I know nothing about how they built the Death Stars FYI, and nothing about building or technology really, so if this makes no sense sorry.

Chapter 18

The Exactor appeared not to have even begun its day cycle when Luke felt himself getting shaken awake. For a moment Luke was confused as to why his alarm hadn't gotten up, but then he remembered the events of the day before. He sat up quickly, and realized it was his still-annoyed father who had woken him. "Get up. We've arrived at the Death Star."

Luke was pretty sure it had only been a few hours, and was too tired to do much of anything but whine. "You didn't want me there anyways. You go get yourself assassinated, I'll just sleep."

Luke turned back over, but found the blankets pulled away from him by the Force. "As much as I despise the idea of bringing you with me, I have no other choice. The inspection may take all day and I do not want to know the kind of chaos you could cause if left here alone."

"You make it sound as if I am a chaos magnet," Luke grumbled before realizing he actually was a chaos magnet. Sighing the teen got up and dressed. "Can I at least have something to eat?"

His father threw Luke a ration bar that tasted as if it was a remnant from the clone wars. Picking up on his son's thoughts, Vader actually chuckled. "It is, in fact, that old, but I assure you they tasted equally as horrible then. Come on before we're late."

The Exactor switched into day mode as Luke followed his father towards a shuttle. They received a couple of odd looks but apparently not from anyone Vader felt he owed an explanation. Luke found the early-morning silence irksome, but attempted to get his annoyance under control. It was sorta his fault. Sure he'd been trying to save his father's life, but stealing a Tie had been pretty reckless.

Still his father had to know about the rebels. "What are you going to do abou…"

Luke cut off his sentence after receiving an icy glare from his father. The message was very clear- 'not in front of them'. But then Luke remembered that he didn't need to use his words to speak with his father, and attempted to reach out through their Force bond and speak.

It was much more difficult than just hearing his father's voice, but Luke had a pretty good idea of when he was close enough to his father's mind to try to speak. "WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT THE ASSASSINS?"

That was one of the many moments where Vader was glad for his mask, because it hid his proud smile. "There is no need to yell. I can hear you fine. As for the rebels I intend to wait for their attempt and then make an example of them."

"That's not really a plan."

"You only need a plan when the odds are not in your favor, son."

Luke was like 99% sure that was not true, but he accepted it without complaint. His father, after all, had surely dealt with rebel assassins before, and then he had probably not even had a warning about their presence. Logically they should be fine, and yet Luke still had a very bad feeling deep in his gut.

When their transport finally landed on the Death Star, they were greeted by an array of officers and Grand Moff Tarkin himself. "Lord Vader, I am pleased you could make it," the man greeted. Luke had seen the Grand Moff before, but decided he looked decidedly more disgusting in person. Obviously Garoche inherited much from his mother. "And might this be your son?"

"Yes," Vader replied putting a hand on Luke's shoulder. It didn't feel like it was intended to comfort, however. In fact Luke was pretty sure his father was trying to hold Luke in place. (Which would be ridiculous. Why would Luke try to run off?) "I apologize for bringing him, but there have been some… unexpected events that have made it unavoidable."

Tarkin nodded, "Yes I heard about the fiasco at Senator Organa's inauguration. I'm surprised you would come here without dealing with her first. Or perhaps you were hoping we were ahead of schedule and you could deal with all of Alderaan in a more… permanent manner."

The way he said it sent chills down Luke's spine, and for the first time he wondered why exactly there was something named 'the Death Star' at all. Luke knew better than to ask, however. His father would be annoyed, and Tarkin would probably think Luke was just stupid. The teen did not need any more people thinking he was stupid.

Luckily Luke's father did not like seeming uninformed either, because he did not question what this fiasco was. Luke didn't doubt it would come up later though. It was very hard to distract his father for long. "Yes, well I do not expect you to be capable of getting your men ahead of schedule," Vader coldly answered, and Luke wondered if his father was always this callous on missions, or if he just particularly disliked Tarkin. "I do just hope you are not behind schedule."

"We are not Lord Vader," the Grand Moff assured, but Luke realized he didn't seem scared. Besides the Emperor Luke was pretty sure he'd never met anyone who wasn't scared of his father. "Come, I will show you."

Tarkin gave them a tour of the station, and Luke found the whole thing very impressive. It was the size of a moon at least, and some hundred thousand people seemed to work on board. And yet Luke wasn't quite sure what they were doing. Oh obviously most were building, but they weren't all. No, there were too many Naval officers and stormtroopers for the station to not be active at all.

Finally the tour came to an end. "As you can see we are exactly where the Emperor has requested. Within four years this station will be ready for use," Tarkin told them.

Four years? To Luke that seemed like an awfully long time to be building something, and they were already mostly done! He couldn't help but ask, "How long have you been working on this?"

His father shot Luke an annoyed glare, but the Grand Moff smiled. "Ah so he does have a voice. I was beginning to wonder if your father had… choked it out of you." Vader certainly did not appreciate that comment, and Luke noticed the Grand Moff seemed to choke for a second.

"It has been in construction since before you were born," Vader answered quickly. "Now Governor…"

"But before I was born the Emperor wasn't the Emperor! How did no one notice!" The Death Star was large, very large. Even in its early stages the Republic would have had to be pretty stupid not to know what their chancellor was doing.

"There was a war going on, now quiet," Vader told his son, and Luke shut up. He didn't like being made to feel stupid by anyone, but it especially hurt from his father. It felt to Luke like he hadn't been able to do anything right since he spoke to Leia, and it hurt. It truly stung.

Vader could sense his son's emotions, his insecurities, but did not have the time to address them. Luke was getting to an age where he needed to hold his mouth more. The world would not treat him as a stupid child much longer. Soon there would be consequences even his father couldn't protect him from. "As I was saying governor we will have another shipment of space suits for you to use soon."

"Why don't you just put a plasma shield around the whole thing like you would if a ship got a hole in it? That way you wouldn't need space suits, could control the gravity, and use some sort of speeder to send workers out to where there was no floor."

Vader was about to silence his son again, when he realized it was actually a really good idea. They'd been having issues for years with workers dying as they tried to complete the outer shell of the station. And if they didn't have to pay for suits they could afford more workers…

"Your son is quite intelligent," Tarkin noted studying Luke for the first time. He'd assumed the boy was just another one of the Emperor's men who used the Force in displays of the Empire's strength. He'd never considered the possibility that this boy might have as keen a mind as his father. "Such shielding might even make it possible for us to be finished in half the time."

"I return to Coruscant tomorrow and will ask the Emperor his opinion," Vader told the Moff, but they both knew Palpatine would approve the idea. It was exactly the kind of ridiculous bursts of inspiration that the Skywalkers had always succeeded upon.

Tarkin nodded, "Very good. I must return to my post. Is there anything else you require?"

"No. I shall return to Coruscant to make my report. Luke, we're going."

Luke was disappointed to have to leave the station so soon; he actually found it pretty cool. Still Luke was glad to leave. Perhaps once they were away from the station Luke's stomach would stop revolting. Despite there being no sign of the rebel assassin, Luke still felt like something was about to go terribly wrong.

It did not take long to get back to the Exactor and move into hyperspace, but Luke's nerves did not quell. Logic told him that what he overheard was wrong, but the Force screamed danger.

His father did not seem to hear the Force's cry. "It seems your fear of assassins is unfounded. Perhaps it was for the best you came, however. Your idea will greatly benefit us in the fight against the rebels."

They were finally alone, and so Luke no longer felt bad asking. "What is the Death Star? I mean it's not actually going to kill a star, right?"

If Vader could laugh he probably would have. Luke sounded about five years old as he anxiously asked whether or not the Empire could actually kill a star. Surely any technology like that was at least thirty years down the line. "Do star destroyers destroy stars? It's simply a name."

That made Luke feel a bit better. (Except he actually wouldn't have minded if Tatooine lost one of its suns.) "Okay, but what does the Death Star do then?"

Vader hesitated for just a moment, but answered simply so Luke would never consider questioning it. "It is a science research station, nothing more, but a very expensive station."

When Luke first met his father that would have been the end of the conversation, but he was older now, older and smarter. "And how would that put an end to Alderaan?"

This was one of the many moments when Vader wished his son had not aged. "He was exaggerating. Some of the projects could surely depose of the royal family however. Speaking of which what is this incident with the new senator?"

Why was it that Luke's father always managed to turn things back on him? "Ah, well it was her party I went to. And well we were just talking, Leia is my age you know, and then the Emperor told her you'd killed her father. She, well she freaked. You can't really blame her. You did kill her father!"

Now it was Vader's turn to feel awkward, even if he couldn't quite manage shame. There was something about Luke's blue eyes that made his look of disapproval icy. "Ah, well you were never supposed to know about that. After I discovered what he helped Kenobi do he deserved it, though. I do not regret it."

That did not surprise Luke, but it annoyed him. He tried to defend his father so often, and in this case Bail Organa had been wrong, but when Vader didn't even seem to feel any regret for killing someone it got hard. "Of course you don't regret it. You simply regret that I found out. Let me guess now you're going to go take it out on Leia when the Emperor was the one who told me?"

"No. She is just a stupid girl, as you said no older than yourself." It was a low blow. If Leia was stupid because she was Luke's age then Luke was stupid too, and the pain showed on the teen's face. He'd been feeling more confident after suggesting the shielding, but now his father had to once again push Luke down.

"Whatever, I'm going to find the mess hall."

Luke stalked away and Vader was left alone in the Exactor corridor. The Sith Lord clenched his first in frustration, and the walls of the corridor seemed to bend a bit. Vader was just about to head to his chambers when Admiral Ozzel rounded the corner looking ready to speak.

"If I kill you my son will leave to join the Alliance, so think very carefully before you open your mouth."

Admiral Ozzel turned on his heels and practically ran away.