Luke stared with some uncertainty at his father. While Vader had not turned on his lightsaber, his father continued to carry it in his hand instead of returning the hilt to his belt.
He had known that coming here was risky. Whatever Vader felt for him, the Sith Lord probably didn't appreciate surprises, and he certainly didn't like being disobeyed. And Luke had very deliberately done what Vader had told him not to do – hunted him down to confront him.
Though he didn't want a confrontation. He just wanted to talk.
"Can we talk?" he asked, and allowed some yearning in his tone.
His father stared at him, the mechanical breathing echoing ominously in the Tatooine night air.
"How did you find me?" Vader demanded.
Luke nodded. That was a reasonable question.
"I had a dream," he said simply.
He felt his father's spirit flinch in response. Why was that?
"What kind of dream?" the Sith Lord demanded.
Luke took a cautious step forward.
"It was really a memory, I think, from when I was very young. My Uncle Owen," Luke gestured vaguely in the direction of the old Lars farm, "broke up and buried the tombstone of my grandmother, your mother, when I was 2 or 3 years old. He and Aunt Beru had a conversation and at the end, my uncle said that Tatooine would be the very last place you would ever come. When I woke up from the dream, it was obvious that the Force was showing me that you were concealing yourself here since it was the last place anyone would expect you to be."
He felt a stab of pain from his father at the mention of Shmi Skywalker, but at least Vader remained calm. Apparently that was a reasonable, and palatable, explanation for Luke's presence here.
"Who else knows of my staying here?" his father continued.
"I have told no one."
"Not even your fiery princess?"
Luke firmly controlled the lurch in his heart at the mention of Leia.
"Certainly not. She probably would have felt obligated to report it to Alliance High Command, and I had no wish for that. Nor, to be honest, would she want to know. Our lives are complicated enough without trying to determine what to do about you in committee."
Again, silence fell for a long minute.
"Very well," Vader said finally, "What do you want?"
"Like I said, I just want to talk," Luke responded, "I want to spend some time with you. I would like to know what you are doing here, but of course you will answer questions if you feel like it."
Luke looked to the west. Even after years away from Tatooine, he easily read the signs of an encroaching storm, though it would not be a serious one.
"There is a storm moving in. If you are going to allow me to stay, I should get the X-wing under cover."
Vader projected amusement, "And if I told you to go, would you?"
Luke allowed himself a slight grin, "Well, let's see. It's a sparsely populated planet and we're far enough out that possession is law. So Ben's old hut is all yours. But I can find somewhere nearby to settle in for a while, if necessary."
His father clipped his lightsaber back on his belt, and moved forward.
"By all means stay," he said, "But you need to move your ship. The Tusken Raiders stray over here on occasion, and it would be best if the ship wasn't easily discovered."
Luke nodded and turned back to the ship. R2D2 was sitting in his socket, twittering in distress over his young master's enthusiasm for walking into danger. Luke lifted him down with the Force, and also pulled out a bag of personal items and slung it on his back.
He walked over to the side of the small canyon where he had landed, and surveyed the area in search of a safe place where he could hide the X-wing. Fortunately, he found a small alcove nearby. Using the Force, he lifted the one man fighter into the cavity in the canyon wall and then, with help from his father, covered it with camouflage and sand.
With a nod, he stepped back, "I think that's good enough."
"Indeed," his father replied.
There was a pause, and Vader added, "You showed impressive power and control in moving your ship."
Luke took a deep breath. The compliment warmed his heart, even as his memory flashed back to Bespin.
Impressive, most impressive.
Vader had said that directly after Luke had barely avoided being frozen in carbonite. If he hadn't jumped in time…well, he shuddered to think what the result would have been. Would his father really have turned him over to the Emperor? And even if he had not, Luke knew that he was not strong enough at the time to withstand his father's power and dominating spirit.
A few seconds later, and Luke would have been trapped. And when he had been removed from the carbonite, barring a miracle, he would have turned to the Dark Side. Leia would have been left, untrained, to struggle on alone against her father and brother.
He sensed his father's curiosity at the long pause, and forced himself to speak lightly.
"Thanks. I managed to drop her predecessor into a swamp and Master Yoda gave me a hard time about not being able to get her out. So I've been practicing moving X-wings around."
He deliberately mentioned Master Yoda now. Yoda was dead, and safe from his father's aggression. He might as well make it clear who had trained him.
His father had been guiding him towards his own concealed ship, but this remark made him stop.
"Yoda still lives?"
"No, he died 6 months ago, of old age," Luke replied, and then added, "And perhaps a surfeit of Skywalker. I know he found me a frustrating challenge at times."
Vader appeared to be amused by this, and started walking again. Using the Force, he carefully lifted a large piece of rock which had obviously been cut from one of the gigantic boulders that littered the area. Once it was removed, the door to his ship was revealed. The Dark Lord opened the door, stepped aside, and gestured for Luke to enter ahead of him.
Luke took a deep breath and stepped inside. For all that he had made the decision to come here deliberately, it was still hard to turn his back on his father and walk into his lair, so to speak. Years of practice, and constant interactions with bounty hunters and Imperial operatives, had honed his instincts towards escape. He automatically checked exits and thought of getaway strategies in every situation he encountered. For him to walk into this unknown ship, with the only obvious exit blocked by his intimidating Sith Lord sire, took more courage than he expected.
But he did it.
The first chamber was a reasonably large one and clearly was fitted out for lightsaber and combat training. There were no decorations, which allowed Luke to easily see the chamber's design and architecture. It had an interesting style. He turned around slowly, noting the unusual symmetry of the arch into the next room and the unexpected trigonal design of the power couplings.
"I don't recognize the style of this ship," he murmured softly.
There was a pause, and then Vader responded, "It is from Naboo."
His mother's home planet.
Luke nodded, but did not speak. He sensed pain in his father, even when barely touching on a topic related to his mother. His father had displayed his own courage in telling Luke about Padme in the message droid sent via Wedge Antilles.
Vader put a hand out and touched Luke's shoulder. Again, Luke had to suppress a twinge of fear. He had never before allowed Vader to be close enough to touch him. He forced himself to relax, and allowed his father to guide him through a corridor, with closed doors on either side, and into the cockpit of the ship.
The instrumentation here was also of unusual design, and the layout unfamiliar. If he were ever to fly her, he would need some time to familiarize himself. Not that flying her was likely. This ship was his father's current home, and he was in the presence of perhaps the one person in the galaxy who was an even better pilot than he was. If they flew, Vader would be in the driver's seat.
"Please, sit down," Vader said formally.
Luke dropped into the indicated seat, and placed his bag on the floor of the cockpit. To his vague surprise, R2 rolled up next to him. He had been too distracted to notice that R2 had entered the ship after Vader. That was for the best – the jawas were notorious scavengers, and the little droid would not be safe outside.
Vader also lowered himself into a seat, one obviously made for his large frame.
Was his father always that big, Luke wondered? Or did the cybernetics make him even larger than he was as Anakin Skywalker?
"Much as it pleases me to see you, it was unwise of you to come here, my son," Vader said, "I am in the midst of an important project and your presence can only be a distraction."
Luke decided to go for the direct approach, "And does that 'project' involve killing Emperor Palpatine?"
Vader looked at him steadily and said "Yes, it does. The galaxy will not be safe for you until Palpatine is dead."
Luke straightened and clasped his hands together in his lap.
"Father, at Bespin you said my destiny was to destroy the Emperor. My interpretation of that was that you needed my help to kill him. Did I misunderstand?"
He smiled wryly and added, "It was a thoroughly traumatic moment, so I may have gotten confused."
He sensed a wince from Vader at his words, but the Dark Lord responded promptly, "I believe that with sufficient uninterrupted time here on Tatooine, I can make plans such that I have a good chance of killing my master."
Luke nodded, "Perhaps you can. But wouldn't your chances be better if I helped you?"
Vader shook his head firmly, "I don't want you anywhere near him, Luke. You are young, and do not know or understand his abilities. Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor."
"Or suffer your father's fate, you will," Luke finished.
The black helmet tilted forward in apparent bewilderment, and Luke explained, "Those were almost the last words Master Yoda spoke to me before he died. Yes, I know he is strong, but surely together we have a far greater chance of destroying him. And I agree with you, he needs to be eliminated. Why were you so ready to freeze me in carbonite and deliver me to Palpatine a year ago, and now you are not even willing to accept my help when I offer it? Is it because I use the Light Side of the Force?"
Vader's hands curled around the arms of his chair, and Luke felt a sudden shift in the Force, from calm to … not angry, but… anguished, perhaps?
"Luke," his father said suddenly, "Did you mean what you said to that fool of a doctor at Champala?"
Luke leaned forward and gazed directly into his father's mask.
"I said a lot of things, Father. Did I think you despised me? That I embarrassed you? Yes, I did, though I don't anymore. Your holographic message was very reassuring. Do I think you are a tyrant? Yes. Do I love you? Yes. I hate much of what you've done. It breaks my heart that you've spread such destruction across the galaxy. It angers me that you hurt my friends, and me. But through all that, despite all that, I do and always will love you, because you are my father."
When he finished that short, impassioned speech, there was a long pause, and then Vader stood up abruptly and walked to the very front of the ship. The viewscreen was opaque from camouflage material so clearly his father couldn't bear to look at him anymore. Luke's heart beat faster.
Then, "I do not deserve a son like you."
Luke stood up and walked slowly to his father's right side.
"Perhaps you do not," he responded, "But whether you like it or not, you are stuck with me."
Vader turned in surprise and he sensed his father's mood lightening.
"I am privileged to be 'stuck with you' as you term it," Vader replied.
He placed a firm hand on Luke's shoulder, "Son, I don't want to risk your death or worse yet, capture, at Palpatine's hands. It was my weakness, and my actions, that led to his successful ascension to the Imperial throne. Therefore, it is my responsibility to end his reign of terror. My responsibility, not yours."
Luke shook his head, "You spoke of destiny at Bespin, Father. I am not sure I embrace destiny the same way you do, but it seems unwise to think that I do not have a role in defeating Palpatine."
He tilted his head slightly, "And if you do defeat him, what then?"
Vader paused for a long moment, then turned around and sat down. Without looking at his son, he said, "I had intended to take control of the Empire and rule in Palpatine's stead. But now…I do not know. I have had much time for contemplation here."
He looked at Luke, "I lost your mother to my foolishness, to my ambition, to my naivety about Palpatine's ultimate plans. I don't want to lose you too, Luke. You are all I have left. I refuse to put you at serious risk. I will attack Palpatine and I will kill him, and if I die in the process, so be it."
Luke repressed a sigh. He didn't know his father well, but he sensed that Vader was not willing to listen to reason right now.
"We'll leave it at that for now," he said grudgingly, "Is there anything I can do to help you prepare?"
Vader looked at him long and hard, and Luke sensed vague frustration at his refusal to promptly capitulate to his father's high-handed decision.
"Are you good with mechanics?" his father finally asked.
"I can fix anything," Luke replied promptly, then grinned, "Well, almost anything. What do you need help with?"