Disclaimer: Still don't own anything

Author's Note: Hey, I hope you like angst because this short chapter features the galaxy's favorite angst ridden guy: Darth Vader. Also, the "documentation" Piett has for the hyperdrive is a wink to my story "Dear Admiral Piett".

This chapter is dedicated to JannaKalderash. I hadn't intended to bring Vader into this and he still doesn't know it's a "club" but your comment kept going through my head.

Vader

Vader stepped aboard the Millennium Falcon and turned to Admiral Piett. "You told me the hyperdrive was deactivated?"

"Yes, m'lord," Piett nodded. "I have the documentation for the hyperdrive," Piett was not about to go the way of his predecessor, he would do all possible to ensure that he did not fail Lord Vader. Unfortunately the first crew had fixed the hyperdrive, requiring him to make some changes and issue punishments… "This crew is at work deciphering the ship's logs and computer banks, scanning for information."

"I find it unlikely that the princess would be lax enough to leave a trail, no matter how secure she believed this vessel to be," Vader turned full his attention to Piett and let the crew become mere specks of dust in the Force. "What are you hoping to find, Admiral?"

"Anything, m'lord, I believe knowing one's enemy to be an asset in war."

"We are not at war," Vader reminded him. "The farmer is not at war with a few bad seeds. I commend your efforts, Admiral, keep me apprised." He departed the Falcon but paused on the end of the ramp. He could feel his son's presence where he stood, he remembered the day the princess escaped, the day he'd seen the Falcon for the first time. The blond boy who had cried out at the death of Obi-Wan Kenobi…then escaped. He had no doubt crossed this ramp many times.

Vader changed his mind about leaving.

"My lord," a crewmember nodded to him.

"Yes, Lord Vader?" Piett asked.

"Take your crew and leave, I wish to inspect the ship myself." Piett asked no questions, something Vader found to be Piett's main strength at the moment. Quickly, Vader was alone in the silent ship. He followed the Force's pull to where his son's signature resonated the strongest.

His first stop was the main hold. There wasn't anything in the room that suggested it was anything other than a smuggler's ship, in fact, there was barely anything that identified it to its owner. A gaming table, a few seats, nothing much. But there was a blanket on one of the chair's. Vader picked it up, it was thick and soft – and very much had his son's Force signature on it.

Some people looked at newborns and talked of the family resemblance. Vader looked at the Force signature and saw Padmé. He folded the soft blanket neatly and carried it with him around the ship.

Nothing else caught his attention like the blanket had, so he turned to the computers. He knew a thing or two about computers and he definitely knew his way around ships.

Vader sat down and accessed the terminal. Surprisingly, what he wanted wasn't locked. Or perhaps unsurprisingly as it contained no real secrets.

One by one, Vader looked at the holo images of Captain Solo, Princess Leia Organa, the Wookiee, the two droids, and his son.

They were all home holos, nothing professional like some of the portraits Vader kept of Padmé. Some had hands trying to block the cam; some had people half out of frame. They all featured happiness.

Smiles, teasing faces, goofy expressions, contentment…

He has her smile

If not for the automated breathing apparatus, his breath would have stopped. Instead it continued in its ominous cycle, loud in the silent ship.

Anger coursed through Vader, anger at Solo, at the Wookiee, at the princess, even his damned protocol droid that he had built for his mother and then given to his wife – now in the hands of a princess who worked against him –

Damn them all for having what he did not. Damn them all for having his son, for sharing in these images, of knowing what he liked to eat for breakfast and how he slept. Curse them for knowing how he sounded when he laughed.

And damn Palpatine for having lied to him.

The thought crept into his head just as unbidden as the thoughts of his wife. It made his heart stop and skip a beat.

It had been Palpatine who'd told him Padmé had died. How could he not have known that she had given birth? That Obi-Wan had somehow taken the child and hidden him? How could this have escaped their knowledge?

Either Palpatine knew and had lied or they had both been fooled.

"I hate you," Vader thought to Obi-Wan, just as he had shouted it on the bank of a lava river on Mustafar. "You took him from me."

No, Palpatine had not lied to him, they had been tricked. Cruelly, inhumanely tricked!

Vader abandoned the computer terminal and stormed out of the ship. Piett hurried over to him and Vader instructed him to download all the holos and send them to him.

"Yes, my Lord," Piett agreed. Then he paused and asked, "My, Lord…the blanket?"

Vader held on tightly, "It is of no concern to you."

"No," Piett agreed quickly. "I just wondered if you would like me to have it sent somewhere."

Excellent save, Admiral, Vader thought and smiled slightly. "No. I will deal with it myself."

"As you wish, sir," Piett excused himself and went to instruct the crew.