When the order had come through for the Executioner to reroute to handle an insurgency, it had seemed like overkill. A small, backwater world made up of farmers and millworkers was hardly a threat, even if they were pushing back. It didn't take the 501st to quiet a budding rebellion on a planet like that, much less a Sith Lord and his son. It wasn't until they touched down that Luke was let in on their real goal: they were after a Jedi.
Not that his father would tell him anything more than that.
"You know I could be more help if you'd share," he grumbled once they were out of earshot of the troopers that had gone to the surface with them.
He felt his father's glare, even if he couldn't see it from behind the tinted lenses. "You were made aware when it was necessary."
And not a moment sooner, which had become the frustrating reality after he'd been taken by Ahsoka Tano, or perhaps after she had supposedly betrayed his father, which even all these months later Luke had trouble settling within his own mind. Her determination and her offer to help had felt genuine while his father's excuse had not. And perhaps it was that conflict that had kept his father from sharing. Luke could feel all the aggravation with none of the explanation and it was becoming infuriating.
"Your focus must remain on the goal."
The teen looked over, his simmering temper boiling at the flat command. "I am focused."
Darth Vader came to an abrupt halt and turned, the 501st continuing ahead. "Your thoughts betray you and they remain scattered. With each new distraction, you open yourself up to dangers you have not foreseen."
"But you have?" Luke popped back. "Then tell me. If you keep secrets from me, what good does that do?"
His father studied him for a long moment and Luke fought the urge to squirm, to fill the relative silence with further arguments, but as quickly as Father had stopped, he pivoted around and began walking again. "The goal is all that matters," he grunted as Luke had to scurry to catch up.
It is what will keep us alive.
Luke startled at the first words over their bond in weeks, and with them came the well-guarded fear. He wasn't referring to the goal of their mission. He meant the end goal. The one that would displace Palpatine and give them both the chance they needed to survive.
Are we close?
No response came as they caught up with the stormtrooper that had made their way ahead of them, the one Luke had nicknamed Barrix waiting to accept orders in regards to the village they were closing in on. "Lord Vader, readings show life forms hiding throughout the village. Some firepower, though they don't appear eager to surrender."
"Then we shall make them, Sergeant," Vader answered.
There was a nudge over their bond and Luke steadied himself. If the villagers fought, they wouldn't stand a chance, and they were going to fight. He watched his father stride forward and Luke's lightsaber hilt snapped off his belt and was pulled into his hand, thumb at the ready to flick it on if needed.
Not that Father needed his protection.
A flick of a black glove sent a pile of crates jolting to the left, revealing a young man with what looked like an old blaster rifle. He didn't have time to level the weapon as he was pulled off the ground, boots dragging in the dust and fingers losing their grip as both hands struggled to untie the invisible knot around his throat.
"You have among you an enemy of the Empire," Vader boomed. "Hand the Jedi over or you will all meet his fate."
Luke heard the snap of the man's neck and he fell to the ground, eyes staring hollowly. There was a sharp cry, then another. One villager - a woman with fiery hair the colour of Mara's - led what they thought was an attack. After her came dozens more, and one by one they fell by blaster fire and two red lightsabers. They didn't stand a chance.
But they weren't meant to. They were a distraction. A sacrifice. Luke heard the distant roar of the craft's engines beyond the screams of the dying and he focused through it, pinpointing the source. "Barrix!" he yelled, and the stormtrooper that had accepted the name ages ago now took off with him without a hint of hesitation.
Luke dodged and sidestepped as blaster fire filled the air around him, the number of villagers rushing to their slaughter for one Jedi to escape not lost to him. The craft was already in the air by the time they reached it. Too far for blaster fire to stop it and he reared back to throw his lightsaber with all his might.
"Sir," Barrix said sharply and Luke turned, seeing that he had a very different type of weapon in his hand than he usually carried. This one was capable of launching a tracking device, but it'd need help to reach the ship speeding towards the atmosphere
Barrix fired and Luke reached out, pushing the device as hard as he could with one hand and pulling with the Force against the ship to slow it down with the other. He felt his boots start to slide against the dirt as the ship pulled hard, but the combination worked as the tracker latched on. Luke released his hold, stumbling forward as he did. Barrix reached out to steady him. "We have them, sir," he acknowledged as the ship broke through the atmosphere to what the Jedi inside surely thought was his escape.
"Good," Luke huffed, his gaze sweeping the carnage that had been a village before their arrival. At least it hadn't been in vain.
"Sir?"
Barrix's voice cut through a fog Luke hadn't realized he was wading through, his tone suggesting it wasn't his first attempt to gain his attention. He hadn't realized how exhausted he was. How much trying to hold onto the ship had taken it out of him. He'd seen his father pluck them from the sky before. Not often, but it had happened, and Darth Vader never swayed.
"Lord Natus!"
The shout sounded distantly as everything went dark around him.
—-
He came back to consciousness in stages. The first thing he truly became aware of was a distant, heavy ache that he couldn't quite identify the source of. Then the sounds followed after that. The low, steady rumble of the hyperspace engines and air being forced through the vents of the ship. And the steady, rhythmic breathing that had become both familiar and sometimes even comforting since his childhood. Father.
Luke pried his eyes open to find himself flat on his back in his own bed, staring at the ceiling in his quarters on the Executioner. He swallowed hard and found his throat strangely dry as he tried to focus and piece together what had happened. There'd been a battle, a fleeing Jedi, and a tracker. That's right. He'd tried to hold the ship in place for Barrix to have a better chance to tag it. He just couldn't quite remember if they'd gotten it or not….
"Yes," his father stated the answer out loud, drawing Luke's attention to the right side of the room. The Sith Lord stood at the large viewing window, watching stars streaking by as they sped through hyperspace. He turned as Luke started to shift, feeling a strange pull along his left side. "Were you not aware you had been struck?"
It took a moment for him to sort through his thoughts enough for the question to make sense and he reached around to where he'd felt the pull of a healing wound. "I was focused on the goal," he tossed his father's earlier words back to him.
Conflicting emotions battled within his father before they were cut off from their bond, leaving Luke in the silence that had dominated it recently. He forced himself to a sitting position and caught a glimpse of his father's gold eyes behind the lenses of his mask. Neither flinched away in a silent battle of wills, but after a long moment Luke's shoulders slumped and he loosed a long breath. He knew his father was angry with him. Or disappointed. Irritated. Something along those lines. Every time he got close to figuring it out, he was shut off. If it was the fact that he'd entertained Tano's offer or his budding relationship with Mara - if it could even be called that with as little as they saw each other - or both, he wasn't sure, and he couldn't fix it if he couldn't find the broken piece.
A small sigh sounded from the black mask, drawing Luke's attention. "You did well, my son," he spoke the first bit of praise Luke had heard in ages. "It was your strength that kept the Jedi from escaping."
"Then the tracker worked? Do we know where he's going?"
"We are in pursuit to the planet Alderaan."
"Commander Renz's home planet?"
"He will accompany me to the surface."
Luke frowned, carefully kicking the covers from his legs so that he could swing his feet to the floor. "I'll be dressed and ready to—"
"You will remain here."
"I'm fine."
"Your injuries have not healed."
"Close enough. Bacta tanks work wonders." He stood, proving that he was steady and crossed his arms over his chest. "Would you sit by, if it were you?" His father didn't answer and Luke pushed a frustrated breath from his nose. "How can I earn your forgiveness if I'm never allowed the chance?"
"There is nothing to forgive," his father answered automatically.
"Then why did you shut me out after Lothal?"
And there it was: the question finally spoken out loud. For better or worse, there was no taking it back now.
Darth Vader turned, aiming for the door, but stopped before he triggered the sensor. "We will depart in an hour."
He left Luke standing in the room alone with what he hoped was at least a begrudging approval.
—-
There had been little warning sent ahead of Darth Vader's arrival, but as Imperial subjects, Alderaan was obliged to receive the Dark Lord and anyone he deemed to bring with him. It left Bail Organa with an uneasy feeling and the stark reminder of his last conversation with Ashoka Tano. Even more so when he saw Padme and Anakin's son trailing Vader with his head held high and his gaze sharp. He looked like his father, no question about it. From the dark blond hair to those bright blue eyes. The younger Skywalker was shorter than Bail had imagined, his mother's petite stature tempering some of his father's height in him.
The two black-clad figures strode towards them from their landing shuttle, accompanied by a ranking officer and a collection of stormtroopers. At Bail's side, Breha brushed her fingers against his, though it was less a small gesture of support than catching him as she turned, hissing under her breath. "Leia."
A cold chill swept through Bail as he turned to find his sixteen year old daughter approaching. She offered her parents a shrug, a hint of mischief in her eyes. "What? As Father's aid, I should be here to shadow him and learn."
There wasn't time to argue and Breha sighed under her breath before steeling her composure. Bail could only hope he'd done half as well with his own as Vader approached and he offered a bow that made his stomach churn. "Lord Vader, my apologies for the delay in docking. The —"
"You may dispense with your excuses, Senator," Vader snarled as he came to a stop in front of the small welcoming party. "I require only your cooperation."
"Of course," Bail answered, careful to keep his tone neutral. It was difficult to believe that this monster standing before him might have once been the Jedi hero of the Clone Wars. Whatever had happened to turn him into this had hardened him, leaving him unrecognizable in more than just his appearance.
"A fugitive was tracked to your planet. A Jedi." The pause he took weighed heavily in the air between them and Bail couldn't help but feel that he was being studied from behind that black mask.
"I haven't heard of a Jedi coming to Alderaan," the senator answered honestly, "but, of course, anything you need is at your disposal."
There was another uncomfortable stretch of silence that was filled only by Vader's steady breathing and the occasional gust of wind on the landing pad. "You will provide my son Natus with the reports of ships that have landed in the last five standard hours and any that have departed with or without passengers. Commander Renz and I will take my stormtroopers into the city to begin the search."
The Dark Lord's attention broke from Bail for just a moment, seemingly redirecting to the teenager he was calling Natus. Bail watched, feeling like an outsider in what looked like a silent conversation. Not one that was going in the teen's favour.
"Organa's aid will accompany you in your research," Vader directed at his son before he turned towards Leia.
The chill froze in the pit of Bail's gut. Innocent as the assignment might have been if given by anyone else, from Vader's lips it sounded like the worst kind of threat. "I'd be happy to offer my help if you—"
"She will do, as you will accompany me in the search."
Leia, for her part, had squared her shoulders, meeting Vader's son's gaze with ease. "Don't worry. I'll make sure our guest gets what he needs."
Bail gave a small nod of acknowledgment. There was no stopping it now, only praying that Vader never caught a hint of who their adopted daughter really was.
—
His father hadn't wanted him on-planet for this assignment, even after he'd been the reason they'd found their rogue Jedi in the first place. Luke had thought he'd convinced him, but Darth Vader had made it abundantly clear by saddling him with Organa's aid, ensuring that his son would stay out of the search and oversee the grunt work than any trooper with even half his competency intact could have handled. No matter how hard Luke fought to win back his father's respect, there was no opening. No trust. It was infuriating. It was insulting. He'd come too far for this, and exactly who did his father think would take up his side when it all came crashing down if not for his own flesh and blood?
"My lord?" Organa's aid called, pulling Luke out of his thoughts. Her tone was sharp and forced, and her polite mask did little to conceal the utter disdain she felt in using the title. "Will that be sufficient?"
"We need the data from both major and minor ports," Luke tried, hoping it was vague enough to answer and yet not give away that he hadn't actually heard the question.
The aid frowned a little, her dark eyes narrowing. "Yes, that is what I said," she answered tightly, motioning to the guard that had been sent along with them and they moved through a set of doors into a control room. "We'll expedite the requests from here."
She looked to her guard and he gave a deeper bow than Luke might have expected before moving to the controls. There was a nagging feeling now that Luke was willing to pay attention. Growing and persistent, and it dug deeper into his mind the longer he studied her. She reminded him of someone, though he wasn't sure who. Those dark eyes and something about her features. There was something there…
"I'm not unaware that your father doesn't trust mine," she stated plainly, turning to one of the monitors, "and that you're essentially here to babysit me, but I'd appreciate it if you'd at least pretend to listen. Unlike the Sith, I can't read minds."
Her father? Well, he'd terribly misread his father's intentions on this one. Interesting.
"I'm not a Sith yet, Princess," Luke answered, seeing her now watching him out of the corner of her eye.
"But that's something they can do."
He let the corners of his lips twitch up, the amused expression not entirely put on. "There are techniques, sure. The Inquisitors use that, but I usually can get a pretty good sense off of feeling."
She quirked an unimpressed eyebrow. "Just that good, huh?"
His smile turned a little more real and he let his eyes flutter closed, reaching out with the Force and letting it speak back to him. "Definitely distrust," he offered, hearing her snort, "but also a little curiosity mixed in. And fear."
Leia Organa finally turned to look at him, crossing her arms and sizing him up. "I'm not afraid of you."
"I know. It's not yours, just…. surrounding you." Blue eyes opened again. "My guess would be your father. He didn't want you in here very much,"
"And yours didn't want you out there searching with him," she shot back.
Looked like she wasn't half bad at reading the room either. Impressive, even if he didn't dare confirm her suspicion. Better to change the subject.
Luke glanced over towards her guard and followed an empty path towards the door. "If you were a fugitive on the run and you landed here, where would you go?"
She tilted her head a little at that and he could practically see her trying to decide if she should be honest with him or not. "Your father indicated that we should stay here."
"Father indicated that he wanted the reports. Your man can handle that, can't he?"
Her guard looked over, startled at the conversation he'd clearly been listening to. "My apologies, my lord, but I've been tasked with the princess' safety. I can't—"
"She'll be safe with me. You don't need to worry about her."
His eyes glazed over a little. "I don't need to worry about her."
Leia's arms dropped out of their defensive position as she stared in surprise. "What did you do to him?"
"Nothing. Well, just a little persuasion. He's fine."
She didn't look convinced. "So you don't read minds, but you can force people to do what they don't want to do."
Luke gave a small shrug. "Some people. It doesn't work on everyone. You still haven't answered my question."
Leia pursed her lips together. "If I tell you and we find him, can you promise me you'll treat him fairly?"
There was something so earnest in her request that Luke surprised himself by offering a small nod.
"And you'll tell your father you used that trick on me to convince me to leave our post?"
Luke barked a laugh at that. "I don't think anyone's going to believe it'd work on you, Princess."
She flashed him a knowing smile and strode past him, leaving him to follow with that strange, growing feeling that there was something about her that he should know, but didn't. He shook his head and followed the headstrong princess out. Sooner or later, he'd figure out what it was. He just had to try to be patient.
—
In the days that led up to and surrounded Palpatine's grab for power that had turned the admittedly flawed Republic into a nightmare of an Empire, there had been no question between right and wrong. Master Yoda's escape, going to try to help Padme, taking Leia in…. There had been no question. No hesitation. But things had changed when Leia had come to live on Alderaan and become an Organa rather than a Skywalker or an Amidala. While the personal risks certainly hadn't diminished as Bail helped to form up and push forward their kernels of rebellion, it did not - it could not - follow him home. While Breha would have fiercely stood with him to take on the entire corrupt Empire, it wasn't just about them. It wasn't even just about their world and protecting their people. It was about a beautiful, passionate girl that was quickly growing into a woman. It was about protecting Padme's daughter. It was about protecting their daughter.
If there was a Jedi on Alderaan - and Vader was convinced there was - Leia's safety had to come first. It wasn't easy and he wasn't sure he could sleep soundly on the decision, but it was the only one he was capable of making. Right and wrong had been so much simpler before he'd become a father.
Vader had split his troops up to scour the capital city, though the way he stayed on Bail left the older man wondering just what Vader thought he knew. There had been a few times over the years in which the Empire had come close to discovering his involvement, but even if the Dark Lord were suspicious, there was nothing to discover this time. There'd been no warning, no contact, and the royal house was providing the Empire with any resources requested. Even their daughter.
"You once worked closely with the Jedi," Vader boomed suddenly, his altered voice sending chills down Bail's spine. "Perhaps this one thinks he has found refuge here."
"I have had no contact with the Jedi since their betrayal," Bail lied, rattling off the propaganda accepted as truth across the galaxy that had been provided to explain the downfall of the defenders of the Republic. Even now, all these years later, so few knew the truth. Even fewer cared.
"So you have said." He whirled, the motion so abrupt that Bail nearly collided with him. "Mark my words, Senator. If I find that you have hidden this traitor away and are providing sanctuary to him, it is not just you who will pay your price."
The threat was clear. His world, his wife, his daughter…. Bail surprised a shudder. "My loyalty remains with the Empire."
"See that it does," Vader snarled, and continued on his path through the city.
—
Darth Vader was everything Leia might have expected. A towering mountain of darkness that left a chill in the air wherever he went. He was vicious and focused, using her to control her father by assigning her to his son. She dreaded to think what would happen if he found the Jedi he was after. There were stories that were passed around about him and what he'd done when the Empire had replaced the Republic. How he'd appeared from the wreckage like a monster born from the pain and had hunted down any of those that had escaped the slaughter. She had thought some of those stories must have been exaggerations until she saw him herself. Even in their brief and indirect encounter, she could practically feel the evil that leaked off of him. She was a quick study of new people she met, and it didn't take any more than those few moments to know who and what Vader was.
His son was different than she had expected, though. While Vader seemed to suck all the joy from the air, Natus was… lighter, somehow. Perhaps he just wasn't as far gone yet or hadn't been given quite the opportunity to take the plunge into utter darkness, but there was something different about him that felt more human than his father. Maybe he'd stand by his promise to make sure that the Jedi was treated fairly.
"Credit for your thoughts?"
Natus's voice pulled Leia back to the moment and she looked over, weighing exactly how much she wanted to say. There was no question he was there to keep an eye on her, but that didn't mean she couldn't find out a little bit about the Dark Lord and his son. It might come in useful someday.
"Just… thinking. What's it like? To have grown up under him, I mean."
The question seemed to catch him off guard and he thought about it for a moment as they walked. "I'm going to guess probably not very normal, but all I know is how I was raised."
There was a twinge of guilt in her and she pursed her lips together, trying to hold it in.
"I imagine you know something about that?"
Leia turned at that. "Our fathers are very different."
"Really? Two men with the weight of responsibility pressing down and trying to do what they can to make the galaxy a safer place?" He offered her a small smile. "My upbringing wasn't conventional, but it's what I needed. I'm stronger for it. Aren't you for yours?"
Everything about the question felt real. Leia let the words hang between them for a long moment before nodding solemnly. "I think so." She pulled in a breath, letting it calm her. "I didn't have a conventional childhood either. Between growing up a princess and then junior senate… becoming my father's aid… But I wouldn't change it either. Maybe I didn't get to live a simple childhood, but working so closely with my father has taught me more than most my age." She stopped, watching him from the corner of her eye. "Our age, I suppose. You're younger than I expected."
"Sixteen."
"Me too." Leia felt a strangely real smile tug at her lips. No, he was nothing like she'd expected.
"I hope, for both your sakes, that your father isn't involved with this Jedi," Natus murmured.
"He's not."
"How do you know?"
"Because my father trusts me. If the Jedi had contacted him, I would know and he hasn't."
Natus gave her a strange look at that one, like she'd struck a chord. " And he wouldn't keep that from you? Even when he's afraid for you?"
"Especially then."
He opened his mouth, but the response didn't come. Instead his head snapped to the side, his focus absolute on something unseen in the distance. His fingers twitched at his side and a cylinder that had been fastened to his belt popped off its latch and into his waiting hand. They waited in silence for a long moment, then another, only the sounds of the forest surrounding them. She watched Natus's sharp gaze take in every shadowed corner surrounding them and had the distinct feeling that he was reaching out with something more than what he could see.
But there was nothing. If there'd been something there, the surrounding wildlife would have been the first to know, not them. Leia pushed a frustrated breath out through her nose and took a step towards him.
Without warning his left hand flashed out towards her and Leia was shoved back. She hit the forest floor hard enough that it knocked the breath out of her, leaving her wincing and struggling to replenish it even as she rolled to her side. She saw Natus had thrown himself in the opposite direction and was in the process of pulling himself into a knelt position, his lips twitching downard in a grimace even as his red lightsaber snap-hissed into existence. She was about ready to lay into him for throwing her when another volley of blaster bolts sped through the air, only to be met with the saber in his hand. They struck, ricocheting off of the laser blade and burning leaves in the trees as they flew upward. Natus straightened and reached out with his free hand, dragging a figure from the thick branches of a tree.
Leia watched as their attacker hit the forest floor hard, his blaster landing a few yards away. He howled in pain, right hand reaching to grab at his left that was bent at a painfully awkward angle.
"Serves you right," Natus told him icily. "You could have hit her." He reached out and called what must have been the Jedi's own lightsaber from his belt and into his hand, inspecting it.
"What do you care?" their attacker growled back.
"Typical Jedi. Ready to burn anybody in your path."
Leia watching the downed man carefully. This was the Jedi that Vader was chasing? He was barely older than either she or Natus, and hadn't all the Jedi died out before she'd even been born? That was what she had heard. There was no way that he was old enough to have been knighted by then.
"Isn't that how you handle things, Sith?"
Natus smirked at that and took a menacing step forward, but even before Leia could find her voice to bark an order at him, he stopped, inexplicably still until his boots began to drag across the soft dirt. They lifted slowly yet fully off of it and his right hand, finger by finger, came unclenched from his lightsaber and it shut off as it fell to the ground, Natus' head tilting back and he made a struggling, choking sound.
Leia turned to the injured man. "Put him down!"
For the first time, his pale green eyes turned towards her. "No."
"I'm Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan and daughter of Queen Breha and Senator Bail Organa. You will release him."
"You don't get told no very often, do you, Princess?" the Jedi demanded through clenched teeth. "You're no different than any of the others cowering to the Sith."
"I am different. My father is in the senate. He can -"
"I don't trust you!"
Natus gave a strangled yelp from where he was suspended, fingers clawing at his throat. He twisted and turned like whatever was holding him up had him by the neck, the rest of his body loose in the air, and he finally forced one hand away, reaching out towards the woods, and closed his fingers around the open air before pulling hard towards him.
"No!" the Jedi shouted and there was a small, terrified sound as a little creature was pulled feet over head from the brush. It hit a root hard on its way out and Natus came crashing to the ground, gasping and sputtering as his hand went to his side. He remained knelt there for a moment, the creature crying softly where it had landed, the Jedi clutching his arm and terrified, and Natus struggling to pull in fresh breath. He tried to stand once, losing his footing, but seemed to push through the pain to get to his feet. He grabbed his lightsaber from where it had fallen as he did.
"You're not the one that was doing that. You're not Force-sensitive," he rasped, blue gaze flickering from the Human to the little green creature that was finally straightening. It looked like a baby, small enough to fit in Leia's hands, and it stared up at Natus with big, dark eyes and cooed. Natus nodded at it. "He is."
"That's not possible," Leia managed, the reality of what that could mean for the child flooding through her. She'd heard the stories. No one in the Temple had survived. Not even the children.
Natus shrugged, the motion stiff and causing him to wince again. "Maybe he just ages slower than most, but he's definitely the one that just tried to choke me."
The little guy cooed again, his long ears twitching.
Natus turned back to the Human. "Which begs the question: who are you?"
Leia moved towards the child slowly and carefully, not wanting to spark up anyone's notice. The little one looked directly at her, curiosity in every blink of his dark eyes. He needed help. She couldn't let Vader get ahold of him.
She wasn't sure what the fake-Jedi had said, but it had clearly set Natus off. The Sith-in-training snarled a curse under his breath and with a twitch of his fingers, used his powers to tug on the injured man's broken arm. At her feet the little creature made a startled sound, but Leia instantly scooped him up. "It's okay, you're not going to hurt him, are you, Natus?"
He turned a glare on her that seemed to freeze the air around her and the creature burrowed closer as Natus spoke. "Did you forget that he shot at you too?" His gaze fell to the little one and softened very slightly. He pushed a frustrated breath out and turned towards the captive. "Don't make this harder on yourself."
There was a long moment where Leia thought he was going to do just that. Finally, he spoke. "My father worked in the Temple. He was killed when the Clones executed the Jedi. I escaped, and I took him with me."
The baby cooed again and Leia held him close, comforting him as best as she could. She should be looking for an out, some way to escape, but something inside of her kept her rooted in place as she watched the other teen call the discarded lightsaber he'd taken from the injured man. "And this?"
"Helps if people see him using the Force."
"So you're the distraction, huh? The protector?"
It was like all the fight rushed out of him and it showed in the way that he slumped forward. "I was supposed to be."
The baby made a small sound, tired and strangely calm, drawing Natus' attention. He studied it for a long moment and Leia would have given anything to have known what he was thinking in that moment.
"Do you have somewhere you can take him?" he asked, and it took Leia a moment to realize the question had been directed at her.
"You're letting him go?"
"That depends how far his protector is willing to go. The Empire is only looking for a single Jedi."
The injured man looked at the little one and back to Natus. "If you let him go, I'll do it."
"We can let them both go," Leia argued, knowing how unlikely it was.
"The Empire is looking for a single Jedi," Natus pressed. "They'll find one, but I'm willing to give them him."
"Why?" The word left her without permission. It was a terrible decision, but still better than she would have expected from an Imperial. More than she would have expected from Vader's son, even with his earlier promise.
"He's just a kid. Even if he was there, he didn't have anything to do with what happened with the Jedi. You wanted him treated fairly and this is the only way I see how to do that."
Leia nodded slowly. As far as she could tell, he was telling her the truth. She glanced over to the still-nameless-protector and he gave a nod of agreement. "And him?"
"I'll do what I can for him," Natus promised softly and looked towards the hills. There was a sound in the distance - something he picked up on quicker than she had - and it was clear someone was coming towards them. "You want to get him out of here? Now's the time. I'll tell them I slipped you."
Leia shot him a look of disagreement before turning with the little one in her arms. She didn't have much choice other than to trust him in this. She just hoped that the trust wasn't misplaced.
The adrenaline rush from the quick skirmishes and the looming reality of a child - a baby - that would be put down for the crimes of those that had come before him was finally wearing off as Luke stood listening to the princess of Alderaan's retreating steps in one direction and what sounded like a troop of stormtroopers incoming from the other. With the waning rush came the ache, both in his throat from where the child had tried to choke the life out of him to save his friend and from where the blaster bolt had ripped through him when they'd first found them. He was tired - no, exhausted - and utterly uninterested in facing what he had to do next.
But it had to be done. Both he and the Jedi-pretender knew that.
"They'll know, won't they?" he asked and Luke pressed his lips together in a thin grimace.
"Yeah. They could find out after you were dead too, but it'd take a whole lot more. They'll take my word."
"And how do I know you'll keep it? Your word."
Luke offered a shrug, regretting it as he felt a painful tug at his side. "Because you're not a big enough threat to warrant all of this show if I was just going to kill the kid anyway."
The protector seemed to think about that for half a moment before nodding. "I've always been willing to die to protect him, but I…"
"I told the princess I'd do what I could for you. I'll make it quick." He handed over the lightsaber he'd taken from him. "They're coming."
He nodded, struggling to his feet with his broken arm and flicking the lightsaber on. It hummed green.
It was all for show and they both knew it, but as the Stormtroopers drew closer the protector took a swing at Luke and Luke dodged before moving for the quick kill. The body of a man that couldn't even use the Force but had chosen to protect a child that could with his last breath fell to the forest floor and Luke stood over him. Father had always said the coldness that accompanied death would go away, but it never had.
"Lord Natus!"
Luke turned, something even beyond exhaustion taking hold and he stumbled a little as he did. Commander Renz picked up his pace with his troop behind him just in time to reach a steadying hand out. Luke shook his head. "I'm fine."
There was a moment when Renz looked like he might argue, but redirected his attention to the body laid out on the ground. "That was the Jedi?" he asked, his voice carefully neutral.
"Yes." Luke grimaced and his hand went reflexively to his side. "I'm sure your men can handle the cleanup. If you'll tell my father… I'll see him on the Executioner."
There was an order and a stormtrooper appeared on either side of him. He must have looked about as bad as he felt. Pity, because the last thing he wanted at that moment was company.
His son had lied to him. Vader knew the moment that Renz had appeared with Luke's message and the body of what they had been told was their Jedi fugitive. Who he really was did not matter, only that his son had fought him and would have known beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was not Force-sensitive. He had lied to the commander, then he had asked that lie to be passed on to his father, and by including others in it he had bound his father's hands. A mistake such as that would not be tolerated by the Emperor, even if they could pass it off as such. That left Vader with two options: reveal that they did not have their Jedi yet and put his own son in danger or back Luke's lie publically and allow the true Jedi to escape.
Rage boiled inside of him as he stormed through the halls of the Executioner towards his son's quarters. He blew through the doors without so much as a warning over their bond, though it would have been impossible for Luke not to have felt the anger.
The lights were turned down, the stars streaking by highlighting his son's face where he lay curled on his bed. One arm was wrapped around his middle, hand protectively over the injury that Vader had warned him hadn't finished healing. He should have left him on the ship. He should have ordered him to stay.
"Do you understand what you have done?" he snarled, drawing Luke's attention sluggishly to him.
"What?"
"Do not play ignorant. You knew the body you sent back with Renz was not the Jedi we sought."
"I made a judgment call."
"You allowed weakness to sway your judgment and then lied to me."
Luke pulled himself up in the bed, his eyes sharp even in the dim light. "Then I guess we're even."
From behind his mask, Vader blinked in surprise at the cutting, angry words. He mentally shook the surprise, grateful that the voice modulator would help cover it. "Explain."
"Now who's playing ignorant?" Luke groused and swung his legs over the side of the bed, standing and moving closer to speak quietly, even if forcefully. "Ahsoka Tano, Father."
"What of her?"
"You said she betrayed you - betrayed us - and that's why you killed her. I understand that she may not have fit into what has to happen and maybe she did need to die, but you lied to me about it because you didn't trust me with the truth. And then you pushed me away."
Vader's temper flashed dangerously at the accusation and he took an aggressive step towards the teen, gloved hand clenched at his side and he could feel the Dark Side awaiting his command to strike out. Silence the boy. Put him in his place. Hurt him.
No.
Not Luke. Not his son.
Slowly and with great effort, he reeled his rage back in. As the air between them eased, he saw Luke's shoulders slump a little, energy spent with the outburst and the subsequent reaction. The teen loosed a breath. "I'm not wrong. I've played it over and over again, and that's the only answer that feels right."
"You have put us both in danger," Vader said tightly. "To prove you knew?"
"No." The word rode out on a tired breath. "I did find him, but he wasn't a Jedi. It was a child. A Youngling. He wasn't a part of what the Jedi had done, so I made the best judgment call I could."
Flashes of memories from what often felt like another life swept through his kind. Children. Younglings. Innocent and terrified and looking to him for protection as Order 66 rained down around them. He had done it to save Padme, hadn't he? For what little good that did. They were sacrificed and she died anyway, but even at risk of putting them both in danger her son had spared a child. He'd made a choice different than his father, and Vader only felt conflicted in that knowledge.
"Where did the child go?" he asked at last.
Luke shrugged. "I don't know. Better that way."
"Then the Organa girl helped you in this. She knows."
"And doing anything to her would just raise questions as to why," Luke pointed out and his father snorted.
"You are protecting her."
"I suppose I am."
"Why?"
Luke seemed to think on that for a long moment before turning to gaze at the passing stars. "I don't know yet," he answered honestly, a weight pressing against him that caused a strange tightness in his father's own chest. Blue eyes turned back on him. They were softer this time. "I don't want to lie to you, Father. I don't…"
"There will be no more lies between us," Vader said softly. "Now go. You will remain in the medical bay until we reach Coruscant."
"We're going back?"
"We have been recalled. Pray that news of your trick has not reached the Emperor."
Luke nodded solemnly and started towards the door.
—
Bail felt sick as he thought about the body that Darth Vader had ordered the destruction of before returning to his ship as if he hadn't just upended their lives by his appearance. The Jedi they'd pursued had been young enough to have still been considered a Youngling in the Jedi Temple when Order 66 had been enacted. And just like that, his life had been snuffed out by Padme's son. The boy hadn't even bothered to return with the Commander, nor had he seemed to care about Leia who was missing from the group. No one could give him an answer that was both straightforward and believable, so after the Imperials had departed, he and Breha were left with only the fear that they'd failed their daughter as company.
The search teams were scouring the woods, looking for signs of where their clever princess could have disappeared to, and at his side, his wife clutched his hand. "You don't think he knows who she is, do you? That he would have taken her?"
"Which one?"
"Does it matter?"
No. Luke Skywalker certainly seemed to be gone, leaving the much darker Natus behind. Padme would be sickened by it. Obi-Wan would be saddened, and Bail…. Bail had done everything he could to protect Leia and yet she'd still been put in danger. She was still nowhere to be found. He had failed her.
There was no warning as the doors to the private room opened, emptying Leia Organa into it. The guards that had escorted her in took their leave immediately as Breha leapt to her feet and nearly took Leia off of hers. Bail watched as his wife pressed a kiss to dark hair, her arms wrapped around the teen as if she might never let go. He let himself soak the moment in so that it could set permanently in reality.
"Are they gone?" Leia demanded around her mother's grip. "I didn't see the Star Destroyer orbiting."
"They're gone," Bail breathed and finally gave himself permission to join. He came up on Leia's other side, pulling his family into an embrace.
"And the man that Natus brought in?"
Despite the relief, another wave of sadness hit him. "The Jedi is dead. Natus killed him."
The colour slowly drained from his daughter's face as she stared at him. "He said he'd be treated fairly."
In that moment, Bail saw how young she was. Despite everything, how naive. "Leia," he breathed, "I'm afraid he said what needed to be said to get to the end that he wanted."
She shook her head. "No… he let the little one go. Why would he -?"
"The little one?" Breha asked, drawing Leia out of her spiral.
"The man wasn't the Jedi. He was just protecting the Force-sensitive child. He was so tiny, so young…. Natus let me take him to get him to safety."
It was Bail's turn to stare now. The Skywalker boy had let a Force-sensitive child go, sacrificing the elder. Why, he wasn't sure. If it was a hint of his mother left in him - and even then, corrupted by his father - or some long game that would come back to destroy them, there was no way to know yet. Instead, he pulled them both closer. Whatever had happened was done, and for now - even if just for that moment - she was safe.
—-
The Red Guard moved out of Vader's way as he strode into the Emperor's throne room. He didn't want to be there, not with Luke being seen to by the medics. But when the Master summoned, the Apprentice appeared. It was the way of things.
Sidious sat on his throne, yellow gaze fixed on Vader as the younger man made his way in and took a heavy knee with his head bent. "What is thy bidding, my Master?"
"I understand that young Natus was useful in capturing and killing a Jedi."
"He was," Vader answered, shoving the fear he felt in the lie deep.
"Yet you are troubled, my old friend. Why is that?"
Vader weighed his response carefully before speaking. "He was injured in the battle."
Palpatine waved one bony hand in the air dismissively. "So I had heard. Difficult lessons are learned through strife, are they not? Your own have all been that way."
"He is strong."
"Yes. And he has learned well. Soon it will be time for him to move to the next phase of his training."
Despite the lack of permission, Vader found himself looking up, surprise weighing on him. "He is still young, my Master."
"As were you. War makes men of us all, and you have taught him well. Rise, Lord Vader, and take pride in it. You have taught him to hone his strength and he has made himself invaluable to our cause."
Vader stood slowly, as commanded, and Palpatine also rose. He moved down the steps slowly until he came to stand in front of his apprentice. So small, and he appeared so frail. It was not yet time to end him though.
"Soon he will be awarded a flagship of his own and these sparks of rebellion will have no choice but to smother under your boots. You have done well."
For all the praise, Vader hated the idea of being separated from Luke again. Just another chance for Palpatine to find a way to force a wedge between them. He had no choice though, and despite Sidious having vastly different motives than his own, this was the next step of his training. This would lead them to victory. "As you wish, my Master."
It was becoming more and more rare that Mara returned to Coruscant at all these days, much less at the same time that the Executioner could be found orbiting the planet. It wasn't until after what felt like a longer-than-usual debrief that she found out that Luke had been brought back for medical attention.
She found him in the medical wing, well on his way to health. He was out of the bacta tank and even out of bed by the time she was able to sneak away long enough to see him. His back was to her when she entered the private room, slipping a black tunic over his head and shoulders. He didn't turn, and while she would have liked confirmation that she'd been able to hide her presence even from him, the sliding door would have given her away. No, he knew exactly who was there.
"Enjoying the view?" he teased, finally turning just enough that she could see him watching her out of the corner of his eye.
"Been a while since I've seen it."
He chuckled softly as he reached over to where his belt lay, fasting it into place to hold the dark layers in check. "We've both been busy."
"Really, because I thought your father was intentionally keeping you away." She took a step towards him, her smirk playful, and she caught him as he turned. Luke flashed a grin as she wrapped her fingers in the fabric of his shirt, tugging him closer and he bent to meet her there. She could feel that broad smile through the kiss - a little longer in the wake of so much time apart and the exploration of what this new chapter meant for them both - before he pulled back.
He held her gaze for a long moment. "Walk with me?"
Mara's small smile didn't fade as he breezed past her and she followed, wondering what he had up his sleeve. They moved through the medical wing without conflict and out into the outer halls. Instead of taking a right towards where they might find a quieter room, he took a left, leading Mara out into the garden. All theories were quickly dissipating as Luke came to a stop in front of the old Jedi Uneti tree. "What —?"
He turned to face her, all playful teasing gone from his expression. "I need a favour."
"Okay…"
"I need you to research someone for me and I need it done quietly."
Mara frowned at that. "You have the same access I do."
"Yes, but if I look, Father will know."
A ginger eyebrow quirked upward. "You're lying to your father now?"
"No…. I'm just…" Luke looked away, stress pulling at every muscle. "He'll think I'm unfocused. I'd rather have the answers before he catches wind."
"Answers to what?"
"I can't tell you either."
The frown deepened. "I'm not sure I'm interested in helping if you don't trust me."
"I do, but I'm not even entirely sure what I'm looking for. It's just… a feeling. Like the Force is leading me somewhere. It's vague… clouded."
Mara pulled in a deep breath and loosed it in the form of a sigh. "What would I be looking for?"
Blue eyes snapped to meet her own green. "You can't tell anyone but me."
"I won't tell your father," she promised.
"Or the Emperor. Or anyone."
Slowly, Mara nodded her agreement. "What am I looking for?"
"A woman. A senator from the old Republic. I need to know what she looks like."
"Do I get a name?"
He paused, the conflict pulling at him, and when he spoke again his voice was almost too quiet to hear. "Padme Amidala."
TBC
Notes: Well this chapter was a beast to write, but there was so much that needed to be covered when it comes to Luke and Leia meeting. So, apologies for the delay, but I do hope it was worth the wait! I'd love to hear your thoughts 3
Next Time: Luke takes command of his own flagship.