Chapter 5

Luke stared at the hideous creature before him, unbelieving. What kind of sick joke was this? His father was a Jedi Knight, a great warrior, not a Dark Lord of the Sith! What was this man playing at?

Yet what if he was telling the truth?

"Darth Vader betrayed and murdered your father..."

"He didn't kill your father... he IS your father..."

Obi-wan's words warred with the creature's declaration, both pounding louder and louder in his mind as if each was trying to drown out the other. Vader had killed his father, Vader WAS his father... he was a Jedi's son, he was Sith's spawn... both couldn't be right, one had to be lying... but which one, WHICH ONE...

"Search your feelings, Skywalker," the horrid being grinned. "The Force may be dimmed, but your bond with Vader remains strong. Sense it now, and learn the truth."

Something inside Luke screamed for him to not listen to this monster, but he obeyed anyhow. He extended his awareness as far as he could, only to encounter a barrier that closed in around him like a black fist. There was a flaw in the shield, however -- a fissure through which the Force snaked in and out in a strange tether, a bond...

Vader's pain registered along that connection -- not only the burning agony of his injuries, but a ragged pain in his soul, a despair and rage that knew no bounds. And deeper still... memories of another life, another name, a woman, a pregnancy, a ripping betrayal...

I knew who you were the moment we discovered your name, he sent along their connection, every syllable filled with pain. I knew you were my son...

When he turned to face the Dark Lord again, it was to see the man gazing fixedly at him. Before Luke could ask anything, Vader nodded his head once, slowly, before lowering it again in resignation. He knew... Vader knew the truth, and he had confirmed this beast's words.

No... it can't be...

"No!" Luke protested, turning toward their captor again. "It's not true! It's impossible!"

"Deny it all you will, Skywalker, but it does not change the facts," came the cool reply. "This man was not always the broken creature you see before you. He was once a great man... a great Jedi Knight."

"Shut up, old man," barked Han, leveling his blaster. "Quit messing with the kid's head before I blow yours to chaos."

He gave a cold, clotted laugh. "Put it away, Solo, before you incur a harsh penalty. Drawing on the Emperor usually means death, you know."

The Emperor? This was the Emperor? Vader's own superior had plotted this?

Seeing the confusion on Luke's face, the twisted Sith monarch continued. "There is quite the story behind Anakin Skywalker, young man. And I do hope you're prepared to hear it, because your destiny will become so much clearer once I am through."

"Luke, don't listen to him!" Han shouted. "Kill him and let's go!"

Chewie added a retort.

"No," Luke ordered. "Let him finish." Emperor or not, captive or not, he needed to hear the truth.

"Your father was once one of the greatest Jedi that had ever studied at the Temple upon Corusant," Palpatine told him with great relish. "He was strong in the Force, incredibly strong, with abilities far beyond the average Jedi. But with that power came arrogance. He knew he was ahead of many of his fellow Jedi, even his teachers, and he took that to mean that the laws and Codes of the Order didn't apply to him. He was above such rules, he felt. They did not apply to one so powerful that he was obviously destined for greatness. And so he disobeyed his Master over and over, disregarding direct orders time and again, behaving recklessly. And his foolishness culminated in one bold act of rebellion -- he married your mother, something the Jedi Order forbade."

Luke turned back to Vader. His helmeted head hung to his chest, and along their bond Luke felt the cold, keen knife of guilt that sliced into the man's heart. The Emperor spoke the truth.

"Your mother, Padme, was all your father ever could have wanted -- beautiful beyond measure, strong and clever, yet kind and sensitive as well." His lip curled, as if he couldn't understand the benefits of such qualities. "They would have been quite happy together, even if their illicit marriage had been discovered. And when Anakin received the news that Padme was pregnant, it seemed he had everything he needed to be happy.

"But your father craved something else, young Skywalker -- power. The power of the Force, but not of the light side. For there are far greater powers to be had of the dark side, some considered unnatural. Your father desired these for himself, lusted for them with all his heart..."

Vader growled low in his throat. Indignant rage began to pour through their connection...

"Don't deny it, former apprentice," the Emperor snarled. "You wanted the power of the dark side. You craved it. You came to me and begged me to take you on as your apprentice, even slaying a Jedi Master who sought my life in order to ensure that I could teach you my secrets."

Vader shook, then dropped his head in shame. The rage died away.

"At my behest Anakin helped me set Order 66 in motion -- the order to destroy the Jedi Order. While clone troopers mowed down their Jedi generals on battlefields across the planet, Anakin went for the heart of the Order, the Jedi Temple itself. He wielded the saber that struck down hundreds -- no, thousands -- of Jedi within the walls of the Temple... including children. Knights, Masters, students, teachers, healers, scholars, younglings, infants... all met their doom at his hands. And the very lightsaber you hold now is the weapon he used to spill their blood upon the Temple floors."

Shocked, Luke stared at the weapon. His father's legacy, given to him by Obi-wan, was a tool of butchery?

"And as if he hadn't wreaked enough damage," Palpatine leered, "he committed a final atrocity, a final barbaric act that cut him off from the light forever. When his beloved Padme came to him, even in her pregnant state, and pleaded with him to renounce the dark side, he killed her."

The previous revelation that Vader was his father had been a punch to the gut. But this... this was an even harsher blow. His mother...

"It was a miracle you survived, young Skywalker," Palpatine grinned. "Only through the will of the Force and Obi-wan's swift intervention were you born before the injuries your father inflicted upon your mother took their toll. It's almost as if the Force had some purpose for keeping you alive, Skywalker, some mysterious reason..."

He whirled to face Vader, unbelieving. His father couldn't have... Vader might be evil, but surely he couldn't be that low, to kill the woman he loved...

The cyborg kept his head lowered, not daring to look the young Jedi in the eye. His shoulders jerked with silent sobs. Guilt and self-loathing rolled from him in a black wave that Luke felt even with his sensitivity to the Force so deadened. It was true, then. Vader had murdered his own wife... and Luke's mother...

An awful fire, black and cold, ignited in his chest.

"This man destroyed your family," the Emperor went on. "He turned his back upon you and your mother in order to pursue the power of the dark side. He has the blood of millions upon his gloves... including your mother's. He is not worthy to look upon your face, Skywalker, and call you son."

The flames of hatred flared, but darker and colder rather than brighter and hotter. Obi-wan was right -- Vader HAD betrayed and murdered his family. Thanks to Vader's selfishness and power-lust, Luke had been virtually orphaned. He would never know his true parents, never know what his mother looked like, never feel her presence... nor would he ever know the Anakin Skywalker that Obi-wan had called friend, never know the true face of his father...

"He must pay for his crimes," the Emperor hissed. "In blood."

Luke turned to glare at the monarch. "You want me to kill him?"

The Emperor gave a slick smile. "You, of all people, have suffered more betrayal at his hands than anyone else in the galaxy. The Jedi merely died. The people of Alderaan merely died. The lower officers he throttled so casually merely died. Their pain has ended. You, however, lost your family. And nothing can heal that wound." He gestured toward the broken Dark Lord. "Thus, it is appropriate that you strike him down."

Luke turned back to Vader, who was again gazing upon him. He barely heard the Emperor's blood-chilling laugh, barely heard Han and Chewie shouting protest. Only Vader commanded his thoughts, his senses. Only Vader existed. Only Vader mattered.

He raised the blue-bladed lightsaber, pointing it at the man's throat. Vader only held his gaze, not even shrinking back from the blade that was mere centimeters away from decapitating him, his mask illuminated by the eerie pale blue glow.

Kill me, he sent along their link, his voice dark and heavy with an overwhelming despair. I deserve nothing less. Just end it...

Luke was more than happy to comply. But there was one more thing he had to know.

"Why?" he demanded, his voice a deadly whisper. "Why did you do this? Why did you kill my mother and deprive me of a father? Was the dark side really worth it?"

Vader was shaking from the effort of keeping his head raised, but he never broke eye contact. The Jedi could not help me... I saw your mother die in a vision and I knew they would not help me save her even if they could... they forbade marriage and would have thrown me from the Order and tarnished Padme's name had I gone to them for aid...

Luke pulled the saber back a few centimeters, puzzled.

Palpatine hinted at the powers of the dark side, saying they could save the dying... and when he revealed himself as a Sith, I believed I could learn from him how to save Padme... I was more than willing to become his servant if he would help me save my beloved and the child she carried... even willing to destroy the Order I had served for half my life...

The cold anger in his chest flickered, weakening. The saber fell to his side. Vader had wanted to save Mother, not kill her? But then how...

Obi-wan survived Order 66, and I feared he would turn Padme against me... and when he and Padme arrived aboard the same ship to confront me, I believed he had succeeded... in my anger I throttled her... and in dueling Obi-wan I was shattered, scarred forever...

Through their link Luke could almost see and feel that horrific event -- and even though the Force was diminished here, he still nearly screamed aloud at the terrible burning pain, the sudden numbness in his arms and legs, the stench of charred flesh and burned hair...

When Palpatine rescued me and pieced me together again, he revealed I had killed Padme... and that I was still bound to my part of the deal... I had lost my beloved and child and gained only slavery to the Emperor...

His head slumped to his chest again. Death will be welcome after all I have endured... and stars know I am deserving of it... please, kill me now...

Luke stared a long time at the Dark Lord, stunned at his revelation. The Emperor had told the truth, but a twisted version of it, painting Vader as a sociopathic power-glutton. Vader, too, had delivered the truth, but a far more honest one, one not absolving him of guilt but at least explaining his actions. And if he could feel remorse for what he had done, if he could feel this much pain remembering what he had done... he was no monster.

Luke extinguished his lightsaber. "I won't kill you, Father."

The Emperor curled his lips back in a snarl. "Skywalker, you'll never get this chance again..."

"This chance to what?" Luke demanded. "To slaughter a wounded and chained man? No thanks."

"He destroyed your family! He killed your mother and would have killed you too! He abandoned you on a cesspool of a planet while he amassed power for himself! He deserves to suffer, to die..."

Luke shook his head. "I don't deny that he did those things. But that doesn't give me license to sink to his level."

The Emperor's face was a hideous mask of rage for a brief moment. Then a terrifying grin replaced the expression as an elegantly crafted lightsaber slid from his robe's sleeve and landed in his clawlike fingers, igniting with a sinister hiss. "One Skywalker will die today, young one. I give you the choice -- the death of the elder by your hand, or the death of the younger by MY hand. Choose wisely."

Luke lit his own weapon and raised it, ready to parry should the Emperor attack. The Emperor's true intentions, and the means by which he would accomplish them, were frighteningly clear now. He had entrapped his own apprentice in this Jabesh temple, knowing it to be both remote and populated with enough rock lizards to prevent him from drawing on the Force, but not enough to sever the mental link Vader shared with his son. He had tortured the man relentlessly, using his pain as a beacon to draw Luke here. And now, he would have Luke kill Vader in hatred in order to breed rage and despair in his soul, in order to acquire an apprentice deeply meshed in the dark side.

Luke had no intention of joining the dark side. By now he had seen enough of the effects of the black power for himself to want no part in it. And besides, if Palpatine could cast aside the servant who had been loyal for over twenty years, how disposable would Luke be under his dominion?

He would rather die than be the Emperor's slave, he decided. He held his saber ready, waiting for Palpatine's attack...

But Han acted first. Without thinking he flung the closest object handy -- the cage containing the Jabesh rock lizards Kolton had given them.

The Emperor was by no means immune to the effects of the lizards, so he had no Force-powers to block the object. But he had his lightsaber, and this he used to take a clumsy swipe at the cage as it hurtled for his face. The blade met its mark, searing through the thin bars as easily as a candle melted spiderwebs.

Luke's vision exploded in a riot of light and color, and his ears filled with a multitoned roar he was hard-placed to describe. He dropped his lightsaber and clapped both hands to his head in an effort to drown out the sensory overload. It was no use -- the rock lizards' released energy still poured through him, wreaking havoc with his senses. The rock lizards hit the floor, stunned, and skittered off, though they continued to vent the storm of the Force they commonly unleashed when badly frightened. And their fear only set off a terrible chain reaction as every other lizard in the Temple released its own energy in response to their fright, creating a maelstrom of power that threatened to overwhelm sanity.

The Emperor screamed, clawing at his own face as the flood of power overwhelmed his nerves. His eyes were mad with pain and rage...

And suddenly an ebon hand was at the monarch's throat, a hand clad in black leather so tattered his cybernetic components were visible, the wires and servomotors badly damaged from having been jerked out of a steel manacle by intense force alone. Vader stood shakily before his master, threatening to topple any moment, but his defiant gaze upon the Emperor never wavered at all. Palpatine's eyes bulged, not from the grip on his neck, but from recognizing that his apprentice was no longer the subservient creature he had lorded over for two decades, but a dangerous enemy.

Without his voice synthesizer, Vader could only manage a weak whisper. But his next words could not have carried more force or anger had the synthesizer been in proper working order:

"Do with me what you will... but don't you DARE threaten my son..."

The Emperor clawed wildly at the hand at his throat, all thought of Luke forgotten... and Luke took advantage of the distraction to move in and strike the fatal blow.

Again Palpatine screamed, and electricity sputtered from his hands as he writhed in his final agonies. Vader held him tightly until he had breathed his last, then dropped the body.

Father and son stared at each other for a moment that seemed to be a millennium, both overwhelmed by what the other had done for them. Then Vader groaned and collapsed on the spot, wheezing in pain and exhaustion.

Break...

"...so we loaded him onto the Falcon and treated him as best we could," Han finished. "There was a whole lot of damage, though, so there wasn't much we could do but clean and wrap it up and keep him comfortable."

Mothma was silent over the Falcon's holocomm unit. When she spoke again, her voice was as serene as ever, as if she hadn't just received news that the Emperor was dead and Lord Vader was en route to the Rebel base. "I thought I warned the two of you to not endanger yourselves needlessly."

"Yeah, try telling the kid that," Han muttered.

Mothma almost smiled at that. "Right. That is a warning he is not likely to heed. And once he chose to get involved, I must say he acted commendably." Her voice became serious. "Who else have you told about his relation to Darth Vader?"

Han snorted. "We're in hyperspace. No one to tell besides Chewie, who knows already, and the ship's computer, which wouldn't give a kriff anyhow."

"Knowing Vader is Skywalker's father is startling news. And I would rather not have it flouted about the base. It could demoralize many of our troops, and if they chose to defect, it could cripple us. The war is not over yet, Solo, and we need soldiers." Her expression softened slightly. "And Luke deserves privacy regarding his past."

Han nodded. "Understood, ma'am."

"Good. Get some rest, Solo. I'm sure you need it. And alert us if anything else happens."

"Ma'am... what's going to be done with Lord Vader?"

"Medical staff will take him as soon as you land. Once he has recovered... we will see how things progress from there."

"All right."

"May the Force be with you."

Han disconnected the comm and stood. "Take the controls, Chewie."

Chewie barked affirmatively.

In the passenger hold of the Falcon, Vader had been strapped down to a bunk and was surrounded by what little outdated medical equipment Han kept aboard the Falcon. Luke sat by his side, busy changing a bandage that covered a horrible burn just below the shoulder. Han cleared his throat, and Luke glanced up quickly.

"Is he coherent?" asked Han.

Luke shook his head. "He's been out since the Emperor died."

Han stared at the ebony mask for a long time. "I told Mothma, kid. Thought she should know."

Luke nodded. "Yes, she should know. Leia too. Other than that... no one else. Not right now."

"Okay, I'll respect that." His gaze moved to Luke's face now. "Kid, I know he's your father. But the Emperor was right -- he's killed a lot of people. Why... why did you help him?"

Luke sighed and turned back to the wounded Dark Lord. "Because he was in pain. He needed me. I couldn't deny him, not even knowing who he was. And if I had killed him... I would have lost my father again."

Han snorted. "He's not exactly Father of the Year material, kid."

"I know. But he's still my father. And there are things I want to know."

Han wasn't sure if he understood, but he was willing to give the kid the benefit of the doubt. After all, he was usually right about things like this.

"I'm going to bed. Wake me up if anything goes wrong."

"I'll do that. And Han... thanks for helping me."

"No problem."

As Han ducked out and headed for his sleeping quarters, he could only think of the unlikely extra passenger on the Falcon... and that things were bound to get a LOT more interesting among the Alliance once they returned to Hoth.