Luke discovers something cool, Vader and Leia settle in for the night.
Beneath the tarp was a speeder.
Not one of the battered, rusted old junk heaps that Luke always saw in shops in Anchorhead. Those had parts missing, would break down if hit by a light breeze, and were about a million years out of date while still selling for more credits than his aunt and uncle could earn in a year.
But this speeder? This was brand-new, shining even under the dim light, its edges so smooth his hand just slid over it. The colors - red and gray with black streaks - glowed even in the dim light, and he hated merely touching the chrome metal brilliance of it for fear of leaving dirty fingerprints on it.
"Wow," he whispered to himself - then immediately flinched, thinking it might draw the attention of the monsters outside.
It didn't. Or at least the scritching was no louder than before.
Luke went back to admiring the speeder. It was an RGC-18, he thought, bigger than most speeders he had seen back on Tatooine, because they were meant to move stuff, not just people. He walked around it, pulling the tarp off further and letting it fall to the ground in a cloud of dust. Large back, that was probably where the cargo went. Not at all like the one Uncle Owen had, though he was sure his uncle would love to have one like this. He was always complaining about how they could never carry enough stuff with the one they had. Or that it kept breaking down. That was another thing Uncle Owen constantly groused about. Luke didn't mind as much. Having it break down meant he could fix it, and he liked fixing things. But he was sure this speeder would never break down, at least not for the first few years.
This one was also rounder in the front than their old speeder, rimmed with metal that glittered. The cockpit was huge too, big enough for a driver and a passenger in the back, or maybe two, if they were small. It sat on the floor atop some kind of strut so it didn't rub against the flooring, and Luke wondered, with a thrill of anticipation, if it would work should he turn on the engines.
He didn't, though. For one thing, it would certainly wake up all the monsters outside and make them come after him. For another, someone definitely owned a speeder this special and would be very angry to see it gone.
Still, his eyes hovered on the dash. He didn't have to fly it… but he could start it up. That wouldn't be that loud. And he would just be testing it - yeah, testing to see that it worked!
There was also the box full of mechanical tools and supplies; he could make up for it, he told himself, by fixing any problems he might find. That way the owner wouldn't be mad, because Luke had helped them. He could even make some changes that would make the speeder even better: faster and with sharper turns and able to haul more stuff. And, he thought, further trying to convince himself, taking a look would help him learn what these speeders would like. Maybe he could figure out how to fix Uncle Owen's speeder so it would be better.
Mind made up, he opened the speeder's door and hauled himself into the seat (he was short and the speeder, even without its repulsors active, was a bit off the ground). He pressed the start button.
Nothing happened.
Disappointment flooded him, but he quickly squared his shoulders and grinned. So there was something wrong with it! That definitely made it worth starting up. If he hadn't done that, the owner might not even have known that until they brought it home. Well, he would fix it, which meant getting a peek at the insides and getting to do all sorts of things with the engine and everything, and after that nobody would blame him for anything he did to it.
But - Luke stopped, only now noticing just how much darker it was. He had been having so much fun thinking of all the things he could do to the speeder he had not even noticed. How had he even been able to see anything? It was almost pitch black by now.
So it would have to wait until tomorrow.
Sighing, Luke backed away from the speeder but left the tarp off. He could still hear groans and snarls outside and clawing at the wall, but he was able to ignore it for now, the anticipation of fixing something greater than his fear. He would eat some dinner and then curl up in the tiny room and tomorrow, get the speeder working.
And, he thought before looking through his pack for one of the ration bars, if I fix it and nobody comes by in a few days… maybe I can use it.
Maybe I can even get out of here.
Had Vader been alone, he would have traveled the entire day and through the night. Obstacles did not matter to him, nor rest nor acquiring sustenance; his suit provided for his physical needs. As for the rest, he had the Force.
But he was learning very quickly that with a youngling at his heels, things were quite different. Already he could feel her energy flagging; soon they would have to stop so that she could recuperate. Not to mention looking for food, and shelter, and - his mind kept supplying more things - given the state of her current clothing, perhaps a change of dress, and a wash, and all the myriad details of living that a child needed.
They reached an intersection in the street, only to find the entire thing blocked by a massive comms pole. The wires lay coiled along the ground like large black snakes, and though rationally Vader knew they were unlikely to be active, what with the power grid being down, he shoved Leia away from them nevertheless.
"Ow," the girl whispered, rubbing her arm and glaring at him. It was the first emotion she had directed towards him that was not absolute terror.
Vader halted, examining her for any injury. Finding none, he turned his attention back to their path without acknowledging her and pushed through a gap between pole and building. The princess followed at a slower pace, pressing herself against the wall to avoid touching the cracked metal and bits of dirt clinging to the overturned pole.
Perhaps the uttered complaint had finally helped the princess find her voice, for she now asked him a question. "Where are we going?"
Vader, part of him listening for sounds of infected creatures and the other part surveying a veritable pile of grounded air taxis blocking their way, did not answer.
"Where are we going?" the girl said again, louder and slightly more demanding.
In response, Vader turned and stared at her.
The child halted a foot behind him, but held his gaze mulishly.
For a second, they simply stared at one another, neither willing to back down, the force of their presences pressing at one another. As the impromptu staring contest continued to waste time, Vader sent out a subtle mind probe, testing the child's will.
It was strong, for all her youth and weariness. Untrained, naturally; yet formidable despite that.
Vader tilted his head up, breaking the gaze and conceding the match. He felt a spark of triumph that was not his own and almost smiled despite himself. The irrepressible girl actually thought she had won.
As an answer to her question, he lifted the topmost taxi from the pile and sent it flying down one of the side streets.
The crash made the princess jump, bringing her hands up in an instinctive protective gesture. Point made, Vader waited.
On the other side of the now-blocked street, a furious chorus of shrieks rose up. The princess's eyes widened as Vader quite casually lifted another air taxi and dropped it next to the first, further obstructing the way, then did it again for the side street opposite it and the street behind them. The way clear, he passed through, avoiding only the few vehicles left along the sidewalks and clumped against buildings. A few more blocks and they would likely be reaching the middle portion of the city. Warehouses and transports would be quite commonplace there; more than likely he would find an actual, working speeder to take them further out.
"You still haven't said where we're going."
Vader paused briefly. So she was not cowed by his display of power. Good. She would need such strength of will if she were to master the Force. He allowed a moment of silence to pass before answering. "I am taking you to safety."
"Where?"
Someone, perhaps a panicked mob, had left a small, haphazardly made barricade of furniture along the street. Vader counted tables, benches, desks, and one sofa among them. With a shove of the Force, he blasted the furniture aside enough for them to pass. "Outside the city."
He passed through first. Leia jogged to keep up, ducking under a chair leg sticking out in her path. "But… there's those things outside the city, too."
"Infected," he corrected her offhandedly.
She scrunched her brow. "What?"
Vader did not bother further responding to her; she would learn the meaning of the word soon enough. But there was another reason: his enhanced hearing had caught the sound of shuffling footsteps, multiple ones, ahead of them. It was rapidly growing darker - night fell fast on this world. Without a word, he turned down another, more promising looking street, knowing it would lead eventually to the same destination. With satisfaction, he noted the growing number of factories and warehouses ahead. They were leaving behind the nerve center of the city. The population was clustered here; there would be less of the infected - the things, as the princess called them - the further out they went.
He walked so fast the princess was soon panting once again, her presence exuding exhaustion in a way that pricked insistently at Vader's mind. He came to a stop in the middle of the street.
Making a decision, he turned abruptly and went to a door. It was locked, but that was no matter; one strong Force push and it burst open. Without a word, he entered, but not before igniting his lightsaber.
Leia followed more slowly, peeking around the darkened corners around the entrance.
Vader crossed the hallway, then turned to a door. A wave of his hand and it slid open. He reached out with his Force senses on instinct, even as he knew it would not work. This was a small apartment, one of dozens in this area of the city, and they were on the first floor of likely a hundred, built for those with just enough money to be in the center of the city but little else besides, the address status symbol enough. He let his gaze sweep the two rooms directly before him - living room and kitchen - before turning and sliding the door closed with a movement of his hand.
Leia jumped forward as it slammed shut, the edge just missing her.
"What are we doing here?" she asked, rubbing her arm.
Instead of speaking, Vader chose instead to walk further in and towards the back, his saber illuminating the way. He shoved open the next door - the single bedroom - and peered inside.
Empty. There was one more door connected to it, the refresher, and he examined it too. Empty as well
Light footsteps followed his, padding along the carpeted floors. "Why are we here?" asked Leia again. She glanced up at the bare ceiling for whatever reason, looking more reassured by whatever she saw.
Vader stepped aside. "To rest."
Her little face morphed into a frown. "What?"
" Rest, " he repeated; was the child slow? "It is night, we will make little progress as it is, and you-"
Her stomach chose to rumble at that moment. She looked down as if surprised at herself, then back up at him, eyes wide.
Without a word, Vader turned and headed back to the kitchen, searching through the devices. The power grid was completely disrupted - he confirmed that just by a glance out the window, at the unlit streets - and so he ignored all of the food synthesizers and preparation machines. He ignored the refrigeration devices as well, guessing that whatever was inside had long since spoiled. Eventually though, he went through the cabinets and found some sort of overly processed and preserved food and handed that to the princess.
She glanced at it, frowning as she turned it over. "What is this?"
He stepped closer to her. "Food."
"What kind of food?"
Had the Organas spoiled her so thoroughly that she would not eat? "It does not matter. Eat."
"Can't I have a spoon or something?"
This child. Vader held out a hand. From the kitchen flew out exactly what she had requested, landing with a soft thud next to the girl.
Mercifully that satisfied her, for she made no sound afterwards, peeling open the lid (with a little difficulty) and gulping… whatever it was… with the aid of her newly acquired utensil. Vader left her to it, occupying his time with checking the hallway outside and the rooms immediately opposite and next to theirs, and then barricading both the building door and the apartment's to ensure that nothing, infected or otherwise, could get in. There was only one entrance nearest to them, which made guarding the room marginally easier. On the other hand, should anything actually get through it, it would mean they were trapped inside with only one way out, and that would probably mean facing down hordes of ravenous beasts.
Were it him alone, it would be of no consequence. But now there was the child. A child who could not protect herself, a child he had to watch over constantly if he wanted her safely off the planet.
The princess had set the can aside on a nearby end table (after looking futilely for a trash compactor, so Vader could at least not fault the Organas' hygienic teachings) and was wiping her mouth when Vader re-entered. She started at his presence, going stiff.
He pointed to the bed. "Sleep. We will resume making our way out of the city in the morning."
A stubborn look crossed her face at that and Vader watched her warily, wondering if she was going to, of all things, argue that she did not need sleep. He was not in the mood for a battle of wills over that, and he readied himself to compel her into unconsciousness if it came to that. But then he felt her mood shift towards resignation as her own tiredness overtook her, and she turned and headed towards the bed.
For reasons he did not care to delve into, he followed, watching her as she heaved herself up onto the mattress. It was a large one, made more for an adult than a child, and she looked swamped in the thing. "Take off your shoes," he said abruptly, as it looked like she was going to settle in without doing so.
She shot him a grumpy look, but, perhaps realizing for herself that it would feel strange to sleep with her shoes on - or maybe she was just as tired of being stubborn as he was - did as she was told. She tugged off her stockings as well, then her overdress and the tunic beneath, revealing a white, long-sleeved shift. With a flop, she settled onto the mattress, staring at him.
Vader turned to leave.
"Where are you going?" she demanded.
He paused at the doorway. There was a note of fear beneath, but he did not think she was craving his company - that was ludicrous. No, he decided, she was frightened of the infected and merely wanted his protection. "I will remain outside to keep watch."
"Oh." The princess contemplated that answer for a moment. "All night?"
"Yes."
She frowned. "Don't you need to sleep?"
He let his respirator cycle a moment before finding a response. "The Force allows for many things an ordinary being cannot do. There are a multitude of dangers in this city, so I will remain on guard."
"The - the Force?" The girl gripped the sheets hard, making them rustle. "Is that - that's the thing you did… right? That power you have that makes you, um, move things without touching them?"
Had she such little training that she did not even know what the Force was? Annoyance trickled through him at such a waste of her potential. That too must change once they were off the planet.
But for now, he would make use of her curiosity. He could feed it, use it to his own ends. "Yes, Princess. And in time, you will learn to command it as well." He let its power surge through him, allowed the princess to feel it too.
But instead of looking awed, the princess jerked back. " Me? I don't have that stuff - I mean, the Force."
He withheld a snort. "You do." He faced her. "It is how I found you. You are very strong in the Force, and it would be a waste to not learn how to use it."
"Learn it? To…" Her face paled and he could feel her fear increasing in magnitude. It was bewildering. "I can't do stuff like that… can I?"
As an answer, Vader reached out for her mind.
In the deadness of this planet, it was easy to find her presence, a blinding light directly before him, dimmed only by exhaustion and lack of training. So bright was it that Vader found himself hesitating, hovering before the shining aura that was his daughter lest it eclipse his own darkness.
Instead, he grasped at the connection between them, marveling yet again that he had not noticed it before, this ethereal yet wire-strong bond between them. It was a silvery thing, thin and feather-light - yet as he traveled down it, connecting to her mind, he felt it grow stronger, the mere touch of their two minds strengthening it, generating ever more bands to coil about their respective signatures.
You can, he spoke into her mind.
Stunned, awful silence was her response.
And then her presence flinched back and he felt her attempt to throw up shields. Her mind roiled chaotically, a barrage of wordless terror and palpable anger that only made her presence flare stronger. As he let it storm about him he caught a string of words, the same over and over again:
Get out get out get out get out
He lingered a moment longer, then withdrew.
"Stop it!" The princess's voice pierced through his trance. "Stop doing that!"
Vader took a moment to reorient himself, blinking at the wash of reality about him. The princess had shoved herself as far from him as she could in the apparent delusion that physical distance might save her, her back pressed against the bed's headboard.
"That was the Force, young one," he rumbled.
She pressed her hands to her head. "That's what you did before, wasn't it?! You were - you were in my head!" She dragged the blanket up to her chest. "It hurt - it hurt so much-"
An odd feeling was crawling up his gut. "A Force probe. I was merely searching your memories-"
"You hurt me!" she screamed.
"You were resisting," Vader retorted. "Had you given in, it would not have pained you so much." He waved a dismissive hand. "And had I known of our-" He stopped. Now was not the time; in her state, the truth might only make the child flee straight into the jaws of the infected civilians outside. "Princess-"
She dived under the covers. "I don't want it," she said, voice muffled. "I don't want to learn and I don't want that! Not if it hurts so much."
Vader closed his eyes, attempting to release his frustration into the Force before responding. It only half-worked, not helped by the princess's anger pulsing along their connection, though the child herself remained totally unaware of it.
Finally, he spoke. "You cannot deny your heritage," he said. "The Force is with you, Princess, and you cannot change it no more than you can change the course of the stars. I suggest you come to terms with that."
And with that, he turned and left the room.
Leia only breathed when Vader had left the room.
She bundled herself further down into the covers in the faint hope that those would protect her.
But Vader could go right into her head. What could some covers do?
Maybe she could run away while he was gone. There was a window in the room; if she forced it open, she could crawl out… they were on the first floor too, so it would only be a short distance to the ground, and then she could sneak away and -
And what? Run straight one of those things that had bitten her? The things - "infected", Vader had called them, though she didn't quite know what that was. It sounded bad, though. She was pretty sure she had heard that word before, and it did not mean good things. Whatever it meant, it had made those things - the things that had chased her and hurt - the things that had killed -
Gnawing her lip painfully, she drew her arm out from beneath the blanket and poked at it. She didn't want to think about Captain Antilles and the men he had taken with him; it made her feel sick inside. She focused on the bite instead and how it still ached. The things's teeth had pierced through the fuzzy lining of her innermost sleeve, but she had ripped that away and replaced it with the bandage. It was almost the same color as her shift, it matched so well, and with her tunic and overdress on, it was hidden entirely.
It still hurt, though. That she could not hide.
She gave it a poke, contemplating unwrapping the bandage and looking, but it didn't seem so bad right now. It had been bleeding when she was first bitten, but that had stopped pretty soon after she'd hopped into - and crashed - her family's speeder. Her bandage wasn't even stained.
That was good, right? It meant it was healing.
Leia pressed herself back into the mattress, drawing her legs up. She might be feeling better but she was still stuck with - with -
With Darth Vader.
He was so much scarier than all the HoloNet stuff about him. She'd heard whispers of what he did to people, people who weren't enemies of the Empire but people working for him. Reading minds, they said; killing people without touching them; the laser sword - she was pretty sure by now that it was called a lightsaber - that was the color of blood. The Jedi had used those, and she'd heard people say that maybe he was some weird, dark version of a Jedi. But others said that, no, he was something completely different - and also that if one ever mentioned the Jedi in front of him, he'd kill them. She hadn't thought much about that; Darth Vader almost never came to Alderaan, and the times he had, she had been very young, which was why her parents hadn't let her see him. All those stories just felt made up.
Leia had not thought it would all be true.
And it was not just that. Nor was it about how easily he had killed all those things chasing her, twice. Or the way he had gone into her mind and read all her memories. Or even the way he talked to her, like he did not care at all what she thought or how she felt.
It was something about him, about being near him. It felt cold and dark when she was with him. In her lessons she'd read about black holes and how they sucked in everything, even the light. She'd even looked at one in her holobook.
Vader reminded her of those. Just being around him made her feel… sick. Like he might suck her in as well, all of her, until there was nothing of her left.
But if she didn't stay with him, the things would come after her, and she knew those things would hurt and kill her. At least Darth Vader was able to keep them away from her. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more it puzzled her. He had not just kept them away from her. Now that she looked back on it, she realized that he had saved her.
Why?
First he had attacked her, then he had helped her. Several times, actually. He even got her some food today. Why did he do that when he had hurt her so badly the first time? What had changed?
For the second time that day, Leia wished for her real mother. She was sure her real mother would have been able to figure this out.
She crawled over to her overdress and dug a hand into the pocket until she felt the holoprojector. She pulled it out and sat on the edge of the bed, staring at it but not quite able to bring herself to turn it on. It was only a hologram. Her real mother was dead and could not help her. But deep down Leia just knew that her mother had been kind, forgiving, wise… and that had she been here, she'd have Leia wrapped in her arms, protecting her and keeping all the horrible, frightening things away.
Things like Vader.
When Vader had read Leia's mind, it was her mother that had made him… stop. But only for a little bit. Afterwards he had been even more terrifying - shouting at her, hurting her.
He had not liked seeing her real mother, and it niggled at Leia. Her mother was good, she was certain of that. Vader was not. That must be it, she realized: Vader was so dark, so evil, that he could not bear to be in the presence of her mother, who was so good and beautiful.
Leia curled back up in bed, cuddling the projector to her chest like a talisman. It probably wouldn't help her, but it made her feel better to have her mother close to her, even if she was just a holo.
With that thought, she let her eyes droop and fell into an exhausted sleep.
I'm not all that comfortable with Leia calling Padme and Anakin her "real" parents, since it feels like she's downgrading the Organas, but that is how she referred to them in the Obi-Wan Kenobi show, and I'll admit, it's probably realistic for what a child might call her biological parents.
Anyway, kind of a quick chapter, but that's because in the next, Vader and Leia finally meet Luke.