Summary: The former Imperial Prince gets a care package from his father. Sorga is sent to inspect the contents and learns something.
This is a fair bit longer than usual for Moments and I'm just sticking it here cause I don't really think it warrants its own story. Vader also technically isn't present in this but... he also is. Please enjoy! ;)
Plush
It was an odd assignment, all truth be told.
Sorga had done a lot of strange things in his time with the Rebellion but being told to go through Luke Skywalker's care package from Lord Vader was definitely the strangest. And probably the most intimidating.
The former Imperial Prince was an impressive figure in the Rebellion. Frighteningly competent and deadly on the battlefield… but one whose loyalties were always under question and intense examination. He may have openly defected from the Empire itself but in a surprise twist and turn of events, he did not cut ties with his father.
Darth Vader.
The literal scourge of the Rebellion.
And Vader - who openly seemed to despise the Rebellion and everyone associated with it - hadn't cut ties with his son either. Which was surprising because most people in the Rebellion who had parents in the Empire had been disowned entirely - but Vader was publicly and actively parental to his son whenever it was that they happened to cross paths with each other.
That usually happened to be on the open battlefield… but they were openly friendly and familiar with each other every single time. It was like a damn family reunion and anyone standing in the general vicinity of Skywalker while he basically practice-dueled with his father was guaranteed to not get shot. Stormtroopers never shot straight when aiming in Luke's direction. It had even been reported that Luke had greeted and said hello to several members of Death Squadron and that they had respectfully acknowledged him in return.
There was a running theory that they were still actively under orders to protect him under any circumstances, even against other members of the Empire.
It was asinine.
Completely and utterly insane.
It should have been enough for the Rebellion to either get rid of the former Imperial Prince entirely or simply place him under arrest and use him as a hostage for negotiations.
But Luke was too good of an ally for them to be willing to lose. And he had openly and publicly sided with the Rebellion and had protected them against numerous threats, even at risk to his own life. He had even held back an entire kriffing avalanche on Hoth and saved literally hundreds of lives.
So… no one did anything. He was given leeway in areas that no one was given leeway and Luke had a very particular way of being able to blatantly ignore anyone who disliked him as if they were simply not worth his time or effort… life went on. The care package was new though. And, since Vader was still technically an enemy (though even that was in question sometimes), High Command was insisting that the contents were checked for anything suspicious or dangerous that would negatively affect the Rebellion.
Sorga had the unfortunate honor of explaining that to Luke and suffered the unimpressed look of royal disapproval being sent his way. If there was anyone that he definitely didn't want to piss off, it was the son of Lord Vader. But, a job was a job and his buddy Cob had at least been willing to come with him. When he knocked on the barracks door, the Princess Leia was also present but on her way out when they had arrived.
Leia was no fan of Darth Vader but she and Luke did have an interesting history and they acted almost like siblings at times.
"It's fair, Luke." she said, raising her eyebrows at him.
Luke wearily offered them a half-hearted glare. "If you're going to go through my stuff, then I'm at least going to be present when you do."
Sorga pursed his lips, since that was against protocol, but a stern look from Princess Leia had him acquiescing in defeated annoyance. "Fine."
Pinching the bridge of his nose, the former Imperial Prince heaved a heavy sigh and slowly got to his feet, crossing the room to collect the rather large and unopened package sitting on his desk. He brought it back and set it down on the bed before climbing on the bed and leaning back against the wall, crossing his legs. He wasn't wearing a shirt but the bandages around his midriff covered him well enough - though they didn't entirely hide his kriffing lightning scars.
No one knew how he'd gotten those and he staunchly refused to elaborate on them.
The injury he'd suffered from a bounty hunter who had been looking to cash in on Lord Vader's rebel son - and the one that had prompted Vader to give him a gift in the first place - had kept him down and out for the count for over a week.
Antibiotics and pain medication probably would have helped manage it better, but the former Imperial Prince always refused medication of any kind; his pain tolerance was insane and had reportedly made several medics cry in frustration and disbelief . But insisting that he should take some was a sure way to piss him off and get a front row seat to the fact that he actually was the son of Darth Vader. And Luke Skywalker, when angry, was terrifying.
The fact that he was an ally to the Rebellion at all meant he was given quite a bit of lee-way by High Command, who didn't want to lose him. And despite their better judgment, they allowed him to undergo what had been a rather intense surgery completely awake and without any medication. Apparently, Luke was able to slip into a sort of meditative trance that protected him from the worst of the pain. It had worked and now he was simply in the recovery phase.
He didn't look great. In fact, he looked like he'd been hit by a speeder bike and trampled by an angry rancor in the same sitting.
Sorga pulled on a pair of latex gloves, Cob doing the same, and gestured to the box. "We can do this here, if you want."
"By all means," Luke said dryly. "I'm not walking anywhere else right now."
The Princess excused herself and closed the door shut behind her. Pulling out a box cutter knife, Cob sliced the package open and peeled back the flaps, revealing the inner contents.
A blanket - a fluffy, expensive as all hell blanket sat on top, and Sorga carefully pulled it out and let it unfold, shaking it slightly and feeling all around the edges for any bulges or trackers. He scanned it and it came back clear. Luke held a hand out and without a word, Sorga passed it to him and watched for a moment as it was refolded and placed carefully on his lap. Underneath the blanket were boxes and boxes of kriffing hot chocolate.
Luke's blue eyes lit up at the sight of them and he muttered a quiet, praising "Thank you," under his breath as if he'd been blessed by the gods themselves.
Sorga scanned each of the boxes, opening them all and finding only one incredibly cheap tracking device that was actively transmitting but had a signal and range that was so pathetically weak that it wouldn't be able to be detected from anywhere outside the sector.
Luke huffed a laugh at the sight of it, clearly amused and it struck Sorga as he put it inside a portable incinerator, that the tracker itself was probably intended as a joke of some kind. Lord Vader was one of the richest people in the galaxy - if that thing was the best he had, it was painfully pathetic.
Adding "sense of humor" to the list of things the Rebellion was learning about Vader, Sorga shook his head and continued.
There were a variety of weird snacks that Sorga had never seen before but Luke clearly enjoyed, judging by his silent enthusiasm that was only expressed within the bounds of royal etiquette. A note, in a fancy cursive that read, Dinner is still 6, whenever you decide to stop being a rebel. -Dad. Bed sheets, with the most incredible thread count Sorga had ever heard of, credits - more credits than he had ever seen in one sitting - and finally at the bottom… an old, floppy, well worn and clearly well-loved stuffed Vader plush toy.
The former Prince's face flushed a furious red at the sight of it and he snatched it out of the box before either Sorga or Cob could reach for it.
"That's mine," he said quickly. Sorga shared a grudgingly amused look with Cob. "Yeah… obviously." he said sarcastically, trying to hide his own reluctant amusement.
Luke gave them both an annoyed look. "Are you satisfied yet?" he asked grumpily, carefully arranging his Vader plush so that it sat comfortably on his lap.
Sorga glanced at Cob and his friend nodded his head. "Yeah, I think so."
"Good." Luke waved a hand and the door opened up on its own, a clear sign that they were being disinvited from his space. Sorga and Cob both stood up, gathering their things and hoping to make a quick getaway. The situation was beyond surreal and they needed to report the crappy tracker to High Command. Sorga personally doubted that they would do anything so drastic as to relocate anyone over it though. Mostly, he was concerned that Luke was picking up on how funny he thought the whole thing was.
"Oh, and gentlemen?" Luke called after them. They both turned back to look at him, trying to ignore the little Vader sitting on his lap. "If either of you ever tell anyone that you saw this, I'll break both your spines." he warned, his eyes glinting dangerously.
Sorga swallowed, still trying to hide a smile and not laugh out loud. "We understand, Sir." he promised.
"Get out."
And the door slammed shut after them.
A/N Thanks for reading!