Chapter 7

"What have you done!?" Luke cried angrily. "Get your hands off of her!"

"She's been struck," he told them, ignoring his son's hateful outburst. "She is alive, but needs medical attention."

"This way," Obi-Wan said, leading Vader to the medi-bed in the back of the hold. Vader ignored the look of shock on his son's face and followed Obi-Wan.

"We're not outta this yet, kid," Han said as he entered the hold. "Sentry ships." He stopped cold when he saw Vader on board his ship. "What the hell are you doing here?" he yelled, drawing his blaster and approaching the Dark Lord. "Get the hell off my ship!"

"Rather difficult to do so since you are already air borne," Vader replied, nonplussed by the young pilot's indignation.

"Don't let that stop you, Vader," Han said, glaring at him with utter contempt.

"Han, don't you have more pressing matters to attend to?" Obi-Wan suggested. "Sentry ships?"

"Yeah, let's go kid," he said, his eyes not leaving the dark lord until he turned and ran out of the hold.

Luke joined him and ran to the gunning pod opposite the one Han climbed into. He was unable to get the sight of the infamous and reputedly evil Darth Vader holding Princess Leia so tenderly in his arms, as if he truly cared, as if there were really a heart within his massive black armored chest. That isn't possible, Luke told himself. Darth Vader murdered my father, he isn't capable of caring about anything or anybody. He pushed the confusing thoughts and feelings away to focus on the task at hand, namely the TIE fighters that were bearing down on the Falcon with tremendous speed.

"It isn't bad," Obi-Wan determined as he checked the unconscious princess. "I think it looks far worse than it is."

Vader nodded; relieved as he watched Obi-Wan stem the flow of blood in his daughter's shoulder. Soon it began to slow down.

"I am grateful for your help, Vader," Obi-Wan said. "I have to say I didn't expect it."

"No, I'm sure you didn't," Vader replied. "It was not my intention to help you, Kenobi. You simply happened to be at the right place at the right time."

"Yes, I suppose I was," Obi-Wan agreed. "Still, I do appreciate that you did the right thing."

Vader was silent for a moment. "They are my children," he said at last. "What did you expect me to do? Keep them prisoner? Let that madman Tarkin have at them?"

"To be honest I had no idea what to expect," Kenobi replied. "This has been a rather unexpected turn of events."

"Unexpected?" Vader retorted. "That is an understatement, old man. I have believed my child died twenty years ago before she was even born. I have lived with that pain, that guilt for two decades, and then in one day I come face to face with not only a daughter but also a son!" he stopped, the shock of it still new. And then a dark thought pushed the joy out, replacing it with cold, brutal reality. "Judging by their reactions to me, neither of them was told the truth about their paternity."

"No, they weren't," Kenobi replied. "Did you really expect they would be, given what happened on Mustafar?"

Vader did not reply, but Kenobi could feel the anger and pain surging through him at the mention of that dreadful day.

"I didn't expect anything," Vader said, looking down at his daughter. "I have no right to expect anything," he added.

Kenobi watched the Dark Lord, sensing the great conflict of emotions within him. Yes, Vader had acted to save his children's lives, no doubt acting on pure instinct as any father would when his young were endangered. But what now? How could he reconcile the path he had chosen with the one that his children had embarked upon?

"So now what?" Kenobi asked.

Vader looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"Now that you know they are alive, what will you do?" Kenobi asked.

Vader was taken aback by the question. He had been acting on pure instinct, pure emotion ever since he first suspected that Leia was his child. He had not stopped to think of the future, or the consequences of his actions.

"I don't know," he replied truthfully. "I hadn't thought that far ahead."

Kenobi smiled. "Sounds like a young impulsive Jedi Knight I used to know," he said.

Vader shook his head. "That young Jedi died many years ago," he replied. "In the fires of Mustafar."

"Until today I believed that too," Kenobi admitted. "But now I'm not so sure. If there were no trace of Anakin Skywalker in you, why would you care about his children?"

"That name no longer has any meaning for me," Vader stated. So why would you care about his children? He could not deny that he did care; he would not be in this most unlikely situation if he did not. Vader looked down at Leia, who seemed to be coming around. She opened her eyes and was surprised to see her father by her side.

"I seem to have been made an unwilling passenger," he told her dryly.

Leia nodded. "So I see," she replied. "Welcome aboard."

Kenobi watched the exchange between father and daughter, the bond between them plain to see. Astonishing, he thought. Not in a thousand years did I think this could happen.

"You're safe now, Leia," Vader told her. "We have cleared the Death Star and will soon have you back with the Rebel Alliance."

"Thanks to you," she said. "I guess that makes you a Rebel too," she added, with a trace of a smile.

Kenobi couldn't help but smile at the irony of the situation. "Imagine that," he said.

Vader looked at Kenobi. "I'm glad you find this so amusing," he grumbled.

Kenobi's smile only grew. "Well even you have to admit that it is…ironic."

"We did it," Han stated proudly as he and Luke reentered the hold. "Took care of those Imperial bastards but good, didn't we kid?"

Luke only nodded the sight of Vader still disturbing.

"Guess your pilots don't have what it takes," Han said to Vader. "We finished them off pretty easily."

"No doubt," Vader replied. "But surely you realize that they let you go," he added, enjoying the look of outrage on the young man's face.

"Bullshit," Han retorted. "You might think the Imperial fleet is invincible, but I'm here to tell you it ain't, Vader," he said.

Vader was beginning to hate the young pilot, and the thought of snapping his neck had crossed his mind more than once. But that probably wouldn't impress my children much…

"Perhaps not," Vader replied at last. "But considering the fact that it is standard Imperial procedure to place a homing beacon on board any vessel captured, your daring escape is somewhat less than remarkable."

Han was about to respond, but Leia cut him off. "I suspected as much," she said, sitting up. "At least we still have the information in Artoo," she added.

"What's so important in that little droid?" Han asked.

"He's carrying the Death Star plans, isn't he?" Vader asked.

Leia nodded. "Yes," she replied, not sure how much information she ought to divulge.

"The station is flawed," Vader stated. "Despite the twenty years it took to construct."

"Flawed?" Leia asked. "You know this?"

Vader nodded. "I have studied the schematics thoroughly," he replied.

"Of course, that's how you were able to disable the primary weapons array," Leia reflected aloud.

"You disabled the Death Star's weapons array?" Luke asked in astonishment.

"Tarkin was going to annihilate Alderaan," Vader told his son. "I was not going to allow that to happen."

"What do you care what happens to Alderaan?" Han asked. "I figured you'd be only to happen to see another few million people killed. Isn't that how you get your kicks, Vader?"

It took all of Vader's self control not to lash out at the brash young man. He turned to him slowly, the anger simmering just under the surface. "My reasons for saving Alderaan are none of your concern," he said. "Perhaps you ought to return to your cockpit where you actually have some small degree of capability."

Han strode over to the dark lord, who stood up to meet the bold young pilot.

"You wish to say something to me, Captain?" Vader asked threateningly, towering over Han.

"You're damn right I do," Han retorted angrily. "This is my ship, you got that? My ship. The fact that you saved the princess back there means jack squat to me; you're still the same bastard who has cut a path of murder throughout the galaxy. Don't think that your small act of mercy today has anyone here fooled."

"That's enough, Captain Solo," Leia spoke up at last.

"Han is right," Luke spoke up. "Did you know that you're ….friend here murdered my father?"

Vader was stunned, feeling as though someone had reached inside of him and ripped out what was left of his heart. He turned to Obi-Wan, furious with the old man, realizing that, more than likely, it had been him who had told his son the heinous lie. "Is that what you told him?" he demanded angrily. "That I killed his father?"

Kenobi did not know what to say. He had not exactly expected that the boy would come face to face with his father this way.

"Are you actually going to deny it?" Luke demanded hotly when Kenobi made no reply.

Vader turned back to his son, the hatred he saw in his son's eyes that were so like his own cutting through to his very soul.

"I did not kill your father, Luke," Vader began simply.

"Don't believe a word he says, Luke," Han cut in.

"Captain Solo, this does not concern you," Leia spoke up. "You have no idea what you are talking about!"

"Like hell I don't!" Han replied hotly. "I don't know what kind of sorcery he's worked on you, sweetheart, but I don't buy his benevolent act for a nanosecond. And if you do, then you're a bigger fool than …"

"Don't say another word," Vader said, grabbing Han roughly by the front of his jacket. "You will not speak to my daughter in such a manner!" he warned. "Not if you value your life, Solo."

Han's eyes grew wide. "Your daughter?" he asked, looking at Leia. "He's your father?"

Leia sighed. "Yes, he is," she replied quietly.

Luke looked at Leia in shock, and then at Obi-Wan. "Ben?" he asked, the confusion evident in his voice. "Tell me the truth, please. I need to know the truth."

Obi-Wan looked at the young man, and then back at Vader. Now what? He thought.

"I will tell you the truth about your father, Luke," Vader spoke up, to the surprise of all. "Since it is obvious that Kenobi here is incapable of it," he added, giving Kenobi a hard look.

"Your version of the truth? I don't know if I want to hear it," Luke said. "Besides, what do you know about my father?"

"I am your father, Luke," Vader told him at last. "That is the truth."