Back to the present

Conference room in the Pentz garrison, Champala

Darth Vader looming.

Doctors and officers nervous.

The large screen in the conference room faded into black.

Doctors Kast and Gilanz, and the Imperial officers, waited with emotions ranging from nervousness to terror for Lord Darth Vader to speak.

But he did not. One minute passed. Then two. The Dark Lord continued to stare, as if mesmerized, at the now blank screen.

Finally, Lieutenant Commander Loftan broke the silence.

"Doctor Kast, I was checking the truth sensor data while watching the recording. He did indeed seem to be speaking the truth."

Doctor Kast relaxed minutely, "Indeed, Lieutenant Commander. Whoever he is, he was extraordinarily plausible."

Commander Binze spoke up, "Doctor, you did not pursue questioning about the patient's prosthetic right hand, and the method of his supposed 'escape' from Lord Vader," here he gave Vader a slight bow, "May I ask why?"

Kast shifted uncomfortably, "I…felt it was not important for the initial examination of the patient's mental state."

Binze tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, "A high grade prosthetic is not typical for an indigent, mentally unstable migrant, Doctor Kast. It was obviously vitally important. For you to ignore the issue incites suspicion of complicity with the Rebel spy. Or were you so excited about the prospect of a case of this 'Malintis Syndrome' that you ignored obvious indicators that the patient was not what he seemed? "

To the astonishment of everyone in the room, Darth Vader came to Kast's rescue.

"He used a Jedi mind trick," Vader said dismissively, "Doctor Kast is not at fault."

There was a gasp of shock from the officers, and a look of bewilderment from the doctors.

His aide stuttered the next question, "Do you know the identity of the Rebel agent, my Lord?"

"Luke Skywalker," Vader continued, matter-of-factly.

There was a collective gasp from the officers, and a look of uncomfortable bewilderment from the civilian doctors.

Binze's face took on the stunned immobility of a nerf about to meet its fate at the dinner table. Luke Skywalker had been on Champala, within his very grasp, and the Commander had let him slip away, and with Prince Listoff in tow.

"Listoff must have been very important," Vader's aide murmured in distress, "For the Rebellion to send Skywalker after him."

"Skywalker is noted for his self-sacrificing tendencies, and he is also extremely daring," Vader replied. His eyes were still fixed on the now dark screen, and he spoke almost absently, obviously in the throes of his own dark thoughts.

Doctor Gilanz, who had been notably silent, timidly spoke up, "I am sorry, my Lord, officers, but I have not heard of this Skywalker before."

Vader's aide glanced at his master, who remained silent, and then spoke up, "Skywalker is a Rebel, and he is the most wanted man in the galaxy. He fired the shot that destroyed the Death Star several years ago. He is a very accomplished pilot, obviously, but also has…unusual abilities, which is no doubt how he was able to fake the Malintis Syndrome. It was, even for him, an astonishingly bold and brazen path to take in rescuing Listoff."

Doctor Kast looked puzzled, "So these strange abilities you mentioned – they allowed him to provide false data via the biomonitors? Extraordinary. He showed that he was clearly lying on a couple of occasions. The degree of biofeedback control involved is certainly beyond anything I've ever read about or understood to be possible."

Loftan nodded, "I agree with you, Doctor. But nonetheless, there is no other explanation."

Vader suddenly turned away from the screen, causing all the men to fall silent and look nervously at him.

"On the contrary," he rumbled, "There is one other explanation. The simple one. And the correct one. Commander Luke Skywalker of the Rebel Alliance truly is my estranged son."

In the stunned silence that followed, the Dark Lord of the Sith turned on his heel and left the room.

Behind him, Commander Binze lost his battle with consciousness and slid gracelessly to the floor.

-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-…-

The corridors and rooms of the Executor were more quiet than usual that night. The temper of Lord Darth Vader was always of keen interest to the men of his flagship. Tonight he had returned in a silent and, to the expert eyes of his admiral, somber mood. Without so much as a word to either his command staff or honor guard, he strode directly to his private chambers and locked himself in.

So the great ship hung in space over Champala, and the sentries stood at attention, and the guards quietly walked their beats. It was as if the entire ship was holding its breath.

And inside his hyperbaric chamber, an old man – old from injury and life choices, not age – removed his iconic black helmet and stared sightlessly at the walls for 20 long minutes. Then tentatively, even nervously, he accessed and activated the recording he had just watched a couple of hours before on the Imperial garrison on Champala.

The first time he had watched Luke on that screen on Champala, Darth Vader had been so stunned that many of Luke's words had flowed over him like water over an immovable rock. He caught words here and phrases there, but the longing that clutched at his heart made it hard for him to process what his son was saying. His son, even with his hair dyed dark and cut short, was so handsome, so real, so Luke, that an irrational part of Vader felt he could just reach up into the screen and pull him out. The Dark Lord would give anything in the world to have his son in his protective custody. But once again, Luke had slipped through his grasp. This usually brought rage, but tonight he felt sorrow and a strange sense of despair.

He knew that he could in fact trust the biometrics. While the Force allowed a skilled user to conceal lies, he knew from his analysis of his son's personality and abilities that Luke was not an adept liar. Nor was there any point in lying. Luke had obviously decided to use their relationship to fake Malintis Syndrome to get to Prince Listoff. Oddly enough, Vader realized he wasn't angry about his son's decision to exploit their connection. It had been a daring and bold plan, and it had succeeded thanks to a psychiatrist who (legitimately enough) had never considered that his patient was telling the truth.

While watching the recording the first time, he had realized that Luke's view of their relationship was counter to almost everything Vader thought of their father-son connection. He needed to analyze what Luke believed to determine how to proceed, though he did so with a strange dread in his heart.

With a slight shake of his scarred head, he started the recording again.

"…he wants to throw me in a cell, or he might even decide to just kill me…"

Did Luke really think Vader might kill him upon capture? He had worked so hard to make sure that his son, upon arrest, would not be harmed. Wasn't that clear from the 'Alive Only' bounty on Luke's head? And while his son was no doubt angry about his friends' treatment at Bespin, the whole point of the carbon freeze of Solo was to ensure that Skywalker would be safe. It was true that Vader had subsequently lost control of the situation when Luke evaded his trap, and…yes, he could easily have killed his son when he knocked Luke through that window. He had thanked the Force many times that his son had managed to grab onto a metal strut and pull himself up. Though Luke had survived essentially the same fall when he had stepped off the gantry as the end of their confrontation.

Again, the rejection from his son burrowed into his heart. And this time, there was additional pain involved.

"Who is your father?"

"Darth Vader"

For the last year, Darth Vader had clung to the hope that if Luke accepted the truth, their adversarial relationship would end. He believed that with the true knowledge of his father's beliefs and position in the galaxy, the son would turn away from his devotion to the weak Light and embrace the power of the Darkness so that they could rule together. Vader knew from interviews with various individuals who knew his son on Tatooine that Luke had always longed for his father. (And whose fault was it that he had been denied? Kenobi's!) But now it was obvious that Luke had accepted the truth, and yet was still determined to adhere to the Jedi ways. His obvious longing for a relationship with his father was not enough.

This brought up other dark memories, of the most beautiful woman in the galaxy, with grief on a face shaded red by the fires of Mustafar.

"Anakin, you're breaking my heart. You're going down a path I can't follow."

Padme…

"So, if Darth Vader is your father, who is your mother?"

"I don't have any idea. I was raised by a couple of farmers who said they didn't know who she was. I hope he loved her, but it seems more likely it was a fling. Hard to imagine him actually loving someone, isn't it?"

How could his son know nothing about Padme? How could Obi-wan have avoided telling Luke about her? How terrible, how devastating that Luke knew absolutely nothing about his mother, about her beauty and her spirit and her strength and her courage. About his father's true love for her. Yes, he had loved Padme with every fiber of his being. He would have traded the entire galaxy, everything for her.

And yet…

The look of terror on her face as he attacked her, as he choked her in his rage at her perceived betrayal. He could have killed her then. He thought for 20 years that indeed he had destroyed her, and the child in her.

In a rush, the guilt of the decades descended on the mind and spirit of Darth Vader. He found himself, to his shock, bowed over, prosthetic hands over scarred face, shuddering from tearless sobs.