The next day, Kerrick couldn't make it to teach Vader. Instead, he assigned Lt. Numel Sanus, a friend of Kerrick and Carh'la who transferred to the Executor from the Stalker a week earlier.

Numel was an interesting character. Though he liked to think of himself as engaging and fun, many (mostly women) found him to be a nuisance because of his uncanny ability to point out the obvious and his unfortunate habit of never keeping his mouth shut. He was also a notorious flirt.

Kerrick personally enjoyed Numel's company because he was one of the few members of Death Squadron who wasn't so stiff he would break if he bent over (as Kobayashi had put it once). Carh'la merely found him amusing and had first grown to like him when he tried to flirt with her upon their first meeting (she had promptly told him that she was married and he had apologized profusely for the next week and a half).

Despite his outgoing personality, he looked rather intimidating at first glance. Numel was nearly as tall as Vader himself, and was a very muscular man. He had tanned skin and black eyes that seemed to glisten. His black hair was always slicked back out of his face.

However, contrary to popular belief due to his carefree air, Numel was terrified of Darth Vader.

As he walked down the corridor to reach the turbolift that would take him to Deck 65, Numel found himself sweating. Nervously wiping his brow, he glanced at his reflection in the window for a moment to see if he looked presentable before remembering that Vader wouldn't care about that anymore.

Numel had never been with Vader face-to-face. He had always worked on the Stalker, and while he had heard stories about Vader from the others who had previously been on the Executor, he never thought he himself would be facing the black demon himself.

Stang, he cursed mentally. How did I get myself into this situation, anyway? Stupid Kerrick… why did fate make me his friend?

When Numel entered the turbolift, he spotted another officer leaning against the wall and staring at the floor. She hadn't seemed to have noticed him. Smiling, Numel entered the lift and casually stood beside her.

"Hey," he said in his deep voice. "My name's Numel."

The woman ignored him.

"Well, don't you have a name, my beauty?" Numel asked with a laugh.

The woman looked at him with cold, piercing eyes. "Well, Numel, do you have a last name, or are you one of those idiots who just introduce themselves with one name. Hi, I'm Shinnan. Hi, I'm Nara. What, are you some sort of waiter with no last name?"

Numel blinked a few moments before responding. "Uh, I was just introducing myself."

The woman straightened herself and glared. "People who introduce themselves to a superior give their rank and full name. People who introduce themselves to a female target don't care, and they seem to think that women only understand one word names. Let me give you an example of a real introduction. Hello, I'm Lieutenant Commander Nara Sypikne. What's your name?"

"Er—did you say lieutenant commander?" Numel stuttered.

"Yes," Sypikne replied.

The turbolift mercifully came to a stop on Deck 65. Numel gave his best smile and tipped his hat in her direction. "Right. Nice to meet you, ma'am,"

Crossing her arms in an annoyed fashion, the woman watched him exit the turbolift. When the doors closed, Numel blew out a breath.

"Well done, Numel," he muttered. "Another one for the ladies,"

Numel almost completely forgot why he was on Deck 65 when he suddenly walked by a young man in a lieutenant's uniform. Numel turned to face him and waved in a friendly manner. "Hey, how's it going?"

The lieutenant paused and turned hesitantly, looking at him curiously. Numel gasped when he recognized the face he had seen two days earlier when Vader had wandered onto the bridge. The eyes, particularly, were burned into his memory.

"Um," Numel stammered before opening and closing his mouth wordlessly and pointing at Vader like an idiot.

"Where's Kerrick Chelcu?" Vader asked.

"He's—he's busy," Numel managed to reply. "On the bridge,"

"Rule #1: Never go on the bridge," Vader sighed dramatically. "Humph!"

"What?"

"That's what Kobayashi said,"

"Oh,"

The two stared at each other for a moment before Vader turned to walk away. Numel watched him at first until he remembered that he was supposed to be teaching him. "Uh—uh, wait!"

Vader paused, but only briefly, not even sparing Numel a glance. When he reached the turbolift, he stopped again and turned to face Numel. "Why are you trembling?"

"What—I'm… uh, I—I'm not trembling," Numel lied horribly.

Vader watched him for a few seconds before saying, "She hates your guts, by the way,"

He entered the turbolift and the doors slid shut.

A minute crawled by, and then…

"Wait!"

Numel scrambled towards the turbolift and pounded the call button. Cursing and bouncing on his heels while waiting, Numel impatiently stood about until the lift finally arrived. He practically flew in the instant the doors opened and pressed for the bridge. As the turbolift sped to its destination, he paced in circles, anxiously wringing his hands together.

The doors finally opened and Numel ran out, heading straight for the bridge. For Kobayashi telling him not to be on the bridge, he obviously didn't listen very well. But, wait… what if Vader wasn't even going to the bridge?

Numel paused and looked about wildly, running to the nearest officer available. The officer was a dark-skinned young woman with crystal blue eyes. She had a tall but thin frame and looked a little uncertain as she walked down the hallway, occasionally glancing down to a data pad in her hand.

"Um, excuse me," Numel said as he approached. "Have you seen a young lieutenant with tan skin, sandy brown hair, and blue eyes walking through here?"

"No," the woman replied, shaking her head. "Does he have a scar by his right eye?"

"Yes!" Numel responded, clapping his hands together before pausing in confusion. "Wait—but you just said he didn't come through here."

"He hasn't," the woman shook her head again. "But I know him. He's supposed to be in his quarters, though. How do you know him?"

"I'm supposed to be, uh, instructing him,"

"Oh!" The woman nodded in realization. "Right, I remember. Lt Cdr. Chelcu had said he got a substitute since he couldn't be there… but… wait a minute, you lost him?"

Numel nodded sheepishly.

"I don't see why we don't just pull the plug. She's a vegetable,"

"No! I'm not giving up on her,"

"Sola, I understand your concern, but—"

"You're not her doctor anyway, so go away!"

What was going on?

"Look, all I'm saying is that she's been comatose ever since… well, that day. That's five years, Sola,"

"What is your point?"

"People who have been in comas for five years are too far gone. The only thing keeping her alive is the life support."

"Like I said before, I'm not giving up on her."

"All right… I'll go get the doctor, then."

Sola? Did someone say Sola? Ever since what day? What about five years?

"Doctor, how is she?"

"The same way she's always been, Mrs. Naberrie. That is, from her checkup a week ago."

"Well, what about now?"

"I was just coming to do her weekly checkup, Mrs. Naberrie. You can stay outside for now until I finish."

"Can't I just stand in here? I'll be out of your way."

"Very well,"

Doctors? What, was she in a medical center? What had happened? The last thing she remembered was…

You brought him here to kill me!

Anakin.

Numel found himself running alongside the woman as they frantically scoured the entire flagship of Death Squadron to find Darth Vader.

"I never got your name, by the way," he panted as they rushed through the medical wing.

"Ensign Zhymmia Kenzee,"

"My name's Lieutenant Numel Sanus,"

"Well, nice to meet you, sir," Ensign Kenzee said, nodding her head to him.

As they left the medical wing, Numel said, "The only place left on this deck is the mess hall."

The two made their way to the mess hall when they both froze in place at the sight of a superior officer in front of them. They both saluted and began to go around the officer in question when they were stopped.

"Where are you two going in such a hurry?" the officer asked.

"Um, we're going to the mess hall," Ens. Kenzee supplied.

As the ensign and the officer talked, Numel could have sworn he felt someone brush by him, but when he turned to look, he saw no one. That was weird.

Suddenly, Numel caught sight of Carh'la and called out to her. She walked over and looked at him accusingly. "Why aren't you with Vader?"

"Um," Numel shrugged and then uncomfortably shifted his weight onto one foot, looking anywhere but in her direction.

Carh'la sighed in exasperation. "Where is he?"

"I don't really know,"

"And how did you lose him?"

"He kind of walked into the turbolift before I could reach him,"

"He just walked into the turbolift?"

"Yes,"

Carh'la looked at him for a moment longer before rolling her eyes. "Where did you last see him?"

"Uh, in front of the turbolift,"

"On what deck, idiot?"

"Deck 65,"

Carh'la gaped for a moment before smacking him over the head. "Are you trying to tell me that you haven't seen him at all since he vanished from his quarters?"

"Well, no, I… actually, yeah,"

"Lt Cdr. Tade, what's the issue?" the officer who had been questioning Ens. Kenzee asked.

"Just a small matter," Carh'la replied, trying to hold her temper.

Ens. Kenzee walked up behind the officer and motioned for Numel to follow her to the mess hall. Thanking everything sacred in the galaxy, Numel snuck past the officer and joined the ensign.

The twosome entered the mess hall and searched high and low to no avail. By then, Ens. Kenzee finally began interrogating Numel further.

"Did you guys talk about anything before he ran off?" she asked him.

"Well, he asked where Lt Cdr. Chelcu was and…"

The two paused in horror and ran back towards the turbolift, going as quickly as they could to the bridge. When they reached the bridge, they burst into the room and then looked around wildly. Kerrick spotted them and immediately walked over.

"Numel, what are you doing here?" he whispered hotly.

"Well, I'm kind of looking for Darth Vader," Numel replied.

"What?"

Suddenly, the sound of metal being yanked was heard and the entire bridge crew jumped to its feet.

"What was that?" Capt. Mentzer barked.

Everyone looked around the room wildly until a lieutenant pointed toward the ceiling. "There, sir!"

All eyes went to where the lieutenant was pointing and Numel found himself staring at his missing charge. Vader was peeking out from a ventilation shaft and laughed at everyone's dumbstruck expressions.

"What are you doing in there?" Kerrick asked.

"Well, Kobayashi told me not go on the bridge but he never said anything about being in the bridge. I'm not standing on it, after all," Vader laughed again and his face disappeared as he reentered the ventilation shaft and closed the grate.

"W-wait!" Ens. Kenzee called out as she ran over. "Get out of there!"

The next two hours were spent painstakingly searching the ventilation system for Vader. Finally, after the entire ship began looking for him, Lt. Ooke Tunrott found him sneaking about in the engineering section. He was promptly dragged back to his quarters, sulking the whole way before innocently asking if he could leave to go exploring.

Please review! :-D