The lift doors opened and the Dark Lord stepped onto the bridge.
The level of tension and disquiet raised noticeably and behind his mask, Vader smiled viciously. He found that fear invigorating.
"Good morning, Lord Vader," Captain Kyle greeted him formally.
"Captain, I have reasons to believe there could have been an intruder on board," Vader didn't waste any time on formalities. "I want every piping system checked, every nook and cranny of this ship turned inside out and inspected thoroughly."
"Certainly, milord," the Captain acknowledged with a nod, a somewhat bewildered expression on his face. "May I ask why you used the words 'could have been'?"
Vader withdrew into himself for a moment, considering his next words carefully.
"I felt their presence last night, but this morning it had disappeared."
It didn't take a genius to guess what thoughts crossed the Captain's mind at the Sith Lord's words. But Kyle was wise enough not to utter them.
"I want a special thorough search of my quarters. Look for any small hideouts, narrow passages, any place where a child could go into hiding."
"A child, Lord Vader?" Kyle's eyebrows skyrocketed.
"Or a small body," Vader's voice left no room for questioning his perceptions.
There was a short pause.
"As you wish, milord. The search will start immediately," the Captain acquiesced, turning about and beginning to issue orders.
Vader walked up to the window and looked out at the immense blackness of space. An uncomfortable feeling had settled in his chest. A strange feeling of foreboding. The knowledge of something he always should have known, and yet, even now, it was a billion light-years away.
Eight hours of search with no positive results passed, with Vader's still figure looking out the window, deep in thought.
"Lord Vader, we're entering the Vortex system," Captain Kyle's voice drew the Dark Lord out of his musings.
"Is my shuttle ready?" Vader's voice seemed to come from far away.
"Yes, sir; it is."
Vader turned about, the empty sockets of his mask seeming to bore into the Captain's eyes.
"Nothing so far, milord," Kyle replied, swallowing a sudden lump in his throat.
"Keep searching. There must be a trace of the intruder's presence somewhere. And you'd better find it."
Kyle felt the little hairs on the back of his neck standing on end at the sound of the final sentence. He could only nod sharply before the Dark Lord's cape turned its back on him.
Vader had come to hate these missions to cross every corner of the galaxy, eliminating every little source of resistance against Palpatine. He agreed it was necessary to maintain the reign of terror at first, but after a time, it became counter-productive.
He was tired of killing helpless people who were no match for him. It had become pathetic over time. Also, it was a waste of his abilities.
At least, this time, after taking care of that tedious job, the Executor and the rest of the Fleet were assigned to perform some full-scale drills that would be broadcast all over the galaxy, in a blatant display of power – and firepower – clearly intended to dissuade anyone who harboured any ideas against the Empire.
It was late evening when Vader retired. Captain Kyle and a young lieutenant waited for him at the entrance of his quarters, the first one with a datapad in hand. The Dark Lord made a gesture with his hand, indicating them to follow him inside.
Once in Vader's office, Kyle squared his shoulders and began his report.
"After ten hours of intensive search, the result has been negative, sir," he informed, a slight tremor in his voice.
Vader stiffened.
"However," the Captain hurried to finish, "in the process of searching your quarters, we found this." He nodded to the lieutenant, who handed to the Sith Lord something he had been holding in his hand all the time.
Vader took it and stared at it.
A small cuddly toy. A ten centimetres long cross between a teddy bear and a frog, wearing a short top with the words 'HUG ME' on the front.
"Your suspicion about a child on board was correct, sir," Kyle summarized needlessly.
Vader's hand closed on the toy, almost crushing it.
"If that is so, Captain, would you mind telling me why you found the toy, but not its owner?"
"It doesn't make sense, milord," Kyle agreed. "We used three-dimensional scanners. There are no niches, no false walls or ceilings behind your walls. Nothing. And the same goes for the rest of the ship. There's no place for anyone, child or adult, to hide."
Vader remained silent.
"We taped all the readings for you to examine if you so wish. We double-checked every corner of the ship."
Vader became absent for an endless minute. Kyle and his lieutenant were beginning to fidget when the Dark Lord returned from wherever he had retreated into.
"I do not doubt your readings, Captain. They are correct. The child is not aboard anymore."
"Then, how did the kid get in... or leave, for that matter?" Kyle asked, nonplussed.
"I have no answer to that question... yet," Vader said. "But I will. And soon. Very soon." He walked past the two men and put the toy on the table. He looked down at it, as if willing it to answer. "You may leave now."
Vader was entering the first stages of sleep when something awakened him with a start. Recognizing it immediately, he opened the pod and stepped out of it, not bothering to draw out his lightsaber this time.
When he reached his office, his legs came to a dead stop.
There, sitting on the table, the boy waited, his eyes already settled on him.
"You seem to have developed quite an attachment to me," Vader observed dryly.
The child raised an ironical eyebrow.
The Dark Lord walked up to the boy until he was directly in front of him.
"I want you to tell me where have you been all day, and how you managed to hide your presence, not only from the scanners, but from my senses, as well."
The boy smiled, but otherwise, the expression on his face didn't change.
"I know you are Force-sensitive. I can feel the Light lingering around you. Did you use the Force to shield your presence from us?" Vader insisted.
The boy's smile grew bigger.
The Sith Lord turned about and walked away from the child, facing the doors. Anger and frustration began welling up in his chest, and something in him snapped. He turned to the boy.
"Get down from there and follow me," he ordered in a chilly voice.
The child obeyed and walked up to Vader.
"I am taking you to sickbay. I will not play babysitter for you a moment more."
Sheer panic appeared on the boy's face. He reached out and grabbed Vader's hand with both of his, trying to hold him back.
A feeling whose intensity he had forgotten a long time ago, sliced through Vader like a knife at the touch of those tiny hands. The sensors on his mechanical hand seemed to short-circuit and instinctively, he shook the little hands off with a sharp movement.
"Do not ever dare to touch me, little worm, or I will..."
The moment their eyes made contact, Vader swayed on his feet. The fear and helplessness in the child broke something inside the Sith Lord.
The boy didn't try to touch Vader again, but his eyes pinned Vader under the torrent of emotion they rained on him. For some reason, he didn't want to leave his quarters. He truly feared for his life.
Vader closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to regain control of his emotions.
"All... right, boy. All right," he uttered through gritted teeth. "For the life of me, I cannot understand what are you doing here and why you insist on staying."
The fear in the child's eyes abated, and he contemplated the Dark Lord gratefully.
Puzzlement didn't even begin to describe Vader's feelings. But another feeling soon took over. "Never mind. I have my means. This situation will be over very soon. I have duties and responsibilities, and you will never be one of them." He turned about and headed back to his chamber.
He felt the boy beginning to follow him, and he faced him again, determined to shatter that unwanted attachment.
The child had already stopped. He wrapped his arms around himself and began turning his upper body from side to side.
And Vader knew he was asking about his cuddly toy.
"No, I do not intend to hold you," he deliberately misunderstood. "And since there is no bed in here, you will have to make yourself comfortable in any way you can, as you did yesterday. Good night." He turned again, an evil smile on his lips, leaving the boy alone in the darkness of the room.
In the safety of his pod and alone with himself and his thoughts, Vader's mood darkened when he realized his inner voice was nagging at him for his cruel treatment of the child.
He could have given him back his cuddly toy and provided him with, if not a bed, at least some improvised arrangement for him to sleep as comfortably as possible.
Since when did Darth Vader care about a little boy's comfort?
'I did it to make him feel unwelcome here. That way, he will eventually ask to be returned home, wherever it is,' the Dark Lord reasoned.
But he couldn't just sit and wait for the child to want to return home. This was a most unpleasant disturbance in his life. The boy had to leave.
Now.
He settled himself to sleep, and once out of his mask and helmet, it hit him that he was staring at his right gloved hand.
The hand the boy had grabbed and held on to.
He flexed his fingers, looking at them as if they weren't a part of him anymore.
Why did that child affect him so? Why did his touch move him as only...?
'Do not go that route.'
He hadn't been touched since... since before...
Maybe that was it. Maybe it was the fact of this being his first human touch in four years.
Vader cleared his mind of disquieting thoughts. His mind was wandering to places he hadn't visited in years, and he didn't feel like visiting again.
Ever again.
The Dark Lord closed his eyes and let go.
The next morning, as soon as he opened his eyes, Vader knew the boy was gone again.
But gone where?
Once again, Vader stood in the middle of his office, more confused than he had ever been. There had to be an explanation for this.
He decided to remain in his chamber and run the ship from there. He had done it before and he knew there would be no problems. He needed the solitude to meditate.
When he had taken care of the ship's daily business and all his subordinates had their orders to carry out, Vader locked himself in his pod, and let his thoughts wander wherever they wanted to go.
Was the child a threat? Could someone be manipulating him in some way? Using the boy to get to him somehow?
Vader's lips twisted in a lopsided grin. That was next to impossible. Get to him in what way? With a bomb inside his cuddly toy?
To play a mind trick on him, perhaps?
That one was more likely. But so far, leaving aside the mystery of the boy's strange appearances and disappearances, he wasn't playing any mind tricks on him. He simply reacted to Vader's thoughts and actions, either smiling, getting serious, or showing fear or contentment.
The child was Force-sensitive and a telepath. Or an empath. Or something in between. But he was no threat. Everything in him could feel it. He was no more than a mentally impaired boy who had probably spent most of his life in medical centres, undergoing test after test, overprotected by his family, and whose only 'big adventure' had been that trip to Ando to visit its famous menagerie. Somehow, meeting him had opened his damaged mind to a whole new world of possibilities out there, and he had proceeded in the only way his brain and young age allowed him to.
Still, there was something else. Not dangerous, but...
The day passed before the Dark Lord's eyes, deep in a sea of useless speculation.
At last, seeing that his mind was moving in circles and getting nowhere, he gave up his ruminations and decided to sleep on it.
Just like the two previous nights, his eyes opened in the middle of the night when he felt the presence of the boy in his office, waiting. His finger froze when he was about to open his egg-shaped pod.
'Keep waiting,' he thought. 'Maybe you will get the hint that way.'
Vader adopted his sleeping posture again, sitting up and with his legs crossed, and drifted off.
As expected, the boy had disappeared for the third time the morning after.
Resolved to keep the child from his thoughts, Vader spent most of the day in his fighter, rehearsing the next day's routine with the rest of the Fleet. As the Empire's best pilot and the Emperor's right hand, he would lead the performance.
The galaxy would get the message, he had no doubt about it.
That night, Vader retreated earlier than usual. Even if he never slept for more than four hours, he wanted to get as much rest as possible. Tomorrow would be a very important day for the Empire and his master. Nothing could be allowed to fail.
His eyes opened on their own at midnight when he felt the boy's presence in his quarters for the fourth time in a row.
'Suit yourself, child,' he thought, closing his eyes and falling asleep almost immediately.
The next day was a glorious one for the Empire. Coruscant dawned sunny and bright. The Fleet showed off its most imposing display of force, and Vader's flag team of pilots entertained their followers with the most stunning extravaganza of acrobatic flying.
The Dark Lord only felt truly free when he became one with his ship and focused his every sense on piloting. Just him and his fighter, manoeuvering, spiralling amongst the stars in the sky.
So often, a pang of bitter nostalgia threatened to break through his barriers, but as time went by, he had learnt to crush that feeling and focus solely on his one-man dream of ruling the galaxy and making of it the place it should be.
His time would come. He only had to be patient and wait. Patience was something he had come to master in the last few years.
He only had his ambitions and his greed to live for now. More practical and rewarding goals than setting all his hopes on fallible people and their volatile feelings and morals. People were tools to use and dispose of when they had outlived their purpose. People were no concern of his.
Not anymore.
Except for that little annoyance that insisted on becoming a part of his life. That was his concern. Against his will.
He was no fool. He could see right through those big, expressive eyes as easily as they seemed to see through him.
'You stand no chance, boy. You are too late, for everything.'
He would find a way to return the boy home. If he had to take drastic measures, he would.
And that's when it occurred to him.
That night, back in the Executor, Vader was totally absorbed in his search. Sitting at his computer, he introduced the child's parameters, trying to find out if someone across the galaxy had reported him missing.
Nothing.
Vader was puzzled. At this stage, there should be a report for the child's disappearance. It had been five days already.
He extended the search from Ando's system and the surrounding ones to a galaxywide search. A four year old human boy, mute, orphan, living with his aunt and uncle.
No lost child matched the boy's description.
Vader leaned back in his seat.
Now what?
A funny tickling in his mind awakened him to the soothing warmth that always accompanied the child's presence.
Vader closed his eyes when he checked the time. It was quite late already, but still, sooner than any of the boy's other previous appearances in his quarters.
He rose to his feet and turned about. The child was three metres in front of him, a radiant smile on his face. Vader thought he detected some... impishness there, too?
'Where in hell did you come from, boy?' Vader wondered, his surprise and frustration one second away from melting into unleashed anger.
The boy's smile grew bigger and he cocked his head to one side, looking up at him.
Vader took a step forward.
"Do not play games with me, little runt. I will remove the information from your brain and leave it like..."
The child looked away and his eyes settled on a spot on the wall, above Vader's head.
The Sith Lord saw red.
"Don't you dare to ignore me, you...!"
It was then that Vader realized the boy was frowning, while staring at something over his head.
A sudden feeling of foreboding made Vader turn about sharply.
The first thing he saw, was the infrared shaft aimed directly at him. Second, the long metallic tube that disappeared up a small hole in the wall, next to the ceiling.
And for the first time in his life, Vader froze. His mind and his body simply stopped functioning. He became a helpless witness to what was happening, as if seeing it from outside himself.
Knowing he was about to be murdered.
He heard the noise of the dart being fired. As if in slow motion, he saw it heading directly for his chest... and stopping in the air twenty centimetres away from him.
The surrealism of the scene shook Vader out of his trance, and he turned his head.
The child stood exactly where he was the last time he had seen him. He had reached out his left arm, and his small forefinger was pointing straight at the dart.
Vader looked back at the frozen dart, realizing what had happened there. He looked at the boy again, just when he was lowering his arm.
The dart fell to the floor the moment the child stopped pointing at it.
The soft noise the dart made when it hit the floor spurred Vader into action. He dropped to one knee and took the dart in his hand.
The tip was sharp, clearly designed to pierce his armour. Once inside him, the small charge it carried would have detonated, causing massive damage and more than likely, his death.
Vader's respiration accelerated as adrenalin pumped in his veins. Rage as he had never known before exploded within him. He looked up, in time to see the weapon disappearing up the hole.
That meant the assassin had to be very close, probably in the adjacent room.
He sprinted for the door, barking an order to the child beside him.
"Stay here!"
Vader burst into the room next to his own. At first sight, he knew it was empty. Only a few metallic boxes and pieces from a hundred different machines lay scattered on the floor, since they used that place as a storage room.
He found no trace of the weapon just used against him, so that meant the killer had escaped somewhere else.
His heart skipped a beat. What if the killer had waited for him to leave his quarters, to escape?
THE BOY!
Vader returned to his quarters like a charging beast, one single thought in mind. The child.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
The boy was gone.
All rational thought deserted him, and he headed for his sleeping alcove breathlessly.
Nothing.
When he caught his breath and his heart stopped hammering in his chest, his legs led him back to his office. Now that calm was settling once more, he noticed that the warmth was still there.
The chair where he had been sitting swivelled, revealing the boy sitting cross-legged on it, a playful smile on his face. He raised his hand and waved at Vader.
The Dark Lord's heart swelled with something he hadn't felt in a very long time. Gratitude.
That child had saved his life. That worthless, dumb, retarded parasite had reacted when the great Sith Lord had frozen.
Something within Vader ached. It was a feeling he had sworn never to experience again, and a part of him rebelled against the weakness it represented.
And another part didn't give a damn.
He took a step forward, just as the boy jumped from the chair and observed him in that characteristic way of his, his head tilted to one side.
"I..." Vader began, suddenly experiencing another feeling just as foreign. Self-consciousness. He quickly shook it off. He was a Sith Lord! "You..." What was the matter with him! "You saved my life. I want you to know that what you did today will never be forgotten." There, that sounded more Darth Vader.
The boy looked at him with something akin to fond amusement, and his features softened even more.
Determined to pull himself together, Vader crushed the feelings the boy was arousing, and approached him.
The child craned his neck almost to breaking point, looking up at him.
"As you can see, my life can be a very dangerous one. Not the right place for a child to live. Your relatives have to be extremely worried about you. I know you cannot speak, but if you could tell me somehow where you live, I would take you there." His voice sounded shockingly soft and kind. Maybe kindness would work where harshness and threats had failed before.
The little boy smiled knowingly and stared at him with a teasing expression on his face.
And Vader knew what that expression meant.
'You won't get rid of me that easily.'
Vader turned around and started pacing the room like a caged animal. The boy looked at him patiently, his eyes infinitely soft.
Finally, Vader faced him, the living expression of frustration.
"What are you doing here! What do you want!" he demanded.
His only answer was the most dazzling smile that anyone had ever given him. Vader felt light-headed. The strangest peace suffused his being and for a second, he...
No. NO! No more weakness. Never again!
"I do not know what it is you want, but whatever it is, you will not get it from me. The sooner you accept it the better it will be for you." His voice sounded as cold as ice. "I am in your debt, and I hope to pay that debt one day, but do not push me or you will be pushing your luck, boy."
Vader turned about and headed for the room connecting with his office. He entered his pod and sat down. His hands closed into fists and he shut his eyes, striving for control.
The effect this child had on him defied all logic. He should be kicking him out of his ship, out of his life, and getting him home; or at the very least, reporting him to child care so they took care of him until they found his family; and yet, he was sheltering him in his quarters, where any of his officers could step at any moment.
'What am I doing? What is happening to me?' he asked himself for the umpteenth time. 'I cannot seem to think straight when I am close to him.'
But not even now that he was away from the boy did he have an answer to his aberrant behaviour.
He remained like that for a very long time, until it dawned on him that he had forgotten to close the pod. Grunting, Vader stood up and stepped out of it.
Slowly, warily, he entered his office.
The child was curled up into a ball in his chair, sound asleep. He was so tiny that he looked like a little island in the centre of the seat. He looked lonely and bereft, with his arms wrapped around himself.
Vader winced beneath his mask at the needful sight.
'This child's... starved for love. All the hugs, kisses and caresses in the world don't seem nearly enough.'
The Dark Lord closed his eyes and looked away.
'It's as if... as if he had withdrawn into himself from birth, waiting for something or someone.'
Vader turned around and walked away.
'Waiting for that special person to unlock him from his self-imposed prison, and set him free.'
Vader took out the boy's cuddly toy from the drawer where he had put it away, and stared at it.
'Starved for love. Starved for love...'
The Sith Lord returned to his office and watched the child sleeping until he lost track of time. He only snapped out of his trance when he saw his hand reaching out and almost settling on the blond head.
Blond? How could he tell it was blond? Certainly, he could tell the boy was light-haired, but he had no way to know he was blond.
'You would like for him to be blond, wouldn't you? Like a mirror image of you at his age. Like you would wish your child to be if...'
Vader's nostrils flared when he realized the direction his thoughts were taking. He could feel the heat of the searing wave of anger and pain moving up his neck, and spreading all over his face.
Still, he placed the cuddly toy on the child's lap.
'Starved for love. Starved for love...'
"Not me, boy. Not me," he muttered, turning on his heels and returning to his chamber in long strides.
The pod closed with a definite clank.
TO BE CONTINUED...