I AM SO SORRY. I know I haven't posted in over a year. I feel so bad! I was trying to rebuild my ideas for the story. I lost my focus.

Well, here's a really nice chapter to make up for it! (It really hasn't been beta-read yet. Sorry!)

Warning: Some cursing later on in the chapter.

"Lieutenant, this is a s-black transmission. Only Lord Vader may see the contents of this message. He knows I am sending it to him. You only have to deliver it." The captain stood in front of a young lieutenant, holding to data pads in his hand.

Lieutenant Trahan acknowledged the captain. "Yes, sir. May I ask, sir, why this is not being sent electronically?" Captain Blanser gave him a piercing gaze.

"Have you never handled a s-black transmission before?"

Trahan shifted slightly, "No, sir." Blanser just sighed.

"Do you at least know what s-black transmission is?" enquired Blanser.

"No, sir," Trahan answered slightly abashed.

"S-black is so highly classified that the material is to sensitive to send over holonet or it might be intercepted or blocked. There is a secure chip that only the emperor or Lord Vader can unlock. This is the most secure way of transporting the material."

Trahan nodded, but asked another question. "Do I wait for a reply, sir?"

"You do whatever Lord Vader wishes," sighed Blanser, "Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Go now." With that, Trahan turned on his heal and walked out of the room.

Trahan walked down the long corridors of the Super Star Destroyer. He had two copies of the transmission, both encoded separately. If he performed well on this job, he would definitely get promoted soon. Anyone who survived an encounter with Vader would be promoted, if he wasn't to severely damaged.

Trahan was the son of a retired Admiral who followed in his father's footsteps, trying to make his own impression on the Imperial Navy. So far, he was only given mediocre positions that required little difficult thought or planning. He felt that his father most likely asked his old war buddies that he be placed in cushy positions, but he had not discovered any definitive proof of this…arrangement, yet.

He continued walking down the third corridor and entered the hallway that led up to Lord Vader's chambers. Most officers on this ship never got near those levels. Trahan thought about the large amount of space the chambers took up and wondered how many of these rooms Lord Vader actually needed.

Entering his identification card into the proper slot, a door slid back. A sleek black office with a very advanced holoscreen and a trintium alloy desk greeted him. Data pads were neatly stacked on the left side of the desk. There were no personal effects of any kind. The room reeked of sterile impersonality. The sound of a door sliding back snapped him out of his reverie.

Lord Vader, in his frightening majesty, strode forward. He walked straight towards the frightened lieutenant. "I believe you have a message for me?" his deep voice rumbled. Without a word, Trahan handed the data pads over. Vader paused a moment, perhaps, Trahan thought, unlocking the chip. Vader then glanced at them quickly and looked back at the lieutenant. "Stay here." With that, Vader left the room.

Trahan bowed as the lord left and stood at attention as he waited for his lord's return.

Trahan felt slightly indebted to his father in a way he had never felt before. He thought that a life of adventure was his, but after twice meeting the dark lord, Trahan felt any feeling of normalcy leave him. The lord was imposing and depressing, but no emotions could show on Trahan's face while meeting with him.

Now, he would have to see Vader again. Not only for a brief meeting, but also for a whole exchange! Granted he wouldn't have to speak to him for the entire time, but being in that close of proximity was detrimental to one's health.

The official assignment title was "Temporary Attaché to Lord Vader, Involving Contact with Potential Civilian Liaison and Correspondent." Translation: he was supposed to be the servant during the meeting between Lord Vader and a local wise guy. Not his idea of fun.

Right now, Trahan sat on the shuttle, watching as they were preparing to land in an uncouth city. They would travel to meet up with the "Potential Civilian Liason." From there, Trahan was unsure of what would happen. Fortunately, he was too insignificant to mean much to Lord Vader, so extra contact with the Sith lord would be avoided.

But that still didn't lessen his fears. His health insurance premiums would be frighteningly high, due to contact with Lord Vader. The chance of his life being lost would be increasingly higher. It was bad enough that he was located on the same ship as Lord Vader, but this extra contact only made things worse. Oh, why couldn't he have been a businessman?

Luke woke up to his usual chronometer alarm. It was a little too early for the teen-ager, but he didn't have much of a choice. Today was his first duty assignment in Mos Eisley. The captain from the last "job" told him he would be needed in the larger city. Luke was torn in by indecision. Should he go and get the higher income? Or should he tell them he had never been to Mos Eisley and had no idea of what to do?

Coincidentally, a speeder flew past him as he was trying to respond to the captain. That made up his mind. SYG-2088, that was his goal and he had to remember it. So now, Luke had to go to Mos Eisley and meet with the Imps.

There were two problems though. The first problem was telling his aunt and uncle. So far, he had kept them out of the loop that he was guiding the Imps around. He just told them he had a job in Anchorhead in the afternoons after school. He was allowed to take the speeder into the city then. But how would he convince them to give the speeder to him for the day? He probably wouldn't return till late, since it took a couple of hours for a round trip to Mos Eisley.

That led to his second problem: how was he supposed to get around Mos Eisley? He knew of some buildings there, but he had no idea where they were. He could get a map, but then again, so could the Imps. But the Imps hired him to be a guide to the lesser-known areas, the areas not on the map.

"Well," Luke muttered to himself, "it doesn't really matter if I can't find the buildings if I can't even borrow the speeder!" Luke had a little more than half an hour to figure out what he was going to do, and he still had no ideas.

Lord Vader boarded the shuttle calmly, betraying nothing of the gale of emotions under his mask to the troops on the shuttle with him. Who was this boy? Why did he use the name Skywalker? Why did he feel like there was something important about the boy? And, worst of all, why was the Force identity around the boy hidden? It seemed almost as if someone was hiding the Force signature of the boy, the Force signature that every creature had.

Vader sat down in his seat behind the pilot. After the final checklist, the shuttle departed the Star Destroyer and preceded to the surface of the planet he hoped he would never see again, the planet of his mother's death—Tatooine. The flight was uneventful and the shuttle docked into one of the many landing sites. The crew disembarked, including his annoying, new attaché. Vader was the only one to remain on the ship. If too many people caught sight of him, the boy might be too afraid to appear. Even on the Rim worlds, the word of Vader's ruthless reputation had spread.

Vader moved to the onboard computer; he tried hacking into the holonet and other databases that were only available planet side to find some information on "Skywalker." Unfortunately, Tatooine never had been a planet with accurate databases and modern technology. The only things he could find about "Skywalker" were about himself, years before when he won the pod race. No school records were listed anywhere, no license records, no birth certificates. Nothing. It was like "Skywalker" didn't exist on Tatooine. Yet, Vader still felt that there was more to the boy than just a racing fan using a name of a slave from a race twenty years earlier. It just was too implausible.

So, Vader sat there and waited.

With one simple word, Luke felt that his future was set in stone: "No."

Luke was standing in front of his uncle, fists clenched. "Why?" Luke yelled back at his uncle. His aunt had seen the impending fight and had moved out, muttering she had something else to do.

"Why, Luke?" his uncle mocked. "There is a thing called responsibility. I understand you have this job, which you still won't say what it is exactly. But remember that this farm comes first. If this farm goes down, you will have nothing. You will have no house, no possessions, no future—"

"No future?" Luke interrupted. His temper was flaring now. "No future? What do you think I am, a slave? I have gone to school, I know what I'm doing. I have a job now, don't I? So don't you dare say I have no future without this sith-cursed place! I should have left years ago!"

"Leave then! Leave like your father did! Become a waste like he did," Owen screamed, spitting with fury. His face had gone red and he was clutching a chair as if it were his last grasp on sanity. "Go work for the empire! Die for the sith who whores himself out to the emperor."

"Guess what, uncle?" Luke said with frightening calm and composure. He slowly unclenched his fists; a smirk crept up his face. "I have been working for the empire. My job? I guide the imperial troops around, showing them gangs of thieves and criminals." He strode forward until his face was nearly touching his uncle's. "You know what else? I killed a man. Wait, that's not quite right. I killed an alien! And I stole his money! So uncle, screw yourself." With that, Luke turned around on his heal and strode out of the room, and into his room. His uncle stood with his mouth open, as if petrified to the ground.

Luke quickly grabbed all of his possessions that he needed, including the money. He grabbed the speeder and left. He would never return. He would never see his aunt and uncle again.

Luke was tired after the long journey, but he still had a full day ahead of him. He quickly made it to the spaceports where he was supposed to meet the troops, only stopping once to get a map.

He leaned up against the wall in a corner, waiting to see the troops, and glancing over the map in his hands. A quick flash of white alerted him to the presence of his "guests." With a smooth movement, he shoved the map into his pocket and walked forward to the troops. The busy port avoided the troops as much as possible. The fear was almost palpable in the air. With cool confidence, Luke strode forward to whom he assumed was the leader of the troop, ignoring the wandering officer in the background.

"Hi, I'm Skywalker." The commander (Luke had been right) looked him up and down, and then saluted him.

"Commander Tyles, reporting, sir. Permission to report your arrival to command." Luke felt stunned with the formalities, but nodded quickly. The commander turned around to alert the shuttle through the comm. Why was he treated as if he were a commanding officer, Luke wondered. After a short conversation, the commander turned around. Then Luke felt it before he saw it. He had felt that presence before, hadn't he?

The great black shadow descended down the ramp and strode towards them. The 'troopers and the officer cleared a path to Luke and quickly snapped to attention. The black mass, with the fluttering cape stopped in front of Luke. "I am Darth Vader."

Luke stood in stunned silence, then managed to force out, "Skywalker."

For the first time since Luke's birth, father and son had met, but neither of them had a clue about their relationship and what lay in their combined future.

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