter was his true father? If that were true then the boy was more deluded than he had thought. Still, the possibility that Luke believed that he had lied, that Vader was not his father, bothered him more than he cared to admit.

One thing at a time. He would deal with the pretender first. Then, his son.

"Lord Vader?" The newly promoted Ensign Lancer interrupted his thoughts. "We've found Skywalker, sir."