Chapter 3
Darth Vader had formulated a plan in his mind by the time he had reached the detention block. However when he arrived there, he was met by pair of storm troopers flanking a torture droid. Obviously Tarkin had felt it necessary to have a hand in this, and had seen to it that the torture droid was prepared and waiting for Vader when he arrived. The sight of the horrific floating orb gave Vader a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach when he thought of having to use this nefarious device on his daughter. It will not happen, he vowed, striding over to the pair of clones.
"I will not require your assistance," he told them. "Dismissed."
"But sir, Governor Tarkin …."
"I am in command here," Vader snapped, getting tired of having Tarkin's name thrown in his face at every turn. "Now leave me."
The clones did as they were told, and hastened out of Vader's way, leaving him alone with the menacing torture droid. He swept past it and into the cell block, the droid hovering behind him. He dare not dismiss it as well, not with the security cameras everywhere, as well as the cell block commander standing at his post.
"Do you require assistance, Lord Vader?" the commander asked.
"No," Vader said simply and proceeded on his way up the short metal stairway to the cell block.
He stopped at the door bearing the designation 2187, hearing the steady humming of the droid behind him. The door slid open and inside the young princess looked up. Upon seeing Vader she did her best to appear defiant, but her attempt soon failed when the droid entered the room, its long menacing syringe gleaming maniacally in the harsh overhead lights.
"Stop," Vader said, turning to the droid.
It stopped, but only for a moment. It had no doubt been preprogrammed to proceed as soon as its victim was in range. Having determined Leia as its victim, it drew closer to her, preparing to inject her with a drug that would lower her pain threshold, enabling it to torture her with much more effective results. Leia's eyes widened in terror as it drew nearer to her, her fear rendering her legs inoperable.
Vader could feel her fear, as clearly as if it were his own, and turned back to the ever advancing droid. "I said stop!" he commanded, using the Force to stop the device cold.
Leia looked with utter astonishment as Vader walked over to the droid and deactivated it. At once the menacing humming sound that had filled the cell ceased. Vader made a few adjustments to the device, and then looked back at Leia, who was watching him with a look of bewilderments on her face. "I will not allow you to be harmed," he said simply.
Leia's dark eyebrows shot up, reminding him of Padmé in her expression, affirming his belief in the girl's true paternity.
"While I …appreciate the sentiment, I'm not sure I can believe it," she replied at last. "You've done little to earn my trust, Vader."
"True enough," Vader replied. He walked over to the droid and activated a compartment hatch on the side. He reached inside and withdrew an object.
"What are you doing?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"I need a small sample of your blood," he told her. "Hold out your finger."
Leia frowned. "Why?" she asked suspiciously.
Vader sighed, growing impatient. "For analysis," he replied. "In order to prove to Governor Tarkin that you were actually interrogated. Is that a good enough reason?"
"Tarkin?" she asked. "I should have known he was around here somewhere."
"Well?" Vader asked.
Leia hesitated, and then held out her hand. Vader took it in his, more gently than she had expected, and pricked the end of her finger with a small hypodermic device.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked.
"I believe I just explained my rationale," he replied.
"No, why are you helping me? I don't get it. What is your motive, Vader? I have never known you not to have one."
Vader looked up at her as with removed the hypo. "I didn't say I didn't have a motive, Princess," he replied. "But for now I so not wish to divulge it. Suffice it to say that I will do everything in my considerable power to protect you. You have my word on that."
Leia shook her head, unsure whether she ought to believe him. Yet, there was something in the tone of his voice, something in the manner in which he spoke to her that she surprised her. This was not the Darth Vader she had spent her life hating, the Sith Lord whom her parents had taught her to revile and mistrust; what was it that she sensed in his presence? And why was he willing to risk so much just to protect her?
"Have you ever been told how much you resemble your mother, Princess?" he asked, out of the blue as he stood studying her face, and then turned and left her without another word.
"No," Leia said to the empty cell, more confused and bewildered than ever.
Vader left the cell block, the droid following him closely. He left it in the care of the cell block commander, and then headed for the turbolift. Stepping into the lift, Vader took out the vial of blood that he had obtained from Leia. A simple DNA analysis would tell him what he felt in his heart he already knew. But it was the proof he needed to convince her. To convince her that her most hated enemy is in fact her father. The thought of telling her the truth was a sobering one. She will be horrified, devastated to know the truth…can I blame her? Suddenly he wasn't quite so sure of his course of actions anymore. Her protection was still paramount in his mind, and he would see to it at any cost. But did she need to know the truth just yet? Would she be able to deal with the awful truth of her paternity?
His first stop was the medical sector.
"May I help you, Lord Vader?" a medidroid asked as the Dark Lord entered the room.
"I wish to do a blood analysis," Vader said stepping over to the scanner. "I do not require your assistance," he added as he took a seat. The droid bustled away, leaving Vader to his work.
Withdrawing the vial from his cloak, he placed a small sample of it on a slide and entered it into the computer analyzer. Soon a read out of Princess Leia's DNA appeared on the screen. Vader entered data into the computer and brought up his own DNA readout from the imperial medical database. He entered a command telling the computer to make a comparison of the two, and at once the two readouts were brought side by side on the screen. It was only a matter of seconds before the analysis was complete, and the read out appeared at the bottom of the screen. Match.
Although he had already thought of Leia as his daughter, having the actual proof of it was something completely different. Vader stared at the screen, a thousand emotions filling him, a thousand memories flashing through his mind. ..
Something wonderful has happened. . . Ani, I'm pregnant.
That's . . . that's wonderful!
What are we going to do?
We're not going to worry about anything right now, alright? This is a happy moment. The happiest moment of my life.
The happiest moment of my life…Vader remembered that day as though it were yesterday, and remembered how quickly the joy he felt at that moment had turned to terror when the dreams had started. And then, the darkest memory of all, the one that had haunted him for the past twenty years, the words his master had pronounced, the words that had driven Vader into the Dark Side irrevocably….
Where is Padmé? Is she safe? Is she alright?
It seems in your anger you killed her.
Vader's mind screamed in rage at the lie that had defined his life. She did not die at my hand…she lived to give birth to our child…he lied to me! He used me!
Vader deleted the information before him from the computer and stood up. Tarkin was waiting for a report on the interrogation of the princess. He left the medical sector and headed for the lift, his mind formulating what he would tell Tarkin.
Tarkin looked up as he heard Vader enter the Death Star's control room. "Well?" he said simply. "Where is it?"
"I don't know," Vader replied. "She wouldn't say."
Tarkin frowned. "What!?" he exclaimed. "You used the IT-0, didn't you?"
"Of course," Vader retorted. "You needn't tell me how to do my job, Governor."
"So why don't you have the location of the Rebel base?" Tarkin demanded.
"Her resistance to the mind probe is…considerable," he replied. "Unlike any I've ever seen. It will be some time before we can extract any information from her."
Tarkin was about to respond when an officer approached them to offer his report. "The final check-out is complete," he reported. "All systems are operational. What course shall we set?"
"Perhaps she would respond to an alternative form of persuasion," Tarkin said with a sly smile on his face.
Vader knew him well enough to know that such a smile meant he had just conceived one of his more diabolical plans. "What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously.
"I think it is time we demonstrate the full power of this station," Tarkin said to Vader, the sinister smile never leaving his face. He turned back to the officer. "Set your course for Alderaan."
"With pleasure," the officer replied.
Vader stood for a moment, his mind working frantically. He means to destroy Alderaan …he will do it whether she gives him the location of the base or not…I can't let this happen.
Without a word to Tarkin, he left the room, determined to find a way to prevent the disaster. He had familiarized himself with the schematics of the Death Star. His expertise in mechanics served him well to gain a quick understanding of the space station's primary weapon. Now as he strode through the corridors of the station he worked out a plan to disable the mighty weapon, if only temporarily, in order to spare his daughter the ordeal of watching her home world annihilated.