Summary: Within Luke Skywalker appears on the Executor for what seems to be an extended stay. His presence in the weekly board meetings is poorly tolerated at first but Luke has no issue with making his political opinions known.

Disrespect

More than a few unsavory comments had been made about certain members of the Rebel Alliance – Wedge Antilles, Mon Mothma, General Dodonna, and Leia Organa, to name a few – as well as some jeering laughs about the destruction of Alderaan, with the intent to rile up the kid. Disappointingly, Skywalker hadn't reacted in any visible way, but the following week, he didn't show up at all and his absence was noticed and felt by everyone present.

In hindsight, it hardly seemed fair that a damn desert brat like Luke Skywalker was somehow managing to keep Darth Vader of all people in a relatively peaceful mood simply by being in the same room as him. It didn't make any sense at all but without him, Vaders patience was short and his temper was quick to rise. More than one person claimed to have felt an invisible hand grab them by the throat for a brief moment throughout the meeting and everyone left with a few more gray hairs then they'd had when they'd arrived.

The following week, Skywalker did return, strolling in a few nerve-wracking minutes late wearing a light grey sweatshirt with a bright red Rebel Star bird printed boldly on the front.

No one needed to see Vader's face to know that he was giving Skywalker a look and with an infuriating smirk, the damn menace had simply shrugged his shoulders and popped in his headphones to do whatever it was he did on his datapad.

Anyone reasonable Imperial officer would have rightly assumed that that would be it. Surely Skywalker had taken his insolence and disrespect too far this time and Lord Vader would finally put an end to it in a swift, punishing way that would leave Skywalker on his knees begging for forgiveness and mercy.

It was high time, Stuart thought privately. He had no idea what Vader's plans for Skywalker were but surely this false sense of security he was being given couldn't last forever.

And yet… in the face of such blatant disrespect for everyone on board and the Empire as a whole, Lord Vader did absolutely nothing.

After a short and irritated silence, the meeting had commenced as usual and budgets, recruitment, and the talk of collaboration with other warships were discussed in an encouragingly productive way.

No one said anything about the Rebel Alliance and Stuart took that to mean that he wasn't the only one who was utterly convinced that Skywalker was listening to the entire meeting, headphones on or no.

An hour later, after the meeting ended and no one had been killed, the doors slid open and Skywalker removed his headphones and stood up. He calmly walked out beside Lord Vader in a way that was becoming disturbingly familiar, quietly asking whether or not they were going to be able to spar in the evening.

On the back of his sweatshirt were the words

I DESTROYED THE DEATH STAR

A/N This is going to end up being a longer fic. Seriously, the things I come up with when I'm getting my windshield replaced. XD

Promise will have a second part, it's just not finished.

Chapter 7 of What Lurks in the Dark is in the works. I have almost 10,000 words of rough draft material that I'm working with and the goal is to try and have it finished by the end of the month. I've just been super busy the last couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading!