The Podrace

Summary: Marvel's Star Wars Comics Annual #4 AU. Luke is forced to steal a pod racer and enter a race to avoid Imperial troops. Darth Vader feels a pull in the Force to watch the race.

"Pilots! Take your starting positions!" a voice came over a loudspeaker.

Luke Skywalker had been running away from a squad of stormtroopers. He was here on Hradreek to meet with an Alliance benefactor. The meetup had gone successful. The benefactor was running the betting pools of the many gamblers of the planet, especially those of the pod races. A percent of those bets went to the Alliance. The funds were placed on a cred stick, Luke and R2-D2 were on their back to their ship, when something called to Luke in the Force. There was something off. He felt a presence of something old and powerful.

Luke had followed the pull of the Force to room full of corpses. On the ground near one of the bodies was a lightsaber. One that had a red beam. When the stormtroopers had come in, demanding Luke drop the red saber, something had come over him. An unshakable urge of anger and rage. The troopers quickly fell to his blade. Luke didn't like it. Something was wrong with this lightsaber.

Yet he hadn't had too much time to dwell on it. An explosion rocked the hallway he was in, separating Luke from his droid. Then there was the new squad of troopers chasing him down. Thus he found himself outside. He looked behind him to see the rows and rows of seats filled with sentients of all kinds. He was on the race track.

Luke glanced around. Pod racers were parked all along the track. Crews, pilots, and droids ran about as they prepared to start the race. Luke eyed the large double engines of the pod racers as he wove between them. He needed a way out. As he eyed each entrance under the bleachers, they were blocked, either by the racing crews or stormtroopers.

"Artoo . . ." Luke said quietly into his com unit. "If you're there . . . If you can hear me . . . I'm about to do something . . . really stupid."

He mind was set. There was only on way out of here without engaging the troopers. He ran at a nearby racer. A blue humanoid alien with long limbs was being handed his helmet by a red droid. He knocked the droid over with the hand holding the lightsaber.

"Sorry about this," Luke said as he grabbed the helmet.

"What do you think you're doing?" The alien angrily shouted as he reached out to grab Luke's shoulder. "You can't just come out here and-" The alien stepped back as the hissing sound of the red lightsaber filled the air. "Oh! Hey! I don't want any trouble!"

Luke let the red blade disappear as he stepped into the pilot's pod of the racer. "I . . . Like I said . . . Sorry about this," Luke said glancing back at the shocked alien. As he settled into the seat and put the helmet on, he muttered, "Can't be too different than a landspeeder. Right?"

"It's only a matter of time before the race turns dirty!" the race announcer announced. "We're seeing some rough flying out there as the racers vie for the winner's circle!"

Darth Vader summoned his hate and rage as he summoned the Dark Side. He wasn't sure how long he blacked out for from the explosion, but he knew it had been only a couple of minutes at best. By now that criminal had gotten a good head start on him, but no matter. He would find her. But first he had to do something about the large pieces of rubble from the wall that scum had blown up.

He grabbed at the Force. Demanded it do his bidding. Slowly he pushed up on the large pieces of wall. The sounds of rocks clattering down to the ground filled the destroyed room. The rocks around him started to levitate, and Vader stood tall and free. His cloak was torn and his armor was scuffed but otherwise he was fine.

As the rocks settled, Vader could hear the annoying announcer again.

"Who let this guy onto the track?" the announcer continued. "It's amateur hour out there right now! And amateur hour usually means someone gets splattered! So we hope you've wagered on the fatality pool!"

The Sith lightsaber he had been sent to retrieved floated to Vader. If only the officer had been competent and hadn't been swindled, Vader would have had both lightsabers. It was useless to only return with one. He made his way through the dusty room and into the hallway. He reached into the Force to find which way the criminal woman had run. The Force pulled him strongly down the hall. Vader frowned. This isn't what he wanted. Whatever this pull in the Force was, it wasn't about the criminal.

No, Vader hissed at the Force. You will bend to my will.

He was not a puppet of the Force. The Force listened to him. Did as he wished. There was a small flicker as the Force lightly pointed towards the criminal, but then it doubled its pull from earlier. There was something the Force wanted Vader to see. He gripped the Sith lightsaber tightly as he followed the pull. He found himself at the top of the bleacher seats of the racing stands. The crowd looked at large blue holograms of the race.

Vader walked down the steps ignoring the crowd. However he did enjoy their growing fear and panic as they saw him, realized who he was, and then fled for their lives. As he reached the bottom of the steps and stood before the blue hologram of the race, there were no other spectators. The Force was abuzz. Had it wanted him to see this race?

Anger boiled inside of him. Was the Force trying to remind him of the fool pathetic boy he had once been? That child was dead. Whatever was left him had been burned into ash on Mustafar decades ago.

And yet . . . he didn't turn away. He watched the race and listened to the announcer. "We're now hearing that a human is piloting one of the racers. Traditionally, humans are not equipped to survive this long in a podrace! Note that all wagers remain final! But management- as an act of good will- is doubling the payoff in the case this pilot taking it all!"

Vader watched the human pilot swerved through the race's obstacles.

"I've never seen anything like it!" the announcer shouted. Excitement clear in his voice. "This pilot, despite a rough start, seems to be hanging in there!"

"Impressive," Vader murmured to himself. It wasn't praise he was likely to give, but this pilot deserved it. He easily remembered how hard it was to pilot a pod racer. The skill it took. The announcer wasn't wrong. It was a remarkable feat for a human.

"There's never been a case of a human winning a major circuit race like this one," the announcer said. "Stories have circulated in some of the lesser systems, but this in unparalleled."

Never a case? Vader snarled to himself. His own win was nothing more than a story from a lesser system? Is this why the Force had called him here? It didn't matter. This pilot would not be claiming any history today. Vader would not have his own glory stolen. It would be all too easy. His hand came slightly forwarded as he called upon the Force. The Force seemed to be waiting anxiously to be used. It still hummed around him. How should he do it? A simple pull on one part of one of the engines is all it would take to send the racer tumbling and spinning out of control. Vader would like to see how well this human pilot handled that.

Yet, as Vader's fingers curled to pull on the Force, he felt something. He paused. The race continued. He let his hand drop to his side as he reached out into the Force. There had been something there with this pilot. It had been elusive. It had slipped by him, but this time Vader would not allow it. He opened himself up and focused on the racer and the human pilot inside.

It couldn't be!

Vader had sharply retreated back into himself for a moment once he touched the presence of the pilot. There was no way that pilot was . . . but then again who else could it be? What other human could possibly manage to pilot a pod racer like that? They had to be Force sensitive. Vader slowly reached out again, and this time there was no mistake. The bright light of the pilot's presence shone in the Force. It was the same presence he felt in the trench on the Death Star and on Cymoon 1. There was no denying it. The Force buzzed around him in confirmation. This is what it had wanted Vader to know. The pilot in the racer was his son.

"Not. Like. A. Landspeeder. At. All!" Luke grunted to himself as he tightly gripped the two steering handles. His knuckles were white. He was racing through a forested canyon. The track was following the natural path of a river that twisted below him. A large explosion behind him rocked his racer, and Luke fought to keep the racer under control. Most likely it was the lost of another racer. This was dangerous. Luke was barely able to steer this thing correctly, much less avoid the other racers. He'd already bumped into a few racers already. One of which Luke was sure had spun out of control and crashed.

"Artoo!" he shouted into his com. "Where are you? I'm gonna need a pick up? Do you hear me? Artoo?"

Nothing. No response from the droid. He hoped R2 got the message. He wasn't sure how much he could keep this up. Plus he didn't want to end up back at the finish line where the troopers were. He needed to get off the track and land this thing safely. He needed to think of something and fast.

The right engine bounced into the air. Luke gripped the right handle, ready to bring the engine back in line with its partner. Then a panel burst off the engine. Flames and smoke poured out. The right engine was losing stability and fast. The racer was rocking side to side. Luke aimed it towards the ground. He needed to land and now. As Luke got closer to the ground, the right engine took a sudden dive into the ground, pulling the left engine and the pilot pod down with it. The left engine rammed into the ground.

Large pieces were falling off both engines. Flames created smoke which blocked Luke's view. He could hear the screeching of metal as the engines slid against the ground. Then the pilot pod roughly slammed into the ground, jumped back into the air, and slammed into the ground again. The air was knocked out of Luke as the racer finally slid to a stop.

Luke's head spun as he sat in the damaged pod. Pod racers zoomed past above him. He tried to move his legs, but they were stuck. He glanced down. The metal had been bent and his legs were now trapped. He couldn't reach his own lightsaber, but he could get to the Sith lightsaber. The red beam shot up and a loud crackling sound buzzed around Luke. He slowly and carefully cut himself loose from the metal.

He climbed out of the pod and paused staring at the red saber. He could feel it again. The anger. The rage. There was an icy coldness wrapping around him.

"N-no," Luke said. He turned the lightsaber off and dropped it.

In a quick fluid motion, he had his own lightsaber ignited. The blue beam slashed through the hilt of the other saber. The Sith saber fell to the ground in two. The anger and rage subsided, but the coldness did not. In fact it only seemed to be getting stronger. Luke stared at the broken saber. Had he done something wrong? The inky coldness seemed to be tightening around him. Luke didn't like this feeling. He needed to get out here. Find R2 and get back to his X-Wing.

Yet as he took his first step, he found his movements sluggish. It had taken considerable effort to move. It felt like he was moving through thick mud. The inky iciness clawed at him.

He looked down at the broken Sith lightsaber. "No. I'm not going to let you overwhelm me," he growled at it.

"That is nothing but a useless trinket," a deep voice said through the smoke.

A voice Luke recognized. His head spun for a moment as he snapped his head up. A shadow appeared through the smoke. It was tall and dark and the sound of mechanical regulated breathing was coming from it.

"No," Luke whispered. He pushed his muscles as much as he could. He wasn't ready to face Darth Vader. He had learned that hard lesson on Cymoon 1. Yet despite how much he tried, his body was now frozen as if the inky coldness had solidified and turned into ice.

Darth Vader stepped through the smoke. His form was now clearly visible. His tattered cloak gently swayed with each of the man's steps towards Luke. The Sith lord glanced down at the broken lightsaber on the ground. He pulled out a matching lightsaber. Luke's eyes widened as he glanced from the broken saber to the one in Vader's hand. How could there be two? The lightsaber in Vader's hand cracked and broke apart as the Sith's hand formed into a fist. The saber fell to the ground in pieces.

Not wasting any time, Vader pulled a pair of binders from his belt. Luke again tried to move, but still found himself unable to. Vader approached and sharply grabbed at Luke's arm. Vader pulled it behind Luke's back. He twisted the other arm back, and secured both wrists into the binders. Luke clenched his teeth, biting back words he wanted to throw at his father's murder. Then he felt a pull on his belt. Luke glanced down to see Vader unclipping Luke's lightsaber from his belt.

"No!" Luke shouted. "That was my father's!"

"I know," Vader said.

He held Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber in his hand. His helmet was titled down, as if he was examining it. Then he clipped it to his belt next to his lightsaber. Vader's helmet turned towards Luke. A shiver ran through Luke as he felt the Sith's eyes on him.

"Your name," Vader demanded.

"Rebel," Luke growled at him. He would give this man nothing.

Vader's hand came up and he pointed a finger at Luke. "Your name, Skywalker," he hissed.

"What does it matter to you?" Luke said. Clearly Vader knew his last name. Why did it matter if he knew his first name?

"It matters," Vader said.

Luke looked at the monster in front of him. Was it him or was his tone of voice . . . soft? Not threatening? Regardless, he wouldn't tell Vader a single thing about him nor the Alliance. Slowly the sound of engines were heard, and they weren't the engines of a pod racer. Luke knew the sound very well. The smoke was harshly blown to the side, and Luke's X-Wing slowly lowered itself.

Vader grabbed Luke's arm and pulled him close to him. Luke was pressed against the large body of Vader. He never imagined he would ever be this close to Darth Vader. Luke heard R2's shrill beeps coming from his X-Wing. The droid wanted to shoot Vader, but now that he held Luke to him the droid couldn't get a clear shot. R2 asked if there was any way for Luke to get free.

"Artoo!" Luke shouted at the same time Vader's free hand came up. His hand waved to the right and so did Luke's X-Wing. It slammed into the ground, mixing with the wreckage of the pod racer. Luke could hear R2's screaming as the X-Wing went down. Luke's eyes searched the wreckage. Then he felt a large glove hand grip at his chin. His head was turned to look directly into the eye lenses of Vader's helmet.

"Luke," he said. "Your name is Luke."

How? Luke asked himself then he realized. "You speak binary," Luke said slightly shocked. Vader had heard his name from R2.

"Luke . . ." Vader said again. There was something off about him. "That was the name . . . The name she . . ." Whatever state Vader had been in, he suddenly snapped out of it. Luke could feel the man tense up. "Who named you?" Vader demanded.

Luke only growled at him and struggled against the Sith's hold on him. He wasn't in the mood to play Vader's game. He needed to make sure R2 was ok. He had to get free.

"Tell me," Vader said. "And I'll see that your droid is secured."

Luke turned back to the helmet. Could he trust Vader? But there was something there in the back of his mind saying that Vader was telling him the truth. The Sith would honor his deal.

"My aunt said my mother named me," Luke said. "There. Happy?"

Vader didn't move. He only stared down at Luke. When he finally did speak his voice sounded sad. Broken. "She . . . lived that long?" Vader asked. "How long? How long did she live for?"

Was Vader sad? Luke reached out. He barely knew how to do it. Yet sometimes he could read other's emotions if he just pushed himself a small bit. He didn't know what he was expecting, but he was not expecting the maelstrom that was Vader's emotions. Grief, sharp and painful, lashed out the strongest from the whirlwind. There were currents of sadness, lost, love, relief, happiness, and anger. There was a lot of anger. Yet the grief was the strongest.

"My aunt said she died in childbirth," Luke said. He wasn't sure why he answered, but it appeared as if Darth Vader cared. "That's all I know."

Vader said nothing. Luke just listened to the man's breathing through his respirator. This close the sound was grating on Luke's ears. Then Vader stepped back, though he kept a hand gripped on Luke's arm. The other arm came up and the hand curled. Luke heard the sound of metal screeching and braking. Slowly the small form of R2-D2 floated out of the smoke and wreckage.

Luke was amazed at Vader's use of the Force. He had been too angry earlier when the Sith had knocked his X-Wing over. But this man clearly knew how to use it. Vader placed the droid down on the ground.

"Artoo!" Luke shouted. R2 was unresponsive. His lights were all out.

"Come," Vader said. He pulled on Luke's arm. Luke resisted at first, but Vader was too strong. Luke tripped over his feet as he was pulled along. The two quickly came to a speeder. Vader pushed Luke into the passenger seat. Luke tried to scramble out while Vader walked around to the driver's side, but Luke felt himself pushed down. Vader's casual use of the Force was starting to annoy Luke.

The speeder slowly lifted off the ground. Luke looked down at the wreckage of his fighter and the racer. R2 still sat unmoving.

"I will see the droid is collected," Vader said.

Luke glared over at Vader. "Why?" Luke asked.

"I am sure he has intel of the Alliance in his memory banks," Vader said.

Luke groaned. Of course. They sat in silence as Vader piloted the speeder back towards the city. Luke was left to his thoughts. What would happen now? Darth Vader had him. Luke had been prepped about Imperial interrogations, but that lesson had come with a warning. To be interrogated by Vader was certain death.

"Your mother . . ." Vader's deep voice brought Luke at of his dark thoughts. "She named you Luke. It means light giving." Luke looked at the dark armored man sitting next to him. This was Darth Vader? The feared Sith Lord and henchmen of the Emperor? The man that would torture you to death?

Vader continued, "Luke, Giver of Light. It is . . ." He turned to look over at Luke. "It is an appropriate name."

The comment left Luke in a stunned silence. Why does he think that? Luke asked himself as he studied the man next to him. He became aware of the Force. It was buzzing in his ear. It kept pulling Luke's gaze to Vader as if it was trying to tell Luke something about Vader. Luke recalled Vader's words. Vader had said it mattered what Luke's name was. He wanted to know who named him. He wanted to know about his mother. Then he recalled the hurricane of grief within the Sith Lord. Vader had been sad.

"Did . . ." Luke said. "Did you know my mother?"

Vader looked back over at Luke. It took a while before he finally answered, "Yes."

The Force seemed to jump and hum around Luke. Truth, it said. Vader did know Luke's mother. But . . . "How?" Luke said. He was only aware he had voiced his thought until after he had said it.

"She was . . . She was my wife."

The Force seemed to grow louder in Luke's ear. Luke could stare at Vader with his mouth open in shock. Luke's mother was Vader's wife? How? Why? What? Luke didn't understand.

"Your name," Vader had demanded.

"What does it matter to you?" Luke replied.

"It matters," Vader said.

It mattered to Vader. Vader wanted to know his first name.

"Luke . . ." Vader had said. "That was the name . . . The name she . . . Who named you?" Vader demanded.

"My aunt said my mother named me," Luke said.

"She . . . lived that long?" Vader asked. "How long? How long did she live for?"

Why did Vader care? Why did Vader want to know about his mother?

"She named you Luke. It means light giving."

How did he know what Luke's name meant? The Force was singing all around Luke. It vibrated in anticipation. Waiting.

"She was . . . She was my wife."

If . . . Vader's wife was Luke's mother . . . than what . . . how . . . It could not be. It was not possible.

"Are . . . are . . . you my father?" Luke asked. His voice was barely a whisper. Hopefully Vader hadn't heard him. But the black helmet slowly turned towards Luke.

"Yes," Vader said. The word seemed to send shockwaves through the Force. Truth! It sung out. Truth!

Luke slumped back into his seat as best he could with his hands still bound behind his back. His mind was reeling. How could Vader be his father? Was he really Anakin Skywalker? Yet the Force kept singing that this was true. Darth Vader was his father. Luke leaned his head back and closed his eyes. It felt like he was back in the pod race. His mind was being jerked from end to the other, while Luke desperately tried to keep everything together.

Then there was a sudden moment of clarity as Luke recalled when he touched Vader's emotions. He had been shocked by the overwhelming amount of grief and anger, but they weren't the only emotions. There had also been relief, happiness, and love. Happiness. Love. Light.

"Luke, Giver of Light. It is an appropriate name." Vader had told Luke.